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'Dark' and 'Serious' takes on Sonic: Why are They So Taboo?


Myst

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ALERT! ALERT! UNPOPULAR OPINION!

WARNING: The following post contains statements you WILL disagree with!  

'Dark' and 'Serious' takes on Sonic: Why are They So Taboo? Or: More Whining from a Sonic Fan

I've noticed a trend in recent years: Whenever critics or gamers in general criticize Sonic, the common complaint is 'dark and edgy' storylines found in games like Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic 2006, Sonic & the Black Knight and the sort have no place in the franchise. 

Sega seems to have taken these criticisms to heart, as all recent entries in the series have had a more.. juvenile and comedic form of storytelling. The stories don't feel rich and grand like in the Adventure series (Or heck, even the Genesis titles) they feel a bit cheap, as though they are pandering to the lowest common denominator. 

 

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Am I, your fire?
Your one, desire,
Yes I know, it's too late,
But I Want It Thaaat Waayy

 

If you recall, during the development of Sonic Adventure, Yuji Naka and the Team traveled to South America for inspiration in setting out the premise of the game. They really put effort into crafting what the game's story would be.

But nowadays stories with action in them, stories where the stakes are raised, and the feeling is epic and the scale is on a much grander level are sneered at by critics and gaming sites. (Almost immediately critics shunned Project 2017 after its reveal at the party) Why is this? Because Sonic is a blue hedgehog? What does that matter? In the world of fiction, anything goes, the story limited only by the creators imagination.

I can think of plenty of franchises which have off-the-wall premises that are treated with care and dignity. Transformers was nothing more than a toy commercial in the 80s, but when translated into film, it was played totally straight, with massive special effects and stuntwork. There was comedy, but overall it was a big-budget summer blockbuster,  with the action between the robots being quite brutual at times. ("I WANT YOUR FACE!") I am by no means a Bayformers fan, I merely cite that as an example.

The original TMNT comic-books were known for being violent and dark, despite the cartoony nature of the characters. I can't help but feel there is a double-standard here. THOSE completely ridiculous, off-the-wall kids franchises can be taken seriously, but Sonic the Hedgehog? Heavens no.

 

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Saturday Mornings on Nickelodeon!

 

Critics use Sonic 2006 and Shadow the Hedgehog as textbook examples of why serious storylines don't belong in Sonic. True, the storylines in those games were terrible, but that was due to poor writing and voicework, not the tone of the story. By that logic, DC should look at the failures of Batman V Superman and Suicide Squad, and decide Batman must be campy, because those two misfires weren't critically acclaimed. 

It's frustrating to me, because being 'edgy' was what drew me to Sonic in the 90s. Back then, there were no cutscenes in games. You would read the manuals and get the premise of the story from that. The idea of a mad scientist turning the inhabitants of the world into his robot slaves, was so.. badass to me as a child. My young mind saw Sonic as a valiant hero going on an epic journey to defeat an unstoppable foe in Sonic 1. 

The music of that game further cemented that. Those ominous drums in Final Zone, the haunting theme of Marble Zone, and the peaceful melody of Star Light Zone helped give that game an epic feel to me. The sequels upped in ante, with greater speed, a more established story, and even more exciting music (dat Chemical Plant)

SatAM wasn't exactly my thing, but the people at DiC seem like-minded as their portayal of Sonic was definitely one of the more serious takes on the character. Underground and the comics followed a similar route, and as I mentioned, the Adventure series was pretty epic. Edgy storylines in Sonic isn't some new thing. It's ALWAYS been a part of the franchise, with a few exceptions here and there (Hello AoStH) That was the franchise's appeal to me. So why, 20 years later, is it frowned upon so much? 

 

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Gaaaah, make it go away!

 

Look, I'm not asking for Sonic to be Batman. I don't want Shadow to start using guns again, I don't want cursing in Sonic. It's just.. things have changed. Nowadays, Sega seems intent on making Sonic as silly as possible. Sonic's now fighting cans of Tomato Sauce, and having sleepovers with Eggman.

 

What happened to saving the planet? What happened to collecting magical gems, traveling through time, fighting ancient monsters? What happened to raising the stakes, having a sense of danger? What happened to Eggman being a legitimate threat? Are we doomed to silliness for as long as this franchise will last?

 

 

 

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Ironically, Elise's 'kiss of life' was actually the kiss of death for the franchise. :(

 

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I mean we got games like Colors, Unleashed and Lost World for a reason and it isn't just 06. People have been complaining about the tone of the stories before 06. Starting with Adventure 2. Yes many people love that game but it doesn't take away the fact that people were complaining that the story was too dark. Then came Shadow the Hedgehog.

To be honest, I'll be one to say that if 06 was a success, then the stories would have been different but I also believe that 06 isn't the only one to blame. That and SEGA likes to cherrypick from what the fans want. The fans wanted more of a surreal, zany Sonic game and what ST got from that was "make stories with jokes even babies find annoying".

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36 minutes ago, Myst said:

It's frustrating to me, because being 'edgy' was what drew me to Sonic in the 90s. Back then, there were no cutscenes in games. You would read the manuals and get the premise of the story from that. The idea of a mad scientist turning the inhabitants of the world into his robot slaves, was so.. badass to me as a child. My young mind saw Sonic as a valiant hero going on an epic journey to defeat an unstoppable foe in Sonic 1. 

Basically, you imagined the series as something it wasn't, and now you want it to match up to the feeling that imagined identity gave you.

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True the series wasn't "edgy" but it had it share of serious moments in the classics. I mean look at Scrap Brain Zone, setting stages on fire, making animals into robots etc.

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50 minutes ago, Myst said:

The original TMNT comic-books were known for being violent and dark, despite the cartoony nature of the characters. I can't help but feel there is a double-standard here. THOSE completely ridiculous, off-the-wall kids franchises can be taken seriously, but Sonic the Hedgehog? Heavens no.

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Saturday Mornings on Nickelodeon!

Urm no...

The original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics were not aimed at kids. They were aimed at teens to adults.

Furthermore what made turtles popular was not the comic but the 80's and 90's cartoon show which was campy, comedic and aimed at kids.

Can only speak for the UK here, but you sure as hell couldn't find those original comics in any mainstream stores, but once the show kicked off you could certainly find the cartoon based comics in the stores.

Look at DC's batman, would anyone consider Man Bat or Killer Croc to be cartoony? You can certainly draw them that way but if you think to recent popular media they sure aren't done that way.

For gods sake your image there shows one of the turtles holding an Uzi 9mm the gun which was popularised in such kids films as Terminator which is acually smoking.

Show me one episode of the original turtles which has a turtle doing that in it.

Look at the arts style of that comic. Compare it to the 80s series.

Look at the target age of that comic. Compare it to the 80s series.

Just compare everything and you'll see just how bad this argument is.

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They're taboo because their last attempt at 'darkness' was unironically giving a cartoon hedgehog a gun and making him shout 'damn' every time he took damage and asking us to take that seriously, and then shortly after attempting to ride on the popularity of the Adventure games' more involved stories without any of the restraint or tact, failing to execute properly and rushing the product out to meet the Holiday rush because that was more important to them.

And then after that Sonic turned into a werewolf. And then they put him in Medieval Times. And they outsourced him to an RPG that no one liked. 

So a change in tact was attempted with Colors and Generations, and it paid off in spades. So naturally they're looking at the revenue and fan/critic reception, seeing how better those games are received, and come to the reasonable surface-level conclusion that the "serious" plot angle wasn't working, but the "fun for kids" angle did. 

Now, I happen to think Sonic could use some stakes and more action, but I mean I'm alright with Colors plots if it means I don't have to see another Shadow or Black Knight situation again.

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Can I be honest? I thought the Storybook series were good and the kind of writing they should go back to. No I don't mean do more storybook games, but do you see how the writing was? I mean it had some lightheartness in it while at the same time, Sonic meant business and that is the kind of material I want to see.

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For the record, I'm speaking of surface-level synopses. Any of the games I mentioned have some great moments and good writing (even '06!), but sometimes the simple premise will turn an audience off. 

Sonic in space saving cute aliens from Dr Eggman? Sure, let's go.

Sonic going to the world of the Arabian Knights to fight an evil genie? Weird, but let's go.

Sonic rescues a princess and stops Eggman from resurrecting a hedgehog Mephistopheles and fire demon and there's time travel and a future hedgehog also and.... what

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Having a dark and serious story isn't going to be any better. Without the right writers, or anything, it'll still be as bad as the current stories which are overly light and badly written. If you wanted Sonic to have a good story, I'd argue the better example might be shows like Avatar and such. Stuff that's kid friendly and can have comedic moments, but overall having an idea of how to make a good story with depth and balancing the light, and the dark sides. The same way you wouldn't like a story that's just overly childish, and not well written, you don't want a story that's grim-dark and takes itself too seriously. I've said it once and I'll say it again, I saw things like Archie Sonic, Unleashed, and Black Knight balancing both of them and making pretty good stories, so that would honestly be the ideal situation for Sonic stories in my opinion.

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It's not just the face-value premises though because several weren't really grimdark either in concept or presentation, but they still got shat on anyway as being tonally out of touch. Like, you bring up the Werehog or Black Knight or a silly little RPG spin-off. Who in the world took any of these things seriously in a manner equitable to Sonic 06 or some shit, and why would they? Mickey's been turned into a Weremouse and been Authur'ing it up since forever and no one gives a fuck.

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Where does any of that fit into the Mickey Mouse canon

 

Spoiler

I'm being facetious, I see your point. 

 

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I can understand them being tonally out of touch. Especially Shadow/SA2/06 since the series started as being mostly light hearted with a bit of serious moments.

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I guess my point was that they've tried and failed so many times that any inkling of a weird, out-of-the-norm idea (Sonic having a sword, going lycanthropic, etc) induces a negative gut reaction to many.

I sympathize. My favorite Modern-era Sonic plot is Sonic Riders Zero Gravity, and it's always dismissed as the weird spin-off where the Babylon Rogues are aliens, who cares.

Spoiler

It's also the one where Knuckles does a few smart things too, but ooohhh nnnoooo, Sonic characters can't be aliens! That's different!

 

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1 minute ago, Indigo Rush said:

I guess my point was that they've tried and failed so many times that any inkling of a weird, out-of-the-norm idea (Sonic having a sword, going lycanthropic, etc) induces a negative gut reaction to many.

I sympathize. My favorite Modern-era Sonic plot is Sonic Riders Zero Gravity, and it's always dismissed as the weird spin-off where the Babylon Rogues are aliens, who cares.

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It's also the one where Knuckles does a few smart things too, but ooohhh nnnoooo, Sonic characters can't be aliens! That's different!

 

You mean only one smart thing, which is being a translator for ancient info dumping! Yay! :D

But yeah, when you really think about a lot of the Sonic stories are just ridiculous sometimes but I like that ridiculousness, Black Knight's story was pretty nice but holy crap; the set up is amazingly hokey. Loved how Sonic smiled when he pretty killed King Arthur (yes, he wasn't even real but still Sonic had the intentions to kill the guy whether he was real or not and HE SMILED! Amazing!).

"Sonic bird characters are actually genies! No wait.. THEY'RE ALIENS! People only thought they were genies!" 

I could go on and on about how stupid some of these stories are but I can't deny that I still like these stories though. 

I guess the general audience just don't (rightfully so) like all the weirdness that much especially since most of these hokey setups came after 06 and Shadow, where it just took the ridiculousness to such a degree that it pretty much killed any enjoyment out of enjoying said ridiculousness.

Though it would be alright if we had some more grounded setups for stories which Colors and the other games did, too bad the writing isn't up to snuff.

Bah, more rambling. Enough of me!

 

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Having a weird, out-of-the-norm idea isn't logically consistent with the idea that Sonic can't do anything like in the older games because it's too dark, because the franchise itself is based on a myriad of weird, out-of-the-norm ideas. Hell, isn't that half the point of pining for a more lighthearted and classically-focused direction; to revel in the idea of Sonic being a cartoon and the weird, illogical shit that comes attached to the term "cartoon" and his old school design ethos? Hell, that's always the reason to tell us not to give a damn about anything and to rebuke any marginal hint of "realism" or "seriousness." Who cares about context? It's a cartoon!

Really, at what point is "blue hedgehog with two tailed fox friend who flies an airplane goes to save the world from a mad scientist trying to use magical gems from an alternate dimension" fundamentally more offensive than "blue hedgehog with two tailed fox friend who flies an airplane goes to save the world from a mad scientist trying to use magical gems from an alternate dimension while sometimes turning into a lycanthrope at night"? Where is the line drawn when the terms are being ambiguously applied by the fans holding the cards because this whole thing is, in reality, an exercise in trying to justify what is nothing more than a base reaction against the thought of Sonic 06 happening again?

Edited by Nepenthe
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I'll be honest. While the frequent change in tone throws off chances of being consistent, they can attract different audiences. I think goofy and dark can both work depending on the writing. While I prefer dramedy in most cases, I think most of the stories have worked well. I probably don't mind the alternating tone, as I grew up with the games since the 90's.

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It was once a reaction to poorly done attempts at dark stories, but now those same reactions have become equally as toxic, slowly smothering Sonic into a level of mediocrity even the worst of his pre-06 games could not do. The fans keep on chugging along with their self-righteousness about keeping Sonic away from dark stuff because it's for his own good, all the while failing to notice the absolute hypocrisy of their actions when they give adulation and praise to other so called cartoony things like Mario, MLP, Avatar, Kung Fu Panda, Steven Universe etc. for doing dark and serious things. Sure part of it is justified; Sonic Team's track record with storytelling is extremely schizophrenic, but the media and fans have become so prone to knee-jerk reactions that any intelligent discussion or attempt to fix the real issue is stifled by their idiocy. The fact that they keep coming up with convoluted justifications just to avoid any intelligent points about the flaws of their mindset is even more aggravating.

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I feel like tossing edge around kind of gives the wrong impression on what the games are missing. 

The more I think about it, the more I think the tone isn't really the big problem with Sonic stories anymore. There are some turds that went too far in either direction, or some instances  in specific games that are just dumb, but Sonic is mostly middle of the road for much of it's existence.

A lighthearted, character driven Sonic is not a bad idea on paper, and in fact I'm willing to go as far as to say that most people here would enjoy it under the right circumstances. Everyone gets a kick out of those Sonic Channel comics and artwork. It'd just be another flavor of Sonic if the writing was better. The core problem of "the writing needs to be GOOD" hasn't been solved yet. We went from half assed shonen anime Sonic to half assed cartoon Sonic, and while I have my own preference, I'd rather something widely considered to be good and not "it was good for it's time" or "it was good compared to what came before/after" come along.

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8 minutes ago, Nepenthe said:

Having a weird, out-of-the-norm idea isn't logically consistent with the idea that Sonic can't do anything like in the older games because it's too dark, because the franchise itself is based on a myriad of weird, out-of-the-norm ideas. Hell, isn't that half the point of pining for a more lighthearted and classically-focused direction; to revel in the idea of Sonic being a cartoon and the weird, illogical shit that comes attached to the term "cartoon" and his old school design ethos? Hell, that's always the reason to tell us not to give a damn about anything and to rebuke any marginal hint of "realism" or "seriousness." Who cares about context? It's a cartoon!

Really, at what point is "blue hedgehog with two tailed fox friend who flies an airplane goes to save the world from a mad scientist trying to use magical gems from an alternate dimension" fundamentally more offensive than "blue hedgehog with two tailed fox friend who flies an airplane goes to save the world from a mad scientist trying to use magical gems from an alternate dimension while sometimes turning into a lycanthrope at night"? Where is the line drawn when the terms are being ambiguously applied by the fans holding the cards because this whole thing is, in reality, an exercise in trying to justify what is nothing more than a base reaction against the thought of Sonic 06 happening again?

Even a fantastic, magical world should have some amount of cohesion, and it's not inherently dishonest to draw some boundaries but not others. Werehogs? I don't mind; Sonic 2 already established "magic"-fueled transformations of a sort, and it's sort of a flipside to Super Sonic. Lost Hex? Coming after Angel Island, Little Planet, Babylon Garden, and probably more I'm forgetting, it's a fine fit. Magic that takes you into storybooks where the story is real and the major characters look like your friends? Well, that one doesn't really fit too well.

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I'm not talking about cohesion. I'm talking about badly-defined definitions concerning the artistry of the franchise that the fandom and larger gaming culture nonetheless tries to impart on everyone else as some sort of self-evident truth or solid argument for why Sonic cannot inherently include certain ideas or tonal shifts, even if they were in the games in some form before shit hit the fan. There is absolutely no consistency, no logic, with which to hang any empathy on and yet these people are basically the reason why the games have been stripped of any real fucking adrenaline or grit or interesting ideas. It's not rational.

Take the storybook thing. We've already had alternate timelines and dimensions where games like CD, Shuffle, Rush, 06, and Gens take place, and even then the Emeralds were always said to be housed in their own dimensions. Yet an alternate dimension through a book is where the line is drawn? Why? What is the fundamental difference? That the storybook characters are expies of others from the original dimension? What in the design bible and ethos of the franchise do incidental Authurian and Arabian versions of Sonic characters actively betray in order to make the argument that it's an ill-fitting idea in the vain of over-the-top violence and profanity usage?
 

And why is this even the point of contention when these characters were not the problem people had with the games (or rather, Black Knight) in the first place? You know what people had a problem with? The sword. That was literally it. No one gave a fuck about Lancelot being Shadow because the wider populous at large doesn't give a fuck about the story enough to even bother digging that deep to find something wrong with any implications that might cause, thus even had you taken the sword out they wouldn't have been problematic (because it wasn't problematic in Secret Rings). Hell, even the most ardent dissenters praised their playability because they didn't deviate from the game's core design into new genres.

Edited by Nepenthe
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17 minutes ago, Nepenthe said:

Take the storybook thing. We've already had alternate timelines and dimensions where games like CD, Shuffle, Rush, 06, and Gens take place, and even then the Emeralds were always said to be housed in their own dimensions. Yet an alternate dimension through a book is where the line is drawn? Why? What is the fundamental difference?

I think "a thing that exists as fiction in the 'real' world is actually a real dimension that you can visit" is kind of a fundamentally different notion than a parallel dimension that exists as its own world or a weird between-dimensions sort of space.

17 minutes ago, Nepenthe said:

That the storybook characters are expies of others from the original dimension? What in the design bible and ethos of the franchise do incidental Authurian and Arabian versions of Sonic characters actively betray in order to make the argument that it's an ill-fitting idea in the vain of over-the-top violence and profanity usage?

And why is this even the point of contention when these characters were not the problem people had with the games (or rather, Black Knight) in the first place?

Shit man I just brought it up as a reason why I, personally, think they step a little too far for my suspension of disbelief. "These in-universe fictional characters actually exist and they're basically just the main characters in costumes" is a bit of a goofy concept.

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12 minutes ago, Diogenes said:

I think "a thing that exists as fiction in the 'real' world is actually a real dimension that you can visit" is kind of a fundamentally different notion than a parallel dimension that exists as its own world or a weird between-dimensions sort of space.

There is no meaningful fundamental difference between accessing each kind of dimension in the games as they're presented, nor is there any consistency between what an alternate dimension is to even consist of in this franchise because there's no real need at this point to set limits. If you changed the book to a generic-ass portal and redesigned the offending characters, nothing would actually change about the inner workings of the narrative and conflict or the effect it has on Sonic's real world. It's nothing more than cliche' cartoon window dressing for an irrelevant spin-off, not a far-reaching plot point with any real implications on the narrative at large.

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Shit man I just brought it up as a reason why I, personally, think they step a little too far for my suspension of disbelief. "These in-universe fictional characters actually exist and they're basically just the main characters in costumes" is a bit of a goofy concept.

Yes. It's a goofy concept, in a series predicated on goofy concepts. But being a goofy concept isn't an indicator of a betrayal of tone or style, and as a result I honestly I can't see how it breaks your suspension of disbelief outside of far stricter standards for throwaway alternate dimensions than I have.

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You know what I miss from Adventure days? The mystery.

What happened to echidna tribe? Who's that black hedgehog? Was that Metal ? What connects Black Doom to Shadow? Will Sonic destroy the world?

Story book games and Unleashed kiiinda had few curled balls, but Pontac era?Eggman is evil, big surprise. Eggman is behind Time Eather, bigger surprise. Ooo, a Zeti, that might be... no answers about anything? Okay then.

Serious Vs Comedy is arguable, but I think we can all agree that making your audience curious is a good thing.

But for fairness sake, I will mention big thing that SA1 messed up (no, I'm not talking about Big). The world.

Classic games show Mobius as planet full of magical places like Floating Island, Little Planet or Special Zone.. Adventure era gave us... bunch of cities. I'm okay with idea that humans exist, Eggman came from somwhere, but why spend so much time in them? In that department Unleashed is even worse, showing us map of whole planet, and all nations are copies of real countries.

With that said, I'm not happy with Lost Word either, because everything looks so Mario-ishly fake, I can't pretend it's a real place. (Not in Sonic World anyway). Overall, since Unleashed Sega seems to keep Sonic away from planet. Other dimensions, planets, time travel. Weird.

 

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