#i am an autistic low empathy person btw thats why i feel so strongly abt this

[whimsical-sonic]

this scene is literally the perfect demonstration of sonic's low empathy and i'm going to do my best to try and explain why

let's start with some definitions: empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. this is different from sympathy, which are feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else's misfortune, and is often confused with compassion: a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering

now, to break down the scene:

sonic: "amy, you better not be tricking me into the water again."

amy: "no trick, sonic. trust me. you're gonna love it. okay, open them! ta-da!" [she presents the palm tree]

sonic: "you got me... the palm tree? so it is a trick."

amy: "no, sonic, it's not a trick."

here is where sonic's low empathy begins to present itself. he's confused about the gift because there's nothing necessarily gift-like about the tree that stands out to him. he takes the gift literally, and proceeds to tell amy that he already has a palm tree, gesturing to a few nearby. he isn't able to pick up on why amy feels that the tree is so important, demonstrating a lack of cognitive empathy (knowing how the other person feels and what they might be thinking)

amy: "the gift isn't just the tree. it's all the memories we've made around that tree."

in an effort to try and help sonic understand the significance of the tree, they all share a fond memory that happened there.

amy: "yeah, really good times. right, sonic?"

sonic: "come on, guys, don't you think you're all being a little too... i don't know... sentimental? look, i get it. tree. friendship. memories..."

what sonic is now showing here is a lack of affective empathy (being able to read and feel other people's emotions). he is not trying to be insensitive here, rather, it's just that he genuinely can't understand why they feel so strongly about this one tree

this next bit isn't about the clip but it's something i wanted to point out in relation to it:

sonic wasn't able to understand the significance of the tree until thorn had bluntly asked him what he knew about togetherness. it took him being in a position where he had to question his understanding of the word to realize that it was the tree bound them all together

it's important to note that he didn't have this realization as a result of the feelings of others, but as a result of his own personal reflection. this is because of his low empathy

hope this helps ✌️