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The official Sonic the Hedgehog Twitter account shared a short on January 21, 2021 that is a call back to what might have been. Titled “Eggman’s Mean Time Machine,” it seems like a chance to explore potential what-if options with stuffed versions of Eggman and Sonic. But the three minute video pays tribute to rejected Sonic designs. For example, we see the Sonic the Rabbit design from Naoto Ohshima.
Here’s the full “Eggman’s Mean Time Machine” clip. (The title itself is also a reference to Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine.) Rejected Sonic designs like the chicken, kid, rabbit, and wolf all appear. Rest assured that the story does have a happy ending.
What if Sonic the Hedgehog never existed? Dr. Eggman takes a trip to the past using his brand new Mean Time Machine in an effort to erase Sonic from history, but things don’t go as planned. pic.twitter.com/22MveEjTuy
— Sonic the Hedgehog (@sonic_hedgehog) January 21, 2021
There is an easy way to learn about rejected Sonic the Hedgehog designs too. Characters like Sonic the Rabbit appear in a Cook & Becker an art book by Arjan Terpstra that offered insight into the series’ history. While the original Sonic the Hedgehog 25th Anniversary Art Book that debuted in 2016 is out of print, the updated Sonic the Hedgehog Art & Design reprint is available and also covers additional games.
