Anyone else think Metal Sonic's getting stale?

[Kuzu]

18 minutes ago, Dr. Mechano said:

I feel like the situation was more divisive than the fact that he could talk.

"Metal Sonic the cool Sonic-type robot" vs. "Metal Sonic the giant robot dragon who betrayed and disguised himself as Eggman for 90% of the game" is where I think at least some of the antipathy toward Heroes Metal comes from. Everything that makes Metal Sonic cool (that he's this sleek, fast, Sonic-sized robot) was left out of Heroes.

I genuinely think regular Metal talking would be received just fine by most people.

You say that, but voice acting is such a hotly debated topic in this series ( among other things) that the fact Metal doesn't talk is partially why I think people still like him unilaterally.

Not only do you avoid the usual voice actor complaints of "not sounding right", you can interpret Metal to have any type of voice and its not contradicted by canon.

[Dr. Mechano]

1 minute ago, Kuzu said:

You say that, but voice acting is such a hotly debated topic in this series ( among other things) that the fact Metal doesn't talk is partially why I think people still like him unilaterally.

Not only do you avoid the usual voice actor complaints of "not sounding right", you can interpret Metal to have any type of voice and its not contradicted by canon.

Honestly, I'd settle for him making robot noises with subtitles if it means he gets actual dialogue.

[Kuzu]

3 minutes ago, Dr. Mechano said:

Honestly, I'd settle for him making robot noises with subtitles if it means he gets actual dialogue.

Even that's still inconsistent when everyone else, including fellow automatons like Omega and Gemerl in IDW, have full voice acting.

I get why they keep Metal silent, but it hasn't really helped him stand out as a character much, if at all. I feel like they're content with him as he is right now, which is fine, but as I said, it makes him the least interesting of Sonic's rivals imo.

 

But most people seem to prefer him that way, so maybe its for the best he remains as he is.

[Diogenes]

I don't think Metal being silent is that big an obstacle. A lot can still be communicated without dialogue if they're willing to try.

[Kuzu]

But that's always gonna be a hurdle. Like I said, its one thing when everyone is silent like Mania Adventures, but when Sonic is taunting him or just...talking in general, Metal can't respond beyond just beeping.

When IDW actually gave him a voice, he was finally able to give Sonic his shit right back while beating him and it worked just fine.

 

I don't think its a coincidence that once he reverted back to his default form, he hasn't much of anything since.

[Soniman]

I will say the moment when Metal just death grips Ray and bargins for the Emerald with Mighty or he kills Ray without any dialogue needed was one of the most bad ass moments for me personally, that combined with the cool three phase boss fight and the Kai upgrade in Plus shows how much better the Mania team treats him than good old Sonic Team.

[Wraith]

I'd argue keeping him silent makes him more effective. He's a no-nonsense character that wouldn't want to make time for banter anyway, and his goal is usually pretty easily to understand. Why not lean into that? A cold, calculated machine that will do anything to achieve the given objective. Seems like a pretty strong foil to Sonic and Eggman, who are both pretty chatty and tend to choose theatrics over what's efficient. 

[Kuzu]

I feel like Mania is cheating since its world is much smaller scaled than the Modern branch. 

 

And the modern branch is already filled to the brim with tough no-nonsense foils for Sonic. Metal needs something else to stand out unless they're going to use him as THE Sonic rival from now on, which I doubt because of fucking course Sonic Team will not allow that lol.

[Wraith]

most of them either turned good or are dead. shadow, blaze etc starting shit with sonic now always feels contrived and most of those evil monster types sonic obliterated are never coming back. metal sonic is still kicking, still hates sonic, and will probably hate sonic forever. he stands out by being easy enough to throw into most situations without a bunch of preamble or untangling any lore.

[Kuzu]

Then they're gonna have to actually start treating Metal Sonic like a threat as opposed to just a stepping stone as usual if he's gonna be the serious no-nonsense nemesis they want him as.

 

That does run a problem of that he needs to be used less in order for his appearances to hold weight. If he shows up too much, it runs the risk of diminishing his threat level.

[Diogenes]

He doesn't really appear all that often in the main series, they don't really need to cut back at this point.

[FlameStream]

He's pretty boring, yes. But that's how I've always seen him. So I'm pretty much on the group that doesn't think we need more of him. His occasional appearance as simple Eggman robot is good enough for what I think he should be.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Ya know, as far as the whole Metal Sonic not having a voice goes, there is a middle ground of making him a character of very few words, and by that I mean even less than Shadow.

Sonic’s a mouthy rebel, but Metal Sonic is a calculated enforcer. He can get by with the least amount of dialogue—as much as silence goes, it can only do so much to let the other characters (or the audience) know what he’s thinking, especially since he can’t emote much with facial expressions like the other characters. And it gives him more agency as a character that is obedient to Eggman under his own free will rather than him feeling too much like a puppet under Eggman’s control. 

[DabigRG]

Gonna be honest, Metal Sonic is very much a novelty--robot version of main character used to be all over the place. Metal Sonic is definitely one of the coolest and it helps that he didn't have the old Ridley problem compared to the other two from the Genesis days.

But once you get past that, he's just inherently one of the less interesting characters in the series and he sorta got lucky that he debuted in the same game Amy was. Cause otherwise, he can't really be much more than an sentinel who very seldomly gestures in an emotive way, he kinda lacks a design that is significantly his one(though the decision to basically scale him up while Sonic got a redesign was a good one), and his deficit of actual impact is natural because he can't really do much more than be an intimidating boss fight.

So I suppose you could say he isn't getting stale do much as the staleness is just more noticeable now that he's on the menu a bit more.

21 hours ago, charmsb said:

No worries. We already have the Koopalings but worse.

I thought people liked the Hardboiled Heavies?

[charmsb]

3 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

I thought people liked the Hardboiled Heavies?

Not them. The Zoopalings

[DabigRG]

4 minutes ago, charmsb said:

Not them. The Zoopalings

Oh, the Deadly Six. 

Honestly, they don't really make sense as Koopalings in this series despite what the Olympics apparently say.

[charmsb]

12 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

Oh, the Deadly Six. 

Honestly, they don't really make sense as Koopalings in this series despite what the Olympics apparently say.

Well, I see them as Koopalings because;

Zavok is easily a Bowser rip-off

Lost World takes Mario's art style and themes

They're all cheap one-note characters and only serve to be bosses of a world

[DabigRG]

8 minutes ago, charmsb said:

Well, I see them as Koopalings because;

Zavok is easily a Bowser rip-off

Lost World takes Mario's art style and themes

They're all cheap one-note characters and only serve to be bosses of a world

Yeah yeah, I know. I'm specifically talking about how the Koopalings act as followers/proteges of Bowser compared to how the Zeti fit in with Eggman.

[charmsb]

11 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

Yeah yeah, I know. I'm specifically talking about how the Koopalings act as followers/proteges of Bowser compared to how the Zeti fit in with Eggman.

Ah, well yeah in that way they aren't exactly Koopalings.

[Dummy Bear]

3 hours ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

Ya know, as far as the whole Metal Sonic not having a voice goes, there is a middle ground of making him a character of very few words, and by that I mean even less than Shadow.

Sonic’s a mouthy rebel, but Metal Sonic is a calculated enforcer. He can get by with the least amount of dialogue—as much as silence goes, it can only do so much to let the other characters (or the audience) know what he’s thinking, especially since he can’t emote much with facial expressions like the other characters. And it gives him more agency as a character that is obedient to Eggman under his own free will rather than him feeling too much like a puppet under Eggman’s control. 

He just doesn't need to speak complete sentences(but when he does, that means shit's about to go down) I'd just give him mostly simple generic robotic dialogue kind of like his "All lifeform data successfully copied." line from Heroes.

stuff like:

"Target sighted. Initiating combat mode"

"Unable to defeat target. Another path is required."

"Damage critical. Initiating retreat protocol."

"Loading witty comeback. You are too slow."

All with a robot voice filter of Sonic's voice actor.

That sort of thing.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

1 hour ago, Slash said:

He just doesn't need to speak complete sentences(but when he does, that means shit's about to go down) I'd just give him mostly simple generic robotic dialogue kind of like his "All lifeform data successfully copied." line from Heroes.

stuff like:

"Target sighted. Initiating combat mode"

"Unable to defeat target. Another path is required."

"Damage critical. Initiating retreat protocol."

"Loading witty comeback. You are too slow."

All with a robot voice filter of Sonic's voice actor.

That sort of thing.

I was thinking even briefer than that.

”Target Sighted.”

”Engaging Target.”

“Damage critical.”

”Danger. Retreating.”

“Target data successfully copied.”

For moments that are notable, he gets a full sentence or two. And for extreme moments, he speaks a full paragraph only once in a blue moon.

He’d basically be a living guided missile that bulldozes through any weaker obstacle without stopping, reminiscent of how he plows through spikes in CD’s Stardust Speedway until he hits something that actually pushes back.

One of my favorite moments was in Archie where he threw back SilverAsh’s quote “It’s no use.”

[Sonictrainer]

2 hours ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

I was thinking even briefer than that.

”Target Sighted.”

”Engaging Target.”

“Damage critical.”

”Danger. Retreating.”

“Target data successfully copied.”

For moments that are notable, he gets a full sentence or two. And for extreme moments, he speaks a full paragraph only once in a blue moon.

He’d basically be a living guided missile that bulldozes through any weaker obstacle without stopping, reminiscent of how he plows through spikes in CD’s Stardust Speedway until he hits something that actually pushes back.

One of my favorite moments was in Archie where he threw back SilverAsh’s quote “It’s no use.”

"Battle won. Now entering Smug Mode."

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

32 minutes ago, Sonictrainer said:

"Battle won. Now entering Smug Mode."

Or “Mission accomplished.” Then he looks at his target and describes them in few words:

-“Slowpoke.” For Sonic.

-“Wimp.” For Tails.

-“Moron.” For Knuckles.

-“Ultimate Disappointment.” For Shadow.

-“Nuisance.” For Amy or Cream.

-“Weakling.” For Infinite. (I’m sorry, but that was too easy to pass up)

-“Loudmouth.” For Vector or Charmy

Etc.

I’d imagine Metal would be more condescending and bored than as smug as Sonic over his victories, but that’s just me.

[KnuxDLX]

Don’t you mean… RUSTY ?

[Jango]

Which is why I'm eager to see what he does in the upcoming Colors animated shorts. Metal is awesome, always has been. I think my favorite interpretation of him gotta the the OVA.