The Story Behind Root the Cicada

As formally introduced into my Sonic the Hedgehog Alternate Universe canon this weekend, Root the Cicada makes his appearance in both his own (short) one off as well as the main ongoing story in Cross-World Hero.

The huge cicada emergence this year had inspired the character, and it was the insects life cycle that played into his story and personality. The specific brood this year were the seventeen year brood, last emerging in 2008. I used that idea to give him the "grown up too soon" thing, with him barely being a teenager but forced to face the world alone as an adult would as a result of the Egg Empire's reign. 

I needed a character that was going to be the mouthy edge lord that wasn't afraid to speak out against Sonic, echoing the feelings Lanolin and the rest of the world had begun to harbor in recent times.

And lastly, I needed the pervert archetype, and what better to fill that role with than with a hormonal teenager?