u/Lost_Page_2030

Exactly as the title says. And because I know someone will comment “Ben Kingsley and Nick Offerman are voicing two characters” I’ll respond with “Did I stutter?”

First of all, Eggman’s coming back. Considering the odds of him not being a villain again are close to zero, his return and the character’s reaction to it will require plenty of focus. And if he’s the creator of Metal Sonic (which I don't see why he wouldn’t be) then that will also require some exposition. Considering he had like five final speeches, it’d be weird if nobody batted an eyelid at his return.

Next up, Shadow’s coming back. People have already speculated to the moon and back about how big his return could be, and here’s my line of thinking: if his role was as small and insignificant as showing up after the credits to set up a spinoff movie, they wouldn’t have brought back Keanu because he wouldn’t even need to talk. And if he were irrelevant to the movie itself, then his fans would complain about it, so they’re going to give him something to do.

Additionally, his story isn’t over. He’s been shown overcoming his desire for revenge, but what comes next? Without his promise to Maria, there has to be a reason for him to keep fighting. Considering they gave Knuckles a mini-arc in Sonic 3, it’s not impossible that Shadow’s story will continue into Sonic 4-which would draw time away from any other stories being told.

The nature of his ending from Sonic 3 means that any kind of reunion between him and the main cast would require a significant deal of focus. Focus that would likely be taken away from other things. Considering how Shadow has taken the spotlight from the main character in the past, it’s not a stretch at all to say he could easily do the same here. And if he’s a deus ex machina that defeats Metal Sonic because nobody else can, that would automatically bring the movie down for me.

But let’s look at two of those things that require focus: Amy and Metal Sonic. Sonic 3 set a very high bar in terms of Sonic’s character growth (alongside his other allies) and the threat posed by the new rival. The only physical edge Metal Sonic has over Shadow is the army of identical clones, but that’s moot considering how easily they can be dispatched. I don’t know if he’ll even get a character arc, but it’ll only be a good one if he’s not having to share the story with a previously unannounced villain.

And given how our only new ally thus far got shafted in favor of the new rival, my expectations are already low for Amy’s story. She’s the Main Girl of the franchise, and she’s coming in after two movies of the main cast being Sonic/Tails/Knuckles. And most of her stories are incompatible with what her introduction set up, so they’ll need to make something out of whole cloth, and no matter what they do someone will be upset with what they give her. And Sonic learning that girls exist doesn’t feel like a step up in terms of personal conflict.

And there’s no Year of Amy/Metal in the works, meaning nothing to bolster them up as characters. This movie is all we’re getting to promote these two to an audience who has otherwise never heard of these two, so they’ll need a story that properly showcases them.

But anyway, enough about new characters, because we also have old ones to deal with. Sonic’s obviously going to get a good deal of focus due to the fact he’s the title character, Tom, Maddie, and Stone will also need something to justify their return, but what about Tails and Knuckles? Knuckles didn’t have as much focus in Sonic 3, but he still had a decent character arc (way better than the series gave him). Tails, on the other hand, has yet to have his “moment” in the movies.

All of his development so far-being inspired by Sonic and coming to his rescue-has happened offscreen. As of now, he’s less Sonic’s little brother and more like his gadget guy. As the cast continues to grow, the odds of him getting such a moment decrease. I’m not even sure if he’ll get one in Sonic 4. But if anybody else gets introduced, those odds will be throughly Ol Yellered.

The odds that Sonic 4 will deal with time travel aren’t zero. If they do, they’ll need to give a decent explanation as to how it works, which will require time to be set up, as I’m sure you know. 

So that means the movie will be dealing with ten prominent characters-six CGI, four human, two of which are returning after uncertain fates, two of which are new and being introduced to audiences for the first time-as well as possibly time travel (more on that later). But there are three aspects I haven’t brought up yet: runtime, budget, and story.

Sonic 2 is currently the longest of the movies at just over two hours (counting the end credits), with Sonic 3 in second. We don’t know how long Sonic 4’s gonna be, but I feel safe in assuming it won’t be longer than the second one. So that means they’ll have about an hour and a half to resolve everything in a satisfying manner.

And now story: what we know so far is that Amy and a horde of Metal Sonics will be showing up. The latter will obviously be the main physical conflict for the heroes to overcome, and it and the former’s arrival will no doubt be the catalysts for Sonic’s primary arc throughout the movie. And as mentioned previously, it’s not impossible that time travel will be introduced in this movie, considering the game those two were introduced in.

It stands to reason that other characters we know are appearing will have their own story arcs that, while not on the same level as Sonic’s, will require great focus (although Eggman and Shadow would likely get the lion’s share there). But if you want to add anyone extra, here’s an important question: what would they add to the story?

Because here’s the thing: these characters aren’t cheap. Sonic’s redesign cost $5 million, and even if they’ve been able to shave a zero or two off in the interim, the cost of modeling, rigging, texturing, compositing, and animating a new CGI character will be high.

Think of any character-the Chaotix, Rouge and Omega, Big, Silver, Chaos-and ask this: what can they contribute to the A and/or B plot that can’t be filled by another (maybe human) character? Would the movie be enhanced by their introduction? And can they be introduced in a way that doesn’t take away from Amy and/or Metal?

Silver’s popular because time travel is a possibility in this movie, but let’s look at him for a second. They’ve done a pretty good job of adapting the stories of the new characters they introduce, so that means Silver’s would likely be adapted as well. If they bring his story in, Metal wouldn’t get too much, and Amy would get jack shit, simple as.

The Chaotix too, they’d be introducing five CGI characters in one movie. There’s no role they can give these guys that would justify their presence in the story, or benefit the plot and themes in any way. Try and do anything major with them, everyone suffers for it.

I’m probably not too coherent with my thoughts, but just like the title says, six CGI characters is more than enough.