Espio the Chameleon

**Espio the Chameleon'** (エスピオ・ザ・カメレオン, *Esupio za Kamereon*) is a protagonist character of the *Sonic the Hedgehog* series. He is an anthropomorphic chameleon, who mainly serves as an intelligent ninja warrior and a member of the Chaotix Detective Agency, a group of detectives. There, he works together with Vector the Crocodile and Charmy the Bee to solve whatever cases they are given, where he puts his skills to good use. While initially a hothead when introduced, Espio has since become a calm, soft-spoken, serious, and disciplined person whose wariness and soulful character makes him a vital member of his team, and balances out the foolishness of his friends. He is the master of the special art "ninjutsu".

"*Evil must die! Beware my ninja power!*"

—Espio the Chameleon.

## Appearance & Biography

*Voice actor (4Kids):* David Wills (English), Yūki Masuda (Japanese), Not Known (French), Christian Iansante (Italian), Dirk Meyer (German), Not Known (Hungarian), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (Korean), Ireneusz Załóg (Polish), Not Known (Romanian), Not Known (Russian), Tomasz Śliwiński (Poland), Not Known (Serbian), Not Known (Swedish), Rui Quintas (Portuguese), Not Known (European Spanish), Not Known (Latin American Spanish), Not Known (Brazilian Portuguese), Not Known (European Portuguese)
*Voice actor (Studiopolis):* Troy Baker (English), Not Known (Japanese), Not Known (French), Silvio Pandolfi (Italian), Andreas Hofer (German), Not Known (Hungarian), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (Polish), Not Known (Romanian), Not Known (Russian), Not Known (Poland), Not Known (Serbian), Not Known (Swedish), Not Known (European Spanish), Not Known (Latin American Spanish), Not Known (Brazilian Portuguese), Not Known (European Portuguese)

### Biography

Espio is a chameleon who is a master of ninjutsu.

A skilled ninja who thrives on danger, he uses stealth and speed to fool his enemies.

His wariness and soulful character makes him a vital member of the Chaotix Detective Agency.

### Appearance

Espio is a bright purple chameleon with a yellow horn on his head, and a ridge of three scales down his spine and coiled tai.

### In the Young Days

He wore green, black and yellow shoes with simple white gloves and had a ridge of teal/green scales down his spine and coiled tail.

### In Present Time

In later years his skin became a brighter purple and his eyes are now gold. He now wears dark purple and black shoes with elaborate cuffs, white gloves with a purple back, and studded bands around his wrists and ankles. The scales on his back were reduced to three and are now black in color.

### Possible Future

* Hair Color: N/A
* Skin Color: Fuchsia, Peach, Yellow
* Eye Color: Gold (originally black)
* Age: 16
* Height: 110 cm. (3' 7")
* Weight: 36 kg. (79.3 lbs.)

## Personality

Espio is very serious, quiet, level-headed, intelligent, wise and disciplined, but also opinionated and somewhat arrogant at times. In combat, he is very aggressive and uses his ninjutsu arts very wisely, and when he is defeated, he prefers to meditate quietly and improve his abilities. Regardless, he is very gentle and polite, as he gladly accepts others apologies for their mistakes and thanks people for the gifts they give.

Espio is typically a no-nonsense personality, and usually the most professional of the Chaotix. While he apparently recognizes Vector as the leader of their group, he is not afraid to argue with him. Espio also seems to have greater faith in mystical powers, such as Sling Rings, than his leader.

Unlike the rest of his team, Espio is dignified and opposes foolish plans, especially around Vector, who usually come with harebrained ideas. However, he always does do what Vector tell him, even if he has a different view of some of his actions. He also dislikes hyperactiveness and overly positive attitudes as seen in his interactions with Charmy.

While a straight-laced detective and the voice of reason in the Chaotix Detective Agency, Espio's reserved demeanor hides a burning sense of justice and a refusal to let evil have its way. As such, Espio gives the impression of a rather ruthless demeanor when facing villains; when encountering Dr. Eggman in *Sonic Heroes* and *Shadow the Hedgehog*, the usual civil and soft-spoken chameleon would make threats at the doctor's life. Despite this fact, he is usually eager to find danger to flex and polish his ninja skills. He is seen as a ninja-based character; his battle poses and shuriken stars support that portrayal.

## Relationships

### Friends/Allies

* Team Chaotix
	+ Vector the Crocodile
	+ Charmy the Bee
* Mighty the Armadillo
* Ray the Flying Squirrel
* Heavy
* Bomb
* Team Sonic
	+ Sonic the Hedgehog
	+ Tails the Fox
	+ Knuckles the Echidna
* Team Dark
	+ Shadow the Hedgehog
	+ Rouge the Bat
	+ E-123 Omega
* Team Rose
	+ Amy Rose the Hedgehog
	+ Cream the Rabbit
	+ Cheese the Chao
	+ Big the Cat
* Team Sol
	+ Silver the Hedgehog
* New Freedom Fighters
	+ Sally Acorn

### Enemies

* Eggman Empire
	+ Dr. Eggman
	+ Metal Series
		- Metal Sonic
* Metarex
* Black Arms
	+ Black Doom
* Dark Gaia
	+ Dark Gaia Creatures

## Powers and Abilities

As a Speed Type, Espio possesses great super speeds. As demonstrated in *Sonic Rivals 2*, he can run at speeds compatible to Sonic and Shadow's and his swiftness is potent enough to let him fool his enemies by appearing in different spots almost instantaneously. While not shown to the same extention as Knuckles the Echidna, Espio has impressive physical strength, using sharp karate chops powerful enough to shatter obstacles and smash robots. Espio also has extreme acrobatic skills, doing complex and nimble jumps in midair and grind on rails with ease. Espio also has very impressive durability and endurance, seen as he is able to withstand Sonic's Homing Attacks indefinitely and keep fighting in Espio: Master of Camouflage.

Espio is a master of Ninjutsu. He makes heavy use of this martial arts and is skilled enough at it to fool enemies. He can also teleport at such speeds that he leaves behind purple afterimages, like when he teleported from the inside to the surface of a spaceship in "*Galactic Gumshoes*", although it is unknown whether this is a form of ninjutsu or something else entirely. Espio can also jump high up in the air to the point that he can reach the roofs of buildings.

Being a chameleon, Espio possesses a stealth camouflage trick that lets him change his colors scheme to his environment. His camouflage is so effective that he is rendered completely invisible to the naked eye and allows him to pass by unnoticed. Being a skilled ninja he is also a master of non-camouflaged stealth which combined with his camouflaging abilities makes him virtually undetectable. Espio also possesses an extremely keen sense of awareness of his surroundings on both the physical and empathic plane, detecting Team Dark nearby despite the group being out his field of vision and was even able to perceive the soul of the Time Eater.

As a special talent befitting his species, Espio can turn himself fully invisible by blending in with the environment, allowing him to walk around without being visually detected. However, he can still give away his position by making noise and his invisibility can be negated if he is covered in substances.

Like a real lizard, Espio is able to climb along any surface and stick to them for an unprecedented amount of time. As seen in *Sonic the Fighters*, he also possesses a prehensile tongue which he can use as a short-range projectile attack in combat and as a grappling hook. Espio has also demonstrated the ability to harness chaos energy from the Chaos Emerald to enter Hyper Mode.

### Combat Skills

By his own accords, Espio is a powerful adversary as he says it would take no less than a "mighty foe" to do him in. Espio is a master of ninjutsu, a form of material arts that employs stealth and trickery against foes. He is likewise a fierce foe in direct combat as he was able to match Rouge the Bat in battle, who has undergone similar forms of combat training and could fight Knuckles the Echidna to a standstill.

#### Techniques and Moves

Though not a hedgehog, Espio is able to use the Spin Attack and the various techniques derived from it, where he curls tightly into a concussive ball while in locomotion to damage, mow down, or burrow through obstacles and foes. The Homing Attack allows Espio to dash in midair toward a target, the Spin Jump lets him curl into a ball and attack opponent by landing on them, and the Spin Dash lets him shoot himself forward as an acceleration roll at full speed while mowing down enemies and obstacles.

Espio's signatures moves are the ones that combine his ninja skills with his camouflage trick. The Leaf Swirl lets Espio combine his camouflage with a Ninja Leaf Swirl maneuver to create a tornado to blow opponents away while he disappears, his Chroma Camo maneuver hides himself completely from his enemies' perception while increasing his speed, and his Ninja Arts: Camouflage both hides himself completely from enemies' perception while he "warps" between places to disorient the enemy while attacking. Another ninja-based attack includes his Shuriken where he throws a shuriken star at foes.

### Attacks

* Chaotix Recital (Team Blast requires Vector and Charmy)
* Chroma Camo
* Dash
* Grind Step
* Homing Attack
* Jump Dash
* Leaf Swirl
* Ninja Arts: Camouflage
* Rocket Accel (requires Vector and Charmy)
* Shuriken
* Spin Attack
* Spin Dash
* Spin Jump
* Triangle Jump
* Triple Jump

### Skills

* Super speed
* Enhanced strength
* Hand-to-hand combat skills
* Enhanced agility
* Enhanced durability
* Enhanced jump
* Camouflage
* Stealth
* Ninjutsu expert
* Great acrobatic skills and reflexes
* Espionage
* Intelligence
* Limited computer hacking
* Prehensile tongue
* Wallcrawling
* Shuriken/kunai throwing
* Experienced detective and data collector
* Horn protrusion
* Grinding
* Keen Mind
* Harnessing chaos energy
	+ Hyper Mode initiation
* Hyper-go-on usage

### Miscellaneous Skills

As one of the founders of the Chaotix Detective Agency, Espio has a keen, analytical mind and experience in investigation and gathering intel. While also having experience in solving mysteries, he is not as skilled in that field as Vector. He also has some skill in hacking computers for data as seen in *Shadow the Hedgehog*, although he has admitted it is not his specialty.

Thanks to his ninja training, Espio is proficient with several forms of ninja-based weaponry. He is especially a master of throwing kunai, capable of striking targets with pin-point accuracy while only barely looking at them.

#### Color Power

*Main article:* *Color Powers*
By harnessing different variants of Hyper-go-on from Wisps, Espio can use specific Color Powers to transform into a certain form, such as a drill, a laser or even a planet, each one possessing its own unique abilities. So far, Espio has been able to transform into the Cyan Laser, Yellow Drill and Indigo Asteroid. However, these transformations require a steady supply of Hyper-go-on to be maintained.

### Weaknesses

Espio's camouflaging ability, while practical, is not perfect. Its maintenance is tied to Espio's concentration, meaning it will falter should he lose focus due to things such as being blinded by light or sneezing. His stealth is not flawless either as Rouge the Bat was able to detect his movements thanks to her heightened sense of hearing.

### Weapons

As a ninja Espio wields and employs an array series of ninja-based weaponry, such as kunais and explosive shuriken stars that he can set to explode whenever he wants, dealing significant damages to the opponent, which he uses very precisely.

He uses his shuriken stars for long-range offensive by throwing them at opponents and can do so in rapid succession. By attaching a rope on his kunai, he can also use as a grappling hook to swing between targets.

## History

### Past

Espio and his teammates Vector the Crocodile and Charmy the Bee, first made the acquaintance of Knuckles the Echidna when they teamed up with him, Mighty the Armadillo, and the robots Heavy and Bomb to oppose Dr. Eggman. At some point, they also interacted with Mighty's friend Ray, though he and Mighty adventured apart from the detective trio.

## External links

* Espio the Chameleon *Sonic News Network*