The Maria Mystery: Appearance

When it comes to Maria Robotnik, questions have been left unanswered...

One of the mysteries if the most obvious, her visual look.

Appearances

Maria originated in Sonic Adventure 2, where she, a blond 12 year-old, looked similar Alice from Alice in Wonderland.

When the game was released as SA2 Battle, on Gamecube, there were some slight differences...

Maria's first look in the Archie comics was WAY off. Having brown hair and a white dress, she hardly looked like the same person.

Maria in Sonic X would be closer to the original, being nearly identical. The only main difference is the addition of shoes...SA2 Maria was barefoot.

In one of her last appearances on the show, she was also shown wearing a pink dress.

Shadow the Hedgehog's first cutscene showed some differences a returning fan might have noticed. Her dress was slightly different--no long sleeves--and her hair was shorter. She looked younger, blonder, (and thanks to more advanced technology) more realistic (not to the same point as humans in 06, though).

For a moment her hair looks longer for some reason...

Just thought that was weird.

However, in other parts of the game, her hair is it's SA2 length. Also (like in Sonic X) she now has shoes.

The Archie comics would later correct their mistake and retcon Maria's real look in. Although the style varied by artist, she looked much closer to the games.

"nearly identical to her game counterpart"

Conclusion

So what does this mean? That Maria doesn't look the same.

That's not saying much. This is a video game, and appearances change all the time (just look at Sonic). And appearing in "other media" will naturally lead to differences. I assume "brown haired" Maria was a coloring error.

But what of (at least some of this) is on purpose?

The main oddity is the Shadow the Hedgehog cutscene...Was it simply a background, in-the-real-world decision to update her look? Or was were the creators hinting that Shadow's memory was tampered with? Considering Black Doom's role and personality, the evil alien would have no trouble fooling Shadow into doing his work.

Whether a last minute change, or to cause more questions, the inconsistency remains strange.

WHAT IS THAT SHOE?!