PewDiePie introduced his own idea about how Sonic the Hedgehog should look in the new movie following uproar prompted by the design that Paramount and Sega revealed in the movie’s trailer. The Swedish vlogger, who has one of YouTube’s most subscribed channels, joined the roasting that the entertainment giant has had to endure, offering his own take on fixing the videogame-inspired character.
The vlogger stated that he had decided to offer help to the studio amid the backlash from fans. However, as is often the case with PewDiePie, his efforts hardly seemed to have any purpose but to have a laugh.
Among other things, he suggested making Sonic realistic and dyed a real hedgehog blue in a graphic editing program. He didn’t stop there, either, and introduced what he called Thanosonic, photoshopping Thanos’ face onto the blue hedgehog’s snout. According to him, Thanosonic was still not worse than the original picture. His other proposals included Shrek Sonic, Dr Phil Sonic, and Sponge Bob Sonic.
The controversy around the character arose as the Sega-released trailer for the Sonic movie, due to hit screens on 7 November, met a barrage of criticism on social networks as soon as it saw the light of day two weeks ago.
In response, director Jeff Fowler even took to Twitter to address the backlash, informing the public that he was fully aware of the critical remarks about the character's design, in particular with regard to Sonic's creepily human-like physique.
Thank you for the support. And the criticism. The message is loud and clear… you aren't happy with the design & you want changes. It's going to happen. Everyone at Paramount & Sega are fully committed to making this character the BEST he can be… #sonicmovie #gottafixfast 🔧✌️
— Jeff Fowler (@fowltown) May 2, 2019
PewDiePie, an individual creator who recently abandoned his 11-month-long effort to compete with an Indian commercial enterprise, T-Series, for YouTube supremacy, has already weighed in on the Sonic-centred debate.
READ MORE: 'It’s a Curse': PewDiePie Addresses Failing Efforts to Redesign Hedgehog Sonic
The Internet celebrity drew a series of sketches of cartoon and game characters, including the movie version of Sonic the Hedgehog, based only on how well he could remember them. He also put up on EBay his own vision of what the blue creature should look like based on his memory of the character, then sharing a link to his reimagined artwork.
The drawing attracted an ostentatiously high bid, equal to over US $13 million in the first 48 hours. Besides, PewDiePie, who is an avid former Sonic game player, released a clip called "Sonic-focused meme review", uploading fixes to the hedgehog's image.
