Is Sonic still "cool"?

[MadmanRB]

I think at the least Classic Sonic still has the cool factor, but yeah modern... Eh he is kind of a yoyo.

Poor Roger Criaig Smith though, I like him but mainly for his Boom Sonic.

[Kuzu]

I'm really not getting why people claim Roger's voice is a factor on why Sonic isn't "cool". Didn't we go through this same shit with Griffith for a few years before he was replaced lol.

[MadmanRB]

2 minutes ago, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

I'm really not getting why people claim Roger's voice is a factor on why Sonic isn't "cool". Didn't we go through this same shit with Griffith for a few years before he was replaced lol.

Well for Boom i think he is fine, but in the games, hes been a bit uneven

[Kuzu]

2 minutes ago, MadmanRB said:

Well for Boom i think he is fine, but in the games, hes been a bit uneven

You didn't answer my question. What makes Roger so much different from Griffith, because there was a similar reaction of how "uneven" Griffith was when he took over from Drummond V

[MadmanRB]

Well i did say I liked him and for me In Colors hes okay, in generations and lost world hes fine.... Forces however I dont think he did so well.

But thats just my opinion, I am sure others hate him or think hes okay or even the best sonic VA.

I do think Griffith was better though

[Kuzu]

That's my point; if you grew up on Drummond, you might think he's the best. Grow up on Griffith, oh he's the best, etc etc etc.

 

It always felt really weird when people say Roger is the worst Sonic voice and that Griffith was better....when Griffith got just as much hate when he took over for Drummond

[MadmanRB]

Actually My Sonic is Jaleel White

However in modern context Smith isnt too bad and is hated for all the wrong reasons.

But I am looking forward to seeing what Ben Schwartz will do for the 2019 movie, he could be the best Sonic since Drummond

[DabigRG]

41 minutes ago, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

I'm really not getting why people claim Roger's voice is a factor on why Sonic isn't "cool". Didn't we go through this same shit with Griffith for a few years before he was replaced lol.

Same thing as with things like the Wisps, the Boost, Sonic's [playable] friends, and less arguably Shadow: he happens to be the consistent thing in conjunction with a couple of things people don't like and so he gets lumped in as a big problem himself.

 

42 minutes ago, MadmanRB said:

Well for Boom i think he is fine, but in the games, hes been a bit uneven

 

39 minutes ago, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

You didn't answer my question. What makes Roger so much different from Griffith, because there was a similar reaction of how "uneven" Griffith was when he took over from Drummond V

He's definitely fine in Boom and works well enough in Colors & parts of Lost World, but while Sonic himself was good in Forces, the voice acting itself was kinda off in places.

28 minutes ago, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

That's my point; if you grew up on Drummond, you might think he's the best. Grow up on Griffith, oh he's the best, etc etc etc.

 

It always felt really weird when people say Roger is the worst Sonic voice and that Griffith was better....when Griffith got just as much hate when he took over for Drummond

To be fair, Griffith stuck long enough to really get comfortable in the role and actually took acting lessons that helped him improve by the end.

Mr. Smith should probably do a bit of exercising with his Sonic voice himself.

23 minutes ago, MadmanRB said:

 

But I am looking forward to seeing what Ben Schwartz will do for the 2019 movie,

Ugh...might be bracin.

[Scritch the Cat]

As people have made clear already, "cool" is not only a matter of opinion, the majority opinion changes.

What the majority opinion is now, among the children that this series primarily targets, is very hard for me to say because I'm 33, don't have children, don't usually interact with children, but the simple fact that Sonic doesn't have the immense presence he used to on TV means he probably can't be all that popular to children.  Cartoon Network booted their Sonic show to Boomerang, which has probably killed it.  There's the IDW series but that's not the sort of thing that's projected onto children; they can see it if they go into a store that sells graphic novels but such things aren't being shoved in children's faces elsewhere.

On the other hand, TV and print are dying thanks to the Internet, and Sonic's internet presence has been a big hit.  It's not universally loved, but it's obviously the sort of thing that resonates with a lot of people that go online, which in these days is most of the population.  Because the social media posts, recent games and recent TV show (not sure about the IDW series) all focus on comedy, I see them as part of a continuum, and because of that, my opinion is that Sonic is as cool as he can possibly be right now without games getting noticeably better or him getting more peripheral media.  Yeah; the slang-heavy, acrobatic, 1990s tropes haven't aged, but to me, it feels like they've fallen back on the more timeless qualities of Sonic.  He was designed to resemble a lot of classic funny-animals, but with more edge, and so to me Sonic making humorous quips fits that.

You know what I think isn't cool anymore?  Sonic's world.  Ever since they have officially abandoned concrete world-building in favor of games that exist in their own continuity bubbles, reduced the involvement of other characters and stopped using adaptations to flesh out the stories of the games (again, IDW could change this but it isn't as visible as TV shows on major networks), I've felt less and less reason to care about what happens to these characters anymore--because after all, nothing major is likely to happen.  A video game doesn't need an interesting world or interesting characters to be fun, but if the core gameplay is lackluster at best, it sure would help.  As it stands, I still like Sonic the Hedgehog and I still like a lot of past things he has been in, but this isn't enough to make me want to play the new games he's in.