Monday, November 09, 2015

A Few Interesting Links Post

First...
A warning about bootlegs lurking on ebay:
Surprisingly, some of the older Sonic X dolls from Japan are still being sold new. This may include the poseable freestanding plush. HOWEVER if you buy you need to look for the cardboard hang-tag (seen on SonicGear's plush pages) that says "SegaToys" if there is NO tag or the tag says "Kid Galaxy" then it's a fake.

It's surprising because Sonic X is so old now that somehow some new toys could remain. I guess they were very prolific when new. It is NOT surprising that if the toy is still about, a bootlegger is lurking.

See a Sonic Boom Game ad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8UEOk_wpNY

Get a cat out of a tree? No. Wreck everything.

Interested in the Voice Actors for Sonic?
Here's a "Did you know video"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-0CHWQrkGU&feature=youtu.be

Who was the FIRST person to voice Sonic?
It's Trunks.

*Yes, you DBZ fans who might read this post

This is a good video to watch even if you're not interested in the VAs themselves or what happened to make them get hired / stop /switch etc. as it brings up old stuff people might not know about like the India commercial. Another topic that's curious but not discussed:

Sonic the chipmunk
At the start of 'him having a voice', notice how a lot of it had him all high pitched /sped up like that Alvin & the Chipmunks franchise. They started him off being all cutie pie silly funny tiny* animal, for whatever reason. (Even in the Japanese ad, listen to it) The song "Im the king of the ring" is also literally this trope.

Then, as time went on, someone made the (very good) call that he should have a normal voice and also sound cool. With all the stuff always written about how "Sonic was always meant to be the edgy cool character with fast & attitude" I have 0 idea as to how bitsy the chipmunk voice was ever deemed appropriate.

Really Rare Item of the week:
Original airbrush pieces in a book for Sonic style guide. Obviously originals are one of a kind. It also helps explain how a piece can be used and re-used in different ways once it's made by an artist.

Unanswerable art question:
Obviously you'll have seen the neoclassic art that's been popping up, but who's behind it? It's all clearly very, very good and does look exactly classic/as if it were made in that era, but without flaws that trickled in.

Much School!
For some reason, there are TONS of USA Sonic school items coming out now. Not real sure why, but expect bags, packs, and supplies galore. It's not all Boom stuff too, which is nice. Also the designs are nice, if bags are what you need this is the time to be on the lookout.

*Tiny and animal voices: A very irrelevant paragraph
Animal voices are interesting and no one thinks of them in human terms (as they don't/cant speak your language and most won't do words) however sometimes you can get one to break the rules. I once snuck up on a mouse where it did not see me in some tall grass and touched it. It screamed. It wasn't "doing a mouse noise" like on TV, sucker yelled. Now, people say that mice go squeak squeek, and yes from a distance you'd say that's probably accurate. However, it was clearly going "Aaaaaaaaaauuughh" but it was coming from a very small source so it is high pitched, but if you reduced a human down to that size and said to yell, that's exactly the sound you'd get. Probably this is only experienced if you're right there next to it.

The same goes for that porcupine you find on youtube Eddie or Freddy or something he goes "no, mine" when you try to take his corn or whatever he has but it's all high cause again, the animal's not that big so the voice is shrill.
Big dogs:
These are interesting, sometimes a person will get a dog to say a word and always if the dog's big & the word is simple it sounds like a man/big man human even if the dog's a girl. I guess dog voices aren't different among boy or girl, only size of dog.
Why would you touch a mouse?
Because it was there.