I thought Bruce Lee did it first? I'm sure I remember him doing such a thing in some well known movie. The team behind the game must have taken it from somewhere, seeing how there's a good reason for every other aspect of Sonic's design.
Wow. I searched "sonic finger wave" and this was literally the second result. I guess we know what to ask Takashi Iizuka at next year's SoS! Or Yuji Naka, but he doesn't go to that or Sonic Boom, does he?
You'd be better off asking Oshima anyway, since he actually designed Sonic. Naka just did programming and production, while Iizuka didn't even join Sonic Team until Sonic 3.
Every other aspect? Then what was the reason for having Sonic blue other than the fact it looked cool? This is my point Sonic was about being cool and this was his own cool statement, just like people crossing their arms for a cool pose.
Possibly true - http://youtu.be/6D9h-4vQUHM @ 2:30 Santa gave him his red & white sneaks @ 3:55 When it comes to logos you definitely take into account certain characteristics the company wants to represent, I make logos and do this too, so I can only assume when creating a mascot for a company they want the mascot to represent the company for certain reasons. Kind of like they built Sonic from many different meanings and ideas. Also probably why Sonic got a makeover in the USA when first localized in the Genesis days. If the finger wave plays into this as well though, I don't know
And yet in many ways both Sonic the icon himself and the 90s Sega marketing strategy (at least in the US) are very closely related to Pepsi's ad strategies: first the logo, and second the dominance over Coke during the introduction of the "Pepsi Challenge" in ads. EDIT: And amusingly the redesigned Pepsi logo sure looks a lot like the early-to-mid 2000s smile:
I've always seen him waving his finger as sort of an "Nah-ah-ah~!" or "Tsk Tsk" kind of approach, as if he's trying to tell someone he's not gonna stand for that; to compliment his freedom fighter attitude, kind of like what Bystander's saying.
If Sonic made the shocker with his hand on the title screen of the newest Sonic game, I would so buy it.
Wait, yeah – maybe the finger/hand-waving was just a reference to GIANT SPORTS (albeit not sex) HAND.
SONIC'S NUM-BURRR ONE! SONIC'S NUM-BURRR ONE! Et cetera. Could be another misguided appropriation of Western Culture™ as seen from the East -- usually crassly filtered by television. Sporting events (which the States are so fond of) could've informed this.
I think the whole "I'm number 1" thing could have some truth to it, a sort of "fuck you Mario" thing.
Surely discussing a design decision that remains an integral and defining part of Sonic's character is better than asking what '06 would have been like if it had been "finished", or discussing the possibility of Sonic Adventure 3.
Besides which, eyelids and shoes have been done to death. :v: I think it was an innocent enough question to begin with. But all we can do is speculate until we get proof, or discuss. And the be honest, discussion was going rather well for an average Retro thread.
I've always taken it to be a kind of "tsk tsk, you can't catch me" gesture. It's the "no, you should know better" gesture and in this case I think he's saying anyone is silly for thinking they can keep up with him.
Oh, the humanity! On a more serious note, I've never really bothered to question his finger wave. If I had to, I'd guess it's just part of his "attitude". I quoted that because it's really only in the TV shows that Sonic's ever impatient (Well, except for the idle animations, but that's usually only in 2D games. I know in Generations, Modern Sonic would start sleeping a la Mario 64.)
