Ugly Sonic references the original, much-abhorred video game character design for 2020's Sonic the Hedgehog. When the trailer was first released in late 2019, fans disapproved so vocally that the character was redesigned to resemble longtime fans' expectations.

Some thought that the film was doomed. However, it later seemed the character could be saved. Ugly Sonic himself wasn't doomed either, as seen in the many memes he's spawned.

The origins of Ugly Sonic

The first look at the 2020 take on Sonic came from ad agency Hamagami / Carroll Inc. Images from the company were leaked, revealing what the animated design of the film's version of Sonic looked like. People immediately regarded the design as off and, in one instance, "the stuff of nightmares." However, it wasn't until the film's first trailer came out that the full effect of the design was felt.

On April 30, 2019, the Sonic the Hedgehog trailer was released. The film was promised to be computer-animation-meets-live-action. The trailer simply fell short of expectations and the character's design stood out in a distracting way. Rather than matching the animation of Pokémon's Detective Pikachu, Sonic was punier, weird-looking, and had unsettling human-like teeth, quickly earning him the moniker 'Ugly Sonic' across social media.

The fervent backlash to Sonic's look made it clear that changes were necessary for the film to see commercial success.

Two days after the trailer's release, director Jeff Fowler tweeted and confirmed that major edits would happen to make the film live up to expectations.

Ugly Sonic and Chip N' Dale Rescue Rangers

These memes enjoyed a moment from the time the trailer came out to beyond the final film's release. In 2022, the meme officially picked up the moniker "Ugly Sonic" with the release of Chip N' Dale Rescue Rangers.

The character appears in the film in a meta form. Ugly Sonic is an actor who played Sonic the Hedgehog in the film's trailer within the Chip N' Dale universe. The cameo was genuinely funny and was a clever way to make use of the scrapped design. However bad the design was originally regarded, fans have found a way to come around and embrace Ugly Sonic.

PewDiePie’s Ugly Sonic drawing makes millions

In May 2019, Felix Kjellberg, who goes by PewDiePie on YouTube, announced he was going to try to draw Sonic the Hedgehog from memory.

“I think what freaked everyone out was the fact that he had human teeth at least that’s what I was bothered by,” said the YouTuber while attempting to draw Sonic. “Why does it look so creepy?” he asked of his own drawing. “I’m trying. I’m scaring myself.”

PewDiePie then tweeted that he would be putting his drawing on eBay. According to Dexerto, bidding on the doodle hit £10 million within hours.

More meme examples

Related memes:

• Sonic the Hedgehog live-action memes are so hot right now
• Poster for ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ movie sparks memes
• The angry Jigglypuff in ‘Detective Pikachu’ is already a meme

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The Family Guy death pose is an image showing series star Peter Griffin lying at the bottom of his stairs beat up with his arms and one leg twisted behind his back.

This injured pose resulted from a serious fall down these stairs that made use of Family Guy's characteristically violent slapstick humor that often extends far beyond the expected time parameters and results in exaggerated injuries and a lot of swearing.

What is the "Family Guy death pose" meme?

The Family Guy death pose comes from a highly popular scene from the animated series in which Peter Griffin falls down the stairs and lands with his limbs contorted behind his back. Fans received the dramatic pose suggesting severe injury as particularly hilarious, aspiring to recreate the posture in various forms across mediums.

Additionally, folks edited the video clip of Peter falling down the stairs many times to add sound effects or set the beat of the impacts to popular songs.

In what episode of Family Guy does Peter fall down the stairs?

On May 12, 1997, a season 5 episode from TV series Highlander aired that briefly showed the bodies of two characters who had died from the impact of a fall from a significant height. One of the bodies has his arms and one leg twisted behind him in the same manner as Peter from the Family Guy season 10 episode that aired on January 15, 2012. Fans have speculated that the scene from Highlander was the inspiration for the death pose.

In 2012, Family Guy season 10 episode 11 aired in which Peter falls down the stairs after his wife, Lois, had them repaired to make them smoother because their son Stewie got a splinter from the rough wood.

Unaware of this change, Peter slips at the very top of the staircase after Lois calls him for breakfast and tumbles down, cursing all the way, until he lands in the famous death pose.

He immediately pops up, very much not dead nor severely injured, and begins yelling at Lois about the fall. Later in the episode, he attempts various methods to prevent falling once again such as sanding the bottom of his shoes, but repeatedly fails and ends up in a similar pose at the bottom.

How the Peter death pose went viral

Days after the episode aired, YouTube user Stefan posted the clip showing Peter falling down the stairs and landing in the death pose, allowing others to pause the video and get a good look at his mangled body.

Over the next several years, Family Guy fans would reference the fall by posting screenshots or creating art from various video games with characters lying in the same posture.

Characters in games ranging from Team Fortress 2 to A Hat in Time to Stardew Valley can now be found in the Peter Griffin fall pose. A user on Nexus Mods created a mod for the popular farming game and posted it on April 23, 2022, that replaces the image of your grandpa on his death bed with the old man in the death pose.

At the same time, social media users began seeing the Peter death pose in all kinds of other media, whether it was an intentional reference or not.

This trend eventually spread to real-world creatures and objects, to just about anything you could imagine.

Sonic Family Guy death pose

On March 31, 2023, the Sega Social Team posted a trailer for a free point-and-click adventure game titled The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog. Sega created the game as an amusing promotion for the franchise and a kind of April Fool's Day prank, though the game itself is very real and available on Steam.

"We're excited to announce... He's dead," the trailer reads.

The line "he's dead" appears below an image of Sonic the Hedgehog himself lying on the ground in the same posture as that of the Peter Griffin fall meme. Fans of both Sonic and Family Guy quickly caught on to the joke.

Related memes:

• The ‘Pepperidge Farm Remembers’ meme is nostalgia wrapped in humor
• ‘I’m in Danger’: The evolution of a one-liner into a viral meme
• Your guide to the Luigi death stare meme
• The latest Minecraft meme is frickin’ hilarious

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The popular content creator Chris Chan was arrested and charged with incest on Sunday after she allegedly admitted to having sex with her mother in a leaked recording.

The 39-year-old, whose full name is Christine Weston Chandler, has long been known in internet circles for creating Sonichu, a character that combines the likeness of both Pokémon's Pikachu and Sonic the Hedgehog.

The leaked recording was posted on Friday to Kiwi Farms, a controversial forum that focuses on prominent internet figures. An individual purporting to be Chandler claims in the recording to have had sexual intercourse with her 79-year-old mother.

Screenshots of alleged text messages in which Chandler purportedly admits to having "another romp in the hay" with her mother also circulated online.

Chandler seemingly responded to the allegations on Friday in a tweet to her nearly 60,000 followers.

"There is drama in the air today," Chandler wrote. "Each and every one of you all are encouraged to withdraw from any and all dramas, gossip, rumors, and whatever else will, and already has, approached your way today." 

Chandler's arrest was apparently caught on video during a livestream on Sunday. The internet figure can be heard saying that "Everything is going to work out" while being put into the back of a police car.

In a statement to Newsweek, Henrico County Sheriff Alisa Gregory said Chandler was currently being held at Henrico County Regional Jail West in Virginia, but would be arranged in Greene County.

In Virginia, engaging in sexual acts with one's own parent is a Class 5 felony. Chandler has not commented on the allegations since her arrest.

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The animated series Dora the Explorer trended on Twitter on Monday, as fan art from three years ago circulated online, with some thinking that the beloved children's character was getting ready for a scary new reboot.

No, Dora's not getting an ill-advised redesign akin to the Sonic the Hedgehog live-action makeover that horrified fans in 2019. For a few tenuous moments, though, some fans of the bilingual cartoon character had to scroll through tweeted images of Bizarro Dora to discover what was really happening.

One fan tweeted the rendering with the observation, "That doesn't look child friendly," adding, "I'm scared, what did they do to you, Dora" with some crying emojis.

Another observed, more bluntly, "What the fuck did they do to my gal Dora and why" — providing a side-by-side comparison of the two.

Another imagined a Hunter S. Thompson-styled adventure for Dora, remarking, "Dora looks like she's just done about 10 lines with Boots and the Map," said @zahrah_m19. "She's on another plane of existence."

Yet another person took the image one demonic step further, tweeting, "This is how the new Dora looks to me," adding yellow reptilian eyes and weaponry."

And one person scanned the entirety of "new Dora" to reveal another issue, focusing in on her pants and asking, "Now why they got my girl Dora’s pantyline showing?"

It turns out, however, that this is not an official Dora. Rather, as Cartoon Crave tweeted, "'Dora' is currently trending on Twitter due to people mistaking fan artwork for a new version of the series."

It then linked to an Artstation page from Dimas Vian, dating back to 2018. The artist, according to his page and linked social media pages, is based in Bandung, Indonesia, and has most recently been active showing off 3D animations on Instagram.

Some responses to that post chided people from not checking sources, with one Twitter user, @mationmiss (who goes by "Anny Mation"), tutting, "Its 2021 and people still don’t check their sources."

Another observed, "Saw Dora was trending and thought 'Huh that weird' and proceed to see what is clearly fan art that mfs think is real because that's how Twitter works."

But it provided fun for some willing to play along, including one who posted a screengrab of Dora's nemesis, Swiper, with the caption, "That Dora looks like she gonna get us lost."

Update: The artist returned our request for an interview on Tuesday morning (Tuesday evening his time), unaware he was trending until we told him. Currently working at an Indonesian gaming studio, he said his 3D Dora was essentially an exercise he did as he was developing his animation skills.

"OMG, why now?" he wrote to us, upon learning of his artwork's newfound attention on Twitter. "Why not three years ago? LOL."

While not a Dora fan in particular, he said he is a fan of animation, and was drawn to render Dora as a 3D character. While satisfied with his execution, he also acknowledges that his skills have come along in the time since he created this Dora.

"Every artist knows that feeling," he wrote. "When you see your old work, you'll say, 'What on Earth is it?'"

Asked if he'd consider doing an updated Dora, to show a newly-engaged world how far he's come, he noted, "I'm not thinking about that. I'm working on other work."

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The best-selling video game movie of all time is quickly approaching to a streaming service near you. Considering you're likely at home a lot these days, you just might have time to watch it now.

How to stream Sonic the Hedgehog movie

The mere idea of a Sonic the Hedgehog movie drew some polarizing reactions, which blew up into a near powder keg once the first trailer was revealed last year. But after a brief re-design, the Sega/Jim Carrey joint delighted both '90s blast-processing fans and new gamers alike.

Sonic, a hedgehog endowed with super speed, escapes to earth once his home comes under attack from strange enemies. After bonding with a small-town sheriff, he must zip to San Francisco while dodging the megalomaniacal Dr. Ivo Robotnik, who is looking to harness the Blue Blur's power for himself.

Here's everything you need to know to rent or buy Sonic the Hedgehog movie.

Sonic the Hedgehog movie cast

• Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic
• Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik
• James Marsden as Thomas Michael "Tom" Wachowski
• Tika Sumpter as Maddie Wachowski
• Lee Majdoub as Agent Stone
• Natasha Rothwell as Rachel
• Adam Pally as Wade Whipple
• Neal McDonough as Major Bennington
• Tom Butler as Commander Walters
• Frank C. Turner as Crazy Carl

How to watch Sonic the Hedgehog movie online

Sonic the Hedgehog is a theatrical release, but Universal Pictures recently announced it would offer films like Sonic the Hedgehog on demand, considering many in the world will be under quarantine. Here are your options to rent or buy the Sonic the Hedgehog movie. 

1) Amazon Prime Video

• Cost: $19.99 HD
• Devices: Amazon Fire Stick, Fire TV, Fire tablets, and Fire phone; Roku, Apple TV, Google TV, TiVo, Nvidia Shield TV, PlayStation 3 and 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Wii

The online retail giant is also one of the premier destinations for online streaming. This is the easiest way to watch the Sonic the Hedgehog movie, no question. If you already have an Amazon account, buying in either HD or 4K will take seconds, and you can watch it anywhere you stream Amazon Video, from Amazon Fire Stick to Roku.

2) FandangoNOW

• Cost: $19.99 HD, $24.99 4K
• Devices: Samsung Smart TVs, internet browsers, iPad, iOS devices, Roku, Xbox One, Google Chromecast, Android, Visio Smart TVs

Fandango and movies go hand in hand, and not just when it comes to buying tickets online. Plenty of hits and classics are available in the FandangoNOW library, along with full seasons of your favorite shows. the Sonic the Hedgehog movie is available on FandangoNOW in multiple formats. If you join Fandango VIP, you can rack up points to spend across Fandango and FandangoNOW.

3) Vudu

• Cost: $14.99
• Devices: Samsung Smart TVs, Internet Browsers, iPad, iOS, Roku, Xbox One, Chromecast, Android, Vizio Smart TVs, PlayStation

Vudu is a no-fuss way to rent movies online if you don't want to bother signing up for anything. There's a massive library of high-quality video content, including 4K movies. There are even piles of movies you can watch free as long as you sit through a few ads. The Sonic the Hedgehog movie is available to buy right now, in SD, HDX, and UHD. You'll have to wait a little longer if you want to rent it.

4) Google Play

• Cost: $14.99

Google Play links to your Google account and media can be accessed from any Google Play-enabled device.

5) iTunes

• Cost: $14.99

If you happen to prefer streaming on iOS devices, buying the Sonic the Hedgehog movie on iTunes is your best bet.

WATCH: The 19 Best Movies on Amazon Prime:

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Paramount Pictures' Sonic The Hedgehog has earned the highest-grossing domestic opening ever for a video game movie, Deadline reports.

The film racked up $57 million in the U.S. over the weekend, moving it past the $54.3 million opening of the release of Pokémon Detective Pikachu.

The movie's four-day projection continues to rise as well, with the latest estimates pointing to earnings of at least $68 million.

Internationally, Sonic The Hedgehog did not break records, but it has still earned an impressive $100 million thus far. Fellow video game flicks Pokémon Detective Pikachu and Warcraft brought in larger numbers overall.

But the movie's outcome could have been much worse given its early issues. Fans were initially horrified last year when the film's trailer showed a terrifying version of Sonic complete with human teeth. Listening to the feedback, Paramount opted to redesign the character to make him more true to his video game form.

While the move undoubtedly cost Paramount money given that the film's debut was pushed back by three months, the decision appears to have paid off.

Video game movies have often been disastrous as production companies have struggled to appease both die-hard fans and moviegoers alike. So far, Sonic The Hedgehog appears to have achieved the perfect balance, which has earned it an admirable 63% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a whopping 95% from fans.

"Fittingly fleet and frequently fun, Sonic The Hedgehog is a video game-inspired adventure the whole family can enjoy -- and a fine excuse for Jim Carrey to tap into the manic energy that launched his career," Rotten Tomatoes notes.

READ MORE:

• The ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ redesign was led by a ‘Sonic’ artist
• The ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ live-action redesign is a marked improvement
• PewDiePie’s horrifying Sonic the Hedgehog doodle racks up millions on eBay

H/T Deadline

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Jim Carrey caught the wrath of the internet Wednesday after a video surfaced of him telling an interviewer she was on his "bucket list," Page Six reports.

In an interview for Heatworld with Carey, who was promoting the move Sonic the Hedgehog, journalist Charlotte Long recalled that in the movie, Sonic talks about having a bucket list of life goals.

"Just you," Carrey says in response. "It's all done now."

Long then asks Carey, "After all you've done in your career, and in your life is there anything still left on your bucket list?"

Long then laughs and smiles in response, saying, "I don't know what to say to that."

But online, people had lots to say. Many Twitter users found the comment to be sexist and crass.

The interview continued after the "bucket list" comment, with Carrey and Long talking about his past accomplishments and work ethic.

Others are defending Carrey, saying his statement was misconstrued. Some interpreted Carrey's response to mean the interview with Long was on his bucket list—not anything sexual.

Bauer Media Group, which manages Heatworld.com, did not immediately respond to the Daily Dot's request for comment.

READ MORE:

• City Girls’ Yung Miami receiving backlash for asking fans to send her birthday money
• Jameela Jamil responds to allegations that she’s lied about chronic illnesses and accidents
• Rapper Kash Doll accused of racism after posting coronavirus meme

H/T Page Six

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The latest Sonic the Hedgehog trailer revealed the character’s cartoonish redesign, which received near-universal praise from fans after the backlash over the original and more realistic look led to Paramount going back to the drawing board. And as it turns out, one of the people hired to work on the redesign has a long history, both on and off the internet, with the character.

After the trailer’s online debut, artist and director Tyson Hesse revealed that he led the team who redesigned the look of Sonic in Sonic the Hedgehog.

https://twitter.com/tyson_hesse/status/1194331183351357440

https://twitter.com/tyson_hesse/status/1194380247795322880

Hesse has worked on Sonic the Hedgehog properties for years. He’s designed several covers for both Archie Comics and IDW Publishing’s respective Sonic the Hedgehog series. His Sonic work has also extended to video games like Sonic Mania, Sonic Mania Adventures, and he’s responsible for the Sonic Mania Plus pre-order trailer. Each iteration of Sonic that he makes might vary from the last, but it never shies away from the character’s iconic cartoon-esque feel.

He’s also responsible for the infamous “Nipples the Enchilada” Sonic webcomic, which has endured nearly a decade since he first posted it.

https://twitter.com/Camalange/status/1194359434153099264

We still don’t know how the actual Sonic the Hedgehog movie will be, but if the trailer is any indication, the work of Hesse and the animators have ensured that it will look great.

https://twitter.com/TAHK0/status/1194221236793921536

H/T US Gamer

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Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the weirder movie controversies this year. When the first trailer came out in April, Sonic fans were so disgusted by the character's weirdly "realistic" CGI design that Sonic's human-looking teeth became a meme unto themselves. Paramount Pictures decided to delay the film a few months and redo Sonic to look more like his cartoonish origins, and now they've unveiled the new version.

The new and improved Sonic is a lot more stylized and, crucially, doesn't seem to have a mouth full of photorealistic teeth. Fans reacted positively to the character's redesign on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/MrDalekJD/status/1194240127276597248

https://twitter.com/ebilmeeki/status/1194248825143222278

https://twitter.com/FrickEpic/status/1194250401018605568

https://twitter.com/Kellzallday/status/1194254549961367558

Naturally, the new trailer also gave the internet more material for Sonic memes.

https://www.reddit.com/r/dankmemes/comments/dv92s8/kinda_miss_2019_sonic_now/

https://www.reddit.com/r/dankmemes/comments/dv935f/sonic_redesign_good/

Co-starring Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik and James Marsden as Sonic's human friend, Sonic the Hedgehog comes out on Feb. 14, 2020. It bears very little resemblance to its video game inspiration, but then again, Detective Pikachu was also pretty different from most people's experience of Pokémon, and it was still a hit.

You can watch the newly designed Sonic in the trailer below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szby7ZHLnkA

READ MORE:

• ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ movie delayed to 2020 to fix his look
• ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ trailer reveals the character’s horrifying human teeth
• Poster for ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ movie sparks memes

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There's plenty of sexy fan art for any movie, show, or game imaginable, thanks to Rule 34. But there's something about Sonic the Hedgehog that lends the character to very specific and often extreme fetish art, in limitless quantities.

Why Sonic?

This week on 2 Girls 1 Podcast, writer and weird internet excavator K. Thor Jensen walks Alli and Jen (actors who perform weird text from the internet) through the invention of the internet's favorite blue speed demon and the unique way he was positioned by his creators, setting him up as a conduit for porn of all stripes.

Listen to episode 96 of #2G1P right here:

2 Girls 1 Podcast is supported by listeners. A lot of time and resources go into research, booking, editing, and publishing this show. If you love internet culture as much as we love ’casting about it, consider a contribution of $1 or $2 per month to help offset our production costs. Become a patron of #2G1P and earn some cool perks while you’re at it:

Become a Patron!

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2 Girls 1 Podcast is hosted by Allison Goldberg and Jennifer Jamula, and is produced and edited by Matt Silverman in New York City. Production assistance is provided by the Podglomerate.

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