Who's Your Favourite Sonic Characters In The Series?

[Jake Heaton]

I remember doing this a couple of years ago as my definitive Top 10 Sonic Characters list. Though I feel I have more appreciation for Amy Rose now. So she might jump up a place or two. But, I'm confident my Top 5 are still the same.

Tails and Knuckles are just great in general. Active personalities and unique skills that are fun to use in gameplay.

A hero can only be as good as their villain, and Eggman is one of the best in video game history. No matter how evil and maniacal he may be, he still has a comedic edge and goofiness that makes him fun to watch in everything he's in. Mike Pollock's performances never fail to impress.

Shadow is my runner up, because he's almost just as iconic as Sonic is in my opinion. I think he's the perfect rival for Sonic in terms of speed, power and attitude. I definitely prefer his personality in other media than his more recent portrayals, but Sonic Adventure 2, Heroes and even 06 show he's got a heart of Gold despite his dark past and brooding nature. My one wish: please bring Jason Griffith back for his voice!

And Sonic is my No.1, because he's the reason I fell in love with the franchise in the first place. His design, personality, games, shows, books, movies, his world, friends, enemies, everything. No matter what happens with the franchise as a whole, the character himself is cemented in pop culture, video game history and in our hearts. And after attending the Sonic Symphony in London this year, seeing fellow fans, young and old, gather to share our love for the Blue Blur, it's a testament to how much of an impact Sonic has had on the world.

[cosmichaos]

Metal Sonic for me. There's just something about his character that was so interesting back then, and unfortunately has died out now. He was Surge before Surge was even an inkling of a thought, with this goal, this obsession, to destroy Sonic and prove to himself, to his master, to the world, that he was more than just a mechanical copy. That he was the true and only Sonic. It was interesting when looked at in depth, but unfortunately it got glossed over a lot. 

I especially liked him in Heroes, despite hating the game itself(solid story, terrible execution imo), because he was such a cool villain. The final confrontation is still cemented in my mind as one of the most awesome moments in Sonic history. Like, he can turn into a DRAGON?! Also, it's worth noting that it took every character combined to take him down. That says something, right? Sure, you can say Sonic got stronger(or, realistically speaking, mandates were put into motion), but characters like Iblis, a FIRE DEMON, was taken down by Silver in his base form. 

Another interesting aspect of Metal that I think is worth exploring is his relationship with Eggman. Some people like to portray him as like a son to Eggman, and have their relationship be more positive and wholesome, but I've always seen it as being a lot darker. Eggman created Metal Sonic under mysterious circumstances and led him to believe that the only way to prove himself was to kill Sonic, an impossible task. Judging by the fact that Metal always loses their races and was programmed to do the opposite, was Metal actually programmed to lose? He always gets so close to the finish line, just for something to go horribly wrong and leave him a mangled mass of machinery. I wonder if Eggman made it so that he would never be able to unleash his full potential, as to drive Metal to insanity. Why? Maybe to make him even more determined to obey. More determined to kill. If he forces Metal to believe that he is the only thing that can push the robot to his full potential, then Metal would have less initiative to turn on Eggman. Kind of what Starline did to Surge. By giving him this type of imposter syndrome, Metal could be more easily controlled. This obviously backfires badly in Eggman's face in Heroes, but still.

Also, he's got a pretty kickass design lmao. I could ramble for another, like, hour over why Whisper and Cosmo are amazing characters, but I've already taken up too much of your time. If you actually read all this, thanks for listening to one of my insane hyperactive rambles, have a good day :)

[SunnyDayz]

Profile pictures aside, Tails will always be my favorite!  I relate a lot to this little guy!

[cosmichaos]

On 11/11/2023 at 11:00 PM, SunnyDayz said:

Profile pictures aside, Tails will always be my favorite!  I relate a lot to this little guy!

I know I said Metal was my favorite, but Tails will always have a special place in my heart! I went to the Sonic Symphony in Chicago and bawled my eyes out during "Believe in Myself" lol, just like I did when I played the original SA1 :)

[Maple Syrup]

On 11/11/2023 at 10:00 PM, SunnyDayz said:

Profile pictures aside, Tails will always be my favorite!  I relate a lot to this little guy!

Me too! Me and Tails have a lot in common! Like how we both are shy, nerdy, geeks who are intrested in science, computers, robots and mechanics!

[batson]

If the new character Trip the Sungazer had come along earlier, she might have become one of my favorite characters. At this point I'm simply not sure if I'm truly invested enough in the Sonic franchise to develop any strong feelings for any new characters though. But she does have just about everything going for her; I like reptiles in general, I'm kinda partial to female characters (though in the case of the Sonic series several of them happens to have personalities that annoy me a little), she's cute, she has a charmingly shy personality, she has an epic and unique super form, and her gimmick of being a usually masked character who actually looks more like her supposed species when she has the mask (technically helmet) on is nifty.

It sucks though that she's confined to the neo-classic branch of the franchise since the characters in that version aren't allowed to goddamn talk...

[Xandur]

Bit of a generic pick, but Shadow for me. There's a reason why so many different pieces of Sonic media - both official and fanmade - struggle to write Shadow properly. He's a deep, unique, multi-layered character; he's meant to be a fine balance between nonchalance and kindness. He has a hard, stoic persona that he uses to hide his trauma, but he's a caring and strong ally when the situation calls for it. Shadow, like many other Sonic characters, has unfortunately been extremely flanderized in most recent Sonic media, hence the common stereotype about him being an edgelord. But when written correctly, Shadow is SUCH a good character. For example, Prime Shadow is one of my favorite interpretations of Shadow thus far. He's a bit too prone to fighting, but beyond that, he's pretty much everything I want out of Shadow. He appears to be distant, but you can tell he cares - it's especially apparent in that new Season 3 teaser. I can't get enough of him honestly. 

[Lorekitten]

Halfway through writing a long-ish article about my favorite Sonic characters and why they're my favorite, the app started to eat my text, so I'm just going to mention the one thing that irks me about the Sonic canon: Ian Flynn seems to like killing off my favorite characters. Antoine at least was put on life support by Sega and eventually restored via Super Genesis Wave (only for the series to get permanently canceled anyway, but I digress), but I'm pretty sure Starline is gonna remain a flatypus for at least a good while longer, if not until the end of time.

Because of this, I'm not going to name any of my currently active favorites, because I don't want anything horrible to happen to them next.

[LegoNess]

My favorite has always been Tails! I've always been drawn to cuter characters in general, and would relate more to the "kid sidekick" types when I was younger.