As the flagship character for the popular video game company Sega, Sonic the Hedgehog is a bonafide gaming icon and beloved by millions of fans worldwide. With the blindly fast, blue hero getting his own cinematic adaptation soon, gamers were thrilled about seeing the furry speedster in action... only to be horrified by the studio's initial design for the character seen in early promotional images and debut trailer -- seriously, what's up with his teeth?!

Facing widespread fan backlash online from the initial trailer, the production extensively redesigned the video game character's final appearance in the film, pushing back its release by three months to accommodate the last-minute increase in post-production time. Soon thereafter, a new trailer was released featuring the redesign, which was received significantly more favorably by the fanbase.

RELATED: Sonic the Hedgehog Film's CCXP Poster Is Nothing Like You'd Expect

Check out the video below for more details on the changes that went into redesigning Sonic's appearance in the upcoming video game movie and how it was a necessary move for the film to have any hope for major success.

From shoddy CGI to a misguided attempt to make the character more photorealistic, the initial Sonic design strayed too far from the look that had made him such a runaway hit with gamers for decades...while looking decidedly disturbing. In the meantime, the new cinematic Sonic design features a more cartoonish look, as a sort of blend between his original 16-bit appearance and his lankier incarnation that first debuted on the Sega Dreamcast with the original Sonic Adventure. And, at the very least, his questionable dental work appears to be finally under control.

Let us know what you think in the comments, and check out many other deep, thought-provoking videos on our YouTube channel! Don't forget to subscribe and click that bell for notifications of brand new content, posted every day!

Opening Feb. 14, director Jeff Fowler's Sonic the Hedgehog stars Ben Schwartz as Sonic and Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik, with James Marsden, Neal McDonald, Tika Sumpter, Adam Pally and Natasha Rothwell.

KEEP READING: REPORT: Sonic Redesign Cost Significantly Less Than Initially Reported