Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[DabigRG]

Entertainment changes with the times, says Bumblekast!

Spoiler

• Ideas for other favorite anime: Amy Madoka, Cream Evangelion, Knuckles One Punch, Big JoJo, Vector Case Closed and Lupin III
• Sticks during Zombots might either be in a bunker or miss it preparing for some other crazy theory.
• Darkhirse came to him for Arms, Nintendo gave him lore notes but gave no further direction. He may have created a new official character sincr a concept art is pretty close to a side character he planned to introduce
• Rotor broke his back due to needing a new direction since he was overshadowed  and a mild-mannered Tails before Tails.  Iron Rotor and Team Freedom came about because his fans weren't quite happy with that 

(Once again, fuck this sight's autosaving/refreshing)

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Wat?

 

Evangelion for Cream? Even give  how long I’ve been waiting for Eva 3.0+1.0 to come out (and fucking Covid-19 delaying it), that’s a idea I wouldn’t ever have come to mind.

[MetalSkulkBane]

12 hours ago, Shadowlax said:

Also the m.e can only make robots go super. Weird

Wait, that;s official? Someone said it out loud somewhere!?

 

As for length, there is a thin line between "Arc" and "temporary status quo", to the point where it might not be worth discussing.

For me it could in theory go even longer, but it lacked two crucial thing: bloody variety and plot shift. Zombot attack, dim hope dies, somewhat gets infected, repeat. For 8 issues till Zeti finally arrive. Flynn did miracles that he managed to pull our heart strings so long, but it got on repetitive side fast. 4 issue "prologue" wasn't much help.
Compare it to Iron Dominium. First Sonic looses one battle, then second, then he gains small upper-hand with Eggman, then looses the city, then Iron Nicole, then underground tries o fight back. It had it's own problems, but plot went somewhat forward ever 1-2 issues.
Other example would be Mecha Sally arc/status quo. Between Sally's robotication and FF spiting into 2 groups things are bleaker and bleaker, but they're also very varied. Action here, trial there, bunch of people crying in the middle. Things only get boring once Team Freedom starts the chase with Mecha sally turning into carrot you strap in front of the donkey.
This is why I hate Mega Man crossover, for just putting conclusion at the end of long road and bunch of meaningless obstacles in the middle.

[DabigRG]

8 hours ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

Wat?

  Hide contents

Evangelion for Cream? Even give  how long I’ve been waiting for Eva 3.0+1.0 to come out (and fucking Covid-19 delaying it), that’s a idea I wouldn’t ever have come to mind.

That was mostly because he'd find some sick humor in it.

That said, I do have a nephew who has little qualms watching certain things(HxH, AoT,LaO) and once casually mentioned liking the Leprechaun movies, so I suppose there's precedent.

[SBR2]

10 hours ago, PC the Hedgehog said:

 

I am in the camp who feels the Metal Virus arc has dragged on too long, even without the delayed issues, and am really looking forward to something new. This is a storyline I feel would lend itself better to being read in big chunks instead of monthly 20-page installments, which is what I plan to do after it wraps up.

That's sort of a big problem with the whole "Writing for the trade" mindset to me, It's looked at as a complete story that's split up into smaller 20 page chunks to be serialized monthly. It can lead to a feeling of burn out for a story that'll take you like a day or 2 to read at your own pace once it's finished.

Personally I blame Brian Michael Bendis for this. He kinda pioneered extending a story to about 4-6 issues so it could fit in a trade with Ultimate Spider-Man and that's been the industry standard since. Oh, sure sometimes you get shake ups like two 2-issue arcs or a 3 issue arc and a single part but it always has to reach the total page length of a trade.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

1 hour ago, DabigRG said:

That was mostly because he'd find some sick humor in it.

And here I thought I had a lot of outlandish ideas.

 

[DabigRG]

4 hours ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

And here I thought I had a lot of outlandish ideas.

That's what happens with on the fly hypotheticals, especially when he and Kyle admit to not having quite that much knowledge of certain anime. Which shows, since the movies and certain things with Misato are certainly something a 6 year old doesn't need.

Though I haven't seen that in over a decade myself.

[Sparity]

The Thing is, there is nothing wrong with writing a story like the Metal Virus/Zombot arc.  The thing is you have to be less repeative in the storytelling, and mostly less predictable with who you write in to get "infected" by said virus. 

Because if you go with non-major background characters. then that's fine. But when you write in that SEGA Sonic Game Characters and Related-Game Characters getting infected by the virus, than you make it less predictable on the outcome of the storyarc. 

Ex. Every Major Character Infected gets restored, and they (when the issue calls for it) give a Eggman a beating for what he (with the virus) did to them.

[Red]

Yeah I'll be honest and say the repetitive nature of this arc is really what brings it down. I was personally hoping for some sort of shake-up but it ultimately never happened. I was expecting Shadow to be struggling to be in control while he was a Zombot. And the fact that Sonic's infection kept getting worse in every issue to the point he's nearly converted twice made me want to have at least a full panel of him going full Zombot before being cured. Neither of those things have happened/look like they're happening. In fact now that I think about it, my biggest issue is we hardly see the characters once they become Zombots. Most of the time they convert and the issue ends. I would have liked to see Sonic and co fight them off a bit more often.

[Kuzu]

So the comic seems to be doing pretty good in Japan shockingly enough.

 

[calamityCons]

That’s great news! Volume 1 seems so engaging, this is about the second time they had to order another printing because it sold out.

[DabigRG]

So I was figuring out where I left off on Mike's Archie Recaps and came across my summation of the Reboot's Metal Virus Saga when I realized something[I'm posting the writeup for context, but will hide my realization for those who want to avoid potential spoilers]

On 8/25/2019 at 9:00 PM, DabigRG said:

You're welcome.

I admittedly took your request a bit literally and just typed out what was on the paper; I was basically jumping between three or four separate story lines after all. 

It can be reinterpreted later.

EDIT: 

Let's try this again

STH 303-304 Sonic and Tais go to Red Outback Zone(presumably) and fight Maw, ending with Sonic getting infected and seemingly dying as a result.

STH 303-307 Backup: Rotor, Nicole, and later Tails confront Breezie and later Phage, presumably due to discovering their connections to Eggman and try to find out what he's planning with the Metal Virus. Upon doing so, Rotor sends out a broadcast about what they learned.

STH 305 With Sonic presumed dead, Tails tries to remaind "ConEIDNT"(Confident?) as he helps the Shijin Warriors fight and contain Zombots in Yurashia, after which Sonic calls to let him know he's okay.

SU 107-110 Blaze and Bunnie continue to go after Null Mind after he returns, eventually finding his Core and forcing him to escape to CM(Captain Metal?). Meanwhile, Sonic somehow ends up in the clutches of a rebuilt Captain Metal(for some reason) and ends up having to fight him alongside Blaze(?), which involves him and/or his infection somehow "protecting" or something. Also, Bunnie gets trapped/whisked in something before eventually being freed by Blaze and this causes her to see the Past, presumably her/Null's backstory.

STH 306-7 Sonic and Tails help the Desert Raiders fight Zombots, which ends with Sonic & Tails retreating while Nephtys presumably contains the Zombots.

STH 308 Sonic and Eggman either team up or encounter each other fighting Zombots. Meanwhile, the Egg Bosses start leaving(?) and Zavok shows up, presumably near the end.

STH 308 Backup: Sally and Antoine end up crosses paths with Cassia and Clove, presumably after either going to do something with Wolf Pack or perhaps in an attempt to gain their assistance with the Zombots.

SU 111-112  Antoine goes on a search for some special swords: Part 1 features a "blowout" with Cassia & Clove, while Part 2 has Cortez get involved by taking the lead, which presumably motivates Antoine to leave N(?) and head to Avalon. 

SU 111-112 Backup: Sonic and Eggman do something presumably related to the Metal Virus.

Spoiler

What's gonna happen with Sonic being on fire could be another holdover, specifically from the Captain Metal and Null Mind rematch.

 

[MetalSkulkBane]

So I accidentally seen this cover (small spoiler for issue #29) and I realized

Spoiler

Between Metal and Blaze that's 4th super form already. With one obvious person still missing.

It's not real complain, but now I am imagining Shadow in the bar, drinking and swearing heavily how life isn't fair.

And Tails, Knuckles, Mighty and Ray are pointing and laughing at him, because they have Sonic Mania. Amy is quite though. Fingers crossed for sequel

[Shadowlax]

3 hours ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

So I accidentally seen this cover (small spoiler for issue #29) and I realized

  Hide contents

Between Metal and Blaze that's 4th super form already. With one obvious person still missing.

It's not real complain, but now I am imagining Shadow in the bar, drinking and swearing heavily how no life isn't fair.

And Tails, Knuckles, Mighty and Ray are pointing and laughing at him, because they have Sonic Mania. Amy is quite though. Fingers crossed for sequl

I legit think it was supposed to happen two years ago and then someone told ian the M.E only makes machines go super.

 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

19 hours ago, Kuzu said:

So the comic seems to be doing pretty good in Japan shockingly enough.

 

That is shocking.

What the hell are they doing wrong with getting the games this good of attention in their home country then? (Besides making them good—I know you smartasses better than you think these days)

Part of me wants to say the usual in that they suck at advertising, but I don’t fully know how they market them compared to how they market in the west.

[Shadowlax]

5 minutes ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

That is shocking.

What the hell are they doing wrong with getting the games this good of attention in their home country then? (Besides making them good—I know you smartasses better than you think these days)

Part of me wants to say the usual in that they suck at advertising, but I don’t fully know how they market them compared to how they market in the west.

outside of quality?

tone, the comic is a bit more serious than a lot of the more recent games. Japan tends to like that side of sonic . Outside of forces, they have had much. The comics are a well written balance of fun and cool. With large cast of characters. You know that thing that makes sonic unique that was removed for some reason.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

11 minutes ago, Shadowlax said:

outside of quality?

tone, the comic is a bit more serious than a lot of the more recent games. Japan tends to like that side of sonic . Outside of forces, they have had much. The comics are a well written balance of fun and cool. With large cast of characters. You know that thing that makes sonic unique that was removed for some reason.

If that was really the case, games like SHTH and Sonic 06 should’ve sold like hot cakes in Japan back in the day and Sonic X would’ve been a success over there rather than bombing so hard that they didn’t even bother airing its third, much darker season until almost a decade later after we got it here in the west.

I’d chalk it up more to the medium being a major factor due to how much they consume manga/comics compared to the west.

[Shadowlax]

2 minutes ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

If that was really the case, games like SHTH and Sonic 06 should’ve sold like hot cakes in Japan back in the day and Sonic X would’ve been a success over there rather than bombing so hard that they didn’t even bother airing its third, much darker season until almost a decade later after we got it here in the west.

SHTH was meh , but IIRC did ok enough to be rereleased on digital services like the ps store in japan and 06 is bad. Also you missed out on multiple other games that seemingly did fine over there along with characters that are popular over there.

Sonic X was bad

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

2 hours ago, Shadowlax said:

SHTH was meh , but IIRC did ok enough to be rereleased on digital services like the ps store in japan and 06 is bad. Also you missed out on multiple other games that seemingly did fine over there along with characters that are popular over there.

Sonic X was bad

No, I’m pretty sure I did not considering the fact that even the other games after them don’t even come close to selling more than a fraction of what they do outside their home country, and the franchise as a whole historically never did well in Japan even during the Genesis era of the 90s when it was leagues more popular and quality-made than it is now to the point it gave the juggernaut that was the Mario franchise a run for his money.

And Sonic X being bad doesn’t refute this—that they never aired the third season in Japan and made it exclusive to the west until years later only reinforces the fact that Sonic has always faltered to succeed in Japan. That’s why this comic actually doing well over there is surprising, because it’s a first for this franchise in nearly 30 years.

[calamityCons]

I’m not going to pretend that I know what Japan likes as an aggregate of demographics nor as like. Any random joe shmoe Japanese person. I’m not Japanese and I lack the cultural and societal context to say anything with authority. 

All I can really say is that I like the Sonic series as presented in IDW, and I’m happy to hear that people in Japan agree and also enjoy it. 

[SBR2]

I'm just happy it's doing well. Who cares why it is it just is.

[Kuzu]

2 hours ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

No, I’m pretty sure I did not considering the fact that even the other games after them don’t even come close to selling more than a fraction of what they do outside their home country, and the franchise as a whole historically never did well in Japan even during the Genesis era of the 90s when it was leagues more popular and quality-made than it is now to the point it gave the juggernaut that was the Mario franchise a run for his money.

And Sonic X being bad doesn’t refute this—that they never aired the third season in Japan and made it exclusive to the west until years later only reinforces the fact that Sonic has always faltered to succeed in Japan. That’s why this comic actually doing well over there is surprising, because it’s a first for this franchise in nearly 30 years.

It should be noted that the Genesis/Megadrive was more popular in general in Western territories than Japan.

And the most popular games from Sonic are the two Adventure titles. Japan tends to put more priority on storytelling in their games over gameplay from what Ive observed.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

3 hours ago, Kuzu said:

It should be noted that the Genesis/Megadrive was more popular in general in Western territories than Japan.

And the most popular games from Sonic are the two Adventure titles. Japan tends to put more priority on storytelling in their games over gameplay from what Ive observed.

Even when on consoles that are popular in Japan, such as Nintendo ports and titles, they still underperform compared to the western market.

What with the Adventure titles being the only ones to make a noticeable dent over there, it’s a wonder how they’ve never replicated their success and fumbled both it and gameplay afterwards.

[DabigRG]

Stuff from Supergirl Bumblekast

Spoiler

• Unified Chaos Emeralds were the same power level as the millions of Emeralds. He admits that the Emeralds were mishandled from the start, but he did what he could. Naugus's surprise at his power was actually a hint that his powers were messing up.
• He doesn't read Archie Sonic Online because it's fan material, which he was always adverse about.
• Once again, Gemerl and Omega are more robotic in behavior now due to things being different from how they were in Archie.
• Genesis is something he personally doesn't view fondly in spite of the constant praise he gets for it due to it being phoned in and being mandated to tie into the anniversary over the milestone. He also wishes House of Cards had been the year long character driven arc about individual motivations/affiliations he intended it to be.
• Something for IDW 2020 was deemed inappropriate in theme and had to be reconfigured, which lead to an interesting change for one of the characters. He compared it to Eclipse being created due to being asked not to use Mephiles.
• He would love to do an IDW Encyclopedia, but it's way too early and he's not sure SEGA would be keen on it.
• There were no big plans for Relic since she was a supporting character, though there was an idea involving Rotor & the Unleashed ghosts and a scrapped idea for Tikal interaction during the Shattered World Crisis. He also wishes he could bring her and Eclipse over.

 

Also, he is working on Rivals of Aether as a lore consultant.

 

[Sonictrainer]

Evan Stanley did some fanart of the STC Amy.