Thursday, April 20, 2017

The Future of Sonic Media Adaptations

Considering that Archie has come to a screeching halt and Boom is winding down, what do you think the future adaptations of Sonic will be like? For me, here's what I think will happen.

The Movie is interesting, but we haven't got info on it in a while. I think we should wait until a major Sonic event to see details about what the film will be like. Putting the two reports on it together makes it seem like a Marvel-style film. Or alternatively the newer report implies this is like Paddington (remember that?) at best and Mac and Me/Nukie at worst. Maybe the film won't come out, given Sony's executive troubles going on, and the slamming of them thanks to The Emoji Movie.

It seems reasonable SEGA will want a new comic, by another publisher. While one thinks IDW may be good, unless they start where Archie left off, it will probably be lumped as a "kids-only" comic and come off as a stilted, joyless mess. In the latter case, I believe that they will try to stick to the games as much as possible, as Archie was already leaning in that direction. Whether they try to avoid Pontaff-ism or not depends on how many fans are there at IDW. If they're in the minority, we may see Pontaff-esque writing. As for the use of old media characters in that latter scenario, I expect them to be mostly used for fan-service as opposed to anything substantial, with us likely getting little-used Sonic Team characters instead. I bet that their new characters they create would be kinda lame, silly little things that they may try to look cool. A genuinely dark and mature Sonic comic in the vein of their TMNT, Transformers, Godzilla, Ghostbusters, etc. comics would be incredibly rad but unlikely.

Boom or Bongo might also be chosen. Both are pretty much known for kids comics, so the results would likely be at best what we'd likely get from IDW if it were lumped as a kids comic. Although Boom does have their cool Power Rangers series, and I'd love if they went that route, and Bongo's comics are genuinely funny. (perhaps because they run on inherently funny source material) Going with a lesser-known publisher would probably result in awful comics.

As for a TV show, I don't really know. Maybe OuiDo will continue and make a game-based new show after Boom ends, or they give it to another studio. This one might be a lot like Sonic X, with or without extra content in that style.

But what's more interesting is the possibilites after the games eventually die-off (which will likely happen if Forces fails). Maybe this makes getting a dark and mature Sonic comic more likely?