Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[PC the Hedgehog]

More excitement over the mystery of a new character than confirmation that Evan Stanley is confirmed as an artist for the new book.

Granted, Stanley is probably my least favorite of the contemporary Sonic artists, but she's probably the best artist as far as facial expressions go.

[Big Panda]

Maybe they got the rights to use Tekno? :P

[Wraith]

It's probably a new character.

If they can't get the Archie cast back they might make new IDW mainstays instead.

[Your Vest Friend]

Wait, just realised; in five days time is when the solicits are supposed to drop. And the background looks more like a cover design than an inside panel.

So really, the tease isn't an exclusive reveal but a reminder that solicits are due. 

[knuckles20]

7 hours ago, Neon Talking CC14 said:

Our first character teaser, courtesy of the Facebook group and new Evan Stanley art!

The full image will be revealed in five days.

This is gonna be a long 5 days.

 

[DabigRG]

.

2 hours ago, JosepHenry said:

Yep. Is a bird.

(spiritsonic is Evan Stanley)

Sharps the Parakeet confirmed.

2 hours ago, VEDJ-F said:

Would be funny if all the new characters were just based on the avatars. 

That would be some shit, all right.

 

[A super No.1 washedupgamer]

I think it's a chicken. 

*bwak!-bwak!*

The feathers look sorta white and the feathers on the head look very chicken-like.

And if sonic has to drag it somewhere, that mean he or she must be scared, hence, it's chicken!

I'll take my detective badge now.

[Multikaris]

The question now is, how important will this character be? 

[JosepHenry]

6 minutes ago, Miragnarok said:

The question now is, how important will this character be? 

To be in the cover with Sonic... Very important.

[Korke]

Well, everything point towards a brand-new OC if that thing is not a tail.

If that happens I'm gonna have a great laugh at the SEGA purists.

[Multikaris]

10 minutes ago, Korke said:

Well, everything point towards a brand-new OC if that thing is not a tail.

If that happens I'm gonna have a great laugh at the SEGA purists.

Unless this is a minor character...

[Korke]

1 minute ago, Miragnarok said:

Unless this is a minor character...

Could be true, but why would they make such fuss and mystery over a minor role?

[Multikaris]

16 minutes ago, Korke said:

Could be true, but why would they make such fuss and mystery over a minor role?

Maybe because they are only important to this one storyline?

[Shaddy Zaphod]

I don't think Evan's reply is confirmation that it's a bird. It could just be a case of it being the post she replied to first, and it's not even necessarily directed at the person who thinks it to be a bird.

My personal beliefs:

1. It's someone we've seen before. Either in game or comic form.

2. It's one of many characters on the cover. The preview description for the book says it's about Sonic going to a whole bunch of different villages, right? This could be an ensemble cover with a bunch of different townspeople on it. The reason I say this isn't much, but really just because the design of bird characters in Sonic is always goofy to the point that I don't think a new one being the sole focus of the start of a series would resonate well. They just don't look all that appealing most of the time.

[KoDaiko]

As people mentioned, it's gonna feel weird if the new character lacks gloves (seeing the "hands" are missing the wrist/cuff part)

6 hours ago, VEDJ-F said:

Would be funny if all the new characters were just based on the avatars. 

That would be interesting, given they are just "based" with more creativity in design. 

I mean, the main "Buddy" avatar looks good enough to be a side character. 

[DabigRG]

43 minutes ago, Shaddy the Zaphod said:

 

2. It's one of many characters on the cover. The preview description for the book says it's about Sonic going to a whole bunch of different villages, right? This could be an ensemble cover with a bunch of different townspeople on it. The reason I say this isn't much, but really just because the design of bird characters in Sonic is always goofy to the point that I don't think a new one being the sole focus of the start of a series would resonate well. They just don't look all that appealing most of the time.

That's my thought as well.

[Salamander]

6 hours ago, A Checker KING heavy engin said:

I think it's a chicken. 

*bwak!-bwak!*

The feathers look sorta white and the feathers on the head look very chicken-like.

And if sonic has to drag it somewhere, that mean he or she must be scared, hence, it's chicken!

I'll take my detective badge now.

I actually think this is 100% correct.  Furthermore, if the character is one of a number of generic civilians, the significance of a chicken is that they feature among Sonic's animal friends from the very earliest games, and so I would suggest that there will be a whole crowd of similar adaptations of the squirrel, bunny, seal etc.  There's one more piece of evidence in favour of the chicken interpretation, too: That odd shape atop its head makes complete sense as a chicken's comb.

[dylan tix]

The thing about that is that Sally (both the more well-known princess of Satam/Archie and the minor character from Fleetway) are already supposed to be based off the squirrel from Sonic 1. Porker Lewis and Johnny Lightfoot from Fleetway are based on the pig and rabbit, so that just leaves the chicken, the penguin, the bluebird and the seal. It would be interesting if they made characters based of those animals for IDW. They'd have a complete set then.

[Dwapook]

25 minutes ago, FFWF said:

I actually think this is 100% correct.  Furthermore, if the character is one of a number of generic civilians, the significance of a chicken is that they feature among Sonic's animal friends from the very earliest games, and so I would suggest that there will be a whole crowd of similar adaptations of the squirrel, bunny, seal etc.  There's one more piece of evidence in favour of the chicken interpretation, too: That odd shape atop its head makes complete sense as a chicken's comb.

Eh.. my first guess was that it might be the chicken from Sonic's band in the Sonic manga and early Sonic game concept art.. *edits* as I've gone back and seen DabigRG already mentioned!

[Red Hot Jack]

Okay, too many thoughts, let me take all of the guesses and discuss them in order, the most popular guesses at least:

1. Sally: Unlikely, although it could be a returning character seeing the hype tease? As for those who say it doesn't look like Sally, if she returns she would likely get a makeover, so details don't matter here.

2. A brand new character: This seems the most likely option, what's the point of the tease then? Well, if this guy/gal is important in the book, it would be a big reveal I suppose. My hope? Please don't let them become the new Freedom Fighters in terms of importance, please.

3. Rainbow Dash: I don't know why I'm discussing this, someone guessed RD because of the tail, my point is... I hope they don't start with crossovers so soon, I want to see some of the main story first. Although a crossover with whatever series would be a big reveal, but not immediately.

4. Characters based on the Avatars: Another possible option, and I love it! My favorite option, definitely, would it be so bad to take the cool designs created in Forces and make actual characters from them? I would give them a chance. This also seems likely because of the description of the first volume, "new allies", "saving villages" and "after the latest big battle against Eggman".

[dylan tix]

I don't want the "latest big battle against Eggman" to mean after Sonic Forces, though. I liked Sonic Forces, and I do want the avatar to be a character in the comic (specifically the red wolf who was the most frequently used design in the promos) but I still don't want that. It doesn't sound like it will be anyway. Sonic was talking about cleaning up after the fight was over, but none of the other game characters involved in Forces like Team Dark or Team Chaotix were mentioned at all.

[NikoS]

I was expecting (and still am tbh) them to reveal new characters on these first 4 issues, but this image, if it IS a new character under the question mark, it just don't make any sense, why to create hype and speculation over someone we've never seen before? it just doesn't make sense to me, hence why i think it's a returning character.

[Red Hot Jack]

15 minutes ago, dylan tix said:

I don't want the "latest big battle against Eggman" to mean after Sonic Forces, though. I liked Sonic Forces, and I do want the avatar to be a character in the comic (specifically the red wolf who was the most frequently used design in the promos) but I still don't want that. It doesn't sound like it will be anyway. Sonic was talking about cleaning up after the fight was over, but none of the other game characters involved in Forces like Team Dark or Team Chaotix were mentioned at all.

It's likely that they want to focus on the main 4 and Eggman in the first arc, plus introduce new characters. Team Dark and Team Chaotix will probably be in the first issue though, as they were part of the resistance, after that, they simply split into teams and go to save different villages. That's my theory.

10 minutes ago, NikoS said:

I was expecting (and still am tbh) them to reveal new characters on these first 4 issues, but this image, if it IS a new character under the question mark, it just don't make any sense, why to create hype and speculation over someone we've never seen before? it just doesn't make sense to me, hence why i think it's a returning character.

If it's an Avatar it wouldn't be a totally brand new character, and still, if this person is important in the book, it would be a big reveal.

[Marco9966]

Sonic Forces made no sense at all story-wise!

I'd rather have it as an IDW adaptation with no Classic Sonic.

[BlueSky]

Okay, first things first, Evan Stanley made it too! Awesome, say what you will I do like her style a lot too!

Reading people wondering about the hinted character is refreshing after all the other stuff, when I first saw the picture I thought I saw two hands clasped around Sonic's hand but whatever.

This is actually pretty entertaining to see, even if I'm not too into these new comics at this moment since stuff. Be it new or old character, it at least gives a hope this isn't all about just the game cast, though one can never really be certain. It's just that however large the game cast is, I'm quite sure the same stuff Sega had for Archie about keeping the game cast consistent is still going for IDW as well. It's not a bad thing as long as there're other characters for making the plot flow nicely, I think.

Anyway, it's always nice to see people get enthusiastic in a positive way over stuff like this. It makes me feel happy and much more interested about the conversation.

I suppose at least some guys know already but I do like burds.

 

... In that Tumblr post someone mentioned Old Man Owl already, even when that stuff isn't usable, at least that's what I've been told.