Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[DabigRG]

Their deal is apparently just being raised strictly and being able to eat, respectively.

13 minutes ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

This is extremely hard to read and it's full of a lot of unnecessary words.

Admittedly, yes--I tried and quit after half understanding four paragraphs.

The gist is that Shadow actually received not only extensive detail behind his existence, but got to react and adjust his approach based on all of that.

17 minutes ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

Too recently, I've just felt that Shadow's position as a more friendly rival except bit more stoic has him pretty much just sharing the same occupied ground that Knuckles stands in as a character archetype. It's nothing too complicated beyond that. Whether or not Shadow has more complicated reasons for being who he is or not is completely irrelevant to what my concern is. 

Yes. I don't know if I'd go quite that far, but this is some level of true.

Most likely because in addition to be being Sonic's more deliberate yet confrontational rivals, Knuckles himself was being similarly explored in the former sense before Shadow hit to scene and essentially defined an era of the series.

[Sonictrainer]

Speaking of Knuckles...I hope he knows what's going on down below and that the MV hasn't reached his island yet.

[StaticMania]

I hope Knuckles just throws giant rocks (ricks) at any robot zombie trying to...

Wait a minute, how would...

...at any flying robot zombie trying to reach his island.

Lots of em stuck underneath those giant rocks during the cure purge.

[Dr. Detective]

1 hour ago, DabigRG said:

Yes. I don't know if I'd go quite that far, but this is some level of true.

Most likely because in addition to be being Sonic's more deliberate yet confrontational rivals, Knuckles himself was being similarly explored in the former sense before Shadow hit to scene and essentially defined an era of the series.

I mean, it's not like I feel this is true in every one of their portrayals. I actually do think Knuckles and Shadow are pretty distinct when it comes to the games as far as their general personalities.

I personally don't think that exploring who Knuckles is as a character is something that leads to the problem I'm outlining. Expanding on the characters is something that can be done for the entire cast without taking away from anyone else. I don't think the mere presence of Shadow and his complications takes away from who Knuckles is or what he can be. As such, any discussion on their backstories isn't really my focus. It can have an effect but I'm really just talking about their character archetypes and, in the case of Archie mostly, the danger of how similar their portrayals can be if you're not careful.

[DabigRG]

20 minutes ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

I'm speaking in the most general of terms here. I'm just talking about the typical character archetype they occupy and how that relates to Sonic's character specifically. The typical rival character and what that means as far as the Sonic series is concerned. In that sense, the two of them have been sharing too similar a space for me and I'm more on board for something that makes the differences between what they are stand out a lot better. Shadow, especially lately, is a character that's felt kind of redundant because of how little they care to do anything with him.

Oops, you posted in between me replying to stuff, I see.  Ah well, it's fine.

I do go on to say a little something to that effect.

24 minutes ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

I suppose it's similar for others to look past when they view Knuckles and Shadow a certain way. For example, in Team Sonic Racing, I can understand why Knuckles and Shadow wouldn't feel redundant because Shadow is more a straight rival where as Knuckles is just a friend. However, as I've stated, however outdated the thought may be, Knuckles is supposed to occupy the space of friendly rival and Shadow, I feel, could do with having a bit more than what they've been giving him. 

 

Oh yeah, Knuckles was more about scrutinizing Dodon Pa and the risks of obliging him, when he occasionally got to speak anyway. Meanwhile, Shadow appeared even more sporadically to stop whatever Eggman is up to and butt heads with the competitive Sonic.

An interesting jumble, that story is.

24 minutes ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

In Archie's case I just didn't see much of a difference at all. Both of them had complicated backstories in that comic (Knuckles even more so than Shadow actually) but their personalities and the way they carried themselves felt way too similar. Despite all the focus on Shadow, his stories didn't give that much of a different vibe from the ones I got out of Knuckles. I can't really say the same for Tails, Silver, or the Chaotix. 

That makes sense.

The clearest distinction is that Knuckles tended to deal with whatever Echidna or Criminal Underworld related thing came up when he wasn't crossing over with Sonic, while Shadow [eventually] focused on GUN assignments that was generally out of the way. Well that and Shadow dealing with his past was a single issue.

29 minutes ago, Sonictrainer said:

Speaking of Knuckles...I hope he knows what's going on down below and that the MV hasn't reached his island yet.

He wouldn't find out unless someone was able to contact him. Or unless Eggman comes near him at least.

Granted, I noticed he's on the map, but then Eggman apparently went out of his way to track down Cream and then doubled back to Sunset City.

22 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

I hope Knuckles just throws giant rocks (ricks) at any robot zombie trying to...

Wait a minute, how would...

...at any flying robot zombie trying to reach his island.

Lots of em stuck underneath those giant rocks during the cure purge.

Uh...is there supposed to be a sequence here or something?

[Kuzu]

Shadowlax, you seriously need to cut down on the word count; you could sum what you said in half of that essay.

 

In any case, the gist is that Shadow is a character that requires more nuance and subtlety to write, since the entire foundation of the character is based on nuance and subtlety. It's why people (particularly older fans) have such an issue with him. He really doesn't fit in with the simplistic atmosphere of the current era.

Knuckles doesn't require anywhere near as much context because his character isn't as context heavy as Shadow. And even then he required some context given his role is meant to be a stationary one.

 

So since neither of their roles and nuances fit within the current simplistic and lighthearted era; they're stripped of all nuances and reduced to their most basic traits. Knuckles is the guy who punches things, and Shadow is the angry hotheaded rival.

In that sense, they don't really fill the same role. Knuckles hasn't been treated like a rival to Sonic in forever. He basically just a tagalong. Shadow is Sonic's top rival as far as the current era is concerned.

[DabigRG]

11 minutes ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

I mean, it's not like I feel this is true in every one of their portrayals. I actually do think Knuckles and Shadow are pretty distinct when it comes to the games as far as their general personalities.

I personally don't think that exploring who Knuckles is as a character is something that leads to the problem I'm outlining. Expanding on the characters is something that can be done for the entire cast without taking away from anyone else. I don't think the mere presence of Shadow and his complications takes away from who Knuckles is or what he can be. As such, any discussion on their backstories isn't really my focus. It can have an effect but I'm really just talking about their character archetypes and, in the case of Archie mostly, the danger of how similar their portrayals can be if you're not careful.

What I'm getting at is that Knuckles was somewhat in the process of getting explored, but then got regressed(?) when they decided to focus on Shadow instead and has endured in such a state ever since.

They do indeed have different personalities and can continue to be utilized in different enough ways, though.

[Shadowlax]

1 minute ago, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

Shadowlax, you seriously need to cut down on the word count; you could sum what you said in half of that essay.

 

In any case, the gist is that Shadow is a character that requires more nuance and subtlety to write, since the entire foundation of the character is based on nuance and subtlety. It's why people (particularly older fans) have such an issue with him. He really doesn't fit in with the simplistic atmosphere of the current era.

Knuckles doesn't require anywhere near as much context because his character isn't as context heavy as Shadow. And even then he required some context given his role is meant to be a stationary one.

 

So since neither of their roles and nuances fit within the current simplistic and lighthearted era; they're stripped of all nuances and reduced to their most basic traits. Knuckles is the guy who punches things, and Shadow is the angry hotheaded rival.

In that sense, they don't really fill the same role. Knuckles hasn't been treated like a rival to Sonic in forever. He basically just a tagalong. Shadow is Sonic's top rival as far as the current era is concerned.

Thanks and sorry.

[StaticMania]

59 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

Uh...is there supposed to be a sequence here or something?

It has to make sense and be cruelly realistic...

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Okay, so given how sinister the Metal Virus arc currently is, I began wondering how future arcs might turn out.

Then I came to a bold prediction. Now I may not be the only one thinking this, but I’m gonna go ahead and say that at some point in the future

 

Ian Flynn is setting up the Metal Virus for his own take of the Metallix saga

Of course, who knows? But I figured I throw that out there.

[Big Panda]

9 minutes ago, Conquering Storm’s Servant said:

Okay, so given how sinister the Metal Virus arc currently is, I began wondering how future arcs might turn out.

Then I came to a bold prediction. Now I may not be the only one thinking this, but I’m gonna go ahead and say that at some point in the future

  Hide contents

Ian Flynn is setting up the Metal Virus for his own take of the Metallix saga

Of course, who knows? But I figured I throw that out there.

Oooh shit that’d be cool.

[DabigRG]

Spoiler

 

1 hour ago, StaticMania said:

It has to make sense and be cruelly realistic...

Ah, so there were supposed to be quotation marks there too? 

1 hour ago, Conquering Storm’s Servant said:

Okay, so given how sinister the Metal Virus arc currently is, I began wondering how future arcs might turn out.

Then I came to a bold prediction. Now I may not be the only one thinking this, but I’m gonna go ahead and say that at some point in the future

  Hide contents

Ian Flynn is setting up the Metal Virus for his own take of the Metallix saga

Of course, who knows? But I figured I throw that out there.

Spoiler

You know, that'd probably make [further] sense if Neo Metal was the one doing this. 

.

[Marco9966]

It would be cool if

Spoiler

The arc ends at year 3, but leads to metallix-like arc instead of everything being fine again. Like others said above.

 

[Red Hot Jack]

Yeah, as we said, there is no point in all of this if there are no real lasting consequences or connections, like for example Metal Sonic turning Eggman back into himself which led to this arc.

[PublicEnemy1]

Out-of-context Tangle and Whisper #1 panel...
 

Spoiler

Did Flynn just put Sonic.exe in an offical comic book? Absolute madlad.

 

[Marco9966]

7 minutes ago, PublicEnemy1 said:

Out-of-context Tangle and Whisper #1 panel...
 

  Hide contents

Did Flynn just put Sonic.exe in an offical comic book? Absolute madlad.

 

Niiice!!

Source??

[PublicEnemy1]

4 minutes ago, Marco9966 said:

Niiice!!

Source??

Discord. Some guy got the issue early, and another guy (one in the server that I'm in) followed on 4chan. I don't like 4chan, and I don't plan on getting a link, but apparently, it came from SDCC.

[Marco9966]

7 minutes ago, PublicEnemy1 said:

Discord. Some guy got the issue early, and another guy (one in the server that I'm in) followed on 4chan. I don't like 4chan, and I don't plan on getting a link, but apparently, it came from SDCC.

I looked up the opinions they all said they loved it and it's better than the current book.

We need a Sonic 'Universe!!

[Red Hot Jack]

10 minutes ago, Marco9966 said:

I looked up the opinions they all said they loved it and it's better than the current book.

We need a Sonic 'Universe!!

I highly doubt it can top the main book, maybe there are more liberties due to comic esclusive characters but still. The main comic is so good right now. Still, can you PM me with the source? I'm too curious at this point.

10 minutes ago, Marco9966 said:

I looked up the opinions they all said they loved it and it's better than the current book.

We need a Sonic 'Universe!!

I highly doubt it can top the main book, maybe there are more liberties due to comic esclusive characters but still. The main comic is so good right now. Still, can you PM me with the source? I'm too curious at this point.

[Shadowlax]

39 minutes ago, Marco9966 said:

I looked up the opinions they all said they loved it and it's better than the current book.

We need a Sonic 'Universe!!

You will get other miniseries

[DabigRG]

4 hours ago, PublicEnemy1 said:

Out-of-context Tangle and Whisper #1 panel...
 

  Hide contents

Did Flynn just put Sonic.exe in an offical comic book? Absolute madlad.

 

Wtf? 

I mean I meant to ask anyway, but still. 

3 hours ago, Marco9966 said:

I looked up the opinions they all said they loved it and it's better than the current book.

We need a Sonic 'Universe!!

Oh really?

 

[bingboomer]

a idw sonic universe could be wicked awesome. i just wished there was some comic con news idw sonic wise

[Marco9966]

1 hour ago, bingboomer said:

a idw sonic universe could be wicked awesome. i just wished there was some comic con news idw sonic wise

We'd have double the amount of discussions we have here

[thumbs13]

6 minutes ago, Marco9966 said:

We'd have double the amount of discussions we have here

Or the discussions get split up between the two books, either or.

[Kazhnuz]

2 hours ago, Marco9966 said:

We'd have double the amount of discussions we have here 

Welp, if that's the actual goal, seems that the Shadow stuff was way more successful to that with how much it was discussed, I'm pretty sure that was more than the double /jk