Who is your favourite side character?

[Marcello]

Espio, Espio, Espio!!!!

He's my favorite character in the series. And the reasoning is as simple as it is stupid: He's purple. When I first saw him in Chaotix when I was 4 or 5, I was so amazed an thought he was the awesomest thing in the world! When he came back in Heroes I was so happy ^^ And him getting a starring role in Rivals 2 was just great.

Wasn't it nice when you could just like a character based off his appearance apposed to his personality etc?

(Edit: Not that I don't like how he acts. I do, but him being purple is what made me like him^^)

And then there's Blaze. Another purple character xD But actually that's not the reason I like her. I just think she's a great character and I liked her development in Rush. OK, and because she's purple :|

I also like Big a lot. I always thought he was funny. I loved his reactions with Froggy and everyone. I was interested in him when I first saw him, but I couldn't really see much of him, because I sucked at his gameplay ^^and he's purple...

Edited August 5, 2010 by MarcelloF

[Octarine]

purplepurplepurplepurplepurple

How do you feel about Wave, I wonder?

My favourite character in the series is Vector the Crocodile. I have kind of a condition that usually prevents me from latching on to main characters, so he's who I ended up with. It's weird.

He's simultaneously one of the most down-to-earth and yet one of the most ridiculous characters in the entire series, and I love the contrast. On one hand, he's one of the only characters (aside from the other Chaotix) to have something vaguely resembling a normal job and normal concerns. On the other hand... um, he's a crocodile who can breathe explosive gum bubbles, hangs out with a six-year-old, never takes off his headphones and is somehow capable of space travel.

Apart from Vanilla and Pachacamac (and the senior Grand Battle Kukku, and most of the Nocturnus, or at least Ix, and probably a bunch of the NPCs in Rush Adventure... this was a better point before I actually started thinking about it), I'm pretty certain that he's the only animal character confirmed to be over the age of 18, which makes me feel marginally less old. His sense of justice is prominent, but reasonable: he's generally a good guy, but he's still willing to help Eggman in Heroes even after discovering who he really is, mostly because of the reward. He's also intelligent enough to be a good detective without needing to be a genius like Tails or Eggman, which I love.

Also, like Marcello with purple Espio, I find it pretty awesome that Vector's green. I love me some green. The fact that he turns into a goddamned loop instead of a ball when spin-dashing is just about the coolest thing ever, too.

...find the computer room.

[Pikachu in a Sombrero]

Do Silver and Blaze count as side-characters?

If not, then... Espio and Charmy Bee, I'd say.

[Marcello]

How do you feel about Wave, I wonder?

I don't like her face xO She looked cool here: besids her huge nostril, but here she looks terrible: If they got her model down better, than I think I could like her. But, I haven't played the Riders games enough to know how she is.

On to another purple character: Fang. If they made him into a bounty hunter like in the Archie comics, he could be the Boba Fett of the Sonic world. He has a great design, too. If he stays a treasure hunter, I think he could have some nice interaction with Rouge, though.

SEGA should definitely bring him back.

[Little T]

Do the Animal Friends count? If so, I'd like to mention them here. It sucked that in SA1 they were just turned into generic animals (except for Birdie of course), but I was pleased to see that in Mario and Sonic at the Winter olympic games they return as audience members, and look just like their regular selves but in 3D, without even any coloured pupils added ! I wish though that they'd interact with Sonic or something more then they do, I always thought it was sweet that the basic story line of Sonic was that he was rescuing tiny animal friends.

Besides that -

Cream the Rabbit - The first time I saw her (which believe it or not was actually 'The Ultimate Flash Sonic' - don't laugh ) I thought 'Aww! Sweet!'. I guess you could say I'm a sucker for cute characters. I think one reason I like her is her design. Unlike other new Sonic characters, she's not freakishly tall, and could actaully pass off as a classic character if you removed her coloured pupils. Another reason is because she's so sweet and polite! I mean, her first line in the series is "Wow! You'e the famous Mister Sonic!?". Plus, she has a little chao with a bow tie who follows her everywhere - aww! One thing even I will admit about Cream though, is really she kind of steals the role of Tails, including being able to fly.

Charmy Bee - I like bees! My nickname is bee! Bees are great! Charmy is the only Sonic character where I actually prefer his re-design to his classic design. He just looks so much more intresting. He looks friendlier, and I like his jacket. I'm a fan of his childish, curious, excitable and slightly scatterbrained personality. I can't really think of much else to put here

[Saint Nathan]

Big: Because he's lived in a jungle all his life and then is able to fly a fucking biplane.

Silver: Props for being not boring in '06.

Blaze: FIREFIREFIREFIREFIREFIREFIREBURNFIREFIREBURNFIREBURNBUURRNNBUUUURRRRRRNNNNNBWAAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!

All of the Unleashed NPCs except for the ones with timer missions: Awesome side quests.

Bean: Mutant Hedge-squirrel Babies.

[Phos]

I don't like her face xO She looked cool here: besids her huge nostril, but here she looks terrible: If they got her model down better, than I think I could like her. But, I haven't played the Riders games enough to know how she is.

They gave teeth to a bird...

The CG portraits for ZG were pretty bad. Tails's mouth was just this void below his nose, it looks like they made it with a crappy boolean.

[Nerfuffle]

Gamma is a favorite. Not that I wanted to come back either, he was like the unsung hero of the games. He wasn't the wise cracking hero, a nefarious villain, or a guy with a tragic and convoluted backstory. He's just one of Eggman's robots, somebody Sonic probably smashes every day. Gamma wasn't a pussy either, when provoked enough he'd abandon his programing and proceeded to do what he thought was best for his robot buddies.

His decedent Omega isn't much of a replacement but a parody of all rogue AI robots. We knew what he wanted but not why. His obsessions spring out of nowhere, which could be played for laughs, but he just won't have the same impact as his older brother.

Blaze is a new favorite. Not because of any depth, originality, or the fact she is the first competent female in the games, but because of just how weird her backstory is, and in this franchise that is saying a lot;

A purple ballet practicing cat with fire powers who lives in the post apocalyptic future seals a giant lava monster in herself and dies. Only she didn't die she was just teleported to Australia where she was elected Queen of Koalas and protector of magical jolly ranchers. Fortunately Australia was just outside of the Sonic '06 story line and she was not affected by the Universe reset cop out as it is hinted she still remembers her literally Silver telekinetic hedgehog friend, which may or may not mean that there could be two blazes running around. Also she is an unusually flat chested "Queen".

[Marcello]

Blaze is a new favorite. Not because of any depth, originality, or the fact she is the first competent female in the games, but because of just how weird her backstory is, and in this franchise that is saying a lot;

A purple ballet practicing cat with fire powers who lives in the post apocalyptic future seals a giant lava monster in herself and dies. Only she didn't die she was just teleported to Australia where she was elected Queen of Koalas and protector of magical jolly ranchers. Fortunately Australia was just outside of the Sonic '06 story line and she was not affected by the Universe reset cop out as it is hinted she still remembers her literally Silver telekinetic hedgehog friend, which may or may not mean that there could be two blazes running around. Also she is an unusually flat chested "Queen".

What? When was that? :blink:Or were you joking? SEGA just screwed around with her backstory in '06, it doesn't count anymore, though. Her true backstory is that she's from another dimension and the princess of Southern Island (Or her whole world, I don't know) and the guardian of the Sol Emeralds. No Iblis, no Silver or anything.

At least, that's what I've always thought.

Edited August 8, 2010 by MarcelloF

[Silver*]

Heh, most of my absolute favorites are side characters or unnoticed characters.

If Silver counts: He's wacky, intelligent, adorable and unique. I respect him because this is a little boy who is not afraid to do what's right to protect his world. He's not a "I'm RADICALLLL and I can go really fast" or "DAMN! You're going straight to hell" kind of character... but has the mentality of a child... one that I rarely see in the teenage cast. To make this short: Silver's a hero that struggles with simple questions, sees superheroes in a comic book sense, and one that has to face his fears.

An honorary mention to Chris Thorndyke, Marine, Mephiles, Gardon and Eggman Nega.

[Mollfie]

I like Tikal because she's cute.

I really like Marine because she's a damn good character. She's cute, funny and not too dramatic. She's there for a reason and feels pretty well rounded too, even if she hasn't appeared again. She didn't come across as 'just a side character' to me.

As an example, Cream has always felt to me like she's just there. Even when she was a main character or a plot point XD

[Nerfuffle]

What? When was that? :blink:Or were you joking? SEGA just screwed around with her backstory in '06, it doesn't count anymore, though. Her true backstory is that she's from another dimension and the princess of Southern Island (Or her whole world, I don't know) and the guardian of the Sol Emeralds. No Iblis, no Silver or anything.

At least, that's what I've always thought.

I just tried to mop together a bunch of existing theories into something resembling a narrative structure. Everyone seems to have their own theory on Blaze. After all she has that notorious, ungodly talent of confusing the hell out of gamers with minimal effort.

Some of her most famous lines;

Like the emotional-

“Seal me in another dimension!”

Or the pesky origin of the Blaze-knowing-Silver-in-Sonic-Rush theory.

Besides this Sonic sounds like…

And of course!

…....Blue hedgehog…......

[Speederino]

I'd say Mighty was pretty cool in Knuckles Chaotix. But honestly? I have no idea why. I mean without getting into details about character creation and all of that, Mighty is basically just a Sonic recolor who can wall jump, which was unique 15 years ago. Yet there's just something about him that's cool. I'd say it would be great if he was brought back, but I'm afraid of what might happen to him. After all, I liked Vector and Charmy in their debut game, too. These days...not so much.

Edited August 26, 2010 by Speederino

[Diogenes]

Like the emotional-

The problem with this is, if she just gets plopped into the Rush dimension...what happens to Iblis? The whole point of sending her to another dimension was that she couldn't hold Iblis in (if she could, there would be no need to send her elsewhere, at least not immediately). So why isn't her new home a post-apocalyptic inferno in SRA?

Or the pesky origin of the Blaze-knowing-Silver-in-Sonic-Rush theory.

That could've been literally anything. We don't even know if she was going to compare him to another person, or just say "he sounds like he's *insert attribute here*". And in context, it wouldn't make much sense to be comparing him to Silver; it sounds like she's about to give an excuse as to why she doesn't want/need Sonic's help, and comparing him to her lost friend/partner wouldn't do it.

And of course!

This is apparently a pun in the original Japanese. The word used can mean both "blue" and "naive". Silver sees that a "blue" hedgehog causes all the trouble, but Blaze hears it as a "naive" hedgehog, which is what she thinks Silver is. It's actually kind of a neat bit, the one problem being that it's completely lost in the English translation.

None of this really has anything to do with the Blaze paradox; it's just stuff taken out of context and ideas not thought through.

[Aquaslash]

Mighty is basically just a Sonic recolor who can wall jump,

Super Shadow is a recolor.

Mighty is a reTOOL. "Mold" aspects were changed, I can't repaint a Sonic to make it be Mighty.

Just sayin =P

[Speederino]

Super Shadow is a recolor.

Mighty is a reTOOL. "Mold" aspects were changed, I can't repaint a Sonic to make it be Mighty.

Just sayin =P

I don't know. Take Shadow, color his back red, and comb his quills forward and you pretty much have a dead ringer for Mighty.

Yeah yeah, it's not a recolor if you comb a hedgehog. Speaking of which, does anyone want to try a real life experiment?

Edited August 26, 2010 by Speederino

[TrueBlue]

Guess I'll give this is a shot, although i won't mention Rouge. Metal or Chaotix as they've been mentioned more than most so i'll try to be unique.

--

Blaze: She kicks ass, there's no other way to describe it. Her debut in Sonic Rush was what drew me into the character, and she was a total badass, and has been ever since. She has control of fire, is able to stay mostly sane when talking to Cream/Marine, loves doing fire spin kicks to Eggmobiles, has her own special set of Emeralds, gave Knuckles a beatdown, had the only bearable gameplay in Silver's story in Sonic 06, is a princess, is sympathetic, is in charge of a group of koalas, sacrificed herself to defeat a fire demon and can even keep up with Sonic.

Did i mention that awesome Super Form as well?

I can't not like her, she's always been one of those characters that has stayed consistently cool to me and she is probably my favourite side character. All she needs now is to get Michelle Ruff as her VA and she will be complete.

--

Merlina: This is mostly due to how well the story in Black Knight, but she's just a good character overall and pretty unique in her own right. At first she seems kind, helpful and with the best interests of the people at heart, considering how she supposedly wants to end the tyranny which Arthur rules them with. But in fact she's a manipulative and calculating villain, with her wanting to lead the world into darkness just to fulfil her own desires. Hell, she even leads Sonic along until the end point of the game which in terms of Sonic baddies, is a unique and a rather brilliant twist. It was kinda interesting to see the various clues hinting at her true nature through the cutscenes, yet you never really noticed them until you viewed them a second time round. Plus, it was nice to see that her big desire for the world was not one of pure evil, in hindsight she wanted to save it, she just went about it the wrong way.

However, this twist is not the main reason i like Merlina. No, the main reason i like Merlina is due to the fact that she is probably one of the only villains in the entire franchise (or at least, the games) to really challenge Sonic's psyche. It was great to see a villain get under Sonic's skin a little bit, which is something i don't think Eggman has ever truly achieved. It also added a great dynamic to the relationship between Sonic and Merlina, and the final confrontation was undeniably epic. She was a flawed person, and that's what made her so interesting to me. It's just a shame her final form kinda sucked.

She also had a nice British voice, and was kinda hot.

Yeah.

--

Ergo-Bot: A great comedic foil to Eggman, and probably the source of the best humor present in Unleashed. He also makes a nice change from the "Gotta kill Sonic" robots that had been portrayed recently, and it was nice to see. I hope he stays at Eggman's side for a few more games.

[Nerfuffle]

This is apparently a pun in the original Japanese. The word used can mean both "blue" and "naive". Silver sees that a "blue" hedgehog causes all the trouble, but Blaze hears it as a "naive" hedgehog, which is what she thinks Silver is. It's actually kind of a neat bit, the one problem being that it's completely lost in the English translation.

Wow thanks! So that’s the story behind the blue thing, I already knew these points were misinterpretations to some degree. The reason the character interests me is because she accumulates the most unintentional convolution.

The problem with this is, if she just gets plopped into the Rush dimension...what happens to Iblis? The whole point of sending her to another dimension was that she couldn't hold Iblis in (if she could, there would be no need to send her elsewhere, at least not immediately). So why isn't her new home a post-apocalyptic inferno in SRA?

Well…I never said my paragraph of botchness had logic, just that it was linear. However even this explanation brings up questions.

For this to make sense, Blaze and Silver would have to believe the evil lava demon doesn't die with its host, but if a demon's life is actually tethered to its mortal jail cell and both Blaze and Silver know how to seal satanic creatures inside people, how is it they or whom ever they learned it from haven't tried it before? Did they learn it from their time hopping excursions? Are rituals just instantly learned through imitation? This would all be less confusing if Blaze wasn't in the picture.

Also wouldn’t sending Iblis some where else be putting the problem on somebody else’s shoulders? Seems....hypocritical.

[Rusty Spy]

I <3 Big, because he's such a Woobie. You'd expect a character the Sonic equivalent of Forest Gumb to be well loved, but 90% of the fans in this franchise have their heads to far up their asses to care.

Also, there's the Chaotix. They're awesome, funny, badass, and total morons at the same time, and I love how they're the most unique crew in the series. They're the Ragtag bunch of misfits that add both comedy and badassery to the franchise.

[Phos]

This bit about Blaze made me imagine an alternate version of that scene:

Blaze: Seal me in another dimension!

Silver: I don't know how to do that!

[LimeTH]

Ah, the under appriciated "Shitty Friends". I generally like all the side characters from games I have played. (Bar Jet. Screw that guy.) I haven't played SRA, so I'm holding judgement on Marine for now (though I loved her in Sonic Universe #1.) So, on to my favorite Side-Characters!

The Chaotix

Vector especally. Espio is cool, and I dont particularly care for Charmy, but I feel this group as a whole has a lot of potential. Vector has some of the best characterization in the series, what with his real life concerns and absent minded gruff additude. I think these guys could probably hold an entire game on their own with their current characterizations. (And I know about Knuckles Chaotix, I just mean their current modern incarnations.)

Metal Sonic.

Yeah, lets face it, what there has been of this guy has been pretty lame, but his design just pulls me in. He's a doppleganger, yes, but he looks different and original enough compared to Sonic. I'm still confused as to how they could get it so right with Metal, but make Shadow and Silver look unoriginal compared to Sonic, but thats for another thread. That said, I love it when Metal shows up. I personally can't wait to see how he's utillized in Sonic 4, and if it lives up to the potential he's had negelected for nearly two decades.

Big the Cat.

Sure I hate his fishing levels just as much as the next guy, but as a character, Big is great. He's just a big dopey cat looking for an easy life. He doesn't seem particularly stupid in SA (though in Heroes, I'll admit, he came off as retarded when the only friggin' word he could say is "FWOGGY!"). I love his inclusion in ASR, and I commend Sumo for their guts for putting in a contriversal character from a series with a fanbase that hates him and would likely rip them to shreds for it. Good work guys!

Tikal

I can't think of any particularly interesting reason as to why I like Tikal. I find her endaring and cute, with a great backstory and role in the story. Thats about it.

Dr. Robotnik (AoStH)

For all intents and purposes, I consider Eggman and Robotnik to be seperate characters. There's Eggman, the guy from the games, and then there's Robotnik, the guy from the shows and comics and such. They're just too different to be compared, and again, any debate about this can be taken into another thread. My ideal Robotnik is this incarnation of him. Everything about this guy just hits the right buttons for me. He's an evil character who does asshole things for shits and giggles just because he's evil. He holds himself in a high regard and thinks he's the smartest and sexiest man alive when the exact opposite is true, He's perpetually angry and always yelling ridiculous insults. And finally, to top it all off, he's hysterical. Why can't we have a character like this in the games?

[Super Yoshi]

I would have to say Tails, the little guy gets very little screen time from now on. He is a very under rated character in the series, more so than Amy. He is very handy to use in Sonic 3. He should have more solo games because the only ones he had were Tails Adventure and Tails Sky patrol. He is very loyale to Sonic and sticks by him no matter what.

[Glenn]

Dr. Robotnik (AoStH)

For all intents and purposes, I consider Eggman and Robotnik to be seperate characters. There's Eggman, the guy from the games, and then there's Robotnik, the guy from the shows and comics and such. They're just too different to be compared, and again, any debate about this can be taken into another thread. My ideal Robotnik is this incarnation of him. Everything about this guy just hits the right buttons for me. He's an evil character who does asshole things for shits and giggles just because he's evil. He holds himself in a high regard and thinks he's the smartest and sexiest man alive when the exact opposite is true, He's perpetually angry and always yelling ridiculous insults. And finally, to top it all off, he's hysterical. Why can't we have a character like this in the games?

Yes, yes, and thrice... YES!!

Without question, Doctor Robotnik is the reason for watching The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.

He should give himself a prrromotion.

***

Lately I've been meaning to come back here and chat about my huge Tails mood. Recently I've been thinking about the structure of the supporting cast. And sure, I'll admit there are one or two one-hit-wonders that manage to make me *squee* a little louder than Miles Prower normally does, but the reliability of Tails as a sidekick and 'brother' to Sonic is truly outstanding. He's never shaken, never betrayed his character, never transformed into a gimmick... he's just Tails, always there and always faithful. And while some may find that boring, I find that massively respectful. He doesn't get the best gameplay in the world, either, but he's still managed to appear in every game since his debut (save two: Sonic CD and Sonic Labyrinth, if I'm not mistaken).

Besides, he's ridiculously cute and amazingly talented for his age... what's not to love?!

[vger]

My favourite side character would be Blaze at the moment, she is a character which is very driven to do what's needed, and I respect that a lot.

I would also agree with Glenn above, Tails is an awesome character but I don't think of him as a side character as part of the original three I think we can classify him a little better than side character, or that might be because I think he's just that good.

[Glenn]

I would also agree with Glenn above, Tails is an awesome character but I don't think of him as a side character as part of the original three I think we can classify him a little better than side character, or that might be because I think he's just that good.

Well, you've definitely got a point, and perhaps a way of explaining why I sometimes overlook him. I mean, at times I'm hugely "Yay, Silver!!" or heck, even "Shadow's pretty cool, y'know!" now and again, but they're definitely side characters as they're always a question-mark over new game releases. With the possible exception of Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - Episode One, although you can bet Tails will show up at some stage in the final, complete game, you can pretty much double your pension by betting it all on Tails being there.

I take it the "original three" you mean is Sonic, Tails and Dr. Eggman? For a second, I thought it was Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, but unfortunately (and I do mean unfortunately, as I love Knuckles) everybody's favourite echidna has taken a knock in recent years. Which is a great shame.