On March 25, a Sonic fan posted a photograph of their new tattoo, based on the Sonic Heroes logo. The 2003 Sega game was a popular 3D platformer that focused on team-based gameplay. Its logo contained three separate colors—blue, red, and yellow—which represented three of the main characters: Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails.
The original Sonic game designer, Kazuyuki Hoshino, saw the fan’s photograph and responded. His post, which now has over 50k likes, said, “As the original designer, I’m happy to see it, but why on earth did he get that tattoo there…?”
The fan responded, “Not sure how to answer that, it was a very painful time.” He added a laughing emoji to the end.
Hoshino was likely referring to the fact that the tattoo is positioned directly on the fan’s elbow, which is one of the most sensitive spots to get ink. Tattoos on the elbow also fade faster than most other areas of the body since it is constantly bending and stretching the skin. These spots can require more frequent touch-ups and undergo a slower healing process.
Some Sonic fans have other concerns about the tattoo, pointing out that the order of the colors is wrong. The official logo has red and blue positioned toward the top with yellow at the bottom. Although some gamers defended the design by pointing out the cycle moves when you switch characters, the colors are still in the wrong position. If you were playing as Sonic, with his blue logo positioned at the bottom, the yellow and red colors would not be positioned where they are in the tattoo. They would be swapped.
In a Facebook post about the ink, one commenter said: “Good idea. Bad execution.” Another said, “Imagine having an image to go off and still getting it wrong.”
Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is coming to theaters in March 2027 with Kristen Bell, Ben Kingsley, and Nick Offerman joining the cast.
