Was it Sega in general that you were a fan of, or were you into Sonic specifically as well? I decided I might as well apply for it and see what happens, and one thing led to another and that’s really how I got started. I did that pro bono for them for two years, but it helped introduce me to some people at Sega, and through that, eventually there was a job opportunity. I played a lot of a game called Phantasy Star Online, which was really key for me growing up, and through that game I ended up becoming a volunteer moderator for Sega when I was in my early teens. I had no idea what that actually meant, I didn’t really know what position that would be, but it was childhood dream. For me that dream was: I wanted to go work at Sega some day. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.Īndrew Webster: I know you’ve worked at Sega for a long time, so how did you get involved with the Twitter side of things?Īaron Webber: I was a big Sega fan growing up - I had a Genesis, a Saturn, a Dreamcast - and when you’re a kid, you kind of have those dreams of what you want to do. I recently spoke to Webber about how the account came to be, and why posting "Sanic" memes is actually good for the franchise. The kind of place that pokes fun at everything from other games to Sonic’s own troubled past. Two years ago, Aaron Webber took over the Sonic the Hedgehog handle on Twitter and turned a formerly typical corporate account into a bizarre, self-aware, meme-filled comedic adventure. Following those early highs, the output of the blue hedgehog has skewed toward the disappointing, with few standouts and plenty of forgettable releases.īut despite all of that, Sonic not only still remains, but is often at the forefront of the conversation - at least on Twitter. But 25 years later, Sonic’s legacy is mixed at best. A blaze of speed and attitude, Sonic proved to be just what Sega needed in order to keep pace with Nintendo in the earliest iteration of the game console wars. I’m very curious to see what the tone of Sonic becomes over the next few years, and also whether or not Webber continues to be a part of that.On June 23rd, 1991, Sonic the Hedgehog made its debut on the Sega Genesis. But aside from the consistently excellent comics, the brand is in a very strange place right now. I’d say that in the later years Sonic’s social media team (and the brand as a whole) got much better about being more sincere and putting out genuinely good content. I mean, I’m sure it’s not hard to find people who think the Sonic Twitter is funny but who still think most of the games are “cringe.” Whether or not that’s successful marketing is up for debateĪnd of course, Webber never did delete or apologize (to my knowledge) for that Tweet saying “ We actually identify as an attack helicopter. Can Sega display a little more confidence in the series? At its lowest points, it felt like the whole Sonic brand was embarrassed of many of the cheesy things we love Sonic for. At a certain point it’s like, we GET it, you know what Sanic is and you know that people make fun of Big the Cat. A decade ago it felt like Sonic Team didn’t even listen to the fans, and that’s harder to say these daysīut as with all self deprecating humor, there is a point where it stops being cute and just becomes sad, or annoying. On some level, I think it was good for the Sonic brand to show some humility and acknowledge that they’d made some missteps in a lighthearted way. While I think most of us can agree that Relatable Brand Twitters are a blight on humanity, for Sonic… well, it was a mixed bag. On the other hand, his self-deprecating, meme-focused approach had a big impact on not only the tone of the franchise, but also the overly-relatable way so many Brand Twitters behave today in general. For instance, I appreciated that during the nightmarishly racist Uganda Knuckles debacle he chose to promote some charities instead of capitalizing off of the awful joke On the one hand, he definitely used his power behind the scenes to support some cool shit getting made (Tyson Hesse’s shorts, the remixes posted to the YouTube channel, etc.) and often tried to be a positive voice. I’ve always had a complicated relationship with his work on the franchise.
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