Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[GentlemanX]

Not sure why you'd use in game models to talk about Unleashed's art direction when their appearance in IDW wouldn't look like that. It'd be closer to Gurihiru's concept art which is wonderful. I like how humans look in Sonic X or SA1/2 too (or ShTH and 06 in the pre-rendered stuff anyway), but there's nothing wrong with the humans in Unleashed and there's a strong argument they look more natural next to the Sonic cast.

[Razule]

I don't see why they wouldn't just use the Unleashed style, since that's the last time they appeared. 

I'd like if they used the same Uekawa style as the animal characters though. Eggman is right there, how about just making more people who kind of look like him, like the Billy Hatcher characters?

Spoiler

They haven't done that after all this time though, and when they finally decided to make the people cartoony they chose the Pixar-esque style, so for whatever reason, they don't want to. I can't imagine the idea never came up.

Maybe it's like the Avatar characters, where they want them to look lame on purpose.

[Wraith]

Well, Sonic isn't "Normal with a little exaggeration". He's an extremely exaggerated character, so for humans to not look strange next to him they need some exaggeration to match. It's why Eggman looks the way he does.

IMO the humans should look just a bit more reigned in than Eggman and the Unleashed cast was close to something like that, but you could probably tweak them a bit more to fit better.

[CertifiedNobody]

30 minutes ago, GentlemanX said:

Not sure why you'd use in game models to talk about Unleashed's art direction when their appearance in IDW wouldn't look like that. It'd be closer to Gurihiru's concept art which is wonderful. I like how humans look in Sonic X or SA1/2 too (or ShTH and 06 in the pre-rendered stuff anyway), but there's nothing wrong with the humans in Unleashed and there's a strong argument they look more natural next to the Sonic cast.

That's significantly better than the game models, but the Unleashed humans look so dull in comparison to Eggman and the mobians in IDW. Sonic's version of Earth is anything but bland, and I can't see the Unleashed humans in it. They could be argued to fit more naturally with Sonic, but the exaggeration of the limbs, head, and nose feel off for some reason. They don't fit with with GUN or the Adventure game stories, which is probably the most important part of humans in Sonic.

[Kazhnuz]

I would say that "regular humans" is more bland tbh.

Honestly I would be all for either Billy-Hatcher-like (I agree that it would be perfect) or "Cartoony" humans, but IMO some character could have a more "realistic" style if it fit the character. For some character like the commander, I feel that having them with "normal" proportion kinda fit the character, as he is supposed to be stern and rigid. For me, that kind of mix is part of the identity of Sonic. It's the series where we have both GHZ and normal cities, so having some cartoony and "normal" character kinda fit the bill.

( And a lot of series have more "realistic-proportion" humans combined with more "cartoony humans". It's quite common and Sonic wouldn't be at all the only one to have that, it's not really shocking or anything. )

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

On 12/7/2021 at 11:30 AM, CertifiedNobody said:

Do people really want the Unleashed humans back? I've seen a lot of support for that design but I don't think "ugly pixar reject" fits the comic's style.

Yes, I do want them back. I’m as big an Adventure fan as the next guy, but the Adventure Humans are nameless, generic, and basic NPCs serving little more than props with nothing interesting going on. There’s nothing to most of them that make me invested in them idling around.

The only humans remotely interesting looking are Maria, Gerald, and the GUN Commander, with maybe the President and Secretary being good enough. Compare that to the more visually distinct designs of Unleashed where I can indentify almost every single individual—each one even have their own distinct names and backgrounds—and I don’t see why it’s difficult to understand why people prefer the Pixar-looking humans. That some of the Unleashed humans actually do more than idle around—chating and arguing with their family over life decisions, worrying about their family when one runs away from home, or another getting mad simply because you talked to his daughter among other things (Unleashed having essentially a Middle Eastern guy wanting to be a musician and partnering with an “American” in a western city to make his dreams come true is something we should see more of from Sonic) shows the greater effort put into them than the ones in Adventure.

Sonic and the anthros are cartoony; Eggman, the primary human, is cartoony. Why shouldn’t the other humans be as cartoony to mesh with them? There’s way more that can be said about the humans in Unleashed than the ones in the Adventures, from their silhouettes to their fashion, as they feel a lot more like people living in the setting than merely occupying it, to the extent I enjoyed talking to them as much as I enjoyed the scenery during downtime in the hubs when Unleashed was still fresh (I was mostly a sucker for the Chun-nan setting with Hualin and her family before she decided to tour the world, for example).

@GentlemanXAlso, I can’t see the images in the link for some reason. Can you fix that?

[Zoomzeta]

You know, I sometimes imagined that, if humans were to make a reappearance in future media, outside of the film universe, they would look like something straight out of a show from TRIGGER, where some characters would look semi-realistic and others very cartoonish, kind of a compromise between the earlier more realistic designs from the Adventure titles and the more Pixar inspired designs from Unleashed. 

Does that seem to make some sort of sense? 

[MetalSkulkBane]

3 hours ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

I’m as big an Adventure fan as the next guy, but

Blasphemy!

Our humans were made of blocks, couldn't change face expressions and lacked fingers. And we liked that that way! Comic should adapt them with all the polygon sharp edges!

And let me tell you, Eggman was much better as ventriloquist with shallow breathing.

[CertifiedNobody]

5 hours ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

Blasphemy!

Our humans were made of blocks, couldn't change face expressions and lacked fingers. And we liked that that way! Comic should adapt them with all the polygon sharp edges!

And let me tell you, Eggman was much better as ventriloquist with shallow breathing.

a low poly styled comic would be amazing

[Dummy Bear]

I've been thinking about the "how should humans look" in Sonic for a while and two styles pop out for me:

Either an artstyle similar to Pepper Ann & Kid's Next Door(different artists but still very similar) or something inspired by Classic Max Fleischer style.

(personally I'd just go for the generic anime style Sonic X used(except more exaggerrated and cartoonier) just for familiarity, but it's not for everyone)

[GentlemanX]

13 hours ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

@GentlemanXAlso, I can’t see the images in the link for some reason. Can you fix that?

Just links to the concept art section from Sonic Unleashed's gallery on Sonic News Network.

[Sonictrainer]

We have 3 Covers and a preview

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[Zulon Eredas]

Ashe is not amused

[CertifiedNobody]

It's a little underwhelming that the cliffhanger for the previous issue is taken care of almost instantly and is barely shown as a threat. This looks good, but I'm not convinced the last issue will make it feel less a filler arc.

[Silvereyes]

12 hours ago, Sonictrainer said:

 

"No sir, I didn't see you playing with your dolls again."

[Sonictrainer]

Spoiler

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Gigi Dutreix: Since its out-- here is me progress of ye 
@IDWPublishing
  SONIC THE HEDGEHOG: IMPOSTER SYNDROME #2 cover! 
(recording of my inking process below as well)

 

[Leebo4]

Anyone have a clue please who is supposed to be in his other hand besides the figure of himself?

[Sonictrainer]

36 minutes ago, Leebo4 said:

Anyone have a clue please who is supposed to be in his other hand besides the figure of himself?

Eggman (from our perspective we're seeing the back of his head)

[Leebo4]

9 hours ago, Sonictrainer said:

Eggman (from our perspective we're seeing the back of his head)

Got it thanks

[Red Hot Jack]

The ultimate dream come true: Ian Flynn writes for the next and biggest Sonic game (confirmed).

[Shaddy Zaphod]

Actually, given that Ian has strong influence over the comics and now a game, I wonder if we might get our first IDW game adaptation. We'll certainly see at least a tie-in, but it'd be neat if they attempted a full-on story integration again.

[ehh123]

I love the sneeze gag that Sonic did when Amy indirectly mentioned him a few issues ago. It was like something straight out of an anime.

[Sonictrainer]

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Evan Stanley: A holiday Sonic, just for fun!

 

[Rabbitearsblog]

1 hour ago, Sonictrainer said:

 

So pretty!

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Bruh, screw holiday Sonic. Now I wanna see Sonic in a badass long coat, Dante-style!