Sega may have declared 2024 the "Year of the Shadow," but Shadow the Hedgehog has enjoyed the adoration of pre-teens entering their red and black edgy phase since he first declared himself the ultimate life form in 2001. The Shadow is a sort of Platonic ideal of the Dark Mirror archetype of the hero: he's a gruff, passive-aggressive hero, always asserting his superiority, with arrogant upward hair spikes that make the carefree hair of his nimble opponent droop downward. In fact, now that I think about it, that sounds a lot like the space warrior prince I know...

From toe to toe, it's Vegeta, except for the brief period when Shadow held a gun. I am not the first to notice this similarity. You can see that fans have been debating whether Vegeta influenced Shadow for as long as they have been debating whether Super Saiyan Goku influenced Super Sonic (perhaps Apocrypha claims that Toriyama never complained about that (although Toriyama probably never complained about it). But while it may seem obvious that Vegeta is in Shadow, Sonic team director Takashi Iizuka says otherwise.

At Anime Expo 2024 over the weekend, Sega hosted a panel promoting "Sonic x Shadow Generations," during which Iizuka was asked about the inspiration for Shadow's design and character during the development of Sonic Adventure 2 Iizuka answered through an interpreter. Answering through an interpreter, Iizuka said that Shadow's role as Sonic's dark rival was influenced by the American anti-heroes of the 90s, citing Spawn in particular and the edginess of red and black in general. However, when panel host Zeno Robinson asked Iizuka about the longstanding speculation that Shadow was inspired by Vegeta, Iizuka denied it. Iizuka repeated that denial for the benefit of the audience, shaking his head emphatically and correcting the record. It seems that the Sonic team is a veggie-ban zone.

Unless, of course, you look at Sega's own concept art documentation. Shortly after the panel aired, fans on Twitter refuted Iizuka's Vegeta denial and had the evidence to prove it; in 2017, Sega teamed up with publisher Cook & Becker to release the official Sonic the Hedgehog 25th Anniversary Art Book. The book collected concept art and official illustrations dating back to 1991, including an early concept of Shadow during the development of Sonic Adventure 2. One page of early concept sketches includes character development notes released at a panel at Anime Expo 2024, the last line of which is "Bejīta", or "Vegeta" as written in English.

Even stranger, according to Twitter user @GeoffItaliano, Sega presented the same concept art at the "Sonic x Shadow Generations" event at Anime Expo, but a small placard was prominently placed directly above where the Vegeta bullet points It is said that a small placard was placed prominently right above where Vegeta's bullet points are. While it may be understandable that they don't want to publicly confirm that their character is influenced by another IP, this seems like a particularly clumsy effort by the censors on the Sonic team. Imagine how Vegeta feels. Goku is already superior in every way, and yet he is being erased from Sonic the Hedgehog's history" Is there no justice for the Saiyan prince?