yayyy it’s tkoooo

It was amazing. I know some people probably think I’m jaded when it comes to newer Sonic stuff, but, like, that was really good.

And not just because it’s full of references to old Sonic cartoons (and comics!), but because it’s, like… earnest. There was a time where Sonic’s presence, especially on social media, was a weird sort of self deprecating “we’re in on the joke that Sonic is bad” humor. While that kind of went away, you still had things like Sonic Boom’s “creepy fanboy” episode (among other jokes poking fun at itself and Sonic fans). 

OK K.O. communicates a respect and a reverence for the character, both in his past incarnations and modern ones. It unabashedly says, “this stuff is cool” with grace and tact and an eye for detail that Sega hasn’t had in a long time.

It does all of this without needing a gimmick, or irony, or significantly changing how characters look. It is 11 minutes of wholesome, pure, laser-focused Sonic the Hedgehog. It’s everything I’ve wanted from that character.

And it really is impressive just how much they managed to get away with. It’s been all but said that towards the end of his run on Archie, Sega gave Ian Flynn a big list of terms he wasn’t allowed to use anymore. Despite Sega being so poor at consistent characterization (or even character design, in some cases), they had strict rules that barred him from mentioning terms like “Planet Mobius.”

Mobius doesn’t come up in this short, but they do say the word “roboticizer” out loud (and the machine has a pretty distinctive design). The kids with the comic book in the intro are also apparently holding Archie’s Sonic Quest: The Death Egg Saga #2 (it’s vague and blobby and old enough that nobody from Sega caught it, but fans did).