Sonic X: A Case For Chris

Hello, Sonic X fans. This analytical piece is a first for me. The character of Christopher Thorndyke is one of the most polarizing characters in the entire franchise, joining other widely-despised cast members such as Big the Cat, Princess Elise, and Omochao. Fans of the Sonic X anime seem to either hate him, like him, or merely tolerate him. I've tried to gather points of view from all of those areas, and have attempted to create an argument of while Chris certainly has his flaws, he's gotten the short end of the stick.

My gathered feedback wasn't enormous, but what I did get proved very insightful. I received feedback from one reddit user, one Fimfiction user, my significant other, and myself. I asked each of us to rate their spite, tolerance, or support of Chris on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being hate, 5 being neutral, and 10 being fanboy. Our four numbers were 2, 4, 7, and 7. Not a huge pool, but the average is right in the middle at 5.

Another data point was if we had seen just the dub, just the sub, or both. All four of us have seen the dub in its entirety, either once or multiple times, and have seen some or all of the sub episodes.

The most detailed feedback I requested was their personal view on what they saw as Chris' three worst moments, and his three best. Answers were varied, and had scenes that tied for first place in the Best Moments category. Let's start off with the worst:

Tails and the Tornado vs Missile Wrist (Honorable mention)
This was a personal worst of mine, which is ironic, because in spite of the Chris fan that I would become, this was the very first scene I saw of Sonic X back in 2003.

Of the number of times I've rewatched it, I cannot get it around my head how neither Tails nor Chuck at any point wondered “Now is this really a good idea?” I mean, they were nearly shot down, and yes, while Chris did hand off a ring to Sonic at street level, you cannot convince me that Tails couldn't have done that too; he could probably shoot those things at him in his sleep.

Handing over the emeralds to Eggman with Knuckles (2 votes)
So I know the Sonic Boom version of Knuckles gets a lot of flack for being the hulking retard of the cast, but this still takes the cake, 13 years later. I mean, what the hell, is it not getting through your dreadlocks that Eggman doesn't care one bit that you have a gem to go watch over? He's already taken advantage of your gullibility once this season!

And Chris, I believe you were there for that one too, so, yeah. Way to not, oh, I don't know, TALK HIM OUT OF IT???

Confrontation with Shadow (2 worst, 1 best)
Okay, this one was interesting, as this scene was the only one voted best and worst by the people who gave me feedback.

Probably the most common criticism about Chris outside of his Mary Sue nature is how he incessantly took screen and development time from other familiar characters, that nowhere else is this more apparent than how he was shoehorned into the Adventure storylines, and they are absolutely correct; I would have been perfectly alright with him taking a back seat for this cluster of episodes and coming back into a bit of prominence for the Egg Moon saga. Not only does he get caught in the battle with Chaos 6, but here, he does one worse than take the spotlight; he takes it from two other characters.

The reason my significant other probably voted this as one of his best moments, was because he never played Sonic Adventure 2, and he doesn't realize that this was Amy's unquestionable moment to shine in that game. Not only that, but when Shadow starts shoving him against the wall, Amy begins to intervene, only to be stopped by Tanaka.

Um, I'm sorry? Your charge that you flew up into low orbit to rescue is being plastered against the wall, and you're holding the hammer-swinging hedgehog back? For a monologue that you hope will sway the ultimate lifeform?

I don't buy that for a second. As unnecessary as Chris was aboard the ARK, Tanaka was even less so.

Not only does he usurp the role away from what would have undoubtedly been Amy's best moment in Sonic X, but he also pulls the rug out from Rouge, as he's handed Shadow's limiter rings after the battle with Final Hazard, instead of her.

Shutting down the gateway (3 votes)
And here we are, with the most-voted worst moment; the closing moments of Episode 50 and opening of 51. Chris, not able to accept that Sonic has to go home, waits until everyone else goes through, then aborts the device at the last moment. In the words of one of my contributing detractors, he “pulls a stupid.” Yep, pretty much.

The fact that he waited was the worst part to me. It's a good thing that Chris' selfish side didn't rear it's ugly head until the end of Season 2, because this takes the cake.

I'm afraid to open this argument up to “what if?” scenarios, because then I could write this forever, but if he hadn't aborted the gateway, how then would we progress into Episodes 51 and 52? Would the gate malfunction again at the last moment? Why would Chris run off then? Or would the gate be fine, and Sonic vanishes, leaving him to his grief?

Like I said, what we have is what we have. Chris is undoubtedly at his worst in the closing moments of Episode 50, but fortunately, it immediately leads to his best in Episode 51. Speaking of best...

Saved Sonic from the pool (Honorable mention)
Might as well go back to the beginning here. Were it not for Chris waking up in the middle of the night to the gargantuan splash in the backyard, it's likely Ella or Tanaka would have woken up to a hedgehog corpse in the morning.

Come to think of it, why hasn't that been animated for Sonic Shorts?

Some could argue that it would have been better if that was the end of his involvement; Sonic could have taken off after trying the cat food the next morning and that would have been that. But there are enough moments where Chris makes a true difference, that I believe make up for him being a hindrance.

The Hover Shoes / Metarex Saga As A Whole (2 votes)
While I asked to be scene specific, the two votes for this really wanted to emphasize how Chris' role in Sonic X improved marginally in a supporting role in the entire Metarex saga, and to be specific, they picked the first such occurrence; his hover shoes for Sonic, eliminating one of the hedgehog's greatest weaknesses; water.

Taking the emeralds out of E-99 (3 votes)
I do believe Decoe and Bocoe learned a lesson here; don't bolt a distraught 12-year old to fiberglass, or you know, whatever the back of the E-99 bridge was made of.

This was a near-unanimous vote, as this was probably the most noteworthy time where Chris truly made the difference. After the E-99 makes short work of Sonic with the power of six chaos emeralds, Chris finally breaks free of his bonds, because they didn't include a proper brig on the thing, and leaps forward to rip the emeralds from their receptacles. The resulting energy burst sends him tumbling head over heels and slams him into the front of the canopy. Depending on your flavor of choice, the dub or sub, he then painfully mutters how no one will take the emeralds from him, or no one will take Sonic from him.

Cue Knuckles, his partner in idiocy that helped get him into this mess, smashes through the canopy, distracting Eggman and his bots, allowing Rouge to slip in and take Chris, emeralds and all. The despondent boy struggles free from her hold, and plunges towards the ocean. She catches him in time, but the six emeralds join the seventh in the water, resulting in the first Super transformation in a Sonic television series.

Bravo, Chris. Of course it can be debated whether you saved the day, or simply solved the problem you and that echidna created in the first place.

Campfire at the lakeside villa (3 votes)
I apologize in advance for the essay, but this scene really hits it out of the park.

Tying for best moment is... What's this? Character development after fifty-and-a-half episodes? Yes, sir. There's no question, if you're a Chris fan, 51 ranks high on your list of favorites, as Chris runs away with Sonic, and together they take a day and travel across the great state of Dolorado.

No, I'm not kidding. Dolorado. That's what the diner placemat says in the sub. Complete with destinations such as Coulder, Cenver, Dolorado Springs, and of course, the Rio Grade.

But I digress.

Chris' long journey (see what I did there?) culminates at a campfire by a lakeside villa he enjoyed visiting with his mom and dad when he was little. He finally asks Sonic the $64,000 question: “Why did you come with me?” Throughout the episode, Chris has asked Sonic where they should go, and every time, Sonic deflects the decision back to him. This is absolutely Chris' journey and Sonic is along for the ride, but that shouldn't belittle Sonic's role, which I believe makes the campfire so significant. As their conversation begins, the guilt in Chris' voice becomes more and more apparent, in both versions. He already feels like he's done wrong, with barely a sentence from Sonic. Again and again, Sonic puts the choice of whether he stays or goes 100% in Chris' hands; and finally, Chris realizes what a selfish decision running away was in the first place.

I'm not really sure what the best way of approaching this scene is, because not only is the entire episode important, but so is the closing moments of Season 2 one episode later, which gives this entire episode some amazing retrospect.

The last scene of Season 2 takes place immediately after the campfire, where Sonic reveals that he had the seven Chaos Emeralds all along, making Chris' abort of the gateway a moot point. However, with that revelation, we can look back at Sonic's mentality in Episode 51 with a new clarity.

Sonic only shows a few moments of confusion when Chris takes off into the forest with him in tow, then takes the lead a few moments later, probably aiding in their disappearance into the night. From then on, we see Sonic do something he's rarely done before; patiently bide his time. Maybe he's now aware of Chris' deep-rooted family issues and wants to give him time to overcome them. Or maybe he's also reluctant to say his goodbyes. Perhaps a little of both.

Another thing that surprised me about Episode 51 is how faithful the dub was to the source material. There are very few differences except for a few choice dialogue changes, and a scene at the beginning that was cut for time, and those should be looked at here too.

It's very unfortunate that the scene from Chris' early childhood was cut for time, since this gives so much weight to why he takes Sonic and runs off; growing up with an endless string of broken promises and countless attempts from his parents to buy his happiness. I'll never understand why such a significant back-story scene was cut for time, instead of everyone saying goodbye again, or hell, we didn't even need the flashback to the pool either.

Dialogue-wise, when Chris finally has his breakdown at the campfire, you'll get some slight variation depending on your choice of sub or dub. In the sub, Chris says that his friendship is holding Sonic back; he'll never be able to keep up with him, he'll never be able to be like him. In the dub, he laments how he wasn't ready to say goodbye, and when it mattered most, his selfishness let Sonic down, and he asks for forgiveness.

In both the sub and dub, Sonic mentions how the moon looks the same from both worlds.

Except it doesn't, speedy. In case you're blind, half of Chris' moon is quite metallic now.

In my honest opinion, the dialogue in the sub makes the Season 2 closing scene much more touching; where Sonic speeds along with Chris on his back, giving him a taste of what it's like to be like him. As they speed along, Sonic is revealed to be silently crying as he runs, perhaps signifying that he was just as reluctant to say goodbye. The duo's tears join as they fall away, and Chris cries out Sonic's name as the screen fades to black. Episode 51 and the end of 52 remained at the top of my most touching scenes in Sonic X up until the very end.

When the finale went and ripped my Tails-adoring heart out.

Do The Positives Outweigh The Negatives?
That's the whole point of this thing, is it not?

In closing, I believe your individual answer depends on your reception of characters like Chris; put in for the sole purpose for the target audience to have something to relate to. It bears mentioning that Chris was much more positively received in eastern countries, where their heroes are much more down to earth and relatable. A few weeks ago, I asked if the difference in reception was more of a dubbing issue, or cultural issue; Shadowofdimentio put it thusly:

“I think its cultural. If you look at the main characters in eastern media, you'll see that most of them have some similarities. Apparently, the east likes it's main characters as relatable as possible. There are exceptions of course, but in the majority of works, the main character will be what the target audience enjoys. Since Sonic X was aimed at kids becoming teenagers, Chris was the self-insert for the fanbase.

The west however, enjoys more wish-fulfillment characters / wacky characters. Our characters are still relatable, but they're relatable in a different way. Superheroes, cartoon characters and even our more popular anime all focus on interesting character designs and the likes.”

When it comes to his obsession with Sonic, I'll again point back to his upbringing and familial issues. It says a lot about Chris' character that he's not your typical rich kid. He's not materialistic. Growing up, he wanted meaningful friendships; were it not for his residence, you'd never know mom and dad were absolutely loaded. So when he grew up not having the companionship he longed for, when a carefree, larger-than-life anthropomorphic hedgehog drops into his pool; I honestly believe that a 12-year old in his position would grab on tight with both hands and not let go. Because anything's better than returning to what was normal everyday life for him.

I, as well as one of my contributing detractors, believe that the campfire scene was the pinnacle of Chris' development. As that took fifty episodes, I could not blame anyone who thinks that while it may not be too little, it could certainly be considered too late. Other, smaller attempts at character development, such as his borderline cheating against Danny at the Chaos Emerald Tournament, go absolutely nowhere and sputter and die within the same episode.

In the end, Chris' ultimate fate at the series finale is probably the most ambiguous part of the whole season. At least with Cosmo we got a spouting plant, a glimmer of hope. With Chris, his craft disappearing into the black is the last thing we see in the sub. From there, the only continuation is fanfiction and headcanons.

In short, when it comes to the positives vs the negatives; I simply say, I believe it's a close call. I don't mean to sound cliché, but I think a lot of Chris' blunders can be owed to the fact that he's a kid. He's 12. When you consider that a lot of those flaws disappear in Season 3, when he's chronologically 18, I think that gives that answer more weight. I don't want to call it a wash, but even after this analysis, I still believe that Sonic X would have suffered as a whole if Chris' role was removed. When it comes to the accusation that he steals the spotlight from others, I'll agree with that, but only to an extent. Sonic X featured a cast even more extensive than Sonic Heroes; the largest in-game cast at the time the show was airing. You've got 24 minutes to an episode, even less in the dub, and you've got to have your prominent, relatable character. That's the way the chips fell.

So I'm not sure if this perspective we've put together will end up changing some opinions, but regardless, I hope you enjoyed if you read the whole thing. If you still group Chris into that bottom cesspool along with Omochao, Elise, and Big, at the very least I hope he's at the top of that pile. Because he's never told Sonic how to jump, Light Dash, or how to beat a boss. He's never kissed Sonic back to life, although that may depend entirely on what corner of the Internet you're in, and when it comes to Big... Okay, he follows Sonic around incessantly, but his voice acting is so much better, in both locales, and his only appearance in Sonic Adventure was in the Director's Cut, on a poster, and he didn't bring mind-numbing fishing levels with him. That is that.

Thanks for reading.

Comments

[Phazon]

Honestly, I've been holding back from this discussion because I didn't think I had much to contribute. Even now, as I'm typing this, I don't think I'm contributing anything. I've seen most of the dub, emphasis on most, but there are considerable gaps in my memory, and it's hard to say whether those gaps are due to how long it's been since I watched the damn thing (depending on the episode, it's either been nearly a decade or just about fifteen years) or because I never got a chance to watch it on Saturday mornings due to Saturday schooling. And I've seen none of the original version. Literally none of it. Not even that girl Shadow meets in the Metarex saga. And it's because of that that I can't even list three best moments or three worst moments for Chris. Either I haven't watched the whole thing, or I don't remember it very well.

That said, Chris always struck me as one of two things. For one, he was Sonic & Pals' means of living in the human world. Basically so that Sonic's friends could be dumped into "our" world, but without having to deal with the strife of finding food, water, and shelter in an alien world because, "oh look, they get to live with a rich kid." And the second was as an audience avatar. And looking at it from that perspective, I find it hard to justify either his existence or outright rewriting him from the show.

Take episodes 50-52 for example, the episodes that apparently capture both some of his best and worst moments. It's true that stopping Sonic from going back to his own world and running off with him was a selfish thing to do. And I got the impression that even he realized he was doing the wrong thing even as he was doing it. But seeing him as the audience avatar, it's hard to imagine him not doing what he did. I think even the dub managed to capture the sort of loneliness he felt before Sonic & Pals showed up (keep in mind that I too was 12 when I watched this episode). Sure, without Chris this could've just been one episode of Sonic and his friends saying their goodbyes and going back to their world. But the heartfelt moments and character development make him an overall plus to the show in these episodes.

Then there's the scene with him usurping Amy's role in convincing Shadow to stop Gerald's doomsday plan. I think I saw this scene and played SA2 Battle around the same time, in my freshman year of college, so I knew then and there that he stole Amy's role. But I feel like the Chris version was done better. Sure, this was Amy's time to shine in a game that seemed to completely throw her SA1 character development out the window, but at the same time Chris is a more convincing stand-in for Maria than Amy.

And then there's the Metarex saga. True, Chris developed a science and engineering background in the time that he was away from Sonic, and that led him to creating those Hover Shoes for Sonic, among other things. But even if you consider it one of his best moments, I look at it as a way to shoehorn him into the show again for another season. Tails could've done that for Sonic, or maybe Cosmo could've had some expertise in alien tech and helped out in that regard. The point is that it didn't have to be Chris specifically. It's sort of like Jared Leto's Joker in Suicide Squad. There are a shit-ton of deleted Joker scenes from the theatrical release that fans swear should have been kept in, but I thought Leto was "just okay" in the seven minutes or so that I saw of him in theaters, and Jared Leto's Joker is only relevant in the first place because Harley Quinn is part of the Suicide Squad, so I don't think that's worth further shoehorning him into a movie that he was already shoehorned into in the first place.