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Archie Sonic Main Discussion


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27 minutes ago, Noodle Panda said:

Would stories that are essentially remakes (the FCBD 2011 story) count as directors cuts also?

I don't know what story you are referring too, sorry. I think I've only reached somewhere around 2009 in terms of Archie. Personally I think a remake is different from a director's cut. A director's cut is editing something that exists, with perhaps a small amount of new material thrown in, edited dialogue, etc. I could be wrong, but I think Ken Penders at one suggested the idea of doing a director's cut reprint of Mobius: 25 Years Later a while ago. (Could be wrong, the Penders saga is long and never ending.)

A bit like that Archie issue which is just a retelling of a Satam episode, I'd constitute that as a remake rather than a director's cut. But I guess I am being rather pedantic here, if only to say that as far as I'm aware, I don't think there has ever been a Sonic issue quite like Sonic Super Special #6.

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I can name a couple of odd changes between the two versions off the top of my head:

  • Both versions have different titles. The original is “The Big Goodbye” (presumably since it was initially planned as the final issue), while the directors cut is “For Whom the Bell Tolls”.
  • There’s an extra page near the beginning with Robotnik interrogating a random overlander.
  • There’s some extra Antoine and Bunnie scenes.
  • Some scenes have been redrawn by Steven Butler (the aforementioned Sonic decking Robotnik scene being one).
  • Some pages during the final showdown have a couple of extra panels, one of which displays the Ultimate Annihilator striking Knothole.
  • The final shot of Sonic and Robotnik being sucked into the black hole thing is followed by a random pencil mural courtesy of Spaz.
  • There’s a full page of Sonic and Sally kissing after she wakes up.

EDIT: I *think* there may have also an edited bit of dialogue on the first page, but I forget what it is.

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9 hours ago, Silvereyes said:

Enjoying your reviews as per usual. Just to say though, when you do hit issue #50, you might want to read Sonic Super Special #6. That is the "director's cut" of issue #50, which adds in several pages. Don't know if it is worth looking at both or not. Personally, I think the "director's cut" is a little bit better.

Thank you. I do sometimes worry a bit when it takes a while to get replies but eventually people do reassure me they're actually engaging with the material with me, which is great. I did know about the Super Special #6, however, I also almost forgot about its existence for a while there. Thinking a bit too much about how my opinion is slowly morphing into something negative because of all the new info I'm finding on Ken's intention with this arc. 

Also, I'm going to have to go back and re-visit a Knuckles mini-series that I missed because the previous reading order list I was following messed up. I've got a new one now though.

8 hours ago, Noodle Panda said:

I’d say look at both if possible.

I actually think some parts of the original look better.

Steven Butler’s version of Sonic spindashing across the room to deck Robotnik in the face is so bland compared to the original Spaz version.

I'll check them both out then. It might be worth comparing and contrasting a few things.

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What makes or breaks Endgame are if you can swallow how it answers it's little murder mystery, if you can let those slide and hindsight hasn't killed it for you already (Ken's name is sort of mud now days, and you already alluded to Thrash with the Tasmanian Devils) you might enjoy it overall. 

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Archie Sonic: Issue #49 - ENDGAME Part 3 of 4

4CsGjEhVJonFZ-y4sSa2FHrurFMqxBHg4LTFgRggl76tQft0-YnZGom62Lr2SRxSuJet0BWRUhvRPfXFp8C7xsK7r_9fcyt7krNN6P5tHuHl70UWqS04hoEtnM4j5j36Y109LpXe

Alright, this cover certainly is... uh...

s1IALDA67ULr5qAXUYLm1UEgetMiGqdtzbfX1GgcTqs8sS6ARzKbNdDlAoJuUutSYBOL7TV7GWqd7_RoC_7qKoOASQed_YnDjv9A7FbMKZBBbO-9aImF8IXtBl6mquM0G9Nv7XVQ  HNNNNGH!

Uh...

SqH8llZFPvoJdjlHvQNgnu8HSA4IR-L5v978jvDL5E0FGH9NXWDfe1I3yFAH9RGVLWGDqxN4nN_OJdokWeMB9CMAZvot6Seu8j2jPu5co4lpySud621had5-3F1GU5-rQsKMKYDv MEOW.

...Uhh...

Busy. It's very busy.

I couldn't tell what was even happening until I zoomed in on it. Even still, the positions these characters are in defy common sense. Also, it's hard not being skeeved out by Geoffrey's defined bod.

Spaz is a good artist but this was, to be fair, years and years ago at this point.

Spoiler

Anyway, we begin with Geoffrey-

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Right. So I suppose now's as good a time as any to talk a bit about how silly this situation is. Now, Sonic has been framed for shit he hasn't done before. He's been forcefully roboticized against his will. There was a Pseudo Sonic once upon a time. He lost his memory and worked for Robotnik once. The Freedom Fighters have plenty of reason to completely ignore what they thought they saw and investigate the matter to find out what the deal was. I know the king gave the order not to, but fuck the king. This kind of shit is why this ruling class Acorn Kingdom nonsense tends to get in the way when you live in a world where you can so easily replace the king with a fake. Also, even if he weren't a fake, the king is still an asshole.

Geoffrey, in particular, however, is clearly just impulsively looking for an out to murder Sonic. Remember when this dude just walked into the doctor's office while they were looking over Sally's dad, goes up to Sally, kisses her, insults Sonic, accuses Chuck of being a traitor, and then tries to kill him? There's no feasible way anyone could possibly like this character.

I know Penders doesn't consider any of what Ian wrote canon, but honestly, the only thing keeping me from hating him is the fact that I actually like where his character ends up near the end of the book.

So Sonic is still falling off the waterfall, very daintily I might add-

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-and is unable to see a way out of dying when he hits the bottom. He's exhausted both mentally and physically so creating a figure 8 with his feet to slow himself down doesn't work. It just cramps his legs.

So... instead... he uh...

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giphy.gif

He takes off his shoe, which I guess he packed full of dirt just in case he needed to run across some of it to escape death off the top of a waterfall... tosses it... then before it disperses into useless ash in the sky, runs across it to safety?

Like... even if Sonic was that fast, how on Earth does he have the prowess to make sure he threw all that dirt in such a perfect arc that all the dregs of dirt were evenly pressed against one another to momentarily create a foothold...!

Sonic wouldn't need to narrowly dodge Geoffrey's arrows if he were this fast and this precise. The dude could walk over to the skunk, shave off all his fur, and shove a pie in his face in a millisecond if this is... at all possible.

I guess old cartoony habits die hard.

But at least he found a flawless esca-

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Oh hey. Turns out it was a shit plan.

Sonic lands on his goddamn face and... I think it knocks him so silly that he... starts to think he's in a porno or something?

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Why is he making that shape with his mouth and what is he slurping???

Like... I usually try to be a bit choosey with the pics I use but so many of them I NEED to show you. This issue is fucking weird.

Sonic hurries off, looking beyond exhausted. He keeps reciting what he has to do to himself and of course, in typical Sonic comic fashion, when he says he's got to get back to Knothole, his sentence is finished on the next page and we're back in Knothole. Here we see the Warlord Julian giving a deceptive speech while showing off his astonishingly plentiful teeth. They go so far back that he looks like Zebra from Toriko.

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He's explaining to them that Sonic the Hedgehog has betrayed them and that King Acorn has not. That's because he's a robot doppelganger. He proves this by taking the wire out the back of the king's head and watching him deflate into... a red mask...? Thing?

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This dude may be evil but he sure makes sure to keep his choppers pearly white. I wish Doug Walker had taken aims to do the same but I don't watch his shit anymore so thankfully I don't have to see those yellow gremlins anymore.

Also, you'd think that they would comb through Robotnik's words a little better. He says that Sonic betrayed them but the King didn't because he wants them to think the faked Sonic is real but doesn't care if they know the faked King is real anymore. Now, why he had to reveal here, I don't know. Seems crueler to make them think the King DID betray them to me but what do I know? Also, if there's a fake king logic would dictate that there could be a fake Sonic right? Do none of them realize this?

He explains that he wants to see them all perish with each other in a big, showy way. Something that no doubt will be cathartic and poetic to him. I understand he's a showman so I can let it slide. It's a little obvious as a measure to explain why he doesn't just kill them right then and there but he's got his flaws and this has literally always been one of them.

We cut back to Snively who is being given the medical records on Sally by Dr. Quack. The doctor says he did everything they asked and demands that they keep up their end of the deal. However, Snively is a persnickety fucker and decides to punish the doc for being so rude.

He presses... his hand... and... the back of his hand makes a... clicking noise?

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??????????

It reveals Dr. Quack's family behind bars. His wife and kids are all there. The DuckTales theme is playing in my head and I can't get it to stop...

Dr. Quack is understandably outraged by this and lashes out at Snively, saying he's gonna do... something.

But before he can do the something he was gonna do, he gets fucking shot!

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In front of his kids! What the hell?!

The sound effect there is a SKZZAKT so it was definitely a laser but the gun barrel looks like it belongs to a gat or a machine gun. There are Combots there instead of the usual Swatbots so you know they mean business this time too.

So, the doc is mostly alright. His feathers are a little charred and smoke is lightly coming off his body but he's good. He's cool. He's fine. Just got shot in the stomach but he's alright. Yeah. He's fine. 

Snively takes the Doc out of the room and tells him they want another favor from him. He reveals the ACTUAL King Acorn under a tarp and tells him to get to work on... something involving him. I'm not sure what. Dr. Quack relents because what else is he gonna do?

So, we then cut back to Sonic who-

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WHAT IS GOING ON?!

I guess Sonic's just fucking magic now.

I mean... could he do this in the show? Is this how they called Dulcy over? He certainly has never done this before in the comic as far as I can remember. Then again, my memory when it comes to the stuff before I started reviewing it on here hasn't been the best.

Whatever. Dulcy's here thanks to Sonic's magic whistle they fly off together because Dulcy is a dragon and dragons can apparently sense when someone's being truthful and shit. So they ride off just as Geoffrey arrives with his Tasmanian Devils. He shouts that he'll never stop following him like a mad-man because Sonic's still wearing that tracking shackle on him.

Although, if Geoffrey ever lost sight of Sonic, he'd just find him again when he returned to Knothole because that's literally where he said he's going. Right?

Anyway, who's up for some more physical and mental abuse?

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This scene is a fairly good example of why the weird cartoony nonsense in this issue is especially weird.

There's definitely an attempt to drag things more into the realm of seriousness and realism here. While it usually isn't a problem to mix comedy and drama together, things become askew when you don't know when and how to do it properly. Now, this scene isn't happening within the realm of anything resembling a joke or anything but it does feel more noticeable when not two pages ago, Sonic summoned a dragon with a cheap magic whistling thing he can do. And yes, I'm calling it magic because it's so silly.

Now, I don't think Drago and Hershey here are a couple really considering Drago, rather insultingly, keeps referring to this grown woman as "kid" while also punching and smacking her across the face but it's a rather unnecessary layer of cruelty to add on top of the fact that this dude literally tricked her into murdering Sally Acorn.

Yes, It's here where it's revealed that the one who cut Sally's rope was Hershey.

She was wearing a Sonic mask that, when put on, makes it so the person wearing it only sees Snively no matter who they're looking at.

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So Hershey thought that when she cut the rope and sent someone to go splat against the ground, preferably into huge mounds of chunky salsa, it was Snively instead of Sally. Now, setting aside how dark it still is that she was so brazenly ready to just... murder Robotnik's slightly more sympathetic flunky... this is a tremendously horrifying thing to do to someone already.

I'm understanding now why Ian, when writing for Drago, wrote him as this terrifying LOOKING dude who would constantly get shit on and undermined and told to shut up all the time. This is an incredibly awful person who relishes in the fact that he tricked this young woman into murdering someone she was trying to help and laughs at her while she's curled up on the ground, grieving over the horrible thing she's done on top of not giving a fuck about swatting her across the room.

It's so uncomfortable and it gets worse when you realize that this was IT!

This was literally supposed to be the ending storyline of the book. Issue 49 is supposed to be the penultimate issue before the series was set to end in Issue 50 and THIS is what it was going to leave behind.

Sally actually WAS supposed to die! Hershey WAS supposed to have actually have murdered her when she thought she was helping the Freedom Fighters all along! 

What a thing to leave behind. I almost WANT to see the original ending now, just to see how much of a sour note it was planning to end things on. I know Ken wanted to kill off Sally because she "cramped Sonic's style" or whatever but Jesus.

Also, this was co-written by Mike Gallagher too. Don't think I'm letting him off the hook for this. The treatment of woman in this book on top of the overdone dramatic flare concerning death is making this really quite the odd Sonic the Hedgehog comic book. Sally's supposed to be this team's leader and yet she's been nothing but useless these first 49 issues and she was unceremoniously planned to be killed off in a lame way with zero closure at the beginning of this four part finale. How embarrassing.

I like death in stories for children. I like death in Sonic games and Sonic comics. Children can handle it and if it's done right it can make your stories come off as natural and mature. But this honestly feels a bit like what Shadow the Hedgehog tried to do, where it shoves all these mature themes at you in a bid to be taken serious and it either looks weird, comes off as humorous, or in this case is just gross.

Oh.

And after this scene of Hershey crying on the floor as Drago laughs over how he tricked her into killing Sally, THAT'S when they decide to have the page for fan-art from the all the little kiddies.

It's almost like a weird punchline.

I'm a little confused about Drago's character here too. Why is he THIS much of a scumbag? Robotnik offered him a kingdom apparently. I know the Wolf Pack aren't Freedom Fighters and I know next to nothing about their morality and devotion to the cause but he came from a group of people willing to enter the war against Robotnik to save this virtually dying planet and he's just... a guy who turns out to be okay with gleefully doing shit like this? 

So we thankfully cut away to ... another place that I don't like. Downunda. Hurray.

This is where Antoine and Bunnie have been taken after being discovered by Drago. It's literally on the other side of the planet. Two of the Downunda Freedom Fighters show up and, I guess in an attempt to make them seem more relevant, they have close ups on their faces and they say their names. I definitely remember them but I've already forgotten their names and looking back at the page just to jot them down is too much work. Also, they suck because they're immediately spotted by the head of the prison.

Here it's revealed that the head guard of the Downduna prison is Crocbot!

Remember him?

I do but only because I have little nuggets of info on what happens with certain characters down the line. This dude was beaten by Tails and the Downunda Freedom Fighters in the Tails mini-series and thrown down a pit. He really wants you to be aware of who he is and he REALLY wants you to care because he goes on for two pages about how he made his glorious return. He gathered up Combot parts and made a station and I can't remember if he was always a tank or just attached himself to one...

Whatever. It's all very interesting, I'm sure.

He outright says that he ambushed and captured the Downunda Freedom Fighters and has delighted in torturing them mercilessly. So... I guess the "they've been torturing him for months" thing isn't new for the series after all.

Pictured below are the Downunda Freedom Fighters, making the appropriate faces one would expect of characters that didn't know how much they sucked.

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I can't stress how much this sequence of pages feels tacked on. Like, honestly who cares? Crocbot is going on and on and on about how great it's gonna be to have his revenge and it's just so boring.

We cut back to Sonic and Dulcy who arrive... at the floating island for some reason? Odd, considering Sonic said he wanted to go back to Knothole so many times...

I guess he's here hoping to get a helping hand from Knuc-BWAHAHAHA! No.

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These two hate each other and the instant Dulcy flies in, Knuckles punches her in the face and knocks her out cold because he doesn't let anyone (save for the Chaotix for whatever reason. I guess because the book told us they're supposed to be friends) on the island. I don't understand why Knuckles is this aggressive. I understand not wanting people on his island but punching a girl in the face because they got close to it?

Sonic is understandably upset by that and they fight. Because of course they do.

It's broken up by Geoffrey when he flies in and fires in between them. So now these four are here and... I guess something's gonna happen.

So that was Issue 49 and Christy Christ Christ Christ.

This book actually has the nerve to end with the caption "Brought to you with pride by Mike Gallagher and Ken Penders".

I just... damn.

This shit just nose-dived into a bottomless pit.

It is nice to know that some of the readers are asking legit questions about what they're reading even at this time though.

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“Dear Sonic, I watch SONIC on USA Network’s Cartoon Express. I have a few questions. 1) Why does Sally kiss and hug that skunk dude (Geoffrey St. John) in Issue #43? 2) In Sonic Quest #3, you used Silver Sonic’s robot body to fight Robotnik. How is that possible when you fried it? 3? What is Robotnik’s first name: Ivo or Julian? 4) If the Floating Island has one chaos emerald,how could Robotnik steal two emeralds in the SONIC QUEST series? I gotta’ buz’, cuz’!
                         - Steven Cash, Oxford, NC

They answer this question by pretending to be Bunnie Rabbot. I don’t really like it when stuff like this is done. I guess because they think the kids will pay more attention to it? But they make Bunnie say that she doesn’t like Geoffrey but YOU’VE GOTTA ADMIT HE’S A HUNK AND A HALF!

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So Sally kissed him cause he’s hot. I guess. Remember, this is either Ken or Gallagher or someone tied to these books pretending to be Bunnie, making her say that Sally is vain and she’ll kiss you so long as you’re attractive. She doesn't care that you're college age when she's like, 15 or some shit.  The rest of the answers are actual answers. Silver Sonic was reprogrammed. Robotnik's first name is Julian and Ivo is his family name (You’d think Robotnik was his family name but whatever) and Knuckles had a spare emerald.

Here we have someone who agrees that Sally should pass away!

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“Hey, Team Sonic, Here it is in a nutshell: Sally should pass away. Whether she comes back or not (you know how comic book death works after all…) is up to you, but you can only avoid real-life topics so long before it gets stale. Anyone who doesn’t agree can watch Barney. As for me, I’ll still look forward to another issue of Sonic, no matter what. I read it because its a comic book remember?”
                                                                                                                                          -  Kerri Vines, being the hardest of the hardcore.

You hear that? Sally should fucking die and anyone who disagrees should go watch BARNEY! This book that’s constantly showcasing themes of war, death, torture, politics, and abuse can only avoid real-life topics for so long before it gets stale. 

Well. That’s about enough for me today. I think my brain has fried. I’ve gotta go watch Barney.

giphy.gif
 

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The style of the Sonic Grams letters were so different back then, and I don’t just mean in the “the letters are answered by characters” part.

I’ve seen fan letters from as recently as the immediate post-Tossed in Space era that actively criticise stories and shit. It was weird.

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13 hours ago, Noodle Panda said:

The style of the Sonic Grams letters were so different back then, and I don’t just mean in the “the letters are answered by characters” part.

I’ve seen fan letters from as recently as the immediate post-Tossed in Space era that actively criticise stories and shit. It was weird.

I think it's because it was pre-internet so there wasn't constant negativity being swung around on a daily basis so they were more willing to include negative letters as well as positive.

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23 hours ago, Noodle Panda said:

The style of the Sonic Grams letters were so different back then, and I don’t just mean in the “the letters are answered by characters” part.

I’ve seen fan letters from as recently as the immediate post-Tossed in Space era that actively criticise stories and shit. It was weird.

 

9 hours ago, SBR2 said:

I think it's because it was pre-internet so there wasn't constant negativity being swung around on a daily basis so they were more willing to include negative letters as well as positive.

I'll admit to being a bit surprised by the brazzeness of the responses I quoted. I actually stopped reading the letters sent in during the later issues because of how typical they all felt. Just people saying they loved everything and wanted Sonic and Sally to make dem babies.

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Been a while since I looked at one of these--and it's Mecha Madness!

On 6/21/2019 at 8:50 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Issue #39 - Rage Against the Machine

image.png.152a58d970406efd528b50d7948cdb8c.pngThese 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.

 

On 6/21/2019 at 8:50 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

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

 

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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.

Yeah, no foolin.

I remember back when when I found the site that had inSonicnia, one of the characters that got sprites made there was Mecha Sonic. He was easily one of the coolest looking characters there--he was also one of the largest.

(Note: I lowkey just found out you can create/continue separate quote boxes of the same comment by tapping Enter twice.)

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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.

Lol.

Waitaminute, I thought that trial was after the events of this issue?

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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.

I mean, it's a kids comic about woodland creatures fighting a badman and his robots--its gonna be outlandish and all over the place at times unless it intentionally sets out to be legit from the getgo.

But yeah, the Mecha Sally arc was partly meant to recapitalize on the idea and play it for extended horror and drama.

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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.

Oh my goodness.

Gotta love how they protest nukes--you know, the things the villain can just pelt them with?

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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.

Guess the term edgy is one of those words that eventually got overused over time. 
But uh, Bunnie's continued affliction in-universe will get explained down the road.

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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.

image.png.56215acfd3e0864af80156ba22287052.png

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.

Kinda have to wonder how he knew Sonic would zip in there. ...Oh, you mention that.

Nack the Weasel was the name he was (initially?) given in America and it mostly stuck afterwards. The fact that he was originally a jerboa was seemingly lost in a mistranslation that was never addressed until a year ago.

And yeah, he's generally played as a joke, but Nack was actually pretty crafty  in the comics. I hear he's much moreso in StC.

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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.

You know, I have to wonder how Crabmeat of all Badniks got to be Robotnik's assistant in these early Archie stories.

On 6/21/2019 at 8:50 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

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.

Yeah, Sonic and here Antoine could be really heartless with each other at very odd points.

On 6/21/2019 at 8:50 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

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.

You probably haven't seen the best one yet.

Oh man, I forgot about that thing. Is that what happened with that?

On 6/21/2019 at 8:50 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

 

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.image.png.7733d34f69b73e48763818398317b918.png

Sudden intoxication inbound.

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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.

Because of course it would be a Looney Tunes reference.

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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.

In this issue?

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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.

And there it is.  :joy: 

That's exactly what it was. This is why he couldn't come back in the New252, btw.

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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.

What is this, isue 30 something?

Uh, wait another 30 or so issues iirc.

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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.

 

Can you tell who wrote this story yet?

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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…!

Oh, it end here?

Huh. I thought this all happened in one issue, but whatever.

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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!

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. 


 

Yeah, this was definitely one of the greats. Er, questionable moments aside.

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4 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

I'll admit to being a bit surprised by the brazzeness of the responses I quoted. I actually stopped reading the letters sent in during the later issues because of how typical they all felt. Just people saying they loved everything and wanted Sonic and Sally to make dem babies.

It's not just Sonic comics that did that. I havea few Hamilton Mighty Morphin Power Rangers comics and the letters had some from people who straight up hated the show and trash talked it and said the comic didn't have to follow the show and could kill Zordon and Rangers. 

It's nice to know in 26 years people still don't quite understand how licensed comics work. XD

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So I have gone back and started from the beginning...I literally started with issue 0 and now I am on issue 31. I'm about to start Chaotix and SS vs HK Super Specials. I plan to go through the whole series now, so I can see if it actually holds up/is as good as I remember in certain parts. We shall see... either way I am excited. :)

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Even for as awful as Drago tricking Hershey into nearly murdering Sally is, it's made even worse when you stop and realize just how utterly pointless it was.

All Robotnik needed to do was frame Sonic for murder.  So he decides he has to go through the trouble of inventing magic Snively-vision eyes, putting them on a realistic Sonic suit, giving it to some random mobian who claims he can convince someone to wear it, and just assumes they'll do the job right...when all he had to really do was just put the freaking Sonic suit on a Metal Sonic.

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3 hours ago, Tylinos said:

...when all he had to really do was just put the freaking Sonic suit on a Metal Sonic.

Metal Sonic is filthy creation of Sega overlords, forced upon visionary that is Ken Penders.

He much rather create his very original characters, with deep emotional conflicts and shocking unexpected twists.

That and don't put my boy near that garbage story.

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Endgame wasn’t that garbage until Penders sullied his name and associations.

Prior to that, it was just very badly aged for the reasons it’s being picked apart for now.

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3 hours ago, Conquering Storm’s Servant said:

Endgame wasn’t that garbage until Penders sullied his name and associations.

Prior to that, it was just very badly aged for the reasons it’s being picked apart for now.

Oi! I hated it before it was cool.

Whole framing, Geoffrey, Dulcy truth sensing, Drago.  If anything I hate the story less now. At first read I dismissed few cool moments

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4 hours ago, Conquering Storm’s Servant said:

Endgame wasn’t that garbage until Penders sullied his name and associations.

Prior to that, it was just very badly aged for the reasons it’s being picked apart for now.

 Nah. When I first read it in the archives before the shit hit the fan I went from "Ok this is a pretty good set up" to "What the Fuck this rando cat killed Sally?" to "What is even happening in this final issue!?"

Endgame kinda sullies it's own reputation by the third issue and then you start actually thinking about it and it's like "wow that sucked".

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7 hours ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

Oi! I hated it before it was cool.

Whole framing, Geoffrey, Dulcy truth sensing, Drago.  If anything I hate the story less now. At first read I dismissed few cool moments

 

6 hours ago, SBR2 said:

 Nah. When I first read it in the archives before the shit hit the fan I went from "Ok this is a pretty good set up" to "What the Fuck this rando cat killed Sally?" to "What is even happening in this final issue!?"

Endgame kinda sullies it's own reputation by the third issue and then you start actually thinking about it and it's like "wow that sucked".

Keep in mind you’re also reading something likely years to a decade old before you came across it, and during when it was somewhat young and unfocused until that point. Sonic as a franchise was all over the place during the mid-90s come the Endgame arc’s release, similar to how it is now except when the franchise actually had a positive reception despite the directions it took. Audiences back then didn’t mind so long as they had their Sonic fix, especially considering how young the core audience was back then that were eating it up.

It’s gone much the same way as SA1 insofar as it being poorly aged from when people look at it in hindsight or years later, only with the added drama of Penders hissy fit ruining whatever good reception that came with it. Not saying that it’s any good now, but its reception back then was a far cry to how it’s looked at now because people weren’t as critical back then as they are now.

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Archie Sonic: Issue #50 - ENDGAME Part 4 of 4: The Big Goodbye
Sonic Super Special #6 - Sonic 50 Director's Cut: For Whom the Bell Tolls!

Jr-TMJAOtn7xIWG03_981u3YjKJUuGfpwYV7hQATSZBbEehtOrRfNfKTSU7XSeJ7AYCq6wxGSdvDRFaRbUvp7VGLQDl4g7zr9UzIeHwe67eWlSHUbMQfpzm6xwhVh_eDmgnowSiS1E7Yi1f6cO8MjvN11RjSibR_on39R2o9GZYouMevUU0X53UpT-5w8a_qJWhbaxEQgUVVfINHWacSBj4ZMtRZNpwRhK9HoHQo9-EbVznLSQvl2XsuBUVW0vTk2BFTriv6dbWeCozT

"Here we are..." - Amy Rose, Sonic Heroes.

So we're finally at the end of the Endgame and I feel very relieved. I'm happy that all the conversation around this has picked up because it provides a great contrast to the fact that my opinion of this story has gone way down.

Even ignoring the context of what I'm aware of today, the first two issues I enjoyed well enough and the 3rd just weighed down on my soul. Everything is covered in sleaze now.

The cover for the original Issue 50 looks like the badass cover of a game cartridge.

I'm actually not joking. It's a great looking cover. It's depicting the (assumed) end to a tale as old as time here with the two characters you want to see going at it but with a foreboding red sky behind his evil lair. Also, Robotnik's arm looks like that green glowing hand thing from the end of Issue 175.
 
Now, the cover of the Sonic Super Special #6 on the other hand...

iWB4-vOcsCtTL30056pDHPy9WqueClFSzuVSQIluQkI761ijoIXwropB6BAc3t1O2VRovKdlogrpoJvzvF2DdNcszT0uvb4a_jAcFwGiYekRnTlebRbbqt4P7XeJTYES7fcvONsf

LIPSSSSSSSSSSSS~!

"I see you shiver with antici... ... ... PATION!"

I'm saying he looks sexy, ya'll. Robotnik has never looked so fabulous.

Seriously though, how long after Endgame was this cover made? Why does it look so ass. 

Everyone is just lathered onto the cover without any care. Sonic's tumors look like gross fingers. It's almost as if the books get WORSE as they go on but that's just... pfft. Can't be.

Spoiler

Anyway, if you haven't worked it out yet, I'm going to be covering both of these issues at the same time. Not only will I be reacting to the end of Endgame for the first time but I'm going to find out what the "director" (yeah, okay) our glorious Master of the Echydnyas and Lord of the Lawsuits, Ken Penders has to say about what should be different about his wonderful masterpiece…

I know the incompetent fools at Archie were the ones who sued Ken but "Lord of the Lawsuits" was just too tempting. Plus, Ken sued SEGA over Sonic Chronicles so it still sort of counts. 

Whatever. Let's get started.

We begin on a WHOA!

fR9_NUfCqNa_HUiGJuOLOoCngUKO-RmDAb2aTbE5hf1f9klQ6e-KvwLTmPFdQnDeCi8iTcebGS2ciLe73EQ7EoRC5rpqnG_IVHLUP7W2fxnSCAMb8P9CpzPimrMiDvdDLrQ1yW6z

My dude. What a chunky ball of greasy butter with extra cheese. Julian here is shown running away from people hunting him down, sporting the tiniest of mustaches and a jumpsuit that looks like he just escaped from prison. Apparently, at this very moment, is when he realizes that he might have made a tiny slip up somewhere in his life.

They refer to him as Julian, son of Ivo, which will never not be weird.

He's being chased by Londo and Jakkar on orders from THE MINISTER. Don't know who that is but it probably doesn't matter yet. He's found by Charles (Uncle Chuck) and his bro Jules (Sonic's dad). They look literally, exactly like Sonic except Charles has a ton of bushy facial hair and Jules has this weird tuft of hair poking out of his forehead. I don't even want to go into the conversation about spikes acting as hair on hedgehog characters... I mean, Silver's spines look like wavy hair. That's all I'm saying.
 
Charles is skeptical of this man because he's one of THEM, the dreaded OVERLANDERS! However, Jules wishes to take him back to the Acorn Kingdom, thinking he could be the key to winning the war for some reason. Charles is hesitant because of what Robotnik's kind has done but Jules responds that they're doing this and asks Charles if he looks like a bitch.
 
Charles says what? Then Jules repeats himself and demands to know if he looks like a bitch! Then Charles says what and then Jules warns him not to say what again.
 
So when they take Julian back and, for some goddamn reason, the king decides to make Julian the Warlord. The only reason he gives is because he knows the most about the Overlanders because he is one.
 
I mean... yeah. That sounds logical right? It's like the plot of Pixels, the hit Adam Sandler film.
 
Charles points out how weird this is and optimistic Jules thinks the King MUST have a reason.

Their faith in their shitty king is cute.
 
This idea that the humans and the animals went to war with each other back in Ye Old’n days is a very… expected kind of thing but also a weirdly plausible one. I suppose on the surface, this is one of those Pendersisms that I actually could be somewhat okay with in a sense depending on how it’s done. It’s just surreal seeing the humans and animals fighting.
 
Even weirder is that Bean and Bark are shown fighting in the war here, in what I think is their first appearance in the comic. Considering how long ago this took place I… how old are they? Or was this just a surprise cameo thing that wasn’t intended to be followed up on? I’m going to guess the latter but it’s interesting imagining Bean and Bark as characters that just never age.

-J-QslQqZT7R1C-Mjyd3TrmsdRy5QCsLXO_V-pVhvJx0hApN2IQ84thZ_ZBlcpYWEyv7qp5jtWNilgNnBruypbmZ8TyOhEH8Y1pUngLMtiRYw2w2lzIKu2mrXzRQ4dHSW8B0CiTp

We cut back to Robotnik who is... sleeping in a pod?
 
I'm... not sure why he is. The robots can tell he's having a good nap so I guess recounting his rise to power gets him in a good mood. It probably would for me as well. However, it's really strange how, he keeps doing things that a robot would do. Like, a few times throughout this comic's run he's been shown chugging cartons of fucking motor oil.
 
It was just his arm that got Roboticized right? That was one of the few episodes of SatAM I actually saw so... does he just really like sleeping in robot pods and drinking motor oil?
 
Well, either way, this is where the comics have their first split. The original Issue 50 cuts back to the ending confrontation with Geoffrey, Sonic, and Knuckles but the director’s cut actually shows Robotnik waking up.
 
George Lucas Ken Penders Special Edition Addition Scene #1 - Robotnik Wakes Up to Ice Some Fool

Here, we’re shown Robotnik waking up and demanding a good reason for it. The Swat Bot in his employ says that they found a test-subject for his latest device. Julian is just tickled at the idea of torturing somebody and he goes to see the blonde haired dude in the picture above. Blonde-Haired Red-Shirt is shocked to see Julian is alive and also the notorious Dr. Robotnik he’s heard about. He begs for mercy but Robotnik fires his laser at him, determined to, and I quote, “prove that there is worse than death!”
 
He’s an unapologetic, ruthless monster and it’s gonna be so sad to see him go. 
 
The screaming blonde dude turns blue in the panel and screams NOOOOO… I don’t know what the blue laser did but it was apparently worse than death. He tells Snively over the computer that he’s gonna rule the world… but Snively’s like “Nah! That’s what you think!”
 
Snively’s apparently making a play at betraying Robotnik again? Right here in Issue 50? Odd. I know he does this routinely but I kind of feel like it would have come up that he had something planned a bit earlier in the arc if it was relevant. Since this is a part of the Director’s cut, this scene was added in which means…?
 
I don’t know. That’s the end of this first interlude and at the moment, all that’s been shown is that Robotnik’s a monster that deserves what’s coming to him. I guess this isn’t a bad addition. It’s nice seeing him be horrible to people so I won’t fault the book for it any.
 
Oh and he added in a scene where there’s some CGI creatures at Robotnik’s palace.

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Back at where Issue 50 proper was, we see Geoffrey confronting Sonic and Knuckles. It’s also where we get the title “The Big Goodbye” which, for some reason, has been changed to “For Whom the Bell Tolls” in the Super Special.
 
This isn’t exactly that important a change but it is a bit strange. I suppose the original title does invoke more of a “THIS IS IT!” kind of feel so the more ominous “For Whom the Bell Tolls” might be a bit better, regardless of how cliche it is. I will say that the font and heading for the Super Special’s title looks FAR worse though.

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The first one has a nice little box for the title to sit in and a prettier style. Kind of like the end of a play. The second one just looks really lazy and typed in on a computer. Like they scrolled down the list of fonts and picked the first one that wasn’t Comic Sans.
 
There’s also the fact that this is the first of the Endgame issues that’s even bothered with a title. Each issue of Endgame doesn’t need it’s own subtitle so I was cool with calling them Parts 1-4. 
 
*Takes in a deep breath*
 
Okay, so… no joke, the next couple pages are… and I mean it when I say this… probably the worst written pages I’ve read in this book since Sonic Live. Certainly the most infuriating.
 
So… Geoffrey tells Knuckles that Sonic killed Sally and because the two of them hate each other for no reason, Knuckles immediately believes him and attacks Sonic. Sonic backs off in a scene that’s incredibly badly drawn for a milestone issue like this. 

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I mean, seriously. All of a sudden the art-style changed to something that looks like shit. Sonic’s arms are even colored blue in the lower left panel. He’s also doing the Spider-Man fingers pose.
 
He’s grabbed by Espio the Chameleon, whom Sonic addresses by his full name and title “Espio the Chameleon - One of the Chaotix!” just like that. Apparently, just in case we all forgot who he is because he has no character at this point in the book’s life.

The Chaotix are not characters here. They’re props that exist to be Knuckles’ lackies because Knuckles Chaotix was a thing and they decided to put them into the book. That’s it. 

Espio outright even says he only listens to Knuckles which also will never not be weird. 

Dulcy slams her foot down and basically screams at all of them that this plot line of Sonic being framed has gone on for too long and that it needs to end. Like, right now.
 
So that plotline just stops.
 
That’s it.

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One issue with significant set-up and two issues of Sonic being on the run only for it to end because a Dragon said to stop. 
 
A dragon never lies and can sense when someone isn’t lying so that means that Sonic must be telling the truth when he says he didn’t kill Sally. Knuckles, IMMEDIATELY is like “A dragon’s word is law” and isn’t angry no more. Geoffrey looks ashamed for a single panel and then in the VERY next one he’s talking about how OUR REAL ENEMY IS TRYING TO DIVIDE AND CONQUER US!

BITCH, YOU ALREADY HATED SONIC! WHAT DO YOU MEAN DIVIDE AND CONQUER-?!
 
When I read this page I could feel my soul leaving its body.

What the fuck? Time to list all the things I hate about this in numerical order.

  1. What’s infuriating about this isn’t even just the idea behind the dragon’s ability to tell lies, it’s mostly all in the way the characters react. You’d think Geoffrey or Knuckles would summon a bit of doubt in their minds and we’d be shown the process of their minds working this info out until they comfortably arrived at this conclusion. Even then, I’d imagine whatever alliance they struck would be one of timid reluctance. Like Geoffrey growls while shaking Sonic’s hand and with his teeth gritted he says “FINE, we’ll work together but the instant I see something funny I’m training these hounds back on you…!” then Sonic would fire back with a quip about him being stinky.

    But no. Geoffrey’s just, immediately like, “We’ve been tricked! Time to get back to Knothole! The magical dragon said so!”
     
  2. If Knuckles has so much respect for the word of a dragon to the point where he literally says “A Dragon’s spoken word IS fact” then why the fuck was the first thing he did upon just seeing Dulcy was to PUNCH HER IN THE FUCKING FACE!

    Like… he couldn’t just wait for her to explain herself? I know Knuckles is brash but he really hasn’t been portrayed as the kind of guy who would just punch Dulcy in the face and knock her out for flying close to his island. He’s often overly protective but he’s had plenty of people visit this place at this point. There's at least five randys living on it at this point. The very least you’d expect would be for him to ask why she’s here.

    Knowing this about Dulcy and knowing that Knuckles knows this about Dulcy makes that scene even more confusing. At least punch SONIC in the face! Why go for Dulcy?
     
  3. If Dragons have this ability and they all KNOW they have this ability (to the point where isolationist Knuckles even knows about it) why the hell did nobody think to just grab her and see if Sonic was lying before? Apparently all Sonic has to do is whistle and she’ll arrive right? I know the “King” said no investigations but if Geoffrey is so easily swayed you’d think he’d have done this two issues ago.

    Seriously. Sonic just whistled and she showed up and acted as the world’s dankest lie detector. 
     
  4.  I can’t remember if this was or is an ability that Dulcy has used in the book before but even if it is, the biggest problem with it is that it’s just an incredibly lame and lazy fix to this problem. This whole plot line of Sonic being framed for the murder of Sally Acorn, despite how dumb it is for the nation to believe it considering how many times Sonic has been framed, hypnotized, and replaced up to this point, could still have functioned as an exhilarating hook for the finale.

    On paper it sounds amazing. I’m imagining a Sonic game where the premise is that Sonic killed Tails and he’s on the run or something and Eggman’s using that as an excuse to manipulate everyone and come out on top even though we know there’s no way he did. 

    However, if this is the resolution to that plotline than it really just feels like the last few issues were pointless filler. Something that could make it feel worth it is a more appropriate reaction to finding out that Sonic was innocent.

    But no, they just drop it and move on because this is the last issue and we need to hurry. Is this what it felt like for all the people who liked Game of Thrones?

I hate this.
 
Shockingly, the writing gets worse.
 
However, the art-style changes back to something that looks good now.
 
So we cut to Tails and Rotor sneaking away as the SwatBots are leading the citizens of Knothole somewhere to be roboticized. The two of them immediately get spotted by a figure cloaked in shadow with an army of Combots behind them. Before we can find out who it is though, we cut to Robotnik screaming at Crocbot in his base in Downunda (BLEGH) demanding to know what’s going on.

Crocbot says that he’s dealing with an uprising but the Mineral Ore that Robotnik wanted is already on its way to him. I guess Robotnik doesn’t give a shit about there being an uprising so long as he gets the ore. I’m not sure why he doesn’t think said uprising could impede the transportation of the ore but I suppose that’s why HOW it’s being transported wasn’t shown to us.
 
Anyway, he says he’s gonna use the ore to power the Ultimate Annihilator so that he can blow Knothole away. Even though he just woke up a few pages ago he says he’s gotta go back to the sleep chamber because he’s worried about not being well-rested to see his victory come to fruition.
 
Robotnik’s actions here are little strange. Not maddening or worthy of too much nitpicking but they’re still strange.
 
We cut back to see Rotor and Tails being carted off by Drago. I’m not sure what the point of showing a scene where Rotor and Tails escape into the sewers only to be immediately found by Drago was. You could have just skipped that and showed them being taken in by Drago. That sounds like a nitpick but it really isn’t considering the fact that, for whatever reason, this story is trying it’s damndest to rush through everything as FAST as it can. 
 
Wasting an entire page on Rotor and Tails breaking away from the captured crowd only to then immediately get captured and land in the same spot as everyone else doesn’t sound very practical. 
 
To hammer home just how much this is being rushed… Sonic, Knuckles, Geoffrey, and his forces literally fall from the sky and just beat up Drago and his Swat Bots (that were totally Combots when they were in the sewer but NOW they’re Swat Bots. I don’t fucking know…)
 
Also, Tails says they should help and to do this, he’s shown pulling animals out of a huge ass capsule that DEFINITELY was not there before. 
 
I’m so confused. This issue is just DOING shit now. 
 
The artstyle has now changed to something that looks more noodley and cartoony. 
 
The constant art-style shifts are already disorienting enough but with the added pages for the Super Special, some pages are being shoved in with a completely different art-style before changing back for a single page and then changing yet again. It’s so weird.
 
I haven’t even gone into how stupid and strange it is that we cut back to Downunda and suddenly there’s a rebellion that needs to be squashed. Luckily, Penders and the other guys who worked on the Super Special thought so too. 
 
Right after the pointless scene where Tails and Rotor go into the sewer, in the Super Special, we cut back to Downunda for a more clear view of what happened.
 
George Lucas Ken Penders Special Edition Addition Scene #2 - We actually show you how the breakout in Downunda started.
 
Nothing they could possibly show in these new pages is going to make the pointless detour to Downunda any less pointless but it is appreciated that they felt the need to go back and give this a proper once over. 
 
Drago’s ending line on the previous page was him saying “You are now Prisoner’s of-!” and then it cuts to an information box that says “Ivo Robotnik in Robotropolis calling Crocbot’s crater in Downunda.” 
 
This is incredibly awkward. Not only does it cut from Drago’s line of actual spoken dialogue to an info box to finish his sentence but it doesn’t even properly finish his sentence. The full thing would read as “You are now prisoners of Ivo Robotnik in Robotropolis calling Crocbot’s crater in Downunda.” I know Julian’s name is already fairly long but that sounds just a tad too ridiculous, even for this book.
 
Drago’s dialogue is changed from that to “You’re MY prisoners now! And if you’re real good-!” then they cut to the new page where Drago finishes his sentence with “I’ll just ship your carcass off to the Slave Labor camps in Downunda.” 

Much better.
 
The scene than shifts to Antoine and Bunnie blowing up the door to their cell and escaping with the Downunda Freedom Fighters they were locked in with. The Downunda Freedom Fighters re-group and then take on Crocbot, allowing Bunnie and Antoine to escape to the Airbus.
 
THEN we cut back to “Ivo Robotnik in Robotropolis calling Crocbot’s crater in Downunda”. 
 
I didn’t want to spend too much time on that because, honestly, I don’t care about this little excursion and neither should you. It’s pointless.
 
There was NO point to wasting time with having Bunnie and Antoine shipped off all the way to Downunda and wasting even more pages of Crocbot rattling on about his (un)interesting story about how he survived his run in with Tails and how he made the Downunda labor camp. 
 
They escaped from it OFF-SCREEN in the original Issue 50! No one cares, not even the plot.
 
So many useless things are happening but in the book’s defense, I guess Drago shipping them off to half-way around the world was a smart tactic. Not as smart as just killing them though.
 
Also, Ken Penders decided to hide R2-D2 behind some more rocks.

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Moving right along...
 
In yet another confusing scene, Sonic turns to Drago and proclaims “YOU!” and like Yosemite Sam/Elmer Fudd, Drago points to himself and is like “HUH-WUUUUHHH???? ME????!”

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Then Drago runs off with his butt reflecting in Sonic’s eyes. He’s after that ass.
 
… To be fair to Drago, his confusion as to why Sonic would single him out is a bit justified. To my knowledge, Sonic shouldn’t know Drago is a traitor. The two of them haven’t even interacted in the book according to my knowledge. The only ones we were shown finding out about Drago’s deception were Bunnie and Antoine and they were taken to Dowunda the instant it happened…
 
… So yeah… Drago SHOULD be confused. In fact, none of the people present should know of his deception except, now, Tails and Rotor, and they didn't speak a word to Sonic about it.
 
That scene with Uncle Chuck talking to Sonic in the prison about how he knew he was innocent and that he was going to help him out made me think he was going to do some sleuthing of his own and make the reveal to someone. 
 
Instead, nothing happens and Uncle Chuck doesn’t show up in this story ever again. 
 
Does this story have somewhere to be? Why is it in such a rush? This was planned as a four part story regardless of the fact that the book was ending right? By now they have to know it's continuing too so what the hell is going on???
 
The story than does something rather interesting between the two versions here. The scenes added for the Super Special expand on one of the more annoying rushed resolutions of this very badly done book.
 
In the normal version of Issue 50, Sonic chases after Drago and Drago is just immediately stopped when he gets hit with a rock by Hershey. 

 

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Hershey then stops to explain everything that she did to Sonic thanks to Drago’s deception.
 
Another rushed resolution to something that was being set up for a while here.
 
However, the Super Special gives us quite a large number of extra pages.
 
George Lucas Ken Penders Special Edition Addition Scene #3 - We need to justify this Downunda subplot as well as give the Drago and Hershey story proper closure.

So, in a scene that looks so important I’m kind of shocked it wasn’t in the original book, Bunnie and Antoine stumble upon a computer that, for some reason, has Robotnik’s personal file about the Downunda Airbus Ore Delivery.
 
He just screams at them about how important the ore is and about how it’s the most dangerous and important thing ever. He literally says that his entire LIFE has been building to this moment.

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As far as discovering the villain’s plans by finding their diary/journal this one ranks up there as one of the goofiest I’ve read. They break into this room, not knowing what it is, and decide to tap into the system to find out. This video then comes up without them even looking for it. 
 
Also, I understand that the Ore is being transported on the Airbus but why the hell does that mean the file where Robotnik screams this plan at you is on the Airbus itself? Wouldn’t something like that be at his lair? Did he send the Downunda prison staff the video just in case they forgot they needed to mine ore for him? He could have just reminded  them in a video call… just sayin…
 
Anyway, Antoine suggests they blow the Airbus up but Bunnie stops him to say that she thinks Crocbot is quite DA BOMB!
 
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That wasn’t a joke Bunnie. Why did you say it like that? They don't even use Crocbot as the bomb in the finale. Why is this line here?
 
The Airbus is making its final approach now and ...geez. People sure are traveling long stretches to different places in an extremely short amount of time.
 
We cut back to Drago where we see the alternate version of his take down. 
 
He’s still trying to run away from Sonic but then a voice calls out to him. It’s Hershey.
 
She pretends to be totally into him and Drago falls for it despite asking how he can trust her. The only thing she does to suade him is to imply that she wants to be with a winner--

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She then proceeds to beat the shit out of him for the entirety of a full page.
 
It ends with Drago trying to run away but Hershey angrily tossing the rock at his head that leads into the scene we saw earlier of Sonic reaching her and Hershey explaining what happened.
 
This was a much better and far more appropriate end to the Drago and Hershey conflict. All the book really needed to do in order to resolve it was to dedicate a single proper scene to the two of them and this delivered on that. It didn’t even really have to be a scene of Hershey beating him up, just something that offered actual closure. 
 
That said, I am glad it was just her beating the shit out of him. It’s strange because both these characters feel like they kind of came out of nowhere and were suddenly important. Hershey especially. She claims that she loved Drago and he betrayed everyone, beat her around like a punching bag, and tricked her into murdering Sally Acorn for no other reason than to be a dick.
 
As someone else mentioned, they could have just gotten a Metal Sonic to dress as actual Sonic to do it. Having Hershey do it was literally something done for the sake of being excessive and pointlessly cruel. Any girl who would seriously want to get back together with Drago after something like that should probably change their name to Sakura Haruno.
 
This was the first of the additions that actually feels like it wholeheartedly improves on the book rather than just being something amusing or something pointless.
 
They ruin the good vibes by then adding Hayden Christensen at the end of Return of the Jedi.

 

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Back to the main issue, Sonic tells Hershey not to worry about it. She was duped along with everyone else. I’m glad he doesn’t hold Sally’s death against her. No doubt he’s raring to shove a burning tire iron right up Robotnik’s ass.

Speaking of Robotnik, he awakens from his chamber making this GLORIOUS face.

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 Either he had an excellent nap, dreaming about people suffering yet again, or that green gas is the indication of the most satisfying fart of his life.
 
The Swat Bots inform Robotnik that the ore that he wanted has arrived safely from Downunda (curious considering the ADDED scenes of Bunnie and Antione in the Super Special. I have a feeling this is going to lead to something that’s going to annoy the piss out of me) but give him the added bad news that Sonic has liberated Knothole…
 
… He did? 
 
When?
 
Did knocking out Drago and the Swat Bots around him liberate the village or did he do that off-screen? 
 
Sigh. Whatever. We need to rush to the ending. Rush it out faster. FASTER. 
 
Robotnik makes it to his command center where we see Bunnie and Antoine hanging out above him. I wondered, since the scene showing them escaping Downunda and finding the Airbus wasn’t in the original issue, if there was going to be some slathered on expository dialogue about how the Downunda Freedom Fighters helped them escape.
 
Turns out there was.

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 It’s like the original comic realized how pointless this subplot was and dedicated as little time to it as possible. 
 
Sonic is spotted on the monitor by Snively who seems surprised that he hasn’t given up. Sonic, after making after-images of himself using one of his more, somehow, believable ridiculous speed techniques, runs inside and comes across Snively.
 
Snively says he’s not going to let Sonic pass if it’s the last thing he does and Sonic says he’s right about it being the last thing he’ll ever do, implying that he’s going to kill him.
 
He then knocks Snively down the garbage chute. Or at least, I think it’s the garbage chute. Either way, Sonic doesn’t know or care where it leads so he’s probably okay with the idea that it might kill him.
 
Sonic then smashes into Bunnie and Antoine and has an embarrassingly short scene with the two of them. This is the entire scene.

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That’s it.
 
The Super Special, however, has a much longer scene with the two of them.
 
George Lucas Ken Penders Special Edition Addition Scene #4 - No seriously guys, the Bunnie and Antoine subplot was actually important. More pages dedicated to it will prove it.
 
The Super Special version of this scene is the three of them having this same exact conversation except it’s stretched out to a whole page rather than just being a passing thing that’s squeezed into the top 3 panels.


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This definitely flows a lot better and does, admittedly, make what Antoine and Bunnie are doing feel like it has more weight and relevance to it. Honestly, I’m making fun of it but the only thing that’s hanging me up about the Antoine and Bunnie thing is the fact that the Super Special is spending most of its time correcting how clearly rushed and out of the way their subplot was in the original issue.
 
It’s not like what they end up doing isn’t important.  It just needed more build up and it’s getting that here. It just feels weird that such a plot device had so little time and care dedicated to it back in the original Issue 50. 
 
The only important thing about the whole Downunda bit is the fact that the ore Robotnik needs was mined from there and someone needs to find out about that and plant a bomb to blow his shit up. I can’t help but think it might have been simpler to have Drago order the Swat Bots to take Antoine and Bunnie to a roboticizer, have them escape, and discover Robotnik’s plan on his own computer instead of the computer on the Airbus that’s transporting the ore. Then have them run into Sonic. 
 
It would have saved us a lot of time dealing with Crocbot and the Downunda Freedom Fighters. Some of these extra pages with the two of them could have gone in some of the earlier issues that way.
 
Also, I can’t believe how bad the digital effect on Han Solo dodging Greedo’s blast is.

 
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The next section is the climax and… ho’boy. 
 
I mean, holy alamole.
 
So, on the exact same page where the three panels of Sonic confronting Bunnie and Antoine are we ALSO see Sonic reaching Robotnik’s room and confronting him too. 
 
This is shockingly fast paced and it’s something that the Super Special goes to great lengths to fix.
 
The original issue has this horrid info box that hasn’t been used at any point throughout the issue pop up uninvited to let us know that Sonic is uncharacteristically devoid of humor in this moment. 

Thanks, I hate it.
 
This is going to continue as things go on though. I don’t mind narration when it’s done right but it usually works a lot better when you’re trying to sell me on something before the story starts or to punctuate a story after it’s told. For some reason, I can’t help but roll my eyes when it happens in the middle of the action as though the action can’t speak for itself.
 
Robotnik has Sonic in a tight space and says it’ll gimp his speed. To prove this, he actually manages to back hand Sonic in the face. To Robotnik’s credit, Sonic is closed in tightly but that also means Sonic will have less room to miss when he attacks you. 
 
This is exactly what Sonic does. He knocks Robotnik out of his seat and Robotnik utters his trademark catchphrase as the two of them stare each other down.

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I can’t tell if that last punch was Sonic breaking reality or him going so fast he turned into a liquid.
 
Either way, whatever the computer just said spells the doom for our two adversaries.
 
This lead-in isn’t quite as climactic as the climax gets though. The Super Special aims to fix that.
 
George Lucas Ken Penders Special Edition Addition Scene #5 - The Actual Prelude to Sonic and Eggman Beating the Shit Out of Each Other Until One of them is Murdered.
 
After Bunnie and Antoine head off to do the deed, they burst into a room where they see a large cannon, the Ultimate Annihilator, firing a blast at a large satellite above. It’s power is going to, no doubt, be used to wipe out Knothole. I know this because stage two is literally called Knothole Wipeout.
 
Just as Robotnik’s countdown reaches one, THAT’S when Sonic makes his epic hero entrance. Here, instead of Robotnik sitting in a chair by himself, there’s a shit ton of Swat Bots in the room like there should be!
 
Sonic goes in and starts to fight them all which holds him back long enough for Robotnik’s countdown to reach zero! He presses the button and then fires a laser from the satellite onto what appears to be Knothole village and blows it up!

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In the Super Special, we actually get to see an example of what Robotnik’s master plan coming to fruition would look like. Despite the fact that it’s still a tad rushed, the crux of what’s happening here is far more exciting and far more deserving of a climactic finish.
 
The stakes have risen to a point where Knothole’s destruction isn’t just talk, it’s presented as the reality. This gives Sonic the kick in the butt he needs to go as ham on Robotnik as he does!
 
We’re shown a scene of Antoine planting the bomb in the cannon room before cutting back to the scene where Robotnik delivers his catchphrase… this time, however, it looks significantly more awesome. Instead of Robotnik lying in a pile of scraps after having been punched in the face, he’s standing up, showing the glowing green gauntlet on his arm (that was on the cover of the original Issue 50 but only shows up in the director's cut by the way…) and delivering a speech that actually FEELS like it’s coming from the mouth of a villain whose about to make this the last stand. There’s even a better justification for the narration interjecting the way it did. Robotnik did a good job of reiterating his motivation and his emotions here. The narration is now just acting as a seasoning to it rather than a lazy way to just explain to us what he and Sonic are feeling.

 
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The original Issue 50 has, so far, been a rushed, dump-truck of junk food but the extra pages of the Super Special are really delivering the goods. Things are coming together much more smoothly and the only hiccups it seems to be having are things that are the result of having to stay true to the original issue.

For indeed, the Antoine and Bunnie plot would really work a lot better had the set up from the issues before not been so mild so as to make the scenes of them in Issue 50 feel comically tacked on. It’s almost as if they forgot there was a reason they got sent to Downunda.
 
This is where both the original issue and the Super Special converge again and the feeling you get with this next page is amplified ten-fold thanks to how much better the set-up for it in the Super Special is.
 
It’s just Sonic and Robotnik wailing on each other as hard and as fast as they can.
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 In the original issue, despite how brutal and awesome it looks (as well as well-drawn thanks to the art style shifting to Spaz) it does feel like it’s here because it needs to look climactic. The issue is moving so fast that there wasn’t much chance of me grasping the severity of this final confrontation.
 
That said, even when it comes, it’s still too fast and it goes out with a whimper.
 
Antoine and Bunnie messing with the Ultimate Annihilator has made it so that it’s going to explode, just like they were warned about. Sonic and Robotnik are trapped here and decide the only course of action is to fight until they die.
 
We’ve finally reached it. This iconic image.

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 There are literal holes being blasted through the two of them. They’re getting vaporized.
 
Either way, this is the image of the final time Sonic got to fight Warlord Julian, the original Dr. Robotnik of the Archie comics.
 
In the Super Special version, there’s another two pages added to sell it even more.

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This image is then followed by an entire page that’s nothing but a blank, white canvas. If there were ever a more appropriate time to do something like that… it would have been in the original Issue 50, not the director's cut.
 
Then poof.
 
Sonic disappears and then realizes his body is fine. He then passes out and wakes up in a bed.

I was so confused.
 
 Turns out I have a right to be confused because Dr. Quack, as he’s the one overseeing Sonic, goes on to exposit what happened and it’s some of the weirdest, gobble-d-gook we’ve gotten from this book in quite some time.
 
It was so confusing I had to look up the Endgame article on the Mobius Encyclopedia to get clarification on it all… as well as clarification on some of the things Dr. Quack DOESN’T explain.
 
For example, the thing that got Sonic out of that mess was his One Billionth Ring and its power. Expecting me to remember that goddamn thing at all was already too presumptuous but not even bothering to mention it in the actual text is next level dumb.
 
I don’t even remember how the Billionth ring works.
 
So, how did Knothole survive?

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Some bullshit. 
 
So basically, Dr. Quack explains everything that went on. Somehow, Robotnik hacked into his weird Dream Watcher device from way back and used that to discover Knothole’s location. I won’t ask why this is the first time he could do that to a device because it doesn’t matter. He's dead now.
 
He kidnapped the Quack doctor’s family and made him work with him so that he could replace the king with a robot, use Drago to make Sally the fall girl, and then frame Sonic for it. 
 
However, Snively did some computer smarts and made it so only Robotnik would be affected by the Ultimate Annihilator.

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Yeah, that’s right. Snively killed Robotnik.
 
Holy shit balls, he actually did it. 
 
What’s strange about this is that, again, the only hint we had that he was even planning on doing anything was at the start of the Super Special issue. This panel of Dr. Quack explaining that Snively re-worked the device so that it would only affect Robotnik is the only hint the original issue gives us to his treachery in Endgame.
 
As for Sally…!

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She’s still dead! HAHAHAHA!
 
But Sonic opens the casket and kisses the corpse because that’s how he be. He got the idea from another princess he’s met.
 
No, of course she’s still alive. Dr. Quack said that it was easy to convince everyone that she died because she fell so high. So he put her in a stasistube disguised as a “fancy” memorial to hide that fact.
 
Sally wakes up after Sonic admits to loving her and the two embrace. The Super Special version has a full page spread of them kissing that I scrolled past as fast as I could.
 
So that’s it. Everyone returns to their normal lives. Geoffrey looks a bit downtrodden despite being given his normal position back but you can see Hershey waving at him from behind. Looks like he’s got back-up options now that it’s clear the “love of his life” is with Sonic.
 
Drago has been taken to the Devil’s Gulag, a clear opposite result to the easy life he betrayed everyone for. He’s going to be in there forever… or at least until the story wants to use him again.
 
As for Snively… well, that’s a story for another day… and I’m sure it’ll be a very interesting one.
 
So that was Endgame and it was… interesting.
 
If I didn’t have the Super Special to read, this entire issue would have been a dower, barely functioning affair. The entirety of the original issue is rushed to hell and back. It’s like the 4th issue of every Sonic Universe arc but 100 times worse. Everything that was set up was given a quick and unceremonious solution that was sometimes pulled right out of an ass. They grew tired of the “Hedgehog on the Run” plot and scrapped it so that they could immediately get to the final confrontation with Robotnik.
 
His plan was so undefined that it being his final one would also have been a let down if not for the Super Special.
 
The Super Special version really did go a long way to selling me a lot more on the importance of everyone’s actions compared to the original version. It was aware that Bunnie and Antoine’s subplot was so rushed and out of the way that having it be the catalyst for the explosion that happens to the Ultimate Annihilator needed more justification. It still doesn’t excuse the detour to Downunda but there was nothing a director’s cut of Issue 50 could have done to fix that.
 
Apparently, they also didn’t see it fit to fix the horrid scene with Dulcy.
 
Also, Robotnik is gone. He’s dead.
 
He was vaporized and turned to atoms and that’s it. He’s fucking dead. Ken Penders didn’t want Robotnik around anymore because he was tired of using him as the villain so he killed him off. 
 
SEGA let him do this. 
 
What a different time we lived in back in the day. 
 
Also, like the “happy” ending to Little Shop of Horrors, that scene where Sonic very quickly just finds Sally in a box and they kiss is also a very rushed thing that exists to make the shippers happy that Ken didn’t go through with killing her off.
 
Ken didn’t want Sally to be alive. That was originally supposed to be a robot double of her. Regardless of whether or not they thought this was the end, by the time of this issue’s creation they clearly knew they were going to continue but that didn’t stop Ken from wanting to kill both Sally and Robotnik. He only managed to get away with doing one of those, however.
 
Ken thought Sally was pointless with the King back, that it was too hard to do things with Sonic and Sally’s relationship because of how restrained it was (something I agree with him on), and that Sally cramped Sonic’s style.
 
Now, I don’t like or care about Sally Acorn but only one of these points are things that feel like they have any acceptable validity to it. This is a very strange thought process to have regardless of his personal feelings on this character. Of course, he feels differently now, instead saying he would like to bring Sally and the Freedom Fighters into IDW Sonic and immediately resurrect the horrible love-triangle bullshit that I, and a ton of other people, hated and made fun of a good chunk of the Archie comic’s run for.

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 Sounds like a match made in Hell. Truly, I couldn’t imagine a better way to kill my interest in the book aside from maybe announcing that you won’t be using the Chaotix or Omega in the series anymore.

I have no clue what he means by "re-establish continuity" and I don't see how doing another "Sally is betrothed to another" story is taking the series in new directions no one has ever done. You'd have better success putting everyone in string bikinis. Even the children like Cream and Charmy because apparently age matters not to you.

These tweets would have been harder to find if the "Thanks, Ken Penders" tumblr blog someone clued me into didn't have them. So thanks. 

I’m laying into Penders a lot here because we’re about to enter an era of comics that rely heavily upon his “vision” of the Sonic world without Robotnik. Things are going to get very weird and… despite how disgusted I’ll become, I can’t fake the fact that I’m also a bit excited.
 
This wasn’t the Endgame. It was just the end of the beginning. It’s time for Phase 2.
 
Maybe I’d be more optimistic if he didn’t make Darth Vader scream NO in the special edition of Return of the Jedi when Knuckles tossed him down that huge shaft but oh well.

 

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TBF a lot of the Antoine and Bunnie stuff was written by Mike Gallagher and there's a back up story in Super Special 4 that delves into the subplot and gives a few extra details. 

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On 6/23/2019 at 10:22 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

Sonic & Knuckles: Mecha Madness Special - Mecha Madness

image.png.205c7592b9b63723bf394a3b653ec58a.png

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.

image.png.d6f913f06534caa1224abbfe223aa033.png

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.

Yeah, some of the covers were one of the cool things about the specials. Some.

Oh man, I never thought about it like that.

On 6/23/2019 at 10:22 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

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. 

Yeah, I seem to recall Satam having Sally be pretty modest about her royal heritage. But then that was the pilot, before the bigger picture.

The point about their childhood is a good question, though. It's been a while, but I can't seem to remember much interaction when they were younger.

On 6/23/2019 at 10:22 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

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. 

I'm guessing Mr. Gallagher came up with the trial story afterward and had to backpedal. Which is still weird because this is more of a swap and Antoine IS the lawyer next issue iirc. You could probably get away with saying Sally changed her mind after the damages if it wasn't for that.

Honestly, it makes one wonder if it's simply the writers forgetting/ignoring previous stories unless they significantly contribute to the new ones.

On 6/23/2019 at 10:22 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

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.

Probably because it's Michael Gallagher telling a relatively serious story.

Like, Sally could be a Control Freak at times in the comic, but still.

On 6/23/2019 at 10:22 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

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!

 

Honestly, I'm was trying to remember why Locke would be mingling with King Max. But then it hit me--the crash.

On 6/23/2019 at 10:22 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

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.

Probably. 

On 6/23/2019 at 10:22 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

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.

image.png.12d4fdbf359e941897cbba2b26c75e03.png

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!

And here we are, the big duke out of the story. That's essentially what this story is--dumb fun. Er, give or take some questionable/offensive corniness in places.

Gotta love what a shithole Robotropolis is that you can honestly say there is a "highly explosive" part.

On 6/23/2019 at 10:22 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

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.

Yeah, pretty much.

On 6/23/2019 at 10:22 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

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... 

I guess its referencing how Robotnik stole the device from Uncle Chuck in the first place and modified it to suit his own ends. And most of the people he roboticized tend to serve as worker bots and/or go down quicker.

Woops. The older issues had a habit of monolouging the depths of what happens.

On 6/23/2019 at 10:22 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

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.

Guess they simply don't want to take the risk since she's so unusual.

But then, another oou reason is that she wouldn't exactly be Bunnie RabBOT anymore, would she?

On 6/23/2019 at 10:22 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

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. 

Oh yeah, that thing.

Which sounds bad outta context.

On 6/23/2019 at 10:22 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

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.

Image result for mr. krabs smallest violin

...Wut. What now?

I gotta admit that I didn't quite remember this, but it sounds about right.

On 6/23/2019 at 10:22 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

 

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

...

...

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

 image.png.574f1b2d76acc97ca622065245cf9fa5.png

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". 

image.png.74c28b88a1215032ac34ef37c33d57ea.png

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?

Yeah, SatAM and early Archie Sonic could be super hotheaded and even petty at times.

I mean, that's what trials are supposed to involve, but let's not kid ourselves here--Antoine wants to throw the book at him(remember that, he says long afterthefact).

On 6/23/2019 at 10:22 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

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.

Ah man, this is kinda topical given what just happened on Miraculous. So I feel ya.

On 6/23/2019 at 10:22 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

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.

image.png.86e5a9af2012f22676118407a71f5d9a.png

...

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.

image.png.fc7fb57eb78fd7a444a7e4bdd0e8c07c.png

Oh yeah, this was their(and their master's) debut.

Lol

On 6/23/2019 at 10:22 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

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.

Ah yeah, the rivalry that unexpectedly(or not) became a breakout 150-something issues later.

On 6/23/2019 at 10:22 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

 

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?

Serial numbers? Like, rank makes sense coming from him, but wth.

On 6/23/2019 at 10:22 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

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!"

image.png.50a3c3579979c392a0c25d18e057c5d3.png

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.

Okay, gonna say it--Mogul is one of the more epic aspects of the comics to me. Though admittedly a certain splash page you'll see 60 or so issue down the road was something of a good first impression.

And I admittedly don't quite remember the Chaotix walloping him. Also, it just occurred to me that he's essentially an Evil Counterpart for Knuckles.

On 6/23/2019 at 10:22 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

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.

Oh man, the Forty Fanthom Freedom Fighters. I'll let this story speak for more of them. Why was Capone chasing Octobot, btw?

Also, you may recall Bivalve is one of Dub's favorite characters that he and other artists would sneak into .

 

On 6/30/2019 at 2:09 PM, DabigRG said:

Oh yeah, I remember this issue. One big trip indeed, if you know what I mean.

It's been quite a while, but I wanna say the Billion Ring does come in handy at some point, but I'm not sure on that.

Oh, look at that! I don't even think this is what I was referring to.

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On 6/30/2019 at 1:40 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

Issue #40 - Court Martial 

image.png.fdcc92e339eb3250eab514fb5c5f9475.png

I actually took a little break from reading these and the reason is because this issue disappointed me so much that it left me feeling a little drained. 

We begin with Sonic in prison. Unlike Adventure 2, it’s not anywhere high security. The bars look like they’re literally being held together with rubber bands. How adorable.

Oh dear.

Which is NOT why Nack keeps getting out, surprisingly.

On 6/30/2019 at 1:40 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

Antoine is there to antagonize Sonic and gloat about his promotion to commander. Sonic lays on the insults thick, saying that Antoine is only in charge because everyone important is out rebuilding Knothole while he’s stuck here babysitting. Antoine claims his job IS important right before leaving to go read a book titled “The Perfect Party by Martha Shrewart”. 

Haha. So funny…

Antoine and Sonic aren’t friends. I’m dispelling the notion that they could be in any way, shape, or form right this instant. 

Did Mr. Gallagher write this story too? What am I saying, of course he did.

But yeah, the disdain between them lasts for quite a while. I wanna say sometime around 100 or so.

On 6/30/2019 at 1:40 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

Sonic hears chanting outside of his cell and it turns out to be Ms. Amy Rose! Long time no see! It’s been so long in fact that when the comic reminded me that she was in Issue 25 I had trouble recalling it. I almost even thought that this might have been her first actual appearance. How embarrassing of me.

Looking back over Issue 25, it’s clearly the Sonic CD adaption, and Metal Sonic’s first appearance. Even stranger is that they called Metal Sonic by the name “Mecha Sonic” which kind of takes some of the fire out of the naming convention I praised two issues ago... but it still works. I'm surprised I forgot reading the Sonic CD adaption. I actually remember liking it.

Anyway, Amy is hoisting up picket signs and proclaiming Sonic’s innocence. She’s the only one doing so too. No one else cares.

Amy starts yelling out “Shawshank! Shawshank!” She’s adorbs.

Yeah, this was a nice way to bring her back.

.

On 6/30/2019 at 1:40 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

Rotor shows up with Sally outside of the prison and they talk about how her father’s stash of supplies that was hidden outside of and far away from Knothole came in handy when it was destroyed. How smart of him. I won’t call that out as bullshit since it seems like something that someone would reasonably think of and there’s no reason it would need to have been talked about before now.

Rotor asks if Sonic might be acquitted. Sally says he knows she can’t discuss that. After their discussion, Rotor tells Sally that she’s doing a good job in her father’s place but Sally says IT AIN’T EASY BEING A ROYAL!

She starts crying and runs off blubbering about how the strict by-laws are FORCING her to court-martial the ONE BOY she truly… *lip quivers* Oh Sob! Oh Cry! 

Image result for drama queen gif

Oh woe is her! The princess whose in charge and the one who makes the rules in her father’s absence is in such emotional turmoil!

 image.png.606135a62440b28e569e6a0992897d27.png

Yeah, go jump in a lake, alright? Thanks.

Yeah no kidding. Then again, this is the guy who left some clues behind in the second episode of Satam. ...Think about it.

Dang.

On 6/30/2019 at 1:40 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

Sally doesn’t run off though. Instead she heads over to Amy and says “That’s enough Civil disobedience for one day”. Amy foolishly thinks she’s here to pardon Sonic. 

Sonic tells Amy that Sally’s going to say no. Sally says no and makes the little girl cry. For some reason, all three of these characters are colored completely black and given blood red eyes. It looks scary and I don’t know the reason for it.

Sonic says that him being right about that is checkmate. Sally says that’s enough sarcasm from him and to be more responsible to the girl as she hangs onto his every word. Sonic asserts that she KNOWS he doesn’t belong here. I say that if she did then you wouldn’t be in there, Sonic. She confirms this by shouting that “No one is above the law, Sonic! Not even you! Is that clear?”

Sonic shouts back that this system stinks. I agree. This is some bullshit. 

Sally drags Amy off as the little girl says she still believes in him. Aww~!

Oh wow, really? Not sure why they rendered it that way. I seem to recall them doing something similar during certain little arguments.

On 6/30/2019 at 1:40 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

Then Sonic screams that the Chili-Dogs are stale! STALE?!  Come the hell on. You’re serving this dude STALE chili-dogs?

I hate you.

Also, again, she’s being completely unwilling to hear him out. I’m assuming she hasn’t actually heard his side of the story because if she had I don’t feel like she’d be THIS angry and THIS eager to get him sentenced. She doesn’t even seem like she wants this to end with him being found innocent. Not really. That one scene of her crying is all we get and it comes and goes so incredibly fast. It's almost like someone remembered that she's supposed to care about Sonic for two seconds.

How do you get stale hot dogs? Or chili for that matter, if we're going all the way.

I think the idea is that she's not allowed to here his side of things until the actual trial. Which means she going back and forth between hating that she has to do this and treating him as someone who seemingly committed treason.

On 6/30/2019 at 1:40 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

So we cut to the fucking Kangaroo court where-

“We the Kangaroo court judges, will decide if you are guilty” two literal Kangaroos say.

Oh, now you’re just rubbing the incompetence in my face.

They say that they are only there to say who’s guilty. Pronouncing sentence is pointless since there’s only one punishment, banishment. Sonic asks who the head honcho that decides that is gonna be and viola, out comes Sally the Haughty Princess (BARF) in this gaudy, pretentious royal outfit complete with a crown, staff, and coat that drags along the ground. Sonic’s got this really sad, betrayed look on his face. You, the reader, are left with literally no choice but to side with him from both a logical and emotional standpoint.

These people aren’t even being understandably mistaken. They just look like villains.

Ah yes, Hip and Hop, who you may remember from the Trial of Geoffrey St. John. Did you know they're actually game characters?

That's probably the intent, given the repercussions of Sonic's transformation.

On 6/30/2019 at 1:40 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

Sally says that Bunnie is going to guard “the prisoner” and Bunnie, with the meanest look on her face, produces a goddamn circular SAW on her arm and says that she will. Sonic asks her if this is how she’s gonna thank him for saving his life. Bunnie’s reaction is to very callously say that him saving her fucking life is “old news” and that Rotor outfitted her arm to be a Hedgehog Hunter.

For you see, not ONLY does she have a saw in her hand but she’s been outfitted with a mini-guided MISSILE tuned to SEEK AND DESTROY his unique physiological aura. Then Rotor chimes in that he was just doing his job…!

image.png.7e5019893d4fa87234b80a10d43dc951.png

You guys tried to save this dude’s life last issue and now you’ve outfitted Bunnie with weapons to maim and BLOW him the fuck up! '

Oh my goodness, it's Dave Manek. I was gonna ask who the artist was earlier and patience is indeed a virtue.

You know, since I know she/he's almost certainly seen this by now, this kinda makes me think of Phi's complaint about tone around Silver except crisscrossed. 

On 6/30/2019 at 1:40 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

… You know. I hope Sonic gets banished. 

No, no, I’m not kidding. I hope he gets banished and I hope he leaves. When he leaves, I want him to not want to come back except for maybe to think about Tails. Then I want Tails to leave and go after him. The two of them head off to be their own tag-team in the fight against Eggman. 

That’ll be the backstory if the Freedom Fighters ever enter the IDW series (which they won’t). It won’t be him reunited with old friends. It’ll be him meeting up with a bunch of psychos who betrayed him because they so easily and readily conspired to get him thrown in prison when the first plausible excuse to do it came up. 

Yeah that’s right. Make them antagonistic towards him. I think this is a great backstory. I wanna see a comic where this happened. It sounds like it’d be awesome and full of drama. Amy wouldn’t hesitate to leave and go after Sonic too. It’s basically just the official cast and Rotor that don’t seem to be gunning for Sonic to be guilty here after all.

...Not sure I wanna say anything, since I don't know how to approach.

On 6/30/2019 at 1:40 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

Things get heated even more when court finally gets underway. Antoine says it’s an open and shut case but it’s totally not because there’s no fucking EVIDENCE but whatever. Who needs that? Just assume he wasn’t kidnapped. Open and shut case. Fuck you.

Antoine says this while pointing at Sonic and Sonic angrily tells Antoine to get his dirty french sausage finger out of his face before he rips it off his hand. I’m glad Sonic is so angry and deliberately making everything more heated. 

Antoine calls his first witness to the stand and then proceeds to go absolutely buttfuck insane.

He yells at everyone he puts on the stand and we get a lazy “badgering the witness” joke when Antoine hoists a badger up to Amy, demanding to know if she forced it to join her Sonic fan club. Then Antoine calls himself to the stand and starts saying that he saw it all and what not. Sally promptly tells him to shut the hell up because he’s going on and on without actually saying anything other than what they all already think is the truth.

This isn't a trial--this is bad improv routine.

Also, racist much Sonic? :lol: 

On 6/30/2019 at 1:40 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

Sonic then stands up and delivers a VERY good point that even I didn’t think of. He outright talks about the fact that the cell next to his was empty when it should have been occupied by Nack the Weasel. Antoine didn’t realize it because he was too busy planning a party for his victory.

Sally asks if that’s true and Antoine throws himself at the mercy of the court. Sonic expects the cuffs to be taken off but Sally says no cause Antoine only misbehaved and the trial is about him.

Misbehaved?! The fucking criminal that was in your shitty prison escaped and there was no follow up on what he did afterwards aside from what Sonic told you happened when he went to the Gym! Even if that oversight is brushed aside as Antoine “misbehaving” that still leaves room open for discussion on Nack’s whereabouts and his actions thereafter. There’s actually MORE evidence to support Sonic’s side than there is to support their own! Sonic being a robot isn’t proof that he deliberately got Robotnik’s help to roboticize himself and neither is him being upset that you guys rejected his admittedly horrid plan. A horrid plan that he wanted to do to HELP everyone by the way. Even if it was disobedience had he actually done it, strapping a saw and a missile that seeks out his aura is a borderline psychotic way to punish him for that.

Wait, has Sonic already told his side of the story? If so, then there's no reason for Sally not to consider extenuating circumstances at this point.

On 6/30/2019 at 1:40 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

“The Kangaroo court judges will now cast their votes…”

Cast their votes?! There was no deliberation! Nothing was even discussed! 

Sonic just brought up a bunch of good points and Sally is all like “We’ll talk about it later.” NO BITCH, WE’LL TALK ABOUT IT NOW!

Sonic’s response to this is “Wot?” 

I agree. Wot indeed. 

Then Bunnie has the nerve, the fucking hutspa, to tell Sonic to calm down. No, YOU calm down. 

Image result for i plead the fifth gif

Sonic thankfully tells Bunnie to shut the fuck up and shreds his hand-cuffs, proving he could have done so at anytime and was playing along to be fair to this farce. Bunnie is READY to kick Sonic’s ass. She’s excited to do it. She SO wants to see him put in prison. I can’t stress this enough.

Sally comes in and thinks she can be the one to tell people to calm down now but then immediately uses the reasoning of the verdict being IN as a reason why they should.

Sally, if you seriously are planning to allow this to pass, like the court fucking jester you are, than please, promptly banish yourself. 

Sonic makes one last plea to Sally for a chance to prove himself innocent. Sally says okay. She gives him 24 hours and straps a tracker to Sonic’s wrist. Sonic is then off to clear his name.

Meanwhile, we cut to Robotnik who’s lamenting the loss of Mecha Sonic and the fact that he has to rebuild Robotropolis for a second time in the last couple issues. Still, he manages to triangulate Sonic’s position and realizes that he’s soon to be done for. His latest machine is going to doom everyone! Can’t wait to see it.

Oh, so this is what whoever meant when they said Bunnie could be hotheaded in the comics. Huh.

Bout time.

On 6/30/2019 at 1:40 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

Anyway, Sonic finds his way to the Robo Hobo yard where a bunch of Robotnik’s obsolete badniks hang out. Sonic gets attacked by Catakiller, Motobug, and the Bat...badnik. Sonic gets knocked around a bit but he beats them and forces the Catakiller to tell him where Nack is. 

He’s at the Bottom of the Barrel Bar ‘N Grill. Nice name.

Sonic heads there and like the one episode of Spongebob is stopped by the angry guard gorilla and tossed away. However, unlike Spongebob, Sonic can fight. He revved his feet up and smashed the gorilla through the door and tells everyone to get out except for Nack.

Nack puts his hands up… but they’re actually not his hands. They were sticks. His actual hands are hidden in his coat and he whips them out to produce a knockout gas gun that he sprays into Sonic’s face.

Sonic gets knocked out by Nack the Weasel for the third time.

image.png.42ed5692179d0c1b1a664e8a7c979817.png

These three have encountered each other three times and Sonic’s lost every single time. Nack is really competent here. I’m lamenting how much less effective he becomes down the line. 

Turns out that it was a bit of a ruse here though. When Nack contacts Robotnik and tries to get money transferred to his account in exchange for info on where the unconscious Sonic is, he gets thumped from behind. Turns out Sonic stowed away on Nack’s bike when he rode off with it. I guess the gas just… ...didn’t work.

...Okay.

Kinda questioning why the first place Sonic thought to look for Nack was a place inhabited by Badniks. Other than this being a Michael Gallagher story, anyway.

Could be reference to how he was supposed to straight up shoot Sonic in Triple Trouble.

On 6/30/2019 at 1:40 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

So Robotnik is angry and Sonic starts taunting him over the phone line, saying that he’s gonna send Nack’s bike on auto-pilot and set it to self-destruct… because I guess it’s easy to do that.

Sonic does just that too.

So I guess Robotnik is going to have to rebuild Robotropolis for a third time…

… Back at Knothole, Sally and Rotor discover that there was another explosion in Robotropolis and wonder could have done it. Well, Sonic shows up and claims that he did.

He then tosses Nack to the ground and says that Nack is going to confess to ambushing him in the gym and turning him over to Robotnik…

… And Sally’s response, before Nack even speaks a word, is that Nack is gonna do some HARD TIME!

… 

...

… Okay.

So...

...They were already aware of Nack the Weasel.

Sonic already told them that he escaped.

There was proof that he had escaped because his cell was empty.

Instead of choosing to investigate this further they did whatever they could to get Sonic the guilty verdict and only when the verdict was passed down did they give him a chance to prove himself.

All it takes for them to believe him is for him to physically throw Nack the Weasel in front of them and say the same exact thing he said before.

Nothing about the details of the case have changed. The only thing that changed is that Nack is here instead of somewhere else now. 

What about this is suddenly making them believe Sonic?

… So they take Nack BACK to the jailhouse and then Sally’s like “Oh hurray! You didn’t do it after all! I’ll make it a public apology!”

So… he’s off the hook?! Just like that?!

Image result for redlettermedia gif

This comic’s interpretation of the word “proof” is so blatantly NOT what it thinks it is that it’s kind of amazing. 

Sonic SAID that Nack, the escaped prisoner, was the one who did this to him. They didn’t believe him.

Sonic throws Nack in front of them and says the same thing again. They believe him.

What was the proof? What made them believe him?! Was this just a ruse by them to get Sonic to recapture Nack and put him back in prison? That’s the only thing that makes their behavior make a single iota of sense. 

I forgot he did that. Nack's gonna be pissed.

I would say it's realistically because they were unaware of Antoine's fuckup at the time, but I'm not sure when Sonic mentioned Nack at the moment.

You know, I'll admit that that's the conclusion I was thinking of.

On 6/30/2019 at 1:40 PM, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

Also, what was with the Robotnik segment this issue? He just shows up and casually, Sonic sends a single motorbike to his city and creates a huge explosion there again. The pacing of the last part of the issue was so strange. He went to a junkyard to a bar to blowing up Robotnik to tossing his “proof that wasn’t proof but now suddenly is proof” in front of them all in the third part of the issue. 

I don’t think I need to say it but this issue was all around terrible. I don’t know what the point of all this was but talk about a disappointing wrap-up. There’s no way it just ends with a stupid joke about Antoine getting his celebration party going for his reign as commander... oh wait. It does.

I’m… really hoping something more concrete happens soon because I feel like I was just taken for a ride.

Yeah, I know it's been a while since I looked at these, but this is sounded pretty bad.

On 6/30/2019 at 3:21 PM, Panda Claus said:

It’s like the trial in Alice in Wonderland, except with the White Rabbit (Antoine) being a clinically insane one instead of the Queen of Hearts (Sally).

Ch'yeah, pretty much.

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6 hours ago, Panda Claus said:

“Julian, son of Ivo” was changed to “Julian of the House of Ivo” in the recut.

I tried to look out for changes in dialogue and found a few things but I missed this. I don't know what it's significance is yet though. Or even if it has any heavy significance but I'll likely find out.

4 hours ago, SBR2 said:

TBF a lot of the Antoine and Bunnie stuff was written by Mike Gallagher and there's a back up story in Super Special 4 that delves into the subplot and gives a few extra details. 

Ah yes. I'm aware that I need to keep in mind whenever Mike Gallagher is on the scene. Penders, Gallagher, and Karl Bollers are going to come up a lot during these readings and keeping track of who did what and why might be a bit hard. Thankfully, there's backlogs of info out there on the net to help string me along. It's not just the stories that are important to me but the intention behind them at the time.

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2 minutes ago, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

I tried to look out for changes in dialogue and found a few things but I missed this. I don't know what it's significance is yet though. Or even if it has any heavy significance but I'll likely find out.

It’s because they didn’t want people to erroneously think Ivo was Julian’s father. If Mobius Encyclopedia is to be believed.

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16 hours ago, Dr. Christmas Mike said:

 

Ah yes. I'm aware that I need to keep in mind whenever Mike Gallagher is on the scene. Penders, Gallagher, and Karl Bollers are going to come up a lot during these readings and keeping track of who did what and why might be a bit hard. Thankfully, there's backlogs of info out there on the net to help string me along. It's not just the stories that are important to me but the intention behind them at the time.

Yeah Penders did a lot of stupid shit but he's not responsible for things like Titan Tails or what have you. You haven't gotten to that monstrosity yet but both it and Tommy Turtle are the pet characters of Editor Justin Gabrie  Writer Romy Chacon. 

Quote

If Mobius Encyclopedia is to be believed.

That's a big if lets be real. I'm hesitant to trust most wikis TBH.

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