Knuckles’ Boom incarnation has proven himself to be just as smart as the original. In the latest episode of Sonic Boom, “Eggman’s Anti-Gravity Ray,” as Amy Rose lines up for a penalty kick in a friendly soccer match, she asks her friends with the gusto of an announcer at the FIFA World Cup, “Can the young woman break the glass ceiling and prove once and for all that a female can be just as good an athlete as a male?”
Knuckles, his muscular arms crossed like a genie, drops the mic on the sidelines by replying, “You know, Amy, anytime someone calls attention to the breaking of gender roles, it ultimately undermines the concept of gender equality by implying that this is an exception and not the status quo.” Sonic, Amy, Tails and Sticks drop their jaws in shock at the knowledge their otherwise numbskulled friend and teammate gave them. “What? Just because I’m a meathead doesn’t mean I’m not a feminist.”
Alan Denton, the show’s writer, provided screenshots of this infamous scene on Twitter with the caption, “The worst part about writing for kids is that my friends rarely see my work. The best part is we get to do stuff like this.” Denton later tweeted, “Now you know what Knuckles was doing while skipping leg day: He was out getting woke.”
It’s 2017, so it makes perfect sense to promote feminism and progressivism in a kids’ animated show, especially Sonic Boom, which has proven to be self-aware of the video game franchise’s shortcomings and of today’s social and political climate as a whole. We’ve already made tremendous strides for gender equality in all facets of society–including the video game industry–but with the Abominable Drumpf tweeting out fallacious policies on Twitter and inciting his followers to riot against marginalized groups, we need to work even harder to keep gender equality, and other forms of equality for that matter, the status quo of the United States and not allow it to regress to an exception.
