Avatar


 * For the Avatar used to represent users in Xbox Live, see Xbox Live Avatar.

The Avatar (アバター), also referred to as the Custom Hero (カスタムヒーロー) and the Custom Character (カスタムキャラクター), is one of the protagonists set to appear in Sonic Forces. The Avatar is the third playable character in Sonic Forces, who can be customized by the player.

The Avatar will be featured in the story of Sonic Forces and will be "a crucial element in helping Sonic reclaim the world from Eggman’s domination."

Concept and creation
According to Takashi Iizuka, the idea for the Avatar came about to make a character with a unique gameplay experience to differentiate them from other characters in the Sonic series. While a lot of fans wanted more gameplay variety too, however, they still wanted to play as Sonic, so the designers gave this character (which would become the Avatar) the Wispon to give it a unique gameplay style, and movements with emphasis on high-speed running and jumping that made it feel similar to Sonic. The idea for the Avatar to be a customizable character first began over twenty years ago when Iizuka took notice of all the Sonic-type characters the fans (especially Americans) were creating and sending him via fan-mail. Iizuka wanted to let people do that to some extent, but it was only until Sonic Forces that Sonic Team acquired the skills, people, and technology to make this possible in a Sonic game.

In the opinion of Iizuka, some the hardest things when designing the Avatar were "realizing what kind of characters [they] want to portray in the world." Because the Sonic series already had a lot of animals, the team needed to stay true to that representation, yet make the Avatar unique enough to stand out on their own without alienating them from the existing Sonic cast. The team wanted in particular for the Avatars to have a "plainer" and "unified" look, yet be identifiable with their distinct species and still feel like different, appealing, unique characters, all while looking cool with their customizable accessories. Another rule was that the Avatar could not look cooler than Sonic. The Avatar was originally intended to have an option for their species to be a Dragon, however the option was cancelled.

Appearance
As a custom character, the Avatar's appearance is entirely dictated by the player. While an anthropomorphic animal by default, their species can be one of seven options: bear, bird, cat, dog, hedgehog, rabbit, or wolf. So far, the following can also be customized: upper headgear, middle headgear, lower headgear, gloves, shoes, accessories, bodysuit, and skin color. A multitude of options is given for the player to customize the Avatar in any fashion.

In most promotional material, the Avatar is depicted as a male wolf with red fur and peach skin for his muzzle and the inner portion of his ears. He has four small tufts of fur protruding from both sides at the back of his head, a short bushy tail, pointed ears that curve upwards, orange eyes and pointed fangs. For attire, he wears thick-rimmed black glasses, a military green dome-shaped headset with a black rim and a small black circular-shaped microphone attached to right side of his head. He also wears a three-pouched tan utility belt around his waist, supported by a strap with a black buckle over the abdomen. On his hands, he wears military green gloves with medium-sized cuffs, a black inverted chevron on the front and tan patches on the back. His boots are military green with black tips and tan padded patches on the back. Much like his gloves, the boots are adorned with a black inverted chevron on the front.

History
The Avatar was originally an ordinary citizen of Sonic's world. When the Eggman Empire's army attacked however, the Avatar wound up among the district of people who survived the onslaught. After that, the Avatar joined the Resistance. A newcomer to the cause, they received the nickname "rookie", but managed nonetheless to accomplished a lot of duties. They eventually met Sonic too, and decided to fight alongside him to get the world back after 99% of it had fallen under Dr. Eggman's rule.

Personality
The Avatar is a heroic individual who cannot stand evil or needless destruction, and is quick to spring into action to stop evildoers.

Powers and abilities
The Avatar is able to run at super speeds, enough to keep up with Sonic the Hedgehog, and has immense jumping skills that rival those of Sonic's too. Extremely acrobatic and agile, they have proficient grappling skills, being able to expertly use grappling gear to latch onto targets and swing around. They are also skillful enough to use grappling to latch onto foes and pull themselves in for an attack, dodge attacks, make sharp turns at high speed, and safely tie up foes as large as a Death Egg Robot sentinel.

Equipment and weapons
The Avatar wears a wrist-mounted grappling hook which can detach its rope at command. This gear's rope is both long and strong enough to tie up three Death Egg Robot sentinels at once. They also carry the Wispon, a customizable gadget that can harness the power of Wisps and channel their respective Color Powers without causing the Avatar to transform.

Allies

 * Sonic the Hedgehog (partner)
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Amy Rose
 * Silver the Hedgehog
 * Chaotix
 * Vector the Crocodile
 * Espio the Chameleon
 * Charmy Bee

Enemies

 * Dr. Eggman
 * Shadow the Hedgehog
 * Metal Sonic
 * Chaos
 * Zavok
 * Infinite

Trivia

 * The Avatar is going to appear in cutscenes and can be heard speaking. In the latter case however, they will only be speaking in grunts.
 * Despite having red fur in most promotional material, the wolf type Avatar has teal covered fur in the box artwork of Sonic Forces.
 * As shown in the TwitchCon 2017 stream, any accessories can be chosen for the Avatar no matter the gender.