Figured my next update for this book be about fixing something than telling how it could've been.

The two most hated characters in Sonic's character archives are coincidentally humans.

Everyone knows how Princess Elise is the most infamous for nearly destroying the hedgehog's reputation with that notorious kiss scene at the end, though at least her part of lore isn't canon anymore due to 06 wiping itself from the timeline.

With that reset means Elise could be fixed if the Sonic fan base wants to give her another chance, maybe even give her a Mobian form.

Chris Thorndyke doesn't have that reset option due to his appearance being throughout an entire anime series, so you can't just reboot him unless Sonic Team sees a good reason for using him again.

That's the curse of being spawned by Sega and Sonic Team, you always have to live in Sonic's shadow and never get to grow much as your own character, let alone as your own protagonist.

(Take it from game characters like Luigi and Donkey Kong, both of whom don't have enough games with their name on the cover pop up as much as Mario. And Daisy and Waluigi have it worse by only getting to appear in party games like Mario Kart and Mario Tennis.)

Despite Chris originally being owned by Sonic Team due to art of him appearing in Sonic Adventure, he didn't get recognized until Sega decided it was time Sonic tried to have a show for the Modern Sonic setting, previously only having cartoons in the 90's that were essentially his Classic self being able to talk while running around to humiliate Robotnik.

The main problem is...they picked an anime....which anime ALWAYS has human characters in it or something based off of a human.

(I almost thought Kirby Right Back At Ya was the exception, until I remembered there was a human salesman who keeps selling monsters to King Dedede to clobber that there Kirby.)

At the time of Sonic X being made, the Pokémon anime had gotten popular with the adventures of Ash and his Pikachu, which obviously Sega wanted to do what they had and hoped Sonic being in their anime would make it popular.

The thing is....Ash exists because we the audience need someone to fill in for us in the Pokémon world since we obviously can't make an entire show from 1st person point of view, so Ash is literally us as a kid trying to become a Pokémon Master.

Ash also exists as our dialogue for the story since Pikachu being our other main character can't talk any of world's languages and Pikachu is essentially an animal in interactions, so Ash is our guide to Pikachu's adventures as well.

(Though Game Freak could gain a lot of money from an entire show of cute Pokémon just on misadventures, whether or not we hear them talk English.)

So if Sega literally wanted to see if they do better than Nintendo properties in the anime area, they had to follow what was popular at the time and even adopt what was the modern animation at the time, so Chris became the Ash that would guide Sonic in the human world.....or at least he tried to do that since Sonic is going to make the adventure himself without any help.

Well....Sonic X kind of worked anyways, because it's one of the most remembered anime based off a video game to this day.....it just wasn't Chris that made it popular.

Characters like Knuckles getting more appearances than his Underground counterpart and Shadow getting his first TV debut made Sonic X establish that Modern Sonic was here to stay and it looked like it was getting better at the time.

Shadow especially made it popular due to how edgy of a character he was compared to the rest of the cast, every encounter he had with Sonic being forever etched into memory.

Chris however was just there to be a human boy.....that's it. The dude rarely did anything helpful except for the fact he connected Sonic's friends to helpful people like his Grandpa Chuck and his Uncle Sam Speed.

Some of the more helpful situations like him grabbing the Chaos Emeralds from Eggman's robot could easily be replaced with one of Sonic's friends and you wouldn't know the difference.

The dumbest way Chris helped was him helping Shadow remember Maria's true final promise........because he had blue eyes like Maria?

It was originally Amy's role to get Shadow back on the light side in Sonic Adventure 2, which makes sense since she's a girl and is the closest sounding to Maria, though this only means Chris STOLE her moment from the game.

I think Chris could've had an entire redeeming season in Season 3, which is pretty much a timeskip of the first two seasons, this being helpful because I believe an adult Chris would've been much more helpful to the show and Sonic's friends due to him following his grandfather's footsteps and becoming a scientist. But instead.....they went with the route of him being shrunk down to a kid again when he went to visit Sonic's world.

He could've had times where he helped Tails with certain tasks and maybe actually fight back against some of the Metarex with some useful tools, rather than being another person Sonic has to rescue again.

Other than that, Chris was just tagging along while the series dedicated most of the final seasons moments to the rest of the cast.

Does this all mean you can't use Chris at all?

I'd argue the case is "no", probably because he's still associated as an anime character. If a studio bought the rights to Chris Thorndyke, they could technically remake him and the people in his life into a brand new series that may be decent. An anime with Chris won't be the level of fame like Dragon Ball Z, Naruto or My Hero Academia, but it would still become an honorable mention that some people bring up from time to time.

I'll try to provide some unique examples, as well as some popular franchises that would have Chris as their young boy in the show.

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Idea 1: Transformers X

I immediately thought of Transformers when I realized Chris' cast and the setting would be perfect.

-a group of kids (Prime)

-a relative who's into inventions (Animated)

-a potential rival for the fast one, possibly Bumblebee

I know Transformers has already done anime multiple times before, but that doesn't mean they can't make a brand new interpretation of it.

The setting would be similar to that of Sonic X, where our aliens arrive on Earth and blend in to avoid being spotted.

Chris would run into Optimus Prime when his grandpa Chuck buys him to help tow some of the inventions he's making, likely getting loaned the money from Chris' parents.

A bunch of Decepticons show up and chase Chris and Chuck, the two humans not knowing who they're riding in until they get isolated from the truck and Starscream shows up to make things worse for the two.

Optimus then reveals himself and fights off the Decepticons, saving the humans he was hiding with, now reluctantly having to put Chris under his watch in case the Decepticons try to threaten the boy and his family again.

From there, Optimus spends the next beginning episodes reuniting with the rest of his team so they can protect Earth from Megatron.

It's obvious you want to bring in Bumblebee, Arcee and Ratchet, though whoever else you pick like Bulkhead or Ironhide is up to you to imagine.

The rest of series would be built up like this...

Season 1: Autobots assemble and prepare to face Megatron. They barely survive Megatron's first encounter on Earth with them, with the leader just leaving with what he needed after thinking Optimus has lost his touch over the years. The season finale is the rematch between Optimus and Megatron, with Optimus pulling a win so big that the Decepticons retreat to the moon to hide for now.

Season 2: After the end of the first season, the public all knows that the Autobots exist and are welcoming of the robots protecting them from the Decepticons.

(There's even an episode similar to the one where the President wanted to arrange a meeting with Sonic for good press, though you swap Sonic for Optimus and have the situation wind up with the Prime having to fend off Decepticons without harming the military and press trying to invite him to the president.)

Megatron also spends the season trying to race against the Autobots on getting valuable super weapons and technology so he can crush them once and for all.

After the Decepticons destroy the Autobot base with the team narrowly escaping and hiding for most of the second half of the season, Optimus eventually gathers the team together for one final push against Megatron, resulting in our iconic "One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall" moment in the show.

The Autobots soon use the stuff they gathered to build technology that could help them rebuild Cybertron again, traveling back home having saved Earth from the Decepticons.......for now.

Season 3: Like with Sonic X, it's a timeskip where Chris is now an adult scientist and with Hellen as his wife, though this time the skip is bigger now with Chris now having a little kid he's raised for years.

One day, Chris' technology is detecting signals similar to one's he remember being detected back when he was kid, with the sightings of meteorite showers confirming his hunch: both the Autobots and Decepticons are back!

Chris mostly takes a backseat to his kid being the one going out with the Autobots on missions, though he is there when the plot needs him like when Ratchet gets injured and no one else is around to treat him.

Though instead of this season being a buildup to an Optimus vs Megatron fight, Season 3 is basically one giant countdown to Unicron coming and trying to get his hands on the All Spark.

The final episode is pretty much everyone vs Unicron, with Megatron being a surprise ally near the end.

After Unicron is defeated, Megatron disbands the Decepticons out of regret for the fact that his war destroyed Cybertron twice, sending himself into exile like at the end of Prime series.

Optimus and the Autobots come to accept that Earth is their new home for now until the day arrives for Cybertron to be brought back anew, Chris and his family getting to enjoy the next few years of life with their Autobot family hanging around them.

I think this would work it's best where it fixes the main problem Chris had in Sonic X: his relationship to the main character.

Chris deals with the problem that his parents are barely even around for him, with his dad being a successful business owner and his mom being an actress, so Chris is always alone at the mansion when he's not at school with his friends. The closest company at the mansion is his grandpa, as well as the maid and butler hired to take care of the place and Chris.

With Sonic, it doesn't work because their relationship is more of a friendship than it is something more emotional and relatable like seeing each other as brothers, and Chris already has friends in school that he could just hang out with whenever he has time. In a way, it kind of felt completely controlling and possessive that Chris decided to try to keep Sonic from going back home.

If you replace Sonic with Optimus, I believe you get something more emotional and relatable for Chris that he has to let go of at the end of Season 2: a father-like figure.

Optimus is kind, selfless, loyal and someone who believes in change, the kind of leader that puts his team, the mission and his ideals before his own life.

If the writing on the scenes between them is well thought out with some genuine good moments, I guarantee you that the end of Season 2 would leave many people crying after Optimus finally convinces Chris to let him leave for Cybertron.

Other moments between characters like Bumblebee having a friendship with Helen or Chuck helping Ratchet in the lab would probably give this more good memories than Sonic X did.

If Hasbro thinks about trying again with an anime, maybe stop by and ask Sonic Team if they don't mind parting with Chris and his cast.

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Idea 2: Speed Racer X

Imagine if you replaced Chris' last name with Racer...

Given that Sam Speed is literally a cop driving a formula car to try to catch fast criminals, it kind of makes sense that a reboot of Chris' world would put his uncle in the role of a race car driver than law enforcement.

I know people probably thought "Speed Racer The Next Generation" wasn't a good show due to either the animation or maybe some of the writing for it, but I'm kind of a fan of seeing how the next generation after the main characters of a series pick up the mantle with examples like Batman Beyond.

The setting will be years later after Speed Racer's career, having settled with Trixie and had a son that grew up and married Sam's sister, with Speed now having Chris as his grandson.

One day at a race, Chris witnessed Sam get into a wreck that leaves him dead like how Speed's brother died, rocking the family hard.

As a result, Chris' father forbids anyone in the family to race again, with the racing business being sold and Chris being told not to go to any racing academy.

Chris really wants to do this though, desiring to make his uncle and grandfather proud by winning the racing series Sam died in, trying to prove he can carry the Racer legacy.

Speed at first tries to get Chris to give up like his son had been trying to do, but after a conversation with Trixie on the matter, Speed decides to help Chris out in preparation to becoming the next Racer.

The boy eventually grows to be a teen and is introduced his grandfather's famous car: the Mach 5

As soon as he graduates while finishing his practice with Speed, Chris applies for the racing circuit against his father's demands, though there's little he can do since Chris is now an adult at this point.

After winning his first race while driving the Mach 5, one of the commentators is heard quoting "Speed Racer is back!", which Chris decides to go by Speed Racer II as a stage name for his career, getting the legacy of being Speed Racer returning to the circuit to reclaim his title.

This series I can picture keeping most of the cast, though it does sacrifice Chris' friends having screen time in show since it's mainly about him becoming a racer.

I debated if Sam Speed would become the next Racer X in this show, but I'm unsure if this would just be unoriginal compared to the predecessors.

Other than that, it's business as usual against villains like corrupt corporations or cheating racers.

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Idea 3: F-Zero Extreme

This is similar to the previous idea, except this is set in F-Zero universe.

The idea would be this takes place many years after F-Zero GP Legends, with Rick Wheeler now being the current Captain Falcon.

Sam Speed could either die in a crash like the last idea or he could survive and potentially become the next Captain Falcon after Rick Wheeler instead of an adult Chris Thorndyke.

With Black Shadow being gone, you would probably have to make a new baddie for Rick Wheeler to eventually beat at the end, giving his title to his successor in his last moments like how the previous one did.

But I think this could be a little fun to watch like the last entry too.

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Idea 4: Fossil Fighters X

If Chris is meant to be the Ash for Sonic X, why not just put him in something similar to Pokémon, and owned by Nintendo no less?

Fossil Fighters was a series on the DS that was about collecting the bones of dead dinosaurs and reviving them to use in battle, kind of making this a bit harder than Pokémon due to the power of the dinosaur being boosted by how well you cleaned off the bones rather than planning how you were going to catch Pokémon.

The anime could be based off the first game where the protagonist went to Dinosaur Island to become a champion, though you may have to decide Chris' cap or hat so he isn't too different from the game.

Granted this idea means either you have to get rid of all of Chris' former cast or just make up reasons for why they came to Dinosaur Island too.

At some point, Chris' team will have to include the T-Rex due to it being the main mascot and cover character of the games.

Other than the first game having it's own Team Rocket like bad guys, the first game also had this other building threat in the form of an alien race, which I won't spoil anything about that if you guys want to play the game yourself or watch someone else play it.

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Idea 5: Extra Extra Terrestrials

This is the first non IP brand idea I have: a bunch of aliens show up and live with Chris.

I know this is technically what Sonic X did, but it could still go one of two ways with a villain in the show regardless.

1) A mix of male and female aliens, with this large cast having misadventures as the aliens try adjusting to how humans live on Earth.

2) Make all of the aliens females and have this be another harem anime, though Chris would have to be 18+ for this to be ok.

Just saying, the foreign visitors thing writes itself.

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Idea 6: Jet Jet Stream

I'm summing this up as basically anime Top Gun.

Sam Speed is basically a stunt pilot or part of the Air Force.

It's up to you guys if Sam dies like in previous entries for Chris to be the star, or Sam is the star and Chris is just the kid tagging along.

The most popular arc in the anime would be the protagonist his squadron trying to beat an experimental aircraft piloted by a rival or an AI.

American viewers would be like "Shut up and take my money!"

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Idea 7: Shinobi Streak

Since Chris' butler is supposedly good at martial arts last I checked, I debated if Chris would technically fit in another ninja anime.

The idea would be that Chris winds up being brought to the dojo/monastery he was trained in and to train on days he's not at school, making friends in both sides of his life while fighting off gangs and enemies.

Granted it's not going to top Naruto in writing, but you could still try to come up with creative techniques for the characters to use.

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Idea 8: Justice League X

This was a last minute idea I had, but it came from the fact that Marvel's Avengers and X-Men both had anime while DC had been limited to Batman and maybe Teen Titans being close to one.

If Japanese businesses are ok making something with Captain America in it and MHA has more than one hero with the USA's red, white and blue on their costumes, I think it wouldn't be controversial to try bringing Superman and Wonder Woman into this.

Where would Chris fit into this? Him and his friends would gain meta human powers so they could be the equivalent of the kids teaming up with the Avengers in their anime.

It wouldn't be their first rodeo having kids as sidekicks like in Young Justice.

You could probably also drag in those like Damian Wayne and Jonathan Kent as additional kids, and maybe get visits from former sidekicks like Nightwing and Speedy/Red Arrow.

I guess we would go with Barry Allen and Hal Jordan as the generation in the team, though I kind of like the idea of giving Kyle Rainer a chance at being one of the main characters for a change.

I'll buy it if it exists.

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And that's what I got so far.

I almost thought about suggesting doing a show around Chris fighting the Metarex, but I figured it's already too late since Season 3 of Sonic X is arguably one of the best parts of the show.

(That and it seems wrong for Chris to steal Tails' crush Cosmo.)

Are there any ideas you guys have? Let me know in the comments.

Anyways....I'll see you guys later. Bye!