Sonic Team Head Says Shadow Being Inspired By Vegeta Is A "Myth", Fans Prove Him Wrong

Summary

• Shadow has always been one of Sonic's most popular characters, but he's never been as popular as he is in 2024.
• Sega has been sharing even more information about Shadow's development history, but it seems to be trying to hide one of his biggest inspirations.
• Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka recently claimed that Shadow wasn't inspired by Dragon Ball Z's Vegeta, despite concept art revealing that to be the case.

Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka recently claimed during Anime Expo 2024 that Shadow isn't inspired by Dragon Ball Z's Vegeta, but fans have proven him wrong with concept art from Sonic Adventure 2.

Shadow the Hedgehog has been one of the most popular characters in the Sonic series ever since he was introduced in Sonic Adventure 2, but he's never been at the forefront of the series as much as he has in 2024. Sonic 3 and Sonic x Shadow Generations are putting a bigger spotlight than ever on him, which means that we've been seeing and hearing plenty about his history (which apparently doesn't include Sonic 06).

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Sega has been pretty open about Shadow's development and conceptualisation in the past, but it's been giving us even more details about it now that it's crowned 2024 as Fearless: Year of Shadow. Strangely, though, it doesn't seem like every aspect of the character's past is being embraced, as Team Sonic has tried to rewrite some of his history.

Sega Doesn't Want Shadow To Be Compared To Vegeta

Sega recently attended Anime Expo and hosted a showcase focused on Sonic x Shadow Generations as part of the event. Beyond giving us our first look at the Dark Beginnings anime, the panel also featured a Q&A between fans and Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka. During the showcase, Iizuka was asked by a fan if it was true that Shadow was inspired by Dragon Ball Z's Vegeta.

Although it's been clear for some time that Shadow was inspired by Vegeta, Iizuka surprisingly replied to the question by claiming that Vegeta wasn't an inspiration and that it was actually characters like Spawn who acted as a key influence. The Spawn comparison is an accurate one, but fans have already proven that the claims about Vegeta aren't true.

As posted by Twitter user AdriWindGB, Shadow being inspired by Vegeta has been known for a while now thanks to concept art from Sonic Adventure 2. The concept art lists several keywords for Shadow (who looks like his original Terios design), and one of the phrases included simply reads "Vegeta".

To make matters even funnier, a recent event that included that concept art of Shadow actually has a sign covering up the reference for Vegeta, which suggests that Sega really doesn't want that connection to be made. We know from the original images what's underneath that sign, so it's a little strange that it's being erased from his history.

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