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Why haven't they retconned Amy's age?


Her0

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2 minutes ago, JezMM said:

You've kind of treated two seperate points of mine as if I meant them in the exact same way.  To clarify:

The trivia "doesn't matter" in the sense that nothing about their canon stated ages has any real consistency with how they act.  Amy's 12 year age is just one of a bunch of ages that don't really match what the character does, alongside Charmy, Rouge, Cream, Tails, Silver, etc.

Sonic's birthday in Generations "doesn't matter" in the sense that Sonic is a cartoon character that isn't bound by the laws of real time.  The Sonic franchise follows the same sort of logic as how, in The Simpsons, there have been 10-20 christmas episodes and yet the characters have barely aged more than a year or two (if at all, I'm sure there must have been episodes set on character birthdays but I dunno if they did actually canonically age them when those episodes occured).

I mean, if Sonic was 15 in Sonic 1, and he aged in Sonic Generations... that would mean every Sonic game beforehand took place in the space of one year, meaning Past Sonic and Present Sonic in Generations have less than a year of age between them, when Sonic and Tails's past selves are suggested to be significantly younger than that in their mannerisms.  This is what I mean when I say it "doesn't matter", you cannot apply logic to CERTAIN elements of Sonic lore, character age is one of those elements.

Did it seriously list him as being 15 in Sonic 1? Cause I don't remember him ever getting a profile for his age until later years. And if he never was given an age at that time, then you could have imagined him as being however younger than his modern self you felt made sense. To me it would have made total sense if there was 4 years between Sonic 1 and Sonic Adventure, and at the same time it still feels plausible that the canon events between Sonic Adventure and Generations took place within the span of a year (if Dragon Ball can have over 60 episodes worth of battles and events happen within the course of one day then who's to say how pacing can work for Sonic games where it doesn't even take you 10 minutes to reach the end of a stage).

If it really is a "Simpsons syndrome" then I can concede to that, but if that's the case it's a really bothersome way of continuing the character. It just kind of messes with your suspension of disbelief unless you take care to not revisit too many holidays or year markers or change the character appearance too much between titles (cause once you do, this confusion happens). I'm not saying that real world logic always has to be applied to a piece of fiction, but SOME kind of logic has to exist, otherwise you wouldn't be able to suspend that disbelief too easily.

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3 minutes ago, JezMM said:

Kind of a gross/unnecessary oversimplification.  It's definitely the case that loli/shota fetish is more culturally acceptable over there (as long as it's kept to realm of fantasy etc) but personally I've never gotten the impression that that's what they were going for.  I get the feeling you were intentionally exaggerating for jokes but seems people like the above poster buy into that stereotype and such stereotypes get perpetuated by jokes like these.

Half joking, half going on what I've seen. They have some pretty... Eehhh... INTERESTING sources of entertainment. Idols, for one thing...

But... Whole different can of worms there. I do think it has something to do with her age being what it is to match her design for more appeal in the East, but of course it's only an assumption on my part based on what I see from Japanese entertainment.

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12 minutes ago, Lord-Dreamerz said:

I can almost promise you that is the case here. And if I worked on this series... while I may had handle things little differently...however I would had done overall the same and never age the characters... the difference with me is I never would had given exact ages to the cast and would had just called Sonic a teen, ETC in general.

At this point I'd rather take intentional vagueness of age rather than clear specificity and then blase attempts at perpetuating the age while also including events that would normally signify an advancing of age. If they had just described Sonic, Amy, and the rest of the cast as "teenagers, kids, young adults, adults, etc." without making a number up for each of them, none of this would have ever been a problem for me. They could have even said that Amy was a "tiny bit younger than Sonic" and I still wouldn't have a problem because I would still have no real number to work with. Why even bother being specific about these characters' ages anyway if they aren't even placed in settings where that would even matter, nobody seems to go to school or drink or anything (and yet seemingly they all can drive...).

5 minutes ago, Chris Knopps said:

Half joking, half going on what I've seen. They have some pretty... Eehhh... INTERESTING sources of entertainment. Idols, for one thing...

But... Whole different can of worms there. I do think it has something to do with her age being what it is to match her design for more appeal in the East, but of course it's only an assumption on my part based on what I see from Japanese entertainment.

Again, she still looks a little too close in physical age to Sonic, a 15 year old, to really be passed off as a character meant to cater to that kind of a niche crowd...if that was ever even the intention in the first place (really doubt it was). Those kinds of people are attracted to a body type, not a number.

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21 minutes ago, Her0 said:

Did it seriously list him as being 15 in Sonic 1? Cause I don't remember him ever getting a profile for his age until later years. And if he never was given an age at that time, then you could have imagined him as being however younger than his modern self you felt made sense. To me it would have made total sense if there was 4 years between Sonic 1 and Sonic Adventure, and at the same time it still feels plausible that the canon events between Sonic Adventure and Generations took place within the span of a year (if Dragon Ball can have over 60 episodes worth of battles and events happen within the course of one day then who's to say how pacing can work for Sonic games where it doesn't even take you 10 minutes to reach the end of a stage).

If it really is a "Simpsons syndrome" then I can concede to that, but if that's the case it's a really bothersome way of continuing the character. It just kind of messes with your suspension of disbelief unless you take care to not revisit too many holidays or year markers or change the character appearance too much between titles (cause once you do, this confusion happens). I'm not saying that real world logic always has to be applied to a piece of fiction, but SOME kind of logic has to exist, otherwise you wouldn't be able to suspend that disbelief too easily.

Your "doesn't even take you 10 minutes to reach the end of a stage" is a perfect example of how an unrealistic passage of time is something you have to accept in the Sonic franchise.  During Speed Highway, the sun manages to rise completely in the space of the 20 seconds that Sonic spends inside a skyscraper.  What we experience will always be just an "artistic representation" of the real, canon adventure that unfolded in Sonic's world.

Anyway to each their own, I can suspend my disbelief just fine.  Character age is one of TONS of things in the Sonic series that require suspense of disbelief:

Rings are everywhere and a form of energy but also currency?

Highways and city buildings have loops built into them?

Chaos Emeralds disperse after being used - sometimes exist in a mysterious realm and sometimes they're just lying around in the world?

The amount of materials Eggman would need to amass for each of his schemes is completely ludicrous, even considering his various legit sources of income?  (This one is a particular hole for the "all these Sonic games could take place in the space of a year!" idea).

What the fuck even is Omochao?

 

Character age not making sense feels like small potatoes compared to some of the stuff I can just say "well it's not that important" to enjoy what consistent lore IS on offer.  Sometimes I feel it's better to just be able to say that when a rational explaination - be it canon or fanon - cannot be determined, especially for an overall mediocrely written/constructed lore such as Sonic's.

If you disagree well... brace yourself for a headache I guess because the answers just aren't there for some things.  The developers have made it clear in recent years that Sonic isn't the sort of franchise that has that kind of consistency, so while it's nice to hope, it's best to keep those hopes... dormant, I guess.

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4 minutes ago, JezMM said:

Your "doesn't even take you 10 minutes to reach the end of a stage" is a perfect example of how an unrealistic passage of time is something you have to accept in the Sonic franchise.  During Speed Highway, the sun manages to rise completely in the space of the 20 seconds that Sonic spends inside a skyscraper.  What we experience will always be just an "artistic representation" of the real, canon adventure that unfolded in Sonic's world.

Anyway to each their own, I can suspend my disbelief just fine.  Character age is one of TONS of things in the Sonic series that require suspense of disbelief:

Rings are everywhere and a form of energy but also currency?

Highways and city buildings have loops built into them?

Chaos Emeralds disperse after being used - sometimes exist in a mysterious realm and sometimes they're just lying around in the world?

The amount of materials Eggman would need to amass for each of his schemes is completely ludicrous, even considering his various legit sources of income?  (This one is a particular hole for the "all these Sonic games could take place in the space of a year!" idea).

What the fuck even is Omochao?

 

Character age not making sense feels like small potatoes compared to some of the stuff I can just say "well it's not that important" to enjoy what consistent lore IS on offer.  Sometimes I feel it's better to just be able to say that when a rational explaination - be it canon or fanon - cannot be determined, especially for an overall mediocrely written/constructed lore such as Sonic's.

If you disagree well... brace yourself for a headache I guess because the answers just aren't there for some things.  The developers have made it clear in recent years that Sonic isn't the sort of franchise that has that kind of consistency, so while it's nice to hope, it's best to keep those hopes... dormant, I guess.

Sigh, well I care about little details like that, so it's really hard for me to "just ignore that and enjoy what's there" when they put it out there in the first place. How exactly would I cope with that, just ignore whatever kind of "official" bio there is about such things and enjoy the rest of the franchise with my own interpretations and impressions unless Sega releases bios that agree with how I view things? If it's really that simple, I guess I could live with that, but it would still be nagging at some part of my head.

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2 minutes ago, Her0 said:

How exactly would I cope with that, just ignore whatever kind of "official" bio there is about such things and enjoy the rest of the franchise with my own interpretations and impressions unless Sega releases bios that agree with how I view things? If it's really that simple, I guess I could live with that, but it would still be nagging at some part of my head.

The way I see it, the ages are only used as extra flavor/context rather than a solid logical fact to abide by. "Sonic is 15 years old! He craves the thrill of adventure and likes eating fastfood!" Kinda like that. Gives us a quick impression and easy way to understand their behavior.

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2 minutes ago, Her0 said:

Why even bother being specific about these characters' ages anyway if they aren't even placed in settings where that would even matter

Because putting a number to it is the easiest way to communicate the details that matter, even if the exact number doesn't.

Like, you could call Cream, Tails, and Amy "kids", but if you leave it at that you lose the information about their relative ages. Saying they're 6, 8, and 12 respectively immediately gives you a clearer picture of how they relate to each other, but they could've just as easily been 5, 9, and 11 and have the same effect.

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4 minutes ago, AtomicPencils said:

The way I see it, the ages are only used as extra flavor/context rather than a solid logical fact to abide by. "Sonic is 15 years old! He craves the thrill of adventure and likes eating fastfood!" Kinda like that. Gives us a quick impression and easy way to understand their behavior.

So basically "here's the general idea", but headcanon still works just as well?

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4 minutes ago, Her0 said:

Sigh, well I care about little details like that, so it's really hard for me to "just ignore that and enjoy what's there" when they put it out there in the first place. How exactly would I cope with that, just ignore whatever kind of "official" bio there is about such things and enjoy the rest of the franchise with my own interpretations and impressions unless Sega releases bios that agree with how I view things? If it's really that simple, I guess I could live with that, but it would still be nagging at some part of my head.

I'm afraid that's just the sort of franchise Sonic is.  I would LOVE for Sonic to be 100% consistent, but it is a 25-year old franchise that has passed through MANY creative hands that all have different working knowledges of existing lore and different opinions on whether that lore matters or not for each new product in the franchise.  Additionally, Sonic is primarily aimed at an audience that will be consuming the games in a very casual manner.  So yeah, that kind of consistency just can't be expected of it and you'll have an easier time if you can find a way to personally make peace with that fact.

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It's true Japan is more open to sexual content than over here, but I don't think  Amy's 12 for pedos. I mean, she doesn't look or act like a "little girl" even if she's a little immature. Cream would be a "little girl", but even she isn't seen as such. Tells what kinda person you are...

Wasn't Amy's love supposed to be a cute forever one-sided love? I'd say Amy isn't close to Sonic's age on purpose. Because a 3 year age difference is taboo. Maybe making her closer to Sonic's age would make people ask "Hey they're a great couple, why won't SEGA make them be an actual couple???" or to those who think age should reflect human age, "why is she being a brat/acting immaturely (dreaming of Sonic marrying her)???". I say age isn't important, but raising her age but not changing her character would make her look more crazy.

Also there's the fact that they don't  change information once established. If they decide to retcon Amy's age, they would probably need to change everyone else. And that wouldn't be the current Sonic anymore.

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4 minutes ago, KoDaiko said:

It's true Japan is more open to sexual content than over here, but I don't think  Amy's 12 for pedos. I mean, she doesn't look or act like a "little girl" even if she's a little immature. Cream would be a "little girl", but even she isn't seen as such. Tells what kinda person you are...

Wasn't Amy's love supposed to be a cute forever one-sided love? I'd say Amy isn't close to Sonic's age on purpose. Because a 3 year age difference is taboo. Maybe making her closer to Sonic's age would make people ask "Hey they're a great couple, why won't SEGA make them be an actual couple???" or to those who think age should reflect human age, "why is she being a brat/acting immaturely (dreaming of Sonic marrying her)???". I say age isn't important, but raising her age but not changing her character would make her look more crazy.

Also there's the fact that they don't  change information once established. If they decide to retcon Amy's age, they would probably need to change everyone else. And that wouldn't be the current Sonic anymore.

Half of my whole point was that Amy doesn't really act like that anymore, her infatuation for Sonic has been pretty toned down, so changing her age wouldn't really "ruin" the point of her character. And no matter what age that's at, she hasn't reached true "creepiness" levels at all. People see the fact that she chases him around everywhere and assume it also means she follows him home, into the bathroom, the doctor's office, etc, when you can tell right off that bat she's not that crazy. XP

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They did retcon Amy Rose's age...she was 8 and now she's 12.

Rosey the rascal is the only character to receive this treatment.

Sonic the Hedgehog is homeless drifter.

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I mean a lot lot of elementary school kids in the US are surprisingly mature for their ages, hell even sitcoms represent that age group fairly competent and usually more mature than the flat out teens and adults at times. So I'm personally not seeing Amy's depiction in boom as anything "wtf"

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Quite frankly, I don't think the characters should have ages at all; it's difficult to say that they're relevant, and certainly not relateable.

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Sonic was 16 in classic material, Knuckles 15, they switched ages.

Stop caring for these details, you're demanding of the franchise and lore something it's not interested in giving you.

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Well boom amy is assuredly much older than her regular counter part, she seem to have non hammer specialized skills too. 

Regular amy in game, you can totally justify as some young kid trying to follow sonic around, it only gets weird in the context of , if ever sonic has ever actually taken her out on a date. 

That isn't the only weirdness though, depending on how you feel about " if time in stasis counts as time actually being alive" and " did Gerald find or make shadow" shadow could be a senior citizen or a toddler. 

In short, outside of boom where characters seem explicitly older I don't think we are supposed to care about ages much. I'm not gonna say stop worrying about small details, i'm just saying... just assume everyone is 16 except for the people who are specifically supposed to be older/younger and deadly alien science experiments and just call it a day. Because there are some details that don't think too deeply about they just might be attached to that doesn't actually matter. 

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Can I just ask why anyone should even care about their ages? Like everyone else has said it has pretty much no impact on their personalities. An example? Sonic was originally 18 (just check the technical documents on Retro), was changed to 16, and now he's 15. And he's pretty much the same character. Age has no relevance in this series outside of pedantic trivia. 

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I consider her as 16 in the 3d series game and media. She can drive and a chest. No young person does and it be odd if they did honestly

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10 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

She doesn't have a "chest"...that's just a straight curve downward. Though, that appears to be inconsistent.

I'd I had that Jackie Chan what face meme I'd post it. No chest um have you played any of the 3d games. She does have a chest. She's at least.a b in some.

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She had some questionable anatomy in Adventure (questionable because all of it looked weird), but nowadays they've brought it right down. 

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44 minutes ago, Meta77 said:

I consider her as 16 in the 3d series game and media. She can drive and a chest. No young person does and it be odd if they did honestly

For the chest: 1) which one are we talking about? and 2) Idk if you can call it a B.  For driving......this is a world where Tails is allowed to drive and Cream can ride a hoverboard to participate in a race. I feel you're still applying real world/human standards to them.

I just pulled these out from the wiki:

latest?cb=20160704165610latest?cb=20120809062605

I don't think her breast is that big? For the left one, I think it's more of the small waist making her breast look bigger.

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15 minutes ago, KoDaiko said:

For the chest: 1) which one are we talking about? and 2) Idk if you can call it a B.  For driving......this is a world where Tails is allowed to drive and Cream can ride a hoverboard to participate in a race. I feel you're still applying real world/human standards to them.

I just pulled these out from the wiki:

latest?cb=20160704165610latest?cb=20120809062605

I don't think her breast is that big? For the left one, I think it's more of the small waist making her breast look bigger.

I'm talking later games amy. It could be her waist giving g the impression but the fact is she has one. May not be Rouge size but they are there this should make her older I feel. But as stated this is sonic verse and noting goes by normal

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On ‎2‎/‎19‎/‎2017 at 7:52 PM, SonicComicFanboy said:

 Boom amy could easily be 18 as could Sonic, Knuckles & Sticks.

 

  As for SEGA amy, yeah they should really push her age up abit.

I remember Cindy Robinson said on Find The Computer Room's playthrough of Rise of Lyric that Amy is 17. Not sure how accurate that is but still.

I really don't think any of the characters ages really matter to be honest. They're more a factoid about the characters than a set age. Lets not forget Rouge went from 18 to 17 between SA2 and Heroes.

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1 hour ago, Meta77 said:

I'm talking later games amy. It could be her waist giving g the impression but the fact is she has one. May not be Rouge size but they are there this should make her older I feel. But as stated this is sonic verse and noting goes by normal

Amy's 12 years old. So she's like, 5th, 6th, possibly 7th grade? I googled "breast development age" and it said puberty/breast dev can start anywhere from 8-13 year old, sometimes older or younger. Why did you make me look that up? Some girls apparently develop faster (and get teased/bullied for being taller or have bigger breasts).

 

So I think even for humans it's normal? Can someone tell me if this is correct or not I don't know human...

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