Holy crap, it was Rittz who saved the new Sonic movie

Hey all, haven't been around here for forever but this was just too cool to not pass on.

So, I don't know who all has been paying attention to the news surrounding the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog movie, but here's the gist: in the original trailer, Sonic looked like a horrifying monstrosity, but because of fan backlash, they fixed him to look like actual sonic. There's a side-by-side comparison for you all to take a look at the difference.

It still looks like a meh movie, but at least now it it looks like a meh movie starring Sonic, instead of one starring an eldritch horror wearing a homemade Sonic suit.

Well, it turns out the guy that Sony brought on board to fix sonic's design was none other than Tyson Hesse, AKA Rittz, AKA the guy who we all pitched in to send to Japan for animation classes.

Best $20 I ever spent.
 
That’s what @Dave was saying, and I can’t for the life of me even remember any user named Rittz, and this disappoints me.

—Patrick
 
Heh, I still remember the time some dude tried to call out Rittz for criticizing the artwork in Girl Genius, and Rittz was having exactly none of that.
 
Heh, I still remember the time some dude tried to call out Rittz for criticizing the artwork in Girl Genius, and Rittz was having exactly none of that.
I was part of that thread! In fact... I might have been the "some dude" you are talking about.

It ended up evolving into a "yes, we all admit you're better at drawing people than Phil Foglio" thread, which Rittz was kind of taken aback by, IIRC.
 
Neither, sorry. Though I have seen one of the tentacle slaps by itself as a GIF.

--Patrick
Hmm... this was all the way back in the Halfpixel days, I think, before Kurtz & Co. nuked the whole place. Rittz was the name of the the guy in the animation (who's also a boxer hockey character), and a drawing of the character was Rittz's avatar.
 
Hmm... this was all the way back in the Halfpixel days, I think
That's probably why. I've been around since Halfpixel as well, but you gotta remember that, in a couple of weeks, our merry band will have been bantering back and forth for at least TWELVE YEARS*.

--Patrick
*11yrs of HF + min 1yr HP.
 
Yeah, I kind of fell away from this place, which is probably why I remember the olden days so much better. The days of ZenMonkey, JCM, Espy and Chazwozel.
 
And lovely, lovely, terrifying Shego.

I am ticked I didn't remember that he called himself Rittz. I follow him on Twitter, so I saw him announce it there. Very cool.
 

Dave

Staff member
I was just saying in another thread how he used to be one of us back in the day. But I couldn't remember his name then, either. How have you been, man?
 
I've been doing pretty well! Got a wife, kids, a house, staying steady in my job, and I've gotten a few freelance writing gigs that gives a small amount of money on the side. One of my articles even went viral, which was nice.

How have things been around here? I see there's still a lot of familiar faces -- anything new going on?
 

Dave

Staff member
Not much new going on. We're mostly all old(er) farts and we've mellowed quite a bit. Chaz still comes around from time to time as "Matthias". His ban was lifted and everything forgiven after North_Ranger passed away. I think that singular event really weighed on us as a community and made us a better place.

We still have our occasional squabbles, but all in all we've all mellowed out.

Unless we are talking politics. There's a few who have a hard time separating themselves from certain topics.

My daughter is married now. I'm still married (26 years!) and I still work at the university (10 years!).

Other than that...anyone have anything to add?
 
I'm like, 90% sure Shego's the reason the original forum got the axe all those years ago. Didn't Straub mention something about the FBI getting involved?
I distinctly remember an "anonymous" thread that went something like "I did a murdery thing and now I don't know what to do" that was meant to be entertaining but caused great consternation to people who take murdery things seriously.
 
North_Ranger passed away.
Oh wow, I had no idea that happened... That's really depressing, actually. North_Ranger was a stand-up guy.

As I recall, the dude had an avatar that looked like it was drawn by Howard Tayler, the Schlock Mercenary guy. Was that you?
Nah, unless I changed it and don't remember, my avatar was a bad drawing of a black-and-white guy in the rain, which I had doodled in High School.

This one, in fact:

djgk1q-efafe204-6283-4ae4-97e4-9536c090ea7c.png


Though you've got me thinking: whatever became of Stienman? I don't see him in the member's list anymore, and he used to make those Rogue's Galleries that showed all the top users' avatars.
 
That's probably why. I've been around since Halfpixel as well, but you gotta remember that, in a couple of weeks, our merry band will have been bantering back and forth for at least TWELVE YEARS*.

--Patrick
*11yrs of HF + min 1yr HP.
I was on the board back in the IMAGE board days. 19 years ago.
 
I'm pretty sure I joined about 13-14 years ago, before the switchover to this board. I remember hearing about free comic day from you guys, and taking my 6 year old son to the one in Dallas, and meeting Kurtz (who gave my son a plushy Skull, which was nice) and Straub.
 
Since the image forum days, when I joined, I've completed seven years of grad school, taught at three different universities, gotten married, had three kids, traveled to Europe three times, visited Canada three times, attended dozens of conferences around the country, including in NYC, DC, SF, Seattle, and plenty more, raised two cats and lost one to cancer, and visited Belize and Barbados while on my sabbatical. HF has been there for most of my adult life. Way to hang in there, HF crew.
 
Since the image forum days, when I joined, I've completed seven years of grad school, taught at three different universities, gotten married, had three kids, traveled to Europe three times, visited Canada three times, attended dozens of conferences around the country, including in NYC, DC, SF, Seattle, and plenty more, raised two cats and lost one to cancer, and visited Belize and Barbados while on my sabbatical. HF has been there for most of my adult life. Way to hang in there, HF crew.
And given me an existential crisis on how little I've done.
 
Jeeesus the memories. I have actually been around since the image board days but I don't post nearly enough to be called a regular. I just mostly lurk. I just like reading the discussions most days.

Grats on Rittz getting to live his dreams!
 

Zappit

Staff member
Man, I remember the fundraiser to send Rittz to animation school. I was a broke-ass college student then, so I couldn’t afford to contribute.

Still, I’m so happy to see one of ours make it big.
 
Top