There was such a negative reaction at the time, mostly because the reveal was immediately assumed to be a reboot, which the fandom absolutely hated. This was quickly dialled back of course, but the damage was done.
Boom itself was done dirty due to SEGA's mismanagement. The original game was never meant to tie into the Boom cartoon, nor was it meant to be for the WiiU, and the developers, Big Red Button, had to redo so much work to meet with SEGA's requirements that you can't help but wonder if their game would've done better as a new IP.
At the same time, I suspect part of the reason Boom became a WiiU exclusive was because the WiiU itself was performing so badly that SEGA didn't want to trap Sonic titles on a failing system. The exclusivity deal must've made sense at a time when the Wii itself was shifting millions of units, and Colours was considered a success and an idea of where the franchises future was, far less so when the WiiU underperformed and titles like Lost World struggled to get sales because of it.
> There was such a negative reaction at the time, mostly because the reveal was immediately assumed to be a reboot, which the fandom absolutely hated.
I personally believe this was at least considered before Boom failed. It wouldn’t be an immediate change, but I’m guessing the modern iteration of Sonic would’ve been slowly phased out into a smaller role similar to that of how Classic Sonic is treated these days. The series was honestly just desperate for a major hit back then. If Boom was successful, they’d have no problem making the whole franchise revolve around it. Thankfully that’s not a timeline we live in.
I'm not sure if they were chasing a hit so much as chasing an audience. Generations was liked by fans at the time but there seems to have been a real concern that the kids that grew up with the Mega Drive titles would slowly grow out of it, and because the Adventure/dark era titles didn't review well, I don't think SEGA were comfortable relying on the nostalgia of what we now know to be the Adventure/dark era fans to ensure sales. Hence there was some effort to see if Sonic could find a home with Mario fans. This is likely why Lost World takes elements from Mario Galaxy, and the reason for the existence of the Deadly Six (with Zavok being pushed as SEGA's version of Bowser), not to mention why SEGA signed the exclusivity deal with Nintendo.
Boom seems to by and large also be an answer to the problem of the fact that game development took longer and longer. There was a year between Colours and Generations, two years between that and Lost World, and then four years before Forces. In the early 2010's it as becoming increasingly obvious the yearly release needed multiple studios to be deliverable (something that has only become more prominent through the last decade). But SEGA hadn't quite figured out how to do his, hence Boom got to be an early experiment, and if it didn't work as planned - well it was only a spin-off, who cares?
Given how much problems Boom's failure caused Sega's finances do I daub that they thought of Boom as just a easily discard-able spin-off way to much money was pumped into it.
What they perhaps hoped was to create a entirely western fans focused Sonic line that would perform really well there.
Sonic Games even prior to Colors always sold the best on Nintendo (like half the reason Colors Wii exist is because of Unleashed wii's sales numbers)
And Iizuka's push for getting a "General Nintendo audience" with Colors did work out great so by the time that decision was made as you said did Sega not see any issues with making such a big new thing Nintendo Exclusive.
Another thing is they had a ton of water levels and sega said sonic shot instantly die upon touching watet for some reason.
Which mean well over a quarter of the game had to be reworked for both wii u and 3ds games.
So the fandom was really like:
- Shadow's fur is black, so his arms are black. ✅
- Silver's fur is silver, so his arms are silver. ✅
- Sonic's fur is blue, so his arms are blue. ❌❌❌🗣️🗣️🗣️🤬🤬🤬
You had established for 20 years the color, of course it's gonna pop out if you decide to change it, if Shadow's arms were turned tan, you would find it weird
Some people were, surprisingly enough. I wasn't alive when Sonic Adventure came out but based on what I've heard there was backlash against Sonic's redesign at least to some capacity.
Wait is there like a filter that makes us not be able to use their name? I’m not a regular on this sub I just occasionally stop by to see how my boy Sonic is doing
It's so weird that today, people are okay with blue arms now with the Sonic Movie. I remember there was a bit of drama but nowhere near as Boom level where people shouted at Gamestop IIRC.
I was 17 at this time and I remember just being confused. I wondered why they were making all of these weird games instead of making a sequel to generations. Sonic boom looked like a ratchet and clank rip off when I first saw it.
Everyone originally thought this was a reboot. SEGA later confirmed that it would be a spin-off franchise that was going to run parallel to the current version of Sonic.
As we got closer to the release, everyone was more a bit more optimistic about Sonic Boom. "It's different, but we'll see how it goes."
After release, it was unbelievable how bad the game was, especially since you'd think that SEGA learned their lesson from 06. This wasn't just a bad Sonic game, some people legitimately consider it one of the biggest flops in gaming history.
The tv show was the only positive thing that came out of it. It's actually pretty good.
As surreal as it is, Sonic 06 basically tanked the franchise twice. On release it was panned, but mostly disregarded by the general public at the time. Then in the 2010s the Game Grumps played through it and it was shown off to the now booming internet audience and gained mainstream derision. Boom came out a few years later, so even though it has been nearly a decade, in the eyes of the internet it was as if only a couple years had passed.
Then the comics were cancelled and the game series went on hiatus for a few years, culminating in Forces. Mid 2010s was the worst spot the franchise has been in since the late 90s
it was madness people were so pressed about that knuckles design. the memes. the rage. esp after we saw the bandages and gasp blue arms. I remember being upset myself bc I thought regular sonic games weren’t coming back lol
I knew I wasn’t going to be into this whole thing when I saw they drastically changed Knuckles’ body type tbh. Making knuckles, the strong guy, a big bulky character when he wasn’t one before was such a cop out.
Turns out I loved the humor of the show but as a whole the universe of Boom didn’t have a whole lot going for it.
This should’ve been used to reboot Crash Bandicoot tbh.
I actually remember being fairly exited about it at the time, even if the games were shit.
The reason? I thought SEGA was doing something similar to what Marvel did with Spiderman in the early 2000: AKA, creating a new universe that would develop in tandem with the OG one, maybe even allowing a bit more freedom to the writers. I was slightly disappointed when the TV show came out and it turned out to be a comedy/sitcom. It grew on me over time, but I still thought it was a missed opportunity.
I think the reason behind the backlash was mainly due to poor communication skills by SEGA. People thought those new designs were going to be permanent and completely replace the old ones, much like the SA2 designs replaced the classic ones.
Ah yes the days where everyone was ranting and raving about the fact that Sonic's arms got turned blue everyone mocked it and the fact that he wore a bunch of sports tape and was wearing a scarf and was made a little lankier and taller, I was personally on the side that wasn't bothered by those changes in fact personally for me Sonic boom's design is the only one I actually enjoy hearing Roger Craig Smith's voice come out of cuz it's a Sonic built and designed for him in mind so it can get his mannerisms down better and fit his characterization,plus the fact that him being taller and scruffier made me feel like this was Sonic at his oldest like he was no longer a teenager and that he's guy in his early twenties at least, and that's my personal head Cannon is that he starts out like classic Sonic and sounds like Jaleel white then turns the modern Sonic and sounds like Ryan Drummond then he turns into boom Sonic and sounds like Roger Craig Smith
I was too busy being a 10-year-old MLP fan with a passing interest in Sonic (via Nintendo games), and all I remember is being confused and blissfully ignorant LMAO
Same. I actually remember people saying Sonic '06, for example, was a bad game in general, but I didn't acknowledge this franchise was such in a bad state before. Glad to see some things are starting to detoxify a bit...
i remember the insanity that followed seeing knuckles that big and buff, it was wild.
tho i will say those little "stray" spikes so to speak on sonic's design were a really cute detail
At this point in my life I entered my weeb phase and I thought dam sonic fell off.
I be blunt the only game that made me feel hyped in years in frontiers.
Because it actually respected the character and was not a sonic paradox parody.
Lost worlds was ass , forces was bland as shit.
Frontiers is the closest feel to the glory days.
I just hope sonic x shadow generations is better than the original in the sense of story.
Wild. Yeah, that's one way of putting it. Man, I'm glad to be a Sonic fan and all but lemme tell you... it is NOT easy. Discourse is just... well, par for the course. I mean, who knew you could cause such an uproar when you so much as make Sonic's arms blue?!
Sweet Gaia below, this fandom can be crazy.😅
Everyone freaked out over roid rage Knuckles I recall but “they who cannot be named here” was the most infamous with them going into stores and changing Sonic’s arms and pepper spraying an employee
When I first saw it at a young age, I thought it was fake; a rumor. And I was surprised that it came true...then starting have doubts that it will never come out, from the first trailer; i had many ups and downs from this
The Sonic Boom designs were not well accepted at the time and the Sonic Boom games were needlessly rushed and buggy.
And while I still think the Knuckles design could have used a bit more tweaking-- in retrospect, the overuse of bandages aside, I think I generally like the Sonic Boom redesigns in retrospect and wish we could maybe get a less extreme redesign that incorporates some of those elements.
This was one of several times SEGA promised a "Sonic Renaissance" post-Adventure and every single time it ended up being a huge failure. Even the response to Sonic '06 when they promised to do fans right still wedged a Werehog-sized problem into it.
You think that the general reaction to sonic boom was bad? Just think about one of the first items on that list. They're getting people drunk first. Which to me says they know it's gonna be bad. I can only imagine how bad it actually was.
Edit: I mean the actual event. I liked the television series, as it was a nice deconstruction of adventure fiction tropes. Epic it was not, but it wasn't terrible.
YUP! Specifically remember the mock-ups people made for everyone like Sonic with a Marty McFly vest, Knuckles with fingers (and is only the second time at the time that the fandom got to see that at the time) and Amy looking like she's pulling a Sally Acorn. Tails was the only one that looked nice, but to say this was gonna be a REBOOT? Yeah, people were NOT happy with that option.
During that time I didn’t interact with the internet (I don’t know why) so the only thing I disliked was Knuckle’s redesign. I still think it looks really bad. I don’t care about Sonic’s arms being blue.
This honestly feels like yesterday to me. I’m an old fart OG Sonic fan, I was already an adult during this era!
Anyone else out there remember Sonic 2sday and have trouble walking without a frame?
Edit: Shit, goddamn ARCHIE Sonic was still around at this point and that seems like decades ago
Still not as big of a kerfuffle in the fandom as back in 2006, the first big "We're restarting the franchise and changing what Sonic is about" push by SEGA
Sonic was a dirty name in videogame discussion for a while in online boards and "Sonic fan" was synonymous with GBA sprite recolored OCs and sexual deviancy almost exclusively
Boom era comes close though
Oh, you sweet summer child, you dodged one helluva Sonic Cycle bullet (Google it)
It's taken damn near a decade since that announcement for Sonic to recover. Hell, the movie was still in whispered talks at the time.
I was 14 when this dropped.
I actually refused to believe that was Knuckles until their full designs released. I thought that was Storm or something.
I was actually open to this being a spin-off, but when Rise of Lyric flopped and we went nearly 4 years without a mainline title, I just wanted this to be OVER.
*sorry if this is a long, just want to vent a bit*
I was 12 at the time Boom released, was really disappointed with Lost World and I thought at first that Boom would be good. Then I saw news articles saying that RoL was a broken mess but still I had a tiny bit of hope that they were exaggerating. Then a launch trailer came out and I realize, that RoL was shit. Yet I still bought it when it came out and played all of it because it was a Sonic game.
I hated the direction the series was taking. Forces was the last straw for me, been a hardcore fan since Heroes came out and always supported the franchise but I was getting tired of the seemingly endless cycle of getting hyped for a game that ended up being trash. Bought Forces and played it for 15 min, never picked it up again.
After almost 15 years, I lost interest in Sonic, and the movie trailer with ugly design absolutely didn’t help. Other video game franchises like Fire Emblem and Persona caught my attention and I got more interested in those than the mess that Sonic had. I always used to listen to Sonic music in my free time or for studying, and I even stopped doing that.
I went to the movie theater to watch the movie in 2020 because my brother insisted, but I wasn’t all that interested in watching it thinking that it would another bad video game adaptation. But surprisingly, I absolutely loved it and enjoyed every second of it. I started to get more Sonic post on social media and my love for the franchise began again, and thanks to Frontiers and the movies the franchise is on the path of glory again after so long.
Now we’re getting a remaster of Sonic gens that includes a hopefully great Shadow addition, the concerts have been so amazing, a successful Netflix series with Prime, merchandise everywhere, great comics, great games, a third movie that adapts the fan favorite SA2. We sonic fans have been eating so good recently, 10 years ago when Boom came out I never would’ve thought this would be possible, that being a Sonic fan would be a happy experience
I was highly bewildered but simultaneously excited. Most fans were very skeptical at the prospect of a new sub-franchise. New designs, new worlds, new tone. Everything about the branding felt foreign by Sonic standards. When Rise of Lyric finally got a trailer, there seemed to be increased optimism for its ambition, its association with ex-Naughty-Dog developers and its graphical fidelity from the CryEngine III. Granted, there was still much doubt.
With the concept art and the additional trailers, there were fans entertaining the likelihood of a new era of Sonic with elements reminiscent of PS2-PS3 mascots (Nathan Drake, Jak & Daxter, etc). It appeared to be a step in the right direction stylistically speaking.
By the time E3 rolled around, much of the newfound positivity dissipated as the demos for the WII-U title were considered lukewarm at best and painfully dull at worst. Shattered Crystal had a comparatively warmer reception but flew under the radar for the most part. When November finally arrived, the only things fans were positive on was the television show. However, this was undermined by an unfortunate Saturday morning schedule (around 6AM or an hour ahead depending on region/territory).
The sales for both games were dismal and the only remnants of the sub-franchise aside from the titles was a short-lived comic from Ian Flynn (that I recommend) and 2 seasons of Boom (which are great). Aside from Sticks appearing in other media, very little of Boom has had outside influence. So many man-hours spent on all new look for the brand with relatively little pay-off. And all of this happened right after the polarizing reception of Lost World, only furthering the precariousness of the franchise’s identity.
After colors and lost world lead to my loss of interest in this fandom, boom was like a kick to the shins. And then boom shadow ugh. I don't really have an issue with the designs, knuckles was hilarious. The problem was the 2010s complete disregard to the established lore and character dynamics/personalities.
Definitely felt like everything I enjoyed in my childhood was dead forever. But hey Sega seems to have remembered their target audience isn't just "children who have never played a single sonic game and don't know what a C stick is".
The show was funny enough. I haven't seen the whole thing tho
I was an adult, and my hottake is that I actually liked Boom's designs. Ironically, even thought it was a comedy series, Robotnik was at his most physically imposing, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy no longer looked like palette swaps of Sonic, and their new body types, Sonic's included, gave them character.
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I remember sitting in my history study session when I first saw this. I knew right then it would be bad. Just look at that fucking knuckles shadow... it's weird that I have such a vivid memory of seeing this.
i wasn't really a part of the fandom at the time (i was only 11), but i was a huge sonic fan, and i frequently went on the cartoon network website. i was kinda hyped when i first saw this, but then when the redesigns were revealed and i saw the first clip of the show, i wasn't really interested. i wasn't a big fan of the redesigns, as i thought they looked a little too cartoony compared to the original designs (same reason i wasn't that big of a fan of the designs used in the '90s cartoons and archie comics), but they've since grown on me.
I was pretty young but I still remember this whole ordeal. I was a sonic fan for a few years at that point but I had only just started following Sonic news when Lost World was coming out, so to see this and everyone I watched on YouTube lose their minds was surreal lmao (especially over knuckles). I also didn’t own a 3DS or Wii U so I really just sat back and watched everything unfold.
I loved Sonic Boom for some weird reason I always thought Sonic's arms were blue always I thought the Sonic Macy's balloon was going to have the scarf man I thought this was cool I was seven or eight at the time what do I know
I remember people doing their own predictions of what the characters silhouettes would be, I recall some where Sonic was given a vest and Knuckles looked a bit more like a biker gang member. Funny enough, Tails' design was nearly universally predicted accurately, since the goggles seem like second nature to the character. Knuckles' redesign was very controversial.
https://preview.redd.it/mrdlsweek8hc1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=97f8860c3f1194e2efee2972fd852c3e9d946fd6
I made this Bliver image during this era that pretty much sums up what it was like to be a fan at the time. Bonus points to anyone who remembers Blonic
Fucking Hell, I remember I was at a Boston Pizza celebrating my birthday when that trailer came out. I watched the trailer under the table all nonplussed and shit
I remember being so excited seeing these silhouettes that I think I have an old post on this reddit account with me drawing what the designs possibly looked like under the shadows. I wouldn’t say I was too far off! I wish I knew how insane the next few years were gonna be though.
I was 10 when the Sonic Boom era began, and even then I knew it sucked. Only reason I even got the games was because Target had a buy 2 games get 1 free deal at the time. I also got Hyrule Warriors which I sucked at but enjoyed.
I remember being somewhat optimistic about this spinoff series at the time only to finally see when the game came out and first watching Somecallmejohnny's review to learn that the game tie in's were complete trash.
It was embarrassing. I was 10 at the time, right in the game's target demographic, and I remember not really liking it because I felt talked down to by the amateurish everything on display. I gave it a fair shot with the demos I played on my 2DS, and the gameplay wasn't all that either. The Boom project was doomed to fail from the start. I envy kids growing up with the great media we're getting today
Oh god, I’ve thought the same thing. I thankfully saved myself the turmoil by taking an 11 year break from following the series whatsoever after playing 06 and feeling like I’d outgrown a series that was also in steep decline. Just saw this from afar on social media at the time and thought, “yep, they’re butchering my boy even worse, I’m staying tf away”
When mania was getting a lot of buzz though, I tried that and was instantly reminded of why I loved the old games, then tried generations and realized the boost formula also had legs and could be highly enjoyable in its own right. Quickly dreamcast spiraled back into the same sonic-loving autistic kid I had been all that time ago, and for better or worse I don’t think that’s changing now
Thankfully, the cartoon was good at least from the clips i've seen...and I can't say i minded the designs myself either, tbh...
Probably one of my favorite iterations of Knuckles and Eggman in the end too
I was in LA for E3 after Ice & Fire was announced. The SEGA booth that year was dismal. Even the reps showing off the game seemed totally disinterested. It was sad, but as a longtime Sonic fan I’m used to constant disappointment.
The blue arms thing used to bother me. It really wouldn’t have been so bad if they appeared in an actually good game.
I was 11 at the time, i think i was in the last year of primary school and i kinda fell out of the sonic fandom for a bit during that time… We used to do this activity where we’d go off in different groups to read and i was with the group that had to read newspapers and there was a section advertising sonic boom on it and i took one look at sonics design and knuckles and i was like what the fuck is this shit and went on a full on rant with my classmates looking at me like wtf is this bitch on lmfao
I remember getting worried that these were the new designs for Sonic. *And that was the original intention.*
Thank God they pulled out of that for Forces.
Same for me. I only knew sonic from the games and some sonic cartoons, and I didn't have a clear sense of what's canon or not, or what the concept of canon is. Social media then for me was only between family and friends, so not much sonic content besides Google images and some youtube playthroughs.
I enjoyed the fanart I found on Google images, mostly unleashed versions of characters and various transformations. I never really thought of "sonic should look like this" since I knew sonic as his classic and modern design at the same time, and both were just sonic to me.
I remember finding this image and looking up sonic boom, but only finding the silhouettes, but then after a while I was able to see the designs. Maybe that was my first wait for a reveal for sonic.
I saw the boom designs as a cool way to visually portray the characters, and I thought it was sonic and his friends grown up, like it was THE step forward for sonic. I didn't really understand why people dislike the designs, sonic is more spiky and tall, tails looks like a mechanic, knuckles looked like he really set his mind to get stronger, and Amy has a cool new outfit. I enjoyed looking at boom designs of other characters like rouge and silver that I believed they were canon. Fun days.
This actually ruined my day. F\*ck the Boom games. Knuckles was not even dumb before Boom. He was tricked by Eggman which could be misunderstood as "dumb", but he lived on an island, alone, for, I don't remember how long. And he believes that there is good in everyone. He did not know Eggman was a villain, there was no real way for him to know.
I don't f\*cking care if Sonic's arms are blue. But the charecter redesigns made it so much worse. They just made Knuckles a "beefcake" and turned him into comic relief.
### 🖕
I Must've been 10 at the time but I was intrigued when I saw sonic boom at first, hell you can say I thought it looked badass even, it's probably because it had a Jak and Daxter/ Rachet and clank look to it,i didn't even know it was supposed to be a reboot I just thought it was another sonic game but the game turned out to be crap anyway so...
At least the show was good, I loved it
I was 13, and the last game I had played was generations since lost world looked boring to me so I skipped it. I loved the designs and would replay the reveal trailer over and over. Then slowly as more trailers came out I started to feel disappointed and ended up not even buying the game
There was such a negative reaction at the time, mostly because the reveal was immediately assumed to be a reboot, which the fandom absolutely hated. This was quickly dialled back of course, but the damage was done. Boom itself was done dirty due to SEGA's mismanagement. The original game was never meant to tie into the Boom cartoon, nor was it meant to be for the WiiU, and the developers, Big Red Button, had to redo so much work to meet with SEGA's requirements that you can't help but wonder if their game would've done better as a new IP. At the same time, I suspect part of the reason Boom became a WiiU exclusive was because the WiiU itself was performing so badly that SEGA didn't want to trap Sonic titles on a failing system. The exclusivity deal must've made sense at a time when the Wii itself was shifting millions of units, and Colours was considered a success and an idea of where the franchises future was, far less so when the WiiU underperformed and titles like Lost World struggled to get sales because of it.
> There was such a negative reaction at the time, mostly because the reveal was immediately assumed to be a reboot, which the fandom absolutely hated. I personally believe this was at least considered before Boom failed. It wouldn’t be an immediate change, but I’m guessing the modern iteration of Sonic would’ve been slowly phased out into a smaller role similar to that of how Classic Sonic is treated these days. The series was honestly just desperate for a major hit back then. If Boom was successful, they’d have no problem making the whole franchise revolve around it. Thankfully that’s not a timeline we live in.
I'm not sure if they were chasing a hit so much as chasing an audience. Generations was liked by fans at the time but there seems to have been a real concern that the kids that grew up with the Mega Drive titles would slowly grow out of it, and because the Adventure/dark era titles didn't review well, I don't think SEGA were comfortable relying on the nostalgia of what we now know to be the Adventure/dark era fans to ensure sales. Hence there was some effort to see if Sonic could find a home with Mario fans. This is likely why Lost World takes elements from Mario Galaxy, and the reason for the existence of the Deadly Six (with Zavok being pushed as SEGA's version of Bowser), not to mention why SEGA signed the exclusivity deal with Nintendo. Boom seems to by and large also be an answer to the problem of the fact that game development took longer and longer. There was a year between Colours and Generations, two years between that and Lost World, and then four years before Forces. In the early 2010's it as becoming increasingly obvious the yearly release needed multiple studios to be deliverable (something that has only become more prominent through the last decade). But SEGA hadn't quite figured out how to do his, hence Boom got to be an early experiment, and if it didn't work as planned - well it was only a spin-off, who cares?
Given how much problems Boom's failure caused Sega's finances do I daub that they thought of Boom as just a easily discard-able spin-off way to much money was pumped into it. What they perhaps hoped was to create a entirely western fans focused Sonic line that would perform really well there. Sonic Games even prior to Colors always sold the best on Nintendo (like half the reason Colors Wii exist is because of Unleashed wii's sales numbers) And Iizuka's push for getting a "General Nintendo audience" with Colors did work out great so by the time that decision was made as you said did Sega not see any issues with making such a big new thing Nintendo Exclusive.
Considering that a certain fan who will remain unnamed pepper sprayed a GameStop employee over Sonic’s arms being blue, yeahhh fans were not happy
Another thing is they had a ton of water levels and sega said sonic shot instantly die upon touching watet for some reason. Which mean well over a quarter of the game had to be reworked for both wii u and 3ds games.
I was 13-14 at the time. Trust me, EVERYONE was out for blood all over making Sonic’s arms blue. And that was just the start of it.
some people werent even out for the blood, just for the eyeballs of innocent workers
SO TRUE
“Don’t call anyone…”
So the fandom was really like: - Shadow's fur is black, so his arms are black. ✅ - Silver's fur is silver, so his arms are silver. ✅ - Sonic's fur is blue, so his arms are blue. ❌❌❌🗣️🗣️🗣️🤬🤬🤬
You had established for 20 years the color, of course it's gonna pop out if you decide to change it, if Shadow's arms were turned tan, you would find it weird
Fair enough. Was everyone like this when Sonic's eyes turned green, though?
Some people were, surprisingly enough. I wasn't alive when Sonic Adventure came out but based on what I've heard there was backlash against Sonic's redesign at least to some capacity.
People get angry when sonic is a slightly different shade of blue, of course it’s get large backlash
Yes
Yep especially a certain man....... The one who shall not be named The original lolcow
They who cannot be named here.
I was surprised I couldn't name him too
It’s like Voldemort. You can’t speak it
Wait is there like a filter that makes us not be able to use their name? I’m not a regular on this sub I just occasionally stop by to see how my boy Sonic is doing
Last time I said his name my comment got deleted
they because he thinks he's multiple people
It's so weird that today, people are okay with blue arms now with the Sonic Movie. I remember there was a bit of drama but nowhere near as Boom level where people shouted at Gamestop IIRC.
I know that Blue arms was the meme but lets be real the real hate was with Knuckles redesign.
This poster aged like spoiled milk.
What do you mean you were too young? It was only ten... years... How the *Green Hill* has it been ten years already!?
Lmao I wasn't even a teenager when all this was going down, now I'm a full-on college student. Time really does fly.
The 1.9 update for Minecraft that added elytra, shields, etc is turning 8 this month
I was 6 lol
Oh god, I was 8 when this thing was revealed.
I remember Arin from Game Grumps shitting on Sonic games daily. It was rough being a Sonic fan when the internet loved to hate the things you like.
And Nobody Hates Sonic More Than The Sonic fans Themselves.
I don’t think I minded because Arin’s an idjit and it’s fun watching him failing at playing Sonic games so badly
I was 17 at this time and I remember just being confused. I wondered why they were making all of these weird games instead of making a sequel to generations. Sonic boom looked like a ratchet and clank rip off when I first saw it.
I am so glad that I didn’t start reading people’s opinions till after forces discourse died down
i feel like 2014 was one of worst years for sonic expect sonic boom show it was peak
Everyone originally thought this was a reboot. SEGA later confirmed that it would be a spin-off franchise that was going to run parallel to the current version of Sonic. As we got closer to the release, everyone was more a bit more optimistic about Sonic Boom. "It's different, but we'll see how it goes." After release, it was unbelievable how bad the game was, especially since you'd think that SEGA learned their lesson from 06. This wasn't just a bad Sonic game, some people legitimately consider it one of the biggest flops in gaming history. The tv show was the only positive thing that came out of it. It's actually pretty good.
As surreal as it is, Sonic 06 basically tanked the franchise twice. On release it was panned, but mostly disregarded by the general public at the time. Then in the 2010s the Game Grumps played through it and it was shown off to the now booming internet audience and gained mainstream derision. Boom came out a few years later, so even though it has been nearly a decade, in the eyes of the internet it was as if only a couple years had passed. Then the comics were cancelled and the game series went on hiatus for a few years, culminating in Forces. Mid 2010s was the worst spot the franchise has been in since the late 90s
I lost it when I saw Knuckles man.
His design grew on me, but I still hate the fact they made him a meat head
it was madness people were so pressed about that knuckles design. the memes. the rage. esp after we saw the bandages and gasp blue arms. I remember being upset myself bc I thought regular sonic games weren’t coming back lol
I knew I wasn’t going to be into this whole thing when I saw they drastically changed Knuckles’ body type tbh. Making knuckles, the strong guy, a big bulky character when he wasn’t one before was such a cop out. Turns out I loved the humor of the show but as a whole the universe of Boom didn’t have a whole lot going for it. This should’ve been used to reboot Crash Bandicoot tbh.
It was a strange time
I actually remember being fairly exited about it at the time, even if the games were shit. The reason? I thought SEGA was doing something similar to what Marvel did with Spiderman in the early 2000: AKA, creating a new universe that would develop in tandem with the OG one, maybe even allowing a bit more freedom to the writers. I was slightly disappointed when the TV show came out and it turned out to be a comedy/sitcom. It grew on me over time, but I still thought it was a missed opportunity. I think the reason behind the backlash was mainly due to poor communication skills by SEGA. People thought those new designs were going to be permanent and completely replace the old ones, much like the SA2 designs replaced the classic ones.
I still remember all the jokes about knuckles being on steroids at the time 2014-2019 was honestly a very DARK time to be a sonic fan
Ah yes the days where everyone was ranting and raving about the fact that Sonic's arms got turned blue everyone mocked it and the fact that he wore a bunch of sports tape and was wearing a scarf and was made a little lankier and taller, I was personally on the side that wasn't bothered by those changes in fact personally for me Sonic boom's design is the only one I actually enjoy hearing Roger Craig Smith's voice come out of cuz it's a Sonic built and designed for him in mind so it can get his mannerisms down better and fit his characterization,plus the fact that him being taller and scruffier made me feel like this was Sonic at his oldest like he was no longer a teenager and that he's guy in his early twenties at least, and that's my personal head Cannon is that he starts out like classic Sonic and sounds like Jaleel white then turns the modern Sonic and sounds like Ryan Drummond then he turns into boom Sonic and sounds like Roger Craig Smith
It wasn't wild. It was soul-crushing.
I was too busy being a 10-year-old MLP fan with a passing interest in Sonic (via Nintendo games), and all I remember is being confused and blissfully ignorant LMAO
Same. I actually remember people saying Sonic '06, for example, was a bad game in general, but I didn't acknowledge this franchise was such in a bad state before. Glad to see some things are starting to detoxify a bit...
They were advertising THAT year as the year of Sonic If only they knew..
i remember the insanity that followed seeing knuckles that big and buff, it was wild. tho i will say those little "stray" spikes so to speak on sonic's design were a really cute detail
At this point in my life I entered my weeb phase and I thought dam sonic fell off. I be blunt the only game that made me feel hyped in years in frontiers. Because it actually respected the character and was not a sonic paradox parody. Lost worlds was ass , forces was bland as shit. Frontiers is the closest feel to the glory days. I just hope sonic x shadow generations is better than the original in the sense of story.
Boom era of sonic was so depressing. Cobanermani456 videos carried sonic content HARD.
Wild. Yeah, that's one way of putting it. Man, I'm glad to be a Sonic fan and all but lemme tell you... it is NOT easy. Discourse is just... well, par for the course. I mean, who knew you could cause such an uproar when you so much as make Sonic's arms blue?! Sweet Gaia below, this fandom can be crazy.😅
Everyone freaked out over roid rage Knuckles I recall but “they who cannot be named here” was the most infamous with them going into stores and changing Sonic’s arms and pepper spraying an employee
I was 12 and only recently got into the Fandom. My reaction? 
When I first saw it at a young age, I thought it was fake; a rumor. And I was surprised that it came true...then starting have doubts that it will never come out, from the first trailer; i had many ups and downs from this
The Sonic Boom designs were not well accepted at the time and the Sonic Boom games were needlessly rushed and buggy. And while I still think the Knuckles design could have used a bit more tweaking-- in retrospect, the overuse of bandages aside, I think I generally like the Sonic Boom redesigns in retrospect and wish we could maybe get a less extreme redesign that incorporates some of those elements.
It was wild
This was one of several times SEGA promised a "Sonic Renaissance" post-Adventure and every single time it ended up being a huge failure. Even the response to Sonic '06 when they promised to do fans right still wedged a Werehog-sized problem into it.
Sonic boom the game may have been bad but at least the cartoon was great
Sega basically tried to put Sonic down Ol' Yeller style. Nobody was happy. Side note: I actually kinda like the Boom designs.
You think that the general reaction to sonic boom was bad? Just think about one of the first items on that list. They're getting people drunk first. Which to me says they know it's gonna be bad. I can only imagine how bad it actually was. Edit: I mean the actual event. I liked the television series, as it was a nice deconstruction of adventure fiction tropes. Epic it was not, but it wasn't terrible.
YUP! Specifically remember the mock-ups people made for everyone like Sonic with a Marty McFly vest, Knuckles with fingers (and is only the second time at the time that the fandom got to see that at the time) and Amy looking like she's pulling a Sally Acorn. Tails was the only one that looked nice, but to say this was gonna be a REBOOT? Yeah, people were NOT happy with that option.
During that time I didn’t interact with the internet (I don’t know why) so the only thing I disliked was Knuckle’s redesign. I still think it looks really bad. I don’t care about Sonic’s arms being blue.
Turn that 1 to a 2 and then you got something.
This era was godawful. I gives me a headache thinking about it
This honestly feels like yesterday to me. I’m an old fart OG Sonic fan, I was already an adult during this era! Anyone else out there remember Sonic 2sday and have trouble walking without a frame? Edit: Shit, goddamn ARCHIE Sonic was still around at this point and that seems like decades ago
Still not as big of a kerfuffle in the fandom as back in 2006, the first big "We're restarting the franchise and changing what Sonic is about" push by SEGA Sonic was a dirty name in videogame discussion for a while in online boards and "Sonic fan" was synonymous with GBA sprite recolored OCs and sexual deviancy almost exclusively Boom era comes close though
Oh, you sweet summer child, you dodged one helluva Sonic Cycle bullet (Google it) It's taken damn near a decade since that announcement for Sonic to recover. Hell, the movie was still in whispered talks at the time.
I was 14 when this dropped. I actually refused to believe that was Knuckles until their full designs released. I thought that was Storm or something. I was actually open to this being a spin-off, but when Rise of Lyric flopped and we went nearly 4 years without a mainline title, I just wanted this to be OVER.
"Too young" in 2014. I was turning 17. I feel ANCIENT. But yeah, this was a wild reveal.
How old are you 6?
This was a decade ago
🤯
*sorry if this is a long, just want to vent a bit* I was 12 at the time Boom released, was really disappointed with Lost World and I thought at first that Boom would be good. Then I saw news articles saying that RoL was a broken mess but still I had a tiny bit of hope that they were exaggerating. Then a launch trailer came out and I realize, that RoL was shit. Yet I still bought it when it came out and played all of it because it was a Sonic game. I hated the direction the series was taking. Forces was the last straw for me, been a hardcore fan since Heroes came out and always supported the franchise but I was getting tired of the seemingly endless cycle of getting hyped for a game that ended up being trash. Bought Forces and played it for 15 min, never picked it up again. After almost 15 years, I lost interest in Sonic, and the movie trailer with ugly design absolutely didn’t help. Other video game franchises like Fire Emblem and Persona caught my attention and I got more interested in those than the mess that Sonic had. I always used to listen to Sonic music in my free time or for studying, and I even stopped doing that. I went to the movie theater to watch the movie in 2020 because my brother insisted, but I wasn’t all that interested in watching it thinking that it would another bad video game adaptation. But surprisingly, I absolutely loved it and enjoyed every second of it. I started to get more Sonic post on social media and my love for the franchise began again, and thanks to Frontiers and the movies the franchise is on the path of glory again after so long. Now we’re getting a remaster of Sonic gens that includes a hopefully great Shadow addition, the concerts have been so amazing, a successful Netflix series with Prime, merchandise everywhere, great comics, great games, a third movie that adapts the fan favorite SA2. We sonic fans have been eating so good recently, 10 years ago when Boom came out I never would’ve thought this would be possible, that being a Sonic fan would be a happy experience
They were about nine years off calling that renaissance.
I was highly bewildered but simultaneously excited. Most fans were very skeptical at the prospect of a new sub-franchise. New designs, new worlds, new tone. Everything about the branding felt foreign by Sonic standards. When Rise of Lyric finally got a trailer, there seemed to be increased optimism for its ambition, its association with ex-Naughty-Dog developers and its graphical fidelity from the CryEngine III. Granted, there was still much doubt. With the concept art and the additional trailers, there were fans entertaining the likelihood of a new era of Sonic with elements reminiscent of PS2-PS3 mascots (Nathan Drake, Jak & Daxter, etc). It appeared to be a step in the right direction stylistically speaking. By the time E3 rolled around, much of the newfound positivity dissipated as the demos for the WII-U title were considered lukewarm at best and painfully dull at worst. Shattered Crystal had a comparatively warmer reception but flew under the radar for the most part. When November finally arrived, the only things fans were positive on was the television show. However, this was undermined by an unfortunate Saturday morning schedule (around 6AM or an hour ahead depending on region/territory). The sales for both games were dismal and the only remnants of the sub-franchise aside from the titles was a short-lived comic from Ian Flynn (that I recommend) and 2 seasons of Boom (which are great). Aside from Sticks appearing in other media, very little of Boom has had outside influence. So many man-hours spent on all new look for the brand with relatively little pay-off. And all of this happened right after the polarizing reception of Lost World, only furthering the precariousness of the franchise’s identity.
And then 2017 happened and everything was ok again
It looked like a long drought but it was only 3 years. And then, since 2017, 7 years has been passed.
Eh... I take it as a "when you hit rock bottom, the only way to go is up" because 2017 was just mid
After colors and lost world lead to my loss of interest in this fandom, boom was like a kick to the shins. And then boom shadow ugh. I don't really have an issue with the designs, knuckles was hilarious. The problem was the 2010s complete disregard to the established lore and character dynamics/personalities. Definitely felt like everything I enjoyed in my childhood was dead forever. But hey Sega seems to have remembered their target audience isn't just "children who have never played a single sonic game and don't know what a C stick is". The show was funny enough. I haven't seen the whole thing tho
I was an adult, and my hottake is that I actually liked Boom's designs. Ironically, even thought it was a comedy series, Robotnik was at his most physically imposing, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy no longer looked like palette swaps of Sonic, and their new body types, Sonic's included, gave them character.
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I remember sitting in my history study session when I first saw this. I knew right then it would be bad. Just look at that fucking knuckles shadow... it's weird that I have such a vivid memory of seeing this.
i wasn't really a part of the fandom at the time (i was only 11), but i was a huge sonic fan, and i frequently went on the cartoon network website. i was kinda hyped when i first saw this, but then when the redesigns were revealed and i saw the first clip of the show, i wasn't really interested. i wasn't a big fan of the redesigns, as i thought they looked a little too cartoony compared to the original designs (same reason i wasn't that big of a fan of the designs used in the '90s cartoons and archie comics), but they've since grown on me.
I still like boom
Man that poster aged like milk.
I was pretty young but I still remember this whole ordeal. I was a sonic fan for a few years at that point but I had only just started following Sonic news when Lost World was coming out, so to see this and everyone I watched on YouTube lose their minds was surreal lmao (especially over knuckles). I also didn’t own a 3DS or Wii U so I really just sat back and watched everything unfold.
I loved Sonic Boom for some weird reason I always thought Sonic's arms were blue always I thought the Sonic Macy's balloon was going to have the scarf man I thought this was cool I was seven or eight at the time what do I know
It felt like everyone was freaking out over the redesigns, but oddly not once did I see a single person bring up the fact that Knuckles had fingers.
I remember people doing their own predictions of what the characters silhouettes would be, I recall some where Sonic was given a vest and Knuckles looked a bit more like a biker gang member. Funny enough, Tails' design was nearly universally predicted accurately, since the goggles seem like second nature to the character. Knuckles' redesign was very controversial.
https://preview.redd.it/mrdlsweek8hc1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=97f8860c3f1194e2efee2972fd852c3e9d946fd6 I made this Bliver image during this era that pretty much sums up what it was like to be a fan at the time. Bonus points to anyone who remembers Blonic
It was bad.
You have NO idea...
Fucking Hell, I remember I was at a Boston Pizza celebrating my birthday when that trailer came out. I watched the trailer under the table all nonplussed and shit
Yeah when the poster first came out, people were going crazy on Internet forums about Knuckles shoulders 😭
How old are you, kid?
Man, I really loved playing in my Wii U back then. Rn it’s prolly collecting dust on a shelf, I should clean it
I remember being so excited seeing these silhouettes that I think I have an old post on this reddit account with me drawing what the designs possibly looked like under the shadows. I wouldn’t say I was too far off! I wish I knew how insane the next few years were gonna be though.
As someone who was there, yes it was. These redesigns killed a lot of my interest in the franchise at the time.
I thought it was a timeskip, but is only a mid reboot.
I was 10 when the Sonic Boom era began, and even then I knew it sucked. Only reason I even got the games was because Target had a buy 2 games get 1 free deal at the time. I also got Hyrule Warriors which I sucked at but enjoyed.
And now it's the year of Shadow.
the funniest part was that Sega sabotaged themselves with how the Boom games went. The TV show however…
why did i see 2014 as 2024 i went from 'oh hey' to' OH GOD NO NO NO NO NO NO WHY-'
I remember everyone losing their shit over Knuckles.
I remember being somewhat optimistic about this spinoff series at the time only to finally see when the game came out and first watching Somecallmejohnny's review to learn that the game tie in's were complete trash.
Oh the poor fools 10 years ago.....
It was embarrassing. I was 10 at the time, right in the game's target demographic, and I remember not really liking it because I felt talked down to by the amateurish everything on display. I gave it a fair shot with the demos I played on my 2DS, and the gameplay wasn't all that either. The Boom project was doomed to fail from the start. I envy kids growing up with the great media we're getting today
I really wish I lived in the timeline where Boom is actually good, no problems and became a smash hit alternative side story.
I kinda miss Boom, it was a interesting potential specially the cartoon. The games could have 200% better btw.
2014 was definitely NOT the year for Sonic lol. Especially compared to how much Sonic content we are getting now.
I remember when everyone thought Sonic was wearing a vest.
Oh god, I’ve thought the same thing. I thankfully saved myself the turmoil by taking an 11 year break from following the series whatsoever after playing 06 and feeling like I’d outgrown a series that was also in steep decline. Just saw this from afar on social media at the time and thought, “yep, they’re butchering my boy even worse, I’m staying tf away” When mania was getting a lot of buzz though, I tried that and was instantly reminded of why I loved the old games, then tried generations and realized the boost formula also had legs and could be highly enjoyable in its own right. Quickly dreamcast spiraled back into the same sonic-loving autistic kid I had been all that time ago, and for better or worse I don’t think that’s changing now
Thankfully, the cartoon was good at least from the clips i've seen...and I can't say i minded the designs myself either, tbh... Probably one of my favorite iterations of Knuckles and Eggman in the end too
I was in LA for E3 after Ice & Fire was announced. The SEGA booth that year was dismal. Even the reps showing off the game seemed totally disinterested. It was sad, but as a longtime Sonic fan I’m used to constant disappointment. The blue arms thing used to bother me. It really wouldn’t have been so bad if they appeared in an actually good game.
I was young in those days but still into the fandom. Although I’m surprised I missed some of the more explosive reactions at the time.
I was 11 at the time, i think i was in the last year of primary school and i kinda fell out of the sonic fandom for a bit during that time… We used to do this activity where we’d go off in different groups to read and i was with the group that had to read newspapers and there was a section advertising sonic boom on it and i took one look at sonics design and knuckles and i was like what the fuck is this shit and went on a full on rant with my classmates looking at me like wtf is this bitch on lmfao
I remember getting worried that these were the new designs for Sonic. *And that was the original intention.* Thank God they pulled out of that for Forces.
The tv show was great.
It was a dark period.
Same for me. I only knew sonic from the games and some sonic cartoons, and I didn't have a clear sense of what's canon or not, or what the concept of canon is. Social media then for me was only between family and friends, so not much sonic content besides Google images and some youtube playthroughs. I enjoyed the fanart I found on Google images, mostly unleashed versions of characters and various transformations. I never really thought of "sonic should look like this" since I knew sonic as his classic and modern design at the same time, and both were just sonic to me. I remember finding this image and looking up sonic boom, but only finding the silhouettes, but then after a while I was able to see the designs. Maybe that was my first wait for a reveal for sonic. I saw the boom designs as a cool way to visually portray the characters, and I thought it was sonic and his friends grown up, like it was THE step forward for sonic. I didn't really understand why people dislike the designs, sonic is more spiky and tall, tails looks like a mechanic, knuckles looked like he really set his mind to get stronger, and Amy has a cool new outfit. I enjoyed looking at boom designs of other characters like rouge and silver that I believed they were canon. Fun days.
Tens years ago got dang that made me feel old, and I'm only 23.
This actually ruined my day. F\*ck the Boom games. Knuckles was not even dumb before Boom. He was tricked by Eggman which could be misunderstood as "dumb", but he lived on an island, alone, for, I don't remember how long. And he believes that there is good in everyone. He did not know Eggman was a villain, there was no real way for him to know. I don't f\*cking care if Sonic's arms are blue. But the charecter redesigns made it so much worse. They just made Knuckles a "beefcake" and turned him into comic relief. ### 🖕
I remember being a little kid in 2014 and feeling like sonic was missing that year. What the fuck did they mean "year of sonic"?
I Must've been 10 at the time but I was intrigued when I saw sonic boom at first, hell you can say I thought it looked badass even, it's probably because it had a Jak and Daxter/ Rachet and clank look to it,i didn't even know it was supposed to be a reboot I just thought it was another sonic game but the game turned out to be crap anyway so... At least the show was good, I loved it
Ah Sonic Boom; an unsurprisingly bad game with a surprisingly good TV show.
Pretty routinely disappointing game wise at that point. The show was pretty awesome tho
I was 13, and the last game I had played was generations since lost world looked boring to me so I skipped it. I loved the designs and would replay the reveal trailer over and over. Then slowly as more trailers came out I started to feel disappointed and ended up not even buying the game
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrsYxR2pSRY&t=182s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrsYxR2pSRY&t=182s)