Tbh I really think Sonic just SAYS he's 15 every time he's asked, but actually has no clue about the passage of time. That hedgehog is a mysterious being and he was not enrolled in kindergarten. /hj
I remember an "adult Sonic Fancomic" in which he forgets that he gets older and/or doesn´t acknowledge it "I'm pregnant!" "What!? I can´t be a father I´m too young!!" "you´re (I don´t remember I think 30)" "... yeah... yeah I know" Honestly, as a way to give him more characterization him being kind of a "diva" is a headcanon I like for some reason(?
i read a fanfic once with this exact premise. shadow went on a whole quest to find out sonic's real age, and he learned that sonic's a cryptid with no sense of time that says he's 15 whenever asked because he genuinely believes he's still 15. it's awesome
I find it incredibly simple and it usually shocks me what crazy numbers people throw out, as low as 8 and as high as 47. Here's the facts, here's what we know: He's 15 in Adventure 2 He celebrated his birthday in Generations so he's over 16 He celebrated his birthday in Sonic Runners which ISN'T a Generations adaptation but a canon game to the timeline so he's over 17. How much time passes from Generations to Forces is unknown but there is a 6 month time jump in Forces, so Sonic is either late into his 17th year or past 18 by the end of Forces. Given his different voice in Frontiers I'd argue it's safe to assume some time has passed, as well as taking into consideration the IDW comics which take place over many weeks at the very least (and it honestly feels like months, especially after the Metal Virus saga), Sonic right now in Frontiers is 18+. Could be 18, could be 19, could be 20, but I'd assume they're trying to keep him as young as possible without retconing anything, so he's probably 18.
@@pulse27 Thanks I guess😅, some would say it's way past cool👀. I feel like I'm just stating the obvious with it tbh, surprised people get his age so astronomically mixed up.
ok so Ian has mentioned before on the Bumblekast that Runners might not be Canon 06 has mentioned that shadow has been a GUN agent for years (meaning at minimum 2) Colors also has a line saying it took years for him to build the Amusement park Sonic forces is about 6 months plus theres the ep shadow dlc taking place months prior The Sonic Channel 2021 cover stories have multiple months pass after forces, possibly an entire year "A day in the life of Sonic Vol.1" has him have a birthday with chip implying he had a birthday in Unleashed so thats another year before Gens I might also be missing a few things but long story short theres lots of stuff in game you can pull from that makes him quite old. Does not matter tho cus recently SEGA removed the ages from the characters bios and seems to just be doing away with them. tbf its not like the ages have been relevant besides maybe heroes at latest and even after Gens, WoG said he was still 15. They absolutely have and rn seem to be retconning ages. They are leaving it nebulous for simplicity's sake and to reach the correct audience im assuming. but yea they do be retconning
You see Sonic is staying perpetually 15 because one time Tails watched too much Doctor Who and attempted to recreate the tardis and it went horribly wrong.
Honestly i think saying hes 19/20 in frontiers makes sense. My headcanon is that he starts his adventures relatively young. Id say like 10-12. And by the time heroes rolls around hes 15. His age also matters because we get a sense of his growth in terms of strength as well as how he actually rests and relaxes. Imagine he goes through unleashed, colors and then generations all in the span of like, 5 months. That's sonic going from like, Light speed, to mftl and able to take on guys he needed to be SUPER for in his base form in less than a year. With barely any time to rest and recover from previous fights. That's not only insane growth in terms of power but in speed and recovery as well. It'd be like if u went to the gym at 12 and started lifting 35 lb weights, then came back 2 weeks later lifting 2 ton weights, then came back a day later and lifted the ENTIRE DAMN GYM.
@@emilykapallen4979 To a degree, I honestly hope that happens, because there are people in this comment section who would be provoked into angry tantrums, and I would find that _very_ entertaining to witness. (But seriously, I think leaving his age ambiguous from now on is the most sensible option.)
@@LilXancheX My guess is that SEGA is concerned that aging Sonic up too much would make him unrelatable to the target audience. I realize how silly that is, since for the past decade they seemed to be aiming for children much younger than 15 (and of course there's a substantial number of adult Sonic fans), but SEGA is a corporation, so we shouldn't expect them to make perfect sense all the time. Anyway, looking at it from that perspective, implying that he ages without outright stating it probably seems like a safer option.
There's also some dialogue that completely screws with the ages set for characters. Like in Sonic Forces, Infinite states that Eggman has tried and failed to destroy Sonic for "decades", implying it's been more than 10 (maybe 20) years. There's also a quote in Sonic Frontiers where Sage says that Tails has known Sonic for "most of his life", implying that Frontiers takes place more than 8 years after Sonic 2. This whole age thing is just a confusing mess given all the little details like that
I really wouldn't take those lines as hard cannon. If anything meta-hyperbole. As in irl we know it's been decades for us that's Sonic has bested Eggman, while in-universe it's just Infinite using gross hyperbole to exaggerate how much Eggman's been beaten by Sonic. Same with the Tails thing.
It should probably be noted that in the Japanese version of Forces, Infinite simply says that Eggman "has lost to [Sonic] time and time again", while in the Japanese version of Frontiers, Sage doesn't mention how long Tails has known Sonic at all.
@@thatoneguy5347 but when you say most of his life it could mean some or maybe all the years he’s currently alive. Doesn’t necessarily mean he’s known him for 30 years
Going to offer up my own explanation. Classic Era Sonic: 11 Amy: 8 Tails: 4 Knuckles: 12 Classic Sonic is constantly shown to be considerably younger yet still has the attitude fitting a middle-schooler who just saved the world. (Or at least saving Mighty and Ray in SegaSonic since that game seems to take place before Sonic 1.) Tails met Sonic when he was very young and in a lot of media at the time, he was portrayed as being younger than just 8 judging by voice direction and just how he was presented in general. Amy is known to have been 8 in CD before having a design change and agelift to 12 in Sonic Adventure. So it is reasonable to say that between Sonic 3 & K and Adventure, the countless spin-offs took place over a few years. In Sonic Adventure, pretty much all of the main cast act like they haven't seen each other for a long time and that the Classic Era stories happened years ago. So Classic to Adventure is four years. The Adventure Era is much more simple since all games in this time period happened relatively close to each other and were closely related. Thus, they can fit within one year. Sonic: 15 Amy: 12 Tails: 8 Knuckles: 16 After the Adventure Era, Sonic's birthday happens, meaning everyone goes up a year. There have since been a few more games and Sonic Forces gave us a MASSIVE time-skip, meaning it's likely that Sonic missed his own birthday, Tails hit the big 1-0, and Knuckles became a legal adult (at least as far as the United Federation is concerned anyways). So currently: Sonic: 17 Amy: 14 Tails: 10 Knuckles: 18
This is pretty much how I see the ages of the Sonic characters. It makes sense that they would be much younger in the Classic era as they look physically like kids instead of teens, Sonic is said to be less powerful than he was in later games, implying that he gained more skills over time, and as another commenter said, Tails mentioned that he's known Sonic almost all his life at the time of Frontiers. That's a perfectly reasonable statement if you met someone at age 4 and are currently 10 years old.
Basically my thoughts. If Amy is 8 in CD and she is 3 years younger than Sonic in the modern iteration of the character, Sonic in the classic era should be around 11.
As much as I liked that idea and the 4ish year time gap its dosent work. The ages of characters were retconned for Adventure. Amy was aged up, Tails stayed 8, Sonic went from 16 > 15 and Knuckles went from 15 > 16. If you take Amys aging up as true time progression in canon youd have to justify the weird age changes
@@lerona.martyr3811 I think that originally the Classic to Adventure era design shift was more of a stylistic choice, but with generations they basically were like “no he was just a lot younger back then” Either that, or generations Classic sonic is actually far younger and has yet to experience any of Sonic’s adventures. He is seemingly based off sonic 1 concept art, after all.
20 is an INCREDIBLY important age in Japan, signifying adulthood. So I doubt he would be 20 or older. Sonic also takes a lot of inspiration from the shonen genre (which is notorious for never aging their protagonists) so I think being slightly older than 15 works for the series.
Counter points: Vector the Crocodile went from being 16 in Knuckles Chaotix to being 20 in Sonic Heroes without any fanfare. Morio Kishimoto said in an interview from last August that he wanted Frontiers to be "less shonen and more seinen". And there are actually quite a few shonen series that _do_ age their protagonists--including Dragon Ball, the one that Sonic is most frequently compared to.
@@fightingmedialounge519 I was thinking the same thing. Other than Dragon Ball (which I already mentioned), I know Naruto did a time skip (though I haven't watched that series in its entirety--I'll have to get on that one of these days), as did Fist of the North Star and Gurren Lagann, and if I'm not mistaken, so did One Piece. And let's not forget JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, which takes place across multiple generations. Characters remaining perpetually young is something I tend to associate more with western animation.
i just go by different age brackets for the characters. child: consisiting of characters like cream and charmy who are portrayed as yound childeren young teen: consisting of characers like tails who are more mature than the child bracket but still quite young. teen: consisting of characters like amy who are portrayed as teenagers. young adult/ old teen: consisting of characters like sonic, knuckles and espio who are clearly close to being a full adult and are fairly mature. adult: for characters like vector, vanilla, rouge, eggman and shadow who are portrayed as adults. elderly, this is used for characters who are portrayed as elderly like gerald, and unknown: used for characters like the end, chaos, chip and dark gaia who we know are ancient but have no explicit time frame of when things happened
@@raze2012_ I'd definitely vouch that if Sonic is 18 then Big would be somewhere between an adult and a senior. Probably in his 30's but more of a doofy manchild who's still mature enough to look out for his friends like Amy & Cream. He's less of a grandpa and more of a fun older uncle who may not be the smartest.
Shadow is absolutely not an adult, he's more of the young adult bastard, he's just...like.... He thinks about shit a bit more than, say, Sonic. Whenever they compete like... At ALL he suddenly acts just like a petty teenager, so his more "mature" thought processes are more likely than not just a result of trauma, unfortunately, which I can relate and attest to
@@exist4046 he's a bona fide adult by 06. As much as he likes to talk shit about Sonic, he wholeheartedly tell everyone to give up hope if Sonic is not alive to take on Solaris, implying he's more than humble enough to accept Sonic is at least his equal and that the world need Sonic more than it does Shadow. Later games don't really have Shadow in them so that mature Shadow is as far as we got in game canon.
He was originally stated as 15 on Sonic Channel, but then his and every other characters' age was removed, which tells me Sega doesn't really want this to have an answer anymore. My guess is cuz said ages makes things complicated with Amy considering she was 11.
I’m not completely sure, but I feel like SEGA is getting ready to retcon her age _again._ With the way she’s acted in recent media, especially in the comics and in Frontiers, she seems way too mature to be 12.
Here's what I find both frustrating and hilarious about this whole thing: the text of those Sonic Channel profiles has been exactly the same since they were originally written, despite some of them containing obvious errors (i.e., Eggman's real name being "unknown" even though "Ivo Robotnik" was established in the Adventure games) or outdated and potentially offensive humor (i.e., every female character's weight being listed as "secret"). Hell, Chip's profile contains almost no information at all, because it was designed to avoid spoiling the plot of Unleashed. Now, decades later, they finally decided to update them, and the ages were the _only_ thing they changed. And when Ian Flynn (who claimed at the time to have had prior knowledge of this) was asked about it, all he had to say was "Don't worry about it right now." Seriously, what the hell goes on at that company?
I will never understand why they decided to do that, and I do not understand why fans refused to accept that Sonic is always been varying age of 15 or 16, but he’s never going to be 20. He’s a fictional character he can go through modernized redesigns but his age stays static forever
@@Freezient I do not understand why people like you refuse to accept that not every fictional character is Bart Simpson. Some of them have static ages, sure, but there's absolutely no reason for Sonic to be one of those characters. Thankfully, SEGA appears to have finally figured that out, even if you haven't.
@@davebrown2056 I thought I replied to this already, but I haven’t? Weird. Anyway, yes there is a reason, he’s a mascot. idk why so many people wanted him to older/aging when there’s never a need to, he’s always been a teenager, I don’t even understand why Sega deleted their ages, all it seems like just to please fans for no reason, they’re been going all “everything is canon” which simply just they don’t care. Sonic is Sega’s mascot, they usually keep their ages static to keep them consistent throughout time. Do you see Mickey Mouse or Mario aging/getting older? no matter what age Sonic is, Sonic is always a teenager, not some middle aged guy with midlife crisis like they attempted to do in Archie. Is there a reason why Sonic needs to be older or needs to age? People really need to just write/read fanfics for fun if they desperately wanted Sonic to be older.
Right? Like how many times did he use chaos control and portals? And pretty sure the emeralds and going super all the time is bound it have some affects on your body.
Here’s my sense on it: Even though Sega claimed the voice tone is a one time thing for frontiers, I doubt it since they also said they plan to further go down that road of frontiers and given People generally seemed to have a positive response toward the voice direction I think it’s here to stay. With that in mind, if we are to assume he is an adult in frontiers than I’d say he in his early twenties or at the bare minimum 21. The reason I say that it because it still seems he is 3 years older than Amy and Although Sega doesn’t seem too keen on putting Sonic in a relationship, I do think they wanna keep the character to does have feelings for him within a reasonable and legal gap especially since the Twitter Takeovers (which do seem to be semi canon) seem to hint that he may like her back as well. Plus Amy sounds older in Frontiers when compared to previous games aswell. So from what it seems to me, Sonic is 21 at the bare minimum as of Frontiers.
Sonic is around his 19 or 20 at max. I fully don't see him being 21 yet, maybe in 2 years it would be according to his official birthday games. Remember that Generations, Runners and now Frontiers are the 3 games in canon that celebrates his birthday, Forces partially has a bit of it as well since he aged after his captivity during those 6 months missing.
What bothers me is that sometimes time actually passes in Sonic's world. Little Planet is said to come back each year to the same location. It obviously first appears in Sonic CD, but it also comes back in Sonic 4, (which supposedly is still canon and happens somewhere between 3 and the first Adventure game), making it make even less sense that Sonic is 15 years old in both games. It also comes back in Mania but that time it probably happened due to Phantom Ruby shenanigans. For me Sonic is at least 17, since in his first appearance they claimed he was 15. At this age is when all of the classic games take place. A year passes, his design changes and most of the modern games happen. Then comes his birthday in Generations making him 17. Plus the 6 months that he was in jail in Forces he might actually be close to being 18. At least this is how I like to view all this conundrum. It's kinda wild that after 31 years of the franchise SEGA doesn't want him to age a single year lmao.
You're partially saying my same statement but let me help you fix it. Look, in Generations (official 1st birthday game) Sonic turned his sweet 16's canonically, time passes, and we have Sonic Runners (official 2nd birthday game) who turned 17 at the time. Sonic Forces, as the medium, and accordingly to the theme of the game, of course after his 6 months missing in captivity, he had his 18th birthday as the hands of Eggman and Infinite, and now Sonic Frontiers (official 3rd birthday game, thanks to the DLC in June) man would be turning 19 canonically. Making Sonic be officially 19, a matured/adult-ish teenager, followed by Knuckles and Amy in age, and the Tails being around his 14-15 at max. Keep in mind, this accordingly to the in-canon games sharing in-game birthday events, in which Sonic Speed Sim doesn't count.
And this is what the "SANIC SHUD ALWUZ BE FUFTEEN!" crowd (who keep replying to my comments today--maybe I'm cursed) don't seem to understand: regardless of what it says in those old character profiles, _time is explicitly passing in the actual canon._ (There are other examples besides the ones you gave, like how one of Shadow's fellow G.U.N. agents from Sonic '06 mentions that Shadow joined that organization "years ago".) It isn't reasonable for SEGA to expect everyone in their audience to completely ignore this fact, especially when it's been a significant plot point in certain games (i.e., Sonic Generations). That's the issue here, not that any of us want to see a pudgy fifty-year-old Sonic huffing and puffing around Green Hill.
@@davebrown2056 That's what I'm fucking talking about. The Sonic Reddit pissed me the hell off when it comes to this topic, cause what's the point of having a linear continuity timeline then? Having characters ages be static or 'ageless' just cuckholds the entire appeal.
You know, if Sonic moves fast enough, that would actually cause time dilation from his perspective and make him biologically younger than his chronological age.
@@DooDooWater9732-n5z We didn’t think of it cause thats stupid. You cant force real science on fiction. If he was experiencing time dilation everytime he ran the only thing hes doing is moving faster into the future. Meaning, how can he save animals if hes too busy running? And if you say some shit like “He doesn’t have to run that fast all the time. “ Then his speed wont be relevant enough for him to experience time dilation and thus aging. The real reason Sonic doesn’t age because fictional characters only age when it’s necessary. Stop wasting your lives over shit like this.
By the way if someone can actually link me where they say it that would be awesome. I don't doubt the possibility that it's the case I just couldn't find it online.
I think 19 sounds about right for Frontiers. Although that would mean that sonic 1 and frontiers are canonically only 6 years apart which is weird to think about. I also like Sonic being 15 in the adventure era. Being immature but still doing what's right. He acts a little more mature in Frontiers but still overall is himself and I love it. It really makes it feel like Sonic is a character that grows mentally and physically with the design changes and writing tone changes.
Ok ok I've actually thought about this a lot. Around 3:02 in the video, he mentioned that Amy Rose was 8 in Sonic CD, but she was 12 in Heroes. That means 4 years has passed. If Sonic was 15 in Heroes, then he was 11 or 12 in CD. Hope that helps!
Honestly, my inner storyteller is intensely intrigued by the potential implications of Sonic literally not aging despite multiple canonical years clearly passing. Think about it, We don't really even have a proper canonical backstory for him, Sonic is one of the small handful of individuals capable of turning Super with the Chaos Emeralds, effortlessly reproduces Shadow's Chaos Control after seeing him do it once despite pretty much nobody else being able to do so at all, and Shadow himself even makes the observation that Sonic himself might actually be the true Ultimate Life Form. Even after that, Sonic continuously just kinda casually does things that nobody should be able to do, such as in Frontiers with his casual entering and leaving of Cyberspace. What if Shadow was actually right? What if Sonic really IS the Ultimate Life Form? What if the characters around him are slowly aging up, but he's just... Not? Who and what really is Sonic the Hedgehog? Maybe I'm overthinking it, but that's what makes being a fan of a franchise so fun. We don't nitpick the finer details out of these franchises out of hate, but because we care enough about the franchise to do so. It's fun to theorize about such things.
More likely to do with Japan values on youth. One of my favorite series, Hunter x Hunter, has the main protagonist as 12 yo at the start. It’s stated canonically that at least 1-2 years have passed since the beginning of the story, and the main character is still introduced as 12 years old in his most recent manga appearance lol… oh Japan.
The fact is, there is no good answer because no one at SEGA cares enough to keep this story straight. New game and new media just arbitrarily label Sonic age as whatever they want with no thought to previous continuity. You put more effort into tracking Sonic's age than the people who actually create Sonic media, it's pointless to try and find a conclusive answer that makes sense to the question of Sonic's true age.
Well, I see why Sega is hiring a dedicated loremaster now. And this is probably the smallest detail to line up lol. I do agree Sonic being around 18-19 as of Frontiers makes sense So if it ever does come up again I hope they consider something like this (assuming that Frontiers is the farthest game in the timeline... IDK enough about the comics to confirm that stattement).
There was an article from Game Informer shortly before Frontiers was released, which explicitly stated that it was, in fact, the latest game in the timeline (after Forces and Team Sonic Racing), hence the many references to previous games in the series.
Clearly he discovered the secret to eternal youth on one of his adventures. Sonic found the guy who initially discovered it and simply asked. Though he did find it weird that there was a yellow mouse that followed the dude everywhere but he’s seen stranger.
In Brazil, one of the most culturally appreciated and childhood of many generations is a comic called Turma da Mônica (Monica's Gang, in the english version). In the stories, although it all started in the 1950s and they made A TON of birthdays thorough the comics (and they are mostly very fun to read), they never age past 7. Sometimes they even joke about it, about being eternally 7. They are 7 until the next birthday episode, when they suddenly turn into a 6 year old kid going to their 7th birthday. There's also the manga style version that has been going on since 2008 (I'm a huge fan and have the majority of the "mangas"), where they are eternally 15 (just like Sonic!), even if there are main events in the story that takes place months after one another or they're returning from their school break _again._ I just don't think much about it lololol
Honestly not to long ago I worked the math out on my own (using sonic x as a bases for how time works between our reality and theirs) I know it’s not the same continuity but I remember that in SonicX on earth when 6 years passed in Sonics universe on his planet only like 6 months passed.. so what if for every 12 years our time from 1991 (age 15) to now 2022 he has only aged about 2.5 years (his time) making him about 17 almost 18 years old.. makes sense to me it also it will kinda line up with the fact he had a birthday in generations (2011) making him 16 (but our time 20 years) which is 1.6 years his time.
Reminder that Sonic has 3 official canon games with birthday events on it: In Generations (official 1st birthday game) Sonic turned his sweet 16's canonically, time passes, and we have Sonic Runners (official 2nd birthday game) who turned 17 at the time. Sonic Forces, as the medium, and accordingly to the theme of the game, of course after his 6 months missing in captivity, he had his 18th birthday as the hands of Eggman and Infinite, and now Sonic Frontiers (official 3rd birthday game, thanks to the DLC in June) man would be turning 19 canonically. Making Sonic be officially 19, a matured/adult-ish teenager, followed by Knuckles and Amy in age, and the Tails being around his 14-15 at max. Keep in mind, this accordingly to the in-canon games sharing in-game birthday events, in which Sonic Speed Sim doesn't count.
Funny enough I asked my sister this question and she said, “well he’s a teen, is he not?” I took that as fact because he looked like and sounded like a teen.
This video legit made me question about the Sonamy ship more than before since you're head canon of his age (in which I agree on) makes his year gap to Amy longer. A.k.a makes Sonic 19 years old, while Amy (from my calculations and it's not 100% correct) 14 years old in Sonic Frontiers.
Regarding the joke you made about Amy around the end I think it’s safe to say she’s right around sonics age, possibly 17-18 at the least. If she were 12 would she really have been put in charge of the resistance in forces and the restoration efforts in the IDW comics? She’s been showing to be much more mature than her earlier counterparts behavior and I’d find it odd to place a 12 year old in charge of war efforts LOL
For me, the Classic Sonic in Forces and Mania are still alternate timeline versions of Sonic. Basically Modern Sonic exists in a timeline where the Time Eater never grabbed his younger self but that does happen to the Classic Sonic in Gens; which creates a new parallel timeline going into Mania(Plus,Adventures) and then he goes into Forces and then back into his own timeline. If that Classic Sonic in Forces, Gens and Mania continues to exist in the same timeline of Modern Sonic; then Modern Sonic should have known about the events of Generations beforehand since he experienced them as his younger self.
I prefer to think the split timeline still exists, only now we've abandoned the original Modern timeline we saw up to Forces and are witnessing the Classic timeline in the Modern Time Period after Forces happened again. This explains Frontiers Sonic having the drop dash and the Cyberspace Memory stages with Classic and Modern Gens levels, plus we can assume the events of Generations and Forces happened again but slightly differently in ways we simply didn't see. Going this route simplifies all future games canon when referencing the past too, since Sonic would have experienced every prior game and every stage/boss both Classic and Modern experienced in Gens and Forces. It would be less confusing for everyone in the long run.
@@DigitalArctic Honestly, I don't see why you'd do that. Because it becomes more complex when referencing the past; since you'd be referencing new events since you have Mighty and Ray back into things. And if they're only slightly different, how is it any different or more simple than Frontiers taking place in Modern Sonic's timeline?
@@sketchsskotch1073 Honestly there'd be no issue with Frontiers being in the Modern timeline if it weren't for Cyberspace levels being modeled around Sonics memories. That's not to say Frontiers couldn't happen in the Modern timeline, just that if it did certain Cyberspace levels shouldn't exist. It doesn't make sense for Modern Timeline Sonic to remember running through both Classic and Modern Generations levels unless he's literally been through both. There are two possible in universe explanations for it, either Sonic has visited these areas off screen at some point (Which is the best way to excuse Sky Rail and Radical Highway too) or we're in the classic timeline and Sonic lived through both perspectives in Gens. I think it's both, due to those statements that multiple timelines were a fan interpretation of events and there's currently only one canon timeline as of Frontiers. (Which were what triggered me reconsidering what I think the current timeline looks like.) As for Mighty and Ray, I honestly never understood what made things different for them between timelines, there was never a justification for thier absence in the Modern timeline, I always just assumed they existed off screen and just weren't involved in the plot, similar to the apparently now canon Babylon Rogues from Riders. Personally I don't think you can say they don't exist in the Modern timeline but do in Classic while still calling them alternate timelines, at that point it's more like an alternate dimension situation. Lastly, the reason why I think it makes things simpler in future (Despite being complicated now since the 2010s were a mess) is because the writers will be able to reference and even use elements from all Sonic games if they so chose when writing new stories. They could just bring back something like the Hard Boiled Heavies from Mania into the Modern day without any inter dimensional portals or time travel if they wanted.
@@DigitalArctic For me, I don't have much problem with the Cyberspace layouts for the classic stages; because the classic stages in Generations are already based off levels from Sonic's past. Like the start of Classic GHZ, Chemical Plant and Sky Sanctuary all look the same as Sonic's past. Honestly, it just feels a tad lazy because that means technically anything could happen and just be justified. Well at least you've given me another reason to hate the cyberspace stages, alongside reusing level themes and level design. Also I'm fine to regard canon to establish my own headcanon, like how for most of the 2010's. The Two Worlds thing was canon. And also "Male Hedgehogs can only go super" is still canon.
i think classic sonic was 11, and then in sonic adventure he became 15 years old, sonic is definitely not 30 years old because he still sounds like a teenager in current sonic games so maybe he is like 18 or 19 or something
Sonic forever being 15, physically 15 forever sounds cool cause ya know he’s Sonic, he’s full of energy, heroism, can perform tricks and stuff and doesn’t have to worry about broken backspines in his old age. But if you think about 19, fits Sonic in Frontiers. 19 year olds do sound more like that sometimes and they’re just down to earth as he is in Frontiers. Sonic is still 15 though because SEGA says so, Look at Dreamcast and Heroes Sonic, they’re just full of more spirit and adventure, just more excited to save the world than anything. We all want that back. Not a 40 year old Sonic, who saves the world until he passes on.
But that's just it: SEGA _doesn't_ say Sonic is 15 anymore. He no longer has an official age. That's why this video was made in the first place. And no, we _don't_ "all want that back". Some of us would prefer that Sonic actually be treated as a fully fleshed out character who grows from his experiences, and now that SEGA appears to finally be doing that, people like you want to ruin it because living vicariously through Sonic seems to be more important to you. EDIT: Also, let's not forget that not physically aging in-universe is Shadow's thing (it's one of his innate powers as "the Ultimate Life Form"). If Sonic doesn't age either, that would make Shadow less special (not to mention contradicting established canon, since Sonic Generations showed us that he and Tails _did_ age between the classic and modern eras).
@@revolution2.0yt If believing that makes you happy for some reason, congratulations--you still have the freedom to believe it. The difference is that you no longer have the ability to force other people to believe it, too. If that bothers you, all I can say is--CRY SOME MORE!
I think Sonic just goes by cartoon logic where the characters never get older even though time has passed. The difference from Classic and Modern Sonic is just a redesign, not indicative of the character getting older. Idk about why he went from 16 to 15 in Heroes though.
I think Sega is going to age up the characters if they keep the more mature/serious tone like in Frontiers, and I think the biggest point to that idea is sonic and tails. If sonic is going to continue on the path Frontiers laid out, it would make sense for sonic to be an adult because its more ethical (not sure if thats the right word, correct me if you know what I mean) for a mature, kinda mellow and calm sonic to tackle a serious/mature story instead of a fast paced, cocky and immature teenager, and in my opinion they can't have a mature sonic that's still 15 without some time travel BS, because that would change sonics character, while a sonic that has matured over the years and all his adventures would make sense form a story perspective. The next big point is Tails and how he says he wants to start doing solo adventures, and it would make more sense for tails to be a young teen in Frontiers (in Frontiers every island if focused on a specific character and their story, tails story arc seems to focus on self discovery and growing up, I believe that because tails has realizations about how inconsistent he is in storys, wanting to have solo adventures, and how he views himself after Forces. Also Eggman says in an eggmemo that he thinks tails is wasting his potential and staying in sonics shadow and sonic mentions growing up to tails a few times in Frontiers) instead of the 8 year old fox thats followed sonic around for years to finally have those solo adventures and challenges. (Yes, I know they were most likely talking about the dlc to Frontiers when tails said he wants to "go it alone" but weather its the dlc or a spin off game, it'll be the first time tails was playable in a mainstream * not sure if it's the right word * game sense sonic adventure 2 * to my knowledge *).
@@patrickdixon7202 I think it's very telling that actually using one's brain instead of just accepting what some wiki page says is "ignorant" to you (assuming your comments are actually serious and you're not just trolling, which quite frankly I'm still not sure about).
I guess aging only works for certain characters Amy went from 8 to 12 Knuckles went from 15 to 16 Charmy went from 16 to freaking 6 💀 But now it seems the characters have no official ages anymore according to Sonic Channel. And honestly, even though we've known the ages for years, I kinda like with this update maybe we can interpret their ages now. It's kinda like the vocaloids where most don't have confirmed ages, so fans can come up with their own ideas how old they are
I feel like the characters live in a time loop and that’s how they’re still the same age because there’s no way all of these adventures happened in the span of a year.
Ooh! I've also become aware that some of Kirby's adventures took quite a period of time. Like Milky Way Wishes---Kirby has to traverse MULITIPLE planets to find what he needs to save the day. Same with Star Allies and Crystal Shards----there's traveling across multiple planets.
@@ericr.malice318 That explains traveling BETWEEN planets, but as for traveling WITHIN the planets I have my doubts. Kirby obviously doesn't automatically know the location of each planet's star as soon as his warp star arrives there.
Great video! I don't think Forces decanonized the classic games, I think Generations just caused a timeline split. Modern Sonic moved on to Lost World, continuing the main timeline. If Generations didn't happen, Classic Sonic would've moved on to (most notably) Adventure, like Modern Sonic did after 3, but because Generations happened, Classic Sonic went on to Mania. Basically, they were the same person, but since Generations, they are now two different entities from different dimensions.
19 years. That's his age. Why? The answer is very simple, Sonic has 2 official birthday games and with a 3rd happening this year. (Frontiers is the 3rd one) Forces also counts as partial part of his growth too, due of his captivity months.
Perhaps mobians (I know that term isn’t technically canon but there isn’t a better word to include all anthropomorphic creatures in the sonic series) age slower than humans. Sonic being 15 is just how old he is when translated to human development
Sega should just age them up, I don't see why they don't since it would fix a lot of problems. If I had to give them an age range it would be: Sonic: 19-21 Amy: 18-20 Tails: 12-14 Knuckles: 20-23 Silver: 18-20 Shadow: Immortal but mentally in his 20s?? Not so sure about this one. The other children characters like Cream and Charmy could be 10-12 and the adult characters like Cream's mother and Eggman could be left ambiguous. The rest of the characters, such as Tangel or Espio or even Jet aren't of much concern, but I'd just chalk it up to the same age range as Sonic's. Unless, However, they're wanting to get rid of their ages entirely so Sonic could be whatever age they want for whatever he's in like OTHER game characters- Although, if that was the case I don't know why they don't just state that the ages are no longer canon. Sega being Sega ig
I genuinely think Ryan and Roger Tap into the teenage part making him sound 15 (excluding the fact that frontier sonic sounds much older now), but Jason made him sound much older in the 2000’s
Sonic realistically as an orphan who was left somewhere and grew up all alone in most versions of his story so I don't think he knows how old he is and he's so small that he could get away with saying that he's 15 but in a lot of merch he looks a lot older so maybe he thinks he's 15 because the passage of time doesn't matter to him.
What's presented in the actual games themselves is what should be taken as canon, above anything that's said in the comics or on some website or social media post, and in Sonic Forces it's said in very explicit dialogue that Sonic has been fighting Eggman "for decades", which at a minimum means two decades, meaning Sonic is at LEAST 20 in Forces, but surely older since a 0-year-old Sonic likely wasn't fighting anyone yet. If we accept that Sonic was 15 when he first started fighting Eggman, as was originally established, then that makes Sonic at least 45 by Forces and Frontiers. Sonic is unambiguously at least an adult in the recent games, and straight up middle aged if we accept him as 15 from the start. Again, the actual content of the games take precedent over any supplementary material or internet posts.
Ok so i know there may be some debate but here's my headcanon ages for sonic throughout each of the games. Sonic 1 and CD- 14 (i always assumed that the death egg was being constructed during the events of sonic one and was completed in sonic 2. that explains why eggman was able to finish it so quickly in between the first two games. Sonic 2 -15 Sonic 3&K - 15 Sonic adventure 1 and 2 - 16 Sonic heroes and sonic rush - 17 Sonic unleashed - 18 Sonic colors - 20 (mostly because it would take eggman 2 years to build the park and chain multiple planets, even with an army of robots) Sonic generations and lost world: 20 Forces: 21 Frontiers:22 So that makes sonic currently 22 years old as of sonic frontiers And before you ask yes I know that tails should also age but It could be that foxes in universe age differently then hedgehogs.
Sonic 1 and 2 makes sense with the Death Egg being constructed between games actually. I wouldn't put it past Eggman to have been doing that. Nice thought. Overall, your theory seems to differ slightly from mine in how it starts out, but coming to the end, we're pretty much on the same page.
Good video btw definitely subscribing. My headcanon as well with information from websites, videos (sonic fandom website)and manuals (Japanese manuals to be precise.) it says he left Christmas Island at an early age, and since the manual for Sonic Heroes says he's 15 (along with other characters ages.) doing some math and theorising he could at least be 9 to 10 years old in Sonic 1 until adventure 1&2 where he's at least 13 to 14 years old, then Heroes to generations he's about 15 to 16 (06 took place in an alternate universe which means it's not canon and Sega and Sonic Team making Sonic Rivels Slivers canon appearance in the series. Info by Tony Sonic's EWW CHARRI5'S EWW SONIC Generations video.) then 16 to 17 in Forces and Frontiers. That's my theory.
I have a theory what if the reason why sonic is still 15 is because he ages slowly his body is still 15 but his physical age is like 32 (sense he’s existed that long) that’s what I’ve always assumed
Actually I am just 15 or 16 or whatever, the in universe explanation on why the designs changed is well I guess we aged only once which meant our designs changed? I don’t actually know, just ask Yuji Naka or Sonic Team or SEGA or whoever
Here's every confirmed instance of a timeskip or birthday for Sonic (that's at least arguably canon): Knuckles Chaotix: "months" after Sonic 3 & Knuckles (JP manual) Sonic Mania's Mania Mode: 1 year after Sonic CD (little planet appears once a year) Sonic Mania's Encore Mode: 1 year after Mania Mode (little planet) Sonic 4: Episode 2: 1 year after Sonic Mania's Encore Mode (little planet) Sonic Adventure: unspecified timeskip (I headcanon 1 year, but any amount of time is reasonable) (JP manual) Sonic Heroes: over 1 month after Sonic Advance/Sonic Adventure 2 (whichever is latest) (ENG manual) Sonic 06: "years" after Shadow 05 (one of Shadow's mission dialogues) Sonic 06: takes place at the end of Summer (when Sonic's birthday is during Summer) (Sonic Pict, a series of artworks with a short story attached released on SoJ's twitter account - one depicted Silver at the Soleanna Festival with the exposition clarifying this detail) Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity: "months" after Sonic Riders (ENG manual) Sonic Unleashed: birthday (Sonic Pict, one depicted Sonic enjoying a birthday during Sonic Unleashed, and him and Chip deciding to share a birthday due to the latter's amnesia) Sonic Colours: "years" (unlike Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, Eggman needed to maintain a facade of genuine remorse in order for his cover story to make sense to the extent that Tails would believe it) (ENG manual) Sonic Generations: birthday Sonic Runners: birthday, Easter, Halloween, Summer (various side events that may or may not be canon, but I'm just going to assume they are) Sonic Forces: Episode Shadow: "months" (between Shadow attacking Eggman's base and Episode Shadow proper) Sonic Forces: Episode Shadow: 1 month Sonic Forces: 6 months Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW comics): 1 month (takes place 1 month after Forces) Chao in Space: Christmas With all of that in mind, the *minimum* amount of time needed to pass between Sonic 1 and Sonic Frontiers is 9 years and 10 months (and that's assuming Sonic Colours is like a week or smth before Sonic's next birthday). ... And given Charmy's age is listed as 6, you can't exactly put him too late in the timeline or else he wouldn't have been born during Knuckles's Chaotix
I have my own thoughs too, and now that RUclips's algorithm brought me here, I'm going to share them. At first, Sonic was 15 years old, but then, Adventure changed the design, and generation retconned the canon so... Sonic was 8 years old, in adventure had 15 and got 16 years old in generation. The real question is how many years passed between Generation and Frontiers? Perhaps 1, one very crazy year. XD But in Forces passed 7 months, so Sonic can't be 16 years old so perhaps in Frontiers he's between 17 and 18 years old, that's why he is so mature. Plus, Sonic said that Tails and him are getting older or something so, in my headcanon, Sonic should have 18 yo or even more.
The way I solve this is with something that actually relates to humans and explains his passage of time, compared to us. I say that Mobians physically age 1 year for every 5 human years, but mentally age like normal. Using Generations as his "16th" birthday, this would mean that he was 12 in the first game, and would currently be 18. This also explains how young Mobians like Tails, Cream, and Charmy can be as intelligent as they are for their age.
Ok, I would Say that Sonic's Age at Frontiers is Around 24 to 27 years, actually. Sonic also is shown to grow between Black Knight and Colours due to his voice also being deeper. Also, Between Shadow and 06 we can add at least 3 more years, because a G.U.N. agent says that Shadow works for G.U.N. for Years. So, For me, Sonic in Sonic 1 have 10 years, in Sonic Adventure he has 13, in Heroes he has 15, in 06 he has 18, in Colours he has 19, in Generations he has 20, in Forces he has 21 and in Frontiers he has 24.
I think 24-27 is _way_ too old. I think the Sonic characters should/will probably remain around the same age they’ve always been, e.g. Sonic and Knuckles (and Amy? idk where she fits lol) being teens, Tails and Cream being kids, etc.
I think Sega doesn’t really want to make a specific, restricted canon for Sonic and his games and other appearances. I’ve found people who’ve put together timelines for the games, and while they can be made into timelines sure, I don’t think they entirely meant to be restricted to a timeline so they could allow for more creative freedom when making their games. My guess is however we can say Sonic’s age as 15 was retconned. So since Amy aged from 8 to 12 from Sonic CD, i’d assume we go back 4 years and Classic Sonic would be 11. Then his modern version in the games is 15-16 years old. Maybe it’s me but I feel like if we include the comics with the games which are vastly different from each other, things get WAAAAY more complicated. So i’m just making this theory for the games. The comics I don’t read so idk. But i’d assume this would be the same for the comics.
In my opinion, in Sonic, age should be considered irrelevant and should continue to be so since it is more aimed at younger audiences for all ages, so it doesn't make sense to make the characters adults or for them to act in a more mature way, like you can put scenes that an adult can relate to but in general this is not the focus of the franchise so it is not important to think about age as the audience is for all ages especially children and teenagers.
I would think the answer would be simple. His age doesn't matter because he is a cartoon character and a hedgehog. Hedgehog age shouldn't be the same like human age... In cartoon and comics the classic Sonic looks no different in proportions like his older family members. In modern version there are times he is portrayed with children and still looks no different than usual. So even the appearance shouldn't matter when it comes to his age starting from age 15. In the latest game, he even got a voice that no 16 year old would sound. I think even sonic team wants to move to a more adult and serious themed sonic by now. I find it rather ridiculous that if almost all the freedom fighters are children.... where the heck are the adults? They let their kids do some serious activities, risking their lives the whole time while even Sonic s parents just continue living their simple lives at home. I would say, the whole thing of publicly claiming that he is 16 is a fake number and a publishing requirement to appeal to the kids and nothing more. You are free to view him at any age, especially from a franchise that has the most convoluted collection of stories and multiverses and out of hand story plots
I would like Sonic to be aged up to 17. He acts way more mature than he did back then and he’s gone through way more stuff than could ever happen in a single year. I think that aging him up a couple years makes sense and would make his current characterization fit a lot more. Edit: I’d say Sonic is 11 in the classic games. If Amy was aged up from 8 to 12, then Sonic would be 4 years younger than he is in Heroes at the time that Sonic CD takes place.
The fact that people have fanfic of sonic and amy doing the devils tango is real weird when u realize there both minors. And amy is 12, sonic is 15 (maybe). THATS LIKE A 7TH GRADER IS DOING IT WITH A SOFMORE IN HIGH SCHOOL WTH!?!
He’s 15 and is always 15. Never understand why Sonic fans refused this fact for years. I’m starting to understand why some fans gatekeep stuff that came out of sega america of sonic. Sonic the character will always forever will be a teenager. Sonic the franchise is 30+ years old. Learn the difference. Some cartoon characters does not age and never age. Also Sonic was always relaxed and gentle, the “teen Sonic” you described sounds like exactly the american rendition of Sonic, which, is a stark contrast with how he actually is in his japanese version.
What's the point of him being 15 or even given an age if "the Japanese rendition" of the character doesn't act remotely like a teenager. Yo can cl him 15 all you want just understand he rarely rarely acts his age.
@@destinylord7194 Lots fictional characters don’t always act their age, if they do it’ll be less entertaining, there’s less things they can do. If he does act like a teenager you’ll have people complaining about how annoying he is. There’s plenty of fictional characters that are suppose to be children/teenagers that don’t act their age. The Powerpuff Girls are 5 years old but they don’t act like toddlers. Its the beauty of fiction. Is this a new concept to a lot of people? Point is he’s a teenager, he’s 15, he will never be 20, 30 or 40 no matter how old he’s acting. Never understand why people kept insisting that he’s older even though he’s always been 15 (or 16)
@@Freezient Why do you insist he has to be a teenager, I think sonic should be like mickey mouse and spongebob where he pretty much has no age, it makes him feel more iconic and sonic's design to me specifically modern looks ambiguous enough where had I not know what sonic is and was told he was 30, 20 or 15, it would make sense to me. His age is utterly irrelevant in other words. His design is ambious and iconic enough to be ageless, he ain't spiderman sorry lol.
@@destinylord7194 Nobody is insisting that he should be a teenager, his creator literally said that he’s a teenager lmao why do you insisted that he shouldn’t be? Also cause nobody had any problems with it in the first place and frankly it baffles me when I found out people are making a fuss over him being a teenager, mostly people with questionable interests . Y’all are weird. Also Spongebob canonically does have canon age and birth year, he’s an adult, he’s most definitely not a teenager or a child.
in my headcanon in the classic games hes anywhere from 10~13 then, then he is 14 ~ 16 in the adventure era and up until generations then anytime after he is 17~ 18 in IDW then in frontiers
Based on the fact that Sonic from the movies is anywhere from 12-14, I’d consider Classic Sonic in the first game to be around 10 years old and I’d put Sonic’s age at 18-20 in Frontiers meaning that all the events of the games and IDW comics have taken place in a span of 8-10 years
For damn near a decade, i thought he was 25 and classic was way younger, but i only found out last year he was considered 15, but he seems to actually grow up throughout the series weather people like it or not, he still stands as like 20-25 to me
In my headcannon, he's 12 in the Genesis games, 13 in Sonic 4, 3d Blast, and Pocket Adventure, 14 in Advance and Adventure, 15 in Adventure 2-'06, 16 from '06-Generations, 17 from Gens-Runners, 18 from Runners - Forces Spaceport, 19 in Forces, and 20 in Frontiers. Used Amy's age for Genesonic to Adventure since her and Sonic are 3 years apart in Heroes, the celebration in Runners, and the Anniversary games for the rest.
Tbh I really think Sonic just SAYS he's 15 every time he's asked, but actually has no clue about the passage of time. That hedgehog is a mysterious being and he was not enrolled in kindergarten. /hj
This is such a funny theory and is now a part of my headcanon
This makes sense, since he goes really fast
Makes sense
I remember an "adult Sonic Fancomic" in which he forgets that he gets older and/or doesn´t acknowledge it
"I'm pregnant!"
"What!? I can´t be a father I´m too young!!"
"you´re (I don´t remember I think 30)"
"... yeah... yeah I know"
Honestly, as a way to give him more characterization him being kind of a "diva" is a headcanon I like for some reason(?
i read a fanfic once with this exact premise. shadow went on a whole quest to find out sonic's real age, and he learned that sonic's a cryptid with no sense of time that says he's 15 whenever asked because he genuinely believes he's still 15. it's awesome
He ages in the same way Ash Ketchum does
Did Ash even celebrate his birthday in the anime?
@@MrPetpet111 No
@@MrPetpet111 I think he turned 11, but he went back to being 20 💀
I can’t edit my comment, I meant 10 😭
Still bumb that they are retiring ash :(
Maybe Sonic's age was the friends he made along the way...
Eggman when he was 0 years old 💀
well in that case then sonic might be 30 or something because there are way too many characters in the sonic universe xD
Wut?
it's logical (not really)
Wut........
I find it incredibly simple and it usually shocks me what crazy numbers people throw out, as low as 8 and as high as 47. Here's the facts, here's what we know:
He's 15 in Adventure 2
He celebrated his birthday in Generations so he's over 16
He celebrated his birthday in Sonic Runners which ISN'T a Generations adaptation but a canon game to the timeline so he's over 17.
How much time passes from Generations to Forces is unknown but there is a 6 month time jump in Forces, so Sonic is either late into his 17th year or past 18 by the end of Forces.
Given his different voice in Frontiers I'd argue it's safe to assume some time has passed, as well as taking into consideration the IDW comics which take place over many weeks at the very least (and it honestly feels like months, especially after the Metal Virus saga), Sonic right now in Frontiers is 18+. Could be 18, could be 19, could be 20, but I'd assume they're trying to keep him as young as possible without retconing anything, so he's probably 18.
Who the hell thinks he’s 47? Lol
@@justinc.5591 Ikr 😂 and yet somehow I've seen people suggest that.
this is way too good of a comment
@@pulse27 Thanks I guess😅, some would say it's way past cool👀.
I feel like I'm just stating the obvious with it tbh, surprised people get his age so astronomically mixed up.
ok so
Ian has mentioned before on the Bumblekast that Runners might not be Canon
06 has mentioned that shadow has been a GUN agent for years (meaning at minimum 2)
Colors also has a line saying it took years for him to build the Amusement park
Sonic forces is about 6 months plus theres the ep shadow dlc taking place months prior
The Sonic Channel 2021 cover stories have multiple months pass after forces, possibly an entire year
"A day in the life of Sonic Vol.1" has him have a birthday with chip implying he had a birthday in Unleashed so thats another year before Gens
I might also be missing a few things but long story short theres lots of stuff in game you can pull from that makes him quite old.
Does not matter tho cus recently SEGA removed the ages from the characters bios and seems to just be doing away with them. tbf its not like the ages have been relevant besides maybe heroes at latest and even after Gens, WoG said he was still 15.
They absolutely have and rn seem to be retconning ages. They are leaving it nebulous for simplicity's sake and to reach the correct audience im assuming. but yea they do be retconning
You see Sonic is staying perpetually 15 because one time Tails watched too much Doctor Who and attempted to recreate the tardis and it went horribly wrong.
Take some notes here, Sega
“I don’t want to go.” - The First Sonic, 1998
Geronimo-Sonic 2000
Honestly i think saying hes 19/20 in frontiers makes sense.
My headcanon is that he starts his adventures relatively young. Id say like 10-12. And by the time heroes rolls around hes 15.
His age also matters because we get a sense of his growth in terms of strength as well as how he actually rests and relaxes.
Imagine he goes through unleashed, colors and then generations all in the span of like, 5 months. That's sonic going from like, Light speed, to mftl and able to take on guys he needed to be SUPER for in his base form in less than a year. With barely any time to rest and recover from previous fights. That's not only insane growth in terms of power but in speed and recovery as well.
It'd be like if u went to the gym at 12 and started lifting 35 lb weights, then came back 2 weeks later lifting 2 ton weights, then came back a day later and lifted the ENTIRE DAMN GYM.
Agreed
He really did seem more mature in Frontiers. I wouldn’t be surprised if SEGA later confirmed that in Frontiers he was 19 or 20.
@@emilykapallen4979 To a degree, I honestly hope that happens, because there are people in this comment section who would be provoked into angry tantrums, and I would find that _very_ entertaining to witness. (But seriously, I think leaving his age ambiguous from now on is the most sensible option.)
@@davebrown2056 why? Why not just say he’s 20? It’s not hurting anybody. So why are people so scared?
@@LilXancheX My guess is that SEGA is concerned that aging Sonic up too much would make him unrelatable to the target audience. I realize how silly that is, since for the past decade they seemed to be aiming for children much younger than 15 (and of course there's a substantial number of adult Sonic fans), but SEGA is a corporation, so we shouldn't expect them to make perfect sense all the time. Anyway, looking at it from that perspective, implying that he ages without outright stating it probably seems like a safer option.
Sonic's Age is ∞
∞¹⁵
fun is infinite
@@johnremizeztomilloso158how did you do that?
@@No_name1120 just hold press the = and again on the number 1 and 5
∞99
There's also some dialogue that completely screws with the ages set for characters. Like in Sonic Forces, Infinite states that Eggman has tried and failed to destroy Sonic for "decades", implying it's been more than 10 (maybe 20) years. There's also a quote in Sonic Frontiers where Sage says that Tails has known Sonic for "most of his life", implying that Frontiers takes place more than 8 years after Sonic 2. This whole age thing is just a confusing mess given all the little details like that
I really wouldn't take those lines as hard cannon. If anything meta-hyperbole. As in irl we know it's been decades for us that's Sonic has bested Eggman, while in-universe it's just Infinite using gross hyperbole to exaggerate how much Eggman's been beaten by Sonic. Same with the Tails thing.
@@chaoschannel3428 I understand the line from infinite being hyperbole, but I just can't see Sage in that same kind of exaggeration
It should probably be noted that in the Japanese version of Forces, Infinite simply says that Eggman "has lost to [Sonic] time and time again", while in the Japanese version of Frontiers, Sage doesn't mention how long Tails has known Sonic at all.
@@thatoneguy5347 Sage isn't reliable.
@@thatoneguy5347 but when you say most of his life it could mean some or maybe all the years he’s currently alive. Doesn’t necessarily mean he’s known him for 30 years
My head canon is that every 10 years is one year in Sonic's universe.
SAME
wasn't something like this canon in the anime?
@@corexmachina I have no clue
@@corexmachina In the anime time passes differently in Sonic's world when compared to Earth
@@vivthevov yea when chris found a way to mobius he was like 10 years younger
Going to offer up my own explanation.
Classic Era
Sonic: 11
Amy: 8
Tails: 4
Knuckles: 12
Classic Sonic is constantly shown to be considerably younger yet still has the attitude fitting a middle-schooler who just saved the world. (Or at least saving Mighty and Ray in SegaSonic since that game seems to take place before Sonic 1.)
Tails met Sonic when he was very young and in a lot of media at the time, he was portrayed as being younger than just 8 judging by voice direction and just how he was presented in general.
Amy is known to have been 8 in CD before having a design change and agelift to 12 in Sonic Adventure. So it is reasonable to say that between Sonic 3 & K and Adventure, the countless spin-offs took place over a few years.
In Sonic Adventure, pretty much all of the main cast act like they haven't seen each other for a long time and that the Classic Era stories happened years ago.
So Classic to Adventure is four years.
The Adventure Era is much more simple since all games in this time period happened relatively close to each other and were closely related. Thus, they can fit within one year.
Sonic: 15
Amy: 12
Tails: 8
Knuckles: 16
After the Adventure Era, Sonic's birthday happens, meaning everyone goes up a year.
There have since been a few more games and Sonic Forces gave us a MASSIVE time-skip, meaning it's likely that Sonic missed his own birthday, Tails hit the big 1-0, and Knuckles became a legal adult (at least as far as the United Federation is concerned anyways).
So currently:
Sonic: 17
Amy: 14
Tails: 10
Knuckles: 18
This is pretty much how I see the ages of the Sonic characters. It makes sense that they would be much younger in the Classic era as they look physically like kids instead of teens, Sonic is said to be less powerful than he was in later games, implying that he gained more skills over time, and as another commenter said, Tails mentioned that he's known Sonic almost all his life at the time of Frontiers. That's a perfectly reasonable statement if you met someone at age 4 and are currently 10 years old.
@@sunettas9738 You're both foolish.
There still the same age as the adventure era they don’t age
i have a really hard time beleiving tails was 4 in the classic games
@@godswillotonye6519 how?
Doesn’t Amy aging up from 8 to 12 retroactively make Sonic 11 during Sonic CD?
Basically my thoughts. If Amy is 8 in CD and she is 3 years younger than Sonic in the modern iteration of the character, Sonic in the classic era should be around 11.
No, he is still 15. How does that even make sense?
As much as I liked that idea and the 4ish year time gap its dosent work. The ages of characters were retconned for Adventure. Amy was aged up, Tails stayed 8, Sonic went from 16 > 15 and Knuckles went from 15 > 16.
If you take Amys aging up as true time progression in canon youd have to justify the weird age changes
@@lerona.martyr3811 No, Tails was aged up to 11 for Adventure and onwards
@@lerona.martyr3811 I think that originally the Classic to Adventure era design shift was more of a stylistic choice, but with generations they basically were like “no he was just a lot younger back then”
Either that, or generations Classic sonic is actually far younger and has yet to experience any of Sonic’s adventures. He is seemingly based off sonic 1 concept art, after all.
20 is an INCREDIBLY important age in Japan, signifying adulthood. So I doubt he would be 20 or older. Sonic also takes a lot of inspiration from the shonen genre (which is notorious for never aging their protagonists) so I think being slightly older than 15 works for the series.
Counter points: Vector the Crocodile went from being 16 in Knuckles Chaotix to being 20 in Sonic Heroes without any fanfare. Morio Kishimoto said in an interview from last August that he wanted Frontiers to be "less shonen and more seinen". And there are actually quite a few shonen series that _do_ age their protagonists--including Dragon Ball, the one that Sonic is most frequently compared to.
@@davebrown2056 great counter points!
What? Most of the popular shonen have some massive time skip.
@@fightingmedialounge519 I was thinking the same thing. Other than Dragon Ball (which I already mentioned), I know Naruto did a time skip (though I haven't watched that series in its entirety--I'll have to get on that one of these days), as did Fist of the North Star and Gurren Lagann, and if I'm not mistaken, so did One Piece. And let's not forget JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, which takes place across multiple generations. Characters remaining perpetually young is something I tend to associate more with western animation.
@@davebrown2056and in that same game Charmy went from 16 to just 6
i just go by different age brackets for the characters.
child: consisiting of characters like cream and charmy who are portrayed as yound childeren
young teen: consisting of characers like tails who are more mature than the child bracket but still quite young.
teen: consisting of characters like amy who are portrayed as teenagers.
young adult/ old teen: consisting of characters like sonic, knuckles and espio who are clearly close to being a full adult and are fairly mature.
adult: for characters like vector, vanilla, rouge, eggman and shadow who are portrayed as adults.
elderly, this is used for characters who are portrayed as elderly like gerald,
and unknown: used for characters like the end, chaos, chip and dark gaia who we know are ancient but have no explicit time frame of when things happened
So, would big be an adult, elderly because fishing and laid back, or just old teen because "canonically" he's not that much older than Sonic.
@@raze2012_ Big would be like a Down Syndrome Adult.
@@raze2012_ I'd definitely vouch that if Sonic is 18 then Big would be somewhere between an adult and a senior. Probably in his 30's but more of a doofy manchild who's still mature enough to look out for his friends like Amy & Cream. He's less of a grandpa and more of a fun older uncle who may not be the smartest.
Shadow is absolutely not an adult, he's more of the young adult bastard, he's just...like.... He thinks about shit a bit more than, say, Sonic. Whenever they compete like... At ALL he suddenly acts just like a petty teenager, so his more "mature" thought processes are more likely than not just a result of trauma, unfortunately, which I can relate and attest to
@@exist4046 he's a bona fide adult by 06. As much as he likes to talk shit about Sonic, he wholeheartedly tell everyone to give up hope if Sonic is not alive to take on Solaris, implying he's more than humble enough to accept Sonic is at least his equal and that the world need Sonic more than it does Shadow. Later games don't really have Shadow in them so that mature Shadow is as far as we got in game canon.
He was originally stated as 15 on Sonic Channel, but then his and every other characters' age was removed, which tells me Sega doesn't really want this to have an answer anymore. My guess is cuz said ages makes things complicated with Amy considering she was 11.
I’m not completely sure, but I feel like SEGA is getting ready to retcon her age _again._ With the way she’s acted in recent media, especially in the comics and in Frontiers, she seems way too mature to be 12.
Here's what I find both frustrating and hilarious about this whole thing: the text of those Sonic Channel profiles has been exactly the same since they were originally written, despite some of them containing obvious errors (i.e., Eggman's real name being "unknown" even though "Ivo Robotnik" was established in the Adventure games) or outdated and potentially offensive humor (i.e., every female character's weight being listed as "secret"). Hell, Chip's profile contains almost no information at all, because it was designed to avoid spoiling the plot of Unleashed. Now, decades later, they finally decided to update them, and the ages were the _only_ thing they changed. And when Ian Flynn (who claimed at the time to have had prior knowledge of this) was asked about it, all he had to say was "Don't worry about it right now." Seriously, what the hell goes on at that company?
I will never understand why they decided to do that, and I do not understand why fans refused to accept that Sonic is always been varying age of 15 or 16, but he’s never going to be 20. He’s a fictional character he can go through modernized redesigns but his age stays static forever
@@Freezient I do not understand why people like you refuse to accept that not every fictional character is Bart Simpson. Some of them have static ages, sure, but there's absolutely no reason for Sonic to be one of those characters. Thankfully, SEGA appears to have finally figured that out, even if you haven't.
@@davebrown2056 I thought I replied to this already, but I haven’t? Weird.
Anyway, yes there is a reason, he’s a mascot. idk why so many people wanted him to older/aging when there’s never a need to, he’s always been a teenager,
I don’t even understand why Sega deleted their ages, all it seems like just to please fans for no reason, they’re been going all “everything is canon” which simply just they don’t care.
Sonic is Sega’s mascot, they usually keep their ages static to keep them consistent throughout time. Do you see Mickey Mouse or Mario aging/getting older?
no matter what age Sonic is, Sonic is always a teenager, not some middle aged guy with midlife crisis like they attempted to do in Archie. Is there a reason why Sonic needs to be older or needs to age?
People really need to just write/read fanfics for fun if they desperately wanted Sonic to be older.
Sonic being 19 is actually what my headcanon for his age is honestly.
Why?
Sonics age is all over the place because he time travelled to many times - it got scrambled by the big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff.
ok this actually can make sense
This makes perfect sense!
Most likely
Right? Like how many times did he use chaos control and portals? And pretty sure the emeralds and going super all the time is bound it have some affects on your body.
Sonic is 15/16 its that simple
Here’s my sense on it: Even though Sega claimed the voice tone is a one time thing for frontiers, I doubt it since they also said they plan to further go down that road of frontiers and given People generally seemed to have a positive response toward the voice direction I think it’s here to stay. With that in mind, if we are to assume he is an adult in frontiers than I’d say he in his early twenties or at the bare minimum 21. The reason I say that it because it still seems he is 3 years older than Amy and Although Sega doesn’t seem too keen on putting Sonic in a relationship, I do think they wanna keep the character to does have feelings for him within a reasonable and legal gap especially since the Twitter Takeovers (which do seem to be semi canon) seem to hint that he may like her back as well. Plus Amy sounds older in Frontiers when compared to previous games aswell. So from what it seems to me, Sonic is 21 at the bare minimum as of Frontiers.
I think 18-19 is fine for Frontiers, he's just been through enough at this point that he's matured a good bit.
Sonic is around his 19 or 20 at max. I fully don't see him being 21 yet, maybe in 2 years it would be according to his official birthday games.
Remember that Generations, Runners and now Frontiers are the 3 games in canon that celebrates his birthday, Forces partially has a bit of it as well since he aged after his captivity during those 6 months missing.
They definitely matured greatly to be 12 and 15 years old
Pretty sure it was stated somewhere that Sonic does indeed have feelings for Amy.
I think a good range is around 18-21.
What bothers me is that sometimes time actually passes in Sonic's world.
Little Planet is said to come back each year to the same location. It obviously first appears in Sonic CD, but it also comes back in Sonic 4, (which supposedly is still canon and happens somewhere between 3 and the first Adventure game), making it make even less sense that Sonic is 15 years old in both games.
It also comes back in Mania but that time it probably happened due to Phantom Ruby shenanigans.
For me Sonic is at least 17, since in his first appearance they claimed he was 15. At this age is when all of the classic games take place. A year passes, his design changes and most of the modern games happen. Then comes his birthday in Generations making him 17. Plus the 6 months that he was in jail in Forces he might actually be close to being 18.
At least this is how I like to view all this conundrum. It's kinda wild that after 31 years of the franchise SEGA doesn't want him to age a single year lmao.
You're partially saying my same statement but let me help you fix it.
Look, in Generations (official 1st birthday game) Sonic turned his sweet 16's canonically, time passes, and we have Sonic Runners (official 2nd birthday game) who turned 17 at the time. Sonic Forces, as the medium, and accordingly to the theme of the game, of course after his 6 months missing in captivity, he had his 18th birthday as the hands of Eggman and Infinite, and now Sonic Frontiers (official 3rd birthday game, thanks to the DLC in June) man would be turning 19 canonically. Making Sonic be officially 19, a matured/adult-ish teenager, followed by Knuckles and Amy in age, and the Tails being around his 14-15 at max.
Keep in mind, this accordingly to the in-canon games sharing in-game birthday events, in which Sonic Speed Sim doesn't count.
And this is what the "SANIC SHUD ALWUZ BE FUFTEEN!" crowd (who keep replying to my comments today--maybe I'm cursed) don't seem to understand: regardless of what it says in those old character profiles, _time is explicitly passing in the actual canon._ (There are other examples besides the ones you gave, like how one of Shadow's fellow G.U.N. agents from Sonic '06 mentions that Shadow joined that organization "years ago".) It isn't reasonable for SEGA to expect everyone in their audience to completely ignore this fact, especially when it's been a significant plot point in certain games (i.e., Sonic Generations). That's the issue here, not that any of us want to see a pudgy fifty-year-old Sonic huffing and puffing around Green Hill.
@@KookieStar Runners isn't canon.
@@davebrown2056 That's what I'm fucking talking about. The Sonic Reddit pissed me the hell off when it comes to this topic, cause what's the point of having a linear continuity timeline then? Having characters ages be static or 'ageless' just cuckholds the entire appeal.
You know, if Sonic moves fast enough, that would actually cause time dilation from his perspective and make him biologically younger than his chronological age.
That's fair. Most people didn't think about that, including me.
@@DooDooWater9732-n5z We didn’t think of it cause thats stupid. You cant force real science on fiction. If he was experiencing time dilation everytime he ran the only thing hes doing is moving faster into the future. Meaning, how can he save animals if hes too busy running? And if you say some shit like “He doesn’t have to run that fast all the time. “ Then his speed wont be relevant enough for him to experience time dilation and thus aging. The real reason Sonic doesn’t age because fictional characters only age when it’s necessary. Stop wasting your lives over shit like this.
Where did they confirm Sonic's lower voice was a one time gimmick?
interviews
I have yet to hear that either, maybe they meant it that way because of the serious tone of frontiers??
By the way if someone can actually link me where they say it that would be awesome. I don't doubt the possibility that it's the case I just couldn't find it online.
@@lerona.martyr3811
Source: my ass
I think 19 sounds about right for Frontiers. Although that would mean that sonic 1 and frontiers are canonically only 6 years apart which is weird to think about. I also like Sonic being 15 in the adventure era. Being immature but still doing what's right. He acts a little more mature in Frontiers but still overall is himself and I love it. It really makes it feel like Sonic is a character that grows mentally and physically with the design changes and writing tone changes.
Ok ok I've actually thought about this a lot. Around 3:02 in the video, he mentioned that Amy Rose was 8 in Sonic CD, but she was 12 in Heroes. That means 4 years has passed. If Sonic was 15 in Heroes, then he was 11 or 12 in CD. Hope that helps!
I think just because Amy’s age was changed doesn’t mean anyone else’s necessarily has to. They just retconned her lol
I’m waiting to play as 40 year old Sonic where he has to determine what percentage of his rings he wants to keep in his 401k
the blue hedgehog was ash ketchum all along
My two comfort characters combined !
Well, considering how much Rule 34 of Sonic and his friends there is, I sure _hope_ he's at least 18 by now.
Honestly, my inner storyteller is intensely intrigued by the potential implications of Sonic literally not aging despite multiple canonical years clearly passing. Think about it, We don't really even have a proper canonical backstory for him, Sonic is one of the small handful of individuals capable of turning Super with the Chaos Emeralds, effortlessly reproduces Shadow's Chaos Control after seeing him do it once despite pretty much nobody else being able to do so at all, and Shadow himself even makes the observation that Sonic himself might actually be the true Ultimate Life Form. Even after that, Sonic continuously just kinda casually does things that nobody should be able to do, such as in Frontiers with his casual entering and leaving of Cyberspace.
What if Shadow was actually right? What if Sonic really IS the Ultimate Life Form? What if the characters around him are slowly aging up, but he's just... Not? Who and what really is Sonic the Hedgehog? Maybe I'm overthinking it, but that's what makes being a fan of a franchise so fun. We don't nitpick the finer details out of these franchises out of hate, but because we care enough about the franchise to do so. It's fun to theorize about such things.
More likely to do with Japan values on youth. One of my favorite series, Hunter x Hunter, has the main protagonist as 12 yo at the start. It’s stated canonically that at least 1-2 years have passed since the beginning of the story, and the main character is still introduced as 12 years old in his most recent manga appearance lol… oh Japan.
The fact is, there is no good answer because no one at SEGA cares enough to keep this story straight. New game and new media just arbitrarily label Sonic age as whatever they want with no thought to previous continuity.
You put more effort into tracking Sonic's age than the people who actually create Sonic media, it's pointless to try and find a conclusive answer that makes sense to the question of Sonic's true age.
At this point I just say "Yes" when ppl ask this question becuase of how complicated it is.
Well, I see why Sega is hiring a dedicated loremaster now. And this is probably the smallest detail to line up lol.
I do agree Sonic being around 18-19 as of Frontiers makes sense So if it ever does come up again I hope they consider something like this (assuming that Frontiers is the farthest game in the timeline... IDK enough about the comics to confirm that stattement).
There was an article from Game Informer shortly before Frontiers was released, which explicitly stated that it was, in fact, the latest game in the timeline (after Forces and Team Sonic Racing), hence the many references to previous games in the series.
He is not 18-19 hes 15/16
the lore manager's job is just give BS explanations for lore inconsistencies throughout the series
Clearly he discovered the secret to eternal youth on one of his adventures. Sonic found the guy who initially discovered it and simply asked.
Though he did find it weird that there was a yellow mouse that followed the dude everywhere but he’s seen stranger.
LMAO! I love the Ash references in these comments!!!
In Brazil, one of the most culturally appreciated and childhood of many generations is a comic called Turma da Mônica (Monica's Gang, in the english version). In the stories, although it all started in the 1950s and they made A TON of birthdays thorough the comics (and they are mostly very fun to read), they never age past 7. Sometimes they even joke about it, about being eternally 7. They are 7 until the next birthday episode, when they suddenly turn into a 6 year old kid going to their 7th birthday. There's also the manga style version that has been going on since 2008 (I'm a huge fan and have the majority of the "mangas"), where they are eternally 15 (just like Sonic!), even if there are main events in the story that takes place months after one another or they're returning from their school break _again._ I just don't think much about it lololol
Sonic here casually being 15 for the last 30 years
8:28 Man. She was 8 back in Sonic CD. WE HAVE TO KNOW IT!!!
Honestly not to long ago I worked the math out on my own (using sonic x as a bases for how time works between our reality and theirs) I know it’s not the same continuity but I remember that in SonicX on earth when 6 years passed in Sonics universe on his planet only like 6 months passed.. so what if for every 12 years our time from 1991 (age 15) to now 2022 he has only aged about 2.5 years (his time) making him about 17 almost 18 years old.. makes sense to me it also it will kinda line up with the fact he had a birthday in generations (2011) making him 16 (but our time 20 years) which is 1.6 years his time.
Reminder that Sonic has 3 official canon games with birthday events on it:
In Generations (official 1st birthday game) Sonic turned his sweet 16's canonically, time passes, and we have Sonic Runners (official 2nd birthday game) who turned 17 at the time. Sonic Forces, as the medium, and accordingly to the theme of the game, of course after his 6 months missing in captivity, he had his 18th birthday as the hands of Eggman and Infinite, and now Sonic Frontiers (official 3rd birthday game, thanks to the DLC in June) man would be turning 19 canonically. Making Sonic be officially 19, a matured/adult-ish teenager, followed by Knuckles and Amy in age, and the Tails being around his 14-15 at max.
Keep in mind, this accordingly to the in-canon games sharing in-game birthday events, in which Sonic Speed Sim doesn't count.
@@KookieStar 1. Sonic having a birthday every time a game releases in June 23rd isn't canon.
2. Sonic Runners isn't canon.
Funny enough I asked my sister this question and she said, “well he’s a teen, is he not?” I took that as fact because he looked like and sounded like a teen.
Does he look like a teen? I doubt he'd look that different as an adult
This video legit made me question about the Sonamy ship more than before since you're head canon of his age (in which I agree on) makes his year gap to Amy longer. A.k.a makes Sonic 19 years old, while Amy (from my calculations and it's not 100% correct) 14 years old in Sonic Frontiers.
Regarding the joke you made about Amy around the end I think it’s safe to say she’s right around sonics age, possibly 17-18 at the least. If she were 12 would she really have been put in charge of the resistance in forces and the restoration efforts in the IDW comics? She’s been showing to be much more mature than her earlier counterparts behavior and I’d find it odd to place a 12 year old in charge of war efforts LOL
Sonamy fans trying to deny the reality of why this couple will never happen:
For me, the Classic Sonic in Forces and Mania are still alternate timeline versions of Sonic. Basically Modern Sonic exists in a timeline where the Time Eater never grabbed his younger self but that does happen to the Classic Sonic in Gens; which creates a new parallel timeline going into Mania(Plus,Adventures) and then he goes into Forces and then back into his own timeline.
If that Classic Sonic in Forces, Gens and Mania continues to exist in the same timeline of Modern Sonic; then Modern Sonic should have known about the events of Generations beforehand since he experienced them as his younger self.
I prefer to think the split timeline still exists, only now we've abandoned the original Modern timeline we saw up to Forces and are witnessing the Classic timeline in the Modern Time Period after Forces happened again. This explains Frontiers Sonic having the drop dash and the Cyberspace Memory stages with Classic and Modern Gens levels, plus we can assume the events of Generations and Forces happened again but slightly differently in ways we simply didn't see.
Going this route simplifies all future games canon when referencing the past too, since Sonic would have experienced every prior game and every stage/boss both Classic and Modern experienced in Gens and Forces. It would be less confusing for everyone in the long run.
Too work for my brain
@@DigitalArctic Honestly, I don't see why you'd do that. Because it becomes more complex when referencing the past; since you'd be referencing new events since you have Mighty and Ray back into things. And if they're only slightly different, how is it any different or more simple than Frontiers taking place in Modern Sonic's timeline?
@@sketchsskotch1073 Honestly there'd be no issue with Frontiers being in the Modern timeline if it weren't for Cyberspace levels being modeled around Sonics memories. That's not to say Frontiers couldn't happen in the Modern timeline, just that if it did certain Cyberspace levels shouldn't exist. It doesn't make sense for Modern Timeline Sonic to remember running through both Classic and Modern Generations levels unless he's literally been through both. There are two possible in universe explanations for it, either Sonic has visited these areas off screen at some point (Which is the best way to excuse Sky Rail and Radical Highway too) or we're in the classic timeline and Sonic lived through both perspectives in Gens. I think it's both, due to those statements that multiple timelines were a fan interpretation of events and there's currently only one canon timeline as of Frontiers. (Which were what triggered me reconsidering what I think the current timeline looks like.)
As for Mighty and Ray, I honestly never understood what made things different for them between timelines, there was never a justification for thier absence in the Modern timeline, I always just assumed they existed off screen and just weren't involved in the plot, similar to the apparently now canon Babylon Rogues from Riders. Personally I don't think you can say they don't exist in the Modern timeline but do in Classic while still calling them alternate timelines, at that point it's more like an alternate dimension situation.
Lastly, the reason why I think it makes things simpler in future (Despite being complicated now since the 2010s were a mess) is because the writers will be able to reference and even use elements from all Sonic games if they so chose when writing new stories. They could just bring back something like the Hard Boiled Heavies from Mania into the Modern day without any inter dimensional portals or time travel if they wanted.
@@DigitalArctic For me, I don't have much problem with the Cyberspace layouts for the classic stages; because the classic stages in Generations are already based off levels from Sonic's past. Like the start of Classic GHZ, Chemical Plant and Sky Sanctuary all look the same as Sonic's past.
Honestly, it just feels a tad lazy because that means technically anything could happen and just be justified.
Well at least you've given me another reason to hate the cyberspace stages, alongside reusing level themes and level design.
Also I'm fine to regard canon to establish my own headcanon, like how for most of the 2010's. The Two Worlds thing was canon. And also "Male Hedgehogs can only go super" is still canon.
i think classic sonic was 11, and then in sonic adventure he became 15 years old, sonic is definitely not 30 years old because he still sounds like a teenager in current sonic games so maybe he is like 18 or 19 or something
Sonic forever being 15, physically 15 forever sounds cool cause ya know he’s Sonic, he’s full of energy, heroism, can perform tricks and stuff and doesn’t have to worry about broken backspines in his old age. But if you think about 19, fits Sonic in Frontiers. 19 year olds do sound more like that sometimes and they’re just down to earth as he is in Frontiers. Sonic is still 15 though because SEGA says so, Look at Dreamcast and Heroes Sonic, they’re just full of more spirit and adventure, just more excited to save the world than anything. We all want that back. Not a 40 year old Sonic, who saves the world until he passes on.
But that's just it: SEGA _doesn't_ say Sonic is 15 anymore. He no longer has an official age. That's why this video was made in the first place. And no, we _don't_ "all want that back". Some of us would prefer that Sonic actually be treated as a fully fleshed out character who grows from his experiences, and now that SEGA appears to finally be doing that, people like you want to ruin it because living vicariously through Sonic seems to be more important to you.
EDIT: Also, let's not forget that not physically aging in-universe is Shadow's thing (it's one of his innate powers as "the Ultimate Life Form"). If Sonic doesn't age either, that would make Shadow less special (not to mention contradicting established canon, since Sonic Generations showed us that he and Tails _did_ age between the classic and modern eras).
@@davebrown2056 Hes still 15/16 💀
@@revolution2.0yt If believing that makes you happy for some reason, congratulations--you still have the freedom to believe it. The difference is that you no longer have the ability to force other people to believe it, too. If that bothers you, all I can say is--CRY SOME MORE!
sonic's age might as well be a time paradox...
*Sonic is canonically old enough to drive a car. Team Sonic Racing/ Sega All Stars Racing games etc. Also he is probably older in Frontiers.*
He was able to drive as early as sonic drift?
That logic doesn't make any sense because Baby Mario and Baby Luigi can drive in the MarioKart games.
@@weathermansam2 true
No? That’s not- Just no.
@@weathermansam2 I don't know. I didn't play any Mario Kart games
I think Sonic just goes by cartoon logic where the characters never get older even though time has passed. The difference from Classic and Modern Sonic is just a redesign, not indicative of the character getting older.
Idk about why he went from 16 to 15 in Heroes though.
I think Sega is going to age up the characters if they keep the more mature/serious tone like in Frontiers, and I think the biggest point to that idea is sonic and tails. If sonic is going to continue on the path Frontiers laid out, it would make sense for sonic to be an adult because its more ethical (not sure if thats the right word, correct me if you know what I mean) for a mature, kinda mellow and calm sonic to tackle a serious/mature story instead of a fast paced, cocky and immature teenager, and in my opinion they can't have a mature sonic that's still 15 without some time travel BS, because that would change sonics character, while a sonic that has matured over the years and all his adventures would make sense form a story perspective. The next big point is Tails and how he says he wants to start doing solo adventures, and it would make more sense for tails to be a young teen in Frontiers (in Frontiers every island if focused on a specific character and their story, tails story arc seems to focus on self discovery and growing up, I believe that because tails has realizations about how inconsistent he is in storys, wanting to have solo adventures, and how he views himself after Forces. Also Eggman says in an eggmemo that he thinks tails is wasting his potential and staying in sonics shadow and sonic mentions growing up to tails a few times in Frontiers) instead of the 8 year old fox thats followed sonic around for years to finally have those solo adventures and challenges. (Yes, I know they were most likely talking about the dlc to Frontiers when tails said he wants to "go it alone" but weather its the dlc or a spin off game, it'll be the first time tails was playable in a mainstream * not sure if it's the right word * game sense sonic adventure 2 * to my knowledge *).
Delete this rubbish.
@@patrickdixon7202 no
@@someguyontheinternet2308 Stay ignorant, then.
@@patrickdixon7202 I think it's very telling that actually using one's brain instead of just accepting what some wiki page says is "ignorant" to you (assuming your comments are actually serious and you're not just trolling, which quite frankly I'm still not sure about).
@@davebrown2056 You clearly love speculating.
I guess aging only works for certain characters
Amy went from 8 to 12
Knuckles went from 15 to 16
Charmy went from 16 to freaking 6 💀
But now it seems the characters have no official ages anymore according to Sonic Channel. And honestly, even though we've known the ages for years, I kinda like with this update maybe we can interpret their ages now. It's kinda like the vocaloids where most don't have confirmed ages, so fans can come up with their own ideas how old they are
He’s 16 in frontiers. But when he was knocked out upon entering starfall islands, he woke up with a sore throat.
I feel like the characters live in a time loop and that’s how they’re still the same age because there’s no way all of these adventures happened in the span of a year.
I mean, sonic goes fast
Ooh! I've also become aware that some of Kirby's adventures took quite a period of time.
Like Milky Way Wishes---Kirby has to traverse MULITIPLE planets to find what he needs to save the day. Same with Star Allies and Crystal Shards----there's traveling across multiple planets.
@@DrawciaGleam02 warp star, i'd imagine
@@ericr.malice318
That explains traveling BETWEEN planets, but as for traveling WITHIN the planets I have my doubts.
Kirby obviously doesn't automatically know the location of each planet's star as soon as his warp star arrives there.
Sonic, amy and knuckles age constantly flopping up and down for no reason
Tails: 🙂
Sonic must be having a really tough year.
Great video!
I don't think Forces decanonized the classic games, I think Generations just caused a timeline split. Modern Sonic moved on to Lost World, continuing the main timeline. If Generations didn't happen, Classic Sonic would've moved on to (most notably) Adventure, like Modern Sonic did after 3, but because Generations happened, Classic Sonic went on to Mania. Basically, they were the same person, but since Generations, they are now two different entities from different dimensions.
Trick question : He ages with us in our hearts 😔
19 years. That's his age. Why? The answer is very simple, Sonic has 2 official birthday games and with a 3rd happening this year. (Frontiers is the 3rd one) Forces also counts as partial part of his growth too, due of his captivity months.
I actually much prefer how you broke it down towards the end. It makes the most sense. Stealing headcanon now
Honestly, it feels right with Sonic being 19. Let's hope he ages consistently with each game released.
My guess is that he’s 17, I think they want to keep him a “kid” but he seems a lot more mature.
I never thought I'd be lectured by an oversimplified furry about the age of a fiction mammal.
Perhaps mobians (I know that term isn’t technically canon but there isn’t a better word to include all anthropomorphic creatures in the sonic series) age slower than humans. Sonic being 15 is just how old he is when translated to human development
Classic Sonic is from another time in another dimension. Both Classic and modern Tails said they were traveling through time and space
Sega should just age them up, I don't see why they don't since it would fix a lot of problems.
If I had to give them an age range it would be:
Sonic: 19-21
Amy: 18-20
Tails: 12-14
Knuckles: 20-23
Silver: 18-20
Shadow: Immortal but mentally in his 20s?? Not so sure about this one.
The other children characters like Cream and Charmy could be 10-12 and the adult characters like Cream's mother and Eggman could be left ambiguous.
The rest of the characters, such as Tangel or Espio or even Jet aren't of much concern, but I'd just chalk it up to the same age range as Sonic's.
Unless, However, they're wanting to get rid of their ages entirely so Sonic could be whatever age they want for whatever he's in like OTHER game characters-
Although, if that was the case I don't know why they don't just state that the ages are no longer canon.
Sega being Sega ig
I genuinely think Ryan and Roger Tap into the teenage part making him sound 15 (excluding the fact that frontier sonic sounds much older now), but Jason made him sound much older in the 2000’s
I think the more important issue here is that the world is reliant on a high school student to save their world every time
A few actually...
Sonic realistically as an orphan who was left somewhere and grew up all alone in most versions of his story so I don't think he knows how old he is and he's so small that he could get away with saying that he's 15 but in a lot of merch he looks a lot older so maybe he thinks he's 15 because the passage of time doesn't matter to him.
Sonic being 19 in Frontiers makes the most sense. Also, they should 100% keep Sonic like that. I like the more serious tone.
What's presented in the actual games themselves is what should be taken as canon, above anything that's said in the comics or on some website or social media post, and in Sonic Forces it's said in very explicit dialogue that Sonic has been fighting Eggman "for decades", which at a minimum means two decades, meaning Sonic is at LEAST 20 in Forces, but surely older since a 0-year-old Sonic likely wasn't fighting anyone yet. If we accept that Sonic was 15 when he first started fighting Eggman, as was originally established, then that makes Sonic at least 45 by Forces and Frontiers. Sonic is unambiguously at least an adult in the recent games, and straight up middle aged if we accept him as 15 from the start. Again, the actual content of the games take precedent over any supplementary material or internet posts.
It should be ambiguous. If he had to have a age it should be early 20s
Ok so i know there may be some debate but here's my headcanon ages for sonic throughout each of the games.
Sonic 1 and CD- 14 (i always assumed that the death egg was being constructed during the events of sonic one and was completed in sonic 2. that explains why eggman was able to finish it so quickly in between the first two games.
Sonic 2 -15
Sonic 3&K - 15
Sonic adventure 1 and 2 - 16
Sonic heroes and sonic rush - 17
Sonic unleashed - 18
Sonic colors - 20 (mostly because it would take eggman 2 years to build the park and chain multiple planets, even with an army of robots)
Sonic generations and lost world: 20
Forces: 21
Frontiers:22
So that makes sonic currently 22 years old as of sonic frontiers
And before you ask yes I know that tails should also age but It could be that foxes in universe age differently then hedgehogs.
That makes sense
Sonic 1 and 2 makes sense with the Death Egg being constructed between games actually. I wouldn't put it past Eggman to have been doing that. Nice thought. Overall, your theory seems to differ slightly from mine in how it starts out, but coming to the end, we're pretty much on the same page.
how would sonic be 15 if CD Takes place between 1 and 2
@@reckless_ningood point. That's why I just changed it.
Good video btw definitely subscribing. My headcanon as well with information from websites, videos (sonic fandom website)and manuals (Japanese manuals to be precise.) it says he left Christmas Island at an early age, and since the manual for Sonic Heroes says he's 15 (along with other characters ages.) doing some math and theorising he could at least be 9 to 10 years old in Sonic 1 until adventure 1&2 where he's at least 13 to 14 years old, then Heroes to generations he's about 15 to 16 (06 took place in an alternate universe which means it's not canon and Sega and Sonic Team making Sonic Rivels Slivers canon appearance in the series. Info by Tony Sonic's EWW CHARRI5'S EWW SONIC Generations video.) then 16 to 17 in Forces and Frontiers. That's my theory.
Nice to see I’m not the only one who analyzes this issue
I have a theory what if the reason why sonic is still 15 is because he ages slowly his body is still 15 but his physical age is like 32 (sense he’s existed that long) that’s what I’ve always assumed
sega: sonic's age is 15
infinite in sonic forces: you've been losing to sonic for decades
Old enough to be dead two times over in hedgehog years 🪦🦔
Actually I am just 15 or 16 or whatever, the in universe explanation on why the designs changed is well I guess we aged only once which meant our designs changed? I don’t actually know, just ask Yuji Naka or Sonic Team or SEGA or whoever
sonic is a time traveler
problem solved
I mean, Sonic CD exists, so we already kinda knew that
Here's every confirmed instance of a timeskip or birthday for Sonic (that's at least arguably canon):
Knuckles Chaotix: "months" after Sonic 3 & Knuckles (JP manual)
Sonic Mania's Mania Mode: 1 year after Sonic CD (little planet appears once a year)
Sonic Mania's Encore Mode: 1 year after Mania Mode (little planet)
Sonic 4: Episode 2: 1 year after Sonic Mania's Encore Mode (little planet)
Sonic Adventure: unspecified timeskip (I headcanon 1 year, but any amount of time is reasonable) (JP manual)
Sonic Heroes: over 1 month after Sonic Advance/Sonic Adventure 2 (whichever is latest) (ENG manual)
Sonic 06: "years" after Shadow 05 (one of Shadow's mission dialogues)
Sonic 06: takes place at the end of Summer (when Sonic's birthday is during Summer) (Sonic Pict, a series of artworks with a short story attached released on SoJ's twitter account - one depicted Silver at the Soleanna Festival with the exposition clarifying this detail)
Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity: "months" after Sonic Riders (ENG manual)
Sonic Unleashed: birthday (Sonic Pict, one depicted Sonic enjoying a birthday during Sonic Unleashed, and him and Chip deciding to share a birthday due to the latter's amnesia)
Sonic Colours: "years" (unlike Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, Eggman needed to maintain a facade of genuine remorse in order for his cover story to make sense to the extent that Tails would believe it) (ENG manual)
Sonic Generations: birthday
Sonic Runners: birthday, Easter, Halloween, Summer (various side events that may or may not be canon, but I'm just going to assume they are)
Sonic Forces: Episode Shadow: "months" (between Shadow attacking Eggman's base and Episode Shadow proper)
Sonic Forces: Episode Shadow: 1 month
Sonic Forces: 6 months
Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW comics): 1 month (takes place 1 month after Forces)
Chao in Space: Christmas
With all of that in mind, the *minimum* amount of time needed to pass between Sonic 1 and Sonic Frontiers is 9 years and 10 months (and that's assuming Sonic Colours is like a week or smth before Sonic's next birthday).
... And given Charmy's age is listed as 6, you can't exactly put him too late in the timeline or else he wouldn't have been born during Knuckles's Chaotix
That forces bit generally caught me off gaurd. You just made me have an epiphany.
I have my own thoughs too, and now that RUclips's algorithm brought me here, I'm going to share them.
At first, Sonic was 15 years old, but then, Adventure changed the design, and generation retconned the canon so... Sonic was 8 years old, in adventure had 15 and got 16 years old in generation.
The real question is how many years passed between Generation and Frontiers? Perhaps 1, one very crazy year. XD
But in Forces passed 7 months, so Sonic can't be 16 years old so perhaps in Frontiers he's between 17 and 18 years old, that's why he is so mature.
Plus, Sonic said that Tails and him are getting older or something so, in my headcanon, Sonic should have 18 yo or even more.
8:28 THIS PART GOT ME GOOD, I GUESS I GOTTA WATCH MORE OF THIS LOL
The way I solve this is with something that actually relates to humans and explains his passage of time, compared to us.
I say that Mobians physically age 1 year for every 5 human years, but mentally age like normal. Using Generations as his "16th" birthday, this would mean that he was 12 in the first game, and would currently be 18. This also explains how young Mobians like Tails, Cream, and Charmy can be as intelligent as they are for their age.
Ok, I would Say that Sonic's Age at Frontiers is Around 24 to 27 years, actually. Sonic also is shown to grow between Black Knight and Colours due to his voice also being deeper.
Also, Between Shadow and 06 we can add at least 3 more years, because a G.U.N. agent says that Shadow works for G.U.N. for Years.
So, For me, Sonic in Sonic 1 have 10 years, in Sonic Adventure he has 13, in Heroes he has 15, in 06 he has 18, in Colours he has 19, in Generations he has 20, in Forces he has 21 and in Frontiers he has 24.
I think 24-27 is _way_ too old. I think the Sonic characters should/will probably remain around the same age they’ve always been, e.g. Sonic and Knuckles (and Amy? idk where she fits lol) being teens, Tails and Cream being kids, etc.
See, this actually makes sense because I always thought that there were significant amounts of time between each game.
Man you're dumb. Sonic is never aging. He'll be 15 forever, lmao
I think Sega doesn’t really want to make a specific, restricted canon for Sonic and his games and other appearances. I’ve found people who’ve put together timelines for the games, and while they can be made into timelines sure, I don’t think they entirely meant to be restricted to a timeline so they could allow for more creative freedom when making their games.
My guess is however we can say Sonic’s age as 15 was retconned. So since Amy aged from 8 to 12 from Sonic CD, i’d assume we go back 4 years and Classic Sonic would be 11. Then his modern version in the games is 15-16 years old. Maybe it’s me but I feel like if we include the comics with the games which are vastly different from each other, things get WAAAAY more complicated. So i’m just making this theory for the games. The comics I don’t read so idk. But i’d assume this would be the same for the comics.
8:29 Okay that sound was pretty creepy
In my opinion, in Sonic, age should be considered irrelevant and should continue to be so since it is more aimed at younger audiences for all ages, so it doesn't make sense to make the characters adults or for them to act in a more mature way, like you can put scenes that an adult can relate to but in general this is not the focus of the franchise so it is not important to think about age as the audience is for all ages especially children and teenagers.
I would think the answer would be simple.
His age doesn't matter because he is a cartoon character and a hedgehog. Hedgehog age shouldn't be the same like human age...
In cartoon and comics the classic Sonic looks no different in proportions like his older family members.
In modern version there are times he is portrayed with children and still looks no different than usual.
So even the appearance shouldn't matter when it comes to his age starting from age 15.
In the latest game, he even got a voice that no 16 year old would sound.
I think even sonic team wants to move to a more adult and serious themed sonic by now.
I find it rather ridiculous that if almost all the freedom fighters are children.... where the heck are the adults? They let their kids do some serious activities, risking their lives the whole time while even Sonic s parents just continue living their simple lives at home.
I would say, the whole thing of publicly claiming that he is 16 is a fake number and a publishing requirement to appeal to the kids and nothing more.
You are free to view him at any age, especially from a franchise that has the most convoluted collection of stories and multiverses and out of hand story plots
"It doesn't matter" is such a wishy-washy answer...that only sounds cool when The Rock says it, lol.
That is such a copout, what's the point of having a linear continuity timeline then?
i think its way fitting when sonic is around 15-17, he got that teenager vibes and apparently he sounds like one
4:19 now it all makes sense
I would like Sonic to be aged up to 17. He acts way more mature than he did back then and he’s gone through way more stuff than could ever happen in a single year. I think that aging him up a couple years makes sense and would make his current characterization fit a lot more.
Edit: I’d say Sonic is 11 in the classic games. If Amy was aged up from 8 to 12, then Sonic would be 4 years younger than he is in Heroes at the time that Sonic CD takes place.
There is no way he’s 15 and he sounds the way he does.
I’d say he’s in his late teens or early twenties.
The fact that people have fanfic of sonic and amy doing the devils tango is real weird when u realize there both minors. And amy is 12, sonic is 15 (maybe). THATS LIKE A 7TH GRADER IS DOING IT WITH A SOFMORE IN HIGH SCHOOL WTH!?!
He’s 15 and is always 15. Never understand why Sonic fans refused this fact for years.
I’m starting to understand why some fans gatekeep stuff that came out of sega america of sonic.
Sonic the character will always forever will be a teenager. Sonic the franchise is 30+ years old. Learn the difference. Some cartoon characters does not age and never age. Also Sonic was always relaxed and gentle, the “teen Sonic” you described sounds like exactly the american rendition of Sonic, which, is a stark contrast with how he actually is in his japanese version.
What's the point of him being 15 or even given an age if "the Japanese rendition" of the character doesn't act remotely like a teenager. Yo can cl him 15 all you want just understand he rarely rarely acts his age.
@@destinylord7194
Lots fictional characters don’t always act their age, if they do it’ll be less entertaining, there’s less things they can do. If he does act like a teenager you’ll have people complaining about how annoying he is. There’s plenty of fictional characters that are suppose to be children/teenagers that don’t act their age. The Powerpuff Girls are 5 years old but they don’t act like toddlers. Its the beauty of fiction. Is this a new concept to a lot of people?
Point is he’s a teenager, he’s 15, he will never be 20, 30 or 40 no matter how old he’s acting. Never understand why people kept insisting that he’s older even though he’s always been 15 (or 16)
@@destinylord7194 Placeholder.
@@Freezient Why do you insist he has to be a teenager, I think sonic should be like mickey mouse and spongebob where he pretty much has no age, it makes him feel more iconic and sonic's design to me specifically modern looks ambiguous enough where had I not know what sonic is and was told he was 30, 20 or 15, it would make sense to me. His age is utterly irrelevant in other words. His design is ambious and iconic enough to be ageless, he ain't spiderman sorry lol.
@@destinylord7194
Nobody is insisting that he should be a teenager, his creator literally said that he’s a teenager lmao why do you insisted that he shouldn’t be?
Also cause nobody had any problems with it in the first place and frankly it baffles me when I found out people are making a fuss over him being a teenager, mostly people with questionable interests . Y’all are weird.
Also Spongebob canonically does have canon age and birth year, he’s an adult, he’s most definitely not a teenager or a child.
in my headcanon in the classic games hes anywhere from 10~13 then, then he is 14 ~ 16 in the adventure era and up until generations then anytime after he is 17~ 18 in IDW then in frontiers
sonic is 31, yuji naka is in jail, and kanye did nothing wrong
Sonic is a fictional character who simply doesn't age.
First 😘
Based on the fact that Sonic from the movies is anywhere from 12-14, I’d consider Classic Sonic in the first game to be around 10 years old and I’d put Sonic’s age at 18-20 in Frontiers meaning that all the events of the games and IDW comics have taken place in a span of 8-10 years
"We gotta know if he can drive a car or not,"
......
"Wait a second"
For damn near a decade, i thought he was 25 and classic was way younger, but i only found out last year he was considered 15, but he seems to actually grow up throughout the series weather people like it or not, he still stands as like 20-25 to me
When colors first released and I heard the new voice, I just assumed he was 19. As old as the series at that point
In my headcannon, he's 12 in the Genesis games, 13 in Sonic 4, 3d Blast, and Pocket Adventure, 14 in Advance and Adventure, 15 in Adventure 2-'06, 16 from '06-Generations, 17 from Gens-Runners, 18 from Runners - Forces Spaceport, 19 in Forces, and 20 in Frontiers. Used Amy's age for Genesonic to Adventure since her and Sonic are 3 years apart in Heroes, the celebration in Runners, and the Anniversary games for the rest.
In official Sonic character description images sonic was *15* when he was classic sonic and modern sonic is *16.*
Sonic just exists. He doesn’t have an age.