Sonic Says 2 — Clean Sonic Says meme with text about anime profile pictures and opinions on blue background.

Sonic Says 2

2016Exploitable image macrosemi-active

Published March 30, 2026

Also known as: Sonic Sez

Sonic Says is an exploitable image macro meme based on loading screen tips from the 2010 racing game *Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing*. The format replaces the game's original helpful hints with absurd, vulgar, or nihilistic "advice" attributed to Sonic the Hedgehog. First appearing as a meme in 2016, the format picked up serious traction on Instagram, Reddit, and Tumblr throughout 2017.

sonic memes exploitable templates image macro memes dark humor memes gaming

Overview

The Sonic Says meme uses a specific loading screen image from *Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing* where Sonic the Hedgehog appears in a thumbs-up pose alongside gameplay tips1. Each tip in the original game is prefaced with the header "Sonic Says." In the meme version, creators swap out the wholesome gaming advice for intentionally ridiculous, edgy, or deadpan statements. The humor comes from the contrast between Sonic's cheerful, kid-friendly presentation and the unhinged content of the replacement text.

The "Sonic Says" branding itself predates the game. It originated as a recurring PSA segment at the end of episodes of *Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog*, the 1993 animated television series2. In those segments, Sonic would deliver life lessons to young viewers. The show's version is sometimes spelled "Sonic Sez" because of Tails' attempt at spelling the word "Says" in the original segment2. That TV segment became a staple of YouTube Poop remix videos long before the racing game image became its own meme format2.

Origin & Background

Platform
Instagram (meme format), *Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing* (source image)
Creator
Unknown
Date
2016

On February 23, 2010, Sega released *Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing* for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, Nintendo DS, and PC3. The game's loading screens showed Sonic in a confident thumbs-up pose alongside tips and tricks for gameplay, each headed with "Sonic Says."

The earliest known use of this loading screen image as an exploitable meme dates to May 31, 20163. An Instagram user posted the Sonic Says image with the original tip replaced by the bleak phrase "Suffering has no end." The post established the core formula: keep Sonic's upbeat image, swap the text for something wildly inappropriate or darkly funny1.

How It Spread

The format sat relatively quiet for several months after that first 2016 post. On January 4, 2017, Instagram user @dj_tds.7z posted a variation with crude, sexually explicit replacement text3. That post pulled in over 800 likes across nine months, signaling that the format had legs beyond one-off shock humor.

The meme hit its stride on Reddit in August 2017. On August 5, Redditor audio45 posted a version reading "Sonic Says: If your profile picture is from an anime, your opinion doesn't count"3. The post earned over 8,400 points with a 96% upvote rate and 90 comments in under two months. The anime profile picture dig struck a nerve with Reddit's meme communities, and the format spread fast.

Less than a month later, Tumblr user hvmanfilth posted a version with a convoluted joke about kissing logic: "If you kiss a girl it's gay because you kiss all the guys she kissed but if you kiss a guy it ain't gay because you're kissing all the girls he kissed"3. That post racked up over 28,000 notes in under a month, bringing the meme to a whole new audience on Tumblr.

On September 27, 2017, Redditor Don-Brix posted the format to r/MemeEconomy, where it picked up over 400 points at 90% upvoted in just 24 hours3. The r/MemeEconomy post functioned as an informal endorsement of the template's investment potential, and the format saw wider adoption across meme subreddits after that.

How to Use This Meme

The Sonic Says format is straightforward:

1

Start with the loading screen image from *Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing* showing Sonic in his thumbs-up pose with the "Sonic Says" header.

2

Replace the original game tip text with your own message. The replacement text typically falls into a few categories: dark or nihilistic statements, absurd non-sequiturs, crude jokes, or hot takes delivered with false authority.

3

Post the edited image as-is. No additional captioning is needed since the "Sonic Says" header frames everything.

Cultural Impact

The Sonic Says meme sits within a larger tradition of corrupting kid-friendly video game and cartoon characters with adult content. The original *Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog* PSA segments were already a well-known target for YouTube Poop creators, who had been remixing the "Sonic Sez" clips into absurdist edits for years2. The racing game loading screen meme carried that same energy into the image macro format, giving it a second life on platforms like Instagram and Reddit where YouTube Poop didn't naturally circulate.

The format also tapped into a broader 2016-2017 trend of exploitable image macros built around authority figures dispensing "wisdom." Like similar formats where a trusted character delivers terrible advice, Sonic Says found its audience among users who enjoyed the irony of a children's mascot endorsing chaotic content1.

Fun Facts

The spelling "Sonic Sez" comes from Tails' in-show attempt at writing the word "Says" during the original *Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog* segments2.

The gap between the game's 2010 release and the meme's 2016 emergence means the source image sat unused for six years before anyone thought to exploit it3.

The meme's breakout hit on Reddit, the anime profile picture version, had a 96% upvote ratio, unusually high for a meme post on a general subreddit3.

Derivatives & Variations

YouTube Poop "Sonic Sez" edits:

Video remixes of the original *Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog* PSA segments, predating the image macro format and feeding into its cultural recognition[2].

Anime profile picture variant:

The August 2017 version targeting anime avatars became one of the most widely shared single instances, spawning its own response edits and counter-memes on Reddit[3].

r/MemeEconomy template:

After the September 2017 post to r/MemeEconomy, blank templates circulated for easy editing, encouraging wider creation of new variants[3].

Frequently Asked Questions