Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[Silvereyes]

Imposter Syndrome #4 is now out on Amazon. Enjoyed it. Enjoyed this whole mini-series. Although unlike the last 2, really, the actual conclusion is going to be issue #50. It actually feels more like a six parter, with Imposter Syndrome and issues #49 and #50, with issues #45-#48 tying in a more a casual way. At least to me.

Spoiler

Pretty action heavy issue. Makes sense, and I think most of the action is done very well, some really nice fight scenes. I guess you could argue that nothing of signifigance happens. Dr Starline and Surge's plans are going so far without any real hitch. Sonic hasn't arrived yet. Really I suppose the biggest thing is seeing Surge and Kit work together as a fighting unit and how much they accomplish, including taking out Metal Sonic. Which is definetly interesting, I don't know if fans are going to have a problem with that. I think it's fine personally. Eggman gets a nice moment to escape the chaos, him not even looking remotely concerned, just annoyed, and has a plan B is great. Hopefully #50 is an extra long issue. So that leaves Sonic fighting Surge, Kit fighting Tails, Eggman fighting against Starline's plan, and Belle... does something I guess. Should be interesting. Hopefully it avoids the apparent issue of Ian Flynn's finales feeling a bit rushed.

So yeah. Nearing the end of an era. Interesting how we know very little of what is next actually. We only know about issues #50 and #51, and just waiting for FCBD 2022 to be put online. I guess they want all the hype on issue #50 before they start teasing the next major storyline, or what the next mini-series could be. Sonic Prime isn't too far away, maybe a tie-in issue for that show? Frontiers tie-in issue whenever that game materialises?

[CertifiedNobody]

Considering IDW Metal can match Shadow in a fight, this will be a good judge for exactly how powerful Surge is.

[Slashy]

2 hours ago, CertifiedNobody said:

Considering IDW Metal can match Shadow in a fight, this will be a good judge for exactly how powerful Surge is.

Spoiler

Surge is confirmed weaker than Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles and probably a host of others.

Even with Kit's help they still struggled to beat him.

Seriously I lost hype for the next arc. I know mandates exist but now in universe there is no way things should turn out differently unless the Impostors get some massive help.

[Sega DogTagz]

23 minutes ago, Slashy said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Surge is confirmed weaker than Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles and probably a host of others.

Even with Kit's help they still struggled to beat him.

Seriously I lost hype for the next arc. I know mandates exist but now in universe there is no way things should turn out differently unless the Impostors get some massive help.

 

Spoiler

Just by the virtue of being good guys, Sonic and Tails will be forced to pull their punches because they will not be fighting to kill. Doubly so if they figure out Surge and Kit's unique situation and feel sorry for them.

That alone should level the playing field quite a bit.

 

For that matter, I'm not sure getting pushed by Metal Sonic is a very good barometer in of itself. The way Flynn writes Metal, he can often be too much for Sonic to bring down solo and Surge is a Sonic expy, which would make her a bad match-up for him too. Metal was built to kick Sonic's butt. Makes sense he could do the same heavy lifting against his knock-offs.

 

[Slashy]

32 minutes ago, Sega DogTagz said:

 

  Hide contents

Just by the virtue of being good guys, Sonic and Tails will be forced to pull their punches because they will not be fighting to kill. Doubly so if they figure out Surge and Kit's unique situation and feel sorry for them.

That alone should level the playing field quite a bit.

 

For that matter, I'm not sure getting pushed by Metal Sonic is a very good barometer in of itself. The way Flynn writes Metal, he can often be too much for Sonic to bring down solo and Surge is a Sonic expy, which would make her a bad match-up for him too. Metal was built to kick Sonic's butt. Makes sense he could do the same heavy lifting against his knock-offs.

 

Spoiler

And yet so many characters have already beat him or beaten characters that Metal would have to put in effort to beat.

Metal Sonic did not just win the fight with Surge he wiped the floor with her. Sonic lasts way longer against him in every fight.

Yes they are strong together but it is still pathetic that when apart they are debatably weaker the majority of the cast including probably Cream and Wisps.

 

[Leebo4]

18 minutes ago, Slashy said:

  Hide contents

And yet so many characters have already beat him or beaten characters that Metal would have to put in effort to beat.

Metal Sonic did not just win the fight with Surge he wiped the floor with her. Sonic lasts way longer against him in every fight.

Yes they are strong together but it is still pathetic that when apart they are debatably weaker the majority of the cast including probably Cream and Wisps.

 

Pretty sure that’s an exaggeration as I think a solo fight with cream and one of them would not turn in her favour 

[Slashy]

5 minutes ago, Leebo4 said:

Pretty sure that’s an exaggeration as I think a solo fight with cream and one of them would not turn in her favour 

If we count X as canon she beat up Emerl and that's being generous as she has a bigger list of accomplishments in the games.

[Sega DogTagz]

4 minutes ago, Slashy said:

If we count X as canon she beat up Emerl and that's being generous as she has a bigger list of accomplishments in the games.

X isn't canon so no

and even if it was she kinda won on an exploit. You don't get full marks for beating a boss if you have to cheese it.... Literally in this case.

 

Cream can put up more of a fight than she has any right too, but she's not standing up to many of the other Sonic cast members, let alone the ones that are geared for combat.

[MetalSkulkBane]

FCBD 22 and Imposter Syndrome #4

 

Let's go over Free Comic first. It's a short simple story, nothing fancy, comparing to Annuals I expected a liiiitle more. Decent banter, I don't get the Hydro City joke (how they even argue, can they hear the pause?). I hope talking about Angel Island secrets is a tease for the future, but I won't hold my breath.

 

Imposter Syndrome #4
Finally over! Don't get me wrong, it was a good story. But having the slow down release meant Pacing of both tittles was just abysmal. It completely misses the point of having miniseries. We could just have back-up instead.

Whatever, actual issue.... honestly wasn't needed. No, that's not right. It should been before issue 3. Last issue was the emotional climax. in this issue they just storm Eggman's fortress again. With cool Metal Sonic fight, but that's not the point of the story.

What SHOULD happen is only one raid at Eggman fortress, that takes 2 issues to pull of. And it would be Metal Sonic to deal deadly blow that somehow didn't killed Surge. After taking over, the tower needs a recharge below calling all Badniks (issue 49) and Surge and Kit use that time to check on Starline's notes, leading to them learning the truth, confronting Starline and them pretending nothing happened. It would flow much better, even if we loose some wonderful death stares.

Speaking of art, great as usual, but feeew panels felt off. IDK, wasn't that Egg Hammer a little lumpy? Nothing major, just little touches.

3 hours ago, Leebo4 said:

Pretty sure that’s an exaggeration as I think a solo fight with cream and one of them would not turn in her favour 

First of all, Metal under Flynn is a beast. Go ahead, name ONE time Sonic actually beat him in fair solo fight (other than Sonic CD and Olympics). He's always beat by overwhelming numbers or cheat maneuver. Or Shard, who is Metal Sonic, so fair.

Surge was loosing to Metal, but so was Shadow. If fight continued without Kit we don't know who would win for sure. Which I'm pretty sure is what Flynn intended. He really avoids clear punch-up winners.

As for Cream... I'm sorry but she has no official victories. Maybe Sonic Advance 2, but I still think canonically it was Sonic who saved Vanilla. In every other game (Advance 3, Heroes, Battle, Chronicles) she has people backing her up. As for comic, I don't think we ever seen her or Cheese break a single badnik. Even Chao Racing leaves that ambiguous. (Sonic X is a odd beast though).

[Red Hot Jack]

To be honest, I don't think the problem was the miniseries, or pacing, I had 2 problems:

- The distance between issues, now that was slow, it really should have been 2 issues per month, one main and one from the miniseries, too much work for IDW maybe? Still, it had me lose interest at times. Really slow

- The first 2 issues are just empty, not much happens, it's just a presentation of the characters and dynamics, plus... tests. This was the point of the miniseries, set up for Surge and Kit, sure a strange way to introduce these characters, before making them face off against Sonic and Tails, it's really I guess to build hype for issue 50.

And maybe it works, I am tired of waiting but excited for the double paged issue 50.

That said, the last 2 parts were really good but I preferred 3, it was just more solid and had more impact. This one was action packed with good dialogue and a little bit of advancement to the plot which I liked.

Spoiler

I really think Surge vs Metal that she won because Kit helped her with water powers. The speedsters are matched but Kit has the advantage. It's not about power levels, it's about weaknesses.

I like how Metal Sonic is not a joke to fight here unlike Archie. He still lost here though.

I also think Starline is being set up to lose big time here, he even got a throne, I mean, regardless of dying or living, he's gonna lose in 50.

Also, nice cameo by the final bosses.

 

[Slashy]

28 minutes ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

FCBD 22 and Imposter Syndrome #4

 

Let's go over Free Comic first. It's a short simple story, nothing fancy, comparing to Annuals I expected a liiiitle more. Decent banter, I don't get the Hydro City joke (how they even argue, can they hear the pause?). I hope talking about Angel Island secrets is a tease for the future, but I won't hold my breath.

 

Imposter Syndrome #4
Finally over! Don't get me wrong, it was a good story. But having the slow down release meant Pacing of both tittles was just abysmal. It completely misses the point of having miniseries. We could just have back-up instead.

Whatever, actual issue.... honestly wasn't needed. No, that's not right. It should been before issue 3. Last issue was the emotional climax. in this issue they just storm Eggman's fortress again. With cool Metal Sonic fight, but that's not the point of the story.

What SHOULD happen is only one raid at Eggman fortress, that takes 2 issues to pull of. And it would be Metal Sonic to deal deadly blow that somehow didn't killed Surge. After taking over, the tower needs a recharge below calling all Badniks (issue 49) and Surge and Kit use that time to check on Starline's notes, leading to them learning the truth, confronting Starline and them pretending nothing happened. It would flow much better, even if we loose some wonderful death stares.

Speaking of art, great as usual, but feeew panels felt off. IDK, wasn't that Egg Hammer a little lumpy? Nothing major, just little touches.

First of all, Metal under Flynn is a beast. Go ahead, name ONE time Sonic actually beat him in fair solo fight (other than Sonic CD and Olympics). He's always beat by overwhelming numbers or cheat maneuver. Or Shard, who is Metal Sonic, so fair.

Surge was loosing to Metal, but so was Shadow. If fight continued without Kit we don't know who would win for sure. Which I'm pretty sure is what Flynn intended. He really avoids clear punch-up winners.

As for Cream... I'm sorry but she has no official victories. Maybe Sonic Advance 2, but I still think canonically it was Sonic who saved Vanilla. In every other game (Advance 3, Heroes, Battle, Chronicles) she has people backing her up. As for comic, I don't think we ever seen her or Cheese break a single badnik. Even Chao Racing leaves that ambiguous. (Sonic X is a odd beast though).

Metal Sonic was metaphorically curb stomping Surge until Kit came in.

All my bets would have been on Metal to win that 1 on 1 fight.

[caitash]

Surge only won the fight against Metal because Kit came in and gave the advantage.

Which leads me to wonder why they are planning to split themselves up next issue when Sonic and Tails arrive (with Belle). Surge and Kit seem way more powerful combining their powers and they seem to know it (I think?), so I’m curious about their plan to split up unless it’s just purely driven by Surge’s ego to take down Sonic solo.

[MetalSkulkBane]

55 minutes ago, Red Hot Jack said:

- The distance between issues, now that was slow, it really should have been 2 issues per month, one main and one from the miniseries, too much work for IDW maybe? Still, it had me lose interest at times. Really slow

That's what I meant by "pacing". Having only 1 comic a month misses the point of having mini. We might as well push Zeti Hunt for later and make Imposter Syndrome a back up stories. Effect would been pretty much the same, we just need to squeeze Belle's origin somewhere.

55 minutes ago, Red Hot Jack said:

I like how Metal Sonic is not a joke to fight here unlike Archie. He still lost here though.

He still had moments in Archie. Collide, Championship, SU #1, Sonic/Scourge/Metal, etc.

And again, under Flynn Metal pretty much never lost a 1 on 1. Except to Shard, who is also a Metal. (and CD and Olympics, those don't count.)

[Kuzu]

Yea, the last issue was the emotional climax of this series, this one was just a setup for the physical climax against Sonic in #50. It's pretty much 49.5 in actuality. 

In that sense, not much else happened. They went in, took over and that was it. 

Spoiler

Metal Sonic vs. Surge was pretty cool. I wouldn't read too much into it though. Flynn never writes fights as straight forward as "X is stronger than Y" its always circumstantial. Metal lost because he got double teamed, plain and simple. Doesn't mean that Surge isn't a match for Sonic.

Flynn writes Metal Sonic as being able to outmatch Sonic (and Shadow) since that's how he was designed.

That said, Surge is much more emotional and a berserker and if there's one thing Sonic is good at, its provoking his opponents into making poor decisions and that's probably a deciding factor in their match.

 

 

Also, its kind funny how Eggman seems so nonplussed about Starline's takeover. He's too used to henchmen betraying him. Also cool how he has a replica of previous final bosses.

 

[Slashy]

4 hours ago, Kuzu said:

Yea, the last issue was the emotional climax of this series, this one was just a setup for the physical climax against Sonic in #50. It's pretty much 49.5 in actuality. 

In that sense, not much else happened. They went in, took over and that was it. 

  Hide contents

Metal Sonic vs. Surge was pretty cool. I wouldn't read too much into it though. Flynn never writes fights as straight forward as "X is stronger than Y" its always circumstantial. Metal lost because he got double teamed, plain and simple. Doesn't mean that Surge isn't a match for Sonic.

Flynn writes Metal Sonic as being able to outmatch Sonic (and Shadow) since that's how he was designed.

That said, Surge is much more emotional and a berserker and if there's one thing Sonic is good at, its provoking his opponents into making poor decisions and that's probably a deciding factor in their match.

 

 

Also, its kind funny how Eggman seems so nonplussed about Starline's takeover. He's too used to henchmen betraying him. Also cool how he has a replica of previous final bosses.

 

Spoiler

Why wouldn't I read it as Surge not being a match for Sonic? She got lost pretty decisively against a machine designed to defeat him and only won with the help of Kit.

 

[Kuzu]

3 minutes ago, Slashy said:

  Hide contents

Why wouldn't I read it as Surge not being a match for Sonic? She got lost pretty decisively against a machine designed to defeat him and only won with the help of Kit.

 

Because Flynn doesn't write this series like a Shonen manga where characters have explicit tiers of power. 

Every fight is more circumstantial, as opposed to one character simply being stronger than the other. We had Starline get the jump on Shadow way back when, but that doesn't necessarily mean Starline can take him in a fight.

Anyone can beat anyone in the right circumstance.

Spoiler

Metal Sonic is designed to match and outpace Sonic and held his own against Shadow. Kind of stands to reason Metal could easily subdue Surge.

 

That doesn't mean Surge doesn't stand a chance against Sonic. Sonic loses to Metal too in that case.

 

[Slashy]

41 minutes ago, Kuzu said:

Because Flynn doesn't write this series like a Shonen manga where characters have explicit tiers of power. 

Every fight is more circumstantial, as opposed to one character simply being stronger than the other. We had Starline get the jump on Shadow way back when, but that doesn't necessarily mean Starline can take him in a fight.

Anyone can beat anyone in the right circumstance.

  Reveal hidden contents

Metal Sonic is designed to match and outpace Sonic and held his own against Shadow. Kind of stands to reason Metal could easily subdue Surge.

 

That doesn't mean Surge doesn't stand a chance against Sonic. Sonic loses to Metal too in that case.

 

This is the same continuity where Sonic treats his own Terminator like this.

[Red Hot Jack]

If we want to do power levels Silver > Metal Sonic > Sonic, in my opinion, in that scene. Surge should at least match Sonic, but I suspect they are going also for Sonic loses to Kit, Tails loses to Surge.

[Razule]

Sonic is more experienced at dealing with Metal Sonic, and he's evading him on that page.

[Kuzu]

2 hours ago, Slashy said:

This is the same continuity where Sonic treats his own Terminator like this.

Ok fair 

[Leebo4]

11 hours ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

FCBD 22 and Imposter Syndrome #4

 

Let's go over Free Comic first. It's a short simple story, nothing fancy, comparing to Annuals I expected a liiiitle more. Decent banter, I don't get the Hydro City joke (how they even argue, can they hear the pause?). I hope talking about Angel Island secrets is a tease for the future, but I won't hold my breath.

 

Imposter Syndrome #4
Finally over! Don't get me wrong, it was a good story. But having the slow down release meant Pacing of both tittles was just abysmal. It completely misses the point of having miniseries. We could just have back-up instead.

Whatever, actual issue.... honestly wasn't needed. No, that's not right. It should been before issue 3. Last issue was the emotional climax. in this issue they just storm Eggman's fortress again. With cool Metal Sonic fight, but that's not the point of the story.

What SHOULD happen is only one raid at Eggman fortress, that takes 2 issues to pull of. And it would be Metal Sonic to deal deadly blow that somehow didn't killed Surge. After taking over, the tower needs a recharge below calling all Badniks (issue 49) and Surge and Kit use that time to check on Starline's notes, leading to them learning the truth, confronting Starline and them pretending nothing happened. It would flow much better, even if we loose some wonderful death stares.

Speaking of art, great as usual, but feeew panels felt off. IDK, wasn't that Egg Hammer a little lumpy? Nothing major, just little touches.

First of all, Metal under Flynn is a beast. Go ahead, name ONE time Sonic actually beat him in fair solo fight (other than Sonic CD and Olympics). He's always beat by overwhelming numbers or cheat maneuver. Or Shard, who is Metal Sonic, so fair.

Surge was loosing to Metal, but so was Shadow. If fight continued without Kit we don't know who would win for sure. Which I'm pretty sure is what Flynn intended. He really avoids clear punch-up winners.

As for Cream... I'm sorry but she has no official victories. Maybe Sonic Advance 2, but I still think canonically it was Sonic who saved Vanilla. In every other game (Advance 3, Heroes, Battle, Chronicles) she has people backing her up. As for comic, I don't think we ever seen her or Cheese break a single badnik. Even Chao Racing leaves that ambiguous. (Sonic X is a odd beast though).

Sorry do t understand what you meant in reply to me, I was making the case that cream wouldn’t do well in a solo fight Against surge and I I doubt there are a lot of sonic characters that surge is weaker than outside the main main ones

15 hours ago, Slashy said:

If we count X as canon she beat up Emerl and that's being generous as she has a bigger list of accomplishments in the games.

I don’t think gemerl should be allowed to count, it was clearly stated that cream only had the advantage because gemerl can only copy and fight one opponent at a time and she had chao with her

[Slashy]

21 minutes ago, Leebo4 said:

Sorry do t understand what you meant in reply to me, I was making the case that cream wouldn’t do well in a solo fight Against surge and I I doubt there are a lot of sonic characters that surge is weaker than outside the main main ones

I don’t think gemerl should be allowed to count, it was clearly stated that cream only had the advantage because gemerl can only copy and fight one opponent at a time and she had chao with her

Again Cream was a big maybe there.

[Dr. Detective]

That shit was sexy bro. I loved that final issue to bits. I felt my excitement building once again. Like a nice game of 4D chess, people with different goals and motivations are all on the scene with an army of robots surrounding them all. Sonic's team, Starline, Surge and Kit, and Eggman are all not on each other's sides here. It's a four way force of "Got mine/Gotta get mine" going on and it's what I'm all about.

I'm glad Metal Sonic got to put up a decent fight against Surge. He looked pretty cool even if Metal was destined to be taken out. I've never been one to give a shit about power level nonsense or whatever so I skip over conversations like that like the plague. The internet treats the outcome of fights too much like they can only ever happen one way with that one outcome every time, forever. Not to mention I've already seen someone on Twitter complain that Metal was taken out too easily and making this several post long thing about how many abilities he has and why it shouldn't have been so easy even though he was clearly standing at an advantage before Kit jumped in. It's not very fun to talk about and I can't ever take it seriously. Kick the ass of my favorite characters. I don't give a fuck. Just make it even enough for a good chunk of it and make it entertaining. And if it has to be fast, make it make sense why. 

What I'm instead really interested in seeing is how my two new favorite monster kids manage to disrupt things in Issue #50 or how the rug is going to be pulled from under Starline and which of the two sub-sections of people he's pissed off will do it first.

I also really like how it leads into Issue #50. Re-reading all this in order is going to be interesting as I try to navigate where to best place everything. 

This is my favorite of the mini-series' so far, personally. If we get another one, I'd very much appreciate it if it wasn't taking the place of the main book for that month again though. I'd like to go back to how we were doing the release for the first two if that's possible. Hopefully it is. 

Best answer Eggman gave to Starline's question was "I like theme parks". 

The world is his. He's going to make it whatever he wants and succeed while doing it. The end. Perfection. 

[SanPolo4389]

And here's the obligatory all heroes cover. 

[Dr. Detective]

It looks fucking amazing.

I want an all villains cover for 51.