Most Characters From Sonic X "Off the Table," Flynn Confirms

Justice for Bokkun.

Somebody at Sega actually put their foot down with Flynn trying to dredge old shit back up lol.

I mean.... are we losing anything of value here?

No one is clamoring to bring Mr. Tanaka back, and the series already has multiple evil alien empires on standby if they want to go that route.

If anything, I just consider this a hard line in the sand to ensure Thorndyke stays buried. Keep those nails in his coffin.

14 minutes ago, Sega DogTagz said:

I mean.... are we losing anything of value here?

No one is clamoring to bring Mr. Tanaka back, and the series already has multiple evil alien empires on standby if they want to go that route.

 

If anything, I just consider this a hard line in the sand to ensure Thorndyke stays buried. Keep those nails in his coffin.

Think most people would have wanted Cosmo at least. 

Man, having the Metarex and the Seedarians at least would be awesome to have. I can do without Chris even tho I would love to see him recontextualized to be less annoying pre-Season 3, but there were some gems in X that were worthwhile.

18 minutes ago, Sega DogTagz said:

No one is clamoring to bring Mr. Tanaka back, and the series already has multiple evil alien empires on standby if they want to go that route.

I think it largely falls into the dichotomy of, like, whether or not you buy into Flynn's ongoing aims of cramming as many elements of the series' extended legacy into a unified world (much as he was doing in late-era Archie).

I think it's interesting in that sort of Modern DuckTales/Ninja Turtles reinterpretation-of-classic-characters kind of way, but I also get the larger brand management argument of building on what is relevant now instead of chasing the series' many cul du sacs.

16 minutes ago, Kuzu said:

Think most people would have wanted Cosmo at least. 

even if there was some kind of groundswell for Cosmo..... why?

Bringing her back would undo her sacrifice - which undermines her character. It would drag the series right back into romance drama, which the comic avoids with its main characters nowadays.

What are you going to do? Revive her and then tone back her feelings for Tails? Is that even still Cosmo? Whats the point? Her story has been told. I like Gamma, but some people need to stay dead.

27 minutes ago, Sega DogTagz said:

even if there was some kind of groundswell for Cosmo..... why?

 

Bringing her back would undo her sacrifice - which undermines her character. It would drag the series right back into romance drama, which the comic avoids with its main characters nowadays.

 

What are you going to do? Revive her and then tone back her feelings for Tails? Is that even still Cosmo? Whats the point? Her story has been told. I like Gamma, but some people need to stay dead.

This is a different continuity, so it would be an entirely different version of the character. I'm not saying I WANT her back, but I don't see any particularly reason why they shouldn't either. 

It's incredible that I can see TMNT revive Venus in my lifetime and stick the landing with her in IDW and yet Sega just curls up in confusion at the idea of adapting other media characters.

I don't even like Sonic X so this isn't anything I'd miss, but just on principle I think this is stupid lol

I can see the logic behind it. This is a book about pushing forward the Sonic brand, so it's focus is on the characters that are actually present in media on store shelves. It might not be the answer fans want but it's the obvious thing for a brand like Sonic to do.

I'm not a big X fan either so it was mostly a relief to hear it's getting the shaft too if anything. I'd been told so long that it was closest to Sonic Team's heart and thus some special exemption or legitimacy applied to it. Instead that seems to only go for...Sticks from Sonic Boom. Wonderful. Can't win them all I guess.

I'd prefer Sonic Team be more loose about these things than not, but it's not like there's room for every 'gem' fans see some kind of potential for a rewrite in if you want the book to retain some kind of focal point. IDW Sonic has been pushed pretty aggressively toward more intimate character driven stories over complex interlocking world building and it mostly shines when it doesn't fight that tide. 

Any energy you have for retooling could be better spent on new ideas anyway.  Better to leave your own mark on the series than try to fix perceived shortcomings with someone else's work. Besides, not having access to stuff from back then is far from the book's most pressing issue. 

This essentially confirms what I feared would be the case. while disappointing, I can at least take solace in knowing that Ian was at the very least interested in bringing in Cosmo and the Metarex. That part of Sonic X was always my favourite as it explored a lot of different worlds and situations for the cast to handle.

Maybe one day we could see these characters return in some way, but it would probably be drastically changed to fit in with the rest of the world, plus maybe the ending would be altered if the would want Cosmo as a reoccurring character, which I would feel conflicted about as the ending of that arc was one of the things that made it so impactful (especially for me). I can remain hopeful, and part of me would want to see my favourite fox be happy, so I wouldn't be able to answer weather having her live would be a good or bad thing story wise.

still, I am happy Cosmo is not forgotten :)

Obviously the stuff people care most about from X is the alien stuff, and I get that. I wouldn't mind a Metarex arc adaptation to the main canon, but it shouldn't be some revelation as to why SEGA won't go for it. It's weird! It doesn't really match the current look and feel of Sonic's brand, and unless that's the point ala Frontiers' titans, it can feel discordant. The Dragon Ball GT-esque galaxy travel may not be something they want to commit to, since the only aliens in the main canon are essentially wildlife and the (extinct?) Black Arms. Canonizing a bunch of other stuff may pose an obstacle to doors they want to keep open, or simply take the scope of the series to a place they don't want. In addition, the emotional core of that arc is centered around Cosmo and Tails, and doing that arc in a time when SEGA has character relationships off the table would negate that.

It also requires making decisions on which characters to bring to space, who SEGA is willing to rip all the way out of Sonic's world and any ongoing plotlines to go on this adventure, and who they can stand to leave behind, since in all likelihood they're not thinking about an A-plot and B-plot while the heroes are gone (even if the nature of comics would enable this pretty well). IDW can tell a standalone story in the middle of a big arc right now, because it takes place over a longer period of time and there's downtime for the heroes to do whatever. If they're stuck in the space box, they can't do that.

Finally, I wouldn't doubt if this was partially related to Sonic barely shaking the last vestiges of X off as-is. It's been what, a year since two worlds was finally gone for good? I don't know if it started with Sonic X, but Sonic X was the most (in?)famous piece of media to utilize it, to have actual storytelling centered on the concept, and it was only after the show that Iizuka started bringing it up in interviews and such (as far as I know). I'm not saying that SEGA views it as a poisoned well after so many years of fan complaints, but it wouldn't surprise me if they were still pretty cool on the things that stereotypical fans complained about. Even if there wasn't a blanket rule against X stuff, I doubt they would ever let Chris Thorndyke see the light of day.

2 hours ago, Shaddy Zaphod said:

 It doesn't really match the current look and feel of Sonic's brand

I'd argue Seedrians are much more Sonic-like than Wisps or Zeti, while still being unique from mobians.

The inevitable ironic result of Chris returning to the zeitgeist is defeated by taking the monkey's paw away from the fanbase entirely, and I'm all for it. I personally don't care for Sonic X and we don't need the plant girl or generic robot aliens to have a space opera arc. 

Besides Cosmo I guess I can’t think of anything else from Sonic X worth salvaging, so this news is fine by me. 

5 hours ago, Shaddy Zaphod said:

 since the only aliens in the main canon are essentially wildlife and the (extinct?) Black Arms. Canonizing a bunch of other stuff may pose an obstacle to doors they want to keep open, or simply take the scope of the series to a place they don't want.

Well that's not true. The main canon has a diverse cast of aliens running around.

On top of the Black Arms you have the Babylonians. Their civilization is out there somewhere, as Babylon Garden was just a spaceship.

DoDonPa is also an alien - which means his home-world, the Donpa Kingdom, is another planet of furries out there.

The Wisps may count as "wildlife" but they are sentient

The ancients are all but extinct, but their god is still up and about.

The End and the Time Eater are both technically aliens

Thankfully Sega see this the way I do....

NO MORE CHRIS!!!!

EVER!!

Praise be indeed!!!!

at least we have some clarity now...

I still want Cosmo in the mainline so this news sucks lmao.

Can I ask why though? Like, X was made under the eyes of ST so there shouldn't be anything in there that either them or Sega have a problem with. I get not wanting to base an entire arc of the comics off the Metarex (I'm probably one of the biggest X apologist on this board and even I could do without that) but just flat out saying anything from the series is a no go is crazy.

This certainly ain't helping the feeling I've had for a while that Sega is being too heavy handed when it comes to letting people use legacy content in this series. Axe these stupid restrictions and let the writers work. Why does it always feel like getting anything from the 00s in this series is like pulling teeth? It's as if they're too afraid they may slip on something and make another 06. Shit is 18 years old and it still feels like a boogieman when decisions like this come down the pipe.

Look, I won't pretend to say that bringing up anything from X in this day and age would be anything other than pure fan pandering. There's certainly business positives for keeping the brand isolated to a core cast with a few other secondaries that they rotate in from time to time to spice things up (even if how they're doing it now is getting stale). Hell, recently Sega's social media presence has gone a long way into making this series feel like it isn't as simplistic as the end game design decisions would lead one to believe. But I've been saying for years that these sort of blanket bans of entire sections of the series are dumb.

No, I'm not saying just let everything from the past show up with little rhyme or reason. No, this isn't that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. But really, if Ian or anyone can find an interesting way of using the material, let them. If they can't then don't, but don't just halt any discussion of it from the offset; damn.

2 hours ago, Sega DogTagz said:

On top of the Black Arms you have the Babylonians. Their civilization is out there somewhere, as Babylon Garden was just a spaceship.

We don't know that. We know they were aliens, but we have no evidence that any of them are still around.

2 hours ago, Sega DogTagz said:

DoDonPa is also an alien - which means his home-world, the Donpa Kingdom, is another planet of furries out there.

That's what I get for not finishing TSR's story, I guess.

2 hours ago, Sega DogTagz said:

The Wisps may count as "wildlife" but they are sentient

My point was not about whether the aliens were sentient, just that SEGA is particular about which alien societies they're comfortable showing, and the implications that would come with saying Sonic's galaxy is simply a populated place people can come and go from.

2 hours ago, Sega DogTagz said:

The ancients are all but extinct, but their god is still up and about.

I don't think we know that? It's suspect whether that god is actually real, let alone still alive. Being a "god" doesn't mean much in this series, it's akin to being powerful and ageless most of the time.

2 hours ago, Sega DogTagz said:

The End and the Time Eater are both technically aliens

I don't think Time Eater is an alien any more than, like, Thor would be. It's a deity with domain over time and space, which kind of goes beyond geographic location.

Also, it and The End are both dead.

SEGA might be avoiding a space odyssey storyline to avoid conflict with the movie Sonic’s universe, being that he comes from another planet and is more of an alien than a hedgehog. Might cause confusion for younger readers 

Even though it's sad that the Metarex won't be appearing in the comics any time soon, I can understand where SEGA is going with this.  They clearly want the Sonic brand to go in a different direction nowadays and Sonic X was a thing of the past and as far as I know, the Metarex never made an appearance in the games and SEGA is focusing on making the IDW comics as close to the games as possible.  

Obviously this depends entirely on how you feel about Sonic X personally, but I don't really get it tbh.

The Sonic brand is always evolving, I don't see why you can't apply that to older concepts? Like did anyone complain when they brought back Breezie or other AOSTH in the post-reboot parts of Archie, or repurposing things like the special zone. It just feels very arbitrary.

And I don't even personally care much about Sonic X specifically, but Sega aren't really clear on why these concepts aren't being used besides simply not wanting to use them for the sake of it. It just feels a bit creatively stifling imo.

I never actually watched the Metarex stuff. I was too put off by what came before it that I never cared to check it out.

But my mind always jumps to Thorndyke and sighs in relief.

I would have to guess that since they are now so much more focused on unifying the brand, bringing it elements that are associated with other versions could risk causing further confusion.

But hey, if that bothers you, Sega have changed stances on things before, they could even return in a totally new form with a different name, who knows?

I mean that's too bad and all, but if we're bringing back long irrelevant villains from forgotten TV shows I'd take the return of Mama Robotnik over the Metarex any day. Wake me when he confirms that the SSSSS Squad aren't allowed to appear anymore.