Re: The prospect of Ugly Movie Sonic existing only to be redesigned as a cynical PR stunt to generate goodwill has already been de-confirmed by Tyson Hesse on this very board I believe. If not here, then at least on Twitter - I know this because I used to suggest the possibility myself before I was corrected.
I think it's a bit exaggerated to say that it's NEVER been funny. The scene of Sonic giving Tails a "No shit sherlock" look when they reached the Sky Deck in SA1 is genuinely one of the funniest moments in the franchise, because the player is likely feeling the same type of exasperation that Sonic was feeling at that moment. That said, I mostly agree. Sonic isn't funny because it's not meant to be funny, but the series has never really been good at levity; a lot of the criticisms towards the 2000s for being "too dark" or hell, even as recently as Frontiers, would be a lot easier to tolerate if they were a bit more tongue in cheek about the whole thing. And the irony is that when it tries to be funny, it produces the opposite effect because it's transparent that they're trying to be funny for sake of it. Humor works when it feels natural and earned. Comedians literally make this an art form. Sonic's attempts at humor suck because it's neither natural or earned; the funniest moments in the franchise that aren't unintentional glitches or poorly directed cutscenes, are usually just ones when the characters just play off each other and their flaws are on full display. There's also different kind of comedy too and many people's sense of humor is different. It's why I didn't mind the whole "Amy wants to marry Sonic" gag so much. Yea, it was played out after a while, but it's a gag built on their personalities; Amy is a hopeless romantic and Sonic has absolutely no interest in romance, so naturally there's a clash there and the humor comes from how the cool and confident Sonic has no idea how to deal with the romantic feelings he has no interest in.
I've spent 25 years of my life watching some of the funniest animated comedies ever made, then several other Cartoon Network shows that are still very enjoyable even if they're not knee-slappers. And during all that time, I wanted Sonic to deliver on that front and have either the physical slapstick that directly inspired Sonic to begin with, or have writing that I wouldn't mind seeing on television. And it's just not there. So no, it's not because I'm humorless. Maybe my standards are just too high, but I didn't find Sonic that funny even as a child when I was laughing at fucking Mr. Meaty on the side.
Regardless of if you find it actually funny or not, Adventure 1/2's occasional attempts at humor add character depth on top of still advancing the story just in case you didn't laugh. Sonic telling Eggman he's less threatening than Knuckles' piloting skills near the end of SA2 is still maybe my favorite line in any of the games. Sonic was probably feeling pretty threatened while being stuck in that capsule about to explode. But he'd never let Eggman know that, nor let Knuckles forget the shuttle turbulence issue which was definitely Sonic's fault. See there's layers here. And more importantly the cutscene doesn't marinate in the joke it just made unlike the series' later attempts at getting more comedic. Also this isn't really relevant but does anyone else think this cutscene is an indication of cut content? The dialogue always seemed conspicuously ADR'd in if you ask me. Sonic not at all caring about the Master Emerald he just risked his life to save two games ago is also one of my favorite jokes though so maybe it is relevant actually.
I think Baldy Nosehair is pretty funny. I'll never understand why people lose their minds over those two words.
Mr. Meaty is hilarious, but not to get off topic. I don't understand how humorous character interactions in something like Sonic X couldn't even get a chuckle out of someone. Like Amy not knowing Bokkun has a name and hurting his feelings. Not everything can reach the comedic heights of like, early Simpsons, or King of the Hill, or Homestar Runner. But I still think there's plenty of good humor in Sonic stuff.
Yeah, I'll admit, I cackled the first time I heard that line. It just never loses the comedic factor for me.
It's not that the joke objectively isn't funny, it's that Colors feels the need to insist it is which it wouldn't need to do if the joke was actually funny. Comes off as insecure, like Sonic's serving as the laugh track.
I'm not a huge fan of Colors' humor overall but one thing I'll give it is that Eggman's lines that play over the intercom are all golden. The majority of them never cease to get a chuckle out of me, no matter how many times I hear them.
I really enjoyed the Sonic Boom cartoon and was sad when I saw that the second season isn't on Netflix.
It's perfectly fine to think Baldy McNosehair is an obnoxious joke. Nobody's having a mental breakdown and Colors being a kids game doesn't excuse anything.
It's the fact that they say it no less than 4 times, then repeat it again in Lost World. As if Pontaff are so proud of their achievement, they think they've crafted the funniest joke in the world and they won't stop saying it until you agree. And it's also the fact that it's just fucking lame. If you were a kid in school, and your teacher looked like Eggman, and you called him that in class when he wasn't listening, do you honestly think anyone around you is going to start laughing? You're more likely to get shoved in a locker. It's not clever and it's not creative. You could say "Robaldnik". Or you could say "Fatso Mustachio". Fuck, anything's better than what they came up with. I'll even take "Robuttnik".
I'm pretty whatever about Baldy McNosehair, but I do agree one of the biggest issues I have with Ken Pontac and Warren Graff's writing is that it does tend to point out the obvious, or feel the need to explain the joke instead of just letting it stand on its own. That is literally comedy 101, don't explain the joke.
Kind of on the same level but in the first Sonic movie when Tom calls Robotnik "Robotski" made me laugh out loud. Mispronunciations are funnier then nicknames but that's just my personal sense of humor. "Robotonic" from Sonic the Fighters is fantastic, but that was a typo. Baldy McNosehair works in its initial context for me, where its a nickname translated from the Wisps.. but yeah for what is a pretty default nickname they run it into the ground so quickly. Humor in the franchise is really hit and miss for myself. I think there are funny lines and situations throughout but they never nailed an actually funny script. I think in more recent years the issue with humor is more that, in the movies case, it feels like Jokes are just dropped full-load into different scenes without much necessity. And in the games, at least during the Colors-Team Racing era, it feels like its trying to be funny instead of just being funny. It never feels authentic and...for lack of a better way to say it (since I've been trying to write this down for a bit), it always feels too obvious. Sonic is a children's franchise so I'm not super upset over it all but it is something I notice regardless. I also enjoy AOSTH so that Looney Tunes style of humor hits more with me then the more self-aware stuff. The games are also just generally really bad at nailing tone.
TSR feels like an entirely different beast, its waay more on the nose and obnoxious than i found the colors-forces era.
pontaff gets a lot of shit for not knowing the characters but I think they mostly do fine there. they are pretty bad joke writers though. Like any other time Sonic intentionally tried to be funny it was funnier than Sonic Colors and Lost World are.
I think the Rider's games have a nice comedic tone, though I am not sure if I would call them actually funny. In fact, it is probably my favorite tone I have seen in the game's so far. I will say I did find it funny when "Knuckles" from Black Knight was so overwhelmed by his loss at Sonic's hands that he was about to actually kill himself and Sonic said, "Talk about drama!" Maybe because it mirrored my exact thoughts on the situation and I didn't expect for Sonic to voice that. I don't know. What I actually came here to say is that I like Metropolis Zone's Starfish. In fact, I think they are my favorite generic badnik in the Classics, if not 2D Sonic period. In the sections they generally show up, I just feel like I need to give slightly more thought to positioning myself between their projectiles then I do the attacks of pretty much any other badnik which generally either die almost immediately after coming on screen with little effort or are quickly ran past without a thought. Also nice that they pose somewhat of a threat while still being quite well telegraphed. Or at least, they are well telegraphed once you know from previous experience how ( once you know from previous experience that?) they shoot. After that, t is quite easy to see how they are going to fire. Around an hour or two ago I decided to try out Sonic 1 Forever. After beating it and messing around with Amy and time trial for a bit, I decided to try Sonic 2 absolute. I don't think I am beating that one tonight. I immediately closed the game when I saw Sky Chase show up. I am not putting myself through that right now. That's probably literally the worst level in the classics. I would rather play Labyrinth, Sandopolis, or even Wacky Workbench before that one.
