For a while I’ve wanted to make something more special
as a Top 12. It’s been six months since I last discussed Sonic Boom, and Season
2 has had a satisfying 2-part finale. I’ve wanted to make a list about the
Sonic series, but I couldn’t find any ideas. I thought about a list of best
secondary characters, but the definition of a “secondary character” is pretty
elastic from a Sonic game to another – anyone aside from Sonic could count. So,
I settled again on what I knew. And what do I know? Sonic Boom.
As I said time and time again, the Sonic Boom TV show is one of the more impressive tour de force achieved by the franchise. The games associated to the Boom sub-series weren’t too great, and even the current new Sonic games (aside from Sonic Mania) have received lukewarm reception at best. That’s a shame too, because I had high hopes for Sonic Forces. However, the current TV series goes on, undisturbed, with brilliant writing and tons of great ideas. Partway into the first season, the show started breaking the fourth wall more and more. By this point, they aren’t just breaking the fourth wall. They’re punching through it, blowing it up with dynamite, carrying all the remains into an empty field and dropping an A-bomb on it, just to be sure that it’s obliterated for good. And there’s Deadpool on the sidelines, looking at his Adventure Time watch and going “Come on guys, leave some for me!”
There are plenty of ways to break the fourth wall:
Address directly the viewer, have the characters acknowledge that they’re in a work of fiction, reference the grander scale of the franchise (if any). The Sonic
franchise can even go a step further since, as a long-running franchise that
has been going on for over 25 years now, it has gathered a gigantic fanbase (of
which the quality is… um… variable) and that fanbase has contributed with fan
works and memes, which are all elements that a fourth wall-breaking joke can
pick from.
Sonic Boom has broken the fourth wall so often, I
could make two lists like this one. But I’ll do only one, because we really don't need more, no matter how many seasons this show ends up having. I could do a Top 12 Sonic Boom
episodes, but I feel like I’d be cutting out tons of episodes that I also love.
Sure, I could instead do a Top 24 list split over two articles… but that would
still be a lot of work. Have the current list where I explore the many ways
that a show can break the fourth wall, and many great examples from a single show
(and, on a rare few occasions, the games).
Only one rule: Each episode must make the list only
once, because many episodes feature multiple noteworthy instances of fourth
wall breakage.
12. Lousy security camera (“The Sidekick”)
"Dammit, Cameraman Dave! I know you went on a bender last night, but do your job correctly!" |
11. You can see them too? (“Sticks and Amy’s Excellent
Staycation”)
"Violence Against Fourth Wall Invites Itself at Peaceful Tea Party". Now THERE'S an article I could write. |
She's hilarious every time she acknowledges that she is being watched. For once, a conspiracy theorist who is actually right about something! |
10. A great action figure (Fire & Ice)
"BUY OUR STUFF!" (For the record, as far as I know, no D-Fekt action figures have ever been merchandised.) |
Shout-out to the comic books, another piece of the
multi-media Sonic Boom experience that also dabbled into self-aware humor, even
in its first issue. Now they really are stepping into Deadpool’s territory,
that’s a dangerous thing to do!
I'm less worried that she can tell her name is being pronounced as a logo and more worried that she can see speech bubbles. |
9. The Jungle Predator Book (“Mech Suits Me”)
"Um, Amy, let's not bite the hand that is animatng us." |
8. According to the TV listings…
(“Spacemageggonocalypse”)
If Sticks is perhaps the character most aware of the
fourth wall, Knuckles is a close second, As if his idiocy left room in his
headspace for a kind of knowledge beyond what characters are supposed to know,
like Emmett from The LEGO Movie. Then my theory falls apart when I realize that
everyone punches the fourth wall at each chance they get in this darn show.
Take this episode, as an example: With the looming threat of an approaching
asteroid, Sonic is tasked with saving the world by going in space and
destroying the falling rock. On the last minute, everyone decides Knuckles
would be better suited for the job, since he’s stronger and more likely to
succeed… and this exchange follows.
Sonic: “But how often do I get to literally save the
world?”
Knuckles: “According to the TV listings, about once a
week.”
And then he holds up a page of TV listings, complete
with images from the previous episodes! That’s some dedication to the joke
right there.
7. You missed it! (“Knine to Five Knuckles”)
More Knuckles? Let’s go for more Knuckles. Season 2
added depth to the character, among others by featuring an episode where he
looks for his family (a sad episode, as it seems he’s the last echidna in this
continuity as well). Other episodes show him getting jobs, because he’s old
enough for that. That’s the case in “Knine to Five Knuckles” (Yes, the spellig mistake is in the title), in which he’s
scammed by T.W. Barker into buying a (completely broken) house with credit, and then has to get a desk
job in order to pay for it. This episode has three instances where Knuckles
references the fact that he’s in a show, but the best one is probably when he
returns after his first day at work, to find out that his friends have had the
perfect Eggman battle during that time. And they brag about it. The perfect
combination of new minions and old favorites! Final boss material! He had a
doomsday device, a bomb, hostages, and he even stole forty cakes! And that's terrible. Then Sticks looks at the viewer and goes, “you missed it! That’s what
you get for following Knuckles around!” What can I reply to that? I can’t see
what the show doesn’t show me! Ah, the limitations of being a mere viewer…
6. All of “The Biggest Fan”
Hes just an obnoxious, critiquing, awkward biggest fan. What can go wrong? |
5. Shadow’s here! (“It Takes A Village to Defeat A
Hedgehog”)
Pictured: Eggman on the verge of squeeing like a hyperactive fangirl. |
4. You keep watching. (“In The Midnight Hour”)
If Sticks breaks the fourth wall so often, it may be
because of her conspiracy theorist side. She always thinks “someone” is
watching her. That “someone” is us, so she has a point. The episode “In The
Midnight Hour” features, among other things, a hypnotic robot called the
Dreamcaster, and boy do they milk that name for all its comedic worth. Just in
case the references to the old SEGA console weren’t enough, we also get this
next gem. Already wary of any form of mind control, Sticks becomes the only one
able to stop Eggman’s latest invention. The Dreamcaster uses television to
hypnotize the villagers, but Sticks has no TV because, and I quote, “TV is just
a big conspiracy to control everyone’s minds!” Then she casually turns to the
viewer and tells them, “I wasn’t talking to you. You keep watching.”
SHE KNOWS. SHE STARES INTO THE FOURTH WALL, SHATTERS
IT WITH HER EYES.
I keep watching because I want to, not because you tell me to. |
Is it any wonder she’s the best example of a conspiracy theorist character that I’ve ever seen? She’s funny but never offensive; she’s exaggerated but never overbearing. She doesn’t scream 75% of her lines like an idiot. Writers should take notes.
3. He’s talking to me. (“Give Bees A Chance”)
So now, characters are officially speaking to their voice actors? Or is it the voice actors talking to the characters? Either way, that is one smug face Sonic's got there. |
The second great moment is when, after Eggman is
defeated, an ox businessman gives the Sonic Team a sapphire to keep, as it’s
safer to be with them if the evil doctor wants it so badly. Knuckles
immediately volunteers to keep an eye on the stone! His reason calls back to a
criticism of the show, no less: “People have been complaining that I don’t
guard enough rare stones.” Well, there’s his chance.
2. Tomatopotamus 2 (“Fiendbot”)
Huh, I never thought Sonic would be that kind of fan. |
1. One too many! (“Just A Guy”)
Not only do we come back to Season 1, we come back to
my least favorite episode of the entire show. And yet, it has the best joke of
them all. Sonic is being annoyed by Mike the Ox, who really wants to join a
battle against Eggman. Using advice given to him by Amy for when he feels
annoyed, he imagines himself in a happy place, then in a happy place in his
happy place, and that still doesn’t work… until he’s called back into reality
by an alarm. But somehow, this goes a step beyond and we cut to… this.
Is that... BOOMY THE CAT? MY FAVORITE! (Very few of you are actually going to understand that joke.) |
“Oops! One too many!”
Apologies, we will resume the planned programming
after this weird cut into the real world. Sheesh, that was weird and creepy.
But hey, it made for a perfect moment where the fourth wall was not merely
broken, but vaporized.
And the items on this list were fourth wall breaks. I said almost nothing of all the references to other things that they threw in!
Was that taken from One Punch Man??
And the items on this list were fourth wall breaks. I said almost nothing of all the references to other things that they threw in!
Was that taken from One Punch Man??
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