>>149452891
Sonic isn't "new", he came around in the early 90s, and as someone who was a little kid in the early 90s, we liked attitude.

Wolverine was more popular than Superman in the 90s and he was a complete asshole, AND had been around since what, the 70s? From the 70s-90s there was just a growing understanding of the "nice guys finish last" mentality and nobody wanted to look up to that, because only someone like Superman truly makes that work, most of us need to be a little less nice to get ahead in reality, but that's just an anecdote I guess, what it really was about was simply that Superman didn't really reflect reality, and he's not supposed to, he's an icon because he actually is BETTER than any of us can be, and sure it's noble to strive to be like Superman, but unless you're also a 10/10 chad it's not gonna get you far, this is why the "flawed hero", often in the form of being some type of asshole whether just having attitude or angst or whatever, became more popular, because it's a lot more like how most people are, jaded and cynical to a degree

Ask yourself this, with characters from even longer ago, why do most people prefer Bugs Bunny over Mickey Mouse? Same reason, neither are bad guys, but Bugs isn't naive, he's a smart ass and a bit of a trouble maker