Should Sonic ever try to pursue a romantic relationship (or have moments that hint at romance)?

[SenEDDtor Missile]

Why, Eggman, of course! If there's one thing that man loves more than anything else in the world (and conquering it), it's himself!

Toby and I ninja'd you XD.

[Dr. Homem]

Of course he does. Who wouldn't want to sleep with one of these?

[Kuzu]

It's obviously a blowup doll of himself.

[Multikaris]

I could imagine Eggman sleeping with a plush. No idea what of, tho'.

A plush of Shade the Echidna.

[Spin Attaxx]

Maybe Sonic has a Blaze plush he sleeps with?

Wasn't this a WMG on TvTropes?

[SenEDDtor Missile]

A plush of Shade the Echidna.

...Why?

[Dr. Homem]

It's miru. No point thinking about it.

Edited November 11, 2012 by Homem

[Anti Alias]

so, writters around there, how you deal with romance in your stories?

[Komodin]

so, writters around there, how you deal with romance in your stories?

Do it subtly and without derailing anyone's characterization.

[Kuzu]

Do it subtly and without derailing anyone's characterization.

Alternately, never imply any sort of romance, and leave it to the fans.

[Dr. Homem]

so, writters around there, how you deal with romance in your stories?

Generally, a love story requires a bare minimum of two characters—the ones who are going to fall in love. So you'll need your Love Interests first.

Anyhow, you've got your two (or more) leads, Alice and Bob. Probably, one or both of them has friends and/or family members. There may also be a Charlie to serve as a romantic false lead, the jackass, the stalker or a similar supporting character. The Love Triangle is older than feudalism.

Anyhow, you've now got, Bob, Alice and Charlie, plus whatever additional supporting cast you decide to put in. Now comes the hard part: all three characters need personality. Who they are, after all, affects how they're going to relate to each other, and the romance (sub)plot is all about that relating. There are a gazillion different ways characters can relate to each other romantically, but you should pick one (or several) and make them your focus. This, of course, requires a fairly thorough understanding of who Bob, Alice and Charlie are before they meet and begin to variously fall in love with each other.

If you're bad at characterization, you cannot write good romance. Period. And here's the worst part: it's even more true for a love story. Both in Real Life and in fiction, you can't fall in love unless both you and your Love Interest have personalities. (Falling in love is about personality.) As such, romance is an extension of characterization. Besides, the reader doesn't care if two strangers fall in love; that's happening right this very minute, somewhere out there in the world. The reader only cares about your characters' love story if the reader cares about the characters.

In other words, all your leads need to be strong enough, more or less, to be hold down a story on their own, without the assistance of their romantic partners and/or any chemistry resulting thereof. (One hopes some Hollywood screenwriter will see this paragraph some day and get the hint). So brush up on your characterization tropes, because if you only have a shallow love Interest, instead of an actual character, you have no love story.

It's possible to overdo a romance. Conversely, it's possible to underdo it. Whatever relationship develops between the two characters, it needs to walk the line of believability between the two extremes. There are two basic layers in any relationship. One layer is that oft-used word, Chemistry and has to do with your desired traits. Ask yourself right now: what do you look for in a potential mate or significant-other? Well, those are your desired traits. If Bob is looking for someone feisty and independent, the moment he finds that person, the reader expects Bob to be interested. Why? Because of desired traits; because of chemistry.

The other layer is Compatibility. Shared values. If "desired traits" are what you look for in a partner, shared values are what you look for in yourself. Ask yourself right now: now that you've met this girl/guy whom you have chemistry with, what are you going to do now? What kind of life do you want to live, and does this potential mate help or hinder your efforts to live it? Pro tip: When you love someone, it's not just because you love them; it's also because you like who you are when you're with them.

So, do you see what I'm getting at here? In order for you to write this romance well, your characters need a fair bit of character depth: personality, hopes and dreams, etc. You need to know each character's desired qualities and shared values.

[Anti Alias]

yeah, now we're talking.

Generally, a love story requires a bare minimum of two characters—the ones who are going to fall in love. So you'll need your Love Interests first.

Anyhow, you've got your two (or more) leads, Alice and Bob. Probably, one or both of them has friends and/or family members. There may also be a Charlie to serve as a romantic false lead, the jackass, the stalker or a similar supporting character. The Love Triangle is older than feudalism.

Anyhow, you've now got, Bob, Alice and Charlie, plus whatever additional supporting cast you decide to put in. Now comes the hard part: all three characters need personality. Who they are, after all, affects how they're going to relate to each other, and the romance (sub)plot is all about that relating. There are a gazillion different ways characters can relate to each other romantically, but you should pick one (or several) and make them your focus. This, of course, requires a fairly thorough understanding of who Bob, Alice and Charlie are before they meet and begin to variously fall in love with each other.

If you're bad at characterization, you cannot write good romance. Period. And here's the worst part: it's even more true for a love story. Both in Real Life and in fiction, you can't fall in love unless both you and your Love Interest have personalities. (Falling in love is about personality.) As such, romance is an extension of characterization. Besides, the reader doesn't care if two strangers fall in love; that's happening right this very minute, somewhere out there in the world. The reader only cares about your characters' love story if the reader cares about the characters.

In other words, all your leads need to be strong enough, more or less, to be hold down a story on their own, without the assistance of their romantic partners and/or any chemistry resulting thereof. (One hopes some Hollywood screenwriter will see this paragraph some day and get the hint). So brush up on your characterization tropes, because if you only have a shallow love Interest, instead of an actual character, you have no love story.

It's possible to overdo a romance. Conversely, it's possible to underdo it. Whatever relationship develops between the two characters, it needs to walk the line of believability between the two extremes. There are two basic layers in any relationship. One layer is that oft-used word, Chemistry and has to do with your desired traits. Ask yourself right now: what do you look for in a potential mate or significant-other? Well, those are your desired traits. If Bob is looking for someone feisty and independent, the moment he finds that person, the reader expects Bob to be interested. Why? Because of desired traits; because of chemistry.

The other layer is Compatibility. Shared values. If "desired traits" are what you look for in a partner, shared values are what you look for in yourself. Ask yourself right now: now that you've met this girl/guy whom you have chemistry with, what are you going to do now? What kind of life do you want to live, and does this potential mate help or hinder your efforts to live it? Pro tip: When you love someone, it's not just because you love them; it's also because you like who you are when you're with them.

So, do you see what I'm getting at here? In order for you to write this romance well, your characters need a fair bit of character depth: personality, hopes and dreams, etc. You need to know each character's desired qualities and shared values.

whoa, that's a pretty deep insight about writting there, I was needing this!

about writting characters, my stories tend to have the cast following exactly the way they interact in the game continuity, mostly of them keeps the same relationships and bonds they have in the games, with little to no changes.

and Komodin... that was... beaultiful... you totally nailed the interactions and relationship between Sonic and Amy presented in Sonic Unleashed, that's exactly the kind of thing I tend to strive for when I write Sonic's interactions with Amy.

[colorfulzones104]

Well...Sally was Sonic's love interest in SATAM and has also been one in the Archie continuity. But in the games themselves? I don't know. I'm not sure how Sonic feels about Amy. He gets nervous and embarrassed when she gushes over him, and doesn't seem sure how to respond to her. He has never out right rejected her, which might be due to him not wanting to hurt her feelings.

Edited November 12, 2012 by colorfulzones104

[sonfan1984]

Maybe not a romantic relationship but I wouldn't mind seeing Sonic show some kind of affection for Amy or shows that he actually appreciate her as a friend. Now if only they (Sonic Team) can give Amy some actual character development besides just chasing after Sonic.

[Austin311]

Now if only they (Sonic Team) can give Amy some actual character development besides just chasing after Sonic.

They did that in Sonic Adventure 1, too bad all of the games made after it make it seem like the events in Sonic Adventure 1 didn't affect Amy at all.

[Anti Alias]

eh... people says Sonic has been warming to Amy, but I honeslty see him liking her just as he did back in the adventure days, I think he always liked her, I don't see how anything changed really, they seem friends since, I don't know, Sonic the fighters? .

[SenEDDtor Missile]

eh... people says Sonic has been warming to Amy, but I honeslty see him liking her just as he did back in the adventure days, I think he always liked her, I don't see how anything changed really, they seem friends since, I don't know, Sonic the fighters? .

If he has any affection for her, it's probably overshadowed by her current excessive stalkeryness annoying the hell out of him/driving him away from her. Then again, you can blame the flanderization of her character for that.

[Double Agent Motobug]

I remember suggesting to someone once that the writers re-write Amy's character to show her as more of a cutesy spacey-girl, whom always has her head in the clouds lost in thought, That'd fit in with the whole Tarot Cards thing too, if I do say so myself. They could even make her a bit of an outcast or just generally kind of weird and superstitious too. I mean, not to the point where it overly dominates her character, but just something that pops up once-in-a-while. ex: if Sonic and Amy were to meet up "unexpectedly" (to Sonic, that is XP), she could say something like "...Oh! My cards foretold that we'd meet here!" or something along those lines. She could even freak out a bit if she were to accidentally break a mirror or walk under a ladder or something like that too, since it's superstitious taboo. XP

She could be a tad more giggly and soft spoken as well. Strangely, that's how I thought classic Amy was, but ever since Heroes Amy's general "personality" (if you can call it that) has been grating on me slowly but surely. Sa1/2 wasn't so bad, since she wasn't -always- clawing after Sonic's ankles, or threatening to beat him up if he didn't marry her, or implying that a robot was Sonic's way of saying he liked her, and raising it as her ass-whooping son...

Er well, the point of the post I guess, is that I personally can't see Sonic even remotely romantically/flirtatiously involved with Amy unless it was just for the lols, and I honestly wouldn't really like it anyway, since there's nothing really in Amy's character to like anymore, really. What's there for Sonic to admire about her, really? Where are any traits that Sonic could potentially find interesting? "MARRY ME OR DIE!" doesn't count, Amy. If I were in Sonic's shoes, I'd probably have restraining order'd her so fast, it wouldn't have been funny.

I guess there's Rouge, if Sonic is into that kind of thing. She's pretty mysterious and flirty, and I suppose in Sonic's world's standards she'd be considered physically "attractive", so those traits could possibly catch his eye, but let's just say that Sonic has an eye out for Rouge because he's attracted to those traits, They've barely interacted as far as we've seen, and there's nothing really there to indicate that Rouge has anything for Sonic at all either, except her random faux-flirting in Sonic Battle, and perhaps a bit of dialog in the White World of Sonic Generations(?). Plus I honestly can't see that matchup of personalities working out too terribly well either; Rouge doesn't seem like a terribly-honest person. All things considered, I could see them poking false snide-remarks back and forth in good fun (similarly to how they did in Battle, I guess), but in my opinion, it just doesn't work out.

The only other character beyond Amy and Rouge that I can think of right now, is Blaze. That one, based on personality and their history together in the games, I can honestly see working out a little. If we go by the Rush timeline (Rush -> Rush Adventure -> Generations(?!)), Sonic's gotten to know her, and (with the help of Cream) changed her entire life around by showing her that you can rely on friends to help you out in times of need. Towards the end of the first game, I recall that they had some parting words and then tried desperately to hang on to each other when the "Eggman dimension" thing was splitting apart. Without a doubt there's some kind of friendship bond there. In Rush Adventure, Blaze and Sonic hung out through most of the game, working for a common goal as well, and I guess even lived together with Tails and Marine if the game's hub has any bearings on it, haha

I figure Blaze is probably a strictly disciplined lady, but she seems honest and dedicated to her duty to protect the Sol Emeralds (and that scepter thing, too!) She's shown to be just as acrobatic and almost as quick as Sonic, and also just as powerful (if Burning Blaze is anything to go by, and their battle in Rush 1 as well). Taking into account that she's broken her serious stature to whimper about her fears of heights a few times, as well as dimension-jump to hang at Sonic's birthday party, I suppose there's a bit that Sonic's been around to witness that could make him fancy her, and there's quite a bit of reason for her to like him just the same. (I mean, I think if I was an introverted person that apparently got teased for having some special power my whole life, and then some amazingly friendly single girl around my age came around and changed my life entirely, I'd probably fancy her a bit, too XP Luckily that isn't the case for me, I suppose!) Heck, it seems the writers of Black Knight tossed those two a bone with Caliburn's (and Sonic's!) remark after he saved Percival's life. Although, Blaze and Percival are not the same character, even if they behave generally the same way, so that's out the window there, I suppose.

AAAAAANYWAYS, long story short, I don't think I'd mind if there was some kind of romantic undertones to some of the stuff in the stories if they were cleverly written, and if they changed the way Amy or Rouge act, or just went with Blaze (although her dimensional situation might/might not be an issue (Sonic's birthday is an interdimensional crisis, right?), although in Rush Adventure they established that the dimensions were stable because the emeralds were under control that time.), but I'd NEVER want it to be a main point to any of the stories, really. Sonic's a dude who goes really fast that saves the world and helps people/new friends and stuff, doesn't seem the type of guy that'd randomly dramabomb with a huge love-centric plot (ARGH 06 DIDN'T HAPPEN M'KAY?! *smashes head on wall*)

HOWEVER!

People have brought up that it'd be interesting with Eggman. Well, we know that (if Rivals is to be believed) Eggman has some kind of whack-ass descendant, and there's some kind of ongoing family of Robotniks that have continued to exist after Eggman. Although, we also know that Eggman's dad must've had a brother, if we're going by traditional naming conventions, since Maria (his cousin) and himself both have the last name "Robotnik", Who's to say that Eggman's uncle didn't have more than just Maria? Who knows. Anyways, yes, I definitely would like to see what trouble Eggman could get himself into if he had his eyes on a lady. XD In a more silly story like Sonic Colours (which was, plotholes aside, rad, btw. Thanks for making a not-so-ENDOFTHEWORLD-story, SEGA!) I could see him constantly trying to (poorly) hide the fact that he's Eggman to some woman, and then Sonic continuously intervening and messing things up for them. That's actually something I liked about the Sonic X Comics from what I saw of them; Ella and Eggman's little thing they had going was cute, lul. Plus hey, Eggman's not REALLY that bad of a guy, he's just misunderstood, amirite? XP He's just trying to do the world a favor in the only way he knows how...which also just happens to be insane and totally twisted to anyone that's not him, haha.

...

Also the heroes manual stated he was a feminist, xD I'm sure they meant "woman's man", but that choice of words was pretty lolsy anyway.

(EDIT: Holy buals, this was a long post. I'm sorry! Sorry if some of it doesn't make sense, I'm incredibly tired, haha. Also, it's just my opinion, etc.

TL;DR: I don't think it'd work well for Sonic, but yeah, I'd like to see a comedic take on Eggman's love life, lul.)

Edited November 16, 2012 by Dr.Zoidberg

[Meta77]

I would have loved if elise was picked for future romance. heck even princess sara *ova*

Now before any of you whine and roll and cry remember. Sega had plans to have sonic with a human girl but knew the ""west"" would over react and cry about it.

[DarkLight]

Yes, I think we know all about Madonna and how that concept would never fly with the West, but that doesn't excuse how sloppily written the "romance" was in 06'.

[Semi-colon e]

Yes, I think we know all about Madonna and how that concept would never fly with the West, but that doesn't excuse how sloppily written the "romance" was in 06'.

And how uncanny valley it was because while Sonic didn't really look that much different to usual apart from being "long Sonic", Elise was essentially a realistic human girl, which rubbed most of us the wrong way.

Besides, just because something was an idea at the very beginning doesn't make it a good idea, especially as this was before the series really established it's style and theme.

Not that I'm against romance overall, as long as it's done subtly, maturely, and doesn't just override everything else. I mean in 06, the instant you leave the first cutscene, Sonic essentially becomes bland as all shit and interested in Elise with no rhyme or reason. Way to lose your character traits Sonic, especially in a game titled "Sonic the Hedgehog".

Edited November 16, 2012 by Semi-colon e

[Kuzu]

I would have loved if elise was picked for future romance. heck even princess sara *ova*

Now before any of you whine and roll and cry remember. Sega had plans to have sonic with a human girl but knew the ""west"" would over react and cry about it.

This is ignoring how sloppy their romance was written.

[Toby]

Probably would have been cuter had Elise been portrayed in, let's just call it "Sonic Unleashed style".

[Dr. Homem]

Probably would have been cuter had Elise been portrayed in, let's just call it "Sonic Unleashed style".

And if her legs weren't freaking carrots.

[VO.SUPER]

What would be done with the relationship if it came? If Amy got with Sonic, what then? What would the romance add to the story? That I ask, because at least with this sort of status quo, there is a desire to ship Sonic in any direction, once he's tied down, what then?

Edited November 16, 2012 by VisionaryBlur