Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[Shadowlax]

3 hours ago, Celestia said:

With the recurring cast being mostly introduced so far in the order they first appeared (Tails -> Amy -> Knuckles -> Chaotix), by all rights Big should have been the one featured in the sixth issue instead of Shadow. As a Big fan, I'm upset that this was allowed to happen. Hopefully Mr. Flynn addresses this quite embarrassing mistake soon, ideally by replacing Shadow with Big in every panel of that issue.

Is the world ready for that much big the cat. You don't know what powerful fishing based magics your messin with. 

3 hours ago, Sonic Fan J said:

The thing is that for all of Shadow's popularity he is not really a definitive member of the cast. In contrast Tails, Amy, and even Knuckles have more direct relationships with Sonic and his way of life. For example, Tails is Sonic's best friend and enjoys adventuring with him, Amy is head over heels about him and wants to be a part of his life,  and even Knuckles and his duty gives him enough reason to occasionally check on Sonic and make sure he isn't doing anything which could endanger Angel Island and the Master Emerald. Shadow on the other hand at the end of the day could really care less about Sonic. Sure he acknowledges him and respects what he's capable of, but he has no personal investment in him. As this comic is supposed to be focusing on Sonic and his adventures it only makes sense to advertise the characters who are most likely to be involved (even if Knuckles is partly pandering to the Classic Trio ideology as @Skull Leader would accuse his appearance of being).

This is 100% Correct. Thank you.

3 hours ago, Sonic Fan J said:

There is also a question of series tone and intention. As much story potential as Shadow has in a story focusing on Sonic he really has too much story potential. Where Sonic is just a freewheeling drifter who travels wherever the wind is blowing lending a hand to those he meets along the way, Shadow is always affiliated with his past, his alien DNA, Eggman's family, and his power makes him a target for both being taken out or lulled over to the side of the current antagonist. If you look at that comparison Shadow is a bit of a spotlight hog and not actually good to use this early on while they are trying to establish this as a Sonic story. If anything, that bit I've seen floating around where Ian Flynn supposedly said that Shadow is the most likely candidate for holding a spin-off series is rather telling of just how much there is to him.

I don't know about being lulled over to the antagonists side.... Shadow has been beyond that for a while...he was kinda beyond that since the end of sonic adventure 2. That said you are right, he hogs the spot light. And he's not the best character to show up now while things are being established, I didn't expect to see him for like a year, then they were gonna make a big stink about him showing up. He has his own bullshit going on and there is no real need to throw him in ...whatever sonic happens to be doing at the moment. 

Speaking on tone, that's also a weird one. If you try to remove all seriousness from shadow... you get sonic boom shadow... and ...dear lord no. So yeah we gotta see where they are willing to go tone wise with this. 

3 hours ago, Sonic Fan J said:

For the most part, I think right now letting the comic introduce the cast slowly over this first year while establishing it as a Sonic story is a good thing. It gives the creative team time to establish there current take on the series, and it gives IDW the time to put together numbers which shows them what character appearances move the most volumes, making them the most money.

 

3 hours ago, Sonic Fan J said:

If Shadow really is all that popular still then the numbers will speak for themselves and marketing and the head honchos will push Flynn to include Shadow more. Heck, he may even get his own book if the numbers are there. If not, then it will tell us a bit about his current popularity or at least SEGA's current willingness to use him.

These are sort of dependent on if they advertise him or not. As of currently he's apparent in issue 6, whether he's important enough to show off we will see. But as of currently there's no material mentioning his appearance. 

3 hours ago, Sonic Fan J said:

 

On to merchandise, I personally almost never see Amy merchandise or third party representation. There was BOOM! for a little bit but all I usually see is Amy in a package deal for classic figures.

She also isn't in mania, and that makes me sad. 

3 hours ago, Sonic Fan J said:

Speaking of BOOM!, I don't think any Shadow fan deserved that disservice to his character. But considering they demanded his inclusion in a setting where he wouldn't fit in the first place it might not be surprising that was the end result.

BOOM SHADOW 

3 hours ago, Sonic Fan J said:

On the topic of places where he doesn't fit, since I just mentioned classic themed merchandise is about the place I see Amy appear in merchandise, if we consider the recent Classic themed push from SEGA, with Mania Plus being the next big release, then it becomes even easier to see why Shadow isn't getting any focus. He simply has no place in the Classic version of the franchise and the current state of the Modern side is in no shape to use him properly. Roughly, why the money may be there, The franchise itself is in no state to use him. Of course this is also SEGA we're talking about and they are known for ignoring easy money (PSO2 anyone).

I mean they could use him in the classic franchise, now. I mean they made the effort to say its a different timeline, so that is literally free range to decide who can be apart of the " classic bran" . I don't want him there personally, but hey its their brand. I wouldn't say the Modern version isn't in the correct shape, but the studio making it might not be. They don't seem to be interested in investing time and money into stuff right now. 

[DaddlerTheDalek]

4 hours ago, NiTROACTiVE said:

You know, some people have been accusing Ian Flynn of wanting to get rid of the Freedom Fighters, but it was never really Ian's decision to not include them in IDW Sonic, at least not yet.

I don't know where this whole theory of Ian Flynn wanting to get rid of the Freedom Fighters began and where they got the info from. In fact, he's been getting some flack lately as stated in the description of this stamp I made.

Recently? It's nothing new. It's just coming back. Some people are accusing him of stuff like that since Mecha Sally or maybe even before that. Some people treat Ian like a villain or something like that.

[Red Hot Jack]

Yeah, because with Sally turning Mecha, Antoine almost dying, Bunnie going MIA, Rotor retired, it seemed like he wanted to get rid of the FFs,  while he was just trying to get them back together in a new fashion. That was clearly the intended plot.

[Sonic Fan J]

3 hours ago, Jack the Maniac said:

Yeah, because with Sally turning Mecha, Antoine almost dying, Bunnie going MIA, Rotor retired, it seemed like he wanted to get rid of the FFs,  while he was just trying to get them back together in a new fashion. That was clearly the intended plot.

The problem is that requires time, patience on the reader's side, and a willingness to accept change on the reader's side. If anything, the #252 Reboot gave Flynn the opportunity he needed to reset the status quo in a new form without having to tell a long drawn out story to do it. Of course though he was still splitting them up again when the comic was canceled so there still might have been something he needed to separate them for to highlight their dynamic. The funny thing is, I never cared for the FFs personally until the Mecha Sally Arc and could care less about Sally herself until after the reboot where here and Amy had some rather enjoyable interactions.

To me, if they were to bring the FFs back I think it would work better starting them off as ancillary characters to the supporting cast based on their roles before being teamed up and made their own thing. For example, I would pair Sally up with Amy as they are both leaders, Rotor with Tails since I could see Rotor being inspired by Tails bringing his mechanical know how to the Resistance to do the same, Nicole with Knuckles both to constantly remind him of his leadership status and to play off his trust issues, and Antoine with Sonic as I could see Antoine trying to outshine Sonic in an attempt to be the hero he wants to believe he is capable of being. Bunny is really the only hard one for me to pair off because she is very sure of herself and really would more or less be doing what Sonic is doing running around town to town trying to deal with the badnik threat on her own. It's actually funny that even though I like Bunny it would be easier for me to work with Sticks just because I could see her acting as an informant who only trusts Amy and thus shares her info only with Amy.

5 hours ago, Shadowlax said:

This is 100% Correct. Thank you.

I don't know about being lulled over to the antagonists side.... Shadow has been beyond that for a while...he was kinda beyond that since the end of sonic adventure 2. That said you are right, he hogs the spot light. And he's not the best character to show up now while things are being established, I didn't expect to see him for like a year, then they were gonna make a big stink about him showing up. He has his own bullshit going on and there is no real need to throw him in ...whatever sonic happens to be doing at the moment. 

Speaking on tone, that's also a weird one. If you try to remove all seriousness from shadow... you get sonic boom shadow... and ...dear lord no. So yeah we gotta see where they are willing to go tone wise with this. 

BOOM SHADOW 

I mean they could use him in the classic franchise, now. I mean they made the effort to say its a different timeline, so that is literally free range to decide who can be apart of the " classic bran" . I don't want him there personally, but hey its their brand. I wouldn't say the Modern version isn't in the correct shape, but the studio making it might not be. They don't seem to be interested in investing time and money into stuff right now. 

I just try to look at things from as many different perspectives as I can. While I'm set in my own ways it at least helps make it easier to see why certain things have to be balanced the way they are. Some times it sucks (as an Amy fan who would to see more of her adventurous side explored I kind of have an idea how it feels to never see anything done) and sometimes it works out great when they finally are brought in fully. I really have no doubt that Shadow will have his day in the IDW comics and when it comes Sonic and company will have to deal with what that means or be darn glad that Shadow is on their side. For bringing in that do or die attitude that certain situations and stakes require, with the way the franchise is handled these days Shadow is absolutely necessary for that, unlike BOOM! Shadow (my word, what a song XD)

In the classic side of things I've honestly been wondering how you could bring him over without over complicating things or watering him down too much since the story telling is usually told through in level visuals with a fair bit of pantomime. At best, the only solution I've come up with to date is to kind of do SA2 to an extent but like S&K.

If I was in charge of that project I would probably do something along these lines.

One day an object appears in the sky bearing Eggman's face and Sonic wondering what trouble the doc is up to hops in his spaceship from SegaSonic Cosmo Fighter and flies up to investigate and discovers a massive space colony full of numerous environments that beg for exploration with how unlike Eggman the place is.

Meanwhile, Eggman is curious himself why his face has appeared in the sky in goes to lead his own investigation discovering a level of technology that despite its age rivals his own. Seeing it as a chance to make a new base for himself and begin his next plan for world domination Eggman sets about converting the space colony into his latest and greatest fortress.

What neither Sonic or Eggman are prepared for though is the presence of Shadow the Hedgehog, a mysterious hedgehog who calls this colony home and is none to fond of teh idea of intruders.

From that basic story setting I would then make Sonic and Shadow the playable characters with occasional clashes between Sonic and Shadow. To tie in the Maria and Professor Gerald stuff I would have Maria appear in front of Shadow when starting up as him before fading back out and giving the player control and Geralds face I would have show up during the start up of the game's final boss.

It's not a lot to be sure, and would probably raise more questions than anything, but it is the best I can think of right now for how to introduce Shadow into the Classic side without compromising too much of what makes him, him. Of course at this stage of thought it is strongly structured like 3&K but that is unfortunately part of the flaw of Shadow's presentation to begin with. That said though, I don't think its impossible to bring Shadow over to the Classic side, it's just that if sticking to the style of storytelling the Classics used you have to be willing to compromise a lot.

[NiTROACTiVE]

7 hours ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

I know how you feel. I know Nolan tried to do something different with Batman, a bold new direction for comic book movies. But damn it, he didn't include Bob the Goon from 1987 movie and that killed the whole experience with Dark Knight.

...wait, my mistake. I don't follow your logic. A less over-the-top example: did you ignored Young Justice cartoon, just because it didn't had all of teen titans in it?

Well the thing is, it was implied in STH #251 and beyond that pre-reboot characters were either killed or erased from existence, and they weren't ever seen in the comics or other forms of media again, and it only got worse when Archie Sonic was cancelled. If that never happened, then I wouldn't be as upset about it. There were also many characters that could have used development as well, and now they're most likely going to be completely forgotten in a few years. It's sad that people are forgetting about them.

4 hours ago, DaddlerTheDalek said:

Recently? It's nothing new. It's just coming back. Some people are accusing him of stuff like that since Mecha Sally or maybe even before that. Some people treat Ian like a villain or something like that.

Well to be fair, I don't think the hate on what Ian Flynn was doing wasn't too bad, as I can see why some people wouldn't like the Mecha Sally arc. I also didn't hear as much accusations of Flynn doing bad things back then as well.

[RedFox99]

31 minutes ago, Sonic Fan J said:

Bunny is really the only hard one for me to pair off because she is very sure of herself and really would more or less be doing what Sonic is doing running around town to town trying to deal with the badnik threat on her own. It's actually funny that even though I like Bunny it would be easier for me to work with Sticks just because I could see her acting as an informant who only trusts Amy and thus shares her info only with Amy.

Maybe if they kept her dream of being a beautician, she could be paired with Cream.

[Sonic Fan J]

6 minutes ago, RedFox99 said:

Maybe if they kept her dream of being a beautician, she could be paired with Cream.

Even then I still see her mostly running around on her own to trying to undo the damage or stop it from spreading further. I just personally don't see how Cream could fit into that. I guess if her and Cream were introduced at the same time I could see her taking it on herself to keep Cream safe in this dangerous world they all find themselves in...

[LongcrierCat]

So the book is selling pretty well actually. That's pretty cool. I hope that kind of success continues. But honestly? Those first four issues *really* didn't impress me. 

I mean I'm a huge Archie Sonic fan and I knew that I was going to have to wait and see if there'd be some continuation of the Archie ideas. I went in expecting a whole new book. But this book is made by the exact same team as the old book. And honestly? The new book has replaced what could be interesting new story threads with much too much action or focus on continuity of games that they expect the fans to have played over natural storytelling and letting the characters speak for themselves.

But there is *one issue* that was really good. It's issue 2. It's fantastic. It's the only one of the four issues that actually works and yet I'm still kind of bothered about how Sonic's treating Amy and Amy's own writing feeling oddly... offish? 

Also why this setup? All of the casual fans and people who have a passing knowledge of Sonic know the old Genesis crew of Tails, Knuckles, and Amy. These books being set up the way they were were much too repetitive and I can't see Sonic non-fans being won over with how... average these books were. 

Listen. I read Squirrel Girl, the new Venom book, sometimes DC might put out something good, IDW's licensed work is usually fantastic in Transformers, Ghostbusters, Turtles, Ponies, and Jem and the Holograms. But this Sonic book? It's their weakest book so far. It has been a huge let down. But I don't blame IDW. 

I blame Sega for this new book being boring. IDW does a lot of licensed work for fun companies. They also had something unique where they had a ton of liberty to do fun and loose stuff with the other properties. Nickelodeon and Hasbro allow IDW to do whatever the hell they want as long as it's good and sells books. But Sega has a twisted sense of authorship where they're dictating too much of what goes on in this book and it's suffering for that.  

The book may be selling well *right now* but the problem is that later? What if people are already tired of the book after the first four issues? Right now, people are just hungry and want the new Sonic book because they liked and miss having a Sonic book to get. Now they have it but at what cost? 

And yeah? I say this not as someone who wants this book to fail. I love Sonic comic books. I love Archie Sonic and Sonic the Comic has a fond place for me and I love to read the fancomic Online. But this new IDW Sonic just hasn't done what a comic book should really do. It's been far too light on the story and nothing besides action and a whole bunch of fighting happen. At least stuff happens in Squirrel Girl with its unique stories all having something new going on in each issue. But here? The story arc is clear but it's not really *moving at all.* 

The problem is that the new book is boring. 

And that sucks. 

I'm sorry, I can't help it and I need to get this off of my chest. These books were really boring, guys. What the hell is going on with IDW and Sega? I just know that Flynn and the team can do better than this. So why is this boring? Why does it feel like Sega told them to force the continuity connections with the Wisps and Forces so that people who read this comic would be persuaded to go buy and play those games? 

Also wow. @MetalSkulkBane was right. I can't believe I have no idea why Tangle loves to fight, what she fights for, what her purpose is besides fighting, and the only thing that hinted at a personality is that she gets in trouble too easily and is kind of impressed with Blaze. Which after coming away from the anxiety riddled perfectionist with the world on her shoulders Sally Acorn, I'm really really unimpressed. I mean to be fair? Tangle has a great character design and idea with her power. But that's.... kind of it so far? 

(TL;DR, this book is kind of really unimpressive so far and feels more like an advertisement for the games.)

[DabigRG]

7 hours ago, Shadowlax said:

BOOM SHADOW 

Oh my goodness, I've been thinking about tracking that down again for the last few days! Good on ya!  

5 hours ago, Jack the Maniac said:

Yeah, because with Sally turning Mecha, Antoine almost dying, Bunnie going MIA, Rotor retired, it seemed like he wanted to get rid of the FFs,  while he was just trying to get them back together in a new fashion. That was clearly the intended plot.

Which probably isn't really helped by the reveal that Antoine really was considered to die at one point.

1 hour ago, Sonic Fan J said:

The funny thing is, I never cared for the FFs personally until the Mecha Sally Arc and could care less about Sally herself until after the reboot where here and Amy had some rather enjoyable interactions.

To me, if they were to bring the FFs back I think it would work better starting them off as ancillary characters to the supporting cast based on their roles before being teamed up and made their own thing. For example, I would pair Nicole with Knuckles both to constantly remind him of his leadership status and to play off his trust issues.

Personally, I liked them well enough, but yeah, the Reboot helped breathe new, appreciate-able life into Sally and to an extent Rotor.

What an odd combo and reasoning.

1 hour ago, Sonic Fan J said:

 

In the classic side of things I've honestly been wondering how you could bring him over without over complicating things or watering him down too much since the story telling is usually told through in level visuals with a fair bit of pantomime. At best, the only solution I've come up with to date is to kind of do SA2 to an extent but like S&K.

If I was in charge of that project I would probably do something along these lines.

One day an object appears in the sky bearing Eggman's face and Sonic wondering what trouble the doc is up to hops in his spaceship from SegaSonic Cosmo Fighter and flies up to investigate and discovers a massive space colony full of numerous environments that beg for exploration with how unlike Eggman the place is.

What neither Sonic or Eggman are prepared for though is the presence of Shadow the Hedgehog, a mysterious hedgehog who calls this colony home and is none to fond of teh idea of intruders.

It's not a lot to be sure, and would probably raise more questions than anything, but it is the best I can think of right now for how to introduce Shadow into the Classic side without compromising too much of what makes him, him. Of course at this stage of thought it is strongly structured like 3&K but that is unfortunately part of the flaw of Shadow's presentation to begin with. That said though, I don't think its impossible to bring Shadow over to the Classic side, it's just that if sticking to the style of storytelling the Classics used you have to be willing to compromise a lot.

You know, this reminds me of how much SEGA seems to habitually draw from Knuckles when introducing new major characters.

2 minutes ago, LongcrierCat said:

So the book is selling pretty well actually. That's pretty cool. I hope that kind of success continues. But honestly? Those first four issues *really* didn't impress me. 

I mean I'm a huge Archie Sonic fan and I knew that I was going to have to wait and see if there'd be some continuation of the Archie ideas. I went in expecting a whole new book. But this book is made by the exact same team as the old book. And honestly? The new book has replaced what could be interesting new story threads with much too much action or focus on continuity of games that they expect the fans to have played over natural storytelling and letting the characters speak for themselves.

Yeah, that's sorta my thought as well, but not necessarily in the realms of it being a [solidly] bad thing.

6 minutes ago, LongcrierCat said:

Also wow. @MetalSkulkBane was right. I can't believe I have no idea why Tangle loves to fight, what she fights for, what her purpose is besides fighting, and the only thing that hinted at a personality is that she gets in trouble too easily and is kind of impressed with Blaze. I mean to be fair? Tangle has a great character design and idea with her power. But that's.... kind of it so far? 

(

Yeah, that's kind of a thing as well.

 

 

 

[Sonic Fan J]

6 minutes ago, LongcrierCat said:

(TL;DR, this book is kind of really unimpressive so far and feels more like an advertisement for the games.)

The funny thing is that's how Archie started and somewhere along the line SEGA and Archie both forgot that. If anything that's what you should probably be hoping for is that somewhere along the line SEGA and IDW forget that Sonic Comics are just advertising for the games. When that happens the book should really be able to open up and truly be its own thing.

7 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

What an odd combo and reasoning.

Well I have said before that I have a very different outlook from most and that as a result it is hard for me to hold conversations because of it. That aside, I personally like interaction, conflict, and reason to act even for characters who are static and not allowed to develop. For those reasons I honestly feel like Nicole would be a perfect fit for Knuckles and seeing how his personality plays out when paired against an AI who also happens to be a girl which Knuckles is supposedly not good with.

11 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

You know, this reminds me of how much SEGA seems to habitually draw from Knuckles when introducing new major characters.

Truthfully I always felt that Shadow was kind of introduced as a Knuckles 2.0 who would not have the limitations of a stationary duty to keep him out of the story. The fact that like Knuckles he was extremely popular from his debut kind of shows he could have pulled it off though I don't think SEGA accounted for how popular Knuckles still was. Not to mention, SEGA's subsequent handling of Shadow really made him every bit as difficult to use freely as Knuckles anyway.

[DabigRG]

45 minutes ago, Sonic Fan J said:

Well I have said before that I have a very different outlook from most and that as a result it is hard for me to hold conversations because of it. That aside, I personally like interaction, conflict, and reason to act even for characters who are static and not allowed to develop.

For those reasons I honestly feel like Nicole would be a perfect fit for Knuckles and seeing how his personality plays out when paired against an AI who also happens to be a girl which Knuckles is supposedly not good with.

Oh nah, that's fine. 

I can see that a helping better now.

45 minutes ago, Sonic Fan J said:

Truthfully I always felt that Shadow was kind of introduced as a Knuckles 2.0 who would not have the limitations of a stationary duty to keep him out of the story. The fact that like Knuckles he was extremely popular from his debut kind of shows he could have pulled it off though I don't think SEGA accounted for how popular Knuckles still was. Not to mention, SEGA's subsequent handling of Shadow really made him every bit as difficult to use freely as Knuckles anyway.

Yeah, pretty much. And that's even outside of the whole Rival thing with those two and with some others.

Though it's worth specifying that while Knuckles was created as a deliberate contrast to Sonic, Shadow was instead created as a Dark!Sonic.

[Multikaris]

1 hour ago, LongcrierCat said:

So the book is selling pretty well actually. That's pretty cool. I hope that kind of success continues. But honestly? Those first four issues *really* didn't impress me. 

I mean I'm a huge Archie Sonic fan and I knew that I was going to have to wait and see if there'd be some continuation of the Archie ideas. I went in expecting a whole new book. But this book is made by the exact same team as the old book. And honestly? The new book has replaced what could be interesting new story threads with much too much action or focus on continuity of games that they expect the fans to have played over natural storytelling and letting the characters speak for themselves.

But there is *one issue* that was really good. It's issue 2. It's fantastic. It's the only one of the four issues that actually works and yet I'm still kind of bothered about how Sonic's treating Amy and Amy's own writing feeling oddly... offish? 

Also why this setup? All of the casual fans and people who have a passing knowledge of Sonic know the old Genesis crew of Tails, Knuckles, and Amy. These books being set up the way they were were much too repetitive and I can't see Sonic non-fans being won over with how... average these books were. 

Listen. I read Squirrel Girl, the new Venom book, sometimes DC might put out something good, IDW's licensed work is usually fantastic in Transformers, Ghostbusters, Turtles, Ponies, and Jem and the Holograms. But this Sonic book? It's their weakest book so far. It has been a huge let down. But I don't blame IDW. 

I blame Sega for this new book being boring. IDW does a lot of licensed work for fun companies. They also had something unique where they had a ton of liberty to do fun and loose stuff with the other properties. Nickelodeon and Hasbro allow IDW to do whatever the hell they want as long as it's good and sells books. But Sega has a twisted sense of authorship where they're dictating too much of what goes on in this book and it's suffering for that.  

The book may be selling well *right now* but the problem is that later? What if people are already tired of the book after the first four issues? Right now, people are just hungry and want the new Sonic book because they liked and miss having a Sonic book to get. Now they have it but at what cost? 

And yeah? I say this not as someone who wants this book to fail. I love Sonic comic books. I love Archie Sonic and Sonic the Comic has a fond place for me and I love to read the fancomic Online. But this new IDW Sonic just hasn't done what a comic book should really do. It's been far too light on the story and nothing besides action and a whole bunch of fighting happen. At least stuff happens in Squirrel Girl with its unique stories all having something new going on in each issue. But here? The story arc is clear but it's not really *moving at all.* 

The problem is that the new book is boring. 

And that sucks. 

I'm sorry, I can't help it and I need to get this off of my chest. These books were really boring, guys. What the hell is going on with IDW and Sega? I just know that Flynn and the team can do better than this. So why is this boring? Why does it feel like Sega told them to force the continuity connections with the Wisps and Forces so that people who read this comic would be persuaded to go buy and play those games? 

Also wow. @MetalSkulkBane was right. I can't believe I have no idea why Tangle loves to fight, what she fights for, what her purpose is besides fighting, and the only thing that hinted at a personality is that she gets in trouble too easily and is kind of impressed with Blaze. Which after coming away from the anxiety riddled perfectionist with the world on her shoulders Sally Acorn, I'm really really unimpressed. I mean to be fair? Tangle has a great character design and idea with her power. But that's.... kind of it so far? 

(TL;DR, this book is kind of really unimpressive so far and feels more like an advertisement for the games.)

That’s because internally it’s probably considered more like the Angry Birds and Skylanders comics than their major ones, but this could change later. And if this comic indeed dies off, I do think that the next approach will be more akin to the more in-house approach of Mania Adventures and the Sonic Team webcomic.

[DabigRG]

2 minutes ago, Miragnarok said:

That’s because internally it’s probably considered more like the Angry Birds and Skylanders comics than their major ones, but this could change later. And if this comic indeed dies off, I do think that the next approach will be more akin to the more in-house approach of Mania Adventures and the Sonic Team webcomic.

There's a Sonic Team webcomic?

[Multikaris]

3 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

There's a Sonic Team webcomic?

You know, the one they released for the 25th anniversary in Japan.

[DabigRG]

21 minutes ago, Miragnarok said:

You know, the one they released for the 25th anniversary in Japan.

Oh yeah. With the numerous skits starring even some of the more C and D list characters as of late. I liked those.

[LongcrierCat]

Yeah, I really like those slice of life styled Sonic comics. I'd kind of like it if that stuff continues after Boom is done with it doing that same thing. 

[Sonic Fan J]

1 hour ago, DabigRG said:

Oh nah, that's fine. 

I can see that a helping better now.

Glad I cleared that up a little bit. Some times I'm just no good at explaining what i'm trying to say.

1 hour ago, DabigRG said:

Yeah, pretty much. And that's even outside of the whole Rival thing with those two and with some others.

Though it's worth specifying that while Knuckles was created as a deliberate contrast to Sonic, Shadow was instead created as a Dark!Sonic.

And Blaze was created as an alternate Sonic and Silver as a future Sonic. It's kind of frightening how it seems like SEGA is desperate to capture lightning in a bottle the same way over and over again. But the thing is, lightning rarely strikes twice and they would be better served taking advantage of what they have done well with. Now if only it seemed like they knew how to do even that much...

[Celestia]

I dunno, those are all pretty popular characters (even Silver, kind of), so it worked in spite of how the characters were actually handled in the games.

[Sonic Fan J]

I won't argue their popularity for a second, but there is no doubt that the same character creation template is starting to have diminishing returns. Then there is also the problem that it ends up making those characters difficult to use and market which kind of plays against the idea of using a popular formula in the first place; to be easy to sell and make lots of money off of. When you use a formula that doesn't let you freely use your characters it's kind of hard to market them and make that money that you're after in the first place.

Revisiting the formula itself, it may be kind of scary to think of but even Chip from Unleashed follows it to an extent. This lack of originality or even willingness to try something new is honestly kind of worrisome and makes me wonder if it isn't just Iizuka who needs to be rotated away from Sonic for a while but some of the meddling businessmen who he answers to as well.

[Celestia]

The thing is I don't think that makes any of them "difficult" to use at all, I didn't want to argue with people in here about it but the only one where I kind of understand it is Knuckles and even he would be really really really easy to justify bringing into new stories while still addressing the M.E. and stuff. They just haven't because...reasons. Just because SEGA doesn't do a thing doesn't mean it's impossible.

Although, I have to ask:

4 minutes ago, Sonic Fan J said:

Revisiting the formula itself, it may be kind of scary to think of but even Chip from Unleashed follows it to an extent.

Err...how?

[DabigRG]

48 minutes ago, Sonic Fan J said:

And Blaze was created as an alternate Sonic and Silver as a future Sonic. It's kind of frightening how it seems like SEGA is desperate to capture lightning in a bottle the same way over and over again. But the thing is, lightning rarely strikes twice and they would be better served taking advantage of what they have done well with. Now if only it seemed like they knew how to do even that much...

Humorously enough, I'd say Blaze was actually drawing from variations on all three of the Universe 75 heroes(just with less Shadow), while Silver was trying to contrast/complement Shadow and Blaze specifically.

Still, the point is that they struck iconic gold with Knuckles and they typically invoke many of the same idea when introducing new recurring characters.

34 minutes ago, Celestia said:

I dunno, those are all pretty popular characters (even Silver, kind of), so it worked in spite of how the characters were actually handled in the games.

Oh yeah, don't get me wrong: the fact that they were able to get such generally distinct and mostly well-received characters out of it goes to show that it was indeed a rich well for inspiration and creativity.

23 minutes ago, Sonic Fan J said:

I won't argue their popularity for a second, but there is no doubt that the same character creation template is starting to have diminishing returns. Then there is also the problem that it ends up making those characters difficult to use and market which kind of plays against the idea of using a popular formula in the first place; to be easy to sell and make lots of money off of. When you use a formula that doesn't let you freely use your characters it's kind of hard to market them and make that money that you're after in the first place.

Revisiting the formula itself, it may be kind of scary to think of but even Chip from Unleashed follows it to an extent. This lack of originality or even willingness to try something new is honestly kind of worrisome and makes me wonder if it isn't just Iizuka who needs to be rotated away from Sonic for a while but some of the meddling businessmen who he answers to as well.

We've technically already seen that with the Deadly Six and for some people Silver, though the latter admittedly departs more than he derives.

And to be fair to Chip, he's a very different take on the ideas compared to all of the others and had some charm/heart of his own to offer in his rare only major appearance.

[Shadowlax]

6 hours ago, Sonic Fan J said:

The problem is that requires time, patience on the reader's side, and a willingness to accept change on the reader's side. If anything, the #252 Reboot gave Flynn the opportunity he needed to reset the status quo in a new form without having to tell a long drawn out story to do it. Of course though he was still splitting them up again when the comic was canceled so there still might have been something he needed to separate them for to highlight their dynamic. The funny thing is, I never cared for the FFs personally until the Mecha Sally Arc and could care less about Sally herself until after the reboot where here and Amy had some rather enjoyable interactions.

To me, if they were to bring the FFs back I think it would work better starting them off as ancillary characters to the supporting cast based on their roles before being teamed up and made their own thing. For example, I would pair Sally up with Amy as they are both leaders, Rotor with Tails since I could see Rotor being inspired by Tails bringing his mechanical know how to the Resistance to do the same, Nicole with Knuckles both to constantly remind him of his leadership status and to play off his trust issues, and Antoine with Sonic as I could see Antoine trying to outshine Sonic in an attempt to be the hero he wants to believe he is capable of being. Bunny is really the only hard one for me to pair off because she is very sure of herself and really would more or less be doing what Sonic is doing running around town to town trying to deal with the badnik threat on her own. It's actually funny that even though I like Bunny it would be easier for me to work with Sticks just because I could see her acting as an informant who only trusts Amy and thus shares her info only with Amy.

Weird, I would more so like to see them team up with various other characters rather than just one. Personally Blaze and Sally working together would be neat. However... I have a bias and if you would allow me to show it. I think Sally, Antione, and Bunny could have really interesting dialog with shadow the hedgehog. I can totally see sally just kind of being upset at shadow's temperament and how he's handling thing and a sort of callousness in his actions, expecting someone like sonic and getting someone very different. And shadow could think of her of not being uh... strict enough as someone who will be the leader of people. Eventually the learn from each other and then you ruin/make some fans on tumnblr's and twitters day by suggesting a ship.   Antione I could see him just going " Train me " because he's impressed, shadow says no though. And them being polar opposites in terms of personality would combine into some goofball shit. The last one , bunny would be interesting. Because Shadow existing is kind of monument to some of the pain of her existence, and maybe given she doesn't know shadow's story... she's kinda resentful about that. Maybe she think shadow needs to be happier because he's not in her situation, she learns its more complicated than that. And shadow learns that not everyone makes it out with an intact body. And to be a bit more thankful with what he can do, and not think so lowly of himself given his origins. 

 

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I just try to look at things from as many different perspectives as I can. While I'm set in my own ways it at least helps make it easier to see why certain things have to be balanced the way they are. Some times it sucks (as an Amy fan who would to see more of her adventurous side explored I kind of have an idea how it feels to never see anything done) and sometimes it works out great when they finally are brought in fully. I really have no doubt that Shadow will have his day in the IDW comics and when it comes Sonic and company will have to deal with what that means or be darn glad that Shadow is on their side. For bringing in that do or die attitude that certain situations and stakes require, with the way the franchise is handled these days Shadow is absolutely necessary for that, unlike BOOM! Shadow (my word, what a song XD)

I would like amy to go out more on adventures by herself or with not sonic, I like that side of her as well. 

And as for the shadow thing, probs alien related

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In the classic side of things I've honestly been wondering how you could bring him over without over complicating things or watering him down too much since the story telling is usually told through in level visuals with a fair bit of pantomime. At best, the only solution I've come up with to date is to kind of do SA2 to an extent but like S&K.

If I was in charge of that project I would probably do something along these lines.

One day an object appears in the sky bearing Eggman's face and Sonic wondering what trouble the doc is up to hops in his spaceship from SegaSonic Cosmo Fighter and flies up to investigate and discovers a massive space colony full of numerous environments that beg for exploration with how unlike Eggman the place is.

Meanwhile, Eggman is curious himself why his face has appeared in the sky in goes to lead his own investigation discovering a level of technology that despite its age rivals his own. Seeing it as a chance to make a new base for himself and begin his next plan for world domination Eggman sets about converting the space colony into his latest and greatest fortress.

What neither Sonic or Eggman are prepared for though is the presence of Shadow the Hedgehog, a mysterious hedgehog who calls this colony home and is none to fond of teh idea of intruders.

From that basic story setting I would then make Sonic and Shadow the playable characters with occasional clashes between Sonic and Shadow. To tie in the Maria and Professor Gerald stuff I would have Maria appear in front of Shadow when starting up as him before fading back out and giving the player control and Geralds face I would have show up during the start up of the game's final boss.

It's not a lot to be sure, and would probably raise more questions than anything, but it is the best I can think of right now for how to introduce Shadow into the Classic side without compromising too much of what makes him, him. Of course at this stage of thought it is strongly structured like 3&K but that is unfortunately part of the flaw of Shadow's presentation to begin with. That said though, I don't think its impossible to bring Shadow over to the Classic side, it's just that if sticking to the style of storytelling the Classics used you have to be willing to compromise a lot.

Hey, look you accidentally created a better story for shadow than sa2, congradurations. ( I know how I spelled that ) . My own take in both 2d and 3d is that he has an alien paren't I guess they get killed , then he gets taken by gun and put on stasis because they want him locked up. Years later eggman finds him, and then sa2 happens as usual. ( then you get a hint later said alien parent might be alive, because everything is a myster nowadays )

5 hours ago, LongcrierCat said:

 

Also wow. @MetalSkulkBane was right. I can't believe I have no idea why Tangle loves to fight, what she fights for, what her purpose is besides fighting, and the only thing that hinted at a personality is that she gets in trouble too easily and is kind of impressed with Blaze. Which after coming away from the anxiety riddled perfectionist with the world on her shoulders Sally Acorn, I'm really really unimpressed. I mean to be fair? Tangle has a great character design and idea with her power. But that's.... kind of it so far? 

(TL;DR, this book is kind of really unimpressive so far and feels more like an advertisement for the games.)

I think the issue with the book is less its bad, more so its new and trying to be safe. If we still don't know who tangle is after a few more stories, then we might have an issue. And if the stories format is still like that past a year, we might have an issue. 

4 hours ago, Sonic Fan J said:

. Not to mention, SEGA's subsequent handling of Shadow really made him every bit as difficult to use freely as Knuckles anyway.

 

1 hour ago, Celestia said:

The thing is I don't think that makes any of them "difficult" to use at all, I didn't want to argue with people in here about it but the only one where I kind of understand it is Knuckles and even he would be really really really easy to justify bringing into new stories while still addressing the M.E. and stuff. They just haven't because...reasons. Just because SEGA doesn't do a thing doesn't mean it's impossible.

Although, I have to ask:

Err...how?

Yeah this, neither them are difficult to handle, sega keeps making the active decision, or  rather indecision, to make them difficult to use. 

Knuckles: Chaos Now guards the M.E 

Shadow: The Government Running Gun , shut gun down because of all of the shit its done over the years and it doesn't like shadow being on the squad, particularly the new president. He wants shadow captured and put back in some pod, rouge afraid of shadow doing the thing he said he would do and " fighting like he always has " and murdering an entire government to save his ass. Gives him the option of coming to sonic land ( because sonic world is a different fucking world now ) to stay out of trouble, but given the events of forces it doesn't seem like he can stay out of trouble for long. And is now seen as a villain amongst the people, now he's dealing with the idea that to help the planet he promised maria to protect...it might be better to stay away from it. And dealing with even in this new would that should all intents and purposes be his home, he's still seen as a monster. Without Gun team dark , is just kinda 3 individuals who occasionally hang out so they don't even need to be around all the time. So it leaves all 3 of them to hangout with other characters. 

 

Bam there you , Sega will however do nothing and expect you to pretend like they don't make thing increasingly difficult for these characters

[Big Panda]

Issue 1 has become the best-selling Sonic comic ever.

The previous record-holder was...Sonic Boom #1. Huh.

[DabigRG]

25 minutes ago, Ernest-Panda said:

Issue 1 has become the best-selling Sonic comic ever.

The previous record-holder was...Sonic Boom #1. Huh.

The foq?! How?!

[Silvereyes]

Sounds promising. I mean, I hope it is, considering Boom only lasted 11 issues, but then I would hopefully attribute others factors to that comic like it running at the same time as 2 other Sonic comics and it being tied to a franchise attempt that wasn't terribly succesful.

I'm kind of late to the party on this, but I only found out that when they did the Sonic X comic in 2005, and had Sonic Universe succeed it, Archie had 2 Sonic comics running together from 2005 to the end of Archie's run. Hopefully with news like this, maybe in a few years IDW could perhaps see the benefit of a second comic running concurrently with the main series.