I'm interested in hearing what people think motivates the cast. You can skip the first few paragraphs and go straight to my attempt at a list, I'm just going to try to explain why I think character's motivations are important to define.
And it is one of the most important aspects, if not the most important aspect, of creating a character. What makes the characters do the things they do?
Lately it seems as if the motivations of the characters is something that's fallen to the curb. This is understandable - while motivation needs to be interesting for a good book, for a video game it's something of a secondary concern, and many of the main characters were somewhat cyphers as they were originally created. Still, in my view, stories have much greater human interest when the character's motivation (along with some traits or values that may come into conflict with that motivation), is given to us early on so we can watch the character struggle with their internal coflicts. Lien-Da has been at her most fascinating when struggling between her own schemes and her feelings of loyalty to Dmitiri and the Legion. Shadow, by far the most popular character introduced recently, hates humanity after seeing how it treated a human he loved dearly, an interesting and tragic paradox.
Or look at other comics - Batman is clearly motivated by the death of his parents and the desire to make sure nobody else ever suffers as he did. Superman lost his homeworld, and wishes to protect his adopted home to keep it safe. Spiderman lost someone dear to him in a moment of selfishness, teaching him that "with great power comes great responsibility". Great villains are made the same way. Captain Ahab was obsessed with the whale that had taken its leg, Iago hated Othello for having everything he wanted, the Invisible Man and Dorian Grey both started out just curious as to what vices they could get away with and become more and more vile as they realized that they could get away with almost anything.
Right now in the book, most of the characters have no clearly defined motivation, and when a motivation is given it's something hard for the reader to emphasize with. It's interesting to try and put yourself in Batman's shoes, but Rotor's vague "I want to protect the world because some bad stuff happened when I was growing up" just doesn't capture the imagination as well.
Anyway, enough of that. The list.
What motivates them?
Heroes
*Sonic - Robotnik roboticized both of his parents, then after his Uncle raised him for a bit, Robotnik roboticized him too. It's a good motivation to be a hero, so how come it's never been mentioned except in the flashbacks showing it happening?
*Tails - Never got to know either of his parents thanks to Robotnik. Another compelling motivation that we never hear about.
*Princess Sally - Lost her family to the war. Being the princess makes her feel responsible for everyone around her.
*Mina - Father was a hero in the war against the Overlanders, although she lost him at a very young age. Mother was roboticized, but not for very long (feels to me like her motivation needs some major overhaul)
*Knuckles - Basically he's a hero because he was raised to be one, and it's all he's ever known. There's something to be mined there.
*Amy Rose - None really. Hero worship of Sonic?
*Bunnie Rabbot - lost her family, got partially roboticized.
*Rotor - Nothing ever really plainly explained, just seems to be going along because Eggman is evil.
*Antoine D'Coolette - hero worship of his father, wants to be a great hero like dear ol' dad.
*Julie-Su - Hard to pin down, but mostly feels betrayed by the Dark Legion.
*Fiona Fox - was put in a prison camp and experimented on by Robotnik for years, and lost friends there. Torn between her loyalty to the Freedom Fighters actually fighting Robotnik, and the mercenaries she lived with for years, who were the ones to actually save her from prison.
Middle Ground characters
*Dimitri - Wants what's best for the echidna people, but basically feels that the Brotherhood is doing things completely wrong.
*Lien-Da - greed and family loyalty
*Shadow - grew quite close to Maria, only to see the poor kid be senselessly killed, hates humanity as a result.
*Rouge - Just greed apparently
Villains
*Eggman/Robotnik - Just greed apparently
*Nack the Weasel - Just greed apparently
*Scourge - Just greed apparently
*Ixis Naugus - Just greed apparently
*Mammoth Mogul - Just greed apparently
(anyone notice a pattern with the villains? Where's the Ahab that's miffed over his missing leg? Mr. Freeze that lost his wife to a greedy scumbag? The Green Goblin getting revenge on the people that pushed him around?)
Actually I think I can provide a villain from the series who has more motivation and more to him than the one you just mentioned. It's a guy who for the most part gets overlooked in the comics, none other than Snively. This is a guy who started out simlply being a toady to the big round guy, but as the comic pressed on we got more and more insight into what made him tick. Granted alot of this is just speculation on my part but I think given what we've seen of his family history they are valid theories.
As we saw in previous issues, his father Colin Kintobor was the military leader of the Overlanders of Megalopolis. Given this he obviously prided physical strength and ability first and foremost, especially obove intelligence. Yet what does he get for a son, an individual who while scientifically brilliant is physically meek and apparently cowardly as well. Their is no way someone like Colin was going to satisfied with a son like that. This is confirmed by both eggman and Snively commenting on how Colin never appreciated his genieus.
The guy would obviously have preferred a son more like himself, one who to put it simply was a real man. And though I don't think he meant to obviously he past this vibe onto Snively. I think alot of people can relate to having a father not accept you for who you are and wanting you to be something you're not. Snively no doubt grew up resenting his father for not regarding his intellectual achievements and putting emphasis on his physical inneficiency.
Then along comes Uncle Julian a man who clearly puts intelligence above other attributes and who would most likely recognize Snively's gifts in ways Colin wouldn't. Being estranged with his own father and having a uncle who appears to relate to him is it any wonder he would throw his loyalty to his uncle rather than dear old dad. Snively no doubt thought that with his uncle he found someone who truly understood him and apreciated him.
Of course as we all know that wasn't the case. Once in a position of power Robotnik obviously had little need to play to Snively's insecurities any longer and could easily afford to treat him like the insect he felt he was to him. Years of verbal abuse and demeening treatnment from the one person he thought appreciated him obviously left Snively feeling betrayed and so he grew to hate his uncle just as much as his father.
Feeling betrayed by both the father figures in his life and tired of being inferior to everyone around him Snively no doubt thought it was time he did the pushing around. So as a result he started coveting power himself. And the rest is as we say history.
Excellent first topic. Welcome to the MoFo.
Quickly addressing Rotor, we do know a bit about his motivation because we've seen how Robotnik's coup affected his family. Like most of the FFs, he's motivated by the need to fight for his loved ones.
Although Rotor's family probably was the main driving force, the way it was portrayed just plain lacked the punch of Sally's father being thrown into the Zone of Silence, or Sonic's parents and Uncle being roboticized. "Well, some of my family kinda escaped to the Arctic, but there was brainwashing involved, so they also didn't escape" and it's never come up once since it was first mentioned. I think that's what gets me. You pick up a few issues of Batman or Spiderman, you'll pretty soon get a reference to what's driving the character. I don't think we've heard Rotor say why he's fighting Robotnik once outside of the story where he went to the Arctic. Even main characters like Sonic and Tails, who have excellent motivations never mention it or seem to think about what Robotnik did to them.
I agree that Snively might have some good motivation, and I hope it's expanded on. And I'd like to see some conflict between his wish to be in a position of power, and his loyalty to Hope (it was a good idea, although I was let down by how it was executed so far). Overall though, he's pretty much doomed to never be seen as a real threat. All of the A-List villains pretty much want to take over the world because it's there and they want to be in charge. Dull dull dull dull dull. You've got to rotate in some villains with completely different goals and reasons for doing bad things.
Poor Rote. I always WANTED to like him more, I mean he's a nice friendly fella with no glaring personality flaws, but he's also sorta dull. I dunno whether it was the pacing, the art or both, but his Arctic Quest storyline just fell flat. Introducing Tommy as co-worker did nothing to improve Rote's chatericazation either... maybe if they were more than just lab partners, the stories'd just write themselves 😛 *razzes Comics Code* Let's turn this Snooze Fest into a Schmooze Fest!
Seriously tho Rote needs a real character-defining moment. Over 150 issues, and what scenes of the walri stick out? His hypocrtical gun policy, the attempt to hack into Nicole's programming, and the debut 'a his fogeyish Post Home outfit. Wowz.
Robotnik's motivation? Based on how his plot to drain energy from the Zone of Silence was, quite deliberately and pointlessly, based around killing the souls of civilians, his motivation appears to be fun. He enjoys destruction.
The Green Goblin getting revenge on the people that pushed him around?
The Green Goblin murders and destroys the lives of people that never wronged just for fun and because he can, and his original Goblin plot was simply to grab more power - his motivation was never really revenge. He's a "let's see what I can get away with - oh, it's anything!" type like the Invisible Man, only nastier.
I think that the Sega version of Eggman is quite clearly motivated mainly by ego. That is probably also partially true of the Archie Robotnik.
I'd say that Nack was originally in for greed, but now possibly also revenge on Sonic and co for being foiled and humiliated time and time again? It's never been confirmed, but I would think so. Actually, come to think of it, he tried to kill Sally for that exact reason. Actually, I would prefer the greedy weasel being more in for revenge than he is now.
honestly, i think the best way to say what robotnik's motivation would be is that he's just insane. but also, because of the fact that he's already almost taken over the planet on numerous occasions, he'd have to ask himself "why stop now?"
While I think of it, how much motivation do the Freedom Fighters need when their main enemy once conquered their world & turned everyone into his mindless slave (or into dead people) and wants to do so again? "Let's make sure Robotnik doesn't kill us all" sounds like a good motivation to me...
Actually I disagree. Strongly. It's technically good enough to make them go out and fight, but you know what? It's boring when your entire main cast is just being heroes out of self preservation. That obviously is part of it, but there needs to be more driving them than that. What seperates the Freedom Fighters from the other Mobians that are sitting back and just hoping that things will work out somehow?
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That obviously is part of it, but there needs to be more driving them than that.
It's going to get a bit daft if every single one of them has this big, dark, dramatic thing in their past driving them.
Seconded. I think the characters' motivations are fairly clear and mostly work as they are right now. And they don't need to be complicated in order to work. For a book like Sonic, simple is all right.
Sonic, quite simply, fights because he hates Robotnik, wants to protect his loved ones, and wishes to emulate his hero Colonel Tig Stripe. Most of the other freedom fighters had/have similar reasons.
Who said anything about them having to be "big, dark, dramatic" things? But a better job at giving a broader variety of motivations allows for more interesting exploration of the characters thoughts.
Sonic lost his family.
Sally lost her family, and is also driven by a feeling of obligation because she was raised to rule.
Tails never even got to meet his family.
Antoine lost his family, but was also driven by hero worship of his dad.
Bunny was partially roboticized herself (we have no idea what happened to her family).
Knuckles was just plum raised to be a hero.
Sure they're also driven by a plain old hatred of bad guys, but there are unique things in their past to drive them too, and that's almost never addressed.
Meanwhile Rotor, Mina, and Amy really don't seem to have anything compelling driving them. We have no idea what for Rotor interested in science, or why Amy... well heck, we know next to nothing about Amy at all!
And with Dimitri and Lien-Da now more neutral than evil, every one of the top tier villains does bad things just because they want to be in charge. The most popular new character in a long time is Shadow, a guy that fights Sonic but has complicated motivations for wanting to hurt others. Instead of looking at Shadow and learning what made him popular, we've instead gotten new characters that try to look hip but lack the things that made Shadow so interesting.
Shadow's motivations aren't "interesting" or "complicated." They're nonsensical. He has never been consistently charcterized within the games or comics, ever. Shadow is popular because he's dark, brooding and edgy.
As for your assertion that we never see the unique motivations of the characters, have you read the latest issue? In issue 165, the opening story deals with the motivations of Rouge and Fiona, and to a lesser extent Julei-Su and Scourge. The back up story is heavily involved with the conflicting motivations of Knuckles and Locke, and how these compare to the general motivating force behind the good guys as a whole.
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Sonic lost his family.
And he got it back, and even after he got it back he went off looking for other villains to fight. If the loss of his family was his main motivation, he'd have stopped fighting after his parents returned.
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Sally lost her family, and is also driven by a feeling of obligation because she was raised to rule.
That one's true - unfortunately, Archie seems to have dumped it by having Elias take the throne and have Sally just bumming around the edges of the monarchy when, just recently, she was acting-monarch. *waves fist angrily at #156*
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Tails never even got to meet his family.
Has that ever really been shown or hinted as his motivation? Mainly it just seemed to be idolation of Sonic and, for his miniseries, because he wanted to show he wasn't a kid.
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Meanwhile Rotor, Mina, and Amy really don't seem to have anything compelling driving them.
Mina lost her entire family when Robotnik returned, which was her early motivation; when they returned, she was motivated by the mother of all crushes on Sonic. Now, she's motivated by "Me am good singer! Me like singing! Me sing!" - since she's currently a singer, what more motivation does she really need?
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And with Dimitri and Lien-Da now more neutral than evil
I still don't know how the crap that happened, what with all the gleeful mass violence, brainwashing, attempted murder, torture and sending everyone into another dimension they kept doing. I can buy it for Dmitri, but Lien-da neutral?! Eff off, Archie!
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The most popular new character in a long time is Shadow, a guy that fights Sonic but has complicated motivations for wanting to hurt others.
Complicated my arse! His motivations are "my friend Maria got hurt, therefore I shall help kill everyone in response - ooops, no, she asked me to help people, I suppose I better do that instead" and "I can't remember who I am! I shall help Black Doom kill people so I can remember (depending who the gamer wants to fight this level)! Grrrr!". What's complicated about that?
Well, another one of Mina's motivations was Sonic before HHH, But with the jerk of a writer's tool to keep Mina from Sonic that I need not name, Mina no longer wants Sonic.
Shadow's motivations aren't "interesting" or "complicated." They're nonsensical. He has never been consistently charcterized within the games or comics, ever. Shadow is popular because he's dark, brooding and edgy.
That's only half of it. Yes, the edgy and brooding aspects are popular with the little kids, but he's got a lot of fans due to his interesting past as well. Why is he dark brooding and edgy? Because he made friends with a girl named Maria, who then got killed. That's what made him so angry at mankind, bringing him into conflict with the heroes. You get that in every version of the character, with all versions mellowing out over time but never truly becoming friendly either. The murder of Maria is an interesting motivation.
As for your assertion that we never see the unique motivations of the characters, have you read the latest issue? In issue 165, the opening story deals with the motivations of Rouge and Fiona, and to a lesser extent Julei-Su and Scourge. The back up story is heavily involved with the conflicting motivations of Knuckles and Locke, and how these compare to the general motivating force behind the good guys as a whole.
I agree that this is an examination of their unique motivations, and I hope we see more of it. It's also something that's very very rare in the comic. It's some of the best character development stuff we've seen in a while, IMHO, precisely because it's looking at why the characters do the things they do. Now if some work was put into doing the same with the rest of the cast, and giving some villains with more variety in their motivations, then I really do think there would be a huge improvement in the book's character development.
And he got it back, and even after he got it back he went off looking for other villains to fight. If the loss of his family was his main motivation, he'd have stopped fighting after his parents returned.
The fact that he spent a large part of his life without his family is surely still motivating him. Yes, there are a lot of other things involved, but the fact that he got his family back doesn't change the fact that he spent years without them. I'd be upset about that.
Has that ever really been shown or hinted as his motivation? Mainly it just seemed to be idolation of Sonic and, for his miniseries, because he wanted to show he wasn't a kid.
No that hasn't been hinted at as being his motivation. We've no idea if it is or it isn't. In fact, aside from a couple of very recent stories, we've had nothing at all reminding us that he never even got to know his parents. That's a problem! There's a main character who never knew his parents, and you'd never know it after reading most of the comic's run! That doesn't mean constant angst, but the odd reference would make the characters more real. Spiderman has managed to be a pretty upbeat character for most of his run, but there was no way you weren't going to get a few references every year to the way he lost his Uncle Ben. Is it really that much to ask that some time when Sonic is beating the crap out of Eggman he lays off the puns just long enough to say "And this is for all those years when you stole my family from me!"
I still don't know how the crap that happened, what with all the gleeful mass violence, brainwashing, attempted murder, torture and sending everyone into another dimension they kept doing. I can buy it for Dmitri, but Lien-da neutral?! Eff off, Archie!
Why not? Is it really that strange that someone interested in power would want to be on the same side as the poeple that keep winning? And if Eggman gets his way, there's just no way the Dark Legion does well. War makes strange bedfellows. Besides, considering the pretty reasonable people ruling Echidna society these days, the Dark Legion, for the first time in, like, forever actually has a better chance of getting things it wants by playing nice than by fighting.
Complicated my arse! His motivations are "my friend Maria got hurt, therefore I shall help kill everyone in response - ooops, no, she asked me to help people, I suppose I better do that instead"
You don't think that's complicated? On the one hand he hates humanity for killing Maria and being jerks, on the other hand he doesn't want to do something that would make her unhappy. He's torn between a desire to avenge her and a desire to be the sort of person she would like. Yeah, I'd call that way more complicated than Eggman's "I want to conquer the world and hurt people because... I'm just a bad egg (pun intended)!"
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Why is he dark brooding and edgy? Because he made friends with a girl named Maria, who then got killed.
It's still not a complicated motivation, it's a really simple one.
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The fact that he spent a large part of his life without his family is surely still motivating him.
If that had been his main motivation, he'd have never left Knothole to go on his World Tour storyline. His family was back after ten years and he left Mobotropolis, only taking one of his friends, to handle some minor villains (granted he fought Naugus but that wasn't the reason he set out). That's not the actions of someone motivated by the loss of their family.
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No that hasn't been hinted at as being his motivation. We've no idea if it is or it isn't.
If it hasn't been hinted at all and other things have been explicitly shown as motivating him, then it's pretty obvious that not having his biological family around wasn't motivating him to fight Robotnik.
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Spiderman has managed to be a pretty upbeat character for most of his run, but there was no way you weren't going to get a few references every year to the way he lost his Uncle Ben.
Yeah, and it gets a bit daft at times.
Also, Spider-Man lost his parents at a young age and never really knew them. That's hardly ever touched on in the comics (except for that really bad story where they came back but turned out to be robot doubles), and why should it be? As far as he's concerned, his aunt and uncle did all the raising of him and they're his family. Who raised Tails and thus counts as his family? Sonic, Sally, Rosie and everyone else in Knothole.
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Why not? Is it really that strange that someone interested in power would want to be on the same side as the poeple that keep winning?
No, but it is strange that they'd work with or trust Lien-Da one iota except in extreme situations, and it's strange that she didn't immediately exploit post-Kage Angel Island for her own agenda. She's the head of the bloody Dark Legion, who spent most of their stories trying to take over the place either by force of arms, political manipulation or by going "hey, let's all work together" while possessing a huge load of guns & a Chaos-charged Knuckles with which to coerce the echidna government. Why did the heroes leave Lien-Da and the Legion effectively in charge of the Island after deposing Kage? Did they forget wha
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And if Eggman gets his way, there's just no way the Dark Legion does well.
Sure there is. They can go along to him and say "hey, how about we rule Angel Island for you?" like Kage did. It still strikes me as odd that they didn't do that.
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You don't think that's complicated?
No, I don't think it's complicated that he's doing what someone asked him to do.
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If that had been his main motivation, he'd have never left Knothole to go on his World Tour storyline. His family was back after ten years and he left Mobotropolis, only taking one of his friends, to handle some minor villains (granted he fought Naugus but that wasn't the reason he set out). That's not the actions of someone motivated by the loss of their family
That's a perfect example of how, for the majority of this book's run, characters acted without anyone looking at the reasons for their actions. There were villains out there, and Sonic's a hero, so he had to go and fight them! Or he lived for life on the edge. And maybe he was feeling awkward about his family? Or something?
Sonic is another one whose motivations are usually never looked at in a story and that's a problem. Presumably he fought Robotnik because of his family. But yes, a very good question, when he gets his family back, why does he go running off around the world? Just because he's a good guy and there are bad guys out there? That's a great reason on its own if you're Captain Planet, but anyone else might want to invest in some interesting reasons for being the hero. The World Tour, as I remember, was unpopular. And I'm going to say that a huge reason why was that Sonic was going around portrayed as being a hero just because he was deep down good, and fighting people that were villains just because they were deep down bad, and there wasn't one darn interesting thing going on in terms of characterization.
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If it hasn't been hinted at all and other things have been explicitly shown as motivating him, then it's pretty obvious that not having his biological family around wasn't motivating him to fight Robotnik.
What other things have been explicitly shown motivating him? If it's his friendship with Sonic, or that whole "Chosen One" thing, then having him every once in a while think about how that's the reason he's doing something would go a long way towards letting us know. Show me your own list, what do you see as being the motivations for the characters?
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Yeah, and it gets a bit daft at times.
Maybe so. But considering how long the book has remained one of the top selling comics, I'm inclined to think there's something to be said for it.
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Also, Spider-Man lost his parents at a young age and never really knew them. That's hardly ever touched on in the comics (except for that really bad story where they came back but turned out to be robot doubles), and why should it be? As far as he's concerned, his aunt and uncle did all the raising of him and they're his family. Who raised Tails and thus counts as his family? Sonic, Sally, Rosie and everyone else in Knothole.
Which would be fine, except we never really get much examination of that fact. Instead of dealing with the fact that his friends are the only family he's ever known, we get stories with him being replaced with Master Mogul's energy double for a year.
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No, but it is strange that they'd work with or trust Lien-Da one iota except in extreme situations, and it's strange that she didn't immediately exploit post-Kage Angel Island for her own agenda.
I'd consider the current situation on Angel Island pretty extreme. And from her portrayal in the Return to Angel Island story, I'd say she likely is exploiting the current situation (she had the Master Emerald after all), but realizes that the Dark Legion needs help if it's going to survive this. That and the story already had enough to deal with without going into her schemes too. I do hope we see her scheming some more, but with the current status quo I think some uneasy alliances make things more interesting. Better the enemy that wants to be in charge than the enemy that wants you in slave labor camps or worse.
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Sure there is. They can go along to him and say "hey, how about we rule Angel Island for you?" like Kage did. It still strikes me as odd that they didn't do that.
Dmitri tried working with Eggman before - and got betrayed. Just like every other ally of Robotnik's (with the exception of the Dingos, who are probably living on borrowed time). Honestly I prefer that the Legion isn't dumb enough to try working with Robotnik. That never works out well.
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No, I don't think it's complicated that he's doing what someone asked him to do.
That's not what he's doing though. He's protrayed as a character who is wrestling with the fact that he wants revenge but knows that's not what Maria would have wanted. Yes, at the end of a game he may pick one or the other. But, again, my point was that a dead little girl is a more interesting motivation than Ixis and Mogul's desire to be in charge just out of a love of power.
Do you remember in Sonic Adventure 2 when Sonic and Shadow are running side-by-side, talking to ona another before they begin to fight each other as a boss battle? Shadow asks Sonic what he is, and Sonic replies:
What you see is what you get. I'm just a guy that loves adventure. I'm Sonic the Hedgehog!
There's something that really resonates about a pure, simple, honest character such as Sonic. Perhaps that's a reason Sonic has such a universal appeal whereas much of the fanbase hates Shadow's guts.
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But yes, a very good question, when he gets his family back, why does he go running off around the world? Just because he's a good guy and there are bad guys out there?
According to Sonic and Knuckles themselves in #56? Yes, it's pretty much that - Sonic likes saving people and having adventures, rebuilding Mobotropolis was "not my thing" so he goes out looking for more baddies to beat up. That's his motivation. Sonic's not a very complicated guy.
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If it's his friendship with Sonic, or that whole "Chosen One" thing, then having him every once in a while think about how that's the reason he's doing something would go a long way towards letting us know.
Tails and Sonic have been hanging around together for most of the series. Do you really need Tails to be shown thinking "Sonic is my friend!" when it's so obvious? I mean, we know they are. We can see it.
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Maybe so. But considering how long the book has remained one of the top selling comics, I'm inclined to think there's something to be said for it.
Except his constant going-on about how he's doing it coz of Uncle Ben isn't one of the things that fans rave about during Spider-Man's best-selling periods.
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Which would be fine, except we never really get much examination of that fact. Instead of dealing with the fact that his friends are the only family he's ever known
Why does he need to "deal"? Is he supposed to be angsty about who his immediate family is?
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from her portrayal in the Return to Angel Island story, I'd say she likely is exploiting the current situation (she had the Master Emerald after all), but realizes that the Dark Legion needs help if it's going to survive this.
Why do they need help? Kage's army is shattered and the Legion are the only real military power on the Island.
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with the current status quo I think some uneasy alliances make things more interesting.
Yeah, but the current status quo also means Knuckles (and the Chaotix and all their friends) is fine with leaving a whole load of dangerous, murderous supervillains in control of his home. That makes Knuckles a pretty damn useless Guardian.
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That's not what he's doing though. He's protrayed as a character who is wrestling with the fact that he wants revenge but knows that's not what Maria would have wanted.
Which is doing what he was asked to by Maria.
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There's something that really resonates about a pure, simple, honest character such as Sonic. Perhaps that's a reason Sonic has such a universal appeal whereas much of the fanbase hates Shadow's guts.
Nah, I hate Shadow's guts because he's a whiny little angst-factory - and I speak as someone who likes Shinji Ikari.
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Nah, I hate Shadow's guts because he's a whiny little angst-factory - and I speak as someone who likes Shinji Ikari.
wow and the funny thing is that i can't actually find anything good to say other than that.
I think the false binary of simple/complex is getting in the way here. Simple or not, when it comes to writing the only qualities that matter are
BELIEVABLE or RIDICULOUS
This is a question I've wrestled with ever since I started writing Sonic fanfic. For the most part, it IS about getting their families back together; that's innately believable. But the family-related motivations for the characters (including Shadow, for Marie WAS his family) would be better served if the writers knew what to do with them. Unfortunately, they've never quite gotten traction on the point, which is when it becomes ridiculous. Maybe the writers were too afraid of appearing sentimental in what's supposed to be a "boy's book." To which I can only cite the words of a Jetix executive who described their idea of kidvid as "boy-driven but not boy-exclusive."
And it's not for ant of trying. Ken Penders brought in Sonic's parents, but he never was able to work up any genuine feeling between the three of them; they were just THERE as set pieces. The one occasion Rotor's family was depicted was no better. Karl never really followed through with the relationship between Antoine and his father. And Tails's relationship with Sonic, which should hae been more prominently on display in the book, was hacked to pieces by Ken in "Line of Succession" and Ian Flynn appears to be in no hurry to patch things up between the two.
For myself, as a fanfic writer I've preferred to let the family relationships come to the forefront: Sally's in "Bloodlines," Bunnie's in "Runaway," Dulcy's in "Homecoming," even Sonic and his father in "Zone Wars: Intervention" gets more than the passing nod the comics have given it. And the relationship between Elias and the Sommersbys in "The Gray Letter" is premised by the back story, which is also about family.
But so long as the doctrine of "action and more action" prevails and the comic writers feel the need to throw in fistfights as often as Hollywood utilizes car chases, the readers will never get a fair understanding of family as a motivation.
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But so long as the doctrine of "action and more action" prevails and the comic writers feel the need to throw in fistfights as often as Hollywood utilizes car chases
The "action and more action" doctrine prevails in Sonic not so much because it's a comic - there's a segment of Marvel & DC fandom whose complaining that there's now too little action in their comics; see Ultimate Spider-Man having issues devoted entirely to the Peter/MJ relationship. The "action and more action" thing prevails in Sonic mainly because it's a comic based on an action-based video game. Action and more action is sort of the whole point.
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The "action and more action" doctrine prevails in Sonic not so much because it's a comic - there's a segment of Marvel & DC fandom whose complaining that there's now too little action in their comics; see Ultimate Spider-Man having issues devoted entirely to the Peter/MJ relationship. The "action and more action" thing prevails in Sonic mainly because it's a comic based on an action-based video game. Action and more action is sort of the whole point.
And considering the target audience is pre-teen to teenage boys, stuff like relationships and the like tend to be horribly written...I know when I was younger, I didn't give a darn about anything except the action...
