Sonic the Hedgehog film series general

Oh, I meant in terms of the story. SEGA tends to be very strict when it comes to how Sonic should act as a character. Like, I still can't get over the whole "Sonic can't cry" thing and I think one of the writers had said that SEGA didn't want Sonic to ask for help in the movie, but the writers had to really convince SEGA to let that in the movie.

Predominantly, many fans thought that the 'Ugly Sonic' design would be the final nail in the coffin for SEGA'S Sonic the Hedgehog. In lieu, they changed the design as their Author's Saving Throw; spawning the Sonic Cinematic Universe.

Edited by Dictionaryman616 on Mar 1st 2024 at 2:43:51 PM

They SORTA allowed for this in the Archie comics. Not full on Inelegant Blubbering, but he was allowed to shed a Single Tear.

I thought that SEGA was upset at Sonic shedding a single tear at the time?

Pretty much. The franchise was in awful shape than. Like this film definetly helped with the high point revival were in.

It also occurs to me: The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog visual novel also got away with making Shadow a BARISTA.

TO GET AMY A BIRTHDAY GIFT.

The reason the movies get a lot of liberty compared with the movies, I presume, is because it's a reinterpretation of the series and not a straight adaptation. And it helps they can tell Sonic Team to piss off with some idiotic mandates (Sonic Team wanted Robotnik to be named Eggman from the get-go, and thank god that was thrown out of the window)

IDW was something of a what-if storyline post-Forces before Sonic Team decided to accept it as canon - and that means there are a lot of restrictions, hence why Flynn cannot play with the toolbox as much as he did with Archie. Not everything is bad tho, he brought back Gemerl, wrote a sequel to Lost World in the Metal Virus, brought back Bean and Bark.

A part of me hopes in vain that IDW elements might work their way into the movies as they are into the games.

I would definitely like to see a movie adaptation of the Metal Virus (provided they change up how Shadow was being portrayed in that story). Although, I would like to see Chaos make his appearance on the big screen before anything else.

I would be content with just seeing Tangle jump around.

This might be an odd request, but I really hope that Crazy Carl makes an appearance in the third movie. My brother and I were genuinely annoyed that he was completely absent from the second one.

Sega of America was really anal about what the characters were and weren't allowed to do in the later stages of the Archie Comics and the IDW comic. They've apparently been loosening up on IDW recently, but I don't blame them about Archie after the whole Ken Penders debacle and how often the comic turned into a soap opera.

I can kind of understand this from SEGA's point of view. It's not a good idea to give power to one person when it comes to a franchise, especially if said person is difficult to work with. And you do need some control over the franchise because if you don't put your foot down on how the franchise is going, then the franchise might go all over the place, like how the Archie Sonic comics eventually became mostly a soap opera work, something that rarely ever gels with the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.

However, you don't want to be too restrictive with the franchise because then a lot of new ideas won't be introduced and the franchise can be in danger of becoming stagnant. That was a big issue in regards to how SEGA handled Shadow's characterization. They wanted Shadow to just be a character who wants to fight all the time and not have any friends, when that's not the characterization that made Shadow famous to begin with. That's why I liked how Shadow was being portrayed in Sonic Prime. Sure, he's grumpy at times, but his main goal is to save the world and he even tried to help out Sonic a few times in the show.

Especially considering how badly Penders fucked over the Archie Sonic.

I don't even know who to blame for Shadow's characterization. The Metal Virus incident in IDW led to people thinking Sega was fully responsible for it, but Flynn clarified that Shadow was meant to fall because of his own hubris.

Sonic Boom? That shit was Sega's doing.

So perhaps it's moreso a matter of Shadow... just needing one moment to be done well. One work, where he's used marvelously, where people are singing praises about him, that just about any fan can get behind, no matter what part of this warzone of a fanbase you align yourself with. One good Shadow Moment, to get people to rave about it for weeks to come.

Probably another reason why this upcoming third Sonic movie has as much pressure riding on it as it does.

Sega did deliberately block Shadow from falling in a slightly more logical way.

IDW and Flynn had originally planned for him to remove his bracelets and output a large amount of energy (I've head cannoned that it was the energy Sonic put out while running that let him fight off the Metal Virus) instead of running, but this would have apparently failed (seems running and running alone was the only way to fight it off), but Sega even vetoed this, insisting it wasn't in Shadow's character....supposedly. It's been a long ass time, so I may be getting facts wrong.

Now excuse me while I look things up.

Edit: Found it.

Also, here's the link on the Executive Meddling page for Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) here.

Edited by HandsomeRob on Mar 2nd 2024 at 3:08:51 AM

And yet, he did the whole "removing inhibitor rings for immense power" thing against Mephiles in 06.

"Not in Shadow's character" my ass.

Do we think the inhibitor rings will be a plot point in 3?

I don't think that Shadow needs to be written a specific way in the movie. As long as he's written as having more depth to his character than just a guy who wants to fight enemies and not having any friends, then I'm okay with however way they portray Shadow in the movies.

Possible, not guaranteed.

If there's a point in the plot where they want him to power up but in a way other than using Super Shadow, then it would make sense to use the Inhibitor Rings for that. For instance, if they want to have a Second Act throwdown with Sonic before his Heel–Face Turn where the stakes are raised and shit starts to go south, then it would make sense to establish the Inhibitors as a thing for the sake of removing them there.

But if they don't have a scene in mind where he drops the Inhibitors and cuts loose then there's not much purpose to establishing them as a plot point. He might still be wearing them for the Sonic fans to point at and go "Hey it's the thing" but if they aren't going to be plot-relevant then they won't be mentioned or explored in any capacity.

I think my brother put it best:

"If Sega's mandates could be compared to airport security, then Ken Penders was 9/11."

that is such a scorching Take That! I can actually feel the heat flowing from my monitor.

I’ve been seeing fan theories that say Shadow is gonna end up paired with Randall. Does anyone think that’s likely? Especially if Shadow has a Disney Death at the end?

I think they're going to have Shadow have his apparent death at the end, and then the last scene (or a Stinger) is going to show him alive and working at Olive Garden Walking the Earth or something.