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Then and now: The Character Development Topic #1 - Sonic


Kamakai

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(Sorry if the images are small) Sonic and his friends have always had some sort of characteristics to them. This thread is for looking at how they have evolved and changed from their debut, and who they are now.

 

 

  SONIC

 

 

 

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Sonic is definitely a character. Right from the beginning, and across all regions, he had attitude. The level of attitude varies, but it's there. Sonic established himself as the speedy, smart, and cocky mascot, but his heart was golden. He was able to let you know what he was thinking, without even talking.

 

Over the years, Sonic has roughened out the edges, somewhat. He isn't quite as rude, but his attitude and get it done personality are still here and working. He is more wisecracking, and with the new addition of a voice, he is able to let you know exactly what he is thinking.

 

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Throughout the Dreamcast era, Sonic's attitude was at max. He was snarky, cool, and he knew it. Despite this, he still got his shit together when the time called for it, such as the fight with the Final Hazard. His coolness was at max, and Sonic knew he was hot suff, and had a blast showing it off, evident in the artwork for this era.

 

 

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In the more modern years, Sonic has mellowed out somewhat.He has become not exactly polite, but slightly less cocky and arrogant. He is more caring, and has roughened out the edges in his personality somewhat, especially shown by his interactions with Chip in Unleashed and Tails in Colours. Despite this, he has many a snarky comment to share with the world, and stupid jokes to crack. He is still Sonic. What do you think?

How has Sonic changed?

Edited by Kamakai
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Interesting idea.

 

I'd say Sonic definitely shows some character in the earlier series. Just from his sprite animations you can see his personality; tapping his foot, looking at his watch in Sonic 1/2 to pointing at the player in Sonic 3/& Knuckles and telling them to get a move on! He's definitely an impatient hog!

 

These days of course it's much easier to display personality with voice acting, but still the way he is posed seems to matter. For example he's usually positioned in front of other characters when threatened e.g both Tailses when being threatened in Generations. Also the art style around SA1 and SA2 still show the kind of "hey guys, look at me!" attitude. These days his poses are more about demonstrating action rather than what Sonic's attitude is, if you ask me...

Edited by MamboCat
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...I'll be blunt, Sonic's probably changed the least throughout the entire series. He started off as the cocky, impulsive show off with a heart of gold....and that's pretty much what's he's been throughout. He doesn't really learn anything new, change his outlook, or anything.

 

That's not to say he isn't rounded, or have any bit of depth just that he's not a very dynamic character.

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Sonic usually brings out character development in others. It's a surprise he didn't do the same for himself in Generations!

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Maybe it's just me, but my personal feeling is that Sonic right now is being heavily restricted by both the people who write his character and the people who watch/see/hear his character in action. Sonic could have the potential to be a dynamic character, but it seems like even just changing his character to a small degree would make people angry in some form or fashion. Make him more of a jerk? NO WE MUSN'T, He's supposed to be heroic and selfless! Make him more heroic? NO! He's boring now!

 

Honestly, if he were allowed more flexibility, he'd frankly be A LOT more interesting as a character. Right now, he's really flat by comparison (although there are worse, but that's another story) and needs something to spice him up.

Edited by 743-E.D. Missile
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I'd almost call Sonic's character a regression, since he went from showing so much personality through sprites to barely showing any with full voice acting outside of Colors and the storybook games. He's pretty boring these days.

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Oh Sonic has a personality. He's had some pretty cool development and games like Unleashed and the two Storybooks monopolized on his flaws, quirks and positivities. But now that the storylines are becoming so trite and uneventful, opportunities are hardly provided for Sonic to develop and show the finer details of his character. They're just one-dimensional plots that hardly facilitate any development or interesting traits in the interests of placing him into scenario's with one or two tones or because he's been sidelined; "Comedy" (Colours) and "Seriousness"/Being sidelined by other characters ('06) or fumbled ball concerning plot points with potential (Unleashed)

 

Sonic is not intrinsically a boring character. Sonic is only boring because more often than not, the stories don't give gravity or focus to the traits that make him so interesting. He's a character with a ton of potential that has never been better realized than in the Storybook games.

Edited by Vertekins
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The thing is character portrayals tend to differ somewhat from game to game, and are written they way they are due to the episodic nature of the series, so characters don't really 'change' in the development sense, they change in the 'lets portray the character this way this time' sense.

Nonetheless I  gotten the impression Sonic was a bit more jerkish, concerned with what was hip and with more of a gotta-go-fast take on things in ye olde days, in contrast to a more laid back and down to Earth with his own kind of cool rather than just doing the hip-thing-of-the moment,*  not more arrogant though,  his most recent portrayals ;Colors, Generations are his most arrogant, and SATBK doesn't follow far behind.

 

 

*Though this may be due to the fact US marketing presented him as a cliche speedster who happened to always be doing the hip-thing-of-the-moment, is that even remotely considerable as a source? Though Sonic's portrayal in Sonic Adventure seems to have caught the tail-end of this where it was 'petering out' somewhat, so was possibly more pervasive than I give credit for.

Edited by Amomynous
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The problem is, as a couple people have said, is that the storylines lately don't always tend to give much of an option for character development with how they are written. Sonic Generations could have posed for some decent development for Sonic if it had been written better, but alas, that was not the case. Thank goodness games like Unleashed and Black Knight exist. The former gave Sonic some nice character development, while the latter I felt showcased his personality and character the best in the series.

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  • 1 month later...

TAILS

 

Ah Tails, the faithful flying fox boy. He's gone from being an annoying potential stalker to a genius mechanic. let's take a look at him, shall we?

 

 

CLASSIC

 

 

 

 

It was at this point in Tails' character development that he tended to follow Sonic around and not really doing anything useful. He was cute, unsure and he looked at Sonic as a role model and thought, "I wanna fly high be like him." He would go on to invent the Sea Fox, and various other pieces of equipment. His character would be explored a lot more in things like the OVA and SatAM, but I'm sticking to the games here.

 

 

 

 

DREAMCAST

 

 

 

In my opinion, this is by far the best part of Tails' characterization. (Barring Colours, of course.) He realizes he can't be exactly like Sonic, and thus sets out to find himself, eventually thwarting one of Eggman's schemes by himself. How do you say character growth? He retains his naivety (exploited by Eggman in Sa2) and cuteness, but becomes a lot more independent as a whole.

 

..

 

Until Heroes, at which point he is reduced to a useless, whiny little brat who sound like he has a cold constantly needs desperately to go through puberty. But whatever.

 

 

MODERN

 

 

 

 

*pretends 06 doesn't exist because Tails is basically an avatar in that game*

 

Ahem.

 

It's at this point Tails begins to become a bit of a smartass, and still retains his cuteness and above average intelligence. He makes smart comments to Sonic, and lets him know when he's being weird. Bu he's still the innocent, naïve fox we all  love.

 

 

 

 

  

 

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While I'm certainly not close-minded to the idea of Sonic having some character development, I think tsz11 said it best.  His purpose is to bring out character development, not experience it himself.  That may make him a rather boring character, but I rather like that idea, actually.  Again, I'm not saying he should never experience any development, because he definitely should.  But I like the idea of someone who brings out character traits in people rather than goes through them himself.

 

Amomynous makes a good point in saying that Sonic's "development" as described in the OP are more represented by the writers' decision to portray him a certain way.  I think it has a lot to do with the way "cool" has changed over the years.  I think a lot of younger players might look at a more rude and impatient Sonic and think of him more as a jerk than anything, which probably explains why he's mellow and become more nurturing and compassionate.

 

As for Tails, I want to think that maybe his development might be him growing up and maturing.  In the classic era, it was largely unscripted, so complex character development probably wouldn't have worked nearly as well.  For the sake of a satisfying plotline, let's pretend Tails Skypatrol and Tails Adventure don't exist because it sort of throws SA1's development out the window.  I love Tails' development and I can sort of relate to it.  I love that he learns a lesson that some people never learn:  To be yourself.  To build your own identity instead of modeling it after others.

 

I'm not even sure if Tails' development is intentional but I love it.

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Didn't Tails go through the same character development arc twice in SA1 and SA2?

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Didn't Tails go through the same character development arc twice in SA1 and SA2?

Not really.  Tails established his independence in SA1, but SA2 was the first time he really showed his capability.  It was the first time (aside from all the other times) that Sonic depended on Tails (to defeat Eggman while Sonic plummeted to his presumed death).  It was the first time that Sonic acknowledged him as his equal as opposed to his younger and weaker friend.

 

Tails' development in SA2 expands on his development in SA1, but it's by no means redundant

Edited by Akito
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