So, random thought crossed my mind - has it ever been explained as to what Sonic's infamous index finger wave actually means? Sonic the anti-everything Hedgehog, that's always saying "No" or "That's no good" .. Or is he?
One of these things is not like the other... I, too, wonder about this. Unlike the thumbs up, or "V for victory", it doesn't seem to be a very positive or "cool" gesture, at least in our culture. It's not something I recognise from Japanese culture, either, like the akanbee or something. It's like Sonic is saying "naughty naughty!" It's a weird choice.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure it didn't come from Terminator 2. Curious about the far left pic though. Where did it come from?
How'd it get burned HOW'D IT GET BURNED!! I've vaguely wondered this before, but I just assumed it was meant to be cool/attitudinalicious, for whatever reason, and moved on.
Yeah, it basically means "uhuhuh, don't mess with me mother flippers, I'm a cool ass dude and this finger wagging lets you know that I mean business but that at the same time, I'm friendly and happy and blue". Direct quote from Sonic 1's instruction manual. Look it up.
Clearly, he wants you to pull his finger, and is a complete douche about it by waving it around so you can't grab hold of it. Plus, apart from the few exceptions, Modern Sonic hardly seems to waggle his finger, he seems more of a thumbs up kinda guy.
I think it means he's waving his finger. Ohshima/Sonic Team must have seen the gesture as a 'Western thing' and adopted it. I mean, it used to be seen in a lot of places -- didn't wrestler Hulk Hogan used to wave his finger at an opponent when he 'hulked out'? I reckon, in keeping with today's edgy youth culture, Sega should make Sonic flat-out give the "one in the pink, two in the stink" gesture.
Guys Sonic is just making a pose with his own stamp on it. To me it's just a straight up, nothing deep gesture and isn't something that has some kind of massive RPG lore to it.
I'm wondering if it's to do with Sonic's size proportions that he does the finger thing... I mean, back in the 90s (and now I guess, but Sonic's changed since then) would it look cool if he always just did a 'thumbs up' all the time? Thinking back to the cartoons, perhaps it's like him saying "I'm the number 1 cool dude" - or even maybe along the lines of "let me show you how it's done!"-type phrase I suppose it's sort've between these two:
You know, I've never once questioned the finger wave. It just seemed so natural. But now you have me questioning it. Questioning everything. Damn you.
It's probably just a pose they thought looked cool and stuck with it. But if you think about it, it might be a reference to how many family members he has, as the rest were all killed by Robotnik and it has been haunting him for years. He just can't think of any other way to express it.
I always thought it was just a cool pose too. Also, I quite liked Sonic's arrival on the scene in Brawl's Subspace Emissary with the finger wave too. EDIT: Smaller image XD
Eh, it's just a habit of his and I always thought it fit his character. That's what I always assumed at least. I don't think we need to make an entire essay on the subject.
