I think it's interesting that in the Dreamcast version of Sonic Adventure 1 and in every version of Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic's eyelids were a light tan color similar to his stomach. But when the GameCube version of Sonic Adventure 1 was created, Sonic Team changed Sonic's eyelids to blue. Then with the Sonic Advance games, both Sonic and Amy Rose had the light tan color for their eyelids in Sonic Advance 1 and 2, but it was changed in Sonic Advance 3: [LiNK: Sonic Advance Sprite Sheets] [LiNK: Sonic Advance 2 Sprite Sheets] [LiNK: Sonic Advance 3 Sprite Sheets] So in 2003, it seems like that was the time period where Sonic Team decided to make his eyelids blue instead of tan color. So what I wonder is...why was it changed? Does anybody here know the official reason why they changed the eyelid color for Sonic's modern design?
Well our eyelids are the same color as the rest of our body so I guess it’s just to match withe the blue. Although that’d mean his eyelids have fur...but in the movies his mouth area and stomach are also furry...so ya probably just to match his predominantly blue body. I guess I prefer blue. Makes the most sense.
If I recall the assumption in 2003 was that this was to be accurate to Sonic X which had them as blue. A lot of the 90’s western art and the cartoons had them as blue as well.
I have no clue. Since they were expanding the cast, they probably thought they make him look like a weirdo next to other characters. NGL, that looked kinda cool to me. Guess the slapstick nature of these early designs was not suited for Sonic's in-game appearance.
As far as I remember, Sonic X was the first project actually released featuring the blue eyelids, and every game after that launched followed suit. Quite when the decision was actually taken is another matter, as the development of Sonic Advance 2, Sonic Heroes, Sonic Adventure DX and the Sonic X series all had quite a bit of overlap. We know, for example, that Cream was conceptualised for Sonic Heroes first, but was used in the earlier-released Sonic Advance 2 to give the audience some introduction to the character before she showed up as part of Team Rose in the later game. Sonic Advance 2 still has tan eyelids for Sonic (and Amy), so does this mean the blue eyelids weren't planned for Heroes from the beginning? Cream's eyelids also differ in colour in this game, being the same peach as her main fur rather than matching her orange markings as in Sonic X onwards, so wherever the change originated it definitely seems to have been a conscious decision across all of the main cast, including the newest addition. Interestingly, she does have her final colour of eyelids in Sonic X, even in the first pilot, which seems to have been produced early enough in her character's overall development that Cheese still didn't have an actual name! The first console game to include the change is Sonic Adventure DX, and the first handheld game is Sonic Battle. Now, Knuckles' eyelids is where things get more complicated. Prior to Sonic Adventure they were tan, but the 1998 game changed them to red. Sonic Adventure 2 reverted them back to tan again, but Sonic Advance and Sonic Advance 2 ignored this and stuck with Sonic Adventure's depiction (with red eyelids for Knuckles but tan eyelids for Sonic and Amy). Then the removal of tan eyelids from the rest of the cast from Sonic X onwards meant they were consistently depicted as red from that point onwards. Phew!
Can I vote for "tan but also I don't care"? I genuinely think he looks better with tan eyelids, and it's one of the many minor changes/refinements that I'd make to spruce up his design. With Sonic already having tan a tan belly and arms, it works well for his colour balancing. But it's the most minor of things, and the blue eyelids certainly don't look bad. There are several other things I would change about his facial structure before touching even touching the colours.
Personally I don't care either way. It's a very negligible element of Sonic's design since for the most part you're gonna see him with his eyes open. If I had to have a preference I suppose it would be the tan eyelids since it just brings a little bit more color variation in his design. I have also seen some depictions (I think primarily the movies?) where the top lid is blue and the bottom lid is tan which I think is a decent compromise.
It barely matters but there is a slightly interesting point - if they followed through with the "Sonic sneezes when he senses danger" thing, the change would have been a lot more obvious. Case in point I hadn't noticed this inconsistency with Knuckles. I'm almost tempted to go hunting to see who else has these issues. One could argue it was a little odd that it was changed - when you load up Sonic 1, you see Sonic's eyelids front and centre of the screen - before his shoes!
this is the way to do it, this is why Sonic the Fighters is so funny and is the most expressive these characters have ever been
I prefer tan eyelids because it more clearly differentiates it from his eye brows, especially at a distance. I always assumed that they made his eyelids blue so that they would be read as eyebrows, because the eyelids would be easier to animate and they could just leave the brows stuck in a permanent expression. I didnt know about the sonic x thing though, that does make me reconsider.
Tails always had primary-color eyelids so Sonic having blue eyelids could've just been for consistency's sake. It might've been some weird marketing logic too, giving the popular blue character even more blue. I still think skin-colored eyelids would balance out his palette but the guy's barely emoted the past 20 years so it's more of a potential issue than a real one anyway. Not having proper eyelids at all like in Fighters' case always looks wrong to me though. Yeah nah tan's the best.
The blue eyelids were around before 2003. This artwork was being used in locations and merch The Japanese SA2 commercial has an animation where his eyelids are blue as well. There's even a SA era artwork where they kept them white Which brings me to my next point, I just think they were all over the place and made the decision to keep them blue as they were collaborating with TMS on Sonic X. I also have the suspicion that Uekawa preferred them blue since that laughing Sonic above doesn't seem like one of his. It feels more like it came from Oshima or Okano. Though it seems Classic Sonic kept his tan eyelids.
I prefer the tan. I think it makes him more of a cuddly character, the arm, belly, muzzle, and eye lid colour give close compliments to the blue.
Going to go against the grain here and throw my support behind blue. I think the tan eye lids break up the colour shapes of Sonic in odd ways, especially when Sonic has his eyes half-closed. The shapes become noisier with the tan eyelids where you have the tan of his muzzle, the white of his eyes and then the blue of the rest of the head but with these tan patches in the middle. In theory this colour breakage would be suited for nuanced expressions, but Sonic’s design is so bold and simple that he’s not really made for nuance anyway. I do think the tan can look good in some circumstances, particularly with the classic design, but I’d hard pressed to identify a situation where I don’t think blue does it better.
