#But when you then change very little materially and reply on preboot material to make ur universe make sense

[autisticcassandracain]

God every time I think about the N52 it's like. The universe was rewritten! This should make our comics easier to read for newbies. Anyway instead of new characters we are reusing the ones that have been around since the 30s to 70s, because the guy spearheading this endeavor is old and hates change. We will also change little to nothing about the actual characters and rely on character development, events, and dynamics established before the reboot. All changes will be in service to making this guy's faves look better. Happy reading!

[sally-mun]

Sorry, I meant Sega’s “mandates”.

I had a hunch you might’ve meant that (as did a couple of replies to the original post), but given that I’m often out of the loop even on significant things, I didn’t want to make any assumptions. As to your original point of people taking the Sega mandates too personally…

I mean, to some people this IS very personal. If Sega’s mandates had been in place from the beginning, then at best we’d only be able to imagine. We could all have big group discussions about things like “Hey, if Sonic was going to have parents in the comics, what do you think they’d be like?” or such. It would all be purely conjecture and thought exercises, and therefor probably not too close to the heart.

Most of the kneejerk reactions to the Sega mandates, I imagine, comes from the fact that we DID have an era without them in place – and quite a long era, at that – so people have a taste of what a mandateless world is like. Not only do a lot of people prefer the sorts of stories we got before the mandates, but for many, they did indeed find personal connections with some of the material. It’s difficult enough to lose something you value dearly, and it’s only compounded by knowing that you’ll also never see it again.

Something else that I think is important to keep in mind is that it’s no secret that the Sonic series as a whole is very, very popular with autistic people. It’s very common for us to connect with fictional characters in similar ways to how we connect with peers, and we’re also prone to difficulty accepting changes. I know in my case it’s less about the mandates and more about the Penders lawsuit, as I still haven’t really been able to move forward beyond the preboot comic books. I’m not against the post-reboot or IDW comics, but I also haven’t really embraced them yet; in fact, I’ve kept myself completely in the dark about them, even though there’s a piece of me that does genuinely want to read them. That’s just how I cope. When it comes to the mandates, I wouldn’t be surprised if at least some degree of the backlash is a manifestation people like me coping with what is, for them, a very difficult change.

That said, I don’t believe that should excuse bad behavior, so if someone is acting out over it, I don’t support that. I think the way people feel about the issue is what it is, and I’m not about to tell someone that they’re wrong to feel a certain way, as we typically have very little control over things like that. Actions, on the other hand, are still a choice, even actions that are fueled by feelings. If you choose the behavior, you choose the consequence that comes with it, so if someone lashes out, then the onus is still on them for doing so.