Generational Change

There are few characters as iconic as Sonic the Hedgehog. This blue hedgehog is known across the world for going fast and loving chili dogs. Well, that and having a lot of hit or miss games (*cough* Sonic 06 *cough*). Even so, his popularity has decreased at all with him getting two movies and a third one on its way. And, even after all of these years, he’s still mostly the same old Sonic.

If I had to describe Sonic, the first three words that come to mind would be ‘snarky’, ‘cool’ and sometimes ‘excitable’. While the first two have been true since the beginning, that last one only really started to take over in recent years. For the most part, Sonic has just switched between the other two depending on adaptations. It all began with the Snarky era.

The Snarky era is the very first way that Sonic was shown in media outside of the games. In the early 90s, Sonic got his very own tv show which brought the blue blur to screens across the nation. Here, he was the type of person who’d play pranks on friends and foes. He is also very prideful in his speed and being quick to anger should anyone insult it or just annoys him in general. This depiction acts a lot like a child at times. However, at the end of the day, he will do his best to help those that he feels are in trouble, always running head first into danger and never thinking about the consequences.

Towards the end of the 90s, Sega would release the widely acclaimed Sonic Adventure, a game that marked the end of Sonic’s Snarky era and the beginning of his Cool era. This depiction of Sonic is the one widely known by fans and the one still depicted in games. This one is a lot less mischievous than his previous self, but still isn’t above playing around with his enemies. What really makes them different though is that this version is actually willing to slow down sometimes in order to figure out what’s going on. He’ll still jump head first into things, but not without also being aware of what’s going on around him. He really came into his role as a type of leader figure. The best way to describe him would be a guy who’s finally grown up.

The final and current era - the Excitable era - basically regresses him. To put it another way, the depictions of this era are versions who have grown up from the Snarky era but haven’t quite reached the maturity of the Cool era. In other words, he’s a teenager. These versions have the need to constantly move around doing who knows what. One moment they could be playing baseball. The next they could be reading comics. The next they could be on the roof because they thought they saw something shiny. There’s really no telling with them. However, when the chips are down and they need to get serious, they’ll show why they’re the hero of this story. After all, at the end of the day, Sonic the Hedgehog is a character who will always protect his friends.

What’s interesting about these eras is that there is a clear view of how Sonic has grown as a person. We see in the Snarky era that Sonic is still learning how to be responsible while also having fun. In the Excitable era, we see him start to mature and become more aware of his responsibilities but still keep a lot of his fun loving personality. And, finally in the Cool era we see the end of his journey where he is fully aware of what he needs to do, but still finds time to be that free, chili-dog eating hedgehog we know and love. Even if it wasn’t in a linear way, it’s still fun to see this character grow along with us.

Logan Floyd-Mcgee | Writer
POP-COOLEDTURED SPECIALIST
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