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Its a problem a lot of Sonic characters have. They're written with one specific story in mind and instead of leaving the series, they just....stay.
Knuckles and Shadow are two examples, but Silver is probably the worst.
Because his initial story was about coming back to fix something that happened in the future, that's what all of his appearances are.
Silver comes back for whatever adventure happens with Sonic to fix the future, they solve it, and Silver returns. And lather, rinse, repeat with Silver.
A lazy millennial who's good at what he does.I don't think I understand what people in this thread expect out of a rival for Sonic. A lot of "rivals" in anime tend to just be guys doing similar stuff as the hero while being a bit competitive about it or guys the hero beat before and now just stick around while talking about how they'll beat the hero in a rematch someday. It's rare for rivals to be a long-term hurdle for the hero past their original introduction.
I don't think Sonic rivals need to be constant antagonistic challenges for Sonic. They just need to be dudes you can look at and say they're somewhat on Sonic's power level.
It's probably because people view Sonic as more western-based than he is, due to the series being more popular in the West, and a lot of its animations were Western-based, along with multiple Comics. So at times he's viewed as West-coded. It's not really correct, but I can get where it comes from.
Another is the constant "need to one-up each other" may stem from comparing it to DBZ again(which while the series does reference it/have stuff based upon it), isn't really logical due to them working entirely differently.
Also, to be fair, rivals might mean different things to people in exactly how they're portrayed as, so. It's varied either way.
Shadow?The thing with the franchise is that various adaptations do tend to be more western coded which tends to muddle things up when they become popular in and of themselves and you then have somewhat different sensibilities now awkward co-existing.
Speaking for myself something that was nice in the Boom TV series was that the entire tendency to write him as the best was never really a factor so you could have episodes of him competing and even losing because the focus was on the comedy anyway. Heck as dumb as Knuckles was, him being a rival in that show every once in a while arguably made more sense given the context of the setting and their characterizations.
Edited by BorneAgain on Dec 19th 2022 at 7:32:03 AM
I think this all comes down to the fact that The Rival trope, as it's described on this site, is incredibly broad.
There's no real qualifiers for what makes a character a rival versus just generic competition.
That's why I said its more perception. A lot of Japanese Shonen Anime rivals just tend to be dudes the hero fights once or twice and that's about it.
Well Boom also isn't an Action series, its a comedy sitcom.
Edited by BlackYakuzu94 on Dec 19th 2022 at 7:30:23 AM
A lazy millennial who's good at what he does.I can't speak for anyone else, but I was generally basing my take on how The Rival trope comes into play by how anime - especially the shounen Sonic is based on - tends to utilize the trope, myself.
Edited by KnownUnknown on Dec 19th 2022 at 6:54:49 AM
Sonic Prime Producer Admits Including Shadow Was A "Challenge"
"Sonic Prime producer Logan Mc Pherson has described fitting Shadow in the show as a "challenge", as his character comes with a lot of restrictions. Even the invention of the shatterverse wasn't enough to make Shadow's inclusion any easier, as he's destined to always be the edgy boy we know and love."
Third group to say Shadow is a pain to write. But Flynn is a liar about the mandates, huh?
To win, you need to adapt, and to adapt, you need to be able to laugh away all the restraints. Everything holding you back."Sega did not consider him a comedy character. They told us we could use him, but he was not to be making any jokes," said Sonic Boom's Alan Denton. "So to work around that, the joke became the very fact that Shadow is completely humourless. So edgy, all the time."
The Protomen enhanced my life.Yeah.
I still really love Boom's response to the Shadow mandates.
"Okay, so he won't tell jokes. He'll just take all the ridiculous shenanigans so overly serious that that will be the joke instead."
And so: "your shoddy craftsmanship brings shame on all hedgehog kind, and for that you must perish!"
Edited by KnownUnknown on Dec 19th 2022 at 7:30:57 AM
Only if Omega is allowed to be a jackass with him, looking down on organics while boasting himself as the superior war machine, fated to destroy the Eggman Empire to prove his strenght.
and Rouge can have any other role than Shadow's nanny.
To win, you need to adapt, and to adapt, you need to be able to laugh away all the restraints. Everything holding you back.Re: Sonic coded western makes sense because that's the market the franchise was aimed at. The market that also made him iconic to begin with, because his success overcame Mario and Nintendo. I don't understand why Sonic needs to be examined through Japanese standards when said standards do nothing for him at home. Up until Paramount's take, no one really gave a shit about Sonic outside the west(Europe and UK included). SEGA Sonic fans hem and haw about how unfaithful Sonic's western media takes are; but then conveniently gloss over the changes made to adaptions like X and the OVA.
Sure the Rival trope described is broad, but it means something more when it's used in conjunction with pushing the protagonist. I'd argue Sonic needs more rivalry, because it sets them up to becoming long term villains so Robotnik isn't always relied on to play the main villain 24/7.
At the end of the day it's supposed to be entertainment. It's not entertaining if it's not creative.
Edited by Tony-Sharx on Dec 20th 2022 at 4:56:27 AM
Certified, self-appointed Sonic VisionaryBecause being popular in Japan has essentially been Sega's goal with Sonic since forever.
Sonic being successful in the West wasn't their what they wanted.
Also X and the OVA are the closest things to a game accurate series, particularly when you compare it to the other Western adaptations.
A lazy millennial who's good at what he does.Then what was the point of flying out to New York city to gauge people's reactions to his final design?
Using Michael Jackson's boots and cover design palette, or Bill Clinton's character as inspiration?
SEGA wanted to outsell Nintendo, ergo Sonic the Hedgehog. Biggest video game market at the time was the USA.
I'm just sayin'
Certified, self-appointed Sonic VisionaryRE: Rivalry.
I just like seeing Sonic and Metal Sonic fight/race more than I do with him and Shadow TBH.
Also Sonic was always intended to appeal to western audiences from the start.
Edited by RedHunter543 on Dec 20th 2022 at 9:04:46 AM
"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"

This whole thing underlies the problem of not developing any other prominent characters that could act as Sonic rivals a bit more naturally. Shadow and Knuckles only really made sense for that role in their initial appearance as their overall motivations make putting them into that context after that feel more and more contrived.
Like if Mighty were brought in as a freakishly strong, boisterous, slightly big headed (but good hearted) acquaintance of Sonic's, then you could slot him into the rival spot easily, especially given how little there is to the character now. Same thing if you had a Nack somehow getting into the hero business for his own financial gain and occasional butting heads with Sonic in certain adventures.