23 replies to this topic

[soulharlequin]

all the characters on sonic ,wear gloves but sega never explained the reason , well most of the humans in the series do not wear gloves .

they do not need them ,do they?

[JezMM]

They wear gloves because otherwise people like you wouldn't have any silly questions to ask.


If you want the real reason, it's because Sonic's design was somewhat inspired by Mickey Mouse, and he had gloves.  It was just sort of the norm for cartoon characters to wear gloves in those days for some reason.  Maybe it was easier to draw or something.

[GameBuddy]

I always figured it was to seal up the demonic, ingrown fingernails that plague all anthropomorphic characters.

[mesousa]

Inspired by Mickey Mouse? First I've heard of that.

[antony the bat]

I recon that the sonic characters wear gloves because they all most proberly trying to become the first football team of mobius.

[Kirby]

Because Yuji Naka said so.

[JezMM]

Because Yuji Naka said so.

Yuji Naka didn't design the characters.  Back in the day he was just a programmer.

[antony the bat]

I think that the Sonic characters wear gloves because they most proberly want to challenge Eggmans roborts to a boxing match.

[Rising_Phoenix]

Off topic folks.

Let's keep to the topic please.

[darkrai]

I am exploring two theories about this.

Either
A ) The gloves were initially added to go with the cartoony look of the original Sonic, and they just kinda stuck

B ) It was the general belief of Sonic Team that actually drawing hands for Sonic wouldn't really look as appealing.

[vgmaster]

Maybe Sonic Team wanted to make their own versions of Disney characters.

[Mahzes]

Gloves are a common cartoon character staple, usually because having a character wear gloves makes their hands

a) bigger, this making the proportions more cartoon-like and

b) easier to draw.

[Turrican II]

I'm more curious as to why Sonic, unlike nearly all basic cartoon characters, has FIVE fingers.

[Rising_Phoenix]

I'm more curious as to why Sonic, unlike nearly all basic cartoon characters, has FIVE fingers.

I might actually be able to answer this one.  I know that in the early days of cartooning that 5 fingers wasn't really allowed because they didn't want the characters to appear "too human" so 4 fingers was the norm.  I remember hearing about this a loooong time ago.  Or something to that effect.

Since much time has pasted from that time, it is now the norm to use 5 instead of 4.  I think but am not sure but The Simpsons might have been one of the first using 5 fingers but I could be TOTALLY off the mark on that.

[JezMM]

Since much time has pasted from that time, it is now the norm to use 5 instead of 4.  I think but am not sure but The Simpsons might have been one of the first using 5 fingers but I could be TOTALLY off the mark on that.

I hate to say it but... yes you are completely off the mark.  The Simpsons has always had four fingers to the extent of them actually using this fact as a source of jokes (in one episode Lisa shows Bart a magazine saying "Look, this magazine predicts that in the future humans will have FIVE fingers!" to which Bart responds "Ew, freakshow.")

[Rising_Phoenix]

I hate to say it but... yes you are completely off the mark.  The Simpsons has always had four fingers to the extent of them actually using this fact as a source of jokes (in one episode Lisa shows Bart a magazine saying "Look, this magazine predicts that in the future humans will have FIVE fingers!" to which Bart responds "Ew, freakshow.")

I thought I was right but I stand corrected.  ^___^

[enigmaechidna]

In Japan there is a rule about home grown cartoon and comic characters, in this case Anime/Game/Manga characters, and the number of fingers they are allowed to have . Though Rising Phoenix is correct on the US matter...for the Japanese it is more of social/politcal matter. Now I did ALOT of research on the Japanese/American animation genere for a college paper in which I compared and contrasted both...
___________________________________________________________________________

In The Anime Companion: What's Japanese in Japanese Animation
by Gilles Poitras , covers various amouts of information on Anime and even manga in Poitras later books...

Categories covered:
Building/Structure/Landmark
Clothing
Culture
Entertainment/Game
Food And Drink
General
Geographical Feature/Location
History/Society
Home
Nature
People
Religion/Mythology/Belief
Sports/Activity
Weaponry/War
________________________________________________________________________

Poitras explains in his book that as a result of the Yakuza having 4 fingers, animators and manga artists didn't want their characters to appear to be mocking/supporting the Yakuza organization.

For those who don't know who the Yakuza are...they are the Japanese Mafia.The traditional punishment for failure within a the Yakuza is the partial or full removal of a finger.In the old days this would render a warrior unable to weild his sword...these days its for showing when the gangster has displeased his boss, he is merely given a knife and a bandage. He must then chop off the top joint of his fourth finger and present it to the boss, thereby making him more dependent on his clan for support and protection. This is in some ways similar to sempuk or ritual(honor ) suicide. If the fourth finger is removed then the Yakuza member would move on to the next finger.

[darkrai]

Poitras explains in his book that as a result of the Yakuza having 4 fingers, animators and manga artists didn't want their characters to appear to be mocking/supporting the Yakuza organization.

For those who don't know who the Yakuza are...they are the Japanese Mafia.The traditional punishment for failure within a the Yakuza is the partial or full removal of a finger.In the old days this would render a warrior unable to weild his sword...these days its for showing when the gangster has displeased his boss, he is merely given a knife and a bandage. He must then chop off the top joint of his fourth finger and present it to the boss, thereby making him more dependent on his clan for support and protection. This is in some ways similar to sempuk or ritual(honor ) suicide. If the fourth finger is removed then the Yakuza member would move on to the next finger.

I'm glad I'm not in the Japanese Mafia. I wouldn't have the guts to do that. That kind of thing is a rather odd place to get a cartooning rule, but then again these guys seem nasty. I wouldn't wat to annoy them, either.

[daxter d]

Well, to be honest I'm glad they wear gloves. Seeing Sonic without them would make him look a little bit strange...

[max]

all the characters on sonic ,wear gloves but sega never explained the reason , well most of the humans in the series do not wear gloves .

they do not need them ,do they?

Uh...I think it's just a stylistic thing  

But what sort of a question is that, if you don't mind me asking?

[�·�A�r�c�t�i�c� �F�o�x�·�]

Why wouldn't they wear gloves? Just think, they're out there all the time fighting tooth and nail for freedom or whatever world they're trying to save. In the process, their hands might get torn up. Sure, some people wouldn't mind the callused hands, but others may want some special protection, like if battery acid got on their gloves, they could take it off before it hurts their hand. Personally, when I go to work, I like to wear gloves...

I also agree with the whole cartoon character thing. On a related topic, why are their socks so big? In the comic book version, the socks don't even touch the legs. It's like they're a part of the shoes...

[サムライ エキドゥナ]

Why wouldn't they wear gloves? Just think, they're out there all the time fighting tooth and nail for freedom or whatever world they're trying to save. In the process, their hands might get torn up. Sure, some people wouldn't mind the callused hands, but others may want some special protection, like if battery acid got on their gloves, they could take it off before it hurts their hand.

If that's the case, then why don't they all wear a full set of clothes including shirts and pants and all that? Battery acid could just as easilly get on a characters chest or legs or something if they're not careful. In fact, with as many enemies and walls that Sonic spin-dashes through, you'd think he'd need a helmet or something.

I honestly don't think there is a real reason why Sonic and friends wear gloves, shoes, socks or whatever else they may wear. I think it was only done because it goes back to how cartoon animal characters were being made back then, like Mickey Mouse as mentioned above. I think they just kept going with it since then, but if you look closely, it's becoming dying trend to have any of the articles of clothing oversized (like the socks or the cuffs of the gloves). Shadow may have been the exception as a throwback to that style, but Rouge, The Chaotix, Silver, and many new character after Shadow have had better fitting clothes. But I guess that is a bit off topic...
EDIT: Well, to me, Shadow's clothes look a little oversized. Some might not agree with that, and I can see why. Sometimes his clothing does look like it hugs his wrists and ankles rather snugly.

[�·�A�r�c�t�i�c� �F�o�x�·�]

They don't wear clothes because clothes would hurt their aerodynamics. Shoes and gloves are just the basics. Sonic doesn't need a helmet because his head is so thick anyway.

My original comment was partly sarcasm, so that might be why the idea isn't fully developed...

[soulharlequin]

my theory its because their hands look diferent due to species diference, for example sonic under the gloves he probably has paws (or the little balls under their fingers) or in the case of vector wich are scales , or tails who has fur.  to my belief they wear gloves so anyone of other species or group wouldn't freak out by looking at someone else hands .

im still wondering if knuckles has 3,4 or 5 fingers.