For characters from the games, the character must have made a substantial (e.g. non cameo) appearance in at leasttwoSonic games. Because Sonic has such a large cast of characters, this list is primarily dedicated to major ones. One-off or minor characters are considered out of this list's scope and should be covered within their respective game's article rather than here.
An example of a character who meets this criteria is Ray the Flying Squirrel, who makes substantial appearances in SegaSonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Mania Plus. This is the minimum required for a character to be considered noteworthy for this list.
An example of a character who does not meet this criteria is Princess Elise, whose only substantial appearance is in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). Unless she makes another non-cameo appearance in the future, she fails the inclusion criteria.
For characters from other media (TV shows, movies, and comics), the character must have made a substantial appearance in at leasttwo different forms of media. Because Sonic is primarily a video game franchise and there are too many Sonic characters exclusive to non-video game media to be listed here, a separate criteria exists to determine if a non-game character can be listed.
An example of a character who meets this criteria is Princess Sally, who made substantial appearances in the Saturday morning Sonic cartoon and the Archie Comics Sonic the Hedgehog series. Therefore, she can be listed, even though she has never made a substantial appearance in a Sonic game.
An example of a character who does not meet this criteria is Geoffrey St. John, who, while a fairly significant character within the Archie Comics Sonic series, never appeared outside it. Thus, unless he makes an appearance in another form of media in the future, he fails the inclusion criteria.
All entries on this list should be backed with secondary, reliable sources. No entries should be sourced entirely to primary sources, and any such entries will be removed.
Any discussions regarding splitting character entries from this list must happen on this talk page before any action is taken, to determine if the character has received enough coverage in reliable sources to be notable enough to stand as their own article.
The following references may be useful when improving this article in the future:
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Sonic series may have a huge cast however, despite the oversize cast of the series, only about six of them get their own independent article while characters like Amy Rose can get into argument over she can have her own article. For Big, I have been writing a draft about Big within a sandbox and I think it's ready and loaded to become an independent article on Wikipedia because I was able to find my three best sources which are 14 or 21, 22 and 24. Also for some still-in-topic discussion, I also to believe other Sonic characters might get it own independent article instead of being a section the list article so. NatwonTSG2 (talk) 02:49, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Which new sources that are significant coverage have you found? (It's best to link them rather than mention them by number like that since the numbering may change as it's being edited and altered.) Sergecross73msg me15:05, 26 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I only think Big can really get his own article if other more important/prominent characters like Amy (who really needs one), Rouge, the Chaotix, etc. ever get their own first. Tribal-Mand0 (talk) 21:59, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
They published their draft without waiting for any feedback. I'm not particularly convinced either should have articles in their current state/what people have proposed in the past. Sergecross73msg me22:25, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Still though, I think at the very least Amy deserves her own page then, considering she is one of the core main characters of the franchise. Tribal-Mand0 (talk) 23:43, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I think it's supposed to mean that @Rtkat3 has seen an AFD discussion for Big and wanted to know how minor he is. For the minor question, in my opinion, Big is not really a minor character in the series since he has made some important appearances in games like Sonic Adventure, Heroes and maybe Frontiers I guess? NatwonTSG2 (talk) 13:26, 4 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Speaking frankly the "minor character" reasoning never sat right with me for that AfD, the bigger problem was the sourcing not really saying a lot about him to substantiate the article (no offense meant by that, I dug a bit too and struggled to find anything that could really carry it). But minor characters in a franchise can work perfectly fine as articles if they're picked up as fan favorites by media outlets or get some solid discussion behind them.--Kung Fu Man (talk) 13:07, 5 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not sure why you described the cast as "oversized." But I would agree that if Big is to get an article, other more well-known and more popular characters should get an article first. Onuzurike424 (talk) 15:01, 22 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Probably because video game critics and journalists have gone after the series for how many characters have been added over the years. I’m away from my sources to pull right now, but I’d thought on adding a section to this list about that criticism. (I’ll mention the quote “Silver the Unnecessary Hedgehog” is one that vividly sticks in my mind). Red Phoenixtalk16:02, 22 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I've noticed how Sage is absent from the list of Sonic characters detailed despite her prominent role within Sonic Frontiers as a driving force behind the game's plot and boss battles, so I thought I'd give a heads up and suggest she's added to the list. 149.50.164.55 (talk) 23:05, 29 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Does Sally Acorn or any of the characters from SatAM/Archie series deserve their own pages? I've dug up plenty of wiki-worthy info for the former, and I know there are more prominent characters that need their own pages (such as Amy or Metal Sonic), but I think I'd be nice to lift a candle to the original American continuity for Sonic somewhat. NintenBOUND (talk) 13:23, 18 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Although that’d be nice, so would many of the propositions in this talk page for their own character articles. The question is, when you say “wiki-worthy”, do you mean reliable sources and are they noteworthy? What we need for a full article on Wikipedia is well-sourced information in multiple reliable sources about the character’s development and reception, in source material focused on that character specifically and not just listicles. That’s pretty rare for all but the most well-known characters. Otherwise it’s probably more appropriate for a Fandom project. Red Phoenixtalk13:47, 18 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Good point. When I said wiki-worthy, I meant that I had found info regarding her concept/creation, history, appearances, and design. I'll see if I can dig up some more sources. NintenBOUND (talk) 22:47, 18 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I have assembled a list of references/links for Sally that do not come from an episode/book/comic book/listicle, if anyone is interested:
Most of these are reliable sources, though I am suspect of a few; the saturdaymorningsonic.com feature was thoroughly researched, so I have no concern about that. Are these enough sources to viably constitute an article? NintenBOUND (talk) 00:44, 21 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I tried to narrow down the articles I had on hand, and I've tried to use the Situational Sources for Video Games search engine, but I've found very little beyond what I already know. Unless more sources can be found, these are all the Sally sources I've got. If no more progress can be made, then her page's prospects might just be dead. NintenBOUND (talk) 00:41, 23 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]
NintenBOUND, to expand on Sergecross73's comments for a minute, what you have here has some passing mentions in the sources that are reliable, but also a lot of sources that are not. This is not significant coverage. To demonstrate:
It is extremely rare for forum posts to be reliable sources. Usually that's only if the poster is verified to be a primary source, which cannot be used to demonstrate notability, as notability exclusively is proven through secondary sources, i.e. publications not associated with a topic talking about that topic. (Coindicentally, Wikipedia and encyclopedias in general are tertiary sources, reporting what is said in secondary sources).
On that same token, anything from Archie Comics or their blog is similarly a primary source. Anything posted on Twitter by a writer would be the same as well.
The Giant Bomb link is from their wiki, meaning it's user-generated and is not a reliable source.
The IGN article isn't even actually about Sally; it's about someone trying to save memorabilia from an amusement park.
Behind the Voice Actors declares in its statement at the bottom it's an "unofficial site". While not a guarantee in and of itself, that suggests to me it's a fansite, which would not be reliable. Sites written by professional journalists are one thing; sites by fans are another.
The Screenrant source focuses exclusively on an in-universe focus of the plot, not about the character herself.
Although hosted on a .edu site, the Andrews sources look like a fan blog.
None of the rest, most of which look to be unreliable (i.e. like DeviantArt) seem to be focused on Sally herself.
So essentially, it's a nice bit of research but it's not notability. Here are some examples of what a reliable secondary source that confers notability would look like:
A review of the character and her importance to the series and beyond, that is not part of a listicle.
A feature from a reliable website such as those listed at WP:VG/S on the character, including information on their development and creation.
Less so, but an interview with a character designer or writer on one of those reliable secondary sites talking in-depth about the character.
Thanks for taking the time to respond. The Andrews sources were written by a long-time reviewer of the Archie Sonic comics named Dan Drazen, who regularly communicated with Ken Penders (one of the writers for the comic), and the DeviantArt post was made by Jon Gray, a former artist of the comic who responded to controversy over a panel he drew in issue 134 (referenced to as "The Slap"). NintenBOUND (talk) 19:47, 23 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry, but unfortunately, everything Red Phoenix says is true. Sorry, as far as Wikpedia standards go, I don't think anything here would count towards notability. I think this is one of those cases where there's a reason why an article doesn't already exist. It might be more realistic to either expand any pre-existing sections she may have on Wikipedia, or find a Sonic fan wikia that doesn't have our stricter notability standards and write about her there... Sergecross73msg me17:26, 27 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]
NintenBOUND, to respond to a couple of your points, who is Dan Drazen? Even if he regularly talked with a writer, is Drazen a writer for a noteworthy publication like a professional comics website? Just because he states he has spoken regularly with a writer doesn’t mean his words automatically get considered as fact or reliable; establishing he’s a professional journalist or industry veteran or something would do that. On the DeviantArt, even if it’s by a former artist, that still makes it a primary source and not a reliable secondary source that confers notability. Red Phoenixtalk20:49, 27 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I knew the article was pretty much dead in the water for a while, but I still kept holding out for a potential way to viably create it. Know that I know that it probably has no real chance of happening (I've looked everywhere for reliable secondary sources to no avail), I can put this topic to rest. Thanks for messaging with me about it. NintenBOUND (talk) 00:05, 28 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Dan was a librarian in his 40s when he started reviewing the Sonic Archie comics. He grew so prominent in the Sonic fan community that he became an official reviewer for the series at Archie (for a matter of months), though I understand why he would not be considered outright authority on any info that he might have gleamed. As for the article, I'm going to retire any chances of creating it; as as far as I know, there aren't really any reliable, secondary sources for the character in question. Thanks for helping me with sourcing references for articles in general and messaging me about this one. NintenBOUND (talk) 00:10, 28 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Now that I'm putting my ill-fated Sally article to rest, I was wondering whether there were enough sources/references to constitute any articles for these two. I've already cobbled together character info box images for them both, but I'd like to know whether their articles would be appropriate before I begin drafting anything concrete for them. NintenBOUND (talk) 00:13, 28 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]
