Sonic the Hedgehog movie's new design leaks early and it looks way better

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Alleged leaks show a Sonic who is much closer to the video games

(Image credit: Sega)

The Sonic the Hedgehog movie's redesigned protagonist appears to have been revealed. 

The speedster's new look seems to be a heck of a lot closer to the speedy blue mammal you know from the games – at least compared to the early trailer which promoted a vocal backlash from fans. Physical advertisements for the movie, which have been spotted by eagle-eyed Twitter users, show Sonic with a less human head.

The original movie design for Sonic the Hedgehog saw the eponymous hero given human-like features, including a unsettling set of teeth. Many fans commented that the character looked like a muscular child in a furry blue onesie. The redesign restores his skinny limbs, white gloves, and trademark lopsided smirk. It almost gives Sonic back his old connected goggle eyes, though it doesn't step quite that far into cartoon territory. The biggest remaining difference from the game version now, aside from having individually rendered fur/quills, is that his arms are still blue.

No official announcements have been made about Sonic's new look, aside from the movie's producer saying that "the fans have a voice in this too", but the appearance in that leak lines up with another one spotted in October.

The Sonic the Hedgehog movie was originally due to hit theaters this week, but it was delayed because of the overwhelmingly negative response fans had for the original design. It looks like fans are much more pleased with the new version, so hopefully the movie will be similarly well received when it hits theaters on February 14, 2020.

Save some cash that you can spend on tickets later with our guide to the upcoming Black Friday game deals.

Connor Sheridan
Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar.