Megathread Archie Sonic Main Discussion

[Big Panda]

Can somebody ask Ian and/or Aleah if there are any MALE characters they saw as LGBT?

Lesbians are fine, but with how the media seems to always favour them more over gay male characters, especially in kids media...it just feels incredibly biased.

Sorry, I’m just really sick of this “gay=bad, lesbian=good” mentality, and the fact that only female characters have been semi-canon queer under Ian’s watch is just really discouraging, especially after the whole Rotor fiasco (I know it was out of his control, but it still doesn’t come off very good).

[SBR2]

2 hours ago, VEDJ-F said:

 

Speaking of consideration for LGBT (yeah, the above was a segway), Aleah confirmed that she considered Clove lesbian. Maybe not officially canon, but she always saw her conflict with Sally and Lupe as part admiration with a twinge of a crushing angle. Never got addressed because the comic was not focusing on romance at that point.

Neat. Where was this said?

[Your Vest Friend]

Oh, this is the screengrab of the conversation with Aleah by someone else, by the by. 

As for male LGBT reps...I can ask, but the issue is that far less of the post-reboot male Archie characters had focus compared to female Archie characters, with the exception of Razor (who kinda had a thing for Coral in-canon, but I guess still possible to be LGBT) and Eclipse (who was a homicidal alien). 

[Big Panda]

Why not pre-reboot? P;

[DabigRG]

1 hour ago, VEDJ-F said:

Oh, this is the screengrab of the conversation with Aleah by someone else, by the by. 

 

Eh, sounds more like very general Les Yay than anything substantial.

1 hour ago, VEDJ-F said:

As for male LGBT reps...I can ask, but the issue is that far less of the post-reboot male Archie characters had focus compared to female Archie characters, with the exception of Razor (who kinda had a thing for Coral in-canon, but I guess still possible to be LGBT) and Eclipse (who was a homicidal alien). 

That is technically true, isn't it?

Which is a little weird, considering I don't remember many of them getting that much focus across the run and Mr. Flynn made a minor point of putting less focus on Sally.

[Zaysho]

Random question about old Archie stuff, since I'm in the mood to read through it again at some point.

Is there an issue list/reading order for the Knuckles stuff specifically? I'm looking to read through all the old solo stories and the original mini-series (basically everything pre-End Game/KtE), should all that content be covered between the first 13 Sonic Archives and the first couple Sonic Select volumes (and plus the Knuckles Archives, but I'm mostly interested in the solo stories right now)? I'm sure I have individual issues laying around, too, so I can probably find whatever I think I'm missing, but I just wanted to know if anyone had a listing handy.

Even with Penders being Penders, I loved a lot of those older stories when I was younger and I still found them interesting when I'd flip through the collections even if  the writing wasn't as strong as I remembered, but it's something I'd like to run through in order and see how I feel about them again.

[Big Panda]

@Zaysho

• Sonic #13 (“This Island Hedgehog”)
• Sonic & Knuckles
• Sonic Triple Trouble
• Super Sonic vs Hyper Knuckles
• Knuckles Chaotix
• Sonic #31 (“Lost...and Found!”)
• Sonic #32 (“Prisoners!”)
• Sonic #33 (“The Big Picture”)
• Sonic #34-#36 (“A Sense of History”)
• Sonic’s Friendly Nemesis: Knuckles #1-#3
• Sonic #39 (“Rage Against the Machine”)
• Sonic & Knuckles: Mecha Madness
• Sonic Quest #1-#3
• Sonic #42
• Sonic Live (“Knuckles Quest 2”)
• Sonic #45 (“Knuckles Quest 3”)
• Sonic #46 (“Knuckles Quest 4”)
• Sonic #44
• Sonic Super Special #1
• Sonic #49-#50

Everything there can be found in Sonic Archives #3-#13, Knuckles Archives #1, and the first three Sonic Selects.

[DabigRG]

Is Cosmo actually over or something?

[Big Panda]

31 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

Is Cosmo actually over or something?

Yes, it was demoted to a 5- issue miniseries right after the first issue came out. Bloody shame.

[DabigRG]

4 minutes ago, Ernest-Panda said:

Yes, it was demoted to a 5- issue miniseries right after the first issue came out. Bloody shame.

Oh, okay. Yeah, I suppose it was. How long was it originally?

They sent me part one of this other crossover thing.

[Big Panda]

It was supposed to be ongoing.

[DabigRG]

2 hours ago, Ernest-Panda said:

It was supposed to be ongoing.

Oh. And here I thought it had simply be cut in half.

That is sad, especially since Mr. Flynn had apparently been excited to be working on it enough that he jumped the gun and said it was coming years beforehand.

[RedFox99]

Quick question: did Ian ever use Rouge between the PPP and worlds collide arcs?

[GentlemanX]

8 minutes ago, RedFox99 said:

Quick question: did Ian ever use Rouge between the PPP and worlds collide arcs?

Do you mean Treasure Team Tango? Rouge isn't in Pirate Plunder Panic (which was written by Tracy).

[HywelAtTheMoon]

I think the closest we got was in Scourge's last arc (the prison escape one). There is an alternate universe version of Rouge working as the prison shrink. 

[DabigRG]

16 minutes ago, HywelAtTheMoon said:

I think the closest we got was in Scourge's last arc (the prison escape one). There is an alternate universe version of Rouge working as the prison shrink. 

Uh, Zouge was an AA-style host and I love that.

[RedFox99]

From what I read of the Synopsis, Rouge seemed to have gotten better from her PPP portrayal. I'm guessing Ian got a lot of flack for the latter 

[DabigRG]

10 minutes ago, RedFox99 said:

From what I read of the Synopsis, Rouge seemed to have gotten better from her PPP portrayal. I'm guessing Ian got a lot of flack for the latter 

To be fair, I get the feeling that many authors had no clue what to do with Shadow and Rouge during the early to mid 2000s and Mr.Flynn happened to also fall into that category on top of following up on what Mr. Penders had set up beforehand.

He notably voiced(or would that be texted) appreciation of criticism regarding her portrayal in Shadow Fall.

 

Also, what synopsis?

[RedFox99]

4 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

To be fair, I get the feeling that many authors had no clue what to do with Shadow and Rouge during the early to mid 2000s and Mr.Flynn happened to also fall into that category on top of following up on what Mr. Penders had set up beforehand.

He notably voiced(or would that be texted) appreciation of criticism regarding her portrayal in Shadow Fall.

 

Also, what synopsis?

On the wiki.

Also, what criticisms were ther of Rouge during the Shadow Fall arc.

[DabigRG]

3 minutes ago, RedFox99 said:

On the wiki.

Also, what criticisms were ther of Rouge during the Shadow Fall arc.

Uh, something to the affect of her either being a little too compassionate or brusque/snappy in talking sense into Shadow or something. 

[RedFox99]

Just now, DabigRG said:

Uh, something to the affect of her either being a little too compassionate or brusque/snappy in talking sense into Shadow or something. 

okay. She did seem a little aggressive given she was going to attack shadow.

[DabigRG]

13 minutes ago, RedFox99 said:

okay. She did seem a little aggressive given she was going to attack shadow.

Eh, whatever.

Been a while since I read much Sonic outside of IDW and some of the King Naugus stuff.

[DabigRG]

So, who would you consider to be the most/more distinct, complex, deep, etc. character(s) within either continuity of Archie?

[MetalSkulkBane]

I'm sure people will list Geoffrey, likeable Egg Bosses, Eclipse, Ellidy, etc. So I'll try something less predictable,

 

Easily it was Elias, king who never wanted a crown but was forced to fight for it.

Nate Moran was a nice example, tragic hero always punished for doing the right thing. (And quite forgotten character).

And I would never call King Max complex, not until his last appearance where you can see him as broken man, who sacrificed everything for his kingdom, even relation with his own children, only to see it all fall apart anyway, in a hands of mad wizard and his own daughter lost to madder scientist.

And lastly... Preboot Eggman. From a evil dictator killing his own people, through lonely scientist who made himself mechanical children, only later to be betrayed by one of them (other he killed himself), to a man who replaced his need for family with "the game", playing his foes and allies in a chess for life and death, doing incredibly stupid decisions just for thrill of it. Man who became computer, man again, went insane and then rationalized himself back to sanity (somewhat). Dr warlord Julian Ivo Robo-Kintobot Mk 2 is sure complicated character. And he hates that Hedgehog.

[Cuz]

Athair fits that bill for me. Being the only Guardian to refuse the post when he discovered a higher calling puts him in a interesting position within his family. He instead tried to guide a tribe of echidnas, whose ancestors decided they didn't like the whole "floating island" idea back in the day, to mythical Avalon. (Man... given how steeped in Arthurian motifs Archie was I'm surprised it never tried to (properly) adapt Black Knight). Kind of wished they hadn't killed him off, he was more interesting alive than he was as a spirit head. At least him and Knuckles could bicker on mostly equal terms. You can't really argue with a dead guy and feel like you got the high ground.

I want to include Mina but I don't know the best way to articulate it. She took a bullet for Sally, who she barely knew at the time, she had to be reasoned out of a suicide "mission" when she was first introduced. She's had some heavy self-sacrificial moments.