Scratch and Grounder (Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog)

Scratch and Grounder are the secondary antagonists of the American animated series, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. They're Dr. Robotnik's dim-witted henchmen and the members of the S.S.S.S.S. Squad. They occasionally make appearances in other Sonic Media.

Scratch was voiced by Phil Hayes and Grounder was voiced by Garry Chalk.

Overall

 * 1) They along with their leader Robotnik and even the savvier Coconuts, sometimes steal the show with their failed attempts to subdue Sonic for a huge reward, which usually comes off as both, very amusing and entertaining.
 * 2) * Much to the point that Sonic himself thinks this way about them in the episode "Coachnik".
 * 3) A lot like Harry and Marv: They make a perfect relationship in crime as a henchman duo.
 * 4) * They serve as villainous comic reliefs we laugh at because of their bumbling nitwittery & fallible clumsiness, meanwhile Sonic is the cheeky, flippant, sometimes facetious yet guileful and heroic trickster that we root for. This is further exaggerated where they are portrayed as anti role models in the Sonic Sez segments compared to the more moralistic Sonic.
 * 5) * They may be two comically inefficient & easily deceived crooks, they have had their moments of imposing a credible threat towards Sonic in the show. Both of them have had their moments of showing actual skill as a part of the episode without typically screwing things up, such examples of these include episodes like "Robotnik's Rival", "MacHopper", "Lovesick Sonic" and the whole "Quest For The Chaos Emerald" saga.
 * 6) ** Likewise, they have had moments of actually spotting Sonic underneath his obvious disguises in episodes such as "Robo-Ninjas" and "Tails Prevails", and can also bring up some good points for their actions in spite of their general incompetence.
 * 7) They have shown to have good chemistry, as many episodes have shown that despite their contrasting looks and their opposed behavior, they always have each others’ backs. Mainly out of the determination and loyalty they show towards Robotnik's goal of getting rid of the hedgehog.
 * 8) These two are shown to be gods of durability (considering that these guys are robots, this is saying something).
 * 9) Their accident-prone antics pay a true homage to many classic cartoon setups with ill-starred characters that provide lots of humor in the process (e.g Sylvester, Roger Rabbit, or Wile E. Coyote as prime examples).
 * 10) Despite being robots, they sometimes portray humanlike features like producing tears, showings signs of anger, fear, or joy as emotions.
 * 11) Phil Hayes and Garry Chalk both did a good job at voicing them.
 * 12) Their character designs are iconic and appealing.
 * 13) They have provided plenty of funny moments because of their silliness, especially Scratch with his generally cheeky and jokey dialog.
 * 14) They also had spawned some memes out of their idiocy and buffoonery, such as Scratch holding his "booze" or both characters dancing in a silly 70s fashion with wearing buffoonish outfits for example.

Scratch

 * 1) Despite being an idiotic buffoon along with Grounder for comedic purposes, he can be slightly competent, alert, cooperative, and assertive with some of his plans to defeat Sonic and with decision-making, especially when following most of Robotnik's plans carefully at times, even if he generally does screw up at doing that in the very end.
 * 2) His laugh is very iconic to hear because of how unique and humorous it is.
 * 3) His voice fits his character perfectly.
 * 4) The ways his traps for catching Sonic keep backfiring on him are very funny. Especially when his fallible ego or acts of stupidity can be the result of this (e.g being easily sidetracked in a ditzy, gullible way along with Grounder in the first episode "Super Special Sonic Search & Smash Squad" and when they were paired with Coconuts in episodes such as "Trail of the Missing Tails").

Grounder

 * 1) His comedic status of being the victim of the slapstick abuse or jokes with him being ridiculed is often funny and warranted, especially when he often serves as the denser one between the two.
 * 2) * This is especially shown where he can have a cooperative attitude with making traps/etc for catching Sonic that also keep backfiring on him comically.
 * 3) Where Scratch can be imprudent or selfish, he has his moments of showing common sense while generally naive and being just as dumb.
 * 4) A lot of the gadgets, gizmos and features he keeps inside his chest compartment/drills/etc are either interesting, bizarre, comedic, and sometimes useful.

Overall

 * 1) Their backstory is not all that interesting, especially when they were essentially built on the same day for the sole purpose of capturing Sonic.
 * 2) The constant, running gag of their sheer ineptitude at their rivalry with defeating Sonic & screwing up at pretty much anything because of their idiocy, carelessness, or continual accident-proneness, can get pretty stale since it can be boring for them to lose over and overtime again.
 * 3) They can get irritating, especially when Scratch and Grounder always fall for Sonic's ridiculously obvious tricks & countless practical jokes, and they can sometimes annoy others because of their stupidity in a predictable fashion.
 * 4) * Most viewers tend to hate both characters for their nonsensically opposing arguments as well.
 * 5) * In "Momma Robotnik's Return", they both betray Robotnik, their creator and practically their father, over the despicable and overbearing Momma Robotnik.
 * 6) Their over-the-top voices and antics can come off as polarizing, especially when viewers can either find them charming or annoying by personal preference.
 * 7) They have done some mean-spirited stuff as their job title with being Robotnik's goons, examples of this include them occasionally being seen harassing random Mobian citizens for no good reason, and once they even attempted to beat up an old, anthro (and seemingly weak) crane.

Scratch

 * 1) His loyalty for Robotnik (while faithful and loyal for the most part) can be all over the place with being very inefficient or foolishly tagging along with other characters on occasion (e.g teaming up with Sonic in the episode "Blank-Headed Eagle" for stupidly believing that he was the eagle he saw on TV for whatever reason than being an oblivious fool) if a bit justified at times since Robotnik is just that ruthless (e.g Scratch being a lackey to the domineering, overconfident Grounder in the episode "Grounder The Genius" by being disloyal to Robotnik).
 * 2) His voice and his laugh usually comes off as annoying and/or badly voice acted to some.
 * 3) He can be arrogant, selfish, sometimes rude, and pretty smug. Such to the point that it can cause him backfires on his plans.
 * 4) * Likewise, he can lack some prudence and sometimes manage to make Grounder look smarter sometimes.

Grounder

 * 1) He often screws things up very easily and can be too dumb to be trusted or reliable, even more so than Scratch sometimes because of his own brand of sheer cluelessness.
 * 2) He can sometimes be abused or ridiculed too much to deserve it, despite being the dumbest yet the most naive of the two (e.g The episode "Close Encounter of the Sonic Kind" with Scratch cruelly torturing him unprovoked).
 * 3) * His overused, exaggerated yell can be quite grating to listen to (that is normally used when in a destructive situation, which can be heard in episodes such as "So-Long Sucker" for example).
 * 4) Grounder occasionally wears women's clothing to complement Scratch whenever they find it necessary to put on costumes. Which often comes off as suggestive and even weird for a kids' show (if somewhat silly in an ironic way).
 * 5) * In "Super Robotnik," when Scratch dresses up as a doctor, Grounder plays his role as a nurse, in "Zoobotnik," when Scratch serves as the best man at Robotnik's (forced) wedding, Grounder is the maid of honor, when they transform themselves into wedding cake figurines in "Hedgehog of the Hound Table," Scratch is the groom and Grounder is the bride.
 * 6) ** Kinda like The Red Guy, some parts of his design can be rather inappropriate, like having a weirdly noticeable butt in some scenes.

Trivia

 * Jim Cummings originally voiced Scratch in the pilot.
 * Scratch is often referred to as a robotic chicken, which seems like it predated a similar name from a certain show on Adult Swim.
 * Robotnik noted that Grounder is Scratch's exact twin, despite them looking nothing like each other.
 * Garry Chalk would later on voice Robotnik in Sonic Underground.
 * Scratch and Grounder were featured in Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. And were rather challenging to beat.
 * Both characters were the biggest influences with creating the ideal of Eggman's right-hand henchmen that exist to this very day, as other forms of Sonic media throughout the years tend to give Robotnik/Eggman a paired duo of dimwitted right-hand men to contrast Eggman's comedically threatening personality.