Sonic the Hedgehog Cinematic Universe (now with open spoilers)

I wouldn't really call him plot important in SA2, he only joins the group roughly halfway into the game and then quickly ditches them to do his own thing again.

Like sure, he's definitely not as relevant in later games, that can't be argued. But treating him as this deep, introspective character just kind of runs counter to how he's been portrayed.

Fans are always going to read deeper into something than the average Joe, but its somewhat amusing watching these video essays talking about how dynamic and full of depth Knuckles was and pretending he was just entirely humorless. In the same games where Rouge chokes him out, he nearly kills everyone on board a shuttle, and freaks out at the idea of ghosts.

The dissonance is amusing

 

I never said he was humourless... I said the humour is different. The sort of Flanderization of him to the point where he doesn't know his left from his right unless he looks at his hands.

I also never said he's deep or introspective... its a Sonic the Hedgehog game storyline?

I just think he was treated differently than he has been and it's nice that the movie is not going into the Boom/Lost World comedy that the series has gone into.
Though I didn't realise how that opinion is amusing... but I'll sit and think on that.

 

The English VA in Age of Calamity is pretty good I think. But then I'm weird because i think the plot of AOC is better than BoTW.

 

The Knuckles in Forces is... I don't know. The line about War is straight out of MGS type game, but he's still clearly acting like a "dude". Compare that to his Adventure or even Adventure 2 appearances - he was serious, yet gullible and comical at times. That's Knuckles I remember and the Knuckles I want to see again

The problem with current characterisation is that almost every character is a parody of itself. Everybody is obnoxious and annoying.

I like movie Sonic thought. He's like a kid who learns about world, curious, determined and wants to be accepted. Ben Schwartz is doing a phenomenal job as his VA.

To be honest every VA has given traits to Sonic in past games:

- Drummond!Sonic is cool dude, but rude Sonic. A bit cheesy, but overall he has a big heart and wants to be free, like the wind.

- Griffith!Sonic is the more serious one, but very caring. I'd say he's really playful and gentle to others - and that's what makes him cool.

-Smith!Sonic is the snarky, annoying one who delivers unfunny one liners. I can't find anything cool about him to be honest. I suppose I can see why Eggman Hates him so much.

I really want to see how Ben would have voiced Sonic in some games. He seems like a good mix between all three Sonic's I've pointed up earlier.

 

What about Vegeta the Hedgehog? Clearly, this is the direction he was heading before the 2006 chaos.

I'm going to wait and see how they attend to the character. I don't want him to be super serious, nor overly naive. Robotnik is the first outside encounter he's had, so that's understandable for him to be fooled, though I'm curious where that evil line is going to be, since if he says it aloud near Knuckles, and Knuckles still works with him...

 

I wasn't referring to you specifically, just the general statements I see when it comes to Knuckles.

The Flanderization stuff was sort of the logical conclusion of him just being portrayed as naive and constantly being tricked, at some point people were starting to question his intelligence. Combined with the fact that the writers seemingly just lost interest in him as they couldn't really think of any use for him besides just getting tricked to fight Sonic or just making him another ally.

I suppose since Knuckles canonically just stays on Angel Island all of the time, there's not much writers can do without addressing that and even Ian Flynn has expressed frustration at how limited Knuckles is.


The Movie version might have the benefit of not being confined to an island all of the time, and can be much more flexible in use.

 

Why do people type like this? Google isn't being helpful

 

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/!:

 

https://twitter.com/SonicMovie/status/1496122710530920454?s=20&t=1rL6AHymFQe16YuXXFRtWA
https://twitter.com/SonicMovie/status/1496122773542158338?s=20&t=1rL6AHymFQe16YuXXFRtWA
https://twitter.com/SonicMovie/status/1496122823739383808?s=20&t=1rL6AHymFQe16YuXXFRtWA

Character posters for Team Sonic, with Tails' (expectedly, but no less pleasantly) crediting Colleen. The cynic in me wonders if these were created to quell the backlash of Colleen not appearing on the previous poster, but I'll try not to dwell on it and instead be happy that she's got a poster of her own and hope that she'll get billing in the next one.

 

Really hoping it was because of the backlash. Not that 'oh let's keep annoying the director to get her on the poster'.. because I think we should be more aware that isn't in his control... but the genuine feedback of giving something to Colleen recognition for her work which this accomplishes.

Could have easily just been Sonic, Knuckles and Eggman.

Also Tails really shines in this poster, I dunno if its just the colours being gold really makes it stand out. Certainly makes me happy the main three have that primary colour (ish) really looks good together.

 

Hmm...
considering voice actors as in the case of sonic:

Humphrey!Shadow - He is calculated in his actions, but also very calm. Although he is driven by revenge, I cannot say that he is aggressive - Humphrey gives him some form of pathos and dignity. When he had amnesia, he was also very calm and non-aggresive.

Griffith!Shadow - His Shadow is also calm and calculated - but in my opinion, there is no edgelord here yet that everyone made fun of around 2005. Shadow Griffith has Sonic-like qualities, he is heroic and cares about his friends (probably because... you know, the same actor voices him ). He definitely sounds more mature than Humphrey - and that is a good reflection in games where the black hedgehog has just come to terms with the past and matured.

Kirk!Shadow -Ho boy, here we go ... Like you mentioned - she acts like Vegeta, but like Vegeta in the middle of Cell Saga.
Only here can you speak of a real Edgelord, how Kirk chants his statements and even draws his words ... it's like a parody of Griffith! Shadow!

Anyway, if Shadow ever makes it to the movies, the best version would be Griffith!Shadow. Calm and calculated, fixated on revenge - yet, caring deep inside. Please, keep away Kirk!Shadow as far as possible from the movies.

 

I expect that these posters already existed and were in the pipeline long before the other ones came out. I'm sure I've seen character specific posters like this before, crediting actors that aren't credited in the ensemble pieces. Either way, these are really nice looking posters and due credit is always good.

 

Highly doubtful.

This is the only good Shadow voice and then he got robbed when the 4KIDS voices came in for Shadow.

 

Eh, I think his portrayal suffers from SEGA's insistence that he be a Vegeta pastiche, so he's not really gotten a script that does him justice yet. I still think Humphrey's the best of the three and would love for him to be called back to the role (likewise Scott Drier for Knuckles), but I do feel that Thornton gets an unfair rap due to his time in the role coinciding with when Shadow was made really shit as a character.

 

To be honest, I prefer Griffith Shadow and Drummond Sonic (the combination that You can hear in Sonic & Tails R).
Humphrey is also good, I remember him being in "Press Start Adventures", back when That Guy With The Glasses was... well... good and not controversial.

 

Whenever I think about Sonic and Shadow talking, my mind usually defaults to Griffith for both of them, though occasionally Roger's Sonic and Humphrey's Shadow sometimes pop up too. I guess a part of it is because Griffith has been in a lot of games, but I do like his take on both characters. I think Forte hit the nail on the head about the voices. I was pretty bummed when Griffith got replaced since he was getting a lot better, especially in Black Knight. Despite that though, I can't say I've had any major problems with the voice acting overall from Adventure to now, at least, from what I can remember.

 

Forces showed that Thornton can in fact do a good Shadow, but because he had such a small role in that game and its completely overshadowed by everything else wrong with it, nobody really comments on it.

I agree, I think all of the current voice actors get an extremely unfair reputation for things outside of their own control; the scripts for the series have definitely gotten worse, but its mostly fans who are nostalgic for their own specific favorite voice actor and take that frustration out on the actors.

They could literally give an A+ performance and fans will still find something to nitpick about simply because its not the voice they associate with the characters.


But, its nothing really new under the sun; the 4kids actors got the same type of shit when they came in, and still do to this day to an extent, the only difference is that the kids who grew up with the 4kids actors are old enough to speak up and defend them now. We'll probably see the same happen with the Studiopolis cast eventually if they're ever replaced.




For my part, I mostly judge the quality of the acting itself. And Sonic voice acting has never been particularly stellar; no I don't care that I grew up with Drummond or Griffith, they've both had naff performances every now and then too and I'm gonna judge them on that. I think Roger has the advantage of being the longest-standing actor, so he's had much more time to get comfortable in the role and make it his own. If only the same was true for everyone else....at least Knuckles and Shadow.

 

Yeah, I was one of those kids that grew up on the 4Kids voice cast, but I can’t say I ever felt much nostalgia for them. Not to say that they weren’t any good (I mean we still have Mike Pollock in the role of Eggman almost two decades later), but I certainly feel that my opinions on the voice performances are influenced more by those performances themselves rather than which cast I happened to grow up with.

 

My personal pick to voice Shadow would be Jaleel White. I just think it would be so cool to give him a role in the Sonic movie series

 

Something interesting that I think is relevant, apparently, Idris Elba is going to start focusing more on making music than acting: Link to Article

Wonder what this means for the Knuckles spin-off. No doubt they'd find someone else to voice him that sounds like the guy, but the question is who.