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Awoo.

Can we talk about the Sonic Social Media outlets for a moment...


Badnik Mechanic

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OK, let me explain here for a moment.

That statement in itself is already nice and little uplifting. The problem relies in its source, because it's so obviously from a critics standpoint. But it' not. It's from the artist standpoint now which makes that statement essentially as empty and meaningless as a white man giving an #AllLivesMatter speech. As far as the hierarchy between artist and critic, Sonic have no say what makes a good opinion and a bad one. And he hasn't followed up that very well, because the opinions he's been listening to since that has been the least thought-provoking ones. How about a twitter exchange between Sonic and FemFreq for once? That would be interesting to say the least. So yeah, Sonic hasn't earned that statement so far.   

First, do you even know what that statement was directed towards?

That statement was directed towards GameTrailers calling fans "delusional" for liking Sonic Generations, even though the same editorialist gave the game a whopping 8 out of 10.  He made no comments on rather or not any opinion was "good" or "bad."  He was telling people to respect them regardless of how much you may disagree.  Calling someone "delusional" for their enjoyment of a fucking cartoon hedgehog is literally the very meaning of disrespect, and it was well deserved that they be called out for that, especially when taking the hypocrisy of the matter into account.

Second, I've already made a request that we not make this into a sociopolitical thread of any kind.  So let's move on, especially when there is literally no reason to bring this kind of debate into it into the topic in the first place.  Unless we also want to talk about how the Big the Cat plushie in one Tweet is pandering to the NRA. (Which, if that were the case, would be a pretty badass move on the NRA's part and may sway my opinions on gun control)

Everything is misogynistic, somehow. Don't question it :)

Don't pretend like you actually know what you're talking about when none of your posts suggest a learned knowledge of any social/political movement, and also when, again, I've already asked this not be made into a sociopolitical debate.

Edited by Christmuffet
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OK, let me explain here for a moment.

That statement in itself is already nice and little uplifting. The problem relies in its source, because it's so obviously from a critics standpoint. But it' not. It's from the artist standpoint now which makes that statement essentially as empty and meaningless as a white man giving an #AllLivesMatter speech. As far as the hierarchy between artist and critic, Sonic have no say what makes a good opinion and a bad one. And he hasn't followed up that very well, because the opinions he's been listening to since that has been the least thought-provoking ones. How about a twitter exchange between Sonic and FemFreq for once? That would be interesting to say the least. So yeah, Sonic hasn't earned that statement so far.   

Is this a "check your priviliege speach"? I mean, was "white man" even necessary when saying that its as meaningless as a #AllLivesMatter speach? 

Edited by PandoloFox
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Is this a "check your priviliege speach"? I mean, was "white man" even necessary when saying that its as meaningless as a #AllLivesMatter speach? 

Again, asking we drop all sociopolitical talk.  This is not the thread for that.  Any more and I'm handing out strikes.

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Oops, sorry. didnt notice the last comment that the admin said. ignore what i said.

Edited by PandoloFox
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>attempting to inject gamergate into aaron webber's PR job

wowe
how low of a level must one possibly stoop to assume that


But yeah ANYWAY...

@sonic_hedgehog's a pretty cool guy
he interacts with fans and doesn't afraid of anything

Edited by LeTreuBleu
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  • 5 months later...

I know i'm late to the party, but does anyone else here feels that while Aaron did got a good reputation and is loved by many and many people like his jokes that perhaps this might effect in some way sonic's character in some way?, like what if sega will look at all the jokes and how much attention and love they get to the point that they will tell them selfs "this is what sonic needs to be in order to succeed" and then make sonic do stuff like taking selfies or make meme refferences and basicly act like the twitter account. Because this idea is scary, while I like what Aaron Webber does I think it fits mostly and only to the social media accounts and  I don't want it's popularity to leak into sonic's games

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I don't think you have to worry about that, but I also don't see why Sonic taking a selfie would be a terrible thing anyway. I could see something like, Sonic beating a boss robot and taking a selfie with the remains as a joke, and as long as it was done with some finesse it'd be fine.

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Uh no? Like of course people like Iizuka are happy to see a lot of people are enjoying what Webber does but I'm sure that they know better to NOT implement that stuff into the games. I mean sure Shattered Crystal had a (painfully lame) selfie joke and in Rise of Lyric, you can hear Knuckles say "Come at me bro!". But that's all from Boom, it's a Western-made version of Sonic so I'm not too surprised that stuff like that are in the games/show (although when the show does do selfie jokes which is only like 2 times in the entire season, there's a point to them and they're pretty funny imo). But when it comes to the main series, I'm pretty sure Sonic Team would like to avoid to make references to memes as little as possible (unless they unintentionally made one) so yeah.

I mean look at it this, Sonic Dash is probably the most successful Sonic game to date with over 160 million downloads (a small fraction of people paying microtransactions will still bring in a buttload of cash) does that mean every main series game is going to be like Dash?

FUCK NO!

I'd say you can sleep well tonight knowing you won't have to see stuff like Trollface, Spongegar or any other meme in your Sonic.

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I have mixed feelings about Aaron Webber's PR stunts. On one hand, it's given me a few laughs. On the other hand, it's all we really have, and the situation's kind of gone from "lets never mention this again" to "lets make our image all about this" and this... isn't good to be honest. It isn't the jokes alone that are bad, it's more the fact it's all he's doing.

As PR Aaron's job isn't just to spout dumb jokes with fans, his job is to show everyone what the Sonic series is about, in turn this kind of implies what he thinks people expect from the series.

I also think the jokes lose context because of this, too. A part of the point of the jokes is that the Sonic series isn't about that. The Sonic series isn't about "Ow the Edge" or "GOTTA GOFATS" those statements are supposed to be extreme hyperbole, or to point out a creative mishap where it happens to be true for a while.

I'm suspicious that Shadow and Knuckles' characterisations in Boom aren't entirely unrelated to their memetic exaggeration either. I most definitely believe in self-fulfilling prophecies.

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You know Green Eyes, I was thinking about this, I think that some people hate Aaron Webber not just because they think the memes are "cringey", but also think that Webber should do more then just memes, I mean is that hard to jist make a pole or a weekly fan art contest like he used to? I mean I watched his interview with Matt from tails's channel and I knoe he is talking to individual artist to make more art for the social media. But why can't you just at the same time just post what ever art people make for you from time to time instead of just posting jokes?. If anyone knows about this better then please explain

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Again, it's not like Aaron/Gene posts memes/jokes all the time, even though that's what made people love the social media accounts in the first place but whatever. I get the feeling that Aaron wants to do more with social media. I mean, literally anyone can do fanart showcases, make polls and all that stuff; and those are perfectly fine. I get the strong feeling that they want to take the next step after that to really get the fans involved and all that stuff.

After all I'm totally an expert when it comes social media, I learned it college and stuff!

/jks i'm not, i'm just as average as anyone can be

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1 hour ago, Green Eyes said:

As PR Aaron's job isn't just to spout dumb jokes with fans, his job is to show everyone what the Sonic series is about, in turn this kind of implies what he thinks people expect from the series

Well... who would care if he did that? No really? Who would care? 

Nobody as it happens because Gene has gone on record to say when they do that it's almost a disaster in terms of turn-up, there's barely any interest in it.

Also, think about other twitter accounts outside of Sonic, other than franchises you have an interest in, the ones which are playing it straight and serious. I can't tell you what's going on over on the Call of Duty account, because it's just a PR fest, sorry not interested. Same with all Capcoms stuff, in fact same with any account which does that.

So why would people who are not into Sonic or Sega suddenly subscribe to the account if it were just PR. Or what people think Aarons job is, mind you I doubt many people have the slightest idea what his job is.

Here's another thing, the Sonic twitter account has utterly exploded in popularity and continues to grow. It's got people following it who would not even look at it before and people actually taking an interest in the account and in turn the series.

And on June 23rd all those people are going to see the trailer for the next Sonic game pop up on their twitter feed when previously they probably wouldn't do. Explain to me how that is damaging?

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I didn't say he should just act like average PR accounts, or that he shouldn't make jokes. Just more that I think jokes lose context on a background of nothing but more jokes and it can seem like beating a dead horse, or even reinforcing the idea that this is what Sonic is about.

Aarons job is PR right? No I can't say that I know what Sonic Team wants for him or what he was hired for, but I assumed PR accounts handle PR.

I must concede though, that I'm honestly shocked to hear so many outsiders like it.

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  • 4 months later...

Yeah yeah I know I'm pretty much a former member by now (maybe the hyatus of the forum and the deletion of everything posted six months prior to the crash is why I lost interest).

But let me tell you this.

Recently, I discovered that Sonic is present in LEGO Dimensions and he's voiced by Roger Craig Smith. Well, I checked it out...

...and here's the proof (or at least a symptom) that Aaron Webber's way to handle the media is infecting Sonic as a character.

Yes I KNOW that his reference to a princess is a mock of Sonic 2006 as a game, but Sonic, as a character, shouldn't know that he's a videogame character and he hosted in a glitched game.

If "Aaron Webber's direction does not reflect what Sonic is in his future games) then how am I supposed to interpret Sonic's jab at princess Elise? By the tone of Roger Craig Smith's voice, it's clear that he's ashamed of that experience.

This is not how Sonic act.

"Sonic", here, is acting like he's ashamed of helping princess Elise to cheer up for a moment in her life, and he's ashamed that she kissed him (conveniently forgotting that she saved his life with that kiss. What an ungrateful prick)

Oh wait, there's more!

Later in the video, Sonic says his classic line in Sonic Adventure, only to comment that it sounded better in his head. Which, unless I'm mistaken, is a gentle way to say "what the hell was I thinking when I said that?"

Again, Sonic, AS A CHARACTER, would have never been ashamed of his past.

See, this is a symptom that Aaron Webber's memetic and overly sarcastic approach of Sonic isn't doing the personality of Sonic any favour.

 

Am I overreacting? Yes, absolutely.

But let's assume I'm a veteran Sonic fan whose favourite portrayal of Sonic is that of Black Knight. And let's assume I don't know anything about Aaron Webber and twitter. How do you think I reacted when I first hear Sonic spitting jabs at his past?

I felt shocked and betrayed. With those two lines, Sonic looked and sounded like the friend who one stood up for you in school, but later he realized that it's waaay more funny to mock you along the other bullies instead of being your friend.

Yes, I'm THAT mad.

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I think LEGO Dimensions is treated differently to anything close to the actual Sonic line. In fact, this probably is the furthest away from Sonic we've ever gotten (even moreso than Smash Bros), so Sonic is being made to fit in with the different world by having the same kind of humour LEGO games are known for.

If this starts popping up closer to the Sonic games then I'd be concerned, but this is just the writers letting loose in a game that does that with every franchise, regardless of how the characters and stuff would be within their actual continuity. 

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I don't go by the LEGO series, as it parodies a lot of things and it does that to any character, so to me it doesn't really count. To me, the social account and the character are two different things. I was not getting any vibes that Sonic's character was like the Twitter account in Mania or Project 2017.

To the OP, yes, I love the account for it and I want it to keep doing it. Any time it posts, I always look out for it. It really makes my day, seriously.

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Yeah, complaining about LEGO Sonic talking about that stuff is like worrying that the two LEGO Batmen having a slap fight at the start of the game is going to ruin the comic or movie portrayal.

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Lego games often make use of satirical, self-depreciative humor.  They did it with Star Wars, they did it with Batman, they do it with everyone.  It's the nature of the games, and probably has very little to do with Aaron Webber if anything at all.  To use that as "proof" is, honestly, ludicrous.

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Sonic making references to his past and joking around about it isn't exactly a problem. It's standard humor I've seen used in many forms of media to poke fun at ones self. Not to mention that kind of humor was desired in titles like Generations. I can't count how many people, including myself, wanted Sega to poke fun at 06 when they learned Crisis City was one of the stages in that game. He's been breaking the 4th wall since Colors, so it wouldn't exactly be out of character to see him goof in a modern game about a cheesy quote from his past that IS cheesy and cringey to hear used in a modern game. Or reference in a joking manner something he did in the past.

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13 hours ago, TearForFear said:

Again, Sonic, AS A CHARACTER, would have never been ashamed of his past.

That seems like a really weird thing to hold a character to. Everyone makes mistakes; is he supposed to be just stupidly proud of things that obviously didn't go well, or bury them out of actual shame rather than being able to joke about them? After all the series has gone through, I think it's a strength for the series to be able to laugh at itself and acknowledge its mistakes without being consumed by them.

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