Jump to content
Awoo.

Do you think that SEGA will eventually change the mandates for the IDW Sonic comics?


Rabbitearsblog

Recommended Posts

1 hour ago, Rabbitearsblog said:

What mandates did exist before the lawsuit happened?

From memory :

- Sonic can't loose (175), Sonic can't show strong emotion (Mobius 25YL), Sonic's characters can't die (lol). Maybe the relationship (IIRC it was more at that time that Sonic "can't settle down", I kinda remember Flynn talking about on his forum).

- No parents (it was more "lax" as they couldn't be referred as "parent" some times before the lawsuit (that's why the reference to Espio's mother is sneaky). Basically the lawsuit didn't create the "mandates" it's more that with the reboot, they didn't go and create more of them)

- IDR if the word mobius was banned before or after reboot. But it's certainly more the reboot than the lawsuit that killed that word.

- There where already limitation because of other properties too : Cream couldn't get into the comics first because Sonic X, Flynn planned to do a sequel/ending to Sonic Underground and haven't been able to do so.

That's the problem with all the tries to do some "mandate list" : they often are a mess full of unrelated stuff.

 

The lawsuit in a way didn't add mandates, it's more that as they recreated everything from scratch, new stuff where subject to the mandate and didn't fall into the "we always did that" (that's why we didn't get new parents post reboot : the mandates existed before, but there where a tolerence because there still existed character related to that). And when IDW started, the way they worked together changed, as now the comics seems to be supervised by the Sonic Pillar/Studio.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Razule said:

 

The "Sonic can't cry" one for sure. 

And I think people make too big a deal out of that. Like Sonic has cried it's just he can't bawl his eyes out.

And frankly I'm fine with that. Not every character needs to be one who breaks down. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, SBR2 said:

And I think people make too big a deal out of that. Like Sonic has cried it's just he can't bawl his eyes out.

And frankly I'm fine with that. Not every character needs to be one who breaks down. 

I agree.  I mean, there are many ways they can have Sonic be emotional without crying, so I don't think this mandate is that bad as some people make it out to be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Excuse my ignorance, but why is Sega so militant on these rules? 

Are they still licking their wounds over the terrible handling by Archie with the Penders bull shit?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, GOAT said:

Excuse my ignorance, but why is Sega so militant on these rules? 

Are they still licking their wounds over the terrible handling by Archie with the Penders bull shit?

They weren't paying as much attention before, now they are and want the comics to reflect their current vision of the brand. 

  • Thumbs Up 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Razule said:

They weren't paying as much attention before, now they are and want the comics to reflect their current vision of the brand. 

Exactly. This is literally no different from any other licensed comic. A company can and will have rules.

Hell even the Transformers comics have to do tie-in's. Look at like Combiner Wars and Titans Return. Those events were clearly not planned for seeing as Combiner Wars literally starts like 3 or so issues into the second Windblade series and Titans Return started literally at the same time as Revolution (which incidentally seems to be where a lot if IDW's scheduling problems began going off TFWiki) and didn't finish until Til All Are One started back up after Revolution. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, GOAT said:

Excuse my ignorance, but why is Sega so militant on these rules? 

Are they still licking their wounds over the terrible handling by Archie with the Penders bull shit?

The comics are likely meant to be something that while not technically canon to the games, have to fit in with the canon of the games.

As such the comic likely cannot establish anything that the games likely cannot easily ignore.

I highly predict when Rangers comes around the comic will essentially have to adapt the events of the game as is to its continuity or ignore it.

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/31/2021 at 11:31 PM, Slashy said:

The comics are likely meant to be something that while not technically canon to the games, have to fit in with the canon of the games.

As such the comic likely cannot establish anything that the games likely cannot easily ignore.

I highly predict when Rangers comes around the comic will essentially have to adapt the events of the game as is to its continuity or ignore it.

I do wonder just what Rangers will be like. Will it be more serious or will it be more of the same that we have gotten with the franchise for the past 10 years?  I guess we'll wait and see.

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

So I wonder: do you prefer SEGA's more mandate heavy IDW storytelling or the early Archie Comics storytelling without the mandates?  Personally, I think both sides have their ups and downs, depending on who's handling them.  With the early Archie Comics having no mandates, the writers were free to do whatever they wanted with the franchise and although it lead to some pretty entertaining story lines, it also led to some terrible writing due to how off the wall the storytelling got.  On the other hand, with the more mandate heavy IDW Comics, while the stories were finally set in the game continuity, the mandates made it difficult for the stories to become more free with its narrative.

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/15/2021 at 5:53 PM, Rabbitearsblog said:

With the early Archie Comics having no mandates, the writers were free to do whatever they wanted with the franchise

This isn't true. There were always guidelines and an approval process.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

40 minutes ago, Pengi said:

This isn't true. There were always guidelines and an approval process.

How come it got stricter in later years?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That, and this crazy thing that happened in 2012. That's when they started cracking down in a noticeable way. Then the reboot happened and all the offending things were removed, and then the book was canceled and the old contract that kept the TV show characters around no longer applied.

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ironically, some of the better stories happened in Archie without IDW’s level of strictness. Even when they got stricter come the Reboot, we still explored characterization of the cast that can no longer be explored come the move to IDW.

You can definitely see that with comparisons between Archie’s Shadow and IDW Shadow—the former gets a lot less flak than the latter in discussions.

Of course, we all know of the risks that could entail, and we don’t need to beat a dead horse over who took advantage of the looser restrictions that Archie once had. But if I had to pick, it would be Archie’s level of mandates, solely on the grounds that if you put it in the hands of a writer that actually understands these characters it would make way for much more enriching stories and memorable stories, which I’m more likely to get than if they were more mandate heavy.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved IDW’s Metal Virus arc (which was supposed to be Archie’s, but I digress), but as intense as that was, it still has yet to top moments like Issue 175 from Archie.

  • Thumbs Up 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

Ironically, some of the better stories happened in Archie without IDW’s level of strictness. Even when they got stricter come the Reboot, we still explored characterization of the cast that can no longer be explored come the move to IDW.

You can definitely see that with comparisons between Archie’s Shadow and IDW Shadow—the former gets a lot less flak than the latter in discussions.

Of course, we all know of the risks that could entail, and we don’t need to beat a dead horse over who took advantage of the looser restrictions that Archie once had. But if I had to pick, it would be Archie’s level of mandates, solely on the grounds that if you put it in the hands of a writer that actually understands these characters it would make way for much more enriching stories and memorable stories, which I’m more likely to get than if they were more mandate heavy.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved IDW’s Metal Virus arc (which was supposed to be Archie’s, but I digress), but as intense as that was, it still has yet to top moments like Issue 175 from Archie.

Hopefully, we'll get more stories that put Sonic and the gang in bigger risks in IDW, if SEGA lifts up the mandates by then.

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 9 months later...

Honestly, the only mandate that bothers me is the seventh, I can understand that they can't use some of the characters from Archie Sonic, but why can't they use characters from the cartoons, since they own the cartoon, right?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

50 minutes ago, Matdrac said:

Honestly, the only mandate that bothers me is the seventh, I can understand that they can't use some of the characters from Archie Sonic, but why can't they use characters from the cartoons, since they own the cartoon, right?

That's something that always puzzled me too.  I guess it's because SEGA just wants to use the characters that they created rather than characters who were created by someone else.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

59 minutes ago, Matdrac said:

Honestly, the only mandate that bothers me is the seventh, I can understand that they can't use some of the characters from Archie Sonic, but why can't they use characters from the cartoons, since they own the cartoon, right?

They simply don't want to.

  • Thumbs Up 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Honestly, there are much stronger reasons to give than “We just don’t want to.”

That just comes off as a middle finger to the demand. If I didn’t want to use something, I’d at least let folks interested in seeing understand in a way that doesn’t come off as dismissive almost to the point of insulting.

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

Honestly, there are much stronger reasons to give than “We just don’t want to.”

That just comes off as a middle finger to the demand. If I didn’t want to use something, I’d at least let folks interested in seeing understand in a way that doesn’t come off as dismissive almost to the point of insulting.

We only have an idea why through what Ian has said. Their way of telling us is.. nothing. 

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

32 minutes ago, Razule said:

We only have an idea why through what Ian has said. Their way of telling us is.. nothing. 

I’m aware, and my point still stands.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Isn't it because the other media are joint-owned by other companies and that means licensing and other fees has to be used?

Right off the bat I know Sonic SATAM/Adventures of STH/Underground are owned by SHOUT Factory. Then the OVA is Toei. Sonic X is TMS (even though SEGA co-owns them). The latter 2 aren't going to be used because SEGA has a habit of ignoring past works and don't want to linger onto them (unless those said works makes $$$).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, StreetSonic2022 said:

Isn't it because the other media are joint-owned by other companies and that means licensing and other fees has to be used?

Right off the bat I know Sonic SATAM/Adventures of STH/Underground are owned by SHOUT Factory. Then the OVA is Toei. Sonic X is TMS (even though SEGA co-owns them). The latter 2 aren't going to be used because SEGA has a habit of ignoring past works and don't want to linger onto them (unless those said works makes $$$).

I guess that makes sense.  I'm not sure how the deals went with making the Sonic cartoons.  We know that Sonic and his friends are made by SEGA, but what about other characters like Sally and the Freedom Fighters?  Are they owned by Shout Factory or are they owned by SEGA?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Rabbitearsblog said:

We know that Sonic and his friends are made by SEGA, but what about other characters like Sally and the Freedom Fighters?  Are they owned by Shout Factory or are they owned by SEGA?

They are owned by SEGA.  It is confusing because the original elements and stuff are joint-collaborated/owned with other media companies. It is also more confusing with Archie's involvement (the reason why we probably won't see Post-Reboot FFs anymore).  But as I said before, SEGA won't bother because it is Sonic's past media that doesn't even worth anything for the franchise unless it is making good money.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, StreetSonic2022 said:

They are owned by SEGA.  It is confusing because the original elements and stuff are joint-collaborated/owned with other media companies. It is also more confusing with Archie's involvement (the reason why we probably won't see Post-Reboot FFs anymore).  But as I said before, SEGA won't bother because it is Sonic's past media that doesn't even worth anything for the franchise unless it is making good money.

Also, SEGA is going in a different direction with the franchise than how the franchise started out at the time.  At the time that the Sonic cartoons came out, there wasn't a lot of lore for the Sonic franchise and so, the cartoons and the comics were allowed to establish their own lore with the franchise.  But, starting around Sonic Adventure, SEGA started developing more lore for the franchise and I guess at that point, SEGA didn't see the need to get the lore from outside the games since the story lines from the comics and cartoons were not related to the games.

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

You must read and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy to continue using this website. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.