Sonic is (supposed to be) cool

[thumbs13]

Sonic was never, like, objectively cool, he was cool in the same way you thought your older brother was cool when you were younger. That hasn't really changed, I'd say. Sonic's still a hip teenager with attitude, and while I don't think Colors showed it, lost world did in spades. "Are you disrespecting me?" "Maybe." From the first level is the best example I can think of. 

[Bowbowis]

23 hours ago, StaticMania said:

Why this and not the flip he does?

Being rude isn't cool, but...that's a weird scene to point out.

Flip? What flip? If it were anything particularly stylish I have to think it would have stood out more.

What scene would you rather I point out? Sonic telling Zazz to take a bath? Telling Zeena to get a life? Calling Eggman a bonehead? Pointing out his wordplay regarding the word "cool" and being silently shot down by Tails and Eggman? Baldy McNosehair? I'm looking for panache, but all I'm seeing are dad jokes and juvenile insults.

[Sega DogTagz]

I liked the moonwalk. It was unnecessary and flagrant, and Sonic basically just did it because he could. Little things like that add to the cool factor without wadding into the verbal dumpster fire which will always be hit or miss.

Sonic is capable of conveying cool without uttering a word. His toe-tap idle animation. Casually juggling the Chaos Emeralds as he walked in Unleashed, running backwards in X, Photobombing the Ghosts in NotW, Even the extra acrobatics at the end of a homeing attack (though in Forces they reuse the same animation every time - a tremendous waste). Sonic Teams needs to re-focus on his passive cool behaviors over trying to beat us upside the head with more aggressive lingo or dialog. The balance has been skewed too much in one direction lately.

[E-122-Psi]

I think that both Japanese and western members of the creative team seemed to have a completely contrasting idea of what Sonic was didn't help, though with that said I think their combined forces tended to blend well in earlier games rather than cause a contradicting mess, maybe because technical limitation meant they had to limit their resources more.

I tend to see early games Sonic as 'cool' in the same way the likes of Bugs Bunny were 'cool' in the 40s, these sort of sly, carefree rogues that many people wish they had the nerve to act like a lot of the time. I think this is why Mania and its tie in cartoon and comics I feel represent the early games Sonic the best, a guy who often lets his expressions do the talking (though as shown in the comics can still talk) and is a good mix of cocky and extroverted while still a cartoony and playful individual.

Let's not forget that Sonic takes heavy homage from 30s cartoons like Felix (it's pretty obvious in his earliest concept work shown before). He may have been contemporized but he still has roots as an old fashioned light hearted cartoon character.

[batson]

54 minutes ago, E-122-Psi said:

He may have been contemporized but he still has roots as an old fashioned light hearted cartoon character.

Yes, but even cartoon characters can be cool, as goofy as they may look. Take Bart Simpson for instance. His design is just as silly as that of any other cartoon character but for a while in the 90's he was pretty much considered the coolest character in pop culture (unless we count Michael Jackson as a character, lol).

[E-122-Psi]

13 minutes ago, batson said:

Yes, but even cartoon characters can be cool, as goofy as they may look. Take Bart Simpson for instance. His design is just as silly as that of any other cartoon character but for a while in the 90's he was pretty much considered the coolest character in pop culture (unless we count Michael Jackson as a character, lol).

Bart is a weird case, since, as exemplified with the Poochie thing in the same show, he could have very easily been some annoying outdated catchphrase spouting ass, but there was a subtlety and depth to Bart (at least in early seasons). He wasn't just all about being 'cool' and 'rebellious' and saying 90s hip things. He was a character first and foremost.

I feel like the DiC cartoons for example are trying to get the same 'rogue' characterisation with Sonic as I mentioned (hell AoSth even directly copied Bugs in many areas) but there's a bit of an over-insistance on playing him to the modern kids (or at least what they thought modern kids wanted), loads of obnoxious catchphrases and constantly talking about how cool he is (or how another character is so less cool than him). He's not Poochie per se, but he's tainted by many of the same follies in smaller doses.

Then again maybe this is just a artifact of how 90s writing usually was. Tiny Toons and Animaniacs have that similar attention deficit, really over the top, catchphrase spouting stuff that many THINK the old cartoons were all about.

[StaticMania]

2 hours ago, Bowbowis said:

Flip? What flip? If it were anything particularly stylish I have to think it would have stood out more.

The flip from the opening.

[Wildcat]

I’m gonna keep my reply short because others have already said what I wanted. I completely disagree with the op and the general notion that Sonic somehow changed from “super bad@$$” to cutesy comedy. I keep seeing this brought up.

I don’t see it and never have. Sonic himself fits both edgy and cute tones. He’s always been a combination of traits. Nobody has just one and every game doesn’t need to be super grim. Let Sonic be cool, serious, funny, cute or lighthearted.

Something Ive mentioned on other sites is...having no voice acting in the Genesis era probably skews some people’s view of him compared to now that’s he’s able to show a full blown personality.

[Scritch the Cat]

While Sonic media haven’t all been comedies, even at their darkest the character himself has always had a sense of humor.  Was the difference back in the 1990s, when he was considered most cool, that his sense of humor was just better?  Well, “Robuttnik” being a combination of a pun and toilet humor would hardly suggest that.  But Sonic is wasn’t necessarily shooting for clever.  Instead, he was often doing it to aggravate his opponents.  Not to imply that the humor wasn’t also a genuine part of his personality, but it had a real purpose in keeping his cool even under pressure, to the chagrin of enemies.

So Sonic games being more outright comedies isn’t an invalid evolution.  It’s not the only valid evolution, and bad writing can certainly make it more annoying than funny, but it does preserve a part of the character from the 1990s, and that’s no mean feat.  While talking animals have never been absent from the media, it was only a narrow window of time when there were attempts to push them as serious action protagonists.  Sonic struck that iron when it was hot, and that he didn’t get bogged down in it is impressive and fortunate.

Also, to beat a dead horse, “cool” is subjective, mercurial, and often quite frivolous.  If Sonic is supposed to be cool in the way that children and teenagers define it these days, then he isn’t doing wrong by milking memes.  That’s not to say you have to like that, but any one person with unique tastes isn’t what matters here.

[StaticMania]

1 hour ago, Scritch the Cat said:

Well, “Robuttnik” being a combination of a pun and toilet humor would hardly suggest that.

Calling someone a butt isn't toilet humor.

It's just a juvenile insult, so the point being that combining the words is just part of Sonic's juvenile 90's attitude.