Dr. Starline

> "I know exactly how to keep the warriors from interfering. And I know EXACTLY how to deal with nosy little pests like you."
>
> Starline to Max in a nightmare, On the Run

*You may be looking for his Fallen Worlds counterpart*

**Dr. Starline** is a character who appears fairly frequently throughout *The Legend of Fox the Brave*. He is a Mobian platypus, and a major antagonist in the series. A fanboy and former associate of Dr. Eggman, Starline quickly made a name for himself as a major threat in the Four Worlds

### Nicknames

"Flat-nosed Flopper"(by Crystal); "Dr. Fashion Disaster"(by Sonic)

## Appearances

### Debut

On the Run

He is currently the main antagonist of the *Broken Worlds* arc, which is heavily based on the new IDW miniseries, *Bad Guys*

## Appearance

Starline retains his appearance from the *Sonic the Hedgehog* comic series published by IDW Publishing

## Personality

Starline is calm, suave, and confident, to the point of being arrogant. He is rather formal in behavior, referring to others as "gentlemen"(Sonic, Silver, Rough and Tumble), or by their full names(so far only seen with Max)

However, he is shown to have a sinister and cruel side. He shows no qualms about putting people through evidently painful procedures, or even threatening a young boy he viewed as a threat to his plans

He is also an expert manipulator, able to trick people and use them in ways that suit his needs, even while behind bars, seen when he tricked the desperate loner Dash into aiding his escape from prison

Despite all of this, Starline later started showing frustration toward Eggman when the doctor didn't appear too concerned with the Metal Virus running uncontrollably rampant through the Worlds, and when Eggman didn't appear to care about preventing their *own* infection

## History

**Before the Series:** Chronologically, Starline first appears in *Austin's Adventures*, when he causes minor trouble for the warrior patrol in the area to rescue Austin's young son Dallas, and orders the capture of Austin, who is later rescued by Michael and Boulder

During the War of Darkness, he appears again when Boulder takes shelter in the Eggman base at Mystic Ruins to rest after being beaten by Dark Enerjak

### **The Great Eggman War**

Following the Phantom War, Starline became a more active threat. While looking for Dr. Eggman(who was now living at the Base as the amnesiac Mr. Tinker), he ran across Storm Cloud City, the local police chief Murtagh Veschell and his young son Max

Not long after arriving in the city, Starline encountered Max in the forest, and assumed he had been spying on them(when Max had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time)

Because of this, Max fled the city for his own safety, but Starline still pursued him, eventually managing to capture him; twice, after Max escaped the first time. In the meantime, he managed to capture and brainwash Murtagh, who had been looking for Max, furious at his son's flight, traumatizing Max

When Eggman was finally restored, Starline was eager to work alongside him and help in his plans, but this would later devolve into frustration when Eggman didn't seem to care too much about the Metal Virus growing out of control

Eventually, things got to the point where Starline made contact with the Deadly Six behind Eggman's back, desperate to get things back under control. However, this quickly backfired, as the Deadly Six almost immediately betrayed them both and drove them off the Faceship

The pair were forced to seek help from the Restoration, who were furious because of what was happening. It took some convincing for the pair to gain the Restoration's trust enough to start planning with them

Eggman's suggestion to use the Warp Topaz was met with vehement refusal from Starline, who asserted that the Topaz was extremely sensitive to powerful energy waves as it was. Starline then opened a portal to leave, but Eggman forcibly took his glove, callously stating that Starline was fired, before throwing the doctor through his own portal

### *Broken Worlds*

Some time after the end of the Great Eggman War, Starline reappears as a threat to the Worlds. Now with the assistance of Mimic, Zavok, and Rough and Tumble, Starline decides to attempt the capture of Max once more, in hopes of keeping the warriors at bay. This results in not only the kidnapping of both Max and his friend Gray, but the injury of Max's father Murtagh, and (indirectly) the death of Max's elderly neighbor, who tries to interfere with the villains. Later, he ends up fighting a furious Crystal, leaving her injured and incapacitated for days

Crystal later had a vision detailing Starline's plans, relaying it to her patrol. Providing a "progress log update", Starline relayed his plans for his new "Tricore", his band of rogues, and even the boys Max and Gray(resulting in Crystal swearing she's gonna kill him)

At an Eggnet Hub, Starline attempted to enact his plan, which went well until he successfully claimed the hub. Betrayed by the rogues(Starline was unaware Zavok and Mimic knew the truth), Starline managed to make a getaway, and was still able to claim Egg Base Sigma for himself, and move things there. He also injured Rough, Tumble, and Hayward, and left them for dead

After claiming the base, he moved his things and prisoners over to it. When Gray demands to be released, Starline claimed that once he has what he wants, he will release the boys(and Gray's Tazerling slug Sparks); The boys are completely unaware that the doctor has completely lied

An unknown time later, Starline infiltrated the Restoration base, looking for Belle, who he had previously encountered at White Park(which was not shown in the series). Along the way, he encountered Crystal. Unsurprised that she survived her injuries, he relentlessly mocked her before escaping with Belle, pausing to mock Crystal some more for her efforts

## Alternate Counterparts

### *Reign of the Empire* timeline

In the timeline shown in *Rise of the Warriors* and *The Broken Worlds*, now known as *Reign of the Empire*Dr. Starline was shown to have joined Dr. Eggman a lot sooner. Unlike his mainstream counterpart, he does not appear to have any doubts about Dr. Eggman, but he still questions Eggman's decision to leave the battle in Robotropolis, instead of staying to ensure the downfall of the warriors

This Starline is nearly identical to his mainstream counterpart in that he is initially almost blindly loyal to Dr. Eggman, while also having his own remarkable intelligence and reliance on his gadgets. He still has the Warp Topaz, and makes great use of it, creating portals to escape, transport allies, and even spy on his enemies or look for a missing Eggman. His glove also retains its hypnotic attributes, as he uses this to subtly manipulate Fox and drive a wedge between him and Austin

Because of this, Starline is also noted to be quite a bit crueler than his mainstream counterpart. He has no qualms about openly, if vaguely, threatening Austin's life, knowing full well how Fox would react(and showing no surprise in the face of the fox's rage). He also explained that in order to defeat the warriors, the solution was to "remove its head". His aim was to destroy Fox's reputation and break the warriors apart that way; if that failed, then he would explore other(likely more violent) solutions

## Abilities/Skills

Starline is every bit as intelligent as Dr. Eggman. Described as devilishly smart, he is knowledgable in robotics enough to aid Eggman in certain places. He is also athletic enough to kick his opponents, but not as strong as Sonic or a trained warrior

### Equipment

For a majority of the series, Starline was in possession of a stone called the Warp Topaz. In contact with a strong enough power source, it functioned similarly, if not identically, to a Warp Ring, as it allowed Starline to not only look at any place in the Worlds(he could do it more easily if it was the same World he was in at that time), but travel to any location he wished, within possibility

With the glove he is still in possession of, Starline can hypnotize people to manipulate their subsequent behavior, memory and perception. Additionally, it can plant Starline's commands in his victims' minds that they will immediately carry out, like falling asleep. However, the glove's hypnotic powers do not work well on strong-minded individuals like Zavok. In addition, it cannot hypnotize entire crowds as it is more of a precision tool. Furthermore, it only works on Mobian-born people, as Gray(who is Slugterran) was immune(though he pretended to be affected so as not to raise suspicion)

Starline also has multi-tool heel spurs on his boots, which so far have two purposes. They can create a blast of electricity strong enough to take out several Motobugs at once. Additionally, they have a mild neurotoxins that can knock the victim out immediately(it also appeared to have a lasting impact on Murtagh, who was left with a limp, and Crystal was incapacitated for days)

## Trivia

Starline is the first IDW Sonic character to be introduced in the series

The dynamic between Starline and Max mirrors that of Austin and Finitevus earlier in the series, something Austin himself makes note of

* However, unlike Finitevus, who more or less spoke to Austin as a person, Starline viewed Max as little more than a possible threat at first, then a tool to be used against the warriors

Starline in *Rise of the Warriors* and its sequel *The Broken Worlds* is quite a bit crueler than his mainstream counterpart, as he openly threatened the life of Austin to coerce Fox into following orders

The prologue of *Evil Reborn* revealed that Starline is not a faith-based person. This could very likely be because of his scientific background