When was the last big newbie boom?

[batson]

Per TV Tropes lingo, a newbie boom is when a franchise sees a sudden major influx of new fans. You know, like what happaned to the Lord of the Rings fanbase once the movies were released.

And I'm wondering, when was the last time the Sonic franchise saw such a boom? I'm asking because honestly, personally, I'm iffy regarding whether the series has actually seen such an event in over 15 years. I think the last major newbie boom was the one that took place in circa 2001-2004 due to the combined efforts of the Gamecube ports of the Adventure games and the airing of Sonic X. Or am I wrong? I suppose certain releases could potentially have sparked similar reactions, such as Generations or the Boom cartoon, but I'm not sure if they actually did.

[MetalSkulkBane]

How can we check? I keep hearing "Sonic is less popular than before", but I can't find proof one way or the other. Measuring franchises in size it kinda hard.

I mean, Sonic Generation started wave of mods, but are those "old guard" or newcomers? Did movie atrracted new audience? When it won't be "too early to tell"?

If you go to deviantart right now and pick "popular 24h", one of first pictures is this. A  cute picture (not 'deviant' in anyway) and it includes fairly recent chracter of Sticks. So I guess Sonic still is popular... but I can't tell if this means "newbie boom" happened or not.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Best guess would be the Sonic Movie.

It was the fandom’s worst nightmare when it was announced, and nearly came true when the first trailer came out and went viral.

Then, against all expectations, the studio decided to actually listen to the criticism when any other studio would double down and mock everyone disliking it as haters. And when the updated design was revealed, that act of good will prompted everyone who mocked the first trailer to go see it enough that it out-did Detective Pikachu in the box office.

Can’t get anymore recent than that.

As someone said before about it, it pulled the biggest Uno Reverse Card of 2020. now if only the Coronavirus could do the same

[batson]

I forgot about the movie. But yeah, it wouldn't be surprising if a lot of the kiddies that went to see it will soon enough start flocking to the online fanbase. Time will tell.

[DryLagoon]

Here is my speculation on some possible candidates.

• Sonic Colors - The Wii and DS were huge, and this being a main Sonic title for them would be an easy gateway for new fans at the time.
• Sonic & Mario at the Olympics Games - I know this is a shocking one, but it sold a ton. Like more than most Sonic games a ton. It's hard to say how many actually carried over into the Sonic franchise afterwards, but it definitely got his name out there to people who may have never played a Sonic game before.
• Sonic Boom (the show) - Probably not as big of a "boom" due to it's airing schedule, but Sonic X did bring in a lot of fans in the 2000s so I wouldn't be surprised if this got some new fans into the franchise some day.
• Sonic Forces - Okay I know you're thinking "What? Why would that be on here?". This was the first main multiplatform title since Generations after the Wii U exclusive Sonic deal, so it is possible to be many new fan's first Sonic game. With it being given out for free to PS Plus members in early 2020, I wouldn't be shocked if that number increased a ton despite the bad reviews.
• Sonic the Movie (2020) - Here is our obvious pick. Paramount advertised this movie a ton, comments on the first design aside. Every step of the way there has been ads for this movie, so I expect this will be a new generation's introduction to Sonic. While a new game isn't out yet, Sega has done several sales on old games since the movie has come out. Movie Sonic has also appeared in the Sonic mobile games.

Also as to why I didn't include Generations or Mania, it's not that I think they wouldn't contribute, but both came right before big gap periods for Sonic. Someone might have loved Generations but by the time Mania came out had moved onto other things. Mania could become one in the future, but I honestly find most of it's fanbase is existing Sonic fans. If anyone has further info I'd be interested in hearing it.

[VO.SUPER]

The movie was probably the last one. I do know some of the Sonic discords got new fans after the movie premiered. Though with the lack of a meaningful new game, it was just a little short lived.

[DabigRG]

That's good question. We've been in a new era since as early as 2008 and we haven't heard much from the perspective of someone who got in as most of the current stuff was happening.

The only possible newbie I can think on this site for example is  @Fire-N-Space and that could just be a misinterpretation of how she chooses to look at and express things.

[Indigo Rush]

You can expect an influx of new fans whenever a major game, a new cartoon or movie is released. The early 2000s saw a pretty major boom of sorts when Sonic showed up on other console platforms and a new TV show started airing. 

The most recent one, aside from the movie which will undoubtedly result in another major influx in the coming years (especially if a sequel is coming) was the launch of Sonic Boom with new games, a comic and the cartoon itself.

Before that, the early 2010s saw a bit of a revival of interest after Sonic Colors, All Stars Racing, Generations and a few mobile games showed that Sonic games could at least be decent again, and a cameo in Wreck-it Ralph helped boost the hype as well.