Would Sonic benefit from more of a backstory?

[Sparky]

Sonic is consistently written as if he had already gone through an epic life-changing adventure, like he's already had all of his character development happen before the start of the series. Even in Sonic 1, he's already been fighting Eggman for quite some time. Sonic 1 just introduced the 'animals as batteries' and 'Chaos Emeralds' to the mix. 

What I want to see is Sonic's first actual adventure. The first time he met Doctor Eggman, how he became who he is now and learned so many life lessons. 

Sonic is consistently written as if he had already gone through an epic life-changing adventure, like he's already had all of his character development happen before the start of the series. Even in Sonic 1, he's already been fighting Eggman for quite some time. Sonic 1 just introduced the 'animals as batteries' and 'Chaos Emeralds' to the mix. 

What I want to see is Sonic's first actual adventure. The first time he met Doctor Eggman, how he became who he is now and learned so many life lessons. 

[Green Eyes]

Why are we being forced to repeat everything?

Honestly though, one thing Sonic's character would benefit from greatly is other characters, focus on other characters seriously needs to be a thing again, even if only to make sure Sonic's character doesn't dwindle; he needs something to respond to, someone to bounce off of.

Sonic and the Lost World kinda tried to go for this but it doesn't strike me as ideal, the Deadly Six are as flat as a board and generate a similarly predictable response as result, Sonic gets props for mediating Tails and Eggman but the entire thing feels kinda off.

 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

10 hours ago, Nepenthe said:

Overall, what is so wrong with having a static character helm a franchise anyway? Why is this being argued as an actual problem? As with Mario, you can have a static protagonist and have entertaining, meaningful stories.

A static character is a more predictable character, and over time that predictability can result in them being less interesting than other characters who are more dynamic or different since the former doesn't have any changes in themselves. Mario is an example of that with people showing more interest in characters like Rosalina, or rpg characters like his many sidekicks in the Paper Mario games, Dimentio, or Geno (yes I know he's owned by Square-Enix).

Heck you could even include the mainstays Bowser and Peach when they end up behaving much differently than usual, with Peach doing what she can to assist Mario even while being kidnapped instead of playing the usual damsel that does nothing but waits for the Hero to save her, and Bowser actually being far more resourceful, intelligent, and funnier (and even more threatening in the first Paper Mario after finally defeating him).

Not that it's an actual problem, but that people want something to give them something interesting about the main protagonist equal to the other characters getting the interesting things. That we know a lot more history with other characters than Sonic seems to be the irritant.

Then again, I'm one that argues we've known Sonic's backstory at the start with Sonic 1 and have just been following along ever since...

Also...

7 hours ago, FFWF said:

An amusing claim, but Shadow was not the "basis for [my] argument"; merely an example which I felt was self-explanatory.  I don't claim that giving Shadow a backstory was a bad idea, but the fact that he died at the end of SA2 frankly makes my argument for me: His story was over.  Once we understood him, there was nothing left for him to do.  That's why they had to add to his backstory when they brought him back for both Heroes and Shadow ('06 I'll discuss below), but I'm sure you've noticed that, once he reaches that "position in life where he's perfectly content," Shadow never appeared again as a main character?  As I said, his story was done, and once his story was done, he had nothing to contribute.  I'll go into a bit more detail about this farther down.

...

But also, as I mentioned above, you'll note that the places where Shadow is treated as just like any other character are also his most minor appearances.  Frankly, what exactly is Shadow's motivation these days?  He's discovered everything there is to know about himself, so that's gone as an interesting motivation, so his motivation now is... he works for GUN?  He's a hero because it pays the bills?  The character is played-out, and that's why he longer makes appearances as a major character.  He no longer has a purpose.  His backstory limitedhim.  Which would've been fine if they Sonic Team had just wrapped him up so he didn't have to appear again, as they'd originally intended to do, but betraying their original intentions created exactly the kind of mess you would expect.  But he's a great example of a character who had an ending implied in the fact that he was given a beginning.  Once you wrap up his themes, his personal anxieties and obligations, what is there left?  I couldn't even tell you what Shadow's personality is now.  His backstory was his motivation.

These are false misconceptions that need to be put to rest. Not to mention a terrible strawman of Shadow's character post-ShTH. 

Shadow's backstory didn't limit him, the writers did by not doing anything with him. You're ignoring the motivation of his character to protect the world instead of destroy it like he originally intended to do in the past, and that backstory started all the way back in SA2 helps further contribute to Shadow willing to keep the world save - that's why he joined GUN, who's goals are the same as well as having a close friend work there. Shadow's discovered everything about himself, so he's going to apply what he knows about himself to an organization he feels could use his talents. Shadow's motivations are driven by his entire being, not just his backstory - you'll notice they did more with the character after Sonic 06 (as bad as that game was). Once you wrap up a character's themes, anxieties and obligations, what's left is to show that character moving forward by showing what they intend to do next - you do that by thinking ahead with them.

Heck, they've fleshed out a lot about Knuckles given that we know why he's the last of his kind and even why he chooses to guard the Master Emerald (whether he knows it's history or not), and barring the age old debate behind why he's not around it for some odd reason, there's still more to his character as much as there is for Shadow.

Granted, the franchise has done these things incredibly haphazardly, but the whole point is that backstory doesn't limit a character anymore than any other element does in fiction. It doesn't prevent a character from contributing anything, nor does it limit a characters purpose or the themes involved. And funnily enough, this is highlighted by the characters without as much backstory being in the same boat of not making such contributions - Rouge the bat is a complete mystery compared to Shadow, with no backstory to speak of to this day, but how much has she contributed? Amy doesn't have a fully fleshed out backstory either - what has she contributed? Same goes for Cream, Big, and the Chaotix, characters with hardly any backstory to speak of compared to Shadow. What are their personalities now? What are their motivations these days? These are characters with barely any backstory, so they should be able to do a lot more, yet they haven't. So what's their excuse?

[Green Eyes]

Are we operating on the basis Sonic is one of the least developed characters?

When people say character devlopement, do they strictly mean the process of a character demonstrably changing in-canon or does that also include the character being established or adding personality traits because you want the character to have "new direction"?

How about "adding" a personality trait because the situation hadn't arisen before? Even if theoretically it was always there, is that character developement? How about trying to establish just how far an already-established personality trait will go?

Because if "character development" includes this then Sonic's the most developed character, even if largely because he's had the most chance.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I'm not. I'm just offering an understanding of things.

I'm not. I'm just offering an understanding of things.

[Your Vest Friend]

Eh, having a backstory for Sonic, and the other characters, isn't really something I'm interested in seeing because it's the personalities that drive my interest in them. Knowing how they got there wouldn't really add to that.

If you want a case where backstory doesn't equate to a better character, I'd suggest looking at Gold the Tenrec for an example.

[DarkLight]

So I'm not the only one underwhelmed by Gold's uninspired backstory?

Anyways, count me in in the "not necessary" group of whether or not Sonic needs a backstory. Sure I'd be intrigued by what made him live by his philosophy of living life to it's fullest, but Sonic just strikes me as someone who doesn't think much of what his life used to be because he lives more in the present and ahead in the future. So if he doesn't dwell on details on his life, why should I or anyone else really care?

"Your story may not have had such a happy beginning. But that doesn't make you who you are. It's the rest of your story. Who you choose to be."

 

[shdowhunt60]

1 hour ago, ChaosSupremeSonic said:

A static character is a more predictable character, and over time that predictability can result in them being less interesting than other characters who are more dynamic or different since the former doesn't have any changes in themselves. Mario is an example of that with people showing more interest in characters like Rosalina, or rpg characters like his many sidekicks in the Paper Mario games, Dimentio, or Geno (yes I know he's owned by Square-Enix).

Heck you could even include the mainstays Bowser and Peach when they end up behaving much differently than usual, with Peach doing what she can to assist Mario even while being kidnapped instead of playing the usual damsel that does nothing but waits for the Hero to save her, and Bowser actually being far more resourceful, intelligent, and funnier (and even more threatening in the first Paper Mario after finally defeating him).

Not that it's an actual problem, but that people want something to give them something interesting about the main protagonist equal to the other characters getting the interesting things. That we know a lot more history with other characters than Sonic seems to be the irritant.

Then again, I'm one that argues we've known Sonic's backstory at the start with Sonic 1 and have just been following along ever since...

Also...

These are false misconceptions that need to be put to rest. Not to mention a terrible strawman of Shadow's character post-ShTH. 

Shadow's backstory didn't limit him, the writers did by not doing anything with him. You're ignoring the motivation of his character to protect the world instead of destroy it like he originally intended to do in the past, and that backstory started all the way back in SA2 helps further contribute to Shadow willing to keep the world save - that's why he joined GUN, who's goals are the same as well as having a close friend work there. Shadow's discovered everything about himself, so he's going to apply what he knows about himself to an organization he feels could use his talents. Shadow's motivations are driven by his entire being, not just his backstory - you'll notice they did more with the character after Sonic 06 (as bad as that game was). Once you wrap up a character's themes, anxieties and obligations, what's left is to show that character moving forward by showing what they intend to do next - you do that by thinking ahead with them.

Heck, they've fleshed out a lot about Knuckles given that we know why he's the last of his kind and even why he chooses to guard the Master Emerald (whether he knows it's history or not), and barring the age old debate behind why he's not around it for some odd reason, there's still more to his character as much as there is for Shadow.

Granted, the franchise has done these things incredibly haphazardly, but the whole point is that backstory doesn't limit a character anymore than any other element does in fiction. It doesn't prevent a character from contributing anything, nor does it limit a characters purpose or the themes involved. And funnily enough, this is highlighted by the characters without as much backstory being in the same boat of not making such contributions - Rouge the bat is a complete mystery compared to Shadow, with no backstory to speak of to this day, but how much has she contributed? Amy doesn't have a fully fleshed out backstory either - what has she contributed? Same goes for Cream, Big, and the Chaotix, characters with hardly any backstory to speak of compared to Shadow. What are their personalities now? What are their motivations these days? These are characters with barely any backstory, so they should be able to do a lot more, yet they haven't. So what's their excuse?

Right, stealing the words out of my mouth.

I feel like that should be iterated again, the whole point of giving Sonic a backstory is to give him an actual character arc. A developing character is a more interesting character. And I'd say that, yeah, Tails, Shadow, Knuckles, and Amy were all more interesting characters than Sonic even at his best. Even in the case of Amy, who's never really had a fully developed backstory.

They all were growing characters with fully functioning character arcs. The problem is, is that when their arcs concluded Sonic Team never followed up on them, and instead just threw them on the wayside so they could introduce more characters.

Tails's arc was about him gaining self-confidence, and him learning to take charge. This was effectively concluded in SA2, but they could've followed up on it in many ways with a different character arc: he almost got Sonic killed due to a simple mistake. That's a potential character arc that was dropped.

With Amy, it was pretty much the same, with her learning to be more assertive, so she set out to prove herself to Sonic and gain his respect. But this never got any sort of closure, that was a character arc that was dropped.

With Knuckles, it wasn't really a character arc as him simply coming to terms with his role as the guardian of the Master Emerald. I wouldn't insomuch call it a character arc as it is a setup to a potential character arc... Which never happened.

Shadow is the closest thing we've seen to a character that's been dynamically developed over a long period of time. We saw him start as an individual who was affected by violence, him being a character that was stuck in a cycle of revenge that was set to end the world, before he decided to remove himself from it after realizing that's not what someone dear to him would've wanted. And then, the next couple games, Heroes and Shadow were about him being out of place, so Shadow set out to figure out who he is and where it is he belonged in the world. 06 concluded that, by him having found a place where he's perfectly content in his place in life, thus concluding that character arc.

By all means, more could have been followed up on that, but after 06 it was decided that all the focus would be placed exclusively on Sonic. A character who never learns or develops, and just reiterates the same things over and over again.

I think Rouge was brought up? I think Rouge is another Sonic. A character with a strong, well-rounded personality, but never gets any development due to there really being nothing to develop. That's less of a problem with Rouge, because she doesn't really get any specific focus. Like Sonic, she's more of a vehicle for others to develop off of, but I don't mind it as much simply due to the fact that she's never the main character.

 

[DarkLight]

Funny, I like all those characters mentioned regardless of what their backstories entail because it's always their personalities and how they bounce off each other that makes me engaged.

Again, backstory can be a nice addition to any character, but it's not always necessary. Especially if it's the main character.

 

[Speeps]

For character backstories, there's also the problem of how the backstory would be developed if they did decide to eleborate on it. I could easily see them come out with a backstory that contradicts everything we've seen so far (Which has been pretty consistent to be honest, even the stuff dating all the way back to Sonic 1) or generally gets seen as unpopular by the fanbase. Imagine if someone with as much Sonic knowledge as Ken Penders got to be the one to decide the backstory of the main character?

That's not to say I wouldn't love seeing backstories of the characters outside the old 90s manuals. It'd be a nice opportunity to see some Classic Sonic again, but it has to be done right and I don't think what Sonic has at the moment would make too good a result.

Now in terms of Sonic games, of course they need backstory. One of the main reasons behind Lost World's negativity was because the Deadly Six literally came out of nowhere with no explanation other than "Eggman conquered them offscreen". Other villains that showed up in the series such as Chaos and Dark Gaia at least had their backstories explained over the course of the game, but the Deadly Six had nothing to show even by the end of the game and people didn't like that at all. So yeah, games definitely need backstories in them.

[shdowhunt60]

1 hour ago, DarkLight said:

Funny, I like all those characters mentioned regardless of what their backstories entail because it's always their personalities and how they bounce off each other that makes me engaged.

Again, backstory can be a nice addition to any character, but it's not always necessary. Especially if it's the main character.

 

... Right, and their personalities work, because they are driven by context.

Okay, so I'm going to do something a bit dangerous here. I'm going to recommend fanfiction. Perish the thought, but I feel like maybe it's best if people see what I'm actually talking about in action.

https://www.fanfiction.net/u/1442772/Hikareh

Meet Hikareh, she's one of the very few writers on the Sonic section of Fanfiction.net that puts anything that's worth reading. Pick a story, any story. And pay attention to the way she characterizes Sonic. If, somehow, that's disagreeable to you, then explain why.

Edited January 22, 2016 by shdowhunt60
Forums, go home, you're drunk

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

I guess I honestly don't think characters arcs make a character better by default. I mean, character arcs can be really awesome, don't get me wrong, but there are some classes of characters where they're less than necessary or perhaps even potentially harmful. Some characters are just enjoyable the way they are and I kinda don't want them to change or grow too much. A lot of characters in comedic works would fit into this category, for example.

That's not to say I don't want his character to change or grow at all; I think that can work and be beneficial if handled well. But I also think it's definitely possible for Sonic to have some nice little character arcs as is without a fleshed-out backstory. Something as simple as Sonic making a mistake as a result of one of his already-established personality traits and learning from it could work. (Which is what Lost World tried to do, I guess, but from what I've heard it was less that well received =P)

[Blacklightning]

Between ShTH and Riders 0G, I'm convinced that Sega wouldn't even be able to write a backstory in the first place without involving aliens in some way.

In all seriousness, I stil feel there's plenty of room to develop characters and lore without having to outright go backwards and dig at the bottom of the metaphorical barrel for it. For the most part, the only current barriers to it are mediocre and inconsistent writing, so I feel like the solution should be just getting better writers rather than making them do something different in the hopes that something will eventually stick.

[Adamabba]

1 hour ago, Blacklightning said:

In all seriousness, I stil feel there's plenty of room to develop characters and lore without having to outright go backwards and dig at the bottom of the metaphorical barrel for it. For the most part, the only current barriers to it are mediocre and inconsistent writing, so I feel like the solution should be just getting better writers rather than making them do something different in the hopes that something will eventually stick.

Yea, I think Sonic needs a more consistent setting than a backstory because it makes absolutely no sense. Maybe it would if Unleashed wasn't canon, Sonic and his friends like traveling a lot, and Sonic's world is approx. 30x larger than Earth.

Spoiler

You know, that's not a half bad explanation for it being possible for the Lost Hex to get lost . It's because their planet is THAT big!

 

[Wittymations]

Myself, I feel like explaining is not needed. However, I would like to suggest things here and there. "Huh, my dad used to...", "I used to love that as a kid", "Really? I was never much of a school kid." Other things like that. Doesn't say much, it just kinda flies by. May be even something you hear if you go out of your way.

Myself, I feel like explaining is not needed. However, I would like to suggest things here and there. "Huh, my dad used to...", "I used to love that as a kid", "Really? I was never much of a school kid." Other things like that. Doesn't say much, it just kinda flies by. May be even something you hear if you go out of your way.

[Green Eyes]

15 hours ago, shdowhunt60 said:

... Right, and their personalities work, because they are driven by context.

I'm not quite sure what context you're expecting when you state they need context, the formation of personality not a process anyone really understands anyway, so it's reasonable to suggest that Sonic's backstory is kind of irrelevant on the basis that it doesn't necessarily translate to his personality in a way we understand. You could try to explain his personality, and obviously you'd have to somewhat for a backstory or it would be uninteresting,but I'm starting to get the feeling you'd be disappointed if it wasn't a super detailed and super-obvious cause-and-effect.

I'll check out the writer anyway. I assume their Sonic has a backstory of sorts?

EDIT: He seems too angsty to be honest, not happy and cocky enough.

[Alienrun]

I just want it to be confirmed that sonic is shadow's proto type or some s**t. An organic one at that but still. Why? It would give shadow a reason to exist beyond SA2 and could potentially lead to sonic having a sub-consious struggle against said past. Of course this is assuming the series goes back to its serious roots (which again doesn't need to be over the top, just something to give the plot more extra spice.) Heck TMNT and Teen Titans have similar backstories, and you don't see them affect what the present day characters do in a direct fashion. So why not Sonic?!

I just want it to be confirmed that sonic is shadow's proto type or some s**t. An organic one at that but still. Why? It would give shadow a reason to exist beyond SA2 and could potentially lead to sonic having a sub-consious struggle against said past. Of course this is assuming the series goes back to its serious roots (which again doesn't need to be over the top, just something to give the plot more extra spice.) Heck TMNT and Teen Titans have similar backstories, and you don't see them affect what the present day characters do in a direct fashion. So why not Sonic?!

[Semi-colon e]

I'm gonna say I kind of feel like the idea that Sonic's backstory isn't complex or important (at some point Eggman started doing shit, Sonic stopped him, then kept fighting him until Sonic 1 and the adventure continues) is really refreshing, even moreso now than back in the 90s I think where people probably expect backstory. I also feel like the very fanwank type thing where every little thing needs to be explained or it's "bad" or a "plot hole" often loses the wonder of the things it's trying to explain in the first place.

 

At least we have some context of who Sonic is and what he does. The Deadly Six, for example, could have done with more explanation of why they're on the Lost Hex, they don't have much of a context for anything and are just there. Sonic is an adventurous spirit and the fact it's implied he has fought Eggman since forever is enough for me personally. I feel like if everything got explained in detail it would take the fun out of it or detract from his overall "going forward gotta go fast" character.

 

Besides it's not like they hint at something epic that is never seen, like Castlevania's 1999 battle where Dracula gets killed off for real or anything. God damn it Konami.

 

[Kuzu]

A character's depth should not be defined by their background and where they came from. Just because some characters have fleshed out backgrounds that made them better characters does not mean that rule should be applied to everyone. Sure, a large reason why I like Shadow is because he's one of the more developed characters, but at the end of the day, its his personality as a result of his character arc that made me like him, not the character arc itself (which was pretty shitty mind you).

Having a developed character arc is not the same as having a developed personality, you don't need one to have the other. So in the sense, if I wanted to make Sonic more interesting, I wouldn't resort to just giving him a backstory, I'd probably just start focusing on different parts of his personality by putting him in situations he's not used to. Basically, let the character's personality speak for itself, not whether they have a backstory or not.

EDIT: Can someone please fix this forum glitch.

[shdowhunt60]

9 hours ago, Green Eyes said:

I'm not quite sure what context you're expecting when you state they need context, the formation of personality not a process anyone really understands anyway, so it's reasonable to suggest that Sonic's backstory is kind of irrelevant on the basis that it doesn't necessarily translate to his personality in a way we understand. You could try to explain his personality, and obviously you'd have to somewhat for a backstory or it would be uninteresting,but I'm starting to get the feeling you'd be disappointed if it wasn't a super detailed and super-obvious cause-and-effect.

I'll check out the writer anyway. I assume their Sonic has a backstory of sorts?

EDIT: He seems too angsty to be honest, not happy and cocky enough.

... The hell did you read? He spends half of her fics precisely that.

[Diogenes]

6 minutes ago, shdowhunt60 said:

... The hell did you read? He spends half of her fics precisely that.

Then I assume the problem is in the other half.

6 minutes ago, shdowhunt60 said:

... The hell did you read? He spends half of her fics precisely that.

Then I assume the problem is in the other half.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Honestly, I just want a good story before we even think about his backstory. SEGA is against the idea of a backstory anyway, considering one of the biggest and most idiotic mandates is that Sonic and any Sega characters are not allowed to have any kind of backstory, and it's a big reason why any time the classic forms of the characters come up in the comic, Ian Flynn has to keep dancing around the fact by having a Classic looking Sonic with Modern features, and showing Classic Eggman in shadows. 

[shdowhunt60]

14 minutes ago, Diogenes said:

Then I assume the problem is in the other half.

But I still found that kind of confusing. If he angst, it's because there's a reason to angst, rather than angsting for the sake of angsting. 

Maybe it's just me, but I've seen a hell lot worse if that's considered to be bad for Sonic to be angsting.

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

To be honest, there are characters out there who dont really need a backstory to be interesting. Sonic is one of those characters. That in my opinion is what makes Sonic intresting, is the fact that we know little about his history as possible. So we as fans actually wonder about him. What about Sonic, how did he get to be so awesome? Hm? We know nothing about his family or how he got to love speed and Im OK with that. There are certian things about a character not worth knowing and when AUs try to expand on his history, it usually ends up in a trainwreck or it makes said character uninteresting. 

 

[Myst]

As much as I hate SatAM, one thing that I liked about it was it established Sonic's hatred towards Eggman. He enslaved his Uncle and pet, and forced him into hiding. We don't really have a reason for Sonic to hate Eggman in the games, so there's no emotional core to their dynamic. If we saw a story where Eggman destroyed Christmas Island (Sonic's canon birthplace) and maybe Eggman enslaved Sonic himself for a short period (I had a similar idea I had posted in the Live-Action movie thread) that would be interesting..

As much as I hate SatAM, one thing that I liked about it was it established Sonic's hatred towards Eggman. He enslaved his Uncle and pet, and forced him into hiding. We don't really have a reason for Sonic to hate Eggman in the games, so there's no emotional core to their dynamic. If we saw a story where Eggman destroyed Christmas Island (Sonic's canon birthplace) and maybe Eggman enslaved Sonic himself for a short period (I had a similar idea I had posted in the Live-Action movie thread) that would be interesting..