My Take on The Sonic Community

[@BreetonBoi]

I think what makes the Sonic community so special and unique is the creativity and how passionate fans get about the series. Fan events, fan games, fan music etc and the fact that they facilitate all of this and actually encourage it by reposting fan art and referencing fan content too

[@SuperSonic68]

With such a long-running franchise, everyone has "their" Sonic. The Sonic that they imprinted on when they were in their most formative years. When those different opinions butt heads, things can get pretty nasty, but when we stop to TALK to each other and LEARN about who "Their Sonic" is to them, we can have productive and civil discussions. I tell ya, though. When I showed my adoptive nephew Sonic Adventure 2 for the first time and he spent 20 minutes spin dash jumping off of ramps in City Escape... Damn well brought a tear to my eye. THAT is the energy that this fandom exudes. The fun of moving around at the speed of sound that transcends generations.

[@_rando_d]

When I made the switch from Bluesky to Twitter, I'm not gonna lie, I INSTANTLY got bored. The lack of chaos was what I wanted, yet when I got it, I just felt... meh. Then I realized something, I actually like talking about Sonic??? Those meaningless discussions about Sonic's quill length can be annoying sure, but they can actually be fun and intresting, at least if that Tweet doesn't reach outside your circle and get floods of people saying stuff like "ugh Sonic fans complain about everything". What you said about people navigating safely is true, Bluesky works as a break from Twitter for me, being flexible about navigating through these floods of different discussions.

[@Egood_ty]

It’s all about how you speak your feelings, don’t sound mean about your own opinions and people would respect yours. even tho I just ignore opinions i stop caring idc what everyone else likes anymore

[@thevioletskull8158]

I'm new to Bluesky so I'm glad to hear there are discussions

[@_rando_d]

@@thevioletskull8158 i mean to say Twitter to Bluesky WHOOPS lmao

[@KidEDarus]

I grew up with this series since its 91 debut on the Sega Genesis. I have witness both the good and the bad times with Sonic. I've seen how much gaming journalists loved tearing this series apart because of a few bad games. Fans who *voiced* their opinions about why they don't like this game; if you do you have no taste etc etc. With how much bad rep Sonic when the media got big, I also seen a lot good this series has made. Sonic really has jumped started a lot of careers. Introduced a lot of talented people; one of the biggest examples you Evan. I've made tons of friends who share their love of Sonic. I guess this is why i stuck around for so long.

[@SepSmi79]

The notion that the Sonic community is exceptionally toxic is overstated. In reality, almost every online community has some level of toxicity. Take the Mario community, for example; they lost their shit when IGN gave Mario & Luigi: Brothership a 5/10 or when Nintendo moviefied Peach's artwork in her game. Yet, they often label the Sonic community as strange and toxic. What many people outside the Sonic community may not realize is that it is home to many talented and passionate individuals. In my opinion, the Sonic fan base is the best community out there. As someone who's been a fan of the series since childhood, I've always wanted to discuss Sonic, but I never had anyone around me who shared that interest. Being part of this community, where I can talk about and create fun content related to Sonic, feels like a dream come true for me. YES, I'M PROUD TO DISCUSS SONIC'S QUILLS AND SHADE OF BLUE!!! WE ALL SHOULD BE.

[@kaxcommentssomethingREAL]

i love how CREATIVE this community is, the fans make fangames, some of the most beautiful fan art that show their grand love for this series, and some amazing animations can't forget about that! i'm a guy who doesn't interact much with the community, i'm mostly present on KZbin, but when i meet people who are usually fans of the blue guy, I've had some pretty good times and made some pretty good friends along the way! aaand i just try to ignore the bad side of it! there's not many bad people I've encountered thankfully (⁠￣v￣⁠;⁠)

[@trashboat5388]

We can point most of the blame to Arin Hansen from game grumps and the memes that certain fans made that people took literally like the OCs, Sammy, and that guy who reacted to sonic 4. God I hate Arin Hansen.

[@jarkspore]

Idk if I’d say Arin has most of the blame, at least not on purpose. Though I think his opinion was really soured by the Genesis “edgy marketing.” It’s not like he was even a Nintendo fanboy; he had a NeoGeo Pocket in high school! Though I agree on FC’s. Even with “fake” FC’s, it’s intrinsically leaked with a history of bullying and ableism. Gross stuff all around.

[@jaysolaris06]

Bringing up the point that when Sonic started, the marketing was centered around taking jabs at Nintendo and other companies really puts things into perspective. The negativity and toxicity that the Sonic community faces inside and outside the community is a result of that and it should be addressed more. Even being super defensive (guilty of it myself) about the series when it gets criticized or made fun is big issue especially when critical discussion gets shut down. Despite all of that though, this is by far one of the most passionate communities I've ever seen. The number of creative ways people show their love for this series is just incredible. Projects like Sonic and Tails R, Nazo Unleashed, and Sonic Before the Sequel are all beautiful passion projects made by skilled and talented people. The community being divided does suck, but when you come to listen and understand the perspective of others you gain a stronger appreciation for the series. There's probably some fan out there who has poured HOURS into a game like Sonic and the Black Knight and can show people why that gameplay is so much cooler than what people give it credit for. I admire that level of commitment and dedication towards mastering something you love. Sonic is just a series that pushes people's creative expression so much. A lot of that is probably due to its inconsistencies, but clearly positives can come out of that. Sonic and Tails R is heavily 2000s inspired whereas Sonic Forces: Overclocked is taking cool ideas from a 2010s game and expanding on it. Both drastically different projects focusing on different eras of Sonic, but they have a strong passionate team behind them working with elements they like from those eras. There's a LOT of issues within this community, but I can't get myself to truly hate it especially when coming from a place of understanding. This series pushes my creative expression too, and I heavily encourage those that may feel insecure about liking the series and being expressive about it to do your best to push past those feelings and show your passion. Whether it's a fangame, comic, stop motion animation, speedrunning, or even simply sharing your thoughts. All of those and even more go a long way to show your appreciation for this incredible series.

[@davesinsanestudio8072]

I dunno if I agree about the bit about leaving the fandom. I left the Sonic fandom and been more happy since. Now it can be because I stay way from toxic people and surround myself with people I like, but yeah I just realized it was never that fun in Sonic fandom for me. I'm more happy with other fandoms even if they have their own downsides. I do follow few people like you, and I don't even pay attention to every Sonic thing anymore. I'm waiting for reviews on new games most times not from Sonic fans, because even if there is weird hatred from the reviewer regarding a thing that's exclusive to Sonic I know what I love about the series, that I can detach their opinion of it and look at it for myself. I can't speak for everyone, but for me leaving the fandom made me happier.

[@partyjams]

I think the best aspect of the community is how it gets tied with the official property. Other franchises thank their fanbases. But Sonic fans have gotten to work on things. When Kishimoto talks about the mod community being rivals for the devs, some people took that as a negative. Cause no other franchise would say something like that. But I think that's what makes us special. Other major publishers would either go out of their way to remove fan projects, not acknowledge them, or even exploit it. Because for Sonic these things serve as feedback and support. Allowing everyone to benefit

[@austin5019]

The Sonic community is absolutely amazing!!! So many great people who are passionate about the franchise and make great fanart!!! Thank you for being a good part of the community too, Evan!!!

[@KOTSOSMC2002]

I'll start by saying I love Sonic and I think there are many great fans out there. But this is the perfect opportunity to point out 2 things. There are 2 things that make the Sonic fanbase the worst imo. I've been in hundreds, HUNDREDS, of fanbases and I can confidently say this is almost exclusive to this one. I'll start with the softer one. The canon. Not its existence, its inconsistency or its execution but how fans abuse and misuse it. For the average fan, canon = I liked it and not canon = I didn't like it/I don't care for it unfortunately. Mention Shuffle? Not canon to most. Why? Cause many haven't heard of it, so they don't care. Mention Runners Adventure? Same thing. 06 does a memory wipe finale? "Not canon so yeah". Secret Rings and Black Knight are isekai adventures? "Clearly not canon duh". Mûrder of Sonic released on April 1st? "WELL WHY YES, it ain't canon, it's an April Fools game you see!". "Sonic Channel content? Nobody sees those, they're not canon obviously". No. Your personal enjoyment and investment do not determine the canon. Official word, pattern formation and the products themselves determine canon. Prime is canon cause they said so. Done. IDW is canon cause they said so. Done. Most spin-offs (and I mean MOST, can't stress this enough) are canon cause that's how the franchise hss always worked, spin-offs are a part of the main timeline regardless of relevancy or importance unless they directly tie into something else or are specifically stated to not be canon (like Pocket Adventure (RIP), Chronicles, Speed Simulator etc). Done. This happens almost nowhere else, it drives me insane with Sonic fans. The canon ain't hard to determine, y'all made it hard cause you personalized it like its a custom Make-Your-Own-Timeline mini game. The second I find the biggest turnoff. How games are presented and talked about with tags related to them. What do I mean by that? Let me explain. Say I visit the Ratchet & Clank fanbase and talk about Size Matters or Secret Agent Clank. Worst games in the franchise, doesn't matter, we'll talk about em if they come up, we will bring them up if they are relevant to something, their quality never comes up. Sly Cooper fanbase, same thing, mention Thieves In Time freely and talk it out. Jak & Daxter fanbase, talk about The Final Frontier, you'll see people start theorizing and making connections. Mention you like specific elements of those games and see how they get analyzed and talked about without any caviars. Any franchise, pick any, you can drop in, mention something and talk about that thing for what it is. Let's go to hypothetical Sonic fans now. Mention 06, say that you like the soundtrack. "Game might have been the biggest 💩 dumpster fire ever but the OST was alright". Mention 06 art direction. "Well too bad cause the game was a broken unfinished mess haha". Mention Forces graphics. "Graphics would be cool too bad the game sucks and plays itself". Mention anything about Rise of Lyric or Sonic 4, good luck getting anything but "1/10 everything was bad haha". Mention Secret Rings' HUD being to your liking. "I don't know about the HUD but the gameplay was so bad, Black Knight was better". Do the opposite, mention bad things on better viewed games. Mention pacing issues for SA2. "If you think that's bad pacing wait till you play Unleashed". Mention Big's fishing in Adventure. "I prefer Big fishing to Shadow having guns, Gosh was Shadow 05 bad". Mention Frontiers' voice direction. "Pop in and references were bad tho low-key don't know about voice". Want to praise something from 06? Better start getting your apology for liking it first or it won't fly. You pretty much can't like anything from Rise of Lyric, S4, Lost World or Forces without getting thrown in the bin automatically, you can't dislike elements in the 'better games' cause you'll awaken their immortal sim-... guardians. Chats and analysing in this fanbase can never just be chats and analysing. 06 can never be just 06, Forces can never be just Forces, S4 can never be just S4. Here there is no "Sonic 06", there is only "Sonic 06, the bad game", there is only "Sonic Forces the bad game", "Sonic Heroes the bad game", "Sonic Free Riders the bad game". This happens NOWHERE else, NOWHERE ELSE in my decades on this planet, nowhere. This is the Sonic fanbase's signature.

[@wallaceprower]

man i love you

[@bulbasour2476]

Just wanted to say I've been keeping up with all these new videos and loving them, glad to see content from you again! :) I think a lot of people miss the part that the Sonic franchise is so generational, so many companies with fanbases that have been around for years contain people who are toxic. This isn't just a Sonic thing, I've seen it everywhere. There's so much good here that it's hard to call the fanbase bad due to the kind of people who are in nearly every other fanbase anyway. I do think the Sonic fanbase does have heightened issues in some areas, like the conversation about toxic positivity and how to handle negativity, though. Although, it is true that toxic positive and negative people exist everywhere.

[@CHANIMATES]

Wow I got reviewed lol in all seriousness the sonic community is one of the greatest things to ever happen to me I've always loved the art the music (most of ) the debates and the creators around it I've started creating sonic content this year and have grown only because of the support of the community people like you Evan inspired me to make stuff and get into the community I watched sam procrastinates videos for hours on end and now he sees my art every week of him and his friends I've given flowers to my favorite creators and even got to chat with some of them one day I strive to rise my ranks and stand beside the bigger creators in the space I've funny enough am starting to get recognize now only because of the love that was shown to be so I do everything I can to show it back we might not be perfect and we'll make mistakes but when our blue boy needs us we'll raise hell in a minute we made a studio change a movie made sega change the ending to frontiers we can move mountains as long as we listen and are there for one another 💙😊

[@thevioletskull8158]

I've seen people ponit out on Twitter that since the Sonic fandom gets attacked that (some) there so focused on defending the selfs they accidentally or purposely attack other people. I accidentally come off the wrong way when talking about fandom stuff so I'm trying to work on that (though some people will try and say your attacking them for literary just having a opinion,so it's good to keep your peace). I appreciate fans like Hayley who advocate and post wholesome Sonic stuff.

[@EnderCatCore]

honestly the majority of the 'toxicity' i see from the sonic fandom (and other fandoms for that matter) seems to just come from twitter being twitter, and trying to make people angry and argue with eachother. alot of people seem to forget that when some random controversy over something small comes up on twitter relating to sonic, its not really a sonic community problem, its just a twitter problem.

[@kaobunn]

honestly my only real issue with the community is it's hard to really approach any hardcore fan without being met with some sort of hostile tone there's a few noteworthy sonic fans on twitter that blow up sometimes because they don't communicate effectively towards other fans, often shutting out positive discussion in an attempt to force the idea of criticism on every single fan that simply enjoyed and has little to no problems with the most recent official project, which i feel is insanely alienating if we need to force that on every single fan that joins this community with that in mind, some fans are naturally just passive aggressive even when you try to communicate and it's just like "why bother engaging in discussion and meeting new people if they're just gonna come off aggressive towards you if you didn't do anything to them?" yknow what i mean? it's a shame, because it's a super talented community and i want to meet new fans but all they do is shut you down and act really aggressive

[@BLUESTREAK91]

Hey Evan! Guess what? I like you too brother! The Sonic community is one that’s looked at as both good and bad depending on who you ask I feel! Good take as always!

[@jarkspore]

Overall, I think communities/fandoms are defined by the highs, not the lows. Like you said, the internet is full of weird, so tying that to any one series is frivolous. But **not** every series gets the quality and quantity of creativity that Sonic gets, which is what’s important.

[@jarkspore]

Also this video reminded me that Launch Base PC is good.

[@FastTheSonic]

1:51 I just wanted to let you know that this part in Wallace's video distracted me

[@Mardiculous]

I'm SO GLAD I didn't see it during recording, because it would've stopped me DEAD in my tracks.

[@nightlydata2181]

LMFAOOO

[@petergriffinsbrother2499]

The mods and fan games for sonic is like no other their insane

[@math3us420]

i like you too

[@benceszarvas5464]

You can't name another fanbase who are really passionate and "loyal" to the things they love like us. We document and save anything sonic related. We are always on track to find lost media and stuff we never even heard before. This is our community. I still have high hopes that someone will find the uncensored intro in Shadow the Hedgehog or find the 1990 tokyo game show showcase game. Myself as well collecting digital Sonic media always. Everything has a downside and our community is no exception. Too many version of Sonic exist. Every iteration has a fanbase. And of course they always only want their favourite version. Classic Sonic,Dreamcast Sonic,Modern Sonic(Boost),Satam Sonic,X Sonic,Boom Sonic,Prime Sonic,Movie Sonic,Manga Sonic,Archie Sonic,IDW Sonic and the list goes on. Every version is different fron one another. That's the problem. It's impossible to please everyone and every time a new game or media happening..more than the other half argues about it. Some attack,some defend it. You can clearly see the jelaous side when its not "their" Sonic that's has the spotlight. I think this is the only really bad thing about our community that other fanbases don't make with their ip too much fuss about. Not even the Rockman/Megaman fanbase that's faces the same problem and the fact that capcom didn't made a new game for a while now. So we are even luckier than them yet we are still non stop argue. I won't lie i do too but only story wise and how each character's personality presented in each media. I'm on board since Sonic Shuffle and Sonic Adventure 2 and hate how much they changed the character's personality over the years. A few years back i also hated 2D segments in 3D games but nowadays i settled with that. My thoughts on Archie Sonic and the 90s american sonic cartoons are also kind of negative but i understand everyone who grew up with them why they love it. I wanted to use examples because i'm sure a lot of people have different opinions and if you got just a little bit triggered by this then you will see much more easily the problem we as a community faces.

[@GamingTopTen]

Sonic Community: If you like the games I like, you get to go to heaven. If you like the games I dislike, you get to BURN IN HELL. Simple as.

[@nightlydata2181]

Speakin the markettin thing only, I genuinely hate that Sega of america in all their infinite & regular bouts of "wisdom" & constantly takin things into their own hands even when Segajp NEVER ALLOWED IT did somethin so stupid as to make that markettin campaign. It's jus another of their endless showcases of makin things worse almost every self ordered decision they make that negatively impacts the series or the entire company in the long run. Puttin it lightly I've had a bone to pick wit em for yrs now

[@SonicTheHedgehogX15]

Sonic twitter, and the kids who are in youtube comments who just like movies and prime (who tf gave them yt bro) are the most annoying, specially the kids But on the other side, i love the fan games, the expos, the 2000s fans an all those fun people

[@Azulzinhokkk]

The reason why you make your videos so short is trying to make sure you stay on topic and get to the point?

[@Mardiculous]

One of the many reasons! Yes!

[@callibor3119]

Masato Nishimura is the reason why Classic Sonic never got a voice and for all the good reasons. It is simply because he speaks Japanese. It dates all the way back to Sonic CD in 1993. lol This means that Sonic CD is the reason why we have multiple Sonics the way that we do. And that is very telling. Edit: Why Time Paradox never occurred is simply because Time Paradox never stops Sonic and Eggman from being Sonic and Eggman… Oooooooooooooooooooooooooh. That is why he even is in Sonic Generations. Because of the 7 Time Stones. It was never about Classic Sonic, but the journey ahead of Modern Sonic. And we had it completely backwards this entire time. Classic Sonic couldn’t speak at all simply because he bares the Time Stones and is an *gasp* an older Sonic learning newer tricks. BRUUUUUUHHHHHH! XD Edit #2: This was a theory of mind back in Sonic Forces that I just remembered, Classic Sonic is going to have his own version of what Modern Sonic has been through, but whatever Modern Sonic title that we have known is not going to be a sequel or a remake, but revisions of every adventure that we have seen Modern Sonic have. But these games are not to be named the same, because Nintendo rarely makes sequels to games. Nintendo is still Sega’s rival company, but that doesn’t mean Sega won’t send games their way either.