To people close to or familiar with children these days, how popular is Sonic with them?

[Scritch the Cat]

I think this is a worth asking because sometimes when we older people complain about the directions the Sonic series has taken, an occasional defense it gets is "Older fans aren't its target demographic; children are," and while that is probably mostly true, and I'll be avoiding discussion of whether that is an ethical route to take, it bares the question of how successful the series is at targeting modern children.  I ask in the fandom section, for lack of a better option, because this is a multimedia franchise lately, and as such this discussion should entail not only the games, but also the cartoons, IDW series, toys, and movies.

Edited April 20 by Scritch the Cat
Corrected my own grammar.

[The DOMinator]

I'm not sure how helpful my response will be, but I mean, it's something. Firstly, I'm 16, so I don't know if I exactly fit the bill of a child, but from those around me (ex: school), it's a bit all over the place. Just to give you an idea, I wore a Sonic shirt back at the beginning of the school year, and two guys who seemed to be friends both gave differing comments on it. The one called it cool, while the other called it out for being baby stuff. But, considering the current below 18 audience, I guess that's to be expected. Some stick with their Fortnite and TikTok and that's it, while others are a bit more open to things. Anyways, if we're talking specifically children here, they seem to be enjoying the franchise. Going back to school once again for an example, I was conversating with one of my teachers at some point regarding video games, and when Sonic was brought up, he told me how he had brought his young children to the Sonic movies and that they enjoyed them. Going a bit beyond my scope, there's been a couple people online who I've friended through online games, discussion forums, and whatnot, who are a bit younger then me, and they seem to enjoy the franchise quite a bit as well. Specifically, there's this one guy who I friended that started asking a whole bunch of "true fan" questions, like what I thought about the voice actors over the years, what my favorite games was, and the funniest one, if I could do impressions of Ryan Drummond and Jason Griffith. This totally caught me off guard, as from just reading things online and watching videos, etc, it seems as though a lot of children got into the franchise thanks to the movie, and only knew some base level stuff. So, all in all, it seems to be a mixed bag when it comes to modern children liking Sonic, although it tends to lean more toward popular rather then nothing. Again, a lot of this popularity seems to stem from the recent movies, and perhaps Sonic Prime. By that, I'm also referring to Sega's recent goal of expanding Sonic across different mediums to connect him to more people. Therefore why he's also shown up in games like Roblox, Fall Guys, and Minecraft recently. Another recent approach to branching out to even younger audiences was the launch of a Sonic TikTok series called Sonic & Friends, aimed at little kids, as evident by the designs, short form nature, etc. And then there's oddball things like Sonic "flossing" in the first movie. But now I'm starting to ramble. So, before I go off topic;

34 minutes ago, Scritch the Cat said:

I'll be avoiding discussion of whether that is an ethical route to take

Although they're definitely opening up to children more, I'd still say they're trying to keep it open to all audiences of all ages. Just by looking at recent things kind of give that idea. Firstly, there's the now formal establishment of Classic Sonic as a subseries of some sort, releasing new games like Sonic Superstars, animations and comics, toys, etc. This obviously attracts the older audiences who grew up with Sonic in the Genesis/Mega Drive days, with the old designs, 2D platformer gameplay, and simpler stories. But on the other hand, its complete family friendly nature, light hearted antics, and simple to grasp gameplay helps attracts the younger crowd. Then there's the Sonic movies. Again, there's Sonic flossing. There's also the fact that Sonic is essentially a kid/young teen growing up in the films, whom the young audiences can relate to. But then there's all of the fan service sprinkled throughout that keeps the adults' eyes on the screen. In terms of attracting the older fan base, I think a recent statement from actor, Idris Elba, regarding how the next film is "for the die-hards," encapsulates this quite a bit. Sure, the classic games are always readily available, meaning a kid or two can point to the screen and go "Hey, that's the Death Egg Robot!" But with the next film being based on Sonic Adventure 2, this is obviously pandered a lot toward those who lived through the Dreamcast era. Yes, kids who are already hooked will still go, but only an older fan can go "Hey, that's Maria getting shot off screen there!" The modern Sonic games themselves seem to be navigating on a middle ground of some sort, if Sonic Frontiers is used to predict the possible trajectory of the main games going forward. It has a more mature storyline, but enough where younger audiences can still play without certain parents getting worried, call backs to previous games, requires a bit more skill, etc.

Okay, so I'm starting to ramble on again, but I'm trying to make a few points here: Sonic seems to be relatively popular with the kids (at least they know what a Sonic is), Sega seems to be aiming for general all around audiences/fans, and it seems as though everything's successful. Of course, I can't speak for everyone. There are young fans on this website, so maybe they can give a better idea of how popular Sonic currently is.

[The Tenth Doctor]

I have 2 nephews, aged 8 and 6. They love Sonic, played a lot of the games, watch the shows, buy the toys and much more. They tell me they play games with other kids in school and talk about it to them. When I've taken them to see the films, the theater is full of happy kids. Overall, I think Sonic is pretty popular with kids, at least in Glasgow.

[Rabid-Coot]

I've seen one random kid with a prime toy.

[Maple Syrup]

I have a younger sister, a big fan of Sonic, Who's in elementary school. She knows quite a few people who are fans of Sonic. She's also friends with LOTS of others and she reports that some watched Sonic X, and others played Sonic games on their Consoles/Smart devices. She isn't bullied for liking Sonic. As for me.... I'm pretty much a tad bit younger than all of you, in Middle School to be exact, so I can cover this. Only 2 kids wore Sonic shirts, no comments on those. I overhear many kids saying that "Sonic was never good" and it fills me with rage. But some people like to see me play Sonic Superstars, and some join me and many people know who he is, so I think many kids know Sonic, but it doesn't really appeal to them as much as Clash of Clans, or TikTok.

Edited April 20 by Maple Syrup

[Cyb3rkn1ght]

So, at school, the anime kids know Sonic, but doesn’t respect him except Archie. Among my family, we all like Sonic. It’s not pick number one, but we like Sonic.

[Maple Syrup]

19 minutes ago, Cyb3rkn1ght said:

So, at school, the anime kids know Sonic, but doesn’t respect him except Archie. Among my family, we all like Sonic. It’s not pick number one, but we like Sonic.

My family doesn't really care. My dad is like "How are you so obsessed with a Hedgehog?" But, they support me.

[ChaosCTRL]

     I currently teach pre-k to elementary age kids at my church. One time I did a puppet show for them, and gave one of the characters a voice with a rasp like Kirk Thornton’s Shadow. One kid said “why does he sound like Shadow the Hedgehog?” I pulled the conversation back to the lesson, but deep down I was very proud.

[Sega DogTagz]

I spend a ton of time in airports. Since my brain is hardwired to seek out any all things Sonic related, I do take note of the kinds of toys and merch people tend to carry around.

Particularly since the first movie, I can say that I have seen a very noticeable uptick in the amount of Sonic related stuff I see on a day to day basis. Where before, a Sonic backpack would be few and far in-between, now they are much more the norm, on par with most any other franchise short of maybe Pokemon. In the boarding gates, you can overhear the sound effects of games people are playing, and that familiar ring sound is one of the most common there as well.

Everything from branded clothing to the stuffed animals people lug around on planes have a respectable Sonic presence about them. Shoot, even in the parking lots, I often see bumper stickers and license plates that are Sonic related.

 

Its usually a wide range of ages too. Its not limited to one specific demographic.

[SpeedyChilidogs]

Well I'm the oldest and my little brothers absolutely love Sonic as much as I do but he's not their primary focus, we often when we were younger pretended to be Sonic Knuckles and Tails my mom still calls me Sonic Sometimes, due to my childhood, but my smaller cousins they know of Sonic but they aren't particularly interested in him either, They are like 5 and 6 years old and they call me a nerd for liking sonic mannnn, or even talking about him. they are anime kids lol. any other kids ehh I'm not sure. I'm a often babysitter but that's only for my family members lol. I've also seen some freshmen in my school wearing Sonic for a style a lot but don't really know who those characters are, tho I don't judge lol. 

[Badnik Mechanic]

Shortly before the pandemic hit, I was selling Sonic Merch at various conventions, and what I learnt is that Sonic is VERY popular with kids... Even if they didn't buy anything, I could all but guarantee you, anytime a kid walked past the stall, they'd yell "SONIC!" in an excited tone.

However, their knowledge of the series, has a bit of a cut off point.

Whilst I could always sell Sonic, Shadow and maybe Tails merch... There comes a point where kids don't care or don't know about the series.

As an example, I had a Chaos plush to sell... Chaos, the character who has only 1 official plush... I was convinced it'd sell quickly... Only 1 person picked it up, it was a kid and he said "Whose that?" I said "oh that's Chaos" the kid looked blank, and I followed up with "The bad guy from Sonic Adventure" the kid then said "Never heard of him" and put the plush down.

I learnt 2 things interesting that day.

1: People outside the fandom, have no idea who anyone outside of the big 4 are (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles & Shadow).

2: Kids who are into the fandom, unless they're REALLY into it, have a cut off point for where they'll likely have exposure to the series. And there's no clear reason as to why that is.

Whilst you can say "Oh SA1 and SA2 are on steam/PS3/Xbox!" despite how cheap they are, kids aren't likely to buy those unless they're REALLY crazy about the franchise. More often they'll have newer games that they enjoy and stick with. 

 

 

[Sega DogTagz]

1 hour ago, Badnik Mechanic said:

 People outside the fandom, have no idea who anyone outside of the big 4 are (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles & Shadow).

 

I can agree to that for the most part. Amy gets hit with the "Girl Sonic" stick about as often as people tend to recognize her. Even Knux was a bit hit or miss prior to the last movie giving him a bump.

A few exceptions would be Sally (who to this day has an alarming recognition rate despite being a 'dead' character) and Blaze and Rouge (for probably obvious reasons).

and Metal Sonic of course. Everyone seems to remember him.

[Cyb3rkn1ght]

5 minutes ago, Sega DogTagz said:

and Metal Sonic of course. Everyone seems to remember him.

well yeah, he's rehashed to DEATH

[Badnik Mechanic]

31 minutes ago, Sega DogTagz said:

I can agree to that for the most part. Amy gets hit with the "Girl Sonic" stick about as often as people tend to recognize her. Even Knux was a bit hit or miss prior to the last movie giving him a bump.

A few exceptions would be Sally (who to this day has an alarming recognition rate despite being a 'dead' character) and Blaze and Rouge (for probably obvious reasons).

and Metal Sonic of course. Everyone seems to remember him.

Yeah, and I could have also said Eggman too...

The point I'm making here, is characters who appeared in major games, that have had huge cultural impact within the fandom and the gaming fandom... They're not as well known or as popular with kids as they are with the groups who grew up with them.

So when people say "Is Sonic popular with kids" the answer is "Yes he is" but it's within a bubble of only a certain generation of characters.

[SpeedyChilidogs]

3 minutes ago, Badnik Mechanic said:

Amy gets hit with the "Girl Sonic" stick about as often as people tend to recognize her.

Lmaoo, Girl Sonic is Honestly wild! Woah, It take's me back when I used to think Silver was a fan charcter 

[Cyb3rkn1ght]

2 minutes ago, SpeedyChilidogs said:

Woah, It take's me back when I used to think Silver was a fan charcter

that was so much hate to silver. he REALLY needs to return.

[SpeedyChilidogs]

3 minutes ago, Cyb3rkn1ght said:

that was so much hate to silver. he REALLY needs to return.

Mannn they do him dirty, I mean he's not the entire fav character or what no but he's pretty cool! And what do people have to hate him for lol like everything that happened in 06 was resolved! He's just a very cool and underrated character lol. I think Sega forgets him half the time. 

[Scritch the Cat]

On 4/20/2024 at 1:24 PM, Cyb3rkn1ght said:

that was so much hate to silver. he REALLY needs to return.

 

On 4/20/2024 at 1:34 PM, SpeedyChilidogs said:

Mannn they do him dirty, I mean he's not the entire fav character or what no but he's pretty cool! And what do people have to hate him for lol like everything that happened in 06 was resolved! He's just a very cool and underrated character lol. I think Sega forgets him half the time. 

I'm actually not seeing the hatred you two do.  Considering that Silver not only debuted in a widely despised game but was one of the most despised things about that game, due to a combination of an annoying voice, being a frustrating boss and possibly even more frustrating as a playable character due to the awful physics, and that his original reason for being there was retconned out, that Silver has been kept around as much as he has is actually pretty surprising.  It's not even like they mostly used him for self-parody memes like Big and Shadow.  True, they haven't done much with him for over a decade, but they haven't done much with most Sonic characters for over a decade.  Though even now, when multiple characters seem to be back in fashion across all aspects of the series, I don't exactly expect Silver to come back since his gameplay is so much different from the speed focus they want to maintain across all the others who are back.  Then again, I can't say bullet Hell shooters have much to do with that either, so who knows?

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

My take is that it’s kinda like looking at a window back in time and seeing how kids gravitate to Sonic.

A comic series, a cartoon series, and now a movie.

It’s a broad brush, yeah, but it’s still telling to see that Sonic is still well and kicking among kids.

[Scritch the Cat]

On 4/21/2024 at 10:19 PM, CrownSlayers Shadow said:

My take is that it’s kinda like looking at a window back in time and seeing how kids gravitate to Sonic.

A comic series, a cartoon series, and now a movie.

It’s a broad brush, yeah, but it’s still telling to see that Sonic is still well and kicking among kids.

I'm actually not quite sure what you're implying, but it kind of makes me think.  You can't always predict what will be a hit with contemporary audiences, but I'm guessing producers in various companies place at least some value on how big a hit brands have been in the past when choosing what new projects to greenlight.  In that regard, Sonic is probably not unlike ninja turtles or Pokémon; it goes through high points and low points but there sure aren't too many quiet points.  Almost no established big brand has a spotless track record but new brands have no track record at all. 

The problem with new media being made for established brands, though, is that makes it harder to discern whether something is actually a hit with contemporary audiences or they've just been made as experiments in hopes they will be.  However, if the experiments continue, then it's safe enough to say they're doing something right.  It's pretty clear in retrospect that the Sonic Boom initiative was dead on arrival and that everything to come out of it had just been authorized before that was apparent, but with the Sonic movies it's obvious they've kept going because they're big hits; probably bigger than anyone expected.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

1 hour ago, Scritch the Cat said:

I'm actually not quite sure what you're implying, but it kind of makes me think. 

I'm mainly implying that kids these days are remarkably similar to how we were as kids getting into Sonic.

Think back to your youth when you first got into the franchise--it was new and interesting, yes? It's basically like that with kids of this era; we're adults or at least teenagers now, but when you look at the new generation of kids getting into Sonic, it's like looking at a window back in time to when you yourself were a kid getting into Sonic.

Not that it goes against everything else you said, but that's the gist of it.

Even with more and more new franchises marketed towards them popping up with varying levels of success, Sonic is still going strong. Which is remarkable when almost two decades ago people were suggesting the franchise should be put down and ended due to ShTH and Sonic 06.

Edited April 24 by CrownSlayers Shadow

[LongcrierCat]

On 4/20/2024 at 6:51 AM, Cyb3rkn1ght said:

So, at school, the anime kids know Sonic, but doesn’t respect him except Archie. Among my family, we all like Sonic. It’s not pick number one, but we like Sonic.

Is Archie a kid you know or do you mean the Archie comics?

 

On 4/20/2024 at 12:43 PM, Sega DogTagz said:

I can agree to that for the most part. Amy gets hit with the "Girl Sonic" stick about as often as people tend to recognize her. Even Knux was a bit hit or miss prior to the last movie giving him a bump.

A few exceptions would be Sally (who to this day has an alarming recognition rate despite being a 'dead' character) and Blaze and Rouge (for probably obvious reasons).

and Metal Sonic of course. Everyone seems to remember him.

How many kids are recognizing Sally Acorn because of Sonic.EXE? Either way, this proves that no one will ever forget the Freedom Fighters and I won't lie, that makes me proud.

I'm glad some people recognize excellence when they see it.

On 4/21/2024 at 10:19 PM, CrownSlayers Shadow said:

My take is that it’s kinda like looking at a window back in time and seeing how kids gravitate to Sonic.

A comic series, a cartoon series, and now a movie.

It’s a broad brush, yeah, but it’s still telling to see that Sonic is still well and kicking among kids.

Exactly. It's why telling kids that they're not really "true" Sonic fans because they know and like more than just the games is flat out wrong to do. Everyone has their preferences, canon be damned.

Edited Monday at 05:49 PM by LongcrierCat

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

43 minutes ago, LongcrierCat said:

Exactly. It's why telling kids that they're not really "true" Sonic fans because they know and like more than just the games is flat out wrong to do. Everyone has their preferences, canon be damned.

More like we shouldn’t take purists seriously and should treat them like the asshats they are.

[Cyb3rkn1ght]

1 hour ago, LongcrierCat said:

Is Archie a kid you know or do you mean the Archie comics?

Who names their kid Archie? (I meant Archie Sionic, the character, because he's strong)