Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

In that case, you see this?

 

This is a case of where over-description is a bad thing. Now this is really just a promotional image from Worlds Unite, done under Ian’s time, and it is among the absolute worst things he has ever written (not that he had a choice in the matter, but still.)

Too much clutter and not enough space because it wasn’t paced out long enough to work. Now I love details, and I have no problem with a large cast, but there are ways to make this work. World’s Unite is a case of that fumbling due to over-description and bad pacing.

Not that this has never worked—he had loads and loads of characters in the previous crossover, Worlds Collide, and it was glorious. But when I mean over-description, I mean taking 100 words to say what could have been said in 10.

[calamityCons]

That’s a fair counterpoint, I understand that. Thinking about it a little more, I can easily add over-description as one of the hurdles toward writing good fight scenes. It makes sense that having so many core things to juggle already, compressing it all in a satisfying way that also doesn’t feel anticlimactic is pretty damn tough.

[Giga]

I definitely enjoyed this issue. I will say the way they defeated Zavok was pretty anticlimactic. Obviously Sonic isn't dead but im excited to see where he's ended up and (hopefully) what effects the Warp Topaz has done to the world. I think that's definitely a direction the story could go towards. Reality warped shenanigans and whatnot.

 

[Dr. Detective]

I really love aftermath issues so I'm especially excited for issue 30. 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

I haven't read the issue yet, but saw a few spoilers, and as a fan of the character (well, prior to Lost World) - about Tails...

Spoiler

I think this is insanely justifiable for why Tails did what he did here. I don't got the full context, but the situations from the off-set is completely different. One was stripping Tails of all agency to the point that he was cowering against Badniks, that's even before Sonic ends up getting destroyed by the villain squad, and then going straight into a despair abyss, to the point he's unable to fight the weakest form of Chaos when he beat so many of his higher tier forms already.

Here, Tails has seen every hope dashed in front of him, he's saw tons upon tons of his friends being turned, Sonic himself in the preview pages is on the verge of turning, Knuckles, possibly one of his closest friends after Sonic himself ended up giving himself up solely to buy them precious seconds to win.

But when Tails gets infected, not even fully turned, but just touched enough to be infected, you have to imagine what's running through the kid's mind. Being forced into a brainless shell of your former self to turn on your friends and transform them into the same thing. Tails is someone who always tries to find a solution through invention and creation, and now he's not only going to lose himself, as well as the intelligence that defines him, but he's forced to sit there with a slow infection, a slow burn - it's absolutely cruel. 

It's one thing if it's a straight infection, but that is on the level of cruelty as to what happened when Tangle was infected - being forced to slowly turn, realising that there's nothing else you can do, that these next few moments are the last few moments remaining of your sanity, of your being. Not only did Tails fail to save his friends with a cure, but now he's forced to deal with the fact that in his last few moments of being himself, he wasn't good enough to help Sonic, or help the friends that are dropping like flies to Zavok. To a kid like Tails, that's absolutely heart-shattering, and frankly, making him deal with it as he slowly turns is probably one of the darkest things in the comic so far.

 

[DabigRG]

@CrownSlayer’s Shadow @calamityCons

All that overdescription said, when do comic vook fight scenes have much writting to them to begin with?

Aside from maybe some CDD and sfx, they're just images where characters run, jump, and attack in an appropriate action pose.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

34 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

@CrownSlayer’s Shadow @calamityCons

All that overdescription said, when do comic vook fight scenes have much writting to them to begin with?

Aside from maybe some CDD and sfx, they're just images where characters run, jump, and attack in an appropriate action pose.

I meant more in terms of “scripting” as opposed to just dialogue.

I figured that was understood, so sorry if I wasn’t clear on my end.

[SatAMhog]

It was a fitting finale to be sure.  Glad we got to see Super Silver again not to mention our first IDW appearance of Super Sonic.  The stakes were definitely high here and one scene I like in particular.

Spoiler

The fear in Sonic's eyes as he's ALMOST completely roboticized by the Metal Virus reaching for the emerald.  I like how you can tell he's beginning to lose himself as the last thing he was seeing was Silver pushing the last Emerald towards him yet he pushes on still...regardless.  Love this scene.

 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

 

I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if the Metal Virus shows up again as a future plot device, but instead of being indiscriminate it’s becomes tailored to affect only a specific person—kinda like FOXDIE from Metal Gear Solid (as if this comic didn’t have enough homages to that franchise already).

A fully Zombotified Sonic is too good to pass up for good—I can already see IDW making a spiritual successor of Archie Sonic’s Mecha Madness story with it.

Calling it now.

[DabigRG]

25 minutes ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

I meant more in terms of “scripting” as opposed to just dialogue.

I figured that was understood, so sorry if I wasn’t clear on my end.

It was later, just thought the debate was a little silly at first.

[PublicEnemy1]

So apparently (according to another user in this thread) there's this new mandate that Knuckles can't even leave the island anymore.

If true, can SEGA just STOP?

I mean, I get that fans wanted him to smarten up and actually protect the Master Emerald.
But to completely KICK HIM OUT OF STORIES unless whatever problem's happening on Angel Island is going the OPPOSITE extreme. 

Oh god...

I think WE'RE the partial cause for the recent mandates.

Shadow's memed vegeta personality, Knuckles protecting the Emerald... These ate things the FANS joked about and/or wanted.

I think SEGA is taking in our suggestions and misconstuing them because they're out of touch with the fan base and making them into mandates. 

Goddamn, SEGA of Japan needs to relinquish control of this comic to someone who actually UNDERSTANDS these characters.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I seriously doubt it’s so restrictive that he can’t leave it anymore, and this is one of the few mandates I approve of although I find it unnecessary to demand from Ian given that he’s always done an excellent job keeping that part of Knuckles in mind at all times, unlike Sega. He should be able to leave for strong reasons: threats literally on his island’s doorstep, his island falling because of a far away threat affecting it, A worldwide threat like the Shattered World Crisis in Archie and Tikal requesting him to investigate something to help deal with it.

If they’re saying Knuckles can’t leave for any reason, then I’m gonna say yes, Sega clearly have not been reading my (and other’s) countless posts over this very well and are misconstruing suggestions because no doubt I’m the cause of that mandate and I’ve made it perfectly clear how this can be handled while involving him in stories. (Oh yeah, I’m gonna fully own this one. Been arguing about this for years )

That said, Sega shouldn’t be this dense. As much as I approve them acknowledging this, they really didn’t need to outright mandate it like that if that’s actually case. Tho, I’ll admit, I find it hard to be too upset when for years I’ve been outright told to my face countless times that Angel Island and the Master Emerald are irrelevant and should be retconned out of existence, so this is a bit vindicating to a degree for me.

[Zulon Eredas]

Meanwhile in Echo Mine

Rough: HOW DO WE GET OUTTA HERE!?

[StaticMania]

26 minutes ago, PublicEnemy1 said:

But to completely KICK HIM OUT OF STORIES unless whatever problem's happening on Angel Island is going the OPPOSITE extreme. 

This is fine though.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I mean, yeah, Knuckles doesn’t have to be involved in every story (not that anyone’s saying that).

But I can still understand the fear that Sega might end up being over-restrictive for this. Time will tell how this ends up being handled tho.

[Kuzu]

So ya'll got a source on this!?

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

2 minutes ago, Kuzu said:

So ya'll got a source on this!?

I don’t even know where the hell it came from, so no.

Just putting my thoughts on it if it’s true.

[Sonictrainer]

36 minutes ago, Zulon Eredas said:

Meanwhile in Echo Mine

Rough: HOW DO WE GET OUTTA HERE!?

I'm sure we'll see them real soon.

[calamityCons]

I don’t think i’m one to judge people for their reactions to mandates because I’m very negatively affected by Shadow never having any other chances to show his caring and thoughtful sides due to the SEGA mandates turning him into an edgy loner anti-villain. But I would also like a source on this “new Knux mandate”, and am also kinda reluctant to judge because Knuckles taking his duty seriously and becoming more entwined with his heritage are definitely good things in my opinion. Knuckles cares intensely about his island and his job because it’s one of his last connections to his ancestry. He is otherwise completely alone and ignorant of his tribe’s customs and values, and I think that makes for a TON of compelling story opportunities. 

[PublicEnemy1]

I believe @Shadowlax was the one to say it here first, and heard it from a discord somewhere.

[Celestia]

Literally Knuckles' first appearance in this book wasn't on Angel Island.

 

Maybe that was a special case or whatever as an establishment of the character or whatever but I highly doubt it's that restrictive. At worst they can probably use the (implied, and I think mentioned in interviews or whatever) excuse the games have that he'll get involved if his island would be in trouble at some point with whatever is going on. Also it's not like he wasn't by default usually on the island in Archie anyway so what's the difference for those of you who have been reading since then lol

One thing I'll say is that this arc in particular is what made me wonder, after about 20 years, if the others even have a way to contact Knuckles long distance...like does he have a phone...I assume Tails usually goes to pick him up like in Heroes but what about when he just shows up seemingly on his own? Does the M.E. warn him? Questions are fun.

[shdowhunt60]

I gotta say,

Spoiler

As someone who's been extremely critical of the way Tails has been portrayed the past 12 years (Don't forget people, this shit started with Unleashed), I find the overreaction to the way Tails has been portrayed this issue to be extremely annoying. Because unlike every time before we've seen Tails cowering:

a) It's firmly established that Tails can do absolutely nothing. There is nothing he can do against the metal virus or the predicament he's in where Chocola and Cheese have a hold of his namesakes. This isn't a situation where he can possibly fight his way out like with the Dark Gaia minions or with Chaos 0.

b) Tails has actually had some small wins here and there in both IDW and previously in Archie. The comics have not have been absolutely trashing him like the games have been, that's never been a thing (and yes I'm not forgetting House of Cards, I'm mostly referring to how the comics staff have been portraying him AFTER that fact. It's been 13 years, we've all picked it apart).

 

Would I like Tails to get some more wins and be given the opportunity for his character to shine? Absolutely. But freaking out every time Tails takes a loss isn't going to fix his character, it's just going to give the writers the impression that they shouldn't do anything meaningful with his character. 

With all that said... Christ, when this wraps up, can we slow down for a bit? Everything's been dialed up for 11 for the past 30 issues of comic, and honestly all this high stakes drama is just getting fatiguing to read. Not that I didn't enjoy the arc or anything, just especially now with everything being peak 2020 I just want some more chillaxed stories. I honestly am really missing all the slice of life stuff right about now.

[Zaysho]

57 minutes ago, Celestia said:

One thing I'll say is that this arc in particular is what made me wonder, after about 20 years, if the others even have a way to contact Knuckles long distance...like does he have a phone...I assume Tails usually goes to pick him up like in Heroes but what about when he just shows up seemingly on his own? Does the M.E. warn him? Questions are fun.

I kinda like to think it could be like Archie and Tikal just pops out and tells him to go.

And they argue about it for like an hour until Tails comes to pick him up.

[VO.SUPER]

Update on the Japanese release of Volume 2. Not only is it getting released 8/31, they also get a choice of alternative covers. That's actually really cool.

 

[MetalSkulkBane]

If Sega isn't keeping Knux on Island, I doubt they demand that from Flynn. Let's not dwell on rumor with zero ground.

I read issue again and finally realized what Super Silver was doing. I didn't realized his powers work like this, but whatever. I will say that Sonic's getting hurt is (in theory) possible since Silver's Super form is already down, so Sonic's might be as well.

I was going to make some summary post about whole Metal Virus, but after consulting my little chart that I, that I use to keep track of things I really don't have much to say that we all haven't banged for 1,5 year. Good feels, but got repetitive. I think I liked it more than Neo Saga or Archie's Shatter World, but ultimately I'm just glad we're getting something different... in next moth. Good lord, how do I miss Sonic Universe.

At least we should get 4 issues in next 2 month. That's neat, assuming we avoid new delays.