Jaden The Hedgehog

Introducing Jaden, my original character and persona. I started developing him as far back as 2021 when I delved back into SFM content. Previously, I was known as "Muscular Sonic" or similar, as I used to use Kabalmystic Sonic as my main character. This was back in my 'SonicHedge' days. I got bored of this identity and wanted to stand out a little more, so I started working on what would eventually turn into Jaden. Jaden is effectively a palette swap of Sonic, which in itself isn't all original.

Early on, Jaden's palette-swapped nature was practical; he existed simply as a texture edit before being commissioned as his own model. I had plans for additional accessories including jewellery or clothing, such as an earring. I decided to keep his design minimal so that content creation wasn't so tedious. Initially, Jaden's eyes were more like Sonic's emerald green, as I hadn't known at the time how to texture his eyes to his proposed jade-green.

At first glance, Jaden seems rather unoriginal, and I have been given critique to that degree. Critique on him being both a palette swap and about how his name also sounds unoriginal. Over time however, that hasn't affected me too much, as I feel I have built him up enough as a character to allow him to stand out on his own. From his healing powers down to his size-shifting ability, as well as some baseline characteristics based upon my IRL self. I've grown overly attached to him as a character to the point that any and all changes done to him over time have been incremental, or in some cases, even accidental.

The first time I had him commissioned as his own model, it was solely due to not knowing how to change eye textures, so I commissioned SaiyanGoku4 or Hiroshi-San (HS), the one behind the renewed Kabalmystic Sonic models, to design me a custom model of JADEX, so I could have Jaden and his - at the time - unnamed demonic clone, encounter each other. Through HS's help, I learned about eye retexturing, and after some discussion, decided to commission Jaden and JADEX together on a single model. This marked the first time Jaden existed independently without manual texturing.

Jaden's now-signature Sonic Boom-style scarf was an unintended addition. The idea for that came from Nate (Mario-Cap1812), who redrew a screenshot of Boom!Sonic as Jaden, complete with the scarf. I sent this drawing to HS for colour reference, and he seemingly assumed the scarf was part of the design, modeling it onto him. When I saw the work-in-progress, I loved the look so much it stayed.

Further alterations and add-ons have been introduced to Jaden over time, including wardrobe. For instance, Jaden's sports outfit, his tank top and shorts, were additions added to him thanks once again to artwork Nate did of Jaden, referencing 'Sonic and Mario at the Olympic Games', with Jaden wearing a similar outfit to Sonic. This was added to Jaden's model later as an update to his design.