The Significance of Amy Rose and How Her Absence in the Sonic 3 Trailer is Impacting Fans

Intro

At long last, as of August 27th, Paramount finally released the official trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog 3, causing an eruption of celebratory pandemonium for Sonic fans. Ever since Sonic the Hedgehog 2 graced us with the iconic after credits scene of Shadow’s fierce awakening from inside his containment chamber at G.U.N, the Sonic fanbase had spent their wait for this trailer hunting down as much information about the film’s production as they could.

However, what took just as much precedence were fan predictions and further possibilities for the film given pre-existing storylines canon within the Sonic the Hedgehog universe. From what’s revealed in the trailer, many of these predictions have proven correct as it appears the film will draw heavy inspiration from the storyline in the Sonic Adventure 2 game. That is, we will see Sonic take on the task of fighting off Shadow when he embarks on a rampage following the death of his beloved companion Maria.

While this is the exact story the fans have been excitedly anticipating throughout their lengthy wait, a notable possibility they were strongly holding out for as well was the film’s introduction of Amy Rose – the infamously sweet, hammer-wielding member of Sonic’s team. Her absence in the trailer has become one of the bigger topics of conversation since its release, splitting fans between beliefs of a surprise appearance from her when watching the film or a scrapped one altogether, which has only drawn attention to how iconic she has become within the fanbase as a whole.

Amy Rose’s Unique Development Into An Important Sonic Character

Whether you love her or hate her, there is no denying that Amy Rose is quite the prominent character in the Sonic franchise. Although, in both the early games and shows, her introduction as the first major female Sonic character had been quite unfavorable. Her creation was solely based on her notoriously persistent crush on Sonic who was always annoyed by her efforts to pursue him – a dynamic that would remain consistent for many years.

The games later tried expanding on her character by also making Amy a fighter with the introduction of her Piko-Piko hammer in Sonic the Fighters (1996). In later games, the independent aspect of her personality also managed to develop a bit more alongside the compassionate nature she uses to help others across the different stories.

Yet, such additional skills were unfortunately downplayed, making the value of her role throughout early Sonic media rather inconsistent. As a result, Amy Rose held a long-standing reputation as an almost off putting Sonic fangirl who was not quite as useful compared to other characters despite her unique talent for smashing enemies with her hammer and making impacts on people with her sweet nature.

Throughout recent years, however, Amy Rose has definitely moved past this limited reputation and come a considerably long way from being overlooked for having it. That is, the heightened developments made to her character have gone on to show us all that she can be and, in turn, is capable of contributing to the world of Sonic the Hedgehog. Such change is executed within more recent Sonic shows like Sonic Boom and Netflix’s Sonic Prime. In both animated shows, Amy is treated as nothing less than an equal amongst the rest of the Sonic gang as both a companion and a strong fighter. On top of expanding upon her own interests, she is also granted strengths the others don’t possess which help to highlight her unique value to the team.

The improvements to her character are especially taken further in the IDW Sonic Comics, where she is seen taking initiative in leading restoration efforts after a war with Eggman. Her compassion is portrayed more seriously in the way she prioritizes the wellness and safety of the citizens by stepping up to deliver urgent orders and effectively fighting against enemies whenever she’s needed. Her role as an organized and confident leader is also balanced out with moments of vulnerability over the stress of such a position and tenderness when interacting with her kindhearted friends.

Such strength in her character is also transferred over to recent games such as Sonic Frontiers. The maturity, strategy skills, and profound kind nature she possesses in both the shows and comics are emphasized here to help Sonic with insights unique from the information he gets from other team members.

Amongst all this Sonic media, Amy manages to showcase the true value in her fighting skills and that of her compassion in more expansive ways while maintaining her girlishly sweet demeanor. More importantly, her personality is no longer defined by her feelings for Sonic and she instead becomes just as much of a daredevil as he’s always been. While those feelings are still apparent for the most part, they’re portrayed as more mutually subtle and sincere in ways that make their dynamic more meaningful – and sometimes more playful – rather than annoying.

Even further, she becomes someone that Sonic even admires and genuinely cares about. These recent developments have done justice to Sonic the Hedgehog’s first major female character by fleshing out her personality to make her a strong female character in general – which has made her a favorite amongst many in the fanbase.

Fan’s Anticipation For Her Appearance in Sonic 3

Given how much more important she’s become as a member of Sonic’s team, and character in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise overall, fans had their hopes up for Amy Rose’s appearance in the third Sonic movie believing her to be a prime candidate for the first female Sonic character to enter the films. While waiting for the trailer and other news about the third Sonic movie to release, many later theorized about the different ways Amy Rose could join and serve the storyline of the film given what they could predict about it from Shadow’s introduction.

Fans still strongly believe that, because she is excellent at reaching people’s hearts, Amy’s addition to the film’s Team Sonic would provide a compassionate spirit that could help them greatly in their world. More importantly, however, it is this skill for reaching hearts that could prove useful in their fight against Shadow since she was the one who brought him back to his senses by reminding him of his true promise to Maria in the original Sonic Adventure 2 game.

Furthermore, especially considering what’s been done in recent Sonic media, fans have also come together to imagine fun dynamics between Amy and the boys that can add a new level of entertainment for the big screen. A few popular ones going around have involved her hammer weighing too much for any of them to carry like she does with ease, her becoming the scariest member of the team due to the notorious anger that has often fueled her fighting spirit, and generally battling enemies in ways that totally shock all the other characters.

The meaningful friendship between Amy and Sonic is also something that fans were excited to potentially see transferred over to the screen as well. While the two of them had always held a rather vague potential for romance, their friendship alone contains a heartfelt depth and strength that could very much compliment the atmosphere of the sonic movies if replicated.

Doubts About Her Presence in the Film After The Trailer’s Release

Because they held much excitement for these possibilities, many fans were disappointed to see that Amy Rose was nowhere to be found throughout the trailer. At the same time, it only split up people’s beliefs over whether she will make an appearance in the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 3 movie.

Those who have taken a good second look at the trailer by analyzing every shot believe that Paramount might have simply edited out Amy Rose’s appearance for the sake of a surprise reveal in the film. More specifically, fans have pointed out a few moments throughout the trailer where Team Sonic is standing or sitting in certain places that leave a noticeably empty space next to them that they believe Amy Rose could be occupying.

One cannot completely rule out the validity of these speculations since editing elements out of trailers is not unheard of. For instance, in their trailer for Infinity War, Marvel edited out the Hulkbuster and replaced him with The Hulk to save that element as a surprise for audiences when they went to watch the film. Beliefs that Paramount could be trying to do something similar encourages these fans to hold on to their hopes for Amy Rose’s appearance in the film.

However, her absence seems to have the opposite effect for other fans as that one detail alone has convinced them that she will simply not be in the film. One of the reasons is because, given that all the new Sonic characters so far have had their appearance confirmed in after credits scenes or trailers, it doesn’t make much sense for Paramount to suddenly start hiding their character reveals for this upcoming third installment. In relation to this, fans have also emphasized how we should have heard official news about a voice actress for Amy or seen a character design for her by now if she was truly going to become an addition to the cast. While there have been many rumors about a voice actress for Amy and fan-made character designs circulating the internet for a long while, nothing has been truly confirmed.

Such speculations further brought to light some skepticism for these fans about whether she should even make an appearance in the film after all. Any Sonic fan who has watched the trailer can understand that the story they’re trying to tell with Shadow is already fully packed with new characters and events that will affect the film’s universe and characters in potentially expansive ways. As such, Amy Rose’s absence from the story might make sense as a creative choice. The people behind the film might not want to crowd it with too many new elements, producing the daunting task of needing to balance everything out, and thus run the risk of diminishing the film’s quality in the process.

While there are those who have voiced concerns over her absence taking away the crucial moment where she reminds Shadow of what’s truly important to him, others have brought up that the film’s universe is full of so many different characters that any one of them could stand as a substitute for carrying that out. This is especially true since Amy Rose unfortunately did not have any other crucial roles outside of that moment she shared with Shadow in Sonic Adventure 2. While none of these speculations seem to have taken away from many fan’s sadness over her potential absence in the film, they do provide a somewhat comforting logic that encourages them to focus on what could be best for its quality.

Conclusion

While Amy doesn’t appear to be in the latest trailer, nothing has been confirmed yet so fans are able to hope for whatever outcome they prefer. Fortunately, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is not currently talked about in a way that indicates that it’s the last sonic film. In fact, there have been rumors of a Shadow the Hedgehog television series and a fourth movie already in the works that she could potentially appear in. If such news becomes official in the future, it might give the Sonic franchise a chance to space events out in their films in a way that feels well-paced enough to ensure we get the best of all the Sonic universe has to offer. This, of course, includes the introduction of important characters like Amy Rose and even the entire Sonic cast which fans have also already talked about as well.

Either way, the possibilities that come with adding a character like Amy Rose to the films has been talked about enough that it seems likely for her to join eventually in some capacity. Until that day comes, we’ll just have to continue waiting to see what happens to Amy Rose on a cinematic level.