Is Rouge still working?

[MetalSkulkBane]

There are endless discussions whenever Sega is doing good job with Sonic Cast characterization. Shadow and Amy seem to be most popular subjects, but I don't see anyone talking about Rouge. And in my opinion?

Rouge isn't working anymore. Well, most of time.

What made great character? I think it was the moral grayness. She would never kill or let innocent die, but everything else is a fair game. She would be immeasurable help for one side long enough for them to trust her, only for her to rob them blind. You never knew what she'll do next. Shadow is the closest thing to best friend and she was quite comfortable tricking him for selfish reasons in Rivals 2 or Sonic X season 3. Her role in Sonic Battle being one of her highlights.

And that's the obvious problem. She can't be a thief anymore. Her appearances in Prime, Dream Team or most IDW she's a pale uninteresting shadow of what she used to be. She keeps being forced into the role of a 'good guy', with a bit more selfish attitude. I mean, Sonic can't be friends with actual criminal, right? She couldn't be a villain either, as Sonic wouldn't fall for her tricks more than once.

Another obstacle, Sonic and Eggman would have to be idiots to keep falling for her lies. Double-crossers like Loki or Jack Sparrow need either to find new suckers to con or heroes do catch up on their lies (that or loose IQ when Liar is in the room). That why her best recent appearance was IDW 2022 annual story, because she got to steal & lie, with Tangle being a fresh new target.

I mean, what is Rouge if she's not a thief? Secret agent, but without GUN it's kinda shallow stuff. Her romance with Knuckles is downplayed, which was another juicy part of her character. She won't even be as sassy like with Topaz. We're too kid friendly for handcuffs joke these days.

I'm worried Rouge is too far gone into "yet another Sonic friend" role and it's too late to change that. IDK, thoughts?

[Salamander]

It partly depends on what kind of stories they want to write, but it does have to be said that she's not a great kid-friendly character, partly for her moral greyness and partly as they keep having to change her design.  So that's not a great start.

I think she shouldn't really ever be a "Sonic's friend" in the first place, frankly; she just doesn't have any kind of relationship with him.  I see her as a kind of big sister figure to Shadow who keeps him grounded; and as the professional face of Team Dark who's actually competent at organising them as a team.  As an independent character, though - I don't really see why she shouldn't go back to thieving?  I think Shadow and Omega (and her employers) would overlook it so long as she wasn't actively endangering the world, which she wouldn't anyway.  But these are characteristics which only really work in stories which are willing to be a bit more character-driven and detail-oriented.  And which don't just boil down to heroes versus villains.  The series hasn't really had a story like that in a while.

[niaco]

It's been a really weird shift lately with Rouge now acting as a recurring part of the core cast rather than filling the role that she historically has. I have no idea what the higher ups want to do with her, but it seems like Prime and Dream Team were just very particular examples of her that might not be indicative of everything else about her - she was excellent in The Murder Of, and has been excellent in IDW with Ian Flynn. I'm holding my breath for our next mainline title to see what the standout direction for her will be. Maybe in SxS Gens?

[MetalSkulkBane]

5 hours ago, niaco said:

she was excellent in The Murder Of, and has been excellent in IDW with Ian Flynn.

Murder I agree.

In IDW she's often limited to being Shadow's sidekick, which limits her potential. Even chao races which started as "Rouge being shady" story ended as "Rouge is Shadow's Jimmy Cricket" story. (And this is more Shadow discussion, but I don't think Rouge should be the moral compass of Team Dark.)

[cosmichaos]

On 5/6/2024 at 8:18 AM, MetalSkulkBane said:

Double-crossers like Loki or Jack Sparrow need either to find new suckers to con or heroes do catch up on their lies

Jack Sparrow is actually a really good example of that type of character. But, he kind of does trick the same people over and over. He managed to pull Will, Barbossa, and Elizabeth into his disasters multiple times, not to mention Mr. Gibbs. It'd be funny to have Rouge repeatedly trick the same people over and over because she knows one way or another they'll end up in a mess with her. I think that should be how she ends up on adventures with some of the main Sonic cast. 

Sonic is too clever to fall for her tricks, but he'll sometimes take the bait at the thought of adventure and potentially a race with Shadow. Amy should be a case a lot like the "Chao Races and Badnik Bases" IDW story, where she'll work with Rouge if they have a common goal, and just maybe if Rouge is a good teammate she'll overlook the thieving part of her scheme. Knuckles needs to be bribed with the promise of something that connects to the Ancient Echidnas or something involving the Master/Chaos Emeralds. Tails knows she's a trickster, but he might do the same as Sonic and take the bait if he sees some benefit in working with her.

I think you hit the nail on the head with all your points about Rouge, though. I do think she's a bit broken beyond repair, and SEGA is obviously far too incompetent to ever even try to fix her. I've always thought of her as the leader of Team Dark (and I refuse to accept that Team Dark doesn't exist anymore) since she was the one who got them all together in Heroes. I wish they still had great chemistry as a team (aughh I miss them so much). But But I guess it's up to fans to do SEGA's job for them, which is.... unfortunate.

[Salamander]

I think we're far enough in for the odd joke reply, so I can confess that when I first saw this topic I thought it meant "Does Rouge still have a job?"  I mean, it's still a valid question!

[MetalSkulkBane]

27 minutes ago, Salamander said:

I think we're far enough in for the odd joke reply, so I can confess that when I first saw this topic I thought it meant "Does Rouge still have a job?"  I mean, it's still a valid question!

I do point out she's barely a thief or secret agent anymore, so it's kinda on topic.