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Okay, first of all, I realize this is a topic about a very old subject, which no doubt has been debated about many, many times before. So please, excuse me in advance if my thoughts don't bring anything new to the table, or if I'm just blabbering about something that has already long since been reached a conclusion about. I simply did not know. =P

That said, I was in a debate earlier with regards as to whether or not Sonic was always meant to be a "comedic" thing from the start, and in doing so, my thoughts went to that old "Man of the Year" cartoon from Sonic Jam.
Here it is, to refresh your memory: https://www.youtube....h?v=sllakPKOZjc

Now, rewatching it again got me wondering... How much do we actually know about this short? When exactly was it made, and for what purpose? Who gave the command to have this made, and why was it never continued?
On the Sonic Wikia, I've seen it being implied that this came after AoStH, and while Sonic Jam certainly was released to the public after AoStH did, I have my doubts on this cartoon short.
What I'm thinking, is that this might have been a proof of concept, for what would later become AoStH.
When they were going to make the AoStH cartoon, naturally they would have contacted Sega themselves, to get their idea on what they think a cartoon of Sonic the Hedgehog would be like, and I think this might be what Sega came up with. To further bring the comparison home, there are some elements that both cartoons share:

• We have both cartoons depicting Sonic and Eggman in comedic moments, in a world that also involves "regular people" (using the term loosely in the case of AoStH).
  
• The short starts out like many AoStH episodes do, with a view of Eggman's base of operations, which prominently features a huge golden statue of himself.
  
• The short involves two concepts that would later be used in AoStH episodes - Sonic winning an award for his heroics, and Eggman using a fake Sonic to try and ruin his name.
  
• And of course, both make prominent use of Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" music.

So yeah, that leads me to believe that the creators of AoStH had probably seen this short before it was later released to the public on the Sonic Jam disc, and took some inspirations from it when writing the series.
Again, maybe I'm looking into things that have already been figured out by some of you long ago, but I didn't really see anything suggesting it on the Retro Wiki, nor Sonic Wikia. So I figured I'd share my thoughts with you lot and see if we might reach an epiphany or something.
Or if nothing else, I just gave you a reason to watch that "Man of the Year" short again, which is still good fun in its own right. =P

Y'know, the godawful kind of jokes like these, that wouldn't look out of place in that infamous 90's Sonic joke book? Except in this case maybe actually Sonic-related?
Yeah. Let's think of some of those. To groan and facepalm, and possibly frighten small children.



How does Eggrobo cross the water?
In an Eggrowboat.

What did Sonic say when he was waist-deep in Sandopolis' quicksand?
"I'm waaaading!"


(Wasn't sure if this topic fit better here or in the Member Lounge, feel free to move accordingly.)