Your Unanswered Sonic Questions

[DabigRG]

3 minutes ago, Splash the Otter said:

I've always interpreted "crying" in Elise's case to mean giving in to despair, like she did when Sonic died. Thus cutting an onion near her wouldn't have caused Iblis to be released.

Keep her away from Infinite then.

[DabigRG]

I thought there was a thread about the next Sonic game/story and/or tone, but I guess I'll ask this here: Would you say that the "problem" with Sonic lately isn't style over substance so much as not going wholehog with the style?

Also, page 100 mfs!

[Sonic Fan J]

I would say that they don't even really have a style to go full hog with. The lack of direction (Iizuka's job to my knowledge) is so blatant and plain to see that it makes me wonder if there even is any vision anymore. Sure the IDW mandates might imply as such, but since SEGA and Iizuka have admitted to being shocked when something that will obviously work, works (Sonic Mania), I don't find the mandates to be more than just SEGA's way of keeping things static until they can either figure out what to do or potentially (unlikely as I hope it is) even sell off teh Sonic IP while it is still in a form they misguidedly believe to be marketable.

So yeah, I guess I agree. We can't really expect Sonic to have any substance when there isn't even a style to build the substance into. Conversely, they could always try looking at everything they have and actually using that as the basis of their substance and building the style they want on top of that. Either approach though requires either SEGA making up their mind or actually leaving Iizuka to his own devices for a change and actually seeing if he still has a marketable vision.

[Sonic Fan J]

Weird that this topic has been dead since I last posted, but I have a question that likely has no answer.

Considering Sonic is supposedly a world famous adventurer, why is that no comic or cartoon ever followed a road trip structure?

[StaticMania]

15 minutes ago, Sonic Fan J said:

...why is that no comic or cartoon ever followed a road trip structure?

The lack of direction most likely.

For a more serious response: Sonic being a globe-trotting adventurer isn't actually common knowledge and they haven't done a really good job at playing up that aspect of his character.

I'd call him more of a nomad really, that lines up more with how he's portrayed usually.

[Sonic Fan J]

Even perceiving him as a nomad though would lend itself to road trip style story telling. It just seems weird to me that no one has ever run with that direction of things.

[Multikaris]

What even IS Glacierland, anyway? It’s got Ice Mountain (Angel Island) AND parts of Holoska. 

[DabigRG]

5 hours ago, Sonic Fan J said:

Weird that this topic has been dead since I last posted, but I have a question that likely has no answer.

Considering Sonic is supposedly a world famous adventurer, why is that no comic or cartoon ever followed a road trip structure?

The cartoons were episodic with only story either being a cohesive framework or a vague excuse. 

However, Archie technically did so a couple of times during the Hunt for Naugus and was going to do so again after the Shattered World Crisis and Genesis of a Hero.

[Wraith]

On 11/7/2019 at 10:25 AM, Sonic Fan J said:

Weird that this topic has been dead since I last posted, but I have a question that likely has no answer.

Considering Sonic is supposedly a world famous adventurer, why is that no comic or cartoon ever followed a road trip structure?

It's not an easy structure to build higher stakes into. It's better for a series of individual pieces than the large scale action adventures that define the series.

Even then, it's common to catch Sonic just wandering around in the comics in-between larger story arcs, especially nowadays. It's just never the structure for the entire thing because it's a little limiting.

[Sonic Fan J]

Admittedly as I usually enjoy character focused narratives it is probably easier for me to enjoy smaller stories as they can actually focus on something more than spectacle. Even in the big events like in SA2 and Unleashed some of my favorite moments in those games are the tiny moments between the characters. I guess though I can't ignore that it is the spectacle that sells, but spectacle alone is fairly shallow and is a part of what makes Sonic Unleashed one of my favorite games.

-----

Onto today's question.

So, if Classic and Modern are supposed to be different characters from different dimensions, timelines, what have you, can someone explain the latest Olympic game? For trying so hard to separate the two art styles, SEGA sure went in whole hog on showing Classic and Modern as the same character there. Do they even realize that they are undermining their own advertising with that move?

[Red Hot Jack]

4 hours ago, Sonic Fan J said:

Admittedly as I usually enjoy character focused narratives it is probably easier for me to enjoy smaller stories as they can actually focus on something more than spectacle. Even in the big events like in SA2 and Unleashed some of my favorite moments in those games are the tiny moments between the characters. I guess though I can't ignore that it is the spectacle that sells, but spectacle alone is fairly shallow and is a part of what makes Sonic Unleashed one of my favorite games.

-----

Onto today's question.

So, if Classic and Modern are supposed to be different characters from different dimensions, timelines, what have you, can someone explain the latest Olympic game? For trying so hard to separate the two art styles, SEGA sure went in whole hog on showing Classic and Modern as the same character there. Do they even realize that they are undermining their own advertising with that move?

IMO, and this is just my headcanon, Classic Sonic is Past Sonic, even Ian Flynn is convinced of this. Hence, 1964 Olympics of the past, gave Sonic his old look back. Mania Sonic is Sonic from a different dimension, is he the same from Generations? Yes, because in Generations he was Past Sonic until the end… when he returned to Green Hill with the knowledge of the future, for some reason, it created the Mania "classic timeline" where the classics are canon and Mania and future classic games pick up from there, that's the in-universe answer, while in reality, in Generations SEGA meant it to be a one time thing with Past Sonic, nowadays they changed their mind, and will continue to use Classic Sonic in more games in a different timeline, so that's why Tails says "you're that Sonic from another dimension" and Sonic jokes and references Generations, he is that Sonic from Generations, but now he is from a different timeline. In the Modern timeline, classic games are canon as well, this is why stuff from Sonic CD is mentioned in the Olympics trivia as events from the past.

It's basically a retcon because they changed their mind about using Classic Sonic, but I gave my reasonable in-universe headcanon.

[Bowbowis]

22 minutes ago, Tangled Jack said:

IMO, and this is just my headcanon, Classic Sonic is Past Sonic, even Ian Flynn is convinced of this. Hence, 1964 Olympics of the past, gave Sonic his old look back. Mania Sonic is Sonic from a different dimension, is he the same from Generations? Yes, because in Generations he was Past Sonic until the end… when he returned to Green Hill with the knowledge of the future, for some reason, it created the Mania "classic timeline" where the classics are canon and Mania and future classic games pick up from there, that's the in-universe answer, while in reality, in Generations SEGA meant it to be a one time thing with Past Sonic, nowadays they changed their mind, and will continue to use Classic Sonic in more games in a different timeline, so that's why Tails says "you're that Sonic from another dimension" and Sonic jokes and references Generations, he is that Sonic from Generations, but now he is from a different timeline. In the Modern timeline, classic games are canon as well, this is why stuff from Sonic CD is mentioned in the Olympics trivia as events from the past.

It's basically a retcon because they changed their mind about using Classic Sonic, but I gave my reasonable in-universe headcanon.

My assumption is that Classic Eggman scrapped whatever schemes he had planned after Modern Eggman told him they don't work out. Thus in Mania he decided to go after the Phantom Ruby instead of unleashing Chaos as he did in Adventure. Otherwise, yeah, an Ocarina of Time scenario is the best way to make sense of it.

 

... The classic timeline is so fucked when the Black Arms arrive.

[DabigRG]

5 hours ago, Sonic Fan J said:

Admittedly as I usually enjoy character focused narratives it is probably easier for me to enjoy smaller stories as they can actually focus on something more than spectacle. Even in the big events like in SA2 and Unleashed some of my favorite moments in those games are the tiny moments between the characters. I guess though I can't ignore that it is the spectacle that sells, but spectacle alone is fairly shallow and is a part of what makes Sonic Unleashed one of my favorite games.

-----

Onto today's question.

So, if Classic and Modern are supposed to be different characters from different dimensions, timelines, what have you, can someone explain the latest Olympic game? For trying so hard to separate the two art styles, SEGA sure went in whole hog on showing Classic and Modern as the same character there. Do they even realize that they are undermining their own advertising with that move?

Alternate reality that just looks weird. 

1 hour ago, Tangled Jack said:

IMO, and this is just my headcanon, Classic Sonic is Past Sonic, even Ian Flynn is convinced of this. Hence, 1964 Olympics of the past, gave Sonic his old look back. Mania Sonic is Sonic from a different dimension, is he the same from Generations? Yes, because in Generations he was Past Sonic until the end… when he returned to Green Hill with the knowledge of the future, for some reason, it created the Mania "classic timeline" where the classics are canon and Mania and future classic games pick up from there, that's the in-universe answer, while in reality, in Generations SEGA meant it to be a one time thing with Past Sonic, nowadays they changed their mind, and will continue to use Classic Sonic in more games in a different timeline, so that's why Tails says "you're that Sonic from another dimension" and Sonic jokes and references Generations, he is that Sonic from Generations, but now he is from a different timeline. In the Modern timeline, classic games are canon as well, this is why stuff from Sonic CD is mentioned in the Olympics trivia as events from the past.

It's basically a retcon because they changed their mind about using Classic Sonic, but I gave my reasonable in-universe headcanon.

Yeah, that's pretty much it. 

[Your Vest Friend]

Because Eggman just decided to make Sonic look that way. I mean, they have canonically met classic Sonic and classic Eggman (even if the latter would need a retcon) so regardless of anything he knows how they look. Plus the game deliberately calls them by the monikers of "Pixel Sonic" and "Pixel Eggman" instead of classic. 

Also there's the fact Olympics aren't supposed to be taken as canon, so it's a marketing move. 

[Big Panda]

Was the original intention of the Sonic X writers that their version of Shadow had, indeed, died at the end of the SA2 adaptation?

This shot from episode 50 (cut from the English dub) seems to very much imply that Shadow was dead and with Maria again.

I could see their logic in making that the case: Sonic X was supposed to end completely with episode 52, so there’d have been no harm in establishing Shadow as actually dead because “hey, it’s not like we’re ever going to revisit this canon”.

[DabigRG]

18 minutes ago, Noodle Panda said:

Was the original intention of the Sonic X writers that their version of Shadow had, indeed, died at the end of the SA2 adaptation?

This shot from episode 50 (cut from the English dub) seems to very much imply that Shadow was dead and with Maria again.

I could see their logic in making that the case: Sonic X was supposed to end completely with episode 52, so there’d have been no harm in establishing Shadow as actually dead because “hey, it’s not like we’re ever going to revisit this canon”.

Wasn't that sorta the case with the games as well?

Anyway, probably yes. Knew there was a reason I didn't remember that shot.

[Big Panda]

5 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

Wasn't that sorta the case with the games as well?

Anyway, probably yes. Knew there was a reason I didn't remember that shot.

It was. But this implication of him being dead came even after the games brought him back.

[DabigRG]

I've never played the game myself, so I wanted to ask if Blaze and Marine were already familiar with each other in Rush Adventure?

[Blue Blood]

7 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

I've never played the game myself, so I wanted to ask if Blaze and Marine were already familiar with each other in Rush Adventure?

Nope. 

[DabigRG]

43 minutes ago, Blue Blood said:

Nope. 

Huh. That's odd.

[Blue Blood]

18 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

Huh. That's odd.

Not really. Marine lives on a small island in the middle of the ocean. She knows the Coconut Crew (a bunch of koalas who live there and on islands nearby). Blaze hasn't been there before the events of Rush Adventure, so there's no reason for them to be acquainted.

[DabigRG]

25 minutes ago, Blue Blood said:

Not really. Marine lives on a small island in the middle of the ocean. She knows the Coconut Crew (a bunch of koalas who live there and on islands nearby). Blaze hasn't been there before the events of Rush Adventure, so there's no reason for them to be acquainted.

I assumed Seagull Island was a part of Blaze's property, which is why she showed up to stop Captain Whisker.

[StaticMania]

1 hour ago, DabigRG said:

I assumed Seagull Island was a part of Blaze's property, which is why she showed up to stop Captain Whisker.

Why would that mean she knows who Marine or anyone else there is?

[Blue Blood]

1 hour ago, DabigRG said:

I assumed Seagull Island was a part of Blaze's property, which is why she showed up to stop Captain Whisker.

Blaze is on the trail of Whisker, but like Sonic she's always looking after things. Blaze and Marine have nothing to do with each other until Rush Adventure. The world's a pretty big place.

Also it's Southern Island, not Seagull Island.

[DabigRG]

9 hours ago, StaticMania said:

Why would that mean she knows who Marine or anyone else there is?

Eh, probably because Marine's habits of talking big and traveling the ocean would likely lead to her crossing paths with Blaze. Was really just an uninformed guess I decided to check. 

Also, I think I accidentally lumped Gardon in with the Coconut Crew. 

8 hours ago, Blue Blood said:

Also it's Southern Island, not Seagull Island.

Oh my mistake. Wonder where seagulls came from.