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. Blaze is a lavender, female anthropomorphic cat with yellow eyes, white smooth fur muzzle and peach skin inner ears, fur forming into two large side-facing spikes that are tufted twice at their tips, four long tendrils of hair resembling feathers in shape that are tied down and spiked up at the top of her head and are tipped in violet and a long tail tufted at the violet tip that is bent acutely in the middle.

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 referred to as "queen Blaze the Cat" on the official Sega of America Sonic mini site, Sonic Central, as well as the next Sonic the Hedgehog 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 violet coat that she wears covers the part of her body that is engulfed by 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 with durable, silvery soles, white strap accents, and are embraced at the top by dense fuzzy-lined collars. 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 with a red, glossy ring to bound the four tendrils of hair at the top of her head together, and a jewel-like red orb is present on her forehead.

In the English version of the games, Blaze is voiced by Bella Hudson.

Sonic Rush
Blaze's time 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 Ibis, along with the new character, her life-long friend Silver the Hedgehog.

Blaze the Cat seems to follow Silver throughout the game, whereas Silver 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 Ibilis 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 over and over he could never do that to her. He says that he doesn't know what he would do without her. Blaze smiles and says, "You're still so naive. But...I 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 Iblis and Mephiles the Dark as Solaris in past, present, and future, which erases the events of the game from history, meaning Blaze still exists.

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.

Sonic Rush Adventure
Blaze returns in Sonic Rush Adventure as once again the only playable character apart from Sonic. She appears to stop Captain Whiskers, a robotic pirate, from stealing a mystical staff, which is acclaimed to have the power of the stars. Blaze bumps into Sonic once again, both of them surprised and slightly excited to see each other. It is revealed that Sonic has entered Blaze's dimension, rather, it is actually the opposite. 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 sport clothing. Blaze is a balanced individual, who excels in Speed.

Sonic Rush 3
She returns to Sonic to search for Sol Emeralds to save her world, though her role is unknown.

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, this 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 also revealed 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 except in Sonic Rush 3.

Abilities

 * 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 throw.
 * Blaze turns into a tornado when jumping, similar to Espio in Knuckles Chaotix, and doesn't keep speed or go faster.

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 worthwile friends in her ventures around her.

Friends
Cream the Rabbit - As Blaze was traveling alone, after defeating Dr. Eggman, Cream had suprised 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 other's 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. 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.

Knuckles the Echidna - Knuckles and Blaze meet after an embarissing 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, it is possible that they may interact in Sonic Rush 3.

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 Iblis, they reverse time, and Blaze's sacrifice never happened.

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 herself into fighting Dr. Eggman herself.

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.
 * People often mistakenly refer to Blaze as a queen; this is a false statement because she is still a princess.
 * 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.