y'all always arguing about Sonic's world being realistic or a cartoon, but I've always thought that the whole point was that it was a chaotic mash of insanely diverse lands. I can totally believe that Soleana, Station Square and Little Planet all exist in the same world (1/11)
Even in the most realistic settings in the series like Unleashed, Soleana and Station Square, there's always some sort of fictitious element reminding us that this world is one of urban fantasy; mashing up the normal and the absurd. (2/11)
Unleashed has Gaia splitting the world apart, Soleana has the people worship a God of light and Station square is literally on Westside Island (the same island as Sonic 2), where the Echidnas came from and built their shrine to yet another kaiju like god; Chaos (3/11)
The varying cultures of this place are so vast. Gods are plentiful and very real in their many forms. Anthropomorphic animals are commonplace along with humans, realistic looking animals, floating Islands, presumably sentient tiny planets, magically powerful crystals etc. (4/11)
It's no wonder Sonic loves his freedom so much, this world is absolutely chaotic, and he's always having a blast seeing all of it. (5/11)
And then look at the Global military; G.U.N. The most paranoid people on Earth who will go to frankly ridiculous lengths, being destructive in their own right to get rid of what they see as a threat. (6/11)
May I also remind you all that there are three known species of alien in this universe (yes, the birds are aliens. Welcome to Sonic canon) (7/11)
With this in mind. It should be obvious that Sonic's world has never been "realistic" as much as games like '06 might try to make you believe that in their aesthetics. (8/11)
Sonic's world IS irrefutably, an urban fantasy setting, different places being influenced by these elements to varying degrees shows that there is cultural clash, or at the very least resistance to more fictitious elements in certain parts of the world. (9/11)
if anything, all this comes off as to me is subtle world building, regardless of whether that was the intent or not. Mind you, i think this could be more explicit, as I find it interesting, but I digress. (10/11)
Point is, this world, while taking cues, is not "realistic", so to anyone who keeps insisting it should be; stop trying to say it is. It never has, even at its least fantastical, even just by the virtue of a character like Sonic The Hedgehog existing in it. (11/11)