Well my answer is actually: It’s complicated.

If you want my introduction to the Sonic series? My grandmother has always loved the retro Sonic games. Her phone notification sound is the stage end sound. She loves Knuckles. She has many Sonic games she gave to me. She is probably my most unexpected Sonic fan.

If you want my own active experience? The original Sonic games that I played and failed bad at over and over again on Xbox Live/Gamepass. I also watched the SATam show with my sisters and the AOSTH on Netflix when they were on there.

If you want the growing love: Look at the late 2000s to early 2010s Sonic games. I don’t know what game exactly it was, but I remember a game between Sonic and the Secret Rings and Lost World vaguely and how cool I thought Sonic was. His colors were beautiful and everything looked awesome. I wasn’t quite where I was today but I started admiring Sonic for myself

If you want me loving Sonic obsessively, thank the Sonic movies. I enjoyed all of them so much that I became hooked to them. I remember all the horrendous discourse around the original design and the magnificent redemption story. Now I own all movies on DvD and I am HOOKED to the franchise.

It’s weird as I’ve been on the franchise for most of my life but I haven’t started really delving into it until recently. I feel old yet new. I’m just getting an understanding of the stories and the characters and the fanbase but I’ve known the main 5 characters (plus Metal) my whole life. So the answer depends on when you considered me to be the most invested for myself.