It is possible, though maybe just me, but her design seems more anime-inspired compared to the other characters. If she is an unused Unleashed character, it is odd that we've gotten so much concept art and now they suddenly bring her up. Though it wouldn't be the first time unseen concept art pops up years later. If she is a new character, it sort of reminds me of when Capcom added in that one piece of Mega Man concept art in Legacy Collection 2 that hinted at Mega Man 11. As for the two worlds thing, I always found it odd, especially considering Angel Island is well, right there, unless Chaos Control is somehow involved. Plus there is the whole thing with Gerald creating Shadow. Either way, glad to know we have something set in stone for that whole thing.
Pretty sure she wasn't designed for Unleashed. Humans in Unleashed have realistic hair colors. Not to mention she doesn't look very Pixar-esque. She has to be a new character.
Different artstyle, including the lines, the shading and the overall character design including things like shapes and proportions. She's definitely not related to Unleashed.
That seems pretty cynical. First of all, such a thing only happened once before. Second, you think the Sonic Team we’re dealing with these days would really be so dense as to make the same mistake twice? Come on, cut them a bit of slack.
She does have a park ranger like outfit, and we know the game was called Sonic Rangers at one point along with the other points that have been made.
I’m pretty satisfied with the mainland vs. islander angle. I personally always preferred Sonic in the Adventure/Unleashed type settings. For some reason, stories with just the anthros lack any impact for me. I have no problem with them coexisting with humans (I mean Sonic and friends are there lol), but the idea that some games are set in a non-human world makes me not really care about them.
I think all-anthro casts (Eggman aside) are ok for Sonic games set in places like islands. But for large-scale games that let you explore cities and such I expect (and prefer) a human populace. The world presented in games like Sonic Adventure and Unleashed felt much more interesting and engaging to me than the ones from Forces and most adaptations.
I loved the mixed cast in Adventure and Adventure 2, and Unleashed was pretty good as well. Wouldn't mind going back to games like that, although it does require you to suspend your disbelief a little bit more. (how the hell does an anthropomorphic hedgehog fight off the literal entire military like he's fast ok but they have so many guns yknow what nevermind ok ok no its fine im not asking questions we're good its fine) I remember it was also nice as a kid because you could imagine what it was like to adventure alongside your favorite character, since canonically you could actually exist.
I was fine with "Two Worlds." It's been around for about 20 years at this point, and I thought the explanation that Naka's team showed in Sonic X was a clever enough way to explain some of the retcons and aesthetic differences between classic and modern. (Plus, I just don't care for non-Eggman humans in Sonic, haha.) But if Classic Sonic is a separate canon from Modern Sonic *anyway*, then I suppose it's pretty redundant. One explanation or the other will suffice, and of the two, that's the one I prefer anyway. Even if this retcon kind of makes Forces' story make even less sense, but hey, par for the course! As Kevin Eva put it, the canon will always be whatever Sonic Team want/need it to be at any given point. So sure, the Mobians are on islands, the humans have their own society, whatever floats your boat. "Everything is canon," right? Of course, it'd be nice if we could actually get a new Classic game. The lack of follow-up to Mania is putting a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth, especially because what we've seen/heard of Frontiers so far doesn't seem like it's gonna appeal much to me. I know Flynn said in an interview a while back that the 30th anniversary comic was a "soft-pitch" for a Mania sequel (that was discussed here wasn't it, I've been lurking!), and that's not the first time I've heard about such a thing. But it seems like Sega's not biting. </3
if Professor Pickle appears in Sonic Frontiers I might lose my damn mind, he's the greatest character ever created for any work of fiction
I think part of it, beyond the function of the Forces background characters of…sorry, what exactly was their function again? Anyway, they look more like off-brand Sonic characters rather than actual Sonic characters due to their odd proportions. All the custom characters are taller than the standardised Sonic cast with these weird eggplant bodies. It’s bugged me since the game was promoting and I’d say it’s probably a decently large factor as to why I don’t like the islander only cast of the Forces setting.
Yeah, I looked back at the video after writing the comment and I have to concede as much. I'm genuinely curious who she is. My guess is that maybe she's exploring the ruins on Starfall Islands and teams up with Sonic somehow?
Sonic has had enough purple-haired women sidekicks. I want her to be evil, god damn it! She's got a coy little smirk! Let her pilot a big robot and Sonic breaks it! Give her the third-act rebellion against Eggman!
Honestly, my take is that she's more of a background NPC and not too important on her own, but part of a team of explorers who'd give Sonic sidequests and such.
I was thinking the exact same. It'd be pretty weird having a major-plot character to be grouped with the Unleashed NPCs if she turns out to be a major character in Frontiers. All the more likely that she'd be an NPC of some sort. Which makes me think what kinds of NPCs might we see in Frontiers now we're back to one world. The only one confirmed so far is that that rock creature that you give those rock "koroks" to on top of the Ubisoft Tower in one of those 4Chan leaks. I'd love to see both anthros and humans as NPCs in Frontiers, but idk if that'd be possible or not.
