Megathread Archie Sonic Main Discussion

[Kaotic Kanine]

15 hours ago, Razule said:

I can't find it, but I swear there was a mandate that Cream wasn't allowed to be an active fighter. I think that's still the case in IDW. 

13 hours ago, SkyHorizon said:

Oh, right! Now that you named it I remember the same. Can't say where it came fro, though. Maybe one of the old Bumblekast?

Right, yeah. Ian did hint a few times on BumbleKast that there are mandates on Cream. However, because Ian's so darn vague on the matter (to the point you both don't even recall the source), whereas he's relatively open about the other mandates (even those pertaining to Shadow), I'm mostly skeptical about Cream's lackluster writing in Archie being due to "mandates". Especially since, when that aforementioned fan in the BumbleKing Forums asked "Why does Cream exist?", Ian Flynn didn't say anything about mandates being the issue but instead justified Cream's insulting sidelining with "She's a kid; she wants to help but she shouldn't", which leads me to believe this whole thing was a deliberate choice of Ian's rather than SEGA's interference. Not ruling out the possibility of mandates, of course. But until Ian explains Cream's mandates in a clear, unambiguous way, I'm skeptical.

8 hours ago, Kazhnuz said:

TBH, Cream not being allowed to fight was a bit too much overused (and lacked it's inevitable end where Cream save the situation), but is rather logical with her overall characterization, and with the one of Sally (which tends to be over-responsible and anxious). It's the classic tropes of the "anxious adult that don't want the child to be hurt". I feel something they did better in IDW, is to have the most interesting end to it : making that she is able to save the day (by saving Gemerl), but also showing that the "adults" are right too being afraid that the character will get hurt. And I might be an horrible person thinking this, but I feel that's a big things that should have been done in Archie : give us a more palpable reason why Sally is afraid of Cream being in the battle field (more than the pretty reasonnable one of "I don't want a children to suffer"). Show us her witness a children (even Cream) being hurt because of her letting them fight.

I mean, I guess I can accept that this "running gag" makes sense for Cream and Sally's respective characters. It's just, again, we've had this exact song-and-dance before with Tails and Amy. Sally forbade those two from joining the Freedom Fighters due to their young ages, even though they are characters straight from the games (Tails in particular being Sonic's sidekick), and both would go on to show Sally that they are more than capable for their age. We really didn't need to do this a third time with Cream, a game character who has developed a reputation for being overpowered by this point, in a brand new continuity that's closer to the games no less. And I'm sorry, but I'd rather Cream just straight up prove Sally wrong as opposed to "save the day" but get hurt in the process. If Tails and Amy got to do that without getting harmed, Cream should too. I didn't even like it when Cream's fight with Zeena ended with her getting infected, proving Gemerl right even though sending a robot to fight a demon-alien that controls robots is a suicidally stupid thing. But I'm willing to accept it now since the Metal Virus is that dangerous a thing (though Cream being the only one of the "Zeti fighters" to be infected is still insulting).

8 hours ago, Kazhnuz said:

Another less sadistic solution would have been to show more Cream help in other ways. ( that doesn't involve Rotor's coffee machine )

THIS TOO. Like I said, if Cream can't fight, then have her contribute to the story and characters in ways that don't involve fighting. You can have a character do important shit without raising a fist. The problem is that Cream doesn't even get to do that, only menial shit that don't even matter to the story. Like Rotor's coffee machine, as you point out. Or, in this issue, putting a fucking band-aid on Sally's arm. What a highlight right there, really impactful moment for Cream in this crossover And I'm just waiting until Dr. Mike gets to Issue #283 for a particularly infuriating example. Oh, but there were moments in which Cream did something of actual importance... But we don't fucking see it. Or, if it is actually shown, it's quickly overshadowed by another moment; key example being Sally's pity party getting focus over Cream saving the entire team from certain death.

Although, in light of what Dr. Mike just posted, I guess I'll try to cut Ian some slack with this regard. There was a shit ton going on with the Reboot, stands to reason that one character would get screwed over badly. I just wish it wasn't one of my most favored characters, who really fucking needed some shining moments in a time of great uncertainty for her...

EDIT- Dammit, why do I keep ending up the page-topper?!

Edited October 24, 2022 by Kaotic Kanine

[babsiwuff]

So, why is Cream sidelined for being a kid, but Charmy isn't?  They're both the same age!

[Kuzu]

I know its the Sonic fan mantra to take the most irrational leaps in logic to justify their anger and assume the creators hate your characters and all, but please at least try to be rational?

No I don't think Ian has it out for Cream, or Tails, or Amy, or whoever. He's writing the characters based on how they function from both the games and within Archie itself. Cream is not a frontline fighter in the games, even if she's been playable a few times. It's literally one of her most defining traits that she hates to fight even if she understands that it's necessary. Its also a fact that she's probably the most child-coded character in the series, particularly due to the fact that she's the only game character with an actual parent. These are things you cannot ignore if you're going to write Cream as a character and without gameplay to justify her presence,  an author has to now come up with a reason on why would the adult main characters willingly bring a child into a war zone. 

That being said, I'll agree with @Dr. Acula Mike that it got really repetitive and it didn't really do a lot to justify Cream's presence to the readers. Sally's not wrong for sidelining her being the logical tactician that she is, but perhaps Flynn could have come up with something more justifiable than Cream simply being told "no, big people business". Writing for a licensed series is hard yo, because I'm fairly sure Ian would love nothing more than to just write how he felt like with Cream, but then you'd probably just be making a new character altogether and all. 

But no, please don't do the thing fans do when they're mad about something and start making shit up to be mad about. Be better than that.  

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Aw man, I missed half of Worlds Unite lol, I gotta do some catch-up for this one.

I actually ended up rereading the event about...a year ago? Along with Worlds Collide and just remembered disliking it more than the first time. Probably because with the first time around, I thought the initial arc with Sonic Man and M'Egga Man was pretty cool before it devolved into a mess come Part 5.

[Kaotic Kanine]

1 hour ago, Kuzu said:

I know its the Sonic fan mantra to take the most irrational leaps in logic to justify their anger and assume the creators hate your characters and all, but please at least try to be rational?

No I don't think Ian has it out for Cream, or Tails, or Amy, or whoever. He's writing the characters based on how they function from both the games and within Archie itself. Cream is not a frontline fighter in the games, even if she's been playable a few times. It's literally one of her most defining traits that she hates to fight even if she understands that it's necessary. Its also a fact that she's probably the most child-coded character in the series, particularly due to the fact that she's the only game character with an actual parent. These are things you cannot ignore if you're going to write Cream as a character and without gameplay to justify her presence,  an author has to now come up with a reason on why would the adult main characters willingly bring a child into a war zone. 

That being said, I'll agree with @Dr. Acula Mike that it got really repetitive and it didn't really do a lot to justify Cream's presence to the readers. Sally's not wrong for sidelining her being the logical tactician that she is, but perhaps Flynn could have come up with something more justifiable than Cream simply being told "no, big people business". Writing for a licensed series is hard yo, because I'm fairly sure Ian would love nothing more than to just write how he felt like with Cream, but then you'd probably just be making a new character altogether and all. 

But no, please don't do the thing fans do when they're mad about something and start making shit up to be mad about. Be better than that.  

You know, accusing people of making irrational leaps in logic and "making shit up" does not calm them down, if that's what you're attempting to do. In fact, it has the exact opposite effect in the form of maximizing their anger, with the added bonus of developing resentment towards you. And that resentment in turn will result in any further "words of wisdom" you're trying to impart getting ignored, cause such insulting remarks makes them view you as an enemy rather than someone trying to sincerely help them. And who in their right mind listens to an enemy? I'm just gonna say, can you not with this shit? I don't call you a "fucking asshole" and other such demeaning words in the many arguments we've had, not just to avoid trouble with the forum mods but because I try to be respectful with my arguments; preferring to just state my points and leave it at that. Oh, but do keep calling me an irrational piece of shit. You've already lost every sliver of my respect from the last time you called me such. You're just giving me good cause to block you. What am I even making up, with my previous posts? How about you actually refute the "shit I'm making up" rather than just saying that I'm doing so. I'm sincerely trying to improve as a person when it comes to arguing, actually knowing what I'm doing wrong would help me a lot better in that regard as opposed to just being insulted.

And by the by, if you'd actually paid attention to what I'm writing, you'd know I wasn't even thinking Ian Flynn "had it out" for Cream. At worst, I thought he was merely clueless on how to use her character and thus ignored her in favor of the other characters. I'll admit, I did get heated with Ian back there, but like I said at the beginning of that post: I was in a very negative mood (on account of being sick and dealing with a family crisis) and I needed to vent. Otherwise, I try to be understanding of Ian Flynn's position and the writing choices that position creates. But nonetheless, I'm going to get angry with a writing decision if it offends me enough. And Cream being frequently told by a canon foreigner (whom I didn't have the best opinion of to begin with) to stay out of plot important shit, and then literally do nothing of importance while everyone else is contributing in some important fashion, offends me a great deal. Especially since Cream, in this context, was no longer just some recurring character like Silver or Team Chaotix; she was a member of the main cast. When a character is officially part of the highest hierarchy in the fucking cast, they have to pull their fucking weight to justify being there. But despite caring a great deal about Cream as a character, Ian failed in doing that for her. By the end of the "Shattered World Saga", Big the Cat was a far more important member of the Freedom Fighters than Cream. And I'm just trying to say, that shit should've been equal.

And like I said, for the third time in a row now, Cream doesn't even have to fight to be important! I still feel she should be allowed to fight, cause regardless of argument, fact of the matter is she's been demonstrated in the games as being able to fight. Cream's story in Sonic Battle was the one time where she was truly pacifistic and even then ended with her realizing that strict pacifism around known enemies that would not hesitate to harm you (such as Eggman's robots and the Dark Gaia Spawn) does more harm than good. But if fighting is seriously not an option for Cream, then have her act in a serious support role for the Freedom Fighters. Have her be the Medic for the team, healing their injuries mid-battle so they jump back into the fray and turn the tide. Have her be a Scout, surveying the field unseen for the team and maybe even snatch the MacGuffin while everyone else is fighting. Anything is better than standing in Sky Patrol and doing nothing! I would not be complaining if any of that was done, as opposed to what we actually got. Oh, but I'm just being irrational.

[Kuzu]

You are very clearly not in a good emotional state right now (something you yourself admitted) , so I'm not even going to bother engaging with that rant. I said my piece, if you wanna interpret it as me trying to antagonize you (over a Sonic comic of all things...) then I don't have anything else to say.

I sincerely hope you work through whatever is troubling you in your life. 

[Kazhnuz]

I agree that the system of "big team of heroes" is in big part responsible for the issue. It was something that gave some fun moments, but it really showed limits at other moments, by having a ton of character "just there". I'll be a bit cruel, but something that help a lot Cream of IDW, is that we don't have her when she is completely unnecessary. She is concentrated in stories where she have a storyline, which makes her more useful and have real impact. It's true for every character, but I feel that for Cream, it's even more predominent as she is far less of a fighter than many other character (now, it would be possible to give her first aid as a thing to do).

Something I feel very weird about is that idea it would be worse for a "canon foreigner" to say her to stay sideline than for a "main canon one". This "hierarchy of character" also feel really more like fandom clan war than something that really affect a character writing. If Big is more adapted to a story for an author, then Big will be more used. Also, I don't think that Cream was still a "core character" in 2010+, tbh. I mean, after 2005 and Sonic X ends, she really got relegated to the sideline hard (even during SX time there were some limits in how much she was "core" in a way, she wasn't allowed in Archie at first due to be reserved for Sonic X or something like that). Cream being a "core character" only really lasted for a few years (and even except in the Advance, she was just part of a big ensemble cast and a secondary character to Amy - and then Blaze in Rush).

( In a way, even the FF I feel that they would work better now that they aren't part of a big team that is the full focus. And I even would be full on to break them as individual characters and put them each with their own stories and focus, and do their own things everywhere in the world. )

[SkyHorizon]

13 hours ago, babsiwuff said:

So, why is Cream sidelined for being a kid, but Charmy isn't?  They're both the same age!

Ask SEGA

13 hours ago, Kuzu said:

No I don't think Ian has it out for Cream, or Tails, or Amy, or whoever.

To quote the man himself: "Cream is cute. Marine needs to be hit with a rock"

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Hilariously ironic how one of the series most broken characters in Sonic games isn’t so useful in the comics.

[Kaotic Kanine]

On 10/24/2022 at 10:26 PM, Kuzu said:

You are very clearly not in a good emotional state right now (something you yourself admitted) , so I'm not even going to bother engaging with that rant. I said my piece, if you wanna interpret it as me trying to antagonize you (over a Sonic comic of all things...) then I don't have anything else to say.

I sincerely hope you work through whatever is troubling you in your life. 

I was actually in a pretty good emotional state until you called me an irrational asshole who makes shit up. Like I said, if your aim is to calm people down, you're achieving the exact opposite effect. You can make a point without going as far as insulting the person you're arguing with. That's generally considered very bad form, not to mention highly disrespectful. And I'm not interpreting you as antagonizing me over your opposing opinion of a Sonic comic, I feel antagonized by you because you're calling me a senseless liar. That's pretty antagonistic behavior, don't you think?? If you're going to insist on being like this, and refuse to even acknowledge it, then kindly never speak to me again. At this rate, you are what's troubling me in my life.

Though I will acknowledge the topic of Archie Cream is getting me emotional and relapsing to old habits that I swore would be done with. So I'm gonna drop it until it's relevant again, and even then I'm going to try and keep it small.

[Kuzu]

4 hours ago, Kaotic Kanine said:

I was actually in a pretty good emotional state until you called me an irrational asshole who makes shit up. Like I said, if your aim is to calm people down, you're achieving the exact opposite effect. You can make a point without going as far as insulting the person you're arguing with. That's generally considered very bad form, not to mention highly disrespectful. And I'm not interpreting you as antagonizing me over your opposing opinion of a Sonic comic, I feel antagonized by you because you're calling me a senseless liar. That's pretty antagonistic behavior, don't you think?? If you're going to insist on being like this, and refuse to even acknowledge it, then kindly never speak to me again. At this rate, you are what's troubling me in my life.

Though I will acknowledge the topic of Archie Cream is getting me emotional and relapsing to old habits that I swore would be done with. So I'm gonna drop it until it's relevant again, and even then I'm going to try and keep it small.

I didn't call you a liar, I said you were being irrational for accusing  Ian Flynn of things due to your personal biases. That is irrational, no matter how many ways you slice it.

I didn't say that to get under your skin, nor do I have anything personal against you either. But if you're gonna have a discussion on a public forum then its good form to talk in good faith.

I can't change how you feel about certain things but you yourself said that you're extremely hyper fixated on this specific issue and if its causing you this much emotional distress, then I don't think you should be engaging with it.

If you wanna disregard everything I said and just think I'm being an asshole, fine. You don't even have to respond and I'll just let you be. I'm saying this for your benefit, not mine.

 

Its a comic about Sonic the Hedgehog, its not worth getting this emotionally distressed about.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Guys, how about this: if you’re gonna hate on something, do it accurately.

I like Sally and the Freedom Fighter, but you don’t see me coming to their defense on every criticism made toward them, because there are times it’s valid to the point that even I can at least understand it even if I don’t agree. It’s typically only when folks get things wrong (or intentionally make shit up like some folks have done in the past) about them when I actually start to argue—hell, I even do that for characters I hate and lord knows you guys do not want that.

Our favorites aren’t perfect, and it’s okay to point that out. Just…I don’t know, be wary of how you phrase it? Better yet, avoid exaggerating your thoughts on it, because that always tends to be the case why folks clash.

[Kaotic Kanine]

7 hours ago, Kuzu said:

I didn't call you a liar, I said you were being irrational for accusing  Ian Flynn of things due to your personal biases. That is irrational, no matter how many ways you slice it.

I didn't say that to get under your skin, nor do I have anything personal against you either. But if you're gonna have a discussion on a public forum then its good form to talk in good faith.

I can't change how you feel about certain things but you yourself said that you're extremely hyper fixated on this specific issue and if its causing you this much emotional distress, then I don't think you should be engaging with it.

If you wanna disregard everything I said and just think I'm being an asshole, fine. You don't even have to respond and I'll just let you be. I'm saying this for your benefit, not mine.

Its a comic about Sonic the Hedgehog, its not worth getting this emotionally distressed about.

What have I been accusing him of, exactly? The worst I did in my post was sarcastically thank Ian for convincing everyone that Cream is a worthless character; key word on "sarcastically". Obviously I don't seriously think that was Ian's intention nor that he set out to do Cream a big disservice. I'm of the firm belief that no decent person sets out to do bad work, and I certainly don't think of Ian as an indecent person. I'm just pointing out that, at the end of the day, Cream ended up looking worthless and was done a big disservice due to the way she was written throughout the Archie Reboot, with that panel in World's Unite being the straw that broke the camel's back. It's not bad faith to say that Ian could've done a far better job with Cream, have her do things that actually leave a good impression as opposed to being baby'd by Sally and getting scalded by coffee. It's a valid opinion that I'm hardly alone on. And it's not "made up shit" to say that all the other main/major characters were given plentiful opportunities to look cool and contribute to the story while Cream was notably left out. Big the Cat got to partake in multiple arcs, including Sally and Nicole's SU story, with a notable role at the least. Meanwhile Cream only had a notable role in Pirate Plunder Panic and then nothing throughout the Reboot.

I won't deny that I used to think Ian had an agenda against Cream, way back when the Archie Reboot was still new. But of course, I was immature and stupid back then. Ever since those days, I've come to realize that Ian does care about Cream and there were just too many characters to juggle, along with possible SEGA mandates (saying "possible" only because such mandates weren't outright confirmed; Ian has always been vague about them at best, which stands in stark contrast to other character mandates). Nonetheless, though, I'm still furious with what ended up happening for Cream and wish that Ian tried better with her. That's really all I'm trying to say here. I seriously don't understand where you and others are getting "accusations" or "making shit up" from my words. It's honestly convincing me that you people are seeing things in my texts that aren't actually there; forcing me to repeat myself constantly.

Granted, I'm guilty of doing that as well. And to that end, I do seriously apologize for that rant, Kuzu. As you well know, I'm a hothead and I especially don't take kindly to perceptively insulting remarks. Like, I make it an effort to not to call those I argue with anything degrading unless they say something particularly offending (such as that asshole in the TV Tropes Forum who said to me "Dude, Amy is a fucking stalker; she may as well be the furry version of that bitch from 'Misery') but the same courtesy isn't extended to me? And I really don't care for the implications of being dishonest when I'm honest to a fault: ask any of my friends and they will tell you so. Nonetheless, I misinterpreted your words and will take the true message to heart. This will be the last time I make a huge fuss over Archie!Cream and will make an effort to make minor remarks about her writing when relevant. And especially not get worked up over this stupid comic in general.

So... How about that Comedy Chimp and Fastidious Beaver? Such worthwhile additions to World's Unite, ain't they?

[Kuzu]

Its cool. 

[Dr. Detective]

 

Mega Man - Issue #51: Worlds Unite - Part 8: Holes in Reality

This is a very wonderful looking cover. I appreciate the attempt to make the Mega Man issues look like the cover of a Mega Man issue despite the crossover stuff. The composition and the colors here are all perfect. This is a top tier cover, no doubt.

Spoiler

Bald is Beautiful Variant

Wax that bitch until it shines you beautiful bald boys. Sonic, don’t cover Tails’ eyes! How else is he supposed to witness what true beauty looks like? Geez, look at all the haters at the bottom. I can not stress enough that it’s pure jealousy. You’ll never look as sexy as them and you know it.

Covers Unite Variant (8 of 12)

Zazz versus that guy whose armor always falls off. My boy Billy Hatcher is getting all scrappy up in this bitch too! Also, Mega Man’s arm and leg are being given unto us for this cover as well. 

—

Writer: Ian Flynn
Pencils: Edwin Huang
Inks: Gary Martin
Colors: Gabriel Cassata
Letters: John Workman
Cover by Patrick “Spaz” Spaziante
Bald is Beautiful Variant Cover by Diana Skelly, Rick Bryant, and Matt Herms
Covers Unite Variant (8 of 12) by Ben Bates
The heroes are probably fucked. Maybe? Who knows? X is acting like things are supremely dire though and that’s enough for me. 

That said, they begin to fight and… I dunno. There’s a lot of stuff on this two page spread but it looks so plain.

It also, somehow, looks strangely condensed for what’s happening. 

Yeah, I remain not a fan of this artstyle.

Axl is a little shaken seeing some of his former comrades in this group they’re fighting but X assures them that it’s just Sigma abusing Space-Time to bring them back in a weird way where they’re not the reploids he knew. He also talks about how mercy killing them is his best bet which is heavy but understandable.

He also makes sure Zero is okay and he is. He won’t hesitate. It sounds meaner written out then it looks on the page. Zero’s being as sincere as he can be here. 

Sigma starts monologuing to himself about how uber powerful he is. He just goes on and on about how great he and his brilliant plan is and shouts about what he’s gonna do and whatever. 

He’s Jafar when he becomes the Genie at the end of Aladdin, except on a Gurren Lagann scale. It almost feels too sudden despite this being issue 8.

Chaos rains from above as the doctors are trying to fix their de-powered cannon. Sonic asks them if they can do it again but while they’re in the middle of providing an answer, a fat-bot comes down and demolishes it.

Sonic asks Eggman to spring whatever double cross plan he had in mind for them on these robots. Eggman says he doesn’t have one.

Sonic and Eggman bolt together with Sonic mocking Eggman, saying he thought he had the “master plan”. Eggman asks Sonic what his excuse is since he usually always saves the day. He asks if he ran out of “fast.”

That’s the spirit. I like these two together.

Mega Man saves Wily and tells him to stay put behind some wreckage, saying that he failed to save him last time and doesn’t want him to die. Wily is confused by this since they hate each other and Mega Man has to tell this dude that he doesn’t WANT to hate anyone. 

Wily says that’s the law of robotics talking and Mega Man fires back by saying it’s also what he WANTS so SIT DOWN. 

Wily does so with a salute. Then calls him condescending in his head. 

Another good exchange. I’m glad we took time out of the random action scenes to focus on our main hero and villains getting to converse.

A bunch of scattered fight scenes are shown to us but it’s mostly the heroes getting a beat down.

Sigma says that’s enough, not out of cockiness necessarily, but because he really wants to begin his conquest. He has the decency to wait until they can barely stand and also has four reploids stay behind to finish them off while the others go and put the unity engines in the other worlds. 

The heroes are looking beat to shit. Sonic admits they need back-up but Mega Man isn’t sure how they can get some because no one else knows they’re here.

That’s when a HADOUKEN from off screen comes in and beats back one of the reploids that stayed behind.

It’s finally time!

Then they charge in and do all their signature attacks.

The reactions to them are all great.

Fuck you, Sonic.

That said, it’s hard to grasp what exactly Guile did there upon first glance. 

Chun-Li introduces herself as Chun-Li of Interpol. She says that Sticks has explained the situation and that they’re here to help. Sticks, meanwhile, is laying double claim on these guys as her team. No take backs. 

There wasn’t a vote in the first place though.

Sally hugs Sticks and says that she’s a genius. Sally explains that they can keep doing the thing that Sticks did thanks to Sigma leaving the portals open for them.

They’ll go into the other worlds, recruit their heroes (if they have any) and amass an army of their own to help stop him. It’ll be great! Like a SEGA X CAPCOM party of some sort.

Or a game that should probably have happened in place of this comic.

Eggman isn’t convinced of course.

I love the pause Sally has before saying yes. I dunno. It’s nice. I feel like I can see what she might be thinking in that dialogue balloon.

Anyway, she lays out the plan. Non-combatants are to keep watch over the Chaos Emeralds and are going to be guarded by Flash Man. The rest are going through the portals on their Extreme Gear to find heroes to recruit.

With everyone gone, the doctors are left to their own devices. They plan to jump ship and head back to the Lost Hex.

Xander Payne, who’s finally had enough of being in jail and just… left, walks out and shines a portal in front of the doctors to help them get there directly. They desire to get the power that Sigma has amassed all to themselves. 

That’s where we end Issue 8.

That’s also where the second act ends.

It feels… odd.

That issue was perfectly serviceable. It was fine. However, upon getting to the end and seeing that it says that the second act has come to a close, reflecting on what the second act was has left me pretty underwhelmed. It was just a bunch of fighting on a dull as dishwater sand background amongst a blue sky and that was it. The enemies they were fighting shifted from the Deadly Six to a bunch of reploids who weren’t even given proper names in this book and it left a lot to be desired, honestly. I understand what the story structure was and what it was going for but despite reading it and feeling like it worked mostly okay, I can’t help but be on the cusp of issue nine and feeling like it was mostly a huge waste of time?

What’s about to happen next is going to be a lot of fun, if I recall, but what we just went through to get there feels like it definitely wasn’t worth it. Not to mention, the last issue suffers greatly as a result of a lot of the time wasted. At the moment I’m of the opinion that the second act probably should have been the recruitment part and the third act should have been just everyone from all the universes doing coordinated fighting against Sigma and his men. Most of that stuff I read in part two, despite being fine, could have been cut out. 

 

Sonic Universe - Issue #78: Worlds Unite - Part 9: Infinite Possibilities

Finally! We’re here! Okami, Skies of Arcadia, Alex Kidd, Nights into Dreams, Street Fighter, and Underpants Knight! Whoo-hoo!

No but seriously, the novelty of seeing all these series in these comics, despite only being somewhat familiar with most of them and not-familiar-at-all with a bunch of others, is still a massive treat to me. I wish it could have been executed better, for certain, but I do ultimately find myself happy it happened before the Archie comics were canceled rather than it not happening at all. There’s a bittersweetness to saying that of course. If this crossover hadn’t happened when it did, there would have been more room for Sonic and Mega Man to provide at least a bit more for their respective series before they ended, for certain. 

Looking back, I definitely am choosing to celebrate what I can rather than lament what could have been but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s definitely true that this crossover probably still shouldn’t have happened, unfortunately. Oh well. I’m choosing to dive into where I know I can have a little fun.

Spoiler

New Worlds Variant

Look at them. It’s a true squad of heroes, coming out to lay Sigma to rest. It’s really nice. I appreciate seeing heroes come together like this. Again, I wish the circumstances could have been better but there’s nothing I can do about that.

Covers Unit Variant (9 of 12)

Ken is blazing a trail of whoop ass all across this page. There’s a naked dude swinging a sword next to a little girl riding on a swirling egg. Zomom is pissed at the flame headed his way and is probably mad it’s not the barbeque he was hoping for. Another chicken lad is being blown away by the wind and Dr. Light just looks like he doesn’t know what the fuck he’s even doing here.

—

Writer: Ian Flynn
Pencils: Tyson Hesse
Inks: Jim Amash
Colors: Matt Herms
Letters: Jack Morelli
Cover by Patrick “Spaz” Spaziante
New Worlds Variant Cover by Jamal Peppers, Amash, and Herms
Covers Unit Variant (9 of 12) by Ben Bates

Finally, I can stop complaining about the art. I apologize to the previous artist of course but Tyson Hesse is my boy!

From here on in, everything looks dope as fuck! Let’s get it!

Sonic and Break Man head into a portal and end up in Miracle World. They expected some place probably pretty dangerous and scary. Instead they got grassy plains, blocks, and balloons! 

Who’s that down below? No, it’s not Lucky of Lucky Charms cereal fame. It’s Alex Kidd and Stella, his companion.

Rock, paper, scissors is their thing and this man, Magna Centipede, is about to throw all his hands out at once. So the two of them get mad and murder the shit out of him.

I don’t know if you knew this but you do now; rock, paper, scissors is serious business for Alex Kidd and Stella.

I have a lot of fondness and admiration for Alex Kidd, if only because of the history associated with him. Touted as the SEGA mascot before Sonic the Hedgehog came along, I can’t hold back having a lot of respect and reverence for the boy. Especially since, whenever I see him in anything, he just comes off as the most wholesome of wholesome ever. It’s always the kind of character I tend to gravitate towards.

I mean, yeah, he’ll kill you with his giant fist if you piss him off maybe but you’d have to be a real jerk to do it, probably.

Every time I see him in something, he always seems to have a slight design tweak. I feel like the way he looks here is by far the cutest though. I wish this style and look was emphasized a bit more in the SEGA All-Stars Racing games. The Sonic games in general could do well with simulating how this stuff looks a little more as well.

If only to perfectly render the adorable nature of this scene where Sonic and Alex Kidd meet and actually shake hands.

It’s extremely sweet. It’s delightfully cute. It makes me want to see more SEGA crossover stuff in the future. Hopefully TSR was just a small pivot for the Sonic racers because I want more representation for this young lad. He deserves it.

That dream roster with the SEGA characters back would still include the Chaotix in a wagon together though.

Meanwhile, in Astaroth’s Castle in the world of Ghosts’ N Goblins, Arthur the noble knight is preparing to face down Astaroth to save the princess. However, Astaroth is the type to really like not having to get up from his throne so he calls down Firebrand, a scarier looking Red Guy from Cow and Chicken with wings, to fight him.

Then a record scratch moment happens before they can clash as the two reploids, Geemel and Zain, controlled by Sigma step in to set the Unity Engine.

What follows is comedy of the highest order in the highest court of the land. 

I love the cartoon energy of the bad guy of another world standing up and going “WHAT’S GOING ON HEEEEERE!” 

It always delights me.

I didn’t notice it before when he was sitting down but it’s impossible not to stare at now that he’s standing up. Your boy Astaroth has another face on his stomach. It being a weird fleshy color is not helping to make it not exceedingly creepy either.

Bunnie’s reaction of “What in the hoo-haa” is accurate because I truly have no clue what I’m looking at when it comes to him. 

As for Bunnie and Zero here, it’s clear that a single Sonic character and a single Mega Man character are being paired together to go into these worlds to recruit helpers at random. That would normally be fine if we could mine some cool interactions out of it but there’s nothing. 

It all happens kind of quick. I do love that Astaroth just takes immediate control of the situation, including basically telling Arthur, the guy who was just threatening to stab him, what to do.

We cut to Sigma who is still basking in the glory of maybe being a God in a few hours. Only now he’s realizing that X and friends are rallying to stop him so he spots the Sky Patrol just… hanging around Sigma’s face and grins evilly, saying he’s gonna demolish it.

I can’t help but imagine it was just floating there, the whole time, with everyone inside it watching him monologue to himself… and then all of a sudden his eye just shifts to look at them and they all jolt. Like a cartoon.

We cut to Knuckles and Quake Woman on their way to Crescent Isle in the world of Skies of Arcadia. This is Ian Flynn’s favorite SEGA thing ever aside from Sonic so you know he had a blast getting to write for these characters.

This is the first world we’ve visited where there’s probably a TON of meat and potatoes to sink into and as such, reading what they’re saying leads to a bit more confusion than the other ones. 

I don’t know what Sacri and Pyri are. They could be magic words, incantations, or Gods. I have no frame of reference. I could look it up but I’m not gonna.

Still, Skies of Arcadia, the way Ian talks about it with such reverence and as the game responsible for that awesome Rogue’s Landing stage in All-Stars Transformed, is something that’s been on my radar.

I have no means of actually playing it at the moment. I have a gaming PC so I’m sure there’s a way without a Dreamcast and a physical copy of it but I’m not computer savvy enough to figure it out yet. I’ve yet to even play my first game on this thing yet. 

Knuckles and Quake Woman come in after the cool looking fight is done and easily get the rogues to join the fight.

They elicit a sense of what feels like scrappy-elegance to me.

Also, Vyse just has a cool design. I look at him and I just remain happy that he and the guy who worked on Skies of Arcadia got to see him and that Rogue’s Landing stage get representation in Transformed. Come get your old franchises SEGA. Come on.

We cut to the new Team Sticks where Ryu and Ken are duking it out against the mavericks and stopping the unity engine. 

She’s living her best life.

Friendship ended with Comedy Chimp and Fastidious Beaver. Street Fighter gang are my new friends now.

Chun-Li asks Guile what the matter is. Guile was just thinking that while they stopped the maverick here there’s nothing stopping them from planting unity engines elsewhere.

Except there is because holy fuck guys is fucking M. the fuck Bison!

He grabbed that maverick by the neck and even though he told him what he wanted, he still crushed his throat and let his oil spatter against his face. Imagine if that were not a robot. Holy jebus.

M. Bison is about to show Sigma a very unfun Tuesday.

Dropping on by the Dream Gate in the world of Nights into Dreams sees Nights and Reala having themselves a go at it with one another.

Nights isn’t a character whose personality I’ve had a chance to discern aside from in this book. I know they had another game come out for the Wii a while back and I sort of regret not checking it out as I DID get Samba de Amigo for the Wii and I had a blast with that. 

They seem extremely playful though. 

While Reala is being all cranky about these guys attacking them, Nights is going on talking about how they were having fun with the fight that got interrupted.

Then when Tails and Air Man swoop in to help, Nights just casually asks Reala if they want to come along and help fight this Sigma they just heard about.

Of course, because some villains are more mainstream and important to these series then others, Reala has to tag-along.

These villains are all ego-centric so they don’t like people laying claim to all their shit.

It’s like Eggman in Shadow the Hedgehog. 

“They came from the sky and started wrecking MY shit”, Eggman said, referring to a city he hadn’t taken over yet. 

I love villains.

We cut to Sally and Woodman in Kamiki Village in the world of Okami.

Amaterasu is fighting Blizzard Wolfang and manages to defeat them. However, Wolfang is the honorable type and goes out wishing for Amaterasu to finish it, with no hard feelings.

Meanwhile the floating fairy is hungry fro fucking blood apparently.

Okami is a game I feel like I have history with despite never playing it. It was a game I saw on the shelves all the time. Never picked it up. Don’t know why.

I remember watching the X-Play review for it and being really interested. Again, I haven’t a clue as to why I never got around to it. 

Back in the day, my tendency to skip out on things for fear of giving new stuff a try really hampered my experiences. My friend had to trick me into getting into Kingdom Hearts by saying a Sonic level was in it despite me knowing in my heart of hearts that was a lie. He REALLY wanted me to do it though so I checked it out with Kingdom Hearts 2’s cutscenes on Youtube before eventually buying the game.

I have no idea why I didn’t get it before that though. I love Disney. Why wouldn’t I?

The few times I took the leap of faith, I’ve never regretted it. I asked for Sly 3 for Christmas because the game looked cool on a commercial. I ended up getting Sly 2 instead but that was the better choice anyway. Fucking LOVE Sly 2. It’s almost too goddamn good.

Yeah, I really wish I had given Okami a try. There’s still a chance I can make memories with it now that I’m almost 30 though. It’s possible.

Amatarasu and Issun are given the scoop on what’s happening and they rush off together to go stop a bald mad man trying to become God.

Sally mentions being worried about Cream and Wood Man says she’s well protected.

Like a comedy sketch we flip over to the opposite being true to end the issue on.

Is that Snake Man? The hell is he doing?

Also, Sigma looks like he’s trying to figure out the best way to take that thing apart. If I were him, I’d have crushed it in the palm of my hand immediately. Seeing what oozed out between my fingers would have been fun.

Yes, I’m very sane, thank you.

I had a lot of fun just seeing all these different worlds and witnessing them come to life in Tyson’s style. The good art and the excellent colors made this a wonderful “experience” for me. That said, in terms of story and proper narrative, it was just a sequence of the same thing happening over and over again. Two characters, one Sonic one and one Mega Man one, go to a world, they see the heroes of that world fight the mavericks, they explain that Sigma is bonkers and they need help, rinse and repeat. The only one that broke that cycle were the Street Fighters guys and that’s only because they were the ones to introduce us to the concept. 

I can’t praise it on any level regarding how it’s being handled within the narrative as a result. Anyone wishing to only solely come down hard on this based on a critique of the formula at play here is well within their rights to do so. I’ve chosen to just really bask in the afterglow of seeing these franchises come together. I’ve long since relined myself to the quality of Worlds Unite, as far as story-telling goes, not being the best. I liked this. 

Plus, it was easy to recap too. That helps.

Sonic Boom - Issue #10: Worlds Unite - Part 10: Justice Across Worlds

On this episode of Sonic Boom, we’ve got Sticks coming at us with a showcase of Monster Hunter, Viewtiful Joe, Billy Hatcher, Golden Axe, and more. It’s time we got part two of the recruitment ceremony going. I actually have stuff to say about some of these series this time too if you can believe it. 

Spoiler

Epic Crossover Explosion

What a magnanimous cover. Yeah, there’s something about the weirdness of the 3D take on some of them that’s a little off putting and some of the art is a little wonky, especially with Alex Kidd there, but it’s a really cool looking dynamic image besides. I really appreciate it whenever a good, synchronistic collage comes together. 

Covers Unite Variant (10 of 12)

Amatarasu comes in hot with Stella, Sexy Silvia, Omega for some reason, and Mega Man’s leg. A team to be reckoned with for sure. Well, maybe not Omega. He died.

—

Writer: Ian Flynn
Pencils: Tyson Hesse
Inks: Jim Amash
Colors: Matt Herms
Letters: Jack Morelli
Cover by Patrick “Spaz” Spaziante
Epic Crossover Explosion Variant by Reilly Brown
Covers Unite Variant (10 of 12) by Ben Bates
At this point, the comic isn’t attempting to tell much of a story anymore. I’m along for the fun ride. Let’s do this.

Sticks and X have made their way to the Ancestral Steppe in the world of Monster Hunter. 

Sticks says a scarf would look good on X. He says he’ll take it under consideration. The look on his face makes me doubt that’s true though. 

Anyway, this is by far the weirdest and most confusing part of the crossover worlds so far. I don’t know lickity split about Monster Hunter so I don’t quite know why Felyne and Palico here are dressed up like Sonic and Mega Man. Perhaps there was a crossover thing that happened that made this viable? It’s happening with Sonic Frontiers right now but seeing as that’s about eight years away I can’t say that’s the case.

Then uh… Gore Magala comes out and just eats the mavericks.

Again, the way these mavericks are dying is so gruesome. They’re only getting away with it because they’re robots. It’s awesome they can get away with it at all but each time something like this happens I want you all to imagine they’re flesh and blood mooks instead.

I also recall there being some sort of… I guess you could say “controversy” involved with the use of this creature? Or something?

I can’t recall what it was. I don’t remember if people didn’t like that Gore Magala was being used instead of Rathalos or if they didn’t like Sticks talking him down with a bunch of nonsense.

I could believe either one. They both sound equally not worth getting upset about and it is the internet after all. Then again, I’m probably wrong about all of what I just said.

There’s a lot to critique about Worlds Unite which is why I’m partially surprised I haven’t got much aside from the usual suspects; needs better pacing and there’s way too much shit going on.

Anyway, we get to Forest Village in Morning Land from the world of Billy Hatcher where the cutest drawing of Mega Man alongside Amy Rose ride in to see the chicken crew beating up a maverick with an egg.

It happens.

Then uh… another Maverick attacks and it gets beaten by Billy when he yells cock-a-doodle doo at an egg and it hatches a rhino that looks like a dog and defeats it.

That also happens.

Then… then the… the fucking God of Chickens, because there’s a fucking God of Chickens, randomly talks to them from the sky and tells them to go help Mega Man and Amy save the world.

Mega Man has the most appropriate face for when the God of Chickens starts talking to him.

I agree with Mega Man. This place is AWESOME! It’s the best one! Why isn’t there more Billy Hatcher?!

Back in the unified world, the people aboard the Sky Patrol are somehow managing to make it to an escape shuttle. I don’t know how Sigma hasn’t killed them yet. Literally, all it would take is him closing his fist but we see on the bottom panel that he decides to rip it in half instead.

Not sure why. That takes considerably more force. Also, with the power of an almost-God, I’d imagine doing that still wouldn’t give them enough time to race to the shuttle and escape.

Well, whatever. Flash Man leads Cream, Comedy Chimp, and Fastidious Beaver into the shuttle to escape and they almost don’t. It’s mostly them making jokes about how useless they all are until Metal Sonic shows up to save them, with the last Chaos Emerald in tow.

Love seeing him point ahead and help out, even if it is on Eggman’s orders for the sake of the doctor’s convenience. Also, love how the escape shuttle is just Opa Opa from Fantasy Zone.

We then reach the Drowned Ruins from the world of Panzer Dragoon.

Everytime I hear that name, those horns go off in my head. Apparently that series got itself a new game recently. Didn’t hear much about it after it got revealed though. Oh well.

Rotor and Bubble Man are having a bit of a hard time with the Mavericks they’re fighting but it ends up not mattering when Gigavolt Man-O-War flees in terror at the prospect of dying.

But too bad. Keil Fluge, a hunter turned hero, flies down on his mounted dragon and no-mercy kills the robot fleeing from its life in terror. It then crashes down and blows up the other one they were fighting.

Again, only imagine them as flesh and blood beings.

This is one of the few times where the Unity Engine was actually turned on so Rotor turns to Keil and asks him to help them destroy it with his dragon. He and Bubble Man tag team it and blow it the fuck up. Rotor then asks him if he wants to help fight the guy responsible.

The man never speaks so I can only surmise that he’s a silent protagonist.

Now we reach the only world out of all of these that I had never heard of before. This next one sees us follow Big and Hard Man at the Steel Grave of the Lost Shore from the world of Breath of Fire III.

All these other series I’ve heard of before or have had some history with in some fashion, whether it just be through cultural osmosis or experiencing them in a crossover video game of some kind.

I legit have never heard of Breath of Fire. I also find it curious that it’s Breath of Fire III. Perhaps it’s a Final Fantasy or Persona situation where whichever numbered one you choose drastically changes which world and which characters you get. As such, if this said Final Fantasy VII or Persona 5, there would be no eyebrow raise from me. In that case, I get it.

Still, it doesn’t help me at all when trying to figure out who these people are. Thankfully, their dialogue is pretty straight forward and they’re fighting styles aren’t confusing in the slightest.

Yeah, despite not knowing who any of these people are, this was pretty easy to follow. Granted, I think we’re reaching the point where deep dives into the lore of these places is more of a want than a need. Though, we did spend a decent three pages here at least.

I hope the Breath of Fire III fans felt seen.

Next, Antoine and Shadow Man take a trip to the Yurianm Forest from the World of Golden Axe!

Fuck yeah!

Never played it but I’ve played as Gilius Thunderhead in many a SEGA game and the Addler’s Lair music is FUCKING KILLER! It’s playing in my head right goddamn now!

Antoine does all the talking while Shadow Man makes all the best faces. They’re a match made in heaven.

We also see Ax Battler and Tyris Flare fighting off the Mavericks here. Ax Battler cuts off the head of Gareth as he lies down in shameful defeat (again, being a robot makes beheading a-okay) and Berkana gets incinerated by flames.

I remember these guys from SEGA Heroes. Rest in peace. It’s nice feeling associated with them in SOME way despite not having played Golden Axe.

But fuck that, it’s time to go to the world of VIEWTIFUL JOE!

Hell. YES!

Again, I haven't played the game. Saw a bit of gameplay of it but never got a chance to buy it. However, I’m still over the moon about this because I have some intense nostalgia for the Viewtiful Joe animated series that used to air on KidsWB!

I watched the shit out of that show and I loved the theme song so much!

 

I haven’t listened to this song or watched this in SO LONG. I got teary eyed hearing it again. It’s one of those things that you watch as a kid and don’t hear about for years and years and then just get reminded of it out of the blue. 

Oh my God. I’m crying now. I gotta move on. 

Joe and Silva are watching Sticks and Axl fight these weird creatures. Their powers won’t work outside of Movie Land without an audience so they call on Sticks to get her to pay attention to them. It counts as having an audience and thus they transform to finally take part in this franchise crossover (their words).

This is great. I love every bit of this. Don’t care about the narrative structure right now. I’m basking in the glory of my childhood. Kay, thanks.

Anyway, when this is done, Axl points out what I was mildly wondering at the start of this; the fact that I could have sworn I saw Sticks with someone else.

It’s not the comic’s fault but when she said she fell into a plot hole, I got To Boldly Flee flashbacks. If you know then you know…

Anyway, we saved the best for last. 

Fucking love Viewtiful Joe. Henshin a fucking go-go baby!

After that, we cut back to the unified world where Sonic and Break Man have returned to find the Sky Patrol destroyed. 

It’s gone. Poof. 

All that hard work and all that build up for, just ended. I’m sure that’ll stick. Just like I’m sure Team Dark being dead will stick. A-yup.

We end on Sonic asking what’s going on while Mr. Metal Sonic gives him the arms crossed stink eye.

I like that Cream calls him Mr. Metal Sonic.

I mean, I guess she would but it’s nice to see on the page, you know.

Meanwhile, Fastidious Beaver is just wiping the underside of his nose and staring off into space. Him and Comedy Chimp might as well just grab some popcorn and watch the rest of this unfold. Whatever services they were needed here for are clearly no longer required.

Sonic tells Nicole to open a signal so that all their bodies can come forth and participate in what I remember being the most breath-taking showcase of badass art I’ve seen in a long time. 

That’s next time though. 

What else…? Oh yeah. 

This was the penultimate issue of Sonic Boom. 

PFFT!

So, of course this issue was just more of the same from last issue. Again, I enjoyed it. I liked seeing all these worlds and all these characters. It did hit me a little bit that in most of them we truly just did not have time to glean anything substantial from them to get a truly good taste of them. We did when it came to Billy Hatcher and Viewtiful Joe but Panzer Dragoon and Breath of Fire III felt more like a formulaic version of the formula we had going here.

Still, there is a lot of charm to the people who showed up in all these series and that carried me through well enough. I honestly enjoyed these two issues more than any of what we got in the second part of Worlds Unite. I find myself wishing more and more that we had just skipped to the recruitment part and ignored that long, drawn out battle against Sigma’s distraction until he could open all those portals. Just have him open the portals immediately so we can recruit everyone, come back, and THEN do the fight. Squeezing all of what everyone we’ve gathered can do in these last two issues ain’t right man. Why did we need to do a big four issue long fight, THEN recruit everyone, and then have another big fight (that’ll only last two issues now thanks to running out of space)? You really could have just skipped to this part. 

 

[SanPolo4389]

18 minutes ago, Dr. Acula Mike said:

Patrick voice: AND HERE COMES THE GIANT FIST!

Is it weird I can hear Dipper and Mabel from Gravity Falls with these two?

[SkyHorizon]

9 hours ago, Dr. Acula Mike said:

 

 

This is legitimately one of the most fun exchanges I've ever read from Flynn!

[thumbs13]

This is the most comic booky thing Sonic's ever done, down to the event ruining the pacing for everyone's own titles.

 

[SanPolo4389]

9 hours ago, thumbs13 said:

This is the most comic booky thing Sonic's ever done, down to the event ruining the pacing for everyone's own titles.

And also canceling the books of Boom and Megaman. And slowly later the two Sonic books.

[antyep]

If Archie Sonic was still around, how you think they’ll adapt Frontiers cuz it be a waste to use “Another time another place”?

I think that maybe eons ago the echidnas found the Ancients’ tech and ruins, reverse engineered some of it and built Echidnapolis over one of their ruins.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

They'd probably make the Ancients the "First Great Civilization."

Given how that part of history was left vague and unexplored, it's easy enough to fit in. Even considering the ideas from Pre-Reboot, they could adapt the Ancient Walkers into it as part of said civilization that ascended to a higher plane.

Wouldn't stop it from being janky as fuck, but it could definitely work.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Think I'll try and get caught up on thoughts so I'm ready for the finale of Worlds Unite this week lol. Probably won't have a ton to say because a lot of stuff with worlds unite for me can be described as annoyed grumbles.

WU#1: 

-Worth noting that technically, the start of this arc is Dawn of X on the Mega Man side of things, since it sets up the X universe + Xander's role in the comic.

- I honestly never noticed the artwork problem, probably because the Mega Man side does look really good. While Sonic's side can look off at points, I also don't think it's quite as jarring as it was in Tracy's art of Worlds Collide, although personally speaking, I feel that might be because the awful colouring that we got during Tracy's arc also knocked the legitimately good Sonic portion of the art down a peg, so it sticks out more like a sore thumb.

- The car Rock's driving is Auto's car from Mega Man 7

- Wily's presumed death was already brought up by someone else, but I'm fairly certain the Deadly Six was promised power by Sigma, and they were just intent on backstabbing him as soon their power boost was built. They didn't count on Sigma building a fail-safe in to screw them over. 

-Eggman getting Wily back on his side, in hindsight to me - is something that was just completely wasted potential. Now granted, I know why they did it, because the dynamic between Eggman and Wily was one of the best handled things in Worlds Collide, and it made sense they wanted to rekindle it (ignoring the fact the breakdown of their friendship was supposed to mirror the strengthening friendship of Sonic and Mega Man).

But due to the nature of this comic and frankly - the general mess that it is, we never actually really get many interesting moments of the duo this go around, which part of me feels like it might've been more fun to see them as more like bickering rivals forced to work together (ala 80s Shredder/Krang, or something). While I don't mind having them become friends, it's lame it happened more as a tick on a checkbox rather than doing anything interesting or fun with it. 

-I'd say the Deadly Six here is the initial sign things are about to go wrong. Between pushing Sigma ahead of them intellect wise, but it's also the start of the whole mess, really. From what I recall, the main series has them as very mindless drones, while the tie-ins had them retain their personalities, just under Sigma's command. 

WU#2: 

-Very YMMV, but I was not a fan of Comedy Chimp and Beaver being brought into it, honestly. Boom's connection to the crossover already felt pretty pointless to me, on top of taking up Boom's already very limited issue count. Not only did neither of their comedy really hit any shots for me, but I'm also already not the biggest fan of how they use Sticks either past Issue 5 or so. I honestly probably would've preferred just Sticks and not pushing it with two meh comic relief characters in a already stupidly overstuffed story.

-There honestly was a big reason why Mega Man's world had to forget the story - while Sonic's world was altered to be more game-accurate, Mega Man's world was pushed into the future so that Wily would have access to ten games worth of robot masters, on top of the spin-off line-ups. 

The reason this causes havoc is the Archie continuity was only at Mega Man 2 and Super Adventure Rockman prior to this. Literally the moment before Worlds Collide happens is Break Man (then Proto Man) attempting to attack Mega Man during a celebration in his honour. If they recalled all that, it would just bring heaps of continuity issues, as ongoing arcs would technically be resolved (Wily would be aware of Ra Moon, Light aware of Wily's lies in pleading good come MM3, Proto Man knowing he'll redeem himself, etc etc). The easiest solution was just pulling a Genesis and keeping it in continuity that a successful reality fix reverts memories back to the moment of alteration. 

-Worlds Unite was supposed to essentially be a huge publicity stunt, and they were hoping to get a ton of new readers onto all of the series, hence all the SEGA/Capcom characters showing up. So they likely included the Worlds Collide flashbacks in order to get them up to speed on why Eggman hates Wily's guts and all that. Although it does open up the question of why the memories of Worlds Collide wasn't amongst the fading memories of the Pre 252 World, but that's neither here nor there. 

-They just showed up, but Sonic Man and M'Egga Man are easily both the coolest aspect of this crossover arc, and one of the few saving graces it has in my eyes. It's such a creative idea to essentially take the opposite of Worlds Collide, where it was Wily and Eggman's robotics being merged together, and this time, each of them modify their enemies to take on the style of the other universe. Also bonus points for them keeping their personalities in-tact this time, as opposed to the Roboticised Masters. Pretty neat way to have the Sonic/Mega Man fight again too, and modify it to feel fresh for newcomers too.

Mega Man Battles #1:

-Ah yes. I still recall how stupid this whole extra issue tie-in was. Some fun fights, but doesn't change the fact that given Act 2 is a complete and total waste of time, these fights probably could've actually just been inserted to the main series. 

-Mega Man VS The Deadly 3 is probably one of my favourite fights in the whole arc. Incredible artwork, and a incredibly good showcase for both Mega Man's abilities against three members of the Deadly Six. Honestly one of the best showings for them in terms of the comics too. 

-The moments of Roll and Rock's sibling rivalry is pretty fun, honestly, and there's a good few of those moments in the Mega Man comic. Not that Worlds Collide got a chance to show it off much, but it was nice they managed to do it here.

-Also yeah, even now, that ending is still brutal. It isn't enough to destroy Rock, and I feel like that's the only reason they got away with it, but it doesn't change the fact that the Deadly Six literally forced him to blow his head off, with Rock forced to watch it in horror. Again, to be fair to Worlds Unite, Act 1 did have it's fair share of neat ideas before it went off the freaking rails.

-Not really much to say on the Zero/Axl fight. I do think it's worth pointing out that this, and Worlds Collide in general is the first time we actually see Axl, as Dawn of X takes place before Mega Man X, while Axl doesn't get introduced til Mega Man 7. I actually think this is set post MMX8, since Vile is the MMX variant, as opposed to the MMX8 variant. 

-Sonic Man's fight, as short as it is - is also pretty awesome. Again, it's cool how unique his design is in a world of Metal and Mecha Sonics, and I think it's really awesome how they incorporate the Sonic/Mega Man elements for each of their movesets. Kind of lame that a fight against all of the MM1 robot masters is so short, but it's still pretty good. 

[Eskana]

On 11/2/2022 at 1:25 PM, antyep said:

If Archie Sonic was still around, how you think they’ll adapt Frontiers cuz it be a waste to use “Another time another place”?

I think that maybe eons ago the echidnas found the Ancients’ tech and ruins, reverse engineered some of it and built Echidnapolis over one of their ruins.

 

I think they would definitely just adapt it... like you said, there's really no reason to do "another time, another place," since, as far as we can tell, it would fit easily in with the Archie stories. Maybe shuffle some (cumbersome) echidna backstory, and voila, Frontiers.

Another interesting question... HOW would they adapt it? How would it fit in with the Acorn kingdom etc.?

[Guergy]

If it were Penders, he would "adapt" to a degree as not to overshadow his creation. If it were Flynn, it would be more true to games but it would downplay the echidna's involvement. If it were any other writer, they would adapt it but they would either be beholden to SEGA's mandates or make a different story with the same characters. 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

3 hours ago, Eskana said:

I think they would definitely just adapt it... like you said, there's really no reason to do "another time, another place," since, as far as we can tell, it would fit easily in with the Archie stories. Maybe shuffle some (cumbersome) echidna backstory, and voila, Frontiers.

Another interesting question... HOW would they adapt it? How would it fit in with the Acorn kingdom etc.?

By telling the same exact story, but with the additional characters?

I don’t see how that would be difficult. Unless you’re talking about Penders take on things, in which case, good luck guessing how that would work.