Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[Sgt Nate V]

Her eyes looked yellow on the SDCC model sheet. I was assuming it was some sort of "power mode".

Oh well. She can still kill a shit-ton of Phantomites when pissed off though.

[DabigRG]

1 hour ago, Sonictrainer said:

Evan revealed more information about Whisper!

 

Nice early-bird display of her showing expression/emotion.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

11 hours ago, Sonic Fan J said:

In short, at this point Shadow is an irrelevant character who currently has no place in the games and is only staying around due to his popularity.

K, for the record, I read your whole post. But I singled this part out to make a general, overall statement on this matter because it happens often enough that it needs to be addressed.

Can we stop saying “X character is irrelevant who and has no place in the games and is only around because of his popularity”? Because to put it bluntly, the “irrelevant” part is absolute nonsense. The same can be said for most if not the whole cast—especially Knuckles, who it’s no secret that many of the same people who make these comments go out of their way to defend and say otherwise that he’s important for whatever reason (most common reason being he’s “part of the main trio” or a “classic character” as if that means he can show up whenever) as opposed to the same standards and merits they judge characters like Shadow. You could say that about the whole cast, up to and including Tails as of late, but I know many would never even bother for some pretty obvious reasons.

These days it’s really just another way of coming off as “I hate this popular character and he should be gone for my sake” and means fuck all regarding relevance. A personal dislike of a character doesn’t equate to them having no place. And whether you actually meant it that way or not, actually think about that statement and the sense that really makes, because I can tell you one thing for sure—it has very little (hell, I’d argue it has absolutely nothing) to do with actual relevance to the series.

More to it, it’s not impossible nor as difficult as people like to act to make a character relevant. We should know better than this by now.

————————————

More to the topic on Whisper, I’m actually eager to see her in action now that we can see her personal Wispon.

I really like how creative they were with Wispon technology too. I’ve always said that they should use the Wisps as more than one-time power ups if they’re to stick around, and if this were the games, I could see Wispons like Whisper’s opening the door for a lot of mechanics.

Heck, they almost could return gunplay into the games with these instead of the realistic guns that were used in ShTH. I could see a lot of variety in this alone. As much as Forces tanked, I’ll give some good credit to Sonic Team for this idea that the comics are expanding on.

[Blue Blood]

Okay, so I've just caught up with issues 1 through 4. This is my first time ever following a Sonic comic series, and I must want to say what an absolute delight it is. Things have started out relatively simple, introducing the cast and setting the scene. No major plot events yet, nothing dramatic, nothing much to talk about content wise. But the characters are all wonderful. Seriously. This is brilliant. I've got issues 5 through 7 here to read, and I can't wait to get stuck in.

I'm so glad the IDW comics are a blank slate.

[Sonic Fan J]

13 hours ago, Conquering Storm’s Servant said:

K, for the record, I read your whole post. But I singled this part out to make a general, overall statement on this matter because it happens often enough that it needs to be addressed.

Can we stop saying “X character is irrelevant who and has no place in the games and is only around because of his popularity”? Because to put it bluntly, the “irrelevant” part is absolute nonsense. The same can be said for most if not the whole cast—especially Knuckles, who it’s no secret that many of the same people who make these comments go out of their way to defend and say otherwise that he’s important for whatever reason (most common reason being he’s “part of the main trio” or a “classic character” as if that means he can show up whenever) as opposed to the same standards and merits they judge characters like Shadow. You could say that about the whole cast, up to and including Tails as of late, but I know many would never even bother for some pretty obvious reasons.

These days it’s really just another way of coming off as “I hate this popular character and he should be gone for my sake” and means fuck all regarding relevance. A personal dislike of a character doesn’t equate to them having no place. And whether you actually meant it that way or not, actually think about that statement and the sense that really makes, because I can tell you one thing for sure—it has very little (hell, I’d argue it has absolutely nothing) to do with actual relevance to the series.

More to it, it’s not impossible nor as difficult as people like to act to make a character relevant. We should know better than this by now.

I see your point, though I could easily take the stance of everyone being irrelevant with Knuckles and Shadow taking the lead. To be fair though, and leaving things more open to discussion, perhaps a better way to address the topic of Shadow's use in the games would have been to address how compatible his preferred use as a narrative heavy, dark counter part to Sonic is in the lighthearted action sitcom direction SEGA/Sonic Team have been presenting. While arguably a skilled writer can make that work, just forcing Shadow in to draw in his fans is a disservice to those fans as well the company on a whole as it creates distrust and lost revenue which is why I currently take the stance of Shadow not fitting in with the current direction SEGA/Sonic Team have been driving the games. As for the current comics, since he doesn't seem to have much of a role in Flynn's current story, forcing him in as I feel like he has been at this point seems like a disservice to his fans that will do not but harm the comic and fan trust in the interim before he really explores Shadow as a part of his narrative later on. Sure, it's all well and fine for us to discuss what we hope to see, but when we start demanding based on a character perception that does not fit the current direction or story being told we are simply setting ourselves up for disappointment and potentially at worst making ourselves a menace to our fellow forum goers.

That should be enough there though so I'll try to follow your lead

13 hours ago, Conquering Storm’s Servant said:

————————————

More to the topic on Whisper, I’m actually eager to see her in action now that we can see her personal Wispon.

I really like how creative they were with Wispon technology too. I’ve always said that they should use the Wisps as more than one-time power ups if they’re to stick around, and if this were the games, I could see Wispons like Whisper’s opening the door for a lot of mechanics.

Heck, they almost could return gunplay into the games with these instead of the realistic guns that were used in ShTH. I could see a lot of variety in this alone. As much as Forces tanked, I’ll give some good credit to Sonic Team for this idea that the comics are expanding on.

and talk about Whisper.

16 hours ago, Sonictrainer said:

Evan revealed more information about Whisper!

 

While I still feel that she is a little over designed and kind of busy I do agree that her use of Wisps is a nice evolution of the Wispon concept from Forces. As for adding gun play back into the games I could see it working with Shadow if you had the option more so to use his Chaos Spears as his default projectile command with the currently held wisp changing his projectile and offering him the other wisp functionality all combined with clean Sonic controls unlike the Avatar.

16 minutes ago, Blue Blood said:

Okay, so I've just caught up with issues 1 through 4. This is my first time ever following a Sonic comic series, and I must want to say what an absolute delight it is. Things have started out relatively simple, introducing the cast and setting the SCD scene. No major plot events yet, nothing dramatic, nothing much to talk about content wise. But the characters are all wonderful. Seriously. This is brilliant. I've got issues 5 through 7 here to read, and I can't wait to get stuck in.

I'm so glad the IDW comics are a blank slate.

Your enthusiasm will definitely be rewarded moving forward so I hope you enjoy the next 3 as much as the first 4. And i definitely agree that the relatively blank slate that the IDW comics are working from plays to the strengths of Flynn's ability to weave in game elements into a comprehensive and fun narrative.

[Snippyjay]

Does anyone else really love the retail incentive variant covers on the IDW Sonic? I love Tyson’s work on issues 1-4, but these are just beautiful! And what I’ve seen of the IDW’s artwork from 1-7 has been fantastic so far. Really looking forward to reading more

[Meta77]

1. I do not really want to get into the whole shadow discussion but sega jp did just post a character popularity result and sonic won with 31% and shadow was at 30% so pretty much their poster children

2. I got the varient of issue 7 and its beautiful and its like a mini hardback? Not sure how to explain the amazing quality of the varient

3. Issue 7 holy crap is all i can say. the artwork, story, everything my god the fights!!! I really hope neo sticks around cause just wow. They even show sonic picking with him losing that form the first time. The issue was just perfect.

[Marco9966]

1 hour ago, Meta77 said:

1. I do not really want to get into the whole shadow discussion but sega jp did just post a character popularity result and sonic won with 31% and shadow was at 30% so pretty much their poster children

2. I got the varient of issue 7 and its beautiful and its like a mini hardback? Not sure how to explain the amazing quality of the varient

3. Issue 7 holy crap is all i can say. the artwork, story, everything my god the fights!!! I really hope neo sticks around cause just wow. They even show sonic picking with him losing that form the first time. The issue was just perfect.

That's why Shadow is the main rival in TSR and not Jet.

[Almar]

Japan having bad taste is more or less what Silver is still in games for.

[Marco9966]

Just now, Almar said:

Japan having bad taste is more or less what Silver is still in games for.

Silver has a cool design!

[Celestia]

On 7/25/2018 at 12:31 PM, Meta77 said:

Nah I'd rather they keep the neo form. Much more threatening.  plus the neo form gives him the ability to talk opening up for a larger plot. Just the old beeper metal was cool but got boring fast since there's only so much a silent bot can do. Thankfully a lot of people like his return. Granted it depends on what artist get a HD of him to make him look bad as like this issue

This is a late reply but: Metal can talk in his normal form too. He has one last line in Heroes, more recently there's Generations (yeah it was only in text boxes but whatever), and going by comics SEGA didn't seem to mind him talking post-reboot either. They just don't like him talking when it involves voice acting, apparently. It's one of those weird SEGA things I guess.

[StaticMania]

Metal Sonic talked in the OVA...

He's just the stoic type...

[Meta77]

2 hours ago, StaticMania said:

Metal Sonic talked in the OVA...

He's just the stoic type...

He talked through Sonics mind. He had nothing to say. Even when looking up  a skirt lol

6 hours ago, Celestia said:

This is a late reply but: Metal can talk in his normal form too. He has one last line in Heroes, more recently there's Generations (yeah it was only in text boxes but whatever), and going by comics SEGA didn't seem to mind him talking post-reboot either. They just don't like him talking when it involves voice acting, apparently. It's one of those weird SEGA things I guess.

I remember it was after the final fight saying sky he couldn't win or something

And josefa japan if they are still like the 90s self usually gets the final say in what is to be done

[StaticMania]

You're right, I totally forgot Sonic's non-existant psychic ability...to read minds.

[Diogenes]

4 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

You're right, I totally forgot Sonic's non-existant psychic ability...to read minds.

Well either that or he speaks Bleep-Bloop.

Actually though I'd guess what was going on is, since Metal had all of Sonic's memories and Tails hacked him to bring out more of Sonic's personality, they were so in sync by the end that Sonic knew what Metal was thinking even without him having to say it. "I know everything you're going to do" etc, but even moreso.

[Big Panda]

So when Metal said “There’s only one Sonic” near the end, that was Sonic reading his mind or something?

[DabigRG]

5 minutes ago, Ernest-Panda said:

So when Metal said “There’s only one Sonic” near the end, that was Sonic reading his mind or something?

It does look that way, lookin back.

[StaticMania]

Man, OVA Metal is so much better than actual Metal. He's all honorable and stuff. Not a sore woser wit a git.

 

Maybe this Metal Sonic can be like that, since he was in a winning position...won't know yet how he'll take a loss.

[Skull Leader]

4 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

Man, OVA Metal is so much better than actual Metal. He's all honorable and stuff. Not a sore woser wit a git.

 

Maybe this Metal Sonic can be like that, since he was in a winning position...won't know yet how he'll take a loss.

What if this Metal was kind of like Grand Admiral Thrawn: cut his loses and know when to retreat instead of continuing a battle where the initiative is lost and wasting resources because of a misplaced ego.

From what they show, IDW's Metal seems to be more concerned with serving his master and delivering results (especially with that speech of how ONLY Eggman is worthy to rule and lead) than in gaining his favor for some ulterior purpose.

[StaticMania]

His rebellious phase was forced out, so he's got his priorities straight. Good for him.

[Sonic Fan J]

I do have to wonder though, once Eggman is back in charge will Metal stay Neo if he hasn't lost the form by then or will he be reverted to a high speed anti-Sonic enforcer while Eggman attempts to restructure his empire?

[StaticMania]

He'll be the leader of the Super Special Sonic Subdue and Smash Squad...

The SSSSSS for short.

[Meta77]

53 minutes ago, Sonic Fan J said:

I do have to wonder though, once Eggman is back in charge will Metal stay Neo if he hasn't lost the form by then or will he be reverted to a high speed anti-Sonic enforcer while Eggman attempts to restructure his empire?

He will stay Neo. He already stated this in the comic pretty much. Instead of him changing into that form on his own eggman reupgraded him back into Neo

[NegaMix]

I doubt he'll stick as Neo Metal for too long, at least once Eggman's back in charge. There may likely be something (or someone) in the comic's future that manages to destroy Neo Metal's body, forcing him to revert back into his original form.

That said, I don't see something like this happening for quite a while. Heck, we don't even know how long it'll be until Eggman comes to his senses.

[Meta77]

It would literally make 0 sense for them to right into the story that eggman was the one that wanted him in this new form to simply right in oh well here's the old form just cause I cant fix him again in his upgraded form just cause some dont like it. At least not at first.  maybe a couple of 10 issues later