Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[Red Hot Jack]

Nah, I think it's not much about revenge besides of course them having their own enemies in both Sonic and Eggman now, but what I really like about them... Is they are doing all of this because they enjoy chaos, burning down towns and killing people, because they like it, that's it, they are sadistic and cruel for the sake of it. No backstory, no lore although a bit would have been cool, they are just all around jerks and I like that.

I know I am a broken record on this but last decade I was sick of edgy monsters and overlords as big bads, these simple and wacky villains are the breath of fresh air we needed... except now they have good writing.

For those who say "I need them to have a purpose and a goal" this isn't any more simple than Eggman wanting to conquer and build Eggmanland and Metal Sonic wanting to surpass Sonic.

[Diogenes]

I actually kind of like the Zeti being such shitty misanthropic assholes that they don't really "get" teamwork and cooperation. They've always been like barely-constrained id, so it fits.

19 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

From the portrayal here, you’d think the Lost Hex would be some destroyed husk instead of the relatively colourful place it is in-game.

Well you don't burn down your own house, you burn down everyone else's.

[Razule]

Maybe there's a reason there's no sign of civilization on the Lost Hex aside from the Zeti. They destroyed everyone and everything.

[Wraith]

They're alright in this book but it still feels like something is missing. Using them to just inject chaos into already bad scenarios like they have been is fun enough to justify using them though so I'm not losing sleep over it.

[Sonictrainer]

We have a few more panels of the 30th Anniversary Issue

Spoiler

I love when the comics do these original Zone screenshots.

 

[DabigRG]

1 hour ago, charmsb said:

mucho texto but i think i agree

anyways to get more back on topic...

What do you guys think is going to happen with the Deadly Six after this arc? I guess I'm thinking a bit too far into the future, but are they gonna get their shit kicked in and just retreat to the wilds again? Or will they go back to the Lost Hex? Personally I would love for them to go back. As brilliantly written as they are in this series, I dont want them to just keep bouncing around and being core villains. 

I'm honestly curious as how this will turn out as well.

We knew Zavok has some sort of grand revenge plan and they apparently don't have a way to go back home(then what the hell has Zavok been doing in the games...?), but as of right now that just entails getting payback on the villages they attacked and with Zik's input destroying the Restoration's headquarters. Between that and the fact that they are rather dangerous though still manageable, this'll likely either end with them getting away with a consolation prize or with them getting imprisoned within Freedom HQ itself.

That or they either succeed in crippling the Restoration or get launched back there somehow, but those are pretty unlikely.

1 hour ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Got through reading Issue 40, and to be honest, I didn’t dig it that much. To be honest, I’m kind of shocked by the set up. I thought it’d be something like Zavok having been hunting for the Zeti for awhile, or the Restoration having been hunting for them and/or protecting encaptured ones but like…no?

Yeah, that is an issue I had since the first solicit dropped, especially since this was emphasized on Twitter/Bumblekast when the Metal Virus ended.

It's kind of a recurring problem with IDW that certain plot points and character beats get resolved or breezed over much too quickly when there was promise there.

This is fine, but I for one was looking forward to seeing what they'd get up separately.

1 hour ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Zavok legit just randomly decides it’s now time to find the other Zeti and he just…does, with no issues whatsoever. Like shockingly easily. Literally just finds Zazz chilling and fishing, and he apparently knew where they all were to begin with, so he just didn’t do this for some reason, and suddenly Zik pops up with the other three who are no worse for wear, even though Zik was just with Sonic and Eggman moments prior. Did he seriously have time to go to three different villages to regroup everyone?

He didn't do it before because he was in jail and worked with Starline for the miniseries. This picks up directly after that and he just lucked out that those three decided to hang around their designated areas, for whatever reason.

You're kinda right that Zik and Zazz not only left his area last we saw, but even accounting for the timeskip of Zavok's POV, he located them pretty quickly. I was honestly expecting there to be some sort of way for Zeti to detect one another, but that wasn't brought up here.

1 hour ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

And even funnier is that this whole big built up plan of Zavok deciding to screw with Sonic psychologically and this being a whole huge arc, it’s legit just “oh hey Zavok, instead of destroying a village, we INSTEAD make it look like we are, and then we attack the HQ instead?”. 

Most disappointing is just the character work for the Zeti, Ian usually has a better grasp on them, but we’re at the point where the Zeti legit can’t understand not destroying things, or even teamwork, despite the fact that they’re a pack that literally feels the need to find each other and work together to destroy things, they’re literally just “let’s destroy for the hell of it because it’s our way”, even though the Lost Hex wasn’t destroyed, and the reason they wanted to destroy Sonic’s world in Lost World was both Eggman wronging them and enslaving them, and a thirst for power. Now just causing chaos and destruction is apparently just the Zeti way now. Pretty disappointing all around.

They are a bit too simplistic here as of right now.

As I said before, destroying the other villages made sense in a "Raise Group Morale" kind of way, but Zavok seemed oddly dedicated to it near the end. Which doubles in how he didn't consider that the other three may have already fucked up those locales and just came looking for the next big move.

 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

21 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

He didn't do it before because he was in jail and worked with Starline for the miniseries. This picks up directly after that and he just lucked out that those three decided to hang around their designated areas, for whatever reason.

You're kinda right that Zik and Zazz not only left his area last we saw, but even accounting for the timeskip of Zavok's POV, he located them pretty quickly. I was honestly expecting there to be some sort of way for Zeti to detect one another, but that wasn't brought up here.

No, we know this doesn’t take place right after Bad Guys, because we have Chao Races, in which Starline attacks the resort occurs when he obtains the Tri-Core, ditches the others and sets up a new base. In the time since Bad Guys, both the Chao Races and the Trap Tower storylines have happened. Unless they just now suddenly decided to do some random time jumping continuity nonsense, Zavok has legitimately just been getting dragged around by a badnik for god knows how long, until he randomly decides now is the time to swear revenge and gather the other Zeti in less than 20 pages.

[DabigRG]

37 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

No, we know this doesn’t take place right after Bad Guys, because we have Chao Races, in which Starline attacks the resort occurs right he obtains the Tri-Core, ditches the others and sets up a new base. In the time since Bad Guys, both the Chao Races and the Trap Tower storylines have? Unless they just now suddenly decided to do some random time jumping continuity nonsense, Zavok has legitimately just been getting dragged around by a badnik for god knows how long, until he randomly decides now is the time to swear revenge and gather the other Zeti in less than 20 pages.

A little bit of column A, a little bit if column B.

I'm pretty sure he mentioned wanting to find them when hobbling away at the end of Bad Guys and wherever that base was, it would've been quite a walk from Zazz's location. And Zomom's location couldn't have been very close to Zazz's, though we might have to consult the map on that one.

[DabigRG]

3 hours ago, Wraith said:

The Zeti are a vindictive bunch and it was established earlier in the book that they still wanted revenge on Sonic pretty much for the hell of it anyway. I still don't like them as characters but they've largely been consistent in just getting involved in shit because they don't like Sonic.

 

3 hours ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

I get doing it for the general idea of revenge, even if I find it slightly weak. What I take issue with is that apparently the Zeti can’t even understand the general ideas of teamwork, building things, and even their idea for revenge has gotten less interesting. It’s changed from “We’ll use our abilities to rule Sonic’s world” to “We’ll burn it to the ground”, an idea that wouldn’t be that bad if it wasn’t being so ridiculously portrayed, like the Zeti are some straight up force of nature that cannot understand how not to destroy. From the portrayal here, you’d think the Lost Hex would be some destroyed husk instead of the relatively colourful place it is in-game.

Plus again, pretty funny to have a story built up as psychological warfare on Sonic shift to pulling a pretty tame attack plan, and decide to just destroy things.

 

3 hours ago, Jack-al said:

Nah, I think it's not much about revenge besides of course them having their own enemies in both Sonic and Eggman now, but what I really like about them... Is they are doing all of this because they enjoy chaos, burning down towns and killing people, because they like it, that's it, they are sadistic and cruel for the sake of it. No backstory, no lore although a bit would have been cool, they are just all around jerks and I like that.

I know I am a broken record on this but last decade I was sick of edgy monsters and overlords as big bads, these simple and wacky villains are the breath of fresh air we needed... except now they have good writing.

For those who say "I need them to have a purpose and a goal" this isn't any more simple than Eggman wanting to conquer and build Eggmanland and Metal Sonic wanting to surpass Sonic.

The Deadly Six have had the problem of a lack of context and an extra deficit in cohesion since they're debut, honestly.

A chunk of their issues can be parsed down to a relative inability to answer a simple question: What were they doing before the event of Lost World? Sure, once Eggman flew up and brought them under his control, they were eager for an opportunity to break free and get even, but that's not their existence; ignoring the Japanese version for it's ambiguous applicability, they were just minding their own business with Master Zik evidently having been semiretired before feeling the need to personally get rid of the invaders. But what was that existence? Were they fighting other denizens of the Lost Hex, are they the self-proclaimed saviors it deserves, were they all just standing on ceremony, or were just standing on the edge declaring, "One of these days, we're gonna go down there and be dicks to them"? And for that matter, what was the plan once Sonic's World was sucked dry, Eggman & Sonic were dead, and they had a lifetime supply of Mountain Dew? What are the Deadly Six without Sonic's World as their collective enemy?

And that applies to what's holding the band together as individuals as well, though to a lesser extent that simply lacks more meaningful interactions. They're all six vengeful and sadistic Oni brought together by Master Zik's teachings, but they are divided among at least three different mentalities: liking wrath & scorn for their own sake(Zazz & Zor), indulging somewhat mindlessly in a mostly harmless vice(Zomom & Zeena), and honing those instincts according to centuries of cultivated wisdom(Master Zik & Zavok). The first point is their modis operandi on most accounts and the second is entirely self-satisfying with only some lean based on outside motivation, but it's this latter philosophy that's supposedly linking them into a whole; Lost World and the Metal Virus has them somewhat veer off on their own tangents or contrast lightly about the big plan as any eclectic group would, but that neither explains why they work together so well as a marketing push nor does it cause enough clashes to influence the portrayal of the individual characterizations that generally range from middle-of-the-road to one-note.

What Ryan is probably getting at Zavok is supposed to be the method to the madness that focuses that simple goal of retribution into something more, but this issue kinda weakens the idea of their being an actual plan to literally amounting to "Walk to places and Tear them down." It's overly basic even by their standards since we know that Zavok's character is intelligent enough to go about it in a much more thought out or deliberate way; for comparison, Eggman just wants to take over the world with an army of robots, but he's gonna do so while being as bombastic, self-aggrandizing, and even lowkey childish as possible--what would that be for the less ego driven Zeti? Even Black Doom, Mephiles, Dr. Nega, and even/especially Dark Gaia had a general reasoning that had more inherent methodology and theme to them. 

 

EDIT: It's also worth noting that they've always struggled with the balance being the heroes of their own story with being a force of evil whose presence is felt constantly.

[Zulon Eredas]

9 hours ago, Sonictrainer said:

We have a few more panels of the 30th Anniversary Issue

  Hide contents

I love when the comics do these original Zone screenshots.

 

I dig the Mr. Tinker scarecrow

[CertifiedNobody]

On 6/18/2021 at 12:49 PM, Endy said:

Angel Island moves. It has a mind of it's own, so to speak. It's not unreasonable to think nor is it difficult to understand that the echidna civilization originated on Earth and the island has just been floating between the two since.

I for one never took GHZ's presence in SA2 as something to be taken very seriously and I don't think it should be used as a basis for judging the geography of anything.

Was Angel Island moving ever established outside of the old Archie comics? While theoretically the Master Emerald might be able to cause the island to warp between the two worlds, I don't really know how or why it would/could. Also, one thing I forgot to mention is that assuming Angel Island was in the human world, It would be difficult for Westside to be in Sonic's World, since the Death Egg moved from one island to the other without any dimension-hopping.

Also, since Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity mentioned GUN getting involved, that implies the game takes place on Earth, meaning the Babylon Rogues are native to Earth.

On 6/19/2021 at 2:23 AM, Razule said:

Would definitely be an interesting direction if Sonic and friends were people and their anthro-looks are actually just the art-style. "The Hedgehog" is a nickname and that human Sonic that Yuji Uekawa drew is his canonical in-universe appearance.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Found my new headcanon

[charmsb]

On 6/19/2021 at 2:23 AM, Razule said:

Would definitely be an interesting direction if Sonic and friends were people and their anthro-looks are actually just the art-style. "The Hedgehog" is a nickname and that human Sonic that Yuji Uekawa drew is his canonical in-universe appearance.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I have one thing to say.

No

[CertifiedNobody]

2 minutes ago, charmsb said:

I have one thing to say.

No

That particular image is a little discomforting. but I actually do like the idea.

[charmsb]

Just now, CertifiedNobody said:

That particular image is a little discomforting. but I actually do like the idea.

 

I actually don't mind the image I would just find it terrifying that Sonic was actually a human person. He would be butt-ass naked

[DabigRG]

4 hours ago, CertifiedNobody said:

Was Angel Island moving ever established outside of the old Archie comics? While theoretically the Master Emerald might be able to cause the island to warp between the two worlds, I don't really know how or why it would/could. Also, one thing I forgot to mention is that assuming Angel Island was in the human world, It would be difficult for Westside to be in Sonic's World, since the Death Egg moved from one island to the other without any dimension-hopping.

Also, since Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity mentioned GUN getting involved, that implies the game takes place on Earth, meaning the Babylon Rogues are native to Earth.

Found my new headcanon

Angel Island landed in the middle of an ocean in Sonic 3, right next to Mystic Ruins in Adventure, and possibly in the desert in SA2. It's moving.

 

Also, the Babylonian's are alien genies anyway.

3 hours ago, charmsb said:

I actually don't mind the image I would just find it terrifying that Sonic was actually a human person. He would be butt-ass naked

Huh. And here I thought most would laugh at a naked person.

On 6/19/2021 at 2:17 PM, Wraith said:

They're alright in this book but it still feels like something is missing. Using them to just inject chaos into already bad scenarios like they have been is fun enough to justify using them though so I'm not losing sleep over it.

Honestly, I wonder how they even rank as plot devices at this point.

[CertifiedNobody]

40 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

Angel Island landed in the middle of an ocean in Sonic 3, right next to Mystic Ruins in Adventure, and possibly in the desert in SA2. It's moving.

Perhaps the clouds were simply obscuring the Mystic Ruins behind it. Also I always assumed the desert was Sandopolis.

[DabigRG]

19 minutes ago, CertifiedNobody said:

Perhaps the clouds were simply obscuring the Mystic Ruins behind it. Also I always assumed the desert was Sandopolis.

Evidently not, as Sandopolis lacked a lagoon and the desert was the same one Eggman's Pyramid Cave was in.

 

[CertifiedNobody]

46 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

Evidently not, as Sandopolis lacked a lagoon and the desert was the same one Eggman's Pyramid Cave was in.

 

The upper-right section of the SA2 map could represent Angel Island, considering how similar Pumpkin Hill is basically the same as Red Mountain, and maybe there's more to Sandopolis than what we saw before, including a new Eggman base. That'd explain why the Master Emerald was in the desert.

[DabigRG]

9 minutes ago, CertifiedNobody said:

The upper-right section of the SA2 map could represent Angel Island, considering how similar Pumpkin Hill is basically the same as Red Mountain, and maybe there's more to Sandopolis than what we saw before, including a new Eggman base. That'd explain why the Master Emerald was in the desert.

Considering Eggman was surprised to see that it was the Master Emerald that popped up on his radar, I doubt that.

[CertifiedNobody]

24 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

Considering Eggman was surprised to see that it was the Master Emerald that popped up on his radar, I doubt that.

It was outside of it's typical environment, so it's possible

[charmsb]

2 hours ago, CertifiedNobody said:

It was outside of it's typical environment, so it's possible

I think it was just Knuckles moving it around for... whatever reason. Game design, really. They needed to give Knuckles an objective lol.

Although I guess my personal headcanon is that he loves treasure-hunting... but can't risk leaving the master emerald. So I guess he just let Angel Island crash so he could go raid some ruins. What a great guy.

[StaticMania]

Rouge was stealing it...

[DabigRG]

22 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

Rouge was stealing it...

You know, it didn't occur to me to remind of that. Guess it's time for a fun find

 

[Slashy]

IDW MLP is ending so no I don't think we will get a crossover. This also gives an idea of how long IDW Sonic could last.

[CertifiedNobody]

31 minutes ago, Slashy said:

IDW MLP is ending so no I don't think we will get a crossover. This also gives an idea of how long IDW Sonic could last.

Sonic comics are unpredictable and almost always last longer than they were ever meant to. Remember when Archie was a miniseries? Or when it was supposed to end with the Endgame arc?