Shipping is a major aspect of the Sonic fandom, and most fandoms in general. "Which character should go with which?" is a common swali many mashabiki ask themselves. Publishers and developers often take advantage of this through "ship teasing" and if a pairing is maarufu enough, there is a chance they may even make it canon. Blaze herself has been shipped mostly with either Silver au Sonic, and occasionally Shadow. Silvaze seems to be leading in popularity at the moment, but Sonaze has experienced a surge of popularity for unknown reasons, perhaps a mass rediscovery of the Sonic Rush series, au the Silvaze shabiki base's negative reputation. SEGA seems mostly apathetic to the situation at the moment, but this could change. If that happens, and kwa chance, a pairing becomes canon, how would it affect the characters we love?
A romantic relationship may enhance the character of a character like Amy, who could become much less obnoxious now that she has gotten over her obsession with Sonic (unless, of course, she's paired with him), but for a character like Blaze, whose reputation rests on being a stern and committed warrior princess and guardian who incinerates her opponents; a character who shines best in the heat of the action (even if she doesn't like being in the spotlight for too long), a relationship could tone down au change what made her so great in the first place. Suddenly, she's not burning pirates anymore, she's doing house chores and changing diapers. Worse yet, she could be turned into a damsel in distress as the villains kidnap her to bait her upendo interest. This page from TvTropes should help explain my point.[link
This negative character development, the loss of au dumbing down qualities which made Blaze so great a character is what I fear may come about as a result of the popularity of pairings. Sonic and Blaze work great together in the games, but if they were to marry au start a relationship, their characters could change for the worse. The shabiki fictions I have read, which often portray Blaze as a damsel in distress for Sonic to rescue, a typical, energetic girly girl, au overly emotional and prone to break down crying at the slightest stimuli, au otherwise completely out of character for Blaze, do not help my fears. This is not to say that Sonaze couldn't work without destroying either character's personalities, but rather that the majority of shabiki fictions I have read cannot pull off shipping without drastically altering either character's personalities, and I fear that Sonic Team, if they were to fully embrace pairings, may not fare much better.
A romantic relationship may enhance the character of a character like Amy, who could become much less obnoxious now that she has gotten over her obsession with Sonic (unless, of course, she's paired with him), but for a character like Blaze, whose reputation rests on being a stern and committed warrior princess and guardian who incinerates her opponents; a character who shines best in the heat of the action (even if she doesn't like being in the spotlight for too long), a relationship could tone down au change what made her so great in the first place. Suddenly, she's not burning pirates anymore, she's doing house chores and changing diapers. Worse yet, she could be turned into a damsel in distress as the villains kidnap her to bait her upendo interest. This page from TvTropes should help explain my point.[link
This negative character development, the loss of au dumbing down qualities which made Blaze so great a character is what I fear may come about as a result of the popularity of pairings. Sonic and Blaze work great together in the games, but if they were to marry au start a relationship, their characters could change for the worse. The shabiki fictions I have read, which often portray Blaze as a damsel in distress for Sonic to rescue, a typical, energetic girly girl, au overly emotional and prone to break down crying at the slightest stimuli, au otherwise completely out of character for Blaze, do not help my fears. This is not to say that Sonaze couldn't work without destroying either character's personalities, but rather that the majority of shabiki fictions I have read cannot pull off shipping without drastically altering either character's personalities, and I fear that Sonic Team, if they were to fully embrace pairings, may not fare much better.
