Humans in Sonic

[SonicComicFanboy]

I prefer humans be used extremly sparingly.  Outside of Eggman I don't feel the need for more humans unless absolutly nesseccary to the story.

[Heckboy]

I like how they're used in Unleashed. They're background filler that help the funny animals like Sonic stand out, but they all still have distinct personalities.

[Mick]

Eggman is the only necessary human in the Sonic series.  The rest are irrelevant to me.

[Mauro Fonseca]

They were perfectly fine and the whining about it was grating and nonsensical. But now that it's led to the two-worlds setting, I'd rather they stick with it for better and for worse and emphasise it, with more use of generic animal characters as NPCs in certain games, and generic human characters in others, and no mixing.

[blueneedlemouse]

I think that if Sonic Team is going to put humans in their games, they should be cartoonish like the unleashed humans, not like the humans in 06 that were extremely realistic.

[Meta77]

Humans I like in sonic verse. Topaz. Elise. Eggman. Merlina . Ghost girl. Princess Sara. Madonna.

 

Characters I hate and are poo stains.

Chris from sonic x

[Salamander]

Was ghost girl / Lah ever actually a human, or was she born a ghost, like Casper?

[Meta77]

34 minutes ago, FFWF said:

Was ghost girl / Lah ever actually a human, or was she born a ghost, like Casper?

There's a picture in the short of a human girl with her look. Most assume that s her

[StratusAsterion]

I think human's in the franchise are fine when they are treated as characters, more often than not though I find they aren't they are just sorta there or serve a very specific purpose, in the case of Elise she could have been interesting but she never really felt like much of a character, she was just there to drive the story forward, same could sorta be argued about Gerald and Maria, they were minimal in SA2 but their role in Shadow the Hedgehog just sort of felt forced for story drive as did the GUN Commander.

Characters like Merlina and Shahra felt a little more like actual characters it wasn't like super in depth character lore but it was (IMO) a step in the right direction.

Overall I'm okay with more humans in the Sonic Universe, but I think first and foremost they should be treated like characters and not just plot devices which is unfortunately a recent trend with the Sonic universe's writing (looking at you Deadly Six...)

[RedFox99]

19 minutes ago, StratusAsterion said:

I think human's in the franchise are fine when they are treated as characters, more often than not though I find they aren't they are just sorta there or serve a very specific purpose, in the case of Elise she could have been interesting but she never really felt like much of a character, she was just there to drive the story forward, same could sorta be argued about Gerald and Maria, they were minimal in SA2 but their role in Shadow the Hedgehog just sort of felt forced for story drive as did the GUN Commander.

Characters like Merlina and Shahra felt a little more like actual characters it wasn't like super in depth character lore but it was (IMO) a step in the right direction.

Overall I'm okay with more humans in the Sonic Universe, but I think first and foremost they should be treated like characters and not just plot devices which is unfortunately a recent trend with the Sonic universe's writing (looking at you Deadly Six...)

You've got a point here.

[Dash Speed]

On 8/6/2017 at 4:17 AM, Dr. Mechano said:

Humans are fine. The best Sonic character is a human, after all.

We've had human characters I can't stand, like the painfully boring Elise, and we've had animal characters I can't stand, like the ever-morose Shadow the Hedgehog. So, I don't care what species a character is; Just make them well-written and likable. Whether they're a human, a hedgehog, a robot, or a talking purple moose, just make them a good character.

Though even with all that said, non-Eggman humans haven't appeared in this series since Sonic and the Black Knight, I'm pretty sure. And that was almost a decade ago. It's possible that Sega's just decided not to use them anymore.

 

Funny you hate the the human and the anthro with the most character development and humanity and like the Human with the generic evil cartoonish personality and call him well written and likable. Eggman has got to be IMO the most predictable bland and boring gaming villain since Neo Cortex and feels like a Team Rocket type of villain than a geniune one. Even Bowser is more developed and fully complex than Eggman.

[Dr. Mechano]

3 hours ago, Dash Speed said:

Funny you hate the the human and the anthro with the most character development and humanity and like the Human with the generic evil cartoonish personality and call him well written and likable. Eggman has got to be IMO the most predictable bland and boring gaming villain since Neo Cortex and feels like a Team Rocket type of villain than a geniune one. Even Bowser is more developed and fully complex than Eggman.

I disagree.

I think that Eggman is more than just a wacky cartoonish villain. Oh, sure, he is that, but he also has more to him than those surface-level qualities.

 

A. Eggman's Inspiration

Beneath Eggman's maniacal visage lies a child who once idolized and looked up his grandfather, who would later go mad and greatly disappoint Eggman by betraying the altruistic ideals he once stood for. To quote the man himself:

"As a child, I looked up to my grandfather for all the great things he accomplished in his life. He was my hero, and I wanted to be a great scientist like him. But... did he really mean to destroy us?"

We see here that Eggman genuinely admired another human being, to the point of being his hero - and we also see how let down he was when Gerald failed to live up to the ideal he fabricated in his mind. It's such a very human quality for Eggman, and is doubtlessly relatable to us as an audience. Eggman's idealism and disillusionment are incredibly humanizing.

 

B. Eggman's Standards

Even though Eggman wants to conquer the world, he is not a man without compassion. In Sonic Lost World, when Eggman sees Tails about to be attacked by a rogue Cubot, he immediately leaps in front of him, putting his own life at risk to save one of his worst enemies - just because they happened to have a truce, and he was honorable enough to honor the terms of that truce.

Yes, at the end of Lost World, he went right back to fighting them, but while they had a common enemy in the Zeti, Eggman was honorable to his temporary allies, even risking his own well-being to protect them. We later see him saving Sonic from a boiling hot death as well.

And hey, that isn't the first time he's saved Sonic from dying in lava. In Sonic 2 for Gamegear, when Sonic missteps and almost falls into lava, Eggman swoops in to save him. Sure, he saves him just to throw him into battle with one of his robots, but it's this sense of honor that shines through: He wants Sonic defeated, but by his hand, not due to some fluke accident.

"I'm a complicated guy," as he would say.

 

C. Eggman's Genius

Eggman is a goofball, and is incredibly childish and zany. But don't let that deceive you; Eggman is a cunning, calculating, and devious evil genius who can play the characters into his hands when he puts his mind to it.

In Lost World, even after being betrayed, Eggman immediately improvises a backup plan to regain control of his scheme and crush the traitorous Zeti in one fell swoop. In Riders, he ingeniously pits Sonic and Jet against each other in order to make off with the Chaos Emeralds himself - in this case, he actually won,  getting the treasure he sought (even if it was just a flying carpet). We also see him hold his own against other villains - with or without Sonic's help - throughout the franchise, such as using his own mechanical know-how to guide the heroes through the ARK and undo his grandfather's sinister plans to destroy humanity.

Eggman's a goof, but he's smart. Legitimately smart.

 

All in all, Eggman is a funny, endearing, likable, interesting character who has actual personality and characterization. He steals every scene he's in, and is - in many ways - the heart of the series, bringing smiles and laughs (and even, at times, heartwarming and moments) wherever he goes. "Generic" he is not.

[RedFox99]

@Dr. Mechano Plus in Boom, he's shown to be somewhat sympathetic especially in the episode Mombot