World of GeneX - Punchy the Echidna
Blog Entry: World of GeneX - Punchy the Echidna
Blog Entry: World of GeneX - Punchy the Echidna
Punchy is a green-furred clone of Knuckles, with a red crescent mark on his chest, cyan eyes, orange & light blue shoes, and tattered old brown pants he got from storage in the Hidden Ruins. He is the GeneX Experiment who most frequently transforms into his dark form, usually when his emotions get the better of him.
Created by Bucky the Rat using DNA samples "borrowed" from Knuckles, Punchy was the first successfully created experiment, which accounts for the lack of divergence from the source DNA compared to the other clone, Copter. A glitch in the cloning process caused Punchy to retain some of Knuckles's memories, leading him to believe himself to be the rightful guardian of the Master Emerald. This led the two echidnas to grapple over ownership of the emerald, a battle that ended up being a race to find it, as it had gone missing. Along the way, Punchy befriended Rainbow, and it was his bond with her that brought him to his senses when being confronted with his true nature caused him to turn into Dark Punchy. After that, he decided to let Knuckles leave with the emerald... for the moment.
Punchy generally lives in the Hidden Ruins, keeping a small hut there not far from Rainbow's abode. Mostly, though, he spends his time sneaking back to Angel Island and attempting to snatch the Master Emerald away from Knuckles. In truth, he sees it more as a training exercise for the both of them. In the future world of Soleanna Struggle, Punchy takes over guardianship of the Master Emerald after Knuckles's passing. Apparently, he doesn't age.
Punchy has similar combat skills to Knuckles, with the addition of the technique "Chaos Avalanche", which grants him a degree of telekinesis over the landscape. Of course, there's also the somewhat dangerous Dark Punchy form, which he can control a bit with the Despair Seal. However, he can't glide like Knuckles can, and also doesn't own a pair of Shovel Claws. Both echidnas share a similar fiery temper and one-track mind when it comes to the Master Emerald; in fact, personalitywise, they are almost carbon copies. This behavior is currently creating a rift between Punchy and Rainbow in GeneX - Knuckles the Echidna...
Author Commentary!
I think Punchy was the first recolor experiment. So experimental was it, that I had no initial intention of using him at all! But, eh, I needed an Experiment 1, plus a "Dark Knuckles" to go along with Shadow and Copter was an obvious step to take. But I figured that "Dark Knuckles" should be a better character... In fact, that line of thought led to the creation of Dark Punchy. I couldn't come up with a good enough character design for "Dark Knuckles" initially, so I decided to make the character more interesting by giving him an even darker form.
I have always felt that Punchy wasn't interesting enough. To me, he either came across as a duplicate of Copter or a duplicate of Knuckles. It wasn't quite as easy to make his character work as it was for Copter. In recent years, though, I convinced myself that he's SUPPOSED to be a clone of Knuckles, so maybe his personality doesn't require that much tweaking. Actually, I think I'm only recently fully coming to terms with that...
He can be interesting in his own right, because he has his own issues that Knuckles never has to deal with. Like the dark form, for one. And an actual sidekick in Rainbow. Actually, Punchy may be a more complete character than Knux ever was if we examine this fully... but it's not really a fair comparison to make. How much of a life can you have if you're always stuck on an island, guarding a big rock? ...Gotta admire GeneX Knuckles's work ethic, though. (I am now referring to the GeneX incarnations of the official characters, because at this point they have clearly become different animals. When was the last time Knux was seen with the Master Emerald in-game, anyway??)
Created by Bucky the Rat using DNA samples "borrowed" from Knuckles, Punchy was the first successfully created experiment, which accounts for the lack of divergence from the source DNA compared to the other clone, Copter. A glitch in the cloning process caused Punchy to retain some of Knuckles's memories, leading him to believe himself to be the rightful guardian of the Master Emerald. This led the two echidnas to grapple over ownership of the emerald, a battle that ended up being a race to find it, as it had gone missing. Along the way, Punchy befriended Rainbow, and it was his bond with her that brought him to his senses when being confronted with his true nature caused him to turn into Dark Punchy. After that, he decided to let Knuckles leave with the emerald... for the moment.
Punchy generally lives in the Hidden Ruins, keeping a small hut there not far from Rainbow's abode. Mostly, though, he spends his time sneaking back to Angel Island and attempting to snatch the Master Emerald away from Knuckles. In truth, he sees it more as a training exercise for the both of them. In the future world of Soleanna Struggle, Punchy takes over guardianship of the Master Emerald after Knuckles's passing. Apparently, he doesn't age.
Punchy has similar combat skills to Knuckles, with the addition of the technique "Chaos Avalanche", which grants him a degree of telekinesis over the landscape. Of course, there's also the somewhat dangerous Dark Punchy form, which he can control a bit with the Despair Seal. However, he can't glide like Knuckles can, and also doesn't own a pair of Shovel Claws. Both echidnas share a similar fiery temper and one-track mind when it comes to the Master Emerald; in fact, personalitywise, they are almost carbon copies. This behavior is currently creating a rift between Punchy and Rainbow in GeneX - Knuckles the Echidna...
Author Commentary!
I think Punchy was the first recolor experiment. So experimental was it, that I had no initial intention of using him at all! But, eh, I needed an Experiment 1, plus a "Dark Knuckles" to go along with Shadow and Copter was an obvious step to take. But I figured that "Dark Knuckles" should be a better character... In fact, that line of thought led to the creation of Dark Punchy. I couldn't come up with a good enough character design for "Dark Knuckles" initially, so I decided to make the character more interesting by giving him an even darker form.
I have always felt that Punchy wasn't interesting enough. To me, he either came across as a duplicate of Copter or a duplicate of Knuckles. It wasn't quite as easy to make his character work as it was for Copter. In recent years, though, I convinced myself that he's SUPPOSED to be a clone of Knuckles, so maybe his personality doesn't require that much tweaking. Actually, I think I'm only recently fully coming to terms with that...
He can be interesting in his own right, because he has his own issues that Knuckles never has to deal with. Like the dark form, for one. And an actual sidekick in Rainbow. Actually, Punchy may be a more complete character than Knux ever was if we examine this fully... but it's not really a fair comparison to make. How much of a life can you have if you're always stuck on an island, guarding a big rock? ...Gotta admire GeneX Knuckles's work ethic, though. (I am now referring to the GeneX incarnations of the official characters, because at this point they have clearly become different animals. When was the last time Knux was seen with the Master Emerald in-game, anyway??)