How would you redesign Sonic the Hedgehog?

It was a joke but yes.

 

They should treat him like a cartoon.

That's how I'd redesign Sonic and everyone else- I'd focus almost entirely on their faces and animations. They all look like cartoon characters and benefit greatly from being treated like them. Sonic himself specifically needs to have his eyes softened a bit so he still maintains that 'cool' and 'edgy' look at all times, but without looking angry. That's the worst thing about the modern designs. All the characters given one default expression and can hardly ever stray from it because of how they're animated. Ideally I'd just have the classic designs back, but as it stands I actually like the modern ones as well. They just need have less monotonous face structures and be animated as in Night of the Werehog. Maybe NoTW is a bit extreme for standard use, but I like it. The exaggerated movements are a must, too. Does that count as much of a redesign?

 

Technically, no, but I'd accept such a change with open-arms. I loved Night of the Werehog. I think if Sonic and pals were animated as exaggeratedly as in that, it'd be a surefire winner.

Sort of like how Sonic's got a mild noodle-arm/elasticity thing going on in the concept art above.

 

The problem I have with four fingers is that it's literally fucking everywhere. Even in places it doesn't belong at all. (The first examples that come to mind are the cartoons Danny Phantom and Total Drama Island) Batman's design isn't copied by thousands of other animators world-wide. In some situations, the styles of one animated work even differ greatly from other styles that use the same design choice.

But whatever. You obviously don't think it's as retarded as I do, and no matter what conscious decision went into making that choice, I always think it looks bad, even on something like Rayman that is very well done otherwise if it weren't for that one grating detail.

I'd like a mix of both. One of my favorite pictures of Sonic's concept art is that one where he has all those expressions, even the crying one, and they all look so good on him. I wish Uewaka's more "cool" design would be more expressive. All the personalities have really suffered in the new games, except Robotnik's in Colors, probably because my ideal Robotnik (In Japanese SegaSonic) is a charismatic dictator though.

Edit: Ew, Night of the Warehog. That was pure eye sodomy, I think they need to tone done the goofy aspect a bit. I found watching Chip's behavior in Unleashed truly obnoxious, NotW seems to focus more on said obnoxious behavior.

It would probably look better if toned down. More expressive is one thing, but whatever the hell NotW was is another, that looked more reminiscent of AoStH than anything, and that is just too much.

I should find that NostalgiaCritic video where the man tears AoStH apart. I rather enjoyed that.

 

Night of the Werehog is awesome. It's everything Sonic should be in terms of humor, especially the bit about facial expressions.

and all NostalgiaCritic did was bitch and moan about how AoStH wasn't some epic super story. + - Pumpkin hands are a power up in the 20th Anniversary game  

 

Okay, before, you were on the edge of being mildly bothersome on this subject, but this... What is this? Now I certainly don't agree here. That is a style choice if anything. Hell, look at most of the hands on the characters in the Rayman series. They NEVER have five fingers, in fact, most of them have three. I want to know what this bullshit is.

 

Who cares. It's freaking fingers, guys. And on characters not related to Sonic whatsoever, no less.

After my choice for Oshima Sonic, this is my second choice. Sonic is so lovable in this short, and he's full of personality and life. As long as they continue the CG cutscenes, I wanna see Sega use the stretch, squash, and overexaggerated effects on Sonic and co.

 

You think that's funny?

Which I agree with. And he wasn't bitching about how it wasn't a super-story, he was bitching about how it wasn't even a story, like, at all, and how there are moments when it flat-out doesn't make sense to its own logic. (I.E. why Tails doesn't just fly in that cage scene.)

Oh god forbid someone can give a shit about a blue cartoon hedgehog making sense! That's just blasphemy! Newsflash, if it weren't for making far-fetched concepts make sense in some logical form or another, fantasy writers would have no jobs.

Not all style choices are good, and even if they are good in some cases, they aren't good all the time on everything, certainly not on Sonic. Sometime ago, Vantoggle gave the example that Bugs Bunny had a finger lobbed off to accommodate his massive hands, but why was it done on Sonic in the American media? Sonic was designed with the intent of five digits, there was no reason to take one away. (Oh, other than lazy animators.)

And there are plenty of cartoons where characters have smaller hands that can accommodate 5 digits, but don't, either because of budget or taking shortcuts, or "Because it's traditional."

 

Yes I do think it's funny. It was very enjoyable to watch. You don't have a problem with someone liking something different from you, do you?

 

What's this animosity towards Chip? I know some people dislike that he's this Navi-sort of NPC that commits the mortal sin of talking to you to give you tips or something, but in spite of that, he's quite a charming little character. I never would've thought SEGA could actually introduce a new character after Silver that wouldn't make me want to take a sledgehammer to my nuts. He's lively, refreshing, exhibits a healthy personality and range of emotions, develops a good rapport with the titular main character, and his voice isn't even half as annoying as, let's say, Jet the Hawk. As a cartoon, and at least relative to Sonic characters, he's actually isn't all that bad. I guess people became allergic to new Sonic characters, especially if they resemble Omochao or Navi.

Oh, and Night of the Werehog was great. It had the virtue of not being ruined by too much talking or story. And being very well animated. I don't think I've ever liked Sonic more. I'd really like to see a movie like that, or another voiceless skit at least. That reminds me, the skits in Unleashed with Chip were amusing and a nice reflection of the World Adventure.

 

No, but I don't want it to be the mainstream of something that I do like.

I don't like Chip because he outshines Tails in every way in Unleashed and he just annoys me. I don't like stretch-and-squash animation at all, I think it looks ridiculous. Chip stood out too far with some of his actions, such as becomming frightened and fainting with his ghost floating up in the air. What the hell was that? I don't want to see that shit in Sonic.

I'm all for adding new characters to Sonic as long as they're interesting... And yes, Jet's voice was annoying.

Let me state what I thought was more obvious: I have no problem with anyone liking the common goofy animation shown in a lot of Western content but the thing is, I don't, and I don't like the idea of it in Sonic, and I'd like to defend that viewpoint.

Whether some people like it or not, not all of us got into Sonic fandom because of the goofy shit like AoStH. There are a lot of people who became interested because of SatAM, the comics, and even some of the more serious modern games. It isn't all about the lighthearted goofy side of the fandom, although this is hard for some people to accept.

 

Vulpino, the Animators of Danny Phantom made it a point to give him five fingers. Just saying.

I can see where you were going with the whole four-fingered argument, but I mean, come on. It's not a big deal is it? There's one thing if it's mocking it for budget saving measures and another for stylistic choice in the case of Rayman.

Also, AoSTH was supposed to make sense? Uh, hey, it's a children's comedy cartoon. That unfunny bastard Nostalgia Critic can tear into it all he likes, just makes him look like an even bigger moron than he already is.

 

Actually they do look alike...subconscious maybe? I was trying to make him look like something that would fit in sonic universe instead of a live action movie.

----
Supposedly the NC didn't hate Aosth per-say, even described it as “a show so lucid they had to pause and rewind while screening at times because they were laughing so hard.” He and his brother just thought it wasn't good from a critical point of view.

 

I got a completely different impression from how he's talking about it. Not to mention how he praises SatAM.

Well like I said earlier, it wouldn't be so grating if it weren't fucking everywhere. Even in places it doesn't belong.

Anyway my point was that it doesn't belong on Sonic. That design posted where they're lacking a finger really doesn't need to have one taken off.

And yes, this is a very big deal to me. So is pure-black eyes, actually. It doesn't matter to me what color Sonic's iris is (bar black), as long as he has one.

Well, I tend to think brown would be a bad choice for an eye color because it's so common and looks very plain but otherwise, pick a color, any color. The cyan eye idea a few pages back looked good to me.

 

I can see Sonic having an epic storyline. I can see Sonic and co. being rather serious. However if you come to tell me that Sonic and co. shouldn't also act like and be cartoon characters then I am officially dumbfounded. There are several different cartoony characters that are lighthearted in personality but take part in serious situations and actions. Take the comic series Bone by Jeff Smith. It covers both aspects rather well and give the characters and stories lots of depth, while retaining the cheerful mannerisms of a set of cartoon characters.

Also, this whole argument is ridiculous and petty. When can I see more awesome ways to design Sonic?

 

Agreed

Has the Sonic Paradox collab been mentioned yet?

One that didn't get in for some reason.


http://z14.invisionfree.com/Sonic_Paradox/...c=2278&st=0

 

It got popular reception in the positives (for the most part), so I think it'd be a favorable decision on SEGAs part.

 

You know, maybe it's just me, but am I the only one who has a hard time understanding why people want to make a game about a talking blue hedgehog that wears sneakers, eats chili dogs, and fights a fat man obsessed with eggs into a serious drama. I mean, sure, the classic games had bits of drama in them, like the Hidden Palace scene in S3&K, but for the most part, playing the classic Sonic games were basically like playing a Road Runner cartoon where the coyote had better technology.

I mean, sure, I suppose I could see how some of the fans would want the franchises you grew up with to grow up with you. But you still can't make games about anthropomoprhic hedgehogs serious, and we've seen what happens when they try.

The way I see it, pretty much every Sonic should go the Colors/Night of the Werehog route and never look back. I'd say that Sega could try doing what Capcom did and do a Mega Man/Mega Man X thing, but they'd probably screw that up horrifically.

 

It's a nice idea that could work. The Un-gravitify theme for Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity paints me a picture of a really awesome dark cyberpunk Saturday-morning take of Sonic the Hedgehog, where Sonic still has a cocky defiant attitude about fat evil scientists with power, but he's also a greasemonkey who's good with building planes or new shoes for himself and has an eye for fashion. Tails would be his brother and partner-in-crime, Knuckles could just be an orphaned vigilante with an exceedingly cold outlook and reclusive lifestyle (Rorschach!) and Amy would be a sassy cut-purse with a less-than-obvious crush on the main character. So, it's like SatAM, only better.

It's just another idea I could see SEGA ruining, but perhaps a third party can do some justice to the idea as well as to the franchise in the future. In the meantime, I like where Colors is going, and I wouldn't mind something a little more like Unleashed without the recycling of the ancient godbeast menace and preferrably without the Werehog.

By the way, should we ever even expect the Werehog to be back? Who was it that said a while ago something about the Werehog possibly making a comeback?