Sta.sh
) is weird and it makes no sense that I really don't bother correcting it 
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'bout time I updated the journal.
Through a combination of noticing it on my own and being on the Bumbleking forum (several members of which seem to have a dim view of adaptations that do their own thing), I wondered: Why do I have a problem with character designs in the Sonic series that stray too far from the "standard", but alt-continuity characters from Megaman are perfectly fine?
Short answer is that in Megaman, the main cast is (for the most part) always redesigned to fit the aesthetic of whatever alternate continuity they're in, whereas in Sonic, it's usually just a few stylistic tweaks (with the exception of Robotnik/Eggman). Therefore the blatant disconnect between the game and non-game characters that tends to crop up in Sonic stuff, doesn't in MM.
People often cite Archie-Sonic as a good example of disharmonious character designs (though in recent years they've put a lot of effort into reducing that); I see your Archie-Sonic and raise you a Fleetway-Sonic--which oddly, I hear almost no complaints about (though that may just be that the fandom for it is smaller/quieter). Does anyone know what the hell kind of lizard Grimer is supposed to be?
Heck, StC has so many non-standard designs running around that when exclusive characters based more directly on the game guys show up, it's incredibly jarring (though as Vector and his scientist buddies demonstrate, being the same species as a game character doesn't always mean you'll look like said game character).
Contrast something like RS-MM, where people like, say, Roll and the cosmetics-bot actually look like they belong in the same universe. I don't think anyone could point at the show and claim it was inconsistent in that regard (except maybe the angry game-purists, but we don't talk about them).
WITH ALL THAT SAID, I still love me some alternate continuities and the Sonic series is no exception. They all have their own distinct feel to them, which is generally one thing I look for in my third-party stuff. I just felt the need to ramble about character designs.
EDIT: Seems that "problem" was not the best term to use; I should've said something like "Why do I subconsciously compare the designs of third-party Sonic characters to those of the games', when I don't do that with Megaman?" The answer is still "Megaman rarely has issues with visual consistency (design-wise)".
I'm not actually THAT bothered by stuff like StC's exclusive characters; it's just that I tend to notice when something'd not derived from the same base, if that makes any sense.
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I'm glad that the level of art consistency has risen in ArchieSonic. One of the first minor things Yardley! did but which I'll forever respect was draw every Mobian with 5 fingers (I prefer 4-finger furry art myself, but the main thing is he applied it to ALL characters, not just Sonic and Tails, leaving the extended cast trapped in the more Disney-esque SatAM style)
I also loved Dub for revitalizing Locke as a strong Pachamac-like warrior, instead of Older Knux! With a beard and a labcoat! FOR SCIENCE! What a pity his designs for Dr. Quack and the young orphan trio (Rory, Sasha, Snaggle) remain largely unused.
The Mighty and Ray redesigns are greatly appreciated too, brings a more modern look to classic heroes. I still believe EVERY Mobian needs some form of gloves. I'm almost entirely satisfied with New Look Sally (oddly I just object to the belt buckle. Looks a bit out of place, if it had a wrap-around strap ala Knux's Lego sandals I'd be okay with it, though I might prefer a different color embellishment). I suspect Bunnie was also get a slight redesign (maybe with new robotic limbs that seem more Eggman/Legionized) and Antoine may look different when he stops being comatose. I hope they keep him having some form of hair, even if it's just bangs and a tufty ponytail. I don't see the need to eliminate HIS cheek fuzz (being a canine, although a different species than Tails, the whiskery muzzle suits him) but mostly I hope he keeps that trademark pointy nose. Swear to Aurora, if they ever did a Riverdale style Sonic, Ant would resemble a blond Jughead!
And of course it is nice the newer cast members (Baron Rabbot, Thrash the Devil, Matilda Armadillo) all look more like they belong in-series. That had to be one of the more jarring elements of older issues. Compare Barby Koala and Abby from MXYL, how the heck did that photo-realistic koala maid get approved?
Btw, the journal feature hates me. Do you upload yours through stash first, or just submit art, or does the blue journal link work for you.
I'm curious as to how Bunnie and Ant will look, too (hopefully if Bunnie gets new robotic limbs, they're external).
Abby from MXYL...I think the koalas from Rush Adventure were a bit more "realistic" than the other Mobians/Solians? Still, I dunno what the deal with Abby was, either. XD
The blue journal link worked just fine for me; wonder if it's another one of dA's many glitches?
And both Archie and Fleetway started off mimicking the official Sega of America Sonic art, the stuff you see in AoStH and SatAM. There was no disconnect, except between USA and Japan (I know Fleetway is British). But as Sega USA started to move towards removing the disconnect between themselves and Sega Japan, Archie moved their art style along in kind, mimicking the games more and then shifting towards the anime style around Adventure, and apparently Ian Flynn's arrival somehow prompted the completion of that shift.
Mega Man, barring certain well known exceptions, hasn't had much of a change in character design, just art style. And to be perfectly honest the Archie style isn't really much of a deviation at all, in fact I don't even know if it could be called that. It's the Mega Man 8/Bass art style with a little of the 7, 9 and 10 one thrown in.
After so many years of researching Megaman, I'm used to that kind of disconnect NOT being present in my third-party stuff.
And no, StS isn't THAT far off the mark (I hope). I'd like to think that these days, I put more thought into my character designs and how to fit them in with the rest of the cast. (If you meant that I give the male characters more clothes, then...who cares?)
Okay, but in that event the problem wasn't really there. At least not in Archie. The characters were never drawn like they should be in the game, the non-game ones, they were all always designed after official art, not the game sprites. It was only when the games shifted to using models and the art reflected the models that they started to move that way. Though Sally still took a while to settle into place; I remember this one issue, Mina's concert I think, where Sally had like, a true yiff body, an extremely shapely womanly torso, and very obvious cleavage, and it didn't fit at all with anything Sonic.
And I'm not gonna argue that a lot of the Archie designs meshed poorly with the games (though I don't think that's how Archie's design process went--the more far-out characters may have been a result of the artists looking towards Western cartoony-animal tropes in the face of a lack of game-art resources), but sometimes I wonder if, for people like Sally, the designs were okay and it was the style that put people off (like how Sally used to be drawn).
I don't really think the question of whether or not the Archie designs would mesh with the games is terribly important. They weren't BASED on the games. They were based on AoStH and SatAM, which were based on the USA Sonic Bible, not the sprites or Japanese artwork. It's like saying BBAMM's design doesn't mesh well with the Mega Man games, be it the MM1, 2 9 or 10 design. When it comes down to it, BBAMM wasn't based on the games.
The actual designs of the characters COULD fit in the games. Like, if there was a game based on the whole Freedom Fighters vs. Robotnik Empire war, then the designs would fit. But the fact is the designs of the Freedom Fighters were based around the idea of a more sci-fi/fantasy merge world like in (can't believe I'm making this comparison) He-Man. The games have more of a modern fantasy spin. But there was no way of knowing this at the time of the creation of Sally, Antoine, Bunnie and Rotor. And looking strictly at the Genesis games, I think they could all be retooled into sprites for that, in fact I think Sally did actually end up in Bean Machine or something.
Point is it's quibbling over something that's not really comparable. The Freedom Fighters have completely different real-life origins to Team Sonic.
I know that a good deal of the Archie characters took cues from SatAM and AoStH, but they still look weird next to a relatively-unchanged Sonic.