Sonic: So Many Characters and So Little Context

[Stardust]

1) Do you remember the scene from Generations where Sonic is wished Happy Birthday by many characters?

If you didn't watch Sonic X, you probably had a hard time figuring out why characters who never interacted directly with him were in the party (Espio, Vector, Charmy, Rouge), while others who should've been there were simply absent (Shadow). After all, it makes no sense for people you barely know to come celebrate your birthday. Especially when not all the characters from the Sonic universe are necessarily Sonic's friends (minus Dr. Eggman, of course ¬¬").

But that's not the main issue. The issue is: we don't even know where Sonic is when the party happens - is he on Earth or in his world? Where is it? What's it called? Or is it just a random Green Hill Zone? -, how characters from other places managed to get there - doesn't Rouge work for GUN, in a human-dominated city of sorts? Don't the Chaotix reside in Angel Island with Knuckles? Doesn't Blaze come from another dimension? - or even if those places are in the same world at all.

The thing is, we know nothing about the strange place Sonic and his friends live, much less do we know anything about Sonic per se. He's just that blue hedgehog that runs super fast and loves chilli dogs. So what does that have to do with anything and how does it constitute a problem?

 

2) The problem is that Sega has been expanding that strange universe and created multiple worlds where multiple characters live. Each world is a stage for a new game (Soleanna, Lost World, the Wisps worlds). And each character stars in a brand, new story that has no continuation afterwards. 

However, Sega frequently chooses certain characters - like Shadow and Rouge - for them to make cameos in future games. And those cameos, as fans have already noticed, are usually out of context. 

Let's take the Chaotix, for example. Weren't they first created as Knuckles' friends? They were inhabitants of Angel Island who even fought a Titan Metal Sonic. All that was scraped when they were redesigned to appear in Sonic X. They were now the Chaotix, a detective agency with mysterious financial problems and which we've never seen solve a crime. For some insane reason, the agency has a child bee working with them and a ninja, who has learned his skills god knows where.

The raison d'être of the characters isn't enough to explain why they exist in the first place. They're just there. They don't have a life - what does Espio do in his free hours? Has Vector worked as something else before being a detective? Was Espio ever a professional assassin? They don't even fill a role in any game, except for Shadow the Hedgehog, perhaps.  

So whenever the Chaotix make an appearance, they spring out of nowhere and their relevance is reduced to the point where any random character could fill their shoes. They simply lack personality and context, two crucial elements that define a character.

The same problem has been upsetting fans of more popular characters, such as Shadow, Silver and Blaze. All were created for their own special game, with their own unique story. And when they made cameos in other games, their inclusion was barely explained or simply didn't have that much relevance. They were in a supportive role, included in the game to justify them making an appearance in the franchise at all. Another random character could easily fill their shoes.

If you want to put those assertions to the test, then here's an easy one: A) Name one game where all characters present interact directly with Sonic B ) Where the result of their mission has a major impact in the end of the game and C) That said mission tied in with their origin and continued his leitmotif, making the character evolve? 

(PS: said game can't be the story where they are the protagonist, of course.)

 

3) All of the above leads to the following: the problem with Sega is that it has created all these characters that were to appear in ONE game only. After that, the company didn't know how to use them in the franchise again. So game after game, the characters remain the same. They don't have a life of their own. They don't interact as normal people. There's no real exchange between them. Just a repetition of what's to be expected of them, as with Amy and her fangirlism toward Sonic. The characters don't have an ulterior motive to be there. They just exist. So how can there be a game where said characters suffer, learn, grow, evolve - all the major elements that compose A STORY - when that experience will translate into nothing later on? 

After each game, the characters go back to square one and continue to behave as they've always done, as if they were cursed with some sort of permanent amnesia. They don't remember their past adventures, how they met each other or even how they were born. It's a stale existence.

That ties in with the main problem of the Sonic Universe: it still doesn't have a background for the main characters (Sonic, Tails, Eggman, etc) and one that allows for new characters to build their story and their relationship with the main ones.

Sonic has no past, neither do Tails or Eggman. Knuckles at least had that "last survivor of lost civilization" theme going on, but that wasn't really explored in S&K. And even in Adventure, it was portrayed very poorly (to the point Knuckles has no reaction when he is transported to the past and sees other echidna walking about).

The main characters simply spontaneously appear in a new scenario having their usual fight and a new story starts from there (Lost world is the best example). Things just happen without much explanation. So when you try to insert a character from game A into game C, it doesn't work. There are major flaws and incoherencies, such as Blaze conveniently not remembering who's "that blue hedgehog" that Mephiles is talking about.

People complain that Shadow doesn't have a decent story ever since SA2. Why? Because he was created specifically for ONE game only: SA2. Sega didn't plan ahead and think: "Ok, what is Shadow's role going to be in future games should he be brought back?" Same thing with Blaze and Silver. Both are protagonist material, much like Shadow, and yet fans repeatedly complain they are yet to see them in a significant role or to reappear in future games, even.

 

4) One of the main arguments against Sonic having a background is that Sonic games were always about action. You never needed a story. It was just go and defeat Eggman.

The problem is that since 2D made its transition to 3D, Sega took Sonic to a direction where they wanted to turn him into a person, a memorable character. They gave him a voice, a personality, personal preferences, relationships with all sorts of people (Shara, Merlina, Chip, Chris).... They just didn't give him the main ingredient, that which defines a person and sets the premise for his/her whole behavior: a background.

This was a move done by Sega: to turn him into a memorable character like most Nintendo and Sony ones. But without a basic context to connect all the games and the characters Sonic befriended over the years, the players are now confused as to WHAT IS the Sonic Universe after all and what are the rules for character A to appear in a game while character B cannot. or if they'll ever see character B again in their life.

Other 2D characters and games made a succesful transition, such as Link, Samus Aran, Final Fantasy and others. The first 3D Link was so memorable he's considered a cornerstone in the history of the gaming industry. The Metroid games remained faithful to their context in 2D and the gameplay was as enjoyable as before. Can the same be said about Sonic Adventure? Has Sonic effectively become a memorable character, with a well-defined story and universe? Or is his legacy so confusing and fragmented people are still expecting some sort of transition to effectively take place? And from the recent evolution of the Boom games, could they be hoping in vain?

 

When Sonic celebrates his 25th Anniversary, I know many characters will be there. I just wonder whether they'll ever make the difference again in a new game after the Anniversary is over. And I'll expect everyone to behave just the same as they did 5 years ago. And the same in the next Anniversary. And the next, forever over and over.

 

 

¹ Lengthy topic is lengthy. Truly sorry about this!

² I was born in the 80's, so I've watched Sonic's career ever since its beginning (and have liked him since the start). Thus the long, thoughtful exposition ever since his career veered left during the 2D-3D transition.

[Blaze349]

I agree. If you compare Sonic's characters(and their personalities) they are an awfully lot inferior to other franchises like the Avengers or Mario. When Sega make characters they make them to fit a specific time slot.

 

Sonic was made for the 90s 'cool' age. Shadow was made for the edgier early 2000s and so on. Some characters have potential in newer games such as Chip but are never utilized. So instead of using these characters Sega just makes new ones to fit roles in the games.

[Mauro Fonseca]

oh my god you're mixing so many canons for no reason it's giving me a headache

 

the games are not sonic x the games are not archie the games are the games

 

no the chaotix weren't designed to be knuckles' friends and fight a titan metal sonic titan metal sonic is an archie thing

no the chaotix weren't redesigned for sonic x they were for sonic heroes

no they don't live in angel island since they're NOT knuckles' big buddies or anything like archie had

 

your arguments are terrible not because you might not have a point in your post but because you're approaching fiction through an awful angle. so WHAT if shadow was created for SA2 and thus thought only for that game and not future ones? What's wrong with characters being thought for specific stories only? Not everyone has to be a recurring cast, that's absurd. When you watch a tv show, a police procedural like CSI, do you want every murderer, every victim, every family, to keep appearing again and again and thus to be thought as very important characters that need to keep reappearing? the point is to then commit to it- if you HAVE created a character for just one specific use, keep them like that. And guess what? SEGA's been doing exactly that for a decade now!

 

like, jesus, man. can you imagine taking this mindset to any other fictional franchise? "Why the hell is Jacqueline de Bellefort not in this new book? Is this not a Poirot book? Why's Christie introducing characters and not reusing them after the use she created them for? What a hack!"

[Mauricius]

2 hours ago, The KKM said:

no the chaotix weren't designed to be knuckles' friends and fight a titan metal sonic titan metal sonic is an archie thing

no the chaotix weren't redesigned for sonic x they were for sonic heroes

no they don't live in angel island since they're NOT knuckles' big buddies or anything like archie had

Have you heard of Knuckles' Chaotix? The Chaotix trio are described as Knuckles' friends (in English manuals) and Titan Metal Sonic originates as the final boss of that game.

It's possible that they were redesigned for Sonic X since X and Heroes were made roughly at the same time, and SEGA has a record of adapting the game content to TV shows (Amy was called Princess Sally in the Sonic CD manual, voice actors changed because of Sonic X, Inhibitor Rings in '06, Sonic Synergy being renamed to Boom: Rise of Lyric due to Boom TV show.)

Since they are all Knuckles' friends, they probably DID live on Angel Island.

Although Iizuka has said that the Chaotix in Sonic Heroes are completely different from the ones introduces in Knuckles' Chaotix, the facts above are still valid. And I feel like Iizuka often gives unnecessary dumb explanations, so I don't really look at them as serious canon stuff, especially at the thing with Chaotix.

[Diogenes]

2 hours ago, The KKM said:

your arguments are terrible not because you might not have a point in your post but because you're approaching fiction through an awful angle. so WHAT if shadow was created for SA2 and thus thought only for that game and not future ones? What's wrong with characters being thought for specific stories only? Not everyone has to be a recurring cast, that's absurd.

I think his point is that a lot of the characters were designed with one story in mind but kept around anyway, not that literally every character that ever appears must become a permanent cast member.

[Mauro Fonseca]

57 minutes ago, Mauricius said:

Have you heard of Knuckles' Chaotix? The Chaotix trio are described as Knuckles' friends (in English manuals) and Titan Metal Sonic originates as the final boss of that game.

It's possible that they were redesigned for Sonic X since X and Heroes were made roughly at the same time, and SEGA has a record of adapting the game content to TV shows (Amy was called Princess Sally in the Sonic CD manual, voice actors changed because of Sonic X, Inhibitor Rings in '06, Sonic Synergy being renamed to Boom: Rise of Lyric due to Boom TV show.)

Since they are all Knuckles' friends, they probably DID live on Angel Island.

Although Iizuka has said that the Chaotix in Sonic Heroes are completely different from the ones introduces in Knuckles' Chaotix, the facts above are still valid. And I feel like Iizuka often gives unnecessary dumb explanations, so I don't really look at them as serious canon stuff, especially at the thing with Chaotix.

Vector existed since 1991, Charmy was from a manga, Mighty from another game. The only one designed for the game at all was Espio. Titan Metal Sonic is a name that was only created over a decade later, the fact it's even being brought up here, combined with the other points, just indicates a whole tendency to mix up continuities. Somehow I find it hard to believe the Chaotix were designed for Sonic X when they only appear halfway in, and when Sonic Heroes' whole story plays as a loose remake of Chaotix- nevermind the gameplay itself! (and IIRC, Iizuka even said as much, that it's the gameplay that connects them here). Amy being Sally, the voice actors, and Boom are all results of SEGA of America marketing and not SoJ or Sonic Team; Boom is even mroe arguable since it's not quite known how much of the initial ideas were the games' or the cartoon's.

 

58 minutes ago, Diogenes said:

I think his point is that a lot of the characters were designed with one story in mind but kept around anyway, not that literally every character that ever appears must become a permanent cast member.

which is why I said the problem wasn't that he didn't have a point, but that he was reaching it through terrible means. At worst he's being wrong since he's using bad means to get there (characters must always be prepared to be reused), at best he's complaining about something Sonic Team's been avoiding since 2006, with the exception of Generations where the whole point was to have cameos left and right. I certainly didn't see Shadow faffing around on Lost World, for an example.

 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

So Sonic Team/Sega doesn't do well with long term planning. What else is new?
 

In a more serious light, this is one of the main reasons why I don't like the idea of one-shot characters. On one hand, it's a waste of a character, on the other hand, if you don't know what the hell to do with the character later, they're just shoehorned. Funny enough, a lot of the mess ups they did are actually salvageable if you retool them into a different portrayal and what not. For example, I can imagine Shadow's arc working rather well if the Black Arms for one weren't aliens that flat out came out of nowhere in his backstory. Heck the same with a lot of Sonic 06, but that requires a massive narrative overhaul entirely.

[Wraith]

Sonic is consistently written to be as newbie friendly as possible usually. They don't ever worry about devoting cut scene's to how a character got from that obscure 32x game to here would make players feel like they missed something. The stories in the games are mostly standalone and that's fine. 

I alsodon't think you need back story for characters if it doesn't tie into the actual plot of the game they're in. What would Espio's ninja training have to do with anything in heroes? Him just being a ninja isn't something that's hard to buy

 

[Neo_Fire_Sonic]

I think you're thinking too hard on it.

[Your Vest Friend]

2 hours ago, Mauricius said:

Have you heard of Knuckles' Chaotix? The Chaotix trio are described as Knuckles' friends (in English manuals) and Titan Metal Sonic originates as the final boss of that game.

It's possible that they were redesigned for Sonic X since X and Heroes were made roughly at the same time, and SEGA has a record of adapting the game content to TV shows (Amy was called Princess Sally in the Sonic CD manual, voice actors changed because of Sonic X, Inhibitor Rings in '06, Sonic Synergy being renamed to Boom: Rise of Lyric due to Boom TV show.)

Since they are all Knuckles' friends, they probably DID live on Angel Island.

Although Iizuka has said that the Chaotix in Sonic Heroes are completely different from the ones introduces in Knuckles' Chaotix, the facts above are still valid. And I feel like Iizuka often gives unnecessary dumb explanations, so I don't really look at them as serious canon stuff, especially at the thing with Chaotix.

Nope, that was one instance where they were entirely serious about the retcon stuff. This was said in 2003 and remained consistent in 2013 (and the redesign was definitely for Heroes, not X), definitely not an explanation made up on the fly. The post-Heroes stuff contradicts too much of Chaotix the game for it to still be valid (like the fact only Vector is ever shown as a friend to Knuckles now, and only in the Mario and Sonic series because they're the Sonic power types). Plus, it would make zero sense for them to be based on Angel Island, a very isolated and difficult to easily go to and from, for a profession that requires high mobility. They likely live in a city given their jobs (and the fact their office in Heroes seemed to be based in a furniture store or warehouse).

And, even by Chaotix alone, they wouldn't be Knuckles friends who lived on Angel Island. The Japanese manual states that they just happened to all meet on Carnival Island from their different goals, and certainly weren't hanging out with Knuckles prior (heck, the manual implies that Espio has a twinge of rivalry with Knuckles because of his lineage and his ancestors' history).

 

[Nepenthe]

The problem as I see it being defined here is that the characters' lack of a background (sans Shadow) means that their subsequent appearances after their debut games are either irrelevant or interchangeable, and thus there's no necessity for them to exist in specific games. But then you go on to argue that inserting certain characters into other games doesn't work because they actually do have a context that was defined by the game they originally appeared in, and thus other games that don't fit or build off of that scenario cannot include them properly. This is where I'm confused because these are two conflicted issues to be argued as existing simultaneously. Either the characters do or don't have context that affects the viability of future appearances.

If it's the former, I agree it's an issue but not to the degree you're positing it is for two reasons. One, while there's a few specific instances in the games where the characters arguably did not need to be written in for the story as it is to work, but I assert that these are outweighed by both the amount and general importance of roles given to most of the cast in the games that they have starred in when taking the big picture as a whole. Two, it's okay to have an episodic series where characters are used loosely within the story. Having an extended universe where things are constantly built off of one another and constantly justified is not the only way to write a series, and as a result I feel like most people are not confused by most of the unexplained things in a cartoony franchise due to simple suspension of disbelief. These characters are the way they are because they can reasonably be within the imagination. No one needs mountains of exposition to explain to them why a side character is a ninja when the concept of a chameleon with the ability to blend in to its surroundings being a ninja as an hobby/occupation simply writes itself.

If you're arguing the latter point, then I disagree wholeheartedly. With the exception of characters who have either died or have been otherwise separated by extenuating circumstances from appearing in the games, there is no reason for the rest of the cast has no reason not to join specific games, particularly those with large scale conflicts, because at the very least it can be assumed that every characters has a basic survival instinct and thus a vested interest in ensuring theirs and the world's survival. That is literally your reasoning to have any given character with enough of a skillset to join Sonic on his adventures: "I don't want Eggman to enslave/kill me" which is also why Sega is able to get away with writing episodic material like this to a general audience. It's another scenario that writes itself.

[Mauricius]

59 minutes ago, Detective Reptiles said:

Nope, that was one instance where they were entirely serious about the retcon stuff. This was said in 2003 and remained consistent in 2013 (and the redesign was definitely for Heroes, not X), definitely not an explanation made up on the fly. The post-Heroes stuff contradicts too much of Chaotix the game for it to still be valid (like the fact only Vector is ever shown as a friend to Knuckles now, and only in the Mario and Sonic series because they're the Sonic power types). Plus, it would make zero sense for them to be based on Angel Island, a very isolated and difficult to easily go to and from, for a profession that requires high mobility. They likely live in a city given their jobs (and the fact their office in Heroes seemed to be based in a furniture store or warehouse).

And, even by Chaotix alone, they wouldn't be Knuckles friends who lived on Angel Island. The Japanese manual states that they just happened to all meet on Carnival Island from their different goals, and certainly weren't hanging out with Knuckles prior (heck, the manual implies that Espio has a twinge of rivalry with Knuckles because of his lineage and his ancestors' history).

 

Well, I was talking about the English manual, but the Japanese one has the original story, right?

This only adds to the story telling problem in Sonic games. Due to the poor management it's hard to distinguish canon from non-canon material unless you dig for every bit of contradicting info and announcements, since often spin-offs seem to fit as much, if not more than some main games. The developers pretty much always cared more about putting all these ideas and designs in their games and media than actually using them well. It's basically the Sonic Team's mentality of releasing games as soon as they finish them, without proper balancing and fine-tuning. 

I feel this is also the main reason of the character problem. They make these characters that seem awesome, that you want to know more about, but then you realize there isn't much to them, since the characters are just composed of ideas that get explored in one game. Sad thing is, that the characters aren't completely simplistic, so you can't just say that's how Sonic's World works and ignore the story (some people do exactly that, but I certainly want to know more about stuff). The characters COULD easily get more depth by putting them in situations that show their characteristics, but they just aren't utilized well.

[Sparky]

On 4/25/2016 at 3:22 AM, Stardust said:

1) Do you remember the scene from Generations where Sonic is wished Happy Birthday by many characters?

If you didn't watch Sonic X, you probably had a hard time figuring out why characters who never interacted directly with him were in the party (Espio, Vector, Charmy, Rouge), while others who should've been there were simply absent (Shadow). After all, it makes no sense for people you barely know to come celebrate your birthday. Especially when not all the characters from the Sonic universe are necessarily Sonic's friends (minus Dr. Eggman, of course ¬¬").

But that's not the main issue. The issue is: we don't even know where Sonic is when the party happens - is he on Earth or in his world? Where is it? What's it called? Or is it just a random Green Hill Zone? -, how characters from other places managed to get there - doesn't Rouge work for GUN, in a human-dominated city of sorts? Don't the Chaotix reside in Angel Island with Knuckles? Doesn't Blaze come from another dimension? - or even if those places are in the same world at all.

The thing is, we know nothing about the strange place Sonic and his friends live, much less do we know anything about Sonic per se. He's just that blue hedgehog that runs super fast and loves chilli dogs. So what does that have to do with anything and how does it constitute a problem?

 

2) The problem is that Sega has been expanding that strange universe and created multiple worlds where multiple characters live. Each world is a stage for a new game (Soleanna, Lost World, the Wisps worlds). And each character stars in a brand, new story that has no continuation afterwards. 

However, Sega frequently chooses certain characters - like Shadow and Rouge - for them to make cameos in future games. And those cameos, as fans have already noticed, are usually out of context. 

Let's take the Chaotix, for example. Weren't they first created as Knuckles' friends? They were inhabitants of Angel Island who even fought a Titan Metal Sonic. All that was scraped when they were redesigned to appear in Sonic X. They were now the Chaotix, a detective agency with mysterious financial problems and which we've never seen solve a crime. For some insane reason, the agency has a child bee working with them and a ninja, who has learned his skills god knows where.

The raison d'être of the characters isn't enough to explain why they exist in the first place. They're just there. They don't have a life - what does Espio do in his free hours? Has Vector worked as something else before being a detective? Was Espio ever a professional assassin? They don't even fill a role in any game, except for Shadow the Hedgehog, perhaps.  

So whenever the Chaotix make an appearance, they spring out of nowhere and their relevance is reduced to the point where any random character could fill their shoes. They simply lack personality and context, two crucial elements that define a character.

The same problem has been upsetting fans of more popular characters, such as Shadow, Silver and Blaze. All were created for their own special game, with their own unique story. And when they made cameos in other games, their inclusion was barely explained or simply didn't have that much relevance. They were in a supportive role, included in the game to justify them making an appearance in the franchise at all. Another random character could easily fill their shoes.

If you want to put those assertions to the test, then here's an easy one: A) Name one game where all characters present interact directly with Sonic B ) Where the result of their mission has a major impact in the end of the game and C) That said mission tied in with their origin and continued his leitmotif, making the character evolve? 

(PS: said game can't be the story where they are the protagonist, of course.)

 

3) All of the above leads to the following: the problem with Sega is that it has created all these characters that were to appear in ONE game only. After that, the company didn't know how to use them in the franchise again. So game after game, the characters remain the same. They don't have a life of their own. They don't interact as normal people. There's no real exchange between them. Just a repetition of what's to be expected of them, as with Amy and her fangirlism toward Sonic. The characters don't have an ulterior motive to be there. They just exist. So how can there be a game where said characters suffer, learn, grow, evolve - all the major elements that compose A STORY - when that experience will translate into nothing later on? 

After each game, the characters go back to square one and continue to behave as they've always done, as if they were cursed with some sort of permanent amnesia. They don't remember their past adventures, how they met each other or even how they were born. It's a stale existence.

That ties in with the main problem of the Sonic Universe: it still doesn't have a background for the main characters (Sonic, Tails, Eggman, etc) and one that allows for new characters to build their story and their relationship with the main ones.

Sonic has no past, neither do Tails or Eggman. Knuckles at least had that "last survivor of lost civilization" theme going on, but that wasn't really explored in S&K. And even in Adventure, it was portrayed very poorly (to the point Knuckles has no reaction when he is transported to the past and sees other echidna walking about).

The main characters simply spontaneously appear in a new scenario having their usual fight and a new story starts from there (Lost world is the best example). Things just happen without much explanation. So when you try to insert a character from game A into game C, it doesn't work. There are major flaws and incoherencies, such as Blaze conveniently not remembering who's "that blue hedgehog" that Mephiles is talking about.

People complain that Shadow doesn't have a decent story ever since SA2. Why? Because he was created specifically for ONE game only: SA2. Sega didn't plan ahead and think: "Ok, what is Shadow's role going to be in future games should he be brought back?" Same thing with Blaze and Silver. Both are protagonist material, much like Shadow, and yet fans repeatedly complain they are yet to see them in a significant role or to reappear in future games, even.

 

4) One of the main arguments against Sonic having a background is that Sonic games were always about action. You never needed a story. It was just go and defeat Eggman.

The problem is that since 2D made its transition to 3D, Sega took Sonic to a direction where they wanted to turn him into a person, a memorable character. They gave him a voice, a personality, personal preferences, relationships with all sorts of people (Shara, Merlina, Chip, Chris).... They just didn't give him the main ingredient, that which defines a person and sets the premise for his/her whole behavior: a background.

This was a move done by Sega: to turn him into a memorable character like most Nintendo and Sony ones. But without a basic context to connect all the games and the characters Sonic befriended over the years, the players are now confused as to WHAT IS the Sonic Universe after all and what are the rules for character A to appear in a game while character B cannot. or if they'll ever see character B again in their life.

Other 2D characters and games made a succesful transition, such as Link, Samus Aran, Final Fantasy and others. The first 3D Link was so memorable he's considered a cornerstone in the history of the gaming industry. The Metroid games remained faithful to their context in 2D and the gameplay was as enjoyable as before. Can the same be said about Sonic Adventure? Has Sonic effectively become a memorable character, with a well-defined story and universe? Or is his legacy so confusing and fragmented people are still expecting some sort of transition to effectively take place? And from the recent evolution of the Boom games, could they be hoping in vain?

 

When Sonic celebrates his 25th Anniversary, I know many characters will be there. I just wonder whether they'll ever make the difference again in a new game after the Anniversary is over. And I'll expect everyone to behave just the same as they did 5 years ago. And the same in the next Anniversary. And the next, forever over and over.

 

 

¹ Lengthy topic is lengthy. Truly sorry about this!

² I was born in the 80's, so I've watched Sonic's career ever since its beginning (and have liked him since the start). Thus the long, thoughtful exposition ever since his career veered left during the 2D-3D transition.

Tails does have a past. He lived on Westside Island and was bullied for his twin tails when Sonic came around, and he saw how cool Sonic was and wanted to be like him, and he was fascinated by the Tornado. 

In addition to that, there's the extra background from Tails' Adventure, which reveals he used to live on Cocoa Island before that, and his first ever adventure was fighting off an entire army of birds. And that adventure is also what made him as strong as he is in Sonic 2.

[Phos]

The generations example has as much to do with that game seemingly not sure if it was supposed to have a story or not as it does with issues of the story at large. 

Your mileage may vary, but a lot of what is ostensibly character driven in the franchise are mostly just sequences of events followed by attributing it to something emotional. Take Sonic Colors, save the aliens (it's their planet, Sonic...), apparently the story was about communicating your feelings? According to the credits soundtrack, yes. It's not surprising that characters typically don't wind up with much to them, really, given these  circumstances.