The Great Sonic Characterization Debate!
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- čas přidán 25. 08. 2024
- There are a lot of fun topics to talk about in the Sonic fandom. This isn’t one of them… so let’s talk about it!
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#sonicthehedgehog #videoessay #characteranalysis
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Unleashed honestly feels like my cup of tea for Sonic’s character. He’s still snarky and competitive, not overly stoic like ‘06, but he’s serious when he needs to be and, best yet, he actually has moments of weakness, vulnerability, and growth. I wish that game’s characterization came around more. For me it was the perfect mix of the confident and fearless badass of the Adventure era and the more vulnerable and dynamic character of the movies/Prime.
Sonic Prime isn't even American but that show was pretty creative.
Yes
Good analysis! I’m honestly sick of people saying that Sonic needs to be one way or the other when he can be both.
@@Calmoose415 You can blame Sega for the constant character changes.
I'we watched a lot of Sonic media recently (games etc, movies, prime and so on). And just talking about Sonic in games, he is rather inconsistent, yes, but is normal when a character is managed by a team and not a single person. Everybody has a different interpretation of a character. Adventure Sonic for example is more mysterious and whimsical. Unleashed Sonic is more well balanced and calm. Frontiers Sonic is more wise and a bit sad. I saw some comics from those who talk about the 'true sonic' and even their interpretation fell different from the one of the game.
The one consistent thing that never change is his kind heart and courage.
That's not just Sonic but also the other characters of the serie are inconsistent.
What the hell NOT EVEN 500 SUBS This is so good tho 😢…
I'm glad you enjoyed it! I'm gonna try to get more videos out soon, so stay tuned :D
Nice video!, also similar to another franchise who has a adaptation, hilda, hilda from the show is different from the comics and i like hilda from the show better from the comics but that why that is our choice to love a version of a character.
Sonic isn't one consistent character. There are so many versions of him because the games are not set in a single "canon". All we can do is appreciate the versions of him we like the most.
Also, cool video!
Exactly! It's all just personal preferences at the end of the day.
Technically i think sega tried to tie together some of the games, at least the major ones. In Frontiers there were a few lines mentioning other characters like Babylon Rogues (from Sonic riders series), IDW comic characters and some locations like Angel island (which has been in multiple games at this point as well). So if luck has it, maybe Sonic Team will be able to come up with some kind of consistent narrative and world for Sonic in future games
american sonic is peak. Greg Martin makes sonic look like the coolest mother fcker off all time. He has this harsh blue, with this spray paint sort of gradient shading. He is super loose. A short stature, with short but flexible limbs. A
Found your channel through the powerpuff girls video and was pleasantly surprised to see Sonic content! Really refreshing to see an opinion not overdramatized or unnecessary hateful towards the blue blur. Definitely want to hear your opinions on Sonic IDW Comis, i feel like they taken a very new and engaging story and characters (who were also teased in Sonic Frontiers story so maybe idw will become a future game too? Fingers crossed).
As for my personal take, Movie Sonic is not really for me but i see why they decided on that arc for him and i see him as more of a cute version. Having grown up with mostly 2000s games (Favourite game being Sonic Unleashed, plus having suffered through Sonic 06 nothing can get to me anymore XD), Movie Sonic is a good alternative character for the movie series and im glad he got popular with the new generation of kids.
I think i really started disliking Sonic's modern character with the drop of Sonic Colours story, the game by itself is stunning, however the story left a foul taste when i saw it for the first time. 2010s never really stuck and Sonic seemed to have lost his spark for me. With the fiasco of Sonic Forces I basically gave up on following with the updates. A good surprise were the IDW comics, but games were in a limbo zone for awhile. Haven't picked up Sonic Frontiers yet for myself, but heard that the game is pretty good, so hopefully future will continue to get brighter for the Blue Blur
6:41 He inspires Knuckles in the 2nd movie. He tells Knuckles he can get a new family and he doesn't have to do stuff all alone anymore but honestly I forgot what he told Tails in the movie cuz he didn't get enough screentime.
it was more his actions that inspired Tails. Being weird and making a home for himself on Earth is what inspired Tails to join him on is mission
In my opinion, I feel like sonic should be more of a symbol of the best person you can be, instead of JUST a character. His "Christ like" way of being is his appeal to me because it reminds me that I can always be better
And that's totally fine with me! I can definitely see why some people prefer the way he's characterized in the games, even if it's not my cup of tea. Just as long as we can keep the conversation civil and all that ^_^
@@anoobdissectsbut that's how he was intended by his creators. He was never meant to just be a "cocky blue hedgehog." For a static character, people over simplify him.
Hi.
Interesting that somebody who laughs at the thought of fans discussing Sonic’s characterization, proceeds to scoff at the thought of Sonic being represented by the wind, but okay.
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Can I get some further clarification on these quotes, I’ll explain why as well.
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"And of course the wind symbolism that I've gradually come to scoff at any time it's mentioned."
Why?
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“I’m failing to see when the games became the end all be all of Sonic’s Characterization in the first place.”
The simple answer is that Sonic began as a video game character, so of course the video games will be the primary source of who he is and what he should act like. Is there an alternative way somebody should be looking at that?
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“Sonic as a character has literally never been portrayed consistently throughout the entire franchise.” “He’s had plenty of highs and lows… but it still doesn't change the fact that the game Sonic is incredibly inconsistent.”
You failed to give any examples of this. As it is, it’s a baseless statement. I know what other people would say about this, but I don’t know what YOU would say.
I will note that any time somebody points to how Sonic is “supposed:” to be they will almost always section off the years. So the source they pull from for “Real Sonic” tends to be from 1998-2009 so that would be Sonic Adventure up to Sonic and the Black Knight.
Everything after 2010 is mostly shunned as a false representation of Sonic.
There’s ABSOLUTELY tons of games where Sonic acts incorrectly in everything 2010 and up. Do you have any examples of 98-09 Sonic acting differently from the other?
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“Sonic is a Static Character” “Sonic is not consistent.”
So is Sonic a static character or is he inconsistent? Are you trying to say that he’s static for the game he’s starring in? What is the point you’re making, and what are the examples you’re using to say this?
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“Do these people not know what an adaptation is? These shows and movies are MEANT to interpret the characters and world in a different way….getting the same things as the games would be boring. The fun of adapting is to put a creative spin on it....There’s going to be different portrayals of the character just by the virtue of the franchise having you know, adaptations.”
Can you elaborate on why adapting things from the games would be boring?
When referring to Paramount Sonic, SatAM, Adventures of Sonic, Sonic X, Sonic Boom, Sonic OVA. You’re correct on why Sonic is allowed to act differently. It is all just adapting Sonic into something else. Sonic can be whatever the writers want him to be, and people should be able to separate it from what is generally considered to be Sonic.
When speaking about Sonic Prime specifically your argument falls flat, because it ignores the fact that Sonic Prime is supposed to be able to slide right into the Video Game Canon, meaning it’s not just adapting something to the big screen, it’s specifically adapting previously established lore and characters, meaning they have a base and timeline that they're supposed to be pulling from.
Hey! Thank you for leaving a comment! I don't know if I'll be able to cover everything here, but I'll try to go over most of your points.
1. My main issue with the Wind symbolism is that it has gone from being a decent metaphor for his character in games like Black Knight to just an annoying way of policing what is or isn't "Sonic Enough" with his characterization in things like IDW (Him saying y'all was some kind of sticking point for reasons I'll never understand). Some of the most minor issues towards his portrayal in other media is often just met with "Sonic wouldn't do that, he's the wind!!!!#!" and I've admittedly grown pretty tired of it.
2. I could see where you're coming from if Sonic was completely unrecognizable in different adaptations, but most of the time it's usually just Sonic's base personality traits retooled to fit the theme of the adaptation. Like how he's a lot more reserved and lonely to support the movie's theme of found family. Heck, Sonic didn't really have much of a personality in the classic games until Sonic Adventure 1, so most writers were given a blank slate to interpret the character their own way.
3. Fair enough, I didn't really feel the need to list examples because I thought people would be familiar with his inconsistency in the games. For what it's worth, even before the 2010s, I think there's a pretty sizeable difference between Sonic in BK vs something like 06 or Heroes.
4. I'm going to assume you were talking about when I was segwaying into Sonic as a static character. Yes, while I do think that Sonic is consistently portrayed as a static character in the games, but the way that's executed tends to be very inconsistent from game to game, which was my main point.
5. I mean, I think the main goal of any adaptation should be to reinterpret the source material in ways that introduce new ideas and draw in a new audience. If everything was just 1:1 with the games, you may as well just... play the games lol. Even the more accurate adaptations like Sonic X still make a sizeable amount of changes when adapting to a new medium.
With Prime specifically, I'm not really sold on him being canon to the game Sonic (we've really only gotten vague statements from certain people who worked on the show to my knowledge). Though, even if he were, Sonic canon has always been an absolute mess in general, so I'm not sure if it's really worth looking too deep into it for Prime specifically.
@@anoobdissects
1. Sure, I think the symbolism is still fine though. Some people just take it to a ridiculous extent as thought it's the first time they heard of character symbolism. Sonic and the wind being synonymous is still valid.
2. That doesn't address why it makes sense that people would look for the video games as a source for Sonic's personality, that just diverts it to adaptations. What is Sonic's "base personality" if not from the video games?
3. What are the differences? You're just referencing the games you think he's different in. This leads into point 4. for you as well. These aren't examples.
5. An adaptation can pull the majority of what it is from the games but still have tweaks for it to work in the adaptation. It doesn't have to be 1:1, but if you're adapting something from a source then it should still resemble that source and not be removed so far from it that it can't even be considered the same thing. As I said, anything that isn't Sonic Prime is fair game. As for Sonic Prime. The statements on whether it's canon aren't vague. Sonic Team hosts a livestream on their official channel where they confirmed that it's canon, the director of Sonic Prime; Logan Mcpherson has directly stated it's canon with the games, and Ian Flynn has also confirmed it's canon. There were no vague statements these were direct nominations.
While I agree that Sonic Canon is a mess, Sonic Team is specifically trying to unify and "fix' the canon. So a major contention with Sonic Prime was the fact that the vast majority of it cannot be considered canon, while it still claims to be. The majority of people who watch Paramount Sonic, or Sonic X acknowledge that it's its own thing.
I agree with everything you said. The only thing is that I don't necessarily think "static" and "inconsistent" are necessary opposites. In a sense that being a static character means they don't grow as a character. Sonic being inconsistent and having many different interpretations doesn't mean he grows as a character, because for a character to grow they need to have a character arc with an beginning, middle and end, but Sonic doesn't have that. Therefore, he is inconsistent, but still a static character.
Does that make sense? I don't know if I used the right words.
@@kotytang
1. I think were on the same page with this, so there's no need to elaborate lol
2. When it comes to looking at Sonic's personality in the games as a source for an adaptation, I was mainly trying to say that none of the adaptations seems to fail at this in my eyes. His personality as a cocky speedster who loves adventure and constantly fights an egg shaped manace is pretty consistent in Boom or the Movies, just a few nuts and bolts switched up depending on the story.
3. Alright, I'll elaborate a bit further. In Sonic Heroes, Sonic doesn't really have much of a personality besides "teamwork" and "stopping Eggman," A lot of his more admirable traits in the Adventure games are pushed to the wayside in favor of a more basic character. Now, this wasn't too bad since the game itself was trying to aim for a more lighthearted story, but it is worth pointing out.
For Sonic 06, Sonic kinda just becomes... Mario lmao. His entire personality is stripped away and just becomes this passive protagonist, and it gets to the point where Shadow basically eclipses him in importance in the story.
5. I think we'll probably just have to agree to disagree with this one in regards to Prime. I probably just personally take less of an issue with Prime being canon than others might, though I will concede that Prime definitely should not be canon XD
@@yay29823 Static and inconsistent aren’t contradictory by default, that’s true.
The question requires clarification from the channel, I’m asking for him to give specifics.
If Sonic is static in each game and just is what the game makes him, that’s fine, Sonic being a static character has always been valid in the sense that he’s always the same exact person in each game, if that’s all his argument is then okay. However he also says that Sonic is inconsistent and he seems to think that Sonic as a whole is purely episodic.
Look at it this way; If Sonic is a series than that means every game follows one after the other, the characters they’ve met and battles they’ve been in have to be acknowledged and confirmed that they’ve participated in these things. If Sonic is episodic then at any point the games can say that this is the first time these characters have met and/or fought, and this is the world Sonic lives in, we can confirm that Sonic is an ongoing story based on various games that have callbacks to other games, such as Sonic Battle(Callbacks to the adventure series) Sonic Heroes(callbacks to the adventure series and Sonic CD), Sonic Frontiers(Callbacks to almost every game before it), etc, etc.
So, looking at Sonic as a series, if Sonic constantly contradicts himself and his character then he can’t really be static because he always has a new personality or outlook in every game. This would mean that we’re saying Sonic is a static character with no defined personality. It doesn’t really make sense to call Sonic static in the overall series if he’s always different, I’d just call him busted.
His arc in each game can be static, I can agree with that
Whoa, a good Sonic video-