That was certainly a cool hero line but from the moment he said it the filmmakers missed out on a chance to reference one of the greatest Sonic the Hedgehog memes ever.
The Sonic Adventure song “Unknown from M.E.” by Marlon Saunders and Dred Foxx has attained legendary meme status amongst Sonic and casual gaming fans alike. Sung from the perspective of Knuckles, the opening verse has the Echidna claim;
Here I come, rougher than the rest of them
The best of them, tougher than leather
You can call me Knuckles, unlike Sonic I don’t chuckle
I’d rather flex my muscles.
The first insult Knuckles throws Sonic’s way in this song is that, contrary to Sonic, Knuckles, in no circumstances, would ever chuckle. Why this is such a negative talking point for Knuckles is unclear. Perhaps it’s down to Knuckles taking his mission so seriously that he’d never show any silly emotion like chuckling. Maybe in the Sonic world if you chuckle you’ll lose more rings. The Sonic lore is very complicated.
Whatever the case may be, let’s look back at the final trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Knuckles insults Sonic.
“You’re unskilled. Untrained. Unworthy!”
Sonic needs the ultimate comeback. So what could he have said instead?
“You forgot one. I chuckle.”
It would be a sign of defiance on Sonic’s part. Knuckles sees chuckling as a weakness but Sonic would see it as an asset. You chuckle because of your friends. The connections you’ve made. Chuckling demonstrates you have the ability to believe that everything will turn out right in the end. It would have been perfectly in character for Sonic and an absolutely flawless way to reference the Sonic Adventure meme. They already referenced the song when Idris Elba was cast, they know it exists!
Perhaps, like Marvel trailers before it, Sonic’s dialogue in this trailer is a smokescreen in order to save such a fan pleasing moment for the movie itself. Let’s hope the movie can flex those meme referencing muscles.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 hits theaters on April 8. Here’s the official synopsis for the film…
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