Popular and unpopular Sonic opinions you agree and disagree with!

[Multikaris]

I really think this franchise should wait for the 50th anniversary for another anniversary game. Given the way the "Odd Anniversary Curse" works, not to mention all the nostalgia pandering, which has turned many fans against any kind of Genesis nostalgia at all, even if it's done well, the series should avoid burnout.

[Iko]

I don't get the issue people have with Knuckles "abandonig his job".

The Master Emerald was shown being semi-sentient, suggesting Knuckles the next place where to find the shards, and having Tikal and Chaos inside.

So, it's possible that Knuckles has a way to know when the Master Emerald is in danger even if he's not on Angel Island; maybe he can communicate with it somehow; or maybe there's a barrier, a seal, or something.

Yeah, this is not explicitly said in the games, though I see no issues with them leaving some things to the player's imagination.

It's not like a plothole... like, Blaze is from the future but she's also from a different dimension in the present (there might be a lore explanation for this too but it's very complex and unintuitive); it's something simpler such as they just didn't explain it but they don't necessarily need to, and if they want they can retroactively explain it in the future.

At least, IMO.

[Splash the Otter]

19 minutes ago, Iko said:

I don't get the issue people have with Knuckles "abandonig his job".

The Master Emerald was shown being semi-sentient, suggesting Knuckles the next place where to find the shards, and having Tikal and Chaos inside.

So, it's possible that Knuckles has a way to know when the Master Emerald is in danger even if he's not on Angel Island; maybe he can communicate with it somehow; or maybe there's a barrier, a seal, or something.

Yeah, this is not explicitly said in the games, though I see no issues with them leaving some things to the player's imagination.

It's not like a plothole... like, Blaze is from the future but she's also from a different dimension in the present (there might be a lore explanation for this too but it's very complex and unintuitive); it's something simpler such as they just didn't explain it but they don't necessarily need to, and if they want they can retroactively explain it in the future.

At least, IMO.

As I've said before, Knuckles isn't the Master Emerald's only line of defense. There's also the Hidden Palace and Chaos.

[Multikaris]

3 hours ago, Splash the Otter said:

As I've said before, Knuckles isn't the Master Emerald's only line of defense. There's also the Hidden Palace and Chaos.

And also Chaos Angel, Lava Reef, and Red Mountain. 

[Rowl]

Unpopular opinion: I don't think that Blaze is that good of a character. She isn't awful by any means, but she isn't this holly character in my eyes fans claim she is. She is okay at best. She kinda needs more screentime to prove herself, but so far she is nothing more than just a purple cat that runs really fast. 

[StaticMania]

What does she need to prove?

People just like her design and female capableness.

[Skull Leader]

4 hours ago, Rowl said:

Unpopular opinion: I don't think that Blaze is that good of a character. She isn't awful by any means, but she isn't this holly character in my eyes fans claim she is. She is okay at best. She kinda needs more screentime to prove herself, but so far she is nothing more than just a purple cat that runs really fast. 

I think Blaze is OK. I do like her visual design a lot, though I'm not really that interested in her being a strong action girl since I feel it's something that doesn't really offer anything unique that some of the male characters already do, like being badass and having a superform. Instead, it's the potential of exploring the inner side of her character, as I believe that the action stuff she does is not there to be the focus, but rather, to show that behind all of that lies a girl who struggles with the pressure of living up to a legacy, who supresses her own emotions to appear tough, yet is quick to give in to them when provoked, especially to anger (which bad guys can take advantage of) and probably feels hurt because she sometimes has to be mean to those she wants to protect and cares for, paying the price of being isolated and as a result of that, she doesn't have many friends. She's trapped between resenting the toll of her duty, but also is very dedicated to it and stubborn to a fault, wanting to carry all the weight by herself.

I don't think either that she's the best girl character... though IMO she's just as good as Amy and Rouge, given that the three of them are essentially the main girls of the franchise and the ones who have gotten the most carefully conceived personalities. However, Blaze is more the type of character you get to know by her reactions and needs to have a contrasting character to help unveiling those aspects she tries to hide.

[Wraith]

9 hours ago, Rowl said:

Unpopular opinion: I don't think that Blaze is that good of a character. She isn't awful by any means, but she isn't this holly character in my eyes fans claim she is. She is okay at best. She kinda needs more screentime to prove herself, but so far she is nothing more than just a purple cat that runs really fast. 

She's in a weird place for me where she's probably my favorite of the bunch or close to it but she's also a tad overrated. Any of her more blatant flaws like her convoluted back story and lack of agency in the 3D games are instead back loaded onto Silver and framed as "Silver ruined Blaze" so she gets off scott free. I think the arc they put in place for her in the rush games is great, but on the whole the Rush games are a little on the simple side. It might leave you wanting a bit more. On the whole she's kind of reserved in a way that makes her come off as dull, but the fun comes from making her break character.

It might sound like I'm asking for a bit much from a DS game but they had a fair amount of dialogue for what they were iirc so it always felt like a little more could be done with her and the other elements those games produced. 

[StaticMania]

She's only in Nex Gen and Generations.

Nobody has any agency in Generations, so that only leaves Nex Gen...where she's paired with Silver.

So what really happens after realizing that?

More could be done with her character, they just won't bring her back in anything relevant.

[Wraith]

2 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

She's only in Nex Gen and Generations.

Nobody has any agency in Generations, so that only leaves Nex Gen...where she's paired with Silver.

So what really happens after realizing that?

I did I think she's a tad overrated so none of these problems break the character for me. It just bothers me that Blaze essentially only exists as a character in the Rush games and is just a background filler otherwise. It's not technically the character's fault, but it means her rep in some of the more widely known games is underwhelming and that's gonna hurt how people see her.

[Rowl]

12 hours ago, StaticMania said:

People just like her design and female capableness.

Been female and having a good design isn't enough for me. If this is the case, then we can just stuff her to a trophy and put her in Eggman study room. No, she needs to prove herself as a character much more. Like for example, she is a princess, but we haven't seen her real kingdom yet, or her castle, servants etc. or her interactions with other characters like with Shadow, Team Chaotix, Amy etc.

They haven't used her much so far. Only in one mainline game, which she doesn't do anything to further the story, and two spinoff games, which one of them not many people have played. 

[Iko]

10 hours ago, Rowl said:

Been female and having a good design isn't enough for me. If this is the case, then we can just stuff her to a trophy and put her in Eggman study room. No, she needs to prove herself as a character much more. Like for example, she is a princess, but we haven't seen her real kingdom yet, or her castle, servants etc. or her interactions with other characters like with Shadow, Team Chaotix, Amy etc.

They haven't used her much so far. Only in one mainline game, which she doesn't do anything to further the story, and two spinoff games, which one of them not many people have played. 

I like Blaze, but I admit that I like her mostly because of her design.

I think her interaction with Cream in Sonic Rush was nice, especially near the end of the game... I have the impression that they wanted to show how despite the cold personality, she has a very strong "maternal instinct" (i'm not sure if it's the best term to use but still), in fact she didn't just save Cream from Eggman, she completely gave up on the cold attitude and has exposed her deep bond she has developed for the little rabbit through their adventure, acting like a mother to her (way more than Vanilla has ever done).

The thing that bugs me is that this is not completely an original concept, in fact it reminds me of the relationship between Shadow and Maria. So, I like blaze, but at the same time I think that she's a bit too similar to Shadow, a female Shadow. Though, in my opinion, Blaze is way better executed and without the emo side (plus she doesn't work for a realistic government/army of realistic human people who are unfitting in the franchise). A common thing between the characters is the completely f***ed up backstory though.

Blaze is one of my favorite characters and in a similar way as Shadow was until they brought him back after Adventure 2 (ruining him and his epic sacrifice scene). The only things that keeps her from being my most favorite of all are the similarities with Shadow (and a bit of Knuckles) that make her not completely original, and the gameplay (she's just Sonic and her main gameplay trait is the boost).

[DabigRG]

23 hours ago, Rowl said:

Unpopular opinion: I don't think that Blaze is that good of a character. She isn't awful by any means, but she isn't this holly character in my eyes fans claim she is. She is okay at best. She kinda needs more screentime to prove herself, but so far she is nothing more than just a purple cat that runs really fast. 

I'd say she does mostly fall into the Okay category, though I do want to see more done with her character's environment.

[Rowl]

Blaze was kinda a mix of all popular main characters at the time. She is super fast like Sonic, her arch enemy is also a version of Dr. Eggman, has a super form like Sonic and also her own smart sidekick that can build machines in Marine, she is very mature like Shadow and has a bit of an edgy vibe on her and she also has kinda the same job like Knuckles, by guardian some powerful gems.

Also, she has the word princess in her title, which always sells, is a powerful, strong woman and she is a cat, which, well, also sells. She is kinda the most ultimate character to sell a game. I wonder if 06 kinda destroy her reputation a bit. Because after that game Sega never really tried anything with her again. 

[DabigRG]

10 minutes ago, Rowl said:

Blaze was kinda a mix of all popular main characters at the time. She is super fast like Sonic, her arch enemy is also a version of Dr. Eggman, has a super form like Sonic and also her own smart sidekick that can build machines in Marine, she is very mature like Shadow and has a bit of an edgy vibe on her and she also has kinda the same job like Knuckles, by guardian some powerful gems.

Uh, you're not counting Tails or Amy?

 

But yeah, she is definitely a combo. 

10 minutes ago, Rowl said:

 

Also, she as the name princess in her title, which always sells, is a powerful, strong woman and she is a cat, which, well, also sells. She is kinda the most ultimate character to sell a game. I wonder if 06 kinda destroy her reputation a bit. Because after this game Sega never really tried anything with her again. 

I'm not sure why she was even in that game, beyond maybe that canceled sequel/DLC.

[Skull Leader]

16 hours ago, Rowl said:

Been female and having a good design isn't enough for me. If this is the case, then we can just stuff her to a trophy and put her in Eggman study room. No, she needs to prove herself as a character much more. Like for example, she is a princess, but we haven't seen her real kingdom yet, or her castle, servants etc. or her interactions with other characters like with Shadow, Team Chaotix, Amy etc.

They haven't used her much so far. Only in one mainline game, which she doesn't do anything to further the story, and two spinoff games, which one of them not many people have played. 

I think doing stuff like showing the Sol dimension has more to do with world-building rather than with developing Blaze.

I always thought that if you're gonna have a female character, it's because they can do things unique to them, like how Amy displays a motherly compassion or Rouge plays her charm to get what she wants. With Blaze, I think it's her trying to play tough at the expense of suppressing some of her emotions, which she kind of mentions in the first Rush game upon watching Amy expressing them without holding back. This is why I really wish they could interact more as Amy (*incoming opinion*) is whom I think would foil Blaze the best and viceversa. Plus there is the potential of Amy putting Blaze in amusing situations where the princess' dignity is lost to comedy.

Sadly, I doubt this will ever happen in the games (maybe in the comics) because unless Sonic is involved, they won't be given any focus.

Still, I think Blaze got lucky to be introduced in an era where they still gave new characters the focus to make them shine. Nowadays, unless it's Sonic, Eggman and Tails (plus Knuckles and Shadow to a degree), there is no focus/spotlight for the others.

[DabigRG]

9 minutes ago, Skull Leader said:

I think doing stuff like showing the Sol dimension has more to do with world-building rather than with developing Blaze.

I can kinda see that. Of course, given that it's her world, it'd technically go towards learning more about what she's protecting and maybe even grew up in.

9 minutes ago, Skull Leader said:

 

I always thought that if you're gonna have a female character, it's because they can do things unique to them,

Uh... 

13 minutes ago, Skull Leader said:

Still, I think Blaze got lucky to be introduced in an era where they still gave new characters the focus to make them shine. Nowadays, unless it's Sonic, Eggman and Tails (plus Knuckles and Shadow to a degree), there is no focus/spotlight for the others.

Or if there is, it's kinda flawed/befuddling.

 

 

 

[Kuzu]

Blaze was a good character at one point, but because they have done literally nothing with her in over a decade, its harder for younger fans to understand why people like her.

 

Rush was fourteen years ago. That's a whole generation born in that time. So it's kind of weird for someone who grew up in recent periods to see one character get so much praise despite not really knowing why.

 

Its the same reason most people who grew up on the 3D games don't care for Mania; its not their childhood, so why should they care? Yet it gets such a glowing reception and that runs them the wrong way.

[DabigRG]

30 minutes ago, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

Blaze was a good character at one point, but because they have done literally nothing with her in over a decade, its harder for younger fans to understand why people like her.

 

Huh. Deja vu.

31 minutes ago, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

Its the same reason most people who grew up on the 3D games don't care for Mania; its not their childhood, so why should they care? Yet it gets such a glowing reception and that rubs them the wrong way.

Really?

[Sonic Fan J]

4 hours ago, DabigRG said:

Really?

Believe it or not but people are strangely petty this way. If something they don't like or care for is getting attention they typically want it to fail. Further, if they like an aspect of something and it doesn't get they attention they want they'll want the whole to fail just in spite. A non Sonic example would be Alisha fans with Bandai Namco's Tales of Zestiria to the point that they only cared about her as a potential love interest and don't care for her in game character arc taking her out of the party even though it is truthful to her and her goals so they reviewed bombed it on Amazon. People are astoundingly petty sometimes honestly.

[DabigRG]

49 minutes ago, Sonic Fan J said:

Believe it or not but people are strangely petty this way. If something they don't like or care for is getting attention they typically want it to fail. Further, if they like an aspect of something and it doesn't get they attention they want they'll want the whole to fail just in spite. A non Sonic example would be Alisha fans with Bandai Namco's Tales of Zestiria to the point that they only cared about her as a potential love interest and don't care for her in game character arc taking her out of the party even though it is truthful to her and her goals so they reviewed bombed it on Amazon. People are astoundingly petty sometimes honestly.

I forgot what I was talking about there and thought it was the girl character thing for a second.

But yeah. This is why we just can't have nice things.

I mean we can, but there's always those assholes trying to much it up.

[Skull Leader]

Boom Knuckles has achieved more impressive feats than his modern counterpart that it's not even funny how easy one could do one of those "virgin vs Chad" type of memes.

[Sonic Fan J]

I think I've shared this one before, but I'm still of the opinion that Eggman is not as important to the franchise as Sonic nor does Sonic need him to be an adventurer who loves adventure. I know he's the main antagonist and appreciate that, but I don't think that he is required for every adventure and is perhaps one of the reasons I enjoy Black Knight's story; Eggman has nothing to do with it yet Sonic is still able to go on an adventure and both enjoy it and be who he is all the way through.

Of course maybe I'm just a strange one in that I could be pretty happy if you just gave me a Sonic game similar to Journey where you have a big world with lots to explore and do but your primary objective is just getting from point  A to point B.

[Skull Leader]

To this very day I still think that the spindash cheapened the concept of gaining momentum in the classic games through skill as well as taking away some of the gameplay depth, and don't think that the movement was really that necessary, except for maybe a couple spots. Then again, I do think the movement is held in high regard as most oldschool fans started with the sequel Sonic 2 rather than with the very first game.

[Splash the Otter]

Sonic Forces had the best looking Egg Pawns.