Sonic X Watchers, I Require Your Assistance! · 10:05am Apr 14th, 2017
Well, I have been writing fanfiction for 22 years of my life, and have been posting it online for ten of those. But now, I'm stepping into different waters. I'm going to attempt to write an analytical piece.
Sonic X: A Case For Chris
Any longtime Sonic fan worth their salt knows that the anime character of Christopher Thorndyke is one of the most polarizing in the entire franchise; earning him placement among the most despised characters such as Big the Cat, Princess Elise, and Omochao. Now that I find myself more than two-thirds of the way through the subtitled version of Sonic X, I am going to try and create an argument of why Chris' role in the show was more positive than negative. To do that, I need help. Your help, if you watched the show. If you'd be so kind, here is what I need:
> On a scale of 1-10, 5 being neutral and leaning in either direction is how negatively or positively you believe Chris' role impacted the overall narrative of Sonic X. Put simply, how much did you hate or like Chris?
> How many seasons did you watch? The whole thing? English dub? Japanese sub? Both?
> What you believe to be his three worst moments in the show. Please be scene-specific, not just character flaws. If you're a hater, these would be the three moments you'd use to nail him to the wall as a character that negatively impacted the show. If you're a supporter, please do this if you can too; even if you have to do it begrudgingly, he was far from perfect.
> What you believe to be his three best moments. Again, scene-specific. If you're a fan, these would be your three best examples of how he positively contributed to the overall narrative. Haters, if you have to do this reluctantly, please try.
> Any other summarized details of how you feel about the character.
Serious responses only please; trolling or non-constructive feedback cannot be used. Thank you!
I only watched a few episodes from that season and all I remember was this.
Chris was helpful in saving Sonic from drowning in the beggining.
After that he kind of faded into the background.
Thats all I remember
4, leaning towards five. While it has been a while on the show, I don't think Chris affected too much of the Sonic X narritative with the exception of two major points (More on that later.) Hell, in comparison to some characters, i.e Megan form G1, The kid from the Underdog film, and the humans from Masters of the universe, he did his best to actually try and remain revelant but out of the show's star. Sadly, since this is a sega run sonic and not SATAM, we know that Sonic would be lacking character anyway.
You are talking to the most diehard Sonic fan on this site, of course I watched the entire show in english. Then I watched some episodes in japanese just to see what I missed.
Ah here we go. Ahem.
3.) Not talking Knuckles of working wiht Eggman. Kid, this is enabling of the highest order. You should know that Sega has only one desire for Knux and that is to make him the stupidest thing on the planet. Hell, they did that on Sonic Boom. (Wich, admittly is not horrible, it did make me like Amy)
2.) Taking Amy's spotlight. Ok, I hate Amy to death for several SEVERAL reasons, but this is going to far even for me. This was Amy's defining moment, the part where she could tame Shadow's heart and calm him down from being an edgelord long nough to kick Biohazard's ass. In the game, this made you think Amy could be worht more than a joke, but then...she gets that taken away. She is already a load in the anime already and Chris has to take her scene away.
1.) Damning the entire planet just to soothe his ego. Ok, you knew this was coming. Sonic is ready to get home, he has to or else the planet dies. His friends, and Amy, have all made their way through the portal and are ready for him to come home. What does Chris, the kid who has been Sonic's friend all of this time, do? He Damns the entire planet to suffer an eternity frozen in time, why, jsut so he can keep Sonic around. No, worse, so he can still remain special and he cna get away from his rich, popular, and happy life. With his famous grandpa, mother, dad, and uncle. Yeah, I could understand it if he had a crappy life before Sonic came into it, but had an excited and awesoe life, I am not one to pull out the "Hero should be happy with his ect because he has it better than me" card, but in this case, yeah! I will. His parents love him, his uncle is great, he has friends, he wants for nothing, he hasn't even lost his parents in a horrible accidnet.
3) Getting Super Sonic. Yes the scene where he rips out the chaos Emeralds is a moment of awesome. Then getting Sonic to transform into Super Sonic for the first time in a cartoon, even better.
2) Making the ship that helps them fight the Metarex. Come on, he knew enough to get that done in an instant and then make new Sonic shoes.
1) Making a dimesnional portal without emeralds. I got to admit, this was clever.
There was a panel once, where someone edited to say the following and I think it wraps up my feelings perfectly.
"Chris Thorndyke. You are rich, have famous parents, you are freidns with a hero, have a path to a world of adventure. have a perfect life and everythign you could want. I think it's safe to say that you are the biggest Mary-sue in the entire world."
4496524 Thank you!