#sonic nine spoilers

[bluebunnyears-08]

Another Nine Analysis: This Time on His Character Design

I honestly don't know what to say, I've got this guy on the brain lately. I've done an analysis of his name and the possible symbolism, and I've done an analysis of why he's so liked, and I might continue to do analysis on him because he's just that interesting.

This time however I want to focus on his character design. Aside from being my favorite character design in the series, I think it reflects Nine himself and holds some possible foreshadowing as well.

(Aw I never noticed this, his tails are all puffed up!)

First, let's focus on the color scheme.

A heavy tone of dark colors is found all over his design of black, silver, grey, pale blue, and yellow lines, the only bright color being the pale orange of his fur and the white on his gloves and muzzle.

The dark colors emphasize a sense of intimidation and mystery to him. The black on his shoes, glove, and shorts can leave viewers in suspense and unsure about him. The grey on his shirt does the same as well.

While the blue and yellow help offset the darker colors I also think there were reasons it was these two colors. The blue might reflect the hidden sadness and loneliness he has, and the yellow could reflect his universal bond with Sonic. (the yellow ribbon of friendship)

I like how his gloves are different. One is fully white with silver undertones, while the other is mostly black; it adds to his moral ambiguity. Both a little bit of good and a little bit of bad. Perfectly neutral.

Another thing I want to point out that others haven't noticed is how pale and dull his fur is compared to Prime! Tails, and the other Tails as well, are not as vibrant as the others. Kinda interesting.

There's also a darker tip and his ears are longer as well, which I think reflects his role as the most mature Tails.

His eyes are a more greyish blue than the baby blues Tails had.

His tails, the organic ones are less fluffy and limper. Which makes sense since he probably uses his metal tails more.

Finally his metal tails, the silver and grey tails he uses. He keeps them out all the time, seeing everything and everyone as a danger, he uses them to cover up his tails, showing he's still insecure about them so he hides them. To him they're a sense of safety and protection, to others they're deadly weapons of destruction.

I also like how his shirt covers his chest fur, covers his heart. He closed off from everyone and hides his emotions so it makes sense. I also find the way his hair (bangs I guess) sticks up forming a curious hairstyle (though I can't find any information about hairstyles like that, nor can I see if it's a symbol for something). (and again, his ears have darkened tips while the hair doesn't, another reflection of ambiguity)

I also like how his muzzle fur droops compared to the other Tails, looks like a grumpy cat XD. Very fitting for grumpy Tails.

Another thing is his belt, I couldn't see it clearly but I do know that there's a kind of button or buckle that controls the tails when pressed, and it's a pale blue with what looks like a swirly shape on it.

Nine's outfit is very bleak and dark. While it is an "emo" attire, it also gives off a sense of mourning or deep loneliness/sadness. Which I think is very fitting. This Tails was always alone, and when he made weapons to fight back against his abusers, he wasn't joyful or cocky. All of that was beaten out of him. Instead, he was serious and jaded. Nine has a great feeling of mourning in his character, which again I think is genius of how reflective it is in his character design.

It is mournful because this was a character we were already so invested in, and because of how cold and broken Nine is, having been abused and beaten to the point of numbness and distrust of everything/everyone around him. Whoever designed him knew that, that's why this design was chosen.

And why it's genius. Not just because it resonates with the audience, but also because it reflects the tragedy of this character.

[owldart]

They figured he was an angsty TEEN not an angsty THIRD GRADER

[rapidhighway]

so much good stuff in this episode, i had to redraw (don't tag as ship)

[smallpwbbles]

If you had told me in 2023/2024 there would be a Sonic cartoon where Shadow spends an entire episode protecting/saving Sonics life from Tails specifically I would have thought you were pulling my leg

[blahlahblash]

I couldn't stop thinking about how far they were from each other, but they could hear what they said perfectly

[d4rk-x-w0lf-17]

don't boo me i'm right

[bitter-sweet-coffee]

can’t wait for season 3 where shadow inevitably beats the shit out of nine since by contract, he has to try and kill tails in every tv show he appears in

[eloaholiveira]

Someone had to do it

[neurotypical-sonic]

THEY FORGOT HIS HAIR IN THIS ENTIRE SEQUENCE HE'S BALD!!!! YOU CAN SEE THE INDENT WHERE ITS MEANT TO COME OUT

[jelly-belly-fish]

Warning: flashing lights/bright colors/Sonic Prime spoilers

This is the plot of Sonic Prime, right?

[dunkinbublin]

[chelsiegeorgia]

I think I rewound this part like 4 times before actually finishing the episode 😭 The hug was everything!

[rapidhighway]

i get him btw

[smallpwbbles]

I cant believe people complain about prime Sonic being a hugger, I would give Sega EVERYTHING I have if we could get more moments like this

[descendant-of-truth]

The absolute DELIGHT I felt when I saw this was UNPARALLELED you have no idea

And then Sonic's reaction was EVEN BETTER

"Anyone but Big" followed up with the most dramatic "HOW COULD YOU, NINE?!?" Sonic is capable of producing with the animation to match

You can turn Sonic's team into robots to fight against him and he'll be angry, but Big?? DESPAIR. this is the worst possible outcome for him. Big wasn't even a fighter, he's literally just Sonic's homie, too good for this world too pure

Nine's response playing it completely straight and being 100% serious made it even better, like it somehow enhances the absurdity of the whole situation

And finally: Sonic being so completely thrown off by the existence of the Froggy Nuke that he doesn't even try to dodge it

EASILY one of the funniest sequences in the whole show, I love it here

[appleandaria]

So someone posted this on Reddit. I'm sure y'all will love this.