Why do people struggle so much at writing "friendly but a little bit mean" characters like old Sonic and cartoon Mario
That middleground seems difficult for so many writers they always go in one extreme or the other, either what they did with Sonic in Sonic the Comic where they made him a full blown piece of shit jackass who's just a cunt to everyone for no reason, or what they did to him now where he's a completely friendly harmless guy who only quips at the villain sometimes but evokes that 'guys, hurting peoples' feelings is NOT KEWL' 90's school PSA character feel

They just can't hit that smug cheeky yet kind bastard thing