00:00The Sonic fandom is big. So big, their niche fandom memes can bleed into the mainstream,
00:08which is why today I'm talking about this ugly bootleg Metal Sonic plushie doll.
00:12This cursed doll has been around the internet for years. References to the poor interpretation
00:16of the character purportedly associated with the game Sonic the Fighters goes back to as
00:20early as 2021. But the meme really sparked in late December of 2024, after YouTuber t4thdo
00:26posted a short consisting of an image of a Metal Sonic doll set to a stripped-back version of the
00:31Sonic the Hedgehog song Stardust Speedway from Sonic CD, with one part isolated that sounds like
00:36this. The same creator would continue to post content using the same audio and image, often
00:44to fairly widespread results. On January 21st, 2025, TikToker RepA4 posted a version of the
00:50meme using a misheard song lyric format, garnering over 1.2 million views in three weeks, writing in
00:56huehuehue, spelled H-U-E, calling back a much older meme about how netizens type out laughter
01:01in Portuguese. The text interpretation of the audio stuck as a part of the meme, as going
01:05forward, many content creators would pair all three elements together in various sorts of
01:09meme content and absurd edits. More and more memers would start to reference the odd-looking Sonic
01:14plushie in all sorts of ways, including fan art, going as far as drawing him as though he were an
01:23actual Sonic character.
