So...


Pretty cool birds, eh?

Created as rivals for Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, they've only appeared in the Riders spin-off games and then... never anything else unless you want to count the comics. Which is a real shame because with how much time I've spent on both original Sonic Riders and Zero Gravity, they've become what's likely my favorite team in the franchise, and I'm curious to know what everyone else here thinks of them. As for me...

Starting off with the member I have most to say on: The leader, Jet the Hawk.

I've notice that on talks about Sonic's rivals throughout the games, Jet is usually omitted from them, which is a real shame since, personally, I see Jet as the Sonic rival.



Right off the bat, he clashes with Sonic off of looks alone. And this clash continues with Jet's personality, which I see as taking Sonic's attitude and cranking it up to 11, being arrogant and prideful, and overall just really cocky, so much so he even manages to actually tick off Sonic at times.

Though even then, Jet seems to have an honorable side to him, even if still sour. He'll bicker and trash-talk all he wants but still take a loss with the promise of a future challenge. Like he's got a competitive spirit, yet also the ego to never want to let any weakness show. 

His line "I lost. So don't play games with me! I don't want your pity, nor do I need it!" (from original Riders when Sonic gives him the Babylon Garden key despite winning a race they had prior) is what encapsulates his character for me. Jet values the competition, but not as much as he values his self image, and that drives him to seek the challenge he found with Sonic. A challenge which, of course, Sonic would never back down from, so these two just have a really fun and simple rival dynamic.

Though of course, it's not just Jet with the rival potential, there's: The brains, Wave the Swallow.

Already getting this out of the way, Wave is my absolute favorite character design in all of Sonic, no doubt. I'm a sucker for white and purple color palettes and her outfit is so friggin' SWAG!


Differently to how Jet is to Sonic, Wave isn't so much an accentuation of an aspect of Tails' personality as as she is a polar opposite of Tails. She is a mechanic much like Tails (thought to not quite absurd extents of intelligence), but while Tails is often shy and lacking in self-confidence, Wave is oozing with selfishness and pride, similar to Jet, albeit more snobby.

Wave also differentiates herself from Jet by being a bit more greedy and, despite her holier-than-thou attitude, isn't below cheap tricks to get what she wants, and overall just taking any opportunity she can for her greater benefit. Like, say, taking the aforementioned Key to Babylon Garden herself after Jet refused it from Sonic.

In a way, Wave actually feels a bit more like a leader than Jet is at times, chastising both him and Storm for being irresponsible, although she still holds respect for Jet's status as the actual leader. So I guess the better word here is she's the straight-man of the group.

And now for finally something simple: The brawn, Storm the Albatross.

Oh, thank the heaves. Simplicity...


Honestly, Storm is as simple as you can get. He's the meathead.

He rivals Knuckles by being the meathead Knuckles is always flanderized to be. He has fun interactions with the other Rogues for being the meathead with the "You got it, boss!" attitude.

And I wouldn't say there's anything necessarily wrong with that. Characters are much more than just a vacuum, they're fun when interacting with the other characters around them and I think Storm is fine for the role he has.

He's just... not much to talk about. (Other than I can't unsee how from behind he looks like a gray Killer Bean)


And that is all to say, I think the Babylon Rogues are perfect, simple rivals for Team Sonic and I really wish they'd show up in more Sonic games. Them being travelling thieves (which I totally didn't forget to mention at all, shut up) means they're always looking for trouble, so they'd be perfect as a sort of "Oh no, not these guys again!" sort of deal. Dare I say... a bit Team Rocket-y?

I just like the idea of lower-stake antagonists that don't necessarily have to be involved in the game's plot in a major way. Just there for fun conflict then move on, along with getting to see more character interactions. they're very "game-y" in a sense.

I honestly wouldn't be able to gauge the possibility of seeing at least Jet play a role in a newer game, but I sure hope he does so he can finally get that rematch he'd been wanting for like a decade!

MY BOYS!!!
Riders was amazing enough, but as soon as I saw them, and heard they were PLAYABLE? I was HYPED.
Sonic World DX is the closest we have to a platformer Jet. REALLY hoping they get a new role!

this was definitely a thread I had been meaning to reply to for a long time, but couldn't find the time to until recently  

I think personally one of my favourite things with the Babylon Rogues, other than being perfectly designed rivals for Team Sonic, is how well their designs and characters stand on their own. I know this can be said abt a lot of the characters designed within the Sonic series, which is a great thing! but with the Babylon Rogues I just feel like their style, and the fact that they were designed w/ the Extreme Gears for Riders together could really help just having a complete Riders spin off series rather than... the current car racers we have... there hasn't been many snowboarding/skateboarding/gravity-esque racing games as of recent so smth like that would be a breath of fresh air. There's a reason extreme gears are still being used in IDW Sonic as a means of travel (alongside cars still) and our current arc is having an extreme gear based tournament, bcuz they just fit so perfectly within the universe  

but enough babbling abt Riders as a whole... another really interesting thing is how the Babylon Rogues were included in early Archie Sonic lore, pre-reboot/Super Genesis Wave (sometimes fondly called preboot or pre-SGW) bcuz suddenly the Battle Bird Armada from Tails' Adventure were related to the Babylon Rogues, and Wave had previously worked for the Battle Bird Armada as a mechanic. Once Jet, Wave, and Storm had left the Battle Bird Armada they became known as the "Rogues" for leaving the Armada basically, and then they opposed the Armada until the eventual reboot of the lore, which they have no relation to each other after

talking abt the designs of the Rogues alone, like you said in your initial post abt Jet's design next to Sonic's is that their colours are completely swapped, Jet has green feathers and blue eyes, and Sonic has blue quills and green eyes. Sonic's eyes were supposed to be green bcuz it was to reflect Green Hill zone (I don't remember where this was stated), but to have Jet's eyes as blue, the colour of the sky, it really shows that there's a lot of detail when designing a rival character for Sonic, like how Shadow's quills are shaped like Super Sonic's for example

when it comes to Wave, I love her main colour being purple, which totally contrasts Tails' yellow/orange fur, I also love that she's designed to be taller than Tails, and she's seen to be more mature one of the Babylon Rogues, but also the greediest and willing to get her hands dirty. Tails lets Wave get to her though when she teases him, but at the same time most ppl see Tails for his genius and can respect that, where as Wave totally disregards it to his face (bcuz she did comment to herself that his extreme gear did look really good). Her design is just amazing overall and easily is one of my favourite designs, she just oozes cool

when it comes to Storm, even if there's not much to say abt him like the other 2 Rogues, I think his design is also really solid, classic top-heavy power character design. But I also like how he's the one who mentions their Ancestors quite a bit, he tried to scold Wave in the first game by bringing up "remember the teachings of our ancestors" when she was bickering w/ him, but also laughed off the idea of wishing on shooting stars... which was a teaching from their ancestors also... so his character is unfortunately less consistent. He's also a bit of a pushover and lets Amy kind of order him around in Zero Gravity

(10-08-2024, 01:35 PM)hooligan Wrote: this was definitely a thread I had been meaning to reply to for a long time, but couldn't find the time to until recently  

I think personally one of my favourite things with the Babylon Rogues, other than being perfectly designed rivals for Team Sonic, is how well their designs and characters stand on their own. I know this can be said abt a lot of the characters designed within the Sonic series, which is a great thing! but with the Babylon Rogues I just feel like their style, and the fact that they were designed w/ the Extreme Gears for Riders together could really help just having a complete Riders spin off series rather than... the current car racers we have... there hasn't been many snowboarding/skateboarding/gravity-esque racing games as of recent so smth like that would be a breath of fresh air. There's a reason extreme gears are still being used in IDW Sonic as a means of travel (alongside cars still) and our current arc is having an extreme gear based tournament, bcuz they just fit so perfectly within the universe  

but enough babbling abt Riders as a whole... another really interesting thing is how the Babylon Rogues were included in early Archie Sonic lore, pre-reboot/Super Genesis Wave (sometimes fondly called preboot or pre-SGW) bcuz suddenly the Battle Bird Armada from Tails' Adventure were related to the Babylon Rogues, and Wave had previously worked for the Battle Bird Armada as a mechanic. Once Jet, Wave, and Storm had left the Battle Bird Armada they became known as the "Rogues" for leaving the Armada basically, and then they opposed the Armada until the eventual reboot of the lore, which they have no relation to each other after

talking abt the designs of the Rogues alone, like you said in your initial post abt Jet's design next to Sonic's is that their colours are completely swapped, Jet has green feathers and blue eyes, and Sonic has blue quills and green eyes. Sonic's eyes were supposed to be green bcuz it was to reflect Green Hill zone (I don't remember where this was stated), but to have Jet's eyes as blue, the colour of the sky, it really shows that there's a lot of detail when designing a rival character for Sonic, like how Shadow's quills are shaped like Super Sonic's for example

when it comes to Wave, I love her main colour being purple, which totally contrasts Tails' yellow/orange fur, I also love that she's designed to be taller than Tails, and she's seen to be more mature one of the Babylon Rogues, but also the greediest and willing to get her hands dirty. Tails lets Wave get to her though when she teases him, but at the same time most ppl see Tails for his genius and can respect that, where as Wave totally disregards it to his face (bcuz she did comment to herself that his extreme gear did look really good). Her design is just amazing overall and easily is one of my favourite designs, she just oozes cool

when it comes to Storm, even if there's not much to say abt him like the other 2 Rogues, I think his design is also really solid, classic top-heavy power character design. But I also like how he's the one who mentions their Ancestors quite a bit, he tried to scold Wave in the first game by bringing up "remember the teachings of our ancestors" when she was bickering w/ him, but also laughed off the idea of wishing on shooting stars... which was a teaching from their ancestors also... so his character is unfortunately less consistent. He's also a bit of a pushover and lets Amy kind of order him around in Zero Gravity

Well, you can't blame storm, Amy is so dang scary! D: