Why does Sticks exist?

[Badnik Mechanic]

So looking across all media, and I freely admit I have no read much of the comics, I'd like to ask you all something.

 

Why does this character exist?

 

Remember when she was announced? The big fuss made about her? How she's been alone for years? Not part of civilisation? But how she and Amy become best friends and she helps her to get to grips with modern society?

 

Remember that? 

 

And remember how in the main game there is nothing about her? And in the 3DS game there is also none of that? 

 

Well... we'll had a good chunk of episodes? As of yet, is there anything to explain her? Or why she's so paranoid? 

 

I was watching the latest episode, when she takes the stand to give evidence and she goes crazy, I thought "When are you going to do anything else" then I thought back to previous episodes... other than the dog one and the my fair sticksy one, what exactly has Sticks done other than be nuts or paranoid? 

 

Then I started to think, well why is she even in the show/series if she's not really contributing anything to it?

 

Now, I get people like her and that's fine because I admit, she's made me laugh once or twice, but from a storytelling device, why does she exist? Why is she in this series and why is she the way she is.

 

Sega built her up so much to be this major character, we assumed the games would explain her ("What is this world? Who are the characters in this world?") we were wrong, so there's the TV show... well... we're quite a way into it now, has there been anything about her at all that explains why she's hanging out with Sonic and Co or why she acts nuts all the time?

 

Or is this just a case of "We put her in because we think people like to laugh at crazy people."

[Junko]

Gotta fulfill that crazy quota for our characters.

[Kaze no Klonoa]

From what I've heard, Sticks was kind of a last minute character? 

[Vertekins]

BRB have got to stoop their leg up and make their piss-mark on the franchise dontcha know?

 

Note that I don't really have anything against Sticks, just her crappy writing.

[Blue Blood]

I can think of two main reasons:

1. To provide a second female lead because the show is a bit of a sausage fest, while also presenting a female lead who isn't "Girl the Character". Amy's become a positive representation of a girly-girl in this show, and Sticks isn't really girly in the slightest.
2. The biggest reason though is because "lol so random" is apparently the funniest shit ever. Apparently...

Storywise there's no real need for her. None of the characters in the show have a background presented - you're just mean to take them as though Sonic Boom was a first Sonic product ever and none of the previous games or shows have ever existed. The fact that she has a background explained in outside sources is more than anyone else. Why is she paranoid and crazy? Same reason Knuckles is dumb.

 

I personally don't think she was always intended to be a part of the series. She has a minimal appearance in RoL, is the biggest no-show in the show (including two unvoiced appearances) and she wasn't mentioned at all by Dave Polsky in the first leak of Boom from months before SEGA announced anything. She's also not in the pilot, where even Knuckles and Amy get brief appearances. A bit of executive meddling here and there to include a new, up-to-date funny character probably resulted in her conception. 

[Little T]

I seem to recall reading somewhere that the game was supposed to be the thing to reveal Stick's backstory on behalf of the show but ended up not doing so, leaving no explanation bar the press release. I don't have a problem with Sticks and find her kind of funny at times (she was very enjoyable in the one issue of the comic I read too), but I do find it weird whenever there is an episode of the show that focusses on the whole team and Sticks is absent/mute though.

I always assumed Polsky didn't mention her because she (and the show) hadn't been announced yet, while Sonic, Tails, Amy and Knuckles are already well established characters that are pretty much a given. However the shoehorned Sticks in RoL and her inconistant roles in episodes of the cartoon do seem to point to Sticks not always being part of the project.

[Disonoid 3000]

I always kind of presumed her backstory was another victim of Boom's tons of cut content, and the series never went into it because they weren't supposed to, the game was supposed to do it for them. 

[Neo_Fire_Sonic]

Why does she exist? The same reason other new characters exist, to add more things to the sonic world.

[Badnik Mechanic]

Why does she exist? The same reason other new characters exist, to add more things to the sonic world.

 

So what exactly is she adding other than.... Whatever it is that she's adding?

 

Because so far it's just the odd chuckle, otherwise whenever she turns up I'm just rolling my eyes when she starts the conspiracy theory stuff.

[Gabz Girl]

I like Sticks since she can be quite funny (sometimes), but now that we're almost halfway through the Boom tv series I'm starting to wonder why she's even there. There has been no back story besides what they've given us in making of videos, no explanation as to why such an eccentric character is friends with Sonic and co...hell I don't even think we've seen her burrow home yet!

 

Then there's her minor appearance in RoL and it seems more and more likely that Sticks was quite a late addition to Sonic Boom. Not as late as Shadow and Metal Sonic but still. Even Shattered Crystal where she plays a much bigger role doesn't give us any damn background info on the character. It annoys me too because every character in the Sonic series, even minor ones like Cream and Marine, get a little back story and reasons for hanging out with Sonic. What is even the point of Sticks then??

 

I'm actually hoping the Archie comic of Sonic Boom releases an origins story for Sticks one day, because otherwise she just seems pointless.

[Tara]

We could make the same argument, and believe me we have, on countless occasions about all characters introduced from 2003 and onward.  It used to be a joke that every new game had another new character that was never going to be explored again.  So even if Stick's character lacks depth and is sometimes not written exceptionally well (I think "Buster" was when she was written best, as it showed a diverse pattern of emotions as opposed to just being random for the sake of it), I'm glad that Sega has decided not to just throw her character by the wayside after one appearance

 

Anyway, I kind of like Sticks.  I do think there are times when they're... well, very much over the top.  But I find her childish brand of stupid, randumb humor generally funny.  Not hilarious in most instances, but enough to keep me watching at least.

[Mania Pipe]

So what exactly is she adding other than.... Whatever it is that she's adding?

 

Because so far it's just the odd chuckle, otherwise whenever she turns up I'm just rolling my eyes when she starts the conspiracy theory stuff.

 

Uh... the Paranoia type of Sonic character I guess?

 

Admittedly I do like Sticks a bit and how she is supposed to also be closer to nature than Knuckles, but so far they haven't really done much with her except she says crazy things and they think people will laugh. Honestly though, we need a more in depth look into her character and backstory so that we can understand her reason of being the way she is, since BRB failed to do so and the episode "Buster" did that to an extent. At least explain why exactly she wanted to join Sonic's group in the first place so that her reason for being with them is at least justified instead of being "just there". Maybe some day in the future though, I have no idea.

[SonicWind]

I'm sure the people working on the subfranchise had a perfectly good reason to create Sticks; it couldn't have been just for the heck of it. Besides, as I've previously stated, I like her. She's not all bad.

 

But they could elaborate on her a bit more.

[YoshiAngemon]

Well, it could've been worse or better, we could've had Perci the Hedgehog as a main character, as originally intended. OR they could've made a new version of Cream the Rabbit to work well in the Sonic Boomverse, so instead of Sticks being crazy, we'd have Cream being cute, and polite, and more girl than Amy, and it would've turned into a clone of Sonic X, but without human characters like Chris Thorndyke.

[Tuznecote]

Yeah I was asking that during the last episode. She doesn't seem like she is even ferral. Just just comes off as another character who is random. She doesn't even provide much of a fight and brings nothing really to the team because her so called unique features are ether not play on enough (ferral outsider) or just doesn't do enough (random quote) for the scripts or episodes. 

 

You can't just have a character shout a random sentence and it be all she does. Its not enough to be a full on part of a team.

[YoshiAngemon]

Yeah I was asking that during the last episode. She doesn't seem like she is even ferral. Just just comes off as another character who is random. She doesn't even provide much of a fight and brings nothing really to the team because her so called unique features are ether not play on enough (ferral outsider) or just doesn't do enough (random quote) for the scripts or episodes. 

 

You can't just have a character shout a random sentence and it be all she does. Its not enough to be a full on part of a team.

They had to do something to eat up airtime, rather than have a scene triggered by Sonic asking "Why couldn't AMY be my lawyer?" And we see Amy at a bee keeping seminar. Or maybe a scene where Eggman gloats about his courtroom victory in secret. And maybe instead of that last scene with Comedy Chimp, we'd have Amy interrupt Sonic's Thank-you to her, with her saying "Zip it, Sonic, you owe me a date" in a threatening manner that would be in-character if it were Sonic X.

[ThePrinceOfSaiyans]

She exists because people find paranoia humorous...? I don't know. I personally think Sonic, Tails, Amy and Knuckles create a perfectly reasonable dynamic. Sticks is just sorta... there, as far as I'm concerned. 

[YoshiAngemon]

Maybe Sticks represents the part of the fanbase that goes crazy whenever something bad happens.

[Dejimon11]

Yeah Sticks was overhyped and the end result was pretty disappointing. My problem isn't really Sticks herself its the whole Boom Universe. Remember over a year ago we were told that ROL was built up as a prequel to the TV show? The game didn't explain anything neither did the cartoon, seriously who are these characters and what makes the Boomverse so different from the main series, I'd like to have some context but it seems like were not getting any of that

[Your Vest Friend]

We could make the same argument, and believe me we have, on countless occasions about all characters introduced from 2003 and onward.  It used to be a joke that every new game had another new character that was never going to be explored again.  So even if Stick's character lacks depth and is sometimes not written exceptionally well (I think "Buster" was when she was written best, as it showed a diverse pattern of emotions as opposed to just being random for the sake of it), I'm glad that Sega has decided not to just throw her character by the wayside after one appearance

 

The problem with comparing her to one-shot characters like, say, Marine is the fact that she's not supposed to be one-shot, which the one-shots likely were going to be no matter what. She's one of the major headliners for the Sonic Boom sub-franchise. Even from the time of 2003-2008 where a lot of new characters were brought in, the ones that didn't linger for just one game were given background exposition in-game or a strong character motive (whether individually or in a group). She should have more to her after all this material has come out.

 

It kind of reminds me of the problem I used to have with Bean in Archie. Bean was effectively the writer's way of cutting loose, so most often the gags would be completely random. This was fine for people who like that random stuff, but I wasn't particularly keen on it because I don't really go for random for the sake of it. Since the reboot, the reign's been pulled in a bit it seems, and now his off the cuff humour is more relevant to the situations at hand, and he isn't the annoying random duck to me to the same extent. 

[Gabz Girl]

Yeah Sticks was overhyped and the end result was pretty disappointing. My problem isn't really Sticks herself its the whole Boom Universe. Remember over a year ago we were told that ROL was built up as a prequel to the TV show? The game didn't explain anything neither did the cartoon, seriously who are these characters and what makes the Boomverse so different from the main series, I'd like to have some context but it seems like were not getting any of that

 

Exactly. The Boom!universe really isn't all that different from the main series bar some character's personalities, different looks and the complete absence of humans (besides Eggman). The series was never even properly introduced to us, no world building or anything. Even minor characters in RoL like Cliff have no introduction. How does this guy know Sonic and the gang? Why are they such good friends? Where did he suddenly go off to near the end of the game? It's a mess.

[Tara]

The problem with comparing her to one-shot characters like, say, Marine is the fact that she's not supposed to be one-shot, which the one-shots likely were going to be no matter what. She's one of the major headliners for the Sonic Boom sub-franchise. Even from the time of 2003-2008 where a lot of new characters were brought in, the ones that didn't linger for just one game were given background exposition in-game or a strong character motive (whether individually or in a group). She should have more to her after all this material has come out.

 

It kind of reminds me of the problem I used to have with Bean in Archie. Bean was effectively the writer's way of cutting loose, so most often the gags would be completely random. This was fine for people who like that random stuff, but I wasn't particularly keen on it because I don't really go for random for the sake of it. Since the reboot, the reign's been pulled in a bit it seems, and now his off the cuff humour is more relevant to the situations at hand, and he isn't the annoying random duck to me to the same extent. 

That's fair enough, I suppose.  But I still think asking what purpose does she serve still pretty much has the same validity as those characters.  Characters like Big and Omega were made to have some importance to the plot and have arguably delivered considerably more (quantitatively speaking, at least) than Sticks, but we still questioned their existence and why there were so many characters in the series that were deemed unnecessary.  Granted, I know those two didn't exactly get "front of the box" treatment or anything like that but still.

[JaidynReiman]

That's fair enough, I suppose.  But I still think asking what purpose does she serve still pretty much has the same validity as those characters.  Characters like Big and Omega were made to have some importance to the plot and have arguably delivered considerably more (quantitatively speaking, at least) than Sticks, but we still questioned their existence and why there were so many characters in the series that were deemed unnecessary.  Granted, I know those two didn't exactly get "front of the box" treatment or anything like that but still.

Big and Omega really are sort of background characters to fill in specific niches. Big in general doesn't do a whole lot, while Omega provides a decent dynamic when present, otherwise those two are basically at the edges of the expanded cast. Cream tends to fill in the role of Amy's best friend when she does appear, which was taken by Sticks in Boom.

[Oh Noes]

 

Exactly. The Boom!universe really isn't all that different from the main series bar some character's personalities, different looks and the complete absence of humans (besides Eggman). The series was never even properly introduced to us, no world building or anything. Even minor characters in RoL like Cliff have no introduction. How does this guy know Sonic and the gang? Why are they such good friends? Where did he suddenly go off to near the end of the game? It's a mess.

 

I totally agree with that. The universe of Sonic Boom is, story-wise, one of the biggest deceptions I've ever seen in the franchise's history. Even if you dig in the worsts Sonic games of all-time or the most minor (Sonic 06, Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic R, Sonic Drift...), there was a solid world-building. Not necessarily good, but still solid.

 

Here, after years and years of cheesy stories, and the excuse that was Sonic Lost World's story, Sonic Team got the opportunity to build a whole new world. Ya get what I'm saying here? It means that EVERYTHING could happend, the best or the worst. But it wouldn't have been hard to do the best: keep the most interesting themes (Ex: ecology, technology, chaos...) of the original series, reinforce them, take what the original canon had left best, or even make a whole new story that has nothing to do with it, but who would be consistent at least and offers a lot! What he had all been waiting for, you know.

 

And then, nothing. Nice presentation and all, and no developpement. You get only a few characters that are here for posing, a extreeemely cheesy story that you can't take seriously because it's filled to the bones with clichés, and positively no information about the universe whatsoever. Heck, even Sonic 3D Blast was better than this empty shell, and its story could be resumed in 3 lines! And all of that because of what? Rushied developpement, the same thing over and over that was the cause for most failed Sonic game's fate. MAYBE this is because of a set of circumstances (most members leaving), but SEGA shoud maybe, for a moment, stop thinking about money and about what the heck is wrong with their organization.

 

And that's what they did. Now we got that restructuration and Sonic Runners. Game is great, but can't tell how it's gonna be for the future. Just hope they won't do recycling too much just to gain money, because that's a cancer to the series. Now, raging finished, back on topic.

 

As for Sticks, I think we can sum how it went like this:

 

 

"WE NEED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF NEW UNIVERSE AND ADD INTERESTING NEW CHARACTERS" -> Very good idea.

 

"WE NEED NEW TEAM SONIC MEMBER" -> BeCarefulWhatYouWishForIdea.

 

"WE MAKE FEMALE AND REFLECTS WILDNESS IN IT" -> Good Idea, since one of the main themes of the series is nature, and that a second girl would balance the team.

 

"WE MAKE A POSING CHARACTER" -> Bad Idea.

 

"WE NO IMPROVE BECAUSE WE GOT DEADLINES"-> VERY bad idea.

 

 

And now we're where we are.

[Nepenthe]

I think it's important to separate the concepts of contribution and necessity. To me, necessity in art is a pretty fickle thing to concern one's self about just for the sake of necessity. We don't tell stories based on the most base components needed to merely complete a story; we tell stories based on what's entertaining and thought-provoking at the expense of objectivity. To do otherwise would make for a pretty shit media culture; just nothing but basic stories of protagonists and antagonists with no secondary characters or conflict. Necessity doesn't actually matter much, if at all. Instead, components added to a work should be discussed in terms of their ability to contribute positively to the work as a whole. People dogging Big and Omega only on being unnecessary back then were either focused entirely on the wrong concept, or simply didn't iterate problems with the characters' contributions to the best of their ability.