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Information in this article may not be canonical to the storyline of the games or any other Sonic continuity. |
Sonic the Hedgehog is the titular main protagonist of the Sonic the Hedgehog film series produced by Paramount Pictures and its spin-offs. He is an anthropomorphic alien hedgehog with super speed who hails from Mobius.
After being forced to flee to Earth to escape those seeking his power, Sonic remained in hiding for ten years until he accidentally made his presence known, becoming the target of the sinister Dr. Robotnik. However, thanks to the help of Tom Wachowski, Sonic managed to defeat Dr. Robotnik, and banished him from Earth and establish himself a better life with the Wachowski family.
As time went on, Sonic tried beginning a superhero career with limited success. Regardless, his moment came when Robotnik returned with Knuckles the Echidna, seeking the Master Emerald. Teaming up with his new ally Tails, Sonic embarked on a globetrotting adventure to stop Robotnik, during which he befriended Knuckles. After defeating Robotnik, Sonic forms a new order with Tails and Knuckles to safeguard the Master Emerald from evil.
Concept and design[]
Sonic's original design, from the Sonic the Hedgehog 30 April 2019 trailer
The production crew used Ted, the living teddy bear from the Ted films made by Universal Pictures, as an influence on making a live-action Sonic the Hedgehog and studied different variations of the character to develop the character's final design.[37]
Due to the negative criticism of Sonic's original design, it was eventually decided that Sonic had to undergo a redesign.[38] This redesign was handled by Tyson Hesse.[1] When re-designing Sonic, the team started with Sonic's face. They compared the design shown in the initial trailer with the "Modern Sonic" design and tried to find a compromise between the two. A new rig also had to be created based on the new design and then everything would have to be reanimated using that rig. Although some old animations were able to be salvaged and reused, many had to be animated from scratch.[39] Animator Max Schneider stated that the redesign took around 5 months and was achieved without stressful overtime.[40]
Between the first and second film, Sonic has a notable increase in height. In Sonic the Hedgehog, his height only goes up to Tom's upper thigh, while in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, his height goes up to Tom's torso. According to Tyson Hesse, this was done to make Sonic's, alongside Tails' and Knuckles', height in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 match how his main series counterpart's height is compared to human characters in the games.[41]
By the time of the third film, Sonic's look is relatively unchanged, but appears to be a bit more muscular as his torso appears bigger, and his chest occasionally features a small divot that signifies where his pecs would be.
Appearance[]
Sonic is an anthropomorphic hedgehog with predominantly blue fur. He has small, triangular ears on the top of his head, seven quills that extend from the back of his head, with three on his back and a tail.[42] He also has green eyes, a black nose, and peach fur on his stomach and muzzle, with his muzzle fur extending to the center of his nose ridge. His eyes in particular glow blue whenever he utilizes his chaos energy powers.
In his younger years, Sonic sported a much shorter stature, complete with shorter limbs and quills, more dilated pupils, and a slightly more visible neck. Several months after his first bout with Dr. Robotnik, Sonic had grown considerably larger in size, now almost a head taller than Ozzy sitting on his hind legs.
For attire, Sonic wears a pair of white gloves, a pair of white socks and red Fila Dare sneakers with white straps, white soles and yellow Fila tags. For prior footwear, he wore mismatched shoes that were completely worn out; a left greenish-gray sneaker and a right white trainer with tape around it, and when he was a baby, he wore a pair of basic, small, brown boots.
Personality[]
Sonic playing with his nunchucks, from Sonic the Hedgehog (film)
Sonic is adventurous, lively, fun-loving, and confident. A thrill-seeker; who has a passion for enjoying life, he loves running fast and free, which much of his early childhood was spent doing. But he is also quite reckless and quick to act before thinking. This tends to sometimes make him disobey authority, which has gotten himself and those around him into trouble more than once; such as; when he had used his super speed in the open despite being told by Longclaw the Giant Owl not to do so or; when he went into the Piston Pit; instead of staying in Tom's truck as he was told to.
Sonic usually keeps a laid-back and easygoing demeanor. However, he is still a kid at heart, and is as such very energetic, extremely talkative, and always ready for new exploits. Owning to his lively spirit, Sonic is happy about going on adventures and is always very enthusiastic about trying new things and ready to see new places. Notably, when he thought he was leaving Earth, this attitude was cranked up to eleven, as he wanted to soak up everything on Earth while he still had the time. Because he is so adventurous however, being constrained can often make him impatient and uneasy, which, at one time made him unable to resist the temptation to visit the Piston Pit.
While no stranger to worry, Sonic is usually fearless and cool under pressure when pushed against the wall, although he can be a bit impatient in serious situations. As such, he is ready to talk back to intimidating thugs and would usually banter with Dr. Robotnik during their violent encounters. This confidence in the face of dangers has given Sonic a mischievous sense of humor; he enjoys toying with his opponents, whether it is by verbally teasing or taunting his foes, or by playing pranks or overwhelming them using his super speed. Sonic also tends to give people nicknames, such as calling Tom "Donut Lord", Maddie "Pretzel Lady", and Robotnik "Eggman". He also enjoys making jokes and pretending to be other people.
Possessing a big ego that; stems from Sonic's positive attitude, he always tries to be positive, even when he does not want to be, and thinks he can get out of nearly any problem with his powers. This state of mind gives him a cocky attitude, a high opinion about himself, and prompts him to crack jokes in even the worst of situations. His cockiness also extends to pride in his appearance, as he occasionally brags about how good-looking he thinks he is. However, Sonic's ego is not to be confused with pride or arrogance, as Sonic does not see himself as more important than others. In fact, Sonic is very benevolent and shows a lot of friendliness towards most living things he comes in contact with; after saving a turtle from becoming roadkill, Sonic took for a ride so it could experience being fast for a change, although he accidentally traumatized it in the process. A similar instance happened when he met Ozzy despite being miffed that Ozzy held the position as Tom's best friend. Sonic similarly puts others before himself, refusing to put others in danger because of himself, and will risk his life to save innocent people, friends, or even animals. Even when it comes to his enemies, Sonic is willing to rescue them when they face an otherwise unfortunate fate or injury.[34]
Sonic looking longingly at the Wachowski family, from Sonic the Hedgehog (film)
After living in self-imposed exile on Earth for 10 years, Sonic became extremely lonely and longed to make connections with real friends, with one of the things on his bucket list being to make a real friend. Fortunately, he eventually found a connection in the Wachowski family, and by extension, the inhabitants of Green Hills. Due to his loneliness, Sonic has also developed a habit of talking to himself or inanimate objects when he has no one else to talk to, which is difficult due to his talkative nature, or when he feels alone.[34] Despite his quirks, Sonic is clever and quick-thinking, as shown by him plucking off one of his quills to grab a Ring when it was just out of his reach or taking advantage of Dr. Robotnik's obsessive hatred of him to distract him with taunts. Maddie has also described Sonic as a "smart kid".
Due to Sonic spent much of his life on Earth, he has taken a great interest in Earth's culture, and has picked up many interests and hobbies, such as baseball, playing guitar, watching action movies, keeping tabs on celebrities, and reading comic books. However, Sonic's hobbies, combined with his lack of experience dealing with humans, gives him a slightly unrealistic view of the world and causes him to occasionally act irrationally, such as mimicking the characters in Speed by starting a fight with the people in the Piston Pit. Sonic also has a habit of mimicking heroes from fictional stories, such as comic books and detective movies.
Sonic is highly protective of his powers. After losing Longclaw because others sought his powers, a traumatized Sonic was willing to spend years running away and living in hiding, much to his own frustration and sadness, so that no one would discover him and try to steal his powers. During the climax of his first battle against Robotnik however, upon realizing that he had people on Earth who cared about him, he resolved to use them to protect his friends.
Sonic's new-found devotion to protecting others also opened his eyes to the superhero lifestyle; which he has gained a taste for; due to the excitement it provides. As such, he strives towards becoming a hero in his own right; which is exemplified in the superhero nicknames he comes up for himself. While he sees his heroics as chances to get some thrills in his otherwise peaceful lifestyle, Sonic is nonetheless genuinely motivated by a strong desire to use his powers for good and help people out with them. But his inexperience as a hero prompts him to act rather reckless and rush into chances to prove himself without an actual plan in mind.[34]
But despite Sonic's positive demeanor, however, Sonic possesses something of a vengeful side, which manifests itself when his loved ones are in danger; a prime example being during the climax of the fight for the Master Emerald: after absorbing the Chaos Emeralds and transforming into Super Sonic, rather than quipping or taunting Dr. Robotnik during their fight like he did before, Sonic simply glared at him in unbridled fury and quickly took down his mech with brutal, merciless efficiency before toppling it and supposedly sending the doctor to his demise to ensure he never threatened Sonic, his adoptive family, or the Earth ever again.
Powers and abilities[]
Sonic moving at super speed and appearing to be in several places at once, from Sonic the Hedgehog (film)
Sonic possesses the power to move to incredible speed. Tails has even stated that Sonic is the fastest creature in the galaxy. Due to such speed, he can move fast enough to create blurry afterimages that appear in several places at once to the human eye, run over walls, and during his fight with Dr. Robotnik in Egypt, Sonic can even generate sand tornadoes by running around in circles to disrupt Robotnik's visual contact. He can even reach such speeds that his entire surroundings either freeze or slow down considerably from his perspective; even bullets and missiles appear to come to a near stand-still to him as shown. The magnitude of Sonic's abilities depends on his emotional state, this being shown once during Sonic fight with Knuckles, when Sonic gets angry, and begins traveling at such a high speed that everything else appears slow.[43] Sonic took out the thugs including the punk leader during a bar fight and destroyed Robotnik's drones in Transamerica Pyramid by using this ability. As a side-effect of this ability, Sonic also has a super-fast pulse rate, even while unconscious. Sonic is even capable of thinking and processing information at super speed, being capable of reading through a meter-high stack of The Flash comics in about a second.
As an extraterrestrial, Sonic boasts high durability, having survived a near point-blank explosion caused by one of Robotnik's Badniks without any notable injuries, and taking direct punches from even Knuckles that send him flying through walls while retaining consciousness. Sonic is also quite strong, being able to catch and launch back missiles with equivalent force, effortlessly catch a full-grown human from multiple stories up,[34] being capable to launch a powerful barrages on Robotnik's Eggpod with his powerful spin attack before destroying and sending Robotnik and his damaged hovercraft to a mushroom planet, able to knockout the robber out of a van with one strong kick, and slice through the stairway when overwhelming Knuckles during the fight, and is capable to smash Knuckles by pounding him more further into a rocky damaged stairs four times, and can barely lift an enormous stone pillar with help from Knuckles.
Sonic's core offensive maneuver is a Spin Attack, a technique where he curls into a concussive ball and directs himself at his targets. With it, Sonic can launch a Spin Attack that can shred or burrow through just about any substance given enough speed and hit with enough force to blow apart a section of one of Robotnik's badnik tanks and smash Knuckles deep into solid rock with a single impact. Adept in its usage, Sonic can utilize it for both grounded and aerial maneuvers or just soft landings, and also can use a reeved-up variants of his Spin Attack: the Spin Dash.
His spin attack aside, Sonic is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, having been shown to combat and gain upper hand against Knuckles, who is renowned as the most dangerous warrior in the galaxy, in close combat. However, Sonic's fighting prowess is rather unrefined and crude, as he has undergone no forms of combat training for his entire life. Knuckles has even deemed him unskilled and untrained in the field of combat, but regardless, in close combat, Sonic is extremely self-taught, and highly adept in combat skills as shown in a bar fight, crime-fighting criminals who work for Robotnik and robbers, taking out the drones during in Transamerica Pyramid and defeating Robotnik in his Eggpod vehicle in his first battle, and delivering series of combat attack barrages along with his spin attacks against robots along with his crew, Tails and Knuckles, during his last battle with Robotnik in his Giant Eggman Robot which Knuckles deemed Sonic as a "brave and noble warrior".
Sonic in control of his chaos energy, from Sonic the Hedgehog (film)
Another aspect of Sonic's power is his ability to generate chaos energy. This power is linked to his emotional state. If he feels extreme emotions, Sonic will start generating blue energy that causes his quills and eyes to glow blue and his body to unleash surges of energy akin to lightning bolts and (as seen during his clash with Robotnik in Green Hills) create intense amounts of heat around himself. These energies are so vast that, should Sonic release this energy, he can unleash an electromagnetic pulse that can cover areas as large as the entire Pacific Northwest or reach otherwise inhabited planets across the galaxy. Conversely, should Sonic harness these energies for himself, they seem to amplify his speed, strength, agility, and spin attack, providing the latter with enough power to hit the Eggpod hard enough to send it flying in the opposite direction, break down a bank vault's sealed door,[34] and clash with the similarly charged Knuckles. If Sonic's quills are separated from him, they will retain some of the energy he creates and react to Sonic's emotional state from a distance; the energy output from these quills is astronomical, with even one of them possessing unlimited power. Sonic can also drain this power from his separated quills by literally pulling the energy out of them, although they will eventually regain their power. Initially, Sonic had no control of the energies he could generate, being capable of only summoning them during moments of extreme stress and anger. During his clash with Robotnik in Green Hills, however, Sonic gained complete control over his energy-based power, allowing him to properly harness it.
Sonic also possesses good survival skills, able to survive living alone in the wild on Earth for ten years. Sonic is a capable leader as well, able to inspire others and come up with good battle strategies.
Super Sonic[]
Super Sonic, from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)
By harnessing the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds, Sonic can transform into Super Sonic. Possessing god-like powers in this state, all of Sonic's abilities far surpass his normal ones. He is also able to fly and can turn thoughts into reality, such as conjuring up chili dogs.
Weaknesses[]
While Sonic's super speed is his greatest asset, it can also be his greatest weakness in certain situations; if he can't get good traction when trying to come to a stop, he can risk tumbling out of control. He also had little to no control over his chaos energy powers to begin with, which would result in him creating unintended energy surges at inopportune times, even as powerful as an electromagnetic pulse (EMP). However, he has since overcome this weakness after gaining control over this ability.
While his chaos energy can bolster it by a large factor, Sonic at least initially had very poor upper body strength, as he was unable to break a bottle against a bar patron's head with numerous attempts, and a subsequent, lengthy series of punches against said bar patron did not illicit even a flinching response. However, by the time of fighting Knuckles in the Labyrinth, his strength seems to have improved, allowing him to adequately contend with the echidna.
Suffering from slight aquaphobia, Sonic is incapable of swimming and sinks in deep water, barely able to keep himself buoyant. While he is able to bypass this weakness somewhat by running along the surface of water at high speed, he needs to stay at maximum speed or risk sinking. He also has trouble maintain the speed needed to stay buoyant this way in rough waters.
Sonic is also very cocky at times, and often makes situations worse, like when he started a bar fight when attempting to knock out the Roadhouse Thug with a bottle by mimicking an action movie.
See also[]
Notes[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Could use this move in Sonic Speed Simulator.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Could use this move in Sonic Dash.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Could use this move in Sonic Forces: Speed Battle.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Tyson Hesse on Twitter. Twitter (12 November 2019). Archived from the original on 13 December 2019. "Tyson Hesse: Honored to have been brought in to lead the design on the new Movie Sonic. Working with Jeff and the modelers, riggers, texture/fur artists and animators in LA, London, and Vancouver was a thrill I'll never forget. #SonicMovie"
- ↑ KNUCKLES Bande Annonce VF (2024) Sonic. YouTube. FilmsActu (18 April 2024). Retrieved on 18 April 2024.
- ↑ СОНИК В КИНО (2020) АКТЕРЫ РУССКОГО ДУБЛЯЖА (Russian). КупиГолос. Retrieved on 27 September 2022.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Sonic: La Película (Spanish). eldoblaje.com. Retrieved on 27 September 2022.
- ↑ Sonic 2: La Película (Spanish). eldoblaje.com. Retrieved on 27 September 2022.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) (German). Deutsche Synchronkartei. Retrieved on 27 September 2022.
- ↑ 刺猬索尼克 (Chinese). Baidu. Retrieved on 26 September 2022.
- ↑ Svenska röster och credits - Sonic the Hedgehog (Swedish). Dubbningshemsidan. Retrieved on 26 September 2022.
- ↑ Svenska röster och credits - Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Swedish). Dubbningshemsidan. Retrieved on 26 September 2022.
- ↑ Ežiukas Sonic 2 (Lithuanian). Garso Architektūra on Facebook (31 March 2022). Retrieved on 29 September 2022.
- ↑ СОНИК 2 В КИНО (2022) АКТЕРЫ РУССКОГО ДУБЛЯЖА (Russian). КупиГолос. Retrieved on 27 September 2022.
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Norwegian). NRK P3 (31 March 2022). Retrieved on 26 September 2022.
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022) (German). Deutsche Synchronkartei. Retrieved on 27 September 2022.
- ↑ Knuckles - Trailer Oficial Español Latino | Paramount+. David El Pro Que No Es Pro (April 24, 2024). Retrieved on April 24, 2024.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Sonic - Il film" (Italian). AntoniaGenra. Retrieved on 23 November 2022.
- ↑ Luis El Tuani on Twitter (Spanish). Twitter (30 April 2019). Retrieved on 29 September 2022.
- ↑ Luis El Tuani on Twitter (Spanish). Twitter (8 December 2021). Retrieved on 29 September 2022.
- ↑ Sonic le hérisson (French). Doublage Québec. Retrieved on 26 September 2022.
- ↑ Sonic le hérisson 2 (French). Doublage Québec. Retrieved on 26 September 2022.
- ↑ Sonic, le film (French). AlloDoublage. Retrieved on 26 September 2022.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Sonic the Hedgehog (Danish). Danske Film Stemmer. Retrieved on 26 September 2022.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Danish). Danske Film Stemmer. Retrieved on 26 September 2022.
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 Sonic: Η Ταινία (Greek). Greek Dub Database. Retrieved on 14 October 2022.
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 Sonic: Η Ταινία 2 (Greek). Greek Dub Database. Retrieved on 14 October 2022.
- ↑ "Sonic 2 - Il film (Italian). AntoniaGenra. Retrieved on 23 November 2022.
- ↑ Kirpi Sonic (Turkish). Seslendirme Kadrolari. Retrieved on 26 September 2022.
- ↑ Kirpi Sonic 2 (Turkish). Seslendirme Kadrolari. Retrieved on 26 September 2022.
- ↑ Siil Sonic (Estonian). Apollo Kino. Retrieved on 27 September 2022.
- ↑ Siil Sonic 2 (Estonian). Apollo Kino. Retrieved on 27 September 2022.
- ↑ Ježek Sonic (Slovenian). Cineplexx Slovenija. Retrieved on 26 September 2022.
- ↑ Ježek Sonic 2 (Slovenian). si21.com (15 March 2022). Retrieved on 26 September 2022.
- ↑ 【公映】超音鼠大電影2 Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Traditional Chinese). 哥頓聲館庫. Retrieved on 15 September 2022.
- ↑ Jeff Fowler about a Sonic sequel. YouTube. Will King (17 February 2020). Retrieved on 25 February 2020.
- ↑ 34.00 34.01 34.02 34.03 34.04 34.05 34.06 34.07 34.08 34.09 34.10 Sonic the Hedgehog 2: The Official Movie Pre-Quill, "Hedgehog Day Afternoon"
- ↑ EXCLUSIVE Interview With SONIC By CKN Toys. YouTube. CKN Toys (3 February 2020). Retrieved on 25 February 2020.
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog: The Adventures of Sonic & Donut Lord, "The Adventures of Sonic & Donut Lord"
- ↑ Schwartz, Terri (10 December 2018). Sonic The Hedgehog Movie First Look: Check Out the Exclusive Official Poster. IGN. Archived from the original on 22 November 2019.
- ↑ Jeff Fowler on Twitter. Twitter (2 May 2019). Retrieved on 2 May 2019.
- ↑ Motes, Jax (29 November 2019). 'Sonic The Hedgehog' Animator Gives Details About The Redesign Process. ScienceFiction.com. Archived from the original on 20 October 2020.
- ↑ Donovan, Imogen (28 November 2019). Sonic the Hedgehog’s new look took almost five months of work. Videogamer. Retrieved on 13 December 2021.
- ↑ Tyson Hesse on Twitter. Twitter (18 April 2022). Archived from the original on 18 April 2022. Retrieved on 8 May 2022. "Tyson Hesse: He is taller, yes. Aging is one aspect sure, but this is also closer to Game Sonic's normal height which is where we wanted to be so that Tails and Knuckles would also fit with the humans better."
- ↑ VinMania on Twitter. Twitter (21 January 2020). Retrieved on 7 February 2020.
- ↑ Pat Casey on X. Twitter (8 January 2024). Archived from the original on 9 January 2024. "Pat Casey: Sonic’s power levels fluctuate in relation to his emotional state (But also it might not always make perfect sense)"
