The BumbleKast Topic of Archival (And Discussion)

[Your Vest Friend]

We will do once my situation is a bit more stable again. Things have been...less than stellar since January, and it's not due to the Archie comic situation. End is in sight though, so should be soon.

[Your Vest Friend]

Right, eight episodes, 16 weeks, time to burn, this calls for a catch-up. 

I won't be giving a summary of the episode content for these ones, but it should be easy enough to get from the episodes titles. 

Episode 35; 

In this January episode, Ian and Kyle talk about the ins and outs of character creation. Not just introspective to the character, but what the character brings to the table and adds to the cast/mythos (conflicts, traits etc) (which also reasserts the "illusion of change" thing). There's a lot of DC talk. His and Aleah's philosophy is that you need to know where they're going, so know their background and motivation to direct direction. He also treats them as actors more than characters.  

Anyway, there's far more guidance in there (don't get eaten by a rhinocerous), but some guidance on questions can be found in the Q&A!

-Will we ever see Sonic's favourite clothes (OVA) in comic - References Old Man Owl macro, would love to homage that in some way, so maybe, wonders what franchise would be like if the series was founded on OVA setting. 

-Any creative ideas he regrets or wishes he could have done better - Always, difficult to balance saying "good enough" and "needs more revision", also editor, licencor and climate of book affect how ideas come out, for the most part what's been published is the best that could have been done given circumstances.

-Are air charms only underwater breathing device available or allowed in Meropis - Lots of options, with Meropis and other underwater cities Air Charms are a means of letting visitors come in, no restriction on how you breathe, comes back to fact that in classic era the technology was fairly antiquated while Eggman was advanced, that went out by the modern era, would be interested in a take where Sonic and friends only had WWII-era tech while Eggman still has advanced tech [wouldn't work considering the likes of Vector], Sonic 1 item was conjecture but probably related to water considering location, SA2 introduced air charm so if that exists scuba gear likely exists. 

-Any ideas/references he wishes he could adopt into the comic but can't - Not really, does measure out how many references there are, a couple he put in that were deemed too on-the-nose so had to be pulled, nothing crucial or memorable. 

-If there was a Sonic TV show based on the comics and he was asked to write for it, would he accept, how would he handle it, 2D or 3D, voice actors - Yes, assuming complete control (aka fantasy land) he'd do something akin to Young Justice; episodic but still continuity-driven series with cast to be explored in bits and pieces (with Sonic as the main focus, prefers 2D for animation, would have as many of the old SatAM cast to return as possible to reprise roles, tone similar to the comic, light-hearted but still dramatic. 

-Interested in Sonic Claus returning - Doesn't get it at first because he couldn't find reference to it, when brought up to speed....no, would have to drag him kicking and screaming to make another Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog reference [I'm guessing he doesn't like it], thinks Robotnik needed to stay dressed more than he was, current incarnation of Eggman is like a blend of both AoStH and SatAM in tone. 

 

 

Dunno what pace this'll go. Probably more today until when/if I burn out, but I want to get them all cliffnoted by the next episode on Monday. 

[Your Vest Friend]

Copy-paste is such as useful tool. 

Episode 36;

Yes, Ian was actually that big Nintendo event where they really showed what the Switch could do back in February. Expect stuff on how the hardware left an impression, Arms, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Splatoon 2, Breath of the Wild, Mania, you know what was what by now. 

 

In the Q&A, I wrote up one question on the day it came out. See if you can guess which one. 

-Which characters introduced since the reboot has he found fans have had the most reaction to - Top 4; Eclipse (if done wrong would have been very wrong but did right), Relic (latched onto her dynamic with Knuckles), Razor (surprise standout, probably reason he's gotten most attention out of Meropis characters), Princess Undina (seems to be a big hit, not surprised because they knew they were working with gold [no, not Gold]), thinks people are cautiously interested in new Dulcy and her team [Uh, at most they're interested in Jian :/], Desert Raiders, eventually remembers Thunderbolt, has been put on the highest pedestal out of all the Egg Bosses, Clove a close second, Kyle likes Opal, apparently most popular of all the pirates, Captain Shellbreaker's speech impediment you either love or hate. 

-Why have Amy and Cream with Sally - Wouldn't say exclusively with Sally, to make FF arc remotely possible have to have a SEGA character on the cover front and centre for every part, Antoine story has Sonic, Bunnie story has Blaze, for Sally story the female-centric issues are harder to sell, frustrating because they have a fantastic female cast, hates the sexism that's in that, would hope that people would pick up the book for completion's sake and see that they are strong characters, already fighting an uphill battle there, Amy an extremely polarising character but has the star power, Sally the most recognisable out of all the FFs in casual market, concentrated marketing effort to tell a Sally story and to capitalise on both Amy and Sally's presence and bring in as many readers as possible to offset inevitable loss in readership because it's "a girl book", Blaze avoids that as she's clawed [heh] her way into a small niche of boys accepting her because of coolness, hates it but that's where they are now, with stories of strong female characters he hopes they can fight against that tide, but you have to work with what the world gives you, wants to accentuate the Amy and Cream dynamic as he likes that duo and doesn't have anywhere else to put Cream in that arc hence why she's there, so you have the power trio there that will hopefully offset the teenage boy mindset of "Ew, girls!" and still tell a good story that moves things forward, intricate puzzle to get through just to get a story told, in early drafts had Amy on the Bunnie and Blaze story because Blaze and Amy have that history together, but when drafting it out their interactions ended up overshadowing Bunnie's story and made everything too cumbersome, with how Sally's story is built it's more about the interaction of the group and how they're trying to help Nicole which speaks for whole dynamic of FFs in a way, best way to tell the story and the characters and move things forward.

-Approach for a Shovel Knight comic, what original characters would he make for it - With any book it depends on what the licencor wants, Ian's pitch would be a straight adaptation, keep original stuff to a minimum, Shovel Knight as is is a fantastic light story, doesn't need a ton of embellishment, for the little hints at side stories and back stories would rather get Yacht Club's notes and expand than try to create something new, already has great cast, setting etc, if it was a long-running series then sure he could add but for a regular adaptation would keep it fairly straight would love to work with Yacht Club in some capacity anyway. 

-Does the company he works for keep in mind his creations (aka can they bring in stuff with similarities to his stuff ie name etc) - Doesn't know technically the full legality of what the licencors have for Sonic/Mega Man, as far as he knows anything he makes is owned by the licencor so they're free to do whatever they want eg If SEGA made a game called Sonic Universe and they didn't want comic to be called Sonic Universe (likely brand confusion in this hypothetical) they would have to change the name of the book, wouldn't matter if they made a character that shared a name or concepts that were similar to post-reboot stuff, the licencor comes first, the comic is very small in terms of the entire franchise, they could theoretically take ideas from the book because they own it, they can stop him using characters but allow a very similar character to be made. Kyle didn't seem to get the Tetris pun. 

-Hyper state/Super Emeralds appearing in post-reboot continuity - Question mark at this point, official line is that they're not canon, really likes Hyper Sonic and thinks the Super Emeralds are cool, so if he gets the chance (tying into the idea of working around things) maybe he'll find it, not a priority right now, Kyle says similar with characters who shouldn't have super states, Ian staying silent on that, maybe. 

-If Eggman Nega is Eggman's descendent, would Ella the Maid be Eggman's babymamma [their word, not mine] - No, brings up the Heroes bio of Eggman being a feminist being a mistranslation of womaniser, Kyle thinks Eggman is more feminist than womaniser as he holds everyone in equal contempt and doesn't really discern between gender [It's funny because he's wrong. Please see spoiler].

 

 

[Your Vest Friend]

Did I say there was a lot of DC discussion before? Well, now you can tell I haven't watched ahead at least. 

Episode 37;

This was mid-late February, where instead of discussing love they discussed DC. They discuss the films and shows like Batman TAS and Young Justice, Batman as a whole, and...Condiment Man. Okay. 

This Q&A is bigger than usual, well dang. 

-How to avoid asking questions or feedback Ian can't answer because they're too specific - The line of too specific is fuzzy, how he views characters and how others view characters aren't always going to sync up and that's more a matter of opinion, in examples like "they're in a room with a bomb" or "they're flung to the middle of the ocean" the possible reasons for them to be there are broad but the peril is specific, not sure how best to approach them so may be best not to, doesn't like saying that but it is best to keep it in broad strokes like "How would this character handle a high-stress situation", "how would they handle betrayal", "how would they handle family death" etc as that leaves room for speculation, not like "If this character got into this situation with these circumstances". 

-How hard was it to adjust from writing the comic to writing the Sonic Boom episodes - Not seamless as how you write for a TV show isn't the same as how you write for a comic, partly due to different pacing, partly due to being less directly involved in the TV episodes (with comic he gets to talk it over panel by panel with editor penciller etc, with TV show he submits a script and that's it), weird not to be so hands on, but also fun to see what changed, good learning experience, learned a new piece of software because you can't just submit a script in Word, the fundamentals of writing a script are the fundamentals of any writing effort, being a writer on a comic can be more like a combined writing/directing role but it varies depending on how hands-on the editor is and from project to project. 

-Was prototype from Sonic 2 8-Bit used on Death Egg of Sonic 2 in this continuity, if it was more advanced why was the prototype used later, also where do Dulcy and Lupe flashbacks fit in timeline [Basically chronology stuff as they think the comic says that Sonic 2 8 bit happened after Sonic 2 16 bit) - Sonic 2 happens, Sonic is grabbed by Time Eater, due to time travel stuff will end up on Death Egg in time for Sonic CD and Sonic 3&K because never specified how long it was between them (even so the comic is doing its own thing), in between there was Sonic 2 8-bit and a number of other Game Gear and old game stories, robot on Death Egg was Silver Sonic, the prototype was used because Eggman didn't have anything else at that point, doesn't matter if before or after Sonic CD as both can be justified, he didn't have a robot Sonic so pulled out the prototype, where the other old games fall he's leaving nebulous for now because that's how a lot of them go, wants to keep spirit of free adventure with it and getting into specifics with time may lose that classic feel, "it happened at some point", modern era is more structured with events. 

-Power relations between characters - Power levels are not 1:1 metrics, the speed-power-fly classification series is nice for Heroes but doesn't withstand outside of that [although they keep using it], Amy has been classed as a number of things, hammer is powerful, was never classed as Speed type except for Heroes [Riders and Runners series say hi], saying someone is classed as a given type doesn't fit, only really applies to that one game [except the aforementioned examples] and doesn't hold outside of that eg would you count Blaze as Power due to fire attacks or Speed due to running as fast as Sonic or fly because of her hover move [FYI It was speed in Riders, power in Runners, also Power types had the hover as a defining move in Heroes], does Silver count as power because his psychokinesis is so powerful or fly because he can hover [FYI it was Fly in Riders and as ESP Silver in Runners, it was only speed on team Easy with Cream and Big there, so it's safe to say Silver is a pretty secure fly], it's a nice metric for the games but doesn't really work if you look at them as natural beings, secondly if you retroactively apply power fly to Mighty and Ray it doesn't work because they were designed with that in mind and game only has different animations, only other time he was playable was Chaotix where he was the Sonic clone and therefore more of a speed type there [to be fair any modern interpretation of Mighty were he reintroduced would ignore Chaotix], having Mighty be stupidly strong is something that sets him apart, brings up Superman vs Flash debate on who's the fastest; if Superman was the fastest there'd be no point in having the Flash, Flash being faster doesn't diminish Superman, Mighty being stronger than Knuckles doesn't diminish his importance to the series, if anything it's a prop to make Mighty stand out as Knuckles is the last of his kind, knows martial arts and is the guardian of the Master Emerald whereas Mighty is just a travelling brawler, giving Mighty that nudge of being one of the strong gives him something extra, giving Big that is funny, doesn't know where Bark fits as he's just a bruiser, if no one else was allowed to be strong so Knuckles could be strong then there'd be no kind of adversary, it doesn't take him off his pedestal and not being as strong doesn't make him any less cool, Kyle adds that just because Sonic is the fastest ever doesn't make Knuckles the strongest. 

-How strong are Gemerl, the Witchkarters, the Hooligans, the Battle Kukku Army - Part of him knew that part of Panic in the Sky wasn't going to settle well because Gemerl is supposed to be stupidly powerful, folks not taken into account that he fought Metal Sonic, an army of Badniks, the Hooligans and Witchkarters alone, tactic was to hold him back enough so Metal Sonic could escape because Metal Sonic is stupid fast, Gemerl didn't lose so much as got delayed, in terms of potential power Gemerl is very high, the Witchkarters on their own aren't terribly strong (equatable to the Hooligans), somewhat amplified under mind control as they don't respond to pain the same way as normally, most of the Battle Kukku forces are mooks, Speedy is an extremely capable soldier especially when aided by Fukurokov's tech, Grand Battle Kukku is something else altogether, Hooligans not particularly powerful in own right, comparable enough to what Sonic and friends can do, no hard and fast line of who can beat who but powerful enough to give the good guys a run for their money, not powerful enough to overthrow Eggman. 

[Big Panda]

Wait, what's the timeline from Sonic 2 to S3&K, your wording was kind of vague there.

[Your Vest Friend]

1 minute ago, Ernest-Panda said:

Wait, what's the timeline from Sonic 2 to S3&K, your wording was kind of vague there.

That's just it, there's isn't one. Sonic 2 8 Bit happened after Sonic 2 16 bit, but all those Game Gear games are at some point between it, CD and S3&K because he wants to keep the nebulous and free spirit of the old games' chronology. 

[Your Vest Friend]

What do you want from SEGA? Ian knows what he wants from SEGA.

Episode 38;

In this fresh Spring episode, Ian and Kyle talk about what franchises and characters from SEGA they'd like to see more of, and it is indeed another list like the Christmas episode. See if they mention any franchises you also want to see revived, and how they'd want it done (and also bear in mind that licensed properties are fair game). 

I dunno what they put (Well, Ian had Alex Kidd and Kyle had Elysia Dragoon and Super Hang On), but I personally wouldn't mind Super Monkey Ball or Chu Chu Rocket getting some love. But if you want a list now, it's the Q&A we've got here. 

-What would happen if the pre-reboot and post-reboot continuities were merged - He doesn't know, it would beg the question of how the two were brought together, why they can;t touch the pre-reboot stuff is a big factor in why it's not there any more, so how much of pre-reboot would be brought into post-reboot would be an issue, for the sake of the hypothetical it would be cherry-picked, take best of pre-reboot and find new places for it in post-reboot, or maybe not address the muddy mess and reintegrate them with new versions, as for what would exactly happens he doesn't know since there's too many questions and unknown variables.

-What about Jughead has made him so appealing to audiences since the reboot - The same thing that made him stand out in regular Archie; he does not care, Jughead is a calm centre amidst all the drama going on in the book, both he and Ian have an (unhealthy) affinity for burgers, was always most entertained by Jughead out of all the Archie cast, so getting to write him now is a bit of a treat, Jughead wears whatever he wants in regards to the crown, could also become a fashion fad thing that dies out. 

-What relations do the FFs have with each other in terms of how they interact eg Cream with Bunnie or Antoine - Something he wants to explore in the future, too broad for the Q&A, in the end they're all friends so all have things that make them click and things that don't necessarily gel eg Antoine getting bored by Rotor's ramblings, Rotor not being interested in getting in the way when Antoine is in the kitchen ("He learned that already" (x3 loudness)), if you put a cool sword in front of them they'll both geek out for ages, interesting conversations between Bunnie and Nicole over being semi-artificial being and dealing with what it's like to be or not be partially organic, bridge between life as holo-projection and life as being somewhat mechanical, the number of potential scenarios is staggering, hopes he can get into it in the future, beauty of FFs is that even if SEGA cast need to be the focus any of the FFs can be put into a scenario and you have something interesting/dynamic, fallen into a couple of safe places regarding team-ups (partly because of them being fan-favourites, partly because they need to move story along and don't have time to delve into the nuance) but overall they have this rich cast that he wants to delve into more. 

-Would a modern game not featuring Sonic serve the franchise well ala Luigi's Mansion - Would love to see the Sonic franchise branch out like that, would love a Knuckles game, thinks Shadow's game would have worked if it had been more refined and had more development time, Silver would make for a fantastic game, he was his favourite part of Sonic '06 (when the gameplay worked, survival horror light-esque Amy Rose Adventure game could work, could bring in puzzle-platforming, in-canon not supposed to be as strong as the others despite being able to knock Zero across the Egg Carrier in Adventure, something less speedy but more thoughtful platforming with puzzles and maybe some combat, wants Chao raising game in some form. 

-Was there miscommunication between Ian and artist for final battle in Sonic: Genesis (something about a shield around Sonic that was supposed to be bad but had no effect) - It was a bit of miscommunication between him and Spaziente, meant to be the forcefield that blocks Sonic from Eggman when he enters the Labyrinth part of Scrap Brain, doesn't know what happened but Spaziente read it as the shield item, got all the way to the editor without being caught, the canon is what was printed, he guesses the shield was supposed to trap him but didn't work, nothing to worry about as it's pre-reboot. 

-Are human/mobian relationships allowed - Ian's not touching that, has seen the arguments that because they're cartoon animals and not fully anthro creatures and because the universe treats them both as fully sentient/sapient beings on equal footing that it would make sense that it wouldn't be inappropriate, but that's not what the casual reader would see, they'd see animal with a person and leave and be grossed out by it, understands that there's deeper meaning to it and that people are passionate about the depth that could be explored with it, but it's not a furry/anthro/his book, it's SEGA's property and not his to do whatever with, if the reactions to the '06 kiss are any indication, most people don't want to see that, you're free to personally ship whoever regardless.

[Your Vest Friend]

Two's company, three's a guest episode. 

Episode 39;

With them bringing in a guest late March, there'll be a lot of stuff they talk about (hence why it's one of the longest episodes to date). Probably some about their experience with the comics and the games, probably plenty of other pleasant follies. 

But if you don't want follies, there's the usual Q&A business. 

-Did Evan have to fill in for Tyson on Sonic #265 - No, that was all Hesse, they're thinking of Sonic #272 which was started by Fry but Stanley had to come in for the second half. 

-How did get idea of Geoffrey turning traitor and becoming agent of Naugus - Came from when they were compiling notes for Sonic Encyclopedia (when it was still Who's Who), was re-reading previous issues and charting course of the characters, Geoffrey stood out because his motivations were scattered and made no sense, sometimes malicious or against Elias, sometimes working with the heroes, appearing out of nowhere that didn't fit in with secret agent stuff, most telling was the issue that brought in Naugus and Geoffrey was wearing a very Ixian cloak, shows up right before Naugus busts out of Zone of Silence, so if they look at Geoffrey who has a shady and unknown past, ties to a military that fell when he was a child, can appear out of nowhere, has his own agenda that can help and hurt Kingdom of Acorn, if he was a sleeper agent for Naugus who wasn't fully sure of whether he wanted to do that, he decided that was the best way to bring it together, give Geoffrey an interesting plot and tie it into ongoing Naugus story, some people weren't pleased by idea of this hero being a turncoat but some folks could see where he was going with a redemption arc, still did heroic things in past just with different context, all in all him trying to tie up loose ends and make a more cohesive narrative, not fond of Geoffrey as he feels like a James Bond knock-off who doesn't fit in the Sonic universe, him hitting on Sally gave him some creeps, the allure of a secret agent who knows a bit more than you and appears at just the right time and is a dashing rogue is cool, don't see many skunks, he's polarising.

-Question for Kyle; Thoughts on Night in the Woods soundtrack - Was already a fan of the composer from previous works, not listened to whole thing but likes what he hears so far, has a similar vibe to Aquaria but less watery, finds it strange that some sound Western when it's set in the woods, will listen to more of it. 

-Any way of recreating characters lost after Genesis [aka Super Genesis Wave] but retaining essence - Touched on it before, technically yes, could potentially create a bunch of expies and go that route, doesn't want to, it feels lazy and they start off life as rip-offs, knows that some fans would be satisfied with an expy but others would find it lacking in imagination, growth and direction of originals won't mean anything if it's just an expy, eg you could have Joffrey the Woodchuck in service to Naugus with similar backstory but it's hollow because it's not Geoffrey, if he's taking all that effort so it's changed just enough to be legally independent might as well make something new that goes in different direction that you might enjoy more, there were a handful of characters pre-reboot he loved and would love to find a way to bring their themes back over, but that's a lot of hoops to go through to do something that won't bring a sense of closure to the characters, basically yes but better not to, still potentially walking into legal trouble, happy with response reboot characters have gotten so far. 

-Did Mega Drive happen after Sonic 4, is this the second or third time Knuckles has been tricked, when did Ian realise Mega Drive would get a sequel - Sonic CD takes place before Sonic 3&K in the comic (might have been worded funny in the comic as asker thought CD was after S3&K), Mega Drive takes place after all the classic adventure, all in the past so roll with it, Ian's understanding was that Metal Sonic was trashed in Sonic CD and not recovered until Sonic 4, and Sonic 4 was a bridging point between classic and modern, then finds out Sonic R is canon so Metal Sonic would have had to return from Little Planet and then return, that's the point when you realise that there is no solid timeline and there's more just strings of canon [except Metal Sonic was unlockable so it could be that the main events of Sonic R are canon but the medal bonuses aren't ala Sonic 3&K's thing with the Super Emeralds, but that's just throwing an idea to the wall], any classic story that takes place before Metal Sonic returns to Little Planet is fine, so no matter what happens to him it doesn't matter, it would be SEGA bridging not them so they can just tell classic stories with Metal Sonic in them, Sonic's Schoolhouse is not canon Kyle, Ian would consider All Stars Racing quasi-canon in the comic due to the adaptation and the genesis portals making it possible, most likely not in the games, considered own brand, but hasn't come up yet, left Mega Drive open-ended as they assumed there would be enough support but if there hadn't been no-one would care that it was left open, but pre-orders were high enough to warrant second printing, given green light for Next Level after that. 

-Has Ian played the Wolfenstein games - No, not any of them, or Quake or Doom, Kyle tells Ian about Hitler in a mech from 3D, Kyle has played Wolfenstein 3D, it introduced him to PC gaming after Lemmings (at 6-7 years old), Ian's first PC was an Apple II (thing) with Find the Frog, Kyle was surprised Wolfenstein is back, thinks Lemmings 2 on the Mega Drive sucked. 

 

I think that's where I'll leave it for today. This is the last of the hour plus episodes in the catch-up, the remaining three are only 40-50 minutes for some reason...

 

[Your Vest Friend]

Time to start this off again, bub. 

Episode 40; 

This episode was in April, and as such Ian and Kyle discussed the then-month-old film release, Logan. After doing some discussion about the prior two films, they go right into talking about their thoughts on the film itself and what they liked regarding story, characters and themes. 

The Q&A is a bit shorter than usual, but still pretty beefy. A bit like Wolverine really. 

-Do Eggman, Orbot and Cubot still have pre-reboot memories - No, nobody does, began with conflicting memories but it's gone. 

-Is Gigalopolis (from old continuity) being on South Island and part of the Acorn Kingdom canon to the comics, would that imply humans in Acorn Kingdom, any humans in Mobotropolis - Not the Gigalopolis from old continuity, Gigalopolis from Sonic Chaos so a zone in South Island, not impossible for humans to be living in Kingdom of Acorn but it's not the "human city", just a city. 

-Sonic R adaptation - No priority but it could be fun, if the opportunity arises.

-Would Ian have used Piano - Entirely up to Capcom, eg Waltz was supposed to show in MM#54 but they got kiboshed on that, other characters were able to be approved, didn't fight it as hiatus was coming up, if/when it starts up again he'll be championing Waltz to appear as there's fun stuff you could do with her, would have to look into Piano as he's not familiar with her, if he could figure something interesting to do with her and Capcom approves then she might, no promises, probably not since it's an Ariga character. 

-Does Ian think there's a place for the SatAM/comic characters in the games - Game canon cast is so large already, they could maybe fit as extended cast in crowds, as playable characters he doesn't know because they don't necessarily fit into unique playstyles that fit the Sonic universe, seen lots of fan ideas, faves are MG: Revengeance for Antoine, flying around and blasting things as Bunnie, those styles aren't necessarily Sonic, the different playstyles in SA1/SA2 haven't necessarily sat well with people and haven't really been used since those games, they might work best in a game like Sonic Runners (which he adored barring the price point), gameplay was so simple and changes minute that you can add a bunch of characters and not break the game, if they were in a large format game like Tales of Link or FE Heroes (You have the core franchise but gameplay doesn't rely on the style of the franchise) they could work there too, not your traditional style game like Sonic Mania or Sonic Resistance [Forces]. There's some romhack talk after this. 

-Does Eggman make roboticised folk work in his factories as slaves - Sure, when they existed, they did all sorts of manual labour, currently no [fully] roboticised folk in the new continuity. 

[Your Vest Friend]

Open the door, get on the floor, what on Earth is that title for. 

Episode 41;

Contrary to the title, this is a discussion on the broad topic of science and technology. Gene manipulation is old hat to me, but they talk recent developments in that field (making chickens develop without beaks and ending up with saurian snouts), how much they want to own (and eat) baby dinosaurs, future considerations for dinosaur development, how scientific understanding has changed over the years and future technological developments.

You can do some basic genetic manipulation if you have an egg and a microwave (his reference, not mine), which brings us to the Q&A!

-Any Sonic Boom supporting characters he would like to write for - Maybe Zooey, seems nice, only one that comes to mind, strongest supporting cast are Orbot and Cubot who are delightful, also Dave the Intern who gets lots of screentime as is.

-What is Conquering Storm's real name - Conquering Storm, no bride moniker as that went with the old continuity, could have brought it over but would have had to rebuild most of the houses just to preserve it, not worth it at that point, Conquering Storm a cool enough name and she's a fan favourite who can stand on her own.

-What direction would Ian take anime if he wrote for it - Depends on what game it would be based off, would inform direction, Sun/Moon anime seems to be very comedic from what he's seen instead of standardised adventure anime it was before, cool that they're doing something new with it, if it was a standalone season might be interesting to take Ash back to previous areas he's been to, revisit some characters we haven't seen in a while, make it a world tour of his life, if game had certain theme that season was based on build stories around that, give him a league win (even if not perfect), deserves it at this point, brings up the Ash cameos in Sun/Moon after Kyle gets a catch-up on Ash being main character still, mentions that fans were put off by last season finale league (aka the Greninja vs Charizard fight).

-Why paralysis chips instead of bombs - A little bit too violent, paralysis chips in a way are a worse fate, also to switch things up a bit, new continuity, taking new direction, doing the same would just muddy the waters, chips are a way to control his troops, bombs a bit too much, chips allowed to reign in the violence and show that it's different continuity. 

-Can Bunnie still eat or use bathroom - It comes up a lot, Ian surprised it's not come up before, she can do that fine, pre-reboot it was a question of what roboticised parts could do, summed it up as them having parallel functions real organs, post-reboot they designed her to show that it was the limbs roboticised not her body to avoid the question, reboot was issue #260 [it was #252], if reboot was late 2015 or 2016 question would be from before reboot or not long after [um, it was 2013] so maybe why they got question now [no].

[Your Vest Friend]

Back to the (very near) past this time around. 

Episode 42;

As Samurai Jack's newest season starts to approach its finale, Ian and Kyle (and a guest) go about discussing Samurai Jack both old and new (note that "that episode" had not aired when this was recorded). There's also drabs of other shows they're watching. 

I never watched Samurai Jack as a kid, not going to now, only thing I know is the Q&A. 

-Why blue.

-Process of making a long on-going arc - No one way to do it, how Ian does it is look at the main plotline and see where you're going with it, how characters arrive to points on the plot, what decisions they make to get there (Ian is visual so likes to draw timelines, diagrams etc), once that's planned see where the subplots organically grow out from main plot, which characters are involved, how it folds back into the main plotline, what you may think is an interesting vignette may not fit where you think it's going to, visual timeline helps him rearrange, change and cut accordingly, cuts always hurt for him, take note of the page count as that limits what you can do quickly, tell as much info as you can without overloading to the point where it's more like a book with doodles, for long-form narrative approach with a structural outset ie you're building a story more than you're writing a story, see where sub-plots grow out from there.

-How did comic fans react when series was rebooted - Ian was made to do it and not under his control, would say it was a mixed bag; some were very upset (which he understands), some were very excited about a new direction, a lot of confusion about what was going on, end result was that while a lot of people will miss where they were going with old continuity most enjoyed the new and where it was going, wishes he could go back and finish what he was doing but that's why LHT exists, we'll get to that eventually. 

-How would Ian write a Quake Woman game if given complete control - Hadn't thought of that, would do something reminiscent of the core Mega Man gameplay but do something a bit different so it isn't just a new skin of it, maybe give her more of a puzzle platformer and less of a shooter due to her geological surveying and seismic analysis purpose, more digging and jumping (to explore).

-How did Shard get his name - A lot of back and forth on that one, might have had five names possible at one point, settled on Shard due to that shard of Chaos Emerald in him, also was an S sounding name that the hedgehogs usually have.

-If SEGA reintroduced old characters with new design or Capcom released new contradictory info how would Ian handle it - Depends on what it is, wardrobe changes would be easiest eg Mighty and Ray who's current designs were by Aleah, if SEGA brought them back then if they had a change of clothes then that would be it, doesn't know about complete redesigns (jokes maybe reconstructive surgery or Genesis portal), depends on context and time available to adapt, that's both the joy and fear of working on a licensed comic as you are at the whim of the licencor.

-Will we see more stories focusing on a single character - Tries to find a balance between central character focused stories and ensemble stories, what he runs into a lot if that if he does a story and one character isn't mentioned or present or doesn't get as much screentime then he gets an earful, with a cast as big as the FFs it's hard to find room for everyone, does want to find moments to focus on one or two characters and build on them, when you have a lot of ensemble pieces you miss a lot of the nuance, whether he gets the chance to is another matter. 

 

[Your Vest Friend]

What the shell is this all about. 

Episode 43;

In this mid-May episode, Ian and Kyle talk over their fondness of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (specifically, the 2012 version). They talk about what parts of the show they like, when it seems to falter a bit, how they see a number of characters, the voice actors for the turtles and the big debate of Bebop and Rocksteady. 

As usual, the meat and potatoes of this is the Q&A. 

-Are Pre-SGW and Post-SGW Sonic same person or two different people in two continuities - For sake of story (and maybe legal) they're two different entities, you could argue it is one Sonic from one to other but saying that because of WC we're looking at -that- Sonic and because of time shenanigans he had the old memories. 

-Any indie games he'd like to write comic version of - Shovel Knight, he's sure there's a ton but he doesn't have much time to play games in general, hasn't played a ton of indie because most a primarily PC and his tech isn't up to snuff, if a game has a story (even if tiny) he could write a comic of it. 

-What happened precisely when they had to reboot comic and Gray mentioned that they had to fight to keep FFs in - Ian not sure how many specifics he can go into, there is private talk they don't talk about because it's just between businesses, don't make them public because they'd become huge discussion points online, there were a lot of circumstances with the reboot and his ultimate goal was to keep feel of old stuff while being more faithful to games, that's where he was taking book anyway, issue with FFs is that they're from an old, defunct spin-off, not considered high-value properties in terms of overall franchise, as much as you may like SatAM it doesn't really reflect what Sonic is, SEGA wants anything representing their product to actually represent the product, having stuff that diverges from that is not good, they have still given extremely large amount of creative licence with series even post-reboot, done what they could to keep FFs relevant and in-theme, contractually allowed to maintain presence in book as they were grandfathered in, old contracts based off old DiC cartoons, at any point SEGA could still tell Archie to kick them out as it is their property, as long as they're not overshadowing the main property and are in a more supportive role they don't seem to mind, could change any time, comics are not straight forward, talks about the complexities of another project which is creator-owned as opposed to licensed. 

-How would he have handled comic if he was writer from beginning - Not a fair question because he would have been in his teens, a lot of what he wrote was based on context of what had come before, when it came out a comic like Sonic hadn't really been done before and hasn't since (except Mega Man), a licensed tie-in product having such longevity is really bizarre, came into context that it was so unique that no-one would know how to do it even in the 90s, if somehow that it did happen (and he had foresight of the future), he'd expand on Genesis stores kind of like Mega Drive, try to anticipate transition to Adventure style and make sure it's all coherent, the philosophies of SoA/SoJ/Archie were similar to start but changed over the years so that would influence how it was written, Kyle makes a joke about SEGA constantly trying to wrestle Ian's control away. 

-Was that Felidae legionnaire Hershey - Yes, had big plans for her but they went away. 

-Will he fit Da Bears from AoStH in there somewhere - He looked at them, not sure how he'd fit them into comic in a meaningful way, wants any AoStH character brought in to have a purpose, goes through the existing AoStH cast in there, not much to go off from there since they're a SNL sketch rip, could add more to them but at that point you're basically making new characters, 

-Question about the hiatus - Ian repeats Archie being in talks with SEGA, says to have patience. 

Well...this is written from a present perspective. I'm not altering it to say "Well shit" every time something is awkward in retrospective. 

Anyway, should see more episodes covered tomorrow. Right now it's nearly 1am and I have to sort out the recycling tomorrow morning. 

[Your Vest Friend]

Ian's tweeting his mouth off this time. 

Episode 44;

During the duration of May, Ian held some polls on Twitter to gauge people's favourite Sonic Universe arcs. Now at the end of the month (of May), Ian goes through how the poll came out, and his own favourite arcs of Sonic Universe. For your information.

-People voted for the Shadow arc in bracket 1, Kyle would have gone for Journey to the East, Ian would have voted for Knuckles' Return. Ian though M:30YL was the most lacking of the four and probably of the entire Universe run, he mostly blames himself for wanting to be so faithful to what had come before. It was also apparently a nightmare to get approved start to finish [so it seems SEGA did have an issue with the future arcs way before the mandates were seen in full].

-People voted for the Silver Saga in bracket 2, Kyle and Ian's pick would have been Treasure Team Tango (but it was close in Ian's case). They all have some merits to them, as TTT was fun (plus seeing the Hooligans grouped together in the games seemingly still puts a smile on his face), Shattered Mirror did some epic things (and had a cool design for Enerjak), Lockdown was when we got to see the Detructix really in action, and Tails Adventure has some great Bunnie and Antoine character bits.  

-People voted for Scrambled in bracket 3, Kyle would have gone for Chaotix Quest, Ian would also have gone for Scrambled, Eggman's antics never get old.   

-People voted for Shadow Fall in bracket 4, Kyle's pick would be Pirate Plunder Panic, Ian points out that PPP had the task of introducing the new canon to Universe, he himself can't pick out of them, loves Captain Metal from PPP, Shadow Fall had Eclipse which was a big gamble, Great Chaos Caper [which he calls Chaotix Caper. Oops] had the Pumpkin Hill reference in the first issue (it was accidental) and the Aquatic Mine reference next issue (which was intentional), Total Eclipse has the Shadow and Knuckles fight. 

-People voted for Eggman's Dozen in bracket 5, Kyle voted for Spark of Life (Kyle is Sallicole trash...his words not mine), Ian would have gone the same way. It was elaboration on Nicole, he likes Dr Ellidy and Phage, Kyle likes Overclocked Nicole because of the subversive nature of it and the fact it's Nicole.  

-People voted for Shattered in bracket 6, Kyle can't pick, Ian can't pick as well, Pirate Princess was more intricate, introduced a bunch of fun characters and was a fun Chaotix arc, Shattered was also fun and delved on the Knuckles and Amy dynamic. 

-People voted for the Shadow Saga in bracket 7, Ian would have gone for Scrambled, Kyle would have gone for Shattered. 

-People voted for Eggman's Dozen in bracket 8, Kyle would have done the same, Ian would have picked Shadow Fall. 

-The overall winner was the Shadow Sage, their two picks were Spark of Life and Treasure Team tango due to shared consensus, Kyle would pick Spark of Life and Ian can't pick again, so that was the unofficial winner of theirs. Shadow Saga had lots of good moments (Omega/Gamma fight, Shadow and Hope moments, Feist, Omega shooting a guy in the face, the face). 

And now, we have the actual Q&A!

-How would Ian go about making new villain team for a Pokemon game - Would depend on game theme, became more focused as games went on, Ex team Skull; fit into theme of family and doing trials and earning your maturity through that, Skulls are all those who have failed at some point and been rejected whether outright or through own feelings of inadequacy, also funny, team would be negative of theme, thinks about how other Pokemon games handle it, didn't think Plasma worked as well. 

-Is there possibility for pre-SGW characters/continuity to return post-SGW - There are avenues that could lead to that, but not realistically, would like to elaborate but its and incendiary topic for the parties involved, could be wrong and could be easier but from his understanding no, Kyle points out that at this point it should be hoping that the companies can reach an agreement to keep the comics around [whoops], Ian addresses the hiatus again.  

-Anyone able to watch - Referring to a video issue with the prior Bumblekast gaming session, Patreons couldn't see it, Ian fixed it, the question somehow got here. 

-Would Ian be interested in characterising Chaos some more, and would SEGA let him - No to both, likes Chaos as a simple creature, more element than individual, saying as that's how SEGA seems to be writing him they probably wouldn't let him go much further with it.

-If Sonic had visited Avalon [presumably comic Avalon, not game Avalon. There's a difference], what would the local chilli dog have been like - Depends on region of Avalon since Avalon is a mish-mash of European archetypes, even crossing Europe you get a variety of different cultures and cuisines, something from Antoine's homeland would be a bit different to something more German compared to something Britannia-esque [Britannia-esque would be watery shit tinned variety because we seem to do that more than decent barbecued sausages for hot dogs]. 

-How old is Sticks - Nobody knows, doesn't have an official age [As I've said before, you can guess based on her height, they guess around the same age as Amy and that's probably not too far off], they point out the whole thing about Sonic not ageing. 

[Your Vest Friend]

Love. Truth. Compassion. Salt from MCU fans. 

Episode 45;

In the first episode of June, Ian and Kyle talk about the still-recent Wonder Woman film. There's some talk about the Wonder Woman book made by other Sonic-familiar names, they talk about how they liked it, how it ranks to other films (DC and Marvel), Diana's characterisation and action, the tone of the film, the other characters, the conflict nuance, and what they'd want to change about it. Ian also recounts the tale of a co-worker who had to confront a Sonally fan who was mad they weren't an official item...and said fan was a burly construction worker. So much for people on the internet not being able to put up a fight in real life. :/

I dunno about love and compassion, but if you want more truth there's the Q&A!

-Has new continuity of Archie saved it or destroyed it [wtf] - Wouldn't say either, didn't see huge change overall in readership, biggest change was complaints changing, seen people prefer new, people disappointed with change were more disappointed that there wasn't closure more often, like Sonic it just keeps going forward. 

-Thought Avalon was proxy to British Isle was Eurish was Europe (in reference to last episode) - Can understand the confusion, wish he'd been able to flesh Avalon out sooner, Avalon is closer to EU in terms of being a blanket nation conglomerate of countries and sovereignty, Eurish is equivalent to Europe the continent, there's tons more but he doesn't want to go into it and spoil it, not into spoiler-free territory with that yet. 

-Any shows Ian would like to his hand at writing for - Nothing immediately comes to mind, doesn't have much time to watch TV, part of him would love to pitch a Steven Universe story but that is very much creator-owned so not much room there, maybe make up his own thing, Both Ian and Kyle have ties to show staff. 

-Kyle question; Documentary called Planet Parrot claimed there were feral Rosy-Faced Lovebirds loose in Arizona, has Kyle seen any - Kyle has seen some Rosy-Faced Lovebirds in a zoo, but not in the wild, has heard of them being in the area and they have been since the 80s. 

[RictalRose0]

2 hours ago, VEDJ-F said:

-People voted for the Shadow arc in bracket 1, Kyle would have gone for Journey to the East, Ian would have voted for Knuckles' Return. Ian though M:30YL was the most lacking of the four and probably of the entire Universe run, he mostly blames himself for wanting to be so faithful to what had come before. It was also apparently a nightmare to get approved start to finish [so it seems SEGA did have an issue with the future arcs way before the mandates were seen in full].

 

Ah, that arc always rubbed me and many others the wrong way. It's the rotten fruit in the otherwise smooth sailing of the rest of Flynn's run. It's nice to see he is aware of it.

I too suspect that it was mostly due to Ian trying to follow up Pender's writing and worse, emulate his overly dramatic furry drama of a "Story". I can't blame Ian, he just wanted to respect the stuff his fellow Sonic Writer had done before. But he should have know better. Bollers knew better that to follow up too much on Pender's stuff and even Penders didn't have the respect to actually follow up on Gallagher's and Cesare's stuff (even though he worked directly with them in the past, unlike Ian who came in by the time Penders was already gone, again, Penders and Flynn truly are very opposites).

Flynn should have always done his own thing. I think that's one of his main problems as a writer. He always tries to incorpare everything the others did before into his story. It's like, do your own thing man, you don't need to relay on that old stuff from people that were nowhere into Sonic as much as you. But I guess now he knows that was a bad idea.

That's why I prefer the reboot. It was a blank slate for Flynn without having to drag the baggage that was Pender's and Boller's confusing and messy continuity and inconsistent and contradictory characterizations, plus all the other asspulls the comic pulled over the years. Like Charmy being a prince or something, Amy is mentally 8 but has the body of a 12 or maybe 16 year old due to magic even though none of that makes sense, everything about Shadow. Eggman being like, two different persons? Sonic's parents, and his backstory in general. Everything about 25YL arc. Tails the Hulk Avatar Multiverse whatever. The ridiculous amount of alternate universes. EVERYTHING about Knuckles.

[King Scoopa Koopa]

If you're not going to use the established world, then you might as well do a reboot. The preboot continuity was full of toys that were basically opened, played with once or twice, then tossed into the toy box.

Personally, I liked the way he salvaged and brought new life to a lot of them. Characters who I'd roll my eyes at seeing return would often have a new life and substance to them, and actually felt like they belonged in a story about Sonic and his world (his woooorld~!), making the revisiting interesting and like the world was a bit more coherent a place.

I like both Flynn's preboot and reboot stuff, for different reasons.

[RictalRose0]

But that would eventually be his undoing. 'Cause Penders just couldn't let it go. Yes I think Flynn brough new life to those old characters but I also don't really care either way you know? And in the reboot he still pulled more stuff that what he had originally. Like AOStH characters and more game characters and settings.

[King Scoopa Koopa]

Pretty sure that at worst, there were as many revived cartoon/game characters as new stuff. I don't see the problem, myself; if you don't want to read about Sonic characters, then why read a Sonic book?

I prefer the idea of a coherent world and characters both new and familiar. Heck, it's usually the new characters people complain loudest about in the games when there are so many others resigned to the dustbin of history.

[RictalRose0]

I'm saying that I saw that as a positive. I liked that Flynn brough back old game characters and characters from the other cartoons. 

My point was that there was a lot of Sonic stuff he could rely on that wasn't necessary from the old comuc, which is what he used on the reboot. 

[Your Vest Friend]

You spin me right round baby right round. 

Episode 46; 

Fidget spinners may be the newest craze on the block, but trends are as old as human history itself. Ian and Kyle reminisce on the strange uses and sightings of fidget spinners, pogs, slap bracelets, Monster in my Pocket, trading cards (generic ones), light-up shoes, Air Jordans, the Pokemon TCG/Magic the Gathering, the assumption of video games being a fad at the time they were new, Funko Pops (which Ian laments because it's taken over a lot of the merch space in conventions), Amiibo and even hula hoops. 

If you're not in the mood for a fad, then the Q&A never goes out of style. 

-Hiatus talk. Again. 

-Do any of the FFs have childhood fears - Sure, Antoine especially, not a list off the top of his head but right off can say that Tails has fear of lightning, would be interesting to go back the kids' childhoods and see what they were afraid of even before Eggman's takeover.

-Any chance of Matilda Armadillo coming back - She was unique in that she was this one really obscure piece of trivia that he got to spin out into one of the bigger fan favourites for a minor character, design was cool, homage to the Big O, key piece is that she's a bit of trivia from before Ian's time, specifically introduced as a concept by Penders [he doesn't say Penders, but it was Penders], because of that said writer would most likely lay claim to her because he introduced core concept, not name or design or characterisation or backstory, because that's a potential legal problem she is confined with the rest of the pre-reboot stuff, Kyle points out how Nicole managed to survive despite the anthro design being before Ian's time, Ian acknowledges that it's technically true but doesn't want to get into it [so I will; Nicole's anthro design was done by Tania Del Rio who was still working at Archie long after Ian started (she did some Ian-era stories) and even after the reboot happened, so the contracts for her stuff were probably secured somewhere in that time. Same deal with Angelo DeCesare given the Arctic Freedom Fighters in StH#247].

-Why not have a Sonic:Rebirth ala DC - That was the reboot, it had same purpose as DC: Rebirth.

-Were the lovehearts in Thunderbolt's eyes in Eggman's Dozen in the script or artist addition - That was Adam's added bonus, was adorable and hilarious, reiterates that Thunderbolt's not romantically attracted to Eggman, she would not think herself worthy of Eggman's romantic affection, just adores him for the evil, manipulating, conquering despot that he is.

-Any chance of seeing Thrash the Tasmanian Devil post-reboot - Thrash had great design (from Tracy, referencing the transition sprite of S&K), problem was that his motivation was very strongly tied to old continuity's echidna history, to revamp that entirely would be writing a new character pretty much, why take so much effort to revamp him to make him legally distinct when you could just make a new character for same effort, same issue with Scourge, breaks his heart because Thrash didn't get character arc he wanted due to circumstances so ended up with so much baggage. 

-Meow meow I'm a cow

-If you could write for another game series (not SEGA or Nintendo or Capcom) which one - First thing that comes to mind is Castlevania, whether that would be direct adaptation of entire Belmont legacy or new chapter or spin-off, thinks you could do a lot with it, Rayman, he enjoyed Rayman 2, thinks Origins/Legends looked gorgeous, Something with one of the Tales Of series, whether adaptation or new chapter in style of it, wants to write an RPG in general, something along the lines of Final Fantasy, Kyle thinks he'd do well with Team Fortress 2 but Ian doesn't know if he has same level of dark humour, comic going on now is great to read, thinks that it thinks in a different direction to what he can, Overwatch he's behind on but it seems like something that's easy to get into, has very clear vision for promo of a crossover between Frank Castle (Punisher, Marvel) and Frank West (Dead Rising, Capcom), acknowledges that it isn't within criteria of question, image he sees is logo with body parts of zombies strewn around it, Castle holding machine gun and looking back at West with look of confusion and disgust, West holding baseball bat over shoulder in one hand and camera in other, grinning at Castle saying "I've covered worse, y;know", wants to retell Dead Rising 1 but with Castle in the mix, have him go up against the other Vietnam vet, debate with West about how to handle things when zombie revelations mount, who to trust, who to kill, probably tons of franchises he's forgetting right then, tons of indie games he has little to no knowledge of as well that could be fun. 

[SBR2]

Not going to lie I hate The Punisher and I'd read the crap out of that Dead Rising Crossover. Marvel Capcom listen to the man.

[Your Vest Friend]

Time to dress up for the latest presentation. 

Episode 47; 

The latest episode out is all about the weird and wonderful world of cosplay! Ian and Kyle talk about the cosplays Ian saw at Heroes Con and Denver Comic Con (including Sailor Scout Gundams and baby Khal Drogo. Really. Also a whole load of Undertale) (basically there's a lot of variety, and there's some great quality on show), Kyle's cosplaying friend (where they struggle to identify Elec Man), their prior experiences with cosplays at events, who they'd cosplay if they were to ever do it (Ian's been thinking about how he could pull off Dr Eggman, Kyle couldn't say) and the current cosplay market/culture with its pros and cons. 

Thankfully, there's no dress code for the Q&A, so we can jump right in!

-Mentioned the FFs being contractually allowed in the comic a few episodes ago, was it due to being grandfathered or did SEGA give Archie exclusive rights to use them - They were grandfathered in, original contracts between SEGA and Archie were based around the original cartoons (SatAM/AoStH), otherwise SEGA is not keen on giving any kind of attention to the old properties (eg Not allowed to touch Underground or the OVA, not allowed to reference Sonic X, no crossover with Sonic Boom), they like Sonic just being whatever current form of Sonic is, part of why they updated the FF designs (make them feel more like regular Sonic so they'd flow under the radar), because of the way the contract is and how the licencing agreement was that stuff could be taken away at any moment because it doesn't represent the brand any more, the fact they've lasted as long as they have is stunning.

-Would he ever add a Potto character to the Sonic universe - Tempting because he likes the animal but still feels it's associated with the old screen name [Ian Potto] so it'd feel a bit like nepotism still, dunno, accidentally broach the topic of bestiality. 

-Thought Overdrive was cancelled, why is it in the works right now - Goes over the hiatus again and how the official word is that Archie and SEGA are in talks, stuff pertaining to what, when and if they come out is above his level and he doesn't know, we'll just have to wait and see. 

[Welp]

-Was the Source of All Omnipotent - Better question for writers who dealt with it during the period, going off what comic presented he would say no, fact it was the building blocks of all of creation doesn't mean it was super powerful, compares it to carbon and how it forms living things, could potentially be seen to be omniscient (can show visions of possible future and stuff), but possibly also biased so eh, lots of unanswered questions about it, when he came on board he felt it was a distraction to the Chaos Emeralds so he destroyed it. 

-More Madonna in the comic soon - That was the plan, wasn't intending her to become a major character but did want to play more with her and her interactions in GUN and use her a vehicle to explore how their hierarchy works.

-Why there are canine Mobians with fur cheeks and ones with smooth cheek separate to fur - For one Nicole is a Lynx (aka Feline), in noted canine examples all of the furred cheek ones are male, the smooth-cheek ones are female (and that is the standard), should apply to Wolf Tribe in post-SGW as well, any inconsistency in that is an error or oversight, with Focke-Wulf (smooth cheek) may have been effort to keep him close to his original design when redesigned, doesn't remember off the top of his head, tried to go with game standard but sometimes rule of cool/aesthetic overruled, Ex. the debates he's had over the validity of hair on characters, Sonic Forces' create a character will redefine what is canon for viable character design, it's a godsend for their design stuff because they can say it did it so they can do it [But Sonic Forces doesn't appear to have a hair option...].

...Wait, Sonic Boom isn't old...

[Your Vest Friend]

What does a spider-pig do?

Episode 48;

On the newest episode of the Bumblekast, Ian and Kyle discuss the latest film from the swinging superhero, Spider-Man: Homecoming. They talk about what they thought of it, spoilers about the film, their views on the characters and actors, the little details, their favourite scenes, the handling of the mythos/setting, future movie projections, and the little things they didn't have an issue with that others may have. 

And now we get to the sticky string of thought that is the Q&A!

-How would Ian go about Breath of the Wild comic - Tough one, would depend on how much time he had on the project, if it was manga-style where you could focus on panoramic shots and let story unfold at decompressed rate then he'd follow Link's journey in organic way, maybe work his way counter-clockwise around the map, if it was more concise (Ex: a straight-to-trade print) he'd approach it more as small vignettes, small stories for key moments, make the Ganon fight better, thinks the boss was anti-climatic considering how everything else was so well built up. 

-Why he roboticised Sally again - To make better use of concept, first time was done in an issue, completely forgot they had portable roboticiser until Mecha Madness, even then it changed designs, idea was supposed to take Sally the tactical brains and making her into a killer robot and play with terror/challenge that would present, didn't quite pan out that way.

-Has Avalon voted to leave the Eurish Union to pursue freedom in international trade and relationships [it's a Brexit joke, and many of the ones who voted for it didn't do it for that reason...] - Saw what he did there, no because it's ruled by Hood who is a puppet of Eggman, firmly in Eggman Empire, "Avaleave", "Avagone". 

-How would Countdown to Chaos play out if Ian went with original idea of a hard reset - Probably fairly similarly, idea behind it was to introduce each Freedom Fighter in new design in new world, set up the planet explosion and Unleashed adaptation, main beats probably the same, just no baggage of memory stuff. 

-Any plans for Babylon Rogues - Yes, did have plans for them in farcical heist plot with Hooligans, can't get into it a lot right now as things are the way they are, did have some plans, might have more plans for the future, "knowing smile". [Well huh, good for them]

[Big Panda]

I'm grateful that Ian answered my question...just not very well. It goes without saying the duel memories wouldn't be a thing, I wanted to know what the cataylist would have been instead P;

[RedFox99]

This is the second time (at least to my knowledge) that he did the "knowing smile" thing.