Megathread Archie Sonic Main Discussion

[Spidey3525]

4 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

1. Why is there a De-Roboticizer in Robotropolis? What does he need one for aside for it being something to eventually be stolen and used against him by the Heroes? I understand that you never know when a tyrannical monster whose goal is to roboticize everyone to do his bidding might need to do the opposite of that but I gotta admit, I can't think of a scenario where he would. Robotnik still has a metal arm. He hasn't even used the De-Roboticizer on HIMSELF. Why does he have it?

Maybe it was brought up before and explained then but I seriously have no recollection of that. I'm sure one of you guys could tell me.

 

 

It's been a long time since I've read this era of the comics, but I think Roboticization can be undone by putting the victim in the same Roboticizer they were converted by. 

EDIT: I checked an earlier issue, where Sally decides to Roboticize herself when Dulcy steals a portable De-Roboticizer from Robotnik (which he just made a prototype for some reason?). But it burned out after one use, so it's not like they could reuse it. 

Spoiler

In future issues, it'll be revealed there are still a bunch of Robians in Mobotropolis, including Sonic's parents, and even more all over the world; honestly made me forget that this issue was meant to resolve the Robian subplot.  

 

Edited June 18, 2019 by Spidey3525

[Cuz]

That fits. In SatAM the gang would scavenge parts from Roboticizers to build a De-Roboticizer. It's probably just a modification.  

[Dr. Detective]

Issue #38 - The Rise of Robotropolis... The Fall of Sonic!

This is a terrible issue but not for the reasons you'd expect. 

The reason this issue is bad isn't because of the plot. The script itself is the usual fare, only Sonic's behavior is doing odd things again but we'll get to that. The actual reason this issue is bad is because of the art and the formatting of the characters on the panels. This is not only the wonkiest I feel these characters have looked but in a few cases, the perspective of the panels was so strange, it was hard to read. It's a shame because, when they're drawn correctly, the backgrounds at least look pretty good. I wish the characters matched a bit more but this style is not only sharper and edgier it's also stiffer and weirder.

The issue begins with Sonic, Antione, and Tails on a mission, invading Robotropolis while it's raining. There's a very sinister purple sheen used that sets the mood and makes it look cool. I got distracted from it when Sonic shows up with Jay Leno Chin Syndrome. He's cured of it the next time he shows up though but that begins to highlight one of the other problems with the art; it's inconsistency. One panel, he'll look smooth, the next he won't. Size changes are really hard to get a handle on too. Sometimes it's just a matter of borked perspective, but that's still an issue.

Sonic calls Antoine and Tails slow when they catch up to him. 

Sonic: What took you guys so long? Yuk! Yuk!
Antione: Very Funnee!

I didn't embellish those lines in anyway. That's exactly how it's written in the book. 

Anyway, they get ambushed by, gasp, Combots. This surprises Sonic because he "thought they were all destroyed!"

Well, yes. Fortunately, Dr. Robotnik had a brilliant idea after they were all destroyed. He just made more.

Oh no.

They fired a blast that saw Tails grabbing Antoine and taking to the skies with him. It was in this panel that I noticed Tails' nose was blue. I thought to myself that this must have just been a single coloring error but nope. Apparently whoever was coloring this just didn't know the color of Tails' nose or intended on coloring it blue because it was blue in the panels before and it remains blue in all the panels after. Except for in the extra story at the end of the issue. Which is strange because the person coloring for the first story also has a hand in the last story. Whatever! Tails' nose is blue for the duration of THIS story for whatever reason. He's Tony Tony Chopper now.

I'm only 3 pages in and so much is wrong. I'm sorry to keep stopping but I have to, yet again, in order to showcase what I mean when I say the perspective is fucked. Look at this image.

Okay, so what's happening in this image is supposed to be that Sonic is hopping over the Combot in front of him to presumably get to the one behind it. The one behind it is supposed to be shooting upwards at Tails and Antoine as the fox is carrying him in the sky. However, when I first looked at this panel I got significantly confused because the second robot's back is drawn at a downward angle. It's hard to see it at this size but in the book it's drawn to look as though you're looking at it from above while it's shooting ahead. It doesn't look like it's positioned directly behind the other robot. As such, the wavy purple background looks more like the ocean, or the floor. It looked a bit like he was shooting eye beams at the floor... but no, the two shadows are there and they say that Tails is actually in the sky. It also doesn't help that they're floating right above the shadow of another Combot who isn't angled downward but is instead angled straight ahead. My eyes adjusted and eventually I understood what was supposed to be happening but it was really odd.

Tails eventually just drops Antoine like an asshole after Sonic shouts at him to use Maneuver S-461. Tails renders the point of naming the maneuver useless by flat out saying what it is by calling it the "Atomic Drop". So he drops Antoine on the Combot. Sonic kicks it. Then the next panel it explodes. I thought it was weird that it did that but then Sonic mentioned he was going to let the Combot's buddy destroy it. I then looked at the two panels again and both of them had a robot in the back pointing a missile cannon at it that wasn't emphasized well enough for me to spot. Again, I had to do a double take before I realized what had happened. Sonic had kicked the robot into the other robot's launched missile. Okay.

Then the battle rages on and we get a strange, random number of boxes where there's suddenly a narrator. "As the Storm and Battle rages on... Mother Nature miraculously responds to the summons... but whose side is she really on?!"  The ellipsis separate the three panels this narration was used in. This is the second issue in the row to talk about Mother Nature too. Sonic says he was going to have to give her a kiss last issue for summoning a random Earthquake that destroyed Robotropolis. Here though, Mother Nature sends a lightning bolt down to strike a Combot that explodes right in Sonic's face. The explosion is different because it's all red and glowy now though.

Again the perspective is weird because it looks like Sonic is being blown back while also super close to Tails. I think it's supposed to imply that Sonic is actually further ahead than Tails but it honestly just looks like Tails is way bigger than him in this panel. Anyway, it knocks Sonic the fuck out (as this comic loves to do, thankfully) and Tails flies off to get help, making the worst face ever.

Also, there's a weird green leaf... on his head? Or it's supposed to be apart of the ground but it goes OFF-panel for some reason and it's shaped differently from everything else? I think it's supposed to be apart of the ground but it's shaped differently and looks really weird. Also, Blue-Nosed Tails.

HNNNNGHH~!

Seriously what is that green leaf looking thing? If it's supposed to be apart of the ground why is it going off panel and why it specifically shaped that way? Who drew this?

Sonic is seeing stars when the other Freedom Fighters come to help. He then sees more stars when he angrily tries to go after Robotnik and immediately trips and smashes his chin on the ground.

So, Sonic is seeing stars again and then proceeds to run off again. Bunnie is running after him and catches up easily. I get confused because, again, the perspective isn't quite right. I know that Bunnie is supposed to be next to Sonic but they're not that far apart so in this panel it just looks like she's fucking huge.

Why is he so tiny?!

Well, anyway, Sonic is running and Bunnie caught up to him so Sonic is surprised she has super speed. Bunnie says she doesn't. Sonic has lost his speed! Oh noes!

Sonic realizes this while doing another ugly face. While Sonic is bemoaning the fact that he's not even fast enough to swat a mosquito flying around him, Rotor proceeds to lay out what happened in probably the biggest spew of bullshit techo-drool that I've read yet as far as this comic is concerned.

Did you get all that?

Good. It doesn't matter because it's complete, utter dreck. Sonic gets mad at Rotor for saying all this, which showcases his first shift into asshole territory this issue.

He responds to Rotor by gritting his teeth, angrily, and with a storm cloud over his head says, "Y'know, if I had two brains, you'd be dangerous!"

Which... I don't understand? I don't get what it was he was saying there. It... sounded like a threat? I guess? Sally treats it like one when she's like "Sonic! He's just trying to help!"

I get that they're going for the whole thing where the hero snaps because he's in a bad place because he lost something important to him but Rotor offering an explanation as to why it happened and Sonic getting mad at him for it seems a little too simple of a trigger. Also, what he said to snap at Rotor makes no sense. Like, am I missing something? If I had two brains you'd be dangerous? What does that mean?

Sonic says that his speed has been with him since he was a child (we're shown a picture of baby Sonic sucking on a bottle, wearing a shirt that says "I'm cool") and he laments that it was also one of the best weapons against Robotnik. He doesn't say sorry to Rotor by the way. Anyway, they go to try and take care of this anyway and head into the woods. There they get ambushed by Combots who were using cloaking devices to make themselves invisible. I assume they can't do that and fight at the same time otherwise, what even? They decide to stop being invisible to attack the Freedom Fighters so I'm going to assume that's the case. The ambush works and they knock out everyone with knockout gas and kart them all away. Sonic ends up diving into a nearby lake to escape an explosion but... he can't swim so he's borked.

He's than saved by a purple duck, a pig, a porcupine, and a very realistic looking armadillo. I know these guys as members of the council that gets formed later but here they're trainees who worked for Sally. Only now, I guess, they're full fledged Freedom Fighters. That pig I know is named Hamlin and boy... he's going places, that one...

I'm not bothered by the fact that they showed up out of nowhere because it's explained that they've got their own network of people monitoring what's going on. They plan an attack out in an abandoned shack outside of Robotropolis and thanks to a dude who looks like a giant bug superhero, manage to sneak into the city. They also plan to fix Sonic's speed by making sure he gets his hands on enough golden rings. They power him up so I guess they assume that if he gets enough it'll return his speed... yeah, sure. Why not?

While they're scaling a skyscraper together, Sonic falls off and is grabbed by the Porcupine. Without his speed, he's basically useless. Sonic proceeds to be humble and kind and thank the porcupine for saving his life... except no he doesn't. He does the opposite of that. The porcupine says that hedgehogs and porcupines are related so he wouldn't want to lose a family member. Sonic growls at him and says "You're no cousin of mine, PORKY!" which also makes no sense as an insult. He was saved by the porcupine, not the pig.

Anyway, this makes the porcupine a bit sad and the duck tells them to not fight while they crawl through some vents. Except they weren't fighting. Sonic was just being an asshole for no reason. He gets his life saved by this dude and his response is to shout at him. He also never thanks him. What a dick.

So they reach Robotnik's main room and surprise, surprise, he was wise to them the whole time. We see him there, looking the largest he's probably ever looked so far with the Freedom Fighters still alive and in glass tubes for reasons that are never explained. He must want them dead because he tells the Combots to destroy them. Through the coarse of this fight Sonic manages to get three rings and suddenly, I guess, he's got his speed back...? I think? Sonic says he does but this isn't emphasized by anything. Not really. He grabs the third ring, kicks the Combots off him, and spins around so that they get destroyed. I suppose that's the moment where you realize he's got his power back but I feel like something else could have been done to make that more clear. It just goes by so fast and with so little fanfare. You'd think they'd make a bigger deal about it. 

Also, all the combots just immediately get eviscerated when this happens and the fight's over. Just like that.

Then the WEIRDEST thing happens in terms of paneling when Robotnik decides to escape and blow the place up. He does it so casually, it's almost cool, but it's strange because again, it happens so incredibly fast. The book clearly isn't interested in this plot anymore. It's doing it's damnedest to wrap up. 

Robotnik basically spews a ton of dribble from his mouth in the span of two panels while he's escaping into the floor with Snively, "Oh you've destroyed my combots, what a pity. Anyway, I'm leaving now but just so you don't take any of my shit I'm gonna blow the place up. I'm suddenly a sporting man (his words) so I'm giving you a 60 second head start. Bye~!"

The next panel underneath these two panels is just a panel saying "KA-BOOM!"

The final panel underneath that panel is everyone suddenly outside overlooking the city with Sonic asking if everyone made it out. There's no wrap up to the story. It just ends with Sonic saying he'll get that dang ol' wabbit Robotnik.

A very badly drawn and structured issue with a so-so plot that was rushed to hell at the end. I have a feeling this comic felt like it was severely on its last legs here.

Issue #38 - Bedtime Tails

The second story of this issue was cute. It also isn't drawn very well but at the very least it retains a more consistent style. Sonic is sick in bed and Tails, now that he has a captive audience (his words) decides to read Sonic his shitty fan comic.

It's a story where Tails blatantly rips off the Fantastic Four by saying the Freedom Fighters got hit by galactic rays while in space. They wear blue space outfits that say "FF" on them for Freedom Fighter when it looks exactly like the Fantastic Four outfits. Also, Sonic's spines look hella weird. 

There's a cute moment where Tails says the heroes crashed their ship and Sonic, being a critic, wonders how they all lived. Tails says you gotta take somethings on blind faith which... I mean, sure. Surviving a ship crash is the least implausible of what happens in your own book Sonic.

Robotnicus (parady of Galactus) comes down from on high and says he's gonna eat the planet. The Freedom Fighters say no he ain't. Sonic buys a bunch of "Twinkles" (cause we can't say Twinkies) and feeds them to this villain. He than leaves in defeat saying "Curse you Freedom Fighters, you've spoiled my appetite and given me an ache in my tum tum!"

Tails finishes his story and Sonic is asleep by the end of it. Tails assumes he fell asleep cause he's sick and not bored. 

The next day, Sonic is fine but Tails is the one sick in bed. So Sonic hurriedly prints out a comic where he and Tails are dressed as Batman and Robin and says he's gonna read it to him, to which Tails groans at. What a hypocrite.

So, this issue was... um... 

I would have liked to have seen this had it been drawn better, structured better, and paced better. There are issues with the writing too but those don't go beyond the typical haphazard writing of the book at the time. It's really not that bad when it comes to that despite significant hiccups here or there (like ubber asshole Sonic and his insults that don't make any sense) but the majority of the issues here really does come down to it's failings as a visual medium. 

 

On 6/17/2019 at 6:51 PM, Spidey3525 said:

It's been a long time since I've read this era of the comics, but I think Roboticization can be undone by putting the victim in the same Roboticizer they were converted by. 

EDIT: I checked an earlier issue, where Sally decides to Roboticize herself when Dulcy steals a portable De-Roboticizer from Robotnik (which he just made a prototype for some reason?). But it burned out after one use, so it's not like they could reuse it. 

  Hide contents

In future issues, it'll be revealed there are still a bunch of Robians in Mobotropolis, including Sonic's parents, and even more all over the world; honestly made me forget that this issue was meant to resolve the Robian subplot.  

 

That's kind of odd. If it was a Roboticizer than it might help to refer it as that instead of calling it a De-Roboticizer as though it's a different device. 

However, the thing in the spoiler tag does make sense. At least when it comes to writing a story that was meant to continue. As it stands, it feels obvious this was supposed to be the resolution to the Roboticized mobians plot. I did in fact forget that Sonic's parents become a thing later and I didn't know how, why, and when. That'll be interesting to see.

[Cuz]

15 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

HNNNNGHH~!

Seriously what is that green leaf looking thing? If it's supposed to be apart of the ground why is it going off panel and why it specifically shaped that way? Who drew this?

 

That was almost certainly the motion blur of his tails at one point, until the colorist got to them.

[Dr. Detective]

Issue #39 - Rage Against the Machine

These covers have gotten super cool. This one is great. When I saw it I figured it might be the introduction of Metal Sonic or something. Nope. It’s actually far cooler than that.

We begin with a scene straight out of Rugrats where the Freedom Fighters are playing pretend. Sally is the pretend princess and judge all in one. She likes to get the trial over with quickly because it’s the sentence that’s really the fun.

Sonic is doing a spin-dash at nothing for no reason and then he stands up and starts talking. Antoine even complains about him spinning for no reason. WEIRD.

Sonic is making his case to the court about a plan he’s got that the others won’t let him do. At first I figured this to be the typical “Sonic’s being reckless but he’s going to be proven right” plot and what he was suggesting wouldn’t be worth the hassle.

No, actually.

Sonic wants to be roboticized.

He makes the case that his mind can remain free using one of Rotor’s neuro overriders.  Rotor refuses because the last time they tried to purposefully roboticize someone, Princess Sally, she turned on them, got them all captured, and they had to be saved by Dulcy the Dragon. This all happened in Issue 29, an issue that I completely forgot the events of. It also kind of puts a damper on the Mecha Sally arc that happens way later, honestly.

I had already read Issue 29 but I completely forgot the plot until I was reminded of it and skimmed back through it just now. She was roboticized on purpose and sent in to do the Uncle Chuck job of helping out from within but lost her mind in the process and had to be changed back with a De-Roboticizer thing that Dulcy had.

I didn’t remember that this happened before. I recall Robotization being billed to me as a permanent thing but these comics are playing so fast and loose with how much simpler it is to change back that it’s kind of making the sheen of the threat lose a bit of its luster. Not enough for it to be completely without teeth though as I’m 100% on the side of the others refusing his request.

If nothing else, Robotization is still a significantly big deal. They haven’t undone how dangerous and scary it is despite some of the luster being lost.

Bunnie steps up and makes mention of the fact that she’s still half robot, to showcase an example of how Robotization can still be permanent. She even mentions when they saved her from being fully roboticized in Issue 3. I skimmed back through that too. Ah, the days of pink Sally were quite silly. They protested with picket signs outside of Robotnik’s lair that read “No Nukes!”

Odd times.

Things are portrayed significantly more seriously now, despite things being well within continuity.

Anyway, Sally rejects the plan and Sonic gives up, grumbling as he leaves the dirt shack they played pretend Kangaroo Court in. Antoine calls Sonic the “Edge-Hog” (Oh dear. This WAS before Shadow, wasn’t it) and suggests that Sonic needs to be monitored.

Sally, in a surprising showcase of likeability, actually stands up for Sonic here. She outright tells Antoine to not even think about it. She says that Sonic is many things but he isn’t disloyal. Antoine promptly pisses himself and relents. Nice scene.

I’m left wondering what Sonic’s plan for getting UN-roboticized was. Like Bunnie pointed out, she’s still half-robot. There was a De-Roboticizer in Robotropolis (which apparently might just be a regular Roboticizer set to reverse, someone told me…?) but that one got blowed up. I think he obviously, probably made a new one of course so I’m wondering if they could maybe try and reverse what was done to Bunnie? Maybe?

Like, it HAS to be near impossible still to get a chance at De-Robotization right? Otherwise, Bunnie’s continued existence as the Rab-BOT makes no sense.

Anyway, Sonic runs through Knothole for a bit and then decides to head to the gym to blow off some steam. 

He’s promptly knocked unconscious when a dumb-bell lands on his head, making him look goofy as his pupils turn into stars. I love it so much. Please, keep knocking him out. It’s hilarious.

Also, Fang is back and he calls Sonic a dumb-bell when it lands on his head. It’s literally perfect. Mwah~! Beautiful.

Only, he’s calling himself Nack the Weasel so I guess I better do that too… but Fang the Sniper sounds so much cooler.

Nack talks about how he got knocked the fuck out by Knuckles at random back in Triple Trouble when he went to search for the other half of the broken Chaos Emerald and he just… broke out of Knothole’s shitty prison and dropped a dumb-bell on Sonic. I’m going to ignore the fact that there’s no way he could have known that the next person walking through that door would have been Sonic because I love the fact that it was so easy to knock him out.

He ties him up and drags him off to Robotropolis. Just like that. It’s amazing how easy it was for him. It was easy for him in Triple Trouble too. If Knuckles didn’t randomly punch out Nack for literally no reason (Knuckles saw the guy and punched him. No questions asked. Didn’t even know he was a villain) than he would have gotten Sonic to Robotnik a lot sooner. He’s really… competent when you think about it. He’s only failed thus far cause of extremely dumb luck on the good guy’s part.

We then cut to a strange fourth-wall breaking set of panels where Robotnik is reading the script to Issue 39. Then we cut to him standing before the unconscious Sonic, delighting in how Sonic is finally his. Then Nack demands money.

Robotnik is stating how he’s not going to make the usual mistakes this time. “No gloating, no speeches, no *chuckle* chuckling… Straight to the Roboticizer with him!” It’s a great bit of dialogue and here we see the scummy side of Robotnik come forth yet again when Nack grabs Sonic and says “No money, no hedgehog, flabeo.”

Then, Crabmeat, of all robots, says he doesn’t like Nack’s tone and Robotnik warns Nack to listen to him. Nack plays the tough guy and demands to know what he’s gonna do… so Robotnik just fucking presses a button on his glove and the Crabmeat grows super HUGE!

It then tosses Nack out with Robotnik saying his reward is that he gets to leave ALIVE!

A part of me wishes he had just paid the man. That would have been surprising. I will say though, that Crabmeat getting to look cool for once was baller.

Anyway, he tosses Sonic’s unconscious ass into the Roboticizer and out comes Mecha Sonic!

 

Holy shit! It’s Mecha Sonic! So this is how he comes into play? Instead of being a blue robot version of Sonic that’s not the Metal Sonic we’re used to… in the comics he’s the roboticized version of the real Sonic! 

That’s incredible. That’s actually really fucking cool. I love that. It’s such a neat idea.

Metal Sonic currently doesn’t exist in this book but should he show up, Mecha Sonic wouldn’t feel redundant because of this angle they took. How impressive.

Even better, Robotnik SOMEHOW upgraded to super awesome competent levels of villain this issue. Not only did he immediately Roboticize Sonic but he upgraded his Roboticizer with a new feature called “Brain Burn-Thru” that assures dominate control of the mind. He then demonstrates Mecha Sonic’s power by doing the super evil villain thing of having him immediately destroy his previous employee of the month, the giant crabmeat. It dies so quick that it doesn’t even have time to lament the betrayal. 

It’s a great sequence. He’s so evil but he’s so straight-forward and effective. He immediately just tells Mecha Sonic to head to Knothole and burn it to the ground. Simple, clean, well done instructions that don’t beat around the bush. What a great sequence this was.

Sonic returns to the village and, using Nicole, Sally easily identifies it as the actual Sonic, right on the spot. Antoine instantly assumes that Sonic disobeyed Sally and that he’ll be court-marshalled. It seems like Antoine really wants this to happen, almost. He’s being completely serious. Nevermind the fact that he’d have to sneak into Robotropolis to purposefully roboticize himself and he wouldn’t have access to Rotor’s device to help him keep control of his mind which means taking the risk wouldn’t have been worth it. Ever think of that Ant?

Though, because of Robotnik’s upgrades, the plan Sonic had wouldn’t have worked anyway. I’m glad they were proven right to deny Sonic’s whacked out plan.

Nicole summons a bunch of holograms of the Freedom Fighters to confuse Mecha Sonic but it won’t be long before he just demolishes them all. He does this while screaming typical Sonic the Hedgehog lines like “ALL HAIL ROBOTNIK” and “I STRIKE YOU DOWN FOR THE GLORY OF ROBOTNIK!”

Oh Sonic. What a card.

A forced as hell Superman joke happens when Antoine points at the sky and does the “It’s a bird, it’s a plane” thing that they did not too long ago with the issue where they went to find Sally’s dad. It turns out to be Bunnie. She strikes at Mecha Sonic and weirdly tells it to “Just lay down and surrenduh like the Yankees at Chickamauga!”

Odd bit of actual history being referenced there. Kind of reminds me of Richard Kuta/AKnotholeresident’s failed SatAM movie scene where he tricked people into giving him a bunch of money to make a scene where Robotnik tried to quote Charles Darwin.

Anyway, Bunnie and Mecha Sonic have a fight. Sally moves onto Phase 3 of their plan of action.

By the way, they had a plan for Sonic due to spotting him coming in fast enough to conjure one up. Both the heroes and the villains are competent this issue and it really kicks ass.

Phase 3, is to contact Tails! I was about to make a note of wondering where Tails was. He’s in a shack by a super computer with a headset on. He’s being referred to as T2 and the art really makes him look adorable here. In what might be the first real showcase of Tails being a genius, he goes up to the Super computer and starts spouting techno-babble at it while getting it to run. It’s interesting because he hasn’t been played up as a genius before all this but I guess the roots of that part of his character were starting to sprout around this time.

They thank Tails for doing whatever he did and Tails says it’s great being treated like an adult right before they tell him to wash his hands and brush his teeth in baby talk. Tails then does a gurgle at the camera.

Back with Robotnik, he’s watching the Bunnie and Mecha Sonic fight on his monitor and says that if he can send a power surge through Mecha Sonic he can give him a boost. He says quote “I can transmit a surge through Mecha-Sonic that will turn her into Hassenpfeffer!”

I had no idea what Hasenpfeffer was so I looked it up.

"Hasenpfeffer is a traditional German stew made from marinated rabbit or hare, cut into stewing-meat sized pieces and braised with onions and a marinade made from wine and vinegar." It’s also spelled wrong in the comic, which is why there’s two “S”s in the quote.

It was also something that Bugs Bunny was in danger of becoming once too.

Anyway, a SWAT Bot says that it might be hard to build a booster for Mecha Sonic but Robotnik says, “No it won’t” and takes the parts from the SWAT Bot to do it, reducing it to just a head. He’s being a real dick to his robots this issue, gotta say.

This plan works and shocks Bunnie so hard she crashes into the ground. Rotor is about to carry her to the infirmary but when Antoine points out that Knothole is about to be destroyed Bunnie springs into action stating “As my Uncle Beauregard used to say… the South shall rise again!”

Ah yes. A rallying cry typically linked to the confederacy rising to challenge ideals concerning states rights to the United States.

... Alrighty then. 

She takes flight and heads after him. Now, this is also notable because this is the first time Bunnie’s mentioned her uncle. I get the feeling it was more of a joke about her having an Uncle Beauregard rather than the seed of a new character being planted but clearly it blossomed into something down the line because he’s definitely a character that we see later.

Bunnie hits Mecha Sonic with her Pulse Cannon and it does nothing. That’s bad because it was her best move. Mecha Sonic strikes her down again and this time, she’s done! Sally calls Sonic a traitor as he flies off which… is a bit odd. I don’t know if she thinks Sonic did this on purpose. Antoine clearly does but the others never mention it.

Anyway, we cut back to Tails who knows Mecha Sonic is in bound and tells a mysterious figure that it’s his turn to take point. Then Tails points at the camera and I assumed he was talking about ME, the reader, and it was going to be another one of those annoying “write in to see how this story ends” things but thankfully, no. They didn’t completely wreck all this well done, well choreographed, well built up tension by demolishing it with that bullshit.

Instead, it’s Knuckles the Echidna. He’s here to help. It must be obvious to the others that he isn’t a villain despite how much Sonic hates him and thinks he’d easily go and work for Robotnik. Knuckles brings up that he and Princess Sally go WAY BACK, which is the third time this supposed past between Sally and Knuckles has been alluded to. We still haven’t seen what it is but hopefully we will soon. Tails says that Knuckles’ grandfather didn’t tell him about that when they met but whatever. He launches Knuckles out of the room and into a position where he punches the fuck out of Mecha Sonic.

Knuckles tries to fight him but can’t. He starts getting beaten up and Antoine says another hideous line “Mecha-Sonic is beating Knuckles to Pulp Fiction!”

*Sigh* Antoine, shut the hell up.

Mecha Sonic blasts Knuckles with eye beams that look like they’re made of Kryptonite gas.

Then Knuckles falls and Rotor catches him with a butterfly net. Which is pretty funny.

However, the situation is serious. Knuckles was their last line of defense and both he and Bunnie are out. Sally says they have to initiate “Operation Last Resort!”

I have no clue what that is but I hope it’s something that deserves the amount of gravatas that Rotor is making it seem it has. He’s outright insisting that Sally couldn’t order them to do it…!

We shall see…!

THIS… was a FANTASTIC issue!

At least as far as setting up and following through with a legitimately anticipation heavy action showcase. There was no secondary story at the end. It took up the entire issue because the heavy seriousness of the situation called for it.

The art was great. The characters have probably never looked as good as they do here up to this point. Actually, I’ll say that they definitely haven’t. The action and choreography was on point. It wasn’t messy and weirdly proportioned like last issue.

The one thing I have to take issue with, especially here, is the script. For the most part it's fine. It would have been downright good even had Mike Gallagher not felt the need to sloppily shuffle in random references and puns at every corner however. There's times to do that, even in a story that takes itself more seriously, but the manner used here just does not work. Throwing in references to Pulp Fiction, Superman, the Yankees, and a line associated with the Confederacy isn't something that needs to be done for this story or any Sonic story really. 

It was great as far as character writing though. The heroes and the villains were both extremely competent. The failings of the heroes happened because they were overpowered or taken by surprise. Robotnik was in tip-top form in a way that I haven’t seen before. He’s way cruller but way smarter and it works. The only hiccup is honestly the fact that Sonic's initial plan is so incredibly, and obviously, dumb. I'm not sure why he, of all people, would opt for a plan where he got to be roboticized.

I checked who drew and wrote this after I finished reading it.

The writer was Mike Gallagher. Figures it wasn’t Penders but I had to check to make sure I wasn’t losing my mind.Mr. Gallagher need only keep his references in check for a solid A. 

The penciler was Pat Spaziante who I recognize as Spaz. He’s a great artist and he’s effectively made this book look better than it’s ever looked with this single issue. Good job.

The art in this issue is, again, really good. It’s totally the opposite of the last one. It reminds me a bit of the OVA with the way Sonic is drawn. Also, I really liked the art of Issue 29 when I checked back on it too. It’s a lot softer and cuter looking. It definitely looked way better than Issue 38 did.

Great issue! Can’t wait to read the next one!

On 6/19/2019 at 2:47 PM, Cuz said:

That was almost certainly the motion blur of his tails at one point, until the colorist got to them.

I didn't even consider the fact that I couldn't see his tails as he flew off. However, neither did the people who approved the way that issue looked. 



 

[Silvereyes]

Just to clarify, the Mecha Madness special is the continuation of issue #39. Issue #40 takes place after Mecha Madness. I mean you probably knew that but just saying that if you happened to not. If you love #39, I think you'll really like the MM special as well. Of the 8 Archie Specials and 15 Super Specials, I think Mecha Madness it the best one of the 23.

[Cuz]

Hell, Mecha Madness is just one of the best arcs in Archie's storied history. Can't wait to see the write up for this one. 

You've mentioned building anticipation for Endgame in the last couple reviews, and I'm just chuckling to myself "he doesn't even see this one coming". 

Oh and Metal Sonic totally happened already, did you sleep through issue 25 or the Knuckles Chaotix special? (granted a special's easy to miss when tackling the main numbered series like this)

 

[Dr. Detective]

3 hours ago, Cuz said:

Hell, Mecha Madness is just one of the best arcs in Archie's storied history. Can't wait to see the write up for this one. 

You've mentioned building anticipation for Endgame in the last couple reviews, and I'm just chuckling to myself "he doesn't even see this one coming". 

Oh and Metal Sonic totally happened already, did you sleep through issue 25 or the Knuckles Chaotix special? (granted a special's easy to miss when tackling the main numbered series like this)

I've read Issue 25 so long ago I seriously have no recollection of it. Same goes for the Knuckles Chaotix special. I guess I figured if he was apart of the comic he'd be a lot more prominent than he currently is but that's probably silly considering the time period and how low-key Metal Sonic probably was as a character at this point.

4 hours ago, Silvereyes said:

Just to clarify, the Mecha Madness special is the continuation of issue #39. Issue #40 takes place after Mecha Madness. I mean you probably knew that but just saying that if you happened to not. If you love #39, I think you'll really like the MM special as well. Of the 8 Archie Specials and 15 Super Specials, I think Mecha Madness it the best one of the 23.

I didn't know that actually. Stupid me went onto Issue 40 thinking that Issue 40 would logically be the next one after Issue 39 but I forgot that these older books love specials and junk like that. I usually keep better tabs on it. Luckily, I only got a panel into Issue 40 before I realized I messed up so I didn't spoil myself that much. 

[Spidey3525]

19 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

I didn’t remember that this happened before. I recall Robotization being billed to me as a permanent thing but these comics are playing so fast and loose with how much simpler it is to change back that it’s kind of making the sheen of the threat lose a bit of its luster. Not enough for it to be completely without teeth though as I’m 100% on the side of the others refusing his request.

If nothing else, Robotization is still a significantly big deal. They haven’t undone how dangerous and scary it is despite some of the luster being lost.

Bunnie steps up and makes mention of the fact that she’s still half robot, to showcase an example of how Robotization can still be permanent. She even mentions when they saved her from being fully roboticized in Issue 3.

I’m left wondering what Sonic’s plan for getting UN-roboticized was. Like Bunnie pointed out, she’s still half-robot. There was a De-Roboticizer in Robotropolis (which apparently might just be a regular Roboticizer set to reverse, someone told me…?) but that one got blowed up. I think he obviously, probably made a new one of course so I’m wondering if they could maybe try and reverse what was done to Bunnie? Maybe?

Like, it HAS to be near impossible still to get a chance at De-Robotization right? Otherwise, Bunnie’s continued existence as the Rab-BOT makes no sense.

 I'm not super familiar with the era of the comic where this will be brought up (I think #119?), but the issue with Bunnie is that since she's half-robot, the process is much more complicated; if they put her in it again, her robot parts would become organic again, but then her organic parts would turn mechanical. 

I guess Sonic's plan was to just place himself back in the Roboticizer that would transform him after he was done beating Robotnik. But if he accidentally destroyed it in the ensuing fight, then he'd basically be screwed. 

[Big Panda]

27 minutes ago, Spidey3525 said:

 I'm not super familiar with the era of the comic where this will be brought up (I think #119?), but the issue with Bunnie is that since she's half-robot, the process is much more complicated; if they put her in it again, her robot parts would become organic again, but then her organic parts would turn mechanical.

By the time of 119, Bunnie had long since had her robot limbs replaced because her immune system was starting to reject them, which effectively made reversal impossible* because her new limbs were never organic to begin with.

*barring anomalies like the Naugus magic that miraculously restored her post-Genesis.

[Dr. Detective]

4 hours ago, Spidey3525 said:

 I'm not super familiar with the era of the comic where this will be brought up (I think #119?), but the issue with Bunnie is that since she's half-robot, the process is much more complicated; if they put her in it again, her robot parts would become organic again, but then her organic parts would turn mechanical. 

I guess Sonic's plan was to just place himself back in the Roboticizer that would transform him after he was done beating Robotnik. But if he accidentally destroyed it in the ensuing fight, then he'd basically be screwed. 

I mean, she's half-robot though so doesn't that mean it's possible to stop it half-way through? They did it before. Then again, if you're talking about something that doesn't have an explanation until the hundreds than it might just be an oversight that they felt needed to have some sort of correction.

 

[Spidey3525]

18 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

I mean, she's half-robot though so doesn't that mean it's possible to stop it half-way through? They did it before. Then again, if you're talking about something that doesn't have an explanation until the hundreds than it might just be an oversight that they felt needed to have some sort of correction.

 

Honestly, I'm not really sure now. I can't recall any particular explanation of why they can't undo her Roboticization in this era of the comic. 

Spoiler

In fact, in Mecha Madness, it's going to be revealed they still have the Roboticizer they rescued her from. So by all means, they should be able to reverse the process on her, at least following the logic of how the same Roboticizer can undo the transformation on that individual. I'm just sticking with the idea that her being half-robot just causes more complications in undoing the process. Like, maybe if they put her back in, it'll pick up where the Roboticization left off, instead of turning her robot half back to normal. 

 

[DabigRG]

There were no hard plans or arc for Honey planned--she was just considered a guest character. They weren't even sure they'd get to use her 

[Big Panda]

2 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

There were no hard plans or arc for Honey planned--she was just considered a guest character. They weren't even sure they'd get to use her 

...what’s Honey got to do with this conversation?

[DabigRG]

More Bumblekast stuff

• Nexus was to be third event two years after unite, with further sequel event books down the road
  • He wasn't wild about it, as it was an editorial decision to keep books afloat
  • Would have solved problem of how characters come in and out of continuity
  • Doubtful to be followed up with different company due to necessary hoop jumping without profiting from previous books
• Scourge revenge plans would've been big and cool
• Tails and Mina pairing wasn't planned
  • According to either Mr. Penders or Mr. Bollers, the script didn't specify
  • Justin Gabrie or whoever was the editor thought it'd be funny to have it be Mina
• Only one person said 30YL was canon , but other editors and writers said no
   

1 hour ago, Ernest the Panda said:

...what’s Honey got to do with this conversation?

Nothing, it just wouldn't belong in the IDW thread. I likely would have quoted what I was responding to anyway.

Plus, I haven't really been keeping up with any current conversation here since I'll several review behind anyway.

[Dr. Detective]

Sonic & Knuckles: Mecha Madness Special - Mecha Madness

I love cluttered covers but I feel this one kind of doesn't utilize its colors in a satisfying way. That dominant orange in the background with all the fade in characters and the metallic sheen on the title card feels a little off. It's drawn really well though. 

So first of all I must draw your attention to this.

Took me forever to work out that this was supposed to be Sonic's knee and not Sonic making a seemingly painful and horrifying puberty awakening.

Anyway, the issue starts with Mecha Sonic laying waste to Knothole. As stated last issue, Sally was aware of him coming pretty early on and got the place evacuated. Now THE WHOLE CITY'S KNOTHOLE'S ON FIRE! 

Sally makes a comment about how she can't believe Sonic disobeyed a direct order and that his behavior borders on mutiny. I gotta be honest, it really does feel like they're playing pretend with this kingdom thing as of this moment. It's hard to take it seriously even when it does become a much bigger thing later on but there's so little in lue of an official kingdom with their rinky dink operation here it feels like play acting. I'm missing some context from their past obviously so I'll just assume Sonic's loyalty just stems from being friends with Sally since they were children. If anyone wishes to clarify that a bit more, please do so. 

Also, she weirdly is quick to assume Sonic disobeyed her. It's strange considering how hard she was on Antoine last issue for even suggesting they monitor him but I guess when you go up to them and state you wish to be made a robot, get denied, leave in a huff, and come back as a robot it's hard not to think a certain way. Then again, someone's trust flipping on a dime like that is also a little odd. Antoine actually suggests they start an ACTUAL investigation, which is a GREAT idea, but Sally just shouts at him with an "I'm giving the orders here!"

Okay, sure, but Antoine's got a point still. At least acknowledge that. It's odd that you're jumping to this conclusion when you've been in situations where Sonic's "betrayed" you before. Remember when he lost his memory and Robotnik gave him orders to beat you guys up? At least consider it. I know the idea of him having betrayed you seems easy to believe given the circumstances of that ONE morning but I can't help but feel this is a bit of a leap. 

Anyway, Rotor wheels out the Roboticizer that they took from when Bunnie was Roboticized. The plan is to use it to turn Knuckles into a robot so that he can fight Mecha Sonic. Rotor politely asks if this is something they should do since it might mean they've sunk to Robotnik's level. Sally responds with "Et tu Rotor" which is something you only say when someone's betrayed you right? Like... is Sally okay?

She says that they need to fight fire with fire and all that. I agree with her here. If Mecha Knuckles can stop Mecha Sonic than fine but I'm not sure why she's so... weird this issue. Anyway, Knuckles wakes up and promptly punches the fuck out of Antoine and Rotor because he's delirious. It's funny. Then Sally drop kicks Knuckles in the back. It's also funny. Then Knuckles says that the only person who can do that is Sally Acorn and the two of them say hi, stating that it's been a long time. Then they reminisce about when King Acorn used to take Sally to vacation on the floating island with Knuckles and Locke and what the fuck is this? This is so weird. What?!

I often try and keep in mind the differences between then and now when it comes to these comics. Obviously Knuckles was a different person back then compared to today (and even the early 2000s) due to there being very little to work off of with him... but with that said, this Sally and Knuckles thing where they have a past and used to be best buddies is STILL weird. I can't... I can't!

So Sally grabs the Neuro Overrider (You know, the thing that keeps your brain from going out of whack when you're roboticized and something that Sonic definitely would have made sure he had before he even thought of doing it to himself) and tells Knuckles to get in the Roboticizer. Knuckles does so, eagerly and without question. Which I kind of like.

Back at Knothole, Tails has finally gotten everyone to safety except himself. Mecha Sonic spots him and is about to blow him away... but he hesitates. Robotnik notices this and demands he stop all that ding-dang hesitating and send him the coordinates to Knothole while he's at it. I don't know why he didn't ask for these sooner but whatever. Maybe he was just busy having fun. As soon as Mecha Sonic is about to do it, Mecha Knuckles comes in and decks him in the head!

That's when we get our ultra-mighty-uber-powerful fight between robot versions of our two biggest rivals (thus far). It's a very well-drawn and well choreographed action sequence.

Eventually, Mecha Sonic hits Mecha Knuckles so hard that he sends him flying towards the highly explosive part of Robotropolis, which is pretty cool. Mecha Knuckles, somehow being a robotic genius in this form despite retaining his normal personality, uses his body to create a magnetic pull that draws Mecha Sonic directly into him so that they can both explode together. Then they do! They crash into the nuclear towers of Robotropolis and they get blowed up!

Sally outright says that Sonic couldn't have survived the blast, even in his robot form. Rotor says the same about Knuckles. Then Tails starts to cry out what looks like expired milk from his eyes, lamenting their passing.

Then Sally starts to cry but it's a little jokey because she says she's got Fallout in her eyes. Then Rotor's like "Gosh, it's not always easy at the top!" and then Antoine and Tails make a joke about not wanting to be at Ground Zero... it's... it's a very odd set of reactions here. It's like they're trying to make a joke out of it but also realize that they have to pay lip service to the fact that if these guys thought they were dead they'd be more emotionally distraught than this... Tails isn't crying anymore. Rotor and Antoine don't even seem to care. These early issues have their issues. You can see the struggle they have transitioning to something more serious.

Anyway, among the rubble of the destroyed midsection of Robotropolis, Robotnik comes out of his bunker saying that he saw them headed his way and retreated to it. He IS faster than Sonic after all. He also finds Mecha Sonic in the rubble and is happy about it for about two seconds before Mecha Knuckles shoots out and gives Robotnik a headbutt. Since Robotnik is human, I'd imagine that HAD to hurt. Like a lot.

Robotnik wonders how he came back with less damage than Mecha Sonic and Mecha Knuckles explains... what SOUNDS like could be some bullshit but I'm not sure. He says that he, Mecha Knuckles, was created from an older Robotization unit which made him stronger than Mecha Sonic because the robotization device that Robotnik uses now utilizes "inferior foreign parts". 

I have no clue what that means.

He also said that Mecha Sonic shielded the blast from hitting Mecha Knuckles at the last minute and taunts Robotnik about his Brain-Burn Thru system (spelled here as Brain-Burn Through) being a failure because Sonic's retained some of his old self. 

So, how the fuck did Knuckles know about the Brain-Burn Thru system? Obviously, the answer to this is that the writer forgot that the only person who knew about it was Robotnik because Robonik only mentioned it when he was monologuing to Crabmeat about it. Then Crabmeat got destroyed by Mecha Sonic so... 

Mecha Knuckles flies Mecha Sonic back to the others. Sally is tear stricken and happy that Sonic's alive. She thankfully has the appropriate relieved reaction. She gives Mecha Knuckles a hug and Mecha Knuckles says that he's damaged goods, so be careful. Heh.

Antoine goes "HMF!" and turns away from them when he sees that Mecha Sonic is alive and that Sally is happy about it. I guess Antoine REALLY wants Sonic to die. 

Tails helps Mecha Knuckles back into the Roboticizer while Rotor asks what they can do about Sonic. Sally says that the old roboticizer works with a "Built in reversal system that can only de-bot the same creature it mechanized" sadly enough. I will say that if it weren't for some of you guys talking about what happens later with Bunnie, I'd have been even more confused about her still being half-robot here. This literally IS the machine that half-way Roboticized Bunnie. It's built in reversal system should be able to change her back... right now. Again, they stopped it while she was halfway there so it's not like they can't do that again right?

Then Mecha Sonic starts saying depressing shit about not deserving to live because he betrayed his friends. Good God! That's so sad. 

Again, it gets ignored at the end of the issue.

So, now the others are left with the problem of how to fix Sonic. Well I tells ya, does NICOLE have a hefty pound of sheer, unadulterated, bullshit vomit for you!

Okay.

So.

Remember when Sonic got his Billionth Ring?

Well turns out, UNKNOWN TO US, when the ring guided him through the area and back to the reality it gave Sonic an internal protective shield. That's how Sonic's life-force was retained.

It also explains why the Brain Burn-Thru system didn't work. It was up against literal magic. I suppose that's better than saying Sonic's will was so strong it made both Robotization AND the Brain Burn-Thru system attached to it obsolete. They're both bullshit explanations but one is less damaging to the concept of Robotization on the face of it.

Sally just says "Oh great... then get that life-force out of him or whatever" or something like that and Nicole hot potatoes the explanation to Rotor for the bad news, which Rotor is unhappy about. Rotor tells Sally that they can't summon the magic life-force from Sonic because their machines are busted... and I'm... lost. 

I'll be honest I have no clue what their talking about here. I've read through it several times and it makes less sense the more I think it over.

Nicole tells Sally to plug herself into Sonic so that she can use her machine parts to summon forth Sonic's magic life-force thing from within. Rotor doubts it'll work but Nicole snaps from Rotor's hand to Sally's and says that it will. She says that machines are always getting a bad wrap around here and for some reason has a picture of a violin on her monitor that's playing music... Is it supposed to be the world's smallest violin or something? Is she making fun of the fact that she's pitying herself? 

I don't understand.

So then Nicole... accesses the "Internal Ring Crust"... 

...

...

Whatever. They bring Sonic back. He's not a robot anymore. 
 

 

Yeah sure. Raw magic energy ripples outward overriding reality. Whatever brings Sonic back to normal. Okay. 

Now that Sonic's back and he sees Knuckles, he immediately turns on the asshole meter and shouts at Knuckles. Knuckles, who I'm only sympathetic to, rightfully points out that he saved Sonic and all his friends... from Sonic himself! Sonic reacts to this by telling Knuckles to go back to his floating island, which Knuckles does, saying that he should have known that Sonic would have been ungrateful.

I still have to stress that Sonic has NO reason to HATE and distrust Knuckles as much as he does. The stories where they've met haven't sold that as something he's ever been in the right to do. Knuckles is always on his own mission and Sonic is ALWAYS the one who instigates the fight. 

It almost makes the fact that Sonic is immediately handcuffed and arrested something to look forward to.

That's what happens by the way. Sonic is arrested because in the Kingdom of Acorn Rulebook Section L "Any subject disobeying a direct order must be tried for treason". 

Now, nevermind the investigation that Antoine suggested earlier. Fuck that shit. Also, Sally's trust is apparently just gone. Just completely gone. She doesn't even consider that there might have been another thing that could have happened. For some reason Bunnie puts it as though Sonic let Robotnik mechanize him which is ludacris. Turns out they DO realize that the only way Sonic could have done this is if he snuck into Robotropolis but saying that he LET Robotnik do it is fucking.. what?

So the set-up last issue was good and the fight this issue was also good... almost everything around it was pretty frustrating though. The resolution to this was horrible. I can't be alone here right? They clearly wrote themselves into a corner and used an pig troth of techno-babble combined with mystical-magical buzzwords to confuse people into buying that Sonic came back in a way that totes made sense for realz. 

I'm willing to go along with their babble to a point but that was sheer garbage. Just say that the Roboticizer can work on Sonic too if you must. 

Then the resolution nosedived again when Sonic started immediately being an asshole to Knuckles, the guy who saved his life. Then all of Sonic's friends were assholes to Sonic, for a completely different reason. 

The issue, for a vast majority of it, was good but the ending turned everything into pure cow manure.

The sad part is I actually really like the idea of Sonic being arrested by his friends because he was framed (I guess) for a crime he didn't do (technically). It's so sloppy here though. I already don't like the Kingdom of Acorn and this didn't do them any favors.

Mecha Sonic should have burned Knothole to the ground. All Hail the Eggman Empire.

Sonic & Knuckles: Mecha Madness Special - The Chaotix

I almost missed the fact that there was another story here. Alright, maybe this one will have a better follow-through.

We begin with Predator Hawk spanking Charmy on the butt.

...

So anyway, the Chaotix are losing a fight against characters that I recognize. Here they are in their primitive versions. Predator Hawk and Sergeant Simian are their names and they're going to town on Charmy and Mighty respectively. The Chaotix, I forgot, are helping to protect the floating island. I need to refresh myself on how this happened because I don't remember it very well. I'll have to go back and read the initial Chaotix issue. 

I also like the fact that the narrator caption begins by stating that it's ironic that a fight was being won in Knothole while a fight was being lost on the floating island. Mate, I don't know how to break this to you but Knothole was burned down and Sonic was arrested. I don't know if that qualifies as a win.

Mighty and Charmy are knocked out with Mighty, hilariously, stuck in the Family Guy passed out pose.

We cut to Vector and Espio who are aware that something is amiss. Their friends haven't returned and the alarm (apparently they have an alarm) has gone off. Vector makes it known that Espio is invisible and, of course, Lightning Lynx comes swinging in stating "Who needs to SEE you when my keen senses can catch your scent! Even hear your heartbeat!"

This guy says that right to Espio's face.

Espio's reply to that is, "Wha-! No way you could have seen me! AGH!"

Sigh.

Also, I assume the AGH is him... getting hit? No, it couldn't be. He's clearly not hitting him. Why'd he suddenly go Agh? Also, Espio's clearly not looking at his attacker. He's staring straight ahead directly below Lightning Lynx but there's nothing there. For some reason, also, this is when Vector thinks it's a good idea to shout "Espio! Look out!" So, uh...thanks Vector?

This entire shot is really badly set up and horrendously drawn. 

Then Flying Frog comes out and kicks Vector in the back, knocking him into Espio which knocks them both out. They lay the four of the Chaotix on the dirt and start saying they were chumps. Then the Chaotix stand up and start pounding the crap out of them because they were playing possum. Oh how the high and mighty have been made a fool of.

The Chaotix demand to know who they are. Sgt. Simian says the weirdest fucking thing in response to this. "The only things you'll learn today are our names, ranks, and serial numbers."

... Okay? I mean I guess that's not entirely helpful but it's still useful information so... thanks?

Then a large dude with a stick comes out, waves it about, and somehow (I don't know how, it's very badly drawn) the Chaotix get hit and fall down.

Then this dude just comes out and monologues at them. He says they've already met the Fearsome Foursome and that he's... "the former ruler of Mobius!"

What?!

"And it's future lord and master!"

Huh?!

"I am the supreme being known as Mammoth Mogul!"

Oh my God! It's Mammoth Mogul...!

THIS is his first appearance?

How random.

How understated.

Again, I expected bigger entrances for some of these concepts from the comics I'm familiar with. The origin of Mogul is something I've been interested in for a long time now so I can't wait to- Oh wait a minute, he's literally explaining it all right now. My God that's... fast.

So basically, he was a caveman mammoth guy who, long after the Ancient Walkers but centuries before modern times, walked the Earth. He happened upon a Chaos Emerald and instead of it killing him it granted him immortality... How kind of it to do so...

Then he used his newfound power to take over the people before him. But as time went on people stopped being cavemen and started gaining intelligence and independence. He was dethroned... somehow. I don't know how. It's not like kings and rulers immediately disappeared when humans gained more intelligence. There's still royal families to this day PLUS he's got limitless power right? Or something? I guess it's not actually THAT powerful...?

And then he says... he waited for EONS and decided that TODAY was the day he was going to steal the Chaos Emerald from the floating island...???

Wha... Why did you need to wait for eons to do this? Why today? 

Oh, the Chaotix just punched him in the face and then he retreated...

Literally, they attack him once and he's like "I've made an oopsie. Today's not the day after all! I'll be back!"

...Okay. I guess today wasn't the day... because... he got hit?

What the fuck? That was so weak. I didn't know Mammoth Mogul had just a lame introduction.

Sonic & Knuckles: Mecha Madness Special - The Forty Fathoms Freedom Fighters in Eel of Fortune

This was ffffffffucking weird.

It's a story about undersea creatures hurling a ton of ocean puns at each other.

Eel Capone (he's an eel who's a gangster) is chasing Octobot through the water and comes across P.B Jellyfish. He then sends his mussels to beat the jellyfish up when Octobot runs away. The jellyish's friends, Ray and Bivalve, enlist the help of Bottlenose (who is colored black for some reason despite his character profile having him with the color of a normal dolphin, and the others even point this out) to do FIN-ja on Eel Capone. Also, he knocks the mussels off a cliff and they were all sentient beings would could talk. Eel Capone watches as they scream in horror as they're crushed by the water pressure and die. So Bottlenose is a murderer. 

When Bottlenose finishes beating up Eel Capone he says they're gonna send him to Aquatraz. Then they... ah.. do more puns and it's over...

I'm sure this'll be important one day... probably.

[Big Panda]

I’m about 99% certain the only other time we see the Forty Fathoms is in that Island of Misfit Badniks sequel, over a decade later.

[Cuz]

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Now THE WHOLE CITY'S KNOTHOLE'S ON FIRE! 

Village! the word you are looking for is village. xD

 

So in the old days of Saturday morning cartoons there's the practice of getting stuff past the censors by going over the topic in your first script. Basically the extreme things get cut and the stuff the writers were really worried about getting taken out seem innocent in comparison. 

Well from the recent Bumblekast (#94) Ian mentioned that Iron Dominion started life as a similar "joke pitch" that he never expected to get off the ground. Thought that was interesting.

 

 

[Big Panda]

Dude, the Sonic Twitter just referenced Archie Sonic (see Tails)

Fiona’s a confirmed gemini

[Your Vest Friend]

That's the most accurate description of a Scorpio I've ever seen. 

[Polkadi~☆]

Nice try, horoscope, but I don’t want to meet anyone 

What an odd reference to make, I wonder if the social media team was allowed to? They’ve referenced Tails Adventure before, even though it was confirmed non-canon after.

[HywelAtTheMoon]

Just looking at the "missing Chaos Emerald" bit in Gemini. They spelt "damn" wrong (or "bleep", as it was said during the Twitter Takeover). 

[Silvereyes]

Archie Sonic, Shadow the Hedgehog, and Sonic 06? It's like the forbidden trinity right there.

[DabigRG]

According to Bumblekast's Kid Icarus Retrospective, the 300th Issue for Archie was in the process of approvals and would've been a big Sonic & Freedom Fighters vs Eggman turning point.
He had no idea what they would have done for 400, though.
 

[Big Panda]

According to Bumblekast's Kid Icarus Retrospective, the 300th Issue for Archie was in the process of approvals and would've been a big Sonic & Freedom Fighters vs Eggman turning point.
He had no idea what they would have done for 400, though.

It’s never going to happen, but that makes me wish all the more that Sega would let IDW do a continuation of Archie Sonic.