Is Sonic Boom finally dead?

[Your Vest Friend]

59 minutes ago, Tornado said:

The only main character in the series that does not follow some goofy theme naming is Amy. It's a non-starter of an argument.

Well, neither do Vector and Charmy technically. Charmy because he has the same root as Amy, Vector because he was named before character theming was a thing.

But yeah, point is that the vast majority do follow the convention, so picking out Sticks for doing it isn't really kosher. 

[Tornado]

> Vector/Charmy

> Main characters

 

7 hours ago, Austroid said:

The whole "lol were like a sitcom!" just doesn't work with what the foundation of the Sonic series is.

What's the foundation of the Sonic series in 2018?

[Razule]

9 minutes ago, Tornado said:

What's the foundation of the Sonic series in 2018?

Well, for one, a blue hedgehog is there

[DaddlerTheDalek]

I wouldn't mind one more season.

[Austroid]

12 hours ago, Tornado said:

What's the foundation of the Sonic series in 2018?

I wouldn't say its "Sonic lives next door to his arch enemy and hilarious hijinks ensue."

[Shadowlax]

23 hours ago, Tornado said:

> Vector/Charmy

> Main characters

 

What's the foundation of the Sonic series in 2018?

To be honest. 

Nostalgia it seems

And whether that's for classic, adventure, or something else entirely... none of those things are remotely close to sonic boom

[Tornado]

13 hours ago, Austroid said:

I wouldn't say its "Sonic lives next door to his arch enemy and hilarious hijinks ensue."

Why not? I wouldn't say "collection of shitty shonen tropes that were played out to the point of parody a decade ago" is either.

But then Forces went and came out only a few months ago regardless; then tried to make it directly tie in to the not-even-remotely-similar "foundation of the Sonic series" that was Sonic Mania. To say nothing of the even more not-even-remotely-similar "foundation of the Sonic series" that was the Archie comic series. That's three wildly different parts of the series that have wildly different foundations and dramatically different fans that frequently have no overlap whatsoever, off the top of my head.

 

 

So, again, what's the foundation for the Sonic series in 2018? Don't dodge the question, since Sonic Team would probably like the answer themselves so they can go two games without changing their mind. Don't dodge the question, since I'd like to know how you quantify what the foundation is supposed to be when so many people cannot stand certain parts of the series but absolutely adore and stay in the fanbase purely because of others.

[Nestor]

To be fair, isn't the point of Sonic Boom to do something different from the foundation of Sonic, to be an essentially comedic take on the main series? Sonic's gone in different directions before - indeed AoStH has already been down the comedy route.

[RedFox99]

4 minutes ago, Nestor said:

To be fair, isn't the point of Sonic Boom to do something different from the foundation of Sonic, to be an essentially comedic take on the main series? Sonic's gone in different directions before - indeed AoStH has already been down the comedy route.

I guess you have a point there. Granted, I'm not that fond of AoStH either, so I would prefer a less sitcom-esque show.

[Austroid]

13 hours ago, Tornado said:

Why not? I wouldn't say "collection of shitty shonen tropes that were played out to the point of parody a decade ago" is either.

But then Forces went and came out only a few months ago regardless; then tried to make it directly tie in to the not-even-remotely-similar "foundation of the Sonic series" that was Sonic Mania. To say nothing of the even more not-even-remotely-similar "foundation of the Sonic series" that was the Archie comic series. That's three wildly different parts of the series that have wildly different foundations and dramatically different fans that frequently have no overlap whatsoever, off the top of my head.

 

 

So, again, what's the foundation for the Sonic series in 2018? Don't dodge the question, since Sonic Team would probably like the answer themselves so they can go two games without changing their mind. Don't dodge the question, since I'd like to know how you quantify what the foundation is supposed to be when so many people cannot stand certain parts of the series but absolutely adore and stay in the fanbase purely because of others.

Fine, I'll humor you. 

I feel that the basic foundation is "plucky talking animals fighting against an evil madman. Protecting nature from becoming a mechanical wasteland." That's how the series started. It was the premise of SatAM, the comics, Sonic X and even Underground. Its worked up to this point, so why fix something that ain't broke?

[Nuggets]

8 hours ago, Austroid said:

Fine, I'll humor you. 

I feel that the basic foundation is "plucky talking animals fighting against an evil madman. Protecting nature from becoming a mechanical wasteland." That's how the series started. It was the premise of SatAM, the comics, Sonic X and even Underground. Its worked up to this point, so why fix something that ain't broke?

why is there an assumption that that concept can’t work within the confines of a sitcom format 

you can literally spin “plucky talking animals fighting against an evil madman” a million different ways, and the way Sonic Boom spun that concept is a million times more respectful than some of the other entries in this series that aren’t even spin-offs 

[SBR2]

I don't know. I think Sonic works better as a comedy. I mean when you boil it down a Blue Hedgehog spinning into a cannon ball to destroy Robot Ladybugs is kind of silly. It's best to embrace it.

[RedFox99]

29 minutes ago, SBR2 said:

I don't know. I think Sonic works better as a comedy. I mean when you boil it down a Blue Hedgehog spinning into a cannon ball to destroy Robot Ladybugs is kind of silly. It's best to embrace it.

I see what you mean in that games such as Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic '06 took themselves way too seriously. However, I would still like there to be some seriousness in the stories. This is just my opinion, but I can't really like a show that only does comedy for too long before my interest in it dies down. This was the issue that I had with Boom since they would often times reuse the same jokes and they would barely take a break from making jokes to tell more meaningful stories. Now, that's not to say that they should completely abandon jokes, I'm just saying try to balance out the comedy with other elements like story, emotion, and character development. 

[Multikaris]

44 minutes ago, SBR2 said:

I don't know. I think Sonic works better as a comedy. I mean when you boil it down a Blue Hedgehog spinning into a cannon ball to destroy Robot Ladybugs is kind of silly. It's best to embrace it.

So I guess a colossal gray reptile standing on its hind legs emerging from the ocean to wail on metropolises, or a man in a bat suit fighting clowns and other such weirdos are tailored only for comedy, correct? 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

4 hours ago, SBR2 said:

I don't know. I think Sonic works better as a comedy. I mean when you boil it down a Blue Hedgehog spinning into a cannon ball to destroy Robot Ladybugs is kind of silly. It's best to embrace it.

So is a story about fat clumsy panda trying to master kung fu, or a bunch of toys springing to life. Doesn’t stop stories like that from being more than just comedy flicks.

Heck, same goes for a story about a dangerous alien the size of a koala bear learning finding a family. Not sure why people place something in a box like that.

[Tornado]

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I feel that the basic foundation is "plucky talking animals fighting against an evil madman. Protecting nature from becoming a mechanical wasteland."

When you break it down like that, it sounds an awful lot like Sonic Boom.

 

Quote

That's how the series started. It was the premise of SatAM, the comics, Sonic X and even Underground.

lol

 

Pull the other one. I refuse to believe that you actually think Archie or especially fucking SatAM of all things are based on the same premise of any game in the franchise in the past twenty years, even if they are extensions of the loose SoA continuity. Better yet, wander into the Archie or IDW threads or head on over to Retro and claim as much. The overwhelming majority of the characters are not the same (even before SoJ threw out the SoA trappings in 1998), the tone is not the same, the internal logic is not the same, the characters that are shared do not act the same way or share motivations and the setting is completely unrelated. And, again, there are people who are/were still in this fanbase specifically because those spinoffs were Sonic related without actually having anything to do with what Sonic Team under Iizuka was making.

Quote

Its worked up to this point, so why fix something that ain't broke?

Them thinking they could work on things without such a drastic refocus would probably be why Sega stepped back from making it the full series reboot that they so obviously intended it to be initially; but let's not pretend that the franchise hasn't teetered between "pretty alright" to "pretty fucking god-damned broke" for the past twenty years; sometimes even from one game to the next.

 

 

 

Overall I'd say 4/10. If the best you can do to "humor me" is provide a list of TV shows and spinoffs that are more different from the game series proper than Sonic Boom is/was, two of them being notable to the extent of infamy for it, your ideals for the franchise's foundation could probably use some self-reflection before you put anymore pen to paper.

[Blueknight V2.0]

I just heard over on Twitter that the writing staff for Sonic Boom is moving over to the Sly Cooper TV Show, is there any truth to this? But if it is that could explain the delay, to get new staff members.

[Razule]

8 minutes ago, Blue Knight/Bluestreak said:

I just heard over on Twitter that the writing staff for Sonic Boom is moving over to the Sly Cooper TV Show, is there any truth to this? But if it is that could explain the delay, to get new staff members.

If they're moving on to other projects, I'd think it's more likely that the show is done..

[Shadowlax]

21 hours ago, Nuggets said:

why is there an assumption that that concept can’t work within the confines of a sitcom format 

you can literally spin “plucky talking animals fighting against an evil madman” a million different ways, and the way Sonic Boom spun that concept is a million times more respectful than some of the other entries in this series that aren’t even spin-offs 

I mean anything can work in a sitcom format, if you remove enough parts and forget enough of it exists. 

And I think that's my issue with sonic boom, it does that , yet tries to go " No these are the same people" And sometimes it works, and most of the time it isn't really that funny or interesting and is just kinda meh

[E-122-Psi]

7 hours ago, Conquering Storm's Servant said:

So is a story about fat clumsy panda trying to master kung fu, or a bunch of toys springing to life. Doesn’t stop stories like that from being more than just comedy flicks.

Heck, same goes for a story about a dangerous alien the size of a koala bear learning finding a family. Not sure why people place something in a box like that.

Even those cases play things kind of tongue in cheek though. They have substance, but they know it's a silly concept. Sonic Boom has more character than just gags as well, just it knows to make fun of itself. Boom is actually pretty much making fun of how much the standard 'action hero animals beating evil bumbling villain' storyline has been run into the ground.

I always feel like the Sonic cast are kinda castrated when they're not allowed to be whimsical anyway. A lot of the characters just work a lot better with a goofy edge to them since it's what harbours a lot of their foibles. Even the best attempts at making a serious take of Sonic have some really pretentious qualities. 

[Austroid]

10 hours ago, Tornado said:

A lot of things.

Dude, what did I do to you? I simply don't like Sonic Boom. I don't like its "witty comedy", nor the way it perceives the franchise.

You can't fault someone for having a difference in opinion than you.

[Red Hot Jack]

I agree, I think the show is done sadly, I really liked it

I wish we at least got a final season. 

Anyway, here is a theory I have to raise some optimism: Sonic Mania Adventures for now... is only to promote Sonic Mania Plus, but what if it's testing the waters for a full Classic styled cartoon? It would be awesome, there is already demand for it since last year, I would enjoy that IF there is actual dialogue, and Amy as a regular too.

I guess it depends on how many views it gets, I hope it does well and Sega is satisfied. I'm thinking they want to turn Mania into a classic sub-franchise like Boom was meant to be.

[Multikaris]

18 hours ago, Tornado said:

When you break it down like that, it sounds an awful lot like Sonic Boom.

 

lol

 

Pull the other one. I refuse to believe that you actually think Archie or especially fucking SatAM of all things are based on the same premise of any game in the franchise in the past twenty years, even if they are extensions of the loose SoA continuity. Better yet, wander into the Archie or IDW threads or head on over to Retro and claim as much. The overwhelming majority of the characters are not the same (even before SoJ threw out the SoA trappings in 1998), the tone is not the same, the internal logic is not the same, the characters that are shared do not act the same way or share motivations and the setting is completely unrelated. And, again, there are people who are/were still in this fanbase specifically because those spinoffs were Sonic related without actually having anything to do with what Sonic Team under Iizuka was making.

Them thinking they could work on things without such a drastic refocus would probably be why Sega stepped back from making it the full series reboot that they so obviously intended it to be initially; but let's not pretend that the franchise hasn't teetered between "pretty alright" to "pretty fucking god-damned broke" for the past twenty years; sometimes even from one game to the next.

 

 

 

Overall I'd say 4/10. If the best you can do to "humor me" is provide a list of TV shows and spinoffs that are more different from the game series proper than Sonic Boom is/was, two of them being notable to the extent of infamy for it, your ideals for the franchise's foundation could probably use some self-reflection before you put anymore pen to paper.

Now, how exactly is Boom more similar to what the games are? 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

15 hours ago, E-122-Psi said:

Even those cases play things kind of tongue in cheek though. They have substance, but they know it's a silly concept.

You say that, and yet each one of those examples have enough tense and dramatic scenes and imagery to make Forces look like it was written by a six year old. So I doubt they care about it being a silly concept than they do making an engaging and enjoyable story out of it given that they don’t restrict themselves to humor alone.

Quote

Sonic Boom has more character than just gags as well, just it knows to make fun of itself. Boom is actually pretty much making fun of how much the standard 'action hero animals beating evil bumbling villain' storyline has been run into the ground.

I always feel like the Sonic cast are kinda castrated when they're not allowed to be whimsical anyway. A lot of the characters just work a lot better with a goofy edge to them since it's what harbours a lot of their foibles. Even the best attempts at making a serious take of Sonic have some really pretentious qualities. 

The same can be said of humor reaching obnoxious levels—a lack of substance you might say, even with Forces pulling a more intense edge.

Boom may not reach anywhere near the levels of, say, Teen Titans Go in that regard, but that still says more about this narrative binary people place on the series. Nothing wrong with having whimsy anymore than having a drama and tension, but it’s really telling how people will embrace only one and treat the other like a plague to be rid of, like these things are incompatible with each regardless of the dozens of works that have shown otherwise.

[RedFox99]

1 minute ago, Conquering Storm's Servant said:

You say that, and yet each one of those examples have enough tense and dramatic scenes and imagery to make Forces look like it was written by a six year old. So I doubt they care about it being a silly concept than they do making an engaging and enjoyable story out of it given that they don’t restrict themselves to humor alone.

The same can be said of humor reaching obnoxious levels—a lack of substance you might say, even with Forces pulling a more intense edge.

Boom may not reach anywhere near the levels of, say, Teen Titans Go in that regard, but that still says more about this narrative binary people place on the series. Nothing wrong with having whimsy anymore than having a drama and tension, but it’s really telling how people will embrace only one and treat the other like a plague to be rid of.

THANK YOU!!!

It's not bad to have comedy, but I feel like Boom being a sitcom really held it back from reaching it's potential as being a great Sonic show at least.