Hee hee! This shall be my research corner. As I uncover (well try) what happened in the past. I don't think Sonic Team is official, and well if you do...don't bother replying to this. I'm not saying Sonic Team sucks, or anyone who likes it suck. I simply think its not a holier than thou universe that is about as official than every other universe out there. If you don't like what I type don't respond or I'll report you. This doesn't promote hate rather it tries to prove the need to see thing as equals.

"Flashback to 1990: after five years of playing David to Nintendo's Goliath, Sega was poised to sling the proverbial stone. The company needed a mascot character who could simultaneously embody their hip, bold new attitude and run nose-to-nose with Nintendo's plumbing prince. Pengo and Alex Kidd probably weren't going to cut it, so a contest was held among employees to come up with a suitable character. The submissions ranged from a retarded bulldog to an all-American wolf to a freaky little man in PJ's. (That last entry does look a bit familiar though, doesn't he?)"

[link]

Looking at this quote SEGA had already asked what would be Sonic's characterization prior to members of Sonic Team coming into the picture. as it says the company needed someone to embody a series of personality traits...THEN they hold a contest.

Of course Sonic Team, Archie and other universes all ultimately work for SEGA, whether their mediums are published by the company or not. So...what member of SEGA actually is responsible for Sonic's character? It said SEGA wanted someone to embody a series of character traits, but any names? The higher ups at SEGA of course. But many people overlook them at forums especially when to testing this arguement out because no names come to mind.

"The year is 1990, and Hayao Nakayama (Sega's president at that time) wants a mascot who would be to Sega what Mickey Mouse is to Disney."

need another quote?

"In 1991, Hayao Nakayama, the chairman of Sega, decided to develop a mascot that would do for his company what Mickey Mouse had done for Walt Disney: personify Sega with a universally-recognized icon. Most of his designers submitted drawings of hopping animals such as kangeroos and rabbits, but Nakayama settled on Naoto Oshimo's stylized hedgehog, and Sonic The Hedgehog was born."


source: [link]

"a mascot character who could simultaneously embody their hip, bold new attitude?" and the quote "Hayao Nakayama, the chairman of Sega, decided to develop a mascot that would do for his company what Mickey Mouse had done for Walt Disney: personify Sega with a universally-recognized icon." Sound similar regarding who came up with Sonic's characterization?



By reading these two quotes you should see what I'm getting at...Nakayama. you see when defining what is the true "Sonic" and his true "continuity" two things have to be considered:

Who was truly responsible for his characterization?

and...

Who was truly responsible for his storyline?


Who is clearly responsible for Sonic's characterization would be him. Due to the fact Nakayama was the specific higher up at SEGA who actually thought of the characteristics he wanted people working for him to embody. Ohshima embodied what Nakayama wanted in the form of a hedgehog. The problem is a physical characteristic doesn't define the true characterization of Sonic. Thus Ohshima did not establish the foundational characterization for Sonic. Nakayama did. However Nakayama isn't stated as a Sonic Team member, he was simply the one credited with handing Sonic Team Sonic to embody and put into a game.

The problem with people is that they see Sonic for what he is in his design. His characterization would be the same regardless of that though. And all universes will follow a design, so there really is no one that's more official than another because the artistic ideas will always be the same. Its the characterization that determines which version of the character Sonic is the truth. The answer is that there is none. As Sonic's developer regarding characterization wasn't a member of Sonic Team or any other universe.


But what about foundational storyline?

The truth is from what I gathered that there is none.

[link]


According to this before the Nights into dreams era Sonic Team had no input into the storyline. The storyline was composed of two different sources SoJ and SoA.

So basically their storyline is real right?

..wrong.

Technically they establshed a vauge foundation for all universes, Sonic Team included...but not even their storylines added up. The storylines the two branches of SEGA made were to work with their audiences. They created a game with no distinguishing characteristics and slapped on storylines that weren't necessarily the same in some aspects. Which is why you see Amy called Sally in SoA while in SoJ she's Amy Rose (of course being that was a bad marketing move, SoA followed SoJ). So basically there is no definite storyline. As the people responsible for establishing what little info that was to be a foundation for all universes contradict themselves to work with their side of the shore. Why? Because a storyline etc...could be appealing to one side of the ocean but not another. So to ensure sucess the branches altered storylines to ensure that people of both sides would appreciate the game.


Meh...Miko is getting tired. I'll do more explaining and research later... the point is, Sonic Team didn't establish the foundations of characterization or continuity. Its a follwer like all other universes. Despite Sonic having no real storyline those who contributed to any foundational ideas were Sega executives as the link from Sonic cult suggests. It makes more sense than Sonic Team doing it. As Sonic Team provides the same storyline for both American and Japanese fans. With recognizeable features and plot. Which ultimately mean it isn't following the same pattern as SoJ and SoA higher ups. Otherwise it'd be working to make the storylines and characterization work based on what works for their audiences on both sides.

So because SoA and SoJ don't have a consistent storyline Sonic Team is true?

NO!

Sonic Team follows what it can from the universes those higher ups established, just like say Archie has done in their comics etc... to the best of their ability. I say best to their ability because storylines contradict as well as ideas and no universe has thus been able to incoroporate every idea (nor have they when it was possible at times). We'd probably be asking Sonic Team or any other universe way too much to incorporate ideas that contradict themselves in a way that makes sense.

Being Sonic Team isn't official, a universe doesn't need to follow the concepts of Sonic Team. All they need to do is be officially recognized by the true creators (Sega) and follow the vauge concepts provided from what I gather.



More research and edits later. I'm having a blast so far.

G'night....*sleeps*



..*wakes up*

Okay so onto the subject of Mr. Naka. He's not the bad guy here per se. I simply think most people overrate his contribution to the "true" Sonic. You see Naka is a programmer and was a programmer. However...I fail to see how that builds a foundation for all universes regarding Sonic's character or continuity. As yes he made developed the games... but honestly how does developing the games provide a foundation for storyline or characterization. It doesn't. So while Naka is a big part of Sonic game history as he helped oversee and program many of the wonderful games we have today... I really don't see any reason to see him the establisher of the initial storyline and characterization of a foundational Sonic.

"I go for SEGA version because the others are made up!"

A quote taken directly from a forum. Haven't we all seen this sort of thing a million times throughout our experiences as Sonic fans? Probably, if you are a member of majority of the fanbase you have, perhaps. The problem with such a quote is how much ignorance it actually holds, and how ignorant it can make people who want to learn about Sonic.

"It's not SonicTeam's is it?"

The first thing a lot of people think about (especially Sonic Team purists) is if the storyline of a continuity of Sonic is made by Sonic Team. Otherwise they deem it unofficial.

"Did Sonic Team create those comix?"

Sonic Team doesn't have to make a single universe to be official.


"You know why they are called Sonic Team?They created thier character Sonic The Hedgehog"

First misconception, the is the idea Sonic Team made Sonic. Sonic Team established his design and the games he'd be featured in. The Sega exectuives were the ones who made Sonic's character and storyline, not Sonic Team. Any true fan of the content of Sonic's character would be able to love him for the content of his character, not for a mere design. So in truth, Sega executives made the content of Sonic's character, and the storyline. Not Sonic Team.


"SonicTeam is sponsered by SEGA."

This is actually something people say to back up the idea Sonic Team is the true universe under Sega.Sonic Team games are published by SEGA, that's the only real difference between it and other universes. The author of Sailor Moon made a manga, and in America its published by Tokyopop, but the anime is not published through Tokyopop, because Tokyopop publishes manga not anime. So in America DiC, and later on another company publishes Sailor Moon in an anime. They're both ideas of the adventures of Sailor Moon, but they're published through different companies, because one focuses on a manga the other anime. Same with Sega, Sega works with publishing games. So they can easily publish the games created by their mascot, they even did this with STI games, games representing a seperate continuity of Sonic being put into a game. It was different because they handled the interpretations of what Sega exectuvies wanted differently like say SatAM did. Sonic Team interpreted it another way. Both get published by Sega because they are GAMES, not because one is favored over the other. Sega only publishes games, it allows other companies with expirience in publishing other media, to publish the non game continuities.But the team of other creatives who interpret and work with the non game continuities based on how they see what Sega wanted still have to abide by SEGA regulations, mainly Archie. Thus Archie especially has an idea of what Sega wants the route of the characters to go even better than Sonic Team.






Thus SEGA is just as much of if not more in control of the comics in comparision to the games. Sonic Team works/worked for SEGA yes, but they weren't the executives that created the charachter, they're as much a part of SEGA as all the other universes.Well, SEGA publishes games, not comics, or cartoons, which makes them able to directly publish a game but not something like a comic. The only difference, is the publishers of the mediums of continuity are of different. SEGA still has control of all plots, and developments of the charachters. The creatives of Archie still work for SEGA, and the profit still goes to SEGA. Thus the creatives work for SEGA just like Sonic Team.




"I am the father of Sonic, I originally created the character and concept."
~Yuji Naka


He originally created the design, and the games but that's it. If he's trying to imply anything further, he's lying. I'm being respectful about this, simply stating a fact, what's really happening. How's it disrespectful to tell anyone that 1+1=2?


Onto another topic. The comics make adaptions to Sonic Team's physical designs for advertising reasons, but that's simply a physical charachteristic. Sonic Team themselves developed no foundational content of Sonic's charachter that the other universes must follow. Sonic Team has no control over the content of Sonic's charachter in other continuities (save Sonic X), the only charachteristics provided to other creatives are the basic ideas the SEGA executives made.

Yuji Naka simply developed the games and designs. He was not behind charachterization or storylines. The team of creatives he leads is called "Sonic Team". So what? When they initially came out they didn't even have a name. They could name themselves anything they wanted, but they chose to call themselves Sonic Team. Their name doesn't change history and who are the real makers of the storylines and such that was the foundation for all Sonics, Amys, Tails'... whatever.



Concluding to this overall in lamen's terms... Sonic Team isn't cannon for the other continuities. They have no control over how the content of the Sonics, Tails', Amys, Knuckles, ect. at Archie and other continuities, nor do they have any control over the development. We hear quite often that SEGA is breathing down the necks of other continuities, making them doing things like say making Sally Acorn live and holding restrictions for Son/Sal. But that was SEGA's doing, not Sonic Team's. SEGA's ideas are still present in the other continuities, whereas it's uncertain in Sonic Team, which should probably allow people to question how "SEGA" Sonic Team's Sonic really is, because for all we know, he might not even be what SEGA wants, wheras the other continuities might perhaps be on a broader path because they keep in touch with SEGA's demands more frequently.

Pass it on... to other DA members and forums


Chain letter was started by: ~ ST-purist-protest

!

Okay comission time! I think I'll open myself to comissions after all I wanna help my friend buy everyone a surprise so yeah. If I do a comission it'll be better than a lot of the sloppy junk in my gallery. I'll put some real effort into it promise

So basically this is how it goes:

Sally Acorn: $10... I'll actually draw her. But ANY pic with Sally in it will be at least 7-10 bucks.

SonSal OR SonAmy: $20... high price? Well I'm by no means fond of either. As the matter of fact once you have these pics I dun even want them in my galler (I could probably keep a few of the SonAmy pics) So I'll give you the link to the pic, once you confirm having this picture I'm deleting it off DA for sure if its a SonSal pic.

one character pic: 5 bucks or less depends on how complicated the design it doesn't have to be StH related either, it can be any character

group pic: If there's two characters then it'll be around 7 dollars, anything else will range from about 8-10 bucks.

B&W= + $0

Color= + $3

If you ask for B&W drawings no extra charge, but if you ask for color that's an extra 3 bucks.

Sketch: $1-2 *shrugs*

Sketch of SonSal or SonAmy: $5-8


all payments will be through paypal and if not then through some other arranged method of payments.

Will be taking the payments as well. So we'd be needing to make arrangements with him for payment. Dun worry that shouldn't be too big a problem.

If you wish to request anything note my journal or
note me.

Okay first off, I think its time I had a little rant of my own. These rants are going to be based off of Sonic related stuff (my next rant will probably be on "shojo anime" and how most of the popular stuff is NOT good for girls so if you've got issues with demeaning shojo anime stay tune for next 'issue').

P.S: This is a rant for MY journal, my comfort, in other words. Do not get on my case about grammar, this is like my lil' diary journal thingy..not English class.

..anyways..I'm going talk about things I feel are currently misconceptions. No real order completely random.


Mina/Sonic=never happening

To this most would probably say this because they're hearing that in fact "The love triangle is over" by Mr. Gray (artist at archie) The statement went something like this..

THE LOVE TRIANGLE IS OVER. I REPEAT - THE LOVE TRIANGLE IS OVER. MOVE ALONG. THE WHITE ZONE IS FOR THE IMMEDIATE LOADING AND UNLOADING OF PASSENGERS ONLY

And to those people I personally beleive you didn't read the whole post. A part that interested me in particular was this

Thats part of the fun of waiting - you dont know whats going to happen. What we dont know is what her relationship is like with Ash, how he is outside of what little we've seen of him and what that is like in relation to her previous relationship/current close friendship with Sonic. Those things and anything else with Sonic will be touched upon as time goes on. But for right now - the horse is dead so stop beating it. There are other things to discuss in the book you know Things will eventually happen that will still develop Mina's relationship with Sonic and the rest of the cast and crew but for all intents and purposes, the love triangle is indeed finito and the story is indeed moving onwards. Moving onwards does not mean totally getting rid of the characters and thier previous relationships, but moreso evolving them . That goes with Mina too.
In my mind any romantic triangles Sonic's been in are not active for right now. And it'd be a lie to say they were, Mina's already dealing with Ash, and Sally's practically ditched Sonic after the 134 incident. Personally I see a Mina/Ash/Sonic triangle coming up in the future when time goes on, whatever feelings she has for Sonic will developed on. But not now, the comic has more things to touch on this year like Bunnie's past history etc, love triangles aren't the focus of the story.
I might also add that I wouldn't be surprised if taking the girls away from Sonic for awhile is to help them establish their own independance. Did anyone see the Sally Mini Series? A series that moved to develop Sally independantly from anything she established with Sonic? At the end of the series she's established having a new relationship she was in fact happy with and is seeming to move on with Geoffery. Which helps establish the idea she's not simply "Sonic's girl" and the mini series developed on what she could do. Why can't Mina undergo these things? When Sally goes with St.Jhon and develops her own interests in a mini series its okay and she's making herself look more independant, do that with Mina and the sky is falling..ahem why?
Anyway I'll be very interested in seeing how her relationships with Sonic and Ash go in the future but again, don't expect romance this year, and perhaps a lot of next year. I noticed he said "for now" the horse is dead. In this case the horse is the triangle/ any romantic issues Sonic has to undergo. Its a inactive issue for now. But in the future it'll probably be dealt with again but its dead for now, kick back and relax Sally and Mina fans because you will in fact have a lot of time to do fanfictions.

Sonic/Sally is going to happen because its featured in M:25YL

There's a lot of contraversy over how definite the future we see actually is. I can rightfully say though that Mr. Bollers will probably follow it as he did establish Nicole's roots the same as it'll be in M:25YL.However Mr. Penders told you that Sonic/Sally will happen, but at a price.I talked to someone very close to Ken and is the only one who really speaks on his behalf regarding Ken's feelings/interpretations to particular issues. But before we get into that Ken directly told fans :

"The only answers I've seen deal primarily with who Sonic ends up

with for a life partner. Personally, I don't believe he'd end up being a King with Sally as his mate. I went with that premise, however, because the majority of readership views that pairing as inevitable much like Superman's fans did with Lois Lane."

You are only seeing Sonic/Sally in M:25YL because fans feel its inevitable for them to get together. However BobR (who normally speaks on behalf of Ken) has told us to note that Mr. Penders looks at Sonic/Sally the equivalent of Superman/Lois Lane in Superman's comics. In the comics superman marries Lois, but things don't go well and the eventually divorce. Which means if this when you read between the lines: Sonic/Sally if M:25YL is the true future (which it probably is) will be a "temporary cannon" pairing. As in these two will be king and queen raising two children for a certain ammount of years and THEN they break up for good like Superman and Lois Lane.
I personally pity SonSally fans reading at this point. Because they will forever have to know that despite any ups and downs Sonic and Sally go through, they will eventually fall apart. Sonic's final mate will not be Sally from what Penders is saying but she will be a mate he has sometime in his life. The only way Sonic's future 25YL wouldn't parallel to the M:25YL future though is if he was with someone else or single. So either way you don't get a happy reality SonSally fans.



S0NiK tEAm iS OoOfFIcIAL SeGA SoNiiKKKKUUu1!1349

I have absolutely no problem with people liking Sonic Team games. What I do have a problem with is that people suddenly think its wonderful to go around, saying how "Sonic Team" is somehow the "SegaSonic universe" and how all the other universes aren't official from Sega.SegaSonic is a collective of universes. It is NOT just one. Sega is a "company" not a group of "game" producers, a group of "comic" producers, "anime" producers etc.. Its a "company" that has promoted all of the above though okay?
Sega has handed many companies and producers Sonic to work with and make profits. But it recognizes "all" of them and because is the sole reason all of them started. In a sense then, Sega gave birth to all the universes the moment they handed Sonic to a group of creatives for profits. All of them are official because of the fact Sega recognizes them and started them regardless of the branch. Sega even had to "hand" Sonic to Sonic Team, which showes Sega's got the power to make things official. As Sonic Team had to get an okay from the "company" they work for in order to make an official universe. Which showes they don't do that on their own and thus they have no authority to state what is and what isn't official.
Though Sonic Team is the "first" universe that came, that's obvious. However that's like saying the firstborn child to a woman is her "only" official child while the others whom we know for a fact she gave birth to and have her genetics aren't biologically hers. That's absurd. ALL of them are officially Sega's children. They're official and that's because Sega recognizes them as such. Some say Sega's "never" been interacted with these other universes and so they can't be official. The fact that Sega handed Sonic to a group of creatives to establish a universe for profit alone showes interaction, there has to be interaction to start something.


Archie Sally vs. Sonic Team Amy

This debate is actually one I don't consider something worth arguing. The "Amy vs. Sally" debates. Actually its quite funny. In any universe where Sally's the love interest Amy isn't and wherever Amy's the closest thing to if not a love interest Sally isn't.
In Sonic Team, Sonic Team's interpretation of Sally was the small furry animal Ricky squirrel. First of Ricky's male so there's no much chance Sonic Team would do Sonic/Sally there by default. Then there's Archie, Amy exists but in Archie's interpretation Amy and Sonic share a brotherly/sisterly bond while Sally and Mina are the potential love interests (I'm rooting for Mina). In Fleetway Sonic has NO real romantic interest in Amy or Sally. In Sonic X Amy's the love interest but Sally doesn't exist. While in SatAM Sally's the love interest but Amy doesn't exist.
So how can anyone make these Sally vs. Amy debates as to which should/will get Sonic when neither Sally or Amy really compete for Sonic in any universe? I can understand if someone said "I think Sonic Team Amy would be better for SatAM Sonic because _________" but keep in mind, Sonic Team Amy does not and probably will never exist in SatAM, so again its probably pointless to make a decent debate over the issue. Also you could say Fleetway Amy would probably be better for Sonic Team Sonic than Sonic Team Amy, but Sonic Team Amy already has established herself into the story and she "is" the Amy of her respective universe not Fleetway's. People get over it. You can dream for it to happen but I'm tired of people pretending the Amy of their preference exists in a
seperate continuity than the one she's in or pretending a SonAmy or SonSal or Sonwhatever relationship exists in a place where it doesn't.
On a final note I enjoy neither Amy nor Sally a love interests for Sonic. Sonic Team Amy fans yell saying Archie Sally and/or SatAM Sally was selfish on her accounts with Griff in SatAM, and purposely trying to make Sonic jealous through Geoffery, her 134 incident, and her reaction to the love triangle in Archie. Though is Sonic Team Amy really that better in terms of selfishness? We're talking about a girl who cannot consider Sonic's feelings and happiness, rather her own. She wants Sonic as her beloved prize and trophy but that's posession. She isn't truly caring about how Sonic feels, him not being ready for a comittment etc.. she hurts him now just like Archie Sally in 134..she's no different in my eyes. I've come to realize that her only reason for going to prison island was for her own selfish purposes. She would die to have her "trophy" and make herself happy. Its not like Mina's sacrifice where she would run the potential to died feeling lonely, unhappy and unloved to make Sonic happy. Amy was considering that she could finally have a trophy, and hand in marriage with Sonic through this act.. she never even considered her motives were in fact selfishness...speaking of that..my next rant's well underway.

SatAM Sonic/Sally

I'm not a real fan of it. Not like I used to be when I was a kid, lacked any opinion of love and perceived love as whatever the girl/guy/story said it was. Now I've formed an opinion and it doesn't meet with SatAM Sonic/Sally. It could've if the show was able to continue airing SatAM and thus developing Sonic and Sally's relationship... but that never happened. I think I dropped all hope of the pair during the Sally/Griff/Sonic incident. From what I remember Sally wanted to make Sonic jealous by going off with Griff so that she could make him more like a gentleman or whatever she wanted. Two mistakes in my eyes.

1. She tried making Sonic jealous. An attempt that showed Sally didn't consider a method that wouldn't mess with Sonic's emotions in a negative way and instead tried a more selfish position.

2. The fact she wanted to change Sonic. When you say you "love" someone you have to realize that "someone" is a person and a person has pros and cons to them. Sally couldn't accept and love Sonic despite a particular con to Sonic's character. So she didn't love him because she couldn't look past every con about his character and what it influenced him to do, rather she tried to change his character into someone she "could" love that followed with "actions" she could love too. Otherwise she wouldn't have tried to change him. Its not a fact Sonic "has" to be a gentlemen to be a loveable person like say eating right will make you healthy and its for your own physical good to be healthy. There's no proof that guys like Sonic "cannot" ever find a girl who could love them or be "loving."

I understand after the whole Griff incident Sally would find herself being more affectionate to Sonic at the end of the story. But I simply with the time I was given couldn't see her redeeming herself
completely. As I can't remember anything that puts into practice the idea she'd look past all his flaws and love him. It is simply an opinion I have and I can't redeem her personally. This is not saying "you" can't like SatAM SonSal, I just really don't see myself supporting it.

Sally the whore?

I hear this a lot. "Sally's a whore" but I don't really think she is in any universe I see. Only in Archie though do I see her "promote" the same "themes" a whore can. She doesn't engage in any R-rated activity but you don't have to in order to promote the themes of a whore. First of all many people who are "steryotypically" whores or show off a lot of sex appeal are thought of to be nothing more than eye candy. I'm sure there are "many" exceptions (one of which IMO is Rouge the bat) But c'mon lets be serious. When a guy goes to a those "R-rated clubs" and sees a whore how often is he going to think "Wow she's probably the smartest girl in the world blah blah blah?" Probably not often.
In my mind the "steryotypical" whore, promotes that a girl is nothing more than to be an object of lust for guy veiwers... perhaps at times girl veiwers too. Sally is no different to me. Her breasts size had doubled, her rear has gotten a boost too, her hair is probably 3-5 times as long as it was before, her thighs have thickened ... and she's grown to be more useless. It is like if a girl is promoted to look "pretty" can't be of any real use save eye candy for veiwers. That's rather insulting especially for girls who have esteem about their looks.
Notice how Sally has gotten more and more useless throughout the years but the comics develop her body? Its like as she gets prettier she becomes dumber or more useless to the world around her, while when she had little to no sex appeal she was usually pretty useful. Its an annoying message you can get from people who are not whores simple as that.

o___o; uhm yeah its getting to be that time where I turn sweet 16 (well many of you would consider me far from that) but... with that, I get presents...right? *glares at some of you*