[0:00]If this isn't Sonic, then who is it? Oh my God, I cannot believe it. Sick! I'm a spin dash on that thing. 2017 X has Rizz. Sir, I don't think you can talk to our customer like that. This is 2017 X, also known as the broken face or simply Sonic. I can't do air quotes. I lack mobility. He's an obsessed Sonic fan that wants people like you to believe he's Sonic. And seeing as most people only know him as Freaky Sonic. While little off the mark, I'd say he's accomplished his goal. But how did he get so popular? How did a character from a failed reboot of a terrible horror story become an overnight sensation for something its creators had no part in? Well, it all begins in the year 2011. Creepy pasta for the uninitiated are widely spread internet urban legends or short stories of the horror variety. Some examples include Jeff the Killer, Slenderman, Young Wallace Power's experience at Bible camp, and for the sake of this video, Sonic.exe. I'm going to save you the time of going over the story as I already did a whole video covering this. TLDR, cursed game, evil Sonic, kills his friends, and the protagonist, but does that last part as a marketable plushy for some reason. Pop off, Poo bear. Fast forward to 2017, when the original author, JC the Hyena, would put out a rewritten version of the story. And credit where it's due, while the original version was notorious for just sucking an unfathomable, unfathomable. Ah! amount of ass. The rewritten one, well, again. In this rewrite, Sonic XE is introduced as an uncannily cheerful Sonic. Who, as the plot unfolds, is shown to be more of a bad Sonic impersonator with murderous tendencies, then an evil Sonic killing his friends because a Skrillex song told them to. While this change is commendable, what I can't say the same about is the redesign for Sonic XE's main form. Taking this simple but iconic design and turning it into this. Cut to 2021. where Sonic.exe fans Shay and JoeDoughBoi are given joint custody of Sonic.exe. But what caused such a thing to happen? I'll give you a hint. That previous image was unfortunate foreshadowing. Shay and Joe would take both the 2011 and 2017 versions of the character and split them into their own cannons, renaming the two as X and 2017X. Surely, things won't get more convoluted than this. He says as he sets up his next joke. Joe would go on to redesign the characters, and through this, we get the first glimpse of our favorite ugly little hedgehog. Unfortunately, with Joe focusing on projects around the 2011 X and Shay focusing on creating a new third X, see, the joke from earlier already paid off. 2017 X would become a forgotten middle child of sorts. And it's going to stay like that for quite some time, so while our little friend gets ready for his explosive comeback, I need to fill you in on an important element of said comeback. A game called Friday Night Funkin. In 2021, Sonic XE blew up in popularity. Thanks to this little rhythm game. You plays a blue-haired kid named boyfriend who in order to date another kid named girlfriend must prove his love by facing all kinds of opponents in a rap battle. Or in simpler terms, it's Scott Pilgrim in Atlanta. Friday Night Funkin would develop a thriving modding scene, thanks to its low floor, high ceiling approach to development, making it easy to get started with drawing original sprites, but giving enough tools for creatives to build experiences that genuinely rival the original game. Seriously, this community could rival Sonics with the quality of work being put out. Or lack thereof. Speaking of Sonic, in August of 2021, Friday Night Funkin would receive one of the first mods to incorporate a creepy pasta named Verse Sonic.exe. This instantly gave Sonic creepypastas a second wind, turning them into mascot horror royalty. Among the likes of Freddy Fazbear, Bendy, and the Kanye West Nextbot. The amount of anxiety these videos give me is unfathomable. Joe would be one of the co-directors for the versus Sonic XE mod, and it's here that I believe he first crossed paths with Raven. Take that with a grain of salt though, I I I can't, I don't know their history. The mod's former director and soon to be mother because in 2024, Raven would receive custody of 2017X from Shay and a very busy Joe, who, along with Raven, was finishing up the first release for a Friday Night Funkin mod titled Rodent Rap, aka Sonic Legacy. Sonic Legacy plays an important part in 2017 X's story, as the mod itself aimed to incorporate a load of iconic Sonic XE characters and creepypastas, well it only had Sonic and Sonic XE upon release, 2017 X was already being developed for a future update. And it wouldn't take fans long to get a first glimpse of this as a month later, Sonic Legacy composer Honkish released a video for Subterfuge. Actually, hold on, I need to make sure I say this right. Subterfuge. Okay, I did get it right. I was sweating bullets. This video would showcase the song in its entirety while debuting a fully rendered version of 2017X. We'll revisit the song soon enough, but for now, I want to focus on 2017X's finalized design. Since it plays such an important part in the meme that blew him up outside of this niche. I genuinely adore how unsettling it is. Keep Sonic's silhouette intact while suddenly breaking his design philosophy. Whether it be the brows remaining on model, but the eyes don't and look as though they're bulging from 2017 X's head. Or how Sonic will only smile on the side of his face, but 2017 X with his gummy smile fills his entire muzzle from cheek to cheek. He's got like that one weird conservative dude's smile, bro. This in addition to a more muted color palette, alongside a sharper shape language, and you got an unsettling version of Sonic that would make Young Walls cry to mommy and daddy. A key reason for these alterations would come from a change in reference point. To make 2017X more distinct from his 2011 counterpoint, Raven would take the character's obsession with Sonic from the 90s and realign it to the Sonic of the mid 2000s. Otherwise known to fans as the Sonic Dark Ages. By the way, if we're still calling this era the Dark Ages, what the hell does that make the 2010s? While that helps to explain this form of 2017X. If you remember the original story, this wasn't his main one. In other words, what happened to JC Sonic persona? To put it simply, that design was sent straight to the slaughterhouse where it was processed, packaged, and tossed into the nearest incinerator. In its place, we have Broken Face. We'll get a better look at him soon enough. All that matters now is the rise of fan art and recognition 2017X was receiving after Honkish's video. The hashtag GreenPepperOnPizza would be used for all 2017X related media, being an odd to the unusually detailed section. In the 2017 creepy pasta, where Tom orders a Domino's pizza with green peppers. Which is then followed with the exact scene he's watching in The Dark Knight. It's the hospital scene for those who are curious. With the ever growing spread of this character, Twitter user YZ10 would take notice and share this goofy little animation of 2017X. It's nothing significant now. The hell, I don't even know if he animated this. But, put a pin in this for later, or write it down. I don't care. While the subterfuge song was doing numbers, it wasn't the super hit it would become known as. Heading into April. Another member from the Sonic Adobe Creative Cloud. design even more efficiently. Shut up! Another member from the Sonic Legacy team, known as Churgney Gurgney, would release a vocal cover of Subterfuge featuring lyrics written in part by Raven, who would create a thread breaking down the lyrics. The song starts out slow and lyrically paints 2017X as believing he is Sonic. He doesn't remember a time not being Sonic. And even if he looks like Sonic with a meat candy face filter, he believes he's the real deal. Oh, he also talks about being cold, so if anyone's got a blanket, send it his way. The song starts to pick up pace when he sees the player, presumably Tom, not as a human, but as Tails himself. Then, the track explodes. Google Slides has limited transitions, bro. That was the best they had. 2017X goes on to twist most of Sonic's morals and personality traits to better line with his own. He forces the player into believing his delusions. And if you dare break the illusion, he will unleash a Carol level meltdown and become Broken Face, a twisted transformation of 2017X, which acts as a physical embodiment of his aggravation. AKA cranky mode. The song goes on to interpolate his world from Sonic 06, where 2017X states that in his world, he saves the weak and that he'll shape his enemies into the right people. All of this, still more humble than the majority of small Sonic YouTubers, myself included. The song ends with my guy having a Joker level laughing fest, which can also be heard in Honkish's version, albeit that version. The character sounds more like he's going to puke than anything, but it's a laugh. But I want to circle back to one detail in Churgney Gurgney's video around the one minute mark. What we're seeing in the background isn't just some random visuals, but a playable subterfuge mini game featured in Garn 47. where you run around as Tails dodging 2017X while he sings Churgney Gurgney's Subterfuge cover. Garn 47 itself is a bit hard to explain admittedly. It's a hidden game within a Friday Night Funkin mod called Hit Single. This Easter egg makes sense as Garn 47 is both very creepy nature and had Churgney Gurgney, Raven, alongside Honkish involved in its development. But unfortunately, due to personal reasons, this subterfuge mini game was removed from future updates. That didn't stop its effects from being felt though. Combined with Garn 47's virality at the time and both versions of subterfuge, 2017X exploded in popularity. The green peppers on pizza tag was flooded with fan art, including the morally questionable kind. Subterfuge received multiple fan covers and remixes and various degrees of quality. He still hits the though. I can't hate. People were even trying to mod the character into Friday Night Funkin before the official release, and no funny comments here, that's just impressive. However, the lack of a proper 3D model was noticeable, as there were a couple in existence seen in both Garn 47, alongside some fan animations, but none more available to the public. That is until July 30th. When a fan by the name of Kuroio K would release their own 2017X model for anyone to do with as they pleased. And it's about time we returned to that pin from earlier, because as people began to share their renders of Kuroio's model, our friend YZ10 would use the model to create some cursed animations to his audience's dismay. But just as he was about to hang up the towel, an idea struck.
[10:25]This will be my final sus related content, I want to stop and become a clean person.
[10:34]gonna break my promise, there's idea come to my mind, if I hit 1.7k likes I'm gonna make him like this gif.
[10:46]Rizz of 2017, #GreenPeppersOnPizza.
[10:57]Brother, the original tweet didn't even hit his goal. I think the big question everyone had when they saw this animation is why. Like, why is he doing all that? Well, the original tweet would make you believe this is a reanimated version of that Freddy Fazbear gift from earlier. That's actually a lie. No, it's a lie. Because YZ10 makes a direct reference to the original, not present in the Freddy version. Enter the greatest to ever do it. King Williams.
[11:26]My man's known for posting thirst traps on his TikTok. But this one in particular blew up, whether it be the flexing of his jewelry, the way he's licking his lips like he's out of chapstick, or most importantly to 2017X, rocking some blue contacts, everything about this video is pure, unadulterated charisma. Thanks for serving for your country, King Williams. Me and my future children salute you. What happened after YZ10 released his animation is hard to do justice, but I'll try. Up until now, 2017X was known as a fake Sonic in the niche circles he occupied. Then, like a lit cigarette, tossed into dry brush, this harmless animation was released, and for a moment, everything was normal until the wind caught it. At first, it was just smoke, a couple more likes than usual, a few extra retweets, but then the perfect storm. TikTok. That flicker turned into a flame. Freaky Sonic began spreading across the platform, no algorithm could contain it. Videos exploded with millions of views, fanned by confusion, fascination, and fear. But this wasn't exclusive to TikTok anymore, as wildfires began to reach nearby cities, it became clear, 2017X had finally gotten what he wanted, to be recognized as Sonic. This was his world now, and there was nothing we could do to stop it. It spread like virus. Can someone please explain where the Goonic the hedgehog meme came from? My goat. You are my goat. The freaky sonic gif is killing me man. doing too much with that freaky ass tongue. Guys, I did it. I showed 2017x to Sonic Team. Sonic Producer and Sonic Art Director. And holy, guys, they love it. It's not loading but I swear to God if it's that freaky sonic gif. I know what freaky sonic. Who invited bro? What's with the freaky sonic gifs, I'm tfu. I'm never releasing a model ever again. AW COME ON MAN. YZ10 continued to make cursed 2017X animations and models after the success of Freaky Sonic, who continues to appear in random corners of the internet.
[13:20]Meanwhile, Raven got tired of parenting this little dude and handed him over to his current owner, It's Alpie. At this time, there's no single definitive 2017X story. However, Alpie's remake with Joe and Raven's support is currently in the works. All while keeping Raven's lore as the Sonic Legacy Canon. 2017X started as a failed reboot, set aside by its new owners, only to become the face of thirst trapping because a Sudanese man thought it'd be funny. I believe the true horrors of 2017X don't come from his design or his backstory. No, it's the amount of talented people involved in turning this into this. But hey. If you want to learn about more crazy lore, I covered the original Sonic X's backstory along with other Sonic Creepy Pastas, click the link on screen. I now give to you the worst of YZ10's renders. Yeah, we got to put this man down.
