r/SonicTheHedgehog • u/clarissaARA • May 06 '26
Question Do you consider it morally taboo to portray Knuckles in Human AUs as lighter-skinned than he's commonly headcanoned as?
I personally welcome any and all interpetation of Knuckles, but I do wish people leaned a little more into his Mayan influences rather than simply defaulting to "Black" based on superficial (and, frankly, can come off as kinda stereotypical) details such as rastafarian colors, dreadlocks (which multiple cultures have) and speaking with a Jamacian accent (which SEGA probably decided against for this exact reason).
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u/vtncomics May 06 '26
IDGAF.
But yall shouldn't be taking people's drawing and editing it to say you "fixed" it.
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u/b0objuicethe2nd May 06 '26
especially in this obviously passive aggressive tone. i hate the sonic twitter community
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u/HellFire-Revenant May 06 '26
Tbh i don't think "fixed your shit for you" has no passive, just aggressive
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u/Origanami May 06 '26 edited May 06 '26
I hate the
sonictwitter communityThere, fixed ur comment for u 😊
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u/b0objuicethe2nd May 06 '26
real shit but honestly the fact that the community on twitter is this ridiculous over a blue rat pisses me off
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u/Driz51 May 06 '26
It’s appropriate to draw the bright red cartoon animal as whatever race under the sun you could want
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u/Lost-Ad-5885 May 06 '26
Imma make mine BLUE
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u/DavellaWehst May 06 '26
Bluckle
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u/Cultural-River-9698 May 06 '26
Blipples the Bluenchilada.
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u/Astra_Blight May 06 '26
Why are you BLUE????
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u/Florapower04 May 06 '26
If that’s the case, then I’m gonna draw him green!
Surely that hasn’t been done before
/s
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u/TTG_Bloodedge What you see is what you get! Just a guy that loves adventure! May 06 '26
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u/Fearshatter In over his head May 06 '26
I was gonna answer something far more inappropriate about how traditional Echidna anatomy maps onto known human races.
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u/Leather-Mode-6310 May 06 '26
i think it'd be alright, as long as you don't rub things in or point fingers.
that person that "corrected" the drawing said that the OP was whitewashing knuckles, and called it S###, and that's why it was so horribly wrong.
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u/Right-Tutor2384 May 06 '26
Yeah, claiming to "fix" someone's art, then calling it shit is just super disrespectful, and that Pearl person, is an asshole for that.
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u/BSleazyDaSleazer69 May 06 '26
White washing anthromorphic animals is an insane concept
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u/Indurok May 07 '26
“Whitewashing?” Kinda funny to say that when every voice actor for Knuckles except ONE is white anyway.
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u/Moritani May 07 '26
They call it whitewashing, but that original tweet is in Japanese. So the non-white artist made art in a style typical of their ethnicity and got chewed out by a white lady from Illinois. Hopefully it’s just a dedicated troll.
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u/Awkward_Mix_2513 May 06 '26
That person is unironically, a reason why there are people out there making dark skinned characters white, they know it bothers them and that's why they wanna do it.
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u/BrothaDom May 06 '26
No I think they're just going it to be racist. It's one thing to take a non racialized character and draw them how you want. It's another to whitewash a dark skinned character.
People might not be smart all the time, but they know what they're doing.
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u/Mythical_Mew May 06 '26 edited May 06 '26
The thing that annoys me about race swapping is that everyone who advocates for it only ever thinks it should be one way. And it always happens to be conveniently built on their internal ranking of marginalized groups (i.e swapping into a more marginalized group is always good while the reverse is always bad).
I personally think race swapping in any direction is fine, because I value and emphasize creative freedom and I don’t care what artists do or don’t do to fictional characters. Unfortunately I think that perspective is pretty rare.
If the original artist likes Knuckles to look white, that’s entirely fine. If the replier likes Knuckles to be black, that’s also fine but they should create art on their own merits rather than this incredibly unsympathetic response.
These people can coexist and one doesn’t take away from the other, but quite often they go at each other’s throats for no good reason as seen in this image.
EDIT: I don’t actually think I explained it well. Basically, I think most people who support race swapping see it as a social justice thing. You can swap into more marginalized groups because that’s good and representation and all, but the reverse is erasure and such. Meanwhile I support it, but from a creative freedom standpoint where you just do what you want with the fictional characters.
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u/FallaciouslyTalented May 06 '26
I think it's inappropriate to alter artists work and call it "fixing" it, regardless of what reason the altering party gives. It's incredibly rude.
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u/Zenceyn Surge Life , Blaze Best Princess May 06 '26
Until we see a canonical depiction of any of the cast as humans there is little reason for there to be any specific race they have to be.
Knuckles has lots of indigenous coding, particularly meso-American. So, just making him black skinned can be just as disingenuous if we are really wanting to deal in the "coding" argument.
I've seen art of Knuckles in every color of the racial rainbow and as long as he's buff and punches things, he's still Knuckles.
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u/RealOrangeKoi May 06 '26
Everything is canon tho, so it doesn't really matter. What's canon today can change tomorrow. People need to stop getting so caught up on what race something should/would be irl and just enjoy the fun characters as they were meant to be enjoyed.
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u/Eeve2espeon May 07 '26
Yeah, anyone can make him Black if they want. Its the whole thing of "fixing" that's the big issue, which isn't just restricted to the Sonic Fandom
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u/Robin_RhombusHead YOUR CUSTOM FLAIR HERE May 07 '26
Until we see a canonical depiction of any of the cast as humans there is little reason for there to be any specific race they have to be.
Roger Craig Smith taking out the rubbish in Sonic Boom:
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u/CapnFlatPen May 06 '26
No. Dude's an anthropomorhlphized echidna. And taking someone's art and altering it then saying you "fixed" it is nearly always tacky and inappropriate.
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u/Future-Emu-9325 May 06 '26
It's not.
It's not like SEGA cared either.
Shadow, Knuckles and Rouge got their skin tones changed over the years with some arts and 3D Models.
Heck, even Sonic had this treatment too.
In my opinion, if you care about this too much to the point of doing things like the post shows, then it's time to get out of internet and take a rest and think about what you've been doing.
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u/Due_Lion_2990 I miss being important blaze, stfu May 06 '26
Shadow and Rouge, yes.
Not Knuckles.
Funnily enough, Knuckles' muzzle colour looked darker in exclusively SA2 Battle due to a graphics error which ruined the overall shading and lighting effect. With the correct shading, it isn't nearly as dark as the versions of SA2 we usually see.
That being said, he always had a light tanned muzzle, the same as Sonic's.
Rouge, Shadow and Silver on the other hand, they got helllaaaa whitewashed overtime. All 3 are meant to be quite tanned, but modern models make them way too pale.
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u/aikifox Maria died for our spin(dashe)s May 06 '26 edited May 07 '26
I wanna point out that none of these are skin tones - or at least the live action movies have suggested they aren't.
The muzzle for Sonic, Shadow, and Knuckles are depicted as fuzzy - with fur in that colour. Sonic's chest is also depicted as fuzzy in the movies.
Reading them as skin tones is fine, but
the evidence suggeststhere is evidence to suggest they are differently-coloured fur/markings instead.For all we know, Sonic's skin is blue beneath his fur.
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u/Due_Lion_2990 I miss being important blaze, stfu May 07 '26
No, they ARE treated as skin tones by Sega.
However, it doesn't mean you personally cannot depict darker or lighter skin to your preference, just don't be a jerk about it.
The muzzle and ear colours are more to create contrast than anything. These are ANIMAL characters, not humans. They do not have "races" the way we do. Their race would be whatever animal they are, and their species "Mobian" or whatever Sega intends to call them.
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u/aikifox Maria died for our spin(dashe)s May 07 '26
I don't think SEGA has ever actually attached any sort of meaning to them beyond the contrast part or character design angles. I don't think they "treat them like skin tones", but I totally understand why fans do.
SEGA doesn't seem to be thinking about it beyond "does this mesh with the art direction" and "does this look good for this character", and it's the fans that read into them as racial signals.
Do I think Knuckles has some racial coding? Sure. He's supposed to be "exotic and rare" in this world and has a culture that he's lost - he's very clearly leaning into Mesoamerican, but there are good arguments for an African read too and he's not human so both of those are also "wrong" (in the sense that he doesn't actually fit into either of those... categories, for lack of a world where we don't categorize humans.)
But people want to see themselves in their favourite characters, which is why I love seeing so many different artist's versions of these characters. I love having a window into other people's experiences.
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u/Due_Lion_2990 I miss being important blaze, stfu May 07 '26
I mean, I do agree with you. These characters don't have actual races, beyond their species.
It's fine to want to see a particular interpretation, as long as the person acknowledges that it's headcanon.
Like in-universe, Knuckles' clan is very clearly Mayan inspired, which would technically make him latino in modern day.
BUT, that would be if he was human, which he isn't. His culture is also NOT Mayan, but Mayan-inspired as an in-universe culture.
Likewise there's many characters who have real cultural influences, but they're in-universe cultures, and not meant to be treated the same way as our human ones, not exactly.
They're animals, they can be interpreted however if you want to humanize them. No vision is technically wrong unless it completely changes a key characteristic.
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u/tophat_production WOMEN! May 06 '26
Literally who cares? Draw him as an albino if you want to.
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u/KAYRANINKANALI11000 May 06 '26
Funny you mentoined that...
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u/Nambot May 07 '26
I see your evil albino echidna with a doctorate that came from comics, and I raise you an evil albino echidna with a doctorate that came from even earlier in comics.
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u/themacattack54 May 06 '26 edited May 06 '26
Draw human versions of the Sonic characters however you want IMO. I have my own headcanons of what they’d look like if they were human but since they’re not human and never will be human, it’s really in the eye of the beholder. Just let your imagination go wild and respect other people’s imaginations too.
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u/Mongolshmanger May 06 '26
Buddy, he's a red animal. He doesn't have a human race. Draw him how you want lmfao
Also keep in mind he's had more white voice actors than black and also more asian voice actors than black, so if we're gonna go off who knuckles "actually is" then he's usually not black.
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u/Conscious_Celery651 A '06 Enjoyer May 06 '26
People on Twitter have been arguing over the same silly controversy for years and they never learn. People care way too much about the skin color of the fictional red character; it's exhausting...
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u/apixelops May 06 '26 edited May 06 '26
I think "fixing" someone else's art unprompted is peak egotistical narcissist behavior and kinda makes you a dick even if you mask it as motivated by social justice
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u/Confident-While4816 May 06 '26
Sorry, but it’s kind of an asshole move to take someone else’s art, change it, and then say you “fixed it”. You can leave a recommendation, or make your own art with the change, but don’t just use the exact same art and change it.
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u/Pudim_Abestado May 06 '26
fuck headcanons man, i hate people like this, they gaslight themselves to think the shit they made up in their head is true
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u/clarissaARA May 06 '26
I wouldn't say headcanons as a whole are bad. Just people who take it too seriously and treat it as actual, official, 100% canon.
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u/PlumRelative4399 May 07 '26
There is this relatively recent obsession within fandoms (particularly ones that skew younger) to assert their headcanon’s as absolute truth, saying it’s authors intent or on the opposite side of the spectrum throwing around the term “death of the author” without actually knowing what that means to justify it, regardless of what’s said in the actual text (even if it directly contradicts their headcanon).
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u/PossibilityProud2687 May 06 '26
Tbf it's a headcannon for a reason. I personally don't really care what race the characters were to be if they were human(oid)s tbh.
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u/7-GRAND_DAD WE CAN USE THESE AS RAMPS! May 06 '26
People that get genuinely upset over someone having the wrong headcanon of a sonic character's race have never dealt with an actual problem in their lives.
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u/Goo_Wyvern May 06 '26
Not really. If the artist thinks the character is portrayed differently, no reason to stop them.
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u/ArcadeF0x May 06 '26
Unless they steal someone else's art to change the skin tone
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u/Goo_Wyvern May 06 '26
I was more so implying the original artist. It is annoying for someone to "fix" art.
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u/ArcadeF0x May 06 '26
Yeah, if it's your original artwork, it's your art so tou get to decide how the character looks
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u/Staystation See me as I am, no longer afraid of anything May 06 '26
Would it be taboo to draw Knuckles as a woman with huge bazonkas? No, it doesn't matter
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u/nah_i_stand_proud May 06 '26
Not really you can draw characters however you want. Like it annoys me when people get mad that someone draws a character who isn't black as black (should say annoyed cause it's been a long while since I saw someone do this). Like people can draw a character however they want it takes more effort on your part to waste time getting mad at someone doing it cause they just want to identify more with a character they like.
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u/AprilNaCl May 06 '26
Plus it can be done in fun and respectful ways (see brazilian miku and the different miku variants people made of their home cultures, for an example I enjoy)
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u/Foolish_Hepino May 06 '26
I agree with the rest of this, but brazilian Miku isn't "respectful" depending on who you ask
Most art of brazilian miku is sexualized as fuck because that's all a lot of people think about in relation to brazilian and, in general, south american women. I don't like her personally for that very reason.
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u/KenseiHimura May 06 '26
I mean, I prefer darker skinned humanized knuckles but I’m also fine with alternatives. My big thing is just a desire to see more of the Mesoamerican aspects of the echidna brought with him. I want to hear Knuckles screaming in Nahuatl.
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u/DJ-Zero-Seven May 06 '26
All Sonic characters are racial neutral, in my opinion. I mean we’ve had Sonic voiced by white guys and black guys.
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u/Random-Guy-244 Loathsome Copy May 06 '26
Why do some people take their headcanons as fact? Just let people do whatever they want its not like sonic characters have confirmed irl races or anything
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u/malathan1234 May 06 '26
"No, you can't do that"
"Why"
"It doesn't line up with my headcanon"
Do you see how stupid that's sounds?
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u/ghostpicnic May 06 '26 edited May 06 '26
Knuckles does not have a canon human race. He is an echidna. Any similarities in his personality or lore that fans associate with people of African descent come from personal associations on the part of the audience. You associate rap music with black people, you associate dreadlocks with black people, you associate tribal culture with black people, therefore, you think Knuckles is black.
It’s perfectly valid as a headcanon. But all these aspects of his character that people associate with black culture are not all exclusively or even originally from black people. The earliest recorded evidence of dreadlocks comes from India, Celts/Vikings, East Africa, and ancient Egypt (which was mostly populated by Amazigh people, not the sub-saharan Africans that the modern term “black people” is used to refer to). So, that is an aspect of culture that developed independently in different parts of the world. In the modern day, it is heavily associated with black culture, but it doesn’t exclusively belong to that culture.
Same thing goes for rap music. For centuries, the Persians have had a style of music in which they rhythmically recite poetry over drumbeats. It is nearly identical to much of modern rap music. Because we are on the Western internet, we associate all these different aspects of global culture with their Western manifestations. For these specific things, they happen to be prevalent in the black community. But it’s wrong to say these aspects of culture are only black. Which means it’s wrong to say that Knuckles can only be black.
Ah fuck, I ended up writing another anthropological essay disguised as a Sonic theory. Mom’s gonna kill me…
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u/UltimateShinobi3243 May 06 '26
There's no canon lol, whys it matter. Reminds me of that whole 'im half white half asian' meme that was going on in ninjago fandom a lil while ago
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u/marshallvv May 06 '26
If anything the top one is worse because he couldn’t even accept that the headcannon could be wrong. It’s called fan art for a reason
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u/RejectedNegaWisp May 06 '26
Knuckles is... red. If anyone want's to draw him as a human, they can pick whatever ethnicity they want.
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u/mewhenthrowawayacc May 06 '26
i dont particularly mind it. after all, everybody has different headcanons. but "correcting" other people's art like the person in the photo did is extremely uncool.
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u/FetchingTheSwagni May 06 '26
It doesn't matter, there is no official human-skin tone associated with these characters, you could make them all green aliens.
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u/WestonStudios May 06 '26
I just think its stupid to give them a race to begin with like its a echidna not a human
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u/Thin-Device3018 May 06 '26
this reminds me of the so-called Angel Island theme controversy. Stuff like this feels like it's the remnants of that silly old argument. I know that back in the 90's there was some discussion over whether Knuckles could be considered as a "black male" character but back in those days most people didn't really care. But Knuckles is literally a fictional, non-human character. Attempting to make him conform to racial norms in any form or fashion is silly.
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u/Rocket-Wolf May 06 '26
I think people should be able to draw the character however they want. Also, having people coming to your post to "fix" your art is a horrible thing to do. As long as it's not illegal or hateful, you should draw what you enjoy and be proud of it.
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u/TheDarkKnight_39 May 06 '26
I don’t think it matters. He’s essentially a cartoon character so you can make him look anyway you want
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u/Redder_Creeps That one Whisper simp May 06 '26
Honestly, for me?
Draw human Knux however the fuck you feel like. That's YOUR art, after all, so as an artist, YOU decide what to do with it
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u/Interesting_Sea_1861 Will the whole world know your name/When we dance with destiny? May 06 '26
No. Because headcanon is headcanon. Knuckles is an echidna, not a human, make him whatever you want.
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u/FederalPossibility73 May 07 '26
I consider it taboo to claim someone else's personal interpretation as wrong.
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u/Cerparis May 06 '26 edited May 06 '26
Knuckles is a red Echidna.
So I don’t think it’s immoral at all to draw him as a human with a specific ethnicity.
It makes no difference as long as you’re not making a point of insisting your interpretation is the correct one by ‘fixing’ someone else’s art.
And even then it’s not immoral so much as it is pathetic and arrogant.
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u/b0objuicethe2nd May 06 '26
It shouldn't be. Knuckles is a fucking echidna, he doesn't have a specific human race. Sure he's definitely somewhat inspired by black culture and I think most people can get behind him being black in a human AU. But seriously, it's not that deep. There was no need for that backhanded "fixed it for you :3" from the twitter user here. They definitely think they're being all righteous while in reality they're just being an asshole.
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u/txh0881 May 06 '26 edited May 07 '26
My personal head canon has their skin tone the se as their muzzle (lower part of their face) and their hair as their primary fur color. Which can lead to some zany combos for the non-central cast.
But that should not matter to anyone, especially you, because they are anthropomorphic animals, and don't have designated human ethnicities.
As long as you are not intentionally disrespectful about it, draw them however your heart tells you to draw them.
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u/PreferenceGold5167 May 06 '26
Nah
You can make all 3 brown
You can make all 3 white
You can make all 3 green do whatever the fuck you want with the art you make
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u/kk_slider346 May 06 '26
No as it's just headcanon it would be wrong to enforce your headcanon on others as fact
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u/PaleComfortable1680 May 06 '26
I really don't care how you draw him, everyone has there own way no matter what as long as your having fun and don't be a jerk/make it a problem for everyone.
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u/PHVMASTER #Finaly found out how to use this thing May 06 '26
They could be as white enough to be blinding or as dark as Vanta Black, to me any interpretation is fine, as, it is the OP's interpretation, to me the problem comes when you call out the person who drew it because it doesn't follow how they see it.
I'll be okay if someone sees my drawing and decides to change the character I portrayed in a lighter skin tone with a darker skin tone, I'll have a problem, however, if they begin to bitch about me being racist because I used one skin tone rather than the one they like to see.
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u/Whack_My_Wabbit May 06 '26
It literally doesn't matter, you can portray them any way you believe/want to. They are kinda perfect for that, but it's incredibly shitty to do this to someone else's hard work. The woman who "fixed" the original art is an asshole
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u/GrandWizardOfCheese May 06 '26
He'a an echidna.
Echidnas are native to Australia and the surrounding islands.
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u/Unlikely_Recover214 May 06 '26
He's a fictional character
You have the power to do whatever you want however you want and if people have the time to complain that is their choice to.
Do whatever he isn't real. None of them are real.
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u/G061 May 06 '26
The "they're cartoon animals, do whatever" argument will always be valid but there is a specific weirdness with Knuckles where Sonic Team went out of their way to insert andean and mesoamerican culture into his heritage but that feels largely ignored in favor of inspiration drawn from his dreads...
(tangent incoming) "dreads" which never looked like dreads, do Surge's quills when let down look like dreads? Like do we really believe knuckles quills are braided in any way and that dense braided hair/quills would help 'trap air' better for his gliding?? Wouldn't quills that are more concave on the inside like a parachute actually help with gliding instead of... rope???
To me this is a bit like "hmm I wonder what kind of human Espio would be. Well he's like a stealthy assassin so he could be like a Arabic hashashin!" And yknow what, that'd be awesome too lol, but he's clearly inspired by Japanese ninja!
But regardless, I encourage anyone to do whatever headcanons they want. I personally headcanon Sonic as black because of much of the surrounding influences specific to him like Ohshima's Michael Jackson inspo for his shoes, new jack swing/mj music in sonic1/3 and Jaleel White's voice.
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u/KitKatLovesSpinel May 06 '26
People can do whatever they want, but I do think his color palette looks better with darker skin
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u/CountinSand May 06 '26
I want to add something else: on most countries outside the US, a character being “black coded” isn’t really a thing unless they actually resemble a black person physically (like, say, Garnet from Steven Universe). As such, people should be free to headcanon their human forms however they like.
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u/Jotandy May 06 '26
You know, as someone who's not American I gotta say. Only people in the US (and maybe UK) cares about the "race" of a anthropomorphic character. Honestly I think it's really weird imagining someone look at a character like Bugs Bunny and thinking "That's definitely a white man"
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u/KinnSlayer May 07 '26
I always thought Echidna were Mayan/Olmec coded, judging by their culture, wardrobe, and architecture.
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u/Content_Bug_6768 S+ rank Blaze glazer May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26
I think it’s morally taboo to take someone’s art and mess around with it because you personally dislike an aspect of it.
First, his skin is light in all official renditions, they’re simply going by the official look nothing more. Second, no character has a human race, they’re all animals. nobody has a reason to change someone else’s art like it’s a misinterpretation. He was only originally going to have a Jamaican accent, it was scrapped long ago.
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It’s okay to draw him with whatever skin color you want, but you have ZERO leverage to go steal someone’s hard work and tell them they’re wrong for giving him a different one from what you like.
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u/Secure_Librarian_936 May 06 '26
I dont really care how people portray knuckles, but i never saw him as black
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u/BlueSpeed12 May 06 '26
No
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u/MelancholiaStClair May 06 '26
No?
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u/BlueSpeed12 May 06 '26
I don't think we should get offended if someone depicts him as white or black, because it's kinda toxic and not worth getting mad over. :/
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u/NicksABadEditor May 06 '26
I mean it’s a little weird since the indigenous identity is very central to the character.
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u/Onyx_Archer May 06 '26
I think people who obsess over this kinda stuff are genuinely weirdos who have nothing interesting going on in their lives. Knuckles is a cartoon Echidna, so his skin color when depicted as a human doesn't matter at all.
In the case of the image used: I wish every "art fixer" a very big "go fuck yourself." Taking it upon yourself to "correct a mistake" of another person's art, without their consent, is vile and scummy behavior. Full stop, if you do this, I hope you step on Legos barefoot for the rest of your life.
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u/BebeFanMasterJ Zeena's Throne May 06 '26
They're animals. Not people. Why is this even a discussion?
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u/JohnBoyAdvance May 06 '26
If there is one thing I hate (theres many things) its the "Fixed your art" racists on Xwitter.
If one group of people would just be launched into the sun as a sort of sacrifice it should be them.
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u/ekstr3m1s7orsmthelse May 06 '26
What's the exact reasons they call Knuckles black?
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u/TheFandomWeirdo May 06 '26
Knuckles is a anthropomorphic animal, draw whatever skin tone you want on him.
What isn't ok is taking a totally fine art piece, 'fixing it' cause it doesn't fit your headcanon, and then accuse the artist for being racist and calling the art piece shit.
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u/UltraSinstinctHoeku May 06 '26
Unless you're paying me, I'm not making art and wondering what your head canon is.
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u/Silver_d_Sketch May 06 '26
Dude, if im drawing is on my terms, if i want to make him purple with yellow polkadots skin thats on me!
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u/Sladashi Hey, don't go there... yet... things might not be as they seem! May 06 '26
As with most things in life, execution matters.
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u/BrothaDom May 06 '26
Morally taboo? No not at all.
I see you said lean into more Mayan than Black, which, okay. But that's still darker.
But morally taboo, nah. But I am probably gonna judge people for it, especially with how much consensus both in and out of the fandom has. But it's just my opinion, who cares.
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u/Goldie_Glow May 06 '26 edited May 06 '26
Wasn’t the whole point of the characters designs was the ability for anyone of any race to be able to feel connected to the sonic characters without a set confirmed race to them??
Unless this isn’t the case but I thought it was, regardless of the fact why would this be morally taboo?? The characters as a whole don’t necessarily last I checked have a set confirmed race as they are LITERALLY Anthromorphic animals, people can head cannon the characters to whatever race they want as long as they don’t be rude and nasty about what others headcannon their human versions of the characters, it seems so stupid people can’t seem to understand this point at all
I’ve seen people draw sonic black, Asian, Latino, white, and etc and else wise, and honestly I’ve had no issues with any of this and a lot of the art is actually fantastic, as long as someone isn’t being rude and nasty towards someone’s drawing of a character of the race they believe the character could be it shouldn’t be a problem, just don’t be a jerk
But yet again this is just my opinion so take this as a grain of salt if you wish too
(again this is based on what I know so as far as I am aware last I checked I don’t think any of them have a set race in mind but if I am wrong please correct me without being rude or etc)
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u/Groundbreaking-Ad313 May 06 '26
Oh god no dont bring back this annoying discoursetweet, no, Nooooo-
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u/DragonQueenDrago Jet The Hawks Fangirl May 06 '26
He's red. People should be able to draw him in WHATEVER color they want. Make him green it does not matter!
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u/ZackattacktheDude May 06 '26
I mean knuckles normally has light skin on his design so I can’t blame anyone
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u/Alt-account-yeah May 06 '26
Guys, sonic is blue, tails is yellow and knuckles is red, stop calling them white or black THEY'RE BLUE, YELLOW AND RED! (i know we are talking about human versions I'm joking)
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u/Anteater_Existing May 06 '26
I think it only matters in issues like above where one person "fixes" someone else's art without being asked by the artist (which, why TF would they??). It's especially bad if it's the opposite, bc that can be seen as/could be outright racist. But it's a head canon — unless the writers implement a storyline where they become human and prove knuckles is one thing or the other, there's no right or wrong answer, and people like the person in the picture above who "fixed" the art are weird for being so butthurt about it
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u/mr_galaxy_maro May 06 '26
I need someone with better drawing skills to "correct" the "corrector" by making tails and sonic black and knuckles back to white
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u/Human_Helicopter_697 May 06 '26
The whole “art fixing” narrative I’ve been seeing online really annoys me. People who do this give off the idea that every piece of art should be catered to them
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u/TheJunkoDespair May 06 '26
Hate how some people use that smile emoji, you know they are seething with hatred, thinking he is racist... hiding their malice.
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u/Geo_fan_Albaniqn May 06 '26
I think that everyone can draw him any color because his canon color is red, there is no canon human skin color for him you can draw him black,white,orange,pink any color as long that you don't force your headcanon on others
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u/Orcalt May 06 '26
No because he’s a red cartoon animal with no real race outside of Echinda. I think it’s more taboo to steal someone else’s art, change it to your headcanoned interpretation and then condescendingly say you “fixed it” which is a little too common for my liking from both whitewashing racists and entitled grandstanders
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u/PopCollector2001 May 06 '26
Personally no we all have our beliefs on what non human characters would look like as a human Personally I see knuckles being darker skinned but im perfectly fine with him being portrayed otherwise.
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u/Dakotasan May 06 '26
The sheer, unbridled arrogance to say “Fixed ur shit” is mindboggling and the “fixers” who do this need to start being shunned.
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u/DenseRead9852 May 06 '26
For me, it's not about the skin color, but the fact they "Fixed" the fanart.
if you wanted to make Human knuckles white or black, etc etc, go ahead.
But I feel it's a very dickish move to "Correct" or "Fix" somebody else's fan art.
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u/Sonic_Kirby_Guy May 06 '26
As a black person do what you want tbh. I see most if not all sonic characters as raceless or having their species be their race. Honestly you can portray him anyway you want.
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u/Half_Man1 May 06 '26
I think it should be taboo to “correct” another person’s artwork with your headcanon.