Archie Sonic #118 is Out Today

I still don't know how to feel about it and I'm not sure if I'm completely on board with it either, but I can't deny that it is a way of developing Eggman's character away from standard Saturday Morning Cartoon villainy to something resembling nuance. It is kind of ironic this is a game written by Ian Flynn, the guy who probably has highlighted Eggman's worst traits in his tenure as comic writer. I guess I just have to see how they utilize their dynamic in future games, but I can't help but feel it takes some edge out of Eggman, but time will tell where that goes.  Its kind of like when Mario games just stopped pretending to take anything Bowser does seriously and just started to treat their battles as lighthearted scuffles between friendly rivals. Its not a BAD direction per se, but it does make me feel a little less invested in the conflict. And I can't help but feel that's the direction they're gonna go with Eggman from now on, until an even bigger bad shows up so he can show off his heroic side.    That being said, and to end this post on a hopeful note. Given the allusions they've made towards Gerald and Maria with them, I wonder how this dynamic will play off on other characters. Particularly, Shadow. Eggman says Sage is similar to Maria, but in what sense? We could finally get some insight what was she like by way of all three of them. Maybe Shadow decides to keep an eye on them to prevent another tragedy like what happened on the Ark? Ian Flynn already alluded that Eggman would be far more dangerous if something were to happen to Sage, in the same way Gerald snapped when Maria died. You can maybe start moving Shadow away from his "edgy jerk" reputation by having him take a protective role of Sage as a sort of personal redemption for himself, you can have him and Eggman actually interact for the first time in what feels like forever.    Sage offers probably the biggest potential character shift even more than the ones alluded to for Tails, Knuckles and Amy in Frontiers, because while the latter just feel like teases for change, Sage herself is a pretty big establishment of said change. I can't remember the last time we had a character that had this big of an influence on a established character since the mid 2000's. 

I can't seem to find that essay anywhere with a google search, and I've no clue where else I could look, so you're gonna have to link it to me if possible. That said, however, I do recall hearing how Sega of America told the Japanese division that the werehog was not going to be a good idea and would recieve backlash, but SoJ decided to do it anyway. So, I don't think where you're coming from is wrong, but I still struggle to process why having Sonic games do non-Sonic things (outside of a mini-game anyway) would be a good idea on their end. So, it's not unbelievable, but it's just...you'd think they'd learn from experience.  I take it you were around here on these forums during that time? Because I saw curiousity more on the idea, only for hate to come out when ShTH was announced. And me being the dumb teenager that actually showed interest in the game at the time, these responses you mentioned are those I saw after the game was announced and shown. I remember one Sonic fansite changed their name with Sonic's name in the title to Shadow's name around that time--I wish I could remember the name of the site because I almost confused it for Sonic United and I don't think that was the one. Needless to say, I remember more of the hate coming out after the announcement, not beforehand. Especially considering people wanted to know how Shadow survived SA2 from his appearance in Heroes. Goodness those were chaotic times...

Looks pretty cool, pun entirely intended. EDIT: Cover for those who can’t use Twitter.