A New ‘Sonic The Hedgehog’ Movie Poster Has Not Calmed Fears About What Sonic Looks Like

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We haven’t even seen a trailer for the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog movie and still fans are extremely skeptical of what they’ll be watching when the film hits theaters next winter.

The first poster didn’t show Sonic’s face, but the absence of a face is what alarmed people the most. Sonic looks, well, trim, and if the movie decides to go with the lifelike look for its CGI it could be a very disturbing hedgehog indeed.

This is a character that often looks best when depicted with two pupils in one sunglass-shaped eye, so this whole thing can go sideways in a hurry. As we’ve seen with the Detective Pikachu reaction, there is such a thing as CGI uncanny valley when the cuddly, round things we saw in pixelated video game form are suddenly made to look more lifelike, and Sonic seems to be skewing toward that category as well.

On Tuesday night, a Twitter user posted what appears to be a blown up cardboard version of a second poster for the film, which shows us a bit more of Sonic’s body as he appears to lounge atop the Golden Gate Bridge. That’s clever because Sonic collects gold rings in the video games, but many were more distracted by what Sonic’s legs look like.

— Wario64 (@Wario64) December 12, 2018

Those are very human-like legs, aren’t they Perhaps a bit too human for what’s often looked like a speedy but squat blue pixelated critter for more than two decades worth of video games. Sonic, some purists would say, is a bit tubby, and it doesn’t make him any less fast. This Sonic may look like a human distance runner that happens to be blue and covered in fur, which is alarming.

The buzz about what Sonic looks like, however, is distracting from the fact that there’s a lot to like about this Sonic movie if you’re a fan of offbeat humor and have enjoyed the games over the years. Ben Schwartz — perhaps better known as Jean Ralphio from Parks and Recreation — will voice the titular mammal. I’d say hedgehog but it really is unclear if Sonic is a true hedgehog or some kind of human/blue hedgehog hybrid.

If the latter is the case, the worst fears about what Sonic will look like may be realized. But either way, we’ll have this Third Eye Blind joke from Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch.

— Alex Hirsch (@_AlexHirsch) December 12, 2018

We’ll have until November to get used to CGI Sonic, however he turns out.