12 Ridiculous Early Concept Designs Of Iconic Characters

The origin of Sonic's design is not driven by artistic inspiration, but motivated by marketing. Sega needed something that would establish a brand identity that would have them distinctly opposed to their main rival in squeaky clean Nintendo. After focus groups and market research, in comes, Mr. Needlemouse?

Sonic The Hedgehog's original name was a bit of mouthful and his design looked awkward to say the least, with his quills going all the way down to his backside, and even sometimes having two separate eyes rather than one eye cavity. True to his name at the time, he sure was spiky and ratty.

The story-line concept reads just as awkwardly as the drawings look. Sonic was originally supposed to also have fangs, and play in a rock band. The real coup de gras though has to be that Sonic was supposed to have a human love interest named Madonna, which should leave anyone with a few logistical questions. The team would later dig up inter-species romance in 2006. It didn't work

Thankfully, the suits at Sega dialed back the extreme marketable edginess, along with the length of Sonic's quills to create an enduring character for generations. Sonic would see success in video games, comics, cartoons, and movies, never straying too far from his finalized image once Sega pulled back on all their worst ideas.