Knuckles the Echidna (Sonic Boom)

"Strong. Determined. The muscle of the team."

- Sonic Boom Official Website

Knuckles the Echidna is one of the main characters in the Sonic Boom series. He is an anthropomorphic echidna from Angel Island and serves as the muscle of Team Sonic, a group of heroes who defends the peace of Bygone Island and the world at large.

Concept and creation
When developing the character designs, Knuckles was made larger and more muscular to emphasize his strength, his role as the strong guy on the team and the bruiser he is. His gliding ability was excluded because it did not fit into any of the stories.

The sports tape Knuckles wears is inspired by fighters and American football players and is meant to give him a sense of practical heroism by showing that that he is not vain, which is a trait more fitting for villains, when saving the world, and to give him a more grounded approach. It is worn especially around his arms to emphasize that his specialty is power. Excluded from Knuckles' design were his boxing gloves because in a TV show he was needed to show gestures with his hands.

Appearance
Knuckles closely resembles his main series counterpart in overall characteristics, but is quite drastically different in terms of physical proportions. He is much larger than all of his team-mates, standing over a head taller than Sonic, and is considerably more muscular. He has a rather large torso, broad shoulders and thick muscular arms, making him very top-heavy, and possesses longer legs and quills. Also, like his main counterpart, he has a white, crescent moon-shaped mark near the top of his chest.

For attire, Knuckles wears a pair of red and yellow shoes, designed with wrap-like markings, that have green cuffs and grey metal plates on top. He also has white sports tape wrapped around his hands and knuckle-spikes, the lower half of his arms and legs, and his biceps, making him similar to a Muay Thai boxer.

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric
In Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, Knuckles was with Sonic, Tails and Amy in another endeavor to foil Dr. Eggman's plans, where they chased him and Metal Sonic to a new island. Following a brief separation, Team Sonic reunited at a mysterious tomb, where Metal Sonic cornered them with Eggman's new Destruction Troops. Though Knuckles insisted they did not need saving, Sonic took the crew into the tomb to save them. As they tried escaping the sealed tomb, Knuckles quickly blamed Sonic for their predicament, just as they accidently awoke Lyric the Last Ancient, which Knuckles also blamed Sonic for. The group was then tied up by Lyric with his shackles as the snake escaped, but they used the shackles―now converted into Enerbeams―in an fruitless attempt to catch Lyric.

With Lyric gone, Team Sonic sought information from Cliff. The archeologist revealed that Lyric was an evil Ancient who planned to power his Sentinel army with the Chaos Crystals to destroy all life in the world, but was imprisoned by his race when they discovered the plan. The group thus set out to retrieve the Crystals before Lyric. As they sought one Crystal in an Abandoned Research Facility, where the team split up, Knuckles and Amy met MAIA, a robot who rebelled against Lyric, who, with their aid, helped Sonic and Tails get a map to the Crystals while Knuckles and Amy got the second Crystal.

Continuing their hunt, Team Sonic subsequently faced a short alliance between Lyric and Eggman, Metal Sonic who had been reprogrammed to serve Lyric, and the power struggle between Lyric and Eggman. Needlessly, the team overcame every foe and got each Crystal. When obtaining the last one though, Lyric had his robots surrounded Sonic and demanded that Knuckles, Tails and Amy gave up their Crystals if they wanted Sonic alive. Though Knuckles and his friends surrendered the Crystals, Lyric still had his robots attack Sonic. Much to Knuckles' relief however, Sonic survived, and the team followed Lyric to his lair to stop him for good. In the following battle, Lyric used the team's Enerbeams to ensnare them, but before he could destroy Team Sonic, Eggman ambushed Lyric from behind, freeing the group. Knuckles then joined Sonic in incapacitating Lyric for good, during which Shadow the Hedgehog dropped by from an earlier battle, where Knuckles helped Sonic dispose of Lyric's technopathy device. As Sonic and Knuckles got back on good terms, they returned to the Village to celebrate their victory.

Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal
In Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal, Knuckles, Sonic and Tails and Amy rescued Sticks when she was caught in a rockslide. Brushing off Sticks' claims that an underground army would destroy them all, Knuckles followed Amy to an ancient temple she was researching where he stood guard outside. Later, Knuckles teamed up with Sonic, Tails and Sticks to track down and save Amy who had been kidnapped by Lyric and his robot army, who sought to use her archaeological knowledge to find a Lost Crystal of Power and seize its power.

TV series
Not much is known about Knuckles' past, except that he originally come from Angel Island. Growing up, he was tutored by multiple teachers, but never managed to retain their lessons. He eventually settled down on Bygone Island where he became a part of Team Sonic.

When Sonic held try-outs for a new sidekick, Knuckles went to make Sonic his sidekick, but Sonic rejected the offer. Eventually, his sidekick plans did not work out, which Knuckles told Amy. This inspired Amy to become his sidekick and Knuckles was impressed.

During a visit to Tails' house, Knuckles and his friends discovered that Sonic and Tails housed Dr. Eggman, Orbot and Cubot while their lair underwent repairs. After two days however, where Eggman had kept Sonic and Tails up all night, Eggman revealed to Knuckles and the rest that he lied about his lair so he could exhaust Sonic and Tails, and summoned Obliterator Bot to destroy Team Sonic. However, the robot misheard Eggman and instead attacked his lair. Accepting to help Eggman, Knuckles, Amy and Sticks distracted Obliterator Bot while the others reached its kill switches, though they were too late to save the lair.

As Knuckles, Sonic, Amy and Sticks chilled on the beach, Tails showed them his universal translator UT. However, UT created tension between Knuckles and the others by translating their private thoughts from the subtext of their speech. When Tails and UT returned the next day, the latter "translated" their comments into insults. However, as they started fighting, Tails discovered that this UT was a fake sent by Eggman to tear them apart. While Tails went to save the real UT, Knuckles and the others stayed, not thinking UT was worth saving. Later, UT returned to them where it gave a message from Tails and translated it into a call to rescue him from Eggman. Coming to the lair, Knuckles and his friends freed Tails and beat Eggman's Mega. While Knuckles had found peace with UT, Sticks quickly threw it into the sea.

When Team Sonic saved the village from Eggman's Anti-fire Bot, Knuckles and his team saw Sticks' bad treatment of animals and convinced her to get a pet to learn about compassion. To their surprise though, Sticks chose a disgusting robo-dog named Buster. Over the next week, Buster was an annoyance to Knuckles and the rest which culminated in Buster keeping them from stopping a robbery made by Orbot and Cubot. As Knuckles and the team tried making Sticks give up Buster, Eggman appeared with a gift for Buster. As Eggman revealed he created Buster, his gift transformed Buster into a larger robot that caught Knuckles and the others. However, they were freed when Sticks assumed control over Buster, who then rid of Eggman. The team then said goodbye to Buster when Sticks released him due to his dangerous nature.

While Team Sonic was in the village as it was bombarded by meteors, Sticks saved them all with her own defense system. Shortly after, Knuckles and the others heard from Sticks that she had been nominated for an Awardy Award, but refused to go to its associated gala because she would embarrass herself. Knuckles therefore helped Sticks train to become a proper lady. At the gala, Knuckles made friends with Admiral Beaverton and his cohort, where he learned Eggman was a nominee for the award (by cheating). When Eggman did not get the award and retaliated, Knuckles tried fighting the doctor's robots, but was caught. However, Knuckles was freed by Sticks and then saved from a hit by his new friends while his team beat Eggman and saved the gala.

When preparing Amy's decorative lunch, Knuckles played around with the food against Amy's wishes, making her feel unappreciated. No sooner, Eggman showed up to hire Amy to redecorate his lair for Modern Lair Magazine which Amy accepted to Knuckles' shock. Later, Knuckles and the team began to miss Amy, so they went to Eggman's lair to check on her, where Eggman claimed Amy had chosen to stay. Refusing to believe this, Knuckles and the team broke into the lair and freed Amy from imprisonment and make peace with her. Team Sonic then trashed Eggman's lair and his badniks on their way out, which cost Eggman his place in Modern Lair Magazine.

When visiting Sonic's Shack, Knuckles found a batch of cookies and ate one. However, it was actually Evil Cookies made by Eggman which turned Knuckles into a clone of the doctor. Now evil, Knuckles regrouped with Tails, Amy and Sticks (who had also eaten the evil cookies) under Eggman's tutelage to plan Sonic's destruction. When Sonic came to save them, Knuckles and the others cornered him, but then began fighting over who deserved the honor for capturing Sonic. During the fight, Knuckles and the rest were restored to normal by Sonic and Eggman (who Sonic turned good with a cookie containing his DNA). The good Eggman thought they would now work together, but Team Sonic did not like the idea and turned the doctor back to normal.

A while later, Knuckles and Sonic were attacked by Eggman's badniks, but they defeated them. One day later, they met Orbot and Cubot who asked for Eggman's whereabouts. Knuckles was more caught up in his personal recollection of their encounter with Eggman though, so Sonic explained where Eggman went. During a game of coconut hurl with Sonic, Eggman came by to attack Knuckles and his team with Cowbot, a robot they could not destroy without creating a massive explosion. Knuckles and the team therefore disabled Cowbot while Tails reprogrammed it, which caused Cowbot to target Eggman at his lair. Not liking that Eggman could get killed, Knuckles and the others made Sonic go warn him.

While Knuckles and his team fought Eggman's Octopus Bot, Tails endangered them with a rockslide caused by his untested Unbolterizer. Once Eggman fled in defeat, Knuckles scolded Tails, which made the fox leave the team until he had fixed his invention. Not long after, Team Sonic met T.W. Barker and his traveling circus who needed substitute performers, which they volunteered for. The team put up a great show, though afterwards, Barker revealed that he planned to keep them as his performers and imprisoned them. Fortunately, Knuckles and his friends were saved by Tails, and after taking care of Barker, Knuckles congratulated Tails for his work.

For a week, Knuckles competed against Sonic many times and lost, which Knuckles blamed on his luck, the final straw being in Gopher Ball. As Knuckles told Amy and Sticks this, Sticks convinced him the luck balance of the universe had tipped against him. Knuckles thus began inflicting brutal misfortunes on himself to use up his bad luck until Sonic made him have a rematch with him, which was spoiled due to Eggman starting an invasion of the island. Knuckles tried helping his team stop Eggman, but his bad luck and Eggman's current good luck ruined their chances. Fed up with Sonic, Knuckles tried joining Eggman upon Sonic's suggestion, but his luck made Eggman's Mega destroy itself and Eggman fled. Knuckles was then welcomed back by his team who explained they made him join Eggman so their luck streaks would cancel each other out. As they went home, Knuckles discovered his bad luck had been passed onto Tails.

During the night, Team Sonic found a meteor crashing nearby which briefly knocked Sonic and Eggman out when they tried to take it. Knuckles carried on with his team until Eggman came and claimed he was Sonic, having switched brains with Eggman. Knuckles did not believe it and drove Eggman off, but he soon returned with his army. While fighting however, Knuckles and the rest met Tails who verified that the meteor had switched Sonic and Eggman's minds, and they soon restored them to their old bodies. After a battle with Scorpion-bot, Knuckles and his team saw that Eggman was descending into a slump. As Eggman later lost all motivation, Knuckles was driven crazy by Sonic who grew restless from the peace. Knuckles and the rest thus tried re-motivating Eggman by getting Sonic to fight him. Though Sonic was not deceived as they hoped, their plan still made Sonic and Eggman resume their conflict. Knuckles later joined his team on the pie festival, excluding Tails who had to plant an orchard, but when they returned, they discovered Tails had left to join the Lightning Bolt Society and that they seeds he had planted turned into mutant flora. Knuckles and Sticks therefore held the plants off while the others got Tails back, who destroyed the plants with a machine he had made.

Having helped Sonic beat Eggman's Moth Bot, Knuckles was later made Sonic's lawyer on a whim when Eggman sued Sonic for needlessly breaking his neck. Regardless, Knuckles only made the trial worse for Sonic, who was poised to lose due to Eggman's machinations. However, Amy revealed Eggman to be uninjured and Knuckles engaged Eggman's last-resort minions. After making Tails take a break from his plane, Knuckles and his team found Eggman selling tomato sauce, but when the sauce proved not to be poisoned as they though, they allowed Eggman to sell to everyone. Weeks later, during which Knuckles dealt with faulty electronics, he and his team saw Eggman reveal on a TV interview that his sauce cans had turned their electronics into robots to conquer them. With Tails handling his weaponized plane, Knuckles and the rest took the fight to Eggman after beating a small army, but were outmatched by Eggman's robots. Fortunately, Tails saved Knuckles and the team by snatching Eggman's controller and shutting the robots down while Eggman mistakenly foiled his plan by revealing it on television.

During a game, Knuckles and his team were attacked by Crab Bots, but because Sonic had begun making a deafening noise when running, they kept him out of the fight. Afterwards, Eggman appeared, claiming the attack was an accident, and offered Sonic help. Though Knuckles did not trust Eggman, Sonic still took his offer and soon returned with new shoes that seemingly prevented the noise. Eggman then attacked with his Giant Robot which Knuckles tried to fight, but it only got stronger the more Sonic ran with his new shoes. Despite Knuckles skepticism, Sonic saved them by overloading the robot with power by running excessively. While Knuckles was having a movie night with his team, Eggman attacked them in his Egg Tank. There, Eggman had a freak accident that created a time loop that made the day endlessly repeat itself. While Knuckles was unaware of it, Eggman was not and enlisted him to contain the loop's reaction with a big container. However, Knuckles kept stalling until the day reset since he had a dentist appointment the next day, but after Sticks pulled his bad tooth out, Knuckles followed the plan through and broke the loop.

While Knuckles was parasailing while towed by Sonic, they accidently awoke a Granifier Giganticus nicknamed Rocky. Failing to stop it, Knuckles regrouped with his team as Rocky rampaged through the Village, where they noticed Rocky was just trying to fall asleep. Once Team Sonic discovered they could make Rocky fall asleep to Sticks' singing, they relocated Rocky after he was blocking a road, only to meet Eggman who wanted to capture Rocky. Though Knuckles and the team drove Eggman off, they noticed Rocky had fled with Sticks. When they failed to find Sticks, Tails' Disasterometer located her and Knuckles helped rescue her, before leading Rocky to Eggman's lair where they made him fall asleep to a recording of Sticks' singing. During a battle with Eggman, Knuckles saw Sonic and Eggman chase each other into Buddy Buddy Temple where they were trapped. While Knuckles wanted to rescue Sonic, he argued with Amy over who should lead the team. After Orbot and Cubot joined them, Knuckles' group fell into the temple as it caved in, where they found Sonic and Eggman, who got them out just in time through an escape route. After (somewhat) making up with Amy, Knuckles left with his team.

When Knuckles visited Meh Burger with his team, they met Orbot and Cubot who had deflected from Eggman to be their friends, something Knuckles avoided. Later, Team Sonic found Orbot and Cubot coming to them with Eggman for help to stop a computer virus named Nominatus who had taken over Eggman's tech to destroy all life forms. In the insuring battle, Knuckles helped keep Eggman's invading robots at bay until Tails, Eggman, Orbot and Cubot stropped Nominatus, and Knuckles' team ended their truce with Eggman. Knuckles later spend time goofing off with Sonic until Sonic had to go return a library book. Soon after, as Sonic was attacked by Eggman's robots, Knuckles came to his rescue with their friends. After getting rid of the robots, Knuckles (somewhat) helped Sonic recover his book and return in time.

When Knuckles met Amy as she was heading to Hidden Meadows, Sonic bet with Sticks that he could teach Knuckles better survival skills than Sticks could teach Amy, which were needed for the trip. With Knuckles in on the bet, the duos agreed to a race to Hidden Meadows, but Knuckles and Sonic neglected their training out of confidence, and when the race began, they soon fell behind. While stumbling through the jungle, Knuckles and Sonic either rejected or failed to notice the girls' help, before later finding them stuck in an abandoned missile silo. With the girls safe there, Knuckles and Sonic took this opportunity to reach the goal, but the girls beat them to it by riding a missile there. As Knuckles got pranked by his friends, they noticed Eggman spying on them with Fly Bot. Knuckles and his friends thus fed Fly Bot false info and lured Eggman into a prank which made Eggman give up technology, including his lair, for its flaws. Soon after, Team Sonic tried to stop an random onslaught of Eggman's robots and missiles on the island which was started by the Lightning Bolt Society, who had taken Eggman's lair. Changing priorities, Knuckles and the team attacked Eggman's lair, where Eggman helped them outsmart the Lightning Bolts and drove them away, while Eggman resumed his old life.

As Knuckles was playing with his friends, Amy told them she was starting "Chez Amy", a restaurant meant to give better service than the sloppy Meh Burger. Knuckles and friends helped Amy for a while as her stuff, but left once Amy got obsessed with her rivalry with Dave the Intern at Meh Burger. Regardless, Knuckles' team answered Amy's call for help when Chez Amy got attacked by badniks. However, Team Sonic could not save Chez Amy and they returned to being customers at Meh Burger after rebuilding it from an Eggman attack. While Knuckles was out with his team, they met Swifty the Shrew, whom impressed Knuckles and the Village with his skills. When Team Sonic later saw Shifty challenging Sonic to a race where the loser would be banished for the Village, Knuckles did not entirely despise Shifty's attitude, but still rooted for Sonic at the race, which the hedgehog lost. However, Sonic was quickly unbanished after Eggman came and revealed he and his Swifty robots had orchestrated it all, and Knuckles helped the villagers topple Eggman's dominion while Sonic defeated Eggman.

Knuckles soon found himself bothered by traps from Sticks, who tried protecting her team from the "curse of the cross eyed moose". Dismayed at this, Team Sonic followed Sticks to a marmoset named Monkey-Boy to break the curse. The marmoset gave Team Sonic tiresome chores to complete to prove their worthiness, but amidst this, they found Eggman attacking Monkey-Boy. Striking a deal, Team Sonic got rid of Eggman and Monkey-Boy broke their curse in return. While heading home, Knuckles kept Sticks from assuming another curse had befallen them.

After helping prepare the Chili Dog Cook-Off, which Knuckles had signed up for, Knuckles showed his team a special pepper he had brought to win with, only to learn it was a phony. Finding and trying a new pepper, Knuckles' efforts were wasted by Eggman's Facepeeler Maximus and so set out to find the sentient Lost Pepper of Claggerhorn. When he found it, he learned the Lost Pepper and his people had lost their ancestral home of Claggerhorn and agreed to help them reclaim it when hearing he was their prophesied oaf. As they attacked the villagers though, Knuckles refused to fight his friends and intervened, which lead to a solution where the parties could co-exist and benefit from it. However, Knuckles realized it was all a dream when he was awoken by his team after fainting from trying the pepper he found earlier.

After foiling Eggman's plans with his Spider Bombs, Knuckles helped his team with Sticks' yard sale which Amy had forced upon her. During this event, where Knuckles had to hear Tails' techno-talk, Knuckles found Sticks' Burrow overrun by evil Froglodites which Amy had set free by removing the blockade of their caves in the burrow. When the frogs took Sticks into their caves, Team Sonic went in and rescued her, where Knuckles used Sticks' junk against the frog hordes. Escaping the caves, the team sealed the Froglodites up once again. Coming to Mayor Fink for a law proposal, Knuckles agreed to fill in his job of approving bylaws for the day in exchange for getting his law approved. However, Knuckles began approving any permit the villagers had which cast the Village into chaos and brought him at odds with his team and Eggman. When Team Sonic and Eggman came to stop him, Knuckles tried giving himself ultimate authority, only for his approval stamp to run out of ink which Eggman seized to control the village. Knuckles thus helped destroy the stamp and apologies for the mess as Mayor Fink returned.

When Eggman shot a movie with Sonic in it, Knuckles was made Sonic's stuntman where he endured severe injuries from Eggman's robots. When Knuckles came to the movie premiere however, it was revealed the movie was intended to enslave the audience with hypnotism. However, it failed due to an error on Eggman's part and everyone could leave. When Knuckles had to see a movie with Mike the Ox rather than stopping an Eggman attack, Sonic came to pick him up, during which he upset everyone, including Knuckles, when he said Mike could not join them as he was "just a guy." Much to his dismay, Knuckles' team was soon after dragged into Amy's sensitivity seminar alongside Sonic when the hedgehog tried to restore his image. However, when Sonic got Mike injured by letting him join Team Sonic's fights and worsened his image, Knuckles joined the seminar for a camping trip whereas Sonic walked out on them and retired. When Knuckles' group returned though, Sonic was back in business and had regained the Village's admiration.

Another time, Knuckles found a wiser version of him at his team's barbeque, whom they found out was from a Mirror Dimension. While Knuckles was amazed by his counterpart, his opinion changed when he disobeyed them to get what they needed to get him home from Eggman. Soon after, Knuckles began weakening and flickering out of existence as a result of two of him being in the same dimension which would eventually destroy them all. However, Team Sonic got the alternate Knuckles back, along with the needed tech, and Knuckles assisted in his return home, avoiding catastrophe. When Knuckles was later enjoying some unintentional commodities provided by Dave the Intern, he and his team had to stop Dave from hurting himself and others in Octopus Bot after he imprisoned Eggman and took control of his forces. Knuckles thus helped keep everyone safe until Sonic returned with Eggman and stopped Octopus Bot.

On New Year's Eve, Team Sonic set up the Village festival while taking care of Eggman's attack with his Ball Bots. While Knuckles kept mixing up New Year with other crazy holidays, he joined the Village in celebrating it, unaware that Eggman had arrived in the meantime and used his Slow Motion Machine to slow down time long enough for him to beat Sonic in something before new year. However, Knuckles did not believe Eggman after he restored time, as it happened too fast for him to notice.

The Big Boom
On the beach, Knuckles came with Tails and Amy to help Sonic fight Dr. Eggman in his Big Boy. After beating the mech and making Eggman retreat, Sticks came and told Tails' house had been robbed. When the gang got to the site however, they saw the whole house was gone: what Sticks meant was that the house had been stolen by what she described as a "cyborg rock golem", created by Eggman. Though Knuckles had trouble following it, Sticks seemingly caught the scent of the robot. Though it turned out she was only smelling the grass, the group still found the Rock-cyborg by following its footprints. As they set up an ambush for the robot, Knuckles had trouble following the plan which made Amy insult him. Though angry at that, Knuckles helped Amy, Tails and Sticks make the Rock-cyborg fall, allowing Sonic to destroy it and bring Tails' house back on its foundation.

Tired of being ragged on, Knuckles wanted to prove his smarts by faking an alliance with Eggman and then strike, so he went to Dr. Eggman's lair and joined him. When Eggman later attacked the island in his Big Boy again, Knuckles assisted the doctor in fighting and capturing his team, where he claimed he switched sides because of Amy's criticism. In the Big Boy's cargo, Knuckles revealed his plan to his team, but Amy pointed out that he had let Eggman win this way. Knuckles moped over his blunder until Tails and Amy restored his confidence. Knuckles then faced Eggman, got rid of Orbot and Cubot, and made Eggman retreat by destroying the mech. As his team's escaped the Big Boy, Knuckles accepted Amy's apology. After he got rid of Orbot and Cubot again however, Knuckles noticed Amy panicking over losing her piko hammer. At Amy's House, Knuckles tried miserably to calm Amy down, and on Sticks' orders, he, Sonic and Tails began looking for the piko hammer. When he could not find it, Knuckles returned, but got injured by Amy en she tried out new weapons. Fortunately, Sonic returned with the piko hammer and Knuckles could go home for the night.

For a showdown with the Big Boy, Team Sonic agreed to a battle with Eggman, only for Knuckles, Sonic, Tails and Amy to forget about it. Later, Eggman, Orbot and Cubot surprised them in the Big Boy, and though Team Sonic counterattacked, the upgraded Big Boy proved too much for them. Coming to their aid was Sticks, who claimed she had found an all-powerful weapon: the Rock of Justice. Exasperated, Knuckles did not believe a rock was such a weapon and continued the fight. However, Sticks saved them with the Rock of Justice by throwing it at the Big Boy, causing it to ricochet into the mech and destroy it. After scaring Eggman and his lackeys away, Knuckles admired the Rock of Justice, only to hear that its power had been used up, and he saluted the inert weapon.

Boom Shaka-laka
When Dr. Eggman attacked Sonic, Knuckles and his team helped defeat Eggman's minions. Though Eggman got away, he soon returned when the team was at Meh Burger to request their aid in operating his rides at the Eggtoberfest, which Eggman hoped to gain the villagers' trust with. Agreeing to it, though to keep an eye of things, Knuckles and his friends soon found Eggman's army attacking the villagers. Swiftly, Knuckles and his friends destroyed the army and was hailed by the villagers.

Not long after, Knuckles saved Sonic again from Courier Robot' assault with his team. Just then, the robot became a video phone which Eggman used to challenge Team Sonic to a fair race in the Go-kart Pan-island Grand Prix. While Knuckles and the team accepted it when Sonic agreed to it, Sticks refused, believing it was a trap. The next day at the Grand Prix, with go-karts provided by Eggman, Knuckles and his team took the lead as the competition started. While racing, Knuckles tried talking with fellow racer Bomb Driver, unaware he was being scanned, but only got the cold shoulder. Enraged, Knuckles punched Bomber Driver, making it detonate and blow him into a body of water. After recovering, Knuckles arrived with Tails and Amy to save Sonic when he fell into a ravine due of Eggman. To Knuckles surprise though, Sonic asked them to wait going after Eggman as he wanted to prove he could beat Eggman fairly in his own race, and Knuckles threw Sonic back on the road with his go-kart. Afterwards, Knuckles and his friends showed up in Tails' Plane to distract Eggman when he kept Sonic from reaching the finish line with his Spider-Kart. Having ensured Sonic won the race, Knuckles joined the entirety of his team in making Eggman retreat by destroying his Spider-Kart, and Knuckles received a heartfelt thanks from Sonic, unaware of where Sticks had gone to.

Personality
Knuckles is described as a "punch-first-and-keep-punching-until-you-need-a-punch-break" kind of echidna, and the best solution to a problem for him is to smash it to pieces. He is determined and strong of character, but tends to be rather cocky and get into trouble. Knuckles also has a huge ego: he clearly think that he is his team's leader and most capable member, and fancies himself very heroic, the latter of which is not entirely without reason though he can exaggerate his own recollection of his accomplishments.

Knuckles is the opposite of Sonic: he is stubborn, likes to take his time and very naive. He is also far from intelligent, admitting himself that he is "as dumb as a rock," and is a little slow on the uptake, particularly when it comes to elaborate plans and math problems as even simplified explanations takes him a long time to process. He is also a bit goofy at times and easily distracted to the point where he is drawn to things as simple as shiny objects. Despite his tough personality though, Knuckles is a softy on the inside with some noticeable preferences in particular: he loves nature and is very loyal to his friends.

Knuckles comes off as a little sensitive about his intelligence. While he accepts he is not the smartest, he takes great offense when being called stupid and will go to extreme lengths to prove otherwise. Also, when Knuckles got his team into trouble with a half-baked plan, he sunk into a depression of self-berating over his imposed stupidity (even crying about it) until his friends restored his confidence.

Powers and abilities
Described as the "muscle of the team", Knuckles possesses super strength that lets him destroy virtually anything; according to Sticks the Badger, he possesses even greater strength than that of his Prime Zone counterpart. He can create large and powerful shockwaves by just punching the ground, tear apart tri-polymer alloy and even swing the colossal arm of the Big Boy mech around without effort. Using the spikes on his hands, Knuckles is as well able to dig through the ground and climb onto walls.

Knuckles is incredibly tough and has immense durability that lets him endure extreme and painful physical punishment. He only got a bump from hitting a falling boulder with his head, got right back up after jumping into a deep rock ravine and survived getting hit by a falling meteor, all while enduring strenuous injuries such as a punctured lung.

After eating an Evil Cookie infused with Eggman's DNA, Knuckles briefly gained average-level intelligence. However, it dropped back to his normal level after being cured.

Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog is one of Knuckles' teammates and closest companions, despite them being complete opposites. He considers Sonic his friend, though the two of them are always disagreeing. Knuckles in particular holds some hidden animosity for Sonic, considering him scrawny, weak and pathetic and is downright sicken by looking at him. He holds the impression that he is the better of the two of them, often thinking of Sonic as his sidekick, and that he is always bailing him out of jams. When Sonic occasionally does something he does not approve of, Knuckles says "not cool, Sonic."

While Knuckles is irritated by Sonic's snarky comments, they share a mutual bond of respect and actually want to be buddies deep down, but both of them are too stubborn to admit it. During their mission to stop Lyric, Knuckles was quick to blame Sonic for Lyric's release but was proud of his growth during the venture. Also, when it was thought Sonic would fall to his death, Knuckles refused to give up on him. When relaxed, they behave quite friendly towards each other and even goof off together.

Between them, Knuckles has a friendly rivalry going on with Sonic and he cannot help competing with him in all sorts of activities which Knuckles always takes seriously in contrast to Sonic's coolness. Knuckles utterly resents losing to Sonic in anything, which he often does, and will rather blame it on luck than admitting Sonic is more skilled than him.

Amy Rose
Amy Rose is one of Knuckles' friends and teammates, though their relationship is sometimes strenuous. They are essentially opposites in how they deal with threats, with Knuckles facing trouble head-on without a plan while Amy thinks strategically ahead. Also, when Sonic is out of the picture they argue over who should be in charge, which Knuckles defiantly notes by telling her that he does not take orders from her. At the same time, Knuckles tends to test Amy's patience with his dim-wittedness which creates tension between them as Knuckles does not take kindly to how she criticizes him. At the end of the day though, they are loyal teammates who have each others' back and always make peace with each other.

Sticks the Badger
Sticks the Badger is another of Knuckles' friends and teammates. While Knuckles behaves friendly and supportive towards Sticks, he honestly thinks she is a whack-job.

Friends/allies

 * Team Sonic
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Amy Rose
 * Sticks the Badger
 * Cliff
 * Q-N-C
 * Perci
 * MAIA
 * Admiral Beaverton
 * Mike the Ox

Rivals

 * Sonic the Hedgehog

Enemies

 * Dr. Eggman
 * Orbot
 * Cubot
 * Badniks
 * Metal Sonic
 * Lyric the Last Ancient
 * T.W. Barker
 * Lightning Bolt Society
 * Dave the Intern
 * Willy Walrus
 * Weasel Bandit
 * Tree Spy
 * Nominatus
 * Froglodites

Trivia

 * According to Bill Freiberger, Knuckles is the only member of his team who does not have a permanent residence. Instead, he is a wanderer who lives in nature.
 * Knuckles is illiterate, even though he owns reading glasses.
 * Knuckles learned how to ride a bike, wrap his sports tape and count from Tails.
 * Knuckles can play the piano.
 * In Sonic Boom #2, Knuckles is shown gliding through midair despite being established as incapable of this skill. According to Evan Stanley, this was because the comic staff was not told by Sega about Knuckles' inability to glide when that issue was written.
 * Knuckles and Sonic's relationship is similar to Ratchet and Qwark's relationship in the Ratchet and Clank series as how Knuckles and Qwark want Sonic and Ratchet to be their sidekick, while they want to be the hero.
 * It is implied that Knuckles is allergic to fish saliva.