Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[DabigRG]

On 7/21/2021 at 8:04 PM, Sonictrainer said:

So it seems that Starline still needs an assistant.

I wonder if he will create his own Badniks soon? Will they be called Starbots?

Does he?

On 7/22/2021 at 12:58 PM, KoDaiko said:

 When Starline mentioned how she's unique and different I thought 'wow finally?' but even then it doesn't feel exciting. Maybe because the main focus is Starline and Zeti invading the base?

Effectively another case of him wandering into another story and diverting the focus in the process.

On 7/22/2021 at 12:58 PM, KoDaiko said:

Maybe Belle will ask Starline why he finds her interesting and Starline will explain his thoughts in the next issue?

 

Ideally.

I doubt it will actually be in this story if he gets that far, but it's a necessary moment to have.

On 7/22/2021 at 2:56 PM, Silvereyes said:

It's funny, I don't really love Belle myself, but I think it makes absolute sense why from a character perspective Starline is fascinated by her. She has little in common with Eggman's metal Badniks, she can think for herself, and has no duplicates. She wasn't made on an assembly line, she was presumably made with love basically. Starline is an Eggman fan, Belle is a super rare collectible. I think it's an interesting sub-plot, I'm looking forward to see where it goes. I love the detail that Starline refers to Belle as an object, he never refers to her as a woman.

Probably because it'd be a little awkward to actually do so.

On 7/22/2021 at 2:56 PM, Silvereyes said:

I must admit though, this conversation has made me wonder why I don't like Belle quite as much as Tangle and Whisper. I wonder if part of it is that to be honest, I don't entirely grasp what Belle's actual abilities are. Tangle uses her tale. Whisper uses a gun that uses Wisps. Starline used to have the Warp Topaz to make portals, and now he has a Tri-Core which has 3 abilities that are based Sonic gameplay principles. Belle, I dunno, she can unlock doors, she can fight to some degree, you can pull on her tale to do things? My memory isn't the greatest with the earlier issues but I really do struggle to pinpoint Belle's abilities, and that comes to her character too. Now that Belle knows who her creator is, what drives her now?

Honestly, she's just a kid appealing mechanic assistant.

Though the weird tail pull kick mechanism is a bit random.

On 7/22/2021 at 2:56 PM, Silvereyes said:

I. I wonder if it would be a good idea to give her a friend, like a proper best friend, someone she can spend time with, open up too etc. I don't think that even happened with Tangle despite spending nearly 4 issues with her in the last story arc, it felt more like 2 people who just met and Tangle very much taking the lead. I feel like Belle needs that moment Whisper had in T&W #2 where she just breaks down and opens up, needs a moment of connection. Perhaps the reason why I'm actually feeling quite hopeful for issue #45 and that camping trip.

I don't know, I'm rambling.

For the sake of making a different comparison, let's look at Jewel.

We've seen fairly little of her over the series, but that is actually justified and we know what her role in the series is. She's meant to be the Tails to Tangle's Sonic(except more original) and exchanges their big bro-lite bro dynamic for one of childhood friends where one suffers in trying to keep the other from hurting themselves, causing a slew of noodle Incidents that is implied to have made her a bit more capable of action than she'd like to admit. Additionally, her natural organization skills and history of minding an annoying thrill seeker made her a decent replacement for Amy in directing the Restoration efforts(which was probably done as a response to complaints), giving her a proper role outside of her connection to Tangle and likely opening up opportunities for her to actually get involved in the adventure again. All that without either showing up much or getting to show her alluded gameplay abilities because this is a spinoff series that puts the dozen or so game heroes first, not to mention that she is a thing by proxy of Tangle's popularity except not really and the latter is nowhere near as prominent as they would have you believe.

With Belle, she can seem like a similar case at a glance, but there's several key differences in both context and in execution. For one thing, Belle is a relatively new character who's purpose in the story is still has yet to be revealed and that's something of an eventual payoff to her inclusion in the series. But much more important is the fact that said arc largely relies on Bell still needing to be realized and her having overt character focused is something that comes with different parameters that will lead to an eventual payoff: similar to Whisper and arguably Starline, she's not just a cool new action figure and has an air mystery that lends to gradually development in tandem with actual storytelling, with the difference being that the mystery itself is made fairly obvious and she doesn't have a grasp on who she is, what she wants, or even how much of the truth she doesn't have that they used to establish themselves with. Kinda like the Nobody who goes by Rey, she knew the truth all along, but desperately wanted it to be not the case and just needed something, anything to make her feel like there's meaning to her existence. But it doesn't help that as you said, Belle doesn't have an clear Finn, Kylo, or maybe Chewie(depending on how you view Orangutan Dude) to lean on in a meaningful way nor does she have much more characterization to drive her to leave an impact--in fact, she has less! She's just something everyone looks at and sorta recognizes for what she is, be it in seeing her as a threat, as someone who exists, or someone to dissect and she's sorta screwed up her chance to notice her clearest calling already.

She's Jewel except prominent, Starline sans meaningful influence on the status quo in both directions, Whisper without a more unique draw, and even Tangle without clear marketability.

On 7/22/2021 at 8:43 PM, Kuzu said:

Belle's biggest issue is that she's an extremely passive character; she's not a go-getter like Tangle, and not driven by tragedy like Whisper, and her whole mystery subplot was resolved in the second story arc she was featured in. So she's kind of has nothing motivating her right now at the moment. Being a passive-character isn't necessarily a bad thing if they have someone else to bounce off of, but Belle doesn't for the most part. She had a little something with Tails and Tangle in the last two arcs, but they haven't really followed up on that.

And now she's essentially a plot device to push Starline into action, which isn't really an enticing role because the focus is more on Starline's actions than who Belle is.

 

 

So Belle really just needs something to motivate her into action, and what kind of niche she can fit in. Maybe she can take up Tinker's old job in Windmill Village, in a way to carry on the legacy of the man she knew as her father and not Eggman. I dunno. 

That's basically it, yeah.

[bingboomer]

so.... no october solicitations? whats happened idw? 

[Kuzu]

They came out yesterday, nobody posted them. 

 

[Soniman]

>overcome their differences 

Are they just speaking generally or is there some hidden tension I wasn't aware of?

[DabigRG]

14 minutes ago, Kuzu said:

They came out yesterday, nobody posted them. 

 

What's a camp story without a campfire? Nyeh-Hyuck!

[Kuzu]

5 minutes ago, Soniman said:

>overcome their differences 

Are they just speaking generally or is there some hidden tension I wasn't aware of?

I'd imagine its just generally speaking. Unless something happens in the next three issues that causes some friction, but I doubt it. 

[Silvereyes]

Maybe they'll have a big row in issue #45, and some character conflict there which gets resolved in #46? Curious, is this another 4 parter or is this just a 2 part story?

[SBR2]

I'm starting to think this 10 issue storyline started with this arc. If issue 50 is the end point and there's no obvious miniseries it pretty much has to be.

[Kazhnuz]

Maybe that the phrasing isn't 100% good and 50 isn't the "end" of the 10-issue storyline, but a climax or a "turning point", or the beggining of the final arc.

But yeah, there is something wrong somewhere, as technically if the issue 50 is the end, the arc should have started issue 40 xD

[Red Hot Jack]

Yeah there is probably gonna be a miniseries on the road to issue 50. Tbh I am looking forward to this camping adventure because I am getting tired of the usual villains and conflicts. I just hope there are entertaining dynamics.

[charmsb]

1 hour ago, Jack-al said:

Yeah there is probably gonna be a miniseries on the road to issue 50.

[Silvereyes]

It is slightly confusing because we know that there is going to be a mini-series tie-in for the Sonic 2 movie, so I'm guessing that's not it, but rather another mini-series they haven't announced yet. Or a mini-series and another one-shot, depending on how you count and interpret it? #45 is when the countdown starts, #45, #46, #47, #48, #49 is 5 issues, if you include #50 itself that is 6 issues.

Then again I guess we shouldn't worry about this too much. I'd hope that whatever this thing is, they'd announced it by the time issue #45 arrives. We'll see. I'm just a nitpicky fan who gets obsessed with minutia.

Current release dates:

#43: August 25th (4.5 weeks away)

#44: September 15th (7.5 weeks away)

#45: September 22nd (8.5 weeks away)

#46: October 27th (13.5 weeks away)

[Razule]

He said "forget about two worlds. I can't specify why, just don't worry about it anymore" in the podcast today. I'm sure people are tired of multiple page Two Worlds discussions, this is the last time I'll bring up this topic until something straightforward comes out, but it really sounds like he might be saying it won't be a thing anymore. I feel like if it was as simple as "I have given up, and you should, too" he wouldn't have been coy about it. Trying to not get my hopes up about this. We'll see what happens. 

Did someone, somehow, manage to change Iizuka's mind?

[VO.SUPER]

I'm guessing they just decided to ditch the concept and work with the one world seeing as the series has largely operated without caring about it. As long as we don't go back to the way things were before where animals and humans were so inorganically split by landmasses, then I'm fine with that.

And I've got my feelings on this place going back to Earth. I'd prefer it just being post-apocalyptic Earth again, ala Mobius.

[charmsb]

I don't know, I still have a feeling he just means that its about to be explained in some way.

[CertifiedNobody]

7 minutes ago, charmsb said:

I don't know, I still have a feeling he just means that its about to be explained in some way.

I actually don't think that's the case. If it was, he'd say that it'll be explained or that we'd be getting info soon. But instead he said to FORGET about two worlds, and it sounds like he's saying it absolutely certainly, without any doubt that it's the case.

[VO.SUPER]

Flynn has always been against two worlds as a needlessly complicated thing. I think his satisfaction towards the situation is pretty telling that its been turned back into one world. Again, this is probably something the Encyclospeedia is gonna elaborate on.

[Razule]

17 minutes ago, charmsb said:

I don't know, I still have a feeling he just means that its about to be explained in some way.

Could be. I don't think there's a way to explain it that wouldn't be overcomplicated, aside from redefining it to mean the animal people and humans are in different societies or parts of the world. Knowing what Ian thinks about two worlds, I'm not getting "we're going to explain exactly how this works" from it at all. More like "it's dumped".

If that is the case though, I'm curious how the absence of humans in Forces or the Zombot arc would be addressed. 

[DabigRG]

Maybe GUN goes "Where the fuck is Agent Rouge and why were there Goo Zombies heading this way from the Tundra?"

 

 

[CertifiedNobody]

27 minutes ago, Razule said:

Could be. I don't think there's a way to explain it that wouldn't be overcomplicated, aside from redefining it to mean the animal people and humans are in different societies or parts of the world. Knowing what Ian thinks about two worlds, I'm not getting "we're going to explain exactly how this works" from it at all. More like "it's dumped".

If that is the case though, I'm curious how the absence of humans in Forces or the Zombot arc would be addressed. 

That does bring up the question of if the IDW canon is already being prepared to adjust for this change.  Although, it could be as simple as "they were involved but just not in areas the story focused on, which were mostly populated by animals."

I wonder if this change is happening because of the Sonic movie's success? Iizuka did say he was worried about a live action/CGI Sonic but ended up liking it.

[SBR2]

On 7/25/2021 at 8:20 AM, charmsb said:

I missed that. I suppose it's possiblethat a miniseries could run alongside issues 47-50. It's about the only way the 10-part story thing makes any sense. 

 

On 7/25/2021 at 8:42 AM, Silvereyes said:

It is slightly confusing because we know that there is going to be a mini-series tie-in for the Sonic 2 movie, so I'm guessing that's not it, but rather another mini-series they haven't announced yet.

That'd be my guess. It's possible that the Sonic 2 miniseries might be legally considered a separate thing making it possible for 2 minis to run at the same time. 

 

1 hour ago, Razule said:

He said "forget about two worlds. I can't specify why, just don't worry about it anymore" in the podcast today. I'm sure people are tired of multiple page Two Worlds discussions, this is the last time I'll bring up this topic until something straightforward comes out, but it really sounds like he might be saying it won't be a thing anymore. I feel like if it was as simple as "I have given up, and you should, too" he wouldn't have been coy about it. Trying to not get my hopes up about this. We'll see what happens. 

Did someone, somehow, manage to change Iizuka's mind?

If it's gone then I'm definitely ok with that...but as I said before despite being really stupid it also literally affected nothing. Like can we really celebrate it being gone when the fact there were 2 worlds never once mattered to anything even once. Hell today I found someone who didn't even know it was a thing until I brought it up. 

[VO.SUPER]

Just now, SBR2 said:

That'd be my guess. It's possible that the Sonic 2 miniseries might be legally considered a separate thing making it possible for 2 minis to run at the same time.

I don't think there's any legal reason for there not being more mini-series. I think it's just a priority thing as well as IDW determining whether or not it will actually increase sales and profitability.

The main reason the movie side comic is happening is to capitalize on the hype and promote the sequel. They're obviously banking on this being a big 4 issue seller.

[SBR2]

11 minutes ago, VisionaryofSUPER said:

I don't think there's any legal reason for there not being more mini-series. 

No I meant that since it's the movie universe it'd count as a completely separate thing from the comics. Besides having more than one miniseries running at once, outside of event comics, for one title isn't really a thing that happens. 

[VO.SUPER]

Just now, SBR2 said:

No I meant that since it's the movie universe it'd count as a completely separate thing from the comics. Besides having more than one miniseries running at once, outside of event comics, for one title isn't really a thing that happens. 

*Shrug* I guess so. I think maybe in this case it is just a longer form of an event comic they could get away with.

[Razule]

1 hour ago, CertifiedNobody said:

That does bring up the question of if the IDW canon is already being prepared to adjust for this change.  Although, it could be as simple as "they were involved but just not in areas the story focused on, which were mostly populated by animals."

I wonder if this change is happening because of the Sonic movie's success? Iizuka did say he was worried about a live action/CGI Sonic but ended up liking it.

Dialogue-wise, all references to worlds and planets are vague enough that they can work either way. Every location we've seen so far (aside from Angel Island) seems to be close enough that the characters' means of transportation is never addressed, so I wonder if it'll be established that everything in the comic so far takes place on one landmass. And Sunset City is there, so it'd be the same one that Forces took place on. Instead of animal planet, there's an animal continent. 

I'd think the change would be doubling down on Two Worlds and making it explicit if it was for the movie's sake. Which.. could be the case, but again, Ian Flynn doesn't like the concept, so I don't think he'd sound like he did.

1 hour ago, SBR2 said:

If it's gone then I'm definitely ok with that...but as I said before despite being really stupid it also literally affected nothing. Like can we really celebrate it being gone when the fact there were 2 worlds never once mattered to anything even once. Hell today I found someone who didn't even know it was a thing until I brought it up. 

True, but as someone who cares about the continuity, I'd be glad for it not be something to consider anymore. If this happens.