Marza Releases Sonic-less sequel to "Night of the Werehog".

This was a delightful little halloween surprise, I was starting to wonder if all the art of Lah, Uh and Su that Marza Staff's twitter was posting this month were hinting towards a new animation at the end.

When I saw the 3 minute runtime I didn't expect any kind of exciting short on par with Werehog and I advise everyone else do the same, but this was still awfully cute, and just nice to check in on this quirky little trio again.

Loved it. Honestly any excuse to see this cast again is just a major W.

Ian said that getting the ghost trio approved for the cameo in #63 was probably the fastest green-light process he's ever seen, so its clear Marza is still very much wanting these guys in the spotlight even 16 years down the road.

Given how well NotW was received, and Murder of following it, it might not be too far fetched to see them putting out another short in the future just for the pure fan-service of it all. Sega rakes in the goodwill on these projects.

I would love to see the ghosts remain as recurring little cameo characters, partially for the fun of it and partially just for how nice it would be to have this little nod to Marza's close relationship with the Sonic series via the FMVs and the movies showing up now and then.

On 10/31/2023 at 2:57 PM, JezMM said:

I would love to see the ghosts remain as recurring little cameo characters, partially for the fun of it and partially just for how nice it would be to have this little nod to Marza's close relationship with the Sonic series via the FMVs and the movies showing up now and then.

Here is the review

Agree that it would be great to see them again. They would make great characters for short films or even a web series.

What a cute surprise! I've watched Night of the Werehog so many times over the years... the animation is just perfect. Even if there's no Sonic or Chip, it's nice that they remembered the short and gave the additional characters more spotlight after all this time. At least there was a Werehog poster in the background haha Hopefully another sequel next year?

Looks like the team behind Night of the Werehog has something new here!

Is this an April's fools joke?

3 minutes ago, Cosmos Rogue said:

Is this an April's fools joke?

No. This is new. Why?

So great to see those goobers again. I was always kind of under the assumption that Sega owned the rights to them, but perhaps not. Or maybe Sega gave them permission to use them again. In any event, neat! Keep them around, Marza. We still love 'em.

Just now, PC the Hedgehog said:

So great to see those goobers again. I was always kind of under the assumption that Sega owned the rights to them, but perhaps not. Or maybe Sega gave them permission to use them again. In any event, neat! Keep them around, Marza. We still love 'em.

I remember hearing in a recent BumbleKast that Marza owns the characters, so they had to get permission to have them cameo in the comic.

Marza owns the ghosts. Sega/Sammy owns Marza.

Odd situation. They are technically in house characters, but still ones that require some degree of red tape to get the rights to use. Either way, I'm sure the comments section is flooded with pleas to bring them back to the franchise proper, and I doubt anyone over at Marza would object to doing so - especially if they were the ones in charge of the product.

Man I'd kill for a Haunted level in these guys mansion. Let them troll around the stage like King Boom Boo in TSR.

So are these ghost even canon to the Sonic universe, or are they now Marza-exclusive characters?

With all the Hyudoros and Boom Boos, these guys just feel out of place. Sage initially being described as a "ghost girl" also raised a few flags.

They appeared in Unleashed and very recently in the comics. Sega has approval over everything that goes into the comics these days, and have made it a point to keep IDW more aligned with the games.

I think its safe to say the ghosts are canon to the Sonic Universe - but will remain an element that will see minimal usage considering the legal mumbo-jumbo you'd face for putting them in anything for profit.

1 hour ago, Sega DogTagz said:

They appeared in Unleashed and very recently in the comics. Sega has approval over everything that goes into the comics these days, and have made it a point to keep IDW more aligned with the games.

 

I think its safe to say the ghosts are canon to the Sonic Universe - but will remain an element that will see minimal usage considering the legal mumbo-jumbo you'd face for putting them in anything for profit.

Yes, they are canon if the IDW is. Look on IDW #63, when the comic switches to Sonic and Blaze in the Spagonian Sewers, i think, you'll see them by one of Sonic's quills.

The ghosts are definitely canon to Sonic, but also separate enough that you can consider a piece of media of them like this short to either be set in the Sonic universe or not - it really doesn't matter.  Sort of like how Portal and Half-Life are specifically linked franchises but you're really just not meant to worry too much about Half-Life when you're playing Portal's really silly stuff.

1 hour ago, JezMM said:

The ghosts are definitely canon to Sonic, but also separate enough that you can consider a piece of media of them like this short to either be set in the Sonic universe or not - it really doesn't matter.  Sort of like how Portal and Half-Life are specifically linked franchises but you're really just not meant to worry too much about Half-Life when you're playing Portal's really silly stuff.

And again, the generically cartoonish ghost feel out of place, but apparently Flynn likes to make EVERYTHING canon, especially the most cartoonish elements from other media outside of Sonic Team EAD (whatever their main branch is called).

One of these things is not like the others.

1 hour ago, Johnny2071 said:

And again, the generically cartoonish ghost feel out of place, but apparently Flynn likes to make EVERYTHING canon, especially the most cartoonish elements from other media outside of Sonic Team EAD (whatever their main branch is called).

[Images]

One of these things is not like the others.

I see three pictures of cartoon ghosts.  The ghosts were already canon when Uh and Su appeared in Sonic Unleashed, the video game that Sonic Team Japan made.  Sonic Team Japan also commissioned and approved of everything that happened in Night of the Werehog when they released that as a side story for the game with nothing to say one way or the other as to whether it was canon or not.

Like, Flynn didn't even do anything here.  This isn't even something that would need to be rationalised or explained like, I dunno, declaring Spinball canon exactly as it was depicted on-screen etc, the ghosts contradict nothing by existing and Flynn confirming that they still exist.  Ghosts in Sonic can be lil' chubby guys or tall and lanky depending on the art style of the game, y'know, just like a certain hedgehog.

If you really want to get mad at ghost characters in Sonic games not looking like funny little blobs, perhaps have a look at Antonio or Renzo, two ghost characters designed by Sonic Team of Japan that definitely exist in Sonic's world regardless of the time reversal stuff at the end of the game (like Elise, they exist, Sonic and Silver just never met them).

Just saw the short and it was so adorable!  Lah is such a cute character and I can't believe that this is the first time I've seen these characters. I've heard about the Night of the Werehog cartoon, but I never had the chance to watch it (although I will probably watch it after I make this comment) and I'm now more interested in these characters!

3 hours ago, Johnny2071 said:

One of these things is not like the others.

The top one is literally a bed sheet ghost...

5 hours ago, Johnny2071 said:

One of these things is not like the others.

That's such an odd hill to die on. Its not like this franchise is super consistent with the loose catch-all terms.

I mean look at the aliens in this series. The Babylonians and whatever DoDonpa are could pass for mobians. The Wisps are tiny squids, the Black Arms are demon monsters. The Ancients were water beings. None of them look like they belong in the same series with each other.

I found the original short very charming, so I'm happy this piece of [slightly] obscure media gets some attention again!

That said, there's a youtube video that has the full original short, so maybe it might be more convenient to link that instead of two videos for the first short. Here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN5LSHvWiy0

I believe it's been 15 years, not 16.

Which still shudders me. Damn.

On 10/31/2023 at 7:35 PM, JezMM said:

I see three pictures of cartoon ghosts.  The ghosts were already canon when Uh and Su appeared in Sonic Unleashed, the video game that Sonic Team Japan made.  Sonic Team Japan also commissioned and approved of everything that happened in Night of the Werehog when they released that as a side story for the game with nothing to say one way or the other as to whether it was canon or not.

Like, Flynn didn't even do anything here.  This isn't even something that would need to be rationalised or explained like, I dunno, declaring Spinball canon exactly as it was depicted on-screen etc, the ghosts contradict nothing by existing and Flynn confirming that they still exist.  Ghosts in Sonic can be lil' chubby guys or tall and lanky depending on the art style of the game, y'know, just like a certain hedgehog.

 

If you really want to get mad at ghost characters in Sonic games not looking like funny little blobs, perhaps have a look at Antonio or Renzo, two ghost characters designed by Sonic Team of Japan that definitely exist in Sonic's world regardless of the time reversal stuff at the end of the game (like Elise, they exist, Sonic and Silver just never met them).

Please do not bring up the whole "Sonic 06 is canon and should be respected/immortalized" argument. No good came out of that game, not even a Wii/Nintendo port (which is why I didn't know anything about those two NPCs until you mentioned them). If anything, it was the direct cause of many solo-Sonic games throughout the decade (among other issues).

But why bring these three ghosts back now or pretend like they matter? Just to piss people off (specifically Dreamcast/early Gamecube-era fans), or entertain those who enjoy wacky/western-influenced parts of the Sonic franchise (Orbot, Cubot, Pontaff, the Deadly Six, Moon Mech, "Baku Baku", all of Sonic Boom, all of Prime, AoStH, Underground, etc.)? I know I left out SatAM, but that series actually focuses on an engaging story and characterization, rather than pure goofiness (aside from those two or four filler episodes in Season 2).

5 hours ago, Johnny2071 said:

Please do not bring up the whole "Sonic 06 is canon and should be respected/immortalized" argument. No good came out of that game, not even a Wii/Nintendo port (which is why I didn't know anything about those two NPCs until you mentioned them). If anything, it was the direct cause of many solo-Sonic games throughout the decade (among other issues).

But why bring these three ghosts back now or pretend like they matter? Just to piss people off (specifically Dreamcast/early Gamecube-era fans), or entertain those who enjoy wacky/western-influenced parts of the Sonic franchise (Orbot, Cubot, Pontaff, the Deadly Six, Moon Mech, "Baku Baku", all of Sonic Boom, all of Prime, AoStH, Underground, etc.)? I know I left out SatAM, but that series actually focuses on an engaging story and characterization, rather than pure goofiness (aside from those two or four filler episodes in Season 2).

You don't need to convince me that 2006 is crap, but the world it introduced is still, logically, a part of the franchise's world, and I personally go with logic to decide what is canon and what isn't.  You seem to go with feelings - the stuff you like should be canon and the stuff you don't like shouldn't be canon, apparently.

Also, we're talking about a tiny background cameo in an issue of the comics and a 3 minute short that could just as well be completely detached from the Sonic franchise - intentionally or not, you're coming off as a little obsessive with your loathing of this stuff, whereas I'm far more easygoing with the franchise exploring different tones, art styles and such. I don't think this discussion can come to a compromise, let alone either one of us convincing the other.  I'll just say I hope you appreciate your experience is far from universal though - sincerely suggesting they brought back generally liked characters (you're the first I've spoken to who actively hates them in the 14 years they've existed) to piss people off, as a goal of the creators, is prepostorous.

My final thought is just that Sonic, from the very start, was a Japanese franchise with heavy influence from western cartoons.  I agree that much of the purely western made Sonic content out there, animation especially, doesn't quite get that X-factor that resulted in the western/japanese blend, but Marza's ghost stuff is as in-line with "Japanese created, western influenced" early ethos as you can get, it fits right into Sonic for me.

I figure "Marza created these characters and just wanted to use that again" is the only satisfying and worthwhile reason necessary in understanding why this short exists.