#like the whole sonic cast are supposed to be young and like only cream is shown to have a mom that regularly takes care of her | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

skull001 · 5 years

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Personally, I think Cream the Rabbit is currently the one character out of the entire Sonic cast of characters that I feel was never needed.

Why do I come to that conclussion?

For starters, Cream was introduced with the idea of being Amy's equivalent to Sonic's Tails. However, an aspect that the people at Sonic Team did not take into account is that while Sonic and Tails are very different characters from each other than on top, not only complement each other but also hightlight each others positives, this was never the case with Amy and Cream.

The problem is not just that both Amy and Cream are very similar characters (both are sweet innocent girls) which by itself alone causes a situation where they overlap and in order to make one shine by being sweet and compassionate, the other has to take a dive... Guess which of the two took said dive and had her character be flanderized in the 2000's by playing out the other notable aspect that was left?

No, the other problem is that their dynamic does anything but highlight what makes each other special. Amy Rose is a very quirky and entertaining character who makes Cream look like a dull and one-dimensional charicature while on the other hand, Cream's impossibly nice politeness causes for Amy to be seen as selfish and pushy in comparisson. Definitively nothing like what happens with Sonic and Tails.

Cream was introduced to the series to work as a support character for a support character (Amy), yet I feel the idea was poorly executed not because of just the usual clumsyness from Sonic Team, but rather because the idea was flawed from the very beginning. It says a lot whe Cream, who was created to be Amy's BFF, then changes her for a cat princess who hails from Austral... I mean, the Sol dimension.

OK, it's been established why Cream as a character had a very poor execution, but why was she never needed?

A) IMO, any series that hopes to strike a nice balance between the members of it's cast needs to make them unique from each other so that they can all shine in their very own right and not overlap each other. Amy's contribution to the franchise is that she is the one character with the strongest compassion and empathy for others. How can Amy possibly go back to being the sweet kid from SA1 (or even Mania Adventures #6) if we're adding another character who also does the same thing? It's either one or the other and I don't think it's fair that Amy has to share (and be reduced to fangirl again) so Cream can shine when all the other major characters get to keep the thing that makes them unique to themselves. I don't think anyone would be happy if ST introduced a younger, cuter and smarter new character to eclipse Tails on his very own game. There is a reason why you never get two Han Solos in the Millenium Falcon.

B) If what they needed was a character who could keep in check Amy's more impulsive side by offering advise, why not use Tails instead? I think Amy would be more willing to listen to the one character that also advises Sonic over some little girl that's half her own age. Plus we get the bonus benefit of Amy being more involved with the main cast... as it should had been from the start. The only thing we got with Cream is to create more distance between Amy and the other characters.

C) If they wanted for Amy to have a BFF, then why not Blaze? In fact, with Amy and Blaze we actually get a dynamic between two characters with personalities that is not only actually different (Amy is bubbly, cheerful and optimistic while Blaze is serious, reserved and realistic) but which also complements for each other's in a way that highlights what makes them endearing characters (Amy can see in Blaze the kind of strong heroine that she aims to become one day, while in Amy, Blaze learns to see the best of any situation as well as to be more compassionate in how she exacts justice). Plus there is the twist the while in Sonic and Tail's duo the blue hedgehog is the oldest, here it's the pink hedgehogette who is the youngest in her duo, a thing that IMO is more original than just trying to be "Sonic and Tails in girl form".

But if you want a short, more direct answer, then I would say the following: whatever Cream could add to the franchise was either better done by characters introduced before her, or can now be done much better by other more complex characters. Even the whole young child thing can be better pulled off by Charmy Bee and in a more entertaining manner.

Just like how I dislike when characters are given crap for very poor reasons/arguments that don't have a solid foundation, it annoys me when the very exact opposite thing is done for characters who show that they really don't have the potential to stand on their very own merit. Personally, I think Cream is this kind of character that hardly contributes anything meaningful at all. Not even when she actually does get the spolight, which often consists on a watered down version of what Amy did before.

Why exactly do people want Cream to return for? As a character, her strongest point is having one of the most cute designs, but to mee, looks aren't everything. Her personality is pretty basic. Worse, she's one of those type of idealized characters void from any form of flaws. As far as I know, Cream doesn't even have a purpose or goal to drive her character. Sonic likes Adventures, Eggman wants to conquer the world to build the largest amusement park and have it all for himself alone. Tails wants to be as cool as Sonic, Amy wants to win Sonic's affection and respecc, Knuckles wants YOU off his lawn, Rougue wants all them gems in the world, Vector wants to be a famous detective and make lots of money, Big wants to go fishing with Froggy for ever and ever, etc. All of them have something they want or like to do more than anything, no matter how ambitious, mundane or plain ridiculous. All of them, except Cream.

The things I feel Sonic Team really need to think before throwing a half-baked character should be the following:

What is the character's motivation/purpose?

What unique thing is this character going to add/contribute to the existing cast?

Does it overlap and/or take away from existing characters in any way?

And because I like to at least add some constructive criticism, these are the things that Cream needs to have fixed:

* Don't make her Amy 2.0. I can't stress enough how this is a disservice to both Amy (taking away from her character) and Cream (not being allowed to be her own unique thing)

* Don't make her an idealized perfect little princess with no flaws, as that is no character in any way, shape or form. Give Cream actual flaws with clear consequences that can be felt as well as offer an opportunity to grow. You can't win me over if I cannot perceive the character as credible and relatable. To me, this are the two most important things and why it's Amy and Eggman who are my two all-time favorites, since both of them feel "real" in their own unique way because they give a reason to become invested and care for what happens to them. A flaw I can think off is that Cream does not understand things that are normal to grown ups and which to her might come as contradictory, like for example, why sometimes it's better to say a lie than a truth that will hurt others. At six years old, Cream is supposed to be learning and trying to understand her world and how people interact, not giving moral lessons that require having the experience of living to understand them.

As she is now, Cream is not needed. However, I could change my perception of the character, even be more accepting, if Cream was changed from "discount Amy" into something unique... something that actually plays her young age in a credible manner, who pursues a goal and struggles to overcome obstacles being driven by that goal.

They got her design. That's like 50% of the character done right. It's only the personality and how her interaction dynamics are played that needs a major overhaul.

#Cream the Rabbit #Sonic the Hedgehog #opinion #very unpopular opinion

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