Where are other mobians in games?

[MetalSkulkBane]

I mean, there is Sonic and his friends, that's what, 15 furries? (Not counting people from future, past, science projects, other dimensions or obscure maybe-canon games)

Where are the rest?

As far as I know Sega never made this clear, so I'm curious what's are your headcanons based on loose evidences and other series. The way I see it, there are three options

1 Mobius Theory: Planet is full of mobians, they just always off-screen, cause making human models is easier. (I used to think that Animals from first games were mobians with boring designs due to graphic limitations. But now Lost Word clearly shows that they are something between mobians and realistic animals).

2 Earth Theory: There is veeery few mobians. Maybe they mostly extinct, maybe they live on few islands (South Island, Christmas Island), who knows.

3 X Theory: Like in Anime: There is furry planet Mobius and human planet Earth, with few weird things about it (Solaris, Black Arms, etc). Some weird accidents keep throwing people from one to the other (maybe Eggman got send on Mobius for original trilogy, then everyone landed on Earth for 3D games). Similar accidents happened in the past, which explains Echidna Ruins and such. The only riddle here is how Chip (Sonic Unleashed) looks like an animal if he's a spirit from Earth Core. Perhaps planets are linked and share one core? I dunno. I think someone from Sega said that this is official, but I'm not certain on that

[Kaotic Kanine]

Apparently, the "X Theory" is the official explanation; Sonic characters live in a different world and inter-mingle with Earth via some "cosmic door".

But I much prefer the "Earth Theory"; Sonic characters (or Mobians, if preferred) are a low population species that live in relatively secluded areas, such as small islands. I like to think that they aren't "low population" enough to be endangered, or for some of them to be extinct, but they definitely aren't as common as humans.

[sonicDX]

Personally I like the 'Mobius Theory' the most, because I think Sonic has a fantastic and fascinating world behind him, with amazing characters and places. I liked that the world of Sonic is a different one, with many mystic mysteries. Now that I read the Archie Sonic comics, I start to prefer to see Sonic and all the other characters without humans, they have their own world.

But this doesn't mean that I don't like that if Sonic and his friends appear in the 'real world' or on Earth. So I also like the 'X Theory'. Sonic X is based on the Adventure series, though. I definitely wouldn't like the 'Earth Theory'. I think Mobius should be an independent world.

And anyway, I would love to see more Mobian characters in the games. I don't like that the common characters always show up, knocking off the great rare (or not even rare!) ones, which are seen in the Archie comics, for example. It seems like Sonic games get more and more easy and flippant, and I don't understand why SEGA/Sonic Team doesn't use those amazing elements that are already created in the comics.

[Your Vest Friend]

I think the small animals are being treated as the general populus now, so we won't see many full-sized anthros outside of the main cast.

Why would most of them be those tiny things while a minority are fully anthro? Beats me. 

Edit: Actually, I've got a very good comparison; Super Mario Bros. The majority of the Mushroom Kingdom populace are generic Toads (with one considered a full-fledged character albeit with the same name as the species, just like how each of the little animals in Sonic have one individual also called Picky/Pecky/Rocky/Whatever as well as using those names for all of them), while a handful of them (Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi if he's shown in the Mushroom Kingdom) are unique characters. 

[Azul]

I used to think they were just offscreen, cohabiting with humans across the world in varying amounts but this X-Theory bullshit actually being true dashed that hope to pieces. It would've been simpler to just have them cohabit even if it means the antros are a sparsely populated because they've already shown Amy, Tails, and Rouge doing exactly that in Sonics Adventure and Battle. Additionally, that makes it seem like there's an Angel Island on both worlds or that it was transferred over to Earth. It just needlessly complicates the already confusing canon.

[Green Eyes]

I honestly do not think there is a canon explanation, besides the "separate planets" theory which seems like a major asspull.

Basically "mobians" are special, according to outside logic. By which I mean it's shorthand for showing who's an important character and who is not. Eggman is the exception that "proves" the rule, he's human to show he's not like the animal characters, basically he's "double special." (As the main villain he's the only recurring evil so it makes sense to show him as different from the rest of the main cast.)

One thing that bothers me a ton, is giving an in-universe explanations for something that wasn't meant to be in-universe to begin with,there's just no need and it makes things more complicated, a lot of the time doing this just raises more questions.

This is exactly what Sonic Team did.

[MetalSkulkBane]

Personally I like Earth theory least. It just means that 90% of planet is boring.

X theory isn't that bad, in fact it can be interesting if played right. However we all know that games will never look deeper into it it, so it's just needlessly complicated. Especially if you consider Chip, Babylonians, etc.

I just ignore what that guy said, just like the fact that planet isn't Mobius anymore. Until no one in games loudly states otherwise, Mobians are still around for me, they just always stay inside houses during all HUB World games.

[Ripe]

Honestly, that is something that has bothered me in all of the games were humans are relevant. For example, in SA1 it is stated that Amy lives in Station Square. Is she really only mobian who lives there? Especially with the Mobius theory that would be quite hard to believe.

I would so much like to think that either Mobius theory or Earth theory is correct. But for some reason SEGA says that the "X" BS is true, which in my opinion makes least amount of sense. In my opinion, Earth theory is probably the most reasonable and causes the least amount of problems.

[Your Vest Friend]

I wouldn't even say it was "X" theory; they share the two worlds, but even X had Sonic's planet as more fully anthro, whereas the games' Sonic's world isn't like that. 

[andrewtuell1991]

Earth Theory since nothing in the games themselves suggests the Mobius or X theories.  Mobius hasn't existed in the games since the Western canon was killed off in 9/9/99 and Japanese canon became the worldwide canon and despite the "official explanation" nothing in the games themselves come close to supporting the X theory.  I think Sega doesn't add anthros left and right because at this point they're expected to be either playable or have a significant role in the story.

[Blacklightning]

Short of just recolouring existing models, the furry folk tend to be a lot harder to design than a human populace - I like to think that they're still there, but Sega is too lazy to go through more involved design processes for characters meant at best for support roles and at worst for background fodder. Not that it helps that they tend not to be well received even when they are - Marine springs to mind.

[MetalSkulkBane]

7 hours ago, Blacklightning said:

Short of just recolouring existing models, the furry folk tend to be a lot harder to design than a human populace - I like to think that they're still there, but Sega is too lazy to go through more involved design processes for characters meant at best for support roles and at worst for background fodder. Not that it helps that they tend not to be well received even when they are - Marine springs to mind.

This is my guess too, although I wouldn't agree with "they tend to be not well revived". Marine is unpopular due to her characterization (which I love, but I'm fully aware I'm minority). But compare her to prof. Pickle. Being a mobian automatically makes you more popular withe the fandom. Heck, see how many times Elise & Maria were turned into mobians on Deviant Art.

Still, is it that hard to make background mobians? We seen plenty Sonic character generators, would making 3D version so hard? (I know, designs would be bland, but I'm talking about people for Hubs or crowds for cutscenes, not important NPCs)

[Salamander]

It's simply sloppy world-building.  Generic humans and generic human dwellings are easier to design than anthros and anthro dwellings, so they tossed out the logic of the setting and decided that everyone who's not a main character is a human on pseudo-Earth now.  The only time in recent years they've managed it was in Sonic Rush Adventure, which explicitly took place in an alternative universe anyway!

[Your Vest Friend]

The more I think on it, the more I think that having no other anthros is a deliberate choice that's all revolved around focus. It fits if you go with the two world theory, and if you assume that the little animal buddies are indeed the mass pppulace instead of anthros on Sonic's World.

-On the human world (I'm going to call it...Marvel), Sonic and his friends are considered strange, and there are comments scattered about on how seeing very large hedgehogs or whatever. It also brings them up as threats to certain bodies (Sonic in SA2 was hunted down for being a perceived threat, Shadow in Shadow has the same), which possibly wouldn't ring to the same effect if anthros were more common.

-On Sonic's world (I'm going to call it...DC), Sonic and his friends are basically revered like superheroes. Sure there's animals all over the place, but it's a very small number who are anthro and have any sort of power at all. The rest are little animals who while do have a similar intelligence level (see Lost Worlds and Runners) can't speak properly or really stand up to foes. Again, this is why I consider the two world theory separate from Sonic X's interpretation (ironically, I think season 2 might have been hinting at this theory when mostly little animals came through when more of Sonic's world got brought to Earth, but season 3 didn't care about continuity at all and buggered it up by showing anthros there instead). 

In both cases, Sonic and friends are considered special in some way. It emphasises how unique they are compared to their environments and highlights the larger than life aspect of these narratives.

But to study it even more, I think we need to look at the other alternate continuities still running.

-On Archie Comic's world (I'm going to call it...Mobius because I need the comic brand for later), it's essentially a case of it trying to have its cake and eat it too. Sonic and his game friends are still supposed to have more importance than the majority of the cast, but the setting dilutes how unique they are compared to the rest of the population. Some individuals like Sonic hold up because he's basically set up for that sort of superhero-ish persona, but things go awry when you try to have things like several teams working towards liberation (one of which has a dragon leading it) somehow less important than a detective agency just trying to make a buck (one of whose members can breathe fire, which in turn manages to make a mythological beast redundant). The worst examples are when fans assume that certain characters are supposed to be important because they appeared in an issue with a speaking role, when they're actually mundane and insignificant. This happened with the foreman and the royal guard bird, and to a lesser extent Echo the Dolphin. Ultimately, in terms of keeping the game cast special, having anthros be the mass populace doesn't help in this particular narrative set-up.

-On Sonic Boom's world (I'm going to call it...Archie), the mundane is a deliberate consideration. The main five may have extra powers compared to most of the cast, but they're still considered far more 'normal' here than in any other continuity. The whole show is about them getting into regular sitcom-type situations while occasionally having to fend off an Eggman attack. The cast being anthros here emphasises the whole tone that the branch is going for, so it doesn't get as messy as the Archie Comics can get when it comes to conveying character importance. 

 

Oh yes, and we can't forget Sonic Rush Adventure. The anthros worked there probably because it was on such a small scale. The Coconut Crew were...what, six, maybe seven individuals? And that made sense because the game was set on islands where seeing other populations would be difficult. But if it was more landlocked, and you'd have to have dozens of extras like that? Eh.

[MetalSkulkBane]

5 hours ago, Detective Reptiles said:

-On Sonic's world (I'm going to call it...DC), Sonic and his friends are basically revered like superheroes. Sure there's animals all over the place, but it's a very small number who are anthro and have any sort of power at all. The rest are little animals who while do have a similar intelligence level (see Lost Worlds and Runners) can't speak properly or really stand up to foes. Again, this is why I consider the two world theory separate from Sonic X's interpretation (ironically, I think season 2 might have been hinting at this theory when mostly little animals came through when more of Sonic's world got brought to Earth, but season 3 didn't care about continuity at all and buggered it up by showing anthros there instead).

(...)

But to study it even more, I think we need to look at the other alternate continuities still running.

-On Archie Comic's world (I'm going to call it...Mobius because I need the comic brand for later), it's essentially a case of it trying to have its cake and eat it too. Sonic and his game friends are still supposed to have more importance than the majority of the cast, but the setting dilutes how unique they are compared to the rest of the population. Some individuals like Sonic hold up because he's basically set up for that sort of superhero-ish persona, but things go awry when you try to have things like several teams working towards liberation (one of which has a dragon leading it) somehow less important than a detective agency just trying to make a buck (one of whose members can breathe fire, which in turn manages to make a mythological beast redundant). The worst examples are when fans assume that certain characters are supposed to be important because they appeared in an issue with a speaking role, when they're actually mundane and insignificant. This happened with the foreman and the royal guard bird, and to a lesser extent Echo the Dolphin. Ultimately, in terms of keeping the game cast special, having anthros be the mass populace doesn't help in this particular narrative set-up.

About "DC" part, are you saying that important characters are some kind of mutants, a superior race to Animal Friends? It works with outside logic, with inner logic it creates questions. Are you saying that Vanilla is from 'superhero' race? Even if we assume that being part of this ubber race doesn't mean superpowers (all Sonic friends have some excuse for having them, with exceptions of Sonic's speed and Cream's flying), but things like "clothes, speaking properly, thumbs", that still makes cultural questions. Should mobian-mobians gather in their own cities, rather then being spread around their inferior cousins?

As for "Mobius", I see problems you mentioned (Echo isn't important character, stop over-assuming people), but are those that big problems? Main cast is less unique, but word is mort interesting. I prefer Vector over Dulcy due to his personality, design, attachment I grew over the years, not because of his uber-thumbs or powers.

[Your Vest Friend]

Well, no, it's not like exact parallels, it's more like how the world treats them, and while the human world has it more akin to Marvel (which generally has more of an issue with the superheroes because many are mutated in some way, hence the whole mutant theme in X-Men most famously), Sonic's world has them treated more like traditional superheroes in their specialness (because there really aren't many). They don't have to be super-powered though. 

I'm not saying the comic set-up is a problem in the grand scheme of things (hell yeah I prefer Vector over Dulcy, I'll take him (with Espio) over anyone, and I like the variety in anthro characters), I'm just saying it kinda runs counter to what the games are trying to do with the characters.