Who is Sonic Man?

I’m writing this in response to a commenter who had difficulty discerning who Sonic Man is.  I think, perhaps in my excitement with the character and my self-made story, I did not provide a clear explanation concerning Sonic Man, his place in Sonic games, and his place in Sonic Man: Hero of Adventure. In SONIC the Hedgehog, A.K.A. Sonic ‘06, the game is comprised of action stages and hub worlds, not unlike the original Sonic Adventure.  Further, like Sonic Adventure, these hub worlds are populated by a number of semi-realistic looking human NPCs. Though most of the NPCs are boring, bland, and really have no stylistic place in a Sonic game, there are a few notable characters that make things a bit interesting.  There’s an accordion player who sings the praises of Princess Elise, there’s a high-up porch with four gentlemen who I can only imagine are dressed to sing in a barbershop quartet, and the bizarrely dressed and seemingly incompetent royal guards.

Then there’s Sonic Man.  I met him beside a fountain in the hub world, and just had to stop for a second and appreciate who the heck this guy was.  Realistically, he’s not an important character.  He offers you bonus town missions to complete as Sonic and Silver.  He introduces himself as Sonic the Hedgehog, but upon beating him in a race and proving to him that you are, in fact, the real Sonic, he claims that he’s actually just a fan.  He imitates Sonic’s sprint, with head forward and arms back (though as a runner, he doesn’t offer much of a challenge against Sonic).

I cling to Sonic Man in the same way that I cling to characters like Waluigi or the Aperture Science Weighted Companion Cube; they’re just too bizarre not to like.  They have no place in the world in which they live.  They’re completely unnecessary, but they stand out in a way that gives them an identity that they probably don’t deserve.

Considering that the story of Sonic ‘06 suggests that, in the end, the whole thing never happened, it helps me take creative liberty with my personal interpretation of Sonic Man and what goes on in the world if Robotnik never set foot on the island.  It begins with Sonic Man’s origin and his alter ego, Chad Bradley, and his quick change from billionaire playboy to superhero.  Princess Elise and other incidental characters from the game will come into the story in unusual ways, and I hope to break into the bigger Segaverse with more influence from Sonic and other Sega franchises.

I hope this answers any questions you may have about Sonic Man.  He’s a character with nothing special about him except a Sonic 1 tee and a spiky, blue helmet, so I’m doing what I can to make him special, to make him a legend, and to make him a Hero of Adventure.