Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[caitash]

I thought I heard somewhere that something continues after the zombot arc, maybe that something that continues is the Zeti’s involvement or whatever it is that’s slightly different in Silver’s future than what’s unfolding at the moment. I’m enjoying it anyway and while I want the issue releases to speed up I also don’t want this arc to fully end anytime soon. 

I wonder who will be infected next and when. Still taking bets on Sonic being fully infected before the end of the arc, but now the Zeti are presumably going to be involved it’s anyone’s guess. I wonder if they’ll go for direct revenge from the events of Lost World (i.e target Eggman/Sonic/Tails)or if they’ll just generally go for anyone and anything upon their (assumed) return.

[Kellodrawsalot]

10 hours ago, Shadowlax said:

Blaze isnt in this arc either right now. As mentioned before shadow is around because people like shadow and odds are the stuff with his face on it sells well. So having some fight event with him during the summer is possibly some milestone that needs to be hit.

Absence doesn't mean the bias doesn't exist, they could just come in the story later. Certainly doesn't remove the perceived bias

But how shadow continues to be treated should be made note of. Because no one else even the Babylon rogues, a group of characters he admits to not liking gets treated like this

or maybe just maybe this is a writer working with what hes got and this is how Sonic Team themselves were fine with it because keep in mind unlike the dark ages of Archie, Sonic Team reviews the IDW comic before they are released.

Which means they saw this and were fine with it. They agreed with ''this is how Shadow would have acted'' at least the new Shadow.

 

At this point Flynn is becoming the scapegoat for every nitpicky Sonic fan (mostly from the Penders/OldArchie fanbase) but its really getting tiring its kind of crazy how so many fans accuse Flynn is being biased from accusing him of shoving Sonamy or Sonally down people's throat and dislking their preferred Sonic ship at the same time. (srsy how could either groups not see the flawed argument here) stop trying to accuse Flynn and maybe focus on your issue with Sonic Team themselves and their direction of the characters.

 

(Edit: its still fine to criticize the writing but dont base it arround Flynn being biased )

[Meta77]

I really hope the zeti are not long term villains.  They are some of the weakest most goofy villains out there. Compared to neo their threat is small. And anyone with clown car theme music is just funny. Honestly I'd love to see a good female villain added to the series and not a old witch but someone who you would not expect.  Imagine a evil tikal or ghost girl lol Jk

[Shadowlax]

1 hour ago, Kellodrawsalot said:

or maybe just maybe this is a writer working with what hes got and this is how Sonic Team themselves were fine with it because keep in mind unlike the dark ages of Archie, Sonic Team reviews the IDW comic before they are released.

 

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Which means they saw this and were fine with it. They agreed with ''this is how Shadow would have acted'' at least the new Shadow.

Well Sonic team or a community manger agreeing to it isn't actually the full context. We don't know who at least in this instance approved this.Because even back in the dark ages someone was " approving " things but no one cared and then SOJ caught wind of some shit and then they cared. That specific instance of " other branch of sonic catching some shit later and being like nah " happened multiple times throughout the last book and probably will happen again.  Also them approving this doesn't make it good, pr even means who ever did cared, its just also bad. They would probably approve boom knuckles, I think boom knuckles is bad. Not to be rude but I don't know what was the point there

Sega approved sonic forces as a whole. Not gonna hold that up as the end all be all of sonic video games.

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At this point Flynn is becoming the scapegoat for every nitpicky Sonic fan (mostly from the Penders/OldArchie fanbase) but its really getting tiring its kind of crazy how so many fans accuse Flynn is being biased from accusing him of shoving Sonamy or Sonally down people's throat and dislking their preferred Sonic ship at the same time. (srsy how could either groups not see the flawed argument here) stop trying to accuse Flynn and maybe focus on your issue with Sonic Team themselves and their direction of the characters.

I blame sonic team and sega management for a lot, however. They can't explain everything flynn has done. There are too many narrative decisions specifically involving  shadow with flynn that cannot be explained with sonic team. While sega can explain some lines and some characterization, it can't explain scene direction, the over arching narrative specifically in this instance because he said himself they don't mess with that anymore. And it can't explain a series of repeated behavior that was happening when sega was messing with him less.

Ian flynn is not a scape goat, at least for me. Most of the issues with sonic as a brand lie at the feet of sonic team not being able to do good things at a regular tick. To explain a very complicated problem simply. However in regards to this book, there's an issue you can see it. And it seems to be effecting one character.

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(Edit: its still fine to criticize the writing but dont base it arround Flynn being biased )

I want to say this again, and I want to be clear i'm not trying to be condescending. A writer liking a character or not is not a big deal. It sucks for me, but its a thing that happens in life and is generally a morally neutral action. There are versions of this where it gets bad and gross and it isn't that, but noticing a pattern and commenting on it is fine.

 

[Kellodrawsalot]

My point was that your focus should be more on ''why is Sonic Team okay with the character portrayal here'' (not that you have to agree with them)

instead of

 

'' ohh Flynn dislikes Shadow, this is all a big agenda to make people dislike the character!11 he doesn't like Shadow this is how HE sees Shadow!' fantasy. I don't care if you don't care if a writer does or not, your basing this on assumption and its not factual since Flynn never expressed any ill views to the character which he did with other characters. 

[Shadowlax]

32 minutes ago, Kellodrawsalot said:

My point was that your focus should be more on ''why is Sonic Team okay with the character portrayal here'' (not that you have to agree with them)

instead of

 

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'' ohh Flynn dislikes Shadow, this is all a big agenda to make people dislike the character!11 he doesn't like Shadow this is how HE sees Shadow!' fantasy. I don't care if you don't care if a writer does or not, your basing this on assumption and its not factual since Flynn never expressed any ill views to the character which he did with other characters. 

I think I stated this on another page , because I don't actually inherently have an issue with shadow being a confrontation asshole if you do it right. I would prefer they stop the half stepping and reboot a bunch a shit because they are in this weird half step period where its very clear they want to go in a very rebooty direction with elements of the franchise but not commit to it. And he could be written better, but shadow being kind of an asshole isn't in itself inherently the worst thing in the world, just make it it interesting and prove to me why that's interesting and why that version of the character is worth keeping and he's yet to do that.

Yes sega owns the ip and there are restrictions but there are restrictions with every IP, you work around them , to produce the best content you can. And he's yet to do that with shadow in particular, and there pretty easy solutions at least in IDW where he could have but didn't. This at least until specified otherwise, it  is his digression. He chose to do this, and this lines up with his treatment of the character in the past.

And sega is ok with a lot of shit untill its so awful they have to be not ok with it. Plenty of premises that when presented in paper were awful ideas , and they didn't have the foresight to think of that. They could not give to much of a shit because its not " their canon " they could not actually have cared about the larger narrative ( which Ian flynn has outright stated ) and only cared about lines and not realized how bad their character looked in the larger picture. This is a company who routinely signs of sonic rights to come back and be horrified with the results only to be disappointing. And they did it again with the film. And you think sega's approval in this instance means much? I don't think so. They are allowing his creative freedom and that's good. But if it also blows up in thier face , they will be surprised because they don't pay enough attention.

While yes " why are these characters weird " not just shadow is a good question and should be posed to sonic team, they have proven time and again they have vision and don't give a fuck untill it blows up in their face. There's to gain there we can't do anything about that. But flynn is reasonable, and learns from his mistakes maybe might see some of this criticism that seems to be on various sites and might get something out of that. Ian flynn can just write a better shadow around those mandates, criticism holds weight there and there's something to gain. Not just possibly getting a better comic but possibly I dunno allowed other up and coming writers to realize mistakes they have made.

But sega, the giant corporate entity who doesn't listen to shit? What do I get out of that?

If those leaks scripts were real , ruby eclipse were strait up telling sega the stuff was bad and they did not give a shit. What do I gain questioning them in this instance?

I'm not saying its not worth criticizing them, but this is a situation where I feel as though it was a failure on both parties and while I can't get one party to act right. I can at least present the other party and argument that could result in at least some cool stuff.

[Mark_The_Dephiles]

11 hours ago, Shadowlax said:

Blaze isnt in this arc either right now. As mentioned before shadow is around because people like shadow and odds are the stuff with his face on it sells well. So having some fight event with him during the summer is possibly some milestone that needs to be hit.

Absence doesn't mean the bias doesn't exist, they could just come in the story later. Certainly doesn't remove the perceived bias

But how shadow continues to be treated should be made note of. Because no one else even the Babylon rogues, a group of characters he admits to not liking gets treated like this

I wasn't really disappointed in Shadow's characterization until I saw him in issue nineteen..... I don't know what rules are here for spoilers but needless to say I was pretty disappointed.

[Fire-N-Space]

Is Amy in IDW supposed to this mundane why doesn't she get any sleep there must be some kind of second in command or just more office workers to help things run better if this is "war" times. Amy is getting more out of character as this book go's on and it makes me think why didn't they just make a new character for this role did Amy have such a big crush on Sonic so much that the writer feels the need to attach Amy to a computer to give the feeling of growth instead of having her interact with things with her already existing personality?

And why did Shadow think he was immortal just jumping head first in to a zombie pile?    

[Kuzu]

I swear, some of you spend more time complaining about how your favorite character isn't exactly what you want them to be than actually talking about what's happening in the book.

"Amy is Out of Character, Flynn hates Shadow" 

It's the same thing, every month here. It's really exhausting to read after the ....5th or so time. 

[StaticMania]

2 people are the sum of this whole forum don't ya know?

[Kuzu]

Just now, StaticMania said:

2 people is the sum of this whole forum don't ya know?

The excessive amounts of it makes it feel like it's more, so forgive me. 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

1 minute ago, StaticMania said:

2 people is the sum of this whole forum don't ya know?

Being fair, usually the entire topic does get derailed to talk about it every other month, so...

[dbzfan7]

3 minutes ago, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

I swear, some of you spend more time complaining about how your favorite character isn't exactly what you want them to be than actually talking about what's happening in the book.

"Amy is Out of Character, Flynn hates Shadow" 

It's the same thing, every month here. It's really exhausting to read after the ....5th or so time. 

Especially when it comes to the point I have to have the ignore feature just so I don't have to see the same post over and over again.

[StaticMania]

Not really denying it, that IS true...

They're like Pointsman, it's pretty neat.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Unrelated to IDW specifically, - but Ian just released his plans for what was to be the Mario comic he tried to pitch to Archie/Nintendo:

 

[StaticMania]

Outside of Mario getting tired of being a plumber, that's-a-so nice.

Maybe he could try again some time.

[DabigRG]

Okay, so I'm gonna do a quick review of Issue 20.

You know, I kinda didn't like this issue during the first half(?); after reading the rest, I think it's decent and just sorta weird.

Spoiler

So weird overview--this issue almost felt like it wasn't really written by Mr. Flynn. Like, it vaguely hits certain beats associated with him, but something about the way it read felt handed off. I suppose the artwork helped with that, though.

Anyway, to hit on other points real quick:

• Omega's behavior in that fight seemed out there initially. Like him jumping into the fight instead of retreating was great and his dedication to taking out as many Zombots as he [thinks he] can over wanting to protect Sonic was fine, but he otherwise seemed overly thoughtless. Gotta love the black comedy of his rescue, though; which is indeed shocking, considering he's barely recognizable now.
• Speaking of black, I guess I should talk about the bio-android here. Interesting how the virus seemingly gimped his conditional speed, but otherwise may have made him stronger. Took me a moment to realize he ripped Omega's are off though.
• Guess this issue's turnout got spoiled shortly before release. I'll come back to this at the end.
• Probably should put this in a separate spoiler, but did anyone else suspect that Silver will be the inside contamination?
• Nice to see Cream and Gemerl again, admittedly unexpectedly. Her underlying trauma due to recent events was a nice touch of down time and the latter's continued halting towards Sonic is an interesting contrast. However, she's a good example of both what I'm talking about and also a inkling I noticed in her reintroduction, but may not have brought up: it still kinda feels like Sonic's dialogue is a bit overcompensating regarding her.
• The Chaotix wanting to bring Charmy back confused me a little. Like yeah, on one hand they just want to get their little buddy back and safe, but on the other hand, he's clearly gonna be a considerable threat in his own right--moreso than Cheese and Chocola.
• Amy's scene was good for getting the tone across, but a tad jarring.
• So we finally address an important detail here: Silver said his future was teeming with metallic flora and covered in the T1000 stuff, but there was no one (or rather nothing) around. Which begged the question: what happened to the Zombots?
• And now the ending(and the afformentioned spoilers): Starline laments that Eggman had nothing planned for controlling the virus past deployment and while he is running tests to create one, it isn't a surefire solution unlike one he has documented in his files--his former Six Demon Clique. So not only is Zavok obviously on the horizon(as hinted at for the unproduced Archie issue 310), but his master and brethren are as well. This is still a concerning, if intriguing development: is Starline planning on bringing them down to the planet in order to risk controlling them and what sort of effect could their presence possibly have on this conflict?
• Likewise, the recent solicits confirmed that Sonic is still alive and will in fact be helping Tails synthesize a cure. Was part of the initial disappointment with the beginning of this issue, as his final transformation seemed like a sure thing for quite some time.

 

 

 

(Wow, three pages of primarily arguing about what Shadow effectively being the worst character in this comic supposedly proves. Nih.)

 

[PublicEnemy1]

53 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Unrelated to IDW specifically, - but Ian just released his plans for what was to be the Mario comic he tried to pitch to Archie/Nintendo:

 

Yeah, that DEFINITELY won't fly by past NoJ. If you think SEGA was strict, I couldn't even imagine how strict Nintendo would be, especially after Miyamoto basically ruined the Paper Mario franchise for having story.

[StaticMania]

Literally none of that would be a problem for Nintendo...

[Sonictrainer]

I'm still wondering what Knuckles is doing while all of this is happening.

He appears on the Crayon Recap Map...

[Fire-N-Space]

Ian Flynn stories are to serious for a Mario comic feels like he'll start changing things that don't need to be changed.

[PublicEnemy1]

11 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

Literally none of that would be a problem for Nintendo...

Mario having slightly more personality and cynicism than his usual happy-go-lucky self? Check.

Having a more in-depth story? Check.

The fact that Nintendo was picky with how Bowser HELD HIS TEACUP in Wreck-It Ralph. Check, check, CHECK.

Nintendo would be DEFINITELY worse than SEGA when it comes to restrictions. So much in fact that they didn't even APPROVE of the comic.

[StaticMania]

Nintendo is against Mario being in anything that flops and that just makes them extremely over protective when it comes to him being outside their hands.

It's like, wow.

No risk.

[DabigRG]

1 hour ago, PublicEnemy1 said:

The fact that Nintendo was picky with how Bowser HELD HIS TEACUP in Wreck-It Ralph. Check, check, CHECK.

 

Um, it was a cup of cofee with a stirring straw--gosh. 

[SBR2]

1 hour ago, Fire-N-Space said:

Ian Flynn stories are to serious for a Mario comic feels like he'll start changing things that don't need to be changed.

Yes because Ian has never written anything lighthearted or silly before. 

Honestly I still say he'd be a good fit for Power Rangers. Both the comic and the show.