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Lady Saffron was a young bee from the former Golden Hive Colony. While somewhat naive, she's brave and always willing to help others. The fiancée of Charmy Bee, Saffron became a member of the Chaotix with him after their homeland was destroyed by the Eggman Empire. Since then she has participated in numerous missions with the group, until she was imprisoned by Thrash the Devil in another zone along with Julie-Su and the echidnas of Albion.
History
Early Life and Pre-Chaotix
Saffron was a childhood friend of Charmy Bee, residing in Golden Hive Colony. When confronted by his Acknowledgment Ceremony, Charmy decided to flee from his royal responsibilities. Saffron was unable to understand why Charmy was so upset, and though she tried to help Charmy ignored her and left. She remained alone for some time after Charmy fled to Angel Island. Almost a year later however, Charmy returned home and accepted his role as prince, as well as becoming Saffron's fiance. (KtE: #14, #15)
Months later, Charmy and Saffron found themselves meeting up with Charmy's friend Knuckles the Echidna, who at this point had evolved into Chaos Knuckles. They conversed for a bit till Nack the Weasel and his sister Nic showed up to capture Knuckles and threatened them both in order to make Knuckles cooperate. Upon realizing that the Weasels were gone (though Saffron suggested they go get help) they both immediately went to help Knuckles! Upon finding the place where he had been taken and seeing him in considerable pain Saffron and Charmy in their small forms they intervened and managed to do enough to stop them. The result was that Knuckles remained in his green form, while Dr. Finitevus was transformed by the experience. (StH: #93, #94, #182)
Member of the Chaotix
Saffron vows to protect the Master Emerald.
Following the conflict with the Xorda, the Eggman Empire began taking over numerous sections of Mobius In 3237, Eggman had his Egg Pawns attack Golden Hive Colony. The colony was overrun, forcing Charmy and Saffron to flee and take shelter in Knothole. It was at this point that Saffron joined the Chaotix when Charmy rejoined the group. Along with the Chaotix, Saffron participated in the liberation of a Dingo-run concentration camp, freeing numerous Echidnas. Shortly afterwards, she remained behind to protect the Master Emerald while the rest of the Chaotix freed Knuckles' father Locke from captivity. (StH: #138, #139, #140, #141)
When Mammoth Mogul, the Destructix, the Arachne and Ixis Naugus joined forces, Saffron assisted the Knothole Freedom Fighters and the Chaotix in their battle to regain the Sword and Crown of Acorns. Some time later, Saffron was amongst the majority of the Mobians captured by the Egg Fleet during the destruction of Knothole and sent to the Egg Grape Chambers. After Sonic and the few other Mobians who were not captured rescued everyone and transported them all to New Mobotropolis, Saffron tried to help Charmy regain his memories, which he'd partially lost during his brief moments in the Egg Grape Chamber after it was activated. She was relieved that Charmy still remembered her. (StH: #163, #164, #175, #176, #177)
Saffron talking to Julie-Su on the communicator.
After the Enerjak ordeal, Saffron joined the Chaotix in their mission to defeat the Dark Egg Legion in New Megaopolis as well as destroy one of Eggman's communication relays. Saffron went with Charmy and Ray the Flying Squirrel to set up the explosives in the communications relay station while Sonic and the Chaotix fought the Dark Egg Legion and kept them preoccupied. During this mission she kept in contact with Julie-Su and soon found herself contacting the Chaotix when the Dark Egg Legion's retreat lead them right back to the tower. After the Dark Egg Legion was again distracted by the rest of the Chaotix, Saffron detonated the bombs, destroying the relay station. (StH: #189, #190)
Saffron & Charmy place mines on the Egg Pheonix.
Weeks later, Saffron played a key part in the final push against the Eggman Empire. First, she and the rest of the Chaotix flanked the Dark Egg Legion and forced them to retreat. Following this, she, Charmy and Ray managed to get onto the Egg Phoenix when its flames went out and plant Tails' Neutralizing Mines on its hull, thus enabling Tails to disable it and causing it to crash. Later, during the fight in the Eggdome, Saffron, with the help of Charmy and Ray, managed to save Espio and Mighty who were pinned by laser-fire. After Mighty and Bunnie finished beating down the barricade, Saffron and the groups went in to find that Eggman was defeated. She and Charmy hugged as they all headed back to New Mobotropolis to celebrate. (StH: #198, #199, #200)
Afterwards, Saffron and Charmy went to find more of their people, and thus were absent as the rest of their teammates engaged the Downunda chapter of the Dark Egg Legion and Dr. Finitevus alongside the Downunda Freedom Fighters. Later, after the Iron Dominion had been defeated, the two returned to Angel Island to meet with the other Chaotix and to hear the confessions of Espio, who had briefly left the group to serve the Dominion. After learning that Espio had been sent to observe Knuckles and that he knew Vector was originally from Downunda, Charmy sought to be included. After trading a glance with Saffron, Espio attempted to explain to Charmy what had happened to him before his exposure to the Egg Grapes. Charmy dismissed the knowledge due to having no memory, and Saffron remarked that perhaps Charmy was not yet ready to accept Espio's news. (StH: #212, SU: #11)
Imprisoned
Some time later, Knuckles received a message from Remington stating that Albion and the rest of the Echidnas were under attack by Lien-Da and the Dark Egg Legion. Saffron and Julie-Su remained behind to guard the Master Emerald, but unfortunately both soon were ambushed by Thrash the Devil and were trapped in an unknown location by his Super-charged Warp Ring. Charmy had left with Vector and Espio to look for Mighty and Ray, and Espio had promised Saffron that he would keep him safe. (StH: #244, SU: #46)
Personality
Saffron is a bit girly and started out being slightly naive (as shown when Nack the Weasel describes a malfunctioning vehicle and she thinks he's referring to an injured creature) but despite this, she's extremely brave and supportive, especially of Charmy. Though sometimes easily upset, she shows great loyalty and devotion and does not easily back down from a dangerous situation despite her inexperience. She gained more of an adventurous spirit after being told of Charmy's adventures, and became willing to accompany him into danger even before joining the Chaotix.
Romance
Charmy Bee
Saffron and Charmy are not currently a married couple. While Charmy was seemingly annoyed by her when he fled his home, not long after his return his friends on Angel Island received a letter announcing their engagement. The Golden Hive Colony was presumably destroyed before they could be wed, but the two remain almost inseparable companions. Their bond is incredibly strong, having been one of the few memories to survive at least somewhat intact after Charmy's time in the Egg Grapes.
Appearance
Saffron’s design has been highly inconsistent in the past. In her first appearance, she had long, flowing hair (blue in a flashback, orange in the present), an orange-red face, yellow antennae and wore an elegant gown (white in flashback, green in the present) with simple white gloves. When she next appeared, writer/artist Ken Penders depicted her with shorter brown hair and her face, antennae and body were now pink; she wore a tunic-like dress with a cape, gloves and boots, all in purple.
Artist Jon Gray attempted to solidify the character’s portrayal with a drastic redesign that’s largely been maintained since; Saffron is now yellow with blond hair (the front lifted into a high, curled bang) and blue eyes; she wears a brown bomber jacket with pale yellow cuffs, a short pink dress (with flowers on the hem), pink shoes (with yellow cuffs and pompoms) and gloves similar to those worn by Charmy. She was also given a necklace or choker adorned with a bee emblem just like that on Charmy’s vest, but this (as well as some other details) are often forgotten by other artists. Her hair’s length and shape change somewhat from artist to artist; similarly, her clothing is often miscolored (yellow dress, red shoes and jacket).
Background Information
- Saffron is sometimes accompanied by a Chao-like plushie similar to a Nightopian, an obvious reference to the game NiGHTS into Dreams.
- Saffron is named after the saffron crocus flower; however, some early appearances had her named spelled "Safron."
- Saffron was originally slated to be killed off in the "Return to Angel Island" arc, due to being utterly useless in her initial appearances, but at the last minute, the writers decided to keep her alive. (1)
- Saffron is the only non-Echidna to have been banished by Thrash. No in-story explanation has been given for this action, although like most of the Archie exclusive Echidna characters she was created by Ken Penders.
- According to Ian Flynn's wife and Off-Panel colourist Aleah Baker, had Saffron made her intended appearance in the "Endangered Species" arc, she would've debuted a redesign. Ideas for this included:
- Changing her eyes to pink or green due to the abundance of blue-eyed characters-this became less of an issue due to changes to Team Chaotix
- Her shoes and dress becoming yellow-green to differentiate her from Julie-Su's coloration with Jonathan Gray's pom poms added to the shoes and a trim on the dress. Baker also liked the idea of putting polka dots on the dress but had to take into account the difficulty of drawing the dress differently in various panels and keeping track of the pattern.
- Her jacket sleeves being rolled up and the jacket itself being zipped to create more similarity to Charmy's vest, with a flower or Bee design on the back.
- A finalized design in which her head was yellow and her hair was done up in a bob-cut, with a pattern of short yellow and black stripes intended to resemble leggings or kneesocks.
- And an old-fashioned radio headset. [1]