Sonic Appears in OK K.O.! (Crossover Episode on August 4th)

[Celestia]

4 hours ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

That was a thing of sheer beauty.

I can't believe roboticisation is a thing used in 2019 but as an Archie fan, that made me so happy to see.

I was really amused that Boxman avoided saying "roboticizer" (which was funny in itself) only for Sonic to say roboticized a minute later anyway. I don't know if that was an intentional fake out on whether they could use the term or not, but it got me either way.

Tails teaching KO to spin dash and the Metal KO fight were the best, and the episode as a whole was really fun. Good stuff.

[Sega DogTagz]

Adorable. Man, we have been getting treated to some great animations the last couple of years. Sonic's 2D game is as strong as its ever been, and I ain't talkin about Mania lol

 

They really crammed in absolute ton of references and pulled from all different sides of the fandom to do it. This was highly enjoyable.

[Scritch the Cat]

3 hours ago, Diogenes said:

It was okay, I guess. It was fun spotting references (and it's pretty impressive both how many they managed to cram in and how wide a net they cast with them) and the action/chase scene was neat (if unfortunately brief, but there's only so many minutes in an episode and so much money in the budget, so).

But I kinda...didn't really like Sonic and Tails much in it? This might sound a bit weird from me considering how I've talked about wanting Sonic to be a bit of a dick and how I like Tails feeling betrayed in Lost World, but I feel like they did the exact wrong versions of those things. The episode treats Sonic as basically being a celebrity, and I don't mind that coming from KO, but they have Sonic himself lean too much into it and he comes off as a bit too much of a self-absorbed jerk a few times, and not in a way I find entertaining. And Tails getting jealous of KO feels way more petty than what happened in Lost World, he just immediately gets pissed that Sonic's being at all nice to this kid, it doesn't really feel like the healthiest of relationships.

I'm still more glad that it exists than bothered by it on the whole, just, it's not really ranking particularly high on my list of favorite Sonic animations.

Now that you mention it, the idea of Sonic being a celebrity is quite anachronistic at the moment.  To the older viewers, the sort whom this episode seems most made for, he is mostly a has-been.  To many of the younger viewers, who probably are the bulk of this show's audience, sadly Sonic is a never-was.

That doesn't mean I would have wanted them to reflect that by playing Sonic more like Bojack Horseman.  I'm fine with them deciding to make this a celebration of the Sonic franchise at its best.  However, I think a better way to have done that would have been to make the plot about KO visiting Sonic's world instead; that could provide a formal introduction for more of those things that they just referenced here.

[StaticMania]

Oh, really glad to know Sonic's character relation to Cream.

The one little line is more telling than anything the games have ever produced.

[MetalSkulkBane]

Trying to be super objective I do wonder if non-Sonic fans will like this.

 

But as a Sonic fan, yes it was great fun. Between Generations, Lego Dimension and Mania, Sonic could use something more than 'cute adventure with tons of references', but OK KO manages to stand on it's own. I think my favorite joke was Chilli Dog and 2D image disguise .

 

And I was afraid that they completely exclude any modern stuff, but terrible drawing of Shadow and mentioning KO likes Cream was all I needed.

 

I think characterization was great. Both Sonic and Tails are flawed, but never unlikable. In the end Sonic is a hero who jumps into water and Tails helps KO spin dash, which actually shows how well he understands Sonic. In Death Battle (Tails Vs Lugi) they claimed Tails invented Spin Dash. While I didn't found any official statement, it does fit into their bond and this episode surprisingly supports that theory.
Also the fact that Sonic considers KO and Cream "Little Buddy", but not Tails can be interpreted that Sonic sees how much Tails grew, ever more than Tails realizes that himself. In the end of a day Tails proudly calls himself sidekick, but in this episode he does as much if not more than Sonic to save the day.

 

(Could have gone without naive Knuckles joke though.)

 

[StaticMania]

57 minutes ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

While I didn't found any official statement...

It's because of Tails Adventure.

"English" manual says it's before he meets Sonic, but he learns the spindash in that game.

[Red Hot Jack]

I'm excited to watch the episode… but also afraid, I saw one scene and I think they are Handling Tails great, but Sonic seems too much of a jerk, maybe? Kinda scared… how is he in the episode?

[StaticMania]

He's a jerk and everybody loves him!

All he needed was a tattoo.

[dbzfan7]

53 minutes ago, Tangled Jack said:

I'm excited to watch the episode… but also afraid, I saw one scene and I think they are Handling Tails great, but Sonic seems too much of a jerk, maybe? Kinda scared… how is he in the episode?

It's not too bad, but noticeable. He has nicer moments to help balance it out. I mean he may be somewhat punchable, but not totally punchable like the main games have done lately.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

I feel like I’m one of the few people who didn’t mind how Sonic was portrayed. He’s a bit of an egomaniac to begin with, sure, but him not being able to properly mentor KO made sense to me (Sonic in general has always just been a character that “does” things, let it be spindash, or even Chaos Control, it makes sense he can’t properly describe how he does it), and it let Tails have a mentor role which he never gets to do.

But in the end, despite his ego, Sonic still acted as heroically as ever. The key difference to me is that he still backs up the stories told about him. He immediately tries to save KO when he’s robotised, still keeps the banter, and has a heart to heart with Tails to reassure him that no one can ever take away their friendship, and he’d never replace him. Sonic can be a jerk and still be likeable, that’s the point I see here at least. 

The one thing I’d say I disliked was Knuckles. I loved seeing him get a mention, complete with his Mega Drive goofball art, but it stung when they made the comment that the master emerald wasn’t stolen, but rather Knuckles was tricked with a really dumb ploy. It’s the one major part of gross mischaracterisation in this IMO. 

Like I get that Knuckles is gullible, but the dude also still abides by his duty and isn’t that stupid. The one key fact about Knuckles beyond being gullible is the fact he won’t willingly give up the Master Emerald. This is the same dude who’d rather shatter it into pieces and recollect it than let it fall into anyone’s hands. If he wasn’t gonna let Rouge have it for a jewel collection, he sure as shit wouldn’t be tricked into handing it over to some random stranger with a stupid story. 

The references in the episode were all top notch though, the OVA ending recreation and especially the Sonic Says had me in stitches.

[StaticMania]

Sonic needs to be a jerk more often.

Here, he's just like...2 notches above OVA Sonic.

Modern Sonic isn't like this, he just talks a lot more.

[Sega DogTagz]

2 hours ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

Death Battle (Tails Vs Lugi) they claimed Tails invented Spin Dash. While I didn't found any official statement, it does fit into their bond and this episode surprisingly supports that theory.

 

 

1 hour ago, StaticMania said:

It's because of Tails Adventure.

"English" manual says it's before he meets Sonic, but he learns the spindash in that game.

I didn't know tails adventure confirmed that. I'll will need to look into it. 

I can confirm the north America version of the manual for Sonic 2 also labels tails as the one who invented the move. 

[sonic 1-derful]

12 hours ago, Scritch the Cat said:

I’ll admit, I’m not a fan of that either.  Sonic’s abilities don’t have to be 100% unique to him, but balling up is the entire reason the hedgehog was chosen as the mascot for a speed-based platformer, as it allows him to attack while moving.  If any creature can do it, it undermines the strangely-brilliant whimsy of a hedgehog as a super-speed action hero.  It wasn’t a big deal to me in a surreal comedy cartoon, and let’s be real; KO will probably never spin-dash again, but I don’t like that direction being taken in Sonic Heroes, Sonic World, and the many ________ in Sonic the Hedgehog hacks.  Sonic characters should play more uniquely, provided they’re fun.

that's why I appreciated amy's gameplay in the 'advance' series. she was able to navigate sonic's environment in her own way without being a clone. 

[Dr. Detective]

When watching an 11 minute celebration of Sonic in a cartoon mostly centered around absurdist comedy its only natural that my brain approach it a slightly different way. That isn't to say I would have accepted literally any portrayal of the characters but I can sort through whats important and whats most likely supposed to be an in-joke for charming fan-service.

Like, the Knuckles bit is something I could do the uber-fan thing of sitting down and cross-examining as something he'd never do but in reality it got a chuckle out of me because I knew the "He let me borrow it for something stupid" ploy was an intentionally ridiculous situation meant to exaggerate his gullibility for humor. It flies by too quickly for it to feel like anything but.

I can't really say I had a single issue worth mentioning here. I love how balanced Ego-Sonic was with Hero-Sonic. You have a situation here where KO (maybe as a stand in for the show's creators) is literally kissing Sonic's feet while going off about how awesome he is. Seeing the ego inflate without it turning into a situation where he stopped being likeable was great.

I loved Tails the most though. I found the jealousy angle a cute reminder that Tails is indeed supposed to be a child and its always nice whenever the games and other media suddenly take advantage of that too. My issue with Lost World most certainly wasn't the idea of him being upset but the "story" they were trying to tell was so confused it really did make Tails look like a tremendous asshole. Tails being frothing mad at Sonic for "trusting Eggman more than him" one scene after Sonic rattled off how much he hated Eggman and didn't want to work with him will forever be the strangest bout of characterization whiplash I've ever seen.

Its even worse considering the fact that Tails DID have a damn good reason for being mad at Sonic in that game because of how much he kept ignoring his advice, the thing Tails was there to provide.

Here Tails may sigh and roll his eyes every once in a while but its done appropriately and more comidically before being followed by something charming. The best part of course was when he got as genuine and as heart-felt as he did with KO by explaining his backstory to help him out while at the same time providing context for the audience to see how much Sonic meant to him and why. 

He can be jealous but still kind and helpful despite that. That was genuine excitement he felt when KO successfully did the spindash, all before the conflict was resolved. Tails is always gonna be Tails no matter what.

Plus, I did always feel it made sense for someone with the demeanor of Tails to have a doubt like this at the back of his mind. It does make the moment where Sonic no sells it with a simple explanation something adorable. Tails blushing and going "I knew that..." to highlight how silly he felt about his irrational fear is the perfect way to resolve it.

Genius or not, he doesn't have it all figured out and thats part of what makes him cute. As well as a good character. 

[Meta77]

Hasn't sonic always been sort of a heroic jerk. That's been a thing since the 90s. Classic games never showed it but media on TV and comics he could have a pretty big ego including modern games. If anything it reminded me of a episode of boom

[Plasme]

Sonic has always been a jerk, and not just in marketing, but in the games. In Sonic CD, it's heavily implied that he just runs past Amy and ignores her on a frequent basis until she gets kidnapped. He only starts exressing concern when she's in danger. In the cutscenes he mocks the badniks before destroying them.

It wasn't as noticeable in the Classics because he didnt have as much character in those games, but when he did emote, it was to express his speed and his arrogance about it.

I think the reason why people get annoyed with his jerk character now is because we rarely see his serious side anymore. So in the Sonic CD cutscenes, he's not goofing off when racing Metal Sonic, or when he rescues Amy. You don't see that side of him much anymore, so you get his jerk side without the contrast.

And when games do try to handle both sides of his character (such as Lost World), it's always done really heavy handedly, with really melodramatic scenes. Especially because this series has never been good at handling character dialogue.

[sonic 1-derful]

 

I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. I will admit that the second preview had me worried (it's still my least favourite part of the episode), but the rest felt more like an episode of 'adventures of' to me just shows how much of an impact that series had. I would definitely be in favour of a reboot or a continuation of this style and format. my only other issue is that I feel sonic's voice should be much higher.

[Red Hot Jack]

Ok, just watched it, and no, I don't care that Sonic is a jerk, I actually think it was handled rather well here. In fact, both Sonic and Tails were adorable and funny, KO kind of got ignored though, at the expense of Sonic and Tails, really. I thought Sonic was gonna be more of a special guest star, here, instead the protagonist felt more like a guest. I don't watch this cartoon and KO seemed really boring, I dunno...

Anyway, it's really a fun episode for Sonic fans, references all around but mostly Adventures, CD and OVA, all classics, which is really cool, I wish our Writers (besides Ian Flynn) were actual Sonic fans who know all of the history and fun trivia.

[Sonictrainer]

Quote

Thank you all for the kind words on the OK KO! Episode "Let's Meet Sonic"! As a treat, here's our original model sheets for Sonic and Tails by our character designer 
@benbatesart (Sonic Team's Kazuyuki Hoshino gave us input and helped us finish the designs!)

From ianjq on Twitter

Also, some promotional art

[sonic 1-derful]

sonic was never mean to tails in 'adventures of'. quite the opposite, he was like a responsible parental figure as well as a friend.

he enjoyed outsmarting badniks, was impatient, wise-cracking, and laid back. that was his 'attitude', but he was likeable. he had a heart and genuinely cared for others, putting them before himself. no problem was to small or big

[Ryusuke]

It was fun overall, but I'm kind of in the "Sonic is kind of a too much of a blowhard in here" camp. He has always been full of it, but I kind of felt this was pushing it? Even moments where he's being genuine, there's still some jerk energy being emitted. But, it's kind of more of a nitpick, really. Tails was probably my favorite here.

[Kuzu]

I'm really surprised how much I liked Tails here, because I usually don't care much about him at all. Why is it that everybody but the main creators can make me care about him.

[SBR2]

2 hours ago, Plasme said:

Sonic has always been a jerk, and not just in marketing, but in the games. In Sonic CD, it's heavily implied that he just runs past Amy and ignores her on a frequent basis until she gets kidnapped. He only starts exressing concern when she's in danger. In the cutscenes he mocks the badniks before destroying them.

It wasn't as noticeable in the Classics because he didnt have as much character in those games, but when he did emote, it was to express his speed and his arrogance about it.

I think the reason why people get annoyed with his jerk character now is because we rarely see his serious side anymore. So in the Sonic CD cutscenes, he's not goofing off when racing Metal Sonic, or when he rescues Amy. You don't see that side of him much anymore, so you get his jerk side without the contrast.

And when games do try to handle both sides of his character (such as Lost World), it's always done really heavy handedly, with really melodramatic scenes. Especially because this series has never been good at handling character dialogue.

This is why the portrayals pre-Colors bother me. Adventure made Sonic a bland nothing character who spouts stupid shit like "Real Super Power of Teamwork" when from inception he was supposed to be all attitude. He's supposed to be full of himself in spite of his good qualities. Now that can go the wrong way (STC, Penders) but still having an ego is a part of who he is but because he had zero personality for nearly a decade once he starts actually showing signs of one it's considered "Out of Character". I'll take jerk with a heart of gold over Super Power of Teamwork anyday.

[SweeCrue]

Here's a little thing I didn't notice at first:

At 2:09

After Sonic says "Don't be weird Tails." and shoves him off-screen you hear a specific sound effect.

It's the sound effect you hear when you lose a life in the classic games! And then we see Tails flying down from the top of the screen.

 

Sonic literally just killed Tails! I love finding these small nods and references!

[Kuzu]

13 minutes ago, SBR2 said:

This is why the portrayals pre-Colors bother me. Adventure made Sonic a bland nothing character who spouts stupid shit like "Real Super Power of Teamwork" when from inception he was supposed to be all attitude. He's supposed to be full of himself in spite of his good qualities. Now that can go the wrong way (STC, Penders) but still having an ego is a part of who he is but because he had zero personality for nearly a decade once he starts actually showing signs of one it's considered "Out of Character". I'll take jerk with a heart of gold over Super Power of Teamwork anyday.

Was Heroes the only game you played in the 2000's or what?

I'm not going to say that Sonic was the most interesting character back then, but that's blatantly false and more conjecture of how people meme'd him back then,