Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[Diogenes]

7 minutes ago, Shadowlax said:

I think personally the people wanting neo to be complicated are barking up the wrong tree. He's a set up villain, he's simple and works and allows ian to write a sonic heroes story which he notably wanted to do.

That's boring, though.

[Shadowlax]

2 minutes ago, Diogenes said:

That's boring, though.

I mean it is if you find it to be. I wont take that from you. I'm interested in the stuff going on around the battle, and the battle itself. Metal Sonic in any form has never been interesting to me outside of one time when sega was actually trying to make him a character, so I didn't expect any metal to actually be interesting.

[DabigRG]

2 minutes ago, Shadowlax said:

I mean it is if you find it to be. I wont take that from you. I'm interested in the stuff going on around the battle, and the battle itself. Metal Sonic in any form has never been interesting to me outside of one time when sega was actually trying to make him a character, so I didn't expect any metal to actually be interesting.

How about the OVA?

[Shadowlax]

3 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

How about the OVA?

That was alright, pretty neat. 

I just really liked the idea of shadow being like " Don't you have sentience how about you stop being a dick " and then him actually going " Oh yeah... no one ever really talks to me we just fight... I don't have to fight?" and actually...dwelling on it a bit or in the comic, not at all. But it interested me at least.

Edit if got a story of how Metal sonic gained sentience and then became neo, that would be interesting. Or on the flipside, if he became some new good guy and got a new body, that would be interesting. But as it stands, he's either nothing, but a robot hit man, or super villain with little substance

[DabigRG]

3 minutes ago, Shadowlax said:

That was alright, pretty neat. 

I just really liked the idea of shadow being like " Don't you have sentience how about you stop being a dick " and then him actually going " Oh yeah... no one ever really talks to me we just fight... I don't have to fight?" and actually...dwelling on it a bit or in the comic, not at all. But it interested me at least.

Edit if got a story of how Metal sonic gained sentience and then became neo, that would be interesting. Or on the flipside, if he became some new good guy and got a new body, that would be interesting. But as it stands, he's either nothing, but a robot hit man, or super villain with little substance

I love how you took a discussion about the original knockoff Sonic and made it involve the orginil-err knockoff Sonic.

[Shadowlax]

2 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

I love how you took a discussion about the original knockoff Sonic and made it involve the orginil-err knockoff Sonic.

Sorry?

I mean I would feel the same if it involved anyone else? I just guess it involved shadow because he can relate to being used as a weapon. But my overall point is, someone actually engaging with metal sonic to me makes metal sonic interesting. He isn't engaged often, he's either regarded as an egg man robot, or in this case a supervillian at the end of his arc shouting lines about how he will destroy everyone who opposes him 

I guess my point is, for him to be interesting to me, I need him to be a character and part of that comes with the regular characters themselves actually engaging him 

[Meta77]

Metal from the ova was not interesting when you think about it. he was a basic version of metal. He only acted out cause he had sonics memories. Aka making the old man wear sonics outfit cause it was something i assume sonic wanted the old man to do. that was odd actually. Outside the fight there was noting that metal did any incarnation of him hasnt done except look up saras dress and say one line before burning up

[DabigRG]

5 minutes ago, Shadowlax said:

Sorry?

I mean I would feel the same if it involved anyone else? I just guess it involved shadow because he can relate to being used as a weapon. But my overall point is, someone actually engaging with metal sonic to me makes metal sonic interesting. He isn't engaged often, he's either regarded as an egg man robot, or in this case a supervillian at the end of his arc shouting lines about how he will destroy everyone who opposes him 

I guess my point is, for him to be interesting to me, I need him to be a character and part of that comes with the regular characters themselves actually engaging him 

I know, I'm just messing with ya.

 

4 minutes ago, Meta77 said:

Metal from the ova was not interesting when you think about it. he was a basic version of metal. He only acted out cause he had sonics memories. Aka making the old man wear sonics outfit cause it was something i assume sonic wanted the old man to do. that was odd actually. Outside the fight there was noting that metal did any incarnation of him hasnt done except look up saras dress and say one line before burning up

Eh, I guess not? He was fun though.

[Meta77]

I mean i love metal as much as the next person but you have got to have him actively showing some form of emotion to be any good. neo is a good example. mania adventures did a pretty good job on him but other than that hes typically seen as a mindless robot that just happens to be shaped like sonic and somewhat can keep up with him  at times.

[StaticMania]

Metal Sonic doesn't "need" to talk or emote or anything.

 

Being just a challenge is fine. He can evolve and stuff, but it's not guaranteed to be more interesting.

[Diogenes]

In a game, sure. In a comic I kinda expect there to be, like, a story, and characters. Especially when he's the main villain of the arc, and essentially the entire comic up to this point.

[Razule]

Maybe if Shadow was a villain again-

[Sega DogTagz]

I don't think we need to go fishing in a puddle here. Metal Sonic is what he is. He is at his best when he is threatening and dangerous, not when he is provided a motive. We never need anything beyond Priority 1 Hedgehog Alert. Its pure and simple and doesn't need to be convoluted with backstory or exposition. Metal doesn't need that. He never has. So long as he comes across as threatening, and dare I say overpowered, then he's accomplished his goal as a character. He's played his part.

 

[Diogenes]

I don't care about the villain just being blandly "threatening" because it's trivially easy to load a character with dangerous powers. "Oh here's my original character Metal Sonic, he's as fast as Sonic, super strong, can copy anybody's powers, and has his own Super form", wow, great, very interesting Timmy, let's put that drawing on the fridge right next to the one of Coldsteel the Hedgeheg.

You can get away with a traditional style Metal Sonic as the single-minded Sonic killer because then you've at least got the doppelganger thing to play with, if not for Metal's sake than at least for Sonic to have something to play off beyond "a big strong bad guy wants to fight!" Also because if your villain is operating on that low a level, it's probably either a smaller scale story or just one part of a larger, more significant story. But this Metal doesn't even have that much going for him, and he's the focal point of this big team-up arc that the comic's been building towards from the start. None of this feels like it means anything, it's like a kid throwing all his toys in a pile and having them fight.

[Korke]

On 9/22/2018 at 8:47 PM, Diogenes said:

Eh, I don't really care much for this take on Metal, personally. With his independence wiped and with him focused on taking shit over for Eggman, he hardly even feels like Metal. There's no personal drive there, he's just doing what he was programmed to do...and yeah ok he's a robot most of what he's done is what he's been programmed to do, but I don't feel like this is building anywhere for Metal as a character. He's just a loyal drone doing what Eggman would do, except blandly competent instead of interestingly flawed.

He was becoming an actual threat at the comic after years and years of pathetic performance. Also, the kill-switch plot device could had been worked around anytime.

[LongcrierCat]

Okay we're hitting a trend now with issues 9-12. We have another "story arc" where they want us to pay attention to what happens. 

So everyone is on Angel Island to liberate that and take out Metal Sonic now. But uh. We're kind of already there and attacking the base. So, how did we stretch this out beyond two issues. Usually this amount of story would be handled in two issues. I'm getting a bad feeling that this will be like how Issues 1-4 were where they meander about pretending a story is going on when it's really just fluff to make room for more fighting which has been a constant in this book. At least the fights were usually story driven in Archie and there was an excuse for arcs. A lot was going on and were taking place all over the Sonic Universe. We had side stories with Knuckles and the Chaotix, Sally and Nicole, Eggman VS The Witchcarters (and honestly who saw that coming? Wow, what an awesome surprise that was) and they all tied back into the major theme of this Brave New World that was being fully realized. And I know, world building is everywhere, but why are people suddenly telling us that it's just fluff and doesn't mean anything? Lore helps establish tone and gives way to character motivations and reasons for plots to unfold. 

I think the real reason we're not caring about the world building is because the story doesn't matter anymore, it's just do what Sega tells them to do. I mean, they're more competent than Sonic Team, but the new comic is so hollow and yes. I agree @Diogenes. I don't get why Metal is a slave to Robotnik's wishes here. They could have had a neat GitS talk about him severing ties with his Master and his agenda and decided to take on a new role as he sows chaos across Mobi- I mean Eart- I mean Sonic's World. 

Just. This feels like a husk compared to what came before and the confirmation that a gay couple of characters would have been more gay in the following stories in their book shot me in the heart as a trans lesbian and the stories I have grown so fond of not mattering now has me thinking that it's a damn shame the Archie book ended the way it did. It took the ideas of Sonic at its base and did something new with them. Egg Bosses and Cyberization were such good ideas and now that's just lost. It's not even acknowledged in Sonic Forces, the game that basically was the comic's running theme of fighting for freedom. 

It's just disrespectful in my eyes. It's just a product that's lacking in the right amount of heart. And I'm really disappointed as I hoped this would grow on me. Mr. Tinker has been a fine Ovi Kintobor but Neo Metal isn't enough of a Metallix and they built too much hype around Tangle for her to be a blank slate then come around with Whisper who immediately has more of a personality in her intro issue. 

This comic is a damn mess, and I think Sega has interfered far too much. You don't slap your best artists on the wrists like that for something a bad artist did. I feel like they're still getting back at Ken Penders with all these regulations but it's backfiring poorly. 

[MetalSkulkBane]

12 hours ago, Shadowlax said:

I don't really think there's much personality to give him.

Before I continue, I would like to address a previous point, I can't give credit to neo doing metal justice because neo and the metal sonic we know are largely two different characters. 

Back to the first thing, metal is kind of a generic villain with terminator powers. He's a robot that got sentience and now he wants to take over the world, he looks kinda cool but he isn't the most involved. Its why I think he works as a most villain, he doesn't need long diatribes or intense backstory he's an eggman robot that went rouge and probably used the phantom ruby on eggman to trap him in some form of illusion that causes him to think he's some tinker man whilst he tries to take over the world himself. I think personally the people wanting neo to be complicated are barking up the wrong tree. He's a set up villain, he's simple and works and allows ian to write a sonic heroes story which he notably wanted to do. The important stuff is the things going on around him, that set up future stories 

As Metal Sonic's self-proclaimed #1 fan, I have no delusions: most writer see Metal as a boss fight. Something you can slap into a story/game when you need threat bigger than dozenth badnik, but smaller than Infinite/Chaos/final-boss-guy. Guaranteed to get at least mildly positive feedback from fandom. And you know what? For most time, I'm cool with that.

With that said, Metal Sonic HAS potential. He was metal image of one person he hates most, he was created to be better than Sonic, yet he's just a copy. Not to mention he's Eggman's oldest intelligent robot and their relationship was unstable to say lightly. If you're willing to read between lines and analyze his story, there is one of most complex Sonic characters to be found.

If you have some time to kill, I know a fanfic exploring Metal's character. shameless plug

[Shadowlax]

1 hour ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

As Metal Sonic's self-proclaimed #1 fan, I have no delusions: most writer see Metal as a boss fight. Something you can slap into a story/game when you need threat bigger than dozenth badnik, but smaller than Infinite/Chaos/final-boss-guy. Guaranteed to get at least mildly positive feedback from fandom. And you know what? For most time, I'm cool with that.

With that said, Metal Sonic HAS potential. He was metal image of one person he hates most, he was created to be better than Sonic, yet he's just a copy. Not to mention he's Eggman's oldest intelligent robot and their relationship was unstable to say lightly. If you're willing to read between lines and analyze his story, there is one of most complex Sonic characters to be found.

If you have some time to kill, I know a fanfic exploring Metal's character. shameless plug

I'm not saying he doesn't have potential. I'm just saying as he is portrayed in most scenario's to me doesn't go beyond " Beep boop destroy " to me he registers as a slightly more intelligent eggbot that looks like sonic. I do think he has potential though, I have thought about it myself. But I don't know if anyone is ever going to realize it, even now Neo metal doesn't seem to be the important part of this story , rather the relationships being setup is. 

And I may listen to your mixtape read your fanfiction

[StaticMania]

If only Metal was more proactive...more than Eggman. You'd think someone with Sonic's speed along with Eggman's intellect would be more willing to bring the fight to Sonic.

[Forte-Metallix]

2 hours ago, StaticMania said:

If only Metal was more proactive...more than Eggman. You'd think someone with Sonic's speed along with Eggman's intellect would be more willing to bring the fight to Sonic.

He's tried that with more resources at his disposal countless times and always failed. His grand plan here isn't just a clever throwback to 3 & Knuckles- It's Metal finally getting the idea to turn Sonic's ultimate trump card against him.

Fighting him head-on? Sonic wins, either on his own or with help from friends.

Turning into a giant dragon-robot with the powers of 12 heroes and a water god? Sonic and friends turn Super and overwhelm him.

Taking that ultimate power for himself while assuring Sonic can't do the same, and retaining his power-copying? Metal's best chance yet.

And although Metal's still loyal to Eggman, he's got enough to personally gain here. His primary motivation is to prove himself superior to his organic template, and as shown in Issues 7 and 9, he still has that goal. Just because he no longer has his own lust for power doesn't mean he's not acting out of his own interests, too- He just found a compromise between his and Eggman's desires.

[Red Hot Jack]

Does anyone who has volume one know if it contains all the variant covers? I want to buy it regardless, but I want to know.

[Big Panda]

20 minutes ago, I Love Sticks said:

Does anyone who has volume one know if it contains all the variant covers? I want to buy it regardless, but I want to know.

Yes. Or all the individual pieces of art at least (it doesn’t have the covers that have reused art, like the second printing covers or the convention covers where everything’s greyed out)

[Red Hot Jack]

37 minutes ago, Ernest-Panda said:

Yes. Or all the individual pieces of art at least (it doesn’t have the covers that have reused art, like the second printing covers or the convention covers where everything’s greyed out)

Awesome. Yeah I meant the different variants and not the pointless recycled ones. I love all of the covers by Hesse, Foundraine and Stanley. Thanks.

[Ellipsis-Ultima]

David Marioette answers on "Why Cream/Omega/Gemerl/Hatsun the Pigeon didn't show up in issue 9..."

 

[Red Hot Jack]

Well, it confirms they are not in the arc, I kinda dig it, there are already too many characters, and if they were to appear, we'd have even more introduction, instead of focusing on the fun and about who we have. 

Still, Cream keeps getting snobbed this year.