Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[Rabbitearsblog]

I wonder when SEGA is going to get it through their heads that no one wants this portrayal of Shadow?  Like, it's not fair that the writers are getting the blame for how Shadow is being portrayed when SEGA is responsible for making Shadow this way.

[RadicalLaRuby]

Glad some people are aware of which Vegeta Shadow is acting like. Was literally the worst and infuriating part of Z. Freeza arc Veggie was best anyway.

 

Even if we go by "wait and see", kinda hard to dispel that gut feeling. I know the writers are every bit as passionate about Sonic as the rest of us. However, these mandates in place and Shadow being this way since the start of this comic will make it hard to justify or even excuse it without it feeling like a quick cop out.

 

He was once my favorite, but I've grown to despise him completely. Even his Mario Bros Z incarnation has an actual reason to be an asshole. I don't prefer his personality there either, but still.

 

My favorite has been Blaze since her debut. At least her character wasn't ruined (Sega almost did but Silver, a true hero, sent her to a better game).

[DabigRG]

You know, Omega basically having speakers built into his head makes sense. Did Starline always have his head btw?

 

Oh and what's funny is that it made sense for them to split up anyway: Starline expects them to save the village and while having both of them would help ensure success in saving the people, it's possible that one could potentially find a way to stop it on their own.

[Kuzu]

I don't wanna dominate this topic with Shadow; he sucks now, end of story.

 

Anyway, we all called one of them would go after Starline and the other would tend to the avalanche. But the girls are still dealing with Clutch right? 

[caitash]

I’m in the ‘wait and see’ camp. At the very end of Ian’s arc, Shadow mentioned that he ‘owed’ Sonic, and as I understand it Ian and Evan were communicating about their story plans to ensure a smoother transition. I hope this ends with Shadow repaying the favour to Sonic so his debt could be cleared. I suspect ‘owing’ Sonic may be heavy on Shadow’s mind, and saving Tails could be a really convenient and fairly easy way to repay that.
 

(Of course this could all just be wishful thinking but I’m staying open-minded until I’ve read the entire thing)

[DabigRG]

5 minutes ago, Kuzu said:

I don't wanna dominate this topic with Shadow; he sucks now, end of story.

 

Anyway, we all called one of them would go after Starline and the other would tend to the avalanche. But the girls are still dealing with Clutch right? 

Oh yeah, that's right Clutch!

 

Er, anyone else kinda --not let down, but...--by him?

[MetalSkulkBane]

1 hour ago, Kuzu said:

You know the backlash is bad when both Evan and Reggie had to step in.

 

 

 

 

This is pretty much  why I don't like preview pages and (almost) never look at them. I already have to live with fact that single story is released in 4 month, splicing it even further is not healthy for story structure.

The only reason to preview pages exist is to convince me to read the book, expect I already know that I'll read it. There are reviews and brand loyalty, trust into specific artists/writers that make me read specific thing.

And look here. Pages that suppose to attract readers had opposite effect. I suppose writers could start crafting first few pages with tricking people into reading and guess what? Before you know it we'll be back to those old crazy DC covers where Superman is a dick

Spoiler

...you know, I might be in favor of this.

"Sonic! Angel Island is falling on the village and I can't stop it!"
"Not now, Knuckles. I'm selling Master Emerald to the highest bidder."

[Kuzu]

11 minutes ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

 

This is pretty much  why I don't like preview pages and (almost) never look at them. I already have to live with fact that single story is released in 4 month, splicing it even further is not healthy for story structure.

The only reason to preview pages exist is to convince me to read the book, expect I already know that I'll read it. There are reviews and brand loyalty, trust into specific artists/writers that make me read specific thing.

And look here. Pages that suppose to attract readers had opposite effect. I suppose writers could start crafting first few pages with tricking people into reading and guess what? Before you know it we'll be back to those old crazy DC covers where Superman is a dick

  Hide contents

...you know, I might be in favor of this.

"Sonic! Angel Island is falling on the village and I can't stop it!"
"Not now, Knuckles. I'm selling Master Emerald to the highest bidder."

I wouldn't even really mind this, but that requires for them to actually let the characters do good things to make their dickish moments standout. 

[SBR2]

Saying Shadow is like Vegeta is an insult. Vegeta is actually interesting. 

I'm sorry but I don't see how this is at all a betrayal of Shadow's character. Though I'll admit I don't like Shadow anyway but like in most of his appearances he 

A.) Spent most of the game trying to commit genocide until he remembered that a little dying girl didn't want him to do that.

B.) Didn't do anything but follow Rouge and Omega around and mope.

C.) Only really decided to stop the Black Arms because he thought about Maria.

Shadow is honestly pretty self absorbed and selfish and always has been. I don't know where this idea he isn't a giant awful crabass comes from.

[Kuzu]

8 minutes ago, SBR2 said:

Saying Shadow is like Vegeta is an insult. Vegeta is actually interesting. 

I'm sorry but I don't see how this is at all a betrayal of Shadow's character. Though I'll admit I don't like Shadow anyway but like in most of his appearances he 

A.) Spent most of the game trying to commit genocide until he remembered that a little dying girl didn't want him to do that.

B.) Didn't do anything but follow Rouge and Omega around and mope.

C.) Only really decided to stop the Black Arms because he thought about Maria.

Shadow is honestly pretty self absorbed and selfish and always has been. I don't know where this idea he isn't a giant awful crabass comes from.

Then good for you, you must be jumping for joy that he's a self absorbed asshole now.  Now the hate for this character is completely justified.  If Sega's intent is to get people to not like this character, then they are doing an absolutely wonderful job at it because I can't fucking stand him right now. 

I honestly can't tell if you're being serious and to be perfectly honest I don't care. 

[MetalSkulkBane]

I'm just gonna leave this here.

Shadow

[SBR2]

1 minute ago, Kuzu said:

Then good for you, you must be jumping for joy that he's a self absorbed asshole now.  Now the hate for this character is completely justified. 

I honestly can't tell if you're trolling, and to be perfectly honest I don't care. 

I'm completely serious. I do not understand his appeal and never will. He's just not an interesting character to me and ok maybe self absorbed was too harsh but I really have never felt like he cares about anything but Maria. 

It always felt more like he only protects Earth because he was told to not because he wants to or cares about the people of the planet. 

I just honestly don't get how Shadow obtained this view of being a true caring hero who has a strong bond with Rouge and Omega.

[Kuzu]

3 minutes ago, SBR2 said:

I'm completely serious. I do not understand his appeal and never will. He's just not an interesting character to me and ok maybe self absorbed was too harsh but I really have never felt like he cares about anything but Maria. 

It always felt more like he only protects Earth because he was told to not because he wants to or cares about the people of the planet. 

I just honestly don't get how Shadow obtained this view of being a true caring hero who has a strong bond with Rouge and Omega.

If you don't care then why bother commenting to begin with if not to revel in the fact that people are upset at how he's written. Get out of here with this innocent act, you knew exactly what you were doing. You enjoy the fact that he's garbage now because now you're validated in hating the character. 

All you're really doing is proving my point that the only people who approve of this are the ones who never liked or cared about the character to begin with. 

[StaticMania]

Just now, SBR2 said:

...never felt like he cares about anything but Maria.

There's not actually a problem with this, since his development starts from there.

Him actually developing from there would've helped...but Maria doesn't matter to his character since the ending of the Shadow game.

[The Deleter]

Oh we're overreacting to a good Shadow portrayal over here as well? Why am I not surprised lol

This line is inoffensive. We know what his character is overall in the comic book and it's a very good characterization; this one line does nothing new to that and the fact that the fanbase keeps getting mad over these short lines as if they're ruining the character, is utterly ridiculous.

 

And another thing: Shadow was never the "Hero of Humanity". Everyone just decided that was his title on a whim. "Giving the people a chance to be happy" is slightly different from that.

[StaticMania]

1 minute ago, The Deleter said:

Oh we're overreacting to a good Shadow portrayal over here as well? Why am I not surprised lol

This line is inoffensive. We know what his character is overall in the comic book and it's a very good characterization; this one line does nothing new to that and the fact that the fanbase keeps getting mad over these short lines as if they're ruining the character, is utterly ridiculous.

 

And another thing: Shadow was never the "Hero of Humanity". Everyone just decided that was his title on a whim. "Giving the people a chance to be happy" is slightly different from that.

What line? The reaction would be to him just immediately ignoring a tied up Rouge and Tails...

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

17 minutes ago, SBR2 said:

I'm completely serious. I do not understand his appeal and never will.
 

Okay, I’m not here to change your mind because you’re free to like or dislike who you want, but I will tell you and everyone else who reads this post to stop saying you don’t understand a character’s appeal because yes you do.

I’m not being rude when I say this either, because I’ve been hearing people say this on this very message board since 2005, and it makes no sense how anyone can still say this 15 years later—every fan of every character has broadcasted and made perfectly clear why they like the characters they do, they’ve detailed it in topic after topic and discussion after discussion over what draws them to said character and their liking of said characters is precisely what makes that appeal.
 

It’s one thing if it doesn’t appeal to you personally, and you’re perfectly fine to disagree with the appeal because everyone has characters they don’t really click with—I don’t care much for the liking of the Deadly Six in general, but it would be flat out lying for me or anyone else to say they don’t understand why someone may like them after being directly told by someone why they like them. And with Shadow and others having been around for practically 20 years there is no excuse for anyone not to see or understand the appeal whether they find the character appealing or not when people make their reasons why perfectly clear over all these years.

‘K, y’all can go back to complaining about Vegeta Shadow now. (Yes, I hate that portrayal too, but I’ll wait and see how this turns out)

[Kuzu]

You know what, I'm not doing this. I refuse to give this more attention than it deserves so I'm gonna talk about something that's actually worth my time.

The 4th issue of Bad Guys drops tonight and we got two more previews for it. 

 

Does Eggman not know that Zavok can take over his machines...unless he planned for that. 

[The Deleter]

25 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

What line? The reaction would be to him just immediately ignoring a tied up Rouge and Tails...

Well that's new but also the same thing; Shadow made his choice on what to prioritize and it wasn't the obvious choice given to him by Starline. Also the same in that he probably trusts Sonic/Rouge to take care of it without his help; he doesn't normally leave people in these situations alone, like how he stayed behind to make sure the abused chao were saved. This was his "antiheroic" decision, and it's perfectly fine for Shadow to do tbh.

32 minutes ago, SBR2 said:

I'm completely serious. I do not understand his appeal and never will. He's just not an interesting character to me and ok maybe self absorbed was too harsh but I really have never felt like he cares about anything but Maria. 

It always felt more like he only protects Earth because he was told to not because he wants to or cares about the people of the planet. 

I just honestly don't get how Shadow obtained this view of being a true caring hero who has a strong bond with Rouge and Omega.

See the second part I get and is the reason why I'm behind this "regression" to before 06/easygoing Shadow, since it never really felt like his character naturally developed after SA2 and Shadow happened. All those emotions he was acting on were still his own, and remembering Maria's final wish, while he can act against them, doesn't outright erase them...

The appeal of his character has always been clear as day to me, though. He's always been an angsty ball of arrogance since SA2, but underneath all of that lies his core reason for being a hero.

Quote

Everything post-trauma Shadow can basically be summed up by this scene entirely. He'll laugh/scoff at someone's misfortune because of how jaded he is, But then he'll also turn around and realize that he has empathy for other people as well, due to being raised alongside Maria. Then he'll leap into action while still expressing his thoughts (Like how he thinks Rouge is a nuisance here) because he cares too much to not do anything about it.

That's Shadow's core

And people can't decide whether they like that or dislike that lol

He still is self absorbed to the point where he can come off as brash or uncaring due to how jaded he is, but he's also operating based off of the feelings and empathy that growing up alongside Maria provided him. He cares about people, but rarely outright shows it. He won't go out of his way to outright help someone, but if the situation demands it, he will put them before himself and try to save/help them out.

[VO.SUPER]

Its always the Shadow discussion that brings about the attention to this thread, more than even new updates.

I wonder if its because the rest of the comic still isn't as developed as it could be for anymore in depth discussion? While the current storyline is fun, perhaps maybe its just a little too shallow?

I was talking to my young nephew the other day and he even said that he "missed the Zombot story". 

I wonder if other young readers are thinking the same thing? And hell even with this thread I note that the discussion is sorta drying up. 

[Kuzu]

1 minute ago, VisionaryofSUPER said:

Its always the Shadow discussion that brings about the attention to this thread, more than even new updates.

I wonder if its because the rest of the comic still isn't as developed as it could be for anymore in depth discussion? While the current storyline is fun, perhaps maybe its just a little too shallow?

I was talking to my young nephew the other day and he even said that he "missed the Zombot story". 

I wonder if other young readers are thinking the same thing? And hell even with this thread I note that the discussion is sorta drying up. 

There's really not much to discuss; the story is pretty straightforward and to the point. The Shadow discussion only gets attention because it's the most controversial aspect of the whole book. 

[StaticMania]

We're glad to be out of overly serious zombie story, yes...

[Wraith]

I'll give Evan the benefit of the doubt but Shadow not reacting at all to the avalanche feels like a severe misread of his character to me. It's fair if you want to wait for context but I don't think people are wrong to be concerned. 

[KoDaiko]

5 hours ago, caitash said:

Issue 36 supposedly back to releasing on 30 December, preview pages below:

  Hide contents

 

 

 

Spoiler

There's the two of them so it makes sense to split up. Idk if Sonic's enough to stop an avalanche (even with Shadow idk what they're supposed to do) but I guess Shadow trusts him enough? Should've helped untie the two tho, it'd only take a sec-....wait, the rope was THAT easy to cut???

I like that Starline is slightly shook by Shadow heading straight toward him (hopefully not an act).

 

1 hour ago, Kuzu said:

You know what, I'm not doing this. I refuse to give this more attention than it deserves so I'm gonna talk about something that's actually worth my time.The 4th issue of Bad Guys drops tonight and we got two more previews for it. 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Does Eggman not know that Zavok can take over his machines...unless he planned for that. 

Perhaps he E.M. shielded his mech like he did in issue 2? Or maybe he didn't but had a brain-fart and forgot.

[The Deleter]

30 minutes ago, Wraith said:

I'll give Evan the benefit of the doubt but Shadow not reacting at all to the avalanche feels like a severe misread of his character to me. It's fair if you want to wait for context but I don't think people are wrong to be concerned. 

The way I see that is that Shadow still says harsh things to get people off his back for the "morally incorrect" decisions he makes. If it was Rouge saying it he might even go a step further in the bluntness/harshness just to commit to the choice he made to save the day "on his terms".

Being more passive with a "I'll handle Starline, you save the village" vs. being harsher in the moment is the difference between a Shadow with less hangups and more trust than right now vs. someone who is still set in his own ways. He's always emotionally distanced himself from others to allow him to make the "right" choice, so I don't see this as much as a misread, moreso doubling down on an aspect of Shadow that most media chose to ignore up until this point.