This Fanart of ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ Characters Striking ‘Turning Red’ Poses Is My New Favorite Thing

In today’s episode of “things I didn’t know I needed,” artist Frankedz has combined Sonic the Hedgehog with Turning Red – a surprisingly fitting universe to stick Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow in. With Turning Red’s unapologetic display of teenage friendship, having Sonic characters embrace their beautiful teenage cringe makes for a fun piece of artwork, especially for a longtime fan like me.

Turning Fast!!
(#SonicTheHedgehog #Sonic #Knuckles #Tails #Shadow #SonicMovie2 #TurningRed #4Town #Memes) pic.twitter.com/B3ge1u9GAQ

— Frankedz (@Frank3dz) May 30, 2022

Sonic the Hedgehog is a franchise that can be a bit… ridiculous, with cheesy dialogue and questionable gameplay choices (the werehog is just one of them). Thanks to this fanart from Frankedz, I’m now imagining Sonic and the gang looking back at their late 90s and “oh so 2000s” adventures with a fond grimace because once upon a time, in 2005, Shadow hit peak edgy status with his motorcycle and machine gun.

Shadow and Knuckles are absolute perfection

I’m in awe at how fitting each of these character choices is for Sonic and his friends. Even the poses fit for each of them when you think about these four taking a group photo. While I adore Sonic as Mei and Tails as Miriam, it’s Knuckles and Shadow who really own my heart.

Knuckles as the wild child, Abby, just makes sense. As the muscle of the group who takes everything way too literally, he and Abby are the perfect fit. Meanwhile, Shadow and Priya are pretty much the same people. Moody goths who speak in a deadpan tone of voice, they’re the most chill in the friend group unless something piques their interest. You can’t tell me that Priya didn’t play Shadow the Hedgehog and bop her head to his theme music, she so obviously did before writing fanfiction that centered on his tragic past and how he’s trying to figure himself out.

Imagine the group trying to go to a Crush 40 concert

Now that I’ve seen this fanart I am adopting the headcanon of Sonic and his friends trying to make money so they can buy tickets to see Crush 40. Crush 40, in case you don’t know, is the rock group that brought some ridiculously catchy jams into Sonic’s music history. I first discovered them with the release of Sonic Adventure, as they did the main theme (“Open Your Heart“) and proceeded to blow my teenage mind when I got to the part where the song plays as you face off against Perfect Chaos as Super Sonic. Since then, they’ve become pretty legendary amongst Sonic fans, from “Live & Learn” in Sonic Adventure 2 to “Knight of the Wind” in Sonic and the Black Knight. If there’s one thing Sonic fans can agree on, it’s that the music slaps, and Crush 40 is a big part of that.

So yeah, swap 4*Town with Crush 40 and you have the perfect plot for a Sonic and Turning Red fic. Sonic can even turn into the werehog instead of a red panda. The real question is, who is Sonic sketching in his notebook?

(Featured image: Frankedz)

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