#pontaff

[speedofsoundsketches]

I completely agree with the character ages, Sonic will always be 15!

Too, why can't we have "Talk about low budget flights! No TV or movies? I'm outta here!" Sonic?

...instead we have "bAlDy nOse Hair? GoTta reMember that onE!" Sonic.

I miss Sonic Adventure.

Gonna be totally honest and this may be a bit controversial but

Sonic's always been kinda cringe, even in the Adventure Era.

That's not to say I'm defending "Baldy McNosehair' because I agree, it's a bad line and not really funny but.... this isn't THAT new for the series.

For example, watch the original ending for SA2. After having a morose moment with Rouge by returning Shadow's ring to her and Amy interrupting him in deep thought on what had happened, he dismisses it by saying

"Let's go home! To the planet as COOL and BLUE as me!"

And it's just... the delivery was jarring to the atmosphere that it cracks me up. I know he's not one to dwell on sad things but that switch up after such an emotional roller coaster that is Shadow's story-line is such a funny way to end the whole game on.

But granted, it works because he still gives Shadow a final quiet goodbye after that so AT LEAST it saved that moment from being laughed off too easily. This felt intentional as a good little character moment because even if the line's awkward, it's probably just him trying to keep the spirits up after a heavy ending. Which is pretty in character of him to do.

These awkward moments usually came off as just being earnest and sometimes added depth despite itself.

Also, Mcnosehair is far less offensive to me than

But even this isn't too dissimilar from some of the embarrassing lines he's said in Shadow the Hedgehog for example.

There are definitely parts of the Pontaff Era I dislike quite a bit and I wholeheartedly admit I'm more into Classic->Dark Ages in terms of overall tone, intent and execution. But I think people's underlying issues with Pontaff's Era has less to do with the once-in-a-blue-moon cringe lines and more an overall issue with intent, tone and execution of them.

But that's a much bigger conversation than I can get into today. Maybe another time when I have the energy for it.

[sonic7ischaos]

The best description of Sonic the Hedgehog's character I've ever heard compared him to Yusuke Urameshi from Yu Yu Hakusho.

A punk kid with no respect for rules or authority, but a heart of gold. I've been comparing him to Goku, and a lot of that does still fit, he's a thrill seeker who's always up for a challenge and likes to show off his skills, but that's not the full picture. Goku's too nice, too approachable. Not that Sonic's mean, but he's abrasive, short tempered not quite like Knuckles, but more in the way of someone who generally lacks patience. He'll bail on you for leaving the controller still for too long, and doesn't like to wait on long winded explanations. He's sarcastic and a little full of himself, but not to the point of full arrogance, just a little smug on account of how cool he knows he is. That smug, brash confidence is a part of why he clashes so much with Knuckles, who is more a more mellow, thoughtful person, someone more careful and serious.

They're actually doing Knuckles pretty right lately, but Sonic needs some work. Still LEAGUES better than when it was Pontaff, but he's been softened up too much. The Sonic OVA is actually a pretty good representation of the character, but for Game Sonic, Adventure 2 and Heroes, as well as Battle for the GBA are pretty good places to look to see what I'm talking about. All relatively dialogue heavy games for Sonic that nail the unhinged thrill seeking, confrontational, cocky punk vibes to his character.

[botebot-10]

Pontaff are my favorite mainline Sonic writers thus far, their stories always made me laugh! ^-^ (Included Fire & Ice cuz they wrote only 3 mainline Sonic games as far I am aware..)

I know its not perfect but I loved stupid stuff like Zavok and Master Zik being annoyed at the Deadly Six and Zavok just snapping at some point!

[aquillis-main]

Do fans really mean it that they wish harm on pontaff and warren, despite the fact that at the end of the day they were just getting their paycheck from sega, I never even had a problem with their writing.

There are... a lot of people would have voiced such distain for Pontaff.

[stachehand]

If Ken Pontac and Warren Graff wrote Sonic Frontiers...

There'd be at least one comment in the game about the Cyber Space portals looking like armchairs.

[the-fourth-knower]

Do you think Pontaff did irreparable damage to Sonic or is it entirely fixable?

Well, they didn’t write for Sonic 06, or Shadow the Hedgehog. So I would say that yes, it is entirely fixable.

The issues Sonic has been having, gamewise, aren’t even tied to the duo . It’s rather more an issue of how SEGA has been handling Sonic, including just seeing it as a joke until recently if it is to be believed.

Better writing doesn’t address the issue of Forces’s gameplay. Writing is just one part of a game, and if you don’t have a fun game to play then there is something wrong. And Sonic had games with enough issues that made them not fun to play, such as Heroes.

Heroes is a game that has no input from Pontaff, and is honestly kind of meh. The story is wonky in places, and the gameplay isn’t much better. (Oh you want the final story? Too bad, play through the game four separate times to unlock the final story. Also everyone is now a basically a clone of each other.)

Even Adventure 2 has its issues; Knuckles and Rouge just show up squabbling over the Master Emerald in... a desert. I guess the Master Emerald wanted a vacation?

Anyways, there’s other issues other than Pontaff that have predated them, and they in no way caused the irreparable damage.

[rollflasher]

So according to this, apparently Pontaff is no longer working for Sonic anymore, tho until it’s further confirmed I would recommend taking this information with a grain of salt just in case, no one ever knows.

https://twitter.com/ThatSoni/status/1234177289207848967?s=19

[puyoconfessions]

I could see Risukuma and Ally being yandere for each other if Pontaff ever wrote for the series. It would actually be the funniest thing they’d ever write.

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