Analysis of Sonichu 12-9
Considering Chris's looming detachment from reality at the time, and that the source material is based on a very niche franchise, issue 12-9—at least, until the follow up—was perhaps the most head-scratching of the comic book series. Henceforth, the following article will attempt to simplify Chris's story for puzzled readers.
Story
The story is broken into four acts:
- Act 1: Night Star introduction and slice of life story
- Act 2: Relationship with Diamond Melody
- Act 3: Relationship with Kun
T'NyugetHanhphuc and Rei Ryhts Attack - Act 4: The Cutie Map Mission
Setting
There are multiple worlds and dimensions featured in the comic. As stated in the opening disclaimer, Chris believes that all events in the comics actually happened, so writes his comic as if they were a recollection of past events.
For the most part, the story takes place in Dimension C-197 – the dimension where fictional franchises all co-exist. Within this dimension—or as the comic permits it—exist multiple separate worlds that can be traversed via portals by exceptional characters/Mary Sues. These include:
- CWCville – home of Sonichu, Rosechu and most characters since Sonichu #0
- Equestria – home of all the characters from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
- Canterlot High School – home of all the characters from the My Little Pony: Equestria Girls spinoff
By following the My Little Pony rules, Chris has correctly stated that pony characters and their human equivalent characters exist in Equestria and the Canterlot High world, respectively.
In the MLP spinoffs, when a pony crosses into the human world, they transform against their will into a human and vice versa; thus, two versions of one character may be present in one universe. Regardless of the fact that the transformation would occur by default, Chris remarks on multiple occasions that Night Star uses her abilities to transform herself and any accompanying characters.[1][2] This would therefore render the newly introduced Konami Code plot device—which characters can use to prevent unwanted transformations—unnecessary.
Our universe is also portrayed (later dubbed Dimension 1218). 1218 is represented in any scene when real life Chris is communicating to C-197 through a portal. The aforementioned transformation rules also apply here.
Characters
Night Star
- Main article: Night Star
The primary protagonist of #12-9, Night Star is Equestria's manifestation of Chris (otherwise known as a ponysona in the brony community). Bearing in mind that they are separate entities, Night Star explicitly states that she and real life Chris are linked psychically, and share some similar life events. Night Star engages in her own Love Quest, firstly with Diamond Melody (Act 2) and with Kun T'Nyuget (Act 3 onwards).
In Equestria, she writes the infamous comic book series, with the all humans presumably replaced by horses. Despite her mundane role as a freelance comic book writer in the society, Night Star possesses abilities comparable to that of the royalty in the source material; she is virtually flawless and immensely overpowered. A notable ability of hers is that she can transform at her own will between several forms, including Electric Hedgehog Pokémon, Night Star Rosechu, because it all has to tie-in somewhere.[3][4]
Night Star's origins date back to early 2017. Both her name and cutie mark were appropriated from quizzes which generated results based on user answers. Chris revealed Night Star on 3 June 2017 and the character was used to bind Chris to My Little Pony henceforth.[5]
Christine Doll
- Main article: Christine Doll#In the comic
Perhaps one of the most perplexing entries in the canon, "Miss Christine Night Weston Star Chandler" (or the Christine Doll for for the sake of simplicity) is the Canterlot High School version of Chris, or Night Star's human counterpart. She is also the secondary protagonist of this comic.
The comic describes Christine Doll is described as a "prototypical friend", as Chris based her yellow-skinned design on his previous MLP self-insert of the same name, created no later than August 2016.[6] The original doll was a custom, using pieces from other character dolls such as Vinyl Scratch's skirt/cutie mark.
In Act 1, upon entry into Canterlot High School, Night Star slaps a cutie mark on Christine Doll's thigh, which activates a transformation in her. This instantly adjusts her appearance to match that of her Equestria counterpart, and brings her into "mental sync". Behind the scenes, having created an identical copy of Night Star, Chris was forced to change the color of the Doll's skirt for the duration of her appearance. Chris likely went through with the transformation scene as a way of Canterlot Chris discovering her true self, but paying homage to the previously favored design.
Chris may have taken inspiration from My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Friendship Games, which ditches the major ties to the Pony world and introduces a previously unseen human equivalent of a major character who is drastically different to the character viewers are familiar with. However, instead of evolving and adapting his character through an insightful story arc to create a substitution character, Chris decided to skip such complexity.
Real Chris
- Main article: Christian Weston Chandler
The doll-copulating, PlayStation-humping, semen-freezing Chris we know in real life literally appears in the comic. He is not to be confused with the Mary Sue Chris we've seen since the first comic.
Chris achieved inserting himself into his comic by pasting selfies onto the comic pages and adding text boxes/visual effects around them. The comic attempts to distinguish IRL Chris from Comic Chris by replacing the Proxima Nova font with part of Chris' signature when anyone refers to him.
As if the issue wasn't complicated enough to understand, Chris concludes the issue with himself crossing into Equestria and turning into an alicorn – which is basically a Night Star lookalike with pegasus wings. The final page sees Chris and Night Star break the fourth wall to say goodbye to the reader. In the Friendship is Magic series, alicorns are a species normally reserved for elite characters such as the princesses, or in fan productions, for important figures behind the show such as creator Lauren Faust. Consequently, Chris' decision to present himself as an alicorn is arguably the brony equivalent of sacrilegious.
Comic Chris
- Main article: Christian Weston Chandler (comic character)
The father of Sonichu and the CWCville OG, Comic Chris was devised as an attractive, fit, articulate character for Chris to self-insert himself; nonetheless, he does not appear in this issue, other than a small number of references.
Jessica Quinn counterparts
In the midst of drawing issue 12-9, Chris started his relationship with Jessica Quinn, which lasted from September to October 2017. Having previously used this approach as a legit romantic gesture, Chris immortalized his sweetheart in his comic book series.
Three separate counterparts of Jessica are featured in #12-9:
- Jessica herself – real life
sweethearttroll (briefly at the end of Act 2) - Equestria Diamond Melody
- Canterlot High Diamond Melody
In chronological order:
Act 2 depicts Night Star and Equestria Diamond Melody's relationship. The relationship is ultimately severed due to a meta reason: Chris shoehorns into the comic that Jessica was a troll, which compels the fictional Diamond Melody to move away from any location where the plot may visit because of the shame of being a universe counterpart to a kinky troll.
In Act 1—which actually succeeds 2—the plot takes a slight detour when Night Star directs her human counterpart to the Canterlot High Diamond Melody. Night Star is familiar with Diamond Melody due to their previous relationship. Thus, she understands that Christine Doll and human Diamond Melody have an equal opportunity to become sweethearts. Unlike the pony versions, the human couple's fate is left unknown.
