#Sonia and Manic are just background characters

[donelywell]

November 28 2023

Nightmare

Tails often tries to handle everything by himself, much to the dismay of everyone around him.

But every now and then, his child instincts get the better of him (normally when he's exhausted) and he does things he would call 'impulsive'. Sonic will always let Tails do these things, always wishing the kit would allow himself to be more childish, so the few times Tails lets his guard down enough is always met with open arms, even at 3 in the morning.

[kanenisspecialzone]

Another mashup au ~

Brief summary

Ash - Guitarist & manager

Sonia - Keyboard synthesizer & stylist

Manic - Drummer & background vocals

Mina - Lead singer & front woman

Longer analysis below

I grew up with the acid trip that was Sonic Underground and have always loved the characters it introduced. However I'm very aware that they don't really make sense outside of that continuity, so how could I fit them into my mashup universe.

First change was removing Sonic from the band as he couldn't be the front man whilst also being a world traveling hero, whether this means removing the familial connection between him, Sonia & Manic I'm not sure, he could always be a distant cousin to them.

(Also, for anyone who has seen trolls 3, I totally see Sonia & Manic acting like Velvet & Veneer, stuck up spoiled sister and dumb devious brother.)

So who would replace Sonic as the main singer and guitarist, why fan favourites from archie of course, Mina & Ash mongoose. I changed their dynamic as well, instead of being her boyfriend Ash is now Minas older brother. Now he can be viewed as an endearing overprotective sibling instead of a controlling insecure boyfriend.

I had so much fun redesigning these characters, especially Sonia & Manic. I gave them a more obvious rock band look mixed with their own personal styles - Sonia = posh punk & Manic = grunge punk.

Mina I styled after e-girl fashion as it reflects her youthful positivity whilst also being alternative. Ash is a total emo & very anti- establishment, I tried to redesign him to match other male sonic characters however he just doesn't look right with out clothes, in a way it adds to this closed off nature.

[samobservessonic]

Now I'm curious, what characters from the spinoffs would you think would be interesting to see in the stc lore and universe? It's not exactly as if it's unprecedented for them to take inspiration from the spinoffs, such as making robotnik the one from aosth, almost using snivley, and supposedly basing porker and johny off of the beta aosth/satAM designs. So it's entirely possibly they might have taken inspiration from sonic underground, or make some sort of adaptation of sonic x if they had kept going. Besides, I'm just curious what you'd be interested in seeing, even outside the boundaries of realism

Sonic Underground might actually be one of the easier ones to factor in, since the background characters tend to follow the same sort of mixture of "wtf is that?" and more-anthro-than-Sonicy Mobians designs that StC used. I dunno if I can see Sonic having siblings making the jump to StC so late in the game, but I like Aleena as Sonic's mother (even if I'm not wild about him being a prince), so it'd be nice to maybe see a mother for Sonic crop up based on Aleena. And perhaps make Manic & Sonia his younger siblings instead of triplets? But that might make things confusing Actually, getting off-topic a bit, but now that you mention it, I can't remember if Sonic Underground was around when StC was out and they just ignored it? Because Underground was a similar time to when Sonic Adventure came out, right? And StC was still going for a bit then. So maybe they did sort of exist in their own lanes. I do remember watching Underground on Diggit, so it was definitely on TV in the UK around that time. Eh, maybe I'll look into it when we get closer to that time Anyway, back to the point! I also weirdly think that the Egg Bosses from post-reboot Archie would work quite well in StC. We already had a lot of Mobians working alongside Robotnik in StC, so it wouldn't seem unusual. Plus, it'd buff the Robotnik ally roster a bit after Grimer quits

[livewireprojects]

Sonic Underground Stuff/Ramblings(Lost Prince AU)

It's been a bit since I worked on posts about this, thought I'd post some more.(Link to AU's master post)

So yeah this is about the Sonic Underground version of my version of the Sonic universe. Some stuff is going to be reworked, some stuff might get removed(the Egyptian ancestor episode is getting replaced).

I'm not fully sure what I'm doing but I want to give the characters some character development & bonding moments.

I dunno how to word this but I guess I'll start with Sonic.

Sonic use to be an adventure loving child playing in the woods he & his adopted parents lived in until Robotnik took everything. He became more like Nicky(ironically had no idea who that was when I set this up years ago) thanks to being haunted by losing everything which made being bullied/shunned for being different by kids/people living in the resistance worse.(Luckily he has uncle Chuck & members of the resistance he eventually worked with) By the time Sonic met his siblings he was trying to hide how he actually was by pretending to be confident & at times mimicking Manic's behavior due to not wanting to seem out of place. As time goes on he learns to actually be confident(even if he can still be nervous) & open up more to his siblings as the three grow close & gain each others' trust.

Manic is pretty relaxed & doesn't seem to care but has issues stealing whatever he feels like taking or thinks has value. Manic also trusts people even less than Sonic does who wants to trust but struggles due to the past. Manic is also slightly bitter due to Sonia's background living with the rich. Manic while still a gremlin goes on to learn to trust his siblings & learn you shouldn't steal everything especially after an incident with a music box necklace. Manic manages to be someone his siblings can lean on to talk to with Sonia talking to him when worried or needing advice & Manic noticing issues Sonic struggled with & sneakily helped him out.

Sonia is smart, confident & often serious however she's sheltered due to living with the rich & being spoiled. Manic is street smart & read people at points, Sonic knows his way around stuff thanks to working with the resistance & living in the woods, Sonia is book smart but doesn't exactly have experience leading. Luckily Sonia has a little experience in combat thanks to some of the classes she took & sometimes getting practice when she use to sneak out with friends. Sonia learns to be more careful with who she trusts & has learned how to be a better leader thanks to experience. When possible she uses her aristocrat status to help her siblings & sometimes whatever team they're working with if needed. While she doesn't enjoy getting dirty still she's learned to deal with it when she has to but also see that somethings that cause her to get dirty can be fun sometimes.

Here's the triplets when they unite at the start of the Sonic Underground. Admittedly I kind of gave them outfits they had as kids but I want to keep the Sonia's outfit(and my designs for later) from the actual show for time has changed over time like they eventually get them.(Admittedly I also messed up young they look, they're like 13) Sonic's bangs are weird cause Sonia had to fix them after he cut them, he also lost his glasses(the broke) & was too nervous to tell his siblings until they started to trust each other more.

I plan to turn the music gimmick into a family thing so instead of the triplets just randomly getting these are amulets each member of their mom's family has.

Also want to mention that in this Manic's real name is Maurice & Sonic's real name is Arthur.(Outside of the AU Maurice is Sonic's name though that depends on what's going on so Nicky might be used too) This is based off a fanfic called Sonadow Alliance, also kind of helps as who names their kid Manic(I'm aware people have odd names in this franchise) & I know in some stuff it's implied Sonic isn't Sonic's name.(Sonia is the only one with a normal name)

I'm also saying the events of Sonic Underground happened on Christmas Island since in the past that was Sonic's birth place so may as well shoe horn it in some how. That place is also has the biggest population of weremobians so wonder what the triplets will find.

Here's the preview images of Sonic to show how time passes

Left to right

Sonic during the events of Sonic Underground(Lost Prince AU ver), timid & unsure about how life is going thanks to Robotnik's actions

Sonic during a time skip & near the end of Sonic Underground, more confident & more comfortable with stuff now

Modern Sonic who is picking up the pieces of his scattered memories

[tezzbot]

Ask you anything? Well, what do you like about Sonic Underground? I’m just going to go out on a limb here and assume that you like the show. You’ll never guess why.

Woagh really u must be psychic....

Lol

But I will be so honest with you I don't really actually like the show JHDF It sucks and is bad but in a way that makes you wanna keep watching it yk LMFAO

It's why the AU has pretty much Nothing in common with the actual show except the characters and certain background stuff

Like, I do like the premise of Sonic Underground and I like Sonia and Manic as characters, I just. It is not executed well in any way shape or form the pacing in every episode is garbage, the songs are at best catchy if Wildly tonally disonant from the episodes that they feature in. The only Good song in the show is the theme song like I think it's the reason people can still remember the show to this day tbh I think it would have been fully forgotten otherwise. The intro shows promise of this being a rock and roll fantasy type thing it tells a story it bangs and is catchy, but every other song in the show is like. soft 80s pop that was written by 40 year old men that cannot compete. Don't get me wrong there are some songs I can bop along to but none of them are like. Good yknow JHFGJH

It does get a point for Maurice LaMarche being in it though LOL I may not like Sleet and Dingo but good VA choice lol and of course Jaleel White fucking smashes it playing Three distinct characters at once, now that's a Voice Actor capital V capital A bitch Ben Schwartz could never JHDGFD

[misteria247]

I'm curious...which Sonic character is your favorite?👀 I read before that you like Amy a lot (sameee), but I'm curious if there's more than her. :>

AHHHHHHHHHH CREATURE MODE INCOMING-

I absolutely adore Amy Rose! She's absolutely great! But I also like Sally Acorn, Blaze the Cat, Silver the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog, Knuckles the Echidna, Tails the Fox, Rogue the Bat and of course our favorite lil guy Sonic himself!!

Honestly there's so many others that I adore too! Like Sonia and Manic (COUGHSSONICUNDERGROUNDCOUGHS), Bunnie and Antoine, Rotor, Nicole, Cream and Cheese and Vanilla! There's just such a fantastic cast of characters of all sorts of backgrounds and talents that I just can't help but adore most of them!!!!

But my top favorite is Irish the Hedgehog

My favorite character is Amy though! Growing up with Sonic X, I'd instantly fell in love with our favorite gal in pink! Mainly cuz it blew my mind seeing a cutesy, girly girl kick major ass. As soon as I saw her in action I was her biggest fan lol.

[whencartoonsruletheworld]

The Thrilling Saga of Connie paying real life money for the Worst Sonic TV Show

Let’s begin with the simple fact that me and my sister, @birdsareblooming​ “Cori”, have both been hyperfixating on Sonic the Hedgehog since last March. During this hyperfixation, I was on Sonic Wiki to copy-paste song lyrics onto my stolen mp3s, and I called my sister in and pointed at the template at the bottom. 

“What is this Sonic Underground thing?” I asked. “It has one shit billion songs.” 

So we clicked on the page to read about it, and each sentence we read was a punch in the gut and this quickly became the funniest thing we’d ever read. Highlights include:

It looks like this:

“Sonic[...] is known to be a prince” 

Sonic has two siblings who actually have good characterization but their names are literally just Sonia and Manic. Like. Sonic split into two names. jesus christ 

Also Sonic and his siblings all share a voice actor. honestly Jaleel White does his best with it but 

“The three siblings possess enchanted medallions that transform not only into musical instruments, but also into weapons.”

“Some fans consider Sonia to be a clone of Amy Rose, minus the attraction Amy feels for Sonic.” YEAH I SURE HOPE IT DOES

“Manic is the most often captured of the siblings” himbo king 

Knuckles shows up, and for the first, like, two sentences his description is very similar to the game, and then you get immediately pulverized by “He has a pet Dinosaur called Chomps.”

Literally so many sentences on Sonic Wiki are lowkey salty about this show. The page features lines such as “Sonic Underground bears little relation to the often complex Sonic universe (including previous animated series, as well as Sonic comics and games), and shares only three established characters” and “many of the characters in the Freedom Fighter group that were in Sonic the Hedgehog are completely left out (including Tails).”

“The show met with mostly negative reviews.”

*checks air dates* It only lasted two goddamn months

So after seeing this we thought it was the funniest thing and we showed our older sister, @patema-introverted​ “North.” To our surprise, our at the time “knew nothing about this sonic bullshit” sister recognized the show. Turns out she’d seen trailers for it as a child and that was her sole exposure to Sonic canon. 

We were in quarantine at the time, so we ended up finding it on YouTube and binge-watching it all together as a sibling bonding activity. It was just as hilarious as we thought it would be- some stuff was legitimately good, like the sibling dialogue for instance, but good lord were the character designs ugly, the plot all over the place, and pretty much every song, um, not great. Also there was one episode that we skipped because it got, um, I think “stereotypical” is the nicest word I can use here. 

But the point is, we had a jolly good time watching it, and afterwards we binged all the other Sonic shows and bonded as a family. 

After quarantine, North and I go back to college. My roommate gets groceries at Walmart, while I get them elsewhere, so while she and North collect food I wander the DVD aisle to look at the cool movies and also dumpster-dive in the bargain bin for Cats (2019). I am also short as fuck, so the top shelf of movies I cannot see, I can only read the labels. 

So one day I was browsing the DVDs, and glancing over at the labels for the top shelf. I read over the final one before the shelves end. 

And then I stop, do a double take, and have a heart attack, because there is a label that reads “SONIC UNDERGROUND $3.74″

I immediately climb the shelf but there aren’t any DVDs atop the shelf. However, the label is still there. I excitedly tell my sister and roommates, freak out with them a bit, and then give myself a mission statement:

I will buy the $4 Sonic Underground DVD from Walmart

I did not want it as a gift, I did not want to find it online. I wanted to walk into a store, pick up the Worst Sonic Show on DVD, walk it straight to the checkout, and in front of the cashier and God, pay for it with my own money. I did not care if it was the whole series or two episodes; I needed to do this for my own serotonin.

We would go to Walmart about once a week. Every time, I would go to the DVD aisle, and go right to the end of the shelves. I would stare at the label SONIC UNDERGROUND $3.74 and empty space above it and wonder who the fuck was buying this other than me. I would occasionally ask employees if they had any copies in storage. I would build a shrine to Manic in my room. Okay, no I didn’t, but only because my RA would have murdered me. 

Christmas break comes, and we have to go home. We have a nice Christmas, and Cori and I infodump at each other about how we would make Sonic Underground a good show (note: we’re both galaxy braining) and also play Bendy and the Ink Machine. Fun times. 

When we finally get back to College, it’s late January- long story short we have a very long winter break. My roommate who gets food at Walmart got food without us the first week cause she showed up first, so we take her out to Walmart the first time in the year of our lord 2021 on January 29. 

I wander the Valentine’s aisle, immediately grabbing a sequin puppy. I go to the DVDs and see Animaniacs Season One, also grab that. 

And then.

There it is.

The Holy Grail. 

Above the label SONIC UNDERGROUND $3.74, is one DVD left. 

Already I am losing my mind. It’s roughly seven hours of episodes- I couldn’t find an episode list, but I think that’s half the show, for $4! And the cover is amazing. 

That’s a png of Sonic from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (1993) with a medallion badly photoshopped over it. The medallion is too small. 

Manic is shoved into the corner. He doesn’t have his medallion at all. 

Sonia isn’t even pictured on the front cover, probably because they realized she was the worst designed of the bunch. I’m not ragging on her though, because she’s still one of the better designed characters of the show. Those background characters make me cry 

So you bet your ass I finally paid my hard-earned $4 for this shit. Upon getting home, I discovered that there was even wilder shit with this DVD than I thought. 

For starters: the bonus features listed are as follows:

Original Concept Art - did not expect that these character designs were the final draft

Storyboard-to-screen - did not expect they bothered to storyboard this 

Music Video Jukebox - that’s cute, they thought we liked the music 

Interviews with original screenwriter & executive producer - I fully expect the only questions to be “why.” 

On the left of this list are screenshots from the show, where people can finally see Sonia, who we Know™ is a girl because she is pink and has hair and also an actual body shape instead of just circles like her brothers. 

But wait... what’s that in the lefthand corner? 

That looks like some kind of robot. But it’s not a robot from Sonic Underground! That didn’t appear once. Why is it here? 

The mystery continues upon opening the DVD case: inside are advertisements for other collections, including other Sonic DVDs: two volumes of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (1993) and the final episodes of Sonic the Hedgehog “SatAM” (1993)

First of all, the first volume of AOSTH has the exact same PNG of Sonic as the Underground Volume 1. Not even trying to hide it. But second... the second volume of AOSTH also has this robot on its cover. 

And THIS ROBOT IS ALSO DECORATING THE THIRD DISC IN THE SET?

So you may be asking, who is this robot? Is it from AOSTH or Underground?

IT’S FROM FUCKING SATAM. The one show that doesn’t have it decorating the DVD covers.

Also, not only is it from SatAM, it only appears in one fucking episode. Not a major character! AND IT HAS A DIFFERENT DESIGN ON THE PROMO ART, WITH HAIR AND FANGS.

Why is it showing up everywhere? What is going on? 

I have not yet had the opportunity to watch this glorious piece of animation, but I am so glad at the confusion I have felt upon receiving it. 

But before I go, I must share with you the best part of this DVD purchase. And it was flipping to the back, scanning the details, and discovering the exact runtime of the episode collection. 

Guys, gals, and enby pals, friends and enemies, Nintendo and Sega, the first Volume of Sonic Underground has a runtime of...

420 MINUTES.

Maybe I’m wrong and this IS the best Sonic show. 

[gojira007]

Character bingo: Sally obviously, Scourge, and/or Sonia and Manic :3c

Sally: Look if you've been following me online for Literally Any Amount Of Time, you already know I adore this character. She's cool, she's compelling, even now she feels unique within the franchise...I could draw and write and talk about her and everything to do with her for hours and not be finished, she is my absolute favorite. I even cheated a little to give her a Bingo here; I don't think she's better as part of a dynamic, indeed I think one of the things that stands out about her is how, even as she was designed to be a Love Interest, she actually stands as her own character very well. But I do think a lot of her most fascinating traits are best revealed through how she relates with and to others, and I adore the Sonic/Sally ship, so I figger it's close enough to qualify.

Scourge: So Scourge scored pretty low here, but only because there really aren't that many middle-of-the-road options. I don't hate him or anything, indeed I actually rather like him; he works impressively well as a Dark Mirror to Sonic in a way that most other takes on the concept don't, someone who crossed the line that separates Sonic as A Free Spirit VS. A Callous Asshole. But by that same token, I really mostly care about him in relation to Sonic more so than as a character unto himself, which isn't the sort of character this Bingo card is oriented around.

Sonia: Again, the way this Bingo card works makes my overall opinion on Sonia seem harsher than it really is? Like, I do like her, and I especially appreciate what fans have done with her (lookin' at you, @wildwoodmage ), but within the actual original canon of the "Sonic Underground" cartoon there's just not all that much to her? I especially feel like more could have been done with her distinct Class Background in comparison to her siblings, which instead mostly just amounts to her being A Shallow Valley Girl most of the time. But I at least find her interesting enough to want to imagine more about her, and again, I think the way other fans have done that with her has done a lot to endear me to the character.

[hypermo0n]

I love how I have Jules and Bernie as Sonia, Manic, and Sonic's parents in this.

But I always seen Eclipse and Shadow on their own, as in no parental figure, in this story. Which hurts me, cause I want them to have someone they look up to.

And then...

Then it dawned on me...

I am going to have Commander Towers be their mentor/father figure. Originally, he was just gonna be a background character. But the more I thought about it, the more wholesome it seems.

Especially for Eclipse.

So I'm doing it.

Abraham is gonna become a much bigger character in this story.

You are welcome.

[aquillis-main]

Why Sonic Underground is (Accidentally) Canon to the Sonic the Hedgehog Games

(Note: This is both a parody, and a serious thing that I plan on showcasing fully. Please don’t take this as seriously as I am taking, because this is a 2-decade old cartoon meant to promote Sonic Adventure we’re talking about here, thus Underground would not have any influence on the games in general. You can argue more that Sonic X has more influence on the games than Underground, and I won’t deny it at all. I just want to poke fun at SEGA and Sonic Team’s inability to showcase what’s actually a worldbuilding thing, and what isn’t.)

As much as most would like to believe that ‘the worst Sonic the Hedgehog Cartoon’ has absoultely no relevance to the Current Sonic Canon in general... They’re wrong. They’re so wrong. Sure, it has weirdly designed background characters in comparison to the Hedgehogs and Knuckles, backgrounds that make little to no sense unless you’re a beginner, and plots heavily extracted from earlier shows... but it had lore in regards to the Chaos Emeralds, a story that can line in with Sonic Canon when you think on it enough, and loads of (retroactive) evidence that tie Sonic Underground with the Sonic Canon.

What evidence, you may ask? Well.

Let’s start then. Shall we?

Thanks to @greenyvertekins​ for this info!

Let’s start with the most miniscule details, then get right into the most juciest bits that SEGA accidentally did to make Underground canon. First off; Underground’s Mobius has two Moons:

Both Sonic Underground and the Games have been shown to have two moons.

Sonic Underground’s:

From Sonic Underground’s ‘Healer’ Episode

From Sonic Underground’s ‘The Pendant’ Episode

Sonic Canon:

Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity Crimson Crator’s Moons

Sonic Advance 3 Chaos Angel Background

While a good chunk of Sonic Underground Episodes don’t often remember this factoid (often using one moon in place of both at the same time), it seems at by the point of The Knuckles Three-parter the people making Sonic Underground were more or less convinced that Sonic’s World (or, as I often call it in my character bios, [WORLD NAME REDACTED]) had two moons.

Anyways, onto the next thing.

Sonic Underground and the games showcase the main characters constantly traveling:

Here’s an article about Sonic having a ‘home’: https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2017/06/10/more-burning-questions-about-the-sonic-the-hedgehog-franchise-answered.aspx

And while there’s evidence of Sonic, Sonia and Manic having a ‘home base’ in Robotropolis in Sonic Underground, there’s more episodes of the trio in the van and traveling than the amount of times that they stayed in this ‘home base’.

I’m just going to spam images of the van instead.

The van in the Underground episode ‘Bug!’ as Manic hits a pothole.

The van in the Underground Episode ‘The Pendant’ where Sonic blasted it because of stupid.

Note that despite it’s looks, it’s two of the three times that the car gets taken out of commission. Every other time, it’s as serviceable as the story needs it.

Here’s another thing: about Sonic Underground and the games have in common: Sonic’s an orphan.

Naoto Ohshima answering on Twitter if Sonic has family in the games universe.

(Baby Sonic in the Episode ‘Beginnings’)

Who could say no to that cute face?

Especially when he ends up losing his parents later.

(Tot!Sonic in the same episode)

Whoops.

Speaking of which, Sonic in this series only cries a grand total of once, and it’s actually when he’s suffered loss in the form of his adopted parents getting kidnapped?

As in, when he’s a tiny tot?

That seems like another Canon Games!Sonic trait that gets ignored often for Underground.

Fifth thing that links Underground and Canon together: Both versions of Sonic are extremely picky about their choice of music.

Greenyvertekins translated a bit of the SA1 guidebook which makes mention of Sonic’s fussiness on music.

Most of the songs in Sonic Underground led to a more rock-ish theme, even when it doesn’t make sense for that episode. (I’m looking at you, Liberty Rocks. When the fuck did Lady Liberty exist in Sonic’s World?) Even the ones that try to lean away from the rockish themes still have a guitar/piano/dums combo, which is what the Underground use as a rock band.

All of the bases/locations under Robotnik’s control in Underground (with the exception of Stripe’s valley, but that’s a plot point in and of itself) showcase the amount of greed and a desire for control that even Eggman has in the games. I’d argue that because Robotnik is also willing to host rich floppiness to suck out their money as well, I can honestly say that he spends as much on frivolous shit as Eggman does in the Games. I would not be surprised if there were plans to give Robotnik a casino like Eggman Carnival in Shadow the Hedgehog.

Oh, and one final thing – No matter what story reasons dictated this idea, Sonic being able to pull out Caliburn in Sonic and the Black knight ends up accidentally hinting to those in the know about Arthurian Tales that Sonic may, in fact have Royal lineage in him. IIRC, Caliburn is the original name of Excalibur, and the sword itself is often stated to only be able to be pulled by the ‘one true king’ of Camelot.

That’s it, that’s my Ted Talk.

[badlydrawnmanic]

you’ve all wanted it, and i’m not ready to go to sleep yet, so here’s the latest installment of the sonic underground rewatch!

episode 6 thoughts under the cut!

• unrelated to the episode but there was some lego ninjago commercial that showed like. non-lego versions of the main characters and it looked nice. don’t know if it was for a show or the website idk i wasn’t paying attention • [GUITAR RIFF] SONIC- • i will literally never get tired of the opening theme and you can’t change my mind, i would die for a remaster of this. it doesn’t even have to be a cover. gimme a live performance and i will cry • “tangled webs”. spider concerns already • ooh, swatbot factory. interesting • manic just slid down a little rocky hill on his ass and that’s gotta hurt • sonia stop shining that laser pointer in manic’s eyes you’re gonna kill him • “switch six, switch six...” reminded me of the fun fact that your brain can only identify numbers up to a maximum of 4 or 5 at a glance, i forget which. but like... notice how if you only look at something very briefly you wouldn’t be able to immediately know “oh there’s 27 objects there” but you can very quickly identify 1-4 • sonia stop hitting manic with the drone what is wrong with you • some of these background characters are passable and some of them are hideous, there’s no in-between

• oh it’s the lion boy!! his voice is weird but it’s him!! • god dingo’s face is all kinds of fucked up in this close up as he’s talking • why is robotnik’s cape flowing so far behind him when he’s walking at a somewhat slow pace • i find it funny when eggman’s henchmen mock him when he’s not around, but i didn’t expect sleet to do that • “intruder .8 kilograms? what?? • how does it weigh a drone that is hovering in mid-air • somehow dingo identifies the drone as being piloted by sonia despite it being a hunk of metal with cameras on it • dingo being or looking like in the case of my headcanon a grown man and slobbering over sonia is kinda freaky (it’s partially why i made the hc so it’s less yikes but it’s still uncomfortable and i’m definitely gonna tone it down because fuck) • sleet don’t hit him!! • sonia is clearly frustrated during her conversation with manic (he’s being reckless as fuck) but the animators decided to give her a dead eyed smile for the whole scene • i wonder how they made the mechanical sounds? like the electronic shweeshweeshwee of the robots walking or the whoosh of doors opening? foley stuff is fascinating to me and i wanna know if they had to do any weird shit

• sleet is monologuing about how he hears the pitter patter of manic’s little feet and oh my god his eyes • how is dingo sneaking up behind manic he’s so fucking huge and noisy • sleet says “sylvia” before whacking the drone out of the air with what looks like an entire swatbot he just sort of picked up? i don’t get the reference and since when is he so strong • okay in the next shot it’s just an arm but still • “sometimes you just have to get their attention”? • cool transition between scenes with the camera glitching and shutting down from the perspective of the drone, that’s neat • dingo picks up sonia but wasn’t he just behind manic? once again the pacing is confusing me • “oh, ick” me too sonia • manic and sonia are tied up and were but in gigantic chairs and it looks so funny • “now, sarah” okay i get the “sylvia” thing now, sleet’s just forgetting sonia’s name somehow • sonia says “twit-face” and i feel like she could be more clever than that • “whatever, sophia” • “where’s sonic!?” [NYOOM] • sonic’s voice sounds... really weird, is that what jaleel white sounds like when he isn’t trying to sound all nasally and shit? also he burps and it’s gross • god the movement in this scene is very janky in general • sonia starts lecturing sonic but gets interrupted by a laser blast and manic pipes in like “can we talk about this later?” • sonia strong • is sonic just spilling lava everywhere??? • you’d think there’d be more sounds here • “am i good or what?” feels like it was pulled from satam? • “you’re insufferable” “thank you” • sonia’s voice is so shrill jesus christ • i feel like this is a pretty good confrontation of how sonic not working as a team with the other two can cause pretty significant problems • sonia i don’t think robotnik would throw you in prison, that’s what the roboticizer is for and i don’t think he’d keep y’all separate from that • cyrus does a weird double take and i think it’s an animation error • this cyrus kid is pretty sus- who is this hippie dude- • CYRUS SUS CYRUS SUS • there was deadass just a normal animal bird with some kind of accessory on its neck as a background character • damn it cyrus • SONG TIME??? • apparently no • once again manic and sonia are tied up which lasts 2 seconds • aosth slow-mo beam, purple flavor • what are these background characters they’re so ugly • OH NO I REMEMBER WHAT SANCTUARY IS NOW • children... i’d love to see the tiny babes but they’re undoubtedly ugly as fuck • ROBOTNIK WANTS TO MURDER CHILDREN • one of the kids looks like reptar • SONG TIME NOW • why is this so. idk, whimsical? idk how to describe this but i already don’t like it • they forgot to draw manic’s head quills in a shot • why is cyrus looking so pissed at these children • sounds like a weird off brand christmas song. don’t like it very much but i guess it isn’t bad. maybe a 2/10 • sdnjksg assaulting your siblings with a cloud of flour sounds fun if not wasteful but still, manic seems to be enjoying his little tech demo • sonia says “this place is gross” and manic goes “hey, you’re talking about my childhood home” and i think it’s a good thing that the show didn’t just forget where they all came from and how this can create very minor conflict between them? like manic and sonia seem to slight each other rather frequently when it comes to sonia’s attitude towards dirty places and manic finding it comfortable there due to familiarity even if it wasn’t all that good. i can relate to that • sonic walks off the right side of the screen after refusing some goggles then. pops up and puts on the shades again? i don’t get it • oh my god sonic knocks cyrus (and manic by extension) over and they literally just. rotate the asset in place and leave them planking. there wasn’t a water splash or change of pose or anything • how does sonic zoom past a swat bot looking directly at him without triggering any alarms? why didn’t it notice him • why are there so many regretful traitors on this show • how does sonic not notice the clearly a hologram man in front of him • god the animation in this episode in general is abyssmal • ah jeez manic and sonia have been captured again • “attention sonic hedgehog” • OH NO CYRUS’ DAD but the expression he made in response to seeing him roboticized killed it

• i know he didn’t snort here but i can feel the little “snrk” sound here. it was at this moment he knew he fucked up • PULL THE LEVER, SLEET • that little drone thing is fucking insane, it melted the entire roboticizer?? • i much prefer when background characters resemble actual animals • aww hug • poor cyrus :( • GOD SONIC AND SONIA SIT DOWN TO COMFORT HIM BUT MANIC LAYS DOWN ALL DRAMATIC JUST SMILING, READ THE ROOM BUD-

[shadowofthelamp]

If you could remake sonic underground what would you do with it?

I’m going to assume that I have to keep the very basic tenets of the show, IE: The triplets, the fact that music is important, the prophecy.

I’m going to admit it’s been a while since I’ve actually watched it, and I might stew on this and come up with some other stuff later, but here’s a few things right off the bat:

Explaining what the prophecy actually was. It’s in the title sequence and is the reason Aleena keeps running from the kids, but we never even hear it? Maybe don’t put it in the first episode to create some suspense, but at the very least explain it by the end of episode five or so.

More serialization. It very much wanted to have its cake and eat it too by crossing Satam’s more serious tone and stakes with AOSTH’s more silly one, and it just kind of fell flat on its face. It really should have leaned harder on having stakes matter from episode to episode, because it didn’t really feel like it was getting anywhere most of the time, and it would have definitely benefitted considering its overall plot seemed to indicate Things Were Happening That Cause Other Things, as opposed to AOSTH’s ‘a thing happens and then we go back to normal at the end of the day without it affecting us’. They were trying to topple a regime, after all. On that note, actually seeing Aleena besides having her narrating the starts of episodes would make her feel like more of a character- maybe have her leave more messages for the kids littered throughout the locations, or have her get the chance to meet them a few times? The stakes didn’t feel personal enough, despite that being the case in concept.

(I remember seeing somewhere that they had to slam out scripts in a matter of days instead of weeks like you’d typically get, which sounds about right, so.... uh, more time on that front too. That’d probably help)

Cut the ‘song per episode’, make it every five episodes or so, if that. You’re not Phineas and Ferb. Nobody is Phineas and Ferb. I know PNF didn’t exist yet to compare to, but it’s like the only cartoon I’ve ever seen that actually pulled off song-per-episode without a good chunk of the songs being Not Good. Maybe have them just sing a few lines while attacking, or go undercover as an actual band sometimes? ‘Music helps represent the rebellion/sparks the revolution’ is an idea, especially since Sonic as a series is known for having good music, but they just didn’t have the talent onboard to pull it off.

PLEASE GIVE SONIA AND SONIC PERSONALITIES BESIDES ‘RICH GIRL’ AND... man, Sonic was just so bland in this one I don’t think he had much of a personality besides ‘kind of sarcastic/egotistical’? Of the episodes centered on one specific triplet, there were about ten each for Sonia and Manic, and like two for Sonic. He’s a fun guy, but they sucked all the personality out of him to try and make the other two look better, and it was pretty painfully obvious the writers didn’t know what to do with Sonia and she was just made to try and appeal to girls. There’s a reason Manic was my favorite. All I’d ask with Manic is exploring how life on the streets probably made him a better spy and freedom frighter. They all brought different talents from their different class backgrounds, that was the intended appeal, right?

I feel like Sleet and Dingo were an...... idea? But they were just really weird and not that memorable besides the shapeshifting gimmick. I think you’d need to either revamp them or create a rotating cast of bounty hunters. Robotnik minions need to have good personalities to play off of how bombastic he is. I don’t remember enough about them to really have much of a comment here.

Oh, and speaking of Robotnik, like the tone, they were clearly trying to split the difference between the incompetent buffoon of AOSTH and genuine threat from Satam, and it just makes the heroes look kind of incompetent themselves for not being able to topple this dumbass already. I feel like they should lean on the serious thing if he’d already conquered chunks of the planet, but he doesn’t need to be as serious as Satam Robotnik. Just... better at being a dictator.

Going along with the serialization thing, there should have been more time for the triplets to actually grow to like each other. Sonic’s probably used to a pretty ragtag group of people from being with the Freedom Fighters, but Sonia and Manic should have clashed more at the start. (I know they did do this, but it only lasted two or three episodes, tops.) 

[wildwoodmage]

Omg I just realized. If The Star is Tails then I think I know who The Twins and The Queen are!!!!!! The Twins are Sonia and Manic while The Queen is Aleena! Just for a little context as to how I came to this conclusion: So I pretty much just found you and went through the tag for this AU. I read somebody's guesses as to who some of the characters could be so when it turned out The Twins wasn't tails I remembered they also said you tend to use characters from other canons, like Sonic Underground!

Hey welcome to the blog! I am still not confirming or denying anything but let's just say that Sonia and Manic are always a safe bet for 'characters who will show up and do something awesome even if they're not front and center' in literally everything I do. Same with Aleena, although she tends to be in the background.

Aw hell with it. I'm holding off on the Queen reveal for now, but maybe I'll show off the twins sooner rather than later....

[thankskenpenders]

i'm glad you mentioned the dingoes cause no one ever does (likely intentionally) and they're SO awful. sonic underground was a mistake

I know some folks enjoy Sonic Underground and like, you’re allowed. But it’s just such a painful show. Everything about it makes it so obvious that it was designed by committee with no actual artistic vision behind it and cranked out as fast and cheap as possible, right down to the whole “Sonic is in a band” thing that was only done to cash in on music royalties

Actually, I’m not sure many people know about the story behind Underground, so here’s late SatAM writer Ben Hurst on that shitshow:

Sonic Underground was a sad, sad story. With the opportunity looming large for the third season of SatAm, DIC made a creative decision to trash that continuity and strike out in a new direction. The reason: because they could add songs with the whole Sonic, Sonia and Manic thing and collect extra residuals from ASCAP/BMI (the group that pays song royalties - DIC makes deals with songwriters to split or sign over the rights to their compositions - exactly the same way that they force the writers and story editors to sign over all rights to their stories.) 

[…]

Here’s how Sonic Underground happened. After SatAm was canned because of a change in leadership at ABC and low ratings caused by multiple pre-emptions caused by sporting events and finally - being placed up against the red-hot “Power Rangers,” (now there’s some genius programming strategy) - a new version of Sonic was created: Sonic Underground.

Did they ask me or Pat or Len Janson to develop the series? No. In fact, I never heard of the series before a DIC story editor called and asked me and Pat to come to a cattle call for Sonic Underground. I refused (we don’t do cattle calls - which, for those of you unfamiliar with the term - is where they bring in about 20 writers to learn about a series and pitch written premises (for free) in hopes of snagging an episode or two). The story editor got us there by guaranteeing us at least a few episodes. So, off we went to a conference room at DIC.

We got there and yep, twenty writers. They showed an episode of SatAm (first season) to “illustrate the background” of the characters. It wasn’t one of mine or Pat’s - it was one of the other episodes. After they described the marvelous new direction (Siblings, Music, Missing Mother, Stupid New Characters) they ended the meeting. We were taken into another room with the story editor who told us he wanted us to write the pilot episode. We did. SEGA read the script, then the story editor was fired and we were hired. They also hired another team of story editors - who survived through about 8 episodes before they left. We also got a few fledgling writers shoved down our throat by the producer (results: I had to rewrite their damned unusable scripts from page one - they still got paid for the script - I got nada)

We tried our best to get some lore going, but DIC was racing through the series at 2 episodes a week - an insane pace and one calculated to maximize their profits. We managed to get a three-part origin story through, but with the limited time, we were unable to tie everything together. The only bright spot was that we assigned 6 scripts to Len Janson, who wrote some damn nice stuff.

[azure-wolf-227]

Sonic Underground Reboot Characters Redesigns: Sonic, Sonia, Manic, and Queen Aleena

So, for my Sonic Underground Reboot AU, I decided to redesign many of the characters so that they fit in with what I have in mind for this AU. One of the major things about these redesigns is that all the characters, both male and female, will be given full outfits. While I don’t usually mind the Sonic characters’ lack of clothing, I find it weird and out of place in Sonic Underground. This is because most of the minor/background characters in the series have full outfits, while the some of the main characters (Sonic and Manic) barely wore anything. Therefore, everyone wears clothing in this AU.

For Sonic, I had two different ideas for his outfit so I decided to do them both. The one on the is his “mission outfit” that he wears during his missions as a Freedom Fighter; the one on the right is his “casual outfit” and pretty much his default clothing for everyday use. In both outfits, I changed his gloves to match the design of his shoes. The outfits were inspired by this image.

(I’m not entirely happy with how Sonic turned out compared to the rest of his family so I might redraw him in the future)

For Sonia, I mostly kept her original outfit but changed some of the colors and added some stuff like shorts and a scarf. I also gave Sonia longer hair to give her a more feminine look fitting her high society upbringing and to make her resemble her mother Aleena a bit more. Her longer hair mostly covers the spines on her head. I also made her shoes kind of resemble Sonic’s in design.

For Manic, I decided to take inspiration from the punk rocker theme that he has: I kept his vest, shoes, spiked wristbands, and waist bag, then gave him a white t shirt and ripped black pants, and changed his his gloves to black, fingerless ones. Since I found his hairstyle difficult to draw, I reduced the number of bangs but still tried to get them to look right. (It was later that I realized that I put his earrings in the wrong ear).

Finally, Aleena is NOT wearing that royal dress and crown because “you do not wear fancy dresses and gaudy jewelry while hiding from the tyrant who usurped you!” Ahem, anyway, I gave Aleena a much simpler and practical outfit that still retains the white and gold colors from her original outfit, with some gray pants underneath and a pair of brown boots. I also gave her the red cloak that she wears in the opening and in some episodes cause I like this one better than the other one. Just like with Sonia, Aleena’s hair mostly hides her head spines. Like her children, Aleena wears a magical medallion that can become an actual instrument and serve as a weapon. Hers is shaped like a lyre and its instrument form can be used to cast forcefields.

I took some inspiration from Sonic’s design in the live-action movie and gave them all separated eyes and arms the same color as their bodies.

Also, I gave Sonia, Manic, and Aleena green eyes similar to Sonic’s; all their eyes being green is a plot point in my AU. To simplify, it is an indicator that they have some Chaos energy within them.

Edit 12/22/2020: Forgot to explain Aleena’s medallion.

Edit: 12/24/2020: Fixed her belt a bit; changed the position of the buckle.

[round2withtheblue]

Let’s talk SatAM & Others.

I know that SatAM is a stickler for some, but I really did like it. Sonic, generally, is meant for kids. I do get that, but the biggest part about SatAM I liked was the darker tone. The time is bleak, Robotnik has turned everybody into robots and has control. I liked Robotnik’s design in the fact that he incorporated his machine tech into his body. He has control and it’s up to the Freedom Fighters to fix the kingdom and restore order. It’s a shame it was discontinued. 

Now, I get that these characters were recycled and used in Archie Sonic, and to a point, I did enjoy some of the darker elements there but it could’ve gone further given that someone else wrote it instead of Penders. (That’s a touchy subject, but let’s just say I don’t like the guy and what he did.)

Robotnik’s design is very menacing here very fitting of the darker tone and feelings of hopelessness. Initially, I understand that his eye coloring was in error but I do like the red/black combo here because it appeals to the fact that Robotnik has made parts of himself machinery. It’s clear in his arms, eyes, and even something around his head as well. He’s one with his creations and it shows. We know that the character is ‘evil’ and I know some don’t like the aesthetic but I believe it works well here in this dystopian setting. 

I admit that it did fall flat in AOSTH where Robotnik was more of a buffoon than an evil dictator, so ...

Yeah, this design not as menacing. 

Of course, they reused the design for Sonic Underground but ... I’m not sure if I liked it here. The time is still dystopian and the look fits, but not for the motif. 

That being said I did enjoy Sonic Underground.

Manic was my favorite of the Sonic siblings, I think because it was a reflection of my style with the earrings, bracelets, and aloof personality. (I wasn’t a thief, I just liked his style, his characterization.) Sonia was a bit of a nag, but that was just my opinion. Here were new characters, and some lore and background. The intro theme left little to be desired, but it fit the 6 am timeslot before I went to school. 

These weren’t the most amazing of cartoons, I know, but they were engaging for their time and showed that Sonic could have a more ‘serious’ (I use the term loosely here since these were still kids shows) tone in the fact of a dystopian future and still be lighthearted. 

It’s shows like these and games like ‘06 and Shadow that show some of the potential for serious stories in Sonic. Hell, even the comics right now in IDW have a serious storyline. I just, I know it’s a silly thing to ask for given the source, but I really want to know what a fleshed out SERIOUS Sonic game could be like. We’ve almost had it a few times, but it seems like the writers or whoever just stopped halfway through. 

Anyway, that’s just some thoughts from me.