system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Sonic the Hedgehog] When Shadow the Hedgehog first started operating, why did everyone keep mistaking him for Sonic?

I mean, come on, they look and act nothing alike! In detail:

* Sonic has solid blue fur/quills, whereas Shadow has black and red fur and quills.
* Sonic has downswept quills on his head, but Shadow has upswept quills.
* Sonic sounds like a young man, while Shadow sounds like he's in his 40's.
* Sonic tries his hardest to avoid civilian casualties, whereas Shadow (at first) had a devil-may-care attitude towards civilian life, considering he *robbed a frakking bank in broad daylight*.
* Sonic is world-renowned as a superhero, (for lack of a better term) while Shadow had only *just* appeared out of nowhere.
* Sonic's only known powers at the time were to run really fast, while Shadow could teleport and shoot energy bolts.
* Sonic was known for repeatedly stopping Dr. Eggman, while Shadow was reported to be working *with Eggman*. (Who, as we all know, is a widely infamous supervillain/***borderline terrorist.***)

With all these differences in mind, I'd like to know just HOW these two got mixed up. I'll give the public  and MAYBE the G.U.N. the benefit of the doubt, but when you remember that Eggman himself (Sonic's sworn nemesis) made this mistake, as did Amy Rose (Sonic's *stalker*) and Tails, (Sonic's right hand man- er, fox) then it just starts getting ridiculous.
gpt
It spread by word of mouth, and camera imaging wasn't capturing actual footage of Shadow for the most part. The word running up the command chain was that a supersonic Hedgehog was ripping shit up; Sonic was they only hedgehog they knew who could fit the bill.