Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic the Hedgehog (ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ Sonikku za Hejjihoggu) is the video game company Sega's mascot (and also their current and longest-reigning mascot, succeeding Sega's previous mascot, Alex Kidd) and the titular main protagonist of the video game series he is named after.

A blue anthropomorphic hedgehog with plenty of attitude and personality who lives up to his name by being able to run at supersonic speeds.

Why He's Way Past Cool

 * 1) Just like Pac-Man, Mario and Crash Bandicoot, he is not only one of the most famous and iconic mascots in video game history, but also helped revolutionize and define gaming as a whole.
 * 2) *Not only that, but he is also one of the most iconic characters ever created apart from characters such as Mickey Mouse, SpongeBob, Hello Kitty and like the rush of the wind, the list goes on and on and on and on and on.
 * 3) *Actually, the Blur Blur has crossed over with some of these famous faces already! He competed with that nice boy Mario in the Olympics, gifted Pac-Man some new shoes (and the Pac would keep 'em even years later in 2021 and 2022), and celebrated his 25th anniversary with Hello Kitty. He's also showed up in the Super Smash Bros. series, Wreck-It Ralph 1 and 2, and an entire episode of OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes.
 * 4) Has a cool and appealing design, with a ton of great artwork that spawned iconic poses, such as the Sonic Adventure boxart or classic finger wag.
 * 5) Sonic has an interesting personality that can be integrated into stories. He's an unpredictable thrill-seeker and sees his heroics as an opportunity to have fun. He often jokes around to lighten the mood and has the tendency to hilariously taunt his opponents. He never forgets about his friends and believes in working as a team or, as he put it, the power of teamwork. He follows his free-spirited nature and does not dwell on the past or allow painful experiences to weigh him down. Instead, he lives in the present and always looks forward to new adventures, which is a good moral for anyone. Thanks to this, Sonic has not only interesting stories in his video games, but he has a bunch of good stories in comic books, cartoons, and more.
 * 6) His personality also helps him bounce off and banter with his countless rivals, like Knuckles, Shadow, and of course, his one and only arch-nemesis, Dr. Eggman.
 * 7) At his best, Sonic can have genuinely great, cool, and even some inspirational quotes by and/or relating to him. Many of them will be listed here:
 * 8) *“Don't just sit there and waste your precious time. When you want to do something, do it right away. Do it when you can. It's the only way to live a life without regrets.”
 * 9) *“To live a life of power, you must have faith that what you believe is right, even if others tell you you're wrong. The first thing you must do to live a life of power is to find courage. You must be ready to reach beyond the boundaries of Time itself. And to do that, all you need is the will to take that first step....”
 * 10) *“Sonic races through the green fields. The sun races through a blue sky filled with white clouds. The ways of his heart are much like the sun. Sonic runs and rests; the sun rises and sets. Don't give up on the sun. Don't make the sun laugh at you.”
 * 11) *“I'll never look back, I've got no regrets. 'Cause time doesn't wait for me. I choose to go my own way.”
 * 12) *“It doesn't matter now what happens, I will never give up the fight,There is no way I will run away from all of my frights,Long as the voice inside me says go, I will always keep on running,There is no way to stop me from going to the very top,It doesn't matter, who is wrong and who is right...”
 * 13) *“Nothing starts until you take action. If you have time to worry, then run!”
 * 14) *“I'm Sonic! Sonic the Hedgehog! I have no master, except the wind that blows free!”
 * 15) *“Merlina... every world has its end. I know that's kind of sad, but... that's why we gotta live life to the fullest in the time we have. At least, that's what I figure.”
 * 16) *“I won't stop until I've saved everyone you've captured! I'll never stop until I've honored the sacrifices of everyone who's fallen along the way! And I won't be through until I've kicked your flabby behind once and for all! So you just keep pushin' me, doc! I'll push right back!”
 * 17) *“You're a bully, and that's it. You take the easy, nasty way out, and get the quick reward. Big whoop. I do things the right way. I help others to make something bigger and better than just mean. The good guys always win in the long run. And there isn't anybody who can run longer or better than I can.”
 * 18) *“It's what I do. Just keep moving, doing good, saving folks, and living as free as the wind. Living by my way. My own way.”
 * 19) *“This is my power, and I'm not using it to run away anymore. I'm using it to protect... my... friends!”
 * 20) Aside from the inspirational mumbo jumbo, what's a snarky protagonist without a bunch of quotable one-liners and catchphrases?
 * 21) * “STRANGE, ISN'T IT??”
 * 22) * “That's NO GOOD.”
 * 23) * “Ah, yeah! This is happening!”
 * 24) * “No copyright law in the universe is going to stop me!”
 * 25) * “Uuuhh.. meow??”
 * 26) * “You're too slow!”
 * 27) Most of his various voice actors have done a good job voicing him and capturing his personality.
 * 28) Even without dialogue, Sonic still has a ton of charm, such as in Sonic Mania Adventures, Team Sonic Racing Overdrive, and Chao in Space.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Sometimes, he can be a little too narcissistic, impatient, prideful and even a bit predictable to be likable.
 * 2) Along with his friends and foes, he was horribly flanderized in the video games during the 2010s (also known as the Meta Era by the Sonic fans). He became a smug and overconfident narcissist in Free Riders, never took anything seriously in Colors and Generations which often resulted in him spewing unfunny jokes, was a big jerk in Lost World, an overconfident, unfunny jokester in Boom Rise of Lyric (as well as Shattered Crystal), and became blander in Forces.
 * 3) He had an annoying side in Sonic Underground, though he redeemed himself once the series ended.
 * 4) He has a poor moveset in all the Smash Bros. games prior to Ultimate. As most of his moves simply consist of him attacking in his ball form and his D-air is poorly-executed, as it disqualifies him from recovering especially after meteor-spiking or edgeguarding. Fortunately, this was fixed in Smash Ultimate.
 * 5) Unlike his other English voices, his voice in the Sonic OVA isn't that good, as it sounds like he has a southern accent.

Trivia

 * Sonic has a total of 5 animated shows (AoSTH, Sonic SatAM, Sonic Underground, Sonic X, Sonic Boom), 2 web cartoons (Sonic Mania Adventures, Team Sonic Racing Overdrive), a short CGI movie (Night Of The Werehog) an animated movie (Sonic the Hedgehog OVA), and also an exceptionally successful live-action/computer-animated duology of movies in 2020 and 2022.
 * After having been around only three years, he had already surpassed Nintendo's Mario in popularity according to a June 1993 Q-Survey in Gameplayers magazine.
 * Even after Sega settled on the hedgehog, an idea proposed by designer Naoto Ohshima, the company tried out a taxonomically confusing name for the character: Mr. Needlemouse.
 * In keeping with the spirit of the above, Sonic 1's soundtrack was scored entirely by the Japanese pop group Dreams Come True, formed as a trio in 1988.
 * For his cameos, Sonic has proven to be an extremely popular character and he is also a fighter in the Super Smash Bros. games since Brawl in 2008.
 * Sonic's personality is loosely based on Michael Jackson and in Bill Clinton's "get it done" attitude, and his design was inspired by a combination of Mickey's head and Felix the Cat's body.

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