Sonic Rings Series

[charmsb]

So I haven't seen many people talking about this and thought making a topic could be useful for stirring some discussion.

So for the uninformed, starting around a month ago, the official Sonic the Hedgehog YouTube channel started uploading videos as part of a series called the "Sonic Rings Series" where various internet gaming personalities are interviewed about their feelings on Sonic and their history with the franchise, eventually being asked to draw Sonic in a little sketchpad and play through Green Hill Zone.

Here's the playlist:

I'll leave my personal thoughts below, just wanted to make an unbiased post to start the discussion off neutrally.

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Thoughts so far are kinda mixed. Started off pretty good with Jirard, but it seems on and off like they're bringing in people who are like: "Yeah, when I was a kid, I had a Sonic game and loved it."

I think it's a lot more valuable when they bring on people who are genuine fans like Jirard (who has reviewed a ton of Sonic games) and Aaron Kurtzer who's a collector of Sonic stuff. The other episodes seem to be just random internet personalities who liked Sonic Adventure 2 as a kid. Wouldn't seeing genuine fans be more valuable? After all the description of the videos states:

'The Sonic Rings series takes a look at some Sonic superfans and their memories of the blue blur over the past 30 years.'

I'd really much rather see people like Cybershell or Game Apologist or something, who make it clear how much they love the series. People that Sonic fans already connect to. I don't mean to come of as some guy going, "You're not a real fan!" I just don't see how half these people are "super fans". It seems like they're shooting more for fame with half of these picks.

EDIT: Apparently there's a sort of partnership with G-FUEL going on with this series, which has to do with who they're picking. Well, it's a reason, but it doesn't make it anymore enjoyable for me.

EDIT 2: Saw @Badnik Mechanic comment on the most recent video, sharing my thoughts. Would love to hear from you here, too.

 

[Mr. Ion]

I basically agree with @charmsb. Watched each one as they came out, nice seeing The Completionist, though I will note that bringing in non-fandom might draw in new. people? Possibly? And also I liked seeing that Sonic collector, that was good. Overall I like that they're doing it, but the other 30th anniversary video from Sega Europe with actual well-known Sonic fans (and even SSMB members) had much better execution.

[Zaysho]

I didn't really notice with the first four (was listening in the background mostly) and just didn't feel like listening to the last but scrolling the comments, I'm amused at people pointing out that Sega can't source their own footage and are either taking it from fan projects or other channels. Whether it's swiping fan art or making cutesy uWu messages on their livestreams saying "don't know who made this but you're great!" or using actual fan animations in their commercials or using fan created assets in games (placeholder or otherwise), I don't get why this keeps happening. Do the people who run these social media channels just not care?

I dunno, shit's weird. What's next? Rangers was built off of World's source code?

[charmsb]

1 minute ago, Zaysho said:

I didn't really notice with the first four (was listening in the background mostly) and just didn't feel like listening to the last but scrolling the comments, I'm amused at people pointing out that Sega can't source their own footage and are either taking it from fan projects or other channels. Whether it's swiping fan art or making cutesy uWu messages on their livestreams saying "don't know who made this but you're great!" or using actual fan animations in their commercials or using fan created assets in games (placeholder or otherwise), I don't get why this keeps happening. Do the people who run these social media channels just not care?

I dunno, shit's weird. What's next? Rangers was built off of World's source code?

I've seen this too. They used a little splash screen from a Sonic Advance fan project in one of them. They credited it and the creator responded happily, but I also think it's in poor taste not to ask.

Precisely... Why can't they source their OWN footage? They own the god damn games and probably have every single way to play them readily available. It comes off as super lazy.

[Badnik Mechanic]

15 hours ago, charmsb said:

I've seen this too. They used a little splash screen from a Sonic Advance fan project in one of them. They credited it and the creator responded happily, but I also think it's in poor taste not to ask.

On mobile so keeping this brief right now...

I have... A LOT to say on this series.

But on the above.

 

All the footage in the newest video has been taken from other YouTubers and only the mod was credited... After people pointed it out. 

1 piece of footage even has the YouTubers watermark removed.

[KingMario05]

16 hours ago, Zaysho said:

What's next? Rangers was built off of World's source code?

Shhhhhhhhhh. Do NOT give those cheapskates ideas...

[charmsb]

37 minutes ago, Badnik Mechanic said:

On mobile so keeping this brief right now...

I have... A LOT to say on this series.

But on the above.

 

All the footage in the newest video has been taken from other YouTubers and only the mod was credited... After people pointed it out. 

1 piece of footage even has the YouTubers watermark removed.

That sounds... horrid. Who exactly is handling this series?

[FlameStream]

This latest one features Kanemaru-san!

[CertifiedNobody]

I'll be honest, the RIng Series is a great idea, but I'm left wondering who nearly everyone they bring in is.

[charmsb]

On 10/5/2021 at 3:13 PM, FlameStream said:

This latest one features Kanemaru-san!

They've been choosing much better candidates as of recently.

[FlameStream]

I love how his mentions are about Big the Cat, Elise and Sonic Forces. Very different takes from the visible fans.

[Zaysho]

On 10/5/2021 at 3:13 PM, FlameStream said:

This latest one features Kanemaru-san!

This man's like Charles Martinet or Masako Nozawa where you just smile when you hear them talk about their roles or whatever.

[Mr. Ion]

It was really nice to see Junichi Kanemaru. I think DanTDM was a bit of an odd choice but it may bring more traffic to the series, and I think Jirard was also a good choice. I think the real tension here is kind of the purpose of these in the first place, as to whether it's here to bring in new fans through popular streamers or to really glorify important figures in the series, though I'm very inclined to lean toward the latter, as most of the franchise is already oriented to newcomers as is.