Should the Freedom Fighters come back to IDW Comics?

[Rabbitearsblog]

So, there's been a lot of talk lately about whether or not the Freedom Fighters from the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comic books should come into the IDW comics.  For those of you who don't know who the Freedom Fighters are, they were basically characters who came from the Sonic SATAM cartoon series that came out in the 1990s and they made their way into the Archie Comics in the 1990s.

For me on the one hand, I honestly don't mind the IDW comics being in a separate universe and staying much more closely to the games.  On the other hand, I grew up watching Sonic SATAM and reading the Archie Comics, so I do miss the Freedom Fighters themselves and maybe there is a way that they could come into the IDW comics without being too in your face with the readers.

What do you think?  Do you want to see the Freedom Fighters enter the IDW comics or are you okay with the Freedom Fighters not being in the IDW comics?

 

[Mobotropolis]

Nope. And I say that as a fan of the Freedom Fighters. 

Seems that IDW Sonic is abandoning the idea of Sonic operating out of a central location like Mobotropolis, let alone working with a single team like the Freedom Fighters. Instead he's running from place to place with a rotating cast of SegaSonic Helpers with the occasional Original Guest Character thrown into the mix for good measure. 

Post-Reboot Sonic, the comic after the Pendering but before IDW Sonic, seemed to struggle with keeping the Freedom Fighters relevant in such a globe trotting adventure. The once-secondary SegaSonic characters becoming more predominate didn't do them any favors. 

Sally doesn't work as Sonic's love interest as long as Amy is around. Rotor couldn't be the genius with Tails becoming Sonic's partner. And Antoine was outclassed by just about every male recurring character as a rival for Sonic. Bunnie may have worked as a well rounded but obviously flawed bruiser, but Ian struggled with making her anything more than Antoine's wife. Nicole was one of the biggest wins in terms of development; becoming an actual character and a useful one at that -- but she doesn't work as well without Sally or the Nanite New Mobotropolis. 

Ian and/or Evan could make it work if their arm was twisted, but for how much would have to be changed in a book still trying to establish itself I'd wonder if it would be worth it over just making some new characters. 

And when it comes to new characters, the only two things really missing from IDW Now are more villains not named or connected to Eggman for Sonic to knock around and some male characters on the Heroes side. Maybe even another original rival for Sonic since losing Scourge was one of the biggest blows that came with the Pendering. 

Felt the female Freedom Fighters (Sally, Bunnie and Nicole) were better characters than the males (Rotor and Antoine), but we already have enough girls in the recurring cast. 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

17 hours ago, Mobotropolis said:

Sally doesn't work as Sonic's love interest as long as Amy is around. Rotor couldn't be the genius with Tails becoming Sonic's partner. And Antoine was outclassed by just about every male recurring character as a rival for Sonic. Bunnie may have worked as a well rounded but obviously flawed bruiser, but Ian struggled with making her anything more than Antoine's wife.
 

Then don’t have Sally as Sonic’s Love Interest (which she wasn’t anyway during the reboot, so I don’t know why people still hold this to her); Rotor actually can be a genius with Tails as Sonic’s partner (what rule says you can only have one?), and you can have them specialize in different areas of technology—Tails for Aeronautics and Rotor for Weaponry; give Antoine a buff in abilities; and give Bunnie some greater depth beyond being Antoine’s wife.

Took me 2 minutes to come up with off the top of my head.

I’m not sure why people are quick to say no to something and never put any effort into brainstorming alternative ideas. It is really not that hard to do—especially when they already did that with the reboot anyway while still keeping them recognizable.

I’m sure they’d be able to do the same with another alternate take on them in IDW as well. One of the biggest changes they could make is simply not calling them the Freedom Fighters and make the characters more individualized from the group—none of them know each other come their introduction, but even by themselves they would still act as we’d expect them to with Sally’s leadership, Bunnies brashness, Antoine’s caution, and Rotor’s inventiveness.

No telling what they actually have planned if they get the chance, but this isn’t impossible or even slightly difficult to do beyond Sega being difficult with them about it.

[Plumbers_Helper]

Every character from anything should be available for reinterpretations.

Imagine a world where Scrooge McDuck and the rest of Carl Bark's characters were never allowed to appear in anything besides Donald Duck comics. Imagine if Bebop, Rocksteady and Krang were never allowed in anything besides the 87 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon. Imagine if Harley Quinn was only allowed in Batman projects set in the DC Animated Universe.

Part of the fun of long running franchises is seeing new interpretations of old characters. If the Freedom Fighters did come back there is a possibility they could have different personalities with new history and that's ok. Different franchises do that all the time. A great example is post-reboot Archie's interpretation of Breezie from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.

Maybe in this universe Sally isn't a princess, maybe Nicole in this universe eventually gets a robot body and changes her name to Bunnie Rabbot. Have fun, get creative. I'd rather see different interpretations of Sonic's history then to have Sega sweep it under the rug and pretend it never happened.

[SBR2]

The main book? No. A continuation of the Archie comic? Sure.

That's been my stance since this began and it always will be. IDW should be it's own thing taking inspiration from the games and not really relying on the old comic but I also wouldn't turn down them continuing that old comic. 

There's precedent for IDW doing that so it's not impossible and honestly would probably be the best way to bring them back. Just tell new continuing stories in that universe. 

[Mr Loopone]

Yes, no, maybe?

If we are talking about the main series, much of the target audience at least for the younger and more casual readers wouldn't know who they are. The ones that do were the ones who migrated from Archie or are die hard fans. It is trickier than it looks because you can't please both camps unless by fluke or very hard work, the ones who want a comic more accurate to the games but has its own flavour and the ones who followed Ian Flynn and the artists over the years who just want to see them again. There could be like a nod say a computer that is branded Nicole or Sonic mentioning that he knew someone called Sally (I don't know if that has happened in the comics), the latter ambiguous enough to either reference the freed animal, Sally Acorn or someone else. That is probably the safest option.

If the characters were brought back, that would have issues because the Freedom Fighter fans would complain that they aren't the same characters anymore as they would have to change their designs (again) and parts of their personality to be compatible with the universe. People did complain about Sally's redesign in the past. Even if they were brought back to have the same designs as the late Archie comics, they probably appear in just an arc and no longer the other main characters so they will be complaints whether they get too much or not enough attention.

Then again the nature of comic books is that they have more than one universe and that is how the Freedom Fighters can come into play without interfering with the main timeline. That depends on if Sega allows it and I don't think that they would, it probably might be a hard push just to have a Classic Sonic book.  If Sega embraces the multiverse as per comic book standards then the Freedom Fighters can come back in both Archie and SatAM flavours (and AoSTH subseries while we are at it, maybe the Fleetway comics too). If character issues weren't a thing, they could really go to town having both pre and post Super Genesis Wave characters.

[Piko]

No hate against them, but I don’t think they’re compatible with the IDW comics. I like how the IDW comics are basically Sonic running from place to place with one or two characters to give a helping hand. After all, he’s free-spirited; he likes doing his own thing without being chained to a single team like the Freedom Fighters.

But even if the FF did make it into IDW, then what? The IDW comics are very popular among younger, more casual readers who have most likely never heard of them.

[Mobotropolis]

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what rule says you can only have one?

The thing about having two characters fill a niche is that there will be fights about which character is superior and calls to either improve the inferior character or remove them from the equation. 

Guess to give an example -- Tails was the robotics-wiz and Rotor was the computer-wiz. After a while of that Rotor got an injury and was forced to retire and found a new path for himself by becoming a politician.

Ian seemed to be heading in that direction with the other Freedom Fighters in the last arc of the pre-reboot, but the rug was pulled out from under him before that arc was finished. If I were to wager a guess more than the character's appearance was changing when it came to the Status Quo. 

The Freedom Fighters were still around in the Post-Reboot, but it's a reach to say any of them were essential to the story being told. At most they were Sonic's Helper of the Day in whatever problem he was going to solve. At worse they were left on the sidelines so the SegaSonic Characters could shine. 

That's not much of a future for these characters. 

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I’m not sure why people are quick to say no to something and never put any effort into brainstorming alternative ideas.

Question is should they?

The Freedom Fighters are a group of characters who have a long history with the franchise -- but is that enough for a book who's primary purpose is to promote and sell people on characters from the games? How much time and creative energy will SEGA permit IDW Team devote to characters who will only ever appear in the comics and may never have a chance to cross over into the games and merchandise? 

There are certainly original characters in IDW Sonic now. Seems the aim with them is, from their design to their purpose, to create characters that may indeed one day cross over into other media and be used for merchandising purposes. 

Feel as though if SEGA wanted that with the Freedom Fighters, it would have happened years ago. For one reason (they have a long and troubled history) or another (so much needs to be done to make them work they may as well make new characters) that they did not think it was worth it. 

[Pengi]

9 hours ago, Piko said:

No hate against them, but I don’t think they’re compatible with the IDW comics. I like how the IDW comics are basically Sonic running from place to place with one or two characters to give a helping hand. After all, he’s free-spirited; he likes doing his own thing without being chained to a single team like the Freedom Fighters.

But even if the FF did make it into IDW, then what? The IDW comics are very popular among younger, more casual readers who have most likely never heard of them.

 

This would only a problem if they tried to replicate the cartoon, where the Freedom Fighters were the core supporting cast. We know that's not going to happen.

Knothole and its Freedom Fighters can easily fit into the format of Sonic travelling the world, helping out some new faces (Sally and co) and foiling Eggman's plans (taking over the Acorn Kingdom). It would add a new type of location to Sonic's world that isn't a tropical paradise, big city, ancient ruins or rural village.

Young readers wouldn't know G-merl. Nobody knew Tangle or Whisper. Them being unknown isn't an issue, as long as they're introduced well and don't dominate the book. 

[Piko]

45 minutes ago, Pengi said:

Knothole and its Freedom Fighters can easily fit into the format of Sonic travelling the world, helping out some new faces (Sally and co) and foiling Eggman's plans (taking over the Acorn Kingdom).

Easier said than done. I feel like the Freedom Fighters would need a major overhaul in order to fit into the IDW universe. And no matter how they’re handled, there would be complaints about them not being the same, getting too much/not enough attention, etc.

It would be so much work to make them compatible with the comics that they might as well create new characters.

[Pengi]

It's far from insurmountable. Ian Flynn has already rebooted the Knothole Freedom Fighters into something more game-friendly once, before Sonic Forces was part of the mix. He's said that he has a few different ideas of how they could be introduced. I think he's more than up to the task. The comic can more than handle a story where Sonic helps a princess find her missing father, with the help of a cyborg, a snooty bodyguard and an inventor. It's only complicated if you make it complicated.

[Red Hot Jack]

49 minutes ago, Piko said:

Easier said than done. I feel like the Freedom Fighters would need a major overhaul in order to fit into the IDW universe. And no matter how they’re handled, there would be complaints about them not being the same, getting too much/not enough attention, etc.

It would be so much work to make them compatible with the comics that they might as well create new characters.

Basically this, it would require a lot of work and overhaul and strict original SatAM or Archie fans would not be happy. The majority of them at least. 

As to what I think... well, if anything the right fit for them ARE in fact the IDW comics,, the only place where every character can shine. So I definitely find pointless how Sally fans asked for her to be playable in the mobile games right after Tangle and Whisper got added, just as envy act. But this is not the point of the thread.

But IDW? Why not? I support returning characters, who knows maybe the FFs might become likeable even, with a reboot. Really, why not.

I know the narrative has moved past the need for them, but with a reboot everything changes. 

The thing that makes them unlikely in the end is... obviously Sega. Yeah that. They want to move on from Archie, Penders and his shit, the rights for their Archie reboot, their SatAM roots which doesn't represent Sonic anymore. They just don't care for past iterations of Sonic.

The reason why IDW is so liked by Sega is... it's simple, easy to read, popular and basically it is set in Modern Sonic, so they can promote the comic along the whole brand.

[Mega]

People really seem to have this idea that SatAM fans can't accept reinterpreted freedom fighters, huh?

I mean, I can't speak for all SatAM fans, but as someone who to this day still holds it near and dear to my heart... I get it? IDW isn't SatAM. It also isn't Archie. And that's fine! But that's part of why I WANT to see the Freedom Fighters back. It'd be really cool to see them reimagined in this setting. They don't have to be mainstays- just occasionally recurring characters, not unlike the rest of the cast we already have. The world is vast. Theoretically they could be operating somewhere in the world we haven't seen yet and be introduced to new readers just as cleanly as any of the new IDW characters.

Young readers might not know them, but... if they're fun to watch and read about and have cool designs, I don't see the harm in it? And Archie only ended a handful of years ago, so it's not like kids wouldn't necessarily know. It's just they aren't as likely to be as privy.

But most people who watched TMNT2012 didn't know the 87 cartoon, yet 2012 saw the return of Bebop and Rocksteady (I know they were also in the comics, but they *were* absent from 2003 other than Turtles Forever). It's possible to make nostalgic throwbacks still entertaining for the younguns.

[Wraith]

We've basically already received confirmation that they'll be in the book if Ian/Even ever get the chance. It's not a question. They're just waiting for a green light. There are no creative roadblocks to their inclusion as far as the writers are concerned.

Regardless of whether they show up or not though, I'm not sure how close IDW will stick to the games long term. The first year or so was basically The Further Adventures of Sonic but they focus way more on completely original characters now compared to when they started. Nuances like the way Ian prefers to characterize Eggman have also seeped in, over time. Seems like Sega/the team are just feeling out how much divergent stuff people will tolerate since the main complaint with Archie was "this is not enough like Sonic."

[Ryannumber1gamer]

I'm still on the side that the Freedom Fighters can easily be slotted into the series. Eggman literally took over the planet and forced a resistance group to rise up to stop him, and now that he's stopped, Sonic and co are picking up the pieces, which is...basically the premise of Post-Reboot Archie anyways lol.

Like, I don't get this idea that the series would need some drastic overhaul or would turn into Archie 2.0 if we got the Freedom Fighters. Literally just have Knothole be another village area, and have the Freedom Fighters just be another band of people who rose up, having been inspired by the Resistance's efforts + Sonic. Sonic encounters them and helps them out, and moves along with his day. Just make them smaller reoccurring characters. Hell, we literally have stuff like Tails being half-roboticised in Lost World, and Jewel taking up a resistance management role, it's not exactly impossible to slot Bunnie and Sally in there when we've got such things established already.

It's just frustrating being a fan of these characters and even the mention that they could easily be added with adjustments is quickly carried with assumptions that it'd be turned into another retrend of Archie. Despite the fact that Archie Post-Reboot took AoStH characters, lost cut characters, and other characters from long gone Sonic properties, redesigned them to fit the aesthetic better, and made changes to their characters that not only allowed them to slot into both the games and comic universe, but added drastic changes while retaining the original character in the process (IE - Breezie, Dulcy, Scratch, Grounder, Coconuts), with them even adding a super neat point of reference by placing the AoStH cast into Sonic 2 GG in a way that makes sense (Younger and more naive Sonic facing down weaker threats in Eggman's earlier days), and surprisingly - Archie Post Reboot didn't suddenly turn into AoStH 2.0.

I just don't get why Sonic has to be the exception to this rule here. Other properties like TMNT brings out the most obscure, and widely different versions of characters like Tokka, Razzar, and Mona Lisa, and accordingly adapts them to the IDW TMNT universe, and it works perfectly with everyone happy with it, yet with Sonic, apparently it just can't be done because of some sort of "rules", that aren't really "rules. They're "rules" in the same sense as the Smash community having made up a bunch of rules as to what gets to qualify for a character inclusion, so not really rules as much as they are guesses. 

The only franchises we know for absolute certain Ian can't touch again is X and OVA, presumably because of rights issues to both, and even then - X is actually up in the air, as Ian apparently has shown interest in Cosmo. The only thing stopping Ian isn't some arbitrary ruleset that out and out says "No, not happening, forget it", it's just SEGA saying "for now, no". Ian's made it abundantly clear the door hasn't been closed on the SatAM characters, and as shown by characters like Cream, Eggman Nega, and Omega in the Archie Comics, what SEGA does and doesn't allow in terms of characters changes on the flip of a coin.

[Multikaris]

Am I the only one here who thinks they’ll strictly become “classic” characters, given what became of Mighty, Ray, and the Hooligans? I feel like they could replace the Classic Chaotix.

[antyep]

15 minutes ago, Snowragnarok said:

Am I the only one here who thinks they’ll strictly become “classic” characters, given what became of Mighty, Ray, and the Hooligans? I feel like they could replace the Classic Chaotix.

I mean it does seem like the likely way to go with them.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

14 hours ago, Mobotropolis said:

The thing about having two characters fill a niche is that there will be fights about which character is superior and calls to either improve the inferior character or remove them from the equation. 
 

Why is removing them from the equation considered over improving them then? You don’t fix something by not bothering at all.

Hell, they already solved that problem with the reboot by giving Rotor a specialty in weapons and Tails one in aeronautics, hence their collaboration to build the Sky Patrol.

So where’s the problem with having two tech geniuses when they specialize in different areas. That’s like saying there’s a problem with having two hedgehogs around, so Amy should get the boot.

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The Freedom Fighters were still around in the Post-Reboot, but it's a reach to say any of them were essential to the story being told. At most they were Sonic's Helper of the Day in whatever problem he was going to solve. At worse they were left on the sidelines so the SegaSonic Characters could shine. 

That's not much of a future for these characters. 

According to who?
 

It’s funny, because the SegaSonic characters were mainly in the side-stories issues of Sonic Universe as opposed to the main book where the Freedom Fighters were, even during the reboot. And that’s on top of the fact that the Freedom Fighters were about to have their own Universe arc that was planned out before Archie was cancelled, with Nicole being the only one to have one out. And it’s not like they didn’t take a backseat before the reboot during Penders era either.

And let’s actually think about the logic of this: if they were rebooted the first time from their original setting, why is it that this somehow can’t be done again in yet another new setting? Especially given how some of the stories in IDW, mainly the Metal Virus arc, was actually made with them in mind to begin with and had to be reworked without them? They had a future before, they can have a new one again.

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Question is should they?

And my answer is yes, if given the opportunity.

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The Freedom Fighters are a group of characters who have a long history with the franchise -- but is that enough for a book who's primary purpose is to promote and sell people on characters from the games? How much time and creative energy will SEGA permit IDW Team devote to characters who will only ever appear in the comics and may never have a chance to cross over into the games and merchandise?

Considering they’re aware of the demand, yes? It worked for Mighty and Ray, who were absent from the games for well over two decades until Mania, with Archie being the only place they were still alive. And how much creative energy is permitted depends on Sega and IDW, so you’ll have to take that question up directly with them.

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Feel as though if SEGA wanted that with the Freedom Fighters, it would have happened years ago. For one reason (they have a long and troubled history) or another (so much needs to be done to make them work they may as well make new characters) that they did not think it was worth it. 

Says who? Because last I checked, we didn’t get any concrete details about them beyond the fact that the demand is there but there weren’t currently any plans at the moment.

This limbo of uncertainty doesn’t guarantee any straight answers over when, where, or if these characters will show up or not, and it would be wise not to treat it as anything otherwise given how that can change when you least expect it.

[Kuzu]

I still don't see why they should

2 hours ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

I'm still on the side that the Freedom Fighters can easily be slotted into the series. Eggman literally took over the planet and forced a resistance group to rise up to stop him, and now that he's stopped, Sonic and co are picking up the pieces, which is...basically the premise of Post-Reboot Archie anyways lol.

Like, I don't get this idea that the series would need some drastic overhaul or would turn into Archie 2.0 if we got the Freedom Fighters. Literally just have Knothole be another village area, and have the Freedom Fighters just be another band of people who rose up, having been inspired by the Resistance's efforts + Sonic. Sonic encounters them and helps them out, and moves along with his day. Just make them smaller reoccurring characters. Hell, we literally have stuff like Tails being half-roboticised in Lost World, and Jewel taking up a resistance management role, it's not exactly impossible to slot Bunnie and Sally in there when we've got such things established already.

It's just frustrating being a fan of these characters and even the mention that they could easily be added with adjustments is quickly carried with assumptions that it'd be turned into another retrend of Archie. Despite the fact that Archie Post-Reboot took AoStH characters, lost cut characters, and other characters from long gone Sonic properties, redesigned them to fit the aesthetic better, and made changes to their characters that not only allowed them to slot into both the games and comic universe, but added drastic changes while retaining the original character in the process (IE - Breezie, Dulcy, Scratch, Grounder, Coconuts), with them even adding a super neat point of reference by placing the AoStH cast into Sonic 2 GG in a way that makes sense (Younger and more naive Sonic facing down weaker threats in Eggman's earlier days), and surprisingly - Archie Post Reboot didn't suddenly turn into AoStH 2.0.

I just don't get why Sonic has to be the exception to this rule here. Other properties like TMNT brings out the most obscure, and widely different versions of characters like Tokka, Razzar, and Mona Lisa, and accordingly adapts them to the IDW TMNT universe, and it works perfectly with everyone happy with it, yet with Sonic, apparently it just can't be done because of some sort of "rules", that aren't really "rules. They're "rules" in the same sense as the Smash community having made up a bunch of rules as to what gets to qualify for a character inclusion, so not really rules as much as they are guesses. 

The only franchises we know for absolute certain Ian can't touch again is X and OVA, presumably because of rights issues to both, and even then - X is actually up in the air, as Ian apparently has shown interest in Cosmo. The only thing stopping Ian isn't some arbitrary ruleset that out and out says "No, not happening, forget it", it's just SEGA saying "for now, no". Ian's made it abundantly clear the door hasn't been closed on the SatAM characters, and as shown by characters like Cream, Eggman Nega, and Omega in the Archie Comics, what SEGA does and doesn't allow in terms of characters changes on the flip of a coin.

To be entirely fair, TMNT took a long time for them to get the rights to use all of those characters because Laird didn't wanna adapt concepts like Bebop and Rocksteady. 

Its exactly like Wraith said, its a matter of getting the ok from the higher ups to do this kind of stuff.

 

Fans are always going to be fans and hate the stuff that they have no connection with, nothing you can do about that. If Flynn and co get the go ahead, they're going to have to ignore those people because they never liked those spin off elements period, so they were never going to consider putting them in the first place. 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

They shouldn’t be listening to purists anyway considering they’re purists—people should be well aware that characters from one incarnation are not going to be the exact same as they will be in a new incarnation.

Alternate settings have alternate rules.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

1 minute ago, Kuzu said:

I still don't see why they should

To be entirely fair, TMNT took a long time for them to get the rights to use all of those characters because Laird didn't wanna adapt concepts like Bebop and Rocksteady. 

Its exactly like Wraith said, its a matter of getting the ok from the higher ups to do this kind of stuff.

As I said though, it's all down to what SEGA decides, and there's been plenty of evidence before that SEGA just decides to do stuff randomly. Again, it was infamous how both Bollers and Ian wanted to use Omega in Archie Sonic, as well as Cream and Eggman Nega for ages, and it took right up until 2010 or so before Ian could make any leeway in that.

Once again - for characters introduced in 2002/2003 - it took Flynn seven years to finally get permission to have them appear in the comics, and Nega's absence lasted even longer than that.

SEGA do stuff for strange reasons, and Ian keeps the door open for the FF for the simple fact of SEGA haven't given him a definitive no, like for other characters he's tried to use before (IE - The Hooligans, since they're now Classic Only). There's no arbitrary ruleset that says who can or cannot appear, other than characters trapped in straight up rights hell (IE - OVA characters), and SEGA can easily flip the switch again, which is seemingly why Ian keeps pushing.

As for the TMNT example, Laird was infamous in general for not allowing spin-off stuff, with him straight up telling the director of the 2007 movie that there was to be zero mention of Venus. That's presumably why. When Laird sold his rights to Nickelodeon, everything was fair game again. They always had the rights to use the characters, Laird just didn't want to. 

[Natie]

"The FF can be changed to fit the game world, in fact they already were in reboot archie."

This is a perfectly solid point, but am I remembering wrong or did most fans not despise the reboot FF for the express reason of them not being the way they were before?

All the talk about compromising and re-imagining makes me wonder of it would feel worth it to the big sally-heads out there. The "they're just in a different area that Sonic can visit" is a good idea to not be redundant to the main resistance, but aren't their long standing childhood relationship with Sonic and Tails a big part of the appeal, you couldn’t have that as side characters.

Either way I can see the angry tweets going "Really??? They only appear in (x number of) issues??? This must be an accursed MANDATE." or "This isn’t the TRUE (x character)" cuz they arent the exact SatAM setup then the outcry will have never really been met or solved.

I'm just wonder is simply seeing Sally Acorn enough for the majority of people rallying for this? Compromise is very finicky.

[Rabbitearsblog]

2 hours ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

They shouldn’t be listening to purists anyway considering they’re purists—people should be well aware that characters from one incarnation are not going to be the exact same as they will be in a new incarnation.

Alternate settings have alternate rules.

I agree that even if the Freedom Fighters do make it into the IDW series, their characterizations might be drastically changed to fit in with the new universe.  Sure, they can still be Freedom Fighters, but even if they had some kind of relationship with Sonic and his friends like Tangle and Whisper do in the IDW comics, I have a feeling that their personalities might be different to fit in with the new continuity.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

39 minutes ago, Natie said:

"The FF can be changed to fit the game world, in fact they already were in reboot archie."

This is a perfectly solid point, but am I remembering wrong or did most fans not despise the reboot FF for the express reason of them not being the way they were before?

All the talk about compromising and re-imagining makes me wonder of it would feel worth it to the big sally-heads out there. The "they're just in a different area that Sonic can visit" is a good idea to not be redundant to the main resistance, but aren't their long standing childhood relationship with Sonic and Tails a big part of the appeal, you couldn’t have that as side characters.

Either way I can see the angry tweets going "Really??? They only appear in (x number of) issues??? This must be an accursed MANDATE." or "This isn’t the TRUE (x character)" cuz they arent the exact SatAM setup then the outcry will have never really been met or solved.

I'm just wonder is simply seeing Sally Acorn enough for the majority of people rallying for this? Compromise is very finicky.

Idk because we're talking years ago, but I really don't remember that much of a backlash from the post-reboot apart from a vocal minority. If anything, stuff like Spark of Life was really enjoyed for the new creative takes on Nicole and Sally's relationship.

As for the childhood relation to Sonic and Tails, not really? There's been like five retcons in SatAM and Archie alone in regards to the young FF and how they meet Sonic. I'd like to think most fans would be happy to see these characters again instead of just seeing a superficial element like knowing Sonic when they were younger holding it back. That relationship doesn't really even have much importance since it's only really just used to explain why Sonic and the FF were together, and both SatAM/Archie have different depictions of the event.

15 minutes ago, Rabbitearsblog said:

I agree that even if the Freedom Fighters do make it into the IDW series, their characterizations might be drastically changed to fit in with the new universe.  Sure, they can still be Freedom Fighters, but even if they had some kind of relationship with Sonic and his friends like Tangle and Whisper do in the IDW comics, I have a feeling that their personalities might be different to fit in with the new continuity.

What would need to be changed characterisation wise though? At best, maybe Sally's royalty might need changed, but most people didn't like that anyway because it was very often times used solely as a bad plot device to keep Sally out of the action, and it was better regarded when she just said screw it and went to fight regardless of what others think.

Jewel and Amy already showcased a Sally like attitude before when they lead the Resistance, and Sally can easily have a rival aspect to Sonic as well due to how differently they handle things (Careful planning VS winging it), making her stand out as a occasionally appearing character. Rotor's just another tech inventor, Bunnie's personality has no problems fitting in and robotisation was established in Lost World as a process, and Antoine's cowardly swordsman stuff doesn't contradict anything, nor does Nicole's personality.

Their personalities are not the issue when it comes to dropping them to a new setting, there's similar characters in the series before, and having some arbitrary rules to just apply to these characters specifically make no sense, it's limiting, and honestly is a very weird argument when one of the best original characters in the series is a hardened and emotionally closed off sniper wolf with a wrack of issues due to her former employment and a guilty conscience.

What needs changed is the baggage, the circumstances of usage, and the degree of use, as well as maybe minor design alterations on the reboot designs to fit into the style more, not just completely redrafting the personalities of the characters start to finish. Even if hypothetically that was the case, the best kinds of retools are the ones that use the original personality as a base, and makes clever changes to it.

[SBR2]

I don't know where all this crapping on the reboot FF is coming from. I think they were really well updated to fit the games aesthetic.