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.

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.

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.

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 an incredibly large torso, broad shoulders and thick muscular arms, making him very top-heavy, and possesses as well longer legs and quills.

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 evil plans when they arrived on an new island. There, they find an ancient tomb sealed deep within the island where Knuckles and the crew come across a powerful villain from the Ancients named Lyric, who plans to power his army of war mongering robots with the Chaos Crystals to destroy everything organic and create a world of twisted metal and robots. To stop Lyric, Knuckles and his friends have to work together and find the Chaos Crystals before Lyric. In this game he has the ability to climb wall and dig underground. But he can only use those abilities in areas that have purple dirt or purple rocks. He can also destroy enemies faster as a result of being the strongest in the group.

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. 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 Obliteratorbot to destroy Team Sonic. However, the robot misheard Eggman and instead attacked his lair. Accepting to help Eggman, Knuckles, Amy and Sticks distracted Obliteratorbot 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 guard robot. 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 the guests, where he later learned Eggman was a nominee for the award (due to cheating). When Eggman did not get the award and retaliated, Knuckles tried fighting the doctor's robots with his friends, 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 robots 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 and his robots, 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 unbolteriser. 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 Gofaball. 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.

The Big Boom
On a bright day 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 decided to prove his smarts by faking an alliance with Eggman and then strike, so the next day, 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 Tails' house, Knuckles tried miserably to calm Amy down which only worsen her hysteria. Upon Sticks' orders, Knuckles, Sonic and Tails began looking for the piko hammer. When he could not find it, Knuckles returned, but got injured by Amy in her attempts to try new weapons. Fortunately, Sonic returned with the piko hammer and Knuckles could go home for the night.

For a climatic battle with Dr. Eggman's Big Boy mech, Team Sonic agreed with Eggman to battle on the beach. only for, Knuckles, Sonic, Tails and Amy to forget about it. Hours 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 continue 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.

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 fancies himself very heroic and important 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. Not the brightest of fellows, Knuckles is a little slow on the uptake, particularly when it comes to elaborate plans and math problems, as it takes him a significant time to process even simplified explanations. 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 few soft spots 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 incredible strength that lets him destroy virtually anything. He can smash large rocks with his bare fists, 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 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. At times, he also thinks of Sonic as his sidekick.

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. As such, the two of them compete in all sorts of activities, such as Gofaball, which Knuckles always takes seriously in contrast to Sonic's coolness. Knuckles utterly resents losing to Sonic in anything, which he often does, and would rather blame this 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.

Trivia

 * According to Bill Freiberger, Knuckles the only member of his team who does not have a permanent residence. Instead, he is a wanderer who lives in nature.
 * Knuckles' appearance is similar to those of other super-strong characters in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, such as Bark the Polarbear, Vector the Crocodile, Big the Cat and Storm the Albatross.
 * 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.