Should the Freedom Fighters come back to IDW Comics?

[Kazhnuz]

I feel that it might have been a good idea to get the FF back in IDW... But that's it's becoming too late for one things : the restoration seems to be progressively becoming more fleshed out. They could have been reused as member of the restoration, but as the restoration become more used, adding them suddenly would be quite difficult. ( We even have a character that kinda replace Rotor with the Orangutan ). I feel that now if they want character that target the same niche than the FF, they'll more add character into the Restoration.

Sally MIGHT still be possible (which doesn't mean that she has a chance) as she could be reintroduced as a new strategist of the restoration, as Amy don't fill this niche anymore, so she would fit a niche that is useful (it would allow to make the restoration more of a faction, and add possible point of tension between the heroes and the restoration).

But TBH, I think that if they really need a character in Sally's niche, but can't add her yet… They should create a new character instead of "waiting for her". I think that waiting forever for character in a limbo won't be a good things so I'd rather have them finish fleshing out the Restoration.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

They can still come back as a similar group at a later period. They don’t have to be part of the Restoration.

The most important thing is that they still act reminiscent to the characterization they’re known for, like Amy’s affection for Sonic or Tails being a mechanic. The whole title of them being Freedom Fighters is more the name of them as a collective, much like how the Restoration is itself—we don’t need them as the “Freedom Fighters” than we do as “Sally, Bunnie, etc” as individual characters. As long as Sally retains her tactical leadership and acumen, Bunnie is a boisterous cyborg with an accent (and heck she could even ditch the cybernetics for something else, as it wouldn’t be the first time), Antoine as a cowardly Lion who would still step up and fight things out of his league, and Rotor a weapons engineer, that’s all that matters.

They’ve been through changes before, they can go through them again.

[Shaddy Zaphod]

I definitely do think that if the FFs come back in any capacity they need to be relegated to a faction of their own, that's either involved with a given story arc or not. IDW has a lot of characters to balance and we've already got complaints about Knuckles not being around enough.

I do think that not having an ongoing side-series like Universe makes this harder though. That was one way Archie managed to balance and use its enormous cast, even if it wasn't perfect. Maybe if we get to a point where something like that exists we'll have a little more room to breathe. That'd be the perfect place for letting new and different writers stretch their talents, as well.

[Kazhnuz]

15 hours ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

They can still come back as a similar group at a later period. They don’t have to be part of the Restoration.

With how much they don't seem to want a "crowded cast", I'm not sure that they would want two too similar groups, except if that serve a purpose.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

On 8/30/2021 at 1:31 AM, Kazhnuz said:

With how much they don't seem to want a "crowded cast", I'm not sure that they would want two too similar groups, except if that serve a purpose.

Then they can make them into another group with a different purpose. Or make them freelance characters with a common interest with each other.

Nothing about Sally’s leadership, acumen, and privileged status; Antoine’s privileged background, swordsmanship, and cowardice/caution; Bunnie’s cybernetics and boisterous attitude; Rotor’s mechanical skill in weaponry or general technology; or Nicole’s function as a sentient AI have anything that says they should be grouped into “resistance/restoration organization bent on saving the world.”
 

There’s a million different ways these characters can still be recognizable without being pigeonholed to their title of Freedom Fighters that they’re often associated under. You see these same skills and personalities in plenty of other groups and organizations in fiction.

[King Scoopa Koopa]

2 hours ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

Then they can make them into another group with a different purpose. Or make them freelance characters with a common interest with each other.

Nothing about Sally’s leadership, acumen, and privileged status; Antoine’s privileged background, swordsmanship, and cowardice/caution; Bunnie’s cybernetics and boisterous attitude; Rotor’s mechanical skill in weaponry or general technology; or Nicole’s function as a sentient AI have anything that says they should be grouped into “resistance/restoration organization bent on saving the world.”
 

There’s a million different ways these characters can still be recognizable without being pigeonholed to their title of Freedom Fighters that they’re often associated under. You see these same skills and personalities in plenty of other groups and organizations in fiction.

I was coming here to say something similar.

Do I want to see Sally, Antoine, Bunnie, Rotor, and Nicole in the IDW comics? Sure!

Do I want to see the Freedom Fighters in the IDW comics? Eh, not really.

And it would probably be way easier to maneuver with them if they were individuals, rather than an all or nothing group.

Heck, just the name "Freedom Fighters" doesn't even seem like it really fits well with the IDW world. It suggests they're fighting back against an oppressive regime that just really doesn't exist here, just some jerks who stir up trouble on a semi-regular basis.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

21 minutes ago, KingScoopaKoopa said:

I was coming here to say something similar.

Do I want to see Sally, Antoine, Bunnie, Rotor, and Nicole in the IDW comics? Sure!

Do I want to see the Freedom Fighters in the IDW comics? Eh, not really.

Which is really the point that people have been trying to emphasize from the start, I highly doubt people care more about the Freedom Fighters as a group than they do the characters that make up the Freedom Fighters.

You can get rid of the title and the organization and few would have a problem with it, but they still want Sally, Bunnie, Antoine, Rotor, and Nicole as individual characters doing things like the rest of the cast does. You can even give them different backgrounds while still leading them to the same personalities they’re known for.

Make Sally a heiress of a fictional Fortune 500 company like a female Tony Stark; make Antoine a prince instead Sally, or have him the son of a famous swordsman trying to live up to his father’s name; have Bunnie a survivor of an attack that made her a cyborg, or a mercenary dedicated to saving lives who lost her limbs in the process (or keep her limbs and have her augment herself with an exoskeleton that’s similar to her old cybernetics); have Rotor a mechanic that either maintains Bunnie’s cybernetics or Sally’s technology, or have him be the CEO of his own tech start-up company that’s changing the world; and there’s far too many different ways you can bring back Nicole to think of without drastically changing her personality.

Mind you, not all of these things are something I would do if I were given the opportunity to bring them back, but it’s an idea that can be done in a way unique to IDW, a fresh take on old characters, but done in a way that still keeps them familiar to older fans that recognize them while making them palatable to new fans—who quite frankly wouldn’t care anywhere near as much as the more hardcore parts of the fandom keep making the endeavor out to be.

[Kazhnuz]

Making them something else than being "Freedom Fighter" is a good idea, and something I had not thought of. Yeah, they could work quite well that way, and it would remove the problem of clutter of having two groups dedicated to the same things.

[Multikaris]

My idea for their return, not necessarily here but merely in general, was to make them less straight-up good guys and more morally ambiguous, similar to the Repliforce (Megaman) and the Future Foundation (Danganronpa). This could easily make them alternate between friends and foes, possibly gradually devolving like how Repliforce did.

[FlameStream]

One thing that may need to change to fit the setting is some of their names. Sally and Antoine in particular don't match the name style of all established characters so far.

How would you feel about that?

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

2 hours ago, FlameStream said:

One thing that may need to change to fit the setting is some of their names. Sally and Antoine in particular don't match the name style of all established characters so far.

How would you feel about that?

Neither does Amy Rose...

[DaddlerTheDalek]

I think the KFF could work like the other FF teams and the Wolfpack in the old Archie days. Allies of the Restoration and occasional guest characters, but maybe more fleshed out.

[Rienasketch]

Maybe, but I'm not sure how I'd feel about them being a formal group. I suppose Sally could still have her kingdom, with several of the other Knothole characters there, but without any recurring threats to her she'd only show up occasionally at best .

One idea might be to give the emeralds more purpose to the story. They're miracle gems yet we don't really see many people actively pursuing them. Perhaps giving people more reasons to do so outside just trying to stop Robotnik/Eggman could open more room for older and newer characters to get involved with the story.

For example, what if Sally needed to find the emeralds, or one in particular to save her father? Maybe he's sick or trapped somewhere. Maybe he's cursed with something the way Naugus had tried to possess him before. And she's looking for the emeralds in an attempt to save him (or at the very least reduce the effects of whats troubling him). Either way, Sally's on a quest to save her dad. And Antoine being part of the royal guard could easily be explained as someone who assists her in this quest.

Rotor I might make more of a scientist than a mechanic since we already have Tails. And outside Robotnik we don't have many scientist characters on the hero side anymore with Uncle Chuck gone. I don't see him being as action oriented so much as that person who helps create devices and enhancements that the heroes could use. Or be used to help explain certain situations. There was no need to add him in too many stories since he wasn't really that much in the way of a supporting character for anyone even in the original Archie comics, but I could perhaps see him getting along well with Tails and the two of them doing projects together that Sonic occasionally helps test out.

Bunnie might actually be the hardest character to peg down in terms of what to do. She could be a guard like Antoine, but it wouldn't really explain why she's half robot. Maybe she got in an accident? Or maybe she wasn't quite cured of the metal virus, the way most people were. And can make unique constructs with her half metal body. She's created a symbiotic relationship with it mostly, but it risks spreading as a defense mechanism if she overdoes it, and retracts when her body stabilizes. Currently living in fear of herself, maybe she's looking for something to cure her?

A friend of Sally? A bounty hunter who uses her robotic enhancements to do jobs? A cowgirl sheriff of a city who may or may not occasionally come at odds with Sonic and friends because she's honest to a fault and very by the book? There's a lot of possibilities that could be explored with Bunnie. Out of all the characters she and NICOLE don't need to really be in the formal freedom fighter group. NICOLE could easily just be built at anytime as say, a robot assistant of Tails or something with Robotnik software.

They could still be a team but at this point I'm not sure if its necessary. And bringing them all together as a packaged deal risks not enough of them getting adequate screentime or spotlight because there's too many characters competing for attention.

[Kazhnuz]

TBH, if they break the FF as a group, I would not be against making Sally one of the "big ones" recurring characters, a bit like Sticks was to the main group in Sonic Boom (not personality-wise of course, but as some kind of "fith character"). She have a strong concept ("the strategist", being smart, maybe being a bit bossy if we take "Classic Sally", or the nervous side of "post-reboot Sally") and a core personnality that is a non-occupied niche in the main Sonic character, and she could bounce well with them.

It's not incompatible with getting her a backstory ofc, but I feel that she could work really well like that.

[MetalSkulkBane]

I'm against FF joining till we get second book. Otherwise things will be too crowded.

And I don't think Sally can't join alone. She's a leader, she must have people to lead. So either she has FF with her or Jewel would have to step down as leader of Restoration.

If someone can break off it's Nicole. She's not core member and being and AI I could see her going solo.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Why not lead an entirely different kind of organization?

Who says Sally has to lead the FF OR the Restoration? Couldn’t she be a part of a third organization instead?

[Rabbitearsblog]

36 minutes ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

Why not lead an entirely different kind of organization?

Who says Sally has to lead the FF OR the Restoration? Couldn’t she be a part of a third organization instead?

I honestly think this is the best option for including the FF into this universe.  Trying to tie them to Sonic's group would only complicate the recent stories that SEGA wants to tell with these characters. Plus, you wouldn't have to change anything about the FF if they are separate from Sonic and his friends.

[Kaotic Kanine]

I'm conflicted on this topic. Because I'm a character guy; they're more important than story when it comes to writing, and I'm not one to write off or want a character gone so long they have some use. And the Freedom Fighters can definitely add to things, and they do have some charm and potential. But I can't deny that, of the Freedom Fighters, Bunnie and Nicole are the only ones I like and find to have interesting enough personalities and abilities worth bringing back. For the rest...

-Rotor is a bore. Even if we were to change his role to something that doesn't step on Tails' toes but still fits his character, Rotor would still be an uncompelling character. Ian tried many different things to make Rotor interesting throughout Archie, and I don't think they ever truly worked. Hell, even back in SatAM, the actual staff disliked him. I'd love to be proven wrong about Rotor in this regard, but for now I view him as one of the few characters that cannot be "saved". 

-Thanks to Post-Reboot, Antoine has the distinction of being a swordsman, which offers many interesting new moves in Sonic (some only displayed in SatBK). But even disregarding his origins as one of the worst French stereotypes in fiction, I don't find much else of Antoine to be interesting enough to be worth bringing him back. More salvageable than Rotor, but would require some serious creativity. 

-And Sally, as I've ranted about many times before, is a blackhole. No matter the medium, the writers, and setting; she just sucks up all the spotlight and all the attention. Season 2 of SatAM saw Sally take up so much prominence that the show may as well have been about her than Sonic, not to mention depriving Bunnie and Rotor much needed spotlight. And while I'm unsure of her prominence in the Pre-Ian Archie Comics, almost every arc would have Sally as a major if not central character under Ian's tenure. Often as the sole voice of reason, having the right answers and ideas, being a martyr who sacrifices herself for everyone, and someone who deserve utmost attention when sobbing or cracking from pressure. Sally may be a good concept for a character with a compelling personality and backstory. But I'd want some serious assurance that, should she return in IDW, Sally doesn't take up the spotlight from other characters especially Cream.

[Rienasketch]

3 hours ago, Kaotic Kanine said:

I'm conflicted on this topic. Because I'm a character guy; they're more important than story when it comes to writing, and I'm not one to write off or want a character gone so long they have some use. And the Freedom Fighters can definitely add to things, and they do have some charm and potential. But I can't deny that, of the Freedom Fighters, Bunnie and Nicole are the only ones I like and find to have interesting enough personalities and abilities worth bringing back. For the rest...

-Rotor is a bore. Even if we were to change his role to something that doesn't step on Tails' toes but still fits his character, Rotor would still be an uncompelling character. Ian tried many different things to make Rotor interesting throughout Archie, and I don't think they ever truly worked. Hell, even back in SatAM, the actual staff disliked him. I'd love to be proven wrong about Rotor in this regard, but for now I view him as one of the few characters that cannot be "saved". 

-Thanks to Post-Reboot, Antoine has the distinction of being a swordsman, which offers many interesting new moves in Sonic (some only displayed in SatBK). But even disregarding his origins as one of the worst French stereotypes in fiction, I don't find much else of Antoine to be interesting enough to be worth bringing him back. More salvageable than Rotor, but would require some serious creativity. 

-And Sally, as I've ranted about many times before, is a blackhole. No matter the medium, the writers, and setting; she just sucks up all the spotlight and all the attention. Season 2 of SatAM saw Sally take up so much prominence that the show may as well have been about her than Sonic, not to mention depriving Bunnie and Rotor much needed spotlight. And while I'm unsure of her prominence in the Pre-Ian Archie Comics, almost every arc would have Sally as a major if not central character under Ian's tenure. Often as the sole voice of reason, having the right answers and ideas, being a martyr who sacrifices herself for everyone, and someone who deserve utmost attention when sobbing or cracking from pressure. Sally may be a good concept for a character with a compelling personality and backstory. But I'd want some serious assurance that, should she return in IDW, Sally doesn't take up the spotlight from other characters especially Cream.

 

I think that while Sally is a bit of a blackhole, its not entirely her fault. Part of the problem I think has to do with the supporting characters themselves. Even in the games they aren't built to have a lasting dynamic with Sonic. The basis for their unique roles to Sonic in a story are often built on misunderstandings like in Knuckles and Silver's cases, and not so much oppositional values. Then you have the other tier of characters who were at best just supporting characters OF supporting characters and barely had anything to do with Sonic outside being an occasional teammate (Ex: Rouge, Cream, Bunnie, Antoine after he "developed" out of his flaws, Rotor, NICOLE, Team Chaotix, etc.).

 

Sally's problem is that she often prevented certain people from having dynamics and interactions with him beyond a superficial level, and it annoyed me how many characters were made OOC (including Sally herself after awhile), added for no justifiable reason or just outright removed from the story just to make her fit. But we also have to acknowledge that SEGA didn't have a long term plan in mind when creating most of these characters. Most of them were just made for 1 or 2 games and it showes.

[Kazhnuz]

I don't think that Sally is in herself a blackhole, tbh. It's mostly that SatAM and Archie had her as a main character, often at the same level of Sonic. So she was one of the main point of the story, which was kinda her role in these media. If she isn't as much the "second character", she won't take as much attention, except if she is seen as more interesting than other character.

Even if personally, I think that a focused rework a Sally would work as one of the "main gang", as she could have interesting and fun dynamics with other characters.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

18 hours ago, Kaotic Kanine said:

I'm conflicted on this topic. Because I'm a character guy; they're more important than story when it comes to writing, and I'm not one to write off or want a character gone so long they have some use. And the Freedom Fighters can definitely add to things, and they do have some charm and potential. But I can't deny that, of the Freedom Fighters, Bunnie and Nicole are the only ones I like and find to have interesting enough personalities and abilities worth bringing back. For the rest...

-Rotor is a bore. Even if we were to change his role to something that doesn't step on Tails' toes but still fits his character, Rotor would still be an uncompelling character. Ian tried many different things to make Rotor interesting throughout Archie, and I don't think they ever truly worked. Hell, even back in SatAM, the actual staff disliked him. I'd love to be proven wrong about Rotor in this regard, but for now I view him as one of the few characters that cannot be "saved". 
 

I actually thought he was onto something with Rotor in Post-Reboot. All the more reason it sucks the way it got canceled.

I can’t be the only one who thought the dynamic between him and his abusive father wasn’t interesting to delve into, because, if I’m being honest, yeah Rotor can be a bore.

His relationship with his dad is one of the main reasons I want the Egg Bosses back, but even if that can’t be done, there are still some ways to make him more interesting.

I’ve said this before, and I’ll continue to say it, but Rotor can specialize in weaponry while Tails specializes in Aeronautics. Being a science or tech guy doesn’t mean that character needs to do everything in tech—Eggman’s specializes it robotics, but he’s created machines capable of cracking worlds or even the fabric of reality, and even then he has his own flaws when it comes to keeping things under control, which is something that Tails doesn’t seem to have a problem with. And since when was Tails smart enough to cure man-made viruses come the Metal Virus arc? That’s something a virologist should be doing, not an aerospace engineer like Tails. And even then, Tails has nothing on Wave the Swallow when it comes to building Hoverboards. So there’s always a weak area for him to have.

There are many branches of science out there that many of you here probably didn’t know had a name (I sure didn’t, so don’t any of you pretend like you have either). 

Played from this angle, you can have Rotor do things Tails hasn’t done yet. Ideally, the weaponry angle would work best, having Rotor uses his ingenuity to build weapons even Tails or Eggman couldn’t think up.

Heck, Rotor could be more capable of hijacking Eggman’s technology for the Heroes to use, which Tails doesn’t often do. Imagine Eggman created another Egg Fleet, and Rotor somehow got remote access to his system and ejected Eggman from the mothership with the push of a button in the middle of his laughter—okay, so kinda broken, but you’d definitely laugh at how easy it was for the heroes to take away Eggman hard work building a powerful fleet and using it to save lives.

18 hours ago, Kaotic Kanine said:

-Thanks to Post-Reboot, Antoine has the distinction of being a swordsman, which offers many interesting new moves in Sonic (some only displayed in SatBK). But even disregarding his origins as one of the worst French stereotypes in fiction, I don't find much else of Antoine to be interesting enough to be worth bringing him back. More salvageable than Rotor, but would require some serious creativity.

A cautious explorer of the world? Like a male Lara Croft from Tomb Raider? Or a French version Nigel Thornberry from the Wild Thornberrys (God, I haven’t seen this show in a while)?

I was actually saving that idea for Sally, but it could work for Antoine a lot better. A guy traveling the world to see its many wonders, much like Sonic himself, but far more cautious of its dangers (having been through a number of them) due to not really having any special powers like Sonic. He can make up for it with his knowledge of the setting, provided he’s already been there.

Being an explorer would open up a variety of skills for the entire Sonic cast: skills in typography he could make useful maps that characters could use (and make him a target for Eggman to kidnap), with knowledge of flora to produce medicine on the fly and be a useful field medic, and with the right tools, even this cautious explorer can climb literal mountains to reach where he wants (I was reminded of the mailman from Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for this one).

Heck, have Angel Island be on his many wonders to visit, and have him run into Knuckles who chases him down for inadvertently intruding on the land.

18 hours ago, Kaotic Kanine said:

-And Sally, as I've ranted about many times before, is a blackhole. No matter the medium, the writers, and setting; she just sucks up all the spotlight and all the attention. Season 2 of SatAM saw Sally take up so much prominence that the show may as well have been about her than Sonic, not to mention depriving Bunnie and Rotor much needed spotlight. And while I'm unsure of her prominence in the Pre-Ian Archie Comics, almost every arc would have Sally as a major if not central character under Ian's tenure. Often as the sole voice of reason, having the right answers and ideas, being a martyr who sacrifices herself for everyone, and someone who deserve utmost attention when sobbing or cracking from pressure. Sally may be a good concept for a character with a compelling personality and backstory. But I'd want some serious assurance that, should she return in IDW, Sally doesn't take up the spotlight from other characters especially Cream.

I actually have another idea to keep Sally a major force that doesn’t take up much attention, but that’s a personal secret I’m keeping for myself (I know some of the comic team read the forums, you’re not taking this idea from me )

So for this one, I’m just gonna stick to my earlier idea of Sally being the daughter of a business tycoon.

Honestly, her being a black hole is actually a strength in terms of how to retool her into something else, ironically enough. What you’re talking about has more to do with character exposure and that can simply be solved by not having her show up all the time, or by putting her in a lesser leadership position where she’s under someone else’s authority but with enough trust that she isn’t held back like a damsel. Think Asami Sato from Legend of Korra, or Black Widow from the MCU (I haven’t seen the Black Widow movie yet, so save your rants if you have).

[Mangoaxe5]

I don't see why they couldn't fit into the more Sega Sonic world of the IDW Sonic universe. Before the Archie Sonic comic got unfairly canceled they already looked more like Sega Sonic characters in terms of their designs. 

https://www.deviantart.com/shadowy-viper/art/Commission-Artificial-Friendship-901461623

[Raya]

To be honest, I don't care. IDW created the whole spectrum of a new and really great characters and I'm not sure if we really need another blast from the past because of nostalgia to the 90's classic era.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

7 hours ago, Raya said:

To be honest, I don't care. IDW created the whole spectrum of a new and really great characters and I'm not sure if we really need another blast from the past because of nostalgia to the 90's classic era.

Yet you didn’t need those IDW characters either…

[Raya]

28 minutes ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

Yet you didn’t need those IDW characters either…

I'm pretty sure you missed the point.