Blaze the Cat

Not to be confused with Blaze the Trail Cat.

Blaze the Cat
Sonic the Hedgehog series
Official artwork from Sonic Rush depicting Blaze.
First appearance	Sonic Rush (2005)
Voiced by (English)	Bella Hudson (2005–2010) Laura Bailey (2010–present)
Voiced by (Japanese)	Nao Takamori

Blaze the Cat (ブレイズ・ザ・キャット, Bureizu za Kyatto) is a fictional character in Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series of video games. She first appeared in the 2005 game Sonic Rush as a player protagonist.

Design and characteristics

Blaze was designed to play similarly to series protagonist Sonic the Hedgehog, but with a dance-like style of movement. Her moves have a recurring motif of fire, mirroring her name. Blaze is a fourteen-year-old, purple anthropomorphic cat. While usually calm, reticent, and shy, she becomes violent upon losing her temper. She enjoys the company of close friends, although she does not make them easily. She is passionate about her role as a princess who is obliged to protect the Sol Emeralds, her answer to Sonic's Chaos Emeralds. She can use the power of the Sol Emeralds to attain "Burning Blaze" form, similar to Sonic's "Super Sonic" form.. She was voiced by Bella Hudson in English until 2010, at which point the role was assumed by Laura Bailey, and by Nao Takamori in Japanese.

Appearances

In the video games

Blaze's debut was in the 2005 Nintendo DS game Sonic Rush as the main protagonist along with Sonic. She teamed up with Sonic and Cream against Eggman and her arch-nemesis from her world, Eggman Nega. As Burning Blaze, she and Super Sonic successfully stopped Eggman and Eggman Nega from taking over the universe, and at the same time repairing the tear in the space-time continuum and once again separating their worlds. Afterward, she and Sonic promise to see each other again and say their goodbyes as they shake hands, being torn apart by their respective dimensions being returned to normal.

On the path back to her dimension, she discovered that Sonic had given her a hologram device with a recording of Sonic, who said he felt sure they would meet again, on it. Reassured, she headed back to her world.

Blaze returned in Sonic Rush's 2007 sequel, Sonic Rush Adventure. She appears to stop Captain Whiskers, a robotic pirate, from stealing the mystical Jeweled Scepter, which is acclaimed to have the power to control her world's geological activities. Blaze bumps into Sonic, both of them surprised and slightly excited to see each other. It is revealed that Sonic has entered Blaze's dimension. In the end, after Super Sonic and Burning Blaze defeat Eggman and Eggman Nega, Tails creates a way for he and Sonic to return to their universe. Before Sonic's departure, he and Blaze shake hands once again, to signify respect and their growing friendship. Blaze also comforts Marine, who is also saddened about the heroes' departure.

She also made an appearance in 2006's Sonic the Hedgehog as the partner of Silver the Hedgehog, . A creature called Iblis destroyed their world, but they could not stop it by fighting it. When they had once temporarily stopped Iblis, a strange hedgehog called Mephiles told them that in order to stop Iblis, they must destroy the Iblis Trigger, who he says is Sonic the Hedgehog. Mephiles sends Blaze and Silver back in time, but they are separated. After reuniting, they head to Eggman's, and find a chaos emerald. When Silver is taken to the time of the disaster that caused Iblis, they realize that they must stop Iblis in their time. Blaze then offers her soul as Iblis' vessel. There is another story to the game, but Blaze is not seen in the game after Silver's story. She is a playable character. ^{[citation needed]}

Blaze appeared in the 2009 Wii game Sonic and the Black Knight in the male role of Percival, one of the Knights of the Round Table. She engages in combat with Sonic during the game's campaign, but can be unlocked once it is completed.

Blaze has made appearances outside the Sonic the Hedgehog canon. She is a playable character in the Wii (2007) and DS (2008) game Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games and its 2009 sequel Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, both as an All-around type. Marking Sonic's inclusion in 2008's Super Smash Bros. Brawl alongside mainly Nintendo-exclusive characters, Blaze appears as an in-game collectible trophy and sticker.

Blaze is a playable character in Sonic Free Riders.

Blaze makes a non-playable appearance in the Nintendo DS version of Sonic Colors.

Blaze has been hinted to appear in the upcoming game, Sonic Generations.

In comics

Blaze is a recurring character in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series published by Archie Comics. She suffers frequent dreams about a blue hedgehog and arrives in Sonic's world, known in the comics as Mobius, to seek him out. However, she is captured, knocked unconscious, and imprisoned by Eggman's robots; she wakes up and destroys them and part of the facility while Sonic simultaneously arrives to rescue her. Blaze attacks him, but he whips up air currents around her and she almost suffocates until he saves her from them. Unfazed and ungrateful, she vanishes. She next appears in a Rush Adventure adaptation, where she attains great respect for Sonic. Her story on the island with Marine continues with the two rescuing Shadow from drowning in the ocean. The robot Metal Sonic, who has followed Shadow there, accosts him, so Blaze, Marine, and Shadow work together to destroy him.

Blaze re-enters the comics' main arc when she returns to Mobius to look for more Sol Emeralds. She finds Amy and Cream and fights them, thinking they have found one and are keeping it from her, but apologizes when it turns out to be a broken glass bottle. Amy and Cream sense her need for help and go with her as she searches for Emeralds. Rouge the Bat arrives and assists them by flying Blaze down into a ravine and defending the three from a giant falling tree branch, but when they all reach the Emerald, Rouge steals it for herself. E-123 Omega and Shadow show up to defend Rouge; in a resultant scuffle, the Emerald changes hands a few times before being stolen by Nack the Weasel. Still desiring some level of friendship, Shadow attempts to explain his actions, but Blaze brushes him off. She steals Shadow's motorcycle and with it she, Cream, and Amy chase Nack; Shadow shows up again to apologize, with the same result. They eventually find Nack, but he is tussling with the Babylon Rogues for the Emerald. In what has become a cohesive four-way battle, Blaze defends Amy and Cream with her flames while they recapture it. As Shadow and Rouge again come to their aid, Blaze successfully obtains the Emerald, says goodbye to Amy and Cream, and returns to her world. Later, in a lengthy Mega Man crossover arc, Blaze appears to assist Sonic and other Sonic and Mega Man characters in combating antagonist Dr. Wily and his robot army.

Critical reception

Blaze has been well-received. IGN remarked upon seeing her at TGS 2005 that she "easily earned her place in the team" amidst unremarkable secondary characters. Her gameplay has been praised as "fast-moving and fun" as opposed to slower characters introduced earlier in the series such as Big the Cat, but criticized for its resemblance to that of Sonic. Blaze has been called "a nice addition to Sonic's cast" and "one of the more complex, multifaceted characters in the Sonic canon". She has been noted by GameSpot for her "fiery disposition". IGN's Nintendo Team stated in its July 2009 list of the top 25 DS games that there is "nothing notable about a Sonic game bringing a new character into the fold, except that Blaze doesn't suck", ranking Sonic Rush 17th.

In FanFiction, she's commonly used as a potential suitor for Sonic.

See also

• List of fictional cats

External links

• Blaze the Cat at the Sonic News Network
• Blaze the Cat (video game character) at GiantBomb

Template:Sonic the Hedgehog characters