The Archie Sonic STH #252 Purge: 5 Years Later

[NiTROACTiVE]

So it has been five year since many characters were removed from the Archie Sonic comic, when it was made much more apparent in STH #252. When Ken Penders started his lawsuit in 2010, his actions weren’t really affecting the comics at first. Then, Hershey the Cat got cut from STH #237 and the Unsung Heroes story arc of SU #41-#44. Then Rob o' the Hedge got cut from SU #47. Then many characters got cut from Endangered Species in the issues STH #244-#246. Then at the end of STH #251 of the World Collide crossover arc, Eggman screwed up the universe. Characters like Geoffrey St. John, Elias Acorn, Jules Hedgehog, Mina Mongoose, Fiona Fox, Julie-Su, and many more were removed for good. Their disappearance was never even acknowledged in the comics due to legal issues, and they were all forgotten by Sonic and his surviving friends as if they were nothing to them.

Of course, I'm STILL pissed about all of this. I made this stamp about it, and it's sad that nothing positive happened with the pre-reboot content since then. With Lost Hedgehog Tales still being delayed, it makes this whole thing worse. And Archie Comics Publications still hasn't said anything about the issue. Even @Ernest-Panda said here that if The Lara-Su Chronicles fails, then all of the removed characters will be gone for good in every medium. What do you all think of this anniversary of this infamous event?

[Heckboy]

3 minutes ago, NiTROACTiVE said:

And Archie Comics Publications still hasn't said anything about the issue.

what are they even supposed to say at this point

[Red Hot Jack]

They are not 100% gone, they are in the talented hands of the fandom, who are making the stories continue in Archie Sonic Online, I'm more sad about the reboot at this point because we completely lost those characters. But never lose hope!

I remember that I was really sad about Scourge, one of my favorite characters.

[MetalSkulkBane]

I think I heard this song before...sorry

For all who are still pissed about it I have two words of advice: move on.

Yes, I liked that comic. Yes, it's cancellation was sad. But you know what else ended?

Archie Megaman. Reboot. Avatar Aang. Gravity Falls. VERY recently Adventure Time.

Things just end. Deal with it.

[NiTROACTiVE]

5 minutes ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

For all who are still pissed about it I have two words of advice: move on.

Yes, I liked that comic. Yes, it's cancellation was sad. But you know what else ended?

Archie Megaman. Reboot. Avatar Aang. Gravity Falls. VERY recently Adventure Time.

Things just end. Deal with it.

I can understand why some would say this, but the way the pre-reboot universe ended was really soul-crushing, as it was implied that many characters were either killed or erased from existence. The post-reboot storyline went out with more dignity, and if the pre-reboot storyline ended like that, then it wouldn't hurt as much.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

I don't see the point of being angry anymore.

I enjoyed a lot of the characters in Pre-Reboot Archie, and the fact those like Mina Mongoose, who was one of my favourite characters in the series period got removed over it still somewhat annoys me to this day, but quite honestly, what is the point of being angry anymore about it? Archie is dead, thanks entirely due to not only Ken Penders' total nonsense, but because of Archie's own total incompetence. 

In all honesty, the whole thing was equal parts their own fault. Penders' has already had his issues thrown all over the place in the LS topic and Archie's own issues have only become more and more apparent as time continues on. Not only because of their original failure to do the bare minimum way back when which would've shot down Penders' lawsuit in the first place, but even now with their latest fuck up with the cancellation of the rebooted series, and allowing the excellent Mega Man comic which has no issues with it to go down the toilet of obscurity, with no reprints, and even their app making it difficult to find the issues for it.

At the end of the day, The Lara-Su Chronicles will 99% be nothing more than a load of shit, and the old Archie universe, as fun as it could be isn't coming back. The fact that it's now been five years since then only further proves that point. And in all honesty, with time, it might not even be that bad. I still really like Ian's original 166-252 run of Archie Sonic. I still like quite a lot of the old characters, but at the end of the day, I still kept reading the comic after the fact.

I even loved a lot of the new reboot's ideas and characters, like Breezie, Honey, and new takes on older elements, like Sonic losing control of the Werehog upon his first transformation. If there's anything I'm still angry about, it's not Pre-252 Archie, it's post 252 Archie, along with Mega Man. Because not only did they have no issues, but once again Archie's own incompetence killed both comics, seemingly over the whole Kickstarter mess for their Archie reboot because Ian had said in the past that Mega Man at the very least was doing fine in sales.

And even though The Lara-Su Chronicles will almost definitely be terrible. it doesn't mean the end of these characters. Fan efforts still continue to make use of them. Even Archie Sonic Online is a really good and valiant attempt to continue the universe as it was before the Worlds Collide reboot and is still making use of these characters. At this point, there's just no point to mourning or raging over 252's reboot anymore. It was something out of control of the writers, it was something that's already been gone for five years, and even now, fan efforts are going into continuing the universe they loved. That's my opinion at least.

[Multikaris]

I’ve moved on, but the creepy implication that this happened AGAIN to get rid of more characters and enforce Three Worlds for IDW (and onwards) still sticks with me. Sure, they could try to secure some rights for IDW to use them, but, where would they go? There was already little room for them in the post-reboot, but now, even disregarding Three Worlds and the whole “Sonic-worshipping” weirdness, what room do they have in a completely Sega dominated universe? With Boom now moribund, is there a chance of a different realm of the franchise they can indeed stay in? Would Sega even allow the Nocturnus, regardless of Penders? Would there be room for a Fleetway-style survivor or two, or even spirits in the ME? There are astonishingly few of the pre reboot Archie, Fleetway, etc. characters that can fit naturally in any form in this new world. 

Because Eggman was NEVER normally a heartless dictator, how would the likes of Max Gamble brew from his brutality? If humans and Mobians can never co exist, where does that leave Aerial and Athena? The best solution is to disregard backstories, and honor only physical appearance and powersets.

[Shaun Shikeishuu]

It sucks but what's done is done.

[NiTROACTiVE]

Ken Penders actually replied to my tweet thread I made on this issue, and you can view them by seeing the replies to this tweet I made.

[DaddlerTheDalek]

Pre Reboot: Dead.

Post Reboot: Dead.

 

I know it sucks.

[Heckboy]

1 hour ago, NiTROACTiVE said:

Ken Penders actually replied to my tweet thread I made on this issue, and you can view them by seeing the replies to this tweet I made.

a lot of that is stuff he's already said.

i dunno what else to add to this thread. yeah it kinda sucked when the reboot happened and everything was suddenly tossed out but... it was five years ago.

[horridus]

1 hour ago, NiTROACTiVE said:

Ken Penders actually replied to my tweet thread I made on this issue, and you can view them by seeing the replies to this tweet I made.

A reply consisting of regurgitating information that is already generally known and then going on an unrelated, rambling tangent about advertising comics and the imminent death of the print format. 

Anyway, I say this as someone who'd been with the Archie comics for a loooong time and who was always more heavily into them and the various other bits of spinoff media, but dude... this song and dance has been done before. Many times. What happened wasn't right, nor was it fair, but fella... there comes a time when you have to accept that things happened as they happened and move on. I mean really, what do you expect Archie to do? Get on their knees each year and beg forgiveness, weepingly recounting the Great Tragedy of how their ineptitude allowed a self-serving spoiled brat of a putz like Penders to get anywhere in his inane lawsuit? They've moved on, as has SEGA. Wallowing in things like this isn't going to really help things at all- you're just picking at a wound and refusing to let it properly heal by this point. 

[Promethean0416]

Yeah, I agree with most of the group here. It's best to move on and either embrace the new direction IDW is going or move on to something else entirely. In the end, it's just a bunch of fictional characters and there is simply no point in continuing to cry over this.

I was just as shocked and surprised as most of the Archie Sonic fandom when those major changes started happening around #243 (I think?), but shortly after "Worlds Collide" I just thought it was time to move on when the whole thing itself started to change and eventually bite the dust four years later.

We will likely never get a full resolution out of all this and those unfinished story arcs will never get closure. I do not think we will ever see "Lost Hedgehog Tales" either as there is simply too much legal drama and stuff like that will likely take years to resolve, plus even with the tiniest chance that even one of those characters/storylines/arcs might end up being a part of IDW.

As far as this is concerned, the characters, stories, and ideas are now in the hands of the Sonic fandom with their fan ideas/art/and what not. 

[Celestia]

6 hours ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

Yes, I liked that comic. Yes, it's cancellation was sad. But you know what else ended?

Archie Megaman. Reboot. Avatar Aang. Gravity Falls. VERY recently Adventure Time.

I get what you're saying but starting with ATLA at least, those all got proper endings. Adventure Time especially got like ten seasons or something AND got a (as far as I've heard) great sendoff.

That said, I agree with the notion that people should try to move on when it comes to this stuff, but I think that's easier said than done for a lot of people. For me, in the later years (even pre-reboot) I had stopped being as invested, but it was still a huge bummer to see the book lose so many characters, some of which I really liked. And then the cancellation happened. A real 1-2  punch there, eh?

[MadmanRB]

Ineed I actually hate the Let it go mentality when it comes to beloved characters, they are always important to someone.

Sure yes none of these characters are in the games but who cares they had roles and wee seen them evolve in the comics.

[Marco9966]

Let go of the old characters.

Embrace the new ones

IT'S JUST WHAT I BELIEVE IS BEST TO DO, (not to demean anyone please don't be mad at me mods)

Cuz SEGA is unwilling that's it.

[MadmanRB]

Nope not moving on just yet, not until I see the gravestones bud.

Gravestones or heat death of the universe

[MetalSkulkBane]

16 minutes ago, MadmanRB said:

Nope not moving on just yet, not until I see the gravestones bud.

Gravestones or heat death of the universe

There.

Archie Sonic Preboot had 20th years. Even counting only Flynn I would call it "a good run".

Reboot ended on cliffhanger.

Transformers Animated was cut with half-assed conclusion.

Half Life series is on never ending hiatus.

Firefly, Clone High, any other show I didn't want/liked that much

Sad, but life moves on. All those characters still live in our memories and fan works.

[Marco9966]

1 minute ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

and fan works.

yeah there's the online continuation!

[MadmanRB]

8 minutes ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

There.

Archie Sonic Preboot had 20th years. Even counting only Flynn I would call it "a good run".

Reboot ended on cliffhanger.

Transformers Animated was cut with half-assed conclusion.

Half Life series is on never ending hiatus.

Firefly, Clone High, any other show I didn't want/liked that much

Sad, but life moves on. All those characters still live in our memories and fan works.

Gravestone doesnt count for the SataAM characters though

 

Heat death of the universe woo hoo

[Marco9966]

I grew up with SegaSonic (=only the games and Sonic X). But I see what you feel.

I'd feel the same if they decided to kill off the Chaotix or Shadow for example.

[Agie]

I know it's been five years, but I'm not gonna lie when I say 2013 as a whole is only starting to feel like it wasn't recent. Many things that happened that year still don't feel like they happened five years ago, though that's just me.

I won't lie, though, maybe it is time to move on. Barring a miracle, I legitimately do not see the old Archie Sonic continuity ever coming back. Heck, Archie Sonic in any of its forms returning kinda feels like a pipe dream, but the old continuity even moreso.

[Scape]

8 hours ago, MadmanRB said:

Gravestone doesnt count for the SataAM characters though

 

Heat death of the universe woo hoo

[MadmanRB]

not official

[DaddlerTheDalek]

Still complaining about the 2013 reboot after the cancellation of Archie Sonic as a whole in 2017 is rather... petty IMHO.