Hey Verte, how do you feel about the 2010s era of Sonic in retrospective? Lately I've been having this feeling that the era probably wasn't as perfect for Sonic as it seemed at first glance. Not necessarily because of the quality of the games or the writing, but rather the feeling that the new direction from that time was probably more forced onto Sonic Team and the series than what everyone initially thought, judging by some declarations (like Iizuka wanting a vocal theme for Gens with the idea being rejected by SoA because of critical reception) and the development of Frontiers as a whole, plus your old posts stating that internally SEGA themselves didn't have a high opinion of Sonic after 06. (Along with the constant self-deprecation)

I'm just wondering if Sonic Team was really okay with the direction the series took from Colors onward, as for me it seems it was done more out of obligation than anything.

I still stand by my view that with the exception of Mania in 2017, the series wasn't re-railed at all. Whilst I still like Colours, the game still has numerous issues that means that it wasn't the return to form that its lauders make it out to be. And the less said about SLW the better. Post-2010 until 2020's Sonic is what happens when the wrong voices are listened to.