Sonic the Hedgehog IDW #64 - Reader Reaction & Review

[Sonictrainer]

As part of a Dual Release, #64 is also out

 

[SatAMhog]

Spoiler

-Really good issue in my opinion as we got some development here.  Silver tries to get Mimic to identify himself but fails miserably when Lanolin once again comes to his defense.  What gets me is the absolute SHAFT that Silver gets here in my opinion.  Lanolin is acting like it's ALL Silver(it's like Mace Windu and Anakin in Star Wars Episode III all over again lol) when Jewel asks what's going on and she points the thumb at him.  Mimic, of course, gets what he wants by getting Silver outta the way and makes Whisper doubt herself.  What gets me is that she SAW him kick Silver to make him drop the rocks with her visor.  Why doesn't she bring that up when Lanolin asks why they think Duo is Mimic I don't know but it could've given Lanolin at least a shred of doubt to go on.  I do like the fact that Blaze comes in to cheer Silver up but strangely enough, Silver doesn't mention the fact that he hurt Duo, just that he "messed up bad" and kinda gloss over it.  So basically, Mimic is OK for now with his disguise intact and Silver and Blaze are off on an adventure of their own to see the world and what it has to offer.  Oh and fans of the Silver/Blaze pairing will love this issue's backup story.  That's all I got.

 

[MetalSkulkBane]

Story A doesn't impress me.
Last issue I said "geez, Mimic is incompetent, how will he get out of this one?". Answer: everyone is more incompetent. I'm fine with Silver getting tricked, but one would think Lanolin (or Jewel. Or the rest of the base) would take the possibility of Mimic being here a bit more seriously. And did Whisper just convince herself she was wrong?
IDK, even if a later issue will reveal this was a super double-trick to make Mimic think he's good, it's still not great for me.

Story B is better. The last issue was Sonaze so the universe needs balance with... whatever Silver/Blaze ship is called.
it's a liiiiitle too sappy for my taste (Oh, Sonic is so great. Nu-uh, you're great Silver. Nu-uh-uh, you're great Blaze) but it is fairly adorable and it's very good characterization for Blaze. I kinda wish Silver got to support Blaze for a change, so their relationship isn't so one-sided, but Silver gets way more screen time. Maybe it's fair.

[SkyHorizon]

28 minutes ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

Last issue I said "geez, Mimic is incompetent, how will he get out of this one?". Answer: everyone is more incompetent.

I absolutely agree with you here. The more I was reading it, the more I was like: "Guys??? Seriously???"

Also, I didn't despise Lanolin until now, she had her 'meh' moments, but I kind of liked her. Here? She's just an arrogant consdescending brat! I mean, Silver just saved the world, what did you do, precisely, aside from acting weird towards Vector?

...that said, she's too much of a brat and the Restoration are too much of idiots to be real. I'm betting on the fact that they're setting up a trap for Mimic. Guess we'll have to wait and see...

..."Silze"? "Blailver"? "Silvaze"? I guess I'll go with Silvaze... not gonna lie: I like this ship! Especially the fact that the only Blaze and Silver "real" interaction in games (not counting cameos in Generations or Colors) got erased from story in '06...Too bad, it was one of the very few things that worked in that game...

[Sega DogTagz]

57 minutes ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

 I kinda wish Silver got to support Blaze for a change, so their relationship isn't so one-sided, but Silver gets way more screen time. Maybe it's fair.

Silver's character has more or less always needed a mentor/support type to bounce off of. He had Blaze in 06, her had Mammoth M. In Archie, he Had Espio in Rivals and IDW and now we've gone full circle back to Blaze.

 

It seems kinda one-sided, but at the same time it does add some additional depth to the supporting characters. Espio in particular almost never has anyone to bounce off of in such a way. 

 

21 minutes ago, SkyHorizon said:

 Especially the fact that the only Blaze and Silver "real" interaction in games (not counting cameos in Generations or Colors) got erased from story in '06...Too bad, it was one of the very few things that worked in that game...

Sonic Team has been trying to have their cake and eat it too ever since 06. Colors DS, Team Sonic Racing and dang near every comic or promotional material (like those monthly stories) have carried the water that their connection for 06 is still alive and well. Its unexplained, but its still there. In Colors DS, Sonic tells the two more or less word for word what he snarks in #64.

 

The Brother/Sister bond never left.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

I've been reading Sonic comics since Worlds Collide. From Issue 1 of that miniseries, through the Archie reboot, into IDW. 

I say this, because this issue (well, the main story at least) - bluntly, is not only one of the worst IDW stories, but frankly one of the worst Sonic comic stories I think I've ever read that isn't pre-Ian's run in Archie.

I was already lukewarm about the contrivances in the previous issue, but the sheer degree of utter character idiocy and contrivances required to even make this work is so utterly infuriating. 

Whisper SAW Mimic try to kill Silver, she literally SAW it, she knows it's him. Silver knows it's him. Whisper has already spent a storyline where Mimic manipulated her and played her for a chump. She should know better.

Yet, in spite of the fact that Mimic - disguised no less - is toppled over a railing, but in full view of everyone - manages to connect his shoe onto it to perfectly regain balance, think for several seconds, then conveniently slip off is completely forgotten about, despite this being a gigantic red flag in of itself.

But the utter excuse they use to justify padding this out is completely horrendous. How does Mimic convince everyone that they're wrong? How does he convince WHISPER of all characters she's wrong??? Oh, he just falls off a chair.

Because Mimic is SOOOOOOO skilled that apparently he could never fall off a chair.

I mean, Mimic is only a master manipulator who plays every part to the letter, but apparently it's immensely far outside the realm of possibility that Mimic could have just intentionally fallen off the chair. No no no, this is obvious proof he is not Mimic.

And then we get to the characters, the characters.

Lanolin, holy shit, I don't know how on earth they are going to recover this character. They already had her condescending, outright hypocritical attitude to Silver last issue for supposedly making a mistake (which is even more hysterical, when Silver didn't), but now - she not only treats Silver like a child, who apparently doesn't have any idea of hardship, and can't take anything seriously (Because, y'know, it's not like Silver lived in a hellscape future world where every day was a battle just to survive). 

But then you have Lanolin ignoring everything Whisper tries to tell her, pins her arm, and then tries to give the bullshit of "stop we're both soldiers" nonsense, as if Lanolin comes even remotely close to Whisper's experiences and battles. Putting aside the fact that Whisper is literally the expert when it comes to Mimic, and has been in numerous more fights and dangerous scenarios in Lanolin. But then add in the fact that Lanolin - literally the last arc before this one - massively screwed up, nearly blew the entire mission, and cost them their lives, and now she's trying to pull this nonsense as if she's better than others and can basically shut down others' feelings, and so on, she genuinely comes off like a selfish idiot. 

Tangle not even trying to back up Whisper despite knowing what Mimic can do, and letting Whisper go into this self-defeating crap is also just infuriating. The two most experienced characters who dealt with Mimic, and they have to get artificial stupidity just so they can keep this going.

I'm genuinely disappointed. I'd grown so sick of the original characters, but Mimic was the one exception. The one character we haven't seen in so long, yet when he comes back, his plan is stupid, he makes several incredibly dumb blunders, and now we have other characters being outright incompetent to justify why he hasn't been caught yet. 

The back-up story is nice. It's good. I honestly wish the backups were the main stories, because between the last main story being meh, and this one being downright awful, I do not think I'm far off saying this is the worst arc in all of IDW, bar none. 

Considering the last thing I read was arguably the best arc of the entire run (Scrapnik Island), it might as well cause whiplash for how different the quality scale is between this arc and that arc.

[Phoenix]

29 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

I've been reading Sonic comics since Worlds Collide. From Issue 1 of that miniseries, through the Archie reboot, into IDW. 

I say this, because this issue (well, the main story at least) - bluntly, is not only one of the worst IDW stories, but frankly one of the worst Sonic comic stories I think I've ever read that isn't pre-Ian's run in Archie.

I was already lukewarm about the contrivances in the previous issue, but the sheer degree of utter character idiocy and contrivances required to even make this work is so utterly infuriating. 

Whisper SAW Mimic try to kill Silver, she literally SAW it, she knows it's him. Silver knows it's him. Whisper has already spent a storyline where Mimic manipulated her and played her for a chump. She should know better.

Yet, in spite of the fact that Mimic - disguised no less - is toppled over a railing, but in full view of everyone - manages to connect his shoe onto it to perfectly regain balance, think for several seconds, then conveniently slip off is completely forgotten about, despite this being a gigantic red flag in of itself.

But the utter excuse they use to justify padding this out is completely horrendous. How does Mimic convince everyone that they're wrong? How does he convince WHISPER of all characters she's wrong??? Oh, he just falls off a chair.

Because Mimic is SOOOOOOO skilled that apparently he could never fall off a chair.

I mean, Mimic is only a master manipulator who plays every part to the letter, but apparently it's immensely far outside the realm of possibility that Mimic could have just intentionally fallen off the chair. No no no, this is obvious proof he is not Mimic.

And then we get to the characters, the characters.

Lanolin, holy shit, I don't know how on earth they are going to recover this character. They already had her condescending, outright hypocritical attitude to Silver last issue for supposedly making a mistake (which is even more hysterical, when Silver didn't), but now - she not only treats Silver like a child, who apparently doesn't have any idea of hardship, and can't take anything seriously (Because, y'know, it's not like Silver lived in a hellscape future world where every day was a battle just to survive). 

But then you have Lanolin ignoring everything Whisper tries to tell her, pins her arm, and then tries to give the bullshit of "stop we're both soldiers" nonsense, as if Lanolin comes even remotely close to Whisper's experiences and battles. Putting aside the fact that Whisper is literally the expert when it comes to Mimic, and has been in numerous more fights and dangerous scenarios in Lanolin. But then add in the fact that Lanolin - literally the last arc before this one - massively screwed up, nearly blew the entire mission, and cost them their lives, and now she's trying to pull this nonsense as if she's better than others and can basically shut down others' feelings, and so on, she genuinely comes off like a selfish idiot. 

Tangle not even trying to back up Whisper despite knowing what Mimic can do, and letting Whisper go into this self-defeating crap is also just infuriating. The two most experienced characters who dealt with Mimic, and they have to get artificial stupidity just so they can keep this going.

I'm genuinely disappointed. I'd grown so sick of the original characters, but Mimic was the one exception. The one character we haven't seen in so long, yet when he comes back, his plan is stupid, he makes several incredibly dumb blunders, and now we have other characters being outright incompetent to justify why he hasn't been caught yet. 

The back-up story is nice. It's good. I honestly wish the backups were the main stories, because between the last main story being meh, and this one being downright awful, I do not think I'm far off saying this is the worst arc in all of IDW, bar none. 

Considering the last thing I read was arguably the best arc of the entire run (Scrapnik Island), it might as well cause whiplash for how different the quality scale is between this arc and that arc.

Said it better than I could. This has been the worst arc, and I'm sorry, I just don't care very much for the original characters.

This isn't a fun plot. We all know exactly where it's going, we just don't know how many chapters it will take.

[Sega DogTagz]

I'm not the biggest fan of how this played out either, but there is one thing worth keeping in mind.

Silver and Whisper are probably the two most insecure characters in the series. Silver is always in need of a guiding hand and is constantly second guessing even his strongest convictions. Whisper has just now started to open up to the idea of not being a solo act - she's still learning how to fit in after a severe bout with trauma.

 

It actually doesn't take a whole lot to sway characters like that from second guessing what is right in front of their face. Even seeing what they saw in the previous issue, Mimic should still be able to play on their insecurities and heroic natures to make them second guess themselves. That's part of why he's so dangerous. He knows who he's dealing with.

 

I can see how Lanolin comes across a little "holier than thou" but honestly to me that looked more like an evolution of what she learned after her recent failure. The Diamond Cutters made a commitment to work together to overcome any of their individual mistakes or shortcomings, and Whisper and Silver had broken ranks rather than bringing it up to the group to be handled together. They were essentially spitting in the face of the lesson they just learned.

 

 

I don't like that Whisper could be convinced to let her guard down so easily (Silver actually makes a lot of sense). But the character themes do run true to each of their convictions and temperaments. I'm willing to give the arc a little more runway before I join the masses in blasting it.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

1 hour ago, Sega DogTagz said:

I'm not the biggest fan of how this played out either, but there is one thing worth keeping in mind.

Silver and Whisper are probably the two most insecure characters in the series. Silver is always in need of a guiding hand and is constantly second guessing even his strongest convictions. Whisper has just now started to open up to the idea of not being a solo act - she's still learning how to fit in after a severe bout with trauma.

It actually doesn't take a whole lot to sway characters like that from second guessing what is right in front of their face. Even seeing what they saw in the previous issue, Mimic should still be able to play on their insecurities and heroic natures to make them second guess themselves. That's part of why he's so dangerous. He knows who he's dealing with.

It's one thing to be insecure, it's another thing to convince two characters who witnessed clearly evidently malicious acts that they're wrong because "oh mimic wouldn't fall off a chair". 

Personally, I never saw Whisper as insecure. She's a competent soldier who's effective in most each scenario she's in - Mimic was her weak point in Tangle and Whisper because Whisper felt survivor's guilt and a need to get revenge for her team. It wasn't insecurity that was manipulated, it was her thirst to put things right, and the chip on her shoulder from being the one person who was still alive and kicking. The entire point at the end was Tangle helped clean up that weak point by helping Whisper learn it's alright to trust allies again, and that she can protect others. 

Whisper is not stupid. She saw Silver get tripped. And Silver knows he was tripped, and he also knows that Mimic left him for dead because he literally saw him turn tail and change face. That's how Whisper even confirmed it was Mimic in the first place, Silver does not know Mimic, yet described his M.O to a tee.

Insecurity is not a excuse. The very next story is all about Silver wanting to prove himself and take proactive action, even if it makes him headstrong like Sonic. Especially when what cinches it for them is again "mimic couldn't possibly just fake falling off a chair". 

Frankly, it would've made more sense for Whisper to outright leave if Tangle and Lanolin weren't going to take her concerns on board.

1 hour ago, Sega DogTagz said:

I can see how Lanolin comes across a little "holier than thou" but honestly to me that looked more like an evolution of what she learned after her recent failure. The Diamond Cutters made a commitment to work together to overcome any of their individual mistakes or shortcomings, and Whisper and Silver had broken ranks rather than bringing it up to the group to be handled together. They were essentially spitting in the face of the lesson they just learned.

But that's not what's depicted here. If Lanolin was actually taking that advice on board, she would've taken it much more seriously when her trusted teammate tells her that the arch-enemy she knows more than anyone else has infiltrated the building, and Whisper has witnessed him trying to attack and kill Silver once already.

Instead, Lanolin doesn't give one moment's thought for Whisper's concerns, proceeds to try and act like she has even a ounce of Whisper's experience, and throws that in her face to act like she's better than Whisper, downplays Silver's experiences, which is frankly hysterical when she treats Silver like a irresponsible child, when if you wanna compare it - Eggman ruled the world for a total of six months, compared to Silver literally growing up in a hellish dimension where any single mistake means life or death. 

There's no working together here. No understanding, no lessons learned. Lanolin is so stubborn - for the single sole purpose of contriving a means to keep the story going, that she completely disregards both Silver and Whisper's feelings and opinions, acts like she knows best, doesn't even want to consider the possibility that Mimic is around, and is directly putting each and every single Resistance member in risk of doing so.

Considering the previous arc was also about Lanolin needing to learn to stop compensating by being a strict jerk, and learn to be more like a actual leader, it's very, very bad form to have the very next arc proceed to amp those traits up and also put the entire resistance at risk at the exact same time by doing so.

[Kazhnuz]

The issue I have with this is that they didn't manage to make "Duo" really look like he was just a normal recruit to the characters. Mostly because they want too much us to remember that he is Mimic.

Now, I would say that even if we know that Lanolin is "wrong" in the fact, she is kinda right in the process, and in a way the whole situation is way more Silver fault that Lanolin's. Instead of gathering proof and stuff, he went directly on the offensive with no proof (when Whisper told him to wait. In a way, he basically created this whole mess by creating a bias in everybody that he was attacking an innocent). The issue is more that we know that he is right. TBH, the story would have been kinda different with two character introduced at the same time, with one being Mimic and the other not, and Mimic managing to make Silver/Whisper believe that the wrong one is him (and make us believe too). It would have solved the two issue of this storyline : everyone is kinda bad at their job, and we know already the whole situation so seeing everyone being played (badly) is frustrating.

( And I agree on her "Silver isn't a soldier" : he is a hero, and I can see why she says that rash action are something we can understand from him - he is like Sonic on this point - but she though that Whisper would follow the logical chain of command. )

I think that she as a lot of the classical Sally issue : the character wanting everything to be done rationally/logically/strategically is always in the wrong in Sonic's comics, and they tend to kinda force the story and make them ignore obvious red flag for that. I understand that they wanted to avoid the ol' "Silver is in the wrong in his deduction", but I think they didn't make it the right way. I hope they're going somewhere interesting with that.

[MetalSkulkBane]

While I think there are several "attenuating circumstances", I still find the issue guilty. Even if evidence are flimsy, everyone should take possibility of Duo being Mimic more seriously.

Also I think it's still possible this is double twist: Maybe Lanolin took the threat seriously, but Silver and Whisper's plan wasn't good, so she intentionally made it look like no one believes them and that new job Duo just got is a trap to confirm their suspicions. Of course if that's the case
1) They let Silver go guilt driven.
2) Mimic must think "wow, they guys are even dumber than me. I mean, my ruse was really weak"

[Ryannumber1gamer]

14 hours ago, Kazhnuz said:

The issue I have with this is that they didn't manage to make "Duo" really look like he was just a normal recruit to the characters. Mostly because they want too much us to remember that he is Mimic.

Now, I would say that even if we know that Lanolin is "wrong" in the fact, she is kinda right in the process, and in a way the whole situation is way more Silver fault that Lanolin's. Instead of gathering proof and stuff, he went directly on the offensive with no proof (when Whisper told him to wait. In a way, he basically created this whole mess by creating a bias in everybody that he was attacking an innocent). The issue is more that we know that he is right. TBH, the story would have been kinda different with two character introduced at the same time, with one being Mimic and the other not, and Mimic managing to make Silver/Whisper believe that the wrong one is him (and make us believe too). It would have solved the two issue of this storyline : everyone is kinda bad at their job, and we know already the whole situation so seeing everyone being played (badly) is frustrating.

( And I agree on her "Silver isn't a soldier" : he is a hero, and I can see why she says that rash action are something we can understand from him - he is like Sonic on this point - but she though that Whisper would follow the logical chain of command. )

I think that she as a lot of the classical Sally issue : the character wanting everything to be done rationally/logically/strategically is always in the wrong in Sonic's comics, and they tend to kinda force the story and make them ignore obvious red flag for that. I understand that they wanted to avoid the ol' "Silver is in the wrong in his deduction", but I think they didn't make it the right way. I hope they're going somewhere interesting with that.

Silver might’ve jumped the gun in trying to find evidence, but acting like there’s none at all is a piece of bad writing that looks horrible on all characters. 

• Whisper witnessing the action is already a piece of evidence in of itself. Whisper is a trusted, world renowned hero who has put her life on the line numerous times over and knows Mimic perfectly, to disregard anything she says is downright idiotic.
• Whisper’s mask is capable of recording things, there’s no reason they couldn’t have had what she witnessed recorded.
• Silver has never met Mimic yet was able to point for point perfectly describe what Mimic does when he loses his disguise, something Tangle and Whisper know all too well because he did it multiple times in their miniseries.
• Even if you want to ignore the lack of evidence, treating the possibility as non serious is utterly idiotic, and shows how much of a terrible leader Lanolin is being. Part of leadership is being able to remove emotions from the situation in order to access situations without bias. While Silver and Whisper were in the wrong for trying to spook him, it also doesn’t erase the fact Lanolin should be capable of seeing the clear and present danger and wish to investigate it. If ‘Duo’ has nothing to hide, he would aid.
• Lanolin also opts to cut Whisper off when she tries to inform Lanolin that she knows Mimic’s tells - one of which would be that Mimic is downright incapable of altering his hands. If he’s innocent, he should have little issue removing the gloves to prove he’s innocent and let apologies and such come after.
• A proper leader not only would’ve taken the necessary steps to ensure the matter is investigated properly due to the serious allegation, but also just do the most obvious thing of asking Duo to show his hands which would confirm things one way or another.

There’s nothing logical or intelligent about Lanolin’s actions. Not even close. Every single hero in this issue is written as stupidly and incompetently as possible in order to justify stretching it out and resetting the status quo back to before Mimic outted himself via stupidity. Lanolin ignoring her friends’ opinions, belittling Silver’s experiences as if he’s a irresponsible child, even though he’s lived in worse, more deadly circumstances for longer, and outright putting every single person in the Restoration in danger because she wouldn’t even choose to humour Silver and Whisper, and at least do the bare minimum checks to ensure they were wrong just frankly makes her the worst in a bunch of badly written, incompetent characters this issue. 

The clear issue is Silver, Whisper, and Tangle have all had multiple issues where they’re written correctly and in character. Meanwhile, Lanolin is a background chapter promoted to main character, yet hasn’t displayed any particularly good traits that should get people to like her. Making her the leader of the Restoration is already a weird choice, but outright having her previous arc be about failures, picking yourself up, and trusting your team, only to see her to the exact same shit but in a worse way see makes her come off as much worse.

[Kazhnuz]

That's why for me most come of the writing issues comes of making us know that Mimic was Duo (especially with also how much clues and error they made him make), and go to this "we know the situation but the character doesn't road and one knows but can't prove it" (from my experience, it's something that often create the most cringe-inducing arcs, like this one, as it's really hard to pull-off, especially in a serie with simple characters where Sonic). IDK why they decided to do that, I thought it was kinda known that quiproco arcs aren't a good idea xD. I still think that Lanolin being angry at Silver/Whisper makes sense (she should have trusted them, which is also way it would have been more interesting if Duo was a false flag and that it wasn't Mimic, because nobody would be in the actual knowledge of stuff, but the action of Silver are the perfect way to make someone looks more innocent). Not that I think it's greatly written, but for me the fault is way more in the very premise of this arc, or more precisely how they've handled the information we got. I think they wanted to much to do a "Silver is right this time".

I really feel that they should have either dropped Silver seeing that he is Mimic, either created a false flag to make us think a character is mimic to reveal later he wasn't. And I feel that it would have been way more "fun" if they had make Mimic/Duo make connections with Whisper, and Whisper going to slowly starting to believe in "Duo" just to be crushed later (yeah I'm a monster, I know). It would also be a good way to create the importance of the new Diamond Cutter, by making Whisper need her new support network here. MetalSkulkBane's idea could be great too, seeing Mimic being played would be kinda interesting and could kinda save Lanolin here (it would make her very insensitive, because I'm not sure that making Whisper and Silver doubt themselves is essential to catch Mimic, but we could argue that if discovered, he could have made a rash act that could have put someone in danger ?) and create a great payoff. But I'm not sure that Mimic was good enough for a payoff of "we trapped you" to be enough satisfying.

 

Still seen worse (and I don't care a lot about the "due respect to Silver part" which is what annoyed the most people), but eh, really one of the weakest arc of the comics, and with the 900th issue that wasn't very good, ouchie (especially when the official medias became better). I hope they'll manage to create a good sendoff to that storyline, and I'm kinda happy we're going to another mini-arc next month.

[Danj86]

31 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Silver has never met Mimic yet was able to point for point perfectly describe what Mimic does when he loses his disguise, something Tangle and Whisper know all too well because he did it multiple times in their miniseries.

I assumed that Whisper must've informed Silver of his tells between the issues. It would've been clunky to reiterate it all at the start of the issue, but I don't really think they have an excuse to not have referenced it like they did twice in the other half of the comic. As in:

Whisper: Do you remember Mimics tells that I told you about?

Silver: Yeah.

[#Tangle & Whisper Mini Series]

Even so. Isn't Silver and by extension, Whisper, wrong? I don't think we've seen Mimic lose his disguise during stress, he does lose it when he's taunting his victim, like a dumbass. So maybe Whisper for some reason, never told Silver his tells, it would be fair to assume Silver made the incorrect assumptions that his disguise slips during peril. (Which didn't happen in the previous issue but Silver being confused due to his peril is a reasonable excuse for him to get it wrong.)

Whisper believing the same however is pure nonsense. The two have a history and she should know him like he's her sibling and using her trauma as an excuse for why she can't be trusted is a little.......bleh. Especially when she has no history of making wild claims or acts of violence against friends before.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

9 minutes ago, Danj86 said:

I assumed that Whisper must've informed Silver of his tells between the issues. It would've been clunky to reiterate it all at the start of the issue, but I don't really think they have an excuse to not have referenced it like they did twice in the other half of the comic. As in:

Whisper: Do you remember Mimics tells that I told you about?

Silver: Yeah.

[#Tangle & Whisper Mini Series]

I more so meant what convinced Whisper in the first place in the previous issue. Silver hadn’t met Minic yet was able to describe perfectly about Mimic’s face and eyes changing as he left him for dead. 

That right there is the perfect evidence to make Whisper steadfast in her belief - the only way Silver COULD know about that tell when he described it was he actually saw it. So Whisper just shrugging it off in the end looks utter ridiculous. If the characters were written in character, Whisper wouldn’t have backed down and would’ve convinced Tangle by bringing up that exact point. 

13 minutes ago, Danj86 said:

Even so. Isn't Silver and by extension, Whisper, wrong? I don't think we've seen Mimic lose his disguise during stress, he does lose it when he's taunting his victim, like a dumbass. So maybe Whisper for some reason, never told Silver his tells, it would be fair to assume Silver made the incorrect assumptions that his disguise slips during peril. (Which didn't happen in the previous issue but Silver being confused due to his peril is a reasonable excuse for him to get it wrong.)

Whisper believing the same however is pure nonsense. The two have a history and she should know him like he's her sibling and using her trauma as an excuse for why she can't be trusted is a little.......bleh. Especially when she has no history of making wild claims or acts of violence against friends before.

I think the point Silver was trying to do wasn’t making him drop the disguise, but to spook Mimic enough that he would instinctively do something that anyone who isn’t a trained operative couldn't do - and technically, Silver was right - because when Mimic is spooked, he does a extremely skilful move by using his foot to grab ahold of the railing, and that gives him several seconds where he can just think about his next steps.

The problem is the comic expects everyone to just forget that happened apparently, or somehow suspect that literally no one in the entire crowded base, not even Silver and Whisper themselves saw Duo pull out a move that makes literally zero sense for a inexperienced citizen to be able to do. Having Whisper not recognise it especially is pretty silly.

It’s the same later on. When Mimic falls off a chair and this is also enough to convince everyone that it isn’t Mimic, because apparently Mimic just…wouldn’t pretend to be injured or anything. The characters are just blatantly written stupidly to justify keeping the plot rolling.

[Kuzu]

It's actually so funny how all of these issues could have been solved had they not revealed that Mimic was Duo from the outset. 

The very fact that we know the mystery already just makes it more frustrating. WE know Silver and Whisper are in the right, but not the characters. So it just makes it frustrating and annoying to read.

By keeping the readers in the dark, you can have them in the same position as Silver and Whisper and second guess themselves.

It's just poor storytelling imo.

 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

@Ryannumber1gamer

Worst than House of Cards and World’s Unite?

[Ryannumber1gamer]

8 minutes ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

@Ryannumber1gamer

Worst than House of Cards and World’s Unite?

In terms of writing? Probably. I mean, I don't like House of Cards, but there's some moments in there I like relatively fine (Sonic and Tails reconciling, for one). Worlds Unite's first arc is actually good while the third arc at least has good art.

I don't know how I'd class each as worse than each other. I think this arc comes off even worse because it's been constant problem after problem. The original characters have been getting spotlighted so often that when you get an arc that not only feels the need to do it again, but do it at the expense of the one involved game character (Silver), but are also written just so incompetently at that, it ends up highlighting the problems even more.

I think it stings worse here because the difference between the main story and back-up is night and day. I'd rather a full arc of Sonic and Blaze, or Blaze and Silver's travels. Instead, I get this nonsense OOC writing involving characters who to be blunt - have had more than enough spotlight time in the comic at this point and could use a break.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

My goodness, it really is like Archie all over again, huh?

[LongcrierCat]

The way I see it with Silver and Whisper having seen this firsthand but everyone else doubting them is that Ian Flynn wanted to write a story where the heroes are gaslighted and told that they're not seeing reality for what it is even though they do. And that it hurts and causes massive conflict when this kind of thing happens. As someone who's known people who will constantly gaslight and retwist scenarios to their liking and refuse to admit the truth and "embellish" it and friends believing the gaslighter over me, this storyline feels to me like something familiar in its relatability.

But hey, that kind of conflict requires some people to not know that the gaslighter is gaslighting.

So it can be frustrating for some readers.

As it should be to be quite frank. Doesn't make it bad writing tho.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

To be perfectly honest, I wouldn’t call it bad writing either given the set up.

The only characters who are aware of Mimic are Whisper and Silver, mainly by virtue of Whisper being familiar enough with Mimic and siding with Silver when “Duo” tripped him.

Reminds me of the episode of Justice League Unlimited where Luthor orchestrated a scenario for Superman to overreact at what he assumed was a bomb and ended up throwing hands with Shazam. It’s practically the same thing here.

And really, I think the one character I think everyone’s really angry at is Lanolin. Girl’s a newbie who quickly took command, but then doubted the words of Whisper who is way more experienced than her over there being a spy among them. And given that they basically attacked Duo in a crowd, and that does put them in a bad light.

As much as people have their frustrations, the set up was believable looking from the outside. Like…I don’t know, I’m just deconstructing it since we kinda know everything from the start regarding who’s aware of what or not.

Aside from that, I’m just amazed at how they took Lanolin from an interesting background character and then gave her Sally’s worst aspects. Sometimes magnified—Sally had The Slap, but Lanolin’s rage at Tangle’s paddleball tho? Sheesh!

[Red Hot Jack]

On 9/22/2023 at 9:21 PM, Kuzu said:

It's actually so funny how all of these issues could have been solved had they not revealed that Mimic was Duo from the outset. 

The very fact that we know the mystery already just makes it more frustrating. WE know Silver and Whisper are in the right, but not the characters. So it just makes it frustrating and annoying to read.

By keeping the readers in the dark, you can have them in the same position as Silver and Whisper and second guess themselves.

It's just poor storytelling imo.

 

Uhm... no. In fact when the covers got announced and the design for Duo was revealed people went like "it's clearly Mimic, what a shitty basic mystery, it's clear this is for kids" and it is for kids, for me it should just have a cooler mystery/twist and not "who is Duo?", I'm more baffled by how no one of the cast sees the similarity, it's like how Clark Kent wears glasses, but and no one sees he's Superman.

On 9/23/2023 at 2:28 AM, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

My goodness, it really is like Archie all over again, huh?

I can definitely see the similarities, this is more game-accurate but still, it is unnecessary drama and fighting over a stupid and basic traitor twist.

To be honest, I can't complain about Lanolin, I'm not surprised by her picking fights with Whisper to defend Duo, she's been a bitch since day 1 (when she became a main character in issue 57), I am sure she will go through some crisis I don't care for at the moment, once Mimic is outed. But Silver... man he disappointed me, instead of waiting like Whisper said, he just attacked Duo twice! He tried to kill him last issue which makes up for it, it's like Silver wanted revenge and I can't blame him, but yeah he was reckless, sorry, that's what made the plan fail. Silver.

For this drama to work, you either have to write characters out of character like Shadow in issue 19, or in this case create an unlikeable character like Lanolin, who we still don't know much about, Silver is more or less in-character or maybe not really... yeah but I'm still disappointed by him.

My favorite part of the issue is the chemistry (not necessarily in shipping) with Silver and Blaze, Blaze is like therapy and a good influence to him, an inspiring figure. They make a pretty good team. Also she's there to comfort Silver when everyone in the restoration kicked him out...

And of course, I'm so late with discussion, again. As tiring the plot drama is, I'm kinda entertained by the discussions and I wish I took part of them when the issue released.