The topic of severely over-thinking things that don't really need to be overthought about...

[Vertekins]

The government uses the term "terrorist" to scare the people into accepting a constant state of emergency; while the term is very apt for Doctor Eggman, for the Black Arms it was just ridiculous.

It wasn't. Black Doom's tactics were clearly terrorism tactics. Not to mention the fact that he gives everyone an ultimatum; Do not resist the Black Arms or be annihilated by the Eclipse Cannon. This actually happens if you defeat the Evil objective in "The Ark" stage. The fact that Central City was stated to have been safely evacuated doesn't detract from the fact that Doom was a terrorist.

Now I don't put any stock into this following bit of overthinking because SatSR's events clearly had full basis in reality and are canonical but I have read that some consider SatSR's entire story to be an elaborate fever dream conjured by Sonic in order to deal with the events of Rush and any residual memories of 2006 possibly implied in that game's ending.

[Spin Attaxx]

I always thought that SatSR was somewhat canon, but in a dream, due to Sonic being at Tail's place. No relationship to 06 or Rush, and it could practically fit anywhere.

As for SatBK, same thing, though it too could take place anywhere. Some say that since the ending has Amy pissed off at Sonic for not going on a date they planned, it happens directly after Unleashed HD. But really, it could be anytime Amy chased Sonic, causing him to say he'd go on a date to get her off his tail.

[Diogenes]

...why would he have to "deal with the events of Rush"?

[Vertekins]

...why would he have to "deal with the events of Rush"?

You tell me I only read this on a WMG page.

[SilJeff]

when Eggman is busy fighting Sonic during the boss fights, what's going on at his base?

[Briraka]

^ The hilarious shenanigans of Orbot & Cubot, of course.

[Frogging101]

So my friend showed me this video. Basically it uses Sonic's height and some other factors to determine how fast Sonic runs through levels. It concludes that Sonic does not run anywhere close to the speed of sound, and Mario is actually twice as fast as Sonic. I looked at it and thought it would fit perfectly with this topic's theme of overanalyzing things. I don't know what you guys think of this though

Edited December 10, 2012 by Frogging101

[SenEDDtor Missile]

The level design is not what the actual level looks like; it's actually what Sonic is seeing based on his thoughts/mood/general perception.

 

Example: Daytime Sonic stages are seen as long narrow corridors, because Sonic's thought process at the time is narrow-minded and focused on one thing: Finding Eggman and making him pay. He is anxious to get himself back to normal, so he tries to blast through everything as quickly as he can.

 

The Hubs are basically Sonic when he is trying to help Chip (at least for Apotos), and they are more spacious as a result, but he still views them in a linear fashion because he still wants to get things done.

 

The Night stages are still linear, but because of the Werehog's slower speed, Sonic is forced to pay more attention to his surrounding, hence the wider area, and generally more spacious appearance.

 

On another note, this could sort of apply to Shadow from Shadow the Hedgehog; his levels are looping because Shadow is confused about his past (even if we aren't), and thus everything he does feels like he is only going in circles in terms of his progress, and the objectives in that level serve as a means out of his repetitive looping.

[K.T.E.]

What the hell happened to Station Square after SA? Did it get rebuilt?

[Multikaris]

The United Federation is not a liberal democracy like the United States or various European governments, but a quasi-dictatorship that pretends to be one. Sonic was not given a trial. Habeas corpus is a founding cornerstone of your common liberal democracy. GUN caused countless property damage and probably many deaths chasing Sonic Down in City Escape. They never explained it, but presumably they covered it up just like they did when they butchered all the researchers on ARK. The highways are so poorly designed because contracts are handed out to people based on their ties to the government elite and not merit. It serves Sonic's purposes. The government uses the term "terrorist" to scare the people into accepting a constant state of emergency; while the term is very apt for Doctor Eggman, for the Black Arms it was just ridiculous. In a 1984-style twist, it would not be surprising if the Federation bankrolls Eggman secretly to masquerade as a threat against (presumably) a one-world government, explaining the latter's vast resources. The constant, looming peril justifies tons of security measures and a very large military presence, securing the President's hold on power. Given how genuinely caring the President comes off as, it's not unreasonable to assume he's actually just a figurehead, with real power lying with the military. The military force of GUN is behind all the heinous acts of the Sonicverse: jailing people without trial, mass murdering people and covering it up, and causing great havoc to stop any possible threat. ((This is only partly serious in case you can't tell))

Great idea!

[Phos]

So my friend showed me this video. Basically it uses Sonic's height and some other factors to determine how fast Sonic runs through levels. It concludes that Sonic does not run anywhere close to the speed of sound, and Mario is actually twice as fast as Sonic. I looked at it and thought it would fit perfectly with this topic's theme of overanalyzing things. I don't know what you guys think of this though

Lots of misapplications of the transitive property there, at least in my view.  Sonic was clearly taller in 06 and Samus's suit makes her much taller than she is without it, Mario is running over effectively a flat surface vs. Sonic going through Green Hill Zone, and even taken into account Sonic still covers both more pixels and screen widths.  When you start to outrun the screen in Sonic 2, it's because Sonic has exceeded three screen widths per second.  

 

This thread reminds me of the time I figured out a way to tell how many watts of energy Super Sonic has at his disposal based on the assumption that the ring loss is a high efficiency matter to energy conversion and that the energy to travel back from a special stage is equivalent to that required to go there.  It isn't perfect.  

[Vertekins]

Sonic was clearly taller in 06

 

He really wasn't

 

 

Sonic just gives the impression that he's taller than usual in a lot of cutscenes because of his way off proportions.

 

Anyways, I was always curious about the flame arrow in Secret Rings. I always interpreted the mechanics of the curse as acting similar to how a candle works; A candle uses wax as it's fuel to burn and uses it up as it continues to burn. I think that the flame arrow acts the same except it uses life energy as it's fuel instead, literally burning it away and becoming smaller when there is less life energy (fuel) to burn. This is why Sonic progressively weakens as the story continues because his life energy is fuel for the flame arrow.

 

I also think that Darkspine's orange aura is the curse separated and it is 'used up' by him in the fight to regenerate the soul gauge at an extremely slow pace. This is possibly why it is missing in the ending cutscene. The 3 World Rings just served to separate the arrow from Sonic.

 

Again on the Darkspine slant, I think that he's a physical representation of Dark-type skills. I touched on this before;

 

 

I personally thought that his overall design (Rings, fire-aura and purple color scheme) is one big nod to the element of darkness, one of the skill types in SatSR. His name might even hint at this being so. Note that dark-type skills revolve around pearls (Fire Aura and ability to generate Soul by spinning), rings (The rings on his wrists and ankles, maximized ring-carrying capacity at 999, FAR beyond what normal Sonic can carry in SatSR) and his overall colouring (Dark type is depicted by the colour purple in-game).

[Amomynous]

^Perspective is making Elise look bigger, though Sonic is still only 3 foot tall, Elise happens to be a tad short, making Sonic look bigger, the weird thing is is that they designed Sonic to look older,taller and 'cooler', even though he is still 15 and still 3 foot tall, though I guess it was the same sort of thing when they redesigned Sonic for Sonic adventure onwards (retconning the original style to be younger and shorter)

 

 

About the flaming arrow, I found it odd how Sonic was supposed to be getting weaker but he was still just as energetic and his attacks just effective, the noticeable effect only occurring when the flame got smaller. It's quite likely Sonic has a quite involuntary ability to stay alert, active and cheerful until he's really spent as well as masking the severity of his affliction to Shahra or someone/thing that might get any bright ideas.

As for the weakening attacks or co-ordination, maybe Shahra gave him a boost or something, or  gameplay/story segregation if I'm gonna be boring.

 

Thinking of purpleness, the world ring of sadness is also purple, I think these are all connected to a separate factor; the connotations of the color purple, purple is often used to represent 'dark things' or negative feelings(and in turn, powers) , in Japan it more specifically represents death and mourning(akin to black in the west.)

Edited December 27, 2012 by Mysterics

[Vertekins]

^Perspective is making Elise look bigger, though Sonic is still only 3 foot tall, Elise happens to be a tad short, making Sonic look bigger, the weird thing is is that they designed Sonic to look older,taller and 'cooler', even though he is still 15 and still 3 foot tall, though I guess it was the same sort of thing when they redesigned Sonic for Sonic adventure onwards (retconning the original style to be younger and shorter)

 

I guess you can say that about that specific screenshot but this one still makes Sonic look pretty short compared to her (Take into account that Sonic is still standing at the top of an incline and appears taller than he really is);

 

 

About the flaming arrow, I found it odd how Sonic was supposed to be getting weaker but he was still just as energetic and his attacks just effective, the noticeable effect only occurring when the flame got smaller. It's quite likely Sonic has a quite involuntary ability to stay alert, active and cheerful until he's really spent as well as masking the severity of his affliction to Shahra or someone/thing that might get any bright ideas.

As for the weakening attacks or co-ordination, maybe Shahra gave him a boost or something, or  gameplay/story segregation if I'm gonna be boring.

 

Personally, I perceived the way he made no attempt to dodge Erazor's fatal strike that ends up hitting Shahra instead as possibly being because he was too 'off' to get out of the way in time. He knew it was coming but was incapable of moving quickly due to fatigue and so was expecting to be hit as indicated by his expression. Of course, shock at the way Shahra betrayed him and how Erazor has all of the Rings is likely the main factor that rooted him to the spot and skewered his reaction time.

 

 

Thinking of purpleness, the world ring of sadness is also purple, I think these are all connected to a separate factor; the connotations of the color purple, purple is often used to represent 'dark things' or negative feelings(and in turn, powers) , in Japan it more specifically represents death and mourning(akin to black in the west.)

 

This is...actually really interesting. I recall hearing that white is also a colour of death in Japan as well, possibly explaining why his markings are white and his skin is so deathly pale.

[Amomynous]

Personally, I perceived the way he made no attempt to dodge Erazor's fatal strike that ends up hitting Shahra instead as possibly being because he was too 'off' to get out of the way in time. He knew it was coming but was incapable of moving quickly due to fatigue and so was expecting to be hit as indicated by his expression. Of course, shock at the way Shahra betrayed him and how Erazor has all of the Rings is likely the main factor that rooted him to the spot and skewered his reaction time.

You know, those are very good points, I was wondering why he didn't seem to jump out the way, and I'm usually good at considering that sort of thing.

Thinking of Darkspine Sonic,it seems to be the only time the Sonic series genuinely goes for 'dark is not evil', though it's arguable Sonic has the same immunity explained in Sonic Unleashed, it seemed more like we're supposed to assume dark powers weren't crazy-fying in the first place. 

Edited December 27, 2012 by Mysterics

[SenEDDtor Missile]

You know what wouldn't surprise me?

 

If it turns out the reason why every other character except Sonic as of late seems to have been hit with the "nerf/useless bat" is because every adventure up until this point was actually being retold by Sonic, EXCEPT he deliberately reduces everyone else's role to make himself look good by comparison.

 

The reason why the Sonic Adventures and Heroes up to a point were more balanced was because the other characters at one point actually had some say in the retelling, so they could keep Sonic's hubris in check. However, after Shadow let his own arrogance show and started jacking the story (Hence Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic 06, because the latter is frankly ShtH 2 for all intents and purposes), everyone got into a fight and the other characters left. With no one around to stop him, Sonic let his ego go wild and proceeded to nerf everyone else to make himself a God Mode Sue.

[Sprited]

Some time before Sonic Adventure, when Sonic and co. are still Classic characters, Robotnik was sick of Sonic and so fed up with him, he decided to think up another elaborate way to kill Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and the others.

Because of Sonic driving him crazy, he went as far as exploding all of Mobius, then Robotnik could take the Chaos Emeralds and fly back to Earth. When he set of the explosion, Robotnik managed to grab the Chaos Emeralds while Sonic and Tails were busy trying to find the bomb they had been told about. The bomb, however, set off earlier than Robotnik expected, caught up to him as it exploding.

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Robotnik, and all of Mobius were thought to have been dead. The Chaos Emeralds and Angel Island were thought to have been destroyed.

Over on Earth, news reports show a floating island over an ocean near Station Square that seems to be Angel Island.

Everyone and the Chaos Emeralds are there as well.

Since no one is on the cartoony Mobius, the Sonic and co. now can talk since they are more human than animals, and now have eye color and can age over time. Eventually people got used to the antithremorphic animals, leading to Sonic Adventure.

I saved the internet.

[Splash the Otter]

Some time before Sonic Adventure, when Sonic and co. are still Classic characters, Robotnik was sick of Sonic and so fed up with him, he decided to think up another elaborate way to kill Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and the others.

Because of Sonic driving him crazy, he went as far as exploding all of Mobius, then Robotnik could take the Chaos Emeralds and fly back to Earth. When he set of the explosion, Robotnik managed to grab the Chaos Emeralds while Sonic and Tails were busy trying to find the bomb they had been told about. The bomb, however, set off earlier than Robotnik expected, caught up to him as it exploding.

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Robotnik, and all of Mobius were thought to have been dead. The Chaos Emeralds and Angel Island were thought to have been destroyed.

Over on Earth, news reports show a floating island over an ocean near Station Square that seems to be Angel Island.

Everyone and the Chaos Emeralds are there as well.

Since no one is on the cartoony Mobius, the Sonic and co. now can talk since they are more human than animals, and now have eye color and can age over time. Eventually people got used to the antithremorphic animals, leading to Sonic Adventure.

I saved the internet.

I can't believe I just read this. Don't people know by now that Mobius never existed in the games? Also, different artstyle =/= different universe.

Edited April 7, 2013 by ElectroKyurem

[Sprited]

I can't believe I just read this. Don't people know by now that Mobius never existed in the games? Also, different artstyle =/= different universe.

It's a fan theory.

Plus, I never said it was a different universe, but rather a different planet.

In Sonic Generations, Classic Sonic is shown as a younger Sonic.

For further explanation of the whole "Traveling to a new world" thing, refer to the first episode of Sonic X.

And no, I'm not saying Sonic X is canon, just that the idea is similar.

Edited April 7, 2013 by Sprited

[Splash the Otter]

It's a fan theory.

Plus, I never said it was a different universe, but rather a different planet.

In Sonic Generations, Classic Sonic is shown as a younger Sonic.

For further explanation of the whole "Traveling to a new world" thing, refer to the first episode of Sonic X.

Sonic X isn't canon, you know...

[Sprited]

Sonic X isn't canon, you know...

Haha. You posted that as soon as I made my edit saying I know it's not. 

[Amomynous]

I was just thinking about Time-Break would work in-universe, and can't help but think, perceiving the environment at super-speed (ie with a Ridiculous  Flicker Fusion Threshold) is a secondary required superpower of coherent super-speed, doesn't this render time-break kind of useless from Sonic's perspective? Mind you, since Sonic moves faster relative to the environment during Time Break, he may experience running through it just as fast as he usually does, just everything else is slowed down, this is supported by the way Time Break is shown in a cutscene.

Edited April 17, 2013 by Amomynous

[Tani Coyote]

I was just thinking about Time-Break would work in-universe, and can't help but think, perceiving the environment at super-speed (ie with a Ridiculous  Flicker Fusion Threshold) is a secondary required superpower of coherent super-speed, doesn't this render time-break kind of useless from Sonic's perspective? Mind you, since Sonic moves faster relative to the environment during Time Break, he may experience running through it just as fast as he usually does, just everything else is slowed down, this is supported by the way Time Break is shown in a cutscene.

 

The faster one goes the more everything seems to slow down as I recall, though that's generally for speeds closer to the speed of light; some artistic liberty can be taken here though.

 

So yes, from Sonic's perspective, Time Break would be useless indeed since theoretically everything is already moving pretty slowly for him when he's at it.

 

However, he is our avatar at the end of the day, so we cannot perceive things the way he would. We perceive them in real time, which is where stuff like slowing down time would come in - he doesn't really need it, but we certainly do. Were this Wreck It Ralph, he could dodge a giant fireball easily, but since he's under our control...

[Splash the Otter]

I've come up with a theory for why Tails has "infinite" lives in Sonic 2. Whenever Sonic "dies" in the classic games, he essentially gets knocked off of the stage. Being unable to fly, he has no way to get back into the level, hence his "death". Tails obviously doesn't have this problem, which is why (from our perspective) he appears to be immortal.

[Blue Blood]

How come he can survive a squashing and getting hit with no rings then?

Edited April 23, 2013 by Blue Blood