Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[Kuzu]

Yea, I'd definitely say Zeti Hunt was my favorite arc of Year 3 so far too.

 

Ironic, I've been criticizing the constant action yet the most action focused arc is the one I liked the most.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

1 hour ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

I will say that the Chao Races arc did suffer from an intense amount of focus issues. I don't think that's Starline or Clutch's fault though. That's more of an issue of not balancing how you're integrating the two plots together well. So, I don't agree that it's not subjective that Starline's mere inclusion is what's at fault here.

There's also the fact that, to me, the most wheel-spinning of the arcs we've had since the end of the Metal Virus was Trial By Fire and that was only three issues with no Starline interjection at all. In my opinion, the pacing is too slow for what these stories are and the release schedule being this glacier paced isn't helping that feel. 

I like how Evan writes the characters but to be honest my favorite arc of this third year so far has been Zeti Hunt, and that was written by Ian. I think I might just find his stories more exciting. 

Because from a pure pacing standpoint, several of these issues that affect and mess around with the pace of the narrative could've been cut had Starline just been split out of it. As I said, two issues alone are there solely to deal with whenever Starline decides to rear his head into the plot. And to me, Starline's random injection into plots he has absolutely nothing to do with is what hurts these stories.

Not for his sole inclusion, but because the plain fact is both time and focus has to be taken away from whatever the main arc is in order to shove in Starline's plots, plots that frankly have very little to do with the point at hand. Starline brings little purpose to Chao Races and Badnik Bases beyond dragging Shadow into the mix, and it results in the brand new villain they're trying to introduce being sidelined and overshadowed in his literal introduction. 

Similarly, despite Zeti Hunt essentially being the true conclusion to the plot threads given to us in the Metal Virus arc, and built up as the big Zeti story, a story where Ian was promising to switch tracks and do something entirely different with the Zeti, to make it seem like their biggest threat yet, it somehow turns out even worse than CR and BB because whereas Clutch at least got three issues of his arc, every plot beat involving the Zeti are basically rushed and forced to share their own conclusion with Starline's nonsense. 

Because of the fact that they had to shove in Starline's narrative into the arc, this results in the Zeti at best getting two and a half issues worth of content in their own arc, and the very premise of the arc itself (IE - the hunt) being rushed into one issue, and their big scheme being even more pathetically bare bones than their other schemes because they needed to consolidate the action into one central location in order to jump between Starline and the Zeti. The sheer fact that both the conclusions to Zeti Hunt and Chao Races & Badnik Bases are wrapups for Starline over the main villains that are supposed to be the stars of the arc says it all. 

This is basically like in Archie, if Eggman had randomly popped in at the end of Enerjak Reborn to immediately assault and attack everyone after Knuckles is depowered, and they spend another issue fighting him off, or if Enerjak suddenly showed up at the end of Eggman Empire, clicked his fingers, snapped away Eggman, and we spent an issue dealing him with attacking New Mobotropolis instead. Why is this random villain intruding onto an arc they have absolutely nothing to do with, and stealing the spotlight from the arc's central antagonist?

And the reason I say Starline's inclusion hurts the pacing isn't subjective is plain and simple - each arc already is competing hard for page count and space to breath within condensed four issue arcs, exactly the same way as Archie Sonic, Archie Mega Man, and so on. It's one thing to have to deal with one villain or group of villains, but if you're going to forcefully interject another villain into the mix, that then means that those villains have to just straight up fight for page count and content to fit everything in.

Things have to be rushed, things have to be consolidated, things have to be cut in order to fit it all in, and more often than not, it's either the main story, or the main villain that's getting hurt because of Starline, who to be perfectly blunt - has appeared far more than enough in the last 30 issues of the series at this point.

Why did we need Starline showing up in Chao Races and Badnik Bases, especially when Bad Guys was ongoing at the same time? Not only did it just end up spoiling Bad Guys' plot (Both the Tri-Core and the fact that he'd ditched the other villains already), but he didn't even have much of a purpose beyond giving Shadow a ass-kicking and forcing him to be a little introspective. 

Why did we need to shove Starline into Zeti Hunt, an arc based entirely around concluding the Metal Virus and tying up the Zeti's plot with their 'biggest' attack yet? Why couldn't we just leave him out altogether, take out Trial by Fire, or hell - any of the filler issues, and just give Starline his own proper arc before #50 where we deal with him kidnapping Belle and maybe having an arc with Sonic and the Chaotix trying to find her? Or hell - again - just insert Imposter Syndrome back into the main series because that's where the actual important build-up is currently happening.

Right now, everything's spinning their heels because A. Year 3's arcs have had their pacing hurt due to needing to shove Starline in to build-up #50, a goal that in my opinion - has not been done the greatest, meanwhile this has the effect of rushing the plot beats and hurting the main villains of the arc.

B. Because of Imposter Syndrome going on right now as a miniseries, and for some reason, IDW deciding to stretch out the main series until #50 with a rotating monthly release, this means now that we have the main series spinning it's wheels until IS finishes up, when had things been better paced, and the issue counts were tightened up, we probably could've just inserted IS into the main series instead - IMO at least.

C. At least a few issues could've been cut, and/or used on other plot threads, had the plots not had to constantly battle Starline for attention and page count. It also would've made things far more refreshing when Starline finally did come back to reveal his master plan instead of - again - showing up randomly and spinning his wheels until #50 came.

And Trial by Fire, in my opinion, despite being the storyline that's felt extremely filler-y is IMO - still the one that uses Starline the best. Because he is still at the heart of the conflict in a way, because Surge and Kit are the ones causing the inciting incident and causing Belle to believe she's the one who caused the forest fire. But that's where their involvement stops, and that's IMO where it worked best, where it was used for foreshadowing and used to tie things into the main plot, but also not focused on to the level that Starline just because the main conflict, and the story was allowed to just exist on it's own terms without trying to battle for screen time and page count, especially when Imposter Syndrome is already running at the exact same time.

The problem was Trial by Fire was also just an inconsequential story occurring at frankly - the worst possible time. I don't really think Starline not being there contributes to it's problems, it's just a slice of life story that was badly placed in the timeline IMO.

[Wraith]

Starline was a much needed adrenaline shot in Chao Bases and his scene with Bell is by far the best thing about Zeti Hunt. It might be the best scene Evan's written since she took over. I don't particularly love the character but I can't see him as the issue. 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

12 minutes ago, Wraith said:

Starline was a much needed adrenaline shot in Chao Bases and his scene with Bell is by far the best thing about Zeti Hunt. It might be the best scene Evan's written since she took over. I don't particularly love the character but I can't see him as the issue. 

Starline and Belle being the best part of a arc based around the Zeti, where Starline arguably shouldn't even have a place in an arc based around concluding the Zeti's role in the current ongoing story sounds more like a example of the pacing problem that making stories fight between his involvement and other villains' involvement causes than a positive. To me, Zeti Hunt is one of the most disappointing arcs of the whole series so far, and it all comes down to the main draw of the arc being completely rushed to fit in Starline and Belle, when frankly, having their own arc to tackle that probably would've been better.

Hell, I'd go a step further and say you could probably also cut out Test Run and consolidate Belle's origins into a hypothetical arc where Starline kidnaps her upon learning she's a badnik that he can use as the base for Surge and Kit instead of Test Run's main draw being forced to contend with a mystery that more or less everyone was already aware of by the time it dropped.

[Wraith]

10 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Starline and Belle being the best part of a arc based around the Zeti, where Starline arguably shouldn't even have a place in an arc based around concluding the Zeti's role in the current ongoing story sounds more like a example of the pacing problem that making stories fight between his involvement and other villains' involvement causes than a positive. To me, Zeti Hunt is one of the most disappointing arcs of the whole series so far, and it all comes down to the main draw of the arc being completely rushed to fit in Starline and Belle, when frankly, having their own arc to tackle that probably would've been better.

Hell, I'd go a step further and say you could probably also cut out Test Run and consolidate Belle's origins into a hypothetical arc where Starline kidnaps her upon learning she's a badnik that he can use as the base for Surge and Kit instead of Test Run's main draw being forced to contend with a mystery that more or less everyone was already aware of by the time it dropped.

The decision to send Sonic straight back to base after they found out they'd been duped killed Zeti Hunt for me. I'm not sure whether that decision was made to fit the Starline scene in or not. It felt more like a more typical problem of Ian/Evan setting up an interesting situation and then noping out of it immediately for whatever reason, like Sonic getting his memory back over the span of a couple of pages.

[Slashy]

7 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Starline and Belle being the best part of a arc based around the Zeti, where Starline arguably shouldn't even have a place in an arc based around concluding the Zeti's role in the current ongoing story sounds more like a example of the pacing problem that making stories fight between his involvement and other villains' involvement causes than a positive. To me, Zeti Hunt is one of the most disappointing arcs of the whole series so far, and it all comes down to the main draw of the arc being completely rushed to fit in Starline and Belle, when frankly, having their own arc to tackle that probably would've been better.

Hell, I'd go a step further and say you could probably also cut out Test Run and consolidate Belle's origins into a hypothetical arc where Starline kidnaps her upon learning she's a badnik that he can use as the base for Surge and Kit instead of Test Run's main draw being forced to contend with a mystery that more or less everyone was already aware of by the time it dropped.

On the flip side, I will say I believe Starline's presence is welcomed because the A plots are not engaging enough on their own. Starline is a cool guy with his own ongoing narrative behind the scenes, it is easy to see why his presence is welcomed currently.

I don't think it is a coincidence that CRABB and Zeti Hunt are better received than Trial By Fire and Test Run, and Trial By Fire especially gets a lot of flack for being boring because it really has no B-plot to push the overarching narrative forward.

[Dr. Detective]

1 hour ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Because from a pure pacing standpoint, several of these issues that affect and mess around with the pace of the narrative could've been cut had Starline just been split out of it. As I said, two issues alone are there solely to deal with whenever Starline decides to rear his head into the plot. And to me, Starline's random injection into plots he has absolutely nothing to do with is what hurts these stories.

Yeah, again, I don't agree. You're reiterating the same point with a lot more clarification but at the end of the day I just don't agree with the notion that his inclusion was the issue. I purely believe it's definitely a-okay to have the main plot and an overarching plot converge in the manner that Chao Races and Zeti Hunt attempted to do it in. I enjoyed Zeti Hunt largely because of how concise the chaos was and the two plots happening simultaneously greatly increased the amount of fun I was having. The last two issues of that arc were split pretty evenly amongst them too, in ways that I felt were really well-done.

Admittedly, I was a little bothered that Sonic got sent back to the base to take on the Zeti by himself as I thought it was going to be a cheap way for him to just look cool against the six of them in a manner that wasn't going to be satisfying but I actually enjoyed how that fight went down for the most part. Seeing how demolished both Sonic and Tails were by the end of it is something that still lingers in my mind as well as Zavok's really harsh Tangle tail tug, bashing her against the fucking steel door. Incredible image to deliberately not show.

The issue with Chao Races, to me, is that it wasn't as good about dividing up the focus. I still enjoyed it but the stuff with Clutch was definitely a little drowned out. I don't see that as an issue with Starline being present though. Just handle the balancing act a bit better.

If you're someone who just wants the arc to just focus on itself as it's own thing I can see why it wouldn't be tolerable for you but I love this kind of storytelling. 

Trial by Fire wasn't a particularly interesting or fun excursion so it's focus being on just what it was about tended to lead to a lot less of that for me. 

1 hour ago, Slashy said:

On the flip side, I will say I believe Starline's presence is welcomed because the A plots are not engaging enough on their own. Starline is a cool guy with his own ongoing narrative behind the scenes, it is easy to see why his presence is welcomed currently.

I don't think it is a coincidence that CRABB and Zeti Hunt are better received than Trial By Fire and Test Run, and Trial By Fire especially gets a lot of flack for being boring because it really has no B-plot to push the overarching narrative forward.

I actually forgot about Test Run. I heard you guys talking about it and had to wrack my brain a bit before I was like "Oh yeah. That weird thing that happened."

I liked it fine but man it was quite the disappointment how they couldn't get any mileage out of a mindfuck story. There was one section in the village that was a little freaky but the rest of it didn't capitalize on it's premise hardly at all. 

[Wraith]

14 minutes ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

Admittedly, I was a little bothered that Sonic got sent back to the base to take on the Zeti by himself as I thought it was going to be a cheap way for him to just look cool against the six of them in a manner that wasn't going to be satisfying but I actually enjoyed how that fight went down for the most part. Seeing how demolished both Sonic and Tails were by the end of it is something that still lingers in my mind as well as Zavok's really harsh Tangle tail tug, bashing her against the fucking steel door. Incredible image to deliberately not show.

 

Oh yeah I enjoyed the fight at the end too, Sonic and Tails actually rarely have gotten to work together at all in this book and it's cool seeing them get more roughed up than usual. I just felt like there was an opportunity to leverage the tension of Tangle and Whisper having to hold experienced baddies off alone. I feel like they miss little opportunities like that sometimes even if the book is (imo) good overall.

[CertifiedNobody]

I feel like the Chaotix, Starline, and the two Bio-Badniks are a nice change of pace after we've spent most of Evan's run so far on Sonic, Tails, Amy, Belle, and Tangle. It's nice getting some fresh personalities and a perspective that's disconnected from the Restoration involved.

I think one of the biggest issues with Post-Metal Virus is that they expected us to need a big break after Metal Virus, but after the multi-part epilogue story, Bad Guys, and Badnik Bases, we were all ready to get back to the important stories without any more "filler".

[Ryannumber1gamer]

29 minutes ago, Wraith said:

The decision to send Sonic straight back to base after they found out they'd been duped killed Zeti Hunt for me. I'm not sure whether that decision was made to fit the Starline scene in or not. It felt more like a more typical problem of Ian/Evan setting up an interesting situation and then noping out of it immediately for whatever reason, like Sonic getting his memory back over the span of a couple of pages.

Again, pure speculation, but I can't help but feel that it is a result of that. Both a need to fit in page count and showtime for Starline, and to consolidate the action so we could squeeze both threads into one four issue arc, problems be damned. Even as bad as Ian could be in the past for setting up various threads, even the Mega Man arcs didn't get so badly rushed as the so-called 'hunt' that the arc was both being advertised for, and named after. When the Zeti only truly get two issues to themselves fully (Issue 1 and Issue 3), and they share Issue 2 with Starline, and their whole arc in general is only three issues, it's just hard for me to buy that it's just solely noping out of a situation like that.

A lot of these issues feel like pure concessions being made to fit two storylines that just do not fit together into one. You can't have a globe-trotting arc where Sonic + whoever need to race and track down the Zeti before Zavok can when you also need to dedicate two of those issues to a completely separate and irrelevant plotline, and personally, I feel like some of the problem is perspective. As is, we can say Starline has a good moment here or there in this or that story, but maybe the reason for that isn't because of the story itself, but because of the concessions that have to be made in order to squeeze two completely non-relevant plot threads into one four issue plot. 

23 minutes ago, Slashy said:

On the flip side, I will say I believe Starline's presence is welcomed because the A plots are not engaging enough on their own. Starline is a cool guy with his own ongoing narrative behind the scenes, it is easy to see why his presence is welcomed currently.

I don't think it is a coincidence that CRABB and Zeti Hunt are better received than Trial By Fire and Test Run, and Trial By Fire especially gets a lot of flack for being boring because it really has no B-plot to push the overarching narrative forward.

Again, I don't really agree with this though. CRABB is something you're going to be subjective on no matter what, either you like the lower stakes plot and the breather episode following so much shit in the Metal Virus, or you don't, but Zeti Hunt's issues can very much just be traced down to the barest fact that we had, and we were given a much cooler plot synopsis that was going to build off the character moments we got for Zavok in Bad Guys, and yet in the end, it became a complete disappointment because that promise had to be dashed to consolidate everything to a central location in a desperate attempt to tackle two completely different plot threads. Zeti Hunt fails not because it had Starline, but because Starline's inclusion forced them to make the rest of the arc rushed and bad as a result. 

And again, Test Run and Trial by Fire aren't just results of not having Starline. They have their own individual problems that cause them to just be entirely lacking as it is. Test Run has a interesting premise that the comic, and even the series doesn't tackle very often, and it's basically our first and only Eggman plot of Year 3 until #50 drops. Yet the main draw of this absurdist adventure starring Sonic, Tails, and Amy only gets spotlighted in one issue, while the plot is once again fighting for time and spotlight with the ''mystery'' of Belle's origins that everyone knew to begin with, and then at the end, it amounts to basically nothing as Eggman has the most absolutely lax reaction to the revelation, despite it taking up so much of the plot.

Trial by Fire on the other hand - for a start, it still features Starline in a manner, because again - Surge and Kit are the inciting incident that sparks off the entire conflict. But once more, the problem is that the placement of the arc was just very, very badly timed. It's a filler arc that's largely disconnected from the rest of the important plot threads running through the book, both at a time when things should be ramping up for Issue 50, and when there's a separate miniseries going on at the exact same time that is both dragging down the release window for the main series, and is the miniseries that contains actual important plot threads and narrative beats that lead into Issue 50. 

I don't think these plots just so easily boil down to "they're boring so they need Starline", it's that most of them are written with concessions as is to squeeze Starline, or whatever else into things, which lead to the result that the main arc ends up as being either rushed, or lacking, and losing out on any of the potential the concept had, and the only highlights end up being Starline because that's what they decided to spend their focus on. 

21 minutes ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Yeah, again, I don't agree. You're reiterating the same point with a lot more clarification but at the end of the day I just don't agree with the notion that his inclusion was the issue. I purely believe it's definitely a-okay to have the main plot and an overarching plot converge in the manner that Chao Races and Zeti Hunt attempted to do it in. I enjoyed Zeti Hunt largely because of how concise the chaos was and the two plots happening simultaneously greatly increased the amount of fun I was having. The last two issues of that arc were split pretty evenly amongst them too, in ways that I felt were really well-done.

Then we're just going to have to agree to disagree, I guess. To me, their attempts to converge the plot have been lacking, and usually just causes the main arcs of Year 3 to putter out into complete pointlessness. None of the arcs get remotely any time to breath because they're constantly in a fight against the overarching plot, not helped by the fact that said overarching plot is getting Miniseries and everything else that pushes it further. I don't see why we had to putter out Chao Races when we had Bad Guys ongoing, and I don't see why Zeti Hunt had to literally be rushed into two issues for the sake of a completely irrelevant plot thread.

At the end of the day, it boils down to this for me - Starline has had far, far more screentime in the series than any other villain has gotten. He has gotten multiple main issues and multiple mini-series where he is the main character getting focus, and to be absolutely frank, up until now, it feels like they've mostly been spinning their wheels with him. His entire shtick since Bad Guys in my eyes has been constantly complaining about Eggman, saying how he's going to do something differently, proceeds to not do something differently, then steal some Eggman base, equipment, or idea, which is only now starting to change with Surge and Kit.

 Something that might've been fine if it was every once in awhile, but not when he's shoving his way into multiple arcs against other main villains who desperately could use that screen time. If it was me, I would've just given him Bad Guys, Imposter Syndrome, and possibly just his own build-up arc prior to Issue 50, even if it was something like two or three issues, and let the main series breathe with the Belle plot and whatever other wrap-ups/narratives they wanted to do. I would've preferred just a single consolidated Starline arc in Year 3, while the other plots get to do their own thing instead of haphazardly trying to shove both in, hinder both, and then accomplish neither in the end.

[Wraith]

I don't think this book has many actual problems, the release schedule is just really, really REALLY bad. Like, terrible. A lot of these arcs read better when you go back to back instead of waiting two months. The most low stakes chaotix filler ep wouldn't actually be a problem at all if I knew the next one was close.


Like, a side book like imposter syndrome is only exciting if you get a double dose of Sonic a month. The way they're rolling it out now it's just two lower stakes arcs cutting into eachother repeatedly and ruining the other's pacing.

There are still structural problems with the stories too, I just think they're being exacerbated by the schedule. People are focusing on the wrong things.

[Slashy]

10 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Again, I don't really agree with this though. CRABB is something you're going to be subjective on no matter what, either you like the lower stakes plot and the breather episode following so much shit in the Metal Virus, or you don't,

On the contrary I dislike CRABB precisely because the Chao Races are treated as an excuse to set up a bunch of other plots. An actual plot could have been built around that easily two full issues worth.

[Dr. Detective]

Yeah, I mostly agree with what Wraith said. Despite my misgivings about how exciting some of the stories in Year 3 have been, I can't really escape the underlying thought that what they're attempting to do is simple build up and that's usually a lot more tolerable in doses that accumulate much quicker than it is now. My re-read of this material is undoubtedly going to lead to a much stronger opinion of it all but the way these issues are being put out is getting slower and slower. It's honestly a little agonizing.

I got excited when Imposter Syndrome was announced because I thought it'd mean two comics per month again but no. Now we're getting one comic per month between these two series which means the main book is being released bi-monthy DURING a phase that's trying to accomplish a slow build to a milestone.

It's REALLY asking a lot of me. I'm usually a really patient guy too but damn.

I do really like Imposter Syndrome and the more I see of it the more convinced I am that this IDW stuff should be more ingrained with the main series. These ideas are just too good not to be given as much exposure as possible in my opinion.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

1 minute ago, Slashy said:

On the contrary I dislike CRABB precisely because the Chao Races are treated as an excuse to set up a bunch of other plots. An actual plot could have been built around that easily two full issues worth.

I'm not really sure what plots it sets up though? The only things it sets up is Belle and Starline, to which Belle makes enough sense when Sonic & Tails are searching through various bases, while I've already gone at length about my problems with Starline's inclusion. Otherwise, the plot for the first three issues at least remains more or less on the conspiracy that's going on within Clutch's park, and both Amy/Rouge battling each other for how to handle things with Cream in the middle of it. If anything, the point where it's an excuse to set up random plots is when Starline interjects himself into the story for no other reason than just because, and decides to turn things into a high-stakes plot...just because, other than teasing "oh shit hes got the tri-core now".

2 minutes ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Yeah, I mostly agree with what Wraith said. Despite my misgivings about how exciting some of the stories in Year 3 have been, I can't really escape the underlying thought that what they're attempting to do is simple build up and that's usually a lot more tolerable in doses that accumulate much quicker than it is now. My re-read of this material is undoubtedly going to lead to a much stronger opinion of it all but the way these issues are being put out is getting slower and slower. It's honestly a little agonizing.

I got excited when Imposter Syndrome was announced because I thought it'd mean two comics per month again but no. Now we're getting one comic per month between these two series which means the main book is being released bi-monthy DURING a phase that's trying to accomplish a slow build to a milestone.

It's REALLY asking a lot of me. I'm usually a really patient guy too but damn.

I'll at least concede to this. If the comic was at least better paced with releases so it didn't feel like we were stuck on places for ages, it would probably help matters. I still feel like Starline is overused to hell and back, but it would help things marginally if at the very least, we were running through these on a consistent schedule instead of it being an agonising slog to get to #50.

This is also the reason I still say Trial By Fire and the filler issues should've either been cut, or moved to post #50, and Imposter Syndrome slid in, because it would have done wonders to make the pacing a lot better. Now, due to the one month per comic schedule, we're waiting *eight* months for four issues worth of plot. I was actually shocked when I saw the FCBD preview for a comic book in May say this was a lead-up to Issue 50 when we were already at Issue 47.

[Slashy]

10 minutes ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Yeah, I mostly agree with what Wraith said. Despite my misgivings about how exciting some of the stories in Year 3 have been, I can't really escape the underlying thought that what they're attempting to do is simple build up and that's usually a lot more tolerable in doses that accumulate much quicker than it is now. My re-read of this material is undoubtedly going to lead to a much stronger opinion of it all but the way these issues are being put out is getting slower and slower. It's honestly a little agonizing.

I got excited when Imposter Syndrome was announced because I thought it'd mean two comics per month again but no. Now we're getting one comic per month between these two series which means the main book is being released bi-monthy DURING a phase that's trying to accomplish a slow build to a milestone.

It's REALLY asking a lot of me. I'm usually a really patient guy too but damn.

I do not think that my opinions would change much mostly because I am just holding Sonic up against kids media in general. This comic is not bad at all, probably above average for Sonic as a whole, but it can do better. It is easier for me to see the comparisons between CRABB, Test Run, and Trial by Fire as they aren't heavily tied to the existing continuity

5 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

I'm not really sure what plots it sets up though? The only things it sets up is Belle and Starline, to which Belle makes enough sense when Sonic & Tails are searching through various bases, while I've already gone at length about my problems with Starline's inclusion. Otherwise, the plot for the first three issues at least remains more or less on the conspiracy that's going on within Clutch's park, and both Amy/Rouge battling each other for how to handle things with Cream in the middle of it. If anything, the point where it's an excuse to set up random plots is when Starline interjects himself into the story for no other reason than just because, and decides to turn things into a high-stakes plot...just because, other than teasing "oh shit hes got the tri-core now".

I guess yeah it only really does set up Starline but Starline's plot takes up more of the arc than the Chao Races and Badnik Bases. My memory might be a bit hazy.

[SanPolo4389]

The cover for the Sonic Movie 2 the Official Pre-Quill

[Kuzu]

4 hours ago, Wraith said:

I don't think this book has many actual problems, the release schedule is just really, really REALLY bad. Like, terrible. A lot of these arcs read better when you go back to back instead of waiting two months. The most low stakes chaotix filler ep wouldn't actually be a problem at all if I knew the next one was close.


Like, a side book like imposter syndrome is only exciting if you get a double dose of Sonic a month. The way they're rolling it out now it's just two lower stakes arcs cutting into eachother repeatedly and ruining the other's pacing.

There are still structural problems with the stories too, I just think they're being exacerbated by the schedule. People are focusing on the wrong things.

 

3 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Yeah, I mostly agree with what Wraith said. Despite my misgivings about how exciting some of the stories in Year 3 have been, I can't really escape the underlying thought that what they're attempting to do is simple build up and that's usually a lot more tolerable in doses that accumulate much quicker than it is now. My re-read of this material is undoubtedly going to lead to a much stronger opinion of it all but the way these issues are being put out is getting slower and slower. It's honestly a little agonizing.

I got excited when Imposter Syndrome was announced because I thought it'd mean two comics per month again but no. Now we're getting one comic per month between these two series which means the main book is being released bi-monthy DURING a phase that's trying to accomplish a slow build to a milestone.

It's REALLY asking a lot of me. I'm usually a really patient guy too but damn.

I do really like Imposter Syndrome and the more I see of it the more convinced I am that this IDW stuff should be more ingrained with the main series. These ideas are just too good not to be given as much exposure as possible in my opinion.

I was mulling over this all day too and I came to a similar conclusion. For the sake of comparison, during the late 2000's and early to mid 2010's, Archie were releasing two books a month. You got the main series and Sonic Universe, and because the latter was constantly switching focuses and perspectives, it never got stale. So you had whatever Sonic and the Freedom Fighters were up to being juxtaposed with whoever was the main focus of Universe. All of the problems were somewhat lessened cuz you had twice as much content to look forward to, so it didn't feel as dragged. 

 

It just really highlights how annoying the pacing of IDW is; having one miniseries issue and one main issue on an alternating monthly basis. I cannot stress how annoying this is, especially when I'm trained on weekly Shonen Manga. 

[CertifiedNobody]

17 minutes ago, Kuzu said:

especially when I'm trained on weekly Shonen Manga. 

TBF, having a sketchier black and white artstyle as the standard allows manga to be produced noticably faster.The lines don't have to be as clean and a large chunk of the process is completely cut out.

[Slashy]

48 minutes ago, CertifiedNobody said:

TBF, having a sketchier black and white artstyle as the standard allows manga to be produced noticably faster.The lines don't have to be as clean and a large chunk of the process is completely cut out.

Also manga artists IIRC are treated horribly, worse than most traditional comics artists and that is saying something.

[Leebo4]

12 hours ago, Razule said:

Forgot we never saw his immediate reaction to getting dumped. He's definitely completely stable and composed man, superior to Eggman.

The opposite of putting animals into robots.. I assumed the twist will be that they're actually robots despite thinking they're enhanced Sonic's Worldians, but that line makes me think otherwise. Why would he need all that data from Belle to make cyborgs?

I think these preview pages shows that he isn’t stable or composed and plus he keeps showing that despite being a little more self aware, he is guilty of what he criticised Eggman for

[Silvereyes]

I do hope the pacing issues get better after #50 comes out. Although I will say though, wasn't that Sonic Movie 2 tie-in originally announced as a mini-series, before it became a one-shot? I'm wondering if that has led to some of these problems lately if they've been working on that. Not to mention the 30th special a few months ago, and the last FCBD issue, and the upcoming FCBD issue. And with all the hype for issue #50, I don't know if anything has been said yet, but do you think it could be a bigger issue than normal? I was thinking that could be the case, but for some reason I also though issue #49 was going to be the second part of the Chaotix story, I didn't realise the Chaotix story in #48 is a single issue, it's looking like #49 will lead into #50.

Shows my ignorance but I do wonder if things would be better if there was a second series ongoing, something like Universe that could basically host whatever mini-series they want to tell but on a regular basis. No idea how stuff like this works by the scenes, I would assume every one shot and mini-series need to be approved and then set up to see who runs them and often they can come out at awkward times. Like needing the Sonic 2 tie-in to be out for the movie and the FCBD issues to be out for the respective days.

It can be a little frustrating and it can help murder pacing. I am hopeful things will improve past issue #50 but I guess we'll see. Wonder if IDW will want to do tie-ins for Sonic Prime and Sonic Frontiers?

 

[Red Hot Jack]

Okay if Surge and Kit were part of the Metal Virus it would have been awful tbh, SEGA made the right call then.

Anyway, I believe all these issues are breather and setting up the saga that is going to start in issue 50, right? It's quite clear the "Imposters Saga" officially kicks in issue 50 and then maybe it will follow a more standard story formula and pacing, more traditional probably.

I didn't exactly mind the progression in year 3 but it was definitely awkward, we asked for something different than a traditional saga with high stakes and we got a new character that took over the story. Anyway, Belle's journey will end next issue and the badniks plot will return, she will repair and reprogram badniks like the Moto-Bud seen in Trial by Fire.

The reason I preferred Trial By Fire than Zeti Hunt is IMO there wasn't much left to tell about the Deadly Six, they were left wandering on the planet but there wasn't much else interesting stuff to do with them, lots of action sure... but if the Starline and Belle interaction was the best thing to come out of that arc, it says a lot. Trial by Fire meanwhile is a character focused minor story but it furthers Belle and Tangle's current arcs, plus gave us some great interactions, just wish the plot was more engaging than a camp fire.

And the release schedule: yes, it is really limiting the book a lot but I guess we can't ask them to rush things and over-work. It's fine, this is why I prefer the graphic novel format. But I'm too impatient to read these issues even if cut short too often.

[Razule]

8 hours ago, Leebo4 said:

I think these preview pages shows that he isn’t stable or composed and plus he keeps showing that despite being a little more self aware, he is guilty of what he criticised Eggman for

Yeah, that was, uh.. sarcasm.

7 hours ago, Red Hot Jack said:

Okay if Surge and Kit were part of the Metal Virus it would have been awful tbh, SEGA made the right call then.

I think Sega had changed their backstory, not where they were introduced.

[Leebo4]

54 minutes ago, Razule said:

Yeah, that was, uh.. sarcasm.

I think Sega had changed their backstory, not where they were introduced.

Sorry for misunderstanding 

[KoDaiko]

I'm still upset CRBB was mainly Starline and Belle's plot. I really wanted to see a wacky 1~2 issue of intense Chao racing.

1 hour ago, Razule said:

I think Sega had changed their backstory, not where they were introduced.

Wait so it was Ian who postponed their intro?