Sonic and Knuckles have always been pals, best buds, maybe even roomies, but Frontiers has made their rivals-to-lovers relationship just a smidge more literal. These boys gay.
The scene most people use as evidence is when Knuckles pops up on a hologram and asks about the island, with the two sharing flirty glances, playing off each other with jokes, smirking, and even pulling off a seemingly pre-coordinated side bump. The tension could be cut with a knife - just kiss already.
Some even pointed out that Sonic and Knuckles flirted more than Sonic and Amy, completely shifting the usual dynamic. Sega might be paving the way for a new era of Sonic, and I'm not talking about open-world.
We even wrote about how much we wanted a gay Sonic back in 2020, two years ago. TheGamer ahead of the times? Damn right. Sonic's always had 'romantic' relationships with characters like Amy, but he's never really expressed much of an interest in them - we see far more of that interest with the likes of Knuckles and even Tails.
Amy is on a mission to be Sonic's girlfriend, but Sonic keeps her at arm's length. He never dives in and says hell yes, finally committing to being a loving boyfriend, but maybe there's a good reason - he's saving himself for the Echidna. Hell, in the Sonic 2 movie, he cuddles up with Tails by the fire.
Sonic, a gay icon, in 2022? Absolutely. He's always had a playful back-and-forth with Knuckles, their initial rivalry blossoming into a beautiful friendship, but why stop there? Frontiers is already, according to fans, queer-coding their relationship more blatantly than ever before, and if (or when) Frontiers 2 gets the greenlight, Sega would remiss not to go full throttle and have these two share a peck and hold hands as they kick down Eggman's door.
It's not like the Sonic franchise has been averse to queer-coding and gay characters in the past few years. The movies go beyond just Tails and Sonic having a snuggle by the fireplace. Eggman's assistant Agent Stone clearly has feelings for him, making him cups of coffee that have elaborate foam art of the two with hearts overhead, and he never stops fawning over him in his absence. Eggman doesn't reciprocate that love as much as he should, but Stone is gay, gay, gay. And if Sega's open to having its lead villain toy with these fruitier ideas, why not its lead hero?