Flicky/Pre-SGW

Flickies are a kind of colorful bird that live almost exclusively on the atoll called Flicky Island or the otherdimensional Flicky Zone. Peaceful and friendly, Flicky birds feed on the strange bejeweled plants of their home. When they gather into flocks, it is said they can create Warp Rings to other Zones. Most notable is the natural predators, of which they have none. Consequentially, they don't fear strangers, and are thought to be mere fools. Many of them were roboticized by the evil Dr. Robotnik, but were restored by Sonic the Hedgehog.

Robotnik's Slaves
Flickies were first seen after Sonic the Hedgehog responded to a distress call on an atoll called Flicky Island. Dr. Ivo Robotnik had enslaved the island, roboticized the Flickies, and was looking for a Chaos Emerald. Sonic soon found out that the Flickiebots were weak to seawater as they reverted to their flesh and blood forms when hit with it. While Tails and Rotor sprayed the robots, Sonic then tracked Robotnik to the Flicky Zone. There, Sonic engaged and trashed Robotnik's newest weapon, the Techno Bodyshell Battlesuit. Regardless, Robotnik managed to trap Sonic and locate the Chaos Emerald (on the forehead of a giant Flicky statue), but failed to realize the emerald was booby trapped. Removing the emerald caused the giant Flicky statue to come to life, and roar loudly enough to collapse the whole Zone. Sonic and Robotnik barely made it out of the Zone. Robotnik tried to keep his hand on the emerald, but a pink Flicky bit Robotnik's hand. By then, the Flicky robots had all been deroboticized, the roboticizer was destroyed, and all of the Flickies had apparently flown back into the Zone, except for one pink Flicky that watched Robotnik throw a temper tantrum for having no way off the island. (SBS)

Aiding Tails
When Tails absorbed an incalculable amount of magic energy from the Power Rings manufactured by Nate Morgan and transformed into Hyper Tails, a small group of Flickies materialized around him. These Flickies acted as familiars to Hyper Tails and at his command, swarmed over Ultra Naugus until he froze them in a magic suspension cube. Unlike the multi-colored birds on Flicky Island, these Flickies all had yellow plumage. (StH: #66)

Pursued by Eggman
During the Chaos Crisis, a green Flicky was pursued by two of Dr. Eggman's E-100 Alpha robots and E-102 Gamma. The Flicky eventually followed Amy Rose around, who had come to the bird's aid when it was injured. Both Amy and the Flicky were brought on board the Egg Carrier as prisoners, but were subsequently let free by Gamma, who when observing the Flicky and Amy's willingness to help each other, decided to go against his programming. Later, Amy helped the Flicky reunite with its own kind, while the Flicky contained within Gamma was later released when he was destroyed by E-123 Omega. (StH: #80, #81, #82, #83, #84; SU: #3)

Genesis
When reality was reset as a result of Operation: Clean Sweep, at least one Flicky appeared in the alternate reality that resulted. After being saved by Sonic, this Flicky communicated with Sally Acorn, who was able to speak its language. At Sally's request, it assisted them by serving as the power source for a Buzzbomber robot, which led them to Eggman and then attacked him in defense of its new friends. (StH: #226)

Background Information

 * Flicky is one of few Sonic characters to actually predate Sonic himself, first appearing in an 80's arcade game Flicky, in which a blue Flicky would rescue its children Chirps from Tiger cats and Iggy lizards. Flicky made numerous appearances in numerous later games. Flicky's original role in the Sonic franchise is as a small animal rescued from numerous robots in Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and Sonic Spinball among others. The Flickies in this article were more closely based on the Flickies from the Genesis and Sega Saturn game Sonic 3D Blast, and the Dreamcast game Sonic Adventure. Those Flickies are often following those who pass close by, like the Chirps did in the original Flicky game.
 * In the comic books with their all-capital lettering, the bird's name is usually spelled with a lowercase i (FLiCKY), probably to avoid disastrous consequences if the uppercase L and I blur together and are mistaken for an uppercase U.