Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[DabigRG]

Spoiler

Wth is up with Zazz?

2 hours ago, Sonictrainer said:

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Zavok & the crew looking for beans

 

 

[Slashy]

Whisper is girl old Shadow

[dudebro1993]

11 hours ago, Slashy said:

Whisper is girl old Shadow

What did he mean by this?

[DabigRG]

 

Another preview panel for 41

Spoiler

http://twitter.com/GobrosStar/status/1403879191070883845

 

3 hours ago, dudebro1993 said:

What did he mean by this?

I guess they could be referring to how Whisper is something of a composite to Shadow, Blaze/Tails, and Cream, possibly more than Tangle is to Amy, Sonic, and Marine.

[Sonictrainer]

Preview for the 30th Anniversary Comic

Spoiler

 

[StaticMania]

Where's this Amy been for the past week, it's like she's a whole new character now....

[VO.SUPER]

I am not gonna lie, I kinda miss the more overt fangirl Amy and it's good to see that her younger self channels that more.

Also, more previews of #41

Spoiler

 

I gotta say, I actually felt a small twinge of emotion for the guy. If he had always been written like this in Lost World, I think he would have made a much better first impression.

[SBR2]

7 hours ago, Sonictrainer said:

Preview for the 30th Anniversary Comic

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A lot of people are reading Classic Sonic in Martin Burke's voice but dammit I can't escape Jaleel White being my goto mental voice for Classic Sonic.

Also it's nice that while we may not get any sort of continuation of Mega Drive Ian's story starts up with a side scrolling level shot just like Mega Drive did.

[charmsb]

10 hours ago, VisionaryofSUPER said:

 

Also, more previews of #41

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Damn okay, I think things are finally ramping up again. I've been quite bored with the past ten or more issues. Very boring, low stake, confusing, stories, at least from my perspective. I hope it starts to get crazy.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

wrong topic...sorry.

[SBR2]

I feel like a bad Red vs Blue fan for not realizing that Amy's "You are a Good person and people say nice things about you" line is a direct quote from season 3 until someone pointed it out.

[MetalSkulkBane]

Issue 41

My only complain in on principle, another Zeti story so quickly. I grew surprisingly found of them, but world feels so small with those constant returns. I gave Stanley's a lot of grief, but at least she expanded the world a little. I can only hope upcoming milestone will shake things up.

Other than that, pretty decent issue. Yeah, it's mostly setup, but pretty fun one. It's fascinating to watch Deadly Six philosophy of thinking and for some reason Zomom in cage is just most adorable thing ever.... until he gets out and he's back to being terrifying.

ZOMOM. IDW comic can make ZOMOM adorable and terrifying. That's one proof miracles exist.

Not much to say else. Great artwork, nice to see Chaotix again, Flynn can somehow make me smile on  "Baldy McNosehair" reference.  Looking forward to the future.

Also calling it now about Lanolin

Spoiler

I'm pretty sure she's Mimic.

- She acts weird
- Has way too more screen time lately
- Constantly hold object in her hands, good for hiding suckers on palms

 

[dbzfan7]

Ian also seems to admit to the TFS reference lol

 

[SBR2]

I mean it's not surprising. Ian loves throwing in quotes and memes.

[DabigRG]

I obviously have more I can say as someone who mostly likes the Zeti, but if there's a quick observation to be made about the issue, it's that it's simultaneously a little too formulaic in terms of plot and yet not formulaic enough when it comes to the characters.

[Kuzu]

Decent issue, but its not very imaginative with its premise. It basically amounts to the Deadly Six...doing the same thing they've always been doing. 

[Red Hot Jack]

I didn't mind that they cut the rounding up halfway through but it helped, if anything to make it seem less of a formula, so it didn't take the whole issue, I dunno, I like when the Zeti can have all their own screentime and interact with each other like here, but I also wanted to see more of the Chaotix, but nevermind, there will be time, as usual the single issue feel so short. But overall it was pretty solid and entertaining and sets up the basic premise of the arc, Zavok is ruthless and the others have surprising fun personality when done properly.

[Meta77]

Yea Ian is good with memes though i stopped following TFS way back in the frieza days. The humor was pretty eh after awhile.

 

Though the main thing I want to see in the comics is starlines enforcers. Like will they be two new characters to the series full time? I really would prefer the games just follow the comics from now on. They are so much better than anything Sega has done specifically if colors from that recent article about their target base is what they want to do with the games going forward.

[charmsb]

Things are looking up for this arc. I like how we're getting more intense again. And Team Chaotix are here too? Hell yeah.

I also loved Zazz acting like Gollum.

 

The rock and pool Is nice and cool, So juicy-sweet! Our only wish, To catch a fish, So juicy-sweet!

14 hours ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

Also calling it now about Lanolin

  Reveal hidden contents

I'm pretty sure she's Mimic.

- She acts weird
- Has way too more screen time lately
- Constantly hold object in her hands, good for hiding suckers on palms

 

Spoiler

Nope. She has the correct color eyes. When Mimic imitates someone, the eyes go dark. I'm not sure what the interaction between her and Vector was even supposed to be, though.

 

[PC the Hedgehog]

Lanolin has been acting weird in general in her recent appearances. There's definitely something off about her that I assume Ian and Evan are building toward.

[DabigRG]

Now then, Issue 41!

Okay, so following up on what I said from earlier 

15 hours ago, DabigRG said:

I obviously have more I can say as someone who mostly likes the Zeti, but if there's a quick observation to be made about the issue, it's that it's simultaneously a little too formulaic in terms of plot and yet not formulaic enough when it comes to the characters.

Spoiler

What I meant is simply that after initially seeing Master Zik catch onto the situation and decide to go looking as well, we primarily focus on Zavok locating Zazz and Zomom until Zik just shows up with the other two for a team up near the end. While this is fine and getting to see their respective predicaments was probably the most engaging aspect of Part 1, it did effectively repeat the same sorta interaction with the more utilized of the Deadly Six within Lost World itself at the cost of not showing what the more finesse orientated half of group were up to and their interactions with each other.

• Zavok is naturally the main focus of this issue, which is still sort of a good thing; as the actual face of the band and the most dedicatedly developed of the recent game characters, Zavok heading the story makes sense and is consistent with what they as well as the comic has been doing from the beginning. The general formula comes about in him giving the Brute Bros a stern reprimand before helping them raze the locale they failed to devastate; while it fits with the comic initially portraying him as rather authoritarian compared to their debut, it also seems like a brotherly/fatherly way of helping them get their mojo back by backing their payback on the Restoration-- he even tells Zomom that it's his right to eat everything. Incidentally, I noticed that both the comic and in-game reactions TSR seem to be giving him a character flaw: for all his formality and steadfastness in personality in comparison to most of the other Zeti and the cast in general, Zavok can get a little too into reveling in savagery and scorn at times. This was technically an aspect of his character as far back as his fights in Lost World with how he couldn't help but grin when Sonic threatened him as well as how seemed to get pretty into their fight upon taking damage and TSR kinda played for laughs how Sonic, Rouge, and even Shadow can call him on wildin out, but the comics seem determined to run with the interpretation of him ultimately being a British monster in betrayal of his intelligence(I mean, he crushed a perfectly good Wispon instead of simply taking it). This is actually kinda interesting since he also seemed pretty comfortable with how needlessly thoughtless and overly simple Zazz and Zomom respectively are in their own violent ways, even openly calling them brothers when rousing them to take their revenge on Eggman; not to mention how otherwise infallible he  came off as originally.
• On the other hand, Master Zik has some nominal agency in that the issue starts with him electing to do what Zavok would later decide before just showing up, which is where the debatable shortcoming of the issue comes in. Putting the fact that this issue is 80% about the Deadly Six aside as necessary, the preview kinda gave the impression that Zik's own journey was gonna get the spotlight and that Zeena & Zor would be recruited on panel. Which is a bit for a shame because, in addition to something I've been wanting to talk about for a long time, we barely saw Zik or any other Zeti for the matter interact with anyone besides Zavok and Sonic; given his double/tenfold seniority as the brains behind the team's inception, it might've been an interesting change of pace to see how the youngest two treat him in comparison to Zavok and even Zazz. That said, he still got a fair bit for characterization here befitting that: the funny thing about Zik is for as tranquil and reserved (and inconsistently cooky) as he appears to be among them, he's actually a lowkey arrogant and horribly sadistic monster who just decided to chill out in old age. Lost World had him casually mention "cultivating" Sonic's pain before going Little Shop of Horrors with his decapitated head, World's Unite showcased this in how he forced Rock to shoot himself in the head, and this issue had him casually mull that he should hypothetically leave Zavok to die for being weak--all of which makes sense when you remember that he taught Zavok everything he knows. And not unlike when he came up with how they should handle Sonic in Lost World, he actually catches how Zavok was putting getting revenge for the Metal Virus before considering how Restoration would adapt to what they had already done, allowing him to swiftly shift gears to baiting the Restoration into leaving their headquarters defenseless.
• Zazz and Zomom's positions were probably the highlight of this issue aside from Zavok's mentality, which also sorta shows how immediately comical and predisposed they are compared to the other four. Though Zazz's reintroduction actually showcases an aspect of his characterization that's easy to forget about, when you think about it; he's basically a demonic version of Waluigi, what with trying to catch fish the Mulan way while being way too fidgetity about it and the Moon Mech being perfectly fine in contrast to his claim that the Restoration kicked him out(I mean, we literally last saw him get bored chasing the townspeople and fly off to leave the decision-making to Zavok) reminding that he's implied to be the whooping boy of the Zeti. Meanwhile, Zomom's situation is actually pretty funny in a wholesome way: they literally made him a glorified pet hamster who gets fed a whole cake three times a day--I guess it's karma for forcing them to feed him the whole time before, but the Resistance was pretty civil for somehow stuffing his bigger than Eggman ass into that steel box. That said, they're also the two lackeys we saw the most throughout Lost World on top of the afformentioned simplicity of their shticks, so take that as you will.
• Zeena and Zor unfortunately get the short end of the stick once again since they had the disadvantage of being formally introduced pretty late in Lost World's story, which was their only appearance outside of the two comics. Though this definitely shows in how Zeena just sucks while Zor definitely fared better if not the best among the Zeti, it still cost them a lot of context, interaction, and to an extent characterization at the time since the situation and stakes were already decided by the time they got their turn in the boss role. So the fact that they were recruited by Master Zik offscreen with not so much as a word edgewise means we miss out on up to eighteen other combinations, which will ideally be fixed a bit in the next few issues but it's still kind of a shame here.
• The Chaotix and Jewel actually show up very little in this near the ending, the former having already been familiar with what the Zeti had been doing beforehand while the latter was already a Zombot. They'll each get their time in the next issues so worries there, though Sonic & Eggman sorta took their thunder here and the latter is due to be overshadowed by Tangle & Whisper as well.
• It just occurred to me that this is a case of covers not lying, since Sonic is inevitably gonna fight all six next issue anyway, so eh.

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Sooo, question: why is Zeena the biggest character on this cover?

[MetalSkulkBane]

12 hours ago, DabigRG said:

Sooo, question: why is Zeena the biggest character on this cover?

I suspect it's satire how sometime we insist on finding meaning in most arbitrary details, when more often than not it's random chance rulling our lives.

 

Related

[Razule]

13 hours ago, DabigRG said:

Sooo, question: why is Zeena the biggest character on this cover?

You know.

[DabigRG]

On 6/16/2021 at 4:06 AM, MetalSkulkBane said:

 

Also calling it now about Lanolin

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I'm pretty sure she's Mimic.

- She acts weird
- Has way too more screen time lately
- Constantly hold object in her hands, good for hiding suckers on palms

 

 

18 hours ago, charmsb said:

 

 

The rock and pool Is nice and cool, So juicy-sweet! Our only wish, To catch a fish, So juicy-sweet!

  Reveal hidden contents

Nope. She has the correct color eyes. When Mimic imitates someone, the eyes go dark. I'm not sure what the interaction between her and Vector was even supposed to be, though.

 

 

17 hours ago, PC the Hedgehog said:

Lanolin has been acting weird in general in her recent appearances. There's definitely something off about her that I assume Ian and Evan are building toward.

She's always had a skittish personality, but I admit that I didn't quite get the interaction here.

20 hours ago, Meta77 said:

Yea Ian is good with memes though i stopped following TFS way back in the frieza days. The humor was pretty eh after awhile.

 

Though the main thing I want to see in the comics is starlines enforcers. Like will they be two new characters to the series full time? I

Oh, they're definitely gonna be full time since he's been building towards them since getting ejected by Eggman.

 

Also remember that they are almost certainly the characters that were supposed to debut alongside him.

2 hours ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

I suspect it's satire how sometime we insist on finding meaning in most arbitrary details, when more often than not it's random chance rulling our lives.

 

Related

 

2 hours ago, Razule said:

You know.

Yeah, I know, it's just one of things that occur to you on the side.

[Slashy]

If the two worlds is based on Sonic X rules, are there any mandates against humans showing up in Sonic's world?