Sonic the Hedgehog was based on Michael Jackson, Santa Claus, and Bill Clinton.

When Sega tried to make a new mascot to serve as a competitor to Nintendo’s Mario, they had everyone in the company draw their own characters. They ultimately decided on a hedgehog that can roll into a ball. They made him blue to resemble the SEGA logo. He’s wearing Michael Jackson’s boots from “Bad”, only they turned them red to be like Santa Claus. His personality is based off of Bill Clinton.