Time Eater

The Time Eater is one of the main antagonists in the 2011 videogame Sonic Generations.

History
The Time Eater is first seen in Green Hill, trapping it in the White Zone as Classic Sonic looks on. It later travels to Sonic's birthday party and abducts him and his friends.

After the Death Egg Robot is defeated, the Time Eater shows up and abducts Dr. Robotnik. It is later revealed to be susceptible to the Chaos Emeralds after Perfect Chaos is defeated. The Time Eater is also seen abducting the modern Eggman after the Egg Dragoon's defeat. The Sonics collect all the Chaos Emeralds and confront the Time Eater, where it is revealed that both Eggmen are behind the plot all along.

Modern Eggman reveals that after the events of Sonic Colors, he found the primordial form of the Time Eater. He realized its powers and decided to use them to undo his past defeats. Though he was able to somehow convert the beast into a cyborg, it was incomplete, so he abducted his younger self (as he states, he needed someone as smart as he was, and the only person that smart was himself).

The Eggmen nearly kill both Sonics, but the latter's friends show up and cheer them to fight. The Sonics then enter their super forms and battle the Time Eater, emerging victorious.

Appearances
The Time Eater has appeared in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series by Archie Comics and its spin-offs.

The Time Eater's first appearance was in "Sonic the Hedgehog #230" as part of the comic's adaptation of Sonic Generations. Following the Sonic Generations plot, the Time Eater appeared at Sonic's birthday party, where it kidnapped Sonic's friends, knocked Sonic out and send him to the White Space. Since the setting here was set in another Zone, the events did not completely happen in the comic's main timeline.

The Time Eater made an appearance in Sonic & Mega Man: Worlds Collide comics. It was brought into the reality of Mobius Prime after the Prime Zone had its timeline altered by Dr. Eggman and Dr. Wily's Genesis Wave. However, the Time Eater was stopped by Sonic at some point in this new reality's past. Dr. Light later brought up the Time Eater to Dr. Eggman in an attempt to state Eggman's experiences about tampering with forces that was beyond his control.

Trivia

 * He is the only Sonic villain alongside Infinite who did not betray Eggman.
 * He was originally a speaking character and was to be voiced by Tim Curry, but it was scrapped.
 * This is the only original boss in Sonic Generations since the rest are all but re-imaginings of previous bosses.
 * This is to date the only time Doctor Eggman has uncovered a mysterious creature that has not later grown out of his control and/or betrayed him.
 * The scene in the boss trailer showing the Time Eater confronting the two Sonics and two Tails in Green Hill never happens in the game.
 * In the console version, the Time Eater has four arms and three sets of wings, but in the handheld version, he has two arms and one set of wings.
 * This is similar to the Time Eater in the console version after it takes two hits.
 * In the console version, when using Modern Super Sonic, the fight takes place inside the wormhole, and Classic Sonic fights outside. In the 3DS version, the roles are reversed; Modern Sonic fights it outside and Classic Sonic fights inside.
 * The Time Eater bears a heavy resemblance to the Shadow Blot from the game Epic Mickey. They both act as the main antagonist and final boss of the game and they are also consuming the world where the game takes place. He also bears resemblance to Diabound Kernel from the Yu-Gi-Oh series, as both act as guardians for their masters, as well as sharing the same name as the card Time Eater.
 * Every time the Time Eater is damaged, the clock and the numerous cogs behind it begin to crumble and look distorted.
 * The Time Eater bears resemblance to another time-weaving supernatural entity Solaris in the way that their weak point is a sphere at the center of its body, they can manipulate time, they are destroying the timeline, and they are so powerful that it took the effort of multiple super-powered characters to defeat.
 * According to Ian Flynn's theory, he believes that the Time Eater may actually be the left over matter of Mephiles the Dark.
 * The Time Eater's face looks very similar to the Violet Void's.
 * The two Super Sonics destroyed the Time Eater in a similar way that Super Sonic and Burning Blaze finished off the Egg Salamander in Sonic Rush.
 * In the 3DS version they even switch of like this fight as well with one Sonic handling their respective Eggman.
 * The Time Eater is one of the few final bosses who have been fought by more than one super character. the other ones that have this trait are Solaris, the Final Hazard, the Egg Salamander, and the Egg Wizard.
 * In the Nintendo 3DS version of the fight, only one of the two Eggmans is controlling the Time Eater while its facing one of the Sonics, as one of them says "Leave this one to me!" after the Time Eater gets hit. This is clearly a reference to the final boss of Sonic Rush.
 * During the boss battle, the player can see many remains and chunks from the previous levels floating around the main area where the Time Eater is fought, such as pieces of land from Green Hill and cars and the G.U.N. truck from City Escape. While they do not deal damage when touched, they can get in both Super Sonics' way during a boost and block them.
 * Interestingly, the types of debris that are shown alternate between the flashes of light during the battle: As the fight starts, totem poles and chunks of grass from Green Hill, pieces of pipes, silos of chemical substances and cranes from Chemical Plant and towers and warp points Sky Sanctuary are seen. after the first flash of light, cars and minibuses from Speed Highway, and the truck from City Escape may be seen. Then, after the next flash of light, destroyed cars from Crisis City, the clock tower from Rooftop Run and ground chunks and machinery from Planet Wisp float around. Other than the fact that nothing is there from Seaside Hill, the debris shown goes from the Classic Era, to the Dreamcast Era, to the Modern Era.
 * In this boss fight, Omochao does not give the player tips. Instead, Sonic's friends give hints during the fight.
 * Interestingly, this is the only stage in the game where Classic Sonic can be used in 3D. While Modern Sonic, Classic Sonic flies next to you and you can shoot him in front of you. However, if you switch to Classic Sonic, you fly out of the main area and turn to a 2D perspective.
 * In both versions of the fight, a homing attack icon appears when you get close to the core. Strangely, in the console version, you can not use a homing attack on the Time Eater, while you can in the 3DS Version.
 * On the final strike against the Time Eater, if the player releases LB and RB/L1 and R1 while holding them, the music will return back to the battle of the Time Battle and eventually the player is greeted to face the final strike again soon.
 * When finishing off the Time Eater with Classic Sonic (2D), the player can notice that the attack is simply a wall of fire as opposed to a large ball of fire when finishing with Modern Sonic (3D).
 * The words sung in the Modern version of the Time Eater's battle music are "Dominus Tempus", roughly translated from Latin to "Master of Time"; fitting the Time Eater's role in the game.