Fifty Shades of Red: The 20th Anniversary of Knuckles the Echidna

[Kiah]

Wow, has it been 20 years already?! You're making me feel old, Knux!  Happy Anniversary, Knuckles! It's a real shame to see how far he has fallen from relevance to the Sonic series. It really hurts me to see Knuckles go from iconic Classic character to the modern-day joke of the series.

 

I admit I didn't like Knuckles at first. When I first saw him back in 1994 at 10 years old in Sonic 3 when he punched Super Sonic, knocked the chaos emeralds away from him and took them with that stupid big grin on his face, I thought Knuckles was a jerk. That's probably why it took me 16 years to finally see him as an echidna as opposed to an enchilada. I admit that I wasn't interested in getting his species right due to lack of interest in the character.

 

Yeah, I wasn't feeling Knuckles at first. Thankfully my opinion of him has changed for the better.

 

I started warming up to Knuckles in Sonic & Knuckles, and I had a blast playing with him with his different skills that he had compared to Sonic such as wall-climbing and gliding. The cartoons helped a bit too. Knuckles was awesome in the OVA, the only character that was tolerable in Sonic Underground, and I actually liked him in Sonic X aside from him being hot-headed. Some 20 years later I can say that my initial negative perception of Knuckles is no longer the case, and in fact, Knuckles is right up here among my favorite Sonic characters now.

 

Of all of the Sonic characters being reduced to chatty cheerleaders, seeing Knuckles among that crowd hurts me the most. Especially when time and time again he is portrayed as incompetent and idiotic, temperamental as well as helpless. Like others said, I miss Knuckles being right along Sonic and Tails as Team Sonic. I may not be all that fond of Sonic Heroes and the Sonic Riders games, but at least those games gave us Sonic, Tails and Knuckles working together as friends and a team:

 

I really miss seeing these 3 working together. I would love to see Team Sonic playable again in the main series games.

 

Oh, and for the record, THIS is the best incarnation of Knuckles (I am really disappointed that no one else got this right at this point):

 

It's the hat. All about the hat.

 

Although I wish Knuckles was a playable character again and not portrayed as an angry idiot, I'm thankful that Knuckles is still around to a degree. He has made appearances in recent Sonic games and is a playable character in the Spinoff games and while this isn't ideal, its better than us having no Knuckles anywhere at all, as this has been the unfortunate fate of some characters in the Sonic series already. Here's to hoping in the years ahead Knuckles will be treated in a decent manner at the very least, if not better.

[Jolt_TH]

Sonikku_Kiah is right, it is all about that hat!

Knux is pretty cool, he isn't one of my favourites but I do find him an interesting character. I love his solitary and serious personality and how it directly contrasted Sonics, it made some really interesting chemistry between them in Adventure.

I really would love him to be playable again, his range of moves is really diverse and unique and I think could open up some really nice play styles. Mostly though I just wanna see him getting more screen time and respect, acting more like the old , tricky, naive knuckles rather than the dumb muscle.

[Sparky]

I want to see Knuckles get an ability where he spins his arms around like wheels. 

 

Because he did in Underground and the OVA and I'm not sure where they both got the idea from... 

[Uraraka]

Knuckles, I love you .  You are an awesome and totally rad character! (who even says rad anymore lol!)

  I love your rivalry with Sonic, and hope it continues forever. You don't always see eye to eye, and you may never understand how each other thinks, but you are always there for each other , and that is awesome!

  I think you should keep talking to Rouge too, you guys look so awesome together .  It is cute when you fight .

  I think the recent games are all from Sonic's perspective, and for some reason beyond my and your understanding, he seems to think you are stupid. I hope that changes soon, and that you get a chance to say how you feel about that

               click here to see Knuckles' feelings on the subject (tried too many times to make this Gif work!!)!

 

I couldn't help it!!

   But Knuckles, you are simply awesome , and I hope SEGA returns your honor and dignity in the games very soon. You deserve it!

 Keep up your stern Guardianship of the master Emerald too, even if others think it is totally invalid. It is a part of who you are, and a very important part of who you are to me. 

       Happy Birthday Knuckles!

 

 

  You're my hero

 

  "What about the Hedgehog?"

 

  My favorite Knuckles and Rouge scene in Sonic x

 

Live on Live Strong Knuckles

[Tani Coyote]

I like Knucklehead. Not only is he a flawed good guy who can sometimes mess things up (this is a plus for me - I don't like perfect heroes), he also has an element to him that stands out: a sense of duty. Whereas Sonic and Tails do things more because it's the right thing to do, Knuckles is honorbound by tradition to do what he does... which is why I find it sad that they kind of eliminated his role. I don't mind the Master Emerald not dominating his character, but it was kind of neat that he was sort of a self-trained warrior with clear discipline (sitting out in the rain no matter how freezing it is, etc.)... though at the same time, it's shown that he is a kid who grew up all alone and so doesn't always make the smartest choices due to lack of social interaction, never mind a temper that can break his composure.

 

I guess you could say he's something like the samurai archtype in that he brings the power, discipline, and potentially badass to anything he's thrown into. While he overlaps with Shadow in his power, his commitment to duty, and ability to act as an antagonist, he has much more of a mystique to him given his origins. Never mind the fact he's a natural creature (albeit likely with some Emerald-induced strength perks) and does what he does because of tradition and the importance of the Emerald, rather than being a biological android.

 

To recap. He's been told all his life to do things the adult way, but there are cracks in him that show he is just as much a kid as Sonic and was very likely jealous of him for actually having friends and a childhood whereas he spent all of his years alone chained to a rock.

[Irish David]

I think most people have summed up how I feel about Knuckles' current role in the franchise, I wish they would bring him in more and get him involved especially with Sonic and Tails. Again, i would love to see both him and Tails be playable in games again but we have to wait and see a out that.

 

And yes it was all about that hat in the film!! :-) and the chemistry with Rouge is great, especially that scene in Sonic X

 

Happy Birthday Knuckles, we hope to see a lot more of you in the future :-)

[Laurain905]

Happy Birthday, Knuckles!!! The Guardian of the Master Emerald.

[ElectricAngel]

Oh lord. I avoided the topic for so long thinking this was some sort of Knuckles porn fanfic. The topic name IS that misleading ya know. But since it's a Happy Birthday Knuckles thread, I must say Happy Birthday Rad Red! Knuckles is a pretty likable character. In the Archie comics that is. In the games, SEGA has just made him a gullible idiot. Seeing as this is his 20th anniversary, I hope they do at least something for this cool dude. I mean, they put Tails in Sonic 4: Episode II (at least that's what SEGA said but eh) for his 20th anniversary. I can't see why Knuckles can't get a little bit of love. And possibly change in character. I'd like to see the "true" Knuckles if you will. The strong, determined, guardian Knuckles. I think that version of him is the best. Here's to a bright future for Knuckles!

(although I highly doubt anything will happen to him because SEGA)

[VGamer]

Happy Birthday Knuckles! Always will be one of my top characters in this series, even more than Sonic really.

 

In terms of the direction I want SEGA to take the awesome Echidna in as of late, well it's mostly what other people want. I'd like the dude to get more screen time honestly, and not just that be playable and credible again! It'd be great to have Knuckles as an option to play as in future games, and have him NOT be the klutz that SEGA loves portraying him as for some reason. That being said, I don't want more treasure hunting. Why not have some sort of 3D kind of S3&K kind of game where it's just normal stages but with different story-lines? I'd love that!

[Semi-colon e]

Happy birthday Knuckles, you gullible sack of crap!

 

I wish Knuckles did anything these days.

[Sparky]

What is a Knuckles thread without his theme song?

[Chooch]

I just wanna take the time out to, well.. state the obvious.

 

I love Knuckles the Echidna. Ever since his debut he has been and always will be my absolute favorite Sonic character and my favorite fictional character in general. His design is timeless and he is easily one of if not the most interesting character in the series thanks to his connection with the Master Emerald and Chaos Emeralds. They have added unbelievable amounts of depth to world of the Sonic franchise. Without him a lot of what makes the series so appealing in the first place would be gone, really.

 

If you want a more detailed explanation then look no further than this I think most people would agree that it's a good read.

[Chauvel]

Happy birthday Knux! Sorry but I didn't bring a gift but maybe this gif will do. hur, hur, hur.
 

[Wittymations]

Yeah, I like Knuckles. I miss Knuckles. And I don't mean just being there or even being playable. I misss seeing him do his duties. At least the Master Emerald was mentioned in Heroes. These days, it's all but confirmed he isn't the guardian anymore. Today, he just seems to be a guy who's forgotten who he is and just talks big.

I like when Knuckles had a duty, a responsibility and wasn't just Tails #2. It's a shame that he's not even that.

 

Anyway, not even a Twitter post about Sonic 3 by SEGA. So, have this.

 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I'm gonna be really passionate here about Knuckles. The guy is one of my favorite characters, and I see way too much he can do. It's not just that he's strong, bullheaded, but the guy has a history and connection that I find interesting enough to explore more of. And yes, much of it involves his connection to the Master Emerald. You guys know why I make such a big fuss about Knuckles and the Master Emerald? Because I care that much. How much have I made that clear?

 

In all honesty, it was also because I was sick of the nonsensical double standard of "everyone but the Classic characters need a reason to be around because they're too complex" being thrown around and in realizing that Knuckles just happened to be the convenient Classic character that had the same restrictions as everyone else I used that to become one of the main instigators that kickstarted this very debate we've had for almost a decade. And as a result, this brought out a lot of hypocrisies betweeen the characters in arguments that you don't see very often anymore on these forums as many people stopped using their "classic" status as a free pass while holding other characters hostage to the narrative. What is Shadow or X character that I don't like doing here? I could ask you the same thing: what's Knuckles doing here? What makes him so essential?

 

Apparently no one likes it when someone else holds their favorite characters hostage like they do others. Go figure.

 

But during all this time, when we became more interested in developing characters, I've noticed just how much Knuckles could grow with just that one thing. And through that I figured it should be brought out more. Again, this was still during the time people would pull out whatever excuse they could over why a character they don't like should be around, stuff like "their story is done" "He served his purpose" "We don't need them anymore" "Their personality sucks" "they bring nothing to the series", a lot of which many of you are no stranger to. And again, use their argument against them and you see some hypocrisies and double standards, "they can still use him" "make a new story" "I like this character" "He has more to him".

 

But this is about Knuckles alone, so let's focus on him. I mean, yes, like many other characters, Knuckles has been treated like junk for a while. Even during all the debates I've been through, I've made note of how crappy he's been made use of. And throughout all of the debates I've been in, I've always made it a point to find a use for him, one that catered specifically to just him alone and made him stand out in his own unique way. Yes, it pre-dominantly involved the Master Emerald, because that was a huge thing that made him unique from someone like Sonic being a free spirit or Shadow being a science experiment. It was his own thing, and through that he could grow into something more and beyond.

 

Which is why it annoys me when people give the most generalized excuse to have him around, simply to be around, instead of a unique reason to have him involved and develop him from that, nevermind when they want to ignore or throw away all this potential or his previous development just because they want to see him. People say he should be around to help stop Eggman from taking over the world; I say X character they don't like or care about like Cream the Rabbit can help do that, leading to the above double standards and hypocrisies. People tell me that the Master Emerald and/or Angel Island is useless or irrelevant, I offer (and still counting to this day) on how to make it useful and relevant only then to be told, metaphorically speaking, "no it's useless and irrelevant, and they should keep it that way". People say they want to see Knuckles without Angel Island or the Master Emerald, which is cool, and I really wouldn't mind that. only to be told it's too hard (at best), who cares (inbetween), or read "fuck those things" in between their lines or elsewhere on the board (at worse), or for the response to be "to stop Eggman from taking over the world" like I've repeated above - which makes me wonder how hard this really is when I offer something as simple as kidnapping Knuckles to do the job. I mean, it's not like it's really that hard to do, with Sonic Team having done it in the most terrible narratives they've ever made (ShTH, because aliens were EVERYWHERE), the most barebones (Generations, because Blaze and Silver were there), or even missing out on the chance to do it (Unleashed, because the world was blown to pieces).

 

Hell, then I offer other independent like the Nocturnus tribe which don't have to involve the Master Emerald all the time. I've been critical about Chronicles for it's portrayal of Sonic, it's loose play with the gameverse, and Shade (a character I like) having very bland or even obvious dialogues. Recognizing this, I offer the idea of retooling and re-introducing them so we can avoid that nonsense. (yes, I know about the Penders BS, and I couldn't give a rat's ass right now) And so on and so forth, I've been back and forth and all around the dilemma.

 

You may call me arrogant for saying this, but it not only does it annoys me for Sonic Team to under-utilize, shoehorn, or all around butcher Knuckles as a character, but it also annoys me that I offer ideas to fix him up, to broaden his previous development and make his character and roles more long lasting and unique specifically to him and not someone like Shadow or Sonic, only for those ideas to be spat upon and devalued. I hear about how much Knuckles has brought to the series. And you know something? I want those contributions to matter even more than they did in the past.

 

I ask questions on ideas that seem to general, criticize other ideas for not having shit to do with Knuckles by himself when they can be used for anyone, offer dozens of ideas on my own - the point being that if I didn't care about Knuckles, I wouldn't be making these essays upon essays for the past several years. And I've yet to stop or shut up about it. That's why I'm always making a big deal about Knuckles and the Master Emerald together most of the time. I understand that not every idea I make is agreeable, but understand I'm not roadblocking other ideas for the hell of it - I want this character to grow on his own unique merits and strengths and stand out, not some general development that any character can do. Nothing wrong with having him connected to other characters, but if Knuckles can be around to stop Eggman, so can the whole cast.

 

Knuckles, by himself, is this character with a motherlode of utility, potential, and world-building. With other characters, he can offer unique interactions if brought together with other characters he's hardly spoken with; I'm not the only one who wants to see him and Shadow team up or duke it out, am I? And that's not saying that he's the only one capable of such things, because despite Shadow moving on from his past there's still a lot of things connected to him to explore. But like Shadow, he's one with his own self-contained world that is connected to the game's universe, but it's one that is being severely neglected. And even in cases when he gets involved without it, in many cases he's treated as a background character who hardly moves its narrative along, or is so irrelevant that it was pointless to have him in the narrative which ends up ruining him even more. I don't even want to get into him being treated as a "buttmonkey" - let's just say there's a way to be comic relief without being insulting to the character.

 

All in all, as long as I see Knuckles being handled in this way, expect me to say something in a topic about him. It's a shame that, like everything else, Sonic Team creates this playground and hardly lets us play in it anymore.

 

Happy anniversary, Knuckles. May you someday develop and grow from your former glory.

*Drinks a bottle of vodka*

[10e10]

My favorite character ever! Happy birthday Knuckles! I hope to see you restored to your old glory days.  

 

 

 

[SteffieMusings]

Happy belated birthday, Knuckles. He's actually my favourite Sonic character and he inspired me to buy the Sonic games after I played Sonic 3.

 

While I miss the days before Knuxie got Flanderized, I still enjoy his character.

 

Happy big 20, Rad Red.

[Zaysho]

I had a whole rant I wanted to do concerning Knuckles, but I'd rather let everyone read ChaosSupremeSonic's post instead. The short of it though, I really like Knuckles, but I hate how Sonic Team has treated him over the last decade. Sonic Battle can be seen as the starting point of the character being treated like an idiot. He devolved into a self-important dumbass who talks a big game, shows nothing for all that punk talk, continues to fall flat on his face or get slapped into a tree, and is treated like deadweight. Knuckles is an excellent example of "no bad characters, just bad writers," because he's suffered at the hands of some terrible writers (well, him and the rest of the cast). I want to say Sonic and the Black Knight was the last time he was treated with any kind of dignity and respect, but that wasn't even really Knuckles. But Gawain isn't treated like a dumbass, and felt more like Knuckles than the real Knuckles has in years. He butt heads with Sonic, and put up with Sonic's insults, but is still trusting and duty-bound to a fault and has a sense of authority.

 

But I think I've ranted about this before... yup, I can go on, but I almost feel bad for talking about everything Sonic Team's done wrong with the character in a thread that should be celebrating him. So, to make up for that... have a drawing.

 

http://arundraws.tumblr.com/post/75491735978

Happy belated birthday, Rad Red.

[Johnny Boy92]

February 24th here in Europe, but whatever. Knuckles is definitely one of my favorite characters. I can relate to his personality, for the most part.

 

Also, I may or may not have a tiny tiny man crush on him, as a bisexual male.

 

Happy birthday, Knux! Here's to another twenty.

[Failinhearts]

Happy Belated Birthday Knuckles! I guess his present was steroids for Boom......

[Kamakai]

God, I was worried when I read the thread title0.0

 

Ahem, I know, late to the party, but I want to show my respect to Knuckles as a character before his sudden drop into irrelevance and flanderization. And so, I have. That's what this post is.

 

...

 

I have eased my regrets.

[Tailikku]

Now this is a topic I like.  I mean I can pull off Knuckles' old SA2 voice almost flawlessly if not for the fact that I sound somewhat nasal