Megathread MT | Sonic Prime (Netflix, TV Series) - General Discussion

[Austroid]

Finally, we have a legit trailer after so many teasers! (even if it feels like it was edited for kids with short attention spans)

The voice work and animation is all looking/sounding great! Between it and Frontiers, we've got a LOT to look forward to in the coming months! 

(P.S. Eggman's panel lining is giving me flashbacks to DC's New 52 costumes...)

[DaddlerTheDalek]

6 hours ago, Razule said:

Amy's cybernetics do kinda look like Bunnie's.

That was my first thought as well.

[King Conne]

Can't her legs have normal length?!...
She looks ridiculous that way...

[VO.SUPER]

28 minutes ago, King Conne said:

Can't her legs have normal length?!...
She looks ridiculous that way...

Her legs are extendable. We see in one scene she is Sonic's height. 

And even if she was that height all the time,  what makes it more ridiculous that half the stuff that goes on in Sonic lore?

[SolidSurgeTT]

Is Sonic Stadium going to review Sonic Prime?

[Kuzu]

Animation wise, this is the best looking Sonic show ever. Just the right amount of energy and bounce I expect from these character designs. Really hope they take advantage of it. The tweaks to the designs also help...if off. 

Devon Mack and Brian Drummond are fine in their roles, although they are very clearly channeling Roger Craig Smith and Mike Pollock. That's fine and I kind if figured they would for consistency. Although it's weird how much fans are saying how much better Devon is despite that. 

The plot looks whatever; the multiverse concept has been played out in recent years, but I'm not gonna complain too much about that, but the lack of innovation doesn't excite me either. Wish they could have leaned more into a more Sonic esq premise. The visuals aren't helping with that either.

Rouge being part of the main cast is the biggest outlier here and honestly, I'm fine with it. She never really gets a chance a to shine unless she's with Shadow, who himself makes sparse appearances. If Sega are committed to keeping Shadow as a loner who acts on his own prerogative, then Rouge needed to go somewhere. And while she might lose some of her own unique traits in the process, it does at least let her interact with the main group for an extended period of time for some fresh interactions, something this franchise has been sorely missing.

 

 

Its looks aight, I'll probably binge it over a weekend when it drops. If nothing else it looks better than Boom, but that isn't a high bar to clear either.

[Kaotic Kanine]

Normally, I'd go on a furious rant about Cream the Rabbit getting skipped out on again despite being the original "5th member of Team Sonic". But after she was outright replaced by Omochao (and a trio of Chao), of all character, without so much an acknowledgement by the other characters in Team Sonic Racing, I'm just hopeful that Cream appears at all in Prime. 

Besides, Rouge is just behind Amy and Cream in my "tier list" of favorite characters, and as Kuzu pointed out, Rouge never really gets to shine outside of being alongside Shadow. So, I can look forward to what she'll do in Prime. And funny thing; Sonic Chronicles previously had Rouge be one of the very first party members, right after Amy and Tails but before Knuckles. So there's precedent to her tagging along with the main gang, to an extent. 

(Seriously though, can we please bring Cream back?  )

[Blue Blood]

Yeah honestly I'm just incredibly stoked that Rouge is back in the spotlight. Seeing her as a hero instead of the self-serving anti-hero day she's always been in the past will take some getting used to, but it'll probably still work out. She's always been one of my favourite characters. There's a lot that she can bring to the table. If I had to guess, this version of Rouge will lean more into her role as a spy and tactician, whilst still keeping her obsession with jewels.

I hope her new voice is good though. I liked Karen Strassman's voice for her to begin with in Free Riders, but I've come to think that it suits her less and less over the years. Especially when she started doing that weird and inconsistent Southern US accent in TSR. Anything closer to her previous voices would be grand. 

[Sega DogTagz]

We don't know enough to even speculate if Rouge isn't going to maintain her anto-hero streak so I'm not sure why so many of you are so quick to label her as team heroes +1. 

Just because she's helping now doesn't mean her priorities won't flip flop when the fate of the world isn't at stake. 

 

I like the new MCU suit she is rocking btw. The spy look is in right now. 

[Kuzu]

That's true, but I can't imagine they'd let Rouge be too morally ambiguous if she's meant to be one of the good guys, up to being part of the four other main heroes of the franchise.

[Blue Blood]

33 minutes ago, Sega DogTagz said:

We don't know enough to even speculate if Rouge isn't going to maintain her anto-hero streak so I'm not sure why so many of you are so quick to label her as team heroes +1. 

Just because she's helping now doesn't mean her priorities won't flip flop when the fate of the world isn't at stake. 

I like the new MCU suit she is rocking btw. The spy look is in right now. 

We don't know it categorically, but it's a pretty fair and safe assumption. Rouge is shown working with the rest of Team Sonic both before and after the Paradox Prism is smashed. She absolutely looks like one of the heroes, and she's getting just as much focus as Tails, Knuckles and Amy have so far. Maybe she'll have a darker streak, maybe she'll turn. Rouge has never been an actual bad guy though. 

From a character design and narrative a perspective, Rouge brings a bit more variety to the table and she's a second female character. That's kind of important because it allows Amy to be more than just the token girl character. Sticks filled a similar niche in Boom, and so did Cream in X. 

[Sega DogTagz]

Rouge has always been dependable as a hero when the stakes are high enough. That's never been a part of the question. People are acting like her lining up alongside the big 4 all of the sudden means she's somehow shed her usual nature. 

When the stakes are lower, Rouge tends to roll back into her trademark imma get mine mentality, and there is nothing we have seen so far that will contradict that. Why are some of you so quick to assume they threw away one of her defining characteristics. That's just silly. She's most likely gonna pocket gems while she saves the day, just like she always has. 

[Diogenes]

When, in this story, are the stakes going to be lower? This is an ongoing crisis.

[MetalSkulkBane]

12 minutes ago, Diogenes said:

When, in this story, are the stakes going to be lower? This is an ongoing crisis.

She worked best in Sonic X, because Sonic's goal "collect emeralds to go home" did not have life-threatening repercussions, so she could be her shady self without morals stopping her. Same in Sonic Battle, since that game has very low stakes till the final chapter.

The lack of "low-stakes" adventures is what diminished Rouge over the years.

[Kuzu]

With the exception of Generations and Forces, and the endgame of Lost World, almost every Sonic game has been a low stake affair.

Hell, she's on her usual schtick in Colors DS.

But I do agree; she kind of inverts Shadow in a way where he works better in dramatic scenarios than lighthearted ones while Rouge is thr opposite. 

Not that she can't work in a dramatic sense, but since her core traits are her selfishness and well...being selfish in a high stake scenario is a dick move.

[Dr. Mechano]

7 minutes ago, Kuzu said:

With the exception of Generations and Forces, and the endgame of Lost World, almost every Sonic game has been a low stake affair.

Honestly, how jaded do we have to be to consider mind-controlling an entire planet (by using sentient aliens as fuel, no less) low stakes?

[Kuzu]

15 minutes ago, Dr. Mechano said:

Honestly, how jaded do we have to be to consider mind-controlling an entire planet (by using sentient aliens as fuel, no less) low stakes?

The game literally never treats its story seriously at all. They are making jokes up to literally what is the final battle of the game. The lower stakes is literally one of the things about the game that was praised by people who were burned out the more dramatic world ending scenarios from prior.

This isn't being jaded, its literally calling the game for what it is.

[StaticMania]

48 minutes ago, Dr. Mechano said:

Honestly, how jaded do we have to be to consider mind-controlling an entire planet (by using sentient aliens as fuel, no less) low stakes?

The tone matters here, it's pretty ruthless...but the game doesn't treat the concept seriously.

It jarringly treats the alien abuse seriously for one scene, but not really the mind control.

---

Rouge could be selfish in high stakes scenarios, but the stakes pretty much can never be as high as the fate of the world...because it would affect her as well.

[Sega DogTagz]

2 hours ago, Diogenes said:

When, in this story, are the stakes going to be lower? This is an ongoing crisis.

If Sonic is doing the universe spanning globe trotting we all think he is, then the stakes drop considerably for each of the local inhabitants he drops in on. Not every world he dips his toe in will be Sonic CD bad ending. I doubt the caveman or pirate worlds they visit will be aware of the scope of the multiverse threat. Most of the time, Sonic himself maybe the only hero on planet aware of the big picture. 

That leaves plenty of space for Rouge or her local proxy to get her theft on. Or choose to help herself over helping the team. 

[Scritch the Cat]

3 hours ago, Blue Blood said:

Yeah honestly I'm just incredibly stoked that Rouge is back in the spotlight. Seeing her as a hero instead of the self-serving anti-hero day she's always been in the past will take some getting used to, but it'll probably still work out. She's always been one of my favourite characters. There's a lot that she can bring to the table. If I had to guess, this version of Rouge will lean more into her role as a spy and tactician, whilst still keeping her obsession with jewels.

Arguably, the self-serving anti-hero bit about Rouge hasn't been prominent for a long time.  To be fair, the character herself hasn't, but almost immediately after SA2 the jewel thief bit began to take less and less precedence while the two big developments in that game, her being revealed to be a government agent and growing close to Shadow, became her main motives since.  That she works for the government while being morally dubious is definitely meant to comment on how shady that government is, but it also puts Rouge on the side of the law whenever the law at least tries to do its job during a crisis, and other times, Rouge is interestingly one of not too many Sonic characters who will occasionally do a good thing simply as a favor to friends.  Also, when a big part of a character is that she's seductive, her personality can be pleasant to be around regardless of underlying motive, in stark contrast to Shadow, who even when he's obviously doing the right thing, acts and sounds like a cynical old grouch.  It makes Rouge showing up at Sonic's birthday party while Shadow doesn't seem reasonably natural.

[jungle_penguins]

The best part of this show is it looks like the studio has a significant budget for once.

[Rabbitearsblog]

4 hours ago, Sega DogTagz said:

Most of the time, Sonic himself maybe the only hero on planet aware of the big picture. 

It's just like in the Archie Comics where after the reboot happened, Sonic was the only one who was aware of the past universe and he had to jog everyone else's memories in the new timeline.

[Wraith]

I don't really care to see Rouge if she can't be herself. I never expected Sonic Team to do much with her in the first place but the last thing I ever wanted was for her to be 'black widow'd into being the generic action girl of the group. I'll give the writing team grace here but I'm not holding my breath.

In general the narrative seems a little too bog-standard for me, even if the show looks nice. I was a little surprised to see 'the resistance'  after the games and the comic had already done the same thing, but I guess 5 years is a lifetime ago when you're target demo is 7 year olds.

I guess after the Sonic Movie I should just be thankful that the characters look like themselves, though.

 

9 hours ago, Dr. Mechano said:

Honestly, how jaded do we have to be to consider mind-controlling an entire planet (by using sentient aliens as fuel, no less) low stakes?

How high are the stakes when the comic relief character accidentally sabotages the entire plan in the first hour?
 

[StaticMania]

28 minutes ago, Wraith said:

How high are the stakes when the comic relief character accidentally sabotages the entire plan in the first hour?

How likely were they to even find the thing anyway...?

It wasn't simply out of sight, the piece flew all the way to the center of the amusement park.

[The Famous Sonic]

22 hours ago, VO.SUPER said:

Her legs are extendable. We see in one scene she is Sonic's height. 

And even if she was that height all the time,  what makes it more ridiculous that half the stuff that goes on in Sonic lore?

Bunnie Rabbot also had extendable legs.