Sonic Boom Behind the Scenes "I'm having a party!"

[jennytablina]

Didn't Sonic X lightly touch upon this? I remember that final scene from episode 52 (JPN version) quite well. I think 4Kids shoehorned in an "I love you, Amy" in the dub when it was a silent scene with a cute song playing in the background in the original, but I think even the Japanese tried to get that across (in a less blatant way).

The Jap version did it voiceless, it's heavilly implied that Sonic said something to make Amy happy to the point of tears and hugging him but it's left deliberately ambiguous. 4Kids have a history of pushing ships or putting in stupidly obvious signs (see Ash x Misty in Pokemon. while it's lightly hinted in the JP anime, 4Kids wrote a song about it, shoehorned it into certain episode scripts AND the second movie)

Much as I *love* Sonic x Amy Rose. I remember back in 2000 when I played Adventure, and got the vibe from her story ending that she was gonna stop focusing so much on Sonic, and just focus on her on abilities (though she wasn't totally giving him up, just forging her own path instead of waiting for Sonic to provide the fun). I was excited for that Amy, I was really miffed when Adventure 2 rolled around with "I'M ONLY LETTING YOU OUT IF YOU MARRY ME"

For me Amy is more than just her crush on Sonic. I almost think it's sad that people feel odd about it, as I think that only goes to show how badly Sonic Team handled her post-adventure. She's a caring, slightly daring character, who with sufficent focus will do whatever she's gotta do to complete her goals. But after adventure her only trait became her crush and the level of crazy it seemed to invoke at times. SonAmy can still be a ship, but it doesn't need to be Amy's main character trait at all to still exist. I can't believe Boom would totally ignore it, as it seems Boom will have some awareness of series history. But I'm excited to see an Amy with a proper character personality.

It's ironic how apparently with "Booms" rule to reset every episode, and that Modern Sonic is supposedly the continuing de-facto continuity. It's the Boom characters that actually have the improvements all 4 should of had post-adventure (particularly in the case of Tails and Amy)

[Nepenthe]

I don't see it happening on it's own, but I could see Eggman building something to make Sonic be on his side, but it malfunctions and makes Sonic fall in love with Amy.

 

That would be... eugh. xD I would not like that storyline, because with mind control being involved I can see the easy appeal in making Sonic completely nuts with his infatuation. It would be funny but miss the angle I'd like to see- that being a genuine, more subtle emotional reaction from him- unless they did a "twist" where Sonic comes out of it at the end slightly more confused and tsundere than he was before and elaborate on his budding romance in later episodes.

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

I do like how the characters are stronger. I am a little worry about how they say Sonic is stronger because of his friends. and how teamwork could be force down but nontheless

I like how they say that Amy is going to ber her own character and stronger and more useful. Maybe i will like her more. and Knuckles!! yayy!

[SuperLink]

Ok but seriously next time you want to say "why haven't SEGA fired that shitty Amy VA" (that human person with feelings who is a professional hired for their talent) pls educate yourselves on how talented she is before doing so.

 

This is probably the most emotionally distressing scenario in the entire Persona series, and "shitty voice actress" Cindy Robinson carries it all from beginning to end. If you aren't willing to even give it a listen and are instead willing to disregard her talent and dignity as a professional entirely based on her thus-far limited Amy role with awkward voice direction, your view is forfeit.

[ElectricAngel]

The more I see about this, the more I wish they would have made it a full reboot. My hype for the game and show just keeps growing and growing! I was laughing out loud at the character dialogue! I can already tell Knuckles will be my favorite character! And the game's concept art looks fantastic! I really can't wait to see a character driven story, as it's what I've been waiting to see for a long time. Ohh autumn just can't come soon enough!

[TrueBlue]

Ok but seriously next time you want to say "why haven't SEGA fired that shitty Amy VA" (that human person with feelings who is a professional hired for their talent) pls educate yourselves on how talented she is before doing so.

 

This is probably the most emotionally distressing scenario in the entire Persona series, and "shitty voice actress" Cindy Robinson carries it all from beginning to end. If you aren't willing to even give it a listen and are instead willing to disregard her talent and dignity as a professional entirely based on her thus-far limited Amy role with awkward voice direction, your view is forfeit.

 

I don't think any one had doubted Cindy's talent. If anything, that makes it the more frustrating when she comes out with that Minnie Mouse kind of voice. As you say, it's just weird direction.

 

Not that I particularly mind it personally, but I can understand people's reservations.

[Zaysho]

They briefly tried to canonize SonAmy, yes.  But it was never an instance of role reversal. ^^

 

 

100% agreed.  Not to say Dan was horrible, but his performance (and Travis' Free Riders and Generations performances) really didn't sell me on the character and certainly didn't let the more humorous Knuckles shine through.  He sounds pretty great in this.  More determined with a cheesy dialect.  That's always great.  Always.

 

1) Well, I wouldn't have thought of it as a role reversal so much as Sonic actually returning her feelings and acknowledging her as opposed to running away in fear or rebuffing her when she brings it up at inappropriate times (when you're locked in prison is not one of those times, Amy) or at all (every other time).

 

2) Pretty much. Willingham is great actor overall (Roy Mustang--that is all). And he's a genuinely funny dude, if you've ever seen him do a panel. I can't get enough of his performances. But yeah, his work as Knuckles SEGA gave him to work with so far didn't leave much of an impression (and that can be said of everyone that wasn't Smith, Higgins or Pollock). Boom seems like it'll turn that around, and he already sounds to be having a blast, so I can't hate.

 

 

Ok but seriously next time you want to say "why haven't SEGA fired that shitty Amy VA" (that human person with feelings who is a professional hired for their talent) pls educate yourselves on how talented she is before doing so.

 

This is probably the most emotionally distressing scenario in the entire Persona series, and "shitty voice actress" Cindy Robinson carries it all from beginning to end. If you aren't willing to even give it a listen and are instead willing to disregard her talent and dignity as a professional entirely based on her thus-far limited Amy role with awkward voice direction, your view is forfeit.

 

Robinson's a fine actress, and she can more than certainly handle a vast array of characters, so I do find it a shame SEGA didn't let her take Amy in a different direction from what she's currently stuck with (Amy sounds a bit too much like an airhead, when that's not her character at all). All things considered, the voice still doesn't bug me, even if it's not the first thing I think of when I think about the character. That's me though.

[Gabz Girl]

Lol Iizuka is talking about the game as if the SEGA!Sonic games never had a proper storyline with characterisation and stuff. XD

Damn though this is looking...well, really good! Seeing the voice actors together is nice and whilst I'm gonna miss Kate's voice for Tails I'm sure Colleen will do a great job. From what I heard, she sounds almost identical to Kate anyway!

And Knuckles actually sounds cool! Heh, he was being funny and not dumb! I think he was anyway. And ZOMG dat concept art! *u*

Hnnnnghh, so many conflicted emotions. I'm so excited and yet very cautious at the same time~

[Nepenthe]

Thornton's Shadow is still pretty bad in terms of tone of voice. Griffith wasn't the best actor for Shadow, especially in ShtH (although again, that could be voice directors being awful), but I could better believe that voice coming out of that hedgehog than the one he has now.

 

Granted, everything could be solved if we just got David Humphrey back and allowed him to work on his own. He was the Mike Pollock of Shadow.

[jennytablina]

 

Robinson's a fine actress, so I do find it a shame SEGA didn't let her take Amy in a different direction from what she's currently stuck with (Amy sounds a bit too much like an airhead, when that's not her character at all). All things considered, the voice still doesn't bug me, even if it's not the first thing I think of when I think about the character. My preference for Doulliard has more to do with how well the voice matched, even though the Adventure-era actors are nowhere on the same level as the current cast in terms of ability (makes this odd Stockholm-syndrome people have with wanting Griffith back for Sonic and Shadow when Smith and Thornton blow Griffith's performances out of the water).

That's not really Stockholm so much as it is just familiarity. Ryan Drummond was far from stellar as well (we can argue if that was direction or not, but in the case of Adventure at least, the other VA's were hardly as wooden as he was) - but people were REALLY upset when he got booted for Griffith. To be fair a lot of that was "Ohh nooo 4Kids : (" rather than any actual critique on their VA's 

I think we should wait for more of Boom before we judge anyone, Amy didn't sound all that bad. I don't mind her being sort of girlish, as her core character shouldn't be erased. Plus an action girl doesn't *need* to sound serious. There are plenty of male goofballs who happen to be heroic protagonists when they need to be, no reason Amy can't be girly when she's relaxed but super serious when she needs to be.

[Ultimate Waffle]

Glad Tails' new actress sounds similar to Higgens, but the delivery sounded kind of forced in the little booth recording (which is usually what happens with voice doubles)

 

Of course I reserve judgement until we see a cutscene, everything else looks good as expected.

[TrueBlue]

Thornton's Shadow is still pretty bad in terms of tone of voice. Griffith wasn't the best actor for Shadow, especially in ShtH (although again, that could be voice directors being awful), but I could better believe that voice coming out of that hedgehog than the one he has now.

 

Granted, everything could be solved if we just got David Humphrey back and allowed him to work on his own. He was the Mike Pollock of Shadow.

 

I'll defend Thornton if only because he sounds like a drunk/horny David Humphrey at times.

 

 

 

 

Which is amazing.

[Salamander]

Those recorded lines sounded like great fun.  They give me more confidence in the show and its humour, and the actors seem to have been having a whale of a time.

 

As for Knuckles being the dumb muscle now ("now")... maybe dumb muscle isn't all there is to his character?  Let's face it, the TV show is heavily comedy-based, so I'd expect everyone to be somewhat dumb.

 

As for the status of SonAmy... the way I figure it is, if they're a group of four friends, and Amy's crush exists, it's probably largely unstated because they all know it's unrequired.  It's awkward, they try to avoid the subject, but it's there.

 

Iizuka: "The Sonic Boom game is very story based, so you'll be able to enjoy it as an adventure. So different from other Sonics, players will advance through the storyline and experience the world while playing the game".

 

Iizuka: "The Sonic Boom game is [...] an adventure. [...] through the storyline [...]".

 

Iizuka: "Sonic [...] adventure. [...] thr[...]e[...]e".

 

 

Unfunny joke confirmed.

[Ultimate Waffle]

Also, since I don't want to wad through 4 pages of this topic, did anyone else notice the "alternate dimension Knuckles/Eggman" talk in the recording booth? Does that mean there will be 2 of every character?

 

How will that work

[DarkLight]

That'll be a must-watch episode for me.

[Tails spin]

Also, since I don't want to wad through 4 pages of this topic, did anyone else notice the "alternate dimension Knuckles/Eggman" talk in the recording booth? Does that mean there will be 2 of every character?

 

How will that work

$100 that its the main universe characters

[Indigo Rush]

If their classic/Japanese designs don't feature I'll be sorely disappointed.

[azoo]

Seriously though, the fact that they're focusing so hard on how they're making an 'action-adventure' based game with extra focus on story and characters, plus Iizuka stating that that's what it's doing, sounds really foreboding for the main series. It's literally like they just took what they found in the complaint box and then pushed it somewhere else. :\

 

I'm glad the game looks slightly better with each shot though, and the cartoon just keeps sounding better.

[Indigo Rush]

I think that's exactly what they did, actually. And that sucks.

 

If anything comes out of this, I want to see Sonic Boom become immensely successful, so much that Sonic Team will have to take notes. Looks like SEGA West is pulling the weight again.

[Zaysho]

Thornton's Shadow is still pretty bad in terms of tone of voice. Griffith wasn't the best actor for Shadow, especially in ShtH (although again, that could be voice directors being awful), but I could better believe that voice coming out of that hedgehog than the one he has now.

 

Granted, everything could be solved if we just got David Humphrey back and allowed him to work on his own. He was the Mike Pollock of Shadow.

 

Funny right after I edit out my sort of not nice feelings about Griffith's performances that this comes up

 

Even though I edited it out, I'll stand by it because I'm not a huge Griffith fan. Thornton's my guy. I like using his performance as Jin from Samurai Champloo as an example since that's very similar to his take on Shadow. Very soft spoken and easy going unless he has to really step up and fight. That's Shadow in a nutshell, for me. Humphrey was pretty good but... eh. I thought he got a little too hammy in SA2, but that can be blamed on Lani Minella's direction, I suppose. He did hit the right emotion when he needed to (that flashback of Shadow and Maria talking, for example). I'd put Humphrey second after Thornton, and I sincerely hope Thornton gets to really shine with Shadow in the future, because he deserves to (and the character does as well!).

 

 

That's not really Stockholm so much as it is just familiarity. Ryan Drummond was far from stellar as well (we can argue if that was direction or not, but in the case of Adventure at least, the other VA's were hardly as wooden as he was) - but people were REALLY upset when he got booted for Griffith. To be fair a lot of that was "Ohh nooo 4Kids : (" rather than any actual critique on their VA's

 

I always tend to see people just wanting the old actors back for the sake of them being the first voices they heard  and criticizing the current cast for things that aren't in their control (you can't blame Smith for all of Sonic's obnoxious one-liners, for example) or when SEGA gives them scraps to work with to begin with (everyone not Sonic, Tails or Eggman, anyway) as opposed to their actual performances. Maybe "Stockholm Syndrome" is a little too strong a term, I admit.

 

And, boy howdy, do I remember the Drummond/Griffith arguments. That went on until Griffith left the role and now it's Griffith/Smith! I have my own thoughts on each of them, but as far as English voices for Sonic go, Smith is hands down the best the character's ever sounded (it's like he's channeling Kanemaru!). Drummond was decent in SA, but then in SA2-Heroes, Sonic had no emotion but "look how cool I am!" in his performances. He was just a guy in a booth by then. Griffith didn't make an impressive first showing, but he did improve and was actually pretty good most of the time (Unleashed and Storybooks), but also had this odd quirk in his performances that just remind you "yup, it's a guy in the booth making funny voices." He dialed it back considerably by the end, for Sonic at least (Shadow, not so much), but his performances were never really consistent.

 

I only point that out since people want Smith gone when it's very easy to hear there's a clear difference in the quality of performances these three actors have all turned in. And, as a whole, the current cast just has more experience and, IMO, stronger acting chops in general than either the Adventure or 4Kids cast ever had.

Edited February 25, 2014 by Zaysho

[Mauro Fonseca]

Seriously though, the fact that they're focusing so hard on how they're making an 'action-adventure' based game with extra focus on story and characters, plus Iizuka stating that that's what it's doing, sounds really foreboding for the main series. It's literally like they just took what they found in the complaint box and then pushed it somewhere else. :\

 

I'm glad the game looks slightly better with each shot though, and the cartoon just keeps sounding better.

And then closed the box with sports tape by a professional character designer with lint in the pocket who wants to emphasize how much the box is a box by making it extra box.

[Soniman]

I can very much see Boom games being the "action adventure" setting side of the Sonic series while the main series stays in it's current "platformer/arcade" route.

[azoo]

I don't really have a problem with the games staying in the "arcade platformer" style (absolutely not!) but the idea that they'll probably just keep doing what they've been doing and just keep making shoestring stories, characters and extra content is just... ugh, that blows.

 

Unless the next game's quality happens to be some unfathomable level of amazing (which I doubt lol), I'm gonna be a tad underwhelmed with that setup.

[Tara]

I know I'm in the minority here but I most certainly wouldn't mind if they continued with their current direction with main series Sonic while keeping Boom a parallel counterpart.  Though, with that all said, I wouldn't mind if they took a tip from Boom and did attempt to improve the main series games to fit a larger audience's criteria, nor do I really think they meant to say that they would literally put no more effort into improving the image of the main series while focusing on making Boom great.

[Mefiresu]

On 6:30 is Chaos Angel remix?