Random: One Tiny Fix Could Make Sonic's Movie Appearance So Much Better

I'm gonna ignore this as if it were a 3D sonic game.

No, that looks even worse. I actually don't think the leaked design is as bad as people are making it out to be.

The fix looks better, but let's be honest, the only true fix this film could have is to scrap it altogether.

This thing is just monstrous.
Why can they never just accept Sonic’s cartoon nature and style, and just work with that in a sympathetic way?

The movie one looks like one of those crane-claw game wannabe prizes.

Sega scarcely makes smart decisions concerning Sonic.

At least they retired Alex Kidd after destroying his image with one too many dud games. Sonic manages to inexplicably retain his popularity and acclaim no matter how many duds he has on his résumé.

The best Sonic game in years is (ironically) Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. His presence, along with the spirits, music, and assist trophies irks me quite a bit as the brand has been tarnished to such a degree that it doesn't deserve to stand alongside Nintendo's greats.

Sonic with fur = Gorilla Sonic

If we have Roger Craig Smith voicing Sonic, then we're all good.

I guess it looks slightly better, but that's not going to stop it from haunting my dreams.

I love all his games, even sonic forces was a great game (way too short), but it was priced 39 bucks new, so who cares. only the classic sonic stages where horrible.

but i'm not gonna watch this movie, if sonic looks like this when it comes out .... no ....never ....it'S like the crappy super mario film from the 80s hahaha

@Silly_G That's because there is a hardcore fan base that will buy anything and everything Sega spit out regarding Sonic no matter how bad it is. Remember how nasty they got when previews for Sonic Forces were pretty underwhelming?

Obviously all core fanbases do the same thing no matter the game series, but there is something about the hardcore Sonic fans that seems to be louder than others.

While the official one is bad in my opinion (he looks awfully generic for starters), I’m not sure changing the eyes makes it better.
Also we have to remember that this film is almost certainly not trying to appeal to us, but is probably aimed at kids who didn’t grow up with Sonic the same way we did. Maybe this design is as it needs to be to appeal to a younger audience not already familiar with Sonic.

Wow, that little fix is brilliant, looks a lot better

Hedgehogs have spines on their back, not hair.

I like this more, too - strictly and predictably on the familiarity basis. But the elephantine question here is, did it fit in the movie from the adaptation team's vision perspective? Seeing as it's absent, one may well suspect it didn't. The look we ultimately got? Apparently it did - and raised no objections with Sega. End of story here. However, doing something the way you want it instead of trying to lobby it out of a work you have nothing to do with is ALWAYS the saner modus operandi.

I will still withhold judgment until I see a trailer.

@BenAV it's not as "good" as other 3d sonic's, like sonic unleashed, sonic colors or sonic adventure 1 & sonic adventure 2 on sega dreamcast, but it is way better than sonic lost world or sonic generations (i hated generations ... bad controls)

but the best games are still his old mega drive games, especially sonic 3 & knuckles, followed by sonic mania.

but i've enjoyed all his games. the only game i have never played is sonic boom, but i never had a wii u ... so ;P

his best 3d plattform game from the past years, in my oppinion is unleashed, followed by forces.

best other game is sonic & all stars transformed. i frkn love that game on pc (xbox 360 version is bad, due to framerate issues)
hope team sonic racing will be as good as transformed

but yeah, i never would call forces a bad game. it was short and the music from the classic sonic stages is horrible, but for 40 bucks its a decent game with 8 hours of playtime. and i am still playing it, collecting all the items for the avatar. especially the OST is great

for me, the most horrible game in the past 10 years was new super mario bros u deluxe ... omg ...for a 60€ priced game ...it's short, it looks ugly, like a flash game ... that is what i call a bad game, even when i bought it hahaha. and the music ... ear cancer alarm hahaha. i def. prefer the 3d mario games like galaxy or sunshine .... i will never buy a 2d mario again xD

This is just highlighting all the other issues.

Oh well, some people like it so hopefully for them the film also pans out well.

I guess they were going for a more-realistic hedgehog look for the movie version? So it doesn't look like we expect Sonic to look compared to the video games. Oh well.

Sonic the hedgehog is a cartoon character. All the things kids like about him are because he exists in a cartoon world doing stuff you could only do in a cartoon world.

This film is not going to be good.

Yeah the eyes improve it quite a bit, too bad it won't change at this point lol.

It is still not good, but it is leaps and bounds better. I feel sorry for Sonic fans at this point, even more so than usual!

Haha first thing I thought was something’s wrong with his eyes. Yep, the fix looks better. But now I’m even more reluctant to see this movie.

Yup. That fixes it.

Aren't people tired of hating everything these days?

The "fix" looks terrible. There's nothing wrong with Sonic having separate eyes, even if they should be a little bigger. I think people who call this Sonic design the stuff of nightmares are greatly overreacting. It's not the best, but it's not all bad (aside from having a live action Sonic movie being a dumb idea on its own).

No, it still looks terrible.

I feel immense shame that Yuji Naka had to see this.

They both look turrible. A polished turd is still a turd.

As if anyone is going to see the finished product though..

i think it looks ok , you can get the just of who the character is unlike other video game movies.

i feel they wont chnage the eyes or give him gloves now, but maybe if enugh noise is made they will even if it means a slight release delay.

i know they want to go a realstic look but how many hedgehogs do you that run around on two legs, that are the size of a small child and covered in blue fur lol so the excuse is non void lol

they could have at least put white fur around the eyes to may it look like his original design and white gloves i mean hes already wearing a pair of nike's .

i do hope robotnick is decent i'm sure jim wouldn't have taken it if he thought is was rubbish but we shall see. everyone needs a paycheck

@Der Hope you like Ben Schwartz

The eye-fix is enough for me to make the design work.
This new design should be send to the filmstudios

If the creator of Sonic himself hates this design, you know this movie's already a lost cause.

This makes it much worse! The spines is a much bigger issue, imo.

Better, but I'd rather he was shorter, not tall and lanky.

What's with Hollywood's obsession with taking cartoony stuff and trying to make it fit in the real world? Just because superhero films can make it work doesn't mean everything can.

That looks worse in my opinion

Nope. Still looks horrible!

If they wanted to make it better, they should have done like this.
https://twitter.com/LadyGT_DA/status/1102805469796610048

Just leave it alone, that just looks awful. Everyone’s an expert at character design apparently.

Looks bloody awful.
Best to remember Sonic in his Megadrive days I think.

I think the new look for the movie is cute, and I can see kids digging him as a film character. Overall, it's a perfectly serviceable character design all around.

Unfortunately, it doesn't even begin to tap into any pockets of nostalgia or appreciation for Sonic as a franchise. I'm not claiming to be a huge Sonic fanboy or anything, but like most kids growing up in the 90's, I've got a soft spot for this little blue boi.

The one-long-eyeball design is very cartoony, and doesn't translate well to the realistic tone of the visuals at all, but it immediately made me go "Yes, this is obviously Sonic, our very fast chili dog loving hedgehog friend". I know they're trying to piggyback off of the new Pokemon movie, but they really should have stayed with something a bit less 'realistic'

I've never really liked his cracked-egg eyes

Sonic with separated eyes has the same unsettling look to it as a dog with human teeth (which is so intensely disturbing that I’m not even going to google it for an example).

The problem with that little fix is that it only makes sense in still images. It's like Mickey Mouse ears.

The look is odd to be sure, but it's not that bad, I'm looking forward to see it in action.

The sonic eyes in the movie remind me of Ugandan Knuckles.

That's what they've been waiting to spring on us?

Wow.

@oats-81 I got addicted to those as a child.

Sonic survives as a franchise because he's a cool, unique, well designed character, not because of the quality of the games (which are middling to poor at best). But this movie isn't going to help expand his appeal.

@pinta_vodki nah, humans have been thriving off of hate since before Christianity.

@Markiemania95 Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.......... but wow... because the design is straight up horrible and any other opinion is difficult to believe

The edited eyes look way better but unfortunately the rest is still a nightmare.

@FTL That ‘fixed’ design would look far more repulsive in motion than the original.

Looks a little better, but still.

@Markiemania95 The design is terrible regardless haha. It’s an incredibly awkward look. At least the edited eyes look like Sonic.. right now it appears to be some kind of fan fiction B grade clone and if I was the designer (or approvers) I would be quite ashamed of my efforts.

Call me crazy, but I think it's awful all around. I hope I'm wrong, but I have a feeling this movie will crash and burn.

Edit: It can't possibly be worse than Netflix's Death Note though Lol.

I hate the design. You can't fix it!🤮

I don't think Sonic looks bad at all.

The realistic Pokemon in Detective Pikachu on the other hand...

@antdickens agreed. It's all in the eyes. That original poster is NOT Sonic but a random blue hedgehog.

The "fix" does not work in the context of the "real" world movie. It works for a static illustration of a render, but not the movie itself. Love Tom Marks tho.

The big eyes make look better but the movie is going to be more realistic than the games and picture those big eyes blinking... wouldn’t look right at all.... the smaller eyes make sense

@FTL I mean yeah, neither is ideal. But when giving a cartoon character a ‘realistic’ look, things like a giant face-width eye with two pupils in it look a lot more disgusting than two relatively normal, more believable eyes that at least more closely resemble a hedgehog’s (or any other animal, for that matter).

Good grief do Sega not want to step in here? One of their biggest ips has been designed to look like a character from Sesame Street.

Am I the only one NOT flipping out over this?

I knew not to have super-high expectations for this movie as soon as the terms "live action" and "CGI" were brought up. If it turns out as bad as everyone's predicting, I could also just vote with my wallet and bypass it altogether.

As for the design itself, there's a lot I would've done differently but considering just how well other game to movie adaptations have fared...I can't wrap my mind around it being the worst thing ever. Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I'm not a "real Sonic fan" despite logging 70 plus hours into Mania and who the hell knows how long with the classic trilogy, but I don't see the point in freaking out.

@Markiemania95 I mean if they want to go with ‘realistic’, take a look at the trailers for the new pokemon detective movie where they have carried across the perfect essence of the character but transferred that brilliantly (at least from a design perspective) into real life style.

@RetroOutcast I’m not freaking out, but it definetely makes me wonder who on Earth at a professional company could think this would pass as anything but a B grade fan fiction appearance.

Scrapp the fussed eyes, just making the eyes bigger would help.

No, the eyes being separate make perfect sense for a more realistic Sonic. I don't get the hysteria. They told us they had made that decision about the eyes when the original poster came out! It was always going to look weird because we're not used to it. Just calm down.

It honestly looks 10 times better.

The original looks fine. About time someone fixed Sonic's weird, gross, double-pupiled, giant eyeball.

This is why they shouldn't keep trying to bring all these CARTOON characters into live action movies. Doing a Pixar type all CG film still allows for stylistic characters, but if they insist on mixing them with human characters we'll just keep getting these creepshow versions. So, a "realistic" take on a bright blue hedgehog that wears sneakers? Um, sure, that's clearly the way to go. And obviously they couldn't have him wearing his signature gloves, since real hedgehogs don't do that...

And Disney now seems intent on replacing their whole animation library with live action versions, with Dumbo about to come out. I wonder how Walt would feel about this effort to pave over their animation history. What's next, Fantasia? How long before we get the live action Mickey Mouse? When exactly did we all tell the film studios we don't like cartoony images anymore?

I think people are missing the point, that this movie is supposed to look live action.

Not that I agree with what they are attempting, but essentially putting Sonic's normal head on the new body isn't doing that. I'd just be normal Sonic with HD fur and white hands.

Sonic, the cringe that keeps on giving.

Well the shape of the full whites of the eyes looks better, but those little green, almost human pupils still look off to me (maybe it's the pure roundness of them and where they are positioned).

This looks much better overall (the one on the right):

I honestly don't see why they couldn't have gotten a bit closer to that.

@FragRed : Oh, I'm well aware of that. I personally know a hardcore Sonic/Sega fanboy and there is absolutely nothing rational about it. He's also quite an immature and frivolous sort (mind you, he has four children), and yet, somehow, inexplicably, he has managed to endear himself to me, and there is not much rational about that either.

Didn't Hollywood learn that making cartoon characters real is a bad idea after the Super Mario movie, ok so the detective Pikachu film will probably do well but doesn't stop it being a travesty

One only need look at the Pixar "Cars" movies to know the more Sonic-like eyes could be done, but again, those are fully CG. Since they insist on putting these CG characters into live action, then they'd start to look too strange and out of place. As a cartoonist myself, I just start to get annoyed at the push to make everything fit into the real world.

I'll admit it can be interesting to see realistic versions of cartoon characters (like the Smash characters that have popped up a couple times on this site), put putting millions into a movie based on making a supersonic hedgehog look real? I think I'd prefer they went the full CG route on this one.

This movie should be illegal. Whoever gets this movie cancelled would win the Nobel Peace Prize and end all war and human suffering.

You know, big eyes, small eyes, one giant double pupil eye, to each their own. I think we can all agree though that this movie is going to SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.

No doubt that fixed design looks way better.

Since my previous comment was deleted(irrationally, I might add) allow my to reiterate in simpler terms: THIS IS HIDEOUS.

Eh, yes, making it more abstract makes it look more like the cartoon-style original.

Does not make it fit into the real world, though, at all. Completely breaks any feasibility next to real-world environments, creatures and people. I mean, it might be a mistake to go for this to begin with, but if you are going to do it, you have to make eyes more round like actual creature eyes, for instance, and arms and legs can't be noodles, and you can't just fill bucket in the color and let people imagine quills.

In short, these ad hoc comparison designs are vastly inferior for the intention of the movie, even if the movie is a bad idea to begin with.

And arms that don't have fur could fix it

That "movie" Sonic is soo soo sooo soooo bad designed. It does not look as Sonic but like an opossum throw to water. Just awful.

@impurekind this is how Sonic should have looked like in the movie!

@eRaz0r Lost all credibility that you "played" New Super Mario Bros Deluxe and then proceeded to call it "short"

If you really bought the game you'd know it comes with Luigi U ... which is a whole new world with Luigi ... a. second. WHOLE. game.

That's like calling Pokemon Silver & Gold short, and then not seeing it through the end to find out there's a whole second region.

So, no, I bet $60 bucks you didn't even bought, let alone played the game.

@Markiemania95 I totally agree with you

I hate the sonic design but at the same time i cannot stop lauhging at it. I'll take the movie as a joke and that way I'll have a good time. Because if i see it with serious mind, im going to regret cause is pure crap.

@fafonio i have it, trust me and luigi u is more like a modification, rather than a "seperate" game. and yes i prefer every sonic game over 2d mario. and new smb is the worst game ever made in my opinion, but like always - everyone likes other things glad you like that short flash game with cancer music

sadly i bought it digitaly, to get that stupid 6€ eshop cashback thing. if i bought it retail, i could sell it at least. maybe the coop is fun, but no friend of mine likes mario, or plattform games in general haha

i will stay with mario odyssey. also a short game, but way better than 2d mario games. at least the "new" ones. mario world 2 - yoshis island is a masterpiece, even when it is not really a mario, rather than a yoshi game

@impurekind That fix is a lot better than the one in the article. They shouldn't have removed the parts that make sonic so iconic. I think the movie one looks a bit too kiddie, like winnie the pooh or something xD Even though he has the body of a full grown man, yuck...

@Silly_G Because other then alex kidd in miracle world it's alright but it's no Super Mario Bros His games sucked, and hardly anyone remembers him. I would count alex kidd in shinobi world as the only good game in his series but that was just Kid Shinobi with a Alex Kidd mod skin.

Sonic has alot of bad games in his time, but he has enough good games from the Genesis/Game Gear era, the Dreamcast era and even a few in the PS3/360 era, to make him stay as SEGA's mascot.

Alex Kidd was already having the problems Sonic has now in his first year remember his arcade game? Lost Stars? or that Japan only BMX game? or that Japaneses anime game which got the Mario 2 USA treatment only it was dull as watching paint dry with only the Mega Drive/Genesis Alex Kidd game had anything to do with his first game, even then it sucked due to the fact they added more rock paper scissors rubbish* they had no idea what they wanted to do with the kidd.

Shinobi should of been their mascot during the 80's

The problem is that the proposed fix wouldn't work in a live action movie. He essentially just made it look like the cartoon version of Sonic that we're used to seeing. This isn't a Pixar flick, we're getting Paddington lol.

Since he's blue and quite discomforting to look at, maybe Sonic get's a cameo in Disney's Aladdin...

It is totally the eyes. It’s the whole art signature to all the characters in that world and it is key. The same as all Disney characters have the same eyes, you instantly know you’re watching a Disney film.
Losing the art style altogether is a bad move, and adding in the signature eyes makes the WORLD of difference and definitely rescues this screw up.

Not going with this change will be stupid, but very sega and almost as bad as the board meeting where the head of sega of America was proposed Streets of Rage 4 for Saturn/Dreamcast and he said. “Streets of What?”

In Sonic the Hedgehog for Xbox360 we all learnt that Sonic and real life don't mix together well. How come they used the single worst Sonic game as an inspiration for a movie?

@pinta_vodki Nope. They never will be done with that LOL

AAaaahhhh..... nope...nope. Go back.

Looks a little bit better, but still awful.

It's true, this one little fix fixes a whole lot about his look. He just looks better in his original look. Why they would try to change it so much, I don't know.... all for the sake of realism... Oh my goodness, it's a talking hedgehog who rolls into a ball and runs faster than a car.... How can you make this kind of character realistic??