Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[CertifiedNobody]

1 hour ago, KoDaiko said:

I was gonna say "After saving the world a million times when no one else would, one 'mistake' is all it takes for the public to turn on him? And they'd trust a total newbie over him?", but then that's a pretty common superhero trope isn't it.

Still, can't see it stopping Sonic & co. from saving people so wonder what Starline's points gonna be.

His point will be that Surge and Kit are cooler and more effective than Sonic and Tails, and he'll make sure that people see that.

Also, only a handful of Sonic's Adventures were seen by the public.

People never saw him fight Dark Gaia, The Finalhazard, the Nega Mother Wisp, or most of the other big bads of the series.

[Sega DogTagz]

To say nothing of Sonic and Tails also have a consistent track record of failing to change the status quo. For as long as they have been out saving the world, they also have yet to actually stop Eggman once and for all (they almost never even make it far enough to throw him jail) and the world is constantly in crisis as a result.

Surge and Kit can make big promises, and really rattle peoples faith in Sonic and Tails, particularly in the short term. All they have to do is point to the Metal Virus and the Eggman War as evidence. Starline has positioned himself in a way that he can easily play on both sides of the board to his own benefit.

[KoDaiko]

35 minutes ago, CertifiedNobody said:

His point will be that Surge and Kit are cooler and more effective than Sonic and Tails, and he'll make sure that people see that.

Also, only a handful of Sonic's Adventures were seen by the public.

People never saw him fight Dark Gaia, The Finalhazard, the Nega Mother Wisp, or most of the other big bads of the series.

I'm sure people still see him (and his friends) as that guy who constantly thwarts Eggman's plan, or at least is always there to help when trouble happens on their world? And it still shouldn't affect Sonic's actions since his main interest is adventure and saves people on the side when needed. If people need saving he helps, if they don't then he goes off to have fun. If something is bad he'll deal with it, if not then he'll let it go. Surge & Kit's existence (or public opinion) wouldn't stop him from going after Starline.

Wonder if they're gonna make him upset someone's better at hero-ing than him, or do the whole "heros save people even if everyone hates them/ what makes a hero?" thing (please don't). Or do a more unique plot twist?

IF they decide to go the "heros failing the public's trust" route, they better go all out and also focus on the flaw of the general public being too dependent yet judgemental on the heros w/o doing anything in return. Given they (apparently) never bothered to have a good enough military or defense system after numerous Eggman attacks, I'd be confused why they'd "lose faith" in some local kids that's saving the world as a hobby/when necessary. What are they gonna do, publicly denounce & harass them on sight? (which is funny, I remember Ian saying something like Mobians generally being more laid-back and forgiving. Explains why everyone is mostly chill with Eggman every time he comes back in game)

 

....man I'm overthinking this over a 3 page preview.

[Wraith]

5 hours ago, KoDaiko said:

I think my reading comprehension sucks, is Starline saying Surge and Kit is gonna replace Sonic & co. by
1) Stealing their reputation/role as a hero, or
2) Off-ing them directly?

 

The second one will be easier to do if they accomplish the first.

[Sega DogTagz]

 

4 hours ago, KoDaiko said:

IF they decide to go the "heros failing the public's trust" route, they better go all out and also focus on the flaw of the general public being too dependent yet judgemental on the heros w/o doing anything in return. Given they (apparently) never bothered to have a good enough military or defense system after numerous Eggman attacks, I'd be confused why they'd "lose faith" in some local kids that's saving the world as a hobby/when necessary. What are they gonna do, publicly denounce & harass them on sight? (which is funny, I remember Ian saying something like Mobians generally being more laid-back and forgiving. Explains why everyone is mostly chill with Eggman every time he comes back in game)

I don't think it will end up a public trust issue, more of a greater good situation. Both in concept and in scope.

Most of the citizens would never dare to fault Sonic/Tails for what they have done, but a few characters back in the Archie run shed some light on a handful of vantage points that would be ideal for Starline to capitalize on. Characters like Nephthys explain how despite their heroic intentions, Heroes like Sonic have been effectively making the conflict worse. The same is undoubtedly true in the IDW run. Characters like Shadow expose the cast as unwilling to do what needs to be none. Zavok has said as much recently. Say Starline records that cold threat he just made. Hijacks a news feed and puts his words on a speakerphone for the world to see. Suddenly everyone might not be so sure that the status quo is worth preserving. Suddenly showing up at the 11th hour isn't good enough. Suddenly Sonic's not the best person for the job. Not because he's a bad hero, but because he isn't focused on the greater good. He never has been. And here are two new heroes. With familiar attitude. With familiar power, offering to change things for the better - and an impossibly good short term track record to back it up. Showing up to thwart disaster almost before it can even start.

 

Sonics endgame heroics almost give him a Goku complex. Where he can't get serious until half his friends are already dead. Sonic doesn't do his best work until stakes are at their highest and the mental trauma and catastrophic property damage have already occurred. Its unsustainable.

 

Starline is looking to drive a wedge into the cycle. Several of Sonic's closest friends expressed regret and hesitation as to what they should have been doing following Sonic's decision to let Tinker be. Expand that on a grander scale, destroy Sonic's support system even a little bit by establishing a new dynamic duo that promises a better future, and that wedge will be complete.

 

 

 

If it goes down like I think it will, I think it is a brilliant plan... with the sole exception of the same shortcoming as with the Conch. It only works so long as he can keep those two under his thumb. If Surge is as bold as Sonic and Kit is as smart as Tails... I wouldn't bet on it.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Long story short, Impostor Syndrome seems to be Sonic’s version of Superman Vs the Elites.

[Red Hot Jack]

This is interesting, looks like SEGA asked Ian for Knuckles to disband the resistance to wrap up the Forces plot, they don't want them to reference the games too much. Present mostly but also past.

So he explains... this is the reason Infinite is off-limits, not because he's dead then, or not utilizable, but because they didn't want to reference Forces at the time, which means things could change in the future? If the comic did something interesting with Infinite, I would really like it, there is potential with him and IDW can use that properly unlike Forces which had "game writing".

What do you guys think about this?

[Empire88]

1 hour ago, Jack-al said:

This is interesting, looks like SEGA asked Ian for Knuckles to disband the resistance to wrap up the Forces plot, they don't want them to reference the games too much. Present mostly but also past.

I don't know about the other stuff but my guess with the resistance stuff is that they wanted to make sure it stayed as a one time thing rather than keeping it active which doesn't go with the brand image long term?

For example I think they don't want an anti-Eggman coalition to exist and perpetuity when really we have Sonic and co. The war imagery was more for just Forces before they move on. Just a guess though. 

I wouldn't be surprised with Infinite if they also didn't want to reference his fate? Sega doesn't like references to death (see the beta script for Forces) or if he is not dead then maybe they want to reserve the right to use him?

[Wraith]

1 hour ago, Jack-al said:

This is interesting, looks like SEGA asked Ian for Knuckles to disband the resistance to wrap up the Forces plot, they don't want them to reference the games too much. Present mostly but also past.

So he explains... this is the reason Infinite is off-limits, not because he's dead then, or not utilizable, but because they didn't want to reference Forces at the time, which means things could change in the future? If the comic did something interesting with Infinite, I would really like it, there is potential with him and IDW can use that properly unlike Forces which had "game writing".

What do you guys think about this?

Sounds like they just wanted to move the branding away from Forces for now. No one really thought it was terrible but it clearly wasn't up to par so it makes sense not to draw too much attention to it. They will probably be more comfortable with talking about stuff from it again when it's not the current latest Sonic game on the shelf.

13 minutes ago, nobukitsu88 said:

I don't know about the other stuff but my guess with the resistance stuff is that they wanted to make sure it stayed as a one time thing rather than keeping it active which doesn't go with the brand image long term?

For example I think they don't want an anti-Eggman coalition to exist and perpetuity when really we have Sonic and co. The war imagery was more for just Forces before they move on. Just a guess though.

It still exists in the form of the Restoration. It's just been stripped of any overt references to Sonic Forces.

[Red Hot Jack]

2 hours ago, Wraith said:

Sounds like they just wanted to move the branding away from Forces for now. No one really thought it was terrible but it clearly wasn't up to par so it makes sense not to draw too much attention to it. They will probably be more comfortable with talking about stuff from it again when it's not the current latest Sonic game on the shelf.

It still exists in the form of the Restoration. It's just been stripped of any overt references to Sonic Forces.

I am not sure, it sounds like a general mandate about them not referencing games directly, rather than a Forces failure thing.

[Sega DogTagz]

It was also important to remove Knuckles from.leadership positions so that he could go back to being a loner on his island. Sega seems to flip flop on how important that is for him year on and year off. 

Nixing the resistance restored the status quo for a bunch of characters. The chaotix were free to head back and do their thing too

[Wraith]

8 minutes ago, Jack-al said:

I am not sure, it sounds like a general mandate about them not referencing games directly, rather than a Forces failure thing.

This doesn't track with them allowing Neo Metal Sonic in the first arc, as Ian points out.

 

 

6 minutes ago, Sega DogTagz said:

It was also important to remove Knuckles from.leadership positions so that he could go back to being a loner on his island. Sega seems to flip flop on how important that is for him year on and year off. 

Nixing the resistance restored the status quo for a bunch of characters. The chaotix were free to head back and do their thing too

I'll concede Knuckles, but the Chaotix still take assignments from Jewel so the setup isn't that different than it was before. The Zombots/Starline getting loose just gave everyone a different apocalyptic scenario for them to clean up unrelated to Forces.

[DabigRG]

The Restoration really only transitioned from the Resistance because it's the closest thing to a status quo they can have to make storytelling convenient. 

On 10/28/2021 at 8:14 PM, Slashy said:

I thought this it was a popular opinion that doing the Metal Virus arc so early was a horrible decision.

It was. Still kinda is for some

On 10/28/2021 at 9:38 PM, Razule said:

They have mandates against their characters dying. Tangle's team was killed off, so it isn't a hard rule that applies to everyone. Unless that doesn't count because it was a flashback. And I think some randos were implied to have been killed. Maybe it depends on how prominent they are? I can't see SEGA being okay with Tangle or Whisper dying permanently at some point. Whatever the case is, we don't know exactly how it works.

Poor Jewel.

On 10/29/2021 at 11:21 AM, MetalSkulkBane said:

Tails had few enemies, but never a proper "nemesis"

Sonic, has.. little army.
Shadow had Eclipse, Mephiles, Black Doom, kinda Infinite
Knuckles had Finitevus or whole Dark Legion (and Zachary if you care for Fleetway)
Even Blaze had Nega, Whiskers or Captain Metal

Tails had Miles, Moggul, Bird Armada, Wendy, but none of those guys had fleshed relation with Tails. Fiona Fox firmly cut her connections to him. The closest he ever had was Speedy and that's kinda lame.

I kinda wish he got his "own" villain, not "partner to Surge, both of them working for Starline, who's himself ex-protagee of Eggman" but maybe I'm overthinking this.

(Hmm, now I wonder if Amy ever gets 'rival' character)

Little army?

Knuckles was also supposed to have Helmut and Thrash before the lawsuit forced their hand.

And Tails apparently had a Commander Brutus in StC as well. But otherwise, he just fights whoever else happens to be alongside Eggman.

As for Any? Hm...I suppose Rouge may have been considered for Heroes at one point and she also had a spat with the Iron King, but he was firmly about Monkey Khan more

On 10/29/2021 at 11:45 AM, Slashy said:

It is too story focused while having really basic simple plots. The bigger problem is all the character centric conflicts are not given enough weight. They are rarely set up well and never get much attention compared to the action focused A plot. These character centric plots and action plots should be more closely linked and/or the character drama should be more exhillerating.

I'm honestly struggling on how to feel about this idea.

[CertifiedNobody]

7 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

As for Any? Hm...I suppose Rouge may have been considered for Heroes at one point and she also had a spat with the Iron King, but he was firmly about Monkey Khan more

Amy had Zero. Then she killed him.

[DabigRG]

.

On 11/4/2021 at 6:14 PM, CertifiedNobody said:

 

  Hide contents

New preview pages out.

Can I say that I don't really like how he looks in the sixth panel? Although the fourth is humorous.

On another note though, I'm a bit confused about his gameplan and logic here, I must admit.

22 hours ago, KoDaiko said:

 

IF they decide to go the "heros failing the public's trust" route, they better go all out and also focus on the flaw of the general public being too dependent yet judgemental on the heros w/o doing anything in return. Given they (apparently) never bothered to have a good enough military or defense system after numerous Eggman attacks, I'd be confused why they'd "lose faith" in some local kids that's saving the world as a hobby/when necessary. What are they gonna do, publicly denounce & harass them on sight? (which is funny, I remember Ian saying something like Mobians generally being more laid-back and forgiving. Explains why everyone is mostly chill with Eggman every time he comes back in game)

 

....man I'm overthinking this over a 3 page preview.

Sounds like an uplifted episode of Sonic Boom

2 hours ago, CertifiedNobody said:

Amy had Zero. Then she killed him.

True enough. Although he did return in Advance 2, protecting the emeralds and possibly holding her captive.

[CertifiedNobody]

10 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

.

Can I say that I don't really like how he looks in the sixth panel? Although the fourth is humorous.

On another note though, I'm a bit confused about his gameplan and logic here, I must admit.

Really? I think he looks good in panel 6.

His plan doesn't seem all too complicated, but I'm sure it'll make more sense when the full issue releases.

[DabigRG]

3 hours ago, CertifiedNobody said:

Really? I think he looks good in panel 6.

Something about the hair with that smile, man

3 hours ago, CertifiedNobody said:

His plan doesn't seem all too complicated, but I'm sure it'll make more sense when the full issue releases.

Ideally. It just sounds like he went in a circle with his Outlook otherwise, though

[Rabbitearsblog]

9 hours ago, Jack-al said:

This is interesting, looks like SEGA asked Ian for Knuckles to disband the resistance to wrap up the Forces plot, they don't want them to reference the games too much. Present mostly but also past.

So he explains... this is the reason Infinite is off-limits, not because he's dead then, or not utilizable, but because they didn't want to reference Forces at the time, which means things could change in the future? If the comic did something interesting with Infinite, I would really like it, there is potential with him and IDW can use that properly unlike Forces which had "game writing".

What do you guys think about this?

I also would love for Infinite to show up in the comics again.  Even though he wasn't written that well in the games, he could be written better in the comics. They were able to make the Deadly Six into more interesting characters in the comics. Why not Infinite?

[Kazhnuz]

What would interest me the most is how they would adapt it to be a reoccurring villain. Him being OP was logical for Forces story (he was fake unlimited power vs "real power that come from the heart"). But to adapt him into a reoccurring villain, they would have to make him less powerful, but would have to keep the "illusion" thematic somehow

( I feel that making him half-depowered, and overly petty and full on hating Sonic and co from "making him loose the power that he deserved" or some self-entitled shit like that would be a nice compliment to him being basically an angry redditor bully given the nuclear weapon in Forces. And would make him a more "it's personnal" enemy that could do some shit that doesn't even benefit him just to mess with the heroes. )

[Wraith]

6 minutes ago, Kazhnuz said:

What would interest me the most is how they would adapt it to be a reoccurring villain. Him being OP was logical for Forces story (he was fake unlimited power vs "real power that come from the heart"). But to adapt him into a reoccurring villain, they would have to make him less powerful, but would have to keep the "illusion" thematic somehow

( I feel that making him half-depowered, and overly petty and full on hating Sonic and co from "making him loose the power that he deserved" or some self-entitled shit like that would be a nice compliment to him being basically an angry redditor bully given the nuclear weapon in Forces. And would make him a more "it's personnal" enemy that could do some shit that doesn't even benefit him just to mess with the heroes. )

I think it'd be pretty easy to come up with a macguffin that still does illusions on a smaller scale. If they can't do that, they can mine his past as a mercenary for tools he can use.

[Kazhnuz]

You're totally right, I also think it would be quite easy to create a mcguffin/some kind of tech/whatever. More than the macguffin, it's more the "how it would be handled, the level of power, how it would "work" (visually and stuff like that)" that I was curious to see how they would handle him. More "how would be/work the character with less power, and post-Forces, in this new role and setting", more than the reason in story.

[Mauro Fonseca]

The obvious reason of "why not Infinite" is he's the most important character introduced in recent years, and his plot's unfinished and he has no status quo. The comic doesn't get to decide any of that because it's clearly up to Sega to do so, being the licensor- they get to make the big decisions about the franchise, and the licensees get to play on side fields that won't interfere with the main decisions.

[Razule]

12 minutes ago, Mauro Fonseca said:

The obvious reason of "why not Infinite" is he's the most important character introduced in recent years

Very strange way to spell Zavok.

[Kazhnuz]

9 hours ago, Razule said:

Very strange way to spell Zavok.

Well, technically we can't really say that Zavok have been introduced in recent years anymore, it's been 8 years XD

( It makes me feel old darn )

[MetalSkulkBane]

Just now, Kazhnuz said:

Well, technically we can't really say that Zavok have been introduced in recent years anymore, it's been 8 years XD

( It makes me feel old darn )

So, are we talking only games, only Modern Sonic, only post 2013?

If so, Infinite's only rival is Dodon Pa and NO ONE gives a dang about this guy. He might be least successful Mobian character in whole franchise.