Tails was 8 in Sonic 2, 8 in Sonic Adventure and is still 8 today. Sonic characters don't age up. Some ages were changed for Sonic Adventure and Sonic Heroes, but they were real world decisions, not events within the fiction.
Yes, we're aware. I was simply pointing out why people thought there was an age difference resultng in their change of artstyle during Sonic Adventure. Basically, everything at the time was saying at the time "age up": the interview we've been discussing, the designs looking like their older (because they were designed as such, see said interview), Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics), and supported by a time skip of which we have no relative length for. So I think it's reasonable some people thought there was some growing up involved, even as far back as Sonic Adventure, even though we know there wasn't. We know that there wasn't actual aging, beyond characters like Knuckles (was 15, now 16) and Amy Rose (was 8, now 12). Well, unless Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles was only supposed to have occurred the year before, and Sonic the Hedgehog CD took place four years prior. Makeshift timeline ahoy! (I'm joking)
3:42 - In the 22/07/2022 episode, Ian said that he's pretty sure Chaotix is canon to classic and classic is the past (once again?). If this is the case, then how does one reconcile Chaotix and Heroes, where they seem to be entirely unfamiliar with Eggman? - I'd have to go back and watch the Heroes cutscenes again, but I don't think they were unfamiliar with Eggman. It's just Espio and Charmy were fooled by the very light voice filter coming over the walkie-talkie. And when they discovered it was Eggman who hired them it was the shock that it was Eggman and not an actual client. Vector's got it figured out halfway through the game. Number two: we're talking 30 years of games that never had a overarching plot idea for them. Not everything is going to sync up in retrospect. [The question was probably about that infamous line from Charmy Bee not knowing who Eggman is - or teasing him, according to some - but Ian didn't get that.] 18:15 - You have mentioned that the idw classic sonic comic takes place sometime after mania, but does it take place after sonic mania adventures or sonic mania's encore mode dlc? I'd say sonic mania adventures, because heavy king was rebuilt and is clearly shown to be in working order in the ending of encore mode, while he wasn't in mania adventures, but I'd like to hear what you think - When I say Sonic Mania I mean everything under that umbrella. Adventures, Encore, if it has 'Mania' in the title I kind of group that as one general event. Yes, there's some continuity to it but when I say 'Mania' I mean all of that. So it's after the Mania events. All of them. [And we still don't know how to reconcile Encore and Adventures.]
Yeah, I wanted to elaborate with that but unfortunately Ko-Fi character limits are pretty strict. I guess the answer's the same either way though, it's collateral of the cleaning house and we're best off just ignoring that hiccup from now on.
I really dont like that, i honestly can excuse most continuity things with this franchise as its pretty clear to me all this stuff, especially when you start looking at spin offs or mobile games etc, was never all meant to be a seamless continuity and timeline, especially as several different writers and people work on the series. But i do not like the idea that sonic characters are the same age as they were from adventure or, hell, the genesis games. There have simply been too many games, and they distinctly act MUCH older in more modern games, from generations onwards would say. Tails doesnt act like an 8 year old. He honestly acts and feels like a young teen now. Sonic, especially with roger voicing him, sounds like a young adult just hitting 18 or so. Etc etc
Oh yeah. Especially when adding up the games lengths of their own, you've got nearly two years on their own, without the implied gaps between them and only factoring the mainline games. Personally, I'd revcon Sonic to be 12 during the Classic Era, 15 for Adventure, and 17-18 for Modern, personally.
Honestly I think Ian has the best take on it: Just give them vague age labels: child, tween, teen, young adult, adult, elder. They’re funny rubber hose characters anyway and I personally feel nothing of substance is lost by doing away with the commitment to defined numbers.
YES exactly, this is always how ive fely it would be best suited. I can still kinda see classic sonic as a teen, but with his more cutesy depiction since generations, I do think a younger teen or 12 is a good for for him, and adventure era fits that prime teen age perfectly. Getting rid of defined ages all together also works well, imo, and saves the hassle of havingnissues like this at all. You can definitely just infer age from behavior and voice
It's nice that the ages are completely disposable details that have absolutely zero bearing on any plot (to my knowledge).
Hey folks, I mostly lurk but I've been on a continuity kick lately. Hope you don't mind me joining in the discussion! For context, the full exchange is as follows: "Eggman": So, you're the ones who were playing games with my army! Vector: Sorry! Just part of the job. Espio: That's the evil genius, Dr. Eggman! Charmy: Doctor who? "Eggman": Yes! Let me show you who I really am. I think Charmy's reaction isn't too hard to explain away. Besides being young and scatterbrained in general, the last time Charmy encountered Eggman was during Knuckles' Chaotix - at a time when the doctor was still going by Robotnik. It's not hard to imagine that Charmy would be unaware of Eggman's new moniker, especially when it was only recently adopted in SA2. Why Espio feels the need to announce Eggman's identity to the team is slightly harder to explain. Could it be for Charmy's benefit, not realizing that Charmy doesn't even recognize the Eggman name? In any case, as you say it's a very slight hiccup. Fortunately, the overall Chaotix storyline works whether they've met Eggman before or not.
Just a headsup, I tend to use the Japanese for continuity, since they have a much more stable continuity, looking at you Sonic the Hedgehog CD manual. Hence the Japanese video below. 7:40 It's not just in that instance: Vector further implies unfamiliarity as the battle proceeds. Personally, I'm fanretconning it to be Vector trying to rile Robotnik up, and Robotnik's lack of response has him realise something amiss. It's still bizarre to me Vector and Charmy wouldn't know Robotnik even without Chaotix after the events of Sonic Adventure 2, which we know happened and I don't think many people would miss that whole blowing up the Moon thing.
It's the norm for cartoon characters. Linus can wait for the Great Pumpkin every Halloween without getting any older, Scrooge McDuck and his nephews have had dozens of Christmases.
I actually recall at least one of the sites that did early Sonic 06 coverage (IGN IIRC) reporting that Sonic was redesigned in that game to look older. Although that could just be how they interpreted his design. Not sure if it was based on any official statement. The characters' ages weren't set in stone until Heroes. Before that, they were being constantly retconned like you said. Knuckles was said to be 15 by Sonic Jam, and 14 by the 10th anniversary pack's booklet IIRC. Sonic was likewise said to be 16 by Jam, and around 20 by the booklet (again, IIRC). As such we don't know for certain what their canon ages were in the pre-Heroes games.
One way to explain away Charmy and Vector not knowing Eggman in Heroes would be having Chaotix not happen in the modern timeline. In fact, that’s just kind of what I assumed until now.
That's why I've always liked the idea of a split timeline. It was easier to fit everything without too much retcons if they were not all in the same timeline. But...
The characters definitely had set ages in the Adventure games that were consistent with Heroes. The official strategy guides and I believe some of the online pages you could access on the Dreamcast had them listed. Not sure about the 10th anniversary booklet ages but those don’t sound right to me.
That isn't right. Sonic was 16 in the English Sonic Jam, but "15-16" in the Japanese Sonic Jam. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Big's ages have all been consistent and unchanged since Sonic Adventure 1. The anniversary pack booklet can be found here: https://info.sonicretro.org/File:SonicAdventure2_DC_JP_historybook.pdf It doesn't say that Knuckles is 14 or Sonic is 20. This is correct. We have the Sonic Adventure Navigation Guide on Sonic Retro: http://info.sonicretro.org/File:SonicAdventureNavigationGuide_Book_JP.pdf I'm pretty sure some of the Japanese Sonic Adventure merchandise at the time had the same character profiles. Sonic Heroes changed the ages of Vector, Espio and Charmy. In the Japanese Chaotix manual Vector is 16, Espio is 17 and Charmy isn't given an age. In the US Chaotix manual Charmy is 16 and Vector and Espio aren't given ages. In Sonic Heroes, Vector is 20, Espio is 16 and Charmy is 6. That's definitely what they were going for at the time. Iizuka said they were being reintroduced as new characters, and they're very different characters compared to their profiles in the Chaotix manuals. Ian Flynn has previously said that he was outright told Chaotix 32X wasn't canon. Chaotix 32X and Sonic Heroes both being canon is a new development, and will require some inconsistencies to just have to be ignored.
Guess I was misremembering things. Good thing I wrote "IIRC", so I'm covered Still, the Original Story did say that Sonic was around 18. Did the birthday pack leave that part out?
