Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[DabigRG]

1 hour ago, Marco9966 said:

Omega is a spiritual successor to Gamma, the most developed character.

 

Is he really though?

Cause honestly, the stuff they have in common are kind of general and more of a [questionable] homage thing.

[SoNich]

Wow, there are some intense opinion about the book here! I appreciate everyone sharing and discussing them! 

I found some of the views of Neo quite interesting. It seems a lot of the negative criticism of him stems from story telling expectations from the Archie series as well as some bias and preferences for it. His motivations, at least those that have been revealed, seem pretty straightforward and fitting to me. It was a nice twist that instead of rebelling like in Heroes he was actually trying to rescue and reinstate Eggman into control. This violation of expectations paired with the fact that he is indeed a machine following his pre-programmed directives are believable. He is cold, calculated, and confident, representing a threat because he knows just how powerful he is, and likewise vulnerable because he thinks his plan is statistically foolproof. 

From the first issue we see this. He is pulling the strings from the shadow, secretly searching for Eggman while maintain the Empire and preparing for his conquest of Angel Island. Some seem to think that because his goals are straightforward that they are uninteresting or simple. Other seem to think that because he is powerful he is boring. These complaints do not seem very logical to me and rather signal that you just are not resonating with the book as is. Others seem to want it to emulate Archie, which it is never going to do. Flynn is still writing in his Flynn style but he has a different more seasoned focus. Not naming every town and character does not mean that there is no world building or character driven plots. There are signs left and right that Flynn plans on exploring these character down the road. Please remember we are on issue #9. Archie was still in its "funny papers" phase at this point and into years after. Give the book some time. They are starting something new. Flynn has been packing a metric ton of content into each book; just be patient and wait til it gets some real traction.  

[DabigRG]

4 minutes ago, SoNich said:

Wow, there are some intense opinion about the book here! I appreciate everyone sharing and discussing them! 

I found some of the views of Neo quite interesting. It seems a lot of the negative criticism of him stems from story telling expectations from the Archie series as well as some bias and preferences for it. His motivations, at least those that have been revealed, seem pretty straightforward and fitting to me. It was a nice twist that instead of rebelling like in Heroes he was actually trying to rescue and reinstate Eggman into control. This violation of expectations paired with the fact that he is indeed a machine following his pre-programmed directives are believable. He is cold, calculated, and confident, representing a threat because he knows just how powerful he is, and likewise vulnerable because he thinks his plan is statistically foolproof. 

From the first issue we see this. He is pulling the strings from the shadow, secretly searching for Eggman while maintain the Empire and preparing for his conquest of Angel Island. Some seem to think that because his goals are straightforward that they are uninteresting or simple. Other seem to think that because he is powerful he is boring. These complaints do not seem very logical to me and rather signal that you just are not resonating with the book as is. 

 Not naming every town and character does not mean that there is no world building or character driven plots. There are signs left and right that Flynn plans on exploring these character down the road.  Flynn has been packing a metric ton of content into each book; just be patient and wait til it gets some real traction.  

.

Honestly, I was kinda hoping for a different villain going in.

 

And that not naming thing is kinda an important issue considering Mr. Tinker and for some reason Tangle are supposed to be big deals.

[Dash Speed]

1 hour ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

Okay, why are we talking about who's "needed"? Nobody is!

Omega isn't "needed". Shadow too. Even Eggman isn't needed, not that Sega knows it. As long as Sonic's profitable face is slapped on the franchise, it can exists (and use name "Sonic the Hedgehog".). And even then, Metal Gear dropped it's main protagonist few games ago and it's doing fine ...sorry. Couldn't keep the straight face.

The main character always needs a main cast to have a narrative or a vital human experience going. Sonic sticking with only Eggman would be boring.

[Red Hot Jack]

By the way, David Mariotte said on the IDW group that Shadow will be on all 3 covers for issue 11, which makes me think he *may* have a bigger role, not confirmed as we know covers don't always reflect the issue, although a main cover sometimes does.

[DabigRG]

2 minutes ago, I Love Sticks said:

By the way, David Mariotte said on the IDW group that Shadow will be on all 3 covers for issue 11, which makes me think he *may* have a bigger role, not confirmed as we know covers don't always reflect the issue, although a main cover sometimes does.

What's that? Edgy antihero character who disappeared during a big battle between all but the main hero and the contextual deuteroganist is getting a significant role?

You don't say!

[Shadowlax]

45 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

What's that? Edgy antihero character who disappeared during a big battle between all but the main hero and the contextual deuteroganist is getting a significant role?

You don't say!

I thought he went to go make some tea, read his favorite comic the new Princess Luna focused MLP comic  , and have a long discussion about the dangers of riding a motorbike with out a helmet

[Gumbit]

On 9/28/2018 at 9:08 PM, Marco9966 said:

Omega is a spiritual successor to Gamma, the most developed character.

 

Omega has a reason to be around , despite and he is much enhanced robot than Gamma . After SA1 Gamma has no purpose to be around .

 

[Cuz]

But does that automatically mean Omega was okay to take his place? Like I don't think the series needed a Gamma surrogate.

I actually don't like to think of him as a Gamma substitute and rather his own robot.

[Your Vest Friend]

From what we know of Sonic Heroes' development history he probably was a Gamma surrogate in the most literal sense, or at least in the sense that they realised using Gamma would make no sense so they made Omega instead. 

They clearly took a different direction with his character design (not just looks-wise) though.

[Diogenes]

Honestly if Gamma had somehow made it out of SA alive, he could've still been one of the stronger character concepts in the series. He may have completed his mission to "save" his fellow E-series but there's no shortage of other badniks out there. And there's probably a lot of ideas that could be explored; his growing self-awareness, complicated feelings towards his creator, uneasy alliances with the less trusting heroes, gaining the trust of the public as one of Eggman's robots, etc.

Also while Omega's clearly a successor to Gamma, they're actually pretty different characters, so he's not really a straight replacement. For example Gamma's intentions are ultimately noble, even if his logic is a bit confused, while Omega's are almost entirely selfish, and he's a "hero" more because of which direction his anger is focused than because of any kind of moral stance. He's ultimately a pretty disposable character, but at least the concept behind him is a fun one.

[Shadowlax]

 

1 minute ago, Diogenes said:

He's ultimately a pretty disposable character, but at least the concept behind him is a fun one.

That's about how i feel about him.  I don't know If I agree gamma being back could be a cool thing, but I don't know maybe someone could think up some wild shit. My favorite character survived death, why can't others

[StaticMania]

A smack talking robot with a murder li-...for the main villain IS a fun concept, he should come back more. 

[DabigRG]

I always thought it was super odd and a missed opportunity that Omega, being an Eggman robot dedicated to fighting Eggman and his robots out of ego-driven vengeance, doesn't really show up outside of Team Dark as sort of a weird Wild Card during some of Sonic's [comparatively] lower key adventures.

[Shadowlax]

28 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

I always thought it was super odd and a missed opportunity that Omega, being an Eggman robot dedicated to fighting Eggman and his robots out of ego-driven vengeance, doesn't really show up outside of Team Dark as sort of a weird Wild Card during some of Sonic's [comparatively] lower key adventures.

Team sonic and a lot of people TBH probably don't really value omega outside of shadow. Because I agree, but that's probably why that never happens.

I think its a missed opportunity for a lot of characters not hanging out with a lot of other characters. But they got a structure I guess

[Cuz]

59 minutes ago, Diogenes said:

Honestly if Gamma had somehow made it out of SA alive, he could've still been one of the stronger character concepts in the series. He may have completed his mission to "save" his fellow E-series but there's no shortage of other badniks out there. And there's probably a lot of ideas that could be explored; his growing self-awareness, complicated feelings towards his creator, uneasy alliances with the less trusting heroes, gaining the trust of the public as one of Eggman's robots, etc.

Also while Omega's clearly a successor to Gamma, they're actually pretty different characters, so he's not really a straight replacement. For example Gamma's intentions are ultimately noble, even if his logic is a bit confused, while Omega's are almost entirely selfish, and he's a "hero" more because of which direction his anger is focused than because of any kind of moral stance. He's ultimately a pretty disposable character, but at least the concept behind him is a fun one.

Good points, though I feel like Gamma freeing his immediate family and sacrificing/freeing himself made his story more personal, and it loses poignancy when broadened to the whole badnik army as with Omega. It's part of what makes Gamma noble and Omega excessive and rage-filled.

[Sonictrainer]

I'd love to see a Sonic & Omega Team Up Story.

[Shadowlax]

Just now, Sonictrainer said:

I'd love to see a Sonic & Omega Team Up Story.

I would like to see Rouge and Omega team up with a lot of non shadow people. Shadow compared to them is kind of a boyscout, a murderous one, but a boyscout. To see Two people with more lax moralities team up with a bunch of colorful goody two shoes would be rather interesting. 

 

 

[DabigRG]

46 minutes ago, Sonictrainer said:

I'd love to see a Sonic & Omega Team Up Story.

Something else of muh list.

[HywelAtTheMoon]

A Sonic Team-Up comic, much like the Marvel Team-Up comics would be great. I suppose we got quite a few of these in the old Sonic Universe comics, and would've done again before the cancellation. Bring in some unlikely pairings! 

[Dr. Detective]

Omega having an unapologetic obsession with selfish revenge and excessive destruction while at the same time not being aligned with the villains of the series is part of why I find him so fascinating. Both Gamma and Omega are intriguing, risky characters for a series like this and despite one being a successor to another, they both ended up being completely different from one another.

Ah man. Its such a shame that Sonic Team doesn't even notice some of the gold they're sitting on.

The differences between the two robots was something I respected a lot, which is why I found what Sonic Universe #3 did where Gamma's "soul" went into Omega's to push him to the direct side of good to be a waste. As well as pretty lame.

 

[Marco9966]

If Caleb Goellner does well on Team Sonic Racing do you want him to write a second monthly book (Sonic Universe)?

[Sonic Fan J]

I wouldn't mind a second monthly book, but with where the story is right now I kind of wonder if the current plans would have the room to highlight what adventures the other characters are getting into since they are all currently in the same place. As for if Caleb Goellner does well writing, I can't help but wonder if Flynn is open to having an understudy so to say writing in his sand box this early. I guess though in the end I'm open to it being something that happens down the line and if Caleb turns out to be a good Sonic writer then I'm up for him joining the writing team.

[Multikaris]

Couldn’t we get backup strips, like in Fleetway and early Archie, for the cast to shine in?

[Meta77]

If and that is a BIG if with IDW it will take quite a long time before a second series to run alongside this one would probably even be considered