Pontaff Retrospective: What's Up with all the Hate?

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

To be fair, Knuckles was falling down the shitter long before Pontaff came along. Despite having a goldmine of material to work with, he was just around for the sake of being around to complete the Sonic trio as opposed to an individual character that stood strong on his own in the Adventures.

[D.H]

To be fair, Knuckles was falling down the shitter long before Pontaff came along. Despite having a goldmine of material to work with, he was just around for the sake of being around to complete the Sonic trio as opposed to an individual character that stood strong on his own in the Adventures.

Which is ridiculous, because they didn't need to use Knuckles to complete the Sonic trio, yet they did it, anyways.

[Diogenes]

Because nothing says fun and quality like taking Knuckles, a character well known for a being a no nonsense gruff protector of the master emerald and rival to Sonic into a idiot who only cares about being a piece of meat apparently. And no, considering the only other appearance outside of Shattered Crystal was turning him into the unfunny goofball comic relief of Lost World, that isn't much better.

Boom Knuckles is dumb in every medium, by every writer. That's not something you can lay specifically at their feet.

And I still think people vastly overexaggerate how serious main series Knuckles was. He was always supposed to be kind of a dope. Getting mad about, what, some small animals fooling around with him as a background joke, I just can't get that.

[Kuzu]

He does so little in Lost World, I'm surprised people even can grasp on something to get mad at.

I mean...I guess the fact he didn't do anything would be something, but at that point he hasn't been doing shit for almost a decade :V

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

Which is ridiculous, because they didn't need to use Knuckles to complete the Sonic trio, yet they did it, anyways.

Actually they do. Knuckles has been a friend even after he first came to the games. 

[FinalArcadia]

I have nothing against Pontaff as a person, but I've found his work in the Sonic series as a writer to be pretty disappointing.

Sonic Unleashed was completely fine in tone to me. While I personally prefer the style of SA2's tone/plot/whatever the most, Unleashed was perfectly serviceable. It was serious when it needed to be and actually had a feeling like there was some urgency to Sonic's actions, but it also had well-placed comedic moments that didn't totally undermine any attempts at being serious. Not too grim, not too silly... it struck a great balance. Also, Sonic and the Black Knight around that time or so did this well too.

Then along came Pontaff and Sonic Colors. Now, I will admit that some lines in that game make me sorta laugh, but when it feels like the entire game is designed to be rapid-fire jokes and Sonic making clever comebacks at Eggman's expense, that's too far in the direction of becoming way too silly. Pontaff's writing never makes it feel like there is any deeper plot in the games, even aside from the fact that the characters feel somewhat "off" in a way that I have a hard time explaining. It's as though there's no real danger, and antagonists like the Deadly Six in Lost World don't help that either. 

Every character other than the Team Sonic trio + Amy + Eggman, Cubot, and Orbot (speaking of, I kinda wish they never became recurring characters, but that's another topic) seems to have been relegated to the side games, and I'm not a fan of that either. That Generations at least didn't do more with them is just downright criminal in my opinion.

But my biggest issues are that 1) Pontaff's writing doesn't achieve a balance of fun and serious, and in fact almost makes the games feel like a complete joke and 2) I don't feel anything when I play the games he has written. I don't have a vested interest in anything that happens in his games, I don't feel for the characters, something that even some side games have done for me (such as Black Knight and Sonic Battle).

We've seen the same shtick for years now and it never evolves. I want to see someone else step up to the plate and give us a different style of writing in the series.

[D.H]

Actually they do. Knuckles has been a friend even after he first came to the games. 

Yeah, but Knuckles actually has a duty, and I'd rather not see Knuckles become a second sidekick for Sonic.

[StaticMania]

It's too late to bring up wanting Knuckles to not become a 2nd sidekick, he's pretty much been so since Heroes.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

It's too late to bring up wanting Knuckles to not become a 2nd sidekick, he's pretty much been so since Heroes.

But that's pretty much been the whole complaint about Knuckles since Heroes...well, technically since Sonic 06 when it started gaining attention, but the point stands that it's not really doing his character any good given what his character was in the first place in the main series: a guardian to Sonic's adventurer, the mountain to Sonic's wind.

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

Yes but hes also Sonic's friend. I will never understand why people dont want him to be on Sonic's team anymore. 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Yes but hes also Sonic's friend. I will never understand why people dont want him to be on Sonic's team anymore. 

Because being a friend doesn't mean being there every moment - some friends aren't always available all the time, especially if they have a job they need to do. It's not that we don't want him on Sonic's team, but we don't want him on Sonic's team just to be on his team, especially when he's guarding a powerful object that would be easier for someone to take while he's gone.

Simply put, Knuckles doesn't nor should he revolve around Sonic. There's more to Knuckles than simply being Sonic's friend. In the main series he is known as "the Guardian of Angel Island and the Master Emerald," not Sonic's 2nd sidekick. If he's not upholding that title, there's a problem with him maintaining that title - it's like calling Sonic "the fastest thing alive" when he instead moves at 10 mph, or Eggman "the World's Greatest Genius" when he not building robots or being incredibly stupid, it's a contradiction of the character's title.

Edited September 29, 2015 by ChaosSupremeSonic

[Kuzu]

Yes but hes also Sonic's friend. I will never understand why people dont want him to be on Sonic's team anymore. 

Just because a character can appear all of the time doesn't mean that they should.

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

Because being a friend doesn't mean being there every moment - some friends aren't always available all the time, especially if they have a job they need to do. It's not that we don't want him on Sonic's team, but we don't want him on Sonic's team just to be on his team, especially when he's guarding a powerful object that would be easier for someone to take while he's gone.

Simply put, Knuckles doesn't nor should he revolve around Sonic. There's more to Knuckles than simply being Sonic's friend. In the main series he is known as "the Guardian of Angel Island and the Master Emerald," not Sonic's 2nd sidekick. If he's not upholding that title, there's a problem with him maintaining that title - it's like calling Sonic "the fastest thing alive" when he instead moves at 10 mph, or Eggman "the World's Greatest Genius" when he not building robots or being incredibly stupid, it's a contradiction of the character's title.

I guess your right. I didnt go with the classic games but they were the "main three" for me. So to see others say he should be replaced makes me sad.

Also, I wonder why they never brought up the Master Emerald again :?

[NoirSuede]

So, SoA hired Pontaff in 2010 to work for Sonic Team to appease the people that hate the "baggage" of the older Sonic games. Then, before Boom came out, Iizuka declared that from now on Sega of Japan is taking full control of the mainline series, which made Sega of America transfer Pontaff to work on Boom instead. So, we can now be sure that the next mainline Sonic game would have someone else as the writer.

[PC the Hedgehog]

You know, despite all of Rise of Lyric's faults, I thought the dialogue and interplay between the characters was absolutely fantastic, much better than anything Pontaff has written.

Oh, and, uh, inb4"bouncepad!"

[azoo]

So, SoA hired Pontaff in 2010 to work for Sonic Team to appease the people that hate the "baggage" of the older Sonic games. Then, before Boom came out, Iizuka declared that from now on Sega of Japan is taking full control of the mainline series, which made Sega of America transfer Pontaff to work on Boom instead. So, we can now be sure that the next mainline Sonic game would have someone else as the writer.

Wait, is there any proof to back this up or is it just speculation?

Because I'd say Pontac/Graff not writing for the series anymore is kind of big news, whether one likes them or not. I haven't seen anything to back it up myself, but yeah.

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

That sucks. I like them and the jokes. I hope it doesnt go back to being super serious ugh

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I guess your right. I didnt go with the classic games but they were the "main three" for me. So to see others say he should be replaced makes me sad.

Also, I wonder why they never brought up the Master Emerald again :?

But no one's saying he should be replaced. Just that he should stand strong on his own instead of always being with Sonic.

As for why they never brought up the Master Emerald, no one knows. But that's just one of many things the head honchos have been disregarding in the series.

[Kuzu]

That sucks. I like them and the jokes. I hope it doesnt go back to being super serious ugh

It'd be kinda stupid if they ran right back into it, but Sonic Team.

[Wittymations]

You know how when anything bad happens in politics in the US, the president always gets blamed regardless if they were the problem or not? Or better yet, how Iizuka gets blamed for many of the choices in Sonic that aren't always his doing?

That's pretty much what Pontaff and Graff is. They're the face of the writing, despite them only doing dialogue for Generations and Colors they still get the blame because there's a face to it. You could have had ANYBODY at all writing the dialogue for Colors and Generations for Western release, and the story wouldn't have gotten any better.

Now, that's not to say I like their dialogue, because I don't, but when people blame Pontaff, a lot of times they're just blaming the direction of the current narratives regardless whether they know it or not. Most Sonic fans don't know who directly wrote the stories of many of the other games, but for some reason they actually heard about these guys so they have a face to it. They embody the current narratives, even if they didn't ask for it.

So they get the blame. It's not fair, but when you're the face of something, you get the blame.

[Roger_van_der_weide]

 Even calling him McNosehair is funny and they dont do it all the time. In fact they only call him McNosehair TWICE. (one time in Colors and another in Lost World

 

People make fun of Mc Nosehair (Well I do) not because Sonic and Tails say it everytime, but because what it represents.

It represents
1) the first time where we get the "A joke is made and goes on for 10 minutes" experience.
Sure, they only say Mc Nosehair in one cutscene in Colors, but they say it like 5 or 6 times.
And worse, there's not even a pay-off to the joke where Sonic delivers the punchline to Eggman during a satisfying moment, so it feels meaningless in the end.
(Emphesis on -Satisfying-. Randomly bringing it up 2 games later with no dramatic or comedic context isn't satisfying) Overblown and meaningless, so it becomes symbolic of the Pontaff comedy style and

2) It's also the first time we saw Sonic insult Eggman during leasure time in the games. Usually he treats Eggman with some respect as an honarable villain and only insults him during face-downs as action one liners. This is the first time he's actively enjoying bullying Eggman without direct provocation.
So Mc Nosehair is also Symbolic for Sonic and Tails's more bro behaviour and their ego trips.

So just like "where's the DAMN 4th Chaos emerald" becomes symbolic of Shadow's intensity, Mc Nosehair has become symbolic of the Pontaff experience.


As for "Oh no, Sonic may become serious again".
Dude, not only did you have Sonic in your style for a decade, but there's still Sonic Boom for that.
Throw the other half of the fanbase a bone here and there.
Like it or not, the fans need each other. Sonic just pandering to one extreme of the fanbase will not end well. Even now there's still people buying the new games even if they don't Like em, just in the hopes Eventually Sonic get's back to their taste again.
Lose those and sales become even more of a disaster then they already are.

Let Sonic Boom be the "Everyone is insane and sarcastic" experience and give the main series some meat again.
People would hate Pontaff a lot less if there were at least alternatives.
If there's a Sonic for Group a and a Sonic for Group B, we have our own corners to enjoy and don't need to be pulling each other's and Pontaff's hair so much.

This isn't even about Serious versus Comedy, this is about being genuine or artificial.
Pontaff and Boom's humor don't feel natural, I'm constantly baffled and backtracking to figure out why characters behave the way they do.
If you find that humor funny, Fine. That's good.
It's more of a "you recognise the psyche in yourself" kind of humor rather then a "observe characters interact with their world" humor.

But it's a very distinct style, and it's been overrun and obsorbing Sonic for a decade now.
So much so that I'm starting to become concerned Sonic and friends are no longer Characters, they're just vessels for emotions and personality projections.

 

Edited September 29, 2015 by Roger_van_der_weide

[NoirSuede]

Wait, is there any proof to back this up or is it just speculation?

Because I'd say Pontac/Graff not writing for the series anymore is kind of big news, whether one likes them or not. I haven't seen anything to back it up myself, but yeah.

It's about 40% speculation and 60% a logical conclussion reached by looking into past events.

[Diogenes]

2) It's also the first time we saw Sonic insult Eggman during leasure time in the games. Usually he treats Eggman with some respect as an honarable villain and only insults him during face-downs as action one liners. This is the first time he's actively enjoying bullying Eggman without direct provocation.
So Mc Nosehair is also Symbolic for Sonic and Tails's more bro behaviour and their ego trips.

...how is it "bro behavior" or an ego trip for the cocky rebel of a protagonist to make jokes about the villain behind his back?

[Briraka]

I think Pontac and Graff okay. Not good, not bad, but... alright? Nothing they've written really inspires outright anger from me, even more so because it's hard to tell how much control they have over the current writing direction in comparison to SEGA. Although, I have a little theory about Pontac himself. I think his work might only be as good as the team he's on. He's written for action-y shows like ReBoot and Generator Rex, and from what I've seen is that the episodes he wrote were well received, even the more comically-focused ones are at least considered competent. And then you have Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, which features the same kind of lame humor that the latest Sonic games get criticized for.

As for their version of Tails in Lost World, I have mixed feelings for him. On the one hand, I can agree with the people against this interpretation is badly written, but back up their claims with the opinion that Tails is completely out of character and that he's supposed to be too "sweet and humble" to succumb to pettiness, which I disagree with. Nothing is free of sin. *insert fire and evil laughter here*. Then, I agree with the defense that keeping Tails a static character wouldn't do him justice, but then they use all sorts of wild theories to justify his behavior, even if I find them interesting, there wasn't any build up or evidence to suggest this sudden 180 for his character.

...how is it "bro behavior" or an ego trip for the cocky rebel of a protagonist to make jokes about the villain behind his back?

Aye, people keep forgetting that Eggman keeps putting the planet in danger every week or so to fulfill his own desires of utopia. I sure as hell wouldn't give him any kind of honor after all that shit. I think it has less to do with Sonic and Tails behavior towards Eggman, more as it's Eggman's inefficiency as a villain that gets under people's skin.

[Kuzu]

I think the whole "Sonic insulting Eggman behind his back" thing is more about how ya know, the series has gotten to the point where it doesn't even bother to treat Eggman as a legitimate threat anymore and rather plays up his more clownish and comedic traits. So Sonic actively treating him like he's a joke is sorta like throwing salt onto the wound.