"Why Would You Bother With Me?" - An Analysis of Kitsunami, 09/07/2024
tw: major discussions of abuse, the cycle of abuse, re-traumatizing situations, toxic and abusive relationships (non-romantic)
so like when I first read this panel my reaction was just to joke with Cori that this is a "get out of my school" moment (iykyk) but I've been thinking about it a lot recently because I... couldn't remember any specific beef Kit had with Tails?
Last we saw of them interacting one-on-one, Tails was talking Kit down from fighting, and Kit's beef with the squad later was more with Sonic than him. Tails didn't take down Surge in #56 or even affect the fight in any way, and Sonic was the one who told Kit that Surge was dead beforehand. At least that I could remember, so I went back to those comics. Indeed, in #56 he shows no animosity towards Tails specifically, nor when he talks to Surge in #55.
Then I went back to #54.
See, he does seem to blame Sonic entirely for the Surge death fakeout, and he thinks that Sonic is literally trying to kill her when he walks in. But he does have one (1) reaction to Tails, right at the end of the interaction.
In the previous issue, after Sonic and Tails saved his life, Kit immediately switched on his subservient personality and was desperate for any kind of validation from the hedgehog. We only see it for a few panels before he is told about Surge and sinks into a depressive state, but it's made very obvious.
And when he leaves to help?
Kit's conditioning under Starline means that he is excessively codependent on Surge– and if Surge isn't around, on anyone who is nice to him. The hypnotic repetition shown to us was "You live to support Surge. You'll do anything for her." Kit's sole purpose in life is to be a Support party member.
Kit's conditioning was to be the new Tails.
Starline wanted Surge and Kit to replace Sonic and Tails– that much was obvious from the get-go. But what was also obvious was his fundamental misunderstanding of Sonic and Tails's dynamic and how that negatively impacts Surge and Kit's relationship.
Starline completely misses the strong sibling bond that Sonic and Tails have. To him, Tails is just there to support Sonic, to provide the brains and tech that Sonic lacks, and so Kit needs to be there to support Surge in the same way. He sees it only as a business partnership, and not a mutual relationship built on trust, love, and shared experiences. Starline only saw other people as tools, so obviously he projected that onto Surge and Kit, hoping that they would immediately take up the closeness that Sonic and Tails did because, well, they served the same purpose to each other, right?
Except Surge and Kit don't have that relationship. These two children were forced into the same proximity and made to work together. They're coworkers at best, being told to act like a family.
Obviously their dynamic is super toxic, with Surge clearly holding a lot of power over Kit, but it's also clear that this isn't because Surge wants to beat on the kid. She was made to be Sonic, and so she has his arrogance (and possibly Shadow's, considering IS1 showed his image when Starline was talking about stealing abilities), but, as Boom!Sonic says, "Without any of the awesomeness to back it up." Okay, wrong, she's plenty awesome, the correct phrase is "Without the experience" and, most importantly, "without the altruism that makes Sonic Sonic." Surge wasn't programmed to like the people she saves, because that would conflict with Starline's goal to take over the world. So she's only made to be competitive and to want to best Sonic, anyone inbetween them be damned. This clashes with Kit's programming to not only be liked, but to be liked by Surge. Surge was also programmed to believe fully in herself in order to enhance the arrogant trait, and Kit was made to give her the help that she doesn't want.
To Surge, Kit represents everything holding her back. And she's not built to view him as a person, because Starline doesn't view him or her as people. Obviously this doesn't absolve her of her treatment of him, and later issues showing her getting more and more aware as she becomes more social is definitely going to impact the way she views him– or, if it doesn't make her reconsider Kit's personhood, it'll serve to make her more antagonistic for the viewer.
But the point is, Sonic trusts Tails because he knows and respects him as a person. It isn't just because Tails can help him, but because he knows Tails will. Surge, at this point in the comic, not only doesn't view Kit as a friend, she doesn't even care what he thinks or feels.
And despite the brainwashing, I don't think Kit is oblivious to this. He knows how bad their situation is, but he is so conditioned to accept it that he can't escape it whatsoever. In both fights with Tails, Tails talks him down easily because Kit doesn't want to hurt anyone. Kit only reacts violently when Surge is brought up, because he's meant to do anything she wants.
Like he said to Belle, he was made for Surge. And what he says directly after– "Sonic can use me, too." Kit doesn't even view himself as a person, only a tool– that's how far Starline's brainwashing went. It's clearly even affecting Surge, who realized in the latest issue, #72, how fast she and Kit fell into their abusive patterns again once Clutch took over– they were conditioned to be tools. Clutch claimed to want to help them, but really he was just using them for his own ends, just like Starline. So they went back to the familiar.
And speaking of familiar– pain is familiar to Kit, specifically pain in service to others. In his breakdown in #50, he says that Starline made him happy he'd been hurt. And in Imposter Syndrome #3 and #4, we see that him and Surge hate Starline and want to usurp him... but also are still trapped in the patterns he implanted in them. Surge still wants to kill Sonic and outperform everyone else. Kit still can't do anything but what she wants, to the point he becomes near catatonic when he believes she's dead.
Another pattern Kit is still trapped in is the idea that he has to be okay with his own suffering.
The only sense of home or family Surge and Kit have is in each other, but they fundamentally can't work together, at least as they are currently. Kit is expected to take Surge's anger, and Surge isn't expected to treat him like his own person.
And this, I think, is Kit's problem with Tails.
He was made to be Tails, and he knows this, but he can never have what Tails has. He can never live up to Tails and do what Tails can do, despite that being his entire life's purpose.
He doesn't hate Tails because he was programmed to– as he says to Surge, he only wants to destroy Sonic because she wants to. When he first encounters Tails, he refers to him as his target- a simple, unemotional term. He doesn't have the deep ingrained hatred for him that Surge does for Sonic.
Instead, he hates Tails because of what he sees in him. He sees Sonic and Tails interact, he sees how much Sonic trusts and relies on Tails, and he sees how he also loves and respects him. He sees how Tails has his own motivations and opinions, and he's experienced Tails's genuine compassion that was in part fostered by the hedgehog that raised him. In turn, Tails is loyal to Sonic, but not because he has to be– because he, in turn, loves Sonic and wants to be with him.
Kit only wants to be with Surge because he was forced to. Starline wanted to use Surge and Kit to stop Sonic and Eggman's cycle, but he made a whole new one instead. Kit is trapped in a cycle of pain, knows he's trapped in it, and is helpless to escape it.
Tails isn't, and Kit sees that in Tails. Subconsciously, he sees Tails and only sees how he fails to live up to his life's mission, and how he'll never have what Tails has.
After all, why would anyone bother with him? They already have Tails.
I know this has been discussed before, but the contrast in the level of character backstories for the Sonic cast is so funny to me
You have some characters like Sage and Omega who have only existed for a very short period of time and whose origins are mostly covered by the games they feature in. Note that this generally applies to robot characters only
Shadow's life story is also detailed by the games, and stable. There are slight variations in the different continuities, but the major beats are relatively consistent. Even Boom wasn't allowed to contradict it, though it's not like that show was particularly interested in that sort of thing
The last member of Team Dark, however? Rouge the Bat might offer up an origin story if asked, but it won't be true, so why bother?
I've heard some... stuff about Team Chaotix's backstory in Archie, but that's about it for them. (also what the hell)
Other than Shadow, Knuckles probably has the most stable origin story across Sonic media. He's the last of his kind and was stuck on a floating island. There are some huge questions of course, and the timeline is murky, but there was only so much that could have happened before Sonic 3&K. Some continuities like Archie add to it, and the movies, the OVA, and Boom deviate a lot, but there are still a few aspects that remain pretty consistent.
The "we got the broad overview but details are iffy and there are some gaps" can also apply to other characters like Blaze or Cream.
I'm not even sure if Silver knows where exactly he came from at this point. And I wonder about Big...
On the other side, you have got Amy Rose, whose past becomes a bigger head scratcher the longer you try to piece it together. She definitely has friends, but family? Parents? She had to have had them at some point. Is she from Station Square? Sure, maybe. Where did she get her hammer? Can she spawn them or does she have multiple? It depends. What was she doing on Little Planet? No clue. Maybe someone left a hammer on Little Planet and it spawned her, ever think of that?
Tails? Basically the third character to be introduced in the series? Almost every piece of media--some technically in the same continuity-- gives him a different meeting with Sonic. Only like 1-2 pieces of media to go any deeper into his life pre-meeting beyond him being bullied. In the past few years, it does seem like a canon meeting was nailed down. But that's the thing--most of his origins start around the time he meets Sonic. There is a vague sense of him living alone before then, but almost everything about that leaves large unanswered questions. The weirdness surrounding a lot of his early games only adds to this. The flip-flopping on whether or not Tails Adventure takes place before or after Sonic 2 and the fact that Sonic 2 is two completely separate games with different stages and storylines (NEITHER of which involves Sonic and Tails meeting outside of more recent collections like Origins) makes it all so very strange. Figuring out Tails' early life feels like trying to pinpoint a rock in a forest except the rock eroded into dust.
Eggman? We know some stuff about his family, but "before he was even born" to "full grown adult with well defined facial hair" is quite a gap.
Then you have Sonic T. Hedgehog. The main character? The Blue Blur himself? His actual name is completely different depending on which canon you look at. Only backstories are in comics and cartoons--and not even all of them. Maybe half. The ones where he does have an origin story and/or a different name almost always contradict each other. As far as I can tell, that fancomic where he spawns into existence and is immediately slapped in the face with a chili dog might as well be canon.
IDK I just think this is interesting. Sonic is basically the first franchise I have ever seen with a cast this large where almost none of the characters have a canon backstory. But some of them do, so it's not like the franchise is completely incapable of it. Adding in many characters having multiple backstories due to different continuities and/or retcons only makes it more pronounced. Most of these guys have loads of personality and appeal, and very little of it has to do with their life pre-canon. I think that's neat and not something I've seen very often
more analysis of Sonic trivia because I find some of these little franchise details fascinating and I have lots of theories about them that some people might find fun to read! 👇
when discussing Sonic characters' ages, it's sometimes concluded that their listed ages seem sort of arbitrary or "unrealistic." however, I actually think a lot of thought went into picking ages for the cast - especially vis a vis how the target demographic is intended to relate to them, and how the characters are intended to relate to each other.
the cast's ages are no longer listed on their official character profiles (probably because of a few recent in-universe timeskips muddying the issue), but I still think it's super interesting to dig into the ages they were originally assigned and how these reflect the characters' intended impact. here are my guesses:
Sonic:
Sonic was designed to be the "younger, hipper" alternative to rival company Nintendo's mascot, Mario. while Mario was a wholesome, humble, middle-aged everyman, Sonic was envisioned as a cool rebel teen. throughout most of the modern era, his age was officially listed as 15; older than the target demographic, but young enough to feel like an ally in the struggle against adult authority. this is further accentuated by his arch enemy being a fat, balding man with a moustache - all common design tropes used to stereotype an older male character as powerful and influential, yet laughable and out-of-touch (think cartoon business men, wealthy CEO's, politicians and villainous fathers, especially from 80's-90's children's media). at 15, Sonic seems intended to simultaneously read as a cool older brother figure to the audience, as well as serve as a power fantasy. kids are supposed to wish they were able to fight back against the adults in their lives, and do so with style, just like Sonic.
Tails:
at 8 years old, Tails sits squarely in the middle of the target audience's age range. as an insecure newbie hero who used to be a target of bullying until Sonic came into his life and helped him believe in himself, he seems intended as an audience surrogate for young fans. the way he looks up to Sonic is supposed to encourage young fans to do the same. at the same time, Sonic being best friends with a much younger character gives the impression that even though he's too cool for school, he's not too cool to hang out with kids in the target demographic. Sonic and Tails' friendship seems intended to strengthen the bond between Sonic's character and the audience. it's also worth noting that Tails was created as a "player 2" character, and was likely also designed with the intention of encouraging kids to let their younger siblings play the games with them. this way, the franchise would be able to retain a steady customer base going forward, even as its first generation of fans aged out of the series.
Knuckles:
another character whose age has flip-flopped a little, Knuckles was established as 16 years old in the modern era. at only one year older than Sonic, he's presented as a rival on mostly even footing with the protagonist. however, I think that extra year between them is supposed to accentuate Knuckles being both the more mature of the two, and a little more set in his ways. he's that one small step closer to the adult authority - and thus rigidity - that Sonic rebels against. this also reflects his role in certain early media, where he's sometimes fooled into working with Eggman, before switching sides to save the day alongside Sonic.
Amy:
originally listed as 8 years old, Amy would be aged up to 12 from Adventure and onward. mainly defined by her romantic interest in Sonic, her early appearances were used for comedy - the large age gap between 8-year-old Amy and teenaged Sonic was used as a way to frame Amy's romantic feelings as hopeless and immature. I think the target audience, primarily intended to be young boys at the time, were expected to still be in the "ew, cooties" phase, and relate to Sonic's annoyance with her. I'm guessing the reason for pushing her up to 12 was two-fold; Adventure rewrote her personality to make her more proactive and aspirational to a young female audience, so being a little older helped sell her new image as a power fantasy in her own right. at the same time, it pushed her closer in age to Sonic, likely because it was expected that a young female audience would get invested in a possibly-viable romantic subplot. Amy was still younger, less experienced and less mature than Sonic, and thus posed as "non-threatening" to young male players, but she was no longer exclusively intended to be endearingly misguided and laughable.
Cream:
at 6 years old, Cream, alongside Charmy, is the youngest in the cast. two years younger than Tails, she's in the low end of the target demographic's age range, and seems intended to inspire protective feelings in the audience. she's just old enough to believably move and speak without any "baby" character mannerisms, and can thus take part in the action with some level of believability, but she's still the designated "innocent little girl" character, taking over after Amy's reimagining - not intended to be relatable, but rather to be someone for the audience to find endearing. I think the fact that she's exactly two years younger than Tails is significant as well, as this is a common age gap between siblings: if Tails is an audience surrogate, then Cream is the audience's surrogate baby sister they're supposed to want to protect and take care of.
Big:
Big actually perplexes me. I don't know why he's 18. you could make the argument that the number 18 is associated with "becoming an adult", and Big is one of the few characters who's entirely content with his lot in life, with no desire for change to his current routine. you could either interpret him as a "success story", who has found a way to dodge the responsibilities of adulthood by living on his own terms far from civilization (he's from the same pair of games that featured the song Escape From the City, after all), or as a "failure" whose determination to escape adult responsibilities has rendered him a placid, socially inept recluse, or something in between ... but I honestly think the connection between those interpretations and his designated age are grasping at straws. Big is mysterious as always. I don't. I don't know </3
Rouge:
Rouge was created to be a rival and love interest to Knuckles, and she was originally stated to be 17, one year older than him. she was the first recurring female character added after Amy, and were in many ways designed to be her opposite: while Amy was cute, childish, spirited, pure-hearted and optimistic, Rouge was cynical, self-centered and sexualized. it's a common (and insidious) stereotype that girls mature faster than boys, so a young girl pursuing an older boy is treated as sweet and natural; meanwhile Rouge being a year older than Knuckles feeds into her portrayal as a threat to his ego. she's smarter and more experienced than him, and the audience is supposed to root for Knuckles to beat her at her own game in order to establish a more normative gender dynamic, in part so they can get together (thus the scene where she ends up needing him to save her at the end of their campaign in Adventure 2). though she was of course quickly pushed up to 18 to address concerns of sexualizing a character who was still a minor at the time of her introduction.
Vector:
Vector is 20 years old, the oldest of the central game cast to have a specific age listed, and my guess is that this ties in with his characterization as the boss of what is essentially a struggling startup company. it's a recurring joke in the fandom that "[mundane problem, e.g. paying rent or getting stuck in traffic] only exists for Team Chaotix", and it's not entirely wrong - while most of the hero cast are extraordinary kids and teens going on wild adventures, Team Chaotix are primarily comedy relief who are perpetually struggling with realistic problems. you could argue Vector has essentially aged out of being a child audience's wish fulfillment character, and he instead serves as a way to poke fun at the banalities associated with transitioning into adult life. while the villainous Doctor Eggman is an older, successful adult who is "part of the establishment", Vector is a very young adult antihero fumbling to find his place in the world without giving up on his dreams.
Espio:
Espio is 16, the same age as Knuckles, who is partially characterized by his seriousness, sense of duty and rigidity in contrast to 15-year-old Sonic's carefree personality. Espio can be interpreted as a comedic take on those same ideas - he shares many of Knuckles' personality traits, but instead of serving as the noble guardian of an artifact of immense cosmic power, he's a highly disciplined ninja working at Vector's crummy little startup as a detective. with his skills and bravery, he could easily join the other heroes on their adventures, but he's so eager to grow up and take part in the adult world that he ends up slumming it with Vector trying to get their detective business to take off that he misses out on the freedom the franchise associates with youth. Knuckles' dedication to protecting the Master Emerald is portrayed as an admirable sacrifice. Espio "wasting" his talents at the Chaotix Detective Agency is just kind of absurdly funny (and on occasion heartwarming) (he cares about his friends and their shared passion project!)
Charmy:
Charmy is the same age as Cream, 6 years old, and if Cream is intended to feel like the audience's precious baby sister, Charmy seems to be the audience's annoying baby brother. in contrast to Cream, Charmy is bratty, loudmouthed, a little ditzy, he never sits still, and he gets on his older friends' nerves with his hyperactivity. while much focus is put on Cream's vulnerability and how risky it is to bring her into the action, the same sympathy is rarely ever extended to Charmy (especially not in older material) - and I think it's because the audience simply wasn't meant to fret over him the way they were supposed to with Cream. likely because of double standards surrounding gender, the two characters were intended to land differently. Cream was precious in both senses of the word, Charmy was comedy relief.
Silver:
when Silver was first added to the series, he was heavily promoted as the third major male hedgehog character, forming a trio with Sonic and Shadow, with plans to develop a spinoff game where he would star as protagonist. at 14, he's a year younger than Sonic, which poses him as Sonic's equal, yet very slight inferior maturity-wise. while Silver is just as physically powerful as Sonic, one of his major character traits is his naivete, which is heavily focused on in his first appearance, where he's nearly tricked by Mephiles into causing the end of the world. this also contrasts him against Shadow, who is an ageless immortal created 50 years into the past. Sonic is thus the "standard", Shadow is his older and more cynical counterpart, while Silver is the younger and less experienced one. this also matches up with the interpretation that the trio thematically represents the present, past and future, respectively.
Blaze:
Blaze is a funny one, because you'd think her serious personality, strong sense of duty and grim backstory would result in her getting lumped in with Sonic's older rivals, like Knuckles and Shadow, but this is not the case. like Silver, Blaze is 14. I think she was assigned this age to accentuate her hidden vulnerable side and social inexperience; while she tries to come off tough and independent, the story frames her as a damaged person who needs help coming out of her shell. she has several other points of vulnerability that the other older rivals lack, such as her fear of heights, discomfort with cold and water, close friendship with two much-younger characters, disliking close physical contact, her past problems with bullying and social ostracization, and her insecurities about her flat chest. her character arc ultimately centers her developing friendship with Sonic and how he helps her open up to others. you could say she's really just a big kid trying very hard to seem powerful and grown up.
Marine:
Marine seems to have been designed as a foil to Tails, and at 7 years old, she's a year younger than him. like with Sonic's 14-year-old rivals and counterparts, I think the one year between her and Tails is supposed to make Marine read as a "less experienced version" of Tails, which matches her in-game portrayal as a smart kid who's nonetheless in over her head. unlike Tails, who mellows out Sonic's impulsiveness, Marine herself is impulsive and needs her own older friend, Blaze, to get her out of trouble.
Tikal:
Tikal has a lot of traits in common with Sonic, being a brave, kind-hearted nature lover who longs for peace in a world that hangs in the balance. however, unlike Sonic, Tikal struggles to maintain hope for a better tomorrow, and it ultimately falls to Sonic to finish what she started when she can't resolve the conflict surrounding her character on her own. it's possible that her death at 14 is supposed to symbolize her missing out on developing the confidence and strength of conviction that keeps Sonic going even when all seems lost.
Elise:
Elise was introduced as a more "serious" love interest to Sonic, potentially replacing Amy, and at 17 years old, she has a couple of years of maturity on Sonic, inverse to 12-year-old Amy. while Rouge being older than Knuckles posed her as a threat to his ego, Elise being older than Sonic instead seems to attach to her characterization as the older, wiser, more dignified alternative to Amy's childish, energetic eccentricism. Elise is a princess with a magical destiny, and is depicted as narratively "valuable" - not to mention she's a realistically-rendered human, which, combined with her role as love interest, makes me think she was intended to be attractive to the audience. she's the "uptown girl" who's "out of Sonic's league", but still ends up falling for him simply because he's kind to her, strengthening Sonic's impact as a wish fulfillment character (or was supposed to) (it didn't really pan out) (most people didn't like Elise)
Jet:
like Silver and Blaze, Jet is another of Sonic's 14-year-old rivals. in his case, I think being a year younger than Sonic is supposed to support his portrayal as an immature, impulsive, self-centered young upstart, contrasted against Sonic's worldliness. though he's a racing prodigy and the best of the best at the sport his story revolves around, he's also depicted as privileged; he's one of the only characters who has a still-living blood relative, and it's his highly successful father, who set him up with the family business in the first place. Jet's rivalry with Sonic is also shown to be somewhat unequal, as Jet is clearly deeply invested in said rivalry, while he is in turn only one of Sonic's many rivals - he's essentially a spoiled, loudmouthed, slightly-younger kid determined to make Sonic pay attention to him.
Wave:
Wave is interesting to me, because she inverts the usual older-leader/younger-sidekick dynamic in relation to Jet: at 18, she's four years older than her boss. while Sonic functions as a mentor figure to Tails, Wave is instead treated like one of Jet's assets - one of his privileges is direct access to the genius daughter of his father's team's mechanic. Wave is portrayed as the most skilled extreme gear mechanic in the world, and having her under his employ is one of the reasons Jet is so successful. Wave is also portrayed as a bully, she's a "mean older kid" in relation to Sonic and friends, and her skills together with her nastiness make Jet more of a threat by association. she's directly compared to young-and-insecure Tails, who's only just breaking into the field of extreme gear, and the fact that she's exactly 10 years older than him further drives home the massive difference in experience between them.
Storm:
Storm is just one year older than Wave, 19, and he serves much the same function in relation to Jet, providing the brawn to Wave's brains. while Wave is contrasted against Tails, Storm is contrasted against Knuckles as the physical power houses of their respective teams. he's three years older than Knuckles, old enough to imply a significant difference in experience level, but still in his teens, keeping with the "mean older kid" theme.
I'm gonna put a read-more here, but under the cut, I'll talk about characters with vague ages, as well as the handful of IDW comic characters who also have canon age designations!
Eggman, Vanilla, and other adults without canon age designations:
the vast majority of adult characters in the franchise don't have exact age designations, save for a few vague references (e.g. Eggman is stated to simply be under 50). the way I see it, the obvious explanation is that past the age of 20, the characters' ages don't mean much - the younger characters' ages seem to be determined by their proximity to the young target demographic and to each other. Eggman is simply vaguely the age of your dad, or maybe a little older, because of his association with adult authority. Vanilla is vaguely like your mother, or maybe a little younger, because her role in the story is that of "your friend's mom who's nice to you."
however, I think it's fun and interesting that the IDW comic series specifically has added several more major adult characters in recent years, including ones that don't strictly fit the existing themes associated with childhood VS adulthood. Starline and Mimic come to mind as adult villains who are not necessarily "part of the establishment" the way Eggman and many other adult villains from the games are; they're both lone agents who are morseo treated as dangerous due to their personal relationships to the kids (Starline's pseudo-parental relationship to Surge and Kit, which enables their exploitation, for example). on the side of good, there's Nite and Don, an older married couple who support the child heroes from the sidelines by taking advantage of the resources and skills that come with working specific professions. their position as established adults is helpful to the child characters, rather than a hindrance or something to be pitied.
my theory is that the franchise is increasingly trying to appeal to a wider audience than just kids - our current media landscape is over-saturated with reboots, revivals and other nostalgia bait aimed at older audiences, because corporations have realized it's easy to cash in on people's existing attachment to older media. the Sonic franchise is now so old that much of its most passionately loyal core fanbase has grown up. from a corporate standpoint, it's the perfect time to try to appeal to multiple demographics of Sonic fans, both newcomers and oldies who grew up with the series.
older characters who are more than just caricatures of adulthood may be an attempt to give older fans characters to relate to - more than just "evil authority" or "struggling young adult" or "someone's mom", they're increasingly portrayed as complex people beyond how they relate to the kids. their relationships to the child characters are still affected by the age difference, but those relationships are no longer exclusively favoring the child's perspective. as an example, young readers of the comic series may see Nite and Don help Sonic get out of the rain and offer him hot coca during the Sweepstakes arc, and feel comforted by the thought of a trustworthy adult taking care of you when you need it most. on the flipside, older readers may relate to the adults in this scene wanting to take care of the teenaged protagonist who's going through a lot during this moment. there's a relatable perspective provided on both sides of the interaction.
speaking of the comics, a few of the IDW characters also have canon ages, so I'll talk about those next!
Tangle:
Tangle is stated to be 15 years old, notable for being the only other time a supporting character in the game canon has been stated to have the same age originally assigned to Sonic (at least IIRC). this makes sense to me because - as I've talked about at lengths before - Tangle serves an extremely similar role to Sonic himself in relation to the other game characters. while Sonic is the "baseline" character from whom every supporting character in the games deviates, Tangle serves as something of a baseline to the other comic-exclusive heroes. she's the POV character through whom we see many of the other new supporting characters' stories.
Whisper:
Whisper is 16, a year older than Tangle, and similar to Sonic and Knuckles, their one year age gap seems to imply that they are peers, yet Whisper is the more mature and jaded of the two. flashbacks imply that Whisper was actually very similar to Tangle before the deaths of her friends changed her forever; being one year older supports the theme of Whisper being Tangle's more world weary counterpart.
Jewel:
Jewel is 16, and just like Whisper, this seems intended to imply that she's Tangle's equal, but that little bit more mature. this supports what we've heard about their dynamic growing up - Tangle was always the more adventurous of the two, while Jewel was the responsible one who bailed her out when she got herself into trouble. while Jewel is the older and more responsible character in relation to Tangle, being a teenaged character also places her into a disadvantaged position when she later becomes business partners with Clutch, an elderly villain who wastes no time trying to take advantage of her lack of confidence and experience to undermine her authority. in the beginning, he poses as something of a mentor figure to her. later on, he uses the resources he's accumulated over a lifetime of villainy (money + his status in his company) to have Jewel demoted.
Belle:
Belle has been stated through word-of-god to be intended to read as a kid around 13. though she isn't directly comparable to any other characters in this age group, my guess would be that this number was chosen to reflect the coming-of-age aspect of her arc. her story revolves around losing the version of her father she loved, and taking a stand against the person he's become. 13 is the first year where a child becomes a teenager, where it's expected they'll begin to develop an identity separate from their parents'. it's also possible that Metal Sonic being based on the 15-year-old Sonic had some influence on how Belle's age was chosen, as the two are more-or-less subtextually portrayed as estranged siblings, with Metal being the more physically and socially powerful of the two as their father's loyal top enforcer, while the younger Belle is the estranged "black sheep" of the family.
Mimic:
I believe Mimic is the only adult character over 20 to have a specific age listed - he's 32. this number does seem somewhat arbitrary and it's hard to really guess what the intent there is when we don't know the ages of other adult characters to compare. it's possible that this number was chosen to portray him as exactly twice Whisper's age. it's a clean, obvious way to illustrate the power imbalance between them; while Whisper may seem older, wiser and "cooler" than our POV character, Tangle, she comes off much more like a victimized child in relation to the grown adult who's taking advantage of her trauma to torment her. she's unable to live freely because someone with greater social power and many more years of experience on her decided she has to die. their dynamic is already grim, but the age difference adds a layer of realistic danger that makes Mimic a lot scarier. (disclaimer that I'm aware he was originally conceived as a teenaged character - I'm analyzing the specific choices that led to the characters' portrayals as they appear on the page, not what any specific writer or artist had in mind)
Smithy, Claire and Slinger:
Whisper and Mimic's deceased teammates were 20, 15 and 14, respectively. the unofficial leader of the group, Smithy was the oldest member by a few years until Mimic came along. it's possible that, similar to Vector, Smithy was intended to read as a young adult still in the process of finding his footing, and trying to pave the way for his younger friends while he was at it. Mimic being over a decade older than Smithy seems to support the theme of him derailing the bright future Smithy was leading them toward by taking advantage of the others' relative inexperience. the other Diamond Cutters were young, full of hope and confidence, and just a touch naive. Mimic was older, more experienced, filled with self-hate over his own past mistakes, and disillusioned, and it was this combination of traits that ultimately led to the deaths of his younger teammates. the characters being at different life stages like this supports the roles each of them played in Whisper and Mimic's backstory.
anyway, I think that's all the characters with canon ages I have anything to say about. the Deadly Six do technically have numbers assigned, but since they're all long-lived and 100+ years old, their literal ages don't correspond to the real-life equivalents, which defeats the purpose of guessing the intent behind exact age designations (e.g. Zor is portrayed as a young-ish teenaged character at 112 years old, Master Zik is elderly at 1036, etc).
it'd be fun to speculate on the ages of characters who have yet to receive canon age designations, but this post is already really long, so I'll end it here. if you read the whole thing, I hope you had fun, thank you for your time! ✌️ and of course, I'm always happy to answer follow-up questions c:
OMG I AM SAT FOR YOUR OWN HEADCANONS ON MOBIANS AND THEIR BEAUTY STANDARDS AND STUFF.
I like your ideas on Amy being ashamed of her quills because of beauty standards, it reminds me of the dumb beauty standards curly hair has compared to straight. (One thing of the early 2000's I definitely don't miss at all.)
I can't remember if I made this up in my head, but I swear Amy was called a tomboy somewhere in a comic or Manual.
It makes sense, especially with her love for Sonic, that she'd be super self conscious about it and being perceived as "too prickly".
(Maybe in a sense, she's ashamed of being "Rosy the Rascal", and wants to be seen as something more "ladylike" idk.)
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks about where tf Amy's back spines went. It's an odd choice fr and I definitely tend to accidentally give them to modern Amy whenever I draw her. It's like a Mandela effect or something.
I can't blame people for thinking modern Amy is a cat or something, because she doesn't look as "hedgehog like" as Sonic does design wise.
(Maybe she gets those comments too, and it's like a double edged sword to her?)
So cool and I love the details! Never think you're rambling when it comes to this!!
OH THANK YOU!! EXACLY EXACTLY YOU GET ME!!!
Yeah, Amy getting softer edges than her masculine counterparts with her redesign, while cute, makes me think that, in universe, she must have had a reason to make that kind of change. I figured spiky quills are considered "unladylike" and that she softens them and irons them to meet those standards (VERY MUCH like people with curly hair always having to straighten theirs, you were right on the money)
(I know it's probably not supposed to be This Deep, but I get more into how Amy could be damaging her quills because of these standards below the cut vv)
I know she gets her design (in the Archie universe, anyway) from a fashion designer called Honey the Cat! This is fun trivia! But it supports my hc that Amy is trying to imitate someone who has inherently different fur and hair than her own (considering cats don't have quills), and could be hurting her quills because of it. Product to get the quills soft and the hot iron to get the quills flat would start to mess with their strength and thickness. The quills could get thinner and more brittle, more prone to falling out.
Her quills are also even around her head, which makes me wonder if she cuts them. Hedgehog quills are hollow, and cutting them could invite infection if bacteria got inside. It could be different for mobian quills (or maybe her quills are naturally that even) but if she cuts them to maintain the bob length (and take off the needle-points for added softness), there's a chance her trying to get this hairstyle could actually hurt her.
I figured her back spines are gone because of constant softening and ironing to get them flat, but it's possible she trimmed them off entirely. If spikes are considered unseemly for feminine mobians, it would make sense that she'd feel pressured to do so. Maybe her back spikes grow back periodically and she has to trim them again, kind of like leg and arm hair on a human. Unlike her hair, it's possible she doesn't cut these quills but rather has them quilled/plucked out by the root, leaving downy fur or even just the skin behind. That would make them take longer to grow back.
(Or maybe it's not actually That Deep, but I don't know, I'm just thinking)
Talking hedgehogs and beauty standards, though, I want to mention Sonia, who wears her quills very differently
I want to say she's wearing her quills more Alternatively than beauty standards would suggest. I mean, just look at Aleena, she's got no spikes at all!
It could be that fluffy fur on their heads is genetic, but personally I see it as Aleena deliberately wearing her quills soft, and Sonia doing the same thing with her Top Spike, since Sonia's fringe is the same color as her other spikes.
Unlike Amy, Sonia still has her back quills intact. It makes me think that, unlike Aleena, Sonia is largely comfortable with wearing her quills naturally like her brothers, even if she does soften the top one as more of a fashion statement (which cooouuuuld also be hurting her quill strength, considering that would require product and/or heat similar to what Amy does, but it doesn't look like she cuts it). The thing is that Sonia is a girly girl too, arguably moreso than Amy, so this could actually suggest Sonia sees her spikes as something that compliments her femininity, something fierce and beautiful to be worn without shame. (That could have been due to her adoptive parents taking her species into account when raising her, which is a nice thought!)
All in all, I think the difference between Sonia and Amy comes down to the way they see themselves. I do see Amy as being somewhat, just a little bit, insecure with how she looks and acts. This is all considering how different she looks from her Classic iteration— and like you said, she was described as being more tomboyish beforehand. I think she tries very hard to be appealing to other people, especially recently, taking away her sharp edges and coming out soft. Sonia on the other hand embraces her spikes, except for the fluff at the top. But I imagine if she were raised by Aleena herself, her quills would look a lot different.
But this is allllllllll speculation, so please take this all as headcanon!! The early 2000s were notorious for making female characters vastly softer and more shapely when it came to proportions, hairstyles and clothing standards, so Amy's redesign was most likely not supposed to be seen as how far girls will change themselves to fit into an "ideal" beauty standard. Still... maybe that's why it fits so well.
