how did they make sonic such a recognizable iconic character? how did they do it? he is just a blue humanoid. how does everyone know about sonic? how did sonic become so popular? how is there an army of autistic people obsessed with making their own sonic OC? how the fuck did the sega do it? what was the secret?

He's blue like my autistic soul

>>716130557 (OP)
subliminal messaging from eiffel 65

The cartoon and endless sea of merchandise absolutely helped.
Sega was also in the console war so keeping their mascot in the public consciousness was paramount to help sell units.