I recall us all being very surprised by how it all came out of nowhere so, no, I don't think there was an official announcement of an announcement. Closest thing I can remember was one of the community mouthpieces (I believe Aaron) telling us to sit tight back during 2020 following the cancellation of SXSW and that they were working on a new format of delivery that they really wanted to get right, that of course being Sonic Central.
Sonic Prime footage reveal at 1:48. I love Sonic’s voice, he sounds in between Roger Craig Smith and Jaleel White Edit: Apparently that’s not roger voicing sonic. I just wanna clarify that my comment was not a dig at roger. I thought it was him but with different direction Edit mark II: This also isn’t a knock against the new voice actor. I stand by my initial comment liking the voice. I just don’t want anyone to misinterpret me complimenting the new VA as putting down anyone else.
The voice isn't necessarily bad, but man...it feels odd and wrong for us to have a third concurrent voice actor for Sonic in this day and age. I know Sonic X did this too but they ended up bringing that voice cast into the games anyway so I'd argue it at least ended up having cohesion. Only other thing to talk about here is art style and animation. The latter of which is a mixed bag - I appreciate how snappy Sonic's movements when he's emoting, but that shot of him running feels somewhat lifeless. I think part of it is that I personally feel the peelout doesn't really work that well in 3D. Smash Bros. doesn't do too badly with it because it melds the abstract figure 8 shape with actual leg movements on Sonic's part, whereas this show, like Lost World, seems to be leaning right into the abstract shape. I don't think it helps that Sonic's posing is a little stiff in this shot as well. His are thrown backwards but his back is straight with little leaning into the motion. He doesn't look like he's putting in all that much effort or going nearly as fast as the peelout feels in the games. Maybe I'm just nitpicking. At any rate, this isn't really an ideal first showing for the series - Boom got a much better preview with an action scene and a tease of the brand of comedy it was going for. Hopefully we get a more focused look at Prime soon.
Wild guess but maybe this new voice of Sonic was meant to replace Roger? But maybe that decision was reversed and the new voice actor will just voice Sonic in Prime. Anyway, I like this new voice more than Roger and Ben so far, but the animation isn't great.
I think it looks decent but I'm going to need to see a lot more to form an opinion. Animation at least seems to have some flair.
Gonna be so weird hearing someone else voice Eggman other than Pollock. As for Sonic, yeah he does sound like Roger which is kind of a shame. I guess that short clip looks okay. I like that Sonic's feet are animated in the "figure of eight" when he's running.
I like what I heard. The voice sounds like a mix between Roger and Drummond. It's no secret, that I'm not a fan of the current Sonic voice direction, so I'm looking forward to seeing more clips. Also the CGI is not bad, but feels... Plastic? Maybe it's still not fully finished yet?
I keep forgetting that this is a Netflix thing, not Amazon Prime lol I like this shot, I've missed Sonic having this kinda shit-eating smug smirk this series is going to be insanely popular with kids I think
Are the video game Sonic voice cast in SAG? I recall Peter Cullen stating that he did not voice Optimus Prime in the netflix Transformers shows because netflix only uses non-union VAs. It’s possible the conflict had to do with the voice cast being asked to do non-union work and (rightfully) refusing. Tbc tho I have no idea how the industry actually works. I welcome insights and corrections from others. You just made me realize why the new Sonic VA gave me Jaleel White vibes (in a good way): this Sonic has real attitude. (Or at least it seems like he does from the brief clip) I will be honest I grew up with SATAM and Flynn-era Archie so all of this is very welcome to me. I like the interpretation of Sonic we are getting in the movies and the IDW comic... but my first impression of prime is that this is aligning with my preferences. Again it’s too soon to say for sure... but now I’m real excited for this.
The CG looks at least 15 years out of date. Should we be seeing ray-traced reflections in this ring?? Get Alex Battaglia on the line
From what I saw, I thought Sonic's model was ugly. I thought the concept art looked fantastic. It's too bad 2D animation is somewhat out of style.
Brian Drummond being part of a Sonic voice cast (or any voice cast in 2022, for that matter) is not something I ever would’ve seen coming.
I think the animation is pretty good. I like how cartoony it is, especially compared to something like boom that had stiff, mostly lifeless animation (Not ripping on boom, love that show, the animation is just subpar). You can't expect pixar quality 3d animation from a TV series, and by tv show standards, again, I think this looks really good from what I've seen. Not a fan of sonic's new VA though. Maybe I'm just not used to him but he just does not sound appealing to me.
