12 replies to this topic

[Shadow441]

Okay I may end up looking like a retard for not knowing this but who owns the rights to using Sally Acorn. Sega? Archie? or DIC?

[chief]

As I said in the Penders topic.. Id imagine either Archie or DIC

[Shadow441]

but when Flynn tried to kill off Sally Sega was able to stop it. How does that work?

[RedMenace]

Actually, that's a very good question. SEGA owns the rights to Sally since it was a character created for the animated branch of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. SEGA of America might flex the Sally character more than SEGA of Japan, but SoA is owned by SoJ anyway. So it really doesn't matter.

Sally was based on Rikki the squirrel (the small animal from Sonic 1). But was she created by SoA or DiC?

[Bakuda]

Quoting from the other thread this was mentioned at:

Actually, that's a very good question. SEGA owns the rights to Sally since it was a character created for the animated branch of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. SEGA of America might flex the Sally character more than SEGA of Japan, but SoA is owned by SoJ anyway. So it really doesn't matter.

Freaky has some good logic here and I'm inclined to side with what he says.

[hedgehogfan162]

i also agree with freaky because archie based the comic of satAM and DIC makes the show but sega as the overall judgement on what happens who is allowed in and which corp makes what

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

Actually, that's a very good question. SEGA owns the rights to Sally since it was a character created for the animated branch of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. SEGA of America might flex the Sally character more than SEGA of Japan, but SoA is owned by SoJ anyway. So it really doesn't matter.

Sally was based on Rikki the squirrel (the small animal from Sonic 1). But was she created by SoA or DiC?

ABC/DiC created the character of Sally specifically for the SatAM story. Basing it off of Rikki was probably just to keep all of the non-Sonic characters feel a part of the same universe that Sonic characters would have come from. But since the TV series was created in cooperation with SEGA, and since SEGA holds the rights to all Sonic characters, then Sally, Rotor, Antoine, ect., and even Dulcy probably fall under the ownership of SEGA. Think like the contracts between DiC/Archie and SoA/SoJ were similar in their basic idea to the ones Ken Penders is trying to violate between him and Archie: You make the character specifically for an official Sonic continuity, then SEGA owns the official rights to those characters. Archie would only hold the right to release comic books starring the characters, DiC/ABC/possibly Cookie Jar only hold the rights to only use the characters to put the characters in an animated TV series (though those contracts allowing for new episodes may have expired before Cookie Jar got the rights to SatAM), Shout Factory! holds the rights only to release DVDs of SatAM, and SoA can do whatever they feel like with the characters in partnership with American relations with SoJ, and SoJ is just the "god" of Sonic characters. They can use any old ones, or create any new ones, at will for anything they want. They could even put Sally in a Japanese game and be legally in the clear, though I'm not sure how many Japanese audiences would react nostalgically to that character.

[Vampfox]

"Every level of production is run past Sega. Robert Leffler and Dyna Lopez work in Sega Licensing and the script has to get approved, the pencils have to get approved, the inking, then the lettering, then the coloring. Everything has to go through them first."

-Ian Flynn, head writer for Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comic series

"Ultimately SEGA owns everything in the book. If it's associated with Sonic in the book, it is by extension SEGA's. From my understanding, that is why BioWare could so freely emulate the Dark Legion for the Marauders [in Sonic Chronicles]. I know there was some confusion elsewhere concerning rights to SatAM. As it was explained, SEGA owns the intellectual property—the characters and such—but DiC retains the rights to the animation. So you wouldn’t see SEGA reselling SatAM boxsets willy-nilly. Conversely, DiC wouldn’t be able to just up and make a new Sonic cartoon."

-Ian Flynn

And here is some words of wisdom from Ken.
"I felt that the plot device of killing off Sally would be the only justification for Sonic to fully cut loose and go after Robotnik no matter what . . . Because Sega didn't want to rule out the possibility of using Sally in the future, it was decided she should live.”

-Ken Penders, in an interview with Sonic HQ

I hope this helps.

[furrykef]

"I felt that the plot device of killing off Sally would be the only justification for Sonic to fully cut loose and go after Robotnik no matter what . . ."

You mean destroying his family, his home, and basically his life -- as well as doing the same for a gazillion other people -- wasn't enough??

I have to wonder what was going through his mind to think that the only way to justify something like that is to kill what was almost certainly the comic's most popular character aside from Sonic himself. (Or maybe aside from Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. It doesn't matter, the point is she was way up there.)

[scotracoon]

This is an excellent topic i think that archie and Dic deserve to own Sally because they are the only people who tried to keep sally or atleast use her because sega doesn't even bother with sally in any of the games except sonic spinball. I also don't understand why sega saved sally from being killed if they don't even use her in any of the games or other related things. It is kind of sad in my oppinion sally and the rest of the freedom fighters play a big part in sonics world.

[henryiii]

This is an excellent topic i think that archie and Dic deserve to own Sally because they are the only people who tried to keep sally or atleast use her because sega doesn't even bother with sally in any of the games except sonic spinball. I also don't understand why sega saved sally from being killed if they don't even use her in any of the games or other related things. It is kind of sad in my oppinion sally and the rest of the freedom fighters play a big part in sonics world.

And keep her and the rest of the cast in Flynn's hands? No thanks. I'd rather SEGA keep em in storage, until they wise up and use them properly

[DCC]

From what I understand Sega ulimately owns all the characters in the comic. As for who should own them, that is a different story. I think whoever can treat the characters and their relationships(especially Sonic and Sally) with respect should be the ones to own the rights.

[Natorat]

Personally I could not care less who owns the rights. All three companies did a great job with their presentation of Sonic's world. Notice I use the past tense though.

I love the Genesis Sonic games, the original Sonic Adventure, and Sonic Heroes but can't stand most of the newer games (the 15th anniversary version of Sonic the Hedgehog especially). The games are number one in my book just because they started the whole thing.

SatAM, AoSTH, and Sonic X I found enjoyable (until Sonic X jumped the shark with Sonic fighting the weird alien things anyway). I actually just finished watching the box set of SatAM today and thought the last episode was awesome. Sonic Underground, on the other hand, makes me want to hurl.

As for the comics, I loved them as a kid. Now they're just milking the cash cow though. They ran much longer than they needed to. And I was outraged when I learned that they tried to kill of Sally then brought her back. Such is the nature of comic books though. I can't count how many times Superman has died. Which makes me wonder if the SatAM characters should ever have been brought to such a medium.

Frankly though, I think Sega needs to actually put time and effort into a 3D Sonic game that's actually a near perfect game, if that's even possible. Then release 1-3 sequels and retire the blue blur. I think it's high time for the Fan Fiction writers like me to take over writing new Sonic stories. I already have one based on SatAM very far in development.

Personally I could not care less who owns the rights. All three companies did a great job with their presentation of Sonic's world. Notice I use the past tense though.

I love the Genesis Sonic games, the original Sonic Adventure, and Sonic Heroes but can't stand most of the newer games (the 15th anniversary version of Sonic the Hedgehog especially). The games are number one in my book just because they started the whole thing.

SatAM, AoSTH, and Sonic X I found enjoyable (until Sonic X jumped the shark with Sonic fighting the weird alien things anyway). I actually just finished watching the box set of SatAM today and thought the last episode was awesome. Sonic Underground, on the other hand, makes me want to hurl.

As for the comics, I loved them as a kid. Now they're just milking the cash cow though. They ran much longer than they needed to. And I was outraged when I learned that they tried to kill of Sally then brought her back. Such is the nature of comic books though. I can't count how many times Superman has died. Which makes me wonder if the SatAM characters should ever have been brought to such a medium.

Frankly though, I think Sega needs to actually put time and effort into a 3D Sonic game that's actually a near perfect game, if that's even possible. Then release 1-3 sequels and retire the blue blur. I think it's high time for the Fan Fiction writers like me to take over writing new Sonic stories. I already have one based on SatAM very far in development.