Megathread Archie Sonic Main Discussion

[SBR2]

Yeah it was oddly popular. I'll never understand why because honestly at the time I'd read 2 of Penders version and the 2 issues Ian did and it didn't click with me at all. 

Now that I've read the whole thing I really don't get it. It's so dull even Ian's version. I just really don't see the appeal. 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I’m actually surprised it was popular. Not so much over how much of a nightmare it was to get them approved.

At least it got somewhat of a proper send off as a “What if?” scenario.

[SkyHorizon]

Sonic-in-200: I'm really shocked that someone may consider the Archie version of Sonic "abrasive and not empathic". I mean, in my opinion he is exceptionally written. The way he react after seeing Eggman reduced that way really left an impression on me the first time I read it. He is the most evil being on the world, a genocidal mad man, you should totally not care about what's going on with him... and yet Sonic can't be happy seeing someone reduced that way. The quick exchange he'll have with Khan about Eggman in a few issues, in my opinion, are what sums up the best Sonic's character in these comics. Which is amazing without being OOC from his game-self (which is kind of insufferable at times). And I won't even start talking about the awful character that StC-Sonic is...

Shadow: There! You found the right words: he's wearing some kind of mask. He's not the monodimensional character that Sega has reduced him as of today. Despite being serious and sulky and stuff, he actually feels like a real characters in Archie, with feelings and reactions, even potential to grow. I think we all agree that IDW-Shadow is the most boring incarnation of him (we all know it's Sega's fault, but whatever).

30YL: Personally, I have no problems with seeing Tails married to Mina. I mean, 30 years have passed, things change, is that really surprising? Ian was just reworking what was previously established, but even Penders' idea to put the two of them together didn't feel too bad. I mean, why not? It's an alternate future, whatever goes, as long as it i realistically plausible :). As for the story... being a big fan of continuity I feel like it's a bit of a waste of space, but it was a kind of nice story, so why not. At least the main series didn't need to be interrupted this time.

P.S: The original M25YL from Penders was boring as hell, by the way :).

P.P:S Mace is Knuckles' brother. Bill was a reference to Platypus Bill if I don't remember it wrong.

[SBR2]

On 9/5/2021 at 8:23 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

And by “In time” I mean “Never”.

If it did, then I seriously don’t remember.

Maybe their conduct in Treasure Team Tango was some sort of hint? I dunno.

I always read it as they're Team Dark because they'll go to extremes other groups won't. 

 

On 9/5/2021 at 8:23 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

This person works for the Dark Presence, which is an awful name, and it’s led by Lien-Da. When she hears the report of who’s inside, she tells her men to pull out. She says she doesn’t want to risk the children if she can help it since they’re innocent in all “this”.

Whatever “this” is. 

I was guessing this was for King Shadow but it seems to be more than that.

Way more.

My read has always been the Dark Presence don't see Sonic as the true king because they can't be secret police anymore. 

I also find Lien-Da's wording about Rutan very interesting. She refers to him as "What's Mine". Like maybe she does care about her son but she really makes it sound like he's just a piece of property to her. It's interesting. 

On 9/5/2021 at 8:23 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Who’s idea was it that Tails and fucking Mina should get together and have children?

Ken Penders friend BobR suggested it jokingly and Ken just ran with it.

 

On 9/5/2021 at 8:23 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Silver the Hedgehog.

"I am Silver The Hedgehog! I'm here to make this story canon so you can't just skip it."

[SanPolo4389]

3 hours ago, SBR2 said:

"I am Silver The Hedgehog! I'm here to make this story canon so you can't just skip it."

Despite how I said before, aside from a few references it never gets brought up again. 

[Kaotic Kanine]

Man, I have so many things to comment but so little time to write them  Well, for now, one thing about the whole confrontation between Sonic and Eggman in 200 I can't help but be bothered by is that... Eggman is not the same Robotnik behind that fateful coup. And he is certainly not the same Robotnik whom Sonic had fought against since he was five. That Robotnik is dead, and Eggman is a version of him from a dimension in which he succeeded and very recently moved into the "prime dimension" to re-experience that success. Heck, just a few issues earlier, Sonic went to the Zone Cops to have them deal with Eggman on the basis of him being an intruder from another dimension.

It's like, I get what Ian was going for: #200 is the big conclusion to the war against Robotnik, to reclaim Mobius from his iron grip and shizz. But that whole exchange between Sonic and Eggman only makes sense if they actually had that history, and fact is they didn't. Sonic didn't meet Eggman until he was sixteen(?), and Eggman had nothing to do with that coup beyond seizing Julian Robotnik's empire that resulted from it after he kicked the bucket. 

Although that context does make Eggman's mental breakdown even more "justified" xD Dude freaking destroyed the Sonic of his original world and came to this one just to re-live that victory, only to get absolutely destroyed by this Sonic. Though I attribute this total loss to Enerjak trashing his base, army, and fleet moreso than Sonic's doing

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

37 minutes ago, Kaotic Kanine said:

Man, I have so many things to comment but so little time to write them  Well, for now, one thing about the whole confrontation between Sonic and Eggman in 200 I can't help but be bothered by is that... Eggman is not the same Robotnik behind that fateful coup. And he is certainly not the same Robotnik whom Sonic had fought against since he was five. That Robotnik is dead, and Eggman is a version of him from a dimension in which he succeeded and very recently moved into the "prime dimension" to re-experience that success. Heck, just a few issues earlier, Sonic went to the Zone Cops to have them deal with Eggman on the basis of him being an intruder from another dimension.

It's like, I get what Ian was going for: #200 is the big conclusion to the war against Robotnik, to reclaim Mobius from his iron grip and shizz. But that whole exchange between Sonic and Eggman only makes sense if they actually had that history, and fact is they didn't. Sonic didn't meet Eggman until he was sixteen(?), and Eggman had nothing to do with that coup beyond seizing Julian Robotnik's empire that resulted from it after he kicked the bucket. 

Yeah, I felt the same way when I first read it. Now I'm sorta over it because I see what Ian was going for, brushing that weird bit of history under the rug to be less weird to new readers...though from a continuity perspective, it's obviously ridiculous. And the fact that they had acknowledged this piece of continuity recently just makes it all the weirder.

[SkyHorizon]

6 hours ago, Kaotic Kanine said:

Man, I have so many things to comment but so little time to write them  Well, for now, one thing about the whole confrontation between Sonic and Eggman in 200 I can't help but be bothered by is that... Eggman is not the same Robotnik behind that fateful coup. And he is certainly not the same Robotnik whom Sonic had fought against since he was five. That Robotnik is dead, and Eggman is a version of him from a dimension in which he succeeded and very recently moved into the "prime dimension" to re-experience that success. Heck, just a few issues earlier, Sonic went to the Zone Cops to have them deal with Eggman on the basis of him being an intruder from another dimension.

It's like, I get what Ian was going for: #200 is the big conclusion to the war against Robotnik, to reclaim Mobius from his iron grip and shizz. But that whole exchange between Sonic and Eggman only makes sense if they actually had that history, and fact is they didn't. Sonic didn't meet Eggman until he was sixteen(?), and Eggman had nothing to do with that coup beyond seizing Julian Robotnik's empire that resulted from it after he kicked the bucket. 

Although that context does make Eggman's mental breakdown even more "justified" xD Dude freaking destroyed the Sonic of his original world and came to this one just to re-live that victory, only to get absolutely destroyed by this Sonic. Though I attribute this total loss to Enerjak trashing his base, army, and fleet moreso than Sonic's doing

Actually... nope. The two of them share an identical past unti a certain point when story diverged. Zonic even confirmed it: it's essentially the same person. So, yeah, it's the same Robotnik. After all, imagine that they change your body with a robot who is implanted with your memory, wouldn't you be the sam person?

[Razule]

5 hours ago, SkyHorizon said:

Actually... nope. The two of them share an identical past unti a certain point when story diverged. Zonic even confirmed it: it's essentially the same person. So, yeah, it's the same Robotnik. After all, imagine that they change your body with a robot who is implanted with your memory, wouldn't you be the sam person?

No. Another version of me living a parallel life and then replacing me isn't me. I'd just be dead.

But that philophical stuff aside, it makes sense they'd just skip over them not technically being each other's Sonic and Robotnik. They're close enough

[SkyHorizon]

1 hour ago, Razule said:

No. Another version of me living a parallel life and then replacing me isn't me. I'd just be dead.

You'd be dead FROM YOUR POINT OF VIEW. But the Original Robotnik POV is never brought up.

From Sonic's POV it's always the same person (a Robotnik who made the coup, struggles against the FF in their youth, etc.).

So... yeah, the same person.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

On 9/7/2021 at 1:01 PM, SBR2 said:

"I am Silver The Hedgehog! I'm here to make this story canon so you can't just skip it."

That or to make it seem like a Time Paradox he might’ve caused.

Put in that perspective, it makes Silver’s presence a brilliant move on the narrative in hindsight—it you didn’t care for it, it doesn’t matter in the long run; and if you did like it, you got an official story many fanfic writers wish they got the chance to make and see it get a full story.

Or at least, that’s the way I like to look at it. The 25YL wasn’t my cup of tea per se (I’ll take it over Worlds Unite or House of Cards), but doesn’t stir any bad ilk from me.

[Sonictrainer]

JoeAdok created a Moebius Version of the D6 called the Lively 6.

[SkyHorizon]

10 hours ago, Sonictrainer said:

JoeAdok created a Moebius Version of the D6 called the Lively 6.

That's... amazing, seriously! Poor neglected Master Zik, though...

[Dr. Detective]

Sonic Universe - Issue #6: 30 Years Later - Part 2 of 4: Dark Siege

It’s such a shame this is a really well drawn and beautifully colored image because what it’s depicting is so off to me. No matter what, every time I look at the cover before me, whether I turn it upside down or sideways, it never gets any less weird looking at it. I shouldn’t be having such a hard time imagining 40 something Sonic, married, with children, and sitting on a throne as the king after knowing of its existence for so long right? Yet, despite that, I’m still not even sure this thing exists. I can tell by how good the condition of this issue I have in my hands is that I’ve barely ever read it.

Spoiler

Writer: Ian Flynn
Pencils: Tracy Yardley
Inks: Jim Amash
Colors: Jason Jensen
Letters: Teresa Davidson
Editor & Managing editor: Mike Pellerito

We begin with a scene that’s going to lead up to the second thing I remember from this arc. I recall this issue starting off with Silver looking all cool and wearing his serious business face while old man Sonic, the splitting image of the guy he just tried to kill a while back, is all smiles and bubbles.

Apparently the kids had a bit of a time getting to sleep. I couldn’t imagine why. Getting almost blown up by a rocket launcher happens to me every other week. They’re trying to hunt us Sonic fans down and destroy us I tell you.

Silver cuts to the chase and asks them if assassination attempts against them are common. Queen Sally says no and they bask in the irony that the whole point of their boring speech ceremony thing was to celebrate five years of peace. Obviously, there’s no such thing as total and complete peace so the Dark Presence that used to work for King Shadow has been out and about trying to work against the capital. 

King Sonic and Queen Sally then get all luvy duvy with each other until Silver interrupts it by presenting his hypothesis concerning the state of the future and how something happens in THIS time that ruins everything some one hundred and seventy years in the future. 

Now, obviously, there’s margin for error and he makes that unintentionally clear…

Sonic doesn’t give a shit about being told he was once attacked in the past by someone he’s never met. He stands up and says that trying to perfectly sync time together hardly ever goes well. 

Boy, ain’t that the truth. Not only is this version of Sonic not the same as the one we’re following in the current Archie story but he isn’t even in the same timeline that he originally came from. You know, the boring one where instead of rocket launchers, Lien-Da was really into talking about what was for dinner with her sister on Skype.

It’s also funny how neither of them wish to actually talk about how the other can time travel. Silver gets back to business, with a bit of a shaky voice at first, and tries to assert that maybe the terrorists who attacked them might have something to do with his future being all messed up. Silver isn’t even in the same plane of existence he was last time so it’s gotta be way harder navigating the timeline than he was prepared for.

They explain to him who Lien-Da is and how the Dark Presence used to be the Dark Legion and their two categories are the Dark Eyes who watch stuff and the Dark Hands who do stuff. Everything is dark with these people. You’d think after insisting all their shit be dark that they’d start to wonder if it sounds a tad evil.

They make mention of not knowing where Lien-Da is as King Sonic didn’t see who tried to kill them and is under the impression that she’s still gone. She disappeared after King Shadow lost his power.

We cut to Lara-Su, momentarily reverting back to her old self and engaging in her favorite past time of bullying Rutan.

Thankfully, Dimitri shows up and puts a stop to it before another pointless altercation happens. Suspicion that he’d be hiding his mom probably made sense to her considering the love between a mom and her son but it is a bit tough seeing her just… decide not to acknowledge any of what Rutan’s saying so that she can emphasis even more how sure she is that Lien-Da is there.

The idea that someone who just tried to kill the royal family would just… head home to where their son rests is ridiculous but that wouldn’t mean heading there wouldn’t lead to any leads. It’d probably be best not to assume things though.

Dimitri has a short talk with her to make Lara-Su feel better as he realizes she mostly just came here to vent because she blames herself for not stopping the terrorists plot correctly. It does, thankfully, show a lot of humility on her part that she could be the one to take down King Shadow and yet still be so hard on herself when things go awry. She’s not stomping around with a nasty grin on her face going, “OUT OF THE WAY! I’M THE BIG BAD BITCH THAT BEAT UP KING SHADOW!”

Honestly, she doesn’t really let it define her at all. When people bring it up, she hardly cares due to being so focused on the here and now. It’s a far cry from the Lara-Su of the past who would NOT have reflected on her conduct in the previous scene at all. 

We cut back to Silver who says that they must rally the Freedom Fighters but Sonic says they disbanded years ago. Shadow was an oppressor but there was still peace under his reign so Sally convinced them to stand down while that peace was around so that she could instill her own policies. I guess she figured Shadow would just let her do that without repercussions or vetoes?

I dunno. Sounds like a pretty shit plan to me honestly. Tyranny and oppression is just that and I’d imagine any group that calls themselves the Freedom Fighters probably would be a bit more uppity about just going along with a deal like that. Then again, Sally’s plans have had their ups and downs. Not all of them can be as good as “Dog-pile on Super Scourge” after all.

Hearing this makes Silver consider that Sally here might be the traitor and because he has no filter he says so out loud.

Sally, what do you mean "without a clear threat"? You, your husband, and your kids almost got blown up today! Does she mean without knowing who their targets are? Well, no, she can’t because they just had that entire conversation about the Dark Presence just a few pages ago…

… What does she mean by “without a clear threat”? 

Anyway, we immediately cut to more threats showing up outside the door of the Prowers' room. Tails is about to give his compliments to the room service he thinks is here but gets knocked out by the Gas Gun from Despicable Me from some guys in fully black suits.

Mina quickly grabs her kids, races them out onto the street, and tells them to contact an authority figure while she runs back to immediately get knocked out too.

Skye’s reaction to this was hard not to pay attention to because he just stares in wide-eyed confusion as this all happens. When Tails gets sprayed and knocked out, he just goes “...Daddy?” and then when his mom races off to go back he just goes, “...Mom?”

Like, it’s processing that something really bad and strange suddenly just happened but the panic hasn’t kicked in just yet.

Another thing I find a little funny is how one spray just instantly sees them all just drop. It doesn’t even take a bit to work. It’s just instant.

Goddamn, I could use me one of those.

Just have myself a little spray in the face before bed and DOWN I go. Hell yeah! 

So these guys are the Dark Presence goons again. Obviously. They’ve infiltrated the area and are about to tour the castle. This happens right as Lara-Su comes back. She spots a few of them and is about to go bash some heads but decides to simmer down and use “Uncle” Espio’s espionage tactics instead. Ah-ha. She’s learning.

Anyway, here’s the second thing I remember from this story arc.

Yeah, it’s this scene of the echidna maid knocking Silver out with the gas gun. 

It’s the transition from modest Silver to not-so-modest, off to la-la land Silver that gets me. It’s such a good scene.

King Sonic immediately races off and snatches the gun away, calling her out for being a sleeper agent for the Dark Presence for two whole years before using the gun on her. Nice. No wonder they were able to get in so easily.

King Sonic tells Sally to take the kids and Silver into the panic room and lock themselves in while he holds off the Dark Presence. He says this after a scene where he says that at his age he can’t have chili-dogs at all hours anymore, which is depressing to think about. This character that’s the picture perfect representation of teenage 90s zeal can’t handle the relentless intake of junk food anymore. It’s so sad.

Oh, but I guess my point is that he’s old and she probably could stand to use a bit of help so Sally’s concern is understandable… if that had been what she said. 

Instead, she says doing what Sonic suggested would make her a damsel in distress and I’m sorry honey but that’s completely looney given the situation. She has two kids and a guy who just saved their lives passed out in front of them and she’s concerned about looking like a damsel? Who cares?! At least bring up how old Sonic is and that he could use some help first. That I’d understand a bit more.

Then they have their traditional Sonic Vs. Sally argument but it kind of just immediately transitions into Sonic just doing what he said he was going to do because Sally has zero legs to stand on here.

Eww.

Sonic runs into Lara-Su and a bunch of knocked out goons. He’s a bit miffed that they all seem to already be out cold but spin-dashes into one that’s about to get up.

She has a brief talk with him about wanting to learn that move when the security system turns on them and starts firing at them. They burst through the window and on their way down, they see Skye and Melody in the streets.

The two of them are scared and panicking as they explain what happened to King Sonic. Then Lara-Su starts to panic which activates Sonic’s dad mode.

It’s actually nice seeing Sonic be that kind of a cool dad character, if only for a bit. I may not associate any of this stuff with him but were I to entertain the idea of him being in this position I’d imagine he’d still find a way to be a little charming. 

Earlier he said the “Let’s do it to it” line when jumping out the window and Lara-Su asked if he really used to say that back in the day. Sonic said that it was a classic. That line was already lame but now that Sonic’s a dad, it’s pretty much a literal dad joke, which is fun to think about.

Also, Vector’s got a son named Argyle. Shit be weird man.

We cut to Lien-Da, sitting appropriately on a throne in front of a statue of the tyrant before Shadow, King Max, and gets a report from her Dark Eyes that the security system is there, the adult Prowers are secured, the castle personnel are secured, some people have locked themselves away in the panic room, and the King and Lara-Su are still at large.

This is sufficient enough for Lien-Da and she heads off with the Chaos Syphon (Whoa. It’s been a while…) and head off to the next room where a huge capsule shrouded in red light awaits.

Lien-Da is going on and on about how much she hates the Queen, how things got DONE under King Shadow’s reign, and how everyone thinks this is peace but it’s totes not. 

They plug in the Chaos Syphon, say a bunch of techno babble and magic voodoo words and viola; King Shadow is back and no longer permanently frozen.

He’s back and he’s grimacing so hard after saying Lien-Da’s name that it looks like he’s about to do an intense kingly pout.

It’s nice to see that things just continued to ramp up within this issue despite the necessary down time and talking that had to take place. As an issue it had a really good balance of both. I’d like more issues that need exposition to be structured more like this in the future. As for the story itself, my investment is still slightly hampered by the Dark Presence stuff being hard to care about but now that King Shadow is back it might get slightly more interesting. I did always like this alternate future idea of Shadow just completely borking up Maria’s vision for him for the future and turning into this tyrant.

There’s so many neat “What if…?” ideas that can result from the Sonic series. We even did a much, much better Sonic Zombies arc in one of the comics. I could only imagine what an anthology for Sonic, in the form of a show, comic, or game could do with ideas like that but as of now, this is what we’ve got and it’s… not really bad. It’s still really weird though. It will never not be weird but at the very least, I’m glad it’s not awful so far. It does bum me out that Silver seems to be out of commission right now because he was sort of my connection to something a little more familiar but I guess I’ll just try and roll with it. We’re finishing this up this week after all. 

 

Sonic Universe - Issue #7: 30 Years Later - Part 3 of 4: What’s Old, Is New Again

What’s old is new again eh? Yeah, I guess with Colors Ultimate and Origins coming out that would be the case. Now if only they’d make good on something more the speed of when I got into Sonic. There’s a huge gap in between those games that’s just being ignored I’m afraid. Awesome cover by the way. If you’re going to do a cover with a single character on it, this is the way to do it. The green against black makes for a nice hue of lime green evil.

Spoiler

Writer: Ian Flynn
Pencils: Tracy Yardley
Inks: Jim Amash
Colors: Jason Jensen
Letters: Teresa Davidson
Assistant Editor: Paul Kaminski
Editor & Managing Editor: Mike Pellerito

So we start off with Sally trying to lead her kids to the hidey-room. It’s the panic room but given a cute, kiddy name to sound less like a room to go when you panic. All the while she’s trying to get there, she’s trying not to get too annoyed with her kids being kids while also carrying around a full body’s weight of unconscious hedgehog.

The constant question asking from Sonia seems to be allowing her to slowly catch on that something serious is afoot. Although, I guess the fact that they were almost blown to smithereens that morning should have been a big enough clue.

The assurance she makes for her daughter here is not unfounded though. The group Sonic is with quickly manages to meet up with Argyle Crocodile, Vector’s son.

Charming young man, this one. I like him already.

I have tiny flashes of memories of Vector’s son and I even recall his name. I guess that technically would mean I remembered five things about this story instead of four but I don’t quite know if remembering the existence of a person counts towards this.

The idea of Vector having a son is strange, certainly, but he carries himself so well. This first impression is a really good one. I also like how he bows to Sonic and Sonic rejects the formalities, like you’d expect him to. Though, I honestly think the regular Sonic I’m used to, on top of rejecting being king, would CRINGE at the idea of being bowed down to. 

I mean, I guess I don’t have to imagine that. When the knights started to do that at the end of Black Knight he straight up shouted at them to stop it.

The whole time, poor Skye is just looking all around the room, unsure of what to say or do or how to react. The caption says he’s bashful, which I guess is accurate enough. I keep pointing out his conduct specifically because it’s reminding me so much of all those times my parents took us to the houses of distant relatives for a visit and I didn’t know who the fuck they were so I just stayed quiet and glanced around at everything.

One last detail is that apparently Vector is the head of the Chaotix in the future. Good. Honestly, it feels weird having it be any other way.

As for the Chaotix, we’ve had mention of Uncle Espio, unsurprisingly no mention of Charmy or Saffron, and no mention of Mighty and Ray if you want to count them. There are a couple of characters regarding this timeline that I’m sort of interested in seeing (if we absolutely have to be here) but I guess I’ll make due with whatever Ian comes up with on the fly during the Bumblekast Q&A as usual. I don’t REALLY care that much about it.

Anyway, the group talks about how Knuckles and the Chaotix are scattered around the rest of Mobius and can’t help but Argyle, when he got the call from Lara-Su, contacted a few peeps and told them about their desire to get the Freedom Fighters back together. They make their dramatic entrance and we cut to the scene of King Shadow stepping out of his chambers.

I don’t remember who the two surprise guests are in the slightest. My memory concerning this arc is unsurprisingly hollow.

Shadow asks Lien-Da what the hell happened. She explains that Lara-Su froze him and the castle kept him on ice like Disney’s brain using this weird Catacomb. One of the goons says his vitals are stable and Lien-Da is impressed with the power of the ultimate life-form being able to be completely fine after five years.

King Shadow barks, “FIVE YEARS?!” and marches off, telling Lien-Da to keep talking about how much has changed. He’s not going to take this new regime standing down, no sir.

Lien-Da finishes her points by saying that they’re ready for Shadow to regain control but Shadow’s insane so he says “No” and instead leads them to a chamber where he’s going to use “THAT” to purge everyone and everything as punishment for his disgrace. I guess Lien-Da forgot to factor in how unstable her former boss was… either that or the lap of luxury when he was in control kept that thought at bay.

Anyway, we turn the page and it’s just Bunnie and Antoine’s kids.

Geez. It’s no wonder I didn’t remember them.

Up to this point, everything I’ve come across in this story, even if I didn't directly recall it, I’ve had minor flashes of it being a thing but this third issue, aside from Argyll, has really been throwing me for a loop. I don’t remember these two or hardly any of what’s happening here.

Looking at them, I shouldn’t be surprised though. I turned the page and thought for sure I was looking at the actual Antoine and Bunnie. My mind went, “Oh, that’s sweet. Antoine’s part robot in the future like his wife" but then I read the captions and realized that Belle (Oh-ho!) here has robot parts where the actual Bunnie didn’t.

I don’t want to harp on how much they look exactly like their parents but with a different hair style. It can’t be easy coming up with designs for the children of Sonic characters. Cream and Vanilla being the only canon example feels appropriate for this reason in some respects. Some would say why bother at all in that case and I say…uh...

… Anyway, they’ve got four members now, says Sonic… which I raised my brow at but then the next page, Skye, Melody, and Argyll count themselves in.

Apparently Sonic wasn’t counting them before for some reason. I dunno.

Ugh. Melody seriously did the three snaps thing. Fuck me. That’s a part of the time this came out I don’t want to remember. The late 2000s sassiness can fuck off. Especially when it came to those bratty girls I had to associate with in school. 

Anyway… we finally come across the third thing I remember from this story arc.

The inclusion of Tikhaos.

This… is… the weirdest thing ever…?

Like first of all, there’s the name. Every time I say it in my head and out loud, I’m uncertain if I'm even saying it correctly. So there’s that.

Second of all, the concept of what this is always freaked me out. I don’t quite know what to make of it. I don’t even know how this happened or how it could happen. I don’t recall it ever being explained.

All I remember is that this reminded me of a villain from Teen Titans that, when he was awake, would turn into some weird goop monster. It sounded like a hellish existence. Here, Tikhaos is kept inside some sort of glowing ecto-cooler bubble. 

I don’t know for how long. It would have to be for longer than five years since King Shadow knows about her. 

There’s a lot of things about this concept that are missing a number of details to make it seem clear. A part of me kind of likes that because it makes the mystery of what the fuck Tikhaos is and how this abomination came to be feel more scary but on the other hand it’s also a little frustrating.

Even more frustrating is Lien-Da’s situation. She remembers everything from the previous time-line and hasn’t suffered anything from the time-shift… but it's because of an armband that she wears?

Sonic, Tails, Lara-Su, and I think Knuckles all remember the previous timeline too. I think the reason for Tails and a few others was that he built some sort of time protector machine off screen or something. I legit forgot how Lien-Da came to remember or how this armband came into play. If she has to wear it at all times then the idea that it’s over her clothes means she can’t ever take her top off to shower though… right?

Or can she take it off her arm but it just can’t be destroyed? Also, why is she the only one with an armband? I guess because she wasn’t in Tails’ machine but if that’s the case how did she get that on her again? I’ve either forgotten all the details or they were just inferred and I didn’t commit them all to memory.

I could go back and check but... I don't want to.

I’m sure some of you will clarify things and correct me later. I’m really wracking my brain, trying to sort this out now because the instant Shadow destroys her armband, Lien-Da turns to time dust and I guess rematerialized within this world as a version of herself that doesn’t remember the previous timeline. 

She also calls out for Rutan as she disappears. She was shown holding a picture of him earlier and talked about how the new regime stole him from her. Now, I thought this was her talking about the old Rutan from the previous timeline or perhaps Rutan stopped existing in this new one but she remembered him because of the armband… but then we saw Rutan later in the story and he was fine.

So… I don’t quite know what the problem was. I guess she’s calling out for him here because she’s, in a sense, “dying” but the earlier motivation wasn’t fully explained.

We’ve only got four issues to work with so I guess I get it but I dunno. Maybe we should focus less on introducing everyone’s look-a-like kids and flesh this stuff out some more. 

I concede that this may entirely be my own fault though but it doesn’t feel like it…

Well, anyway, the New Coke of Freedom Fighters decides to invade Castle Mobius. Sonic, Belle, and… hang on…

*Flips a few pages back to read the name*

… Jacque, invade through the front while Lara-Su, Melody, and Skye go up the tower wall.

Interestingly enough, Skye isn’t very good at flying.

Yeah, Skye was born with the same birth defect as his dad and has two tails. Although, unlike Tails, he has to learn how to fly properly. That’s an odd thing to think about. Tails was so young when he was flying, I always considered it something that would just come naturally but I guess Skye’s tails are probably just… positioned a bit differently on the corkscrew of his butt? Somehow? I dunno.

Well, either way, Lara-Su finds a way to make it work.

It’s hilarious that this works. 

Anyway, the mission is going well. Melody manages to open the front door for the King and the other two to barge in. She squeals in excitement as she gives him the news of how good they’re doing, no doubt jazzed as hell to be on a Freedom Fighter mission with Sonic the Hedgehog. I can’t blame her. That sounds pretty cool, even if he is old and is in a constant never ending fight with back pain.

Also, Eggman is probably dead. That thought just hit me.

It’s also weird how Sonic continues to wear the crown and the cape all throughout this thing. I know he’s the king or whatever but the fact that he continues to wear that junk even when doing action stuff is throwing me off. I can’t get used to it man. I’m trying but I can’t.

Argyle is their tech man. He’s monitoring everything from a control room and tells them where everyone is. Sonic’s family is safe in the panic room and the Dark Presence is scattered and confused as to what’s happening. Then he tries to warn them about something strange happening in the catacombs, which we as the audience know is the most important thing to pay attention to, but Sonic blows it off for right now preferring to deal with one thing at a time and instead asks Lara-Su how her handling of the defensive grid is going.

Lara-Su says that the monitor got busted in the “scuffle”. Skye whispers an apology because it’s clear he rammed into it by accident and she whispers back that it’s fine. She then asks him if he can shut it down. Skye says his dad can but he’d need a manual so I guess Lara figures that the monitor being busted is just a sign of what to do next and destroys it with her fist.

Her dad wanted to redo the whole system anyway.

Argyle being a tech guy is a really neat thing. Skye being a not as gifted version of Tails is cute but the recognition that it’s a little safe in comparison still lingers.

They finally manage to get patched through to the Panic Room where Manik is delighted to hear his dad’s voice and Silver is finally coming around. Sonic now decided to ask about the catacombs, saying he doesn’t know what’s down there.

Sally says that it’s only THE MOST DANGEROUS THREATS TO MOBIUS THAT HAD TO BE QUARANTINED.

Only that.

The threats she lists off are a bit amusing. E-107 Theta, which I don’t think we’ve seen yet, the Anarchy Beryl, which makes sense, Bomb, which is hilarious to think about, and Tikhaos… the origin of which still eludes me.

Also, the existence of is still really sad and freaky.

"Please sir, could you spare a cup of Chaos Energy?"

Then, like overinflating a balloon, he just pumps a ton of it into this starving creature.

AUGH! Oh my God, why?! It’s so weird and gross and sad! What is this?! I mean it's cool but also holy--!

Like, I remember reading this back in the day and wondering how this happened and if I was missing something from before I started reading the series but no. This is definitely the first time this has ever been a thing and it’s a strange thing to just smack you across the face with all of a sudden, I have to say.

Sonic’s group rushes forward, expecting to take on the Dark Presence but they run right by them like the Egg Pawns at the end of Heroes when Metal Overlord makes his new body.

The castle then breaks apart and Perfect Tikhaos reigns over them with what I assume is a mighty scream of anger amidst some probable pain and agony. Sonic ends on a quip about how Belle didn’t want to destroy the door and how she can stop worrying about it now.

Yup. This castle is fucked.

The caption says that Perfect Tikhaos is an overpowered spirit bound to a God. I guess that explains WHAT it is but the HOW this happened is probably going to remain lost for all time.

Again, I kind of don’t want to know just because not knowing makes it creepier but at the same time...how random.

One last thing I have to make mention of is the Off-Panel. I usually ignore them but this one I feel has a tiny amount of significance.

So there are two off-panels for the issue. One is Manik winning in checkers against Sonic and going “King Me” and walking off with his dad’s crown, which is fun but the other is an alternate ending to Lien-Da discovering King Shadow.

Instead of the catacombs, she finds him inside the fridge. I can’t find this image online for some reason but the reason I bring it up is because it reminded me of an image our favorite disgusting weirdo, Ken Penders drew when he “discovered” from a source other than the actual comic that Hershey was “dead”.

Yeah. He drew a picture of his own character dead in a fridge to insinuate that Hershey was fridged by Ian because of that. At the time this comic floated around, I had no idea what the controversy was because I had no idea who Hershey was and I BARELY knew who Geoffrey was. I was aware of Ken Penders and his weird shit because even back then it was hard not to be familiar with his brand of insanity, but, this comic makes way more sense to me now and seeing that off-panel and how one to one it is makes me wonder if I've stumbled upon a weird coincidence of him doing something the comic did.

I don’t want to say he stole the idea because that would imply he actually read the comic and there’s no way he did. I know it’s just an off-panel but I can’t even imagine him looking at that. I'll probably bring this up again when the relevant information concerning this little strip comes up again.

There’s just something so extremely petty about this that isn’t even really all that funny to me. It just makes me shake my head. Why… why would you draw your own character dead in a fridge to illustrate your frustrations over something you don’t even have the full context for? The only thing I can say about this in any positive sense is that this comic doesn’t look as bad as the current stuff he’s doing. Geoffrey still looks like ass to me but he definitely could look worse. Hershey looks surprisingly fine for being dead and folded up in a fridge.

… God. I just… he really did this. He really drew her dead in a fridge. It’s so stupid. I can’t...

Argyle and Tikhaos were the only things of real significance I remembered about this issue. The other thing being those scenes where Skye’s wonky flying had him demolishing things by accident. I literally have no recollection of Belle and Jacque even being a thing so the fact that they’re here feels strange in a way that makes me wonder if someone took an eraser to my brain concerning their existence. 

The underlying feeling concerning this issue was a lot of intentional, uncomfortable dark shit happening. Back in the day, I wasn’t sure what was happening to Lien-Da when Shadow removed that armband so I thought, based on the words he said, she was just obliterated from time. Her shouting “Rutan” confused me too. I guess I just didn’t know that was her son’s name. The Tikhaos thing is the biggest outlier here though. It’s so shocking and sad. It’s got such a dystopian future feel to it; as though this is the bad end to Tikal and Chaos’ lot in life. If anything could go to serve the notion that this can’t be the future of the characters we’re currently following, it would probably be this.

Poor Silver is sitting out on the thing he thinks will be what devastates his future though. It’s probably for the best since we all know he’s wasting his time here. He saved a family from a missile and got himself some beauty sleep. I’d call that a success, personally.

 

Sonic Universe - Issue #8: 30 Years Later - Part 4 of 4: The Freedom Fighters of the Future

Yeah, I saw this cover before I did this arc and I still didn’t register the two Antoine and Bunnie children on the cover. Even stranger is how the color makes Belle look more brownish. That’s actually a much better way of getting across her design as their child. Her actual coloring makes her look way too much like her mom. Other than that, the only thing I can think to say is that the water looks nice, especially with Melody running across it… though, that does beg the question of how Sonic is flying here. I know it’s a dynamic pose but you acknowledge that Melody has to run across the water but don’t acknowledge that Sonic has to do the same and I’m gonna make a joke about him flying.

Anyway, this is the finale of this Sonic Universe arc and the very last time we’ll ever see this Mobius: 30 Years Later stuff. I wish I could be more sentimental about that like I was with the Moebius stuff but honestly, I’m kind of glad. I don’t think I’ll come out of this final issue hating the arc or anything but I don’t think I’ll feel too sad to see this kind of stuff go the way of the dodos either.

Spoiler

Writer: Ian Flynn
Pencils: Tracy Yardley
Inks: Jim Amash
Colors: Jason Jensen
Letters: Teresa Davidson
Assistant editor: Paul Kaminski
Editor & Managing editor: Mike Pellerito

The future is weird.

We cut in on Perfect Tikhaos wrecking and flooding the castle with Sonic wondering what it is and why it’s doing that. Lara-Su says outright that this is Tikhaos and Sonic puts it together that it’s Tikal-Plus-Chaos.

The mystery of the existence of Tikhaos seems to be something that actually has an answer and I’ve completely blocked it out of my mind. Either because I didn’t understand what the fuck they were saying at the time or despite really wanting to know the reason for her existence I glossed over it because I wanted the story to be over.

Reading this over again I’m left with the opinion… that this explains nothing. Whatever the fuck they’re talking about is so insanely vague and bereft of details that it might as well not be an explanation. So I guess neither of my guesses as to why I couldn’t remember this were right.

Jacques just mentions two events that we’ve never seen or heard of before and then Lara-Su says that Tikal had to do this. The how or why isn’t specified. I guess “Ixis Resurgence” and “War” were supposed to be the major clues but that really tells me nothing. We’ve dealt with Ixis and War in our current timeline as well and Tikal didn’t have to fuse with Chaos to deal with it there either. Circumstances are no doubt different but that’s kind of why explanations are required.

However, as I said before, the fact that I don’t know the full nature of how this dark, “What if…?” scenario came to be makes it creepier. The idea of Tikhaos is a very good and scary one that can’t help but turn the gears in my head concerning other dark ending points for other concepts within the series. No doubt Silver mucking with time all the time has ended badly for one of his variants in some universe somewhere…

We cut to a scene of King Shadow standing amongst the wreckage with a chaos shield around him, talking to Maria (to himself) about what he has done. He apologizes to her and says that all his other methods didn’t work so he’s just going to destroy the world and when they’ve learned their lesson, THEN he’ll return.

Where is he going until then? I’ve no clue. He doesn’t say. Fresno, maybe?

Anyway, Sonic takes up Sally’s role here rather easily. He first asks about Tikhaos’ strength since they’re fresh out of Chaos Emeralds. The nature of the Chaos Emeralds in Archie still remains a bit of a mess so the idea that they don’t have access to them is very easy to swallow. Lara-Su says she’s near perfect but not invincible. Sonic tells Argyle to get in touch with the E.S.T and begin evacuation but he’s already way ahead of him on that front. Sonic then tells Lara-Su to lead the New Freedom Fighters in their distraction effort. She’s always surprised when people put their faith in her and the response to her shock is to always point out that she’s a guardian. She needs to work up a bit more faith in herself it seems.

Sonic won’t be joining them since he needs to save his family from the crumbling castle behind him.

Apparently the name of the city is Portal. I guess. Weird name.

Lara-Su leads her team as the distraction and Sonic goes up to his family and makes sure they’re fine. 

They’re all good. Although, my body continues to reject the idea that Sonic would wear a crown, a cape, call this place HIS castle, and then put emphasis on being called King, even as a joke. Alternate future of an already alternate Sonic or not, I reject it good sir! Never mind the comment that he’s pushing 50. Geez.

Silver is awake now and hits Sonic with an “I told you so” and they set about fixing the problem together. Sonic has to carry Sally but the kids are very spry, young Sonic-esque little tykes that follow after their dad’s movements and even surf down the Tikhaos waterfall on some rubble. It’s nice that both of them seem to have inherited Sonic’s action genes.

Sonic asks Argyle for an update and he fills us in. The Echidna Security team is leading the evacuation. There are currently no injuries thanks to the New Freedom Fighters. He still can’t get in touch with any of the Chaotix. Lastly, the Dark Presence have renounced King Shadow and have started helping with evacuation efforts; they’ve even released Tails and Mina. How very awkward they must be feeling now eh?

The implications of the Dark Presence disbanding because the person they pledged allegiance to released a monster that was going to kill everyone can probably be talked about more. The question of what happens to them now and what it says about their values that they’re helping with the evacuation and all that. Honestly, I’m mostly just glad the Dark Legion/Presence/Eyes/Hands thing seems to be over. Or, rather, I would be if it meant anything past this point but this is literally the last issue of this arc and they’re still very much a thing in the current Archie storyline. Thankfully, there, they feel a lot different just due to the nature of the story being told to them. This future arc just felt like an extension of how they were being utilized under Penders, which is probably why I had less tolerance for it here.

We get a couple scenes of the new Freedom Fighters fighting. I haven’t touched upon Jacque having a thing for Melody because I don’t care but it keeps cropping up and it does so again when she saves him from a water tentacle so I’ll mention it now… it’s a thing. Moving on.

Lara-Su tries to appeal to Tikhaos with the typical “You’re better than this” and “Fight it” stuff. She gets whacked away and saved by Miles who enters the scene, now free to fly and kicks ass. Despite him being in his early 40’s, I still read his speech bubbles with that little kid voice in my head. Were I to give him the voice of an older man, I might die.

Yeah, even as a kid, the idea of seeing these characters get older was… the equivalent to poison to me. It never appealed to me. When I saw it in fanfics, I would often reject the stories outright or ignore the part where the author said they were older. It’s just not my thing at all. 

It’s a small wonder that I have no recollection of so much of this story but upon reading it again I’m finding that it’s… fine. This final issue is all one big fight, which is cool. Often I prefer fights in the Sonic comics to be at least an issue long to get the full effect of the threat. Fights that are handled that way are often the best ones as a result. This one is a cluster of a bunch of different folks, coming together to do a bunch of different things which is also neat. That said, the way it's handled here isn't anything particularly special.

There are also some small character moments, like Mina showing up to save her kids and finding out that Sonic appointed them as Freedom Fighters.

For some reason, I’ve got major Dragon Ball GT Chi-Chi vibes from Mina. The notion that she can just talk to Sonic any old way she wants is great though. Even if Sonic values being king here, of course he’d still be talked to like he was Sonic. Them having a “history” together is also a fun tidbit though… one has to wonder even harder why she went over to Tails next. It’s so weird seeing them together and with a son that looks like our fox boy. 

The notion of this team being called the New Freedom Fighters does kind of nag at my brain, if only because of the irony involved concerning them serving a king. It’s a team name that made sense when it was created under the circumstances that there was no kingdom and they were fighting against Eggman’s tyranny but now we’ve advanced so far towards that not being the case that the team name doesn’t really seem to mean anything now. I guess it can be twisted to mean something slightly different but why bother when they’ve already got the brand name?

Silver joins the fight as well, proclaiming that he’s going to save the past, future, and everyone. Good boy.

Manik makes a suggestion while tugging on his dad’s cape.

You’re so old Sonic. Dust was falling off you when Manik tugged at your cape.

It’s fun to know that the kids are aware of Sonic’s past exploits… but is that how it went in this universe? I thought Knuckles raised some sort of heavy object while doing the Spider-Man rip-off scene and then Perfect Chaos got zapped by something or other and that’s how it was defeated in the Adventure arc. 

The thought occurs to me that even now Ian probably wishes things were a lot more coherent towards the games then these comics probably afforded him. Discussion about Issue #200 brings up a point that I neglected to mention in my initial review about how the history talked about between Sonic and Eggman isn’t the same because he’s essentially a different Eggman. The thought did cross my mind when Sonic said he recalled the coup when he was 5 but I chose to ignore it seeing as how we touched upon the whole “They’re basically the same thing” deal back in #197. 

I understood that Ian wanted to get across the desire to just treat this Eggman as though he’s the actual Eggman and having similar backgrounds and serving as a “good enough” replacement went towards trying to accomplish that goal. Despite not liking what it implied in #197, for Issue #200 I decided to go along with it and instead focused on my personal feelings regarding the mental break he suffered. 

That said, it’s stuff like that and now this incident that convinces me that the reboot was definitely something more my speed and necessary for my enhanced enjoyment of the book than I even realized at the time. I had no idea that Eggman wasn’t the same Eggman when I first read Issue #200. I had no idea that Perfect Chaos wasn’t defeated the same way when I read this issue either. It’s all very confused and while I respect Ian’s attempts to make it work, the fact of the matter is a lot of the earlier shit just should not have happened the way that it did. 

Sonic asks Argyle to patch him through to everyone and tells them all that he needs an opening to get to Perfect Tikhaos’ head. This isn’t Perfect Chaos so no Chaos Emeralds were involved in this thing’s creation. They just need a good blast at its brain. It’s a little weird that this wasn’t the first thing he or someone else brought up before but eh, whatever.

Sonic tries to build up speed to properly attack it but it just twists it’s head and nearly obliterates the Almost 50 year old Sonic.

So then, his children race up, hand in hand, and do the deed themselves.

"Hurray! We can probably beat up daddy too!"

With this we’ve come to the fourth thing I remembered about this story. These two kids, one in their jammies, spin-dashing through the brain of a spirit-god monster and defeating it in a single hit.

It’s… still very hard to look at without a bit of a tilt of the head.

Yeah, I know. They established it was weaker and that the brain was the weak point. Yes, we know the kids have some action capabilities. I still can’t look at this and think that maybe they’re in a Goten and Trunks situation here where as kids they’re already so much better than their dad was at this age. Like, Sonic was fighting Scratch and Grounder when he was their age right?

I’ll be honest, it still bothers me a little bit. Probably not as much now but only really because I know I’ll never see them or this world ever again so it’s not much use analyzing things or nitpicking too hard here.

Lara-Su takes it upon herself to revert Tikal back to her sleeping form. 

It’s all very sad still. What a hellish existence. I can only assume the sacrifice she made to become like this was absolutely necessary because I have no other information to go by aside from what little was explained at the beginning.

I can’t help but think this had to be one of those situations where the younger me was reading these historical events they were talking about and thinking all of them had to have been referenced in a story prior that I hadn’t read in the hundred plus issues I wasn’t privy to but I’m finding that to not be the case more times than I figured I would.

Sonic thanks Silver for catching his kids before they shot off like rockets and exploded against a billboard or something. The New Freedom Fighters are given a round of congratulations soon after.

Old Sonic the Hedgehog complaining about back pain. It’s just what I’ve always wanted… Fuck.

Anyway, Silver goes up to Sonic and says that for now, things are fine for the future. He politely asks him if he knows if any of his Freedom Fighter pals has ever turned on the team. The much older and much more mature Sonic politely responds to the question instead of attacking him (opinions inbound for a future story) and says that if his time traveling exploits have taught him anything it’s that nothing is ever clear. He admits to his own existence in this timeline being sketchy at best.

Silver accepts that answer and with a Chronos Control against what I assume is a Time Stone, leaves their plain of existence with the promise that they’ve got this place under control.

Argyle isn't just with them in spirit. The old Freedom Fighters had a tech guy. He’s just a member of the team, girl.

Also, what a weird looking colleague of characters this is. The thing that REALLY stands out is Skye standing taller over Manik a bit because he’s older than him. It looks so much like an older Tails and a younger Sonic. Then you have Knuckles’ daughter who just towers over the both of them. 

Everything in the future is weird. This weird alternate future is weird and this little excursion to it is finally over.

However, just like the last SU Arc, we actually end on a preview for the next one.

I have no clue as to why but for some reason, in my head, Knuckles’ arc being the third Sonic Universe arc isn’t something I registered as the case in my head even though logically, based on what I remember, it would have to be. The brain does weird things like that sometimes though.

The word "weird" has been said a total of 20XX times over the course of this arc's review.

With that, we close the book on M25YL and M30YL forever. I’ve read all of them. I would probably still say that the best of these was the first one Ian did way back when he was first starting out but this one wasn’t bad really. The simplicity of what was going on made it easier to follow than I fear it would have been had it gotten into the minutia of how this shit worked concerning the time traveling nonsense. When it did touch upon that, it DID get confusing of course so thankfully there wasn’t much of it to go around.

The fact that this arc touches upon concepts that won’t be followed up on gives it a very incomplete feeling. King Shadow says that he’s going to have Tikhaos cleanse the Earth and then he’ll return to rule it or whatever but we never really see him leave nor do we see his reaction to that plan being foiled by two toddlers in their jammies. He just kind of fucks off and we’re left with the resolution to what Lara-Su originally did being undone for nothing of any real significance. I remembered King Shadow having a cover in this arc before going back into this story but for the life of me could barely recall his contributions to the arc and there’s a good reason for that. After he releases Lien-Da from her civic duty and unleashes Tikhaos, he fades into the background again.

Other unanswered questions like what became of Lien-Da, why Rutan was significant, and why Argyle continuously could not get into contact with any of the Chaotix just lends to the open ended feel of it all. It all seems like the beginning of a story and most likely that was the intention. If this alternate future was as strangely popular as it was then I can see that being the case but apparently it was really hard just getting this story approved (CAN’T imagine why they’d be hesitant to approve a story about Almost 50 year old Sonic hunched over with back pain) and it just never materialized into anything else again. 

Honestly, that’s for the best as far as I’m concerned. I love trying out new things with Sonic. I love “What if…?” scenarios. I don’t even really mind the idea of traveling A BIT into the future of these currently existing character’s lives (maybe five to ten years at most but fucking TWENTY-FIVE TO THIRTY?). This series, however, was just a collection of a bunch of stuff I don’t like or care for with the Archie series mashed together to create something so alien to Sonic that it honestly doesn’t even really feel like a Sonic story to me all that much. 

That’s probably also why I’m so middling on it. There’s little point in getting upset because none of this matters and won’t be referenced or talked about again and because it feels so removed from Sonic on top of that, it just felt like a story I was reading to get through it. I very much reacted to it as though I were reading a fan-comic. Not as bad as the one I read where Tails got the powers of the devil because he became an atheist and Sonic characters began preaching to each other about God having a wonderful big plan for everyone... but, you know...

Here at the end, this particular SU arc was structured and handled fine but that’s really all I have to say about it.

It’s just fine. The original M25YL by Penders was a master class at wasting the reader’s time. There was no way this arc was going to accomplish anything even remotely close to as insulting as that in just four issues. No way.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

I've got catching up to do, but to do some quick clarification on M30YL stuff here:

• Argyle appeared briefly in M25YL:

• For the timeline things - Sonic & Knuckles remember due to being present at the event where Sonic goes back in time - Lara-Su also remembers the previous timeline due to her stowing away on said ship.
• Tails - realising what was happening - created his own measure to protect himself and his family from timeline alterations, correctly guessing that Sonic would travel back in time to alter the past and attempt to stop what was happening in the future. You can see that Tails, Mina, Skye, and Melody are all wearing arm devices - these are what Tails created to keep them planted in this timeline. 
• Lien-Da remembered because it was stated during the Ian issues of M25YL that she'd interrogated Cobar, found out what they were planning to do, and forced him to create a device that would protect her from the timeline alterations. I think Rutan has one as well, but I can't recall.

[SBR2]

1 hour ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Now, obviously, there’s margin for error and he makes that unintentionally clear…

I love that Sally doesn't know what he's talking about. It's a good reminder that this is technically an alternate timeline. My personal headcanon is that all timelines converge on Silver's time and that's why things happening in a separate timeline effect his time at all.

 

1 hour ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

They explain to him who Lien-Da is and how the Dark Presence used to be the Dark Legion and their two categories are the Dark Eyes who watch stuff and the Dark Hands who do stuff. Everything is dark with these people.

Also known as regular Kingdom Hearts dialogue. 

 

1 hour ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Hearing this makes Silver consider that Sally here might be the traitor and because he has no filter he says so out loud.

"You are technically correct. The best kind of correct."

Edit: Shit. I hit send too early. 

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

1 hour ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

It’s such a shame this is a really well drawn and beautifully colored image because what it’s depicting is so off to me. No matter what, every time I look at the cover before me, whether I turn it upside down or sideways, it never gets any less weird looking at it. I shouldn’t be having such a hard time imagining 40 something Sonic, married, with children, and sitting on a throne as the king after knowing of its existence for so long right? Yet, despite that, I’m still not even sure this thing exists. I can tell by how good the condition of this issue I have in my hands is that I’ve barely ever read it.

I completely agree, and this is coming from someone who is more into Archie than the modern games. It has always looked so weird to me and it always will. The expression on his face doesn't help - it's not exactly Sonic-y xP

[Sonictrainer]

Tikchaos is also in my Top 10 of WTF moments in Archie

[Kuzu]

Quote

I really had to take a moment to collect myself watching her do that; 90's radical and cool I don't mind, I was very young and don't have much memories from the 90's aside from the later years. 

But man, 2000's era sassiness feels like it was yesterday to me and I just felt it all at once. Ugh, my late middle school and early high school days are coming back....

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I’m sorry, but I as little as I care about shipping or crack pairings, I have to begrudgingly admit that Melody and Skye are adorable and MinaXTails, as much of an absolute WTF it is is pretty cute for an nigh-official crack pairing.

Yeah, I said it. Bite me. 

[SanPolo4389]

Why does Skye’s flying remind me of the Crash Bandicoot spin?

Also guessing your getting this arc out of the way eh?

[SBR2]

19 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Anyway, here’s the second thing I remember from this story arc.

This us super weird to me because I've always headcanoned Silver as gay so seeing him all flustered by the maid flirting with him feels off.

 

19 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Anyway, we turn the page and it’s just Bunnie and Antoine’s kids.

Oh, the debates spawned by this. Made no better when Ian said Bunnie's womb works like a Roboticizer  which is just...fucking what?

 

19 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Second of all, the concept of what this is always freaked me out. I don’t quite know what to make of it. I don’t even know how this happened or how it could happen. I don’t recall it ever being explained.

I meanI just assumed that it's because they exist inside the...whatever in the Archie universe together and it fused them. IDK I kinda found the concept neat but the execution is...something else.

 

19 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Also, why is she the only one with an armband? 

She isn't? Tails, Mina, Skye and Melody are all wearing them. Also Rotor and Cobor made them when she found them before the timeline changed.

 

19 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Tails was so young when he was flying

On that note how old ARE Skye and Melody? In the flashback to Tails leaving for Downunda they seem to be the same age as original timeline Sonia and Manik but despite a few years passing since that flashback and now 5 years passing they don't seem that much older. I certainly hope they're closer to Lara-Su's age considering Jaques flirts with Melody at least once.

 

19 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

the Anarchy Beryl, which makes sense, Bomb, which is hilarious to think about

Uh...think you got your wires crossed dude. She says "The Anarchy Beryl Bomb" as in a bomb made out of Anarchy Beryl. 

 

19 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

I don't dislike Tikhaos but her inclusion always makes me think of a joke from Phineas & Ferb "You can't just throw in a giant monster because you're strapped for an ending. It's lazy. It's lazy writing."

 

19 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Even stranger is how the color makes Belle look more brownish

Not really. That's what color she's supposed to be. Jason miscolored her and Jaques. They're supposedto be flipped colors.

 

19 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Reading this over again I’m left with the opinion… that this explains nothing. Whatever the fuck they’re talking about is so insanely vague and bereft of details that it might as well not be an explanation. So I guess neither of my guesses as to why I couldn’t remember this were right.

Dude you're over thinking it. It's just Ian using a future set story to hint at future plotlines. The Ixis Resurgence for example is what Naugus attempts to cause in the storyline where he becomes king.

 

19 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

It’s fun to know that the kids are aware of Sonic’s past exploits… but is that how it went in this universe? I thought Knuckles raised some sort of heavy object while doing the Spider-Man rip-off scene and then Perfect Chaos got zapped by something or other and that’s how it was defeated in the Adventure arc. 

I mean...Yeah but we'd all rather forget about that part.

 

19 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

the history talked about between Sonic and Eggman isn’t the same because he’s essentially a different Eggman.

Ian's reasoning is that Eggman had a similar history up until the events of Endgame. Basically everything thst happened in the first 46ish issues happened but Eggman's defeat was different. 

 

19 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Argyle isn't just with them in spirit. The old Freedom Fighters had a tech guy. He’s just a member of the team, girl.

Well yeah but he's not physically there.

 

19 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

However, just like the last SU Arc, we actually end on a preview for the next one.

This probably could have used a present day caption because I remember a review that thought this page was still in the future. 

[Dr. Detective]

4 hours ago, SBR2 said:

This us super weird to me because I've always headcanoned Silver as gay so seeing him all flustered by the maid flirting with him feels off.

I didn't take it as him being flustered by the maid's flirting. I didn't even register it as flirting. I just thought he was embarrassed and being modest by the compliment. Then again, if she was, it probably alluded me since I've no eye for lovey-dovey stuff.

4 hours ago, SBR2 said:

Oh, the debates spawned by this. Made no better when Ian said Bunnie's womb works like a Roboticizer  which is just...fucking what?

I don't recall that but I do remember him saying the reason he only had Bunnie's legs be roboticized in the reboot was to avoid confusion as to how she could have had children. 

4 hours ago, SBR2 said:

She isn't? Tails, Mina, Skye and Melody are all wearing them. Also Rotor and Cobor made them when she found them before the timeline changed.

I noticed Melody wearing one at one point during the read-through but neglected to mention it. By that point, I resigned myself to expecting you all to fill me in on what was what, as you all have since I didn't feel like going back to the older issues to search meticulously for dialogue that might not have even been there. So thanks for that, everyone. Sometimes relying on people's willingness to jump at the chance to correct someone can be a powerful weapon to utilize indeed. Saves me a lot of time.

4 hours ago, SBR2 said:

Uh...think you got your wires crossed dude. She says "The Anarchy Beryl Bomb" as in a bomb made out of Anarchy Beryl. 

Indeed. For whence reading said issues doth my eyes lay upon a comma between "Beryl" and "Bomb", yet upon further inspection, the mind's eye was proven incorrect as it turns out there was no comma at all. Most fascinating. 

4 hours ago, SBR2 said:

Not really. That's what color she's supposed to be. Jason miscolored her and Jaques. They're supposedto be flipped colors.

I would put forth that this is still very much an observable oddity.

4 hours ago, SBR2 said:

Dude you're over thinking it. It's just Ian using a future set story to hint at future plotlines. The Ixis Resurgence for example is what Naugus attempts to cause in the storyline where he becomes king.

I'm not overthinking a thing. I said that it explains nothing and it doesn't. The end. That's all I said and that's all what I said meant. There wasn't much that went into that line of thought aside from that. 

4 hours ago, SBR2 said:

Ian's reasoning is that Eggman had a similar history up until the events of Endgame. Basically everything thst happened in the first 46ish issues happened but Eggman's defeat was different. 

I said that. 

[Soniman]

Man even when this Arc was new I disliked the designs for Bunnie and Antonio's kids. I thought it was dumb they both just happened to have robot limbs like Mom and they both had their parents accents (and then SWITCHTED THE ACCENTS FOR THEM THE NEXT ISSUE) like they just felt like poorly put together characters that needed several more drafts before being finalized. Which is weird because I quite liked the Prower kids, they're cool.

[Kuzu]

I feel like Melody and Skye work because they don't feel QUITE as much blatant copies of their parents as the rest of the children do. Melody has way more sass than either of her parents, and Skye is even shyer than Tails was at the same age.