How come people on the spectrum tend to love Sonic the Hedgehog?

[Ken S.]

Because Steve Urkel (Jaleel White) did the voice in the cartoons?

 

[Anarkitty]

I think you'll find a lot of autistic people in any fandom simply because a) we can become a tad obsessive about anything we like and b) we stick with it instead of flitting from one thing to another in rapid succession.

My oldest son is autistic and my second son has ADHD. Oldest son has probably five fandoms that he's interested in, and they're all long term interests. My ADHD son will find five new things that he's interested in every month--sometimes, every week --and it drives him crazy that he can't get his older brother to go play a new game or watch a new show all the time.

Vaguely related (re: fandoms, not SHH), I've also seen a lot of comments about the Brony fandom being filled with autistic people, and I think there are some really good reasons for that, including the fact that it tends to be a very NICE fandom. As a bunch of teens and adults who enjoy a show made specifically for little girls, Bronies are very aware of what it's like to have people make fun of them.

 

[Anarkitty]

A restaurant?

Edit: I just googled "multimedia," which doesn't seem to include restaurants.

"Franchise" has several slightly different meanings depending upon the context. There are restaurant franchises, but not all franchises have anything to do with restaurants.

WHAT IS A FRANCHISE?

Franchising is simply a method for expanding a business and distributing goods and services through a licensing relationship. In franchising, franchisors (a person or company that grants the license to a third party for the conducting of a business under their marks) not only specify the products and services that will be offered by the franchisees (a person or company who is granted the license to do business under the trademark and trade name by the franchisor), but also provide them with an operating system, brand and support.

What is a Franchise - Franchise Opportunities | International Franchise Association

 

[ZebraAutismo]

I’ve never been that a big fan always preferred Mario.

 

[megacomic]

No idea but many of my neurotypical friends like it far more than I ever did. I was way more into Pokemon. If anything "autistic" was often used as an insult to demean Sonic's somewhat bizarre fanbase.

 

[Nervous Rex]

I grew up at the time when Sonic was popular both as a video game and a cartoon. I never got into either. I consistently suck at any video game that requires coordination and a fast reaction time.

 

[WildCat]

Probably the same reason autistic people love anime, role-playing games, electronics, Tumblr or anything else. Not enough data here, so as stereotypical as it might seem with a grain of truth I'm still not buying it.

Concerning "Sonichu", the morons still wasting their time with Chris-chan (the guy known for creating "Sonichu") are in a league of their own. Any rational person should be able to come to the conclusion that a rotten apple doesn't necessarily spoil the bunch, and if someone's placing you in the same category as him on the basis of a label alone that's a cue to start looking for better company.

Going back to years past then, I was all about whatever games I had lying around or anything else that held my attention. None of the stuff mentioned above, just a variety of things to occupy the day with very little that I really obsessed over. Come to think of it, still am that way.

 

[GrownupGirl]

Sonic is an animal. Of course, like most "funny animals" he acts more like a human, but many autistic people have a preference for non-human creatures.

But I really did not care for the Sonichu comic and felt it made NTs have an even more negative perception of autistics in general. In fact I really don't care for any of the comics or animation that is outside the game series. I do, however, own several plushies of the game characters.

And I HATE the way Sonic looks in the upcoming movie. He looks like something out of a horror flick. The Detective Pikachu characters look hideous as well. I don't know why they just make the whole movie with CGI animation similar to the games, although it will very likely still be a complete bomb simply because it's a movie based on a video game.

 

[ZetaRaiden]

I grew up with the Sonic games, and got really into Sonic when I was about 13-14. Though I may not be obsessed anymore, I still do love Sonic, and replayed Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 not long ago. I still love those games, even if they have aged. I even watched many of the Sonic cartoons and have a huge collection of the figures. My favourite character back then was Tails.

It seems to be a stereotype for people with ASD to be obsessed with Sonic, and I don't know why exactly it's like that. Probably because of Chris-chan, as many of you have mentioned. I'm not much into Sonic anymore, but I still like the series and come back to it occasionally. I guess I just find Sonic appealing mainly because I love the characters and their cute, colourful designs. You can't deny the soundtrack for the games are also great.

Even so, I never met many others who were as into Sonic as I was. I was usually seen as weird for liking Sonic.

 

[Otenba]

Dunno. I'm guessing it's just because people just like things they like?
I liked Sonic, his games series, animations, etc, way before I had any idea I might be autistic. *shrugs*

 

[Xerces Blue]

The Gameplay of Sonic is based of math - an attempt to get a trance-like state "In the Zone" through a combination of speed, music and action.
Another example my best friend and I played through Halo in one sitting taking 8 hours, mirroring each others actions on some levels.
there was one part that comes to mind rather clearly we each took a door each breached fired a magazine with our rifles switched to shotguns fired twice and throw a plasma grenade move to cover and reload the rifles in perfect sync mirrored - I think it was the bridges mission.

 

[Kayn-Ishmael]

Sonic gives me nostalgia and saudade, but also reminds me of some awful sexualized things i saw about the characters as a child. But, overal, i would say Sonic is irrelevant to me in general.

People probably like it because it's easy to track down it's 1's and 0's, thus making fan-creation so much simpler. Most people on the spectrum are into integrating themselves into different universe and playing with these said universes, according to what i know. That was the whole appeal that MLP used to have as well, afteral.

 

[tree]

"Saudade ...is a deep emotional state of nostalgic or profound melancholic longing for an absent something or someone that one loves. Moreover, it often carries a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might never return. One English translation of the word is missingness, although it might not convey the feeling of deep emotion attached to the word "saudade"."
Saudade - Wikipedia