Merchandise Sonic the Hedgehog Encyclo-Speed-ia (Dark Horse Books)

[Dreadknux]

1 minute ago, Indigo Rush said:

If we do this, can we skip the alien bloodline plot device at least?

Every single part of that overly-complicated Shadow storyline is precious. If they do something with Infinite, I want at least a love triangle, father DNA test and a courageous soul-searching adventure across the continent to be involved.

[Zaysho]

I'm not sure exactly, but I remember a line in a Forces cutscene where Infinite specifically mentions the Ruby he's using hasn't been tuned yet which implied that he was using one of Eggman's versions. Him getting absorbed into Nega Wisp #4 at the end seemed as much of a confirmation that he didn't have the original then either. He just seemed to have one of the few (if not the only) working prototypes.

I don't at all remember nor care to check what happened to the Ruby at the end since I assumed it followed Clonic back to what becomes Mania Plus so it's possible I'm wrong there.

 

I'm not really opposed to him coming back. I like his design and think what little Ian and Adam had to work with for the prequel comic was fun and mildly better than what the game did (fucking nothing), but if Sega wants to shut the door on him like Mephiles (who I just don't care for, admittedly) it's not a big deal either. He just seems wasted like everything in Forces because they basically designed him as a new Shadow counterpart but didn't want to commit to anything. At least Mephiles had a storyline that revolved around him--it's boring, but there's a motivation for all of his actions. Infinite is just made to be a crybaby who wants power and doesn't really do anything that couldn't well have just been done by Eggman and maybe Metal Sonic.

[Red Hot Jack]

36 minutes ago, Indigo Rush said:

If we do this, can we skip the alien bloodline plot device at least?

The only good part of that was Shadow's secret brother and I'm not even kidding.

[MetalSkulkBane]

In one of newest Q&A Flynn said that

- One game isn't in the book due to legal reasons (and it's not Chronicles)
- Some names may surpise us, they canonically called something different than most fans use.

Anyone can elaborate what he meant?

[Wraith]

12 minutes ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

In one of newest Q&A Flynn said that

- One game isn't in the book due to legal reasons (and it's not Chronicles)
- Some names may surpise us, they canonically called something different than most fans use.

Anyone can elaborate what he meant?

Nobody has the book yet. Gigi just got it early and is keeping most of it under wraps

[GentlemanX]

Infinite isn't popular among older fans, but he does seem at least decently popular to kids; which reflects how a lot of fans view Shadow too. If you grew up on Classic Sonic stuff, Shadow's an edgy dude who's one of the first signs the franchise was jumping the shark and beginning to get too dark. If you grew up with SA2, it's quite possible you Shadow even more than Sonic. The fanbase has been that way for nearly 20 years now.

Anyway, I don't think anyone's pretending that Infinite is anywhere near as popular as Shadow was back in the day. Nor do I think anyone really wants him to get that big. No one wants an Infinite game on the shelf the way Shadow did and I personally don't want Infinite to come back and get a multi-game story arc reintroducing him. I LOVE Infinite as a character, but think that goes against what I really like about him. Even folks like Ian like to compare or contrast Infinite as Mephiles-lite, but I find the two of them very different and are why (while I like both characters) I'm much more interested in having Infinite come back than Mephiles.

Mephiles is the bigger threat. He's more intimidating, he's more methodical, and he easily gets into the characters heads more. Those are to me Mephiles's more interesting aspects - it's watching him deconstruct his opponent and get at what they want and what's going to hurt them the most. His interactions with Shadow and Silver are what keep him memorable in 06 (minus his cool crystal form). But those pros are why I don't see Mephiles as a good permanent member of the cast. He's a more compelling alt villain than the Deadly Six or Nega for sure, but he can't have chemistry with every member of the extended cast. Mephiles can't deconstruct Sonic, it wouldn't work which is why the two never interact over the course of 06. You might have a one time thing where he can make Sonic doubt himself for just a moment, but it's not going to stick. You can't repeat that interaction again in a long running series like Sonic. All you'd do is make Mephiles boring and repetitive. Maybe as a Shadow exclusive foe it could work, but if you're going to introduce Mephiles as a secondary character for Shadow when Shadow himself only appears occasionally, what's the point?

Infinite is a much more simple character though. He doesn't plan things out and he doesn't try to get under someone's skin the same way Mephiles does. Infinite likes to talk trash and when he feels he has the upper hand he likes to gloat. It's a great character flaw of his so when you see Sonic or Shadow or the Avatar knock him down a peg it's satisfying. The tool got what he deserves. Infinite's simplicity also allows him to better interact with other characters in ways that don't diminish themselves. Take Eggman for example, since he's the main villain that should be getting the most attention. Mephiles would never take orders from Eggman. He might pretend to for his own ends, but ultimately if you're going to portray Mephiles right he's got to be the one using Eggman. And that makes Eggman's own plans boring in comparison. But Infinite doesn't use Eggman, Eggman just lets Infinite enjoy himself. Infinite is happy to take orders from Eggman and fit into whatever plan he's concocted. Infinite isn't some eternal god playing a game of 4-D chess, he's a merc who likes making trouble and intimidating people. That's so much more versatile in the Sonic series to me. I like to say that I see Infinite as Metal Sonic with a mouth. He fills a different niche than Metal since Metal's silent intimidation is vastly different than Infinite's bravado, but both serve the purpose of giving Sonic or another character someone to punch. When Mephiles is defeated by Team Dark in 06, he'll usually laugh and say he'll move on to plans C or D. When Infinite is defeated in Forces he'll scream about how impossible it is he could be beaten. That seems more in-tune with a usable Sonic villain to me.

Anyway, I know this topic isn't about Infinite, it's about the encyclo-speedia. I could talk about Infinite infinitely, but don't want to distract too much from the topic at hand. Still eager to get a hold of the book when it's available and I'm sure I'll have more to say when that happens or when more stuff gets shown off early like this.

EDIT: To try and be more on topic, here's another piece of info we've seen - Honey's profile from the Sonic the Fighters page! Looks like Ian was able to canonize the fashion designer thing from post-reboot Archie? I know that's based on the Honey/Candy from Fighting Vipers, but it's still only been an Archie thing regarding the Sonic version of Honey.

 

[Pengi]

8 hours ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

In one of newest Q&A Flynn said that

- One game isn't in the book due to legal reasons (and it's not Chronicles)
- Some names may surpise us, they canonically called something different than most fans use.

Anyone can elaborate what he meant?

The game "SegaSonic the Hedgehog" is called "SegaSonic Arcade", for one thing.

[SBR2]

7 hours ago, GentlemanX said:

Infinite isn't popular among older fans, but he does seem at least decently popular to kids;

Speak for yourself. I'm 31 and I love Infinite and his goofy Edge lord ass.

[Iko]

3 minutes ago, SBR2 said:

Speak for yourself. I'm 31 and I love Infinite and his goofy Edge lord ass.

I admit I kinda like Infinite a bit too... nowhere near as being one of my favorites, but I still find him interesting and goofy (soo much a try hard that becomes pathetic in a funny way) too.

I think that if he returned, he would become the chaotic neutral of the cast: a mercenary who can work for whoever offers him the best stuff, who also hates Shadow, Sonic and Eggman for what they did to him in the past, so basically someone who's just angry with the world and does not have a proper alignment, just makes a mess whenever he appears. In a way, he would be a sort of parallel with classic's Fang the Sniper but with 2000% more edge.

[Kuzu]

I think the comparisons between Shadow and Infinite are kind of superficial? The only thing people are comparing is that they're "edgelords", never mind the fact that word has almost all meaning from people who use it...

 

But let's ignore the reception for both characters for a second. Shadow was so very obviously setup for a character arc in his debut game, which he got and concluded in said game.

Infinite wasn't really setup for anything other than just being another Eggman flunky; he has no character arc to speak of, he simply exists as an obstacle for Sonic and the Avatar to overcome. Even his backstory just felt like something tacked on to the DLC to justify it since it has literally no bearing on the main game.

Even if they did bring back Infinite, he'd just be a glorified punching bag for Sonic, as opposed to what Shadow got.

 

The reason I don't care to see him again because there's literally nothing of interest to explore. At least when Shadow came back, he was able to play a dark foil to Sonic while still being a main character, but Infinite is firmly a villain and there's nothing suggesting anything else.

 

 

And I'd imagine if they did bring back Infinite, it would just be as a punching bag and I'm pretty sure that's not what his apparent fanbase wants. They want him to get the Shadow treatment and that's definitely not gonna happen lmao.

[MetalSkulkBane]

I don't believe in "worthless characters". And I like Infinite just fine. I won't cry if he never returns, but I think he's mile better than Erazor, Nega, Lyric, Black Doom or Deadly Six.

Except Ian Flynn made Zeti fun. So I imagine he could do the same with Infinite.

[Kazhnuz]

About Infinite, I agree that he could be pretty fun written by someone like Flynn or Stanley (but I like him being an edgelord and being not as good as he think it is). For Honey, I'm happy that the "fashion designer" is part of her bio, it's nice ! I wonder if he managed to stuck some other of his interpretation of classic characters in the book !

[Red Hot Jack]

32 minutes ago, Kazhnuz said:

About Infinite, I agree that he could be pretty fun written by someone like Flynn or Stanley (but I like him being an edgelord and being not as good as he think it is). For Honey, I'm happy that the "fashion designer" is part of her bio, it's nice ! I wonder if he managed to stuck some other of his interpretation of classic characters in the book !

That is nuts about Honey, it was part of her Archie reboot personality, and I liked that bit honestly, this is cool.

And Infinite, yeah... he could be a great character with actual competent writing, if even the Zeti can, I don't see why Infinite could not.

[Zaysho]

8 hours ago, Kazhnuz said:

For Honey, I'm happy that the "fashion designer" is part of her bio, it's nice ! I wonder if he managed to stuck some other of his interpretation of classic characters in the book !

It doesn't completely come out of nowhere; that's what the Honey from Fighting Vipers (the basis for Sonic Honey) does.

[The Tenth Doctor]

Amazon now says January 16th for the Deluxe edition. What is with Ian writing encyclopedia's and them getting delayed a lot, same happened to his Archie one years ago. (I know its not his fault, just find it a funny coincidence)

[KoDaiko]

So apparently the book has a entry "The Hooligans"? (found on Tumblr)

IIRC SEGA didn't like the team name? I guess Ian found a loophole by using it as an entry title. I thought they didn't make a direct appearance though, only cameo poster and illusion?

[DabigRG]

So, anybody talk about the book allegedly having a number of inaccuracies or misused images yet?

[KoDaiko]

2 hours ago, DabigRG said:

So, anybody talk about the book allegedly having a number of inaccuracies or misused images yet?

Uh ok so from what I heard...

• Fanwork is used for Micky and Egg Gate Tutorial stage
• Entry for SaTBK dragons reference Satam for some reason, gets "Earth Dragon" wrong, and mistakes Sonic as Lancelot/Shadow
• Entry for Shade/Nocturnus/Chronicles is inaccurate/oversimplified?
• Wrong game data for Sonic 2 & Sonic CD

Idk what the others are.

[Empire88]

The book is out now (saw it in my local book shop). Any word on what game was removed?

[Echidna Adventurer CC14]

30 minutes ago, nobukitsu88 said:

The book is out now (saw it in my local book shop). Any word on what game was removed?

It was Pocket Adventure.

[Sonictrainer]

I'm happy that a number of Badniks & Bosses now have official English names.

...however, Fake Rock & Metal-O-Turtle are still horrible names...