How old is Sonic?

[Red The Hedgehog]

I've heard most people say Sonic has always been 15. Sometimes I hear 16, 17, any many more. Though I'm sure he's 15, What's your thoughts? (If you can, please put in the ages of Sonic Characters that are not on this list) http://sonic.sega.jp/SonicChannel/character/tails.html

[Dr. Mechano]

Sonic did have a birthday in Sonic Generations. Does that mean he's 16 now? Or - since it was his 20th anniversary - was that meant to be him literally turning 20? Or is this some sliding timeline situation where he'll be 15 forever no matter how many on-screen birthdays he has?

Either way, Sonic sure doesn't feel like a teenager to me. He has his own house (referenced in the manual to Sonic Labyrinth and actually seen in Secret Rings), owns a plane, and seems more-or-less completely financially and socially independent. This is only compounded by the post-2010 writing, where Sonic comes off a lot more wry and cynical than he was in the Adventure era. He's written less like an energetic teen and more like some guy who's just kinda tired and annoyed by all the crazy hijinks of his own series, which to me just makes him come off as much older than 15.

[Shadowlax]

15-16 in most cases. There was a period where they may have wanted him to be older and have that reflected in his voice, but it seems as though they have long since kind of abandoned that idea.

Everyone one in the series , at least good guy characters are supposed to be kids, hip teens, or very young adults. There are exceptions

[Razule]

He has a miraculous condition that's caused him to have the same birthday each year for the past three decades. He's an immortal cartoon character that could really be any age, but 15 is the one they arbitrarily chose to give him 20 years ago, and that is what they've stuck with since.

[StaticMania]

His bio age is 15.

Any person who says otherwise is wrong, like thinking Amy is 14 or Tails is 11...

Just random numbers that they got off the internet from other people who also didn't actually know.

[SBR2]

I really don't think it matters. None of the characters with the exception of Charmy and Cream really act their given ages. You could say they're all in their early-mid 20's and it'd make as much of a difference. Really they're only Teens and Tweens because they want kids to connect to them so they made them older than the target audience but still close enough in age that they can look at them like cool older siblings.

[Shadowlax]

Just now, Razule said:

He has a miraculous condition that's caused him to have the same birthday each year for the past three decades. He's an immortal cartoon character that could really be any age, but 15 is the one they arbitrarily chose to give him 20 years ago.

Don't think it was arbitrary. Its an archie situation " character needs to be cool to kids , " what's cool to kids, cool teenaged characters

Just now, SBR2 said:

I really don't think it matters. None of the characters with the exception of Charmy and Cream really act their given ages. You could say they're all in their early-mid 20's and it'd make as much of a difference. Really they're only Teens and Tweens because they want kids to connect to them so they made them older than the target audience but still close enough in age that they can look at them like cool older siblings.

This

[DabigRG]

As lax among others said, he's officially 15, originally 16 iirc.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/sonic/images/9/95/Bbpage2.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140718162624

Most of the characters barring Eggman, Vector, Vanilla, Shadow, Tower, and arguably the Deadly Six are teenaged with a few elementary kids and preteens.

[Razule]

20 minutes ago, Shadowlax said:

Don't think it was arbitrary. Its an archie situation " character needs to be cool to kids , " what's cool to kids, cool teenaged characters

Meant more the specific number. He could've been anywhere from 14 to 19 and there'd be no difference.

[Tracker_TD]

Sonic Jam's Japanese character bios give his age as a vague '15~16', but the impression I get from that is it's more of a rough guide; I get the impression now that they're not really arsed about his specific age, and that's probably fine to be honest. 

[Wraith]

Almost every bio has said 15 or 16 so that's about the range you should think of him as.

[Shadowlax]

1 hour ago, Razule said:

Meant more the specific number. He could've been anywhere from 14 to 19 and there'd be no difference.

Not saying definitive. But I think the range is 14-16

anything older you start getting firmly close to more adult territory and they don't want that out of him, he needs to feel older but also still childish. And while we as adults may be able to understand a 19 year old is an immature inexperienced basically child, to a child 19 is like ancient. Or 17-19 is when your big brother stopped being cool, and went to college and left

[MetalSkulkBane]

He's 15 in mobian years. That's very fascinating age where once can act with kid maturity but have adult responsibilities.

You may also be interested in age of: My little ponies. Ash Ketchum and 90% anime protagonists, Donald Trump.

[Sonario]

Personally, I do like the idea of Sonic's adventures spanning over the course of around a year from Adventure to Generations, causing him to start at the age of 15 and ending up with the age of 16 post-Generations (along with all other characters aging up a year too, for example Tails aging from 8 to 9, Amy from 12 to 13)

One headcanon I have is that the Classic characters are younger than their Modern counterparts, with Adventure being the first game in the Modern era, taking place 3 years after the Classic games. So to me at least, Classic Sonic is actually 12-13 as opposed to 15-16, classic Tails is 5-6 as opposed to 8-9 etc.

[Lord-Dreamerz]

Just like most super long running series with no goal to end someday, the characters are forever loosely the ages said in their official bios, they won't change regardless even when they have any birthdays within a story... As a side note: Noticed how Sonic's birthday cake from generations had no candles in order to hide the fact they are keeping him 15? funny stuff.

12 hours ago, Sonario said:

One headcanon I have is that the Classic characters are younger than their Modern counterparts, with Adventure being the first game in the Modern era, taking place 3 years after the Classic games. So to me at least, Classic Sonic is actually 12-13 as opposed to 15-16, classic Tails is 5-6 as opposed to 8-9 etc.

I never saw the point of this kinda head-canon. There is no reason to retcon classic art style characters into kid versions of the modern characters. It especially bothers me how some fans want to support that idea for a retcon, but not the one in Forces where Classic Sonic is now form another dimension, in that case such fans often say they hate retcons... while wanting to support a different one. Also one of the easiest ways to debunk classic style characters were meant to be kid versions of the modern cast on Generations is the fact Classic-Eggman is on there too... shorter then Modern-Eggman despite both being older adult men.

[Diogenes]

20 minutes ago, Lord-Dreamerz said:

I never saw the point of this kinda head-canon. There is no reason to retcon classic art style characters into kid versions of the modern characters.

Conversely I've never understood why some people are so opposed to it. I mean I don't consider it a big deal either way, but the classic versions of the characters are by definition younger versions; is it really a problem if they're a more plausible couple of years younger than the implied months-at-most, when the ages hardly matter at all anyway?

[Dr. Mechano]

48 minutes ago, Lord-Dreamerz said:

Also one of the easiest ways to debunk classic style characters were meant to be kid versions of the modern cast on Generations is the fact Classic-Eggman is on there too... shorter then Modern-Eggman despite both being older adult men.

It's the high heels:

 

That said, I don't think classic Sonic is necessarily a "child" Sonic, but a younger teen seems more likely, even if it's just by a year or two. 

[Lord-Dreamerz]

2 hours ago, Diogenes said:

is it really a problem if they're a more plausible couple of years younger than the implied months-at-most, when the ages hardly matter at all anyway?

Yes it is a minor problem when fans randomly decide they can retcon a different art style for characters into younger or whatever versions just as a pointless attempt to force a fan canon that isn't real. Especially when some fans (not all mind you) wave around these ideas as facts and get upset when others disagree or the games don't support their fan ideas later on. Look no farther then Sonic Forces release year where number of fans got upset over Classic Sonic now being counted as alternate dimension Sonic instead of what they thought it was before. Again it is kinda absurd to me when some fans say they hate the retcon of classic characters now being from a alternate dimension, but they were ok with the fan idea of a retcon that makes a different art style of the cast into younger versions of the modern cast.

[Diogenes]

1 minute ago, Lord-Dreamerz said:

Yes it is a minor problem when fans randomly decide they can retcon a different art style for characters into younger or whatever versions just as a pointless attempt to force a fan canon that isn't real.

It's not exactly "random" to argue that the characters were younger in the games that came earlier.

1 minute ago, Lord-Dreamerz said:

Especially when some fans (not all mind you) wave around these ideas as facts and get upset when others disagree or the games don't support their fan ideas later on. Look no farther then Sonic Forces release year where number of fans got upset over Classic Sonic now being counted as alternate dimension Sonic instead of what they thought it was before.

I mean, you gotta judge the ideas on their merits, it's not just "all retcons are good" or "all retcons are bad". Having classic Sonic grow up into modern Sonic brings the two together; having classic be from a different dimension pushes them apart. Depending on your priorities one of them may be a lot more preferable than the other. Plus having the series almost immediately contradict itself is pretty sloppy writing.

1 minute ago, Lord-Dreamerz said:

Again it is kinda absurd to me when some fans say they hate the retcon of classic characters now being from a alternate dimension, but they were ok with the fan idea of a retcon that makes a different art style of the cast into younger versions of the modern cast.

They are, factually, younger, though. It's just quibbling over how much younger.

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

How ever old you want him to be.

(canonically he’s 15 but promotional wise he’s gonna be almost 30!)  

[Lord-Dreamerz]

34 minutes ago, Diogenes said:

Having classic Sonic grow up into modern Sonic brings the two together; having classic be from a different dimension pushes them apart. Depending on your priorities one of them may be a lot more preferable than the other. Plus having the series almost immediately contradict itself is pretty sloppy writing.

I prefer them being merely different art styles of the same characters, so I will support/defend the idea of the classic style now being from a alternate universe/dimension sooner then I will changing them into "kid" versions of the cast... which never made any logic after you consider Classic Eggman anyways. I would higher prefer it to not be either, and for the company to just use whichever art style for the cast whenever it fits each title well... but I'll settle on alternate dimension between the ideas. Also I still stand by my opinion I had all those years ago when Generations came out, with the game being literal when it said that Classic Sonic was the past version of Sonic "AKA Sonic from the 90s" meaning it was meta humor and the game wasn't meant to be took super seriously.

[DabigRG]

8 hours ago, Lord-Dreamerz said:

Yes it is a minor problem when fans randomly decide they can retcon a different art style for characters into younger or whatever versions just as a pointless attempt to force a fan canon that isn't real. Especially when some fans (not all mind you) wave around these ideas as facts and get upset when others disagree or the games don't support their fan ideas later on. Look no farther then Sonic Forces release year where number of fans got upset over Classic Sonic now being counted as alternate dimension Sonic instead of what they thought it was before. Again it is kinda absurd to me when some fans say they hate the retcon of classic characters now being from a alternate dimension, but they were ok with the fan idea of a retcon that makes a different art style of the cast into younger versions of the modern cast.

Probably because it makes some logical sense in context: the Classic games happened quite a while before Adventure from Amy's perspective and Generations happens well after that.

Sonic met all the recurring characters at different points and different situations, so even if Classic Sonic is still the same general age, he would effectively be a younger Sonic.

[Sonic Fan J]

Here's a thought that might be reasonable to have on Modern and Classic Sonic's relationship; the two Sonic's in generation see the other as simply themselves at first. They don't distinguish the other as different until after the "mirror" scene shows Classic is quicker to act. Then it is mostly the rest of the cast in non comital dialogue noting the differences, but less so as Sonic being younger, but just looking off for a reason they can only vaguely place. If you break it down like that Classic Sonic is never really implied to be younger, just different, which is accurate since he doesn't match any of the classic character descriptions or media interpretations free from the limitations of the games, unlike Modern Sonic. So in a weird way, both Classic and Modern are fifteen and 3'3''/100cm despite what we see on screen. If anything, while a novel idea for an anniversary situation, it was horrible for a plot since Sonic has always been the same bar art style. Generations Classic is the first time he was ever really changed, and it was done in a weird retroactive way which ignores everything. 

[Pengi]

2 hours ago, Sonic Fan J said:

So in a weird way, both Classic and Modern are fifteen and 3'3''/100cm despite what we see on screen. 

Sonic CD's manual says that Metal Sonic is 765.4 mm tall (76.54 cm). This was updated to 100 cm on Sonic Channel, matching Sonic's height from Sonic Adventure onwards.

Since Classic Sonic is about 3/4 the size of Modern Sonic in Sonic Generations and Sonic Forces, it's possible that they used Classic Metal Sonic's height as a guideline.

[Sonic Fan J]

It is, but the character art they base the model off of by Oshima is like most Sonic reference material marks him as 100cm. The fact that in game Sonic perceives himself as the same by both versions also implies there is no actual height difference in universe and that it is purely a Meta observation due to art style proportion differences. Admittedly, the Metal Sonic height inaccuracy never made sense to me since he was shown the same height as Sonic who was always described as 100cm. It seems odd to me to a single example which was later corrected to justify suddenly changing everything else. the fact that Classic Eggman is also shorter than modern despite adults not continuing to grow taller also supports it being entirely a meta perspective rather than in universe.