The Missourian English major grew up playing Sonic the Hedgehog games, naturally. We spoke ahead of Sonic’s 25th anniversary in June, hoping to make sense of how Webber devised Sonic’s quarter-life character change - and how he continues to get away with some of the more vicious gags. "I was a young boy of 19, and I had always dreamed of working at Sega," Webber, now 27, told Polygon earlier this year. Webber’s professional career at Sega began nearly a decade ago, back in 2008. Instead, in just one year, Webber has transformed Sonic into a parody of himself - and a funny, bizarre, self-aware one at that. But this isn’t a return to that phase as the hippest character in gaming. On any given day, you can find the man behind the Twitter handle teasing Nintendo of America, replying to a fan’s snarky comment with an appropriate, Sonic-fied meme or reaction, demonstrating a cultural savvy that Sonic hasn’t shown in his games since the Genesis days. It’s now par for the course to see Sonic mocking other brands and his own history, or reveling in absurdity on social Look at that blue verified icon. Taking over the Hedgehog’s handle in the summer of 2015, Webber crafted an updated persona for Sonic. As the brand’s social media manager, he’s developed the account into a mix of weird in-jokes, pop culture references and memes galore. It’s all thanks to Webber’s management of the character’s Twitter account. Webber’s name isn’t just known to his fellow Sonic faithful: Under his care as a social media manager at Sega, the hedgehog’s online presence has become one of the strangest, funniest and best in the industry. That includes Webber - and he’s had the unique chance to bring lapsed fans back into the fray. In fact, the grown-up die-hards were the ones most able to crack jokes about the transformations the hedgehog has undergone over the years. Making fun of Sonic and loving him didn’t have to be mutually exclusive, either. It was a Sonic who was more than just a character: He was an icon, ripe for lampooning. Making fun of Sonic and loving him didn’t have to be mutually exclusiveīut some, like Webber, saw another side of Sonic emerge outside of his increasingly polarizing games. Those who grew up with Sonic couldn’t quite recognize him. In maligned games like Sonic and the Secret Rings, Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and 2006’s Sonic the Hedgehog, he’s a far cry from the image that he cultivated as Mario’s Genesis-bound nemesis. Sometime around the advent of 3D games, snarky speedster Sonic slowed down, developing concerns beyond outrunning Dr. Instead, longtime and former fans may point to Sonic’s critically reviled recent games, or his increasingly annoying set of friends. That’s the version of the character that Sega social media manager and lifelong Sonic devotee Aaron Webber grew up with, but even he knows that "cool" is not the first word that comes to mind when thinking of Sonic the Hedgehog in 2016. Sonic was young and hip and with it, and he knew it. He was fast, unlike his rival Mario he was snarky, even funny, and he never had to try too hard.
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