Sonic Boom's New Characters designs

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

The only thing I can think of is that it was easier to design a variety of humans than a variety of anthros. Which I can see, but its still a lazy copout.

 

 

I just hope they don't go the opposite route with Sonic Boom.

With episodes like that "Eggman taking Sonic to court" scenario, I'm hopeful it won't be the case.

[Dantemustdie00]

Oh my......

 

 

Huh......Looks like the buffness runs in the family/tribe.

[VO.SUPER]

Their shoulders still aren't as broad as Knuckles, which makes the design not seem as garish.

[Covskin]

To me, Knuckles is just out of proportion. From the silhouette, I was imagining Knuckles to have ultra-defined muscles/abs. Oddly enough, he's the least detailed of all the new designs...

 

Sonic...in stills, I thought he looked ok, new spikes included. But in motion, (and especially in-game), those legs are friggin' ridiculous. I honestly don't understand the scarf. Actually, it looks more like a snood. Which is even sillier, unless a large amount of Sonic Boom is set in the snow. Also, I myself am not bothered about his arms. Hell, growing up I could never remember what colour they were meant to be anyway.

 

Not sure what I think about Tails.

 

Amy has come out of this process pretty well, but the pink sports tape stands out to me as a little odd. By and large, I'm happiest with her.

 

And to me, Eggman's new upper body shape is similar to Knuckles; new body shape. I'm quite fond of the new outfit though.

[RK64]

I think the character designs are quite well done, a far cry from what we could have gotten.......

 

Sonic looks really cool; his new look reminds me a bit of his Classic style, with the more cartoon-ish facial expressions and "cool" appearance being closer to the classic look (which was aimed to be "cool" and timeless), and an honest improvement over Modern Sonic. I say that due to how Moderns look not linking to the character that the newer games are presenting; a wise cracking, sarcastic guy looks fits much better on a "messy" character than on the Modern look. They both look great, its just something I notice .

 

Tails and Amy look the best, with their new designs fitting there personalities. Tails has been the tech guy since Adventure, so him having a tool belt, wrench, and goggles makes a lot of since. Amy is more interesting, as she really hasn't gotten the best treatment in past games; she just was the crazy fan-girl that only cares about Sonic. This new look imply that she is more proud of herself and doesn't need to be a fan to be noticed, that along with her more action-based look (the game trailer shows that she can be a great action character, landing on the ground instead of falling like the others and having Sly Cooper-esc agility with the platforming showed off thus far).

 

Knuckles...is odd. Its not that he is buffed up or anything, its his head. It just really looks out of place on his new big body, like the old Knuckles in a an body suit or something. If they made his head wider or bigger, it would look fine but....it just looks weird seeing him like that . The show didn't launch yet and the game still has at least a few months more time, so maybe they could fix his head or something.

 

I like the new designs and just glad they are pretty faithful to the original Modern designs .

[DSP001]

So I was bored and thought I'd do a little sketch of the supposed new Marine, it was a bit hard trying to get down that triangle noggin of hers.

 

[Emerald-shine]

Ive been out of the fandom for a while. I was at college on a break when my friend called me over, I saw the new game on IGN and almost gaged, What the heck happed happend to Knuckles? I had no idea there was a massive "reneisence" of Sonic in the works, needless to say this was a suprise to me, and a bad one at that.

 

Sonic looks passable, the extra spines look silly and the blue arms are just really off putting. Why is he wearing a scarf?

 

Knux....looks retarded. I look at him and see Crush Bandicoot, if thats what they were going for they succeeded. I get that they want a big strong character but this was way overboard. He looks like a deviant art knock off. WAY too tall, Tiny head compared to his body and those feet are too small. Poor Knux has been the series punchbag since shadow and got progessivley stupider and insignificant as the series went on and now we have this....

 

Amy and tails look pretty good, I hate the tape fetish they got going on but I can get by that. Knux on the other hand... gets worse every time I look at him.

 

 

I played around with the render in photoshop to see If could make it somewhat appealing to me while still keeping in line with the direction the devs are want to take the characters. I feel its a good comprimse.

 

I hope these new designs are not permanent, I know its been stated they arent but that could change if its popular enough.

[Blue Blood]

After letting all these designs settle for a day or so, this is what I have to say:

Sonic: Arguably the most changed of the bunch, rather than Knuckles. His body proportions are a little more human, and his face is smaller while his head hasn't changed, giving him a much older look. The additional spines look alright in the artwork, but actually rendered in untouched 3D as in both the game and show they look rather weird. They ideally need some sort of post processing applied so that they always appear to little strands between his main ones (similarly to Mickey Mouse's ears always appearing in the same position relative to the camera). I like the idea of him having a scarf, but what they went with is rather weak. It's small and a very dull brown. Red would have been so much cooler. Overall? My least favourite. I don't dislike it though.

Tails: Slightly smaller eyes (a good thing!), goggles and a toolbelt. He's essentially the same Tails we've known since SA1. Can't complain!

Knuckles: He's... Not changed that much! It's his old head on a new body the muscular look doesn't look so bad now that I'm used to it. If I had to nitpick, the way they animate his spines of all things is weird. They're far too loose and hair like, ala '06 Sonic, and they look ridiculous flapping around like in that screenshot where he's punching a robot. A bit of rigidity and higher up joins to his head would help.

Amy: She looks like little more than the old Amy in a new outfit, but she's had changes under the hood. New personality and skills. I think she's the one to watch. Probably my favourite change.

[Azure P]

I like how people are completely flipping out over Knuckle's new design.

 

Yet were perfectly okay with... This.

 

[Octarine]

The comparison's not really fair, since that was never Sonic's default appearance.

 

Also very few people were okay with it.

[MegasonicZX]

I actually really liked werehog sonics design alot, it gives a good strong yet not very nimble appearance to him without over compensating too much in one area, knuckles could actually due from having his body slimmed down a bit to how werehogs is but keep the slightly thicker arms.

[Sega DogTagz]

Also very few people were okay with it.

 

Even most of the people who do like the Werehog design today would probably admit to being very off put by it at first glance. I know I bristled at that leaked image of the guy when I first saw it... yikes.

 

I'm loving the possibility of Animal NPC's though. should really flush out Sonic's new playground.

[GuyWithThePie]

 

 

 

Much better

 

Knuckles' head is a bit big, though

[wolf4537]

I like how people are completely flipping out over Knuckle's new design.

 

Yet were perfectly okay with... This.

 

LOL. This is so true.

[Jix Hedgehog]

So I was bored and thought I'd do a little sketch of the supposed new Marine, it was a bit hard trying to get down that triangle noggin of hers.

 

 

You are a ****ing legend! I'm so hyped for her return!

Ive been out of the fandom for a while. I was at college on a break when my friend called me over, I saw the new game on IGN and almost gaged, What the heck happed happend to Knuckles? I had no idea there was a massive "reneisence" of Sonic in the works, needless to say this was a suprise to me, and a bad one at that.

 

Sonic looks passable, the extra spines look silly and the blue arms are just really off putting. Why is he wearing a scarf?

 

Knux....looks retarded. I look at him and see Crush Bandicoot, if thats what they were going for they succeeded. I get that they want a big strong character but this was way overboard. He looks like a deviant art knock off. WAY too tall, Tiny head compared to his body and those feet are too small. Poor Knux has been the series punchbag since shadow and got progessivley stupider and insignificant as the series went on and now we have this....

 

Amy and tails look pretty good, I hate the tape fetish they got going on but I can get by that. Knux on the other hand... gets worse every time I look at him.

 

 

I played around with the render in photoshop to see If could make it somewhat appealing to me while still keeping in line with the direction the devs are want to take the characters. I feel its a good comprimse.

 

I hope these new designs are not permanent, I know its been stated they arent but that could change if its popular enough.

 

So much better, thank you

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I like how people are completely flipping out over Knuckle's new design.

 

Yet were perfectly okay with... This.

 

That wasn't a redesign, that was a form change in-story. It was lampshaded by other character that it was an unnatural look for Sonic, and it was temporary to boot. Nevermind that we still kept the old Sonic around with it.

 

So that is a massive false equivalency.

[Kat]

The Guardian report said that the designers went for silhouettes that could be easily distinguished from their Japan/original counterparts. That information alone made me look at the designs in a much different way.

But still, Emerald-shine's take on Knuckles and the rest is much more appealing while still maintaining that effect.

As for the werehog: His design is more balanced than Knuckles'. Shorter, sturdier legs and a head that's still larger than his upper body (minus the arms). It's no surprise people like it better (or are at least indifferent towards it) than Boom!Knux' proportions.

[ProcellaVypher]

It's do or die time for Western Sonic to come out and shine. Think about it this way. If the West Devs didn't wanted these versions of Sonic and co in the first place then they wouldn't pass the dev's development. Though everything is still in Beta for the game and it is not considered the final product.

 

Gotta take chances with fate when you have a franchise over 20 years old. Spice it up a notch stir it up and create something new. Like alcohol or IceCream Milkshakes. Once you tried the new flavors you get used to the unique taste, texture and smell of it all. Either toughen up and drink it all down or puke it out in disgust. No shame in not handling what you can't like based on your own opinions on it.

I have a feeling this game is going to give us more backstory between the cast as well the others who been sitting on the sidelines for far too long.

 

Good move BRBE and SEGA. Now lets see how you execute this during this Year of Sonic. I been finding rumors that the game might be getting a release around March or April. Then the ports for PS4, PC and XBONE would be this Winter of 2014/2015.

[PFulker1690]

I'm hoping the story of this has them as an older crew. It would explain why they all look a bit older, anyway. At first I was quite taken back by the designs, but now they've settled a bit, I quite like what they've done.
 

Minus the blue arms on Sonic. I'm still not happy with that.

[Marcello]

First of all, I think the excessive bandages look kind of dumb on everyone

Sonic: I liked him at first, but then I saw ihm in action and my opinion really changed. The extra quills are nice in theory and work fine in a drawing, but in CG it looks odd with the simple design of the rest. His legs are too long which make his running animation really off. I know people like to mock it with stupidity like "Lol green eyes all over again!!", but I really don't like the blue arms. I'd really love to know why they changed them. I don't like the redesigned shoes, either.

I saw this on GAF and really think it improved the design:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=99960662&postcount=431

Knuckles: Obviously too big. His legs also look to scrawny and bony. His head looks to small. I'm not sure what they're doing with this, but in the first shot we got of him we had some brass knuckles on his hand instead of them being part of his body. I really didn't like that. But in the game he seems to have his knuckles naturally. Oh and fingers.

Amy and Tails look good. Actually a bit better than the games. I think Tails gloves should've been brown, though.

Eggman, I don't like either. The clothes look fine, but I'm not happy with what they did to his body.

Apparently a girl character has slight hips, a little eyeshadow, half-closes her eyes and that automatically means she takes dicks to the face ten times a day.

Are you saying it doesn't mean that?!

I been finding rumors that the game might be getting a release around March or April. Then the ports for PS4, PC and XBONE would be this Winter of 2014/2015.

It's a Nintendo exclusive. Won't happen.

[Emmett L. Brown]

I like how people are completely flipping out over Knuckle's new design.

 

Yet were perfectly okay with... This.

 

Oh no you don't. I was on this forum when Unleashed was announced, and I read the announcement thread. The all-encompassing shitstorm over the werehog made the Knuckles reactions look like a fart in calm lagoon of tranquility and peace.

 

Also at that point the number of people exaggerating others' reactions were greater than the actual reactions. Just like this time. And the time before that. And the time before that...

 

Dismay does not equal flipping-out. Nobody's swearing more than normal and the hyperbole meter over on the wall there has been keeping a steady tick...well, for an announcement thread anyway.

[BlueFlare]

Nothing else bother me but Sonic's and Knuckles' size. To me they look too tall because their legs are so long. I wish they were at least at bit shorter so it would make them look more proper. I don't get why people are complaining about Knuckles' buffed arms. I think he looks super cool because he's so bulky. Tails and Amy are fine. No changes needed with them. Those tapes are fine, too.

[Blue Blood]

Interesting detail I've just noticed on the super high-res art.

 

Do you see it? Knuckles is wearing gloves under all that tape, and the spikes definitely aren't part of some kind of knuckle duster. They're on his gloves, and the tape has holes cut out around them. You can clearly make out the difference between his gloves and the tape by texture and how the gloves start further down his wrists than the tape. Very happy about that.

 

If you want the high-res art, click here. It's 3790x2480.

[Salamander]

Am I the only one who thinks Sonic should probably have had blue arms years ago?  Pink arms helped distinguish the different parts of his body as a sprite, but as a 3D model I think the change helps to unify his design.  They were always kind of an anomaly among the rest of the cast (sans Amy, but having more clothes makes it look different on her anyway).  His scarf being brown doesn't work very well, but it's part of the rough-and-ready, slightly vagabondesque look the cast all have for the Boom setting.  They're rugged wanderers and their clothes are built for substance over style... save maybe Amy.  She's got more of a cultured look to her, which is probably for slightly gendered reasons; combat is going to be a big part of Boom, apparently, and unlike the others, she has a weapon.  She is not about getting her hands dirty; she's a professional.

 

I think the silhouette point is a good one, too.  The cast have more variety in their proportions now, and I think that's important for their individuality in characterisation and function in Boom as part of a strong core cast, whereas in the earlier games I think there was a more intentional sense of interchangeability between them because they were meant to represent additions to a set formula - that is, rather than being Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy, they were Sonic, flying Sonic, climbing/gliding Sonic, girl Sonic...  But proportions of the Sonic cast have seen much greater variety ever since the jump to 3D, with characters like Big and Cream (or Vector and Charmy, etc.) having a much more individual scale and look.  Forget the sports tape for a second - in terms of sizes, I think this is what the main cast would look like if they'd been designed as new Sonic characters today.  Which is effectively what has been done.

 

I do agree that the models lack something in relation to the concept art, though.  Amy in particular looks as if her limbs have just been glued onto her.  They'll probably improve as time goes by, though.

 

I really hope we get to see some of the more radical concept art for their new designs, though, especially Eggman.  Although Eggman's kind of an odd case in that there's no sign of him in the game so far.

[JezMM]

I admit the more I think about it the more I wish Amy's skirt went outwards at the bottom like her old one JUST a little.  It looks good in the concept art but it wraps around her like a cylinder in the renders.