Why are we convinced Infinite is gone for good?

[Red Hot Jack]

I'm under the assumption that many think Infinite is really dead and buried, and SEGA wants to forget he exists.

So I'm gonna analyze each reason why we think he might be gone... Let's go.

"But he is dead, you saw that at the end of Forces!"

Uhm... maybe, no one really knows what happened to him, what happens to Eggman after every game? How doesn't he blow up inside his robots? Wasn't he trapped in White Space at the end of Generations? Stuck in space in Colors? I can go on. Same for Captain Whisker in Rush Adventure, or the Deadly Six in Lost World, after their final fights, they just poof away, and then Zavok and Zazz (at least) returned in more games. Although some characters are considered officially dead by SEGA, like Black Doom, Mephiles, Maria, Tikal, and more.

"Infinite is off-limits like Sticks, the Freedom Fighters"

I think it's a different case here, the Freedom Fighters were part of an old book, stuff from '93 that aged poorly with Sonic, SEGA wanted to quit with them once the Archie comic was cancelled. Sticks... it pains me to say, SEGA wanted to drop Boom and forgot they were trying to add Sticks into Modern Sonic and his world, hence they dropped her character too. Infinite is a villain from Modern Sonic games, main games, it's a different case entirely.

"Infinite is off-limits in the comics, as confirmed by Ian Flynn, he is gone"

No, Classic Sonic is also off-limits in the comics, the Avatar is off-limits in the comics, they aren't dead or gone. He can't be used for whatever reason SEGA has, maybe they have plans for him? I'm not sure.

"Why would you want him back? He is a trash character, unpopular, no one wants him back"

I don't think that's true anyway, fans asked for him to be playable in Team Sonic Racing, in the Olympics, they KEEP ASKING for him in Forces Mobile by spamming Hardlight with posts. Eh. I also recently made a poll on my Sonic fan page, Infinite was preferred by people over the Zeti by 93%. People like him more, might be the design, the edgyness, the theme, I don't know, the fact that he's more serious than the Deadly Six.

For all we know, he wasn't in those games because SEGA has plans? Or he might be too edgy to join the Olympics or Kart racing or whatever.

Also, it's not true he disappeared completely after Forces, he was in Smash Ultimate as a Spirit, he appeared in merch like Monopoly, the board game and the action figure by Tomy. It's still something, maybe? Not sure at this point if those count.

My point is, don't take for granted he is 100% dead just because you dislike him, maybe he will be back?

I'm wondering though... he was a SoJ character, maybe that could be the reason he isn't returning? SoA doesn't want him because he is "too japanese" and too "edgy"? Their conflict of visions in Forces might be the reason. But it's still unclear.

 

[DabigRG]

It's safe to assume he's dead because of the trends and trappings of the very era he appeals to.

The Dreamcast and early Modern eras featured numerous Monsters of the Week and sometimes other villains who were often more powerful, evil, or both compared to Eggman. They often took center stage in those games, either as a major player and/or as the final boss Super Sonic and friends had to stop. With a select few exceptions, these alternatice villains always ended up being killed off, turning good, or in Shadow's case, both originally. The reasons for this from a writing standpoint is generally that these villains are again too evil, powerful, or both to keep around and writing them off somehow doubles as a fitting climax to those stories, especially after all the buildup and weight that often came with fighting them.

Infinite, despite being a Mobian for the most part, ticks off a lot of the boxes by virtue of being an Ultimate Villain archetype in what could easily be a Grand Finale; bonus points for actually having a bona fide, no returns bodycount on top of his broken globe-threatening powers. Having a character like that stick around would be problematic for a series that's primarily about fun action and constantly being on the move to the next adventure. Add in that the last we see of him has his entire body being digitized(?) as he pleads for one more chance before being pulled to Imperial Tower by Eggman to prepare for the final battle, his expectancy wasn't looking good anyway.

We could be surprised(read: jaw dropped) down the road, but unless it's another anniversary game or a soft reboot sequestering Forces itself off as an alternate future, we're likely not seeing that Jackal again alive.

[DryLagoon]

Quote

"But he is dead, you saw that at the end of Forces!"

Being dead didn't stop them bringing back Shadow. If he's popular, they will.

Quote

Infinite is a villain from Modern Sonic games, main games, it's a different case entirely.

So was a certain character that looks like Shadow, but because his game will never live it down the last time we saw him was on a skateboard.

Quote

 

"Why would you want him back? He is a trash character, unpopular, no one wants him back"

I must admit I don't see tons of outright fans of Infinite, but I do see people who want him back. (Then again Japan seems to be less bothered by the "edgy" games as I've seen someone unironically still asking for Sonic Forces DLC and wanting Infinite back. I'm considering making a thread on it but I'm unsure how to sort it and avoid breaking repost rules of the original site)

I find it interesting they've tried to "replace" Metal Sonic's role twice now. I'm thinking that after what they did to him in Heroes they didn't want to upset his fans any further. (which probably bugs them more than if they honestly tried to use him again)

I do think not being in TSR and Olympics is a bad sign. Silver was instantly in games after his debut despite reception, and Blaze is in them still because she still has a following despite her lack of recent main appearances. I don't think it's a matter of being "too edgy" when we have Shadow smiling occasionally too. lol

As for me, I think bringing him back could be a good way of giving him more detail and Eggman's only assistants for awhile have been the bots, so it would be interesting to have an anthro for awhile. I'm kind of interested how that would impact Eggman, although Infinite doesn't seem much for chatter.

 

[DabigRG]

3 minutes ago, DryLagoon said:

 

So was a certain character that looks like Shadow, but because his game will never live it down the last time we saw him was on a skateboard.

Wut

3 minutes ago, DryLagoon said:

I find it interesting they've tried to "replace" Metal Sonic's role twice now. I'm thinking that after what they did to him in Heroes they didn't want to upset his fans any further.

What do you mean?

3 minutes ago, DryLagoon said:

I do think not being in TSR and Olympics is a bad sign. Silver was instantly in games after his debut despite reception, and Blaze is in them still because she still has a following despite her lack of recent main appearances. I don't think it's a matter of being "too edgy" when we have Shadow smiling occasionally too. lol

I think it helps that their earlier reapparances were seemingly being made partway through 06s production and so they were already decided as recurring characters.

Add in that 06 linked the two and Blaze was set to return anyway and there ya go.

[DryLagoon]

15 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

It's safe to assume he's dead because of the trends and trappings of the very era he appeals to.

The Dreamcast and early Modern eras featured numerous Monsters of the Week and sometimes other villains who were often more powerful, evil, or both compared to Eggman. They often took center stage in those games, either as a major player and/or as the final boss Super Sonic and friends had to stop. With a select few exceptions, these alternatice villains always ended up being killed off, turning good, or in Shadow's case, both originally. The reasons for this from a writing standpoint is generally that these villains are again too evil, powerful, or both to keep around and writing them off somehow doubles as a fitting climax to those stories, especially after all the buildup and weight that often came with fighting them.

What bugs me about Infinite is unlike some of the others I feel like I barely know anything about him. Even his backstory had to be added in Shadow's episode instead of the main game. Which I think is important for liking him beyond surface level stuff. Although I am curious how an Infinite reform would work. Would he still keep the mask, somehow go back to his old self, etc. Would he gain any new powers from this? What would his role in the story be? I agree he works better as a non reoccurring character. I just wish there was a way to give him another shot before they drop him, but I know the last thing people want is a Forces sequel.

6 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

Wut

What do you mean?

I think it helps that their earlier reapparances were seemingly being made partway through 06s production and so they were already decided as recurring characters.

Add in that 06 linked the two and Blaze was set to return anyway and there ya go.

I was making reference to 06, as I'm sure despite the retcon some at the time would think he'd come back some day if Silver could.

What I mean is from what I get in Classic, besides being the robot version of Sonic, Metal comes across like Eggman's right hand man. He's the biggest guy besides Eggman himself. To me both Shadow and Infinite tried to also do this, but the difference from Metal being their situation means it wouldn't work as well without downgrading them from their debut.

Oh yeah I get what you mean, but more I'm saying is if they really wanted them gone, they could have. That we haven't seen a peep of Infinite since Forces tells me that they have 0 interest of using him again. Unlike Zavok where they can't stop putting him in everything. Hell he's not even in the boss mode for the upcoming mobile game. lol

What I mean is Blaze hasn't had a main appearance since 06's era. (unless you count Generations) Silver at least did something in Forces recently.

[Diogenes]

Nobody can know with certainty whether a (non-main) character is going to come back or not, unless the developers say something one way or the other. But him sucking hard, his big gimmick being gone, and being easy to write off as dead is enough for me to assume he's gone for good in the absence of evidence to the contrary. Maybe I'll be wrong, and if so I'll take the hit.

[Kuzu]

Methinks they intentionally wrote his fate as ambiguous as possible  so they could have free range if they wanted to bring him back or not.

[DabigRG]

1 hour ago, DryLagoon said:

What bugs me about Infinite is unlike some of the others I feel like I barely know anything about him. Even his backstory had to be added in Shadow's episode instead of the main game. Which I think is important for liking him beyond surface level stuff.

That's partly because said backstory was seemingly something Sega came up with after the script was finalized. The game proper seems to infer Infinite is just a highly unusual creation of Eggman. 

That said, it's not like he lacks that much compared to other villains: 

• Black Doom just always existed leading his spawn around the galaxy,
• Mephiles is the mental capacity of a diety that was plucked from its dimension and experimented on,
• Dark Gaia is a part of a natural cycle of rebirth for the human world, 
• The Deadly Six are a group founded for Master Zik per his philosophy and handed to his greatest disciple Zavok, 
• Prof Gerald was a genius who wanted to better mankind before getting himself thrown under the bus and going mad,
• Shadow was created as the Ultimate Lifeform to find a cure for Maria and take care Gerald's deal with the Black Arms,
• Void is half of a diety in a dream world that felt overwhelming loneliness,
• Erazor and Merlina became aware of the fact that they are in a book and so set out to gain the ability to influence that for revenge after getting imprisoned and the purpose of preserving Camelot, respectively,
• Metal is just another Sonic robot,
• Grand Battlekuku XV and Speedy are from a line of Battlelords leading the Battle Bird Armada,
• The Babylon Rogues are the lost descendants of alien bird genies who crash landed on Sonic's World when the Arks of the Cosmos malfunctioned a long time ago,
• Fang, Bean, Bark, Witchcart, and to an extent Eggman just are,

and finally, Infinite is a psychotic mercenary with an inferiority complex who allowed himself to be cyberized for the Phantom Ruby's influence. 

1 hour ago, DryLagoon said:

Although I am curious how an Infinite reform would work. Would he still keep the mask, somehow go back to his old self, etc. Would he gain any new powers from this? What would his role in the story be? I agree he works better as a non reoccurring character. I just wish there was a way to give him another shot before they drop him, but I know the last thing people want is a Forces sequel.

Reform? 

Anyway, the most common idea is him desperately seeking a way to restore his previous power.

1 hour ago, DryLagoon said:

I was making reference to 06, as I'm sure despite the retcon some at the time would think he'd come back some day if Silver could.

Okay, but what does that have to do with a skatebooard?

1 hour ago, DryLagoon said:

What I mean is from what I get in Classic, besides being the robot version of Sonic, Metal comes across like Eggman's right hand man. He's the biggest guy besides Eggman himself. To me both Shadow and Infinite tried to also do this, but the difference from Metal being their situation means it wouldn't work as well without downgrading them from their debut.

Huh...I suppose? I mentioned this recently, but it does feel like Metal got lucky when it came to the Modern shift. 

I'm also reminded of a post here a few years ago where the person basically had Infinite be slaughtered with the Phantom Ruby then being giving to Metal Sonic, who "always thought he was inferior anyway." 

1 hour ago, DryLagoon said:

Oh yeah I get what you mean, but more I'm saying is if they really wanted them gone, they could have. That we haven't seen a peep of Infinite since Forces tells me that they have 0 interest of using him again.

Ah.

1 hour ago, DryLagoon said:

Unlike Zavok where they can't stop putting him in everything. Hell he's not even in the boss mode for the upcoming mobile game. lol

Well, that's a oddball entirely.

1 hour ago, DryLagoon said:

What I mean is Blaze hasn't had a main appearance since 06's era. (unless you count Generations) Silver at least did something in Forces recently.

That's largely because in addition to her competence/powerlevel compared to other characters, there hasn't been anything for her to do.

Unlike Silver, who you bring in to emphasize that's something is going on with the space-time continuum and even have get Worfed to show off another character, there hasn't been that many dimension disturbances or at least any that affect the Sol Dimension.

I also seem to recall someone saying Rush Adventure didn't do well. If so, then that's a critical out of universe factor.

3 hours ago, Diogenes said:

 his big gimmick being gone is enough for me to assume he's gone for good in the absence of evidence to the contrary. 

That's another major factor as to why I believe he'll stay gone. His whole thing is being ultrapowerful using the reality warping Phantom Ruby--a gem that is overclocked and then presumably taken out by the Triple Boost. With that destroyed or at least beamed out of Sonic's dimension and the prototypes being destroyed by Sonic, Buddy, and most notably Infinite himself(oops), there's nothing distinctly left for him to cling on.

1 hour ago, Kuzu said:

Methinks they intentionally wrote his fate as ambiguous as possible  so they could have free range if they wanted to bring him back or not.

That's fair.

[Shadowlax]

2 hours ago, Kuzu said:

Methinks they intentionally wrote his fate as ambiguous as possible  so they could have free range if they wanted to bring him back or not.

That's fair, and super reasonable. I think its a combination of things

But I kinda think they just knew that game wasn't as gonna be good and he wasn't going to resonate with people and kind of just, dropped him. In combination with your suggestion, if they are wrong and people do like him " oh hey he's back " I just don't think by the time that game started ending development they thought people were gonna like him. I think shadow's DLC is a really good indicator of that, it wasn't just to give him story, it was to stand him next to a popular guy and make comparisons to the popular guy so you might like him. It feels kinda desperate in that way, as soon as he says " I'm the ultimate mercenary" I went " oh they are doing that huh ". It seems like they were maybe hoping to salvage it

[Red Hot Jack]

3 hours ago, Diogenes said:

Nobody can know with certainty whether a (non-main) character is going to come back or not, unless the developers say something one way or the other. But him sucking hard, his big gimmick being gone, and being easy to write off as dead is enough for me to assume he's gone for good in the absence of evidence to the contrary. Maybe I'll be wrong, and if so I'll take the hit.

Right, I forgot to add something:

"But the Phantom Ruby has been destroyed, how would they bring Infinite back?"

Do I need to remind you all that the series is known for its lack of consistency, they can just bring back Infinite and his ruby without making it a huge plot point anymore, Knuckles basically exists without the Master Emerald, the Chaos Emeralds have been dropped as well (for the most part) and Super Sonic still is in the games.

I know a lot of people who hate Infinite, but that alone can't convince anyone he isn't coming back. We'll have to wait and see, but he is popular, and people in general definitely want him back... especially teens love their edgy characters and Infinite fits I guess.

Same for the Avatar. In fact, I'd say Infinite and Avatar were the most successful parts of Forces, they are popular in general, I guess, so I could see them both coming back in a future game. But no Forces sequel... please.

IMO Infinite could come back as side antagonist for Shadow. And I'd be okay with that happening, considering the series needs more recurring villains, instead of bringing new ones all the time, we just need... better villains.

His fate, as it has been said, was left sort of ambiguous for unknown reasons, might be an indicator they have more plans for him. Same for the fact he can't be used in the comics, maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it really seems like SEGA has something else planned with him.

[Shadowlax]

Yeah they could just bring him back as " Guy who had thing who no longer has thing" to be honest I honestly think he would work better that way? I think the only think potentially keeping infinite away is just his reception vs how he fits with their direction.

[Kuzu]

6 minutes ago, Shadowlax said:

That's fair, and super reasonable. I think its a combination of things

But I kinda think they just knew that game wasn't as gonna be good and he wasn't going to resonate with people and kind of just, dropped him. In combination with your suggestion, if they are wrong and people do like him " oh hey he's back " I just don't think by the time that game started ending development they thought people were gonna like him. I think shadow's DLC is a really good indicator of that, it wasn't just to give him story, it was to stand him next to a popular guy and make comparisons to the popular guy so you might like him. It feels kinda desperate in that way, as soon as he says " I'm the ultimate mercenary" I went " oh they are doing that huh ". It seems like they were maybe hoping to salvage it

Consider this, the DLC was conceived pretty late into development (given it doesn't align with anything from the main story). Infinite was already conceptualized, but then someone was like "Oh shit, we know next to nothing about him. So they just threw some shit together put him next to a popular character to try to fill the holes that they made. 

[Shadowlax]

1 minute ago, Kuzu said:

Consider this, the DLC was conceived pretty late into development (given it doesn't align with anything from the main story). Infinite was already conceptualized, but then someone was like "Oh shit, we know next to nothing about him. So they just threw some shit together put him next to a popular character to try to fill the holes that they made. 

It can be both of those things

Its probably both of those things we suggested

It didn't work out though.

[Diogenes]

10 minutes ago, Jack at Home said:

Right, I forgot to add something:

"But the Phantom Ruby has been destroyed, how would they bring Infinite back?"

Do I need to remind you all that the series is known for its lack of consistency, they can just bring back Infinite and his ruby without making it a huge plot point anymore,

I mean if we're allowing for blatantly bad and nonsensical writing then there's really nothing they can't do.

10 minutes ago, Jack at Home said:

Knuckles basically exists without the Master Emerald, the Chaos Emeralds have been dropped as well (for the most part) and Super Sonic still is in the games.

There's a difference between the Master Emerald still existing but not being part of the story and just magicking up another phantom ruby when they were supposed to all be destroyed. And the chaos emeralds haven't been "dropped", they just haven't been part of the story for the last 2 games.

[Tarnish]

5 hours ago, Jack at Home said:

My point is, don't take for granted he is 100% dead just because you dislike him, maybe he will be back?

He's dead until SEGA wants to sell merch of him or brings him back as a bonus/cameo/easter egg/whatever character in one of their games (probably a mobile game).

[Shadowlax]

Just now, Tarnish said:

He's dead until SEGA wants to sell merch of him or brings him back as a bonus/cameo/easter egg/whatever character in one of their games (probably a mobile game).

Wanna point out he's still not a character in forces mobile.

I want to point out I think a lot of the deadly 6 is in that game. And not infnite.

[Tarnish]

3 minutes ago, Shadowlax said:

Wanna point out he's still not a character in forces mobile.

I want to point out I think a lot of the deadly 6 is in that game. And not infnite.

Give it a few years when he's considered an "old" character people might be nostalgic about, and he'll appear.

Big should have disappeared ages ago, yet he's still around. Chaos was supposed to be a one-time villain, (at least he made sense as that) now he pops up every once in a while in something.

[DabigRG]

33 minutes ago, Jack at Home said:

Do I need to remind you all that the series is known for its lack of consistency, they can just bring back Infinite and his ruby without making it a huge plot point anymore, Knuckles basically exists without the Master Emerald, the Chaos Emeralds have been dropped as well (for the most part) and Super Sonic still is in the games.

You know, people constantly say stuff like that, but the truth they're not. They just aren't relevant or brought into the story sometimes.

In fact, Forces and TSR are the only time the Chaos Emeralds were absent from the game and the former was apparently DLC anyway.

Quote

Same for the Avatar. In fact, I'd say Infinite and Avatar were the most successful parts of Forces, they are popular in general, I guess, so I could see them both coming back in a future game.

Yeah, they are. It's like they're the things that set it apart and/or had the most work put in.

[Shadowlax]

2 minutes ago, Tarnish said:

Give it a few years when he's considered an "old" character people might be nostalgic about, and he'll appear.

Big should have disappeared ages ago, yet he's still around. Chaos was supposed to be a one-time villain, (at least he made sense as that) now he pops up every once in a while in something.

I don't think he has meme potential like big

Big is this completely unfitting dimwitted fisher that no one liked, and over time that unfittingness became a role he fit in. And chaos is a fun villian from a game people hold dear. Infinite isn't either, infnite has no meme niche nor is he beloved. I think if he comes back, they will have found new use for him. I guess his meme niche could be super jealous competitive guy , if he has a big resurgence. That's not the kind of meme you want?

[DabigRG]

30 minutes ago, Kuzu said:

Consider this, the DLC was conceived pretty late into development (given it doesn't align with anything from the main story). Infinite was already conceptualized, but then someone was like "Oh shit, we know next to nothing about him. So they just threw some shit together put him next to a popular character to try to fill the holes that they made. 

I find it cynical and funny that they bothered to do that when a) it's not much and b) they barely did anything like that for any other character or game.

 

Lax tends to embellish, but the obvious reason Episode Shadow came out the way it did was because it was a game that had Shadow "prominently" in it alongside a darker & edgier villain, so they came up with an "expanded" backstory to justify linking them like they used to.  Well that plus they just might've noticed people complain about the Zeti having little to them and so scramble to "address" that to show that they are still listening.

15 minutes ago, Shadowlax said:

Wanna point out he's still not a character in forces mobile.

I want to point out I think a lot of the deadly 6 is in that game. And not infnite.

Yeah, that is telling.

Granted, Zavok was in Forces to begin with and Zazz just accompanies him very occasionally, so Zeena was the real eyeopener.

15 minutes ago, Tarnish said:

Give it a few years when he's considered an "old" character people might be nostalgic about, and he'll appear.

Big should have disappeared ages ago, yet he's still around. Chaos was supposed to be a one-time villain, (at least he made sense as that) now he pops up every once in a while in something.

To be fair, Big was explicitly retired from the game series by SEGA with Generations and it was only with Runners(which was throwing in the kitchen sink anyway) and TSR that they finally went back on that.

Also, Chaos is an oddball anyway given that it was basically established that he technically can't die and can rematerialize whenever.

[DryLagoon]

1 hour ago, DabigRG said:

That's partly because said backstory was seemingly something Sega came up with after the script was finalized. The game proper seems to infer Infinite is just a highly unusual creation of Eggman. 

That said, it's not like he lacks that much compared to other villains: 

and finally, Infinite is a psychotic mercenary with an inferiority complex who allowed himself to be cyberized for the Phantom Ruby's influence. 

Reform? 

Anyway, the most common idea is him desperately seeking a way to restore his previous power.

Okay, but what does that have to do with a skatebooard?

Huh...I suppose? I mentioned this recently, but it does feel like Metal got lucky when it came to the Modern shift. 

I'm also reminded of a post here a few years ago where the person basically had Infinite be slaughtered with the Phantom Ruby then being giving to Metal Sonic, who "always thought he was inferior anyway."

Maybe I should have been more clear that I meant for my liking. Yes all the villains can be summed up in a sentence, but some get more focus than others on the details behind that. Then again Black Knight did it well despite having shorter cutscenes (not as short as Heroes but not as long as Adventure).

I'll try to explain what I mean by using Shadow as a comparison. If Shadow was treated like Infinite most of his parts in Dark and Last Story would be cut. You'd see him appear and fight Sonic a few times, insert one flashback of Maria and Gerald, and that's it. No scenes of him debating who he is, no scenes of Maria and him looking at Earth together, nothing about Gerald and how he related to Shadow. It'd still be interesting, but it wouldn't be as good as what we got. That's how I feel about Infinite, the groundwork is there but they could have fleshed him out more. That's why I wouldn't mind them doing so (like the comic).

I meant reform as in a previously bad guy turning good sense.

Spoiler

Anyways this thread kind of exploded so I don't think I'll be able to respond to it all.

[DabigRG]

17 minutes ago, DryLagoon said:

Maybe I should have been more clear that I meant for my liking. Yes all the villains can be summed up in a sentence, but some get more focus than others on the details behind that. Then again Black Knight did it well despite having shorter cutscenes (not as short as Heroes but not as long as Adventure).

I'll try to explain what I mean by using Shadow as a comparison. If Shadow was treated like Infinite most of his parts in Dark and Last Story would be cut. You'd see him appear and fight Sonic a few times, insert one flashback of Maria and Gerald, and that's it. No scenes of him debating who he is, no scenes of Maria and him looking at Earth together, nothing about Gerald and how he related to Shadow. It'd still be interesting, but it wouldn't be as good as what we got. That's how I feel about Infinite, the groundwork is there but they could have fleshed him out more. That's why I wouldn't mind them doing so (like the comic).

I meant reform as in a previously bad guy turning good sense.

Yeah, I kinda figured. Can i ask why that seems to be a thing despite the obvious? 

I know the same guy who redid Lost World's story went on to do a multi-part series on "saving Infinite," for example.

17 minutes ago, DryLagoon said:

  Hide contents

Anyways this thread kind of exploded so I don't think I'll be able to respond to it all.

Wtf

Is that Sonic Rush style, wth?

[Bowbowis]

The Phantom Ruby in Forces came from the Classic timeline. It's not a stretch to say that Modern timeline has its own Ruby still hidden somewhere.

If I were to bring Infinite back I'd have him go back to his mercenary ways. He still has the power to induce hallucinations (due to either still being bonded to remnants of the Classic PR or having the Modern version) but his constructs can no longer directly influence the physical world (due to only having fragments of the Ruby and/or not having Eggman's infrastructure to power it). Initially, Infinite is extremely upset about his diminished powers, which is only exacerbated by the heroes easily working around his illusions and trouncing him. However as time goes on he starts adapting to his reduced abilities, learning to appreciate them in a way he never did when he could simply create armies out of thin air. With each encounter he gets more creative with his tactics and adds more sadistic flourishes to further torment our heroes. Things like making Sonic experience the feeling of drowning, overwhelming Knuckles' senses with bright lights and loud sounds, shutting down Tails' senses outright, making Shadow attack Rouge by swapping appearances with her, or forcing Blaze to stand down without a fight because she can't be sure of her surroundings and what kind of collateral damage she might cause. Ultimately Infinite's mind games, gaslighting, and sadistic illusions allow him to become truly dangerous once more, possibly even more so than he was when he was a full blown reality warper.

Character development: It's not just for the good guys!

[Dr. Detective]

I mean, I've been convinced they've been done with him for a long while now. I was convinced of it probably as early as 2018. I'll gladly take the L on that one should he ever return but since Forces, all he's gotten was basically stuff that was already planned to exist when Forces was still being promoted. Like that one action figure of him that came with Zavok and another Sonic figure. Also a spirit in Smash Ultimate.

Compare that to the Deadly Six who I could tell were mainstays regardless of their reception based on how they were treated the very next game that came out. Immediately, two of them were in the Rio Olympics, then Sonic Runners, and then the Archie comics, Forces, Team Sonic Racing, even more Olympics, IDW...

It wasn't that long a wait. 

I've always maintained it's not really an Infinite thing but more of a Sonic Forces thing. After that game came out they were done with it. They weren't interested in promoting it anymore or giving it a Sonic Forces Plus or a Sonic Forces Adventures series on Youtube. The IDW comics only started after Forces because Ian saw a story opportunity and they were cool with it but even then not a lot from that game has been brought up. The wispons have but I feel like that's only really because people associate wisps with Colors, a game they're assuredly not ashamed of. 

This is all speculation on my part but the way they treated Forces and Infinite after they were unleashed upon the world has so far, in the year 2020, held up. 

[Tarnish]

4 hours ago, Shadowlax said:

Infnite has no meme niche nor is he beloved

I mean you just said noone liked Big, yet he's still around. So I don't see why that can't happen to Infinite eventually. Not that I want him to stick around.

I'm sure if nothing else, he'll be in "Generations 2" down the road as a boss if that ever happens.