Kazhnuz

I'm impressed about how much just this tweet show how much about Penders tries to depict an alien culture is just blatantly bad. Well I'm not surprised than someone who litterally didn't seem to see what the problem was in "let's make the native species of not-Australian evil because they are fighting their echidna invaders from FRIGGIN ALBION" thinks that the portrayal of "a different society from the one we currently live in" would be undermined by the character not being "more human", lol. Sure, it's totally not possible to have a completely different society from the one we currently live in with human, it would be known if it existed. What's more funny is that for the moment, I've haven't seen anything that would be really "different" compared to even only occidental culture in the portrayal of his echidna ! The two biggest differences are that they have a non-occidental way of naming female character, and that they are wearing some kind of pagne. But for the most part... No, I don't really remember anything really different. Maybe that's why he is feeling it would undermine his work, because without that, we would have to search actual differences. And the last part is that he says that he felt that making them "more human" would undermine that... But heck, they are really human-likes. They are more human-like than the character they were originally xD Seriously, they are totally humanoïd, there isn't anything really aliens in their design, except the parts that are stolen from the SEGA's echidna design. I'm impressed, in a way.

It's not because it's "made for purpose" and that they "contrast his word with is action" that it make the character less of a jerk. The tropes of "but he only looks like a jerk : even if he insult people after that he do something heroic" is often for me the writing version of "but you know, IRL he is nice", to be a bit caricatural. Words are *actions* there isn't some kind of magical dichotomy between both. If you insult someone and belittle him, it's not because you saved his dog after that than you weren't an asshole when you insulted him. It's not because some people like that kind of character (which isn't wrong in itself, because it can be interesting) that the concern of other about this persona become "stupids" instantly, especially how much Sonic can be *abusive* in his way of talking sometimes. Though I recognize one big thing to Fleetway : at least they often show how bad it is. Even if I can really understand why some people dislike that, it's miles betters for me against how sometimes Sonic was shown as a jerk in Archie without any real callout, especially Penders who looks like he put all the cliché he had about "adolescents".

He was mentioned on Geoffrey Character Sheet as a "blue spinned Erinaceinae". EDIT : I love how all species are mentionned via their scientific name (Ericnaceinae, Meptidae)... but K'nox is an Echidn'ya. Really consistent.

I really liked this new issue. It was mainly a big preparation issue, with a lot of clifhanger, but it was pretty nice, and they managed to make that "many things happens in parallel" works quite nicely. My only gripe is But except that point, it really did its job to hype the rest of the arc. I think that the way this arc is handled might answer to the common problem of Flynn's 4-issues arcs (especially as the fourth issue might be the "finale" of that, and not a 5-page resolution followed by a 15-page epilogue). I also liked

Well, this time it makes sense, it means if there isn't more delay, we will got two comics in March, two in April, two in May, instead of three in March, one in April and two in May

This part is really interesting. I presume that And that Omega+Orbot+Cubot cover is really funny.

The problem isn't a question of leak and stuff, it's - like usual - money. The more you create issues ahead, the more you pay for stuff you can't get money from now. And it means that if SEGA pulled the plug, a problem happenned, anything : it's less money in your account that you might not recover. It's a situation really problematic for most company. Generally, a company doesn't really like waiting too much time before getting back money they put into the production of something (my company have to deal with that, and it's basically several times the size of IDW). The delay already create the problem, but making some issue ahead would simply make it even worse. TBH, if they had a possible clever solution that would stop that, they would do it. I don't think that they like this situation, it mean less money for them, it's annoying for the people that have to announce it...

I'll be honest : I didn't recognize most of the song reference xD (except some Unknown for the ME during the Archie times). I don't know enough the lyrics of Sonic's song to recognize them.

As they have for now just the main serie + bonus stuff and that they already announced the Annual here for March, they certainly don't want the annual and the mini-serie to overstep each-other. They might do like for the first mini-serie : preparing it in the annual.

That's the kind of point that is true if we are talking about the real world, but I really don't see why he did that in a fantastic world. I don't blame him though : it's a choice that can makes sense (I would name the two city differently though, maybe with saying that the mention of Central City in Shadow was just a level name and not the city name - except if it's mentionned in a cutscene, that I really don't remember). But eh, it's just for the moment my pet peeves. It'll certainly go away the day Flynn can show his human world, if he ever can… But I don't think that the ST would really be angry about that, they seems to be mostly about characters than lore, so it might be possible. Well, I technically don't really have to answer that as my point wasn't that "Sonic was alien/mythical before", but that you loose that imagery in the story context you say possible with just continent separation. Remember that originally my point was telling what kind of story can be done in a better way with two-world, not what "Sonic is supposed to be". I don't really care about "what was first". We have enough of our version of "back to the roots" in Sonic like that for me, so just going back to "what was Sonic before" isn't for me that relevant, especially with such a rich history (that's why I don't want Sonic to be a rendition of "funny 90' earth", especially the "90" parts, which would just participate to make Sonic less and less relevant, exactly like the current "nostalgia" trend in the IP is doing). For me, in the first games, the "anthros" wasn't supposed to be really anything important, it was just a way to represent the main characters. The first games didn't have stuff like "anthro civilisations" and stuff like that, and only showed the main/important characters as anthro (and some statues because artistic stuff). It was a bit of a bugs-bunny-like worlds. But I don't feel that we should work only with this way. What I personnally want is interesting stories and that they start to build something. The foundation is mostly a point of detail, as there are so many friggin foundation possible with the weird-but-interesting interpretations of this saga. I still feel that it would make many stuff awkward. One world needs more mixed location/place to be interesting. For me, about that, the really best one-world interpretation was Flynn's in ArchieComics second timeline.

"For most part" is the important part, which mean that they are free to say that it didn't follow 100% the games. For the moment, Flynn showed only what he wanted, and already did things that are totally contrary to what the few people that thought about two-world theorized (for instance having Central City in Sonic's World… and I'm sure that this one is because of Flynn himself, as SEGA don't care much about Central City nowaday). Not to mention that the Chaos Emerald and the Master Emerald, could be basically top secret before Sonic Adventure, and that most of the Chaos-stuff could be coming from Angel Island (as there is several interpretation of what exactly in the Mystic Ruins are parts of Angel Island or not). Honestly, it would be pretty easy to make it work within what's shown in the comics. Heck, the whole deal of magic that people got increasingly since Sonic Adventure could be in itself a story. The "classic era not allowed" stuff is for me basically a different problem, and in a "meta" level, as it involve a separate CONTINUITY and stuff. You can have both the "two world" and character from both world interacting. Most of the problem is that SEGA say that without creating a real universe, and most of the problem happens BECAUSE it's not really a universe that is being done, but just a "rule". As I always says, Sonic isn't one or two world : it's zero-world. And about why I think that saying that those stories would be the same with one-world : I really prefer in this case having two separate world as LITTERALY separate worlds. Just being in another continent for those stories wouldn't be as nice for several reason : - You lose the "alien"/"magical creature from elsewhere" imagery. Coming from another world create a whole new level of difference, that is the point that you should explore. - You also can make more logical that they mostly didn't knew each other for a long time. - Remember that Sonic's character are giant talking ANIMALS. I really would prefer that they didn't create stories of confrontation between "humans from the modern continent" and "animals from the old continent". Having them from another "world" separated from mundane life make you draw from the folklore, mythical or sci-fi imagery (they instantly become more separated from human kind, more "other-ly", which mitigate most of the problem I'm talking about by not making it "real earth racism with animals instead of other humans"), having them from a mysterious unkown continent make the fact that they are animal way too much of an awkward metaphor for that kind of stories. That's simple : in one-world setting, I would prefer them to drop most type of story talking of confrontation between animals people and human, as Sonic isn't the kind of story that can make it works that well... ( For having used it in a short novel (I used it to talk about the question of bioethics and of what we can call an "animal" or a "human"), I had to adress the existence of racism to avoid this problem of it looking like "real earth racism with animals instead of other humans". For me, it isn't really suited for Sonic, especially if they are targeting children) - The extreme separation can also make that sometimes humans and mobian would have a point in seeing the other as not being their problem. I'll answer another remark about that, to explain what I exactly mean like that : I feel that them having a point about why they weren't involved is way better than just making it "more fraught"… I prefer conflict when both side can have a point (GUN mentioning that the logistic of an interdimensionnal/interplanetary war would be too big, and that they prefer to use all of their fleet to protect their planet, and that as thus they prefered to give only Rouge and Shadow) I can understand why one would dislike the two-world (and I don't say that anybody should like it or not, or that people are "wrong" to dislike something - there is no good or wrong tastes for me), not see it as very "elegant", or stuff, but I really think that it's also a really rich storytelling source. But tbh, it's a bit difficult to get a lore that wouldn't be a good source of storytelling with only his rules and concepts - even if I think that characters always matter more.

And you can do other kind of stories : - How the human world react to all those magical elements coming from another world ? Do they see the mobian as aliens, especially after the OTHER alien invasion their world suffered ? Do some politicians use mobians as scapegoat, that would be pretty easy after what… 4 big crisis happening in their world since they started to come frequently ? (I don't count 2006 because it revoked itself). - What are the differences of cultures and traditions between two different world (it was done better in Sonic X where the mobian world was way wilder). Has stuff that "travellers" know affected the mobian world ? (we know that they don't have money, it could become the foundation of very interesting stories - Why did GUN not interfer during the Eggman's War in Animal World ? How will Sonic and co. react if their reason is "not our problem, won't act", especially as they saved earth a LOT of times ? As they have the mission to protect THEIR planet and that the heroes have another vision, both could clash a lot. Especially after the animal world was pretty wiped out by the zombot crisis. I think more interesting to have one camp that was tranquilly in their own world and that could get a new conflict about that in a future story, while the other world suffered two world-level crisis. - Related to 1 and 3 : Do humans want to interfer with the another world ? Do some human see that as a new "frontier", a new "blank state" compared to their civilisation ? Do they even come into the Animal World ? We could tell a lot of stories with human coming to the animal world, either seeing themselves as "civilizators" (or entrepreneurs that see that as a big opportunity), or them being attacked because most people in Sonic's World see humans as "like Eggman" ? With going to different dimensions/planet we can do the kind of dynamics that are pretty impossible in a "near-future" world like the Human World : a place that is difficult to get with current technologies. It can be the source of a LOT of stories. - We can extend that to mobian deciding to live in the human world : do they prefer the human world ? For what reason ? It would be even more interesting to see someone being so fed up with something in their live that they go in a completely alien world. Is adjusting to such a complex world as "our" is difficult for them ? Sonic X didn't really go into that, but they had interesting concepts about how at first people from the mobian world didn't even understand many concept of the human world, like when Robotnik told everybody to "get him see their leader" and was annoyed by such a complex way of command - and with the IDW Sonic world that just seems to have town elder and stuff like that, it seems pretty logical. - Are the heroes the first to travel between worlds ? Do some civilisations spanned on both world ? Did Gerald travel to the mobian world ? Basically : every world and vision that you have will both limit you and introduce new possibilities. One world create more mix-up of situations. Two worlds create more extreme differences and stories about the worlds own organisation. I think that limitations (and especially those) are mostly good for storytelling, because the writers needs to think more instead of going the easy ways. This one is just a choice of universe, that is basically nothing and just "change" the kind of stories (and by "the kind of stories", I mean basically just a very small parts of the stories). So : yeah, some stories can't be told in this format. Some can't be told with another format. That's storytelling. The most you create a world, the most you'll be limited in the kind of stories you can tell. But at the same time, it offer new kind of stories, that are directly based on the world structure. Said in another way : a good writer wouldn't be affected by this, and it won't change the quality of the story-building of the final product. If someone can't write good stories in a story structure that is large enough (and with many things blurry enough), whatever this structure is (yeah, I know that someone could try to get me just by showing some extreme type of world that are impossible to make stories with, but I'm not saying that I would be this "good writer" :p), I think that it's mostly them that lack a bit of imagination.

Yep, I 100% agree with that, Helen could have created better contrast with Sonic, and it could have helped explore even more the character of Sonic, especially his softer side. I don't exactly remember how were her parents (if they were ever shown), but they could have made a contrast with the freedom of Sonic by making them a tad overprotective (and it wouldn't make them asshole-ish if done right, as we would be able to understand why they would be afraid for her). And just wholesome stuff like Tails adapting the Tornado than she can fly with them, etc, would have been nice. And with her personality, I feel that the bonding with Tails, Amy and Cream would have been nicer too, and as she don't have a whole cast of supporting character already, it would have been interesting to see how her personnality is influenced by bouncing with those wacky, fun heroes. And as you said, the relationship with Shadow could have been way more interesting because of their similarity, with Shadow having to understand that he won't get back the friendship he got with Maria, but would be able to grow a new one that would be important too. (and it would have been a nice interesting twist to the whole "Maria" deal).

Well, it's logical that people fight more for the character they want to return, and not for every one that exists. It's not a question of "top privilege" or anything, it's just people advocating for their own favourite character. (EDIT : and as many other people said : nobody here is saying that other characters or continuity shouldn't happens, exactly like nobody say that they should be main character or whatever). Though that I totally agree that IDW should use a bit the PostSGW!ArchieSonic way of adapting characters from older continuities into the modern world and creating good expy for those that aren't possible (Madonna Garnet totally made me in awe for the triple-reference… and I'm not even talking about that genius Von Schlemmer in a "robot form" in Silver future, that was just so fun xD) to spice things a bit. I would love to see another try at adapting Naugus, Breezie or the SSSSS, or tries around other characters. There might be some right limits about some because SEGA is SEGA, but salvaging some interesting parts of the "dead" continuities could really lead the comics to present interesting new twists around these characters. They should be a bit less "extreme" about it, though, and not introduce a new character full team of characters every two comics.

Honestly, I won't download it just right now, I'm waiting for the levels, not just a test level. I'm honestly not that interested anymore in downloading tons of engines that show promises and good potential but that might ultimately not be utilized to produce anything. I'm not against him releasing his test build though : I just don't have much fun in a test level, and prefer to wait for actual content, even unfinished, and to know his actual plan for the game (because the engine are just one part of the game, and often even the fangame with good engine are kinda lacking in the rest). And I wish him all the good luck, because I'm interested to see what will be his game. And for an actual criticism about what I'm seeing from the engine : the gameplay seems a bit cluttered by the number of ability. Stuff like having both the the homing attack, the stomp, the bounce attack AND the drop dash seems go a bit against the principle of simplicity of the engine (especially stomp + bounce attack). One mistake that Sonic World also do, imho. Other than that the physics seems pretty nice, and I like the polished feeling of the engine. Tail's bombs are really cool too, and the feeling seems better than GDK, base bumper engine or World, and that's a good point. The feeling seems on point, too.