Sonic the Hedgehog Cinematic Universe Thread (& Knuckles)

I said it was crazy good, it's far too late for no crazy

 

Sonic's movie design works for the movies, it has no place in the games.

 

Curious to hear your arguments. Personally I don't think Sonic still needs to look like he's made of plastic and have tentacle quills and a mono-eye and a side mouth and all those other clumsy design holdovers in 2022. It's been more than two decades lol, I'm tired of the same old shit and I missed them making an actual informed attempt to have Sonic actually looking "cool" and expressive and not completely like a "gee whiz" cereal mascot. Of course we primarily have Tyson to thank for that in the movies, no surprises there.

There WAS a time when the Adventure redesign was fresh and well-utilized but that window closed a loooong time ago. Pretty much right after Sonic Adventure 2 is when they really started roping in Uekawa's art and making things more streamlined and safe across the board. And then I think Sonic 06's failure scared them shitless of tweaking the designs at all for awhile but they learned all the wrong lessons from that whole debacle anyway (like "people don't want more Adventure gameplay" or "people ONLY ever want to play as Sonic").

It doesn't NEED to be the movie design but yeah, I think it's high time for a perked up makeover in the games, let's ring in a new era already. Or don't; clearly someone at SEGA disagrees with me so what do I know

 

I’ve always liked modern Sonic but would love for the games to give him fur. It gives him extra detail and a “refresh” without actually changing him or his core design.

How is it bad for the games to use fur? He’s an animal character. It fits regardless of the movies.

 

Where can You watch it with directors commentary?

Edit: I like movie design, but I don't want it in the games. If they could bring Mania Shorts version to the games I would be happy. Toei Sonic always was the good one.

Also I would love to see early Uekawa 3D Sonic, I think Heroes are the closest we got to that style.

 

I'd argue that's a little unfair to the people who iterated on the design before him. Not to discount his ability because he certainly did do a lot for Tails and Knuckles in this movie specifically but I'm not entirely sure Sonic or even the rest would look the same as they do now had he started from nothing and did it all by himself in the first place instead of modifying and building off what existed. I'd just argue that he has a talent for bringing out things that are already there (as proven by the artwork of the concept art Sonic he did before he changed it to have the new features. He looks really cool in both!)

Possibly only on the DVD/Blu Ray, but maybe on Paramount+ if they're doing things right over there.

 

This is such a weird complaints; Mario's looked exactly the same for 35 years yet I never anyone talk about how he needs to be "updated". Like if the problem is just how Sonic's model animates then just....animate it better? I don't why he needs a complete design overhaul.

Like, does this complaint to stuff like the Animated shorts too?

 

As grateful as I am for the huge improvement the movie design ended up undergoing, I don't want that anywhere near the games. I think Sonic's current design is pretty much flawless, but it's how that design is adapted to 3D that I think is what people really take issue with. I think they just need to go back and revise the materials they're working with to bring Sonic up to snuff with the extremely high fidelity we're accustomed to now. Specifically I'm thinking of what Nintendo has done with Mario in several games since Mario Odyssey. His core design is still entirely intact, but they've fleshed things out in the details, mainly by making the textures just that bit more realistic. His jumper has a clear felt texture to it, his dungarees have stitching and some fading around the edge in addition to a more defined material texture, and his hair and moustache, while clearly not made up of so many follicles as more realistic game models, does have enough their to be convincingly lifelike hair within such a stylised environment.

And to be honest, I think it's a reasonable take that, until the mid 2010s, Sonic's renders absolutely outclassed Mario's with regards to their level of fidelity, but they have ultimately been coasting on that rendering style for...god, close to two decades now, ever since Shadow the Hedgehog. I think there are definitely cues they could take from how the movie has the character gel with the real world he's in, but I think overhauling the base design by doing stuff like separating the eyes and changing the colour of the arms is just unnecessary and could serve to do more harm than good.

 

My take on Sonic's design in the games is "don't fix what isn't broken". It'd be sweet if we could get Unleashed intro level animations everywhere. That was literally perfect and evidence that Sonic's design can't be improved because it's at the top of its potential already, imo.

Also... Still can't believe that trailer... We're finally eating good

 

Guys, this movie is going to be GOOD. I have such a feeling about this. It's nuts. I can't believe I'm more excited for THIS than I am about a new Sonic game.

 

I assume DVD, but they have it alongside deleted scenes, bloopers and other content on iTunes.

I’m sure the extra content (old Sonic 3D model being used for some deleted scenes and original opening) is on YouTube though haha.

Edit: for those who can’t get the commentary, there wasn’t too much that we don’t already know...

Spoiler

They didn’t really speak about the redesign, though Ben does reference “oh this is now a meme”.

They talk about how things they are referencing, like badnicks, Super Sonic.
The director definitely has a wide knowledge of Sonic history, which is pretty awesome to hear. I know Ben is a fan of Sonic but Jeff must have (by now) an encyclopaedic knowledge of the series.

They discuss a sequel, though it’s recorded before the premier, the director definitely wanted to expand the world beyond the Sonic and Robotnik dynamic. They even mention Robotnik at the end of the film is part way through the transformation into Eggman. Like this is an origin story for them.

Jeff, the director, worked in Blur Studio. I didn’t know that he had a history with animation. (The first poster pushed the Fast and Furious movie so I just rolled my eyes ha) but it makes the situation around the studio having problems, etc during the film hit harder for the director on a personal level alongside the discussions that Sonic film caused this. I think Jeff has more respect for animators than that.

And of course they speak about the character. This is very much an origin for these characters. It’s not Adventure Sonic, he is a character who needs growth. For example they wanted him to be gifted shoes instead of his glossy shoes being there already because they want that to be part of his growth, not just something he had when we first met him.

This actually plays into some reactions to Tails I’ve seen where people are confused they don’t know each other. They are setting up their own continuity and story, in the same way the comics and cartoons do. Which I always assumed was obvious but apparently people never saw the first film before reacting to the trailer for the second? ‍♀️

 

You know, I was actually thinking that there's a chance we're going to see Super Sonic in this movie, because emeralds.

 

Jeff does mention that the blue electric wasn’t from the games, that the closest would be super Sonic but that requires chaos emeralds but he wanted to keep the first film simple…

 

I'm not sure if we're getting Super Sonic for this one as well... I think they're mostly building-up it for the 3rd movie. It would look a bit rushed if they'd that. I think the first scene of the 1st movie will have a major role on the plot for this one and they'll probably save Super Sonic and Shadow / Amy (could be both, who knows) for the 3rd movie.

 

Well, my guess was twofold because Knuckles seems able to withstand Sonic's power as it is now, so it would make sense for Sonic to get a power up. And since (at least one of) the emeralds seem to be there, ... dunno, it was just a guess.

 

I just watched the trailer again with a friend and it still gives me the feels. A part of me doesn't want to get my hopes up but it just looks too darned good.

 

I mean it'll probably play out similar to the games where Eggman plays his hand Knuckles realises he's been duped before teaming up with Sonic. + - We've got the three of them standing together in a set photo already   and I just don't think the solution to the Knuckles problem will be to have Sonic outright overpower him.

 

Glad they tweaked him. Tails in the original movie looked like he had a square head.