What did Boom do Right?

[WarTraveller]

I think it's safe to say Boom as a sub-franchise in general...didn't work. Not only were the games a complete mess (partly because SEGA didn't learn their lesson from 06 about rushing games), but the show was painful and drowned itself in memes (well, so does the main Sonic, to be fair) and the comic...well, the comic was alright. It was all set up to sell toys, and it shows; this sh*t feels like it was all from the 90's.

But that does ask the question. I suppose. Did Sonic Boom do ANYTHING right? What made you laugh? What made you smile? What even made you go "Okay, that's actually pretty cool..."? Say below and see if there's anything worth salvaging in Sonic "Memes and Merchendise" Boom.

I'll start;

1. The episode with the Eggman's tomtato soup. A funny episode in and of itself, with a rather amusing twist. That, and I think the interactions between Tails and his plane were VERY funny (still would've preferred the Tornado, though. I mean come on, it was in the first episode and you made a model for it! I thought this show was supposed to be on a budget).

2. Eggman himself. Not the BEST incarnation of Eggman (that's honestly still up to debate), but certainly one of the funniest. Sure he's not in any way capable or competant (indeed, he's quite pathetic), but he was a blast to follow. And Mike Pollock's voice for him is irreplacable. And, well, compared to the Archie version of Ivo Eggman "The only reason I'm not a thin stain on the ground is because SEGA gave me Plot Armour" Robotnick, he's practically a godsend.

3. Tails x Zooey. It's not the BEST romantic relationship for sure, but the fact Tails got another shot at romance with SEGA's poor history to it in the first place is intruiging. Especially compared to Sonic (whose romances nearly killed both the games and the comics and is now locked behind a mandate), Knuckles (his got scuppered by legal issues), Amy (who SEGA is perfectly fine with having all the brains of a bag of bricks) and Sticks (...unlikely to get into a romantic relationship, to say the least).

4. I also kind of like Zooey, even if she's just a female version of Tails with no personality beyond "Tails' Girlfriend" (and even that didn't last long). But she's still not FINO, she's not Cosmo the Talking Vegtable ("ME. IT'S ALL ABOUT ME. I HAVE BECOME CHRIS, DESTROYER OF FOCUS!") or Cream (did those two share ANY sort of chemistry in the main canon?).

5. Perci. Just a shame they never used her. Properly, that is.

6. The concept of the entire village being Mobians like Sonic and the others (and not those weird alien things like in Underground). A lot easier to beleive than it being just Sonic and Tails (and whatever friends are allowed this week) and the rest being humans; that is NOT enough for a stable population of Sonic's kind. Though this IS sullied by the fact that, uh, EVERY SINGLE ONE of those villagers is hopelessly dumb and beyond unlikeable.

That's...about it. Any others you wish to add to this list?

[Mike Arcade]

I don't have a particular list per say, though I do think Boom has more flaws then perks that I would like to look over in the future, I can point out some good points to it though.

For one it revitalized Sonic to a younger demographic that may or may not have known about Sonic beforehand, in that way Sega was successful as Sonic Boom did do this.Granted it's under a separate continuity from the games but with Sticks being incorporated into the latest Mario & Sonic Olympics Game it makes me wonder just what are they going to do with Boom and Sega Sonic.

Speaking of which, Sticks has become the breakout character for the show, so much so that as I've mentioned is being brought in with the Sega Sonic cast in the previously mentioned game. This is very important to notice, as the only time a character outside of the games has appeared in one of the games was in Sonic Spinball having Sally, Bunnie, and Rotor, and Sonic Adventure DX's Mission Mode showing a promo poster of Sonic X with Chris Thorndyke.
However unlike previous cameos, she is mentioned by name and is in the front lines, which has never happened before. This could bring in the possibility of other characters coming outside of the games into the games, though from previous series such as SatAM, STC, and so forth that seems unlikely.

So why does that matter then? Well the thing is Sonic Boom parallels an interesting time of being the first Sonic show in years, Sonic Boom is obviously at this point a nonsense comedy with little to no stakes in the matter, much like another Sonic Cartoon from over 13 years ago. That's right, I'm comparing Sonic Boom as the modern counterpart of AoSTH. Granted AoSTH was ever more insane then Sonic Boom and had more stakes to it in some points, but it does raise an interesting question, what will come after Sonic Boom? Around the same time as AoSTH, but slightly after it's debut came SatAM, could history repeat itself? Could we get another Sonic Show afterwards that has some real stakes to it and characters we can relate and care about? Would it be a revival to the concept of Mobius and The Freedom Fighters, or go in a completely different direction? Who can say, but I will say that Sonic Boom for all it's zaniness and faults is that it opens up the possibility for something much greater to come after it, if that's the case Sonic Boom might have just been worth it after all.

At least that's what I think about Sonic Boom's impact as a whole, as for the show itself...yeah I can point out some nice bits to it.

Yeah Tails getting a girlfriend that he doesn't have to kill or a crush that turns heel is a nice change of pace, even though she's a complete block of wood it's a start. We do have Perci...whose only used as a generic background character despite having an actual name...hmm...

Ah I got it, Swifty the Shrew, RADICAL SPEED!

[WarTraveller]

23 minutes ago, Mike Arcade said:

So why does that matter then? Well the thing is Sonic Boom parallels an interesting time of being the first Sonic show in years, Sonic Boom is obviously at this point a nonsense comedy with little to no stakes in the matter, much like another Sonic Cartoon from over 13 years ago. That's right, I'm comparing Sonic Boom as the modern counterpart of AoSTH. Granted AoSTH was ever more insane then Sonic Boom and had more stakes to it in some points, but it does raise an interesting question, what will come after Sonic Boom? Around the same time as AoSTH, but slightly after it's debut came SatAM, could history repeat itself? Could we get another Sonic Show afterwards that has some real stakes to it and characters we can relate and care about? Would it be a revival to the concept of Mobius and The Freedom Fighters, or go in a completely different direction? Who can say, but I will say that Sonic Boom for all it's zaniness and faults is that it opens up the possibility for something much greater to come after it, if that's the case Sonic Boom might have just been worth it after all.

While it WOULD be nice to see a return to the older, more mature and more serious Sonic that SATAM provided, I find that...unlikely. Mainly because that would require SEGA to see the other characters as anymore more than meme material or unneeded (or filler for those awful olympics games). Even Tails doesn't really do anything these days, being this sort of abraisive walking toolbox. AND it would also require not only the majority of the fanbase but also the majority of gaming jounalists and gamers to just stop that "Sonic's Worthless Friends" shtick.

Because they're not worthless; Sonic and Tails cannot hold a story (or a game) on their own (partly of how much their personalities have been sandblasted away from a combination of SEGA's mandates and the poor writing skills of Pontac and Graff), and a lot of the characters (such as Blaze, Shadow, Silver, even Knuckles) have a lot more intruige and backstory than Sonic;

Knuckles is from a near extinct race of Echidnas who are forever instructed to guard the most powerful artefact in the known world.

Shadow was made to heal the sick, but was twisted into a weapon of war who has had to play both sides to do what he thinks is right.

Blaze is a Princess forever cursed with the duty of guarding the Sol Emeralds, as well as her crippling lack of social skills.

Silver hails from an eternally doomed future, determined to fix his broken world without ruining the present as well.

Sonic...well, he came from SOMEWHERE.

See what I mean? For anything to improve (and for a SATAM 2 to happen, which I am in favour for), the characters would need to come back and improve. Not ALL of them, like perhaps a different group of them each game, all with actual personality and intruige so we can see them working together as a team, rather than just Sonic doing EVERYTHING because those lunchboxes won't sell themselves! And...I don't see SEGA being willing to do any of that.

[Sorzo]

could history repeat itself? Could we get another Sonic Show afterwards that has some real stakes to it and characters we can relate and care about?

That's extremely unlikely, and an invalid comparison to begin with. SatAM made its debut less than two weeks after AOSTH did, a difference that likely came down to nothing more than network scheduling. For all intents and purposes, neither show came before the other. They were concurrently developed by separate teams, with very little overlap beyond Sonic's voice actor. The two series were made at the onset, and ultimately height, of the franchise's popularity. Sonic was a sensation, the only video game icon capable of going toe-to-toe with Mario. It had the sales and popularity to encourage rapid transmedia expansion, but lacked a clear tonal or narrative identity. The show teams were given a great deal of room to creatively interpret and expand on a handful of basic core concepts, thus resulting in two wildly different approaches taking place simultaneously.

Flash forward to today, and the state of the franchise could not be more different. The Sonic IP is dying a slow, slow death. Far from being the juggernaut at the top of the world it once was, it has for over a decade been critically panned far more often than not. Sales remained robust for a time, but the last two major entries sold poorly, and as game development costs continue to increase, SEGA seems to be turning to other properties in pursuit of revenue. Sonic, both the character and franchise, now suffers from extremely poor word of mouth; rather than being 'cool' as it was originally meant to be, Sonic is usually treated as the butt of jokes or a poster child for ruined series by adults outside of its fanbase, itself notoriously controversial and the recipient of many an insult. Children, the series' main source of income, meanwhile, seem to be switching away from mascot-based platformers and toward mobile and toy-based games, a shift that extends beyond Sonic and can perhaps be best seen in the abysmal failure of Nintendo's Wii U.

The Boom sub-series was a desperate attempt to make Sonic relevant again by reenvisioning the series and giving it a fresh start. It failed spectacularly. Even if the franchise gets by on life support for a few more years, I can all but guarantee that, outside of the upcoming film, which itself is a disaster in the making, such an experiment will never be attempted again without a dramatic revival of the series' popularity. Even should such a thing happen, SEGA currently seems bent on pushing for a lighthearted tone, doubtless a result of the universal panning of the stories of Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic 06. To a large extent, the blame is on them, assuming the poor reception to be due to tone rather than poor writing. But from a financial perspective, the decision is understandable. The mainstream public very rarely embraces serious stories involving 'furry' characters, generally welcoming them only as conduits for basic, light-hearted comedy.

[Mike Arcade]

Geez guys way to lighten the mood. XP

Yeah it is unlikely, though in an optimistic perspective that's the best case scenario, even though it's highly unlikely. However I would like to point out that the mainstream public DID except a few serious...or at least semi-serious stories involving "furry" characters, such as The Secret of NIMH and especially The Lion King...though they were more animal in most regards, not to mention Duck Tales and Darkwing Duck being some pretty good examples, I would say SWAT Kats but that would be more my preference then anything else.

I would like to say that Boom is a least somewhat successful, after all it's getting a 2nd season, though unless they change things around with how the show goes that might just be the last season it gets, then again Teen Titans GO is still around so heck if I know. Not only that but the toy sales from Boom have put in a decent profit if it's to be believed, though that's debatable.

Though I will say this, Boom isn't as successful due to how the show is and the poor result of it's first wave of games, that's obvious to point out though, perhaps I could go into better detail with the show itself at another topic, but that's for another day. Honestly I struggled pointing out what Boom did right.

[Ishapar]

Never cared much for Boom, but we're supposed to say the positives, right?

 

Boom does take place in a world of mostly "Mobians" with Eggman being the only human in the series.  A huge plus.  I always thought the introduction of a huge human population in the game series helped mark the drift of the games as former gamers were used to seeing Robotnik as the only human in Mobius (and the world Sonic lived on was Mobius).  At least Boom made a comeback in creating a Mobian world though that's pretty much the entire cake.  The Mobians themselves don't really have much good for them and are pretty forgettable (compare than to the Archie and Satam).

Outside of the Sonic community, I think Boom is pretty decent for a modern kids cartoon.  The animation is pretty good, and the action scenes aren't too corny.  While the jokes may also be corny, at least most of the humor is intended for kids, something that is rare to find in modern "kid" cartoons.  If I wasn't a Sonic fan, I probably would appreciate Boom more.

That is what makes Boom a problem: most Sonic fans are disgusted with the franchise, but Boom has attracted new Sonic fans to its portion of the franchise which means, unfortunately for Sega and Sonic, a more divided fanbase.  How is Sega going to please all of these fans?

[Wulfsbane]

On 6/5/2016 at 9:58 AM, WarTraveller said:

3. Tails x Zooey. It's not the BEST romantic relationship for sure, but the fact Tails got another shot at romance with SEGA's poor history to it in the first place is intruiging. Especially compared to Sonic (whose romances nearly killed both the games and the comics and is now locked behind a mandate), Knuckles (his got scuppered by legal issues), Amy (who SEGA is perfectly fine with having all the brains of a bag of bricks) and Sticks (...unlikely to get into a romantic relationship, to say the least).

5. Perci. Just a shame they never used her. Properly, that is.

 

3. It's clearly not the best romantic relationship, but I kinda doubt we can call it that. Has there really been a mention or reference to this after the episode aired? I think if they gave a bit more time to even try to flesh this out we could have something partially decent than what we've had in awhile. I liked the concept of the episode and I think the episode was decent to say the least but one thing i've noticed is that they do episodes like this and then completely forget about it the very next episode. I understand the show is supposed to be like this but I feel some since of development should be in order and given this episode was the perfect way to do so but nothing came up of it.

5. Actually she was supposed to have a major role in Rise of Lyric, they even found audio files for her. She could have had a very good role in Sonic Boom but I dont know why plans changed.

[WarTraveller]

7 hours ago, Wulfsbane said:

 

3. It's clearly not the best romantic relationship, but I kinda doubt we can call it that. Has there really been a mention or reference to this after the episode aired? I think if they gave a bit more time to even try to flesh this out we could have something partially decent than what we've had in awhile. I liked the concept of the episode and I think the episode was decent to say the least but one thing i've noticed is that they do episodes like this and then completely forget about it the very next episode. I understand the show is supposed to be like this but I feel some since of development should be in order and given this episode was the perfect way to do so but nothing came up of it.

5. Actually she was supposed to have a major role in Rise of Lyric, they even found audio files for her. She could have had a very good role in Sonic Boom but I dont know why plans changed.

3. That is a problem, yes. Partly due to A: a lack of continuity and B: the writers of the show are...not good.  I counted the episodes between Tails' Crush and Fire in a Crowded Workshop, basically the gap between the time Tails met his girlfriend and time it took to get him drooling over Perci for some reason. It was about three. Three episodes. I wonder if SEGA saw this romance and basically went "Romance? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" and promptly told the writers to bin it. That's what I'd like to imagine Sega does all day; sit around with their heads in the sand.

5. Probably to keep the focus on the main five. Well, the main three and a half, because Sticks barely does anything anyway and Amy...well. I would have forgiven them for that if the show treated her well. Which it didn't. When you say a character is supposed to be this tough-as-nails badass who has defended an island from technologically superiors beings of evil for literal centuries, you do NOT introduce that character being brainwashed into a Totally-Not-Justin-Bieber fangirl. Oh, and throwing in an obvious clone from a lack of budget and saying she's her twin sister (which had never been mentioned before).