Sonic's Freedom Team

Yes

 

Well, it's a new one on me, so I guess it's good to have these things brought up from time to time.



One shudders, Jeeves. One positively shudders.

 

I shudder at that Sonic. I've seen some Assface-y/mohawk-y designs, but that's on another level. Also, I assume that's supposed to be his mouth overall, but it looks like he's buck-toothed.

 

I remember seeing all that on Sonic HQ 6 years ago. Without a doubt, it's the crappiest "official" Sonic art I've ever seen. It's like one of the studios who makes those cartoons with the anthropomorphic characters nobody watches met up with the art director for Rocko's Modern Life* and said "Let's make a Sonic cartoon and add in a bunch of random characters".

*Not the series creator, Joe Murray, but the actual art directors. You can see what I mean by looking at the non-Sonic characters and the lettering for Dr. Robotnik's roboticiser.

 

Do you think SatAM's art direction was any better?

 

Yeah, I do. SatAM's art direction was great. It wasn't ridiculous or goofy like most cartoons of that time, and perfectly portrayed the show's general atmosphere.

That abomination up there looks like the love child between Sonic and a pile of crap.

 

It was fine... until you realize it's supposed to be for a Sonic cartoon.

 

Yes. SatAM was brilliant, and by objective standards a high-quality cartoon with passionate creators and an excellent voice cast. I also think that AoStH had better art design than that pile in StC.

I notice this sentiment (and similar) a lot when it comes to SatAM discussion. "The show was good, but it's was totally different from what Sonic was supposed to be."

That assumes Sonic "was supposed to be" anything. SoJ sure didn't have a fucking clue - it took them 7 years to finally bodge together their execrable "internationalised" Sonic for Sonic Adventure, and even that didn't last.

In some ways the SoA style Sonic predates SoJ's, and is just as official (see this page under the heading "The Precedence Debate").

Anyway, I feel a rant coming on, so I stop right here, but I do want to point out that just because the art design wasn't full of chequers and palmtrees doesn't mean it was unsuitable for Sonic. Sonic X and the Sonic OVA, which many consider to be much more faithful to the game series, don't have art design anywhere near the same level of creativity or surrealism of the games. SatAM's designs were entirely appropriate to Sonic, with ruins and dystopic cities that echo the first game.

Heck, watch the intro, Mobitropolis looks more like a Sonic zone than anything from Sonic Rush.

 

That unreleased Sonic theme was epic ^.

I think that Sonic X is more 'Sonic-y' than SatAM. SatAM had some good elements, but overall it was just way too metallic, with less greenery, and I think that is now an internet issue.

 

Okay, so maybe they felt the need to change Sonic's "canon" depending on region. That was a common practice before the age of the internet. Despite this, the images, sounds, and other things that were in the game were still intact all over the world, and could have easily been interpretated, yet they overlooked it completely, thus causing the cartoon to be completely alien to the games.

That doesn't mean there was a significant clash between Sonic and the world that surrounded him.

Maybe so, but that doesn't make what we got any less unsuitable.

True, but there's putting him in a different-yet-more-suitable setting and there's completely throwing him out of his element.

I don't remember the level in Sonic 1 where you're girlfriend's dad was locked in another dimension with a dark wizard with a claw for a hand.

 

Personally, I like each world Sonic has been in for it's own reasons. The one in the movie was the most imaginitve; the one in Sonic X was pretty crappy but it has its perks; SatAM was dark and moody; AoStH was bright and colorful, etc.

There's no one end-all Sonic universe, and none of them are particularly bad. But then again, haters gonna hate for no reason, so hate away. You're missing out.

 

Something tells me in this thread that most people don't understand how DiC was ran.

 

Quite honestly, I don't care how DiCk was ran. They managed to hire great writers for their Sonic shows, so there's no issues on my end.

 

Here's the way I see it. You know how Marvel and DC have huge multiverses? I imagine that Sonic has the same thing. The games occupy one, AoSTH has another, SATAM a third, and so on and so forth. It works well to avoid figuring out "canon" and nicely explains the huge differences between the different shows in relation to the games. You know what? I love 'em all (With the exception of Underground and X. The Anti-monitor can destroy those ones for all I care).

 

I think that's what everyone presumes.

 

Perhaps, but I meant that to those who complain about the cartoons "not being Sonic". It is Sonic, just a different one. Okay, I'm done making myself look like an ass, though I will say that I'm glad that we didn't get that early SATAM. It doesn't look very good.

 

Yeah, it's still a good point to reiterate. I'm sure there are people who would enjoy alternative canons if they could enjoy them as that, rather than something that's competing with their favourite. But I suppose when one is very attached to a particular universe/canon, it's fair (to an extent) to dislike ones that take a very different direction.

I watched a bit of AoStH when I was younger, and wasn't put up nor down by it, although I did suspect that it was a bit sillier than the games would have been if their plots had been fleshed out. I saw a few episodes of Sonic X too, and wasn't too taken by its particular brand of creative license! For that reason, I don't think SatAM would appeal much to me if I was to give it a shot. I thought StC was alright (for someone who never reads comics) but have never read Archie.

With all that said, I'd probably have some issues with the modern official canon if I was to pay it any attention! The storyline of the original trilogy was suitably simple for my mind. Wait, did I say “was”? :v: