LOL: Disney Reveals Where Paramount’s ‘Ugly Sonic’ Is Post-Movie Rejection

Video screenshot via Paramount Pictures

Not everyone is living happily ever after in the world of Disney. The new, self-deprecating Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers movie—which takes place 30 years after the television show of the cartoon chipmunks (played by John Mulaney and Andy Samberg respectively) concluded—also lenses the lives of beloved characters who have long outgrown their heydays.

Disney meant to surprise with its diverse set of cameos, no doubt, but the appearance that might have shocked viewers the most was possibly the scrapped character design of the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie—an outsider by the books of both Paramount Pictures and Disney.

For those out of the loop, in 2019, Paramount Pictures presented a 3D makeover of the video game icon ahead of a movie based on the hedgehog. Audiences unanimously deemed the look ghastly, no thanks to Sonic’s muscular body and human-like teeth.

The character was ugly-shamed out of the limelight, forcing producers to go back to the drawing board and delay the film’s release. The re-redesign proved to be successful enough, as there was a Sonic the Hedgehog 2 this year, with a third movie somehow on the way.

Years on, the rejected Sonic finally gets a role in a movie—and it’s on Disney+, no less. The self-aware character (voiced by Tim Robinson) has rebranded himself as ‘Ugly Sonic’, and although his life has been a wretched one, he’s at least learned to embrace his notoriety. 

Spoilers ahead: The film shows Ugly Sonic selling merchandise that brings his subpar looks to center stage. He’s even landed a role on a crime reality television show where the crimes are “uglier” than him.  

All these updates are lost on the chipmunks, who are disconcertingly hypnotized by his human teeth.

If you’d like to see how everybody else is doing, Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers is now streaming on Disney+

[via Kotaku and Polygon, cover image via Paramount Pictures]