Best Villain? Part 2: B Villains

Eggman aside, there have been more villains in the series than most causal fans realize. Some of these were interesting and give Eggy real competition. Others fall a little flat...

I define this type of villain as "Erazor Djinn level," so it seems only fair to start with him. 

The Erazor Djinn has the makings of a good foe. And he is threatening. He's powerful. He's already wiped out half of the "storybook" world as Sonic's jumping to the rescue. After hitting Sonic with a flaming arrow, he basically blackmails Sonic and his new friend Sharah into finding specail items ("World Rings"). 

Still, he is hard to take serious--even Sonic seems to think so. He's way overconfident and continues to call Sonic a "filthy rat." His insults, while humorous, are pathetic. While he does gain a considerable point of power near the end of the game the moment later backfires on the Erazor since he cannot even control his transformation.

The Erazor's end, while satisfying, only further pushes back on his credibility. It's only Sonic dumping the magic lamp into lava (in Sharah's epilogue) that solidifies how serious a threat the villain actually was.  

I KID YOU NOT.

Although the Erazor had the bite, he didn't have the bark, as silly as that sounds. The character was powerful, but strip away his actions and powers and he's nothing more than childish bully. 

Unfortunately the Erazor Djinn is not the only enemy to, despite potential, become lame and easily forgotten. 

Black Doom was an early example of this. His threatening voice and alien appearance fit well with the idea of the character, but his constant nagging and cruel behavior made him an oddity. There is not much of a reason for Shadow to side with Black Doom, and even if he does the alien leader does little to applaud such a thing.

Like the Erazor, Black Doom is strong and manipulates Shadow in different ways like planting false memories or concealing information. At the end of the day, though, he is hard to take seriously and more of a nuisance. 

This is also seen with the Deadly Six. I know less about them than most, but they do little to stand out and behave annoyingly. Zavok appears often in recent times, but is he's far worst than either Black Doom or Erazor Djinn. I don't know if they could get any lamer, and don't get me started on the magic conch...

Infinite is portrayed more as a rival, but unlike Shadow or Jet, he's clearly with Eggman and wants to be evil. His appearance is an odd mesh that may have been inspired by Kylo Ren (who was a wannabe himself). Not the best start. His voice acting is good, able to have an edge to it but also be calm and in control. Not unlike Mephiles. His epic theme song is reminiscent of rivals of the past, like Shadow. But in game he does not take control. 

He's content with working for Eggman; he doesn't even attempt to break away, leaving his motives a mystery. He bullies various characters and makes use of his flashy illusionary powers, but he is a complete coward. He RUNS AWAY. Instead of revealing a tragic, determined, or even greedy past, the cause of Infinte's path to the dark side is that he can't handle losing and doesn't like being called weak. He throws a tantrum. Over being called WEAK.   

"King Arthur" doesn't seem to have much of a personality or an emphasis on turning evil, but at least he's actually revealed as a simple pawn in the Dark Queen's plans. There are a few others, like IX, who also fail to step up.  

So even though I generally think of the Erazor first, there are many other candidates that are arguably more deserving of the title. Like with the games in general, Sega had grand plans that didn't quite work out right.