The tan eyelids look better when he has actual eyelashes instead of weird eyelips like in Forces' case.
I mean Sonic should just have eyelashes in general. Adventure executed that perfectly, doesn't need to look feminine or anything.
This is the perfect descriptor. Fuck I hate it so much. It's not a modern thing or a classic thing or whatever. It's just a "please SEGA get yourself a new art team and give them all the money they need" thing. Cause tan or blue, these eyelids are bad!
Both the eyelashes and the "eyelips" look bad TBH. He should should just have simple cartoony eyelids without such details. Spoiler
I added white eyelids to the poll. I have it set to where people can change their vote. If someone prefers white eyelids that previously voted for one of the three original options, they can change their vote. Just added purple eyelids to the poll.
I guess I prefer blue for consistency's sake, though it doesn't truly matter to me. Apparently, one of the sprites in Sonic 2 shifted from white to tan during development, while another shifted from blue to tan. Tails seems to use orange eyelids throughout, though.
Most furry animals have fur over their eyelids... Since the fur around a hedgehog's face isn't the same color as its spines, it would make sense if Sonic's eyelids were just the same color as his muzzle.
The blue looks more natural from a character design perspective but they were tan when I was a kid and the franchise was in its golden age so I prefer them that way
Tan is stronger from a color blocking point of view, and i think thats best exemplified in the advance sprites. seems battle is the earliest game to change it
So I went on that a hunt (though for Sonic, not Knuckles) - turns out it's never been particularly consistent. The second Sonic game, Sonic Eraser, has white eyelids, but maybe we can let that slide because Eraser's graphics are awful. That takes us to 1993 with the release of Sonic Spinball. This happens mere seconds into the game: blue (wait), then tan most of the other animations are tan, and then when Sonic gets an emerald: right in your face, blue again. which obviously means Sonic's eyelids didn't change colour, he just has two sets. Obviously. I haven't checked every game, but Sonic Advance 1 and 2 have tan eyelids. Sonic Advance 3, however has blue... except for in that bottom row. https://www.spriters-resource.com/game_boy_advance/sonicadv3/sheet/7143/ 2003/2004 is when most media made the switch from tan to blue, but there are some exceptions - they're blue in Sonic Xtreme, for example (and the comics... and TV shows). But I think in those cases, it's Americans (and British) getting it wrong. And as an aside, there's a few games like Sonic (3D) Blast where Sonic doesn't close his eyes at all.
Did that bottom row of sprites actually get used in Advance 3? They originate from the last story cutscene in Advance 2 where Vanilla's re-kidnapped and Sonic's too late to save her.
Oh, so he's like an eagle. More evidence for those bird lore fanatics! That is very weird, though. I haven't checked yet but did Spinball have two artists working on Sonic's sprites? That could explain the weird inconsistencies since I can see five artists in the credits
After 30 years of Sonic the Hedgehog, I've learned that there is no right/wrong. There ... just is. Sonic's design is literally a roll of the dice in various media. Edit: I take it back. Sonic movie's original design was wrong.
...I swear, the SatAM concept art is truly the "original movie Sonic design" of its time. Spoiler And I could argue that so was the final SatAM Robotnik design
