Knuckles Sprite Stages

I like keeping a bunch of my in-between stages around in my workspace;In this case, it made a good illustration of how I made this Sonic 3 inspired Knuckles sprite.

Eventually, I added his old hat to the sprite, but I didn't really keep the progress stages of that, so it wasn't included(same goes for the super glowing effect).

Anyway, I hope you guys like this!
Opinions and thoughts are always appreciated.

Sonic the Hedgehog (c) Sega
Artwork (c) Destro-the-Dragon