There are two instances in the history of Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comics where writers had attempted to write a same-sex relationship for characters originally created for the 1993 animated series that the comic was based on.

On October 30, 2009, former writer Ken Penders revealed that he had intended for the character Rotor the Walrus to be gay, stating:


It would later be stated that Rotor's "life partner" was Cobar, an Echidna scientist who only ever appeared during the MOBIUS: 25 YEARS LATER storyline. According to technical advisor Robert Repas (speaking on behalf of Penders), Sega feared backlash over the relationship, and thus ordered him to keep the relationship low-key, only allowing subtle hints, though Penders later clarified that it was likely then-editor Justin Freddy Gabrie that he had spoken with and not Sega. At the same time, this relationship has been critcized by fans for its lack of subtextual evidence, which was not helped by Penders only revealing it years after the fact. According to later writer Ian Flynn as part of a Q&A wrap-up, Rotor and Cobar's relationship is considered a piece of behind-the-scenes trivia and is not canon to the current Sonic timeline as, according to him, there had been no canonical build-up to Rotor's sexual preference regardless of intention.

However, Flynn would be involved in the second instance of trying to write in a same-sex relationship. In the first episode of the BumbleKast from October 5, 2015, he stated:


Shortly after the comic's cancellation, Flynn would confirm that he and his wife/fellow writer Aleah Baker had written subtle details hinting at this romance into the comic. He initially described these details as "blatant", but retracted it for "subtle", implying that there were some internal/editorial considerations at play for how far they could go with the hints. During the same BumbleKast episode, he also revealed that part of the reason why Sally and Nicole's relationship was made subtle was due to potential backlash from the Sonic fandom, as Sally had been commonly depicted as Sonic's girlfriend and love interest up to that point. One of Sega's mandates for the comic near the end of its run was that game characters like Sonic were not allowed to enter serious relationships, meaning Sonic would not be allowed to commit to Sally in the comic's reboot.