Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[DabigRG]

1 hour ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

World's Unite had a lot of things done for the sake of compensation. Your assertion that he absolutely got to focus on just who he wanted to write doesn't even have basis in truth because I know for a fact that he's had to make a ton of compromises based on just what would flow better or stand alone as an advertisement for the book.  The Freedom Fighters weren't in the first crossover because of that. He put the Freedom Fighters in World's Unite because there were people wondering and asking why they weren't in the first crossover and he tried his best to appease that crowd with World's Unite. But, of course, hindsight is 20-20. Too many characters were in that story and he straight up said that if he could do it again he'd remove the Freedom Fighters and the Maverick hunters to try and balance things out. 

 

Off topic for a sec here, why were they as involved? Like it's been a long time since I saw it, but I don't remember them doing much beyond Nicole talking with Quake Woman. 

I do know the Maverick Hunters were there because Lyric couldn't be used, Sigma is their villain, and X originally helped Sonic and Megaman in the final battle, so it's funny to hear he'd remove them. 

[Dr. Detective]

1 hour ago, DabigRG said:

Off topic for a sec here, why were they as involved? Like it's been a long time since I saw it, but I don't remember them doing much beyond Nicole talking with Quake Woman. 

I do know the Maverick Hunters were there because Lyric couldn't be used, Sigma is their villain, and X originally helped Sonic and Megaman in the final battle, so it's funny to hear he'd remove them. 

You mean story wise? I don't recall. I haven't read it in a long time so I couldn't recount what they were there to do off the top of my head. I mostly just remember people splitting up to go into the different SEGA and Capcom worlds to recruit people to fight Sigma. I'd imagine that whatever it was they contributed, it was something that could have been easily worked around. A big criticism of World's Unite is how bloated and full of STUFF it is and the way Ian talks about it kind of reflects that it was quite the multi-layered task getting it to work at all. Dropping them would probably have been for the best for both the process it took to make and the book's story as a whole as far as I'm concerned. 

[Kazhnuz]

8 hours ago, Tangled Jack said:

I also doubt Zavok is gonna show up here. For obviously reasons (he basically would have spoiled it). Maybe next arc. 

That's quite a shame though, because it might have been one of the situations where him and the D6 would have been the most interesting. They could basically have hijacked the whole Zombot Army and turn them into whatever they wants with their power. (especially if they got creative and made him using friggin zombotified trees and stuff like that)

A good way to making the arc goes to "fucked up" to "the world is even more doomed somehow".

[DabigRG]

2 minutes ago, Kazhnuz said:

That's quite a shame though, because it might have been one of the situations where him and the D6 would have been the most interesting. They could basically have hijacked the whole Zombot Army and turn them into whatever they wants with their power. (especially if they got creative and made him using friggin zombotified trees and stuff like that)

A good way to making the arc goes to "fucked up" to "the world is even more doomed somehow".

O_O 

...How did I not think of that?

 

Of course, there's the matter of the Zombots basically just being Goo Zombies with a slapped on name, but I suppose Silver's future speaks againt that.

[Kazhnuz]

The biggest mystery about Silver's future is where the zombot went, for me. The rest is pretty compatible with what we are seeing here as we know that the Metal Virus infect plants and stuff.

TBH, I think that the "goo" part might be because unlike old roboticization where the characters were magically converted into mechanical robots with some big "robots parts" appearing there and there, here zombots seems to have been converted on the cellular level, making them work like nanites-based-creatures (like the Asurans from Stargate Atlantis), the goo being the zombots being basically able to rearrange themselves. It would also explain why the Metal Virus slowly infect its victim (slow conversion), and why it is not supposed to infect processed organic stuff (because the cells are dead). We still have the "why are the glove and stuff converted when they shouldn't according to the rules of the MV themselves", but I suppose it's an artistic licence.

Sonic speed burning it off could be explained by metabolism ? Maybe that Sonic's speed affect somehow its metabolism more than other display of strenght, and that somehow burn off the converted cells ?

Yeah, I'm trying too much of making sense on the MV xD But even if it's still basically scientific bullshit, I feel that the Metal Virus is better than the Roboticization on that point, it make - for me - a tiny bit more sense.

[Red Hot Jack]

3 hours ago, Kazhnuz said:

That's quite a shame though, because it might have been one of the situations where him and the D6 would have been the most interesting. They could basically have hijacked the whole Zombot Army and turn them into whatever they wants with their power. (especially if they got creative and made him using friggin zombotified trees and stuff like that)

A good way to making the arc goes to "fucked up" to "the world is even more doomed somehow".

I'm not sure the Deadly Six are still available/alive/whatever. Or Sega just wants to forget about them, not sure, really.

Yeah I would have liked to see Zavok because he can control robots, but we do have Dr. Starline here, so maybe he can work too?

[StaticMania]

They clearly don't want to get rid of them.

The least interestingly designed one.

[DabigRG]

3 hours ago, Tangled Jack said:

I'm not sure the Deadly Six are still available/alive/whatever. Or Sega just wants to forget about them, not sure, really.

Yeah I would have liked to see Zavok because he can control robots, but we do have Dr. Starline here, so maybe he can work too?

Oh, they're pretty much confirmed (barring any sudden establishment otherwise) at this point. 

Zavok's definitely a sure thing at this point and both Zazz & Master Zik have cropped up a few times with him. The only thing keeping the others out is the fact that they haven't had a chance to use the whole band. 

Though you have a point regarding whether the comics are still allowed to use them, ala Omega, Dr. Nega, and more understandably Infinite. 

[StaticMania]

6 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

...they haven't had a chance to use the whole band. 

There's really nothing stopping them from doing so to be honest.

Especially since they don't seem to care about their home planet.

It might not even let them flesh out the 2Dimensional personalities.

Extra use.

Extra use.

Extra use.

Bring the Deadly Six back in full.

[DabigRG]

9 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

There's really nothing stopping them from doing so to be honest.

Especially since they don't seem to care about their home planet.

It might not even let them flesh out the 2Dimensional personalities.

Extra use.

Extra use.

Extra use.

Bring the Deadly Six back in full.

 I know you're posts can draw the line between being flippant and being silly at first glance, but I genuinely can't decide what you're actually saying here.

Is that a yay or nay?

[Shadowlax]

One last thing, then i'm done with it.

Upon re-reading i'm less inclined to to think that interaction happened. While I don't have any issue thinking sega messed up, its the end of it that throws it off " This is the best that could have been in done in the situation " . See Ian Flynn has talked about on his podcast about how his relationship with sega has changed but not gotten any better , just different. Particularly they are more focused on dialog than the actual storylines and stuff. If we take that for what it is, lines up with the issue we have with the comic. Now he could be obfuscating things, maybe they are more hands on with the stories or someone at IDW is and he likes to keep his job. Again if you think he's saying everything out in the open, you are naive. However, if we going to take his statements at face value... then the changes to the last book according to the friend of a friend reddit post doesn't actually make sense. 

The entire scenario the person described could have been written with shadow being an asshole. And it would have been a lot cooler than what happened. It doesn't line up with how flynn has described their interactions. Now to be clear, they could like Disney in a recent meeting about spiderman have tried to exert more power over character portrayals because they have a very specific vision of shadow right now and this lines up with it. But again, it seems weird.

[StaticMania]

3 hours ago, DabigRG said:

 I know you're posts can draw the line between being flippant and being silly at first glance, but I genuinely can't decide what you're actually saying here.

Is that a yay or nay?

bring back the six sided demon monsters...of course.

[DabigRG]

7 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

bring back the six sided demon monsters...of course.

Okay. there was just some weird dissonance going on there.

[Marco9966]

New previews

Spoiler

 

[dbzfan7]

Whisper just keeps ascending to best girl spot...it gets tougher and tougher to pick between her and Blaze.

[DabigRG]

13 minutes ago, Marco9966 said:

New previews

  Hide contents

 

 

Look at that gaudy Advance style hideout. Man, I miss that.

In other news, Tangle's Girl!Sonic side is sorta showing.

9 minutes ago, dbzfan7 said:

Whisper just keeps ascending to best girl spot

Yeah, she is pretty cool.

[Shadowlax]

If they weren't already commited to no relationships. That could read as like uh " I had an abusive ex " thing, which would genuinely be interesting and something other children programming like steven universe has touched on. Though I guess hell just be a literally shifty ex team mate

[Kazhnuz]

They are really committed on "no relationship" about main character though. I'm not sure that adding a past relationship to Whisper would be totally impossible for them. It might certainly not the case (or some kind of "totally not in relationship… but you can see it as you like" stuff that Flynn could totally create and already did), but I don't think that's something impossible.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

19 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

World's Unite had a lot of things done for the sake of compensation. Your assertion that he absolutely got to focus on just who he wanted to write doesn't even have basis in truth because I know for a fact that he's had to make a ton of compromises based on just what would flow better or stand alone as an advertisement for the book.  The Freedom Fighters weren't in the first crossover because of that. He put the Freedom Fighters in World's Unite because there were people wondering and asking why they weren't in the first crossover and he tried his best to appease that crowd with World's Unite. But, of course, hindsight is 20-20. Too many characters were in that story and he straight up said that if he could do it again he'd remove the Freedom Fighters and the Maverick hunters to try and balance things out. 

I honestly doubt that removing the Freedom Fighters or the Maverick Hunters would have fared better.

To be honest, they were fine. They were already part of the ongoing narrative, and them being involved in the sudden shift of things wasn’t bad since they were part of their respective franchises that had connections to each other. Besides, in hindsight, having the Freedom Fighters finally meet Megaman and his X counterparts and cast was a decent send off prior to Archie Sonic’s cancellation. If anything, it was the extended Sega and Capcom franchises joining the party that made the book a clusterfuck. And last I was told, that was a decision made by his editor at the time that Capcom and Sega saw as a great opportunity.

[Shadowlax]

16 minutes ago, Kazhnuz said:

They are really committed on "no relationship" about main character though. I'm not sure that adding a past relationship to Whisper would be totally impossible for them. It might certainly not the case (or some kind of "totally not in relationship… but you can see it as you like" stuff that Flynn could totally create and already did), but I don't think that's something impossible.

IIRC, when asked about tangle, they strait up said they aren't doing that kind of thing. People change their mind , and restrictions can be lifted, but as of currently I have no reason to believe that has changed.

[Rosaleia]

1 hour ago, Shadowlax said:

If they weren't already commited to no relationships. That could read as like uh " I had an abusive ex " thing, which would genuinely be interesting and something other children programming like steven universe has touched on. Though I guess hell just be a literally shifty ex team mate

 

I thought the no relationships mandate only extended towards active game characters, though.

[Dr. Detective]

1 hour ago, Conquering Storm’s Servant said:

I honestly doubt that removing the Freedom Fighters or the Maverick Hunters would have fared better.

To be honest, they were fine. They were already part of the ongoing narrative, and them being involved in the sudden shift of things wasn’t bad since they were part of their respective franchises that had connections to each other. Besides, in hindsight, having the Freedom Fighters finally meet Megaman and his X counterparts and cast was a decent send off prior to Archie Sonic’s cancellation. If anything, it was the extended Sega and Capcom franchises joining the party that made the book a clusterfuck. And last I was told, that was a decision made by his editor at the time that Capcom and Sega saw as a great opportunity.

Well, that's kind of the thing though. I figured the extended SEGA and Capcom franchises joining the party was the entire point of the book. The first one was a Sonic and Mega Man crossover. The second was supposed to be SEGA meets Capcom. It wouldn't have made the story an immediate smooth ride but I understand what he's getting at. If he cuts down on the amount of characters that don't absolutely have to be there, it could have made for a smoother ride.

When the premise already promises a clusterfuck of characters, having the Freedom Fighters on top of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy on top of Sticks from Sonic Boom on top of the Deadly Six on top of the Maverick Hunters is just way too much. I do think it would have fared a little better to cut down on some of that. 

I need to re-read that arc because it's been so long. I read it once and then just kind of let it sit in my binders. 

[dbzfan7]

2 minutes ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Well, that's kind of the thing though. I figured the extended SEGA and Capcom franchises joining the party was the entire point of the book. The first one was a Sonic and Mega Man crossover. The second was supposed to be SEGA meets Capcom. It wouldn't have made the story an immediate smooth ride but I understand what he's getting at. If he cuts down on the amount of characters that don't absolutely have to be there, it could have made for a smoother ride.

When the premise already promises a clusterfuck of characters, having the Freedom Fighters on top of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy on top of Sticks from Sonic Boom on top of the Deadly Six on top of the Maverick Hunters is just way too much. I do think it would have fared a little better to cut down on some of that. 

I need to re-read that arc because it's been so long. I read it once and then just kind of let it sit in my binders. 

You don't need to re-read it, it's shit. Outside of a like a X and Mega Man having a moment, none of it was any good. A massive fuckstercluck. You'd be better off just playing Project X Zone or whatever to get that Sega Capcom crossover alongside namco bandai stuff.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

1 minute ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Well, that's kind of the thing though. I figured the extended SEGA and Capcom franchises joining the party was the entire point of the book. The first one was a Sonic and Mega Man crossover. The second was supposed to be SEGA meets Capcom. It wouldn't have made the story an immediate smooth ride but I understand what he's getting at. If he cuts down on the amount of characters that don't absolutely have to be there, it could have made for a smoother ride.

When the premise already promises a clusterfuck of characters, having the Freedom Fighters on top of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy on top of Sticks from Sonic Boom on top of the Deadly Six on top of the Maverick Hunters is just way too much. I do think it would have fared a little better to cut down on some of that. 

I need to re-read that arc because it's been so long. I read it once and then just kind of let it sit in my binders. 

Then they would have been better of planning that with a longer arc in mind as opposed to doing so in the middle of one comic’s ongoing narrative. That or making a separate comic line entirely—which might’ve been the better option looking back.

Because given how they tried to cram it all in 12 issues spread across 3 separate comics, that wasn’t a good start to begin with—hell, the the moment the full cast of Sega and Capcom were shown prior to the crossover’s first issue, it was already feared that all the additional franchises would bloat things.

[Dr. Detective]

1 hour ago, Conquering Storm’s Servant said:

Then they would have been better of planning that with a longer arc in mind as opposed to doing so in the middle of one comic’s ongoing narrative. That or making a separate comic line entirely—which might’ve been the better option looking back.

Because given how they tried to cram it all in 12 issues spread across 3 separate comics, that wasn’t a good start to begin with—hell, the the moment the full cast of Sega and Capcom were shown prior to the crossover’s first issue, it was already feared that all the additional franchises would bloat things.

Yeah, that's true. Although, I can see why they chose 12 issues too. There's also danger in making an event go on for too long as well. Spreading it across the three comics was a move done to condense the time it took to churn them out so that's fine. 

It was a bit too ambitious of an idea for a comic event. Probably would have worked better as a Kingdom Hearts styled Sonic and Mega Man crossover game or something.

"Let's go to Street Fighter world and recruit Ryu and the gang. After that, the next stop is Hollow Bastion, where Sigma resides."

 

1 hour ago, dbzfan7 said:

You don't need to re-read it, it's shit. Outside of a like a X and Mega Man having a moment, none of it was any good. A massive fuckstercluck. You'd be better off just playing Project X Zone or whatever to get that Sega Capcom crossover alongside namco bandai stuff.

I freely admit to being heavily disappointed by it when I first read it but... honestly, my opinion on the old Archie books has reached a level of tolerance and indifference now that they've been cancelled. I'm finding that it's easier to look back on things that I may have hated or not cared about with more curiosity and open armed appreciation for their mere existence rather than any real desire to criticize them now.

It's just this interesting time capsule of Sonic books that I feel I can enjoy now without worrying about how good or bad they're written because now it literally doesn't matter anymore. So yeah, I do still want to re-read it eventually.