Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[DabigRG]

1 minute ago, VEDJ-F said:

Crash Team Racing. Out of 15 playable characters, four were heroes, two were neutral parties, and nine were villains. It has the exact opposite alignment distribution of the Sonic series, which is predominantly heroes. 

Oh yeah, I thought so. And yeah, both series have a roster problem.

Crash Bash had to use that as a plot point.

[Splash the Otter]

22 minutes ago, FFWF said:

It would be interesting to see the Hooligans re-examined with the recent discoveries that Bean and Bark weren't meant to be villains.  (Were they and Nack/Fang even a game-canon group before Mania?)

Mania seems to have established them as outlaws like Fang in the games. They might not be a team anymore though.

[Sonictrainer]

6 hours ago, Swing said:

The more such characters they create the more the less special they feel. Everyone in the Sonic world seems to be a action animal character.

There's only 3 new IDW exclusive characters so far.

2 of which are animal villains that the heroes can fight besides one of Eggman's many Badniks and Metal Sonics or mythical beasts.

8 hours ago, Jack of Tangles said:

About villains, I'm wondering if Ian were to introduce the Hard Boiled Heavies, do you think they would talk and get personalities? I mean, he did that with the robot masters in Mega Man and it was fantastic, so I would like it if Sega approves, which I have my doubts (eh).

And of course I'd love for Ian to write and improve the Deadly Six, not my favorites but still, I can see some potential.

Most likely. They have too much personality to be silent like Metal Sonic.

1 hour ago, FFWF said:

(Were they and Nack/Fang even a game-canon group before Mania?)

I feel like the idea of Team Hooligan was a canon immigrant, because even though it originated in the Archie Comics the Sonic YouTube Video for Mirage Saloon Zone Act 2 refers to them as the Hooligans.

[MetalSkulkBane]

49 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

I guess Commissioner Gordon, Oracle, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and sometimes the Joker himself don't exist then.

 

Okay, so superheroes do have supportive casts. Probably more than Sonic. Still

Shadow= Gun Commander, Snively

Knuckles= Relic

Silver= Gold & Schlemmer

Blaze= Marine and Sprockets from Pirate Plunder

Look at that, for every big name Sonic action guy (gal) I can mention at least one more passive supporting character.

"But they are so unimportant," says a hypothetical strawman.

So is Jimmy Olsen, if you compare him directly to Superman. If Relic was a character from 40s attached to one of biggest icons in pop culture, she would be known too.

[DabigRG]

33 minutes ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

Okay, so superheroes do have supportive casts. Probably more than Sonic. Still

Shadow= Gun Commander, Snively

Knuckles= Relic

Silver= Gold & Schlemmer

Blaze= Marine and Sprockets from Pirate Plunder

Look at that, for every big name Sonic action guy (gal) I can mention at least one more passive supporting character.

"But they are so unimportant," says a hypothetical strawman.

So is Jimmy Olsen, if you compare him directly to Superman. If Relic was a character from 40s attached to one of biggest icons in pop culture, she would be known too.

Well, Snively is at least a "former" villain, Marine was almost certainly meant to give Blaze her own sidekick(unless you count Gardon), and I get the feeling that Gold would've been a little more active had she gotten to make another appearance in a less establishing story.

[Swing]

1 hour ago, Sonictrainer said:

There's only 3 new IDW exclusive characters so far.

2 of which are animal villains that the heroes can fight besides one of Eggman's many Badniks and Metal Sonics or mythical beasts.

Don't care. Their just 3 more characters and nothing else.

[Slashy]

16 minutes ago, Swing said:

Don't care. Their just 3 more characters and nothing else.

I'm more concerned why there needs to be new characters this early. Is it mandates that ensure that the main cast can't even carry a story arc by themselves? Is it Ian Flynn struggling/not caring about the main cast?

At the very least I could see it making sense if these were story-exclusive characters like Chip, but they aren't.

[Sonictrainer]

19 minutes ago, Swing said:

Don't care. Their just 3 more characters and nothing else.

Let's play a game.

Name every Sonic character that only appears in the universe they debuted in.

Quote

I'm more concerned why there needs to be new characters this early. Is it mandates that ensure that the main cast can't even carry a story arc by themselves? Is it Ian Flynn struggling/not caring about the main cast?

At the very least I could see it making sense if these were story-exclusive characters like Chip, but they aren't.

Everyone split up and went their separate ways at the end of Forces.

Sonic ran off, Knuckles went back to Angel Island, etc, etc,

[Slashy]

1 minute ago, Sonictrainer said:

Let's play a game.

Name every Sonic character that only appears in the universe they debuted in.

Does this include characters that only appeared in one obscure game in the franchise?

[Sonictrainer]

6 minutes ago, Slashy said:

Does this include characters that only appeared in one obscure game in the franchise?

Yep, so that would include all 98 Townspeople in Unleashed, the NPCs in Adventure, 06, and Chronicles, the Chao running the Kindergarten in SA2B, the monsters you fight in Shuffle, and the bad 3D models of the students in Sonic's Schoolhouse.

Of course, those are all part of the game universe. As for Archie, Fleetway, AOSTH, SATAM, Underground, X, Boom, the early Manga series, and other forms of media...

[Slashy]

Just now, Sonictrainer said:

Yep, so that would include all 98 Townspeople in Unleashed, the NPCs in Adventure, 06, and Chronicles, the Chao running the Kindergarten in SA2B, the monsters you fight in Shuffle, and the bad 3D models of the students in Sonic's Schoolhouse.

Well Archie covered almost everything. The closest to them missing anyone (and this is if you include the Sonic X comics as separate) is Sara's father, anyone from Metarex arc in Sonic X, anyone from the Sonic mangas barring Emy and Charmy.

[Sonictrainer]

Just now, Slashy said:

Well Archie covered almost everything. The closest to them missing anyone (and this is if you include the Sonic X comics as separate) is Sara's father, anyone from Metarex arc in Sonic X, anyone from the Sonic mangas barring Emy and Charmy.

Not necessarily.

Most of the characters, since the beginning of Archie, debuted first in the games, AOSTH, and SATAM.

The earliest original character I can think of is Knuckles' Father and the frog that gave Sonic the magic stones.

[Slashy]

7 minutes ago, Sonictrainer said:

Not necessarily.

Most of the characters, since the beginning of Archie, debuted first in the games, AOSTH, and SATAM.

The earliest original character I can think of is Knuckles' Father and the frog that gave Sonic the magic stones.

Oh right most of Archie's characters were exclusive, majority of everyone else technically wasn't.

[Celestia]

Theoretically you could probably make stories only using the pre-existing characters. But if you want to tell a specific story that requires role(s) that characters that already exist can't fill, then it makes sense to introduce new ones. I genuinely don't see the problem here, and as for "too many actiony anthros gets boring," well uh...sorry, I guess? It's literally an action series about a bunch of furries, lol. I wouldn't be against new human chars tho'.

[Slashy]

Just now, Celestia said:

Theoretically you could probably make stories only using the pre-existing characters. But if you want to tell a specific story that requires role(s) that characters that already exist can't fill, then it makes sense to introduce new ones. I genuinely don't see the problem here, and if "too many anthros gets boring" then uh...sorry? It's literally an action series about a bunch of furries, lol. I wouldn't be against new human chars tho'.

I would like to see the series starting out with the main cast. My problem is that they can't even last more than 2 issues without introducing a new character. If I had to set a specified number of issues before they introduce a new character, I'd say at least 8? That's two mini story arcs there.

[Sonictrainer]

Is it possible to do a story, that takes place after the events of Forces, without introducing a new character?

I'd can't imagine Sonic not running into some of the non-SEGA cast members of the Resistance and giving some Fist Bumps.

Or saving some civilians we haven't seen before.

[Slashy]

Just now, Sonictrainer said:

Is it possible to do a story, that takes place after the events of Forces, without introducing a new character?

I'd can't imagine Sonic not running into some of the non-SEGA cast members of the Resistance and giving some Fist Bumps.

If they REALLY needed to continue from Forces, I'd say make them all background mobians like we saw in Forces and not ever make them any actual characters. There wasn't a need to introduce any major canon exclusive characters yet.

[Sonictrainer]

6 minutes ago, Slashy said:

If they REALLY needed to continue from Forces, I'd say make them all background mobians like we saw in Forces and not ever make them any actual characters. There wasn't a need to introduce any major canon exclusive characters yet.

Would they just be fighting the Forces Badniks for 8 issues?

Would you bring Eggman back immediately or would you have someone else take over some of the Eggman Empire?

Ah, man. What if Orbot and Cubot took over until Eggman came back?

[Slashy]

Just now, Sonictrainer said:

Would they just be fighting the Forces Badniks for 8 issues?

Would you bring Eggman back immediately or would you have someone else take over some of the Eggman Empire?

I'd have Infinite try to get revenge, maybe even try to coerce the Jackal Squad to take over.

Or I'd just bring back Metal Sonic, I mean unless you count Rivals as canon he hasn't technically been seen since Heroes. Maybe he could try to start a robot uprising with Eggman's troops. That's a new plot that repurposes the existing cast (and actually does a Lost World plot point in a good way). The only way I see this not working is if Metal Sonic can't have any motivations of his own due to SEGA mandates.

[DabigRG]

1 hour ago, Slashy said:

I'm more concerned why there needs to be new characters this early.

I am too, to an extent. Rough and Tumble are at least minor villains, even better ones that they imply may have some story relevance down the road.

41 minutes ago, Sonictrainer said:

 

The earliest original character I can think of is Knuckles' Father and the frog that gave Sonic the magic stones.

The what now?

31 minutes ago, Slashy said:

I would like to see the series starting out with the main cast. My problem is that they can't even last more than 2 issues without introducing a new character.

And that's how the story seemed like it shwould've been formatted, had they not decided to hype the shit out of Tangle at Blaze's expense before most of the issues were even revealed. 

17 minutes ago, Sonictrainer said:

Ah, man. What if Orbot and Cubot took over until Eggman came back?

I'm reminded of that one episode where Decoe and Bocoe had to defind Eggman's Chao Garden base while he was out.

And honestly, that's the only way I can see them having any real direction where the Empire is concerned at the moment. Assuming Eggman's presence on that one cover was just cameo, anyway.

13 minutes ago, Slashy said:

I'd have Infinite try to get revenge, maybe even try to coerce the Jackal Squad to take over.

That's assuming Infinite in particular is even alive or at least not on hold by SEGA.

28 minutes ago, Slashy said:

Or I'd just bring back Metal Sonic, I mean unless you count Rivals as canon he hasn't technically been seen since Heroes. Maybe he could try to start a robot uprising with Eggman's troops. That's a new plot that repurposes the existing cast (and actually does a Lost World plot point in a good way). The only way I see this not working is if Metal Sonic can't have any motivations of his own due to SEGA mandates.

Hm...maybe. He didn't need to be in Forces to begin with, so he would theoretically be out there anyway.

 

[Sonictrainer]

20 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

The what now?

You know, the magic Frog from Issue 15?

Quote

Sonic saves the life of a magical frog from a mudslide. It rewards him with three magical stones. Each of the stones has a different ability: one provides super strength, one enables great leaping distance, and one grants elasticity. The frog warns that the stones will only last a short time, and leaps off after thanking him again for his rescue.

Funny how this issue happens way before the Werehog and Wisps are introduced.

20 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

That's assuming Infinite in particular is even alive or at least not on hold by SEGA.

Well, just like the Deadly Six and Phantom Heavies, we don't see him outright die.

27 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

Hm...maybe. He didn't need to be in Forces to begin with, so he would theoretically be out there anyway.

Out of all the characters and inventions Eggman uses, how could Metal Sonic not appear in Forces?

The only other problem I could see with Metal Sonic, besides mandates, is the fact that the one in Forces is a Phantom, but that's easy to write around.

[Shadowlax]

2 hours ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

Okay, so superheroes do have supportive casts. Probably more than Sonic. Still

Shadow= Gun Commander, Snively

Knuckles= Relic

Silver= Gold & Schlemmer

Blaze= Marine and Sprockets from Pirate Plunder

Look at that, for every big name Sonic action guy (gal) I can mention at least one more passive supporting character.

"But they are so unimportant," says a hypothetical strawman.

So is Jimmy Olsen, if you compare him directly to Superman. If Relic was a character from 40s attached to one of biggest icons in pop culture, she would be known too.

Tagentally related, I wonder what they will with some supporting casts now given the change in canon. 

Particularly blaze and shadow. I wonder what they will even do with blaze. And for shadow,  his whole situation is weird. I already stated you might be seeing him later than sooner because he's a bit more uh... complicated than some characters in many respects. But I get the feeling with how this comic is shaping up, and with the last couple of sonic games, and even sonic boom. They wanna move in a direction, I kind of wanted them to move in which is " Animal people, except only eggman " . and if that's the case, we might not see gun. Which isn't a bad thing, honestly I would prefer it. But then I wonder if shadow will have a supporting cast or will he just wander around. You might mention omega and rouge, but I would prefer they also existed by themselves and team dark comes together on occasion. 

So I guess my point is i'm interested in what blaze's and shadow's deal is gonna be

[MetalSkulkBane]

2 hours ago, DabigRG said:

Well, Snively is at least a "former" villain, Marine was almost certainly meant to give Blaze her own sidekick(unless you count Gardon), and I get the feeling that Gold would've been a little more active had she gotten to make another appearance in a less establishing story.

Hey, you brought up Joker and Gordon. How is nervous Gold or powerless (?) Marine more 'action character' than the commissioner of Gotham Police?

[DabigRG]

14 minutes ago, Sonictrainer said:

You know, the magic Frog from Issue 15?

Funny how this issue happens way before the Werehog and Wisps are introduced.

I honestly don't remember ever seeing/read issue 15 outside of that button Robotnik is wearing.

14 minutes ago, Sonictrainer said:

Well, just like the Deadly Six and Phantom Heavies, we don't see him outright die.

He's still the most likely to have at least a brush with death outside of maybe Zor and Zavok.

15 minutes ago, Sonictrainer said:

Out of all the characters and inventions Eggman uses, how could Metal Sonic not appear in Forces?

Simple--by giving the position of returning villain to someone else.

Besides, nothing besides the Shapebots, The Death Egg, and a mass produced version it's Boss Mech shows up in the story anyway. Infinite himself does has the whole Dragon position covered, better than Metal ever has even.

 

[Flame Lance]

I think Rough and Tumble look awesome! I think they look a lot more like Sonic characters than the majority of the characters Archie pumped out. I was never a fan of how over designed the Archie characters were. Too many clothes on the male characters for one thing. I for one have no problem with new characters in the comics. I do think the already existing game cast is great, but you can't honestly expect JUST them and never any new faces. I just hope it doesn't become so overly saturated with newbies that actual game characters get lost in the mix. That was one thing I didn't care for about the original Archie series.