Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[Kuzu]

I'm amused by how the biggest complaints against Shadow is that he's either too much of an asshole or not enough of one lol.

[StaticMania]

32 minutes ago, QuantumEdge said:

...he was humble enough to be as close a friend to Sonic as you could realistically imagine him to be.  

Huh? When was that?!?

It certainly wasn't after he got amnesia...

[Kuzu]

5 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

Huh? When was that?!?

It certainly wasn't after he got amnesia...

I think he means he respected Sonic as a peer...rather than being Vegeta.

[AphexPhreak]

 

15 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

Huh? When was that?!?

It certainly wasn't after he got amnesia...

I'm a bit fuzzy on the archie comic story lines but I remember Issue 2 of Sonic Universe being a pretty good example of this kind of dynamic:

Spoiler

 

[StaticMania]

Um...that's nice.

But also really jarring for me specifically.

Shadow happily saying any of that is enough to give a guy a heart attack.

[Shadowlax]

17 minutes ago, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

I'm amused by how the biggest complaints against Shadow is that he's either too much of an asshole or not enough of one lol.

Asshole characters are a balancing act , particularly ones who are considered good guys. You are writing a character who has traits who in normal instances would be seen as undesirable in some cases and have to make that appealing to the audience. Sometimes pushing it to far works, and some characters work only being slightly an asshole. Then you have other's like shadow who seems to work best IMO directly in the middle. I feel this book leans to far in on the " really an asshole " side of the scale and that's why it kinda fails for me.

[AphexPhreak]

6 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

Um...that's nice.

But also really jarring for me specifically.

Shadow happily saying any of that is enough to give a guy a heart attack.

The context is important.  The rest of the issue and the series in general he's still arrogant and an asshole and is very reserved. Not as much as he is in IDW, but he is still  Shadow.  Sonic was a big help to him in this issue.

If he were like this all the time it would suck, but extremely rare moments of gratitude or respect make him more interesting as a character.  

[Kuzu]

It's not like characters have to stick with one specific characterization; there's no reason why Shadow can't respect Sonic as a peer, and then be frustrated at him over a percieved mistake.

 

What matters is cohesion and if it flows naturally, but since there's no real continuity between these stories, that makes it difficult to see.

[ComeAsYouAre]

1 hour ago, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

I'm amused by how the biggest complaints against Shadow is that he's either too much of an asshole or not enough of one lol.

A lot of people only know him from memes so a lot of people unironically think hes some edgy asshole 

I think a lot of Shadow fans just don't like his current Vegeta Wannabe personality when he used to be more  complex 

[Kuzu]

15 minutes ago, ComeAsYouAre said:

A lot of people only know him from memes so a lot of people unironically think hes some edgy asshole 

I think a lot of Shadow fans just don't like his current Vegeta Wannabe personality when he used to be more  complex 

Yea, because the games were more complex back then, so characterization was slightly more nuanced and subtle.

 

The games have become heavily simplified, so the characters reflect that, being reduced to their most basic traits for the sake of entertainment. 

 

Shadow's more complex characterization from old wouldn't really blend with the series' current atmosphere, so he's just Sonic's asshole rival who makes occasional appearances nowadays.

[Dr. Detective]

Alright, I just read the issue. 

Truthfully, I knew that no matter how this went down it was going to lead to a line being drawn in the sand about how whether or not it was an acceptable way to handle it or not. The entire time I was actually reading this I wasn't thinking about what I personally thought, more so how much I knew a certain number of people would react to it. 

So, what do I think? I'm fine with it. I'm actually really enamoured with just how different Sonic and Shadow's approach to justice is being portrayed here. For a long time, I've wrestled with the idea of how to effectively make them stand in opposition with one another while still being on the same side. This is certainly one way to do it. It might not necessarily be the way I'd have done it but it's clear the effort's there. I certainly don't want him to be another Vegeta where he's just a friend who competes with him to get stronger sometimes. I like the idea of Team Dark being as close to anti-heroes as you can get. Omega was done beautifully in that regard here and it's not hard to do with him, all things considered. His objective just happens to line up with the good guys, plus he actually likes Shadow and Rouge so that helps.

Rouge is probably the nicest of the three but I love how her shadiness shines through even during a time like this where she laments how she won't be able to steal things in this city and gives the reason for her involvement being more to support the infrastructure that allows her to remain who she is. I'm sure she cares about the people too but the book's not being coy about the fact that she's still got that selfish streak.

As for Shadow, it's tough because Shadow, as of recent, is a character that Sonic Team doesn't seem to know what to do with the most, especially after Team Sonic Racing. This was pointed out in one of Roger's videos but he gets advertised so often and is showcased in the marketing a ton but when it came to that game's story, who he is and what he's there to do is almost completely irrelevant. Vector (and even Espio and Charmy despite not even being there) were given more to do in the plot. It was one of the obstacles I foresaw coming a bit after Sonic 06 where the next step after putting the past behind him is more establishing what he is now. 06 did a good enough job laying the foundation for that, surprisingly, but afterwards... nothing much.

So, yeah, I actually did really like the part where Shadow gets on Sonic's ass for his decision. There's a back and forth about who was in the right but I do appreciate that it's more  a character based thing and not the book outright stating who you should side with. 

Shadow's arrogance being the thing that ultimately takes him down is something I feel I should have seen coming. It's definitely something that exists within his character. The thing that trips me up a bit is whether or not it would override his better judgement in this specific way. When it comes to that, I feel as though it could have been handled a bit better. I'm not entirely sure how but I think a bit more focus on his thought process would have been warranted. Otherwise, to some (not me), it might just come off as him being dumb, which I don't think was the intention here. I can see it looking just as an excuse to have Sonic fight Shadow again, especially with that ending shot.

Lastly, I like the fact that this place is called Sunset City. I like the name. I feel like it has to be that area in Forces that was just called "City" and had a level in it called "Sunset Heights". If it is, then I feel really bad for the people living here. 

What else? Oh yeah, I feel sorry for whoever has to draw all those Zombots. There's a TON of them here. At one point while reading I was kind of flabbergasted by just how many were in the panels at one time. Throwing a zombie apocalypse at a world right after recovering from a war looks and sounds very un-fun.

So, that's it. I think I'll just marinate for a while since I have a feeling this thread is about to be get very Shadow centric once again and that scares me.

[Dr. Detective]

8 hours ago, Razule said:

"I'm the coolest!"

I literally laughed out loud. 

[Sonictrainer]

I think the best solution would have been to grab the Mad Convoy from Generations and start whipping out the giant sawblades & rocket boasters.

[Kuzu]

I think we all got the Shadow out of out system, so we can talk about the issue itself now. General consensus seems that it was fine, but definitely could have been handled better. 

 

I'll give this issue another thing; it does do character conflict very well. Sonic & Shadow's conflicts are almost always born because of their vastly different personality traits, and I'm glad a writer finally showed that just because the two of them are on the same side doesn't necessarily mean they get along with each other. 

Above anything else, there's finally some weight to this zombie story with having one of the most dangerous characters get infected. Now I actually have to wonder how Sonic & Omega are supposed to deal with Shadow without getting infected themselves. 

[Heckboy]

2 minutes ago, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

fine, but definitely could have been handled better. 

IDW Sonic in a nutshell.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

2 minutes ago, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

Shadow without getting infected themselves. 

Omega's going to be fine, metallic beings can't be infected by the virus. Sonic will likely try to run it off, although (What I'd actually like to see) is that instead of a straight up fight, Sonic is running to burn off the virus, and Shadow using his own speed is quickly catching up and trying to constantly pin him down in order to stop him from burning the virus off and cause him to turn.

[Kuzu]

Sonic isn't going to turn. Remember. Sonic isn't allowed to lose. He'll probably be able to shake Shadow with help from Rouge and Omega. 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

3 minutes ago, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

Sonic isn't going to turn. Remember. Sonic isn't allowed to lose. He'll probably be able to shake Shadow with help from Rouge and Omega. 

I poorly worded it, I didn't mean he would literally be turned, I meant Shadow would be trying to catch him at high speeds and turn him by stopping the infection from being burnt off, I didn't mean to say he'd be successful.

[Razule]

5 minutes ago, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

Sonic isn't going to turn. Remember. Sonic isn't allowed to lose. He'll probably be able to shake Shadow with help from Rouge and Omega. 

He can lose if he wins in the end. SEGA let him be roboticized in the second Mega Man crossover.

[Dr. Detective]

Ian has been beaming about how happy he is that all the stuff he's suggesting for this story is getting approved. You can hear it in his voice on the Bumblekast that he's positively elated that so much of it is going through. 

I do kind of hope that with each step taken, it could eventually lead to Sonic succumbing to the virus. I'm fine with him suffering through it for as long as he has here but even I can't deny that it'd be the ultimate, "We're fucked" moment if the book went that direction. 

Also, what's funny is that it turns out he didn't know they were going to put a little map in there drawn by Cream. When he found out about Cream's map drawing, his reaction wasn't "Oh this is cute". It was "Oh... this is demented. The people saying this is cute don't know what's going to happen with this map." Just thought that was funny.

I mean, it is kind of fucked up when you really think about it. 

[DabigRG]

6 minutes ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Ian has been beaming about how happy he is that all the stuff he's suggesting for this story is getting approved. You can hear it in his voice on the Bumblekast that he's positively elated that so much of it is going through. 

I do kind of hope that with each step taken, it could eventually lead to Sonic succumbing to the virus. I'm fine with him suffering through it for as long as he has here but even I can't deny that it'd be the ultimate, "We're fucked" moment if the book went that direction. 

Also, what's funny is that it turns out he didn't know they were going to put a little map in there drawn by Cream. When he found out about Cream's map drawing, his reaction wasn't "Oh this is cute". It was "Oh... this is demented. The people saying this is cute don't know what's going to happen with this map." Just thought that was funny.

I mean, it is kind of fucked up when you really think about it. 

Oh yeah, that was the one I listened to last week, sounds like.  

[Shadowlax]

I am now afraid of how bad the next comic will be. I didn't think I would enter back into pender's era feeling but fuck it here we go.

[PublicEnemy1]

9 minutes ago, Shadowlax said:

I am now afraid of how bad the next comic will be. I didn't think I would enter back into pender's era feeling but fuck it here we go.

I don't think these stories and Penders' bullshit are even comparable.

[Kuzu]

 

 

I'm so glad people are having fun at Shadow's expense. 

[Shadowlax]

5 minutes ago, PublicEnemy1 said:

I don't think these stories and Penders' bullshit are even comparable.

Huh . I mean " I'm afraid that the characters I like will be thrown into the shitter for the sake of a story i'm not at all interested in " level of penders. That was my constant mood under his tenure, its currently my mood now. Didn't think I would be back here, but fuck it I guess.