#and because we still don't know the exact details of sonic 3 it's a very wild guess of the movie's events

[supercasey]

10,750 words, I am absolutely fucking insane, wtf

[sonic-love-island-official]

Knuckles (Bio/Character design ramble)

Here he comes, rougher than the rest of them: Knuckles !!

More info under the cut, as per x

Knuckles is a 26 year old from Angel Island. Guardian of the Master Emerald, Knuckles lives relatively isolated from the mainland, rarely leaving the island for anything. He joins the show as a challenge for himself to branch out, live a little and find a potential long-term partner.

To put it simply, Knuckles arrives with a lot to navigate. He's never experienced such a complicated social situation in his life before and he's tasked with learning how to act around the other Islanders, which leads him to be very unfaithful to himself and his personality. Even though he's working out social dilemmas and how to present himself, Knuckles is still a very genuine guy and does nothing if he doesn't mean it. Both laid-back and short-tempered, he finds himself in a bit of trouble on more than one occasion, providing lessons for him going forward.

Trying different faces on, testing the waters and making mistakes, Knuckles needs to learn the value of being his true self and nothing else.

External design choices !! (visual appearance - incl. formation of base sim, references taken, makeup choices, fashion style... etc.)

I only wish I could remember any of the steps I made to create Knuckles' sim. But... By the looks of it, I think I might be able to guess where my head was at with some of the decisions around his design ?? Again, he doesn't look near to what I imagine him to look like, but at the end of the day, as long as they resemble enough of the character we're trying to portray, that's enough for me.

Firstly, I know for sure his SA2 model was used for inspiration and that was a deliberate, memorable choice. Because look at him !! SA2 Knuckles was so distinct to me, not only in how he acted but his features in this game are peak (also why tf is this his only portrayal where he has more melanin ?? huh ??). Needless to say, SA2 Knuckles is a personal favourite of mine in every way, shape and form, and that's basically why I picked that model to base Sim Knuckles off.

Hence why he has a warmer, darker skin tone than what's seen in other Knuckles models. I did my best to match it up as close as possible, and while not exact, it's pretty darn close that I'm no longer so fussy about it.

Knuckles striking red colour went straight to his hair, as per the majority of the sim versions. But, unlike the rest, Knuckles red hair is (allegedly /j) natural. The SLI world has a trend of people dying their hair all kinds of funky colours, but Knuckles isn't one of them, so his hair, brows and body hair are all this shade of red that he inherited from his ancestors (this, among a few other features pull relevance in-plot later). Regrettably, we didn't have anything close to his dreadlocks in-game (one of my FAVOURITE parts of Knuckles' design), so we had to settle for this shoulder-length, half-up-half-down hairstyle. Of course, we try to make up for it by drawing him with them wherever possible, because his dreads are NOT going to be lost on us no matter how limited we are in this game. Another hair related detail that became more of a recent development, is Knuckles having facial hair (not present on his sim, because naturally the game does not have anything close) — you know, just a bit of chin fluff. No reason, just vibes :)

Knuckles doesn't have the same round eyes as what Sonic or Amy have, but isn't so harshly angled like Shadow's, so it was about finding that happy medium with Knux. And you know what ? His eyes are purple, pretty and I can't complain, he's such a cutie <3

I can't say much about his facial structure. I'm going to assume I had a vision, but I don't remember what in the world it was.

Naturally, Knuckles being Knuckles, is definitely more buff than the likes of Sonic or Tails. Bro works out — he's dedicated to that stuff — so that just had to be translated over to his sim. Ain't no more to say about that :)

Another thing absent from his sim version (limitations again, grr) is the idea that Knuckles has cultural tattoos, most prominently the crescent moon on his chest. In some screenshots (not seen here), Knuckles has a tattoo representative of M.E. as well.

As for his fashion style ? Hoo boy. Despite making the occasional, heinous fashion crime, Knuckles is actually pretty styling ! Knuckles suits all sorts of things and his style has a uniqueness none of the other Islanders have. More often than not though, Knuckles is seen in colourful/patterned tees, sweater singlets, cargo pants, baggy jeans and sneakers, along with a chain necklace (and maybe a bracelet and/or ring). Knuckles claims he isn't fashionable, but I beg to differ. He's probably one of the best dressed boys in the villa by far.

Internal design choices !! (personality, characteristics, psychology)

Here's where things get messy. Stated before in previous posts, characterisation isn't strict. All the characters are a blend of a multitude of portrayals across Sonic media and Knuckles is no different. But where each character is a cohesive blend, Knuckles very evidently has two, polar opposite ways of expressing himself, which I've haphazardly labelled:

'Funny-funny, I'm trying to fit in, please like me' Knuckles (that my sister primarily writes for)

And,

'Serious' Knuckles (that I tend to write for)

Like I've said in countless posts before, and in this one, Knuckles is trying to figure out who to be around people. The sillier side of Knuckles is heavily derived from his Sonic Boom characterisation, but is used in a self-aware sense. A lot of fans don't like this caricature version of Knuckles (me included, but I kind of regard Boom! Knuckles as a separate entity at this point and I personally enjoy his character better that way. Also, Boom is really its own continuity anyway, and I enjoyed the show as it was intended. It's another each to their own, I guess), but we've utilised this version of him with intention. AU Knuckles uses this comedic, faux stupidity to make himself interesting to others. This side of him carves a presence in the Villa, and he finds more people are willing to engage with someone entertaining. So the persona sticks.

'Serious' Knuckles is the more true (?) Knuckles. He's the game canon Knuckles, beloved for his steely disposition and golden heart. This is the Knuckles that is both a hothead and cool as a cucumber. He's the one loyal to his duties, to his friends. The one that cares for people, animals, land. He's the guy that could pack a punch if he wanted. Knuckles knows far more than he wants to let on. He's very in tune with people's energy and emotions and a lot of this knowledge makes him quite intelligent, though no one seems to notice.

Despite both these parts of him, Knuckles plays true to his feelings, whatever they may be, and whichever tracks it leads him down. He's not a fake guy at all !! He's just convinced himself what he's doing is the best course of action, even when it may not be.

Overall, Knuckles is a fun character to play around with ! He seems fairly shallow on the surface, but then, digging deeper, there's far more intricacies to his character. Knuckles provides a lot of things to work with in terms of his personality, background, knowledge and actions. I love how his character also explores different things to the other Islanders, due to those aspects.

Fun facts / trivia :

Knuckles loves to sing ! There's many moments throughout the series where he has sung songs alone or with other contestants. Knuckles is trying to make this series a musical (but I won't let him ! /j)

He likes to express his culture and does so wherever and whenever he can. It's very important to him <3