The BumbleKast Topic of Archival (And Discussion)

[Shadowlax]

If sky patrol was in space it would be space patrol 

Also I would buy a shadow book, no gun or even team dark , just him teaming with folks,so rouge and gun could do solo stuff in universe

Always interesting to hear familial gaming stories

[Your Vest Friend]

This time I shall not be late to put this up. It's the latest Bumblekast!

Episode 24;

Before the discussion, there's a new announcement; there will be a raffle every episode and the winner will win an autographed Sonic/Mega Man issue. To enter it, you can either become a Patreon which auto-enters you for every raffle, or you can email the Bumblekast email address with the subject line "Bumblekast Episode [insert episode here] Raffle" to get into the raffle for that episode. 

So today's episode is about the advancement of humanity through science and technology. Because why not I guess. Kyle is looking forward to the idea of it, while Ian looks forward to it in theory but is cautious as it can tread towards the line of eugenics in discussion, but the advantages outweigh the threats (the dark side needs to be monitored and supervised carefully). There's also talk on several examples of technology for people existing in life already (basically prosthetic addititons), Ian reveals that he's not a piercing person at all when on about accessory augmentations, the application of androids into life, the influence of media on to the movement, Star Wars vs Star Trek in this context, and the implementation and risks of current advancements.

On a much less philosophical note, here's the Q&A.

- Any plans for Nicole after Panic in the Sky - Mentioned a spoiler as the comic was only out last Wednesday, Nicole already got her own arc in Universe [Spark of Life], so she needed to step back while everyone else stepped forward, can't totally answer the question as it would tread into spoiler territory, but Panic in the Sky is definitely not the end for the cast, end of the SWS but still plenty of stories for the main cast and others going forward.

- Will Shadow try to assist Metal Sonic in branching out on his own again [talking about pre-reboot events for the first instance which is acknowledged by asker] - Probably not as a major plot point because Archie can't, Metal Sonic is loyal to Eggman and Shadow is not as "touchy-feely" as before, a thought might be there but not going to make effort to retread that plot point.

- If he got opportunity to use Shade/Nocturnus in comic, how would he use them - Doesn't know because he hasn't really devoted any thought to it, probably would have the Nocturnus as a higher level threat than most villains considering how powerful they were supposed to be (possibly Eggman level), can't set anything in stone because he doesn't have access to them.

- Sonic Underground and Sonic X verses in reboot (as in they were there before, are they now) - "Go ahead and just count them out", they have the new continuity and that's what they're running with, if SEGA were to acknowledge X and Underground as spin-offs then they could probably think of it as a multiverse thing again, but for now it's just Sonic's World and Blaze's World (never mind the other SEGA properties from WU), old multiverse is a thing of the past. 

- How would Ian handle comic adaptation of an RPG (eg Xenoblade Chronicles X) - Uses the game specifically, stick to storyline given, use it as main thread while expanding on it as needs be/time allows eg sub plots not done one after the other, that was one complaint he had with the game, didn't finish the main story due to affinity leveling, same approach applies for other RPGs, big challenge would be the dungeons where you run around and not much happens, fell into same trap with Mega Man regarding finding and fighting the Robot Masters and preventing it from being stale, depends on RPG and character dynamics, Western RPGs might need different approach depending on RPG in question; invention of stories or the focus to one single plot or take it from another perspective as an observer.

- Favourite character from Star Wars: The Force Awakens - "All of them", couldn't pick, thought film was refreshing and fun, talked about it a lot in the Star Wars episode, characters feel like additions to the universe and not just props, elaborates on Rei, Finn and Kylo Ren, some Po, talk about the script rewrites due to their popularity.

And there's some extra news as well; next episode will be all Q&A! Yay!

...wait...I have to make notes on it all...

 

[Your Vest Friend]

Welp...That Q&A dedicated episode is here...this took a long time to write up...

Episode 25;

There's no pre-Q&A topic, so we're diving into the deep end.

- Reaction to criticisms regarding SWC being Unleashed adaptation and it's handling, also Cream handling and other criticisms - "Criticisms of Cream are one or two people being loud online", Unleashed criticism legitimate, a lot of the criticism he has to take on the chin as he has to do what SEGA says, can't go into detail on what limitations existed, and what was denied, there are limitations on Cream he has to abide by, they were limited in usage of Chip, back and forth on Werehog handling between game and comic (namely the control thing), understands some aren't happy it wasn't pure Unleashed adaptation but that was never the intent, framing device for new universe, might have taken different approach if he could do it again but hindsight is 20:20, lots of factors contributed to how the new universe was approached the way it was, some it beyond his control, ultimately Unleashed is about Sonic travelling the world and stopping Dark Gaia when boiled down, used it to look at difference cultures and nuances (utilised stuff from WiiS2 version for example), thinks it works well for what it is, but is sorry to folks who weren't satisfied by it, glad to those who did, hopes everyone can enjoy content going forward, in summation doesn't think criticism of SWC has been different to anything else in last 10 years, a bit of good, bad, obsessive, uninformed, generally positive. 

- Why Conquering Storm doesn't turn Jian's cybernetics on her - Can't answer that one, says to keep reading, answer will come sooner than you think. 

- Rumour about third Sonic in 2017 project, would Ian prefer Adventure Sonic or Boom Sonic if true - Doesn't know anything about what's going on in Sonic 2017 as of the recording, would prefer to see Boom Sonic because Adventure and Modern aren't different enough, the nuances aren't large enough, if there was a third it would have to be truly distinct which Boom Sonic is (THIS IS NOT HIM SAYING WHO IT WILL BE IF ANYONE, DO NOT CLAIM IAN'S ANSWER AS PROOF). 

- How would he integrate the Mavericks into a Megaman X comic plot beyond the boss battles - If it took approach he wanted, they'd be far easier to integrate than the Robot Masters, RMs didn't have much personality, took it from obscure Japanese material and how they moved in boss battle, Mavericks have defined jobs, personalities, voice clips to work off, would love to set up how everything falls off, tried to glimpse it with original Mega Man showing utopia before Sigma's rise, would want to Mavericks that were reploids before interacting with people, what their original jobs were, how they were in society, so when they went maverick it would be far more tragic and show why X is so hesitant to pull the trigger, this assuming he'd get page and issue time. 

- Could there be limited run of plushes (/other merch) based on Freedom Fighters or are they not as marketable due to the comics being more niche - Partly due to niche although he imagines it'd be a bit easier to push nowadays due to online stores, thinks there's some sort of rights issue related to how Archie can't touch the licensed properties for merch, would be up to SEGA to do the stuff and doesn't think they're interested. Personally would love to get hold of Rafa's 3D models, and use a 3D printer to make figurines out of them.

- If Marvel or DC were to hire Ian, who would he most like to write for and what would the pitch be - Has to be careful because he did write a comic for DC, did get approved and got payment for it but the book it would have gone in got cancelled, can't talk too much about it, some characters he would prefer to write for but likes the challenge of any of them for both, part of fun of Sonic was to take the loose plot points and meh them together, DC and Marvel both known for their multiple tangents, absolute preferences; X-Men, Inhumans and Prowler (has a pitch for that one) for Marvel, Batman and Green Lantern for DC. 

- Support Trade Collections offer to creators compared to single issues - There might be a resource to work that out but a lot of the sales figures are behind closed doors or incomplete, Diamond charts are only for direct market, Archie traditionally sell better off the news racks, so it wouldn't be reflected in the numbers, doesn't know specifically about trades v singles, would likely depend on publisher and distributor, creator contract signed, for Ian he gets money for the script done only so wouldn't see any money off reprints, creator-owned stuff would be where creators get most money most likely, no single answer for it, Kyle points out that digital comics are an unknown territory, also depends on how you count the numbers, points out example of July where Marvel/DC had over 50% of market share but Archie had become third-highest publisher with 1% of market, but when broken down into how many titles on market and how many copies sold, Archie were selling more books overall due to having less books on the market.

- Ian's opinion on Julie-SuXKnuckles and RougeXKnuckles [aw fuck] - Wouldn't say RougeXKnuckles is a SEGA thing any more [in response to question suggesting that SEGA ships it], more rivals than anything else, only time they were really shipped was SA2 and Sonic X and that seems to have been dropped as far as he's seen, if it were up to him he would have kept Julie-SuXKnuckles, teased Rouge angle a bit for drama but happy with the two echidnas together, thought Julie had a fun design.

- Opinion on seemingly never ending stories (aka like what the Sonic comic has) - Fine with it, comes with issue of sliding timescale and perpetual continuity where you have to retcon/reboot etc to keep it fresh, likes idea of perpetual fables that you can pass down and show how things have progressed, repeated and been reworked, allows writers to put spin on it, also enjoys stories that have a goal and focus, worries that if he doesn't have an end goal it would start to meander, eventually you want to wrap up your own stuff so you can move on and do something new or have a point to everything being told, neither form is better than the other, have to make sure you're telling either form well. 

- Original plans for Mephiles and Black Doom when they were in Shadow Fall draft - No hard and fast plans, they were in pitch that was rejected, thinks it involved Mephiles using time travel shenanigans to resurrect Black Doom, both had revenge scheme, ultimately ending was about the same; Black Doom got blown up, Mephiles gaining more organic form to put his powers in check and becoming reoccurring villain for Shadow, ended up with Black Arms and Eclipse and thinks story was stronger for it, reason it originally had Mephiles and Black Doom was for game recognisability, and inventing new aliens was treading into OC territory, there was a lot of effort in Eclipse once hand was forced to prevent that feeling and not be regrettable. 

- Is Mighty a pacifist, or will he be a pacifist, or will pacifism be referenced - Prefers not to fight when he can, gentle spirit with strong adventurous streak, not as eager to dive into battle as Sonic, also not going to hesitate taking action when being heroic is the right thing to do, always been there to help because its needed in stories so far, normally hands-off and live-and-let-live, but won't hesitate to jump in when needed, doesn't seek it out or relish it.

- Was Blue Emerald falling into ocean circa Worlds Collide going to cause something like Meropis arc - Thinks so, whole point of putting it in ocean was to put people in ocean so they could meet the fish mobians, doesn't recall beyond that as it was a while ago and a lot has changed since Worlds Collide.

- Were there always going to be four Dark Arms, were there more or were any rejected - wanted to keep number limited, original idea was being more like Black Arm soldiers with their own powers that were mindless grunts under Eclipse's hivemind, talked to Aleah about it, she suggested making them more like Wisps that powered up Eclipse instead of being just bodies to hit, went through a few of the powers and concept arts, decided based on what would be interesting for Eclipse to use and the variety, whittled down to ones that appeared in the book, a few he'd like to touch on at some point maybe, but point of Dark Arms was that they were especially engineered by Eclipse so he had limited sample size and not all of them survived the crash landing, so probably not for a long time if at all.

- Eevee DJ-Eff? Who has such a convoluted name?

...

Oh, Vee-ee. Oh, that's my name. Oh.

- Do Shijin Warriors represent each of the four clans mentioned - Yes

- Was Sonic given apology from GUN for wrongful imprisonment - Doesn't know if there was a canon answer for that, would imagine he did receive some form of presidential pardon since current president seems like a decent guy, doesn't know if GUN specifically would since it doesn't seem in their character, more likely to let others deal with their mess, interesting to imagine conversation between president and commander about GUN truck. 

- How many species will be introduced into comic later on - As many as possible but not too crazy as he wants to play with the species seen, doesn't want to overburden series with them, whatever story needs, probably not going to see too many new characters over the next few years as they've done a ton of them during SWC, some new for niches but overall moving forward with what they have.

- Favourite ongoing comic title Ian's reading - He hasn't read a comic in a while, doesn't have time and finds it hard to read and enjoy comics due to him knowing the business, overanalyses when reading. reading three webcomics; Gunnerkrigg Court, Order of the Stick, Under the Canopy. Kyle is reading Sonic. 

- Plans for Worlds Unite crossover he wasn't able to implement - Originally had in mind that because Eggman and Wily were big bads last crossover, wanted the villains to be Sigma and Deadly Six to be forerunners to be the new villains, Wily and Eggman more background, things got moved and shuffled, Deadly Six became more like fodder, overall goal was to have all the franchises to come together and that's what they did, happy they got a couple of issues to squirrel at interactions usually not thought possible, nothing in-depth but that was inevitable due to size of cast, mentions how people were asking where the Freedom Fighters were in Worlds Collide, wanted to focus on game cast for that because most people know that, made effort to include Freedom Fighters in second crossover due to fan demand, balanced it out with Robot Masters on Mega Man side, that alone made cast big, on top of that had X cast, Boom cast, other franchises, realises now that it was too much, if he were to do it again he wouldn't include the Freedom Fighters or Light Robot Masters because it was a disservice to the story.

- Thoughts on Babylon 5 - Never watched Babylon 5, thought it was a knockoff of Star Trek (was watching Deep Space Nine at the time), has no opinion on it, knows about following.

- Will there be an in-depth arc about Southern Seas or Chun-Nan -  Does want to get more into Meropis and Dulcy's group. The end. Because spoilers [possibly partially covered by Pirate Princess? Not his words, just me speculating].

- Does Wendy Naugus actually have crush on Eggman and where did the idea come from - Yes she does, because it's hilarious. Partially from Walter and Eggman being bitter rivals. 

- Egg Boss hobbies - We've been here before. Clove - Reading, Thunderbolt - No hobbies, she works all the time, maybe bossing people around, Hood - Writes bad poetry, Nephthys - Weaving (not had time since becoming Egg Boss), Axel - Working in the workshop, building and fixing vehicles, job is hobby, Conquering Storm - Worker and perfectionist like Thunderbolt but not comically, otherwise calligraphy, Maw - Music, mostly symphonic, likes conducting and composing, doesn't think of himself as a maestro but has an ear for it because music is timeless, Tundra - None, they're a distraction, Akhlut - Hunting, Abyss - Sailing, raiding, being a pirate, Grand Battle Kukku XV - Tactical games (eg Strategical games, chess), actually surprisingly good at it, even if his preferred approach is offense as defense, Wendy - Collects porcelain figurines, the creepy ones depicting kids and other saccharine subjects, has some cave with thousands of them.

- Books recommended for character and world building - Peter David's "Writing for Comics with Peter David", Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics", ones he's read and retained the most.

- Would he want to tell past Sonic game stories in new continuity - Absolutely, dream would be to have spinoff book to go back and tell game stories and how they fit into continuity, doesn't want to say anything on whether Mega Drive could do that, the more success that finds, the more it tells upper management that audience wants more Sonic books so never a bad thing, doesn't think they will get second spin-off book but who knows.

- Does Ian have successor planned if he retires - No, that's not how it works, has no authority on staff taken on, up to editor for that, would be fine with any current side writers picking it up.

- Opinion on dank Sonic memes [THEIR WORDS NOT MINE] and having them in the comic - Thinks they're hilarious on the Twitter, "Whether you find them funny or not, it's getting attention" - Tyson Hesse, getting more people looking at them, perfect evolution of 90s tone and attitude, thinks part of Sonic's trouble in the 2000s was dealing with the dated icon form due to 90s counterculture dying, morphed into self-aware, ironic tongue in cheek humour that's not outdated, as for comic Ian tries to slip in a few jokes so kids will get the joke, some thrown in for older readers, sometimes works but sometimes doesn't, example being the retrospective and Sonic 06 just being Now Loading and Sonic Boom not being mentioned. 

- Thoughts on winter - Second favourite season, loves Autumn due to colours, smells and energising atmosphere, for Winter loves the snow, but when it gets too cold it becomes unpleasant, enjoys Spring because it's a warmer version of Autumn (warm being the bad factor since he likes cooler weather), fun breezes but then things start to bloom and cause allergies, does not like Summer. Kyle's favourite is winter due to his location. 

- What is mascot for show and the inspiration - Covered by FAQ, mascot is the Bumbleking, product of young Ian who was bored during AP Environmental Science, were going to take field trip to Okefenokee Swamp, on the front of work pack there was a photorealistic alligator, zoned out and then started doodling on the alligator; added bingo ball antennae, stripes on the tail, drew bees around it going "We love out king!", alligator saying "I am the Bumbleking!", thought it was stupid, but wondered what it'd look like if he simplified the design, years later decided he needed a brand, something stupid enough for people to recall, recalled alligator with bee theme, now the mascot as its memorable, simple because it's what he can draw. 

- Favourite Crush 40 songs - What I'm Made Of at the top, Live and Learn up there with it, thinks it's better than Open Your Heart, fits better with the higher stakes of SA2 super fight, All Hail Shadow, pretty much anything he's all over, one song from a NASCAR game as well called Revvin' Up, Kyle also likes Dangerous Ground and All the Way, prefers Open you Heart to Live and Learn, Fire Woman cover, their cover of Free, talk a bit about Sonic Youth.

I can empathise with Ian on doodling mascots during boring classes.

The class in question for me was Religious Education. The character I created was Button-Nose, the imp-teddy bear version of Beelzebub. Not quite the same result as the Bumbleking, although they start with the same letter. 

 

[Ellipsis-Ultima]

Regarding the Egg boss hobbies, I thought CS does not have one due to her thinking they were a waste of time, Tundra does not know what a hobby is, and Nepethys hobby was painting.

Still this is some interesting stuff!

[Your Vest Friend]

1 hour ago, Fusionwatch said:

Regarding the Egg boss hobbies, I thought CS does not have one due to her thinking they were a waste of time, Tundra does not know what a hobby is, and Nepethys hobby was painting.

Still this is some interesting stuff!

I guess he had some new ideas for hobbies. Hood's was stamp collecting last time he answered it, as well. 

[Your Vest Friend]

We're going around the bend in more ways than one in today's episode.

Episode 26;

Kyle takes over hosting duties as things do a switcheroo while they talk about the Daytona racing series. They go into the history of Daytona (including Virtua Racing and AM2), their memories with the series, the music of the games, buttons controlling cameras being an advertising gimmick, the gameplay mechanic nuances, Power Rangers the Movie (it fits in, I swear), the references, how the Dreamcast spruced things up from the arcade days and its (karaoke-filled) legacy since.   

PS: If Fancyfool is seeing this, you won the raffle. 

We can burn some rubber too, by skidding into the Q&A. 

-What he would have incorporated into Boom comic if given the time - Kyle: Metal Sonic and Shadow fighting Sonic together, why not go all out since the series is supposed to be different. Proper: series not so much different in content as opposed to how it was delivered, more light comedy against the main books stories, did have scripts lined up that he wanted to do but doesn't really feel he was robbed of the chance of doing anything, tied to active TV series so there were tighter restrictions on what they could use, isn't sure if they could even have Metal Sonic and Shadow show up, didn't pitch an idea that would have run into that. 

-Was there part of his life where he wasn't interested in music or event-triggered, age when first started with it (a Kyle question) - Doesn't remember, as far as he knows he's always been interested in music to some degree, listened to a lot of radio growing up, parents were listening to a lot of country music radio ("I'm so sorry." - Ian Flynn), has vague appreciation for late 80's/early 90's country music, otherwise video game music was his bread and butter, memories related to recording music, played trumpet for a while but found reading music difficult so gave it up, dabbled in guitar but didn't go far, making of music fascinates him. 

-What do Chao taste lie - [Ask Ifrit] Blue Freezie Pop but like a watery jelly or pudding texture.

-How did Freedom Fighters learn how to ride extreme gear - Asker assumes she's not as graceful as pre-reboot, Ian raises a big question mark over that because he hasn't written her any less agile, imagines that in Sonic's world riding an air board is akin to learning to ride a surfboard or skateboard, real life air board would be impossible to make work or ride, all of the characters are gifted physically so not that much of a stretch to say they can all manage to ride air boards, if that doesn't satisfy then just say Tails modified them to be more like the trainee wheels stage equivalent, Rotor has basically same body type as Storm so if he can ride one Rotor can [Kyle points out that's he more muscular than pre-reboot, and I would say his body is more in line with Vector who can't ride an air board plus Storm is extra light for his body type due to being a bird but then I'd need comparative heights and weights of the FFs and that isn't available so ehh I'll personally keep that on the back burner].

-Authorial intent of Razor and Coral's dynamic - [Asker says that origin suggested Razor and Coral had crushes on each other, and that simply isn't true since only Razor had the crush] In Waves of Change they weren't in a situation where affection would really fit, it was also their introductory arc so anything that came after would be character development, if anyone's in doubt they'll be addressing that in an upcoming arc that he won't go into details about because its spoilers.

-W Waltz in possible future Mega Man comic - Yes and no - Had very strong ideas on how and where to use her, no in that in original pitches she was supposed to be included in (eg she was supposed to show up in Mega Man #54) were met with resistance, just like Sonic books what's a no and what's a yes could change whenever, if and when Mega Man got on its feet again, she has a possibility to appear but its a maybe.

-Which Freedom Fighter parents are dead, which are alive - Alive: Nigel Acorn, Tundra Walrus  Dead: Sally's mother, Rotor's mother, Antoine's parents. When they come to addressing Bunnie's parents, they switch to the joke switcharoo before he answers. Basically, they're going to address that in the book. 

[Your Vest Friend]

Whoops, had a job interview today so Bumblekast is way later than usual on the day.

Episode 27;

Speaking of careers, Ian talks about the process of writing in this episode. There's talk about how advertising yourself is more difficult than you'd think, the ever-working mindset of a dedicated writer, the mysterious ways of keeping everything under tabs (read: it comes naturally), his dancing, the oft-ignored fact that writing styles are different so one person can't necessarily (or often) write in every style, his hatred of ill-used symbolism in writing, a brief mention of author intent vs reader interpretation (with the Sonic Twitter being brought up as an example), the risks of trying to defy common media tropes in terms of writing authenticity, being prepared with at least some structure while not letting it completely rule what you do, having motivation to create at a professional level and the importance of getting out there.

Well, I know I can write plenty as well. It's only the Q&A, but it's writing.

-Which Pokemon game would he adapt if Nintendo gave him freedom to choose one - Either Emerald or Platinum because they felt like the most solid approaches to stories and did good job of combining two versions into one cohesive story, leans slightly towards Platinum because he thought Cyrus was a cool villain and meets a spectacular end in Platinum, not sure how to approach protagonist without doing research into them, would have to look through story arcs to see which are most relevant, would want to keep both the male and female protagonist as active characters in the story, either as partners or as friendly rivals, would also like to tell Red's story as Green but Red's story has been done so much he's grown tired of it, deeper question that could have more answer to it in all honesty. 

-How do you join the Eggman Empire (in-story) - A lot of it is volunteer forces, those who want a quick grab for power, others intimidated into joining, some is out of desperation (eg Clove needed to save Cassia, Eggman had an answer, it's a false positive that's leading to worse things but at the time she didn't have a choice), getting more into that later, not sure he'll ever have time to fully explore it but Egg Army is not just a force of mustache-twirling villains, there are bad people in it but some are there by circumstances, not sure if he'll be able to get into the moral quandary of it. 

-Any additional info on Virtua Racing Deluxe - Kyle's favourite game in the series, game talk that fits in with the Daytona topic an episode ago that I won't go into, overall thinks it might have been a little redundant to release on the 32x as well as Genesis, may be smoother and didn't require extra hardware, fantastic music (from an SA and SA2 composer), compared to Saturn the Saturn version was ported by a completely different company which was a bit odd, CD quality music, closest to Arcade Experience at home, mentions Virtua Racing Flatout. They talk about the SEGA All Stars series, Kyle wants another racer, Ian would prefer a brawler next. 

-Inspiration for becoming a writer - Covered it on the show, also with the Bumbleking blog Thursday Thoughts, always wanted to be a writer, parents were supportive, dad showed he didn't have to be a writer to write, writing makes you a writer, hard to say what books made him want to write, some books that he wished he could so good as to reach that level, Maniac McGee, Orson Scott Card (before he went crazy), Treason hard to get through due to what the main character goes through, brought up on Greek and Egyptian myths and how they changed based on who was writing them and free to be reinterpretated, do it in a way that works for both you and the reader.

-How does the copy chip work [Mega Man] - On the fly conjecture so don't take it as gospel truth, given the number of energy to material transitions and back (eg Mega Man being able to become armoured from nothing) imagines that copy chip can read schematics on other Robot Masters on how they convert energy or matter to their projectiles and applies it to Mega Man's systems so he is generating the ammo or whatever, systems modified by the chip, saying that for internal memory reasons he's only compatible with eight at a time, initial explanation as to whether he can hold onto them is that he doesn't want to fight so drops excessive weapons himself, mega buster is hardwired into him so can't get rid of it but can cover it with civilian form, if book is revisited would be interesting to see what would happen if he held onto the weaponry for too long, would it burn out the system and not be able to maintain that much data at the same time, they then discuss the interpretations in other media (tapping them, high fives, taking the remains of dead RMs).

-How does it feel to have done the Bumblekast for the last 25 years [...not a typo, that's what the question asked]- He's enjoyed it, jokes made about the question.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I want another Eggman arc just so we can see what life is like in the Empire and how one joins the Egg Army.

Who's with me?

[Your Vest Friend]

So yeah, I've had shenanigans galore happening over the past month, meaning these two episodes have been super late. But I plan to rectify that now, with the mid-October episode now and the late-October episode later in the week. So let's crack on to another castle!

Episode 28;

Yep, it's-a all about Mario! In this episode, they cover the legacy of Mario in the industry (doesn't really apply to the UK as it floated itself in the void), the impact in japan, a retrospective of various games like Super Mario Bros, Mario's Time Machine, Mario Kart, Super Mario World, Super Mario Bros 2, Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, the various spin-offs, Mario Strikers, Super Sluggers, Donkey Kong, Super Mario Maker and Super Mario 3D World, their histories with the franchise, how Ian would approach it from a comic perspective, and they talk about Mario's confirmed age and professional resume.

And now it's down the warp pipe we go for the Q&A!

-Suggestions for adapting to 25 years of changes - For Sonic games, just enjoy the ride, it's always experimented and there's almost always something cool to enjoy regardless of game quality, not going to please everyone all the time, celebrate what you did enjoy, tell creators that and tell them what you didn't (politely), agrees that fandom keeps things alive but doesn't understand where the idea of it harbouring fear comes from, talks about why he can't look too much into the fandom legally, encourages people to create, for comic changes potentially you have to accept that you can't control it but nothing on the horizon so far so just enjoy what you have now. 

-Any more closure on the Shattered World Crisis before Genesis of a Hero - SWC is over so that's covered, Sonic book is marketing tool, sometimes events come into play regardless of what's happening in the book so can't control pacing, nothing to say Nicole's arc would be resolved in next issue even without GoaH.

-Enjoy seeing what art team does after he's sent the finalised script to them - Sometimes doesn't have much contact with art team but sometimes has a lot, loves seeing the final product because writing is his job and he knows the process (it also takes about 3-4 months to come back in so has likely forgotten it), so it's like getting a new comic for him, particularly impressed by a panel in Sonic X#17, all of Mega Drive (which was written with Hesse in mind), Blackout of Worlds sequence in Mega Man comic, Ben Bates' work in Worlds Collide. 

-Why there was a human and anthro mix population in #257 - Ian's idea, approaching the comic with mindset that it's mostly populations with both humans and anthros mixed, canonically there are two worlds but the comic is its own continuity so while it is being steered closer to game continuity it is also doing its own thing to be unique, previous run of comic has underruning racial tension that Ian didn't think worked, he thinks the game world is more bright and optimistic, likes to think of world as "nicer".

-Godzilla comic pitch potentially - Ian would love to write a Godzilla comic due to how cool Godzilla is, not something he's working on right now or in immediate future, but not out of the question. 

-Will Freedom Fighters ever have individual rivals - Nicole already has a villain in Phage, Mario sound effects abound as he covers his own spoilers for Antoine and Bunnie, Rotor has enough baggage with Tundra, Sally has so much focus that a personal rival would overburden her with attention. 

[SBR2]

2 hours ago, VEDJ-F said:

 

-Godzilla comic pitch potentially - Ian would love to write a Godzilla comic due to how cool Godzilla is, not something he's working on right now or in immediate future, but not out of the question. 

 

Sweet that was one of mine. I'm glad to see he's interested in the idea.

[Your Vest Friend]

Are you ready for spooky shenanigans? Probably not since Halloween was nearly two weeks ago, but here's some horror to distract from the horror of Christmas.

Episode 29;

It's the episode that came out on Halloween itself, but I'm covering late, and therefore the theme should be obvious. They talk about James Rolfe's Monster Madness series, trick-or-treating memories and past costumes, scaring in the dorms, the various spooking failures. haunted houses, roller coasters, horror media, jump scares vs atmospheric horror, the films they've seen that are Halloween themed, the desire to see more fanciful Halloween films, how different the classic Universal monster films are from the original books, and the infamous Sonic costume of old.  

Have to say, I tend to be a bit more successful with hosting the trick-or-treaters. We don't even intend to scare, but some of the decorations are hardcore for the kids (and teens). 

With that, let's scare some fact hunters with the Q&A!

-Thoughts on Unleashed and the Werehog as concepts, did he do it justice in the SWC - Gameplay not unanimously hated because it was an okay beat-em up but stages were too long, system was shallow enough that the fancier combos were not required, QTEs had too much of a penalty, battle music drowned out regular soundtrack, core concept was decent, if it was refined and it was Knuckles in there instead it wouldn't have been as hated, initially not a fan of the Werehog (got preview material for the tie-in comic done way, way back so saw the cinematic opening and saw the Werehog reveal through that), design grew on him, Night of the Werehog endeared him to it as it showed how much fun the idea could as it showed a different way of having Sonic's core attributes, didn't think gameplay conveyed that, fandom reaction on positive side was infectious as kids love it, in the end he learned to love it, also briefly talks about how similar happened with Marine and Cream, would like to think that SWC was a nice nod to it, it was not point on point faithful and not intended to be, can understand why people who loved the game wouldn't be wholly satisfied, hopes people who didn't like the game could see the positive elements as presented in comic, overall liked Unleashed aside from medal collecting; liked the new people designs, the hub world, the music, the visual design, the gameplay, the story, Chip grew on him as they didn't have him overstay his welcome and doesn't intrude too much on gameplay, knows the pain of Eggmanland.

-Will comic ever cover what happened to Metal Sonic between end of Heroes and next appearance - Ian's not sure the Rivals games count as canon so take it as you will [I warned you, peeps], he'd love to fill in the gaps (would really love to have a whole monthly series to fill out all the gaps between the comic and game events), doesn't know if they ever will go back to it as he has to use economy of the space correctly and that is more minutia, maybe if part of a storyline but doesn't expect to have a dedicated moment to cover it.

-Would he do comics with other SEGA characters if SEGA permitted - Yes. Would be all over a SEGA comic, talked about Sonic/NiGHTS crossover before, but setting up SEGA crossover would be easy enough (Sonic gets into Genesis portal, other ideas for specific franchises), but lambastes the Tetris film due to be made, Sonic/Ecco would be difficult due to the water weakness, would like a shot at Vectorman crossover because he feels bad for him and he likes that he's kinda akin to Mega Man but it's a very different perspective as VM's just a hero because no one else is left, Kyle suggests ideas for Sonic/Golden Axe and Sonic/Comix Zone.

-Is Thunderbolt secretly Red Hulk of Sonic's World, if so who is Green Hulk - [what]

-Would it ever be possible to expand on Knuckles' past given the limitations in place - Probably not, Knuckles' past is supposed to be mysterious and supposed to remain aloof (Echidnas don't even factor into that, so even if he had access to species that wouldn't change that he's not supposed to delve into him), still plenty you can do with Knuckles in the present [there was a bit where he mentioned the Knuckles Tribe but didn't go into it, I assume he was saying that was the extent of Knuckles' explorable past].

[SBR2]

1 hour ago, VEDJ-F said:

 

-Thoughts on Unleashed and the Werehog as concepts, did he do it justice in the SWC - Gameplay not unanimously hated because it was an okay beat-em up but stages were too long, system was shallow enough that the fancier combos were not required, QTEs had too much of a penalty, battle music drowned out regular soundtrack, core concept was decent, if it was refined and it was Knuckles in there instead it wouldn't have been as hated, initially not a fan of the Werehog (got preview material for the tie-in comic done way, way back so saw the cinematic opening and saw the Werehog reveal through that), design grew on him, Night of the Werehog endeared him to it as it showed how much fun the idea could as it showed a different way of having Sonic's core attributes, didn't think gameplay conveyed that, fandom reaction on positive side was infectious as kids love it, in the end he learned to love it, also briefly talks about how similar happened with Marine and Cream, would like to think that SWC was a nice nod to it, it was not point on point faithful and not intended to be, can understand why people who loved the game wouldn't be wholly satisfied, hopes people who didn't like the game could see the positive elements as presented in comic, overall liked Unleashed aside from medal collecting; liked the new people designs, the hub world, the music, the visual design, the gameplay, the story, Chip grew on him as they didn't have him overstay his welcome and doesn't intrude too much on gameplay, knows the pain of Eggmanland..

-Is Thunderbolt secretly Red Hulk of Sonic's World, if so who is Green Hulk - [what]

 

1: Thank you Flynn. No one will ever accept that the SWC wasn't a full fledged Adaptation but I know I'll keep saying it. It's like how Comic book Movies take influence from Comics but don't ever really adapt one particular story.

2: Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (Father of Bruce Banners love interest Betty) is the Red Hulk in the Hulk comics.

[Heckboy]

I didn't like SWC because it basically didn't attempt to build on any of Unleashed's strengths. It didn't have to be exactly 1:1, but I would have liked for the important bits -- like Sonic meeting and naming Chip, traveling the world to help him with his amnesia, having Chip regain his memories later on after experiencing the world instead of being told his role at the start by Tikal of all people -- to have been adapted properly to the comic instead of "oh yeah knuckles finds him in a mine or something also charmy names him because lol cookies."

I wouldn't have minded some changes or some additions (I think a comic would be fantastic for exploring the story further than the game did or could), but not at the expense of everything else that made Unleashed's story so appealing to me.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

SWC built on plenty of Unleashed's weaknesses than anything, which I find much better than the original story.

It capitalized on the scale of the stakes, treating the world shattering as a dangerous crisis that newrly killed people instead of some minor event that people in the world shrugged and moved on like it was nothing; it made use of its greater world by using the extended cast instead of ditching them (I understand how intimate the friendship with Sonic and Chip is supposed to be, but this is no excuse); and while it's rushed pacing definitely hurt it after Fucking Worlds Unite, it avoided a weak middle act where there was barely anything or any tension going on until the final act narrative-wise by giving us some suspense or some moments where characters enjoyed themselves.

And I for one liked Chip bonding with the extended cast, so if anything that should've been done better given the hiccups that had later down the line.

[Heckboy]

I liked that the game chose to keep the cast small for a change. It was nice to just see Sonic himself going around and meeting new people, experiencing their cultures, etc. But I can understand if others don't care for that.

I'd have enjoyed seeing Chip interact with the rest of the cast more if they didn't take important moments from Sonic. Like, even as minor as it seems, I think Chip being named after ice cream he likes is important. His whole story is about him learning to appreciate the world he never got to truly see, and the beginning shows the first signs of this -- he craves the local, traditional food. He's starting to gain a love for the world and culture.

In the comics he's found in a mine by Knuckles, so that takes away a character moment from Sonic. Then Charmy is the one who names him, and it's because Chip randomly remembers chocolate chips despite being underground the whole time. Then to make that worse, there's Tikal spoiling the whole Light Gaia thing like immediately. After that Knuckles just... hands Chip over to Sonic and goes about his business. I don't feel the moments between Sonic and Chip at the very end of Panic in the Sky had much emotional weight to it because of all this.

Dunno, one of the things I really liked in Unleashed was Sonic and Chip's friendship, so the poor handling of that in the comic just ruined the whole thing for me.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

The problem with the cast wasn't that people didn't enjoy neeting new people and seeing othrr cultures tho - rather, they wanted the extended cast to be part of it. Because why have the other characters absent when you're trotting the whole globe that they are also a part of?  Wouldn't other characters like Cream and Knuckles like to get to know Chip as well? And shouldn't other characters be helping to fix the world the one time we need all hands on deck instead of flaking off like they're no where to be found? It would have made more sense if they did that in Sonic 06 where they were in a single country, not traveling the world to multiple countries. Unleashed could still focus predominantly on Sonic and Chip without dismissing everyone else.

I don't see much issue with Chip being found in the mines, but as far as the spoiling his real name, in all fairness it's been several years since Unleashed and his name isn't that big a secret. I could understand the randomness of him being named Chip by Charmy out of the blue, he could have just been called "Great Spirit" until the end, but I would expect more twists that came from his role and how he interacted and helped others rather than his real name being revealed. That part wasn't give much attention--I again blame WU for that one.

[Your Vest Friend]

...Actually, thinking about it, a globe trot is more likely not to have the other characters due to the sheer scale involved. The likelihood of meeting up with them if not intentionally trying to find them is low. If the characters are aiming for an area as comparatively small as Soleanna or Station Square, it's more likely that they'd run into each other. 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I find that bizarre and hard to believe given that some of Unleashed's NPC's would wander to different cities when they felt like it. I'm pretty sure the sheer scale of globe trotting would have a lot more of the cast present in the case of Unleashed simply because the world cracked open and they'd be as curious as Sonic as to what's going on. And considering you're going to practically every continent on the planet, it's kinda hard not to run into anyone more than Tails or Amy who were somehow just passing by seperate from each other in Apotos and Spagonia - how could you not run into at least Team Dark who's peacekeeping job would bring them just about anywhere?

I sincerely doubt most of the cast would be more likely to meet in a place like Soleanna or Station Square if they're scattered around different places, Knuckles being the most egregious example being in Soleanna for practically no reason other than being a mailman for Eggman.

[Your Vest Friend]

I'll probably reply to that later CSS, but for now we need to switch things up a bit.

Episode 30; 

Yep, today's episode is about the recently revealed Nintendo Switch! Ian and Kyle talk about their thoughts on the Switch reveal (and what they're happy or not so happy about), Ian isn't impressed and is in fact very concerned, while Kyle is cautiously optimistic, their opinion on the Virtual Boy, potential features of the Switch, and the sheer lack of children in the trailer and how it reflects their current audience and market aims.

So now that your minds have been switched on to information gluttony, it's time for the Q&A!

-How would Ian handle something like Castlevania givne his writing style - Ian is not super familiar with Castlevania lore, would have to take a look at where everything is supposed to fall, research where the conflicts are, balance creator intent with fan desire (considering creator threw some out of canon that fans want in), work from there, portrayal of story would depend entirely on how project was arranged; straight-to-trade could be done as individual stories, ongoing may be able to have him tackle it chronologically but would depend on how much time and space he was given, how he would tackle Castlevania 64 would be a monster in of itself, he'd love to tackle it but whether Konami want to do anything with it is another matter.

-Vanilla's job - Chao rancher/rearer, not set in stone as SEGA could say otherwise and it's just Ian's perspective of it, figures she and Cream know how to raise chao [game canon-wise, she's pretty much a homemaker by the looks of things].

-Sonic Comic Origin trades in the near future? - Would love to see it especially as tracking them all down can be difficult, as they are so short there isn't enough of them to warrant a whole GN, floats ideas of doing more SCOs so there's more content for a trade, maybe have them all reprinted in a Digest [that wouldn't work because of how the Digest works], wants to do more of them but not enough content to do them yet.

-Did the mayor and team Dark die at the end of act 1 of Worlds Unite, was it intentional - When they were putting it together, Kaminski wanted higher stakes as he didn't feel what was already there wasn't enough, wanted someone to die to make it more personal, Ian reminded him of cosmic reset inevitable going in due to it not being able to happen, Ian decided if there was a death cheat he'd make it blatant as he hates death cheats, if he had to kill someone off for shock value he'd make it so obvious it's a death cheat people would recognise the trope and roll with it as opposed to usual death shock, chose team Dark due to nobody believing he would kill them off, blew up mayor because he was easy to kill off. Comic death in general is a mixed bag, some younger readers did think he got away with killing Shadow when they read that part, older readers more jaded, last character death he felt had weight was Superman after fight with Doomsday, follow-up felt more genuine and more came out of it, it was built up to, New 52 Superman death was much cheaper, stays away from character death in general unless it's going to stick.

-Any more info on which games are canon, following up on notes he received that Sonic R was canon - Doesn't like talking about internal notes as he shouldn't, can't say for certain what is and isn't, was under assumption R wasn't canon until he got note back that it was, under assumption that Game Gear games are non-canon to gaming series but some will be canon to comic with adaptations, "what is canon" is a big question; game-exclusive? Comic-Exclusive? Okay today or okay tomorrow, it's never concrete, thinks it's along the line of "games are canon when needed", but at the same time SEGA/Sonic Team are receptive to fanbase and fanbase are ardent about having a tighter continuity and more cohesion, can see that trend changing but doesn't know that for certain, Ian would see classic era of games as not really a straight line of continuity, Adventure onwards more linear for mainline, but things like Riders are more just adventures that happened around it, can't sit down and say when exactly every game happened [Aaron's answer at the charity stream infers that there is a canon but it's not as neat as fans or Ian may want].

 

[Dr. Detective]

I want to say that there were a lot of things the comics did to build upon what Unleashed was doing. However, I also believe it sacrificed a lot of the things Unleashed also managed to do really well on it's own in the process. If I could take both the comics and Unleashed's story and mash them together, I feel everything would be perfect.

There were a lot of things I loved about the game that I thought was underwhelming when the comic adapted it. I thought Unleashed did the Dark Gaia Pheonix story better, I thought it handled the Egg Dragoon better, I thought it handled Dark Gaia in general a lot better, the people I thought were better because of the added benefit of the side missions allowing for their development (which isn't something the comics can help really), I enjoyed Sonic and Chip's relationship more and I found the ending of Unleashed to be extremely powerful. Still do. I wasn't feeling it as much when they said goodbye to Chip in the comics. 

I really liked the idea of Chip becoming friends with everybody instead of just Sonic but I don't feel it reached it's full potential. What I think they did brilliantly instead was definitely the way they integrated more of the characters into the story. Granted, some of their plots didn't directly correlate to what was happening with Dark Gaia but they worked as general subplots within a major storyline. That's something Unleashed should have done more of. The Dark Gaia Pheonix story and the side missions are about it when it comes to that but there's a point in Unleashed's story where the game just kind of goes on a long stretch where not much development happens. 

I also loved the set-up for the finale that happened in the first two parts of Panic in the Sky. Easily my favorite part of the adaption and the most exciting part as well. Seeing Eggman just come in and demolish them all, seeing the Hooligans take on the King, seeing the Battle Birds demolish the Sky Patrol, and seeing them all converge at Eggmanland where Eggman first showed up in the Egg Dragoon (before the adapted fight) was all great. I greatly prefer it to simply flying there and waltzing in, even though I didn't have a problem with that either. 

On a personal note, the Freedom Fighters being there didn't bug me as much as I thought it might. Suppressing that part of me that wishes they were more tertiary characters is often hard to do but I think I got by okay here. 

Also, the thing about the people not seeming as worried about the planet being broken in Unleashed was never something that bothered me. It's odd because I was still sold on the danger despite that. It might be because, even though when you talk to them they seem okay, often in the cutscenes, they'd be depicted in some sort of peril. Most notably, the scenes where they were being possessed by Dark Gaia's spawn and the ending when everyone was looking at the sky when the world was being shrouded in darkness. Then Professor Pickle falls on his knees and says the planet is lost. With there not being that many cutscenes in the first place, it established a medium balance well enough for me. When it comes to the comics my opinion on the people hasn't changed much. That might be because I'm having a hard time remembering everything they did with them outside of the Adabat story and Gregorous. 

Oh yeah, and Professor Pickle was not very well done in the comics. They kind of dropped the ball on him. Personality and presence wise.

But all in all, I liked it fine. Not at all perfect but nothing to get upset over, for sure. 

[Your Vest Friend]

*Last week*

So, now that I've finally caught up on the previous episodes, I can look forward to two weeks not worrying about updating the Bumblekast!

*Today*

WHAT?! IMPOSSIBLE! They decided to update a week after! I need an escape from this!

Episode 31;

Today's very early episode is about escapism from reality! Ian and Kyle talk about how escapism should be done in moderation, how important it is to take breaks for physical and mental wellbeing, how they personally like to chill out, and the danger of being overwhelmed by media.

But there isn't really escape for us, as we still have to dive into the usual Q&A!

-Other fiction/non-fiction that has inspired his writing - Been covered a few times, number of various things that have inspired him.

-Would they recommend the Ruby-Spears Mega Man cartoon to someone new to series or does it rely on nostalgia too much - Yes to both, fans of Mega Man and history should do to experience it, understanding the licensed property history circa late 80s/early 90s, acquired taste, doesn't hold up on own merits without nostalgia, interesting in its own right for weirdness, still more faithful than Captain N, did try to make Roll more active.

-Did two directions of Sonic Boom tone (aka RoL and show) make it confusing to decide which tone to use for the comic - Pretty sure there was a decent buffer between both when the comic was being made, show was airing by that point, so had general idea of how it was going and the fans' reaction to it, Freiberger was also involved with WU so there was back and forth between them for tone and stuff, decided to go for comical tone to define it from main Sonic comic and because Sonic X comic was well received (which was also comedic, although not as extensively), light on continuity to also align to show, seems like game was going for fantasy adventure with lots of ideas, but not the time or team to realise it, would love to see a fully realised RoL as intended because it looked interesting in initial stages, Shattered Crystal closer to show tone, all generally lighter but show moreso and that's what they went with.

-Is Circus Park an Eggman-made place or the remnant of one of the four civilisations - Not sure why you'd think it was a remnant unless thinking of Carnival Night as it was on Angel Island, can assume Circus Park is either by Eggman or was modified by him, would assume Carnival Night is also an Eggman construction due to his obsession with theme parks, open to interpretation for Circus Park.

-Was Thunderbolt's crush on Eggman intentional or response from fans, and was Wendy genuinely an admirer or just flirting - "Arm the torpedoes, it's time to sink some ships", no romantic angle between Thunderbolt and Eggman, she's an absolutely fangirl and ardently loyal but not romantic, thing about TB was having a completely loyal and vicious minion who was a tiny, cute animal, unfortunate that folks have put a romantic angle on it but it's the internet, Wendy definitely more amourous, Eggman has no interest in anyone but himself (not in that sense), joke is that creepy hideous troll woman finds the balding fat megalomaniac attractive and he doesn't return it.

-Who'd win in fight, Razor or Espio - It depends on the side you're on of the memetic debate, can see a bit of that in Case of the Pirate Princess. 

[Your Vest Friend]

It's Christmas time!

Okay, it was Christmas time. I've been bogged down for two weeks solid so only now have I had the chance to do this one.

Episode 32; 

As you might guess, this episode is all about Christmas. The name of the game is Christmas songs, so you'll find out which ones Ian and Kyle like...and which ones they don't.

Not much else to describe with that, so let's jump to the Q&A!

-Favourite villagers in Animal Crossing - Been a while since he's played it, doesn't have a particular villager that stood out for him, usually the personality type Big Sister, maybe Jock amongst guys due to having a lot of personality, characters like K K Slider don't really count as villagers but Ian does like all of the main cast, Kyle's is K K Slider.

-Is Sonic OVA relevant to comics or games - Pretty much off-limits, it's own thing, likes to do reference so is sure he'll find a way to give a little wink-nudge moment, overall no, Kyle brings up trend to pair Sonic with humans in Japanese media.

-If Eggman's bosses are his Dozen, does that make Cassia the bakers' dozen - Yes.

-Eclipse showing up again - Hopefully not too long, told his arc up to a point and then gave it a break, has plans for what he'll do next and his next confrontation with Shadow, maybe before August.

-Will SCR Robots from Zero Gravity ever appear - Thinks SCR bots were more security droids when with MeteoTech, maybe if they return to MeteoTech, not a driving passion to see them again, but he could go back and review and consider it.

-If film was made of Ian, who would he want to be cast as himself - Number of actors he'd love to represent him, but also hopes they wouldn't get so low to do that, hasn't thought of it before, "I don't know", if it was a Jim Henson production then Fozzie Bear. 

Well, that was short. The next episode came out today so I'll try to get that covered on Wednesday or Thursday, Wonder what it's about...

*Q&A season finale*

Ah. 

[Your Vest Friend]

Screw it, I've got time to burn.

Episode 33;

Lucky you, it's a double feature. The theme is being a giant Q&A, so no pre-amble summary this time.

Let's get right to it!

-What happened between GUN and Acorn Kingdom in past, see GUN before Tower took over - He'll get to it eventually, primarily acknowledge that GUN was super shady circa the ARK incident, now less so but not totally clean, Acorn's quite old so would have clashed with them before, doesn't want to get to it immediately because one of the issue he had while working on pre-reboot was that Acorn stuff was everywhere, wanted to get Sonic and FFs out of New Mobotropolis but there kept being reasons for them to stay in the city, too many reason for them not to leave, so Kingdom of Acorn exists, history exists, dabble on it here and there but doesn't want it to dominate as it did before.

-When did different Egg Army factions start to appear in Sonic timeline - Notes that there is no Metropolis Egg Army faction, it was a part of Army that answered directly to Eggman and were inserted there by him to develop the shield generator, only Egg Army units out there are the 11 under bosses (Wendy doesn't have a unit), started popping up shortly after the first attempt at the Genesis Wave [aka after Sonic Advance 3 in comic timeline], relatively new addition to Eggman Empire.

-Where Honey learned to fight, how she compares to likes of Conquering Storm - Mostly self-taught, overeager overachiever because she decided to take it up during spare time, might get into how she learned shadow sneak and refined her style later, doesn't want to put her on a skill level ladder yet, would be fun to see in-comic who is more proficient.

-Ever considered making his own freelance comic company - Yes, his dream is that Bumbleking becomes a multimedia empire itself, not close to Disney or DC but something to say his projects have done something, first step is to do something of his own, working on it but hard when resources aren't all there, dreams big and overwhelms himself so has to adjust, wants to focus on realistic goals right now. Kyle wants to do similar with KNGI. 

-Experiences as an English major - Two moments, high moment; A husband/wife duo, wife was English dept head, both fascinating to listen to, part of why he started teaching degree, low moment; some guy on course, first time he had him for course it was Shakespeare and it was hard to get through due to voice, read Beowulf in old English, sounded like the Swedish Chef, trying not to laugh, made eye contact and read directly to Ian. 

-Pseudo-Sonic existing post-reboot - No. Feels fairly safe on confirming, not usually supposed to say for certain but isn't Archie exclusive so he can confirm. Only one robot Sonic and that's Metal Sonic (aside from the others).

-Will Blaze and Sally ever team up (due to princess link) - Would be fun but no immediate plans.

-If swallowing Chaos' tail made you grow a tail, result of swallowing his head - Nothing good, brings out a nightmare description of Froggy with Chaos head [likely also a tail; Chaos is a liquid being so can reassemble where his body is at will as long as the brain isn't included].

-Main goal for Sonic comic series - Make people happy, seems to be working for the most part, can't please everyone all the time, has to aim for most people most of the time, doesn't help that fanbase has different aspects they like, true for most long-running fandoms, wants to tell entertaining stories.

-Did Knuckles' OVA hat survive Genesis Wave - Two answers, first is that it's off-limits technically due to OVA being off-limits, seconds is that it got affected and is now a sentient hat god of its own dimension. 

-Which continuity does Mega Drive take place in, games or comics - Comic continuity, he can't write game canon without writing a game, would love to influence game canon but he can't so he's not going to speak for company, strictly comic unless otherwise stated later by powers that be. 

-Does Rotor not have sensors in vents if Tails Doll went incognito in them - Sensors in vents isn't common, not in Sky Patrol as it's perpetually flying, maybe some now after TD attack. 

-As one-man team, does he worry he won't be able to keep things fresh - No, as there are lots of stories he wants to tell, by the time he gets to them the fallout to other stories has happened and can be expanded on after, new games keep coming out, new ideas from seeing new media, was straining when he just had Sonic book, Sonic Universe was a great relief, could do three books, not just him as Aleah, Yardley, Stanley can do stories and bring in new material.

-If Tails uses his Tails to keep up with Sonic, does Ray use patagium to be a flying brick (aka hard-hitting like Mighty) - Hadn't thought of it that way, more as a character foil, like how Sonic and Tails contrast, Mighty is self-reflective due to his power and losing control sometimes, Ray is always positive and supportive, there to bring Mighty back from when he starts to lose control, Mighty not a dark version of Sonic, he just has a little bit of baggage. 

-Does he like Fairy Tail - They take a while to even decipher what that refers to, likes the meal but neither are familiar with anime or manga.

-Will we see a Mobian snail - Ian postulates on whether a snail could translate to Sonic style, examples like Horse, Moose, Wharthog are also hard, possibly even harder, even Bunker Tortoise was hard due to her species having the shell on the back and questions on how that should be incorporated, maybe but how would they fit it into style.

-If Ian didn't make Sigma first reploid based off X, was he going to use Greek letters to signify creation order - Could be a trap he could be seen falling into, not with Sigma, some official material did list him as first reploid based off X, but when he was constructing X storyline stuff that didn't make sense to him as he was also built to lead the Maverick Hunters, supposed to be pinnacle of reploid creation, not likely pinnacle if he was first in line, took liberty with that to make more sense, thinks if there were other Greek letter reploids it would diminish Sigma's significance, can work with E-Bots as they don't have much character to begin with, not for Sigma.

-Are Metal Sonic and Breezie going to have another romantic encounter in future - Another case of fans putting spin on it that he hasn't expected, didn't expect arguments on whether Breezie had feeling for Metal or was trying to play him, knows where he wants it to go as it ties in with who Breezie is deep down, but debate is more fun, decides you'll find out later. 

-Watched any good anime lately (senpai) - Not lately, last one he watched fully was Kill La Kill due to internet hype, he's divided on it, not high art and it is fanservice overload, it's still satisfying in a cheap sort of way, gets to the point and doesn't meander, wouldn't recommend it but would think back to entertaining scenes, also rewatched Cowboy Bebop, sees a bit of nostalgia forming earlier opinion but still a very solid series.

-Seen Eddie LeBron's Mega Man and Sonic fan films - Not seen either, avoids fan stuff in general and they fall under that, avoiding any sort of legal issue with having idea similar. 

-What would Ian do if he was an Assist Trophy in Smash Bros - He appears on stage, looks around in panic, grabs nearest item, misuses it, disappears in panic, if no item then he charges a player off-stage, easy to escape, Ian would fall off regardless, one who touched him last would get the point for his knock-out, Kyle would be in the background and bringing back tripping while he was out.  

-Are Chaos Rings (comic) canon - Hesistates before answering, going to say yes with an asterisk as he wants to involve them but Chaotix is in a touchy spot in terms of stuff they can reference, already towed the line a bit, so we'll see if Ian can use them, Ian explains to Kyle that Chaotix isn't considered canon to classic era of Sonic games but comic has reference Metal Sonic Kai and Isolated Island has shown up, some Badniks have shown up, but whether they can keep going with that is still to be seen. 

-Inspiration for Sonic Boom episode idea - ton of pitches he made for Boom, idea behind Boom is to be fun and turn things on its head, since dynamic is Eggman trying to catch Sonic, flipped on the head Tails is trying to catch Eggman, why would it happen, spun out from there, happy with way episode came out.

-Would Ian be inclined to write Eggman in romantic comedy with him being courted by a number of admirers (hypothetically) - So specific that it's a fan idea so can't be asked on show, so he can't touch that now. 

-Any rules on designs post-reboot - Not had any direct notes on original characters but had notes on variant covers for main cast are guidelines they can follow for original characters, one note they got back was that male characters cannot wear pants, okay with a little dress-up above the waist, for Mega Man he can't recall specific notes so they were looked over and they tried to make it fit the style, didn't get notes on Quake Woman or Vespa Woman so seems they did fine there. 

-Any plans in future for Amy and Cream to have solo adventure - Nothing of just Amy and Cream alone, will show up together a fair bit, like another Sonic and Tails, will see them interaction together and as part of larger group.

-When will we see the Woodland Kingsmen - Not as soon as he thought we would, every time he's written them into a story, they've been removed in revision as there hasn't been room for them, going to make an effort to show them when it would be appropriate, in long term plans, but not going to see them for a bit.

So, I guess the Kingsmen aren't in Antoine's FF story. Huh. 

[Your Vest Friend]

So...uh...I was going to write this up at the weekend but then I got busy.

Episode 34;

 

This time, the topic is looking forward to what's coming in 2017, and looking back at 2016. Ian got a lot of projects in 2016, and 2017 means he's able to talk about them more (like the Sonic Boom episodes, his first one of which has done second-best in ratings of season 2 so far). He's also starting a new channel; Bumblekast gaming! They also talk about what they're looking forward to in 2017.

So while everything else is going on, let's chill out a bit with the Q&A.

-Do you feel fans are more receptive of Big in wake of Twitter, Lego Dimensions etc - Depends on what level of fan we're talking, for SOnic fans he thinks 50/50, likely not for casual fans, originally opposed when he was introduced because he was so different and didn't fit with Sonic style, that's what endeared him to Ian over time, refreshing. 

-What Nintendo franchise would he pitch to Nintendo if not Mario - It's not Ian's team, it's Archie's team, can't specify who talked to who for how Mario pitch came about, thinks most Nintendo properties would be good for comic, Metroid would be fascinating but couldn't be like Sonic comic with different tone/art style/pacing, would highlight isolation of Samus while travelling and fighting in the galaxy, thinks inner monologue undercuts Metroid Prime story, uses moment of Metroid Prime in-game stuff as an example of how to do it, would like to do Star Fox, closer to Mega Man and Sonic style, Kirby more light-hearted but still in similar vein, would love to tackle dark matter trilogy, Mario actually one of the hardest to suss due to how games are laid out and how the rules of the universe are so loose, any one Zelda game could be taken as comic story, or even just themes to make an original story, would tackle any really. 

-Any card games they play together - Ian's played Cards Against Humanity on occasion, doesn't really play collectible card games due to lack of money and space and time. Part of CAH's fun is how far you're willing to go with the joke. 

-Did Ian ever figure out how to bring back Downtown Ebony Hare - In a pine box (it's a joke), he may have at one point but it was long ago and he was low priority, if he had it would have been for the purpose of fleshing out the mid-tier villains so there was something the heroes could face on a lower level, probably for Chaotix due to detective angle, doesn't think he had anything concrete, now pre-reboot, even if not he's not really worth it.

-How old was Antoine when he met Sally - He's a little older than Sally as he's of legal age in present, they were both kids. 

-Did Eggman conquer all of Mobius in new continuity - No, first one was Sonic 1 and it was restricted to Kingdom of Acorn, one thing that didn't satisfy him in SatAM was that Mobotropolis appeared to be capital of the world and all things hinged on it, didn't fit in with game world as we know it, Eggman now is constant threat, not omni-present ruler, enough influence to always be in a position of authority but not global authority, helped him stay fresher and be more active, always been hands-on.

[Big Panda]

Hey, are we not getting write-ups for these anymore?