What if GalaxyTrail Bought the Post-SGW Cast?

[Multikaris]

If SEGA were truly, truly done with the old Archie characters, and wouldn’t even bring them back for nostalgia, what if GalaxyTrail purchased them, to use them in the Freedom Planet series? Would they work better there than in the current Sonic canon? For one thing, this would be a godsend to them gameplay-wise. Sure every single one of them would now have to be fully clothed, but FP’s 3-button (Plus the block button of FP2) formula would suit their potential movesets  better than Sonic gameplay at this point. Imagine all the moves characters like Bunnie could use. FP also seems to be more lenient for “rival” bosses, with the final boss of the first game being one! This means a lot of the Egg Bosses (now under Brevon, Red Scarves, etc. would be fightable with their own unique boss abilities. 

 

Story-wise, a lot of their non-SEGA-friendly elements could be resurrected. Maybe Bunnie fell victim to a Brevon experiment? 

 

So, would it be better if GalaxyTrail bought the Archie cast of Sega truly wish to be rid of them for good, or not?

[Tracker_TD]

I'd be very surprised if GalaxyTrail

a) had the resources to purchase several character rights from SEGA.

b) wanted to use that money on something that would inevitably just lead to FP being pointed to more as a Sonic clone, when everything I've seen of FP2 seems to be them trying to move away from that.

c) could be arsed with the attention it'd inevitably bring from muppets like Penders, regardless of whether his inevitable whining at them would have any merit.

Somehow I think they'd just rather keep expanding their own universe with their own concepts rather than nicking more from Sonic. 

[Diogenes]

If it'd mean people would stop asking for them to appear in Sonic games, I'd be all for it.

But like Tracker said I doubt they have the money or the interest for it.

[Your Vest Friend]

Would they even be able to do anything with them? They're still directly derivative of the Sonic franchise, so legally they'd just be dead weight anyway. 

[Multikaris]

5 minutes ago, VEDJ-F said:

Would they even be able to do anything with them? They're still directly derivative of the Sonic franchise, so legally they'd just be dead weight anyway. 

Redesign them to make them non-derivative, like they did Lilac. 

 

Also, it’s not implausible SEGA would make the rights to the characters cheaper.

[Blue Blood]

7 minutes ago, Miragnarok said:

Also, it’s not implausible SEGA would make the rights to the characters cheaper.

It's pretty bloody implausible that SEGA would consider selling them off.

[Zaysho]

1 hour ago, Miragnarok said:

So, would it be better if GalaxyTrail bought the Archie cast of Sega truly wish to be rid of them for good, or not?

Not really. Ignoring money being an issue or the (lack of) practicality, why exactly should they? What purpose is using Bunnie, an established character, and altering virtually everything about her, serving that can't be filled by a new character? What is so unique about the "non-Sega-friendly" story elements and plot lines that can't simply be adapted for a new character? And why would a company willingly part with parts of their intellectual property if they don't have to?

The developers of Freedom Planet don't look like they're hurting for new characters or creative ideas. Anything you think they should buy and use because Sega isn't using them can easily be filled by something original that they have full control over. I see very little they'd gain from it when it's not like Archie/SatAM characters would be the same in the first place, needing to be changed to such a degree that the things people cared about with them are no longer there, and I personally don't want characters I cared about being trotted out for cheap fanservice from either company.

 

11 minutes ago, Miragnarok said:

Also, it’s not implausible SEGA would make the rights to the characters cheaper.

Based on what?

[Dr. Detective]

Keep the Archie characters alive in the same place where Sniper Island is.

In your hearts.

I already do it with the characters I liked in Sonic X. You can do it.

[Multikaris]

2 minutes ago, Zaysho said:

Not really. Ignoring money being an issue or the (lack of) practicality, why exactly should they? What purpose is using Bunnie, an established character, and altering virtually everything about her, serving that can't be filled by a new character? What is so unique about the "non-Sega-friendly" story elements and plot lines that can't simply be adapted for a new character? And why would a company willingly part with parts of their intellectual property if they don't have to?

The developers of Freedom Planet don't look like they're hurting for new characters or creative ideas. I see very little they'd gain from it when it's not like the characters would be the same in the first place, and I personally don't want characters I cared about being trotted out for cheap fanservice from either company.

 

Based on what?

How SEGA don’t even use them in marketing under any circumstances. Not even the Twitter usually has them. 

[Danj86]

As a non-Archie ready, I'd only have the cartoons to go by. Perhaps my opinion isn't worth sharing but I'm gonna do it anyway. *shrug*

As it stands, there is no reason for Galaxytrail to want to purchase those characters. Those reasons having already been said. It's also worth noting that if they were likely to come back in any new shape or form, the possibility of them being different to the characters that so many of us had grown up with, would be very high. They could simply be handled by an entirely new team of people. In the long run, you'd still lose the characters from treasured memories.

Where as staying in the back catalogue of comics lets them leave with any dignity they had acquired over the years intact. It sounds like a lose-lose situation, but when you think of stuff like television shows that run for years with great success, then start to go stale and turn into a horrible parody of it's once established greatness. Now being nothing more than mediocrity of the worst kind...

Spoiler

Isn't it better for them to retire without the taint of a potential revival?

[Multikaris]

23 hours ago, -dan- said:

As a non-Archie ready, I'd only have the cartoons to go by. Perhaps my opinion isn't worth sharing but I'm gonna do it anyway. *shrug*

As it stands, there is no reason for Galaxytrail to want to purchase those characters. Those reasons having already been said. It's also worth noting that if they were likely to come back in any new shape or form, the possibility of them being different to the characters that so many of us had grown up with, would be very high. They could simply be handled by an entirely new team of people. In the long run, you'd still lose the characters from treasured memories.

Where as staying in the back catalogue of comics lets them leave with any dignity they had acquired over the years intact. It sounds like a lose-lose situation, but when you think of stuff like television shows that run for years with great success, then start to go stale and turn into a horrible parody of it's once established greatness. Now being nothing more than mediocrity of the worst kind...

  Reveal hidden contents

Isn't it better for them to retire without the taint of a potential revival?

If Sega would allow the IDW writers and/or Mania team to use them, then I wouldn’t be so willing to let them run the risk of ending up like the Simpsons or Mario. But Sega have yet to prove me wrong. They have yet to show that they’re willing to let them return. 

On 12/24/2018 at 3:07 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Keep the Archie characters alive in the same place where Sniper Island is.

In your hearts.

I already do it with the characters I liked in Sonic X. You can do it.

I can, but my heart is too full. For this, some other characters will sadly have to die to make room for them. Goodbye, Arctur... 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

1 hour ago, Miragnarok said:

Redesign them to make them non-derivative, like they did Lilac. 

If you have to alter the characters in order to use them, what would be the point? 

[Rabid-Coot]

I would guess that despite the death of the comic line and Sega having no interest in ever using the characters again they are probably bringing in some money by being part of the cartoons still being syndicaded on streaming platforms.

[Detective Kaito]

This seems like such a random thought, why would GalaxyTrail (or any company) buy rights to any character when they could just make their own?

[Multikaris]

15 minutes ago, Detective Kaito said:

This seems like such a random thought, why would GalaxyTrail (or any company) buy rights to any character when they could just make their own?

Disney does it all the time. 

 

Also, I’m already making my peace with the end of both Archie and Boom, just wanted to give them one last chance. 

[horridus]

40 minutes ago, Miragnarok said:

Disney does it all the time. 

Also, I’m already making my peace with the end of both Archie and Boom, just wanted to give them one last chance. 

Disney buys franchises with massive amounts of name recognition and sizable pre-existing fanbases. The only reason they don't have the whole kit n' kaboodle when it comes to Marvel's film rights are due to decisions that Marvel made prior to being bought out by Disney, and even then what they own was more than enough to be split into its own universe without things like the X-men or Fantastic 4.

What you're proposing is more like if Disney went out of their way to purchase a set of specific characters from a single Star Wars comic or cartoon and then separating them entirely from the Star Wars context and trying to profit off of them. It's bafflingly elaborate and more likely to alienate people than draw fans in, new OR old, and given the sheer amount of worldbuilding that would be needed to fill the void and make it legally distinct from the previous franchise, it'd make far more sense to just invent new characters from scratch. 

What you propose would only end in a similar fashion. Even if SEGA for whatever reason DID decide to sell all that, removing the Sonic context from the characters by default means they aren't the same characters anymore, because they were created to co-exist with Sonic and be a part of the wider franchise. 

[Multikaris]

Just now, horridus said:

Disney buys franchises with massive amounts of name recognition and sizable pre-existing fanbases. The only reason they don't have the whole kit n' kaboodle when it comes to Marvel's film rights are due to decisions that Marvel made prior to being bought out by Disney, and even then what they own was more than enough to be split into its own universe without things like the X-men or Fantastic 4.

What you're proposing is more like if Disney went out of their way to purchase a set of specific characters from a single Star Wars comic or cartoon and then separating them entirely from the Star Wars context and trying to profit off of them. It's bafflingly elaborate and more likely to alienate people than draw fans in, new OR old, and given the sheer amount of worldbuilding that would be needed to fill the void and make it legally distinct from the previous franchise, it'd make far more sense to just invent new characters from scratch. 

What you propose would only end in a similar fashion. Even if SEGA for whatever reason DID decide to sell all that, removing the Sonic context from the characters by default means they aren't the same characters anymore, because they were created to co-exist with Sonic and be a part of the wider franchise. 

It’d really be better to have Sega let other people, like the Mania team, revive these old characters. 

[Tara]

23 hours ago, Miragnarok said:

Also, it’s not implausible SEGA would make the rights to the characters cheaper.

Yes, it absolutely is.  The only time a company would ever consider lowering the price of its intellectual property is if it's going through bankruptcy and desperately needs to pay off its debts, and even then, they would never go so low that an independent publisher like GalaxyTrail could ever hope to afford it.  For that matter, they are less likely to actually sell the license as they are to auction it off to the highest bidder, but again, only if they were really desperate for cash, which Sega, despite its many shortcomings in recent years, really isn't.

23 hours ago, Miragnarok said:

How SEGA don’t even use them in marketing under any circumstances. Not even the Twitter usually has them. 

And just as well for Sega- they're not using the characters, but now no one else can either.  They're not profiting off the characters, but more importantly, no one else is either.  For this reason among a multitude of others, having the rights to these characters is still beneficial to Sega.

[TideKai]

I'm afraid I have to agree with the majority here. As sad as it is to face the possibility that the Freedom Fighters have been permanently retired, I think that's the reality we're facing now. Them being put in Freedom Planet just seems to extremely unlikely. I like Freedom Planet being a Sonic inspired game instead of being a direct derivative of it. And just as people before me have said, you would have to change their backstories and redesign them. When it comes to that, what's the point anymore? There would be little to distinguish them from just being new characters. This isn't even considering all the money and legal hurdles that a small indie company would have to go through in order to acquire characters from a large company.

In my opinion, I think it's best for the Freedom Fighters to live on through the fans. There's a fan continuation going on right now, there might even be more that I'm not aware of. People are still writing stories, drawing art, and discussing these characters. Even if they're dead in SEGA's hands, they're alive and well in other ways. Will it be the same? No, and that will probably take some time getting used to. But I personally am very thankful for all the hard work and dedication going on from people who still want to keep the FF's around. I think it just goes to show the passion and love a lot of people still have for them.

[JezMM]

Freedom Planet might've started life as a Sonic fangame, but it has VERY much evolved into it's own thing at this point, and it feels kind of disrespectful to their hard work giving the game it's own identity to suggest that Archie characters would just slot right into their universe.

They'd have to reboot them too obviously, when I think what most Archie fans really want is for the original story to continue, which, sadly, it never will.  But granted, I'm the type who is never really that fussed about "consolation prize" content - I'm not the type to praise "something" over "nothing" when that something still isn't what I wanted, even though I might seperately appreciate that "something" on it's own merit.