Blaze the fucking cat

[Spazz]

On a lighter note, the first Blaze fanart ever made:
<img src="http://img288.echo.cx/img288/3561/braze9hu.png">
-By Ngangbius

[Esrever]

She definitely looks grumpy. I just took it to mean that her relationship with Sonic was going to be hostile. But her design itself is more what I was talking about. It's not particularly dark or angular. Her get-up doesn't look like anything trendy, like a ninja or a rollerblader or whatever. You know what I mean... sometimes, a piece of art just screams "trying to hard to be awesome." Like that poster of angry Shadow with the pistol.

[Ancient]

It's all the in the grimace, it's almost a direct replica of Shadow's

The rest of her is completely different

[Crazy Penguin]

I think that most of you are giving Sonic fan character designers too much credit.

Blaze doesn't look like a recolour or amalgamation of other characters with a few clothes tacked on and thus automatically beats every Sonic fan character ever.

I know that a lot of us get on at Shadow's character design as being just a copy of Sonic, but Sonic fan characters couldn't even match that.

The fact that there are so many Shadow cloney fan characters about is proof enough of that.

[Esrever]

As far as evil twin character designs go, Shadow's was pretty decent. He really was more than a recolour... I always liked the way the actually changed his spines around and added the red streaks. But Metal was even more creative, and his existence made Shadow so unnecessary from a narrative perspective.

Plus, Shadow was such a whiny bitch.

[Green Gibbon!]

Reasons why Blaze sucks:

1.) What is that shit poking out the back of her head?
2.) What the hell is she wearing? Regal overalls with white tights? Is she supposed to be some kind of cyber cat from the future?
3.) Is it even a she?
4.) Based on her facial expression and posture, it may be Shadow in drag.
5.) Her name is "Blaze". Since she doesn't seem to be on fire and Sonic characters are customarily named after physical features, I guess she can control fire, which is stupid. Even if she doesn't, Blaze is still a stupid name.
6.) It does scream "trying hard to be awesome", in a very generic way.

This is certainly not the first stupid character design to ever soil the Sonic universe, but she seems more out of place than any of the others (save perhaps Void and Lumina).

[Kishi]

Knuckles grimaces, too.

[Spazz]

Blaze doesn't look like a recolour or amalgamation of other characters with a few clothes tacked on and thus automatically beats every Sonic fan character ever.

Yeah, the point I was going for was aimed toward characters similar to <i>some</i> of <a href="http://wakakusa.tv/illust/p-bbs3.htmlht ... >these.</a> Not that I <i>totally</i> don't like how they look though. I guess throwing Speedy in there kinda threw off my point.
Characters like <a href="http://wakakusa.tv/rough/sonic/46.gif">this</a> and characters like Cream, I like because of there suttle style and simplicity.

2.) What the hell is she wearing? Regal overalls with white tights? Is she supposed to be some kind of cyber cat from the future?

Actually, the game does involve time travel and Sonic and Blaze have to work <i>together</i> to collect the "Sol Emeralds", which are dangerous if in the wrong hands.

No, I'm not joking.

[Frieza2000]

5.) Her name is "Blaze". Since she doesn't seem to be on fire and Sonic characters are customarily named after physical features, I guess she can control fire, which is stupid. Even if she doesn't, Blaze is still a stupid name.

It could also mean "Blazing speed" or something gay like that, which is even worse than her being pyrokinetic because we already have a speed character and an angst character who minors in speed.

Actually, the game does involve time travel and Sonic and Blaze have to work together to collect the "Sol Emeralds", which are dangerous if in the wrong hands.

...I feel the need to say it again.

Series OVER.

[Grant]

I also think Blaze the Cat looks very generic, very forgettable. A dab of Espio, a dab of Big, put clothes on her because she's a girl, sprinkle in some angsty facial expression and there you have it.

[Green Gibbon!]

Maybe she's the descendant of Big and Froggy.

[Delphine]

Maybe she's the descendant of Big and Froggy.

That stain on the wall would be my brain.

[IrkenSnax]

Just what we need, A PMSing purple cat. FROM THE FUTURE!

Blaze.... what a fucking stupid name... Naming her Lavender or Violet would have been more creative! Plus, every Sonic fancharacter I've seen named Blaze, was a guy...

I shudder to just think of the Sonic pairrings this is going to result in...

[Delphine]

Blaze.... what a fucking stupid name... Naming her Lavender or Violet would have been more creative! Plus, every Sonic fancharacter I've seen named Blaze, was a guy...

There are plenty of valid reasons to dislike this development. None of those valid reasons are mentioned here.

[Green Gibbon!]

The best scenario I can imagine is that naming the character "Blaze" was a deliberate effort to poke fun at the Sonic fan community, because the name is already in use by every other fan character in the cyber ghetto. If that's the case I can almost see where they were trying to go with the humor aspect, but it's probably an altogether better idea to utterly disregard that side of fandom. They spank to Tails porn.

[Kishi]

That'd be great. More games need to deliberately mock their fans.

[tornadot]

So is it one of those times to question Sega's sanity with this new character (Not like we have to question their sanity before with Cream)

Oh yes and I find this funny that it doesn't use the second screen for jack, I feel like laughing at Nintendo for attaching that big dust collecter to the top screen...

[Grant]

I think they're just out of ideas, so they've started borrowing from us. First, Sonniku The Battousai's wet dream for a mature Sonic game becomes a reality. Now, they take BlazeHedgehog's handle.

So, you better not joke too much about spanking to Tails porn, because you could wake up tomorrow to discover a solo Tails game where he's dressed in a leather S&M outfit, complete with ass-less chaps.

[Delphine]

So, you better not joke too much about spanking to Tails porn, because you could wake up tomorrow to discover a solo Tails game where he's dressed in a leather S&M outfit, complete with ass-less chaps.

The second stain on the wall and the hole in my abdomen may be related.

[Kishi]

Oh yes and I find this funny that it doesn't use the second screen for jack, I feel like laughing at Nintendo for attaching that big dust collecter to the top screen...

It does use the second screen. Note the extravertical display.

[Cuckooguy]

Wow, Blaze could use a makeover. I think Blaze's character design would feel more at home in Klonoa as an evil servant or something.

I happen to like her head shape (reminds me of Dot of Animaniacs), but I'd get rid of the hair on the back, change the whole body, and <i>maybe</i> get rid of the jewel on the forehead.

I feel the only character design that rivals Sonic's character design when it comes to looking like a Sonic character without being a clone of Sonic (like Ray and Mighty) is Knuckles. I remember way back when Sonic 2 came out, I thought Tails looked akward and out of place next to Sonic; though I suppose coming up with a character design comparable to Sonic and Knuckles is very hard to do. After that, I feel Espio, Bean, Vector, and maybe Nack gives more of a "Sonic-ish" vibe than the rest of the cast.

[Titan]

My feelings on Blaze; good design, but lame name.
Sonic Rush looks promising to me.

[Popcorn]

I've got one thing to say about this:

Sonic Advance 4.

With a shitty polygonal Sonic. And a fan character pulled from some furry message board.

Is it just me, or are you turning into me? You busted my ass for not liking the look of Sonic Heroes a few years back. Anyway, you're right.

I'm not particularly opposed to Blaze's design, though. I like her shoes, but I wish they'd stop inventing new fucking characters every 20 seconds.

I'm in Prague, incidentally. Hi, everybody!

[Cypher]

Blaze will be tolerable, just so long as the story surrounding her isn't lame.

[CM August]

Blaze. Blaze. Why can't God be merciful?

The best scenario I can imagine is that naming the character "Blaze" was a deliberate effort to poke fun at the Sonic fan community, because the name is already in use by every other fan character in the cyber ghetto. If that's the case I can almost see where they were trying to go with the humor aspect, but it's probably an altogether better idea to utterly disregard that side of fandom. They spank to Tails porn.

That'd be great. More games need to deliberately mock their fans.

Maybe, but it doesn't work too well for The Simpsons nowadays. Between all the utter swill of every new episode there's the obvious message: "Yeah, we know how much we suck. What are you gonna do about it?"
I don't mind some light jabs, but only when it's subtle side references. Creating new characters and plots that actually affect the continuity in a big way devoted to this? The Sonic universe needs that like it needs a bullet in the head.

I think Sega's being completely serious about this, but it's not much better. Blaze.