Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[Shadowlax]

1 hour ago, Celestia said:

I'd rather Marine than Sticks for a lot of reasons, one being that she's actually funny.

More seriously, considering the weird energy (water...?) blast in that one cutscene, it'd kinda make sense to group her up with Blaze and Silver.

Not a fan of the crazy type?

[Your Vest Friend]

1 hour ago, DabigRG said:

...So? Team Chaotix has Charmy on it and for all of the overly forceful opinions that get expressed, I don't think I've seen people downvote his place among them.

Then I'll be frank; you haven't seen much discussion about him. 

[Red Hot Jack]

Marine is annoying on purpose, so I figured someone would like that. Personally... not fond of her.

[Kuzu]

15 minutes ago, VEDJ-F said:

Then I'll be frank; you haven't seen much discussion about him. 

Note, there's a distinct lack of Charmy in Vedj's avatar for instance :V

[RedFox99]

17 minutes ago, Jack the Maniac said:

Marine is annoying on purpose, so I figured someone would like that. Personally... not fond of her.

TBF, wasn't she supposed to learn not to be so bratty.

[MetalSkulkBane]

9 minutes ago, RedFox99 said:

TBF, wasn't she supposed to learn not to be so bratty.

Sure. In other news Shadow is less stuck to his past, Amy learned how to be a independent woman and Big found his frog.

Honestly if we change Marine to stop goofing off and being all hyperactive, then what's the point of bringing her back?

[Wraith]

4 minutes ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

Sure. In other news Shadow is less stuck to his past, Amy learned how to be a independent woman and Big found his frog.

Honestly if we change Marine to stop goofing off and being all hyperactive, then what's the point of bringing her back?

You can...tweak traits of characters and not completely erase them. 

I like Silver more in the comics because the shrieking idiot part was downplayed a fair bit.

[Marco9966]

What makes Marine so unlikable?? Can't someone be goofy and hyperactive?

I feel she is kinda "no not her again" of the Sonic universe.

 

[Shaun Shikeishuu]

Just finished with issue #5. I think the comic is alright so far but isn't anything amazing. Was happy Knuckles wasn't portrayed as an idiot in issue #3 and I was happy Blaze and Espio showed up early on. Definitely curious about whoever is controlling the badniks.  

Also is anyone else having trouble finding these comics? I know of four comic book stores in my area and the ones I frequent the most have never had this comic and I was looking every week. It was only about 2 weeks ago I found the first 4 issues at a shop that's kind of out of my way. Went there yesterday and got the last copy of issue #5 they had which unfortunately was one of the cover variants. (would have rather had the one with Eggman on it). 

[Sega DogTagz]

6 minutes ago, Marco9966 said:

What makes Marine so unlikable?? Can't someone be goofy and hyperactive?

I feel she is kinda "no not her again" of the Sonic universe.

She's like a bratty little sister. In small doses its cute, endearing even. In large sample pools its nerve grating and rage mode inducing. Further still, there is when its someone else's bratty little sister, in which case its hard to even stomach a tiny bit of it and you just want her to go away.

Marine falls into that last category. She isn't a main character and the narrative doesn't make any particular effort to make you feel attached to her. She's just there.

 

Personally, I think Marine is a no go just because they'd have to dig up a voice actor for her. If her shtick is ill received when she's mute, it'll be 100x worse if you give little miss jabberjaw a voice.

[Dash Speed]

6 hours ago, Sonic Fan J said:

Really, most of the characters would benefit from unusual pairings and mix ups. I'm letting the typical status quo slide myself right now because were still being introduced, but team ups like Shadow and Knuckles or Knuckles and Amy from the end of the Archie are just the tip of the iceberg for me. Show me Tails and Rogue on  hack and heist team up or maybe Blaze and Charmy stuck together for whatever reason. Just mix it up even if Sonic has to stat as the focus.

I disagree, some dynamics like in archie are too incompatible to pair as a casual team up considering in character, Shadow would only work with Sonic as the only do gooder type(sees him as a worthy rival and all that) based on the history of being based off the games, I don't see Shadow meshing with characters like Knuckles or Amy without it ruining his intimidating reputation and lack of moral values and belifs he is known for, Amy and Knux's values constrast over his immoral hardcore brutality and near menacing pragmatism. You can't match characters in a action series with two different battle perspectives and make them socially acceptable to each other. Tails and Rouge, she's a smug shady cat thief and he's a innocent little boy genius, it would work because unlike Shadow, Rouge has the humorous side for it.

[DabigRG]

 

2 hours ago, VEDJ-F said:

Then I'll be frank; you haven't seen much discussion about him. 

Hm. Maybe so.

In fact, part of my statement was acknowledging that it's very likely something people think, but has been semi-surprisingly left unspoken.

1 hour ago, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

Note, there's a distinct lack of Charmy in Vedj's avatar for instance :V

To be fair, you could also just assume she has a thing for reptiles as well.

1 hour ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

Sure. In other news Shadow is less stuck to his past, Amy learned how to be a independent woman and Big found his frog.

Honestly if we change Marine to stop goofing off and being all hyperactive, then what's the point of bringing her back?

To be fair, those are cases where they didn't lose what made their character's annoying so much as have them rendered in much less intrusive and somewhat more enjoyable/tolerable ways.

Though in Amy's case, it's ironic how most of what are considered her positive traits and portrayals are cases where she isn't an "independent woman," as it is said.

1 hour ago, Josh said:

You can...tweak traits of characters and not completely erase them. 

I like Silver more in the comics because the shrieking idiot part was downplayed a fair bit.

Pretty much.

After all, people rarely realistically lose bad traits and habits completely.

In Marine's case, the spunky and spirited aspects of her character will easily be retained, just expressed in somewhat more acceptable/appropriate ways. Having her utilize her skills and maybe even her power a little more are also ways of helping.

1 hour ago, Marco9966 said:

I feel she is kinda "no not her again" of the Sonic universe.

Which is funny because I distinctly recall her being present and/or referenced in a fair number of things.

The Archie comic notably had her on it's main cover alongside Blaze, Metal, & Shadow and the SEGA Mandated Olympic Game story also included her among the cast, for some reason.

[Sonictrainer]

26 minutes ago, Dash Speed said:

I disagree, some dynamics like in archie are too incompatible to pair as a casual team up considering in character

Name one with SEGA only characters that hasn't already happened in any universe outside of Archie.

30 minutes ago, Dash Speed said:

Shadow would only work with Sonic as the only do gooder type (sees him as a worthy rival and all that)

He teamed up with everyone except Big and Blaze in his own game.

32 minutes ago, Dash Speed said:

I don't see Shadow meshing with characters like Knuckles or Amy without it ruining his intimidating reputation and lack of moral values and belifs he is known for,

Didn't Amy convince Shadow to help save the ark in Adventure 2?

35 minutes ago, Dash Speed said:

You can't match characters in a action series with two different battle perspectives and make them socially acceptable to each other.

42 minutes ago, Dash Speed said:

Tails and Rouge, she's a smug shady cat thief and he's a innocent little boy genius, it would work because unlike Shadow, Rouge has the humorous side for it.

It worked here.

[Marco9966]

I think Shadow teaming up with more funny characters can be fun, like Shadow and Charmy.

[Sonic Fan J]

2 hours ago, Dash Speed said:

I disagree, some dynamics like in archie are too incompatible to pair as a casual team up considering in character, Shadow would only work with Sonic as the only do gooder type(sees him as a worthy rival and all that) based on the history of being based off the games, I don't see Shadow meshing with characters like Knuckles or Amy without it ruining his intimidating reputation and lack of moral values and belifs he is known for, Amy and Knux's values constrast over his immoral hardcore brutality and near menacing pragmatism. You can't match characters in a action series with two different battle perspectives and make them socially acceptable to each other. Tails and Rouge, she's a smug shady cat thief and he's a innocent little boy genius, it would work because unlike Shadow, Rouge has the humorous side for it.

Incompatibility is really more of an author limitation, and lack of past examples is not reason to not experiment in the future. Risk and reward is something a story needs to strive for lest it become stale and predictable. It's why I'm giving the current Eggman story line a chance even though I don't like that story beat; because it's a risk that might have a unique reward. Already we've seen Sonic take a non-aggressive stance despite his history with Eggman and recent history to boot and that is character exploration that would be handled differently under different circumstances. Mixing things up from the norm helps diversify and explore the many facets of the characters and is a chance to do the unexpected. Sure sometimes it will fail, but other times you might just be in for a surprise. 

And lastly, just as an aside, action does not equal combat exclusively in my opinion. Sports, acrobatics, racing, and even juggling can all be very action packed with out a need for fighting. As Sonic is an adventurous globetrotter with a love of running and daredevil like exploits not every action scene needs to be combat related. As an example, just take the Sonic CD opening. That is a very action packed sequence and there isn't a moment of combat in it. Likening action to combat is fine, but limiting action to combat is underselling what can constitute action and in a narrative setting disregards character interaction.

[Dr. Detective]

4 hours ago, Marco9966 said:

What makes Marine so unlikable?? Can't someone be goofy and hyperactive?

I feel she is kinda "no not her again" of the Sonic universe.

Oh, I love goofy and hyperactive... the problem is that Marine kind of represents the more unpleasant way to handle that kind of kid character. Deliberately so too. The point behind her arc in Sonic Rush Adventure was that she was supposed to (supposedly) learn not to be such a huge brat but... it didn't quite pan out that way. Not really. 

I feel like there probably could have been a better way to handle that story then to just pile on all these negative traits onto her and then expect people to be okay with it because it was a story they were trying to tell. 

Charmy is hyperactive and goofy and he does act a little bit like a prankster, teasing Vector whenever he can and what not... but that's largely it. Every other time he's on screen, he's usually a pretty positive person. He rarely ever gets angry or outright disruptive or disrespectful to anyone who isn't Vector and doesn't assert authority in a space where he doesn't have any.

Marine on the other hand does all of those things. Not only did she not do a whole lot but some of the things she did were detrimental to the group's objectives sometimes. She's tasked with not messing with something important and she fucks it up because she chooses not to listen to anyone. She asserts herself as the captain and expects people to just listen to what she has to say and I guess that's supposed to be charming. If the writing were a bit more clever maybe they could have made that fun but not really. 

I can't say her comic appearances have ever endeared her towards me either. I'm usually a big supporter for doing what you can for characters who've been written badly and turning them into something more tolerable but so much about Marine is caked in the kind of stuff I don't like that I can't help but be kind of glad she was pretty much forgotten after her one and only story appearance in the games. If Ian were to try her out again, he'd kind of have to fully commit to just making her more mature or get rid of the more egotistical side of her personality in order for me to be on board. Even then, it may take a while before I feel it's enough.

Often I wonder if the people who don't like Charmy kind of see the kind of character that Marine is within him or something. If Charmy were actually like her, I'd understand the hate a bit more but as it stands I just think he's a ton of fun. I like fun characters. They remind me to be happy when I'm down and he's kind of like how I've always wanted to be when I was a kid. Excited about everything and always up for a good adventure instead of depressed and worried about when I'm gonna die. 

 

[Skull Leader]

5 hours ago, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

Note, there's a distinct lack of Charmy in Vedj's avatar for instance :V

That's because there is no place for Charmy in the Vecpio ship. : P

[Sega DogTagz]

5 hours ago, Dash Speed said:

I don't see Shadow meshing with characters like Knuckles or Amy without it ruining his intimidating reputation and lack of moral values and belifs he is known for, Amy and Knux's values constrast over his immoral hardcore brutality and near menacing pragmatism.

Archie did just that right at the end of their run, and I think the result is very widely regarded as a great character pairing around here. It was that clash of ideology, Shadow's do whatever is necessary single mindedness and Knuckles stubborn moral duty clashed to create an action packed, thematically heavy confrontation that served to re-enforce both Knuckles and Shadow and what the two were all about. If anything, Shadow comes out of that pairing as more intimidating then when he came in - and Knuckles gains more respect for fighting through Shadow's metal jabs and reaffirming what he believed in.

 

A good writer can make almost any pairing work, particularly in the short term. All it takes is a little bit of foresight and a good understanding of some of the characters in play and how some of their secondary the third tier character traits can play off each other.

 

Take take that Charmy example being thrown around. Shadow would have a very short fuse for dealing with the little mites antics. I could easily see him leaving Charmy behind somewhere to intentionally scare Charmy and ultimately shock him into compliance and subservience. Poor kid would be traumatized, but he'd stick to Shadow like glue and stay in his lane while Shadow handles business. It could even backfire as a now super dependent Charmy would be too clingy - getting in the way, and being unable to help with the most simple of tasks, no matter how dire. That stays true to both their characters, and can be played for laughs while Shadow sacrifices no seriousness.

[SBR2]

10 hours ago, Celestia said:

I'd rather Marine than Sticks for a lot of reasons, one being that she's actually funny.

That's debatable. 

[Sonic Fan J]

Call me strange but I like both Marine and Sticks. I find they both have plenty of avenues for further exploration and interactions, and honestly, i'd love to see someone have to deal with Charmy and Marine at the same time. Preferably Eggman on an off day just for the zany antics that could result in.

[Shadowlax]

5 hours ago, Marco9966 said:

I think Shadow teaming up with more funny characters can be fun, like Shadow and Charmy.

Yep

TBH, shadow has the potentially to be funny. But no one really wants to write him that snarky

[DabigRG]

8 hours ago, Sonic Fan J said:

Call me strange but I like both Marine and Sticks. I find they both have plenty of avenues for further exploration and interactions

Yeah, I kinda do to.

Granted, I've never actually played/[properly ]watched all the way through Rush Adventure and thus technically didn't have to deal with Marine on a semi-constant basis, but from what I have seen and remember, many of her scenes towards the end of the game were actually kinda humorous and even interesting.

[SBR2]

8 hours ago, Shadowlax said:

Yep

TBH, shadow has the potentially to be funny. But no one really wants to write him that snarky

That's because he's got to be serious and Angsty and boring or else Shadow fans will pitch a fit.

[Shadowlax]

40 minutes ago, SBR2 said:

That's because he's got to be serious and Angsty and boring or else Shadow fans will pitch a fit.

I don't think its that, I think shadow like flaming dudes with logic along with punches would go fairly well with that fanbase.I think a lot of the times in narratives he's busy doing other stuff. But I do think they should try it more. 

 

 

[Razule]

On 6/2/2018 at 1:15 PM, PublicEnemy1 said:

If he said he had less freedom, that wouldn't be good for him. He's not supposed to complain and say bad things about the one that he's working with. I'm sure he has some more creative freedom, but we don't know for sure, since SEGA's more involved.

1. That mandate was gone near the end of Archie, as the Chaotix are shown wearing different clothes for a panel or two.
2. If the mandate WAS still in place for this, remember that there's a chance that it's not the REAL Eggman, so they got around it using a clone.

The mandate isn't that they can never wear different clothing ever. Just permanently. Amy wore the Winter Olympics clothes in the issue before the first crossover.