You know, if the writers at Archie really needed to give Knuckles a love interest, they could have done this:
- GUN has info on Knuckles being the last of the Echidnas and seek to remedy this problem by finding him a mate
- They find on and after some convincing they persuade her to go to Angel Island
- However, this Echidna is the complete opposite of Knuckles (and Julie Su to an extent) in that she's actually wealthy, a Valley Girl type
- Obviously Knuckles and the female Echidna do not get along
- Over the course of the series the female Echidna gradually becomes less materialistic and more resourceful, while Knuckles becomes a bit more adjusted to public places when the female Echidna drags him everywhere
- We get a bit of backstory: the female Echidna was a doorstop baby and raised into a rich family.
- She has her diva and selfish moments but she's also a social butterfly and has connections in high places, eventually buying security and booby traps in case Knuckles have to leave the island
- She doesn't make Team Chaotix dumb in order to make her look smart because she has her own incompetent moments
- Basically she has a personality that doesn't scream "GAL POWAH" every five seconds
- Both Knuckles and the female Echidna discover GUN real plans for them and decide to not pursue a romance based on superficial traits and decide to take it really, really slow
- Knuckles is actually kept in-character for once leading to some interesting dynamics between him and the female Echidna
Bonus: The female echidna isn't related to Knuckles and she doesn't exist to be his trophy wife, Ken.