Megathread Archie Sonic Main Discussion

[biznizz]

I think the Antoine story is in the next Select? It has a Rafa cover with him and Sonic, and I think in July or August?

I also hear that Origins are going to be printed in trades with main stories from The Chase onwards.

[Wittymations]

Personally, I don't think that Eggman must have complete dominion over the planet in order for him to be a substantial threat. With that in mind, I think Eggman should often reign as tyrant over a large swath of territory. It doesn't have to stay the same size throughout his reign. Eggman should gain or lose territory during the comic's duration. He may even come close to total defeat, but then push back and reclaim what was lost and then some. I agree with the idea that his prominence should be cyclical. I think that would make the course of events all the more interesting. He doesn't need to lord over the whole world to be taken seriously as a superpower. I do want Eggman to be force to be reckoned with, but I only think he needs a foothold, at the very least, to be a menace. He should have a large power base, but it's okay to have his influence fluctuate over time.

Essentially, we have the same idea. My opinion towards dominance is mostly due that's the basis of the story, how the comic -- due to SatAm start, was even founded. He ruled, they fought. Also, I just like that basic set up -- Freedom Fighters.

 

I don't mind the power fluctuation, it'd be very boring if he stayed on top all the time, but would be boring if he never reached top either.

[Big Panda]

That reminds me, when is the next story of "Sonic Origins" expected to drop and where will it be published? I know they're going to get collected down in the line in Select, but I might consider checking them out as they're published and double-dip on the collection later.

They're all running between the Super Specials and the Digests. The next one (part 3) is set to appear in Super Special Magazine #12 (no mention of who the featured character is), part 4 (the Antoine one) will be in Super Digest #8. The one after that will be in SSM#13 and so on.

[Killtank]

Essentially, we have the same idea. My opinion towards dominance is mostly due that's the basis of the story, how the comic -- due to SatAm start, was even founded. He ruled, they fought. Also, I just like that basic set up -- Freedom Fighters.

 

I don't mind the power fluctuation, it'd be very boring if he stayed on top all the time, but would be boring if he never reached top either.

 

Yeah, it wouldn't be a good story if absolutely nothing changed regarding the power structure. As much as I like Eggman as a character when he's written well, I'd like it if, at some point in the future, if Eggman was not the only credible threat to their world. I know it's not like SEGA has introduced other villains or other antagonistic forces in the past, but I'd like to see a few of them, or one at least, stick around to give Eggman some competition. As much as I like the existing dynamic between Sonic and Eggman, I would like to see them switch up the mix occasionally. I think there is only so much you can do with this dynamic. Only so much can be said before you end up retreading old ground. Now I don't think Eggman should be entirely replaced, but he doesn't need to be Sonic's only adversary in the long run.

[Wittymations]

I didn't suggest there only be Eggman as the antagonist, he's just the main guy. There'll always be other villains. Though, sadly, at this rate, there'll have to be new villains the fill in the gap.

 

Kinda wonder what Wally Naugus will bring to the table when he gets some time back to shine.

[Illuminous_Orb]

Finally got an issue in the mail on time for once, so my thoughts on the issue I guess...

 

Sonic Universe #64

 

This issue was kinda meh to me? It was just Knuckles and the Chaotix bickering at each other on how to pursue the emerald... i dunno, it just wasn't very captivating. I don't feel like their chemistry with each other was working out for me here. Team Hooligan hardly got to do anything in this issue so last issue's tease ended up being kinda lame. We got a bit more on Relic and Fix-it for a bit; I kinda wanted to know where their subplot is heading more than the main story at the moment and they seem pretty interesting at least.

I'm guessing next issue has more substance with how Chip will be played out this arc which is what i'm really looking forward to.

[Your Vest Friend]

Damnit TV Tropes, where were you when I was arguing my reasons for suspecting what I do of the cut content?

[biznizz]

Someone keeps reverting your changes on TV Tropes? Is it on the Trivia page? If so, there shouldn't be any reason for a mod to remove it.

Link?

[Your Vest Friend]

Someone keeps reverting your changes on TV Tropes? Is it on the Trivia page? If so, there shouldn't be any reason for a mod to remove it.

Link?

 

Oh no, it's not a negative thing. They've got this little nugget at the top of the character page;

 

 

 

On October 26, 2013, during a streamed broadcast for the Sick Kids Foundation charity, Ian Flynn offered to answer questions. He clarified, however, that he could only discuss characters and concepts from the Sonic video games, the Saturday Morning cartoon, and The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. He has repeated this on his own forums, indicating that he cannot answer questions regarding other characters. Based on this it would appear that all characters created by previous authors are off-limits, as are any characters Flynn created that were based on material written by previous writers.

 

This would have been the Lost World stream, and I know some of the footage was lost so I dunno if I could even find it. But still, this would have been neat to know a few days ago.

[Big Panda]

A Bumblekinger has just received 261. Stay tuned for spoilers.

[Your Vest Friend]

And any predictions people have made about the issue are probably wrong. 

[Red Hot Jack]

Exclusive spoilers from THAT Bumblekinger (therealfalconpawnch7)  :

 

This issue begins with Sonic coming out of the temple to confront Cpt. Striker and the other guards. It seems they're there without permission from the Kind and Queen, and Coral is in big trouble for not only that but failing to do the ceremony as shown last issue. Sonic manages to talk them into taking him, Amy, Coral and Razor to the royals, while a guard named Echo, Rotor and Pearly stay behind. On the way through Meropis everyone gives the group nasty looks as they swim by. They then find themselves in King Puff and Quen Angelica's throne room (Puff being a short pufferfish that bloats when upset and Angelica being an green Anglerfish) After long talks, a mention of Ahklut, and some Exposition, Sonic says nothing is Coral's fault, but Dr. Eggmans, which doesn't go over well with them as they don't believe Sonic and strip Coral of her title, telling her that it's her last night in the temple. Back at the temple the Team tries to figure something out, saying if worst comes to worst they'd take Coral, Razor, and Pearly with them on the Sky Patrol. But all is not well as Coral is too upset to properly preform the rights to replinish the shield and the Dark Gaia monsters attack. Meanwhile in a Light in the Dark we find that the team had found a giant crystal cavern, and the Chaos emerald was somewhere inside of it. After a bit they find it and the security reactivates before they leave, as they decide to let Eggman know they took the emerald right out from under his nose as a new E-Series bot activates.

 

Political issue and an interesting mention, while "A Light in the Dark" is still boring (well, it's only 5 pages I guess).

[Eitarou]

New? Not Eta? Yeesh, it kind of feels sad in hindsight that Gamma's work has all (mostly?) been undone

 

Oh well. At least we'll get to see more of Omega's "siblings.".

[SenEDDtor Missile]

New? Not Eta? Yeesh, it kind of feels sad in hindsight that Gamma's work has all (mostly?) been undone

 

Oh well. At least we'll get to see more of Omega's "siblings.".

Am I too influenced by Red Vs. Blue for thinking it might be Sigma?

[Big Panda]

"Echo"?

...I see what I'm 50% sure you did there, Ian.

[Toby]

Not really seeing how it undoes everything Gamma accomplished, when his only goal was to take out the five brothers he knew of.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Especially considering Omega's still around. Not hard to think that Eggman made more of them beyond the ones in SA1.

[biznizz]

Les' get things started once again! The recap continues onwards as we get to another milestone and see the first arc of the new sister book start! This time it's Sonic the Hedgehog 189-200 and Sonic Universe 1-4, in the spoiler.

 

189-190. The opening salvo of the overarching "Dark Mirror/Bold New Moebius" arch begins! Rotor & Tails barely have enough time to realize that the Zone-opening Star Posts in their lab open up to reveal the all-new Suppression Squad, who have ditched their hokey "Anti" names. This was llllooooooooonnnngggg overdue, as the Evil/Anti names were so lame; I suppose that Ken started it with renaming Anti-Antoine "Patch" when he retconned Karl's story, but it's so good to realize that the others are finally catching up (hell, Evil Sonic was going to remain as such until Ian...). Anyways, it's an invasion from another world, caused by the

Crime Syndicate Suppression Squad, now taking orders from the Prime Zone's Fiona Fox.

 

Unfortunately, Sonic,  along with Knuckles & the Chaotix, aren't aware of this, as they fight the new Dark Egg Legion, hoping to convice their leader to abandon their alliance with Dr. Robotnik; with Knucks still feeling guilty about what he did when he was brainwashed as Enerjak. The fight at Freedom HQ heats up when Amy, Bunnie & Sally get into the mix, with Antonie confronting Fiona about her new friends. Sadly, Knuckles' attempts to speak to Lien-Da fall upon deaf ears (meaning nearly half of the remaining Echidna populous is willing joined with the Eggman Empire), while Ray, Charmy & Saffron try to destroy a major communications hub to disrupt Robotnik's influence. When HQ manages to call Sonic back, the DEL, personally led by Dimitri, rally to stop the hub from being destroyed. Just as Sonic arrives, so does the newly kinged Scourge.

 

Sonic & Scourge fight, the green hedgehog revealing that the speech Sonic gave him was taken to heart and he conquered & refaced his world. With a still injured Rotor sitting out of the fight, the fight continues with the reflections fighting another: Tails & Miles, the cyborgs Bunnie & Boomer, Antoine & Patch, and Amy & Fiona. Meanwhile in New Megaopolis, the Choatix & DEL begin their charge as well. Scourge, annoyed at the ineffectiveness of the Moebians, threatens them if they are pushed back though the Star Posts, showing that Scourge has been going too far, even for the Squad. Rotor, feeling utterly useless, flees so he gets out of everyone's way. The tide turns in the other battle, with the Chaotix succeeding in destroying the hub. As he flees, Dimitri strongly hints to his nephew Knuckles that he's losing intentionally to sabotage the Empire, leaving the echidna confused. Unfortunately, the Squad & Fighters are too evenly matched, with Sonic's team having to fall back & abandon HQ, giving the Squad a temporary victory.

 

Great opener to the arc, and it's good to finally see the rest of the Squad do something other than act like evil bikers or whatever.

 

191-192. Metal & Mettle. Occupying Freedom HQ as a captured base, Scourge & the Squad receive a visitor in the form of a new Metal Sonic, with Robotnik on it's radio. After indirectly threatening the Doctor, Scourge finds the Metal Sonic turning to fight him. The Acorn Council proves that most of the members are utterly, UTTERLY useless in thinking that the major threat a few miles away from them isn't as important as striking more against the devestated New Megaopolis and refuse the FF's to reclaim their base & drive off the Squad. Realizing the majority of the Council is full of sh*t, Sonic goes to HQ to fight, coming across the battle between Metal Sonic & Scourge. As Miles smugly watches his "leader" learn the hard way that a kick to the nuts doesn't affect a robot, Sonic enters the fray, leading to a three way battle. Knuckles, still in doubt about any leadership skills he might have had, informs Julie-Su about his guilt trip about everything, eventually using the Warp Ring to storm off to Angel Island after a fight with his girlfriend. Scouge gives Sonic an offer to join him in ruling the multiverse, but is interrupted by Metal Sonic, awaiting backup. Charmy is still in that awkward place where he's still brain addled, but manages to calm Knuckles down in his... special way, who then goes back to New Mobotropolis & make up with Julie. As the three way battle starts to reach a stalemate, Robotnik's new robot enters the scene: Metal Scourge!

 

The backup features an uncomfortable intro to Sonic Chronicles, with the Mauraders stealing a Chaos Emerald & capturing Knuckles. The story is fine, but knowing that this may be the only Chronicles element in the book, as well as knowing that Ken will start his legal bullsh*t not too long from this point... Yeah...

 

Anyways... the four-for-all begins again, with Robotnik gloating over how well his robots are. When Dimitri pointing out the problem in the Doctor making Metal Scourge in an hour or two, but seemingly having no time or resources to build a Badnik army to suppliment the DEL, Robotnik casually points out that he doesn't care about the echidnas and has even planted explosives in their cybernetics that he'll detonate at the first sign of discontent. Shocked at how much he underestimated Robotnik's jackassery, Dimitri slinks off with his non-existant tail between his non-existant legs as he is ordered to start scarmbling the troops in preparation of another invasion. Scourge starts showing off his shortcomings as he refuses any help from Fiona or the Squad and refusing to make even a tactical retreat. Watching the battle, the Squad start to realize that Sonic's presense may make a big difference with their situation, something they're not displeased at given how Scourge forcefully made them all alter themselves (Patch mentioning that he now has a real reason to wear his eyepatch now...). Scanning Lien-Da, Dimitri informs her that Robotnik's threat of implanted bombs was real after all, still not sure what to do. Cowtowing Scourge, Sonic makes his doppleganger call in the Squad to assist at last, making short work of both Metals; informing Scouge that he can take his previous offer of being co-ruler and shove it, going back to the city and letting the Squad keep HQ for now. Sonic gets reprimanded for going off, but the punishment is light as he is informed it will be taking the lead in invading Moebius, much to his delight.

 

In a great little surprise, we get a Jon "Dubs" Gray pencilled story. Sneaking into Sonic's house at night to ambush him, Scourge finds Jules Hedgehog waiting for him. The two talk a bit, with some of Moebius' backstory (The Great Peace), and Jules beating down Scourge with nothing but words; letting Scourge know that his world is full of greedy cowards, and that he's still one despite his protests. Letting him know that his son actually loves him enough to care if he died, Scourge leaves in tears upon realizing his & Sonic's dads are more alike than he thought.

 

A bit slow compared to the last two issues, but still enjoyable. The real meat is coming up next tho.

 

193-196. OtherSide & Hedgehog Havoc! Putting these together since they're all off the main world. Ready to use the Star Posts to enter Moebius to find away to drive back the Squad, Sonic & Amy are chosen to enter the other world. Barely upon entering a nice little residence, an E-100 model robot begins to attack Sonic & Amy, thinking the two are there to attack the Doctor of this world. Stopping the robot before things go too far, Dr. Kintobor informs everyone he knows the two tresspassors are from the main world and agrees to help in what way he can. Back in the main Mobius, Miles speaks with the FF's outside the city and proposes an alliance to fight off Scourge and get him out of everyone's hair. Kintobor informs Sonic & Amy that the Squad stole his Globe Posts to breach the worlds, saying he needed to find medical knowlege to help Buns Rabbot, who is actually piloting the robot. Turns out that Buns developed the same illness that Maria Robotnik did and was left for dead by the Squad & Scourge, agreeing to help Kintobor after he saved her life. However, Kintobor informs them he refuses to build more robots for the purpose of attack, but reluctantly informs them that the Anti-Amy, Rosy the Rascal, is their best bet. Revealing how Scourge forced the Squad to conquer Moebius and remake themselves, Miles informs the FF's that they'll use the Star Posts to send Scourge back to Moebius if they lend assistance. Buns, Sonic & Amy go to the alternate Castle Acorn to find Rosy, who looks just like an older Classic Amy, who attacks them after revealing that her wish on a Magic Ring made her go crazy in addition to growing her up.

 

The backup is yet another advertisement for a game... Sonic Unleashed! Ha, oh the irony... Anyways, it's a severely abridged adaptaion of Unleashed's opening; Chip doesn't even make an appearance. How times have changed...

 

Attempts to talk Rosy down are... less than successful as she's too axe crazy to care that Sonic & Amy aren't from her world. Leading the FF's to Freedom HQ, Miles gives Princess Alicia the signal to start the mutiny against Scourge & Fiona. While Amy keeps Rosy occupied, Buns & Sonic find the Globe Posts, still activiated, and Sonic goes through to Freedom HQ and finding the rebellion against Scourge under way. King Scourge is more of a match for both the Squad & FF's, and as Sonic tries to join in, Fiona tries to intecept him. As she goes off on her spiel how she can't trust anyone anymore, Sonic points out just how much she's trying to help Scourge, rattling her. After her Piko Hammer is broken by Rosy, Amy informs Sonic that it won't be long until Rosy destroys the Globe Posts. Taking advantage of the confusion, the Squad stun Sonic & Scourge and through them into Moebius to get rid of both of them, cutting off all the Posts to keep them trapped. In horror, the hedgehogs realize that Rosy, now crippling Buns' Omega unit, is turning her attention to them. Meanwhile, in Mobius Prime's Mercia, Rob O' The Hedge & Mari-An find a new face asking to meet Sonic to save the future: Silver the Hedgehog.

 

With Dubs penciling the backup again (his last one proper, I think...), we follow Snively as things are falling apart around him. Robotnik is still abusive when he isn't crazy, New Megaopolis is in ruins save for the Eggdome, the DEL refuse to resepect him, communications with most of the Empire & their Sub-Bosses is still cut off and he still can't plan any attempts to overthrow his uncle or refuge himself to the Mobians or United Federation. However, he finds some comfort in an Eggnet chatroom with a Sub-Boss, RF, and finds they really click, starting something big...

 

After Nicole gives Sonic's family a recap, we cut back to Sonic & Amy stuck on Moebius with Scourge & Rosy (who proves that even if she's stil hammer happy & crazy, she's still an Amy). Buns has no choice but to return to Kintobor & the Hospital Tower for repairs. As this happens, Robotnik & Snively are building a new Metal Sonic (which Snively bitterly muttering on why they can't just build an army of them), and outfit it with a super special Crossover Zone-jumping engine; upon activation & inability to track Sonic, Metal warps out much to Robotnik's frustrated fury. As Rob agrees to escort Silver to Freedom HQ, the FF's confront the Squad but are interupted by the two Hedgehogs using a Warp Ring to arrive, then leave to Moebius after learning of what happened. As Scourge & Sonic fight, we get a sudden interruption of Shadow using Chaos Control to warp in, missing the Special Zone he was aiming for. Shadow barely has enough time to agree to assist Sonic in beating Scourge when Metal Sonic warps in! Then Rob & Silver, then Amy & Rosy join in! (Calm down Ian! Geez...)  All eight hedgehogs find themselves in a free for all (except Silver, who is just as confused as some of the readers), but when Silver starts to attack Sonic, he reveals he's from the future to stop a traitor from ushering in the ruination of the world and that he thinks it's Sonic. After a bit, Sonic manages to convice everyone to focus on Scourge who, furious, runs to his Anarchy Beryl stocked thrown to become Super Scourge! Dun-dun-dunnnnn.

 

The Squad, confident that Sonic & Amy managed to take out Scourege, allows the FF's to reactivate the Star Posts so all of them can return to Moebius. The FF's & Squad quickly find themselves in terror that they picked the wrong moment to return as Super Scourge has thrashed all of the other hedgehogs. Super Scourge makes short work of both teams, and not even Silver's psychokenesis can withstand him. Metal Sonic prioritizes his attention to Sonic, but Shadow manages to use Chaos Control to transport them to Sonic X's last issue and out of the story. Realizing that they can't use Super Sonic to stop Super Scourge (five of the Emeralds are still in the Special Zone, with the other two unavaliable; the Master Emerald trick might not work again), Sally starts to coordinate everyone to slow down Super Scourge. It doesn't work, as Super Scourge threatens to destroy both Mobiuses as well as any planet that doesn't give him the respect he deserves. Sonic, finally realizing Super Scourge's weakness, leads the hedgehog on a chase until his Super form runs out, draining him of all of his energy & leaving him vulernable as Sonic phyically & verbally beats him down into submission. After everyone recovers, Buns recovers the Globe Posts (after rebuffing Miles' attempts to woo her back into the Squad) and Alicia... makes the implication that the Squad's true leader is either Miles or someone else...? I dunno. Silver tells Sonic he needs to do more research into the traitor & leaves, as Sonic prepares to take Scourge to Zone Jail and get some answers from a certain perpendicular cop...

 

I really, REALLY liked this whole arc, and am still extremly disappointed that there'll never be a follow up to it (again, screw you Penders). So many interesting ideas are brought up, like how loyal Buns is to Kintobor and if she would ever rejoin the Squad, who really rules the Suppression Squad, Kintobor & the rest of Moebius,,, Hell, I'd want to see more of Rosy, the Classic Amy who went terribly, terribly wrong! But the constant escalation was a bit too much, so this wasn't perfect. Honestly, I wish we could have gotten a four parter about Moebius instead of still-not interesting 30 Years Later, even if that DID have Silver in it. *sigh*

 

197. Consequences. Sonic starts off by taking Scourge to Zone Jail, noting the Cosmic Interstate has seen better days and noting that Zonic hasn't been seen doing his job for a long while. Scourge takes advantage of Sonic's lack of attention and tries to escape, but both hedgehogs are cornered by Zone Cops for breaking the "Multiversal Lockdown Act". Sally, meanwhile, is getting grilled by the Council because it turns out the incursion to Moebius was done without their approval, and Hamlin manages to trick Sally into admitting she went against the Council's orders. Ugh... Turns out the Zone Copes are Zector & Zespio, and escourt Scourge & Sonic to No Zone, which has seen better days; Scourge then starts to attack to bring down No Zone so he won't be imprisoned again. Sally manages threaten the Council with refusal to lead the FF's and tell the free-agent Chaotix to refuse to cooperate with the Council if they try to charge her and she's let go; it turns out that Hamlin is bitter that the Subsitute Freedom Fighters basically amounted to nothing and is using his position to keep Sally in line. Finding Zonic & getting stablized, Sonic is informed the multiverse is under attack from Dr. (Eggman) Nega, who's been destroying everything; the two managing to collar Scourge & inhibit him to be detained. Sonic finally confronts Zonic for why the Cop has let Eggman run rampant in his Zone when the Doctor is from another: it turns out that for the multiverse to be stable, Sonic-Prime has to fight a Robotnik, and given that Eggman is bascially the same one as the original up to a point, he counts. Zonic can't do anything but keep Scourge locked up since he's become such an irregularity, he can't run free anymore, and Sonic is returned to Mobius and reunites with his family. Meanwhile in the Eggdome, Snively is called from his webchat with Regina F. to assist an increasingly unhinged Eggman (even being called Colin for the first time since his youth) with a test for the new Egg Phoenix, which is ready for use...  Then a quck backup for advertising Sonic & the Black Knight. Whatev.

 

Getting answers from Zonic was nice, but I find myself really disliking this issue for one huge reason: the goddamn Council. Aside from Chuck, Rotor & Elias, these guys are such terrible leaders, I think they'd fit in fine with actual American politics. I know that most despise Hamlin for openly admitting his bitterness is driving him as a Counciler, but AT LEAST HE'S HONEST WITH IT. Dylan is a little pushover even if he might not be as bitter as his peers, Penelope looks to be keeping it hidden but we'll later see she's nigh on useless. And Rosemary? My god, I would have thought that after she & her husband nearly caused a coup and strong armed a government restructuring IN THE MIDDLE OF A F*CKING WAR, she would have at least stopped being a bitch, but no! And the worse is to come with these pricks. Thank god they don't exist anymore and all this Council bullsh*t is gone with the reboot. Feh!

 

198. Phoenix Down. Let me start off by saying that I'm not that big a fan of Renae Deliz's pencils here, but it's still better than some Sonic artists that've been on this book *coughRonLimcough* Things are getting real as the FF's & Chaotix are making a puch to the Egg Dome to take down Robotnik once & for all. The Dark Egg Legion's attempts to stop them only result in their weapons getting shorted out, so Eggman decides to take his new Egg Phoenix and roast them all himself. Dimitri takes advantage of Snively's being left behind to threaten him into making sure the DEL is kept safe or else the correspondance with Regina will be revealed; Snively barely bats an eye and makes a deal with Dimitri in joining Regina's plan when she arrives... Sonic tricks Eggman into nearly stalling his engins, allowing the Chaotix to cover the mech with enough devices to short it out, forcing Eggman to retreat, his mind even more rattled than before. As the FF's & Chaotix set up for the night, Snively & Dimitri prepare for what is coming...

 

A filler issue, to be sure. Sad to see the Egg Phoenix didn't get to be of very much use, but I suppose it's to show how much Eggman's losing it? Ehh... Now for a bit of a side step with...

 

Sonic Universe 1-2. Chapters 1&2 of the Shadow Saga. Going off of continuity here since SU 2 occurs after 198. We finally manage to catch up with Shadow & Metal Sonic, who appear in Blaze's world. Prior to this, the two of them apeared in the last issue of Sonic X, which was set after that continuity's Shadow appeared dead. Not much is missed from skipping it, trust me. After an attempt to reason with Metal Sonic (this unit possesses some awareness, but not as much as the original/Shard or the one from SU 50) fails, Shadow is found by Blaze & Marine. After Marine being her cutely annoying self, Blaze give Shadow (and the reader) a VERY compressed recap of the Rush games, followed by Marine's version of Sonic & Tails' departure. Just as the trio arrives into port, Metal Sonic attack seeking this Zone's version of Robotnik (which he couldn't ever do because even by this time, Eggman Nega was forbidden from appearing save for silloutte). Blaze attacks the Metal, but is rebuked, as is Shadow when he attempts to assist; not helped by Marine's attempt to "help". Shadow makes one last attempt to reason with Metal, but the robot informs him that their goals cannot ever coincide. Following this, Shadow, Blaze and Marine-with-a-cannon blast Metal Sonic into pieces (where he'll eventually be rebuilt as Captain Metal following Worlds Collide). Finding out that Marine can't give assiatance with helping go home, Shadow makes THE FACE.

 

 

But luckily, Blaze gives Shadow the Green Chaos Emerald since she's already found several of the Sol Emeralds already and he bids a new friend farewell as he warps out. When he returns to GUN HQ where Hope Kintobor (shown to have been let go by Snively during the Decimation of Knothole arc) and Abraham Tower (the Commander from ShTH), Shadow informs Hope her transporter needs work, but has managed to get an Emerald regardless. Tower then gears Shadow up for another mission... telling Knuckles he won't get his arc until issue 9 during the Off Panel! Naw, it's actually...

 

...Starting off with a flashback of SA2's Sonic & Shadow Jungle battle on Prison Island. The action in the present day actually starts when Shadow invites Sonic to assist him & Rouge in a mission before the FF invasion begins. Sonic agrees and races Shadow to the observatory, leaving the black hedgehog bemused. The continuation of the flashback shows that when Rouge was locked in the vault, Sonic actually assisted Rouge's escape while Eggman was content on getting the Emeralds from the ashes of the base; Shadow's Chaos Control takes him to Eggman's Pyramid Base where he warps with the Emeralds himself, leaving Sonic & Rouge to make an alliance. In the present, we learn that Eggman's observatory has been converted to a laser cannon with such high power, it can take out half of the city in one blast; leading Shadow & Rouge to think Eggman's losing it which Sonic balks at. Inside the observatory, we see interpecting views of the past where Sonic & Rouge invade the Pyramid Base & steal the rocket and the present where the three accidentally trigger the cannon to prepare to fire. As a plan to alter the cannon's trajectory is hatched, we see the Sonic/Shadow race on the ARK is interrupted by Rouge's discover of a video, presumably Gerald's last diary. Things looks grim as Shadow & Sonic find the Biolizard fuses with the ARK, but manage to turn Super; while in the present the cannon is merely put at an angle until Shadow removes his inhibitor rings and stops the cannon from firing. Unlike the past where he couldn't save Shadow after stopping the ARK, Sonic manages to retrieve the black hedgehog from falling off the observatory. After a job well done, Shadow & Rouge leave Sonic & his friends to end the fight with Eggman unhindered, as Rouge teases Shadow for finally making Sonic a friend. In the Off-Panel, Knuckles confronts Sonic again for being exluded from the book again since he was in the SA2 game, forgetting that at this time, he was green and fighting Tails-In-A-Cape.

 

The Saga will continue after 200, but for now, these first two issues were pretty good. Making sense of the Rush series' stance in the offical comics canon, and ESPECIALLY trying to make do with fitting in SA2 into ONE F*CKING DAY with only Sonic, Shadow & Rouge involved against Eggman's plan. But now, let's get started onto the next milestone...

 

199-200. Knocking on Eggman's Door and Turn About Is Fair Play. Not deterred by the lack of sleep from the previous night, Sonic finds Rotor & Sally are planning on streaming the "final battle" to New Mobotropolis so everyone will know the war will end this day. Sally leads the FF's & Chaotix into the Eggdome, starting the final push. Lien-Da, under orders from Eggman's scattered plans, has half the DEL barricade the lower level while the other try to repel the invaders; with her & Dimitri awaiting SNIVELY'S plan to unfold. The heroes start tearing through, kicking butt & taking names while pointing out how much of a waste it was that nearly all of them were incapacitated during Endgame (well, except for Bunnie & Antoine who were trying to plant a bomb). A scene with Vector & Julie-Su ribbing on each other continues to prove she has more chemestry with HIM than Knuckles. Charmy, Saffron & Ray save Mighty & Espio. And Snively nearly sufficates Lien-Da with cologne when she gives him an update. As things are looking tough for the heroes, Dimitri & the DEL mysteriously withdraw, leaving the heroes to find the barricade with an opening only wide enough for Sonic to Spin Dash in. As he bids a temporary goodbye to his friends, Sonic goes in and finds Eggman has laid an invitation to a final fight, much to Snively's delight as he prepares the end of the Eggman Empire and the arrival of their new leader. Eggman, in his Egg Spider, tries to lure Sonic into a trap that he's more than willing to face.

 

Eggman, desperate and near his breaking point, shouts at Sonic that their war will end and how his genius allowed him to conquer the planet and will do so again. Sonic rebukes this by pointing out he kept losing to a bunch of untrained kids and let his city get nuked to hell and has to constantly fight to keep his control of a world that has many gaps of resistance & opposition in. The hedgehog keeps toying with Eggman's mech as he taunts him; the battle getting more intense as Eggman keeps desperately trying to beat down his enemy, even as his own mech gets trashed.

 

 

But Sonic barely has time to gloat before Eggman finally freaking loses it.

 

 

Sally enters and can barely register Eggman's freaking out before Snively enters and tells them that Sonic has finally broken the Doctor; how despite his genius he kept losing and couldn't take it anymore. Everyone celebrates the fall of the Empire & Eggman, but Sonic is... less than enthusiastic about it. The gibbering mess that once was his greatest antagonist is left behind with Snively, Sonic is given a bit of encouragement by Sally to keep on keeping on and see what takes him next as the heroes head home with their heads held up high. But even though Eggman is locked in a padded room for his safety, the unseen new rulers, familiar & new faces, of the Eggman Empire eventually arrive...

 

 

Another great milestone and a great story. But thinking about it, there is a few things that maybe keep me from liking it as much or more than the last milestone. Sonic finally defeats Eggman... and everyone leaves him there. I dunno... while his insanity IS real, from one of their perspectives, it could have just been an elaborate act. It's pretty mindboggling that they were willing to just have Snively look after him and not keep him in a Mobotroplis jail. Hell, they didn't even try to get Snively in despite his crimes either! I suppose the reasoning is that the Empire has been crippled so badly, they didn't think Snively or anyone else could get it running so quickly, but... Maybe I'm overthinking it.

 

Well to close off this, we go back over to Universe...

 

SU 3-4. Chapters 3&4 of the Shadow Saga. Before Eggman's great loss & subsequent insanity, the Doctor & Commander Tower send their agents out to find E-102 Gamma, who (since he was never destroyed on panel) is still alive from the Sonic Adventure arc. It turns out that Gamma continued to fight Eggman's forces from the shadows, not helping anyone else in the open, making him a perfect candidate for Tower's team; and Abe even shows his soft side by wanting to help a robot he considers a hero out. But Robotnik's final unit of the E-100 line, E-123 Omega initially refuses since "he was designed to kill Sonic" and "had been in storage for a year" (a nod on how long it took to actually get approval to get him in?) but is eventually complies in the hunt for his "older" brother. Shadow, feeling guilty he couldn't save Metal Sonic from his fate, decides to go alone. The hedgehog eventually finds the nearly broken down robot, and does convince him to join GUN and be able to make more of a difference. But this good fortune doesn't last as Omega tracks down the two and begins his mission to destroy Gamma. The two robots indulge in a bit of a psyche war, before Gamma begins his last plan. The old robot manages to download his conciousness into Omega's software as his body is destroyed, finally freeing his Flicky powersource and fusing the two into a new Omega. The robot decides to make use of his new freedom to get revenge on Eggman for wasting him on storage and, after making a small grave for Gamma (threatening Shadow if he tells anyone) they head to base. Shadow mopes a bit, but Hope & Rouge informs him that the teleporter to the Special Zone is working and their next mission is to get a Chaos Emerald. Off Panel reveals that Omega was a janitor bot before getting sent out.

 

With one Chaos Emerald to work with, Hope manages to send Shadow & Rouge to the Special Zone, where Feist introduces himself. After Ian fights off the urge to make Rouge make an "Over 9000!" reference, Feist informs the two they need to play a game before getting an Emerald and that Shadow cannot use Chaos Control in the Zone. Rouge & Shadow are unable to retrieve the Chaos Emerald before they are thrown back into Mobius, which depresses the already down hedgehog even further and not even a sparring session with Omega can snap him out of it. While on a mountain overlooking Capital City (I think being properly introduced now, after the SA2 one didn't say where it happened, but assumed it was Station Square again?), Hope reveals she still feels guilty for listening to Snively & leaving Knothole before it was destroyed and how she can't face Sonic & his friends anymore, and she & Shadow console the other. Soon all three members of Team Dark are sent to the Special Zone (with Tower making a refernce that the name has a purpose that I think was never revealed) and Feist intentionally toys with them until they fail. Going with Plan B, Omega uses his arsenal to distract Feist while the others steal the Emerald and they use Chaos Control to warp out before Feist destroys them. With the Gold Chaos Emerald in their hands, GUN now has two and will be ready for anything. Then the story takes a turn for the worse as the epilogue is an introduction to 30 Years Later and more Lara-Su. Eech. At least the Off Panel joke Shadow makes was so unfunny it was actually kinda funny.

 

As a whole, the Shadow Saga was a great opener for the new book. Shadow may have spent quite a bit of time brooding, but we also managed to see him have other emotions, so it works out. Finally glad that Omega is in the book and once again, I have no idea what took him so long. I've heard it said that Karl, or even Ken, had wanted to put him into the book (which in hindsight was a good thing they couldn't), and Ian wanted Omega to kill Tommy Turtle originally but had it changed to the Egg Fleet when SEGA said no.

 

Next time we get into a bit of a glut, I suppose, depending on how you look at it. 30 Years Later, then the set up for the Iron Dominion arc. Hope you enjoy.

[QuantumEdge]

I must say thanks to you Biznizz for doing this read through.  Sort of helps me realise things I never did realise until now.  Also, I chuckled at the American politics joke you made about the Council  

I can agree with what you mostly said as well (particularly the 30 Years Later story).  Issue 200 was awesome, but yeah this had a bit of an epic fail from the FFs.  Still not as bad a fail as the ending to Eggman Empire though.  

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I always figured that the Acorn Council was suppose to be a hate sink of a sort anyway. =/

[Splash the Otter]

And Rosemary? My god, I would have thought that after she & her husband nearly caused a coup and strong armed a government restructuring IN THE MIDDLE OF A F*CKING WAR, she would have at least stopped being a bitch, but no!

I honestly don't understand why you hate Tails' parents so much. I think they're pretty cool.

[Toby]

They were self important, pissant assholes, who while being practically useless their entire time in the book, were so infuriatingly dickish it hurts to acknowledge their presence.

[Nattala]

Rosemary never seemed to let go her hatred of the royal family even after the formation of the council meant a best-case scenario for everyone.

I mean when Sally disobeys the council, Rosemary immediately starts babbling about a royal conspiracy, saying that Elias is probably involved as well; which is a REALLY SERIOUS accusation, especially since it was really just Sally messing with the rules to get what she wants. I mean Elias is her co-worker but the second something minor goes wrong she's all like Royal Conspiracy!

 

Plus she was the first on the council to suggest that Naugus takes the throne. Even though he tried to kill her son. And then she has the audacity to act sad when Elias leaves even though Naugus' rise to power is to no small part on her. 

 

Plus she was part of the whole 'Let's banish Nicole even though she built this city and it's technically her's' thing.

[Dejimon11]

Therealfalconpunch7 just sent me scans of the #261 unfortunately I have no access to a computer so ill just upload them to photobucket like last time and somebody can post them here

[Your Vest Friend]

Don't worry, I found your photobucket account in seconds and am primed to post.

 

...Actually, maybe being so efficient at tracking your online presence elsewhere isn't so reassuring.