Yesterday, Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro posted a video encouraging investments in Brazil “and not in other countries” (assuming Google Translate is reliable). He promised to rule for the average Brazilian and not the leftist São Paulo Forum.
The video touting Bolsonaro’s agenda was accompanied by a pulse-pounding anthem sure to get the president’s supporters amped. Bolsonaro has often been referred to as Brazil’s version of Donald Trump, waging a culture war and making offensive statements about women and the LGBT community, in addition to other dubious policy planks, like opening the Amazon rainforest up to development. (Not gonna beat around the bush here: the guy seems bad.) Bolsonaro also has a legion of followers who are, in modern parlance, “extremely online,” and platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp have been intrinsic to his success.
But eagle-eared viewers noticed something else in the video: music from Sonic the Hedgehog.
Yes, for unclear reasons, Brazil’s authoritarian leader tweeted out a video soundtracked by music from 2006’s Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic 2006, as it’s often referred to, is an infamously bad game in a series full of them, which featured Sonic, a cartoon hedgehog, falling in love with a human princess who revives him with a kiss.
So when Bolsonaro touts investment in Brazil’s economy, I am now reminded of this:
Look, I can’t explain it any more, but that’s how my brain works.
The butt-rock song used is from the game’s final boss fight, against Solaris. According to the Sonic wiki, he is “the sun god of Soleanna, as well as a super-dimensional lifeform and a god of time, who is worshiped by the people of Soleanna [sic]. Originally a living flame, Solaris was split into two halves during the Solaris Project; Mephiles the Dark, his conscious mind, and Iblis, his raw power.”
Interesting … a time god, and yet he could not defeat Sonic once the hedgehog harnessed the control of the seven Chaos Emeralds and took on his Super Sonic form.
The idea of real-life politicians interacting with the Chaos Emeralds has been a long-running online joke. One classic bit of micro-fanfic theorizes that President Obama once possessed the seven gems. Last year, it was theorized that President Donald Trump was referring to them when he tweeted about “CHAOS.” Never, however, has a national leader even hinted at the power of the stones … until now.
