Oh, you look familiar, sir

[Frozen Nitrogen]

Nitrogen, I'm not comparing their roles or even taking them into consideration, I'm comparing their designs and their designs only.

Now do you see what I mean?

And in answer to your Zelda comment, they're realistic humans so of course they're going to look similar but they're not exactly the same character with a different hairstyle and colour scheme.

I really don't understand where you're coming from. As I said (and that picture pretty much demonstrates), your complaint is boiling down to "They all have the designs of humanoid furries". Well, yes, because they ARE all humanoid furries because that's what characters in the Sonic series are supposed to be like.

You're letting Zelda off the hook because "they're all humans", but why then do you not let the Sonic characters off by the exact same token that they're all Mobians!

...Actually, screw this, I know a much better way to settle this disagreement:

WHO'S UNREALISTICLY SIMILAR NOW?

[JezMM]

I know it's not canon but AoStH showed that not all animals have to be based off of Sonic or a similar character to fit in

Really? Even as a kid I thought the episodic characters in AoStH looked nothing like Sonic characters and felt totally out of place. I would hate if generic cartoon animals got into my Sonic games.

At the end of the day you're complaining not about character designs, but the art style. You'd have to completely unanthropomorphise or cartooney-style uglify their designs to make them not all have similar builds.

Edited December 19, 2009 by JezMM

[Cortez]

Well, they're certainly not mobians for a start.

Using an image of Asian people proves nothing because there are people who look different to that.

You're still missing the point though, they're all different species of animal with different ages yet the majority of them are all made from the exact same base, not even Mickey Mouse does this. I mean, even characters whose animals don't have muzzles are given muzzles in Sonic just for the sake of 'conforming to the Sonic style', Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy I can understand but why the fuck do bees, crocodiles, chameleons, bats, rabbits and racoons have muzzles?

Look at this example from Ratchet and Clank, both of these characters are Lombaxs (a species that obviously doesn't exist but still):

Ratchet

and Alister Azimuth OMG SO SIMILAR

I don't think anyone would mind Sonic's vast army of friends quite so much if they had interesting and original designs as opposed to brown Tails with pigtails and a green dress or White Sonic with a potleaf on his head.

And if Tails and Marine and Sonic and Blaze were stripped of their hairstyles, colours and clothes they'd look incredibly similar.

[Frozen Nitrogen]

Why is it wearing Gordon Freeman's suit?

And no, I still don't get what you're complaining about. Complaining about the Sonic characters all having muzzles is like complaining about them all having two eyes.

Edited December 19, 2009 by Frozen Nitrogen

[Diogenes]

Characters based on Big: Vector,

Hahaha, not even close. How can you look at this and this and tell me that's the same body type? Vector's got a long, serpentine body (thicker than his original design yes, but not ridiculously so) while Big is round. About the only thing the designs have in common is short legs and long arms, and Big's are still fatty fatty fat fat compared to Vector's.

And I agree with Nitrogen; the reason most of them look similar is because they're generally treated as the same "species". Most Sonic characters look alike for the same reason most humans look alike. Plus, most of the characters in the series fall into the same teenager/young adult age range (and if not that, they're kids, falling into the Tails category). It's really only the ones that are meant to have a specific recognizable body type that need to break away from the basic design; Big's huge and fat, Vector's a strong guy with an appropriately crocodillian body, Rouge has exaggerated curves, Eggman's an egg, heck, even Tails has a more bulbous head than the rest of the characters since he's a kid genius.

[brobotnik]

I can't remember exactly, but did Gerald base Shadow on a "prophecy" of Sonic of sorts like the Echidnas had in Hidden Palace in S&K?

Not at all, ever. And that has always been one of my major beefs with Shadow's origin. How you start with the character pitch of "evil Sonic" and end up with a character that is in no way connected to Sonic through story or plot (yet mysteriously looks just like him), I have no idea. If anthropomorphic hedgehogs were the norm on the planet in SA1/2, it would have been fine, but for Sonic and Amy to be the only other ones in existence and make no effort to explain why that is or how Shadow connects to them is just bizarre and confusing.

It made me think about the piss poor character designs we have to put up with the Sonic franchise, and it seems nearly every character is based off of another one, sharing nearly identical physical proportions with a few changes made to make them look 'original'.

The short answer is that these are video games and playable characters that are physically similar in size and shape to other playable characters makes it easier on the developers. And it is a very successful formula for cast-building in a major mascot franchise. They want people to know within seconds of looking at a "new" character that it is a part of the Sonic series.

Sonic is also not the only game franchise to rely on this tactic.

Edited December 19, 2009 by bro-botnik

[Cortez]

The short answer is that these are video games and playable characters that are physically similar in size and shape to other playable characters makes it easier on the developers. And it is a very successful formula for cast-building in a major mascot franchise. They want people to know within seconds of looking at a "new" character that it is a part of the Sonic series.

Sonic is also not the only game franchise to rely on this tactic.

You just countered your own point with that image, while same species characters are similar (over even just recolours in some cases) but looking at that chart as a whole they don't all have the same base, human-like qualities in some cases but a Koopa and Yoshi are completely different in design, whereas if they were Sonic characters they'd likely be based off the Sonic or Tails base and have muzzles. Besides look at Mario, Wario and Waluigi, all humans, all have Mario's characteristics yet all look completely different.

[brobotnik]

You just countered your own point with that image, while same species characters are similar (over even just recolours in some cases) but looking at that chart as a whole they don't all have the same base, human-like qualities in some cases but a Koopa and Yoshi are completely different in design, whereas if they were Sonic characters they'd likely be based off the Sonic or Tails base and have muzzles. Besides look at Mario, Wario and Waluigi, all humans, all have Mario's characteristics yet all look completely different.

No argument that Yoshi looks nothing like a Koopa Troopa or that Wario's body type is different from Mario's. I'm saying that the same standards are applied to the grouping of Mario/Luigi as they are to the grouping of Sonic/Tails/Knuckles as playable main characters from the early days of their franchises rather than species type, etc.

I was really just trying to make the point that similarities in character designs are an important feature in most major mascot franchises. Kids can easily identify them that way, and kids are always the target audience. Ratchet and Clank has always had the advantage of being a space exploration title, where alien species are expected to look different. With Sonic, people are always expecting new characters to look like Sonic characters.

The character designers are definitely stuck in a rut, no doubt about it. I'd *like* to see some variation in character design, so I'm not trying to defend it. Just explaining it from a game design standpoint.

Edited December 19, 2009 by bro-botnik

[nUcLeArEnVoY]

I don't think there's any reason to mark a cycloptic eye (Sonic/Amy) or a break between the eyes (Tails/Blaze) as the characteristic trait between a hedgehog or any other species. Why can't a fox have the cyclops thing going? Hell, I've designed one to that effect. It's way too trivial, and when it comes to the games, the main "Sonic character template" seems to be much more heavily adopted than in US incarnations.

The characters themselves already depart heavily from their species as it is, so unless it's stupidly obvious as to what the character is (like Vector or Cream), you're always going to have to tell someone their species just to make sure. In fact, the only characteristic trait that would identify a hedgehog if you ask me, should be the spines since there are plenty of other animals out there that could have the long hedgehog nose.

Using more original character design and fresh proportions would mean entering bizarre species. Of course the hedgehogs will continue looking like Sonic since they're hedgehogs. Plus, you must take the character's purpose into account - almost every hedgehog they introduce is either a main hero or a main villain, neither of which really bode well with the giant, brawny look of Bowser or the decrepit, gangly Waluigi - this is ESPECIALLY apparent in anime. The hero or the villain is always going to look like the fit, athletic opposites of each other (in other words like Sonic). This practice is at play with Silver and Shadow. That way it inspires a sense of competition amongst one another, which is why people group Sonic, Shadow, and Silver together - it's the way Sonic Team intended. Now if they introduced an ELEPHANT... then we'd probably have some fresh character design.

Lately they've been introducing more female characters too, and although I would credit the originality, what makes you think they'd have gone so out of bounds as to make Marine some huge, overweight butterball with a differently-shaped set of eyes or a longer nose? A template is a template, and with the way they design characters both in visuals, AND personality, that template has become bland and meaningless. There's nothing we can do about that.

And dude, what the hell, Vector and Big look nothing alike. All you seem to be basing that off of is relative size. If that's the case, Lou Ferrigno and John Goodman look alike since they're both big... even though one is very fat and one has a shitload of muscle mass.

Edited December 19, 2009 by nUcLeArEnVoY

[Phos]

ARES!

But on topic, I think the only ones who this really applies to are Shadow, Silver, Marine, and maybe a few I'm missing. Shadow manages to be both a derivative of both Sonic AND Reala.

[Blazey Firekitty]

There seems to be a trend for Sonic characters to have oddly circular heads, and fused "cyclops" eyes. But other than that, I wouldn't say the characters look like clones of each other...heck, not all of them have the two features I just mentioned.

[Aquaslash]

I suppose the cartoons and comics will be more to your liking then (though the comics are admittedly heading in a game oriented design direction). Especially Underground. Aside from the main Hedgehog trio, and any relatives, every other character looks dramatically different from the last.

[Octarine]

Two takes on the same animal for comparative purposes; one from Archie and the other from SEGA themselves. From the same year, even!

[Tori Himemiya]

:/ Someone forgot about the robots who do play important role... You got to admit that EggRobo from Sonic and Knuckles (or Sonic 3 and Knuckles your pick) look like the first of the E100 series (Eg. Gamma, Beta, etc.). Eggrobo may have even had been a working prototype.

Let's not for get the Silver Sonic series that obviously leads to Metal Sonic. lol

Emerl might belong in his own group. The only thing thing like him is Gmel which is himself so that doesn't count. So I don't know. :/

Oh and Alister Azimuth might be albono. Mind my spelling errors. lol

[Marcello]

Two takes on the same animal for comparative purposes; one from Archie and the other from SEGA themselves. From the same year, even!

I think Mighty looks alot cooler. The other guy doesn't really look like a Sonic character. Could you (or anyone here) really imagine playing as him in a Sonic game?

But, the armadillo on the left looks like he could fit in with that pic of Sonic with his band, I guess:

That Chicken(or Rooster) looks awsome. He should make an appearance in a new Sonic games as the ultimate badass. He wakes people up too early. Yeah, thats badassness at its fullest!

Edited December 20, 2009 by Marcello Claus