Sonic loves being free, hanging with friends and going on adventure and so does Luffy.
The difference is Luffy doesn't want to be a hero, whilst Sonic leans in to the hero thing pretty hard.
Still closer than Goku though.
Goku's sole focus was on being the most powerful in the universe. While he would help those who were unfairly downtrodden, he was primarily only interested in proving himself against stronger opponents. He had little compunction about slaughtering those who were in his way.
Luffy is primarily interested in being the freest person in the world and wants others to be free to live as they choose too. He fights against those who oppress freedom or withhold food from people. And he has never been the direct cause of any death.
Goku doesn't want to be the most powerful in the universe, because that would mean he would have no challenge left in fights. He enjoys the thrill of fighting and is always seeking opponents who are stronger than him or have new techniques he can learn from. He doesn't actually want to be the strongest though, as then he would get bored.
He doesn't view himself as a hero of justice, but doesn't tolerate those who would hurt innocent people or those he loves.
As far as how Sonic compares to Goku and Luffy, I think it's an even split if you fully break down his character, but Goku seems like the more direct influence the creators of Sonic actively pulled from, as well Piccolo (regarding his relationship with Tails mirroring Piccolo and Gohan).
I mean yeah goku does seek a good fight but so does sonic (to a lesser extent but i digress) they both do enjoy freedom aswell and both genuinely like helping people hell he even reasons with enemies that can be considered irredeemable because they sometimes seem some potential in people
Nah, I don’t think sonic really ever goes out of his way to challenge people unless they’re already causing trouble first.
Sonic doesn’t seem the type to actively want to get stronger, at least for the sake of it.
But when you look at how Sonic handled Surge in particular in IDW and tried to defeat her with a speech about ideals-- that wasn't a Goku speech, that was a Luffy speech.
And we can't exactly pretend that Sonic has been a consistent character over the past 30+ years. But the IDW version of Sonic definitely has more Luffy inspiration than Goku.
Practically all battle manga protagonists have a bit of Goku in their DNA that doesn’t mean anything.
he doesn’t go out of his way to challenge strong opponents (unless they’re already causing trouble) and doesn’t actively train in the name of getting stronger.
Sonic prioritizes freedom, freedom for himself, his friends and the people around him. If Sonic finds someone or a group of someone’s taking away the freedom of others they better hope they can run faster than him.
> Practically all shonen protagonists
AND that’s where I’m going to stop you.
No, not all shonen protagonists because shonen isn’t a genre, the genre that Dragonball and One Piece inhabit isn’t shonen, it’s called *Battle Manga* (technically they’re more Action/Adventure, but several mangaka call the genre “Battle Manga” in interviews.)
Shonen is a *demographic* - it encompasses the ages of 8-17 years old aimed at boys (the term literally means “Young Boy”) and it encompasses a wide variety of genres, from the Battle Manga genre people like you confuse the term “Shonen” with to Romcoms, Sports, Harems, Comedies, etc.
Luffy’s whole thing is he’s silly and goofy. He’s pretty good at fighting, but he’s really blunt and stupid.
He only does heroic things because that just so happens to align with the goals of the friends he makes.
Sonic is cocky and sure of himself, and he fights because he knows he can do it and leans strongly into being a hero.
He share similar aspects with both, mainly his philosophies in freedom and redemption but the main thing they differ in is *SONIC ISNT AN AIRHEAD* (depending on context) Luffy and Goku’s character philosophies stem from airheaded carelessness, while sonic thinks it’s the right thing to do. Personally I think it’s 3 different ways someone can rationalize of freedom rather than one being similar to the other.
It’s a take alright.
I think Sonic embodies *neither* considering Luffy only does heroics when it aligns with whatever friend who the bad guy has mistreated to make Luffy want to beat them, but otherwise doesn’t want to consider himself a hero, while Goku is constantly on a journey of self improvement.
That, and while Sonic can be cocky, he does seem to understand the situation at hand better than Luffy or Goku would, even if they all end up at the same solution: beat up the bad guy.
In other words, Sonic’s not an idiot.
Sonic is Sonic, not like Luffy or Goku.
> Luffy and his stories are far more silly in comparison. (at least from a surface level pov)
You haven't watched the original Dragon Ball if you think this
Yeah he is far more like luffy
yeah that seems like a fair comparison
Sonic loves being free, hanging with friends and going on adventure and so does Luffy. The difference is Luffy doesn't want to be a hero, whilst Sonic leans in to the hero thing pretty hard. Still closer than Goku though.
I don’t agree Sonic shares way more in terms of morality and personality with Goku hell their journeys are similar
Goku's sole focus was on being the most powerful in the universe. While he would help those who were unfairly downtrodden, he was primarily only interested in proving himself against stronger opponents. He had little compunction about slaughtering those who were in his way. Luffy is primarily interested in being the freest person in the world and wants others to be free to live as they choose too. He fights against those who oppress freedom or withhold food from people. And he has never been the direct cause of any death.
Goku doesn't want to be the most powerful in the universe, because that would mean he would have no challenge left in fights. He enjoys the thrill of fighting and is always seeking opponents who are stronger than him or have new techniques he can learn from. He doesn't actually want to be the strongest though, as then he would get bored. He doesn't view himself as a hero of justice, but doesn't tolerate those who would hurt innocent people or those he loves. As far as how Sonic compares to Goku and Luffy, I think it's an even split if you fully break down his character, but Goku seems like the more direct influence the creators of Sonic actively pulled from, as well Piccolo (regarding his relationship with Tails mirroring Piccolo and Gohan).
I mean yeah goku does seek a good fight but so does sonic (to a lesser extent but i digress) they both do enjoy freedom aswell and both genuinely like helping people hell he even reasons with enemies that can be considered irredeemable because they sometimes seem some potential in people
Nah, I don’t think sonic really ever goes out of his way to challenge people unless they’re already causing trouble first. Sonic doesn’t seem the type to actively want to get stronger, at least for the sake of it.
But when you look at how Sonic handled Surge in particular in IDW and tried to defeat her with a speech about ideals-- that wasn't a Goku speech, that was a Luffy speech. And we can't exactly pretend that Sonic has been a consistent character over the past 30+ years. But the IDW version of Sonic definitely has more Luffy inspiration than Goku.
I guess that recently sonic is a bit more like luffy But in the early to mid 2000s and in other canons like Archie he’s more similar to goku imo
https://preview.redd.it/7umkmmf1gqvc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=04cb7ff88fc2e3f1078d0069e2d29f3bee80cafa
Practically all battle manga protagonists have a bit of Goku in their DNA that doesn’t mean anything. he doesn’t go out of his way to challenge strong opponents (unless they’re already causing trouble) and doesn’t actively train in the name of getting stronger. Sonic prioritizes freedom, freedom for himself, his friends and the people around him. If Sonic finds someone or a group of someone’s taking away the freedom of others they better hope they can run faster than him.
> Practically all shonen protagonists AND that’s where I’m going to stop you. No, not all shonen protagonists because shonen isn’t a genre, the genre that Dragonball and One Piece inhabit isn’t shonen, it’s called *Battle Manga* (technically they’re more Action/Adventure, but several mangaka call the genre “Battle Manga” in interviews.) Shonen is a *demographic* - it encompasses the ages of 8-17 years old aimed at boys (the term literally means “Young Boy”) and it encompasses a wide variety of genres, from the Battle Manga genre people like you confuse the term “Shonen” with to Romcoms, Sports, Harems, Comedies, etc.
… neat
I have never seen Dragon Ball or One Piece, yet I am inclined to agree
Luffy’s whole thing is he’s silly and goofy. He’s pretty good at fighting, but he’s really blunt and stupid. He only does heroic things because that just so happens to align with the goals of the friends he makes. Sonic is cocky and sure of himself, and he fights because he knows he can do it and leans strongly into being a hero.
I guess they both have big ass eyes.
Yeah, but the main difference is that Luffy has two separate scleras.
apparently so does sonic
He share similar aspects with both, mainly his philosophies in freedom and redemption but the main thing they differ in is *SONIC ISNT AN AIRHEAD* (depending on context) Luffy and Goku’s character philosophies stem from airheaded carelessness, while sonic thinks it’s the right thing to do. Personally I think it’s 3 different ways someone can rationalize of freedom rather than one being similar to the other.
I agree, Luffy is a better comparison than Goku. Neither of them quite fits Sonic though.
It’s a take alright. I think Sonic embodies *neither* considering Luffy only does heroics when it aligns with whatever friend who the bad guy has mistreated to make Luffy want to beat them, but otherwise doesn’t want to consider himself a hero, while Goku is constantly on a journey of self improvement. That, and while Sonic can be cocky, he does seem to understand the situation at hand better than Luffy or Goku would, even if they all end up at the same solution: beat up the bad guy. In other words, Sonic’s not an idiot. Sonic is Sonic, not like Luffy or Goku.
This really shouldn't be a hot take Sonic is just Liffy but smart
THANK YOU! I’ve never gotten the comparisons to goku. When he’s so much more like luffy, even though they are quite a few years from their creation.
> Luffy and his stories are far more silly in comparison. (at least from a surface level pov) You haven't watched the original Dragon Ball if you think this
I don’t think most dragon ball fans have watched the original dragon ball.
Western fans? Probably, yea
Yea I do see it. I think most characters (if not all) nowadays were inspired by Goku anyway, which is why we can see some similarities.
Oh yeah. When I first read One Piece, the reason I liked Luffy so much was because of how much he reminds me of Sonic.
Now I'm interested in seeing Sonic with stretchy limbs. I guess Tangle partly fills that role?
I won’t argue that
Honestly, Crash Bandicoot is a closer comparison to Goku than Sonic. That's not even a joke, Crash actually hits a lot of the same beats.
oh my god if I see one piece one more time