Sonic the Hedgehog artist and animator Tyson Hesse, best known for his work in Sonic Mania, the Sonic Movie and a number of official Sonic animations, has confirmed that he is not involved in the upcoming Netflix-produced Sonic cartoon.
In a brief statement on the Sonic Retro fan forums, Hesse (known to the community there as ‘Boxer Hockey’, a reference to his online comic series pre-Sonic) wrote that he has been kept aware of the Netflix show’s production but hasn’t been able to commit any work to it directly.
“I am not involved in this show. I’ve been in the loop about it but don’t have the bandwidth to be a part of it right now,” Hesse explained. The comment was in response to many questions from fans on the forum as to whether he was going to be contributing work to the project.
The artist also opined on SEGA’s intentions for the use of Classic Sonic, adding, “for what it’s worth I probably wouldn’t have chosen to do a classic show anyway. Sega is never going to return to classic wholesale, and the split isn’t doing this franchise any favors. The goal should be to just make Modern stuff good enough that people don’t need to reminisce anymore, imo.”
Well, that settles that. With Tyson being involved in so many official Sonic projects over the last few years – from comics to cartoons to movies – it is perhaps natural for fans to assume that he was going to be involved in the upcoming Netflix show. But, it seems that Hesse has put those rumours to rest.
I fully agree with Tyson’s comments regarding Classic Sonic, I can only hope Sega/Sonic Team have the same mindset moving forward.
Not gonna be surprised if the cartoon ends up being relatively cheap and generic like Mega Man: Fully Charged did. Hesse’s statement on the future of Sonic games however, is relatively understandable.
So neither Hesse or Flynn are involved.
God, so help me if this is another Sonic Boom/Pontaff project…….
Classic Sonic’s use should be a celebration/rare occurrence thing, I agree.
It’s amazing they didn’t replace Sonic in Smash Ultimate for Classic, like they did with Ike’s Wii look and Link’s Wii U look.
I think most of the divide comes from Sonic’s strange personality shift after the voice change, the fans that got used to the new Sonic now needed to adapt again, instead they found comfort in Classic Sonic’s silent personality which is virtually impossible to screw up.
I honestly don’t have high hopes for this series to be any good (at best it could be tolerable), and I still think there is a good chance this will be tied to the live-action movies (the original and the sequel which is supposed to come out next year).
I also fully agree with Hesse’s statements on the use of Classic Sonic.