The Knothole Freedom Fighters, such as Princess Sally, Rotor, Bunnie Rabbot and Antoine are all 100% owned by SEGA. DiC created them as works-for-hire for SEGA. Aside from minor cameos in Sonic Spinball (1993), they have not even been mentioned or acknowledged by SEGA.
I'm pretty sure CodyFox hit the nail on the head regarding the franchise. Sega, as well as Nintendo, seem to not like re-interpretations of their creations at ALL... and ESPECIALLY by westerners. It's "not-made-here syndrome" taken to an extreme degree. SEGA's lack of consistent quality and disinterest in advertising its flagship brand is baffling, to be honest. I've been told by my American contacts that Cartoon Network barely even mentions Sonic Boom on the air.
I've also noticed that if it's not Sonic, Tails, Dr. Eggman, and maybe Knuckles or Amy Rose (who at this point are just glorified cheerleaders), SEGA really doesn't care at all.
I'd say SEGA really lost its footing with the Sonic games back around 1995 when the Saturn launched and most of the American staff that helped make the games at Sonic Team USA (and to some extent, SEGA Technical Institute) were let go (where most ex-Sonic Team USA members formed Naughty Dog and made the Crash Bandicoot games for the PS1), partly from creative differences with the team and Yuji Naka. I've been told that Sonic was NEVER that popular in Japan, and was at its most successful in the west, where it saw various localizations and splintering of the franchise into different continuities (such as Sonic the Comic in the UK, or Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog in America). With that in mind, SEGA of Japan has been trying to focus Sonic almost exclusively on Japan to increase popularity at home (ethnocentrism), at the expense of everywhere else. With revenue from games declining in the west, they became severely rushed, quality declined and it became a vicious loop. I'd say that SatAM/Archie simply got caught in the crossfire of this culture clash AND the Penders lawsuits.
The thing that really makes me rip my hair out in frustration, however, is SEGA's hypocrisy regarding the franchise. They say they want to unify the franchise under a coherent standard. Fine... but why declare Classic and Modern Sonic separate characters??? Why charge SEPARATE licensing fees for them? And why go create Sonic Boom right after and then say that's ALSO separate too??? Is this a case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing? Or is it more like Bern Stolar-style arbitrary rulemaking and intentional contradiction to spite business partners?
What has me worried is that SEGA is... difficult to work with, at the BEST of times. At the worst, companies have actually said "screw it, not dealin' with ya anymore" like what happened during Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric with the developer. Even Nintendo tends to keep a close eye on SEGA during their collaborations (such as Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games) and keep them from getting too... odd, but they seem to be the only ones able to do so. So, other comic publishers (IDW, Boom! Studios, Dark Horse) might seem VERY interested to continue Sonic at first, but when they get told what the (OH SO MANY) restrictions on use of character are, they might just say "lolnope!" and walk away.
Having read the comics almost from the beginning (first was Issue 5 in mid-1993), the comics were also incredibly rare by American standards: they had a generally consistent creative team throughout the entire run. Usually, writer and artists and editors are swapped out every 5-10 issues, sometimes even more frequently. With the Sonic the Hedgehog series, the same names appear for DOZENS OF ISSUES ON END! Steven Butler joined around Issue 30 (early 1996) and contributed well past Issue 180 (2007-ish?), as just one example. This all means that long-lasting epic stories can be told, world-building on a massive scale took place, and the comics eventually amassed a lore almost entirely their own. With only a couple reboots towards the end of the series' run, the comics were remarkably consistent with very little being retconned in or out by the writers as time went by. Even after the tightening of the SEGA mandates and the reboots, the comic still had a fairly decent lore of its own that it had adapted from the drastically and rapidly changing circumstances it found itself in, and I still found it enjoyable, even if i missed the old characters and universe that I grew up with.
With all this in mind, I actually do enjoy the modern games alongside the classic ones. I thought Sonic Adventure was pretty fun, the Dreamcast in general was amazing, but I believe that Sonic started declining long before the Dreamcast was killed off.
The Knothole Freedom Fighters, such as Princess Sally, Rotor, Bunnie Rabbot and Antoine are all 100% owned by SEGA. DiC created them as works-for-hire for SEGA. Aside from minor cameos in Sonic Spinball (1993), they have not even been mentioned or acknowledged by SEGA.
I'm pretty sure CodyFox hit the nail on the head regarding the franchise. Sega, as well as Nintendo, seem to not like re-interpretations of their creations at ALL... and ESPECIALLY by westerners. It's "not-made-here syndrome" taken to an extreme degree. SEGA's lack of consistent quality and disinterest in advertising its flagship brand is baffling, to be honest. I've been told by my American contacts that Cartoon Network barely even mentions Sonic Boom on the air.
I've also noticed that if it's not Sonic, Tails, Dr. Eggman, and maybe Knuckles or Amy Rose (who at this point are just glorified cheerleaders), SEGA really doesn't care at all.
I'd say SEGA really lost its footing with the Sonic games back around 1995 when the Saturn launched and most of the American staff that helped make the games at Sonic Team USA (and to some extent, SEGA Technical Institute) were let go (where most ex-Sonic Team USA members formed Naughty Dog and made the Crash Bandicoot games for the PS1), partly from creative differences with the team and Yuji Naka. I've been told that Sonic was NEVER that popular in Japan, and was at its most successful in the west, where it saw various localizations and splintering of the franchise into different continuities (such as Sonic the Comic in the UK, or Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog in America). With that in mind, SEGA of Japan has been trying to focus Sonic almost exclusively on Japan to increase popularity at home (ethnocentrism), at the expense of everywhere else. With revenue from games declining in the west, they became severely rushed, quality declined and it became a vicious loop. I'd say that SatAM/Archie simply got caught in the crossfire of this culture clash AND the Penders lawsuits.
The thing that really makes me rip my hair out in frustration, however, is SEGA's hypocrisy regarding the franchise. They say they want to unify the franchise under a coherent standard. Fine... but why declare Classic and Modern Sonic separate characters??? Why charge SEPARATE licensing fees for them? And why go create Sonic Boom right after and then say that's ALSO separate too??? Is this a case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing? Or is it more like Bern Stolar-style arbitrary rulemaking and intentional contradiction to spite business partners?
What has me worried is that SEGA is... difficult to work with, at the BEST of times. At the worst, companies have actually said "screw it, not dealin' with ya anymore" like what happened during Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric with the developer. Even Nintendo tends to keep a close eye on SEGA during their collaborations (such as Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games) and keep them from getting too... odd, but they seem to be the only ones able to do so. So, other comic publishers (IDW, Boom! Studios, Dark Horse) might seem VERY interested to continue Sonic at first, but when they get told what the (OH SO MANY) restrictions on use of character are, they might just say "lolnope!" and walk away.
Having read the comics almost from the beginning (first was Issue 5 in mid-1993), the comics were also incredibly rare by American standards: they had a generally consistent creative team throughout the entire run. Usually, writer and artists and editors are swapped out every 5-10 issues, sometimes even more frequently. With the Sonic the Hedgehog series, the same names appear for DOZENS OF ISSUES ON END! Steven Butler joined around Issue 30 (early 1996) and contributed well past Issue 180 (2007-ish?), as just one example. This all means that long-lasting epic stories can be told, world-building on a massive scale took place, and the comics eventually amassed a lore almost entirely their own. With only a couple reboots towards the end of the series' run, the comics were remarkably consistent with very little being retconned in or out by the writers as time went by. Even after the tightening of the SEGA mandates and the reboots, the comic still had a fairly decent lore of its own that it had adapted from the drastically and rapidly changing circumstances it found itself in, and I still found it enjoyable, even if i missed the old characters and universe that I grew up with.
With all this in mind, I actually do enjoy the modern games alongside the classic ones. I thought Sonic Adventure was pretty fun, the Dreamcast in general was amazing, but I believe that Sonic started declining long before the Dreamcast was killed off.
~ The Legendary RingtailedFox