Espio the Chameleon

Espio the Chameleon (エスピオ・ザ・カメレオン) is a fictional supporting character from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. He is an dark purple anthropomorphic chameleon, who mainly serves as an intelligent ninja warrior, and a member of the Chaotix Detective Agency. Therefore he works together with Vector the Crocodile, and Charmy Bee to solve whatever cases they are given, where he puts his great 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.

Background

 * Sonic X

He is a dark purple, anthropomorphic chameleon and a member of the Chaotix, a group of detectives. He is the master of the special art "ninjutsu".

Personality

 * Sonic X

Espio is described as being very serious, quiet, level headed, 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 on 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.

Unlike the rest of his team, Espio is dignified and opposes foolish plans, especially around Vector, who usually comes up 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.
 * Video Games

A straight-laced detective, Espio is very serious, practical, intelligent and wise. He has a militaristic discipline despite being quiet and laid-back. Espio is additionally portrayed as being stubborn, opinionated and self-obsessed. Despite this, he has an excellent drive to all that he does and flourishes off of peril, getting himself into threatening situations to flex and polish his ninja skills, and, due to his extensive training, he can confront these troubles head-on while being unconcerned by danger.

Espio values his freedom more than anything else, and in the wake of being caught in Dr. Robotnik's Combi Machine, he looked to stop the evil scientist no matter what. This is due to his reserved demeanor, which 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. Espio is also seen as a ninja-based character; his battle poses and shuriken stars support that portrayal. Also in the Japanese script, the pronouns he uses to refer to himself is usually ware, and the more archaic onushi pronoun for referring to others.

Appearance

 * Sonic X

He is a purple chameleon. He has a pointy yellow nose, and his mouth is orange. His eyes are yellow. His gloves are white and he wears black waist bands.

Season 3
In "Defective Detectives", Espio and the Chaotix were transported to Earth by a sudden Chaos Control that warped their entire office to this new world. As Charmy returned with newspapers and videos on Sonic's adventures, Espio was sent out to get a TV for the videos, though the chameleon questioned the morality of his actions when he was forced to steal one. They were soon after hired by Vanilla the Rabbit to find Cream, and tracked her to the Thorndyke Mansion where they believed Sonic held Cream captive. However, when Espio tried infiltrating the house while invisible, he was knocked out by Amy's hammer while she was in one of her moods regarding Sonic, and subsequently was left behind by the Chaotix after they solved the case.

In "Galactic Gumshoes", the Chaotix were assigned by Vanilla to get Chris' clothes to the Blue Typhoon. While Vector promised to do it, Espio noted they lacked a spaceship. Fortunately, one crashed nearby which they made into a makeshift spaceship. When the Chaotix got to the Blue Typhoon however, they were beaten up one by one by the crew who thought they were Metarex. Outraged at the treatment, Espio and his team tried leaving in their ship until the Blue Typhoon caught up with them and the crew explained themselves. Espio accepted the crew's apologies and helped transfer their luggage. Amidst tea with the Chaotix however, Cream got upset when Vector asked why she was on the Blue Typhoon. Vector, having misinterpreted Vanilla's wishes, decided to take Cream back to her mother. Though Espio was against this, he was persuaded to go along with the idea and kidnapped Cream without warning, provoking the Blue Typhoon to retaliate. As Sonic returned to rescue Cream and a brief fight ensured, the Chaotix agreed to let Cream stay after hearing her decision.

In "Mission: Match Up," The Chaotix got lost in space, but encountered help in the form of the Blue Typhoon's crew. During the repairs of the Chaotix's ship, Espio was persuaded by Vector to help improve Tails' relationship with Cosmo as thanks for the help, despite Espio's being highly skeptic about it. After several failed plans, which involved an invisible Espio puppeteering Knuckles while unconscious to scare Cosmo and make Tails come to her aid, and planning a handkerchief for Tails to find and give to Cosmos, the Chaotix succeeded by sheer chance when Vector started an accident that Tails saved Cosmo from. During Cosmo's subsequent party though, Knuckles returned to beat up Espio and the Chaotix as revenge. Espio and Charmy received additional punishment by having their faced dyed by Knuckles.

In "Hedgehog Hunt", Espio and the Chaotix had taken up jobs in a galactic shopping center where they helped Sonic and his friends hide from the Metarex and Eggman until they got the items they needed to repair the Blue Typhoon.

In Agent of Mischief, the Chaotix helped Shadow get to the Metarex's armada to fight Dark Oak. Along the way, they found Dr. Eggman whom they return to their spaceship with.

In "The Light in the Darkness", Espio and the Chaotix joined the unified allies in battle against Final Mova. During this fight, Espio used his "explosive shuriken stars" on Final Mova before the Blue Typhoon fired its Master Emerald-enhanced Sonic Power Cannon at the beast, only for Final Mova to transform into a more deadly form.

In "A Fearless Friend", Espio and the rest were weakened by the effects of Final Mova's new form until Super Sonic and Super Shadow destroyed it, only for Final Mova to emerge in his most deadly form. Despite the costs, Espio and the rest cheered Sonic and Shadow on and watched with sadness as Cosmo sacrificed herself to defeat Final Mova for good.

In "So Long Sonic", Espio and the Chaotix returned to their home planet where they were awarded with cakes from Vanilla for doing some of her errands, which Espio noted while thanking Vanilla that he had never received such treatment from people before.

Video Games
Espio the Chameleon appears in the following video games:
 * Sonic Generations

Quotes

 * "Evil must die! Beware my ninja power!"
 * Victory was inevitable
 * Death to the Evil One! Prepare to die, Eggman!

Silver the Hedgehog
When Espio first met Silver the Hedgehog, his mission was to find evidence that Silver was behind the kidnapping of several Chao. As such, Silver was a subject of doubt for Espio as he did not seem like a bad guy despite his actions. At first, Espio treated Silver like an enemy, but as he learned that Silver was working to save the world, he decided to follow his instincts and help him with his mission. During their adventure, the two of them built a good relationship as Espio proved his trustworthiness and helped Silver on many occasions. After finishing their mission, they gladly thanked each other, showing the great admiration and faith they had gained for one another.

Trivia

 * According to Takashi Iizuka, Espio 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.[8]
 * Espio's name is thought to either have been derived from the word "espionage", meaning spying; it also may be a reference to the Spanish and Portuguese word "espío" (literally meaning "I spy").
 * Espio is the only member of Team Chaotix to appear in a game (Sonic the Fighters) released between Knuckles' Chaotix and Sonic Heroes.
 * Espio is the second-most used member of Team Chaotix. He has less game appearances than Vector but more than Charmy.
 * In Sonic Heroes, Espio is the only speed formation character whose shoes are not partly red. He is also the only speed formation character who is not a hedgehog.
 * Throughout the series, Espio's color gradually lightens from a dark purple to a light pinkish purple.
 * In the Shadow the Hedgehog boss Egg Breaker, when Shadow destroys any of Eggman's robots, Espio says, "Stop that! We can't let Eggman know we're here!" which is repeated from the previous level. However, Eggman already knows that Espio and Shadow were in his base as he is fighting them.
 * In Shadow the Hedgehog, Espio is one of the five characters to swear (the others being Shadow, Sonic, Knuckles, and the GUN Commander).
 * Espio is the only playable character in Sonic Rivals 2 who did not appear in the story mode of Sonic Rivals.
 * In Sonic Generations, Espio is the one of the two characters who did not notice Sonic was different after being rescued. The other was Vector.
 * Espio is the only animal character in Knuckles' Chaotix to have been created originally for that game, as Vector, Mighty, Charmy, and Knuckles had all appeared (or in Vector's case, was going to appear) in previous media: Knuckles (Sonic the Hedgehog 3), Mighty (SegaSonic the Hedgehog), Vector (Sonic the Hedgehog), Charmy Bee (Sonic the Hedgehog manga).
 * In a cutscene from Shadow the Hedgehog, Eggman calls Shadow and Espio "rodents" although Espio is a reptile and Shadow is a hedgehog.
 * Espio is the only new character in Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games available from the start in the 3DS version to appear as a playable character in the Wii U version.]
 * Espio was going to appear in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing as a playable racer alongside Rouge, Vector, Blaze and Silver, but was scrapped from the final product.[9]

Voice Actors

 * Japanese : Yuki Masuda (all media)
 * English : Bill Corkery (2004), David Wills (2005 – 2010), Troy Baker (2010 – 2016), Matthew Mercer (2016 – Present)