Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[SBR2]

I kinda hope we get a miniseries set in the 6 month gap in Sonic Forces. Never mind about the game itself there's some interesting stories you could tell in that time period. 

[Shadowlax]

30 minutes ago, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

I'd certainly prefer a series focused on one of the lesser characters; I love Shadow and Knuckles as much as the next person, but even I'll admit they got really overexposed in Sonic Universe. Think they had the most arcs about them combined out of the entire series. 

 

I get they're popular, but jeez. 

I generally I agree.  I don't think they got over exposed and i'm salty their stories didn't really get finished, but other series would be ok. Blaze's world would be neat but I have no idea how sega feels about that shit.

That said I kinda get , like why. Outside of them just being popular, this is an entirely new land scape and and having those key characters sort of do well with other opportunities. Also I guess isolating shadow might be where the good stories come from. It probably behooves them to make that work because I get the feeling the shadow books do... ok. That said wouldn't mind if other folks got shine, maybe even in the main book

Wouldn't mind an entire arc in blaze's world, but that's just me, anyone else?

All that said we could be off, the it could be a bout big fishing while the entire zombie thing is going on.

 

[Dr. Detective]

5 hours ago, Celestia said:

Correct me if I'm wrong but all he said was that he had different plans for Shadow, right? He didn't give details as far as I know. I'm not that bothered by the story as is but I'm a little curious what the plan was.

I guess there was that claim from someone who met him at a con that was going around...but the scenario Ian allegedly talked about wasn't actually different from what happened in the issue. It's still weird to me people latched onto that.

Ian did make it clear he had something different in mind on his podcast but he didn't go into explicit detail about the plan as far as I recall. He agreed with the criticism and talked about how he's got more restriction on characters like Shadow and Germel and more freedom with Sonic and Eggman (which is still weird but it does explain why Eggman has retained his ruthless Archie self here and Shadow is so different).

Even on this weeks podcast, someone asked him if he'd like to play around with the concept of Shadow owning that Dark Chao that shows up in Sonic Channel artwork all the time and he gushed about wanting to play with that dynamic... but then said that the powers that be probably wouldn't allow that considering how they want him to write Shadow. Then he moved on.

Again, personally, I like the idea of Shadow being more at odds with Sonic in terms of ideals so I'm fine with this so long as its well written. 

[Shadowlax]

6 hours ago, Celestia said:

Correct me if I'm wrong but all he said was that he had different plans for Shadow, right? He didn't give details as far as I know. I'm not that bothered by the story as is but I'm a little curious what the plan was.

I guess there was that claim from someone who met him at a con that was going around...but the scenario Ian allegedly talked about wasn't actually different from what happened in the issue. It's still weird to me people latched onto that.

Because it tracks with what else he said and it would have characterized shadow differently.

12 minutes ago, Dr. Franken-Mike said:

 but then said that the powers that be probably wouldn't allow that considering how they want him to write Shadow. Then he moved on.

 

He will never outright say on his podcast what it was supposed to be, but its situations like this that make the scenario believable.

[Red Hot Jack]

4 hours ago, SBR2 said:

I kinda hope we get a miniseries set in the 6 month gap in Sonic Forces. Never mind about the game itself there's some interesting stories you could tell in that time period. 

How about this? Wouldn't it be interesting? This post needs more love. It's exactly what I thought, with Sonic assumed dead, Shadow trapped in the nightmarish illusion reality, and Tails who gave up and suffered depression, it'd be interesting to see how the Resistance was made up, picking up the pieces left by the fallen heroes and still fought against Eggman and his army, despite him taking over the world.

I'd read that. I doubt it will happen though, for reasons… it's in the past now, not really relevant anymore and besides, Ian doesn't like Knuckles as a leader so I doubt he'd explore that side of the story. Then… what about a story revolving around characters created from the avatars?

Also, I agree, bring back the cast from Rush Adventure and make an arc out of it, but with new things, new plots and characters, the pirate feel was interesting enough (I know of Pirate Plunder Panic from Archie, but I meant a new main arc). We really don't need Nega the recolor, I'm okay with him being (probably) off-limits. As for other villains, Infinite will return to the games eventually, so I doubt he's off-limits forever.

[Shadowlax]

15 minutes ago, Tangled Jack said:

How about this? Wouldn't it be interesting? This post needs more love. It's exactly what I thought, with Sonic assumed dead, Shadow trapped in the nightmarish illusion reality, and Tails who gave up and suffered depression, it'd be interesting to see how the Resistance was made up, picking up the pieces left by the fallen heroes and still fought against Eggman and his army, despite him taking over the world.

Wanna point out before I answer your question. Shadow wasn't trapped in anything. Watch that DLC again. He escaped that. Infinite just hits the self destruct and then shadow isn't seen for 6 months. There is no explanation for what happens to him, and I doubt there ever will be.

Anywho, wouldn't that be interesting? To me, nah. That game did it its thing I don't think its thing is particularly that interesting, and I don't think expanding on it will make it more interesting. Its kind of a story full of holes and that interests me none. I feel similar when folks wanna go back and fix sonic 06, I don't really think there's much to gain there.

The only thing out of forces I have mild interest story telling wise is the jackal squad . But they can't use infinite and their shadow murdered the shit out of them. So i'm never getting that.

Quote

 

Also, I agree, bring back the cast from Rush Adventure and make an arc out of it, but with new things, new plots and characters, the pirate feel was interesting enough (I know of Pirate Plunder Panic from Archie, but I meant a new main arc). We really don't need Nega the recolor, I'm okay with him being (probably) off-limits. As for other villains,

I just hope sega isn't weird about it

Quote

Infinite will return to the games eventually, so I doubt he's off-limits forever.

I don't think so. I think infinite and mephilies share a two bedroom apartment in " NOPE " land.

[Red Hot Jack]

1 minute ago, Shadowlax said:

Anywho, wouldn't that be interesting? To me, nah. That game did it its thing I don't think its thing is particularly that interesting, and I don't think expanding on it will make it more interesting. Its kind of a story full of holes and that interests me none.

Okay then, I hate plot holes, so for me, my headcanon is that he was still trapped during those months. Eh.

I assumed it wouldn't be interesting for you, because it wouldn't feature Shadow, I still respect your tastes though. That said, while I enjoy villainous and jerk Shadow as a rival, I really hope SEGA lets Ian do new things with him in future arcs… otherwise it's just repetitive and boring.

[Shadowlax]

Just now, Tangled Jack said:

Okay then, I hate plot holes, so for me, my headcanon is that he was still trapped during those months. Eh.

I mean feel free to fill in that time with whatever you want , I can't stop you. Sega certainly didn't provide you a suitable explanation

I choose to believe he went to fight some black arms that conveniently popped up for conveniently 6 months and then came back.

Just now, Tangled Jack said:

I assumed it wouldn't be interesting for you, because it wouldn't feature Shadow, I still respect your tastes though. That said, while I enjoy villainous and jerk Shadow as a rival, I really hope SEGA lets Ian do new things with him in future arcs… otherwise it's just repetitive and boring.

I like stories that don't feature shadow. This doesn't interest me none in the same way 06 doesn't in terms of fixing or expanding on it, I just don't think there is anything narrative interesting to gain. granted shadow's story in 06 is great but like... I would prefer you just steal it and retell it than go back and expand on it. Forces for me is this thing that doesn't accomplish anything narrative it sets out to do,and is largely narrative uninteresting and I don't think expanding on it makes anything from that game interesting. I just kinda pretend the game doesn't exist.

As for shadow. I dunno man, maybe. I hope they figure out people like him because he was multifaceted or at least we get some direction as to who wants him to be this and why.  While I think shadow being a rival or more so a jerk is part of why is doing what he's doing I think more so the issue is they want him to look strong. If you look at the characterization of him throughout the book its never that sonic specific. LIke even the " Cowards Run I win " line can be and  I think should be interpreted as him being angry at sonic rather than a rival thing. I think Sega just wants him to look strong, if doesn't loose he can beat stuff up even sonic and knuckles can't beat up and if he looses its because he didn't understand the situation, rather than lack of power on his part. And even then the narrative will provide qualifiers as to how cool he is even if he lost (issue 20 ) . I even think the lines people have issue with are less him being a rival and more so them not wanting him to look weak.

That's where i think the issue lies and I agree , if they don't do something about that, it will get boring...fast. Hopefully they get over that and let him be a character, but I dunno man. Maybe.

[DabigRG]

16 hours ago, Shadowlax said:

 

Wouldn't mind an entire arc in blaze's world, but that's just me, anyone else?

 

 

Read the last page or two.

13 hours ago, Dr. Franken-Mike said:

 

Even on this weeks podcast, someone asked him if he'd like to play around with the concept of Shadow owning that Dark Chao that shows up in Sonic Channel artwork all the time and he gushed about wanting to play with that dynamic... but then said that the powers that be probably wouldn't allow that considering how they want him to write Shadow. Then he moved on.

 

Oh confound it!

[Big Panda]

13 hours ago, Dr. Franken-Mike said:

Even on this weeks podcast, someone asked him if he'd like to play around with the concept of Shadow owning that Dark Chao that shows up in Sonic Channel artwork all the time and he gushed about wanting to play with that dynamic... but then said that the powers that be probably wouldn't allow that considering how they want him to write Shadow. Then he moved on.

If they don’t want it canonised, then they shouldn’t have put the notion out there to begin with. derp

[MainJP]

Why are "the powers that be" so darn stingy?

[DabigRG]

14 minutes ago, MainJP said:

Why are "the powers that be" so darn stingy?

Because they want to protect their brand from outside misrepresentation.

[Big Panda]

3 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

Because they want to protect their brand from outside misrepresentation.

So much so that they pay no attention to the internal misrepresentation.

[DabigRG]

1 minute ago, Forgetful Panda said:

So much so that they pay no attention to the internal misrepresentation.

Because that's the source material.

[Celestia]

25 minutes ago, Forgetful Panda said:

If they don’t want it canonised, then they shouldn’t have put the notion out there to begin with. derp

Channel art probably isn't considered a serious enough thing for them to care about. Plus that was a few years back and we haven't exactly seen the Chao since then...

[Shadowlax]

24 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

Because they want to protect their brand from outside misrepresentation.

 

20 minutes ago, Forgetful Panda said:

So much so that they pay no attention to the internal misrepresentation.

Who would have think you could sum up the sonic franchise in like, two posts

44 minutes ago, MainJP said:

Why are "the powers that be" so darn stingy?

I mean, I get it. At least with the comic.

Everytime I think about what happened to the official characters during the entirety of the official archie run, I can kinda understand them... not wanting to screw around. Apparently in that same podcast they mention sega is a lot more vigilant than before on how stuff is

[Zaysho]

I was bored and ended up catching up with the main series today because I've been interested in it based on the discussions. I've read #13-20 so far, and I'm gonna wait for #21 to get marked down on comixology so I'll probably give myself a little buffer on issues before I continue.

As down as I was about this book in its first year, I'm actually really enjoying the second year. Way more than I expected. The plot generally feels like it moves at a good clip and I'm a lot more interested in what's going on this time around.

It just seems like there's something new happening with each issue and I think that was my biggest complaint about at least half of year one.

Something I really like is how Sonic feels like he's being challenged, literally running himself into the ground trying to fight off his infection while also keeping up with trying to help as many survivors as he can. It's actually a bit reminiscent of his problem initially getting the Werehog power under control back in the Archie book. It's good actually watching Sonic struggle and I feel like I have to think about what would happen if he fails or gives up. I mean, I know it's not going to come to that, but there's actual tension here that I think works, and it's also not Sonic managing to solve the problem in two issues like he did with the Werehog.

I'm honestly of two minds about stuff like Shadow getting infected. Him deliberately touching the robots and thinking he's better/can survive it, feels in-character for him, or at least this particular incarnation. It makes him stupid and myopic, but it feels expected for this version; I think I can accept that this is a case of making a corporate mandate work and it wasn't handled nearly as badly as I've seen people drone on about. Though even considering that, I don't particularly like this version of Shadow. At least when he'd throw his weight around in Archie it felt like he had a good enough reason for acting the way he did, even if his methods were disagreeable, and Flynn left just enough ambiguity that the reader could decide who was right in a situation, like when he and Knuckles were arguing about what to do with the Master Emerald. Here he just tells us he's a prideful dolt and it's not even easy to sympathize with him, even as someone who likes the character a lot. It is what it is, I guess.

Art is, as always, gorgeous. Jack Lawrence is a wonderful new addition to the series, and Bracardi Curry's colors are a great complement. There's a bit of a Fleetway vibe to Lawrence's artstyle and it works really nicely with his expressions. All in all, I'm pleasantly surprised and had a lot more fun with these issues than I thought I would.

[StaticMania]

1 hour ago, Celestia said:

Channel art probably isn't considered a serious enough thing for them to care about. Plus that was a few years back and we haven't exactly seen the Chao since then...

Not to mention the fact that there's only 3 of them.

Wasn't the last one with the Shadow chao from at most 2 years ago?

[MainJP]

10 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

Not to mention the fact that there's only 3 of them.

Wasn't the last one with the Shadow chao from at most 2 years ago?

Don't forget Shadow's Funko Pop.

[StaticMania]

Sonic's already got the green emerald, so he's got no choice.

[DabigRG]

3 minutes ago, MainJP said:

Don't forget Shadow's Funko Pop.

"Look Chaodow--gaze into the soul of buyers."

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

3 hours ago, DabigRG said:

Because that's the source material.

A source material representing something that can’t keep itself together to save its own life, unfortunately.

It’s no wonder some people have preferences to alternate settings than the main one at times.

[DabigRG]

5 minutes ago, Conquering Storm’s Servant said:

A source material representing something that can’t keep itself together to save its own life, unfortunately.

Exactly! Isn't that lovely?

[Shadowlax]

29 minutes ago, Zaysho said:

. Here he just tells us he's a prideful dolt and it's not even easy to sympathize with him, even as someone who likes the character a lot. It is what it is, I guess.

I feel like in the grand scheme he's still sympathisable. Because... he was right. But in this moment is kinda weird. I think to make this shadow work, you are gonna have to lean in on the Hard assery. Like at the end of this if its like
 

Quote

 

" See that's what happens when you don't work together "

And shadow's like " This shouldn't have happened in the first place, working with you is what almost doomed us all "

And they are like " Well you didn't have to yeet yourself into a zombie horde, you should have listened to me "

And shadow like " Listening to is why this happened, Yes I messed up. I thought My invulnerability to disease would keep me safe, I had reason to believe that it would. It didn't , I'll take the L on that one. But you have dealt with eggman for years, years as he does the same thing and he did the same thing. And if you would have listened to me, this entire crisis wouldn't have happened "

Bonus if eggman helps: Well he helped us in the end. So what do you say about that 

Shadow: HE'S THE REASON THIS HAPPENED IN THE FIRST PLACE. You all seem content with letting the genocidal fascist who puts you in these dangerous situations be the one to save you .  I"m not, I'm tired of and I'm sure the people of this planet are too.  You need to learn how to defend yourselves.

Something like that, where like ... he's a hardass. But he's like so right , you can't argue with him. And that would change his motivation from cockness to him being angry at others lack of competency which as an outsider I think would fall into what they want the character to be but frame it in a way that's more palatable and more relatable and easier to sympathize with.

And if you want to make it more interesting you can have other non sonic characters weigh in and agree or disagree to give shadow's perspective more weight. It turns out when people learn about what shadow wanted to do , maybe some of them were down. And that causes different isolatated tensions between different characters later. Not like " CIVIL WAR SANIK " but like... a vibe check. Like what's the murder vibe in the room. And if you want to get interesting people who agree with the " Wrong " person. LIike one thing I liked about pre-boot archie is that due to obvious reasons tails was kinda cynical. So maybe tails doesn't admit it then or there, but like he gets back home and starts immediate work on like...robots and defense systems he starts placing in cities. Or on the opposite end , if i'm to headcanon about a specific character. I always though rouge while I think she likes Shadow and Knuckles for thier sense of duty , kinda hated it was so extreme. In the archie reboot sonic universe there's a conversation between rouge and and knuckles that something to that effect, like she's upset that knuckles is still on this island. And while this other situation is probably meant to be read another way when shadow is being mind controlled on the black arms ship rouge sounds...annoyed she needs to talk about maria. Like she would never say it , but maybe she wishes shadow would worry about what she told him less in the sense of duty and more so just lived a good life and that making her happy. And shadow talking about the " needs of many " of this situation, is too far in the " duty  " direction she's just not with it, for anyone...particularly her friend.

Like you can not only use that situation as to change shadow's perspective ,but also get a vibe check on who the characters are outside of a friendly context. And maybe they are kinda less friends then they would let on. Have it effect how they feel about stuff as time goes on. Make it matter

 

 

29 minutes ago, Zaysho said:

Art is, as always, gorgeous. Jack Lawrence is a wonderful new addition to the series, and Bracardi Curry's colors are a great complement. There's a bit of a Fleetway vibe to Lawrence's artstyle and it works really nicely with his expressions. All in all, I'm pleasantly surprised and had a lot more fun with these issues than I thought I would.

If it wasn't for Evan , he would be my favorite artist. He has an interesting take on drawing the characters

 

6 minutes ago, Conquering Storm’s Servant said:

A source material representing something that can’t keep itself together to save its own life, unfortunately.

 

1 minute ago, DabigRG said:

Exactly! Isn't that lovely?

Cries in a corner

[Zaysho]

11 minutes ago, Shadowlax said:

I feel like in the grand scheme he's still sympathisable. Because... he was right. But in this moment is kinda weird. I think to make this shadow work, you are gonna have to lean in on the Hard assery. Like at the end of this if its like

My wording may have been a bit unclear, but I was focused on Shadow turning into a zombot and being a prideful idiot (he claims that it's fine because he's the Ultimate Life Form--despite being organic--and ignores the advice he got two pages before not to touch the zombies). It's consistent enough with how he kind of is some times in more recent games, or at least how Sega pretends he is, that I accept this is the best way to work it out even though it's kind of frustrating seeing him behave like a dolt.

I'll lend credit that I think Shadow's reason for being angry with Sonic is justifiable even though I understand Sonic's perspective too. Unfortunately, every decision Sonic made in the previous arc came back to bite him, and it's something anyone reading would have seen coming. Looking at it from the perspective of the character, at least, it isn't difficult to see why Sonic left "Tinker" alone (he did entertain the possibility Eggman could resurface so he'd check in but things outside his control happened that he couldn't have even known about because he was occupied with Metal and no one from the village could find him at the time).

Sonic did the "right" thing, not the "correct" thing.

20 minutes ago, Shadowlax said:

Quote

 

" See that's what happens when you don't work together "

And shadow's like " This shouldn't have happened in the first place, working with you is what almost doomed us all "

And they are like " Well you didn't have to yeet yourself into a zombie horde, you should have listened to me "

And shadow like " Listening to is why this happened, Yes I messed up. I thought My invulnerability to disease would keep me safe, I had reason to believe that it would. It didn't , I'll take the L on that one. But you have dealt with eggman for years, years as he does the same thing and he did the same thing. And if you would have listened to me, this entire crisis wouldn't have happened "

Bonus if eggman helps: Well he helped us in the end. So what do you say about that 

Shadow: HE'S THE REASON THIS HAPPENED IN THE FIRST PLACE. You all seem content with letting the genocidal fascist who puts you in these dangerous situations be the one to save you .  I"m not, I'm tired of and I'm sure the people of this planet are too.  You need to learn how to defend yourselves.

 

Something like that, where like ... he's a hardass. But he's like so right , you can't argue with him. And that would change his motivation from cockness to him being angry at others lack of competency which as an outsider I think would fall into what they want the character to be but frame it in a way that's more palatable and more relatable and easier to sympathize with.

I'm kinda half and half on this scenario, but I'd need to think about it some more to decide what I'd want to see differently since I came off of binging eight issues and overall liked it for what it was. This is reminiscent of their argument in the previous arc though, and Sonic brought up that if Eggman--who was, at the time, not even Eggman--can't be forgiven, then neither can Shadow.

I get where you're coming from, but it starts to sound like Shadow should be painted as so in the right that everyone else is a moron for not agreeing with him. They're foils, they have similar goals, but have completely different methods/ideals to reaching them.