So today I wanted to take the time to discuss a Sonic The Hedgehog character that was introduced 15-years ago in 2005. Who also happens to be one of my Top-5 favorite Sonic characters, Blaze The Cat!
Blaze made her grand debut in the 2005 Nintendo DS game, Sonic Rush. Which, just so happened to be the same day as the release of the meme filled Ow The…umm Shadow The Hedgehog (maybe for another time).
When Sonic Team designed Blaze, they wanted her to be equivelent to, yet an alternate version of Sonic’s overall character. Since Blaze is from an alternate dimension than Sonic’s, this works rather well. As seen in Sonic Rush, she is capable of running & boosting at high speeds, just like Sonic. Soo, would it be safe to assume that the cat species from Sonic’s dimension are a lot different compared to Blaze’s dimension?
After Blaze’s initial debut, she went on to become a fan favorite character. While also appearing in lots more games (most of which she’s playable, but only a handful have her involved in the story) & comics (most recently the IDW Sonic comics as of Issue #4, which takes place after Forces).
Strangely enough, despite her popularity in the series, she’s Never appeared in any Sonic TV Show or animation whatsoever. I mean if most of the other characters have (except Silver, who hasn’t appeared in one yet either), then Why Not Blaze?
I understand her Not appearing in Sonic X as it ended a year after she was introduced. And Boom as it could’ve altered to much. But given her backstory, complex personality & excellent character development (more on that in a bit), there’s no doubt that Blaze would be the perfect addition to a new Sonic show.
Now I wouldn’t expect a full retelling of Rush or Rush Adventure’s events, which actually wouldn’t be a bad idea for a multi-part story arc. As it would introduce new fans (who haven’t played Rush or Rush Adventure) to the character, while also fully envisioning her backstory & character development.
Of course this is just my idea, whether or not Sega decides to make a Sonic show with that is completely up to them.
Her backstory, well since Sonic 2006 was thrown into the timeline (ultimately being erased from series canon) things got complicated. Soo, we could just ignore this fact and move on right? Wrong!
You see Sonic 2006 (became infamous as the worst game in the series) released a year after Rush & a year before Rush Adventure. As you can imagine this messed up Blaze’s story in some way (Not her gameplay though, I will give the game that) & definitely, most likely confused lots of fans.
Was she from the future? Was she from another dimension? Did the game take place before or after Rush? Why didn’t Sonic & Blaze even recognize each other in 2006?
Well the team had the most brilliant answer you could possibly think of! “They had amnesia.” (paraphrasing of course)
That’s it! That’s gotta literally be the 1st thing they came up with when asked about that! I mean a much better idea would be that 2006 happened before Rush & Blaze returned to her dimension at the end. Then the amnesia thing would make sense, because of the timeline reset with Solaris removed from the timeline. Neither of them would even remember what happened. With Rush technically & canonically speaking, their 1st meeting.
And don’t even get me started on how Blaze remembers Crisis City in Generations. Well this part actually isn’t complicated, seeing as White Space is where erased time goes it’s possible that erased memories could go there as well. Therefore allowing Blaze to remember these events. As for Sonic or Silver remembering anything about Crisis City, that is unknown. Fun fact: In addition to the Blaze Rescued cutscene, another cutscene was going to play after restoring Crisis City. But was ultimately cut for unknown reasons.
With that out of the way, lets move onto her backstory established in the Rush series.
Blaze was born into a royal family of a kingdom in her dimension, but also possessed the ability to control fire, hence her name. However, she was unable to properly control this power, which led others to tease her about it while younger. Due to this, she considered her powers as a curse which led her to wear a cape to hide her flames. There is concept art of this in the 3DS version of Generations.
As she got older, reaching princesshood (she doesn’t prefer to be acknowledged by related titles, just Blaze). She became the Guardian of the Sol Emeralds, her dimensions version of the Chaos Emeralds from Sonic’s dimension. This is one similarity that Blaze does share with Knuckles, as he is the Guardian of the Master Emerald.
Because of her past, and taking her job as the Guardian of the Sol Emeralds very seriously, led her to live in isolation. Away from others, making her shy, withdrawn & self reliant. As a result of this, she never made any friends. Now I’m going to stop right here for a moment, as this could be seen as a a relatable aspect of Blaze for some people.
You see, she was teased because of her flames. Was she being made fun of because she was different (aside from being royal) or simply being picked on? We actually don’t know those details. But some of you I’m sure can imagine how stuff like this can linger for a long time & affect the mind. Leading to Not wanting to be around others in fear of the same thing happening again.
Anyways, Blaze had no real friends because of this. therefore, she never learned how to use the Sol Emeralds. Of course, this all changed throughout the course of Sonic Rush after both Sonic’s & Blaze’s worlds connected through a tear in the space-time continuum. After Dr. Eggman stole the Sol Emeralds, Blaze was sent to Sonic’s world through the same space-time continuum tear.
This is when Blaze put aside her isolation to reclaim the Sol Emeralds. Along the way she met Sonic & his friends, which in turn helped her learn to use the Sol Emeralds. Unfortunately in Sonic’s case the two got into a fight because Blaze wanted to do this task alone & refused Sonic’s help. She regretted this afterward & realized her mistakes. Leading the two to become close friends, defeat Dr. Eggman & Eggman Nega, and finally restoring their worlds to how they were before parting ways. During all of this, she came to accept her flames not as a curse, but as a gift.
The two then met again in Sonic Rush Adventure, only this time Sonic & Tails were sent to Blaze’s world. To help her gather the Sol Emeralds & reclaim the Jeweled Sceptor, which her family has guarded for generations. And you pretty much guessed it, Dr. Eggman & Eggman Nega are the ones who stole it.
Blaze displays a fear of heights in this game, which would carry over into future games. Although she did go through a good bit of character development in the 1st Rush, she still had a bit more to go. As she showed dislike towards Marine The Raccoon, going so far as to honestly, although bluntly, call her a nuisance. But her outlook on Marine changed later in the game when she helped reclaim the Jeweled Sceptor. Resulting in a friendship similar to that of Sonic & Tails’. Despite this, Marine never appeared with Blaze in any other Sonic games since.
In Generations, we see that she’s a lot more sociable compared to how she was at the start of Rush. Although still dislikes relying on others & doing things herself, but she’ll gladly accept any help given.
Despite all this, she still has a fiery temper. Especially when it involves anyone messing with the Sol Emeralds, &/or threatening her kingdom & friends. Becoming extra aggressive, harsh, frightening and making bad decisions.
Overall, this is why Blaze remains one of my Top-5 characters; her backstory, personal struggles, personality, character development, abilities, gameplay & so much more! All make Blaze a fantastic addition to the franchise. And I’m very excited to see what Sega does with Blaze in the future. Whether that’ll be her 1st Sonic TV show appearance or some sort of involvement in the 30th anniversary game’s story. Either way, I’m definitely looking forward to it.
Now I do feel that Blaze is such an underused character in terms of the games stories though. As most of her appearances after Rush Adventure, were mostly as an unlockable character in games like Sonic Dash or Runners & nothing more. Which is kind of sad considering the only story appearances she’s actually had since then were; Black Knight (2009), Colors DS (2010), Generations (2011) & Team Sonic Racing (2019).
I understand that Sonic 2006 really affected how often other characters (playable or not) in Sonic stories tend to be. But as of Forces with it’s Episode Shadow DLC & Team Sonic Racing. Their bringing the characters back into Sonic game stories while making them playable again, some of them not even getting this treatment in a very long time. It’s a great thing to see & I do hope to see this continue in the future.
So what do you guys think about Blaze The Cat? Be sure to let me know in the comments below!
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