Knuckles' design

Not quite sure what he is, but it all wraps up into an awesome looking character. That's why I like him :D

 

I've heard that one of the strategy guides for Sonic 3 gave him a Jamaican accent.

 

I've laughed about this before, too, only it goes one further for me. Because of his name, and the way he says "mugs" and other slang in the Archie comic, I always thought of him as sounding like an Italian gangster with a Scott Baio voice.

But Knuckles has more than that to worry about.

 

I honestly had always believed it to be a reference to the Asiatic Black Bear of all things, as probably a throwback to Girl's Garden or something similar. Of course I don't have an official statement on the matter so I'm probably stretching things

And yes, if true, that makes his nationality all the more confusing.

 

Knuckles doesn't actually have dreads, they're just quills. Why that guide gave him a Jamaican accent I'm guessing is because they too thought those looked like dreads and his shoes' colors. I mean, if we follow that logic, then I guess Sonic would be a Japanese guy with some sort of weird mohawk and Tail would be a Polish kid who's bald safe for a tuft of hair on his forehead. It's a style, nothing more.

If anything though, I'd say that Knuckles would be some sort of Mayan-esque descendant. The actual origins of characters' species don't seem to matter in the series, instead simply being an excuse for characters' appearances.

EDIT:

HOLY SHIT WTF
...Also, female echidnas are apparently sluts that fuck 11 males in a row. Tikal may not be all that princess-like after all!

 

Quills are basically dreadlocks, only they're held together with keratin instead of oil/sweat. I suspect Sonic goes one step further and has multiple quills in bunches to come up his six, or that's just how Oshima decided to draw them. Hedgehogs have much smaller individual quills than Echidnas.

 

So you're saying that there is no official statement anywhere that refer to his quills as dreadlocks? I feel that there is, but all that comes to mind is quotes from the Archie comics.

 

Not as far as I can recall, no. I could be wrong, of course, but from what I remember every source that calls them dreadlocks is referring directly or indirectly to the guide, so the comics may call them that because of the guide and then some other media would refer to them as dreadlocks too because of the comics and so on. I don't think any official material (IE, games, documents or interviews) refer to them as such.

It's hard to say without getting in Oshima's head, but here's what I can think of: The original style probably intended for Sonic to only have 8 large quills as it was fitting with the part anime part cartoon style where details are generally not shown and main features are amplified. Nowadays however fur texture can be seen on Sonic's entire body including his quills, depending on the game, and since real life quills are essentially thick hairs which make up the fur, well you shouldn't technically have multiple bits of fur appearing on a single quill unless it's made out of a bunch of smaller quills.

Of course though, in the end, it's all irrelevant because it's simply a style.

 

I would say that you're thinking it the opposite way. I always saw that he WAS intended to be Jamaican- all sources we have from that time say so, from his "Jamaican accent~" to his Reggae-esque appearence in Sonic Underground. His colors are those of Jamaica. It's mnot "he looks Jamaican let's make him Jamaican", it's "we designed him with Jamaica on mind."

After Sonic Adventure, this became obvious. Back then, he was simply the descendant of a race that had all stereotypes of ancient cultures, from pyramids to sphynxes.

That's hot, Tikal.

Also, wasn't it already established that Knuckles' design started as a publicity stunt with Nike, hence the Nike-er shoes and the logo, but then SEGA said No Fuck You?

 

But my point here is that said "sources" aren't official, though. Sonic Underground? Clearly not. Other than that questionable guide, what would be the other "sources"? Comics? Those aren't official either.

 

Even if there isn't a direct quote he has Rastafarian colors, whether it was an assumption or not they did consider giving him a Jamaican accent at some point, he lives on a (floating) island, he has a so-called black voice, iirc SA2 gave him a darker muzzle compared to the other characters. and I could even compare his abrasive nature to the Jamaicans I've met in real life.

That is a lot of Jamaican references so I feel it is safe to assume the quills are inspired by dreadlocks.

 

I always felt Knuckles was inspired out of Jamaican themes, hence the shoes and dreadlock like hair.

 

I remember reading all about Knuckles' design years ago, but I can't remember where I read about it (sorry guys ^^; ).

*edit* I think I recall it might've been in one of those Sonic the Comic specials, I'm not sure...

I find it amusing though that Knuckles was originally supposed to be green of all colours! I found that in the Trivia section of this Sonic wiki article.

*edit 2* Found out a little more here:

 

So the mark on his chest wasn't from a sun bear?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sls-ojfT65c

Actually not the glitch I was looking for (I was trying to find the overwater one), but that one is even worse o_O

 

The small bears in Sonic 2 do have that mark, though.

 

I always thought he was Australian...

 

There's loads of islands in the world, with all sorts of cultures associated with them.

Black voice...? He has a rap-filled theme song, but his voice seems pretty normal to me. He never actually went around saying obnoxious crap like "Yo diggity-diggity dawg biatchez". Thank god. If anything, he has a mellow voice.

True, but he had peach/skin colored one in SA1 and they then went on to give him a yellower muzzle in later games.

That's a generalization and, actually, kinda racist.

I have long hair that tends to curve a little, maybe Knuckles' quills were based on that? I'm just saying, he has long "hair" that happens to be made out of spikes. The only real hint I can see would be his shoes, but they're also gray and lack the green part when you're not playing as him in S3K.

Also, comparison shots.
Knuckles:


Jamaican:


...Alright, I'll admit that Tom's shirt isn't on my side. =P