Charmy Bee

Charmy Bee|チャーミー・ビー|Chāmī Bī}} is a fictional character from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. He is an extremely hyperactive anthropomorphic honeybee with a big heart. He is youngest member and co-founder of the Chaotix Detective Agency. Charmy first appeared in the Sonic the Hedgehog manga, but was later used for the games, in which he first debuted in Knuckles' Chaotix.

While Charmy is always hyperactive, bee-brained, loud, immature and often annoys his teammates a lot, his tracking skills are nonetheless an invaluable assist to the Chaotix Detective Agency and a crucial part of their team. As such, both Vector and Espio treat Charmy as their equal.

Appearance
Charmy Bee is an anthropomorphic black-and-yellow striped bee with yellow and black striped-antennas and golden eyes. He wears an orange vest with a bee emblem on the left, white and orange shoes, white gloves cuffed with black rings, a black pilot's helmet with a red rim and flight googles.

Knuckles' Chaotix
Charmy makes his first game appearance in Knuckles' Chaotix. According to the English manual, he is a friend of Knuckles the Echidna, who is visiting "Carnival Island" to search for new types of flowers when Dr. Robotnik makes a surprise attack on the island. In the Japanese version, Charmy is out doing what bees do best when he arrives at an island and is captured by Robotnik, who is currently taking over the island.

In both cases, he is captured and placed in Robotnik's Combi Catcher, and becomes one of the several characters the player can choose to play as, or play with (as a partner character). Charmy can fly, and as such can do a dash in any direction instead of jumping. He can also start hover, which allows him and his partner to fall at a much slower and more controlled rate.

Sonic Heroes
In Sonic Heroes, Charmy is part of the Chaotix detective agency along with Espio the Chameleon and Vector the Crocodile. One day he brings a package to the group, which contains a walkie-talkie. The voice behind it (referred as the Client by the team) promises the Chaotix a large reward of money if they complete some missions for him, which they do. Charmy is the flight member of Team Chaotix, which lets him air lift the other two to higher areas, or to kick them at enemies.

After "Dr. Eggman" is defeated by the heroes and melts in to a metal puddle. the Chaotix free the client from the room he is imprisoned in. The client turns out to be Eggman, which surprises Charmy and Espio. After Eggman explains that he plans to pay the group after he takes over Earth, the Chaotix believe that Eggman has no money and look ready to attack the Doctor. Vengefully, Charmy starts stinging the doctor with his stinger. After that, Eggman explains to the group that he was locked in the room by someone and Vector asks him who it was.

That someone turns out to be Metal Sonic who had betrayed and imprisoned Eggman, explaining why he needed them to free him. Charmy and his friends arrive to see Metal Sonic proceeding to transform into Metal Madness. Eggman tells the heroes that the only way to defeat it is by using the Chaos Emeralds but thinks that none of them have them. Eggman is then shocked to see the others all with the Emeralds with Charmy holding the cyan Emerald. They then stall Metal Madness by fighting his left side, so that Team Sonic could utilize a super transformation.

After Metal's defeat, Vector is reminded by Charmy about the money Eggman claimed to be rewarding them, they then chase him in anger.

Shadow the Hedgehog
Charmy and the Chaotix work on a new mission in Shadow the Hedgehog. They all appear in the cut-scene prior to the Mad Matrix stage, but Charmy's most notable part of the game is on the Prison Island stage, in which he is a partner character. When Shadow the Hedgehog goes to the island, he finds Charmy, who explains that Vector sent him there to find five "top secret discs" that belongs to GUN. The player can choose whether or not to help him find these discs or complete one of the other missions. Unlike most partner characters in the game, Charmy cannot be controlled by the second controller in the GameCube and PlayStation 2 versions, as he is constantly airborne. In the Last Story, Charmy inadvertently saves Earth when ramming his stinger into a computer aboard the Space Colony ARK while helping Espio and Vector hack in. By doing this, Charmy activates a videotape of Professor Gerald Robotnik that allows Shadow to break free of Black Doom's mind control.

Sonic Colors
Charmy appears in the DS version of Sonic Colors as a non-playable character with the rest of Team Chaotix on a mission to investigate Eggman's theme park and also meet Sonic and Tails there, and gives Sonic a mission on Planet Wisp.

Sonic Generations
In the console/PC version of Sonic Generations, Charmy attended and helped prepare Sonic’s surprise birthday party. As the celebration started, however, the Time Eater suddenly appeared and Charmy was sucked into one of the Time Eater's Time Holes and ended up in the White Space, where he was turned into a statue due to the Time Eater's effects.

Eventually, Charmy was returned to normal by Sonic and Classic Sonic. When the Sonics confronted the Time Eater, which was revealed to be controlled by Dr. Eggman and Classic Eggman, Charmy arrived at the battle with the others and cheered on both Sonics, allowing them both to transform into Super Sonic. When the Sonics defeated the Time Eater, Charmy and the others were sent back to the present. Continuing the party from where it left, Charmy later waved goodbye to Classic Sonic and Classic Tails when they returned to their own world.

Sonic Forces
In Sonic Forces, at some point after Dr. Eggman's world takeover, Charmy and the Chaotix would organize a town's forces until Eggman invaded it a few days later. During the chaos, Charmy got shot by a Burst Wispon a rookie soldier accidently fired. When Eggman's robots then forced their way into the village, Charmy and his allies faced them in an all-out battle. Thankfully, the rookie was able to end the battle by damaging Eggman's invasion airship with a missile. Forgiving the rookie for shooting him, Charmy worked with his team to begin evacuation of the village.

Sonic Rivals
Charmy Bee appears on two collectible cards in Sonic Rivals.

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games
Charmy makes a cameo appearance in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games as a referee.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
Charmy reappears as a more active referee in Mario &amp; Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. In the DS version, the Chaotix were traveling, and left poor Charmy behind in Cubyrinth. When the player finds him without Vector, he won't open the door until the player finds Vector. When he/she finds Vector and take him to Charmy, Charmy will argue with Vector and then he will start a quiz. If the player succeeds, he will open the locked gates and cheer. After the player talks to him for a while, Charmy then can give the player the number of whitestones for Dream Island (Blizland, Cubyrinth, Sparkletown).

Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games
Charmy also appears again as a referee in Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games. His Mii costume can also be unlocked in the Blank Exchange, or given to you as a present. Also, in the 3DS version, Charmy is a major character in the story mode of the game.

Sonic Runners
In Sonic Runners, Charmy is a playable Fly Type character in the game. In gameplay, he can float in midair and boost the number of collected Rings by 75%.

During the "Birthday on Windy Hill" event, Charmy and the Chaotix were kidnapped by Dr. Eggman on their way to Sonic's birthday party. While they managed to escape their holding place, they learned Eggman was planning something in a nearby base. The Chaotix soon found Team Sonic, whom Charmy and his team provided their intel to after giving Sonic a birthday surprise. Though the info turned out to be a trap, Charmy joined Sonic's celebration after Eggman was beaten. There, he wished Sonic a happy birthday and many happy returns.

Sonic Runners Adventure
In Sonic Runners Adventure, Charmy is a playable character that can be unlocked by spending 2000 Rings upon reaching Chapter 2 (Desert Ruins). He retains his flight ability and the Fly/Chaotix-type from the predecessor, with the "Chaotix" bonus here changing 30% of Rings into Super Rings for a limited time.

Sonic Forces: Speed Battle
In Sonic Forces: Speed Battle, Charmy is a playable character with the following stats that are applied in gameplay:

Personality
Charmy is hyperactive and scatterbrained, and not too bright. Because he is a child, he would rather play than work, as shown in the Chaotix's first level of Sonic Heroes. When the team is receiving their first mission at the beachy Seaside Hill, Charmy is hovering around singing "Sea, sea, sea". However, he is also very friendly, lighthearted and cheerful. Due to his age, he is not as skilled a detective as Vector or Espio, but he is nonetheless valuable to the team. It is possible he is also greedy like Vector, as they had dollar signs in their eyes when their client promised a large payment (Sonic Heroes), although, as children are prone to do, he may just be emulating Vector's behavior.

He shows a deep respect, even admiration, for Shadow in Shadow the Hedgehog. When Shadow kills a black alien, Charmy states, "Shadow, you're so cool!"

Physical abilities
Thanks to his wings, Charmy is capable of nearly perpetual flight as he is always flying around. His flying appendages do not seem to fatigue easily whatsoever, unlike other fliers. Like other characters in the series, Charmy is able to move at super speeds, albeit so far only in flight. He can in fact move so fast in midair that he can create miniature vortexes of such density that they can be stood on. Charmy is also very acrobatic and agile, being able to perform impressive movements and tricks while airborne, and grind on rails with ease and at speeds matching his teammates'.

Charmy possesses a powerful stinger which is capable of landing fatal blows. With it, Charmy can land strikes powerful enough to pierce metal and he knows how to use it with speed and agility. He is also surprisingly strong for his small size, capable of lifting both his larger teammates and flying with them over large distances.

Moves and techniques
One of Charmy's signature techniques is the Dash, a move for letting him fly through midair. This move is vastly superior to moves like Propeller Flying and Flying, as Charmy can not only use it indefinitely, but also use it to make sudden midair boosts or dart movements. His other signature move is his Sting Attack where he attacks foes with his stinger. Also, Charmy's newest exclusively move, the Whirlwind, lets him form vortexes of winds so strong that they turn solid.

Though not a hedgehog, Charmy is able to use the Spin Attack and the various techniques derived from it as seen in Sonic Heroes, where the users curl into tight balls for protection. The Homing Attack allows Charmy to dash in midair toward a target and the Spin Jump lets him curl into a ball and attack opponent by landing on them. Together with his team, he can also use the Thunder Shoot where he fires his teammates as electrically-charged balls.

Miscellaneous skills
Charmy excels in following hunches and uncovering hidden objects―once he is onto something, he is able to track down almost anything. Out of the Chaotix, Charmy is the tracker, his innocent nature giving him an excellent sense of detecting what others would miss. He also has some mysterious talent which enables him to warp between flowers and activate bee-themed devices at will.

Color Powers
By harnessing different variants of Hyper-go-on from Wisps, Charmy 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, Charmy 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.

Vector the Crocodile
Vector the Crocodile is Charmy's boss from the Chaotix and he jumps at every opportunity to make fun of him, like calling him a fool in Sonic Colors for giving Sonic a clue that led to nothing. Thanks to his bad temper, Vector almost always responds to Charmy's provocations and is seen arguing with him most of the time, with Vector screaming at Charmy. Alternatively, Vector sometimes simply deals with Charmy by putting his hand over the face of the bee, especially when the Chaotix is ​​in a hurry. They can also end up fighting over the smallest of issues; during Final Haunt in Expert Mode, the two would fight over who ate their pudding.

Despite his many arguments, Charmy really admires Vector. He has a habit of repeating Vector's statements and imitating him; when the new Chaotix customer in Sonic Heroes promised to pay generously, dollar signs appeared in Vector and Charmy's eyes, even though Charmy is not known for worrying about money. In addition, Charmy usually takes Vector's side when there are differences within the Chaotix.

Due to his age, Charmy prefers to play than to work and calls Vector boring for not leaving him be most of the time. However, Vector has faith in Charmy and appreciates his skills as a tracker, even sending him to dangerous jobs from time to time, although he is fully aware that Charmy uses his time alone mainly for fun.

Shadow the Hedgehog
Charmy has exercised a more enthusiastic relationship with Shadow the Hedgehog, having demonstrated how much he respects and admires him by often saying how "great" Shadow is and why he looks at him as a role model.

Friends/allies

 * Chaotix
 * Vector the Crocodile (boss, coworker)
 * Espio the Chameleon (coworker)
 * Mighty the Armadillo
 * Team Sonic
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Team Dark
 * Shadow the Hedgehog (role model)
 * Rouge the Bat
 * E-123 Omega
 * Team Rose
 * Amy Rose
 * Cream the Rabbit
 * Cheese
 * Big the Cat
 * G.U.N.
 * Silver the Hedgehog
 * Avatar

Enemies

 * Dr. Eggman
 * Metal Sonic
 * Black Arms
 * The Time Eater
 * Infinite

Sonic the Hedgehog (manga)
Charmy Bee originally appeared as a recurring character in the early serialized Sonic the Hedgehog manga published by Shogakukan, who debuted in the September 1992 issue of Shogaku Ninensei. In this media, Charmy is Sonic's partner and helps him out when in a pinch. He resides in a Time Box and has the ability to manipulate time, which he uses to rewind time to before Sonic gets into trouble. During Shogaku Ninensei manga's run, Charmy's appearance was drastically different until the Shogaku Gonensei stories, where his appearance is closer to his game counterpart.

Sonic the Comic
In Sonic the Comic, Charmy is a native of the Special Zone (as are the other members of Chaotix). Just like in the games, he is extremely scatterbrained and hyper, frequently annoying his team-mates to the point of insanity with his banter, odd speech patterns and cries of "righty-diddly-doo!" Due to his apparent insanity, he is frequently dismissed as a mere pest, although on several occasions he has managed to win the day single-handedly with his unorthodox solutions (like using worker bees to turn the Fundamental Four into a vase).

Like in the Archie series, Charmy is the son of the Queen Bee and thus the prince of the Hive. However, in Sonic the Comic his teammates do not know this and he insists that they do not find out.

Archie Comics
In the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics, Charmy Bee was the prince of bees of the Golden Hive Colony. He felt pressured by his upcoming royal responsibilities and ran away from home, making his way to Angel Island. He found himself becoming a member of the Chaotix and assisted the group on Angel Island for time before returning home. When Golden Hive Colony was destroyed by the Eggman Empire, Charmy survived along with his fiancé, Saffron, and the two fled to Knothole. Along with other members of Chaotix, Charmy was taken prisoner during an attack on Knothole by Dr. Eggman that resulted in the city's destruction, but was subsequently rescued. He was also briefly subjected to the effects of the Egg Grape Chamber before he was freed.

Following the events of Worlds Collide, Charmy is now virtually indistinguishable from his game counterpart.

Sonic X
In the anime Sonic X, the Chaotix crew play a very minor role in Season 2. They only appeared in one episode (Episode 39, "Defective Detectives") in which they try to help Vanilla the Rabbit find her daughter, Cream. In this episode Charmy along with Vector and Espio broke the proverbial fourth wall by introducing themselves to the audience, Charmy mostly since he begged for more time to introduce himself. In Season 3, they play a much larger role. At first, they bring supplies to Chris, but Vector thinks they are also supposed to bring Cream back to her mother, Vanilla. Charmy seems to act as Vector's right-hand man during these missions, because while Espio reluctantly does them, Charmy is more enthusiastic when taking orders from Vector. Later, they appear to help fight the Metarex. Charmy seems to be calmer in the anime in comparison his video game counterpart.

Theme songs

 * "Team Chaotix" - this theme is shared with Espio the Chameleon and Vector the Crocodile, yet Charmy is mentioned in the two lines "Danger hides when the hyper bee flies" and "Charmy's thing is dishin' out first sting"

Quotes

 * "Yeah, let's go!" When selecting Team Chaotix in Sonic Heroes.
 * "It's here it's here, we got work!" When barging into the office of the Chaotix' detective agency in their opening cut-scene of Sonic Heroes.
 * "Yeah, you know our policy!" After Vector reminds Espio of their policy in the Chaotix' opening cut-scene of Sonic Heroes.
 * "Sea, Sea, Sea." In Sonic Heroes at the beginning of Seaside Hill.
 * "I'm bored." Charmy when standing still for too long in Sonic Heroes.
 * "Can we go now?" Charmy when standing still for too long in Sonic Heroes.
 * ​"ZOOM!" Charmy when boosting in flight in Sonic Heroes.
 * "Oh flower, pretty flower, show your face and I'll sting you!" When touching a Hint concerning a flower in Sonic Heroes.
 * "BEE BEE BEEEEEEE, CHARMY THE BEEEEEE, CHARMY THE BEE HAS LOTS OF HONEEEEEEEY!" Singing during the Team Blast.
 * "Take this you BAD MAN!" Charmy, when discovering that Eggman does not have the money to pay Team Chaotix.
 * "Yeah, Time To Rock And Roll!" When Team Chaotix encounter Team Rose in Sonic Heroes.
 * "Look at all the fishy ships! I wonder if we could take one." Charmy when standing still for too long in Sonic Heroes (He says this in the Egg Fleet stage).
 * "Nothing new for you, Vector!" after Vector claimed that Chaotix had made fools of Team Rose in Hang Castle.
 * "You're ROTTEN!" When Espio and Charmy find out Eggman was tricking them in Sonic Heroes.
 * "Incomplete Freak!" When Team Chaotix are fighting Metal Madness.
 * "Hey Shadow! I gotta ask you somethin'. Vector told me that he wants me to find five top secret disks. But like, what's a top secret disk?" Charmy in Shadow the Hedgehog in the level Prison Island.
 * "Hey, don't drag me into this!" Charmy, after Shadow destroys a G.U.N Robot.
 * "Shadow, you're so cool!" Charmy praising Shadow for defeating the Black Creatures.
 * "Go up! Up, I say!" When Shadow has to reach a high area.
 * "FIRE! HOT HOT!" When Shadow comes across a Black Arms fire breathing plant.
 * "Yeah, whole day wasted!" Charmy repeating what Vector said about Espio's data retrieval speed in Shadow the Hedgehog.
 * "I was scared because somebody took me, but now I'm free! I'm a free bee, free bee, free bee... Wheee!" - Charmy after Modern Sonic rescues him from Planet Wisp in Sonic Generations.
 * "That was very scary, but being with you makes it all better! Yeah!! Hey, you look different." - Charmy after Classic Sonic rescues him from Planet Wisp in Sonic Generations.
 * "We're with you guys!"- Charmy cheering both Sonics in Sonic Generations.

Trivia

 * Charmy is the youngest male character of the Sonic the Hedgehog series.
 * In the English manual of Knuckles' Chaotix, Charmy was labeled as being sixteen years of age; however, with the release of Sonic Heroes, his age has been retconned to six. It should be noted that the Japanese manual for Chaotix didn't list an age for Charmy as it did for the other characters, although the other characters' ages were also inconsistent with their later portrayals.
 * His size changed greatly from Chaotix (in which he was very small) to Sonic Heroes (in which he was approximately the size of Cream, who is smaller than other Sonic characters, but far larger than previously proportioned).
 * Charmy is the first (and currently only) anthropomorphic insect in the entire cast of the series in the video games.
 * During the cutscene that took place before the Egg Hawk battle in Sonic Heroes, Charmy acts as if he's never met Robotnik before, which contradicts the events that took place in Knuckles' Chaotix. This may be because Espio referred to him as Doctor Eggman, but Charmy may have remembered him as Doctor Robotnik. This also ignores the fact that the Chaotix keep pictures of the Badniks from the original Sonic the Hedgehog in their office.
 * However, according to Takashi Iizuka, Charmy and the Team Chaotix in Sonic Heroes were recreated as new characters from the same characters in Knuckles' Chaotix when Sonic Heroes was designed, ignoring certain traits that had been established in Knuckles' Chaotix that would have contradicted their intent in the game.
 * So far, Charmy is the only member of the Chaotix not to appear playable without the rest of his team (Espio appeared in Sonic the Fighters and Sonic Rivals 2; Vector appeared in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, its sequels, and Sonic Free Riders).
 * Charmy has proven, despite his small size, he is actually very strong because he can lift both Vector and Espio and remain in flight.
 * In Sonic 3D Blast, a unnamed Badnik bears a resemblance to a giant-headed Charmy.
 * Charmy is one of the few male characters to wear clothes other than the usual gloves and shoes.
 * Charmy is seen to have a small bee badge on his jacket.
 * Charmy seems to be so scatterbrained that he sometimes can't remember what to do. In the DS version of Sonic Colors, Charmy seems to have forgotten that he was sent on a job and was too focused on the rides.
 * Charmy is the least seen character of the current Team Chaotix in the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series.
 * In Shadow the Hedgehog, he can't be controlled by the second player, unlike Vector and Espio. This is most likely because he floats like the Eggman monitor and Doom's Eye. Note that the Xbox version lacks multiplayer in story mode.
 * Charmy, despite being male, possesses a stinger. In real life, the stinger is an attribute only female bees possess.