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Sleuth "Doggy" Dawg was originally a member of the Robotropolis Spy Network, providing information to the various Freedom Fighter Groups from inside Robotropolis. However, Sleuth was swayed to Dr. Ivo Robotnik's side by promises of wealth and personal power. His attempted coup against Princess Sally Acorn was unsuccessful, and he was incarcerated at the Devil's Island Gulag prison. Upon his escape, he teamed up with several other prisoners to take his revenge, but they were roboticized by Dr. Eggman. After their de-roboticization by the Bem, the group had robot duplicates of themselves created by A.D.A.M. (aka Anonymous), and recordings in the wreckage of these machines showed the Destructix dealing with Anonymous. The real Sleuth has served with the Destructix since his de-roboticization, serving numerous masters. But since then he has got cash under his belt, and got out of the mercenary game to preserve himself.
History[]
Freedom Fighter[]
As part of the Robotropolis Spy Network, Sleuth worked along side Kicks a Lot and Fly Fly Freddy and provided information to the Knothole Freedom Fighters normally disguised as SWATbots. The group often made their messages coded and spray painted it onto walls to appear as simple vandalism . (StH: #27)
When the Knothole Freedom Fighters were captured by a group of Combots, Sleuth and the Spy Network helped Sonic to locate the prison cells they were held in. Sleuth and the other members of the Spy Network disguised themselves as SWATbots and departed. (StH: #38)
Betrayal and Imprisonment[]
When next seen, Sleuth slowed down the Freedom Fighter's operation to locate the Crown of Acorns to save the crystallizing King Max. Soon he revealed that he had betrayed the Freedom Fighters after Robotnik promised him personal wealth and power. With an army of SWATbots to support him, Sleuth attacked the Knothole FF's along with the roboticized Fly Fly Freddy. However, the combined might of the Freedom Fighters and Knuckles the Echidna proved too much, and the SWATbots were destroyed and Sleuth was arrested. (StH: #42)
While imprisoned at the Devil's Island Gulag, Sleuth found himself mocking Snively along with the other inmates, until Snively seemingly unlocked their cells and allowed them to escape. From there, Sleuth participated in the inmates beating up the guards and escaping. The convicts then fled to West Robotropolis on Big Kahuna Island where they planned to capture Nate Morgan. After they captured Nate and brought him back to West Robotropolis, Sonic and the Royal Secret Service rescued the Overlander and re-captured the convicts (except for Kodos and Arachnis. (StH: #62, #63, #68, #70)
Member of the Destructix[]
- See also: Destructix
Sleuth and the other Destructix captured Tommy Turtle to trade him for one of Dr. Eggman's old facilities. However the meeting was actually a trap set up to roboticize them. Eggman proceeded to roboticize all of the Destructix with the exception of Sleuth, who hid behind Tommy's shell. Sleuth offered Sonic the Hedgehog to prevent himself from being roboticized. However, when Sonic escaped with Tommy, Eggman roboticized him, but not before Sleuth managed to throw a grenade, destroying the entire facility along with Eggman and Snively's robotic bodies. (StH: #117)
Sleuth and the other's robotic bodies survived the explosion, and the group was de-roboticized by the Bem along with the other Mobians. During the Xorda's attack on Mobius, Sleuth and the Destructix helped the rest Mobius' population to combat the Quantum Dial. (StH: #123, #125)
Following the Xorda's attack and Sonic's return to Mobius a year later, robotic duplicates of the Destructix made by Anonymous were given to Eggman. The despot in turned used these to lure Sonic into rescuing a robot duplicate of Tommy (though Sonic did not know it was not the real Tommy). The robotic duplicates were destroyed. (StH: #135)
In reality, the real Destructix were recruited by Anonymous to retrieve the Chaos Emerald Mammoth Mogul was imprisoned in. After their failure, Sleuth and the Destructix were imprisoned, only to be freed by Mogul after he escaped his Chaos Emerald. Sleuth and the others participated in the attack on the Freedom Fighters and the Chaotix, only to be captured by the Egg Fleet and sent to the Egg Grape Chambers. (StH: #162, #163, #164)
Sleuth with the rest of the Destructix, plus Scourge and Fiona.
Sleuth and the others were soon rescued by Dr. Finitevus and hired to work as his brute force. Sleuth went to Knothole to retrieve a Warp Ring which had been stolen by Rouge the Bat. Holding Tails hostage, Sleuth managed to convince Fiona Fox to get Sonic to simply hand over the Warp Ring, as she did not want Sleuth to reveal Fiona's on-the-side relationship with Scourge the Hedgehog. Sleuth left via Warp Ring and returned to the group. (StH: #165)
A few days later, the group managed to captured Knuckles while he was searching for his father Locke, who in turn was persuaded by Finitevus to become the new Enerjak. Afterwards, the group was sent to defend the Anti-Enerjak Weapon from falling into the hands of Locke, Sonic and Julie-Su and a brief battle took place. When Sonic destroyed the weapon himself, Sleuth said their work was done since they were only paid to protect the weapon, and the Destructix left via Warp Ring. (StH: #181, #183)
After Mammoth Mogul's escape from New Mobotropolis prison, the once-again Chaos-demigod hired Sleuth and the Destructix as his mercenaries in a plot to discredit Sonic's credibility. After Sonic was captured and taken back to Mogul's Casino Night Zone, Sleuth followed Rouge's instructions (provided by Mogul) to lie about having worked for him, saying they had acted on their own. Sonic, having disrupted Mogul's establishment and blamed Mogul for it, was successfully discredited. (StH: #187, #188)
Sleuth retires.
Retirement[]
A while after this when Lightning Lynx and Drago left the Destructix, Sleuth handed leadership over to Fiona Fox when she came looking for muscle at the Bottom of the Barrel Bar 'n' Grill, saying he'd got some money and was getting out of the game to "preserve his hide." (SU: #15)
Personality[]
Like Drago, Sleuth's betrayals were self-serving and motivated by greed and the promise of power. Somewhat more brutal than most of the other villains, Dawg was able to hold out against Robotnik's Roboticization longer than the rest of the team. When it became clear that he was beaten, he made a spiteful, last-ditch attempt to take out Robotnik with a hand grenade. Like Drago, he is willing to sell out anyone so long as there's something in it for him, and he also appears to have little backbone when it comes to employers who intimidate him into doing their bidding. Despite this, he is somewhat more clever and cunning than most thugs and generally more even-tempered and straightforward.
Background Information[]
- Sleuth's name is a thinly veiled parody of well known hip-hop artist Snoop Dogg, who sometimes refers to himself in song as "Snoop-Doggy-Dogg".
- In StH: #27, Sleuth's name was spelled "Sleuth Dawggy-Dawg".
- In an Ask Ian podcast, Ian Flynn revealed that he retired Sleuth because he was uninteresting as a character alongside the rest of the Destructix, despite his high intelligence. Ask Ian
- Sleuth would later become one of the many characters to be banned from use in the comic altogether, due to him being a Ken Penders-created character. This was confirmed by Tyson Hesse, the main cover artist of StH#258, who was forced to edit the cover in question to remove several "obscure" Archie Sonic cameos he'd placed on the cover, with one of said characters being confirmed to be Sleuth.
Appearance[]
Sleuth is a brown dog with blue eyes. When working as a spy, he wore SWATBot armor; later he typically wears his old gray prison uniform or combat fatigues with heavy boots. He occasionally wears studded wristbands. The shape of his ears sometimes varies between artists, though they are usually depicted as drop ears. He is often depicted without a tail.