Just some random head-canons I felt like stating...
Knuckles is a treasure hunter out of necessity
It's a lesser addressed part of his character, but bit by bit Knuckles has been known as a Treasure Hunter since the OVA, but why would he? And when would he have the time when he's supposed to be guarding the Master Emerald? Because he had to.
Let's take a look at Angel Island. Full of ancient, often crumbling ruins, vastly overgrown, dangerous environmental hazards, and all alone on it is Knuckles, from the age of who knows how young. He'd need to the skills of Indiana and Lara just to survive foraging for food.
Of course, that also means, in addition to some of the most prime real estate in the world (Not only beach front and every other type of biome you may like, but how do you beat the privacy of "IN THE FUAKKIN' SKY!"?) but he has almost sole access to the treasures of his clan, but probably nothing to do with it until SOnic and Co come along. He could be the richest sod of the crew, and way more so than our blue hero, not that it matters because-
Sonic is the poorest dude of the franchise main characters and doesn't care.
Let's think about this, between Sonic, Eggman, Tails and Knuckles.
Knuckles, as I said before, has pretty much sole access to Angel island and it's treasures. Even if it's not El Dorado, that sort of ancient stuff can fetch a pretty penny, and we see the clan members of Tikals time in gold jewelry, and Tikal's dad went out of his way to conquer and take all he could, probably stockpiling a lot of cool swag.
Eggman, canonically, owns shell companies that sell his tech legitimately, to the point he had a whole city based around it. Hell, his Extreme Gear company doesn't even hide it's connected to him and he can openly advertise a race for it. At this point, his World Domination seems less like he wants to rule (Or seek revenge for his Grandpa on Humanity) and more like he's just rich and has nothing better to do this week (Kinda like Bowser in a way).
Tails could well be on his way to being like Eggman in that effect. We already see him owning workshops and land in multiple cities (Including his own private island). Hell, considering he and Shadow tend to get along rather well, and he gets along decently with both Rouge and Omega, I would bet he not only sells tech, but has some government contracts.
Meanwhile, Sonic, by word of the creators, has no house of his own and drifts on the life of the heroic hobo...and loves it. He prefers to be free and unchained and probably cashes in any good will or hero worship for the occasional free meal.
The Robotnik Family are all closet Furries.
Gerald was trying to make the "Ultimate Lifeform" and instead of it being a human, which would make sense since it was for the purpose of curing his granddaughter, or alien looking, which would also make sense since it was created from the DNA of tentacle-aliens, he made it into one of the fuzzy folk from planet-side.
You can't tell me Maria wouldn't have been eyeing up that Ultimate Dong in a few years (Maybe Gerald even planned it that way, as the 'cure' administration for her disease.
And NOBODY has yet explained why Eggman himself kidnapped Vanilla. She had no connection to Sonic at all and he nabbed twice in the same game. Hell, you don't even find her in a cell the first time, she's just standing in a flower field, not even distressed. Hell, I'll bet she was fine with it because-
Vanilla is a high class call girl
Nice house, single parent and no visible income? No problem with her daughter spending hours, days or more away with people known to get into world changing danger? Abducted by an obvious furry for no stated reason and not at all perturbed by it? As if she's been spending time with this rich douche before?
I'm not saying she's some cheap whore, she's a classy, high priced, classy woman and worth every penny. And she pulls it all off in a stately manner and well dressed to boot. Rouge wishes she had that kind of charm.
Thank you for listening to my mad ramblings, I'm off to find more conspiracy.
