We currently live in a reality where Soulja Boy is selling bootleg consoles and a live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie is being brought to you by people who worked on The Fast and the Furious franchise and Deadpool. This morning, Paramount Pictures unveiled a glimpse of what Sega’s timeless mascot will look like in the upcoming 2019 film – and people are, in a word, unhappy. See Sonic’s new look for yourself via this animated poster of his silhouette: If nothing else, the Blue Blur’s still collecting rings, and his three spikes of hair-fur look right – but that’s where the stylistic similarities pretty much end. Chief among the unsettling changes is Sonic’s muscular body, which looks like an Olympic runner’s physique shrunken down to a toddler’s proportions. My first reaction was that Sonic’s buff redesign must’ve been based on the 8-year-old bodybuilder Little Hercules. Sonic will also be covered in realistic fur, rather than the smoothed-over blue mane we’ve grown accustomed to, because the producers thought he’d look naked otherwise. Other details that have everyone crying foul on social media are Sonic’s apparent lack of his trademark gloves, and the stubbier, Sketchers-looking sneakers that have replaced his trademark running shoes (and apparently don’t require socks). There’s another change we can’t yet see in this poster, but it sounds like the most horrifying one of all: giving Sonic two seperate eyeballs in place of his classic ‘two pupils, one giant eye’ look. Speaking with IGN, Sonic the Hedgehog’s executive producer… [Read full story]