How will the series change in the future?

[Rowl]

Long-running series will/must always change in the future so that they can either fit today's taste or try to freshen up their concept. It happened with a lot of the 80s/90s shows. The characters from the TMNT franchise, for example, went from dark and mature, to overtop goofy, to dark and mature again, to a mix of mature and silly, to goofy wants again. But some changes stayed like turning Aril into a teenager or making the Shredder very terrifying.

With Sonic it happened the same way. The tone of Sonic went from lighthearted and cartoony, to semi-mature, to very dark and edgy, to semi-mature again, and now we are in a current era, where everything seems to be more simple and light-hearted. Also, a lot of the characters have changed: Tails went from a tagalong to an independent inventor, to a bit of a whiny smart guy. Knuckles went from a mature rival of Sonic to a hothead, to an idiot and, is now once again the mature rival/friend of Sonic. Shadow went from a misunderstood anti-hero to badass edgy rival, to finally becoming some sort of a villain (I think). 

You can see also changes in the world of Sonic. Sonic's world went from colorful cartoony world to a semi-realistic world, to an alternative version of earth, and finally back to a more cartoony world. 

What other changes will the franchise have in the future? I personally think that when it comes to the tone of the series, we will go back to the more adventures series. It seems like adventures in an anime-like style are making a return: She-Ra, Voltron, Troll Hunters, and also some movies like Frozen 2 and the How to train your Dragon-Franchises set the way for more adventure driven stories.

When it comes to the characters, I think that Big the Cat will be used much more in the future. He has become this really popular meme on the internet and it seems like Sega wants him to stay as a little side joke here and there. Other characters like Blaze and Silver are a bit harder to judge. I think they will scrap the idea of those two characters been from a different dimension/time period and make them residents of Sonic's world. As for Team Dark, I kinda see them becoming the official main rivals for Team Sonic, but more in the way like the Babylon Rouges were in the Riders series. Rivals, but in a more friendly way.

As for the world. I think it will be more like an adventure fantasy world, kind alike within Zelda, but more with a modern urban setting rather than a medieval one. Also, I think that outside of Eggman we will not see any humans for a while. They still exist in this world, but we will not see them and focus more on Sonic styled-characters. 

Then we have the political topics, that are actually quite common in modern, western cartoons: She-Ra, the new TMNT and DuckTales, Voltron etc. It could happen also with Sonic. Maybe one of the characters, new and old, will be in a homosexual relationship. But I see this more happening to either a brand new character or a minor one like either Blaze, Espio or Silver. We can not really turn Amy into a lesbian. Here thing is, that she is with Sonic. I also can see more strong female characters making the cut, by either introduce more of them, as they did with Tangle and Whisper or turning some of the older ones like Cream, Marine, and maybe Vanilla into ones. I'm also not 100% if we see in the future more girly like characters. Been nowadays to girly or been too feminine seems to be an insult here in the west. Like a lot of the newer Disney movies make fun of the princess for been... well, princesses. If for example Cream and Vanilla return, they have to tone them down with their girly character traits and also Amy will most likely take a step back with her girly antics. But these political themes are more common in movies, cartoons, and comics. I do not think, that we see them in games, but more for a brand new cartoon show.

This is how I see it. What do you think.

 

 

 

[UpCDownCLeftCRightC]

If history is anything to go by in this franchise, then we have no idea where sonic will go next. It could be a direct sequel of what we just had in forces in regard to story and tone, or something completely and radically different. Theres no point in even speculating about this. Where we are right now is kind of in limbo. I think SEGA clearly understands that Forces was not the most popular game and direction for the franchise and there doesnt seem to be an obvious answer where to go next. The classic stuff is doing very well, there is some clamor within the fanbase for more "adventure" like things. There however has been really no indication that they're leaning in any particular direction, only that they are listening for feedback.

Until we start seeing rumors and sneak peeks of the next big project, this is anyone's guess...