Megathread Archie Sonic Main Discussion

[1991boy]

I can't stop giggling because I can't wait to see the Anti Archie Sonic Club's reaction to this, I bet there is going to be SO much butthurt

[Mangoaxe5]

bwrosas is going to cry.

[Sonictrainer]

Question, why doesn't Archie uutilize characters like Blaze and Shadow as much as Tails and Knuckles in story arcs?

1. Either it wouldn't make sense

2. SEGA didn't want them to

[bwrosas]

Good Monday afternoon, well I'm sure you guys have already heard about the revelation of Sally's new design which is to debut after the summer crossover if not before, and yet it seems some I'm not too happy about it.

Now I said my piece with short answers and have actually been complimented by two anonymous fellow fans for predicting/guessing/calling the outcome of Sally's current situation.

And true to my fashion, I have already done two videos which will not be posted here, and why, because as you can read I am typing/Dragon Naturally typing my thoughts for you to read.

Now getting on to the subject at hand, it would seem that what several other anonymous fans have stated and pretty much called Ian Flynn out on, is going to occur. True we cannot say what will happen between now and Sally's return to normal, but it seems already that many who have felt that this story arc could be nothing more than an excuse to get her fully clothed, as of the revelation this past weekend at the New York comic con, have been pretty much on the money.

Now one anonymous fan, has stated that if Ian Flynn, Sega, and Archie comics were going to do this, that it would have been easier for them to have/create a side story in one of the issues of the main comic, if not the Universe spinoff, where Sally goes shopping at a mall with Amy or Bunnie for clothes and have one of them tease Sally about her outfit and how much she's a tomboy, shown her said outfit that was revealed at the NYCC panel this past weekend and have her surprise them, that being Amy or Bunnie and buy said outfit and thus start wearing it on a regular basis. That is how this anonymous fan feels it could have been done without putting us or putting her (Sally) through this situation that she's currently in.

Others feel that perhaps she could regain her free will and then have Nicole use her nanites to create the new Sally design to cover and hide the mecha design that Sally currently has. Now I admit that would be intriguing.

The question is though, why are many, both supporters and non-supporters of Ian Flynn not happy with this revelation? The answer, quite simply, is the fact that fans have been reading this story arc for the past 18 months plus and in their minds, the revelation of Sally's new outfit being one, if not the sole reason that this story arc and her being modified after being turned into a robot has been a waste of a potentially good story arc, (which I do understand has had its good moments and it's bad moments), and thus the reason for it is to give her a new outfit and new hairdo. You can pretty much guess why most fans are disappointed and feel let down. However like I said before, we have no idea what could happen in between now and the debut of her new design, we will just have to wait and see what Ian Flynn has in store between now and when she debuts her new outfit and design.

Speaking of Ian Flynn, on a personal note, with all due respect, this just proves to me personally and others that are in the same boat as I am, why Ian Flynn bans us from his message board on his website. True you could say I did this and that while I was a member of his message board, and you may be and are probably correct. But what about those others that have gotten the same treatment? Well I'll tell you like it is, from my point of view, it's because Ian Flynn doesn't like people/fans, especially long-time twenty-year plus fans calling him out, guessing what he's got planned, and overall having a good idea of what the outcome will be.

Now don't get me wrong, Ian Flynn is potentially a great writer, but after this revelation this past weekend and despite how it comes about within the next year, this just proves he needs to improve on his writing and his unpredictability.

I can understand if his main target audience as of right now is the newer/younger generation that's just gotten into the Sonic franchise and most importantly the Sonic comic books. And I can understand if he wants to try and make it unpredictable for them when they read an issue or two on a monthly basis.

Truth is though, if that is the possible reason, then with all due respect towards Ian Flynn, he should at least come out on his message board, his YouTube channel, and his DA account, and let people know that the reason he did what he did is to target the new generation of fans of the comic. And that by doing what he's done to the characters that we as long-time fans have been established towards for the past 20 years, just so he can introduced them to the newer generation, then in my humble opinion, I'm sure maybe not all of us, but some of us would have a better understanding as to why he's done with he's done with the characters that we as long-time fans have enjoyed reading and when he came to the 1993 to 95 Saturday morning cartoon enjoyed watching, I'm sure in my humble opinion he wouldn't be getting as much backlash, if not mixed messages from the fans that either support him, are in the middle, or don't support him at all.

As a longtime fan, I can understand how many feel about this. You're basically taking an established main character and giving her sort of a major overhaul when it comes to her design. But as I have said before when this whole situation began and even before then, it's not the first time that any established character or characters have had the designs slightly altered or overhauled in a major way.

One example, is the original TMNT cartoon which ran for 10 seasons, when it came to the last three seasons, not only did the turtles have redesigns to the characters to match what we saw in the 1990 movie, but April also had a redesign, first from a yellow jumpsuit to a brown jacket, blue T-shirt and jeans/slacks. Then in the last two seasons, her hair was straightened out and not curly on the sides as we've seen in the previous eight seasons.

One more example, the 1990s X-Men cartoon, for four seasons, we were used to seeing them as they were, but when the fifth season came around and Marvel animation took over, characters like Jean Grey, Jubilee, Rogue, Beast, Gambit and even Storm have some slight redesigns to match what you read in the comic book.

Heck, I'll even throw in the 2006 Biker Mice from Mars cartoon, you want to talk about redesigns to certain characters, check out Charlene/Charlie, Carbine, Storker, along with some others, and you kind of get the idea.

Overall what I'm trying to say with these examples, is that even though fans were used to their original designs for many years, there comes a time when things must change, whether we like it or not.

For how this change came about for Sally, I read on one of these message boards, that some parents or a group of parents felt that her original season two design was to suggestive/risque to have in the comic. Now other fans may blame Sega and Archie for succumbing to peer pressure from members of the fan base about her original season two design. But I think we should hold that for judgment, because in this day and age of political correctness if you will, I wouldn't be too surprised if a group of parents and with all due respect some individual moms and dads, had a hand in this decision, but until we find out the exact detail and reasoning behind it, besides as some fans have put it the lame excuse of her being modified/weapoized as the reason for the new outfit, we may never know. But my guess, despite how the decision came about, again I think it's all part of Ian Flynn's plans to reintroduce her to the newer and younger generation/audience.

In closing let me say this, if one of the reasons for this decision is because as some fans have anonymously said in their opinions, is because Ian painted himself into a corner, perhaps what he needs to do, because he has so much on his plate as it is, (in my humble opinion this will help them improve dramatically), is to hand over the reins of several of the comic books he's working on to some other people who can write stories for those comics, for example hand over maybe Sonic Universe to Tracy Yardley, and perhaps Mega-Man to whoever is an up-and-coming writer at Archie, and believe me if he does something like that, it will help him improve, it will take less stress off of him, and may help him become more unpredictable not just with the new generation/fans, but perhaps with us long-time 20+ year fans as well.

And that's all I'm going to say for today.

[Soniman]

Okay guys, show of hands.

Who fucking saw this coming from a mile away?

True we cannot say what will happen between now and Sally's return to normal, but it seems already that many who have felt that this story arc could be nothing more than an excuse to get her fully clothed, as of the revelation this past weekend at the New York comic con, have been pretty much on the money.

And now I am literally pissing myself with laughter.

Edited October 15, 2012 by Soniman

[Kuzu]

because I don't give enough of a damn about that, can I have a TL;DR version?

[Mauro Fonseca]

Question, why doesn't Archie uutilize characters like Blaze and Shadow as much as Tails and Knuckles in story arcs?

Often a case of either they work with the story (Blaze is from another dimension, meaning excuses to use her are harder to come by) or SEGA telling them not to (Shadow during Eggman's Sonic Universe arc).

Also new Sally looks spiffy

[Dejablue]

I can't stop giggling because I can't wait to see the Anti Archie Sonic Club's reaction to this, I bet there is going to be SO much butthurt

Why would those guys be butthurt?

[Kuzu]

Why would those guys be butthurt?

Because according to them, this entire arc was just about giving her a redesign...........

I wish I was kidding:

http://anti-archie-sonic.deviantart.com/journal/Mecha-sally-s-arch-s-purpose-332486297#comments

[Your Vest Friend]

Why would those guys be butthurt?

Because they'd want the old clothes, probs.

[Dejablue]

If they are anti archie they must hate Sally...sooo why do they even care?

[Soniman]

Because according to them, this entire arc was just about giving her a redesign...........

I wish I was kidding:

http://anti-archie-s...486297#comments

Oh jesus christ, that's probably one of the worst goddamn cases of straw grasping i've seen in a long time.

Seriously, I have never seen a more butthurt group in my life.

Edited October 15, 2012 by Soniman

[Your Vest Friend]

If they are anti archie they must hate Sally

Ohhhhh, no no no. A lot of them are huge Sally fans, they just don't seem to like Ian/Archie in general a whole lot. She was originally from SatAM, after all.

[Komodin]

If they are anti archie they must hate Sally...sooo why do they even care?

By "Anti-Archie", they're mainly "Anti-PrettyMuchEveryIssueSinceIanFlynnWasHired."

[Dejablue]

Hmmm good point.

At the moment I'm indifferent to the clothes. And I'll never agree with "well derp other sonic gurls wear clothes so Sally must also!"

But fuck it, its still Sally Acorn. And this isn't worth bucking against anymore it just isn't.

[Kuzu]

Oh jesus christ, that's probably one of the worst goddamn cases of straw grasping i've seen in a long time.

Seriously, I have never seen a more butthurt group in my life.

Every fanbase has a dark side unfortunately, I talked with Flynn about this at Comic Con, he's basically just taking it in stride.

[Dejablue]

I want to make a list of everything most readers would like shaved off this comic's back . All the access and flack. But that list will probably be amazingly different between a number of people. So it would have to be limited in what is considered expendable or not.

[Kuzu]

You mean we get to say what should be removed from the book? YAY, hold on, I got to think about this.

[Soniman]

Retcon everything about the Xorda being basically the creators of everything because it's fucking stupid.

That's about it from my end.

[bwrosas]

Every fanbase has a dark side unfortunately, I talked with Flynn about this at Comic Con, he's basically just taking it in stride.

what did you say to him and what did he say in return?

[Dejablue]

You mean we get to say what should be removed from the book? YAY, hold on, I got to think about this.

You seemed too excited sooo everyone but you Blaziken lol

[The Tenth Doctor]

I always feel bad for Ian. I met him at SoS last year, had a chat since it was early. He and Tracy signed my comics and we had a laugh about the Scourge arc. I said he did a good job, always made me happy. I feel bad that he has so much shit said against him, even after he cleaned up Penders turd stain. The Sally design change? She's had different designs before. Long hair. Slave girl outfit. These don't tend to last long. You want to have a go cause of the design change? Hit Penders first.

Sorry. The fanbase sure can annoy me.

[1991boy]

Told you guys they'd get butthurt over this I swear they think Ian is the devil or something

[Badnik Mechanic]

This whole Arc was just to give Sally a new pair of clothes

The thing is though...

Bare in mind here I don't have the lastest issue, (well I do just not read it... oh hey I should review the others!), anyway...

This Arc more or less started after Genesis right? Sally died, then didn't, then died and became a robot? Anyway... Lets say for the sake or argument, this Arc more or less started when the Death Egg first attacks Sonic and friends? Can we agree on that? Since that was the reason Sally goes to the death egg and becomes Borg Acorn.

Since then.... exactly what has happened?

Naugus is King... though how much longer since he's haunted by the spirits it seems... The royal family who have contributed almost nothing in nearly a years worth of strips are gone. And Rotor is wearing Bad Box Art MegaMan's costume.

Otherwise... what exactly has happened which has been lasting? Antoine pulled his epic 'I'm not dead' which was cool, yet we've not seen any consequences other than 'Bunny's gone for a stroll.' Otherwise it's just been 'Robotnik attacks, Sonic goes to stop him... over and over again. Granted, some of these have been better than others, e.g. the last one where he attacks that random village/town is vastly superiror to the whole 'we're wolfs and we wear clothes' two parter which resolved and had utterly no impact on the wider story at all.

Really, what if anything is this building upto?

Because I will roar with laughter if the only lasting change is Sally getting her 6th "I cheated death" loyalty card stamp and a trip to Harvey Nicks during the January sale.

[Sega DogTagz]

Really, what if anything is this building upto?

Probably something with the whole Megaman crossover that is starting to get closer.

Outside of that, Nicole got a little bit more character development by dealing with her pity party, and the Doc lost a Chaos emerald among other things. (Emeralds are rare commodities these days. That could be huge).