The Guardian talks about how the furry fandom ruined the Sonic franchise - Polidicks

[QUOTE]In 1991, Sega had a plan to contest Nintendo's console market dominance with a franchise of its own. It would be cooler, faster and full of attitude. When one thinks about speed and attitude, "hedgehog" isn't necessarily the first animal that comes to mind, but maybe that was part of the plan – take something weird and unexpected and make it cool. And it worked, for a while. The speedy, loop-the-looping Sonic the Hedgehog, who zoomed through halfpipes and cut a blue streak across any obstacle, who furrowed his brow and tapped his foot impatiently at idle players, became the hottest thing on the school playground. Fast forward to 2014, and Sonic remains an icon – but not necessarily in the way anyone might have predicted. He's a mascot for saucy romance fics, comedic fan art and basically anything other than “cool". As a gaming brand, poor Sonic hasn't been competitive in years, as the franchise made weird left turns into role-playing games, cartoons voiced by Steve Urkel, and the addition of tons of other widely-unwanted furry friends for the hedgehog hero. Effort after effort's been made to revive the classic, flashy gameplay people fell in love with in childhood – Sonic even now makes grudging regular cameos in Nintendo games – but it's never seemed to be enough. Come to think of it, revisiting the old games is actually a wildly disappointing endeavor. Here's a confronting idea: what if the Sonic franchise was never that good to begin with? As he wheels through golden loops and collects rings in our memory, the real-life classic Sonic gets stuck on invisible pixels, makes frustrated leaps endlessly upward among spinning columns that loom just out of reach. The irksome sounds of his repetitive, fruitless jumping – woop, woop, woop – join the rough hiss of his "spin dash" engine revving, weep-weep-weep-weep, in an impotent sound collage. Sonic gets fired like a shot into the impossible depths of violet liquids and dies, choking open-mouthed. His loyal buddy, the flying two-tailed fox Tails, bumbles off-screen regularly and gets crushed obliviously beneath pillars as the sour-faced Hedgehog struggles uphill, leaps awkwardly toward platforms that lurch away. The primary rival is a mustachioed man who looks like an egg, prancing on tiny legs. Nonsensical robotic machinery and casino lights colonise the natural landscape, jarring. Sonic memories Today's fans hunger after a memory of something that never really existed in the first place. Yet everyone still seems to care, urgently hanging onto the idea that there should still be some dignity for Sonic, that the radical blue guy with the bright red sneakers deserves a real game, and that every new announcement from a Sega struggling in the modern business environment might finally be Sonic's return to glory. He remains as recognizable as Super Mario or Lara Croft, yet eminently less playable. Serious fans even see reasons to celebrate where no successful return has been made apparent – this video of a hyper-energetic kid shrieking exhortation for fans to stop picking on Sonic (“SONIC HAS BEEN REDEEMED”) might be sincere and it might be a joke, but the video has 135,000 views because no one really cares either way. Sonic is both a dead-serious topic and a joke at the same time, a curious condition for one of gaming's longest-lived icons. He is a popular subject for artists and writers involved in the anthropomorphic "furry" subculture, which often sees cartoon creatures portrayed as sincere, smoldering and often kinky love objects. Here is fetish art of Sonic being 'inflated' like a balloon for titillation. Here is art of Sonic pregnant. Here, Sonic appeals to foot and sock enthusiasts. A new edition of the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon that makes his adventures the subject of adolescent drama has helped serve material to such fantasists. Now fans can pair Sonic with his dark, mysterious rival Shadow the Hedgehog, with chipper, endlessly-admiring Tails, or with hot-headed, sullen brawler Knuckles. Knuckles is the buff, brooding one. Interestingly, none of these narratives has created more negative outcry than a 2006 game in Sonic's history where the ageless hero was portrayed in a kiss with a young human girl. Cynical net art often chooses Sonic as a consciously-ironic central subject, as if in homage to the nerd tragedy of his fall from grace, or in mockery of the fans who do poorly-drawn but earnest Sonic fan art from a place of endless youth. The sassy mascot that was born to signify speed, leaps forward and rebellious attitude has now become something of an avatar of arrested development – maybe that's why he so frequently stars in furry porn, where fans seem to prefer to stick with the intriguing cartoons of their youth even as they exit childhood and develop adult tastes. Fascinatingly Sonic is nowhere near retirement – it seems there has been a Sonic cartoon of some flavor or other airing continuously since the 1990s, and still a new one is set to launch on Cartoon Network this year. The latest show will be part of a multi-pronged strategy around the newest installment in the franchise, the just-announced Sonic Boom – which looks like a careful, ca-a-re-ful attempt to entertain a modern, new young audience without alienating Sonic's somehow still-essential, finicky "older fanbase". The recent reveal of Sonic Boom was met with predictable buzz and ridicule. The redesign of the games’ characters is actually fairly subtle – the designers have mostly just added a scarf and some athletic tape – but the reaction resonated so wildly that Kotaku did an article just to collect the quips and parodies. It’s surreal: the distinctive and particular fate of a character whose relatively grown-up image and attitude helped Sega’s Mega Drive get a leg up in the console wars of the 1990s, but image is all Sonic has these days, with fans feeling free to imprint their own definitions of “rad”, cool, sexy, grown-up and weird all over him. The new design was critiqued for making Sonic’s legs longer than they’ve ever been – it must be so that he can have one foot in our distant past and the other one who knows where.[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/apr/04/sonic-the-hedgehog-how-fans-have-subverted-a-fallen-mascot[/url]

Hey look a /v/ poster got a job at The Guardian If having a furry subculture can destroy a franchise than Pokemon is absolutely fucked

I'm pretty sure the reasoning was that the Nintendo/Sega rivalry died out like the Cold War did, and Sonic just had nothing to do anymore, SEGA was done as console maker.

I blame Sonic the Pervert for turning people into furries

I just bought today sonic 06 for $10 just for shits and giggles. [editline]5th April 2014[/editline] though Unleashed daytime, Colors, and Generations were all quite good.

I thought it was the general opinion that Sonic finally got back on the right track.

I really don't think fans can ruin anything that you like unless you didn't care too much for it in the first place. Yeah what they do can be offensive and outright wrong, but that can't ruin the series for you. My fond memories of playing Sonic 3 can't be erased because of Crystal the Hedgehog's erotic fan-fiction. That's rather silly to say something is ruined because of some questionable people.

[QUOTE=Oizen;44464283]I thought it was the general opinion that Sonic finally got back on the right track.[/QUOTE] And then Sonic Boom was announced.

[QUOTE=-Steve-;44464304]I really don't think fans can ruin anything that you like unless you didn't care too much for it in the first place. Yeah what they do can be offensive and outright wrong, but that can't ruin the series for you. My fond memories of playing Sonic 3 can't be erased because of Crystal the Hedgehog's erotic fan-fiction. That's rather silly to say something is ruined because of some questionable people.[/QUOTE] Fans can ruin shit if they get involved in its production. I haven't watched Adventure Time in more than a year but last time I watched it, I felt like I was watching something /co/ckroaches/tumblr put their hands into. I'm not saying the show turned to shit but it's different and not for me anymore

[QUOTE=-Steve-;44464304]I really don't think fans can ruin anything that you like unless you didn't care too much for it in the first place.[/QUOTE] the point where fans can ruin something is when there's toxic fans in the main fandom. It gets worse when there's little new content for the thing they're fans of, because the toxic population can be zealously attached to the thing I mean go check the invader zim fandom it's at least 5% more edgy teenager fanart, self-insert OCs and yaoi fanfiction nowadays

[quote] Here is fetish art of Sonic being 'inflated' like a balloon for titillation. Here is art of Sonic pregnant. Here, Sonic appeals to foot and sock enthusiasts.[/quote] sounds like the writer really did her research

[QUOTE=dai;44464347]the point where fans can ruin something is when there's toxic fans in the main fandom. It gets worse when there's little new content for the thing they're fans of, because the toxic population can be zealously attached to the thing I mean go check the invader zim fandom it's at least 5% more edgy teenager fanart, self-insert OCs and yaoi fanfiction nowadays[/QUOTE] Dai, I hate you. I'm typing this via brail keyboards. My eyes bled.

[QUOTE=Helix Snake;44464183]If having a furry subculture can destroy a franchise than Pokemon [B]are being[/B] absolutely fucked[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=redBadger;44464265]I just bought today sonic 06 for $10 just for shits and giggles. [editline]5th April 2014[/editline] though Unleashed daytime, Colors, and Generations were all quite good.[/QUOTE] Unleashed daytime stages are still the best IMO, they're just insanity and nothing but speed.

[QUOTE=-Steve-;44464304]My fond memories of playing Sonic 3 can't be erased because of Crystal the Hedgehog's erotic fan-fiction.[/QUOTE] If that was the case, then I would never be able to enjoy Pokemon, Metroid or Mario. Not even mentioning every single anime I've ever seen.

[QUOTE=Turnips5;44464353]sounds like the writer really did her research[/QUOTE] somehow i don't see how sock fetishes are on the same level as pregnant inflation porn

"saucy romance fics" :quagmire:

ruined, or made better?

[QUOTE=Hamsterjuice;44464518]ruined, or made better?[/QUOTE] Never has an icon been more fucking appropriate for post content. I would give you cash for this if I could. It almost looks like he's saying "better?" in the loop, too.

And I almost liked their site on facebook...

[QUOTE=asteroidrules;44464319]And then Sonic Boom was announced.[/QUOTE] Not by Sonic Team, doesn't count Lost World is pretty bad from what I heard though [editline]5th April 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=Darth_Kris;44464474]If that was the case, then I would never be able to enjoy Pokemon, Metroid or Mario. Not even mentioning every single anime I've ever seen.[/QUOTE] I am still upset the Steins;Gate porno got canceled [editline]5th April 2014[/editline]

I don't think I ever even heard of furries until sometime after 2000.

Ehhhh, Sonic games did take a walk of a cliff at one point, but I think that has more to do with RPG-like and 3D games rather than furries, and even then Sonic games seem to be making an improvement. I bought and have been playing both episodes of Sonic 4 recently, and I think that's a pretty good example of how Sonic games should be and that they are getting back on track.

I bought a dreamcast and sonic adventure and I thought it was a really good game except for the glitches. I still wish dreamcast became more popular because it was actually a pretty cool system.

I can say, being a furry, sonic had no influence on me being one at all. And in my opinion, furries did not destroy the franchise. It was fucked when sega stopped producing consoles. Some sonic games are enjoyable though :P

I have to agree with the title, I used to have a shadow avatar on steam and 2 shitheads added me and one invited me to a furfag related group. Fuck those people seriously. And fuck sega for making Sonic 06 (the whole elise kissing sonic scene instead of amy was the cherry on top) it has ruined Sonic's name.

[QUOTE=Helix Snake;44464183]Hey look a /v/ poster got a job at The Guardian If having a furry subculture can destroy a franchise than Pokemon is absolutely fucked[/QUOTE] Star Fox is even more fucked then

[QUOTE=dai;44464347]the point where fans can ruin something is when there's toxic fans in the main fandom. It gets worse when there's little new content for the thing they're fans of, because the toxic population can be zealously attached to the thing I mean go check the invader zim fandom it's at least 5% more edgy teenager fanart, self-insert OCs and yaoi fanfiction nowadays[/QUOTE] Speaking of the Invader Zim fandom: [img]http://i.imgur.com/hB1mSaY.png[/img]

Hey some of the new sonic games were pretty fun. And I think sonic might have more of a hand in making furries than furries making sonic shitty.

[QUOTE=3picFail;44465063]Hey some of the new sonic games were pretty fun. And I think sonic might have more of a hand in making furries than furries making sonic shitty.[/QUOTE] Those sonic OC's tho.. They are all the same xD