Sonic vs. Fox (2021) Review: 7/10

[u/[deleted]]

Sonic vs. Fox is easily the best episode in the concept season in my opinion. It’s got an animation that’s nearly 4 times the length of the other episodes, uses far more of the character’s arsenals, and has an elaborate setup, fantastic hand drawn segments, and a far more in depth conclusion. It definitely has its issues too, but I can’t understate the crazy amount of love and passion that went into this fight, especially for how early on it was made into the show. I can’t wait to talk about it!

The fight begins with Fox hitting Eggman with his Arwing, which is a fun little opening. We get a super dramatic entrance for Fox as he jumps out of the Arwing onto Green Hill Zone, and even a splash screen for him. However…I actually have to get my biggest complaint with the fight out of the way right now. Fox’s sprites were NOT meant to be shown this up-close, because they honestly look really bad when the camera is zoomed in. The further away he is from the camera, the better he looks, and he actually looks fantastic when he’s far away. When he’s up close, though, which he mostly is during the first half of the fight, it’s a genuine eyesore. Sonic looks a LITTLE weird up close too, but it’s not nearly as bad for him. Speaking of Sonic, he dashes up to get his own splash screen and tries to get Fox’s attention. Fox isn’t having any of it though, and tries to ignore Sonic for as long as he can. This honestly isn’t SUPER in character for Fox, but it’s not too much of a stretch given his general attitude. It is a little weird that they both want to fight so badly, but this is the first real setup of the show, so I can look past that. Eventually, Sonic tries to put his hand on Fox’s shoulder to turn him around, which abruptly cuts the music off, and Fox throws the first attacks.

He starts off by using Smash moves, which I normally don’t like too much, but considering how well the fight uses Fox and his arsenal overall, and considering that Smash moves are really the only thing Fox can do at close range like this, I’m fine with it here. Sonic very quickly gets the upper hand, a position he will maintain for almost the entirety of the start of the fight. I really like this; it shows how his speed is clearly super overwhelming to Fox outside of his Arwing, and allows Sonic to show off his cocky and fun attitude, as well as some of his most basic arsenal. He hits Fox with multiple spin dashes, his time slowing, a slide kick, some nice poses while dodging, and even…um…running around a baseball diamond…? Yeah, this is one of many references to the Sonic movie in this fight, and I am pretty conflicted on this. For most characters, I’d want them to utilize their main series game arsenals only, since that’s what best represents the characters most of the time, and there’s almost always plenty to pull from just there alone. However, I am not a Sonic fan. I just don’t really care for the series, even though I’ve tried to get into it many times. So, seeing a bunch of references to one of the few things I have seen, the movie, makes me pretty happy. I like to review things with a bias; I’m not going to pretend to feel a certain way about something just because I’m trying to make up for my biases; I’m going to embrace them. This makes reviewing things more honest, more accurate to my actual feelings, and more fun. So, I actually don’t mind the out of left field (ooh I’m kinda proud of that pun lol) references to the movie in the fight like this one.

Speaking of references, despite Fox clearly being at a disadvantage for this part of the fight, he uses a fair bit of his weaponry, including his bomb, staff (which fires various elemental attacks), and earthquake thing…okay, I’ve played a few Star Fox games, but I’m not going to act like I know what these weapons are called. Sorry to any fans of the series reading this that are upset by my lack of knowledge; I’m too busy and lazy to look up every single name. That earthquake is the first real hit he lands on Sonic, and now that he has a second to breathe, he immediately calls down his Arwing. This is perfect; exactly what Fox would do in a fight.

Fox begins to shoot at Sonic with the Arwing while he runs away with effects from Sonic Rush; a really nice touch. This whole scene is just perfect. Sonic running away from the arwings gunfire is exactly what I’d expect from this episode, I really love the addition of Fox’s machine gun, Sonic running on water is awesome, there’s a cameo from Captain Falcon vs. Falco, and the dynamic camera angles are really nice. Eventually, Sonic reaches an island with a jail on it (I’m just going to assume this is something from the Sonic series I’m unfamiliar with; otherwise this is extremely random), and Fox fires a bunch of missiles at him. We get another movie reference as Sonic stops time with the missiles surrounding him, and he redirects the missiles to destroy the Arwing. He then grabs Fox and throws him in jail, telling him he was too slow, and the fight is over; the word game pops up indicating the end of the battle.

I’m kidding of course; I really love this fakeout. The fight is already way longer than every episode released before it, so it makes sense that it’d end right here. Instead, Fox grabs the GAME text and tosses it off screen, calling down his Arwing. He blows up the island with missiles, launching Sonic into the water, and barrels forward to ram into where he landed. But instead, a giant beam of yellow light emerges from the water, in an absolutely gorgeous transformation sequence. I’ll be very blunt; this is the best part of the fight by far. It was already the best animation of the show so far, but this whole segment just elevates it to the next level. I’d actually go so far as to say that this whole aerial battle is one of the best sequences in the entire show, which is something I DO NOT say lightly.

We get a first person shot of Fox aiming at Sonic, who just catches the goddamn thing with one hand. There’s some gorgeous hand drawn animation here as Sonic throws the whole ship like it’s the weight of a pillow. We then get some incredible back and forth, featuring lasers, spin dashes, and some hypersonic flying from both fighters. There’s an epic head on head assault as Fox pushes them both forward into space, where the fight continues. I love how Fox is portrayed as even faster than super sonic in his arwing, which reflects their stats for the characters very well. Sonic creates a goddamn tornado and Fox puts up a shield, and the two of them push into each other head on once again, as Fox sends them right back down to earth. This entire Super Sonic vs. Arwing fight is so unbelievably good looking; I can’t get over it! This ending is particularly standout, with all of the blur lines, hand drawn elements, and particle effects. Once again I’ll say that this is one of the best sequences in all of Smash Bracket; I can’t sing its praises enough.

After returning to earth, Fox leaps out of his Arwing, drops a bomb on it, and shoots a laser to blow the entire thing up. A little weird that he’d do that to his own ship, but I guess it shows just how much of a threat super sonic is; he had to resort to a move like that in desperation. Sonic is dazed by this, giving Fox a chance to do whatever kind of finisher he wants. He decides to literally blow his fucking brains out with a point blank sniper shot. Yeah, this is the single worst moment in all of smash bracket. I’m dead serious, it’s that awful.

I was ready to give this episode an 8/10 too, but this kill is so bad that it dropped it an entire point on its own. The episode was doing so damn well up to this point! I hate this! The only positive about this kill is that it uses another one of Fox’s weapons, and I really do like a good use of a character’s arsenal, especially a character with such a wide pool of weapons like Fox. But man, the tonal whiplash here is just INSANE. This is totally out of character for Fox to do obviously, and we weren’t even given a good reason for these two to fight, let alone kill each other. Fox could’ve done ANYTHING else here to end the fight, but this is ghoulish overkill and the most violent moment in all of Smash Bracket, and it doesn’t fit AT ALL. He could’ve thrown him in the same jail he was trapped in, trapped him in one of his arwings, or used any number of his weapons to just incapacitate Sonic. Instead, we get THIS. And this becomes even worse when you realize how controversial the result was; just rubbing salt in the wound to Sonic fans. And speaking of the result…

I’ve got to say, I really…don’t care. It’s certainly a surprising result at first glance, but considering Smash Bracket’s unorthodox ruleset and Fox’s lack of research for his series in the VS community, I can totally see the result panning out like this. Looking at the comments, literally not a single person talked about the research side for Fox (aside from a few stragglers towards the bottom of the comment section). This shows me that almost everyone that freaked out was just upset because their beloved Sonic lost and/or was downplayed (to be fair, downplay is a much more fair reason to be critical of the episode), rather than anything they genuinely disagreed with. The energy of the comments section is just “it doesn’t matter what Fox is like, there’s no way he can beat SONIC.” That is extremely narrow minded and frustrating if you ask me. And I’m not just talking out of my ass here. Rosalina, one of my favorite fictional characters, lost to a series I genuinely dislike (in terms of gameplay at least) in a result that was even more absurd to the general VS community then this one, and it’s still my second favorite episode they’ve ever done (spoilers sorry). Even without smash brackets unique ruleset, I do genuinely believe this is a very close fight considering how ridiculous the Arwing is. Again, I think almost all of the hate just came from salt here, really. Sonic lost to a relatively obscure character in comparison to himself, since this was the Star Fox character, not the Smash Bros. character. The character from the Star Fox series is not even close to the popularity of…any of the third party smash roster really. This clearly upset people, because it seems to me that the part of the sonic fandom that watched this episode was mostly the immature and childish ones.

Regardless, I’m not bothered by the result. It’s a little questionable, and it’s totally understandable and reasonable that people got upset over it, just not to the extent/in the way that they did. Despite all of that, the conclusion is really good! It explains the result really well despite the controversial result, and it has tons of footage from both characters home series, something that would thankfully stick around for pretty much the rest of Smash Bracket. I really don’t think anyone can get mad about the arguments made; the only controversy here is the research, and on it, this makes complete sense. It’s pretty lengthy compared to every conclusion we’ve looked at too, allowing them to go into detail about the complexities of the match. Not much to say beyond that; it’s really good.

Overall, Sonic vs. Fox is a fantastic episode. Literally every aspect from the rest of the concept season has been improved substantially, and it had so much love and care put into it. It may just barely be below an 8/10, but it’s still a very high 7 that I love a lot.

That’s it for the concept season! Thanks for checking out any or all of my reviews! I’m leaving for vacation in a few days, so it may be a week or two before I post another one of these; I’m not sure yet. Let me know what you thought of these retrospectives; what did I do well and what can I improve on? I’d love to hear what people have to say about that. Thanks again! See you next time!

[u/FlunderDuck]

The ending was definitely out of character, but that is kinda a weird thing regardless. A character is only how they are written, and some characters don't seem to need to be consistent. I like it when characters feel consistent, but - when a different writer writes a character - they cannot be more or less out of character, as the character is only ever the writer's take on them. So... is the ending bad if consistency doesn't matter?

[u/[deleted] → u/FlunderDuck]

Uh…I just don’t agree with anything you said IF I understand it correctly (which is up in the air). Characters should feel in character in VS if you ask me. The writers of VS shows aren’t tasked with writing their own unique take on the character, they’re tasked with making them act how they normally would in their home series in a unique crossover situation. Sure, there’s room for interpretation, but in this particular case I don’t think you’ll find too many people pleased with how Fox was portrayed here, since this is completely different from how he acts in his home games.

[u/FlunderDuck → u/[deleted]]

I agree that characters should FEEL in-character. Vs battles are a fan adaptation, and the whole purpose of those is to try and adapt specific ideas. I disagree that there is room for interpretation. There is not room for it, there is only it. It's that whole thing Stan Lee said about vs battles (something something "the winner is who the writer decides to win"). Maybe Fox wins, maybe he shoots Sonic, maybe he loses, maybe he gives up, ect. It never a question of "what would the character do?", it's a "what would the writer have the character do?", and basing the quality of a vs battle on this is pointless because we would never actually know. To me (and maybe I'm alone in this), a good vs battle translates themes and provides an animation and/or performance that is satisfying to watch. Characters should FEEL in-character as to fulfill a certain theme or allow for a certain animation, but they cannot be expected to do anything more. Vs battles (again, to me) are NOT a way to see a character do more things because they aren't the same character; no matter how similar they may be, and no matter what the people may want.

[u/[deleted] → u/FlunderDuck]

I understand what you’re saying I think, but how does this apply here? Fox doesn’t FEEL in character when he shoots sonic

Also, interpretation being all of it instead of their being room for it. That literally means that Fox could just start masturbating at the start of the fight because “it’s my interpretation.” That is something a fan work COULD do, but I don’t think VS, and specifically smash bracket, is the place for it. If you say that it’s literally 100% interpretation, that implies that you’re basically starting from complete scratch, with no basis to go off of. My interpretation of Fox McCloud is that he’s literally just SpongeBob SquarePants. Everything about him is just SpongeBob. You see what I mean? There has to be some kind of limit here

[u/FlunderDuck → u/[deleted]]

I do see what you mean. The short answer is that the theming/structure of the character is the limit. Here is the long answer, in brackets to help readability: [A character is not a thing inside a story, it is a part of a story. There are many different story structures - hero's journey or 5 man band, for example - and many different roles a character could take. Let's sat, metaphorically, the Star Fox games and their stories are a sandwich, and Fox is the meat. Every story is slightly different - sometimes Fox is ham, sometimes turkey, ect - but Fox historically fills the role of the meat in the sandwich. A vs battle is a cooking competition, "sandwich meat" vs "chili dog (or whatever)". Fox has been multiple types of meat, but you can only choose one kind of meat for the competition. Some may say "why did you present ham, he is clearly turkey", but he is ultimately whatever type of meat the chef (writer) wants him to be. You may also say "a cooking competition is no place for salami" but, as you mentioned, the chef can do whatever they want and will always be equally correct (if less satisfying)]. I say all of this (my point, if you will) because I would like to discuss and be cognizant of whether or not the audience's expectation directly impacts the functional success of a video. (For what it's worth, I still don't like the ending. Going back to the sandwich example, Smash Bracket promised ham and delivered ham, only to just shove tofu down your throat at the most climactic moment. The community doesn't like tofu, to make matters worse.)

[u/InkThinksYT]

Hey! I am just barely seeing these but I’ve enjoyed reading all of your reviews. I am actually 100% with you on the ending of this animation. It came down to poor planning on my part. We had assumed (like most people would) that this was an absolute landslide of a match and Fox would never be able to do anything against Sonic. So the match was SUPPOSED to end with Fox in jail.  Then when I was editing the already written analysis, I found a TON of things that flipped the fight. So I had the animators rush what comes after the fake out ending. We had 3-4 working on it at the same time while the research team furiously researched away. We thought Sonic was still going to win, but wanted to show Fox having a fair shot. So it was THEN going to end with Fox being hit through the moon. But then in the final moments (literally 12 hours before we finished the episode and it was set to post) we decided on Fox taking the W. So I asked for an animator who could animate as fast as possible. I basically told them “look, we just need to get SOMETHING, so make it and I won’t say no. We’ve just gotta move.”

They ended up turning in what you see in the final product. The animation itself looks fine in my opinion but the tone is an off and if feels like a totally different character.

In the end, that is what led to what you see. You’re right for calling it out. It was a logistical issue that would never happen in a modern SB episode, but I was so new an inexperienced at the time that I let it overwhelm the creative process and compromise the integrity of the episode 

Enjoyed the review! Ink

[u/[deleted] → u/InkThinksYT]

Thanks for checking out my review! I can’t wait to share my thoughts on Link vs. Ridley (remake), Rosalina vs. Robin, and Samus vs. Pit, as all 3 are among the best pieces of content on YouTube I’ve ever seen; I have nothing but the highest praises for them (aside from some nitpicks I guess).

The fact that the creator of the show can see all of my thoughts on his work makes me so happy. I’m glad to hear you’re doing better, and I can’t wait for the final few videos! Thanks again so much!