Blaze the Cat

Blaze the Cat (ブレイズ ・ザ ・キャット) is a character in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, created by Sonic Team and owned by Sega. She made her debut in the Nintendo DS video game, Sonic Rush.

She is a princess and the defender of the Sol Emeralds, a role similar to that held by Knuckles. Blaze is sometimes referred to as a queen; She is called "Queen Blaze the Cat" on the official Sega of America Sonic mini site, Sonic Central, as well as the Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) game website. However, in Japanese, her title is 皇女 kōjo, which translates as "imperial princess," (she is also called princess in Sonic Rush Adventure).

Her coat that she wears covers the part of her body that is engulfed by flames (though in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, this is somewhat inconsistent, as her bare stomach is shown through her sports outfit, with no visible flames). She wears gloves similar to those worn by Sonic, only with fuzzy lining on the cuffs. Her shoes have the same motif as Sonic's, but they also have fuzzy lining and are high-heeled. She also wears a purple coat, lined at the neck with gold (possibly a necklace) and at the bottom with red, and a pair of white tights. She has a ponytail, and a jewel-like red orb is present on her forehead.

In the English version of the games, Blaze is voiced by Bella Hudson (However, many believe that she is voiced by Rachael Lillis, better known as Misty from Pokémon, much like how many mistook Black Doom's voice for Frank Welker's). In the Japanese version, she is voiced by Nao Takamori.

Sonic Rush
Blaze's dimension and Sonic the Hedgehog's are in flux with each other, allowing the characters to travel from one to the other through a tear in the space-time continuum. Blaze is the only playable character in Sonic Rush aside from Sonic himself.

Throughout the game, she learns the meaning of friendship from Sonic & friends, especially Cream the Rabbit. Cream opens her up to the world and teaches her the value of friendship: the two become close partners like Sonic and Miles "Tails" Prower.

It is through the power of friendship that she realizes the true powers of the Sol Emeralds and transforms into her super form (Blaze's costume goes red, her wrists/gloves turn to flames, and a fire force-field develops around her as a product of the Sol Emeralds rather than the lighter color and force field of Chaos energy usually used with the Chaos Emeralds) to help Super Sonic stop Dr. Eggman and Eggman Nega from taking over the universe. (This is much like how in Sonic Adventure the heroes use positive emotions to charge the drained chaos emeralds to fight Chaos.) After the two defeat them, they promise to see each other again and say their goodbyes as they shake hands, being torn apart by their respective timezones being returned to normal. Blaze, still in super form, now understands her power and the meaning of friendship as she thinks on Sonic's words of advice.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2006
Blaze appears in the 15th Anniversary of Sonic the Hedgehog. In this game, she hails from the future. In the future, she constantly fights Iblis, along with the new character, her life-long friend Silver the Hedgehog. As a pyrokinetic in a world of psychokinetics, she was constantly teased and shunned by other children, with Silver being the only one who accepted her for who she was.

Blaze the Cat follows Silver throughout the game, who shows signs of insecurity when she is not around. She seems to talk to Silver more than anyone else. At the end of Silver's story, Silver tries to seal Iblis inside of his soul, but the Flames of Disaster won't accept him as the vessel. Blaze ends up sealing Iblis inside her soul, and begs Silver to use Chaos Control to seal them into another dimension. Silver refuses to because he says he could never do that to her, and that he doesn't know what he would do without her. Blaze smiles and says, "You're still so naïve. But, I...I've always liked that about you..." as she disappears and floats towards the sky. She then says, "Good luck, Silver." and drifts away. Later, Sonic and the others destroy Solaris in past, present, and future, which erases the events of the game from history, meaning Blaze still exists.

It seems that Sonic Rush takes place in an alternate reality from Sonic the Hedgehog, as Blaze doesn't seem to remember Sonic at all, though she did react with mild surprise when Mephiles mentioned a blue hedgehog.

Sonic Rivals
Blaze appears in Sonic Rivals only as one of the game's collectible cards.

Sonic and the Secret Rings
Blaze is a playable character in the game's party mode. She's unlocked when the player collects 105 Fire Souls in the adventure mode. However, she has no relation to the main story.

Sonic Rush Adventure
Blaze returns in Sonic Rush Adventure once again as the only playable character apart from Sonic. She appears to stop Captain Whiskers, a robotic pirate, from stealing the mystical Jeweled Scepter, which is acclaimed to have the power of the stars. Blaze bumps into Sonic, both of them surprised and slightly excited to see each other. It is revealed that Sonic has entered Blaze's dimension. In the end, after Super Sonic and Burning Blaze defeat Eggman and Eggman Nega, Tails creates a way for he and Sonic to return to their universe. Before Sonic's departure, he and Blaze shake hands once again, to signify respect and their growing friendship. Blaze also comforts Marine, who is also saddened about the heroes departure.

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games
Blaze is a well-balanced playable character. Her outfit is not her "princess clothes", instead she wears sports clothing. Blaze is an "All-Around" character who excels in Speed.

Sonic and the Black Knight
In the latest Nintendo News, it is confirmed that Blaze (along with Shadow and Knuckles) will appear and is one the knights of the round table. However, it is unknown if she is playable but it is highly likely that she will be playable since Knuckles and Shadow are playable.

Personality
Although Blaze is somewhat shy and withdrawn when meeting strangers, she doesn't let this prevent her from fulfilling her mission. Her lifestyle is incredibly similar to Knuckles', meaning Blaze is as anti-social and as shy as he is, and often finds it hard to open up and talk to people. She hates having the spotlight on her, preferring to take a backseat. She also hates anyone who even looks at her emeralds in the wrong way. Throughout the course of Sonic Rush, she develops a more friendly and gentle personality.

In Sonic Rush Adventure, she is shown to be very honest, almost blunt, when dealing with Marine the Raccoon and her antics. It is also revealed in Sonic Rush that she is afraid of heights.

Abilities/Disabilities

 * Blaze has super speed, but is not as fast as Sonic, easily seen in multiplayer mode, in which the two players race to the end of an act. Blaze relies more on her power to reach higher places to win.
 * While in her super form, she can generate fireballs with her pyrokinesis, which she is able to throw.
 * Blaze turns into a tornado when jumping, similar to Espio in Knuckles Chaotix, and doesn't keep speed or go faster.
 * Blaze can raise fire from the ground (as seen in the Blaze v.s Sonic battle in Sonic Rush)and toast her opponent because the fire rises form where the stand (or walk).

Weakness

 * Blaze, even though she may have learned the importance of friendship, is still antisocial and timid to a fault.
 * She is scared of heights.

Interactions With Other Characters
Although she is somewhat shy and quiet, Blaze has managed to make some very worthwhile friends in her ventures around her.

Friends
Cream the Rabbit - As Blaze was traveling alone, after defeating Dr. Eggman, Cream had surprised her by hiding. Blaze was a little hostile, but Cream instead walks up towards her and invites her to her house, along with her mother, Vanilla the Rabbit. Blaze thought this to be calmingly eerie about the way they would treat a stranger. Cream then agrees to show Blaze around, making their adventure. As they travel, Blaze soon feels a bond, seeing Cream as a little sister. Even when Blaze left to her own dimension, they had hinted on missing each others' company.

Sonic the Hedgehog - Blaze was told by many people to team up with Sonic for her quest. She refused and thought Sonic the Hedgehog to be a liability to her mission. As they met up, she still feels the same. Later, she forces herself into combat against Sonic the Hedgehog. As they battle, Blaze uses her powers to destroy Sonic to get to Eggman, but she ultimately fails as Sonic blasts her with his speed, she later learns to trust people. But in Blazes version she beats Sonic and then she realizes Sonic is not her enemy and they become friends. Later, when Dr. Eggman and Eggman Nega team up, Sonic and Blaze team up. Although she loses faith in herself, Sonic cheers her up, and the two transform into Super Sonic and Burning Blaze. After the fight, they give each other their last good-byes, but Sonic promises to see her again. They do so, but Sonic ends up in her dimension, along with Tails. She and the two work together to stop the doctors plans. After defeating the doctors in Deep Core, Sonic and Blaze say their good byes as Sonic and Blaze shook hands again before Sonic and Tails return to their own dimension. Due to both endings of the Sonic Rush series, there is an "possible" theory that Blaze likes Sonic alot .

Knuckles the Echidna - Knuckles and Blaze meet after an embarrassing moment involving Cream. Although they didn't interact much, they somewhere managed to spark a rivalry with each other. Though they hadn't really seen each other much.

Amy Rose - Blaze and Amy don't say much about each other, they get along easily and help each other when needed, as she helped Blaze escape from Knuckles the Echidna and his fury.

Silver the Hedgehog - Silver and Blaze are life-long friends in the future. The two have been battling the evil Iblis together, and searched for the Iblis trigger together. As they travel through the present, they both make it a priority to find the Iblis Trigger. As she supported Silver, even when she wasn't there, she eventually sacrificed her own life by sealing Iblis inside her instead of Silver. As Sonic, Silver, and even Shadow team up and defeat Solaris, they reverse time, and Blaze's sacrifice never happened. However, because of the altered future, it's unknown whether Blaze and Silver still even know each other. Because the events of the game never happened, it's possible that this caused the two to never meet each other. Strong evidence for this exists in Sonic Rush Adventure, and the two Sonic Rivals games, in which neither of them mention each other in either game.

Miles "Tails" Prower - Blaze first met Tails with Sonic when they were searching for her. They both don't see each other much, but when after the fight between Sonic and her was finished, Tails tried to convince Blaze to stop fighting and to believe in Sonic so she can rest. She was going to take that into consideration and thanked him for it, but she insisted in fighting Dr. Eggman herself.

Marine the Raccoon- The two have been allies in Sonic Rush Adventure.

Shadow The Hedgehog- The two of them have been allies sometimes.

Enemies
Eggman Nega- Is Blaze's most evil foe and rival. Blaze hated Eggman Nega from ruining her life by threating her kingdom and people, taking her Jeweled Scepter and Sol Emeralds, and her friends. Blaze is quick to anger whenever Eggman Nega says and does whatever that is evil to Blaze such as what Nega said in Sonic Rush Adventure "It will only take the fraction of this power to wipe your kingdom off your charts!" Since Eggman Nega has appeared in the Sonic Rivals series and Blaze hasn't, it is unknown if she knows any of Eggman Nega's doings during these games and is unaware of his "future" info.

Captain Whisker- Blaze appears to be easily annoyed and mad by Captain Whisker due to the fact that Whisker took her Jeweled Scepter and is wasting her time.

Dr. Eggman- Like Eggman Nega, Blaze has a strong grudge against Eggman but not that much since Dr. Eggman isn't that much insane and evil. She hates the idea of Eggman building "EggmanLand" in either hers' or Sonic's dimensions.

Super transformation
Using the Sol Emeralds, Blaze can turn herself into Burning Blaze. During the transformation Blaze's lavender fur becomes pink, the violet on the tips of her hair are erased, the tip of her tail turns red. Blaze's fuzzy cuffs on her wrists and ankles turn magenta, her outfit turns red and the lining turns red. Unlike most characters, Blaze's eyes don't change color.

Friends/Allies Enemies/Rivals
 * Cream the Rabbit
 * Sonic the Hedgehog (Love)
 * Miles "Tails" Prower(Love)
 * Amy Rose
 * Silver the Hedgehog
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Marine the Raccoon
 * Shadow The Hedgehog
 * Eggman Nega
 * Dr. Eggman
 * Sonic the Hedgehog (not anymore)
 * Knuckles the Echidna (formerly)
 * Mephiles
 * Sally Acorn
 * Princess Daisy

Trivia

 * In the English version of Sonic Rush, Blaze is voiced by Bella Hudson. Bella Hudson was mistakenly referred as Berra Hudson when credited as Blaze in Sonic Rush, due to 'L' sounds in Japanese are replaced with 'R' when writing names.
 * Blaze is the only female character in all portrayals of Sonic the Hedgehog to have a super form.
 * While Sonic usually runs with fast paced, quick steps, Blaze seems to run with long strides, not unlike Shadow while using his Air Shoes. She also turns herself into a tornado when dashing, as opposed to Sonic's Spin Dash.
 * She appears in the Archie Comics adaption of Sonic Rush in issues 160-161.
 * Despite her age, she has a noticeably less curvy body than other females of the series.
 * Whilst fighting Sonic in Sonic Rush, Blaze says: "Because of my powers, I have always been alone". However, this is only true to Sonic Rush's version of the character; for the future version of Blaze that appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), Silver is her life-long friend.
 * Strangely at the end of Silver`s story in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) when Blaze uses the green & yellow emeralds she gotten an hot pink aura in the shape of a orb & her cuffs turned red as if she were in her super form.
 * Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) marks the only time Blaze used The Chaos Emeralds & Chaos Control.
 * Blaze is the first character with a "super" form that doesn't require Chaos energy.