Blue blob

The blue blob^[1] (青い液体^[2][3], aoi eki-tai^?, lit. "blue liquid") is an obstacle that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It is a segmented blob made of blue chemical liquid, that is found moving in and out between open chemical pipes of Chemical Plant.

Description

Blue blobs are part of blue liquid chemical seen being preserved in many yellow and gray pipes and transparent chemical storage tanks located around the Chemical Plant. As part of chemicals commonly labeled as "Mega Muck",^[4] blue blobs are seen as semi-solidified into spherical segments, leaping between open holes of chemical pipes on corridors and walls in linear pattern. Much like many obstacles, they cannot be destroyed and cause damage for the playable character by simply hitting them.

The amount of spherical segments varies between games. While notably seen as simple blue spherical segments connected to each other in games like Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic Mania, other titles such as Sonic Generations and Sonic Frontiers depict them as bubbly, semi-liquid form with only few segments being connected to each other from the rest. In the aforementioned games, blue blobs are also seen emerging through floor drain covers of chemical pipes.

Game appearances

Sonic the Hedgehog 2

In Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and the lock-on game Knuckles in Sonic 2, blue blobs are found as obstacles only in Chemical Plant Zone Act 1. In this game, each blue blob contains six semi-solid spherical segments leaping between chemical pipes of the Zone.

In gameplay, blue blobs come in two types of patterns. Tight corridor sections of Chemical Plant Zone Act 1 consists of pair of vertically pointing tubes containing blue chemicals on both roof and floor parts of the Zone's terrain. Strings of blue blobs are scrolling upwards and downwards from one tube to another every couple of seconds. The player has to carefully pass through these sections by timing the moment of blue blobs are not on the playable character's way without losing Shield/Rings/lives. Open areas of the Zone also contain single pair or chemical pipes on the floor, where blue blobs are leaping across the mid-air from one pipe to another and vice versa.

Sonic Generations

In the console/PC version of Sonic Generations, blue blobs return as obstacles in both Chemical Plant Act 1 and 2. In this game, they are seen leaping between pipes in linear pattern with a delay of a couple of seconds. They are seen in varying amount of two to five blobs with blobs also seen leaping in a spiral air direction from one chemical pipe locating on the ground to another one seen in the wall and vice versa. The player is able to time their linear pattern by noticing the triangle symbols on the chemical pipe glowing magenta and small bubbling at the pipe's opening when the pattern occurs.

In Chemical Plant Act 2, the Skydiving section of the stage consists of multiple blue blobs moving horizontally in queues of five segments with gaps between groups, which Modern Sonic has to avoid while diving down. The 3D section near the Goal Ring contains platforming area with blue blobs leaping from one pipe opening to another, which can be easily avoided by circling around them while also defeating Grabbers. Challenge Acts centered around Chemical Plant also contain blue blobs, but not every pair of chemical tubes found in each Challenge Act contains active blue blobs on them.

Sonic Mania

In Sonic Mania and its expansion Sonic Mania Plus, blue blobs are present in both Act 1 and 2 of Chemical Plant Zone. In this game, blue blob's appearance is closely the same as in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-bit) with only difference being the amount of segments decreasing from six to four. They also come in identical patterns in tight corridor or wide sections of the Zone.

Chemical Plant Zone Act 1 mini-boss Amoeba Droid is seen utilizing the pool of boiling blue chemical below the arena, that is known to be labeled as "Mega Muck".^[4] Using the blue chemical, Amoeba Droid uses it as a temporary shield before turning it into multiple, blue blobs floating around the robot before being dropped to the ground. Chemical Plant Zone Act 2 also contains boiling blue chemical pools, which can damage the playable character, if he falls into it. These blue chemical pools can be occasionally turn into jelly chemicals that can make the playable character bounce upwards to the air in order to reach the higher sections of the Zone.

Sonic Frontiers

In Sonic Frontiers, blue blobs are encountered in Chemical Plant-themed Cyber Space stages 1-5, 3-7 and 4-6. While they retain their attributes and movement patterns from the console/PC version of Sonic Generations, all strings of blue blobs come in five semi-liquid balls with all of them being segmented to each other when leaping from one chemical pipe to another.

Trivia

• In the Wii U and PC version of Sonic Lost World, similar type of obstacles resembling blue blobs are found in 2,5D section of Frozen Factory Zone 4. Instead of being blue, these black blobs are found depicted either in four or eight segments, hopping around on a linear pattern in oil pools.
• In Sonic Forces, Chemical Plant-based stages are seen having pipes and canisters full of toxic blue chemical, but blue blobs are nowhere to be found as obstacles throughout the game. Secret Plant Zone, a Zone recycling visuals from Chemical Plant Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure, also does not feature blue blobs as obstacles.

Gallery

Concept artwork

Sonic Generations (console/PC)

Screenshots

Gallery
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-bit) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-bit) Sonic Generations (console/PC) Sonic Generations (console/PC) Sonic Generations (console/PC) Sonic Generations (console/PC) Sonic Generations (console/PC) Sonic Mania Sonic Mania Sonic Mania Sonic Mania

See also

• Mega Mack
• Fireball (obstacle)

References