#but then again the sonic universe arc showing what team dark was doing during the shattered world crisis

[sonknuxadow]

im not one of those people who thinks shadow has to be in everything like i love shadow but id rather have a story without shadow that works fine without him in it than have a story where hes clearly just there for the sake of being there and isnt really adding anything you know. BUT . i do think its kind of a wasted opportunity that we never got to see shadow interact with werehog sonic at all... not even in the archie adaptation of unleashed that changed some plot details and added more characters... because i think that could have been so interesting

[magmahurricane]

Assorted IDW thoughts

Let me preface this by saying Ian Flynn is not a perfect writer. 

I personally believe his greatest weakness is in writing this long, spanning arcs. We’ve seen this even in Archie with the Mecha Sally arc, and in post-reboot with the Shattered World Crisis arc. And it’s reared it’s ugly head again with the Zombot arc in IDW.

He also has a habit of favoring certain characters and trying a little too hard to argue why they’re good/likeable - this was especially a problem with Sally in his early run. 

With that said: I mostly enjoyed the Zombot Arc. I am someone who has been absolutely exhausted by media’s fixation on Zombies, but I found the Zombot arc... endearing, actually. 

The Zombot concept was a fun, fresh take and arguably more nightmarish than the average zombie, in that they were largely indestructible and you’d only need the slightest touch to be infected. And again, they couldn’t be put down.

An unfortunately common criticism I hear about the series is that this arc was “too dark” for a Sonic the hedgehog comic, which I find to be an odd take.

The Sonic series has always dipped its toes into darker concepts. We have the bad ending from Sonic 2, and far less implied is the death of Maria Robotnik in Sonic Adventure 2 - in which we witness, as part of Shadow’s backstory: an unarmed, terminally ill 12-year-old girl being shot and killed.

In that same game, Eggman acquired a super space Fuck You cannon and destroyed a part of the moon, and made a very clear threat to fire it at the Earth.

Sonic Adventure 1 showed us an entire civilization that was wiped out after harming a bunch of innocent Chao and angering a god. Perfect Chaos leveled an entire populated city - even if you make the argument that an evacuation was put in effect and nobody died (which I don’t believe), that’s still an entire city’s worth of people who are now homeless.

There was also Sonic Battle and Emerl’s entire plight, which saw the entire main cast coming together to raise this robot like a sibling, who all loved him and were loved by him in turn, and ended with Sonic having to kill him. 

Sonic and The Secret Rings had Shahra die on-screen. I mean, she got better but still.

And don’t get me started on all the fucked up things that happen during the events of  the Shadow the Hedgehog game.

The point is, the Sonic the Hedgehog series has always had these bleak, dark moments. I don’t feel like the Zombot Arc was any darker than what we’ve already seen in this series. We’ve seen these characters backed into corners, we’ve seen on-screen deaths, we’ve seen these characters break before.

I feel like this criticism is misdirected; I think when people say the arc was too dark, what they mean is that it’s too long.  If we’re counting the Zombot saga starting at issue 15 (when Rough & Tumble got infected), this story arc has been going on for... 14 issues. With delays in mind, this arc feels like it dragged its feet horribly. 

Now, with regards to Characterization...

I think we all can agree SEGA’s recent takes on Shadow’s character are ass. There, I said it. Taking away all the development he had over the course of SA2, Heroes, ShTH and other instances - and making it so he apparently doesn’t consider Rouge and Omega his friends - is such a mind-numbingly stupid move.

Ian usually writes a good Shadow (seriously, Sonic Universe arcs “The Shadow Saga”, “Treasure Team Tango”  - both pre-reboot arcs - and “Shadowfall” + “Total Eclipse” from the post reboot were really good!) but these mandates on Shadow’s character kill me. 

But unfortunately, Shadow isn’t the only character who suffered during this arc. Eggman started off the arc really well, but his choices and lackadaisical attitude towards how rapidly his plan spiraled out of control was so wildly OOC and frankly, dumb. It was frustrating to read through and didn’t feel like Ian’s usual mastermind Eggman.  It read as though Ian hit a bump in which he realized he needed a work around for why Eggman wasn’t doing anything about losing control over the Zombots and  decided to just have him not care. I can’t remember if a reason for this characterization was ever given. 

 Now, this on the other hand...

This is a scene I’ve seen people rag on for being OOC for Tails, and even comparing it to the abysmal portrayal we got in Forces. 

Here’s the thing: I don’t think this was OOC for Tails. 

Lets look at Tails’ characterizations in, say, the Adventure-era games. His entire character arc in both was him realizing his own potential as someone who can stand on his own two feet, without needing to rely on Sonic. And he did it! By SA2, Tails has achieved his own independence. 

When he believes Eggman has truly killed Sonic, Tails is sad, but he’s also determined to stop Eggman, to keep fighting no matter what and hold his head high, because he knows he can do this. He won’t let Sonic’s faith in him be misplaced. 

... But this isn’t like that situation, now is it?

Lets review Tails’ ploy over the course of this arc: He studied Sonic to the best of his abilities to try and discover how to cure his friend. He was confident and certain he could figure it out.

But the infection kept spreading. People - innocent people - were being claimed by the outbreak, and the pressure began to build. People Tails knew and cared about were being turned. The situation was growing more and more desperate. 

All the while, they slowly lost faith in Sonic, who was showing signs of fatigue. We also know from when Tangle was infected that the transformation into a Zombot is uncomfortable, if not painful. 

People around Tails were suffering, losing loved ones - and we, as the audience, knew that nobody was actually dead from this, but the characters don’t. Silver came from a future where the whole world became infected.

And just as soon as Tails came close to solving everything, it was all cruelly ripped away. Every time they thought they had a solution, it was lost. 

When the Zombots reached Angel Island,Sonic was at the point where he could hardly fight the infection off anymore. Zavok was advancing. They’d lost poor little Cream. They lost Knuckles. 

And Tails was slowly succumbing to the infection. 

I don’t think this was OOC. I think it made perfect sense, because the world was literally falling apart right in front of Tails’ eyes, and unlike SA2, there was nothing he could do about it at this point. He’s being infected and watching his friends fall while knowing that Silver’s future is a possible outcome.

He’s having to resort to pleading Sonic to succeed because this poor kid has watched the world fall before his eyes - and worse yet, he came so close to having the means to save it. 

I don’t agree that strong characters breaking makes them OOC. I think this serves to show just how broken Tails is by everything that’s happened, how bleak the situation is, and how genuinely scared he is. And who could blame him?

In conclusion, I think IDW Sonic has its flaws - Ian has some serious faults as a writer, but he’s also really good and has a clear passion for the series and characters. 

I enjoyed this arc for the most part - I just wish it had been trimmed down some. 

[archiesoniconline]

Knuckles Endangered Species #1 Behind the Scenes!

It’s been a while, but it’s finally time for another behind-the-scenes look at one of our stories!  This time we’ll be covering our latest release, as well as the story that had been visualized and started the earliest in our project: Part 1 of the Endangered Species rewrite.

As usual, let’s start with the cover.  Our ex-admin in charge of the entire rewrite, The Shadow Imperator, took inspiration from the covers for Sonic the Hedgehog #211 and 245, as well as an advertisement for Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.  Pencils, inks and colors were all done by @drawloverlala​, who managed to brilliantly blend all the designs together into something new and exciting.

The story begins immediately where the official #243 left off, with Sonic getting KO’ed by Metal Knuckles.  The robot doppelganger is quick to remind Lien-Da of his mission to monitor her and keep her in line, which is a nod to Sonic Universe #37, where Eggman told his Grandmasters that the Metal Series will be doing just that.

Since Lien-Da is the Grandmaster of her branch of the Dark Egg Legion, we decided her Kommissar should be Gae-Na, her old confidant that hadn’t been seen since StH #118.  She was given a heavy redesign by CrimDa, sporting a more realistic cybernetic eye as well as electric batons similar to Lien-Da’s electric whips.  Her absence up until this point was due to maternity leave, having only recently given birth to her daughter Demi-Na but was left to raise the girl alone after losing her husband Kanewisher to the Egg Grapes.

 You may have noticed that when Gae-Na knocks out Amy, she doesn’t seem particularly pleased about it.  As a mother, she doesn’t relish the idea of fighting children, but will do what it takes to ensure that her daughter can grow up in a stable echidna society, even if it’s a society ruled by Eggman.

For a much more minor echidna cameo, we see the return of Syntar, who hasn’t appeared since being unceremoniously knocked out by a time-traveling Lara-Su in StH #109.  Now a sergeant in Lien-Da’s army, he’s seen leading the Albion prisoners to be legionized... only to be unceremoniously knocked out yet again by Knuckles.  Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, I guess. 

We also see Komi-Ko comforting Bimmy Jr., a young echidna orphan whose father and namesake was tragically killed in the Egg Grapes.  Back in 243 he was only referred to as “young man”, since the legal issues at the time forbade his real name from being mentioned.

Another echidna character given a redesign by CrimDa is Crystal-La, the wife of Athair and Knuckles’ great-grandmother.  We decided to re-purpose her as the Mitre of the Albion Aurorium, in order to bring back of a glimpse of the religious aspects of echidna society that were largely ignored during Ian Flynn’s run of the comic.  Our initial redesign failed to take her significant age into account, so we made her look older in the final story.  Considering the fact that she considers her own great-grandson to be some sort of messiah, it’s easy to see that she’s gone a little kooky in her old age.

You may have noticed that Saffron Bee was also given a new wardrobe, which were actually based off of notes left by Aleah Baker for a redesign of her that was planned in the official comic  ShadImp felt strongly about giving her as big of a role in the rewrite as possible, as was the original intention.

.  

Knuckles using his Warp Ring to attack Syntar was an idea from ShadImp’s co-writer for the remake, TuxKnux.  It was meant to demonstrate how Knuckles has had more practice controlling Chaos Energy, another example of which we’ll see later.    

In order to calm down a terrified Bimmy Jr., Saffron gives him her Nightopian Doll, which hasn’t been seen since all the way back in the Return to Angel Island arc.  Unfortunately, this ended up triggering her PTSD of the destruction of the Golden Hive Colony, as well as Charmy’s brain damage.

This can easily be missed on a first read, but here is when we first see Julie-Su taking a cloak from a defeated Legionnaire, which ends up being important later.

The cuffs binding Team Fighters and Remington were surprisingly difficult to draw, since we needed something that could hold them in place, but also free all of them instantly when deactivated.  In the end, electric shackles powered by a nearby generator seemed like the best solution.

The mural behind Lien-Da, meant to reference the Forgotten Wars, originally had a different design that was scrapped because it didn’t make sense for such a picture to be in Albion.  It was also based off of a cutscene in Sonic Chronicles, during Imperator Ix’s final speech to Knuckles.  Eventually, the original mural design was re-purposed for Emerl’s data file in StHO #249.

This is the first time that Remington and Lien-Da have met since Enerjak’s rampage, so it was important to have the interactions between them be meaningful.  Remington may have suffered greatly during and after his time being the brainwashed Grandmaster of the Frost Legion, as well as being the son of Lien-Da’s hated brother Kragok, but he hasn’t allowed the trauma to diminish his strong sense of justice and has grown as a person because of it.

Although hostages causing a panic among their captors is generally not considered a good idea, Tails dropping the bombshell (no pun intended) that Eggman could blow up the legionnaires at any moment does help upset Lien-Da’s control of the situation, proving instrumental to her defeat later.

At this point in the story, Thrash hasn’t directly made his move yet, but the wheels are clearly in motion.  Originally ShadImp was going to have Thrash’s plan be identical to the official Endangered Species, sending all the echidnas away in a super-charged Warp Ring.  It took him a while to come up with a different plan, one that requires a sample of echidna DNA.  Incidentally, this is also Gae-Na’s only other appearance in the issue, as she was put on patrol duty after the initial battle with Team Fighters.

The showdown between Knuckles and Metal Knuckles may be seen as disappointingly short, but ShadImp made clear that he prioritized meaningful storytelling over elongated fight scenes.  Plus, Knuckles serving only as the distraction while Saffron destroys the robot with a hijacked turret and Julie-Su sneaks off incognito does a good job showcasing that the Chaotix came into the fight much better prepared than Team Fighters.

Also worthy of note is the legionnaire’s dismissive attitude towards Komi-Ko and the other Albionites.  Since about half of the Legion gave up on fighting and accepted Enerjak’s offer to migrate to Albion, it stands to reason that the ones who chose to stay are the most fanatical and loyal to the Legion’s cause.

Another minor echidna cameo is a younger Cobar, who was originally only seen in the 25 Years Later storyline.  At this point in time he’s still a member of the Legion, although his timid nature appears to be unchanged.

As well as demonstrating Remington’s character development, this scene does a good job showing that even the most loyal legionnaires are sick of the pointless wars they’ve fought in.  Lien-Da is the only truly evil person among all of them, and her grasp on them is crumbling rapidly.

As was mentioned earlier, having the disguised Julie-Su destroy the generator powering the shackles was a quick and easy way to get Team Fighters back into the action, as well as converge the two plots occurring simultaneously in this issue.

Having Wynmacher deal the final blow against Lien-Da was both an opportunity to give the non-combatant echidnas a chance to shine, as well as a callback to his very first appearance in Knuckles the Echidna #6, where he performed a similar tackle and mentioned his varsity days.

When Riggo first penciled this panel, he had drawn Kneecaps as more the size of a toddler than an infant, which was corrected in the final story.

This panel was originally going to feature some good old Sonic & Knuckles action, but ended up being only Knuckles using Thunder Arrow.  This is the other example of his improved mastery of Chaos Energy, as unlike the previous Guardians he doesn’t need to be within short range of the Master Emerald to use it.  It’s still not perfect though, as just using it once is shown to tire him out quite a bit. 

Finally, we have Thrash making his grand entrance.  He was originally drawn with an entire pack of Devil Dogs around him, but it’s actually an important plot point that he only has two with him at the moment, so this was changed in the final version.

That’s it for this post, but unlike the other stories, this one was a revision of an even earlier rewrite, one that was started on and scrapped before ASO was even a thing.  Next time, we’ll be going BEHIND behind the scenes at ShadImp’s original Endangered Species remake!

[rorykillmore]

so today is @tailsthesales  and as a birthday fic he requested a piece fitting tails into a transformers au!  so. i gave it my best shot. imagining tails & co as autobots was actually EXTREMELY fun. this is idw-verse (fitting, i figure,) aaaand takes place directly after the dark cybertron arc where shockwave has almost destroyed all of reality, just for a point of reference.

so happy birthday, giz!!! i know we are all experiencing some rocky times right now, but i hope you manage to enjoy it. <3  you have been such a consistently warm and engaging presence in my life in all the time we’ve been friends and co-admins, and i endlessly appreciate how quick you are to support my ideas and encourage my writing. hopefully this fic serves to do the same for yours, because i can’t WAIT to see more of tails in the future!!

“Ha. Sonic? Slow down? The war may be over, the universe may have almost ended, and Megatron may be an Autobot, but some things still are never gonna change.”

“Alright, alright, alright. Head count. Everyone sit down for a head count.” Rodimus raises his voice to be heard over the crowds, and seems... honestly, rather taken aback when people actually listen. “...Okay, one: wasn’t expecting that to work. Two: there are way too many of you to actually count, so nevermind.”

Tails actually hears Knuckles snort.  “And this is what happens when you slap ‘Prime’ on the end of your name and call yourself a leader.”

“Hey, come on, cut him some slack,” Sonic says, astoundingly cheerful for someone who is presently laid out on a portable operating slab. But then, he’s always been unflinching about putting his life in Tails’ hands.  “He did just help save the universe.”

“We all did,” Knuckles grumbles.

“I don’t see too much damage,” Tails reports, trying to distract them both with some good news.  “That Ammonite’s shot totally missed your transformation cog, which is great! This coulda got ugly.”

“Have I told you lately how much I love your bedside manner?” Sonic chuckles, looking up at him. “But thanks, Tails. Close me up and lets get back out there! I’m sure there’s a lot of injured Autobots who could still use our help.”

The three of them - as Ratchet, the medic Tails looks up to most, once said - make quite a team.  Sonic is a racer-turned-Autobot-frontliner who likes to play the hero nearly as often as Rodimus does (Tails supposes that might be why he’s so quick to defend him), Knuckles is an ex-Wrecker who joined up with them during his quest to lead a life with less... well, wreckage (not that they always avoid it), and Tails himself is a helicopter bot and a medic who just recently completed his training. Together, they form Team Sonic (after some mild debate between Sonic and Knuckles -- which Tails had stayed out of, because he just didn’t think “Team Tails” had the same ring to it), and they’ve stuck together since even after the war officially ended.

Tails definitely isn’t complaining. They’re stronger together -- and war or no war, the universe still needs their help! 

...As recently evidenced by, uh, Shockwave trying to destroy it. Thank Primus they all got out of that one okay, Sonic’s minor interior injuries aside. 

He closes Sonic up once everything is back in working order, and predictably, the former racer is back on his feet in an instant. Tails has never exactly known him to be the patient type.

“Try and take it easy for a little while, just in case,” he warns gently regardless.

Knuckles barks out a laugh.  “Ha. Sonic? Slow down? The war may be over, the universe may have almost ended, and Megatron may be an Autobot, but some things still are never gonna change.”

“Megatron is a... what?”  Tails turns to him, optics bright with disbelief, certain he must have misheard. Even Sonic stops dead in his tracks, waiting for the punchline.

Knuckles shrugs, almost uncomfortably. “Just a rumor that’s going around.”

Tails has to admit, it’s not a very plausible rumor. The feared leader of the Decepticons? The guy with the body count in the billions? An Autobot?

Sonic crosses his arms. “Unbelievable. People will say anything.”

“Everyone here accounted for?” Ultra Magnus’s voice booms above them as his rounds finally bring him to their group. Tails straightens up instinctively and gives Magnus a quick salute for good measure, since, well. That’s the kind of thing Magnus appreciates.

“Yes sir! Sonic had a gunshot wound, but it wasn’t serious.”

“Tails patched me right up, as per usual,” Sonic asserts, giving Tails a quick, confident smile that has Tails beaming back at him.

Ultra Magnus seems satisfied by that report.  “Very good. Listen,”  He pauses, turning to scrutinize Tails specifically, and Tails goes still.  “Optimus wants to speak to you.”

There’s a moment of silence as the three of them take that in.

“Prime?” Knuckles finally and impulsively blurts out.

Ultra Magnus gives him a deadpan look in response.  “Do you know another Optimus?”

None of them do, of course, but Tails can’t help but share in Knuckles’ confusion. Why would Optimus Prime want to speak to him? If there’s a de facto leader of their little team, it’s Sonic, after all. 

But when he turns to meet his friend’s gaze, Sonic is staring somberly but encouragingly back at him, and Tails takes heart in his silent show of support. He turns back to Magnus carefully.  “Er, sure, Ultra Magnus. Sure thing. Um -- now?”

“Whenever you have a moment.”  Ultra Magnus ticks their names off on his datapad and starts to move on.  Then he pauses, glancing shortly over his shoulder. “I wouldn’t keep him waiting.”

Tails is pretty sure Magnus didn’t mean for that to sound as ominous as it did. A good sixty percent of what comes out of Magnus’ mouth is, notoriously, unintentionally ominous just by virtue of him having absolutely no sense of humor (not that Tails would ever say that to his face). He looks back at his friends again. Knuckles shrugs, and Sonic gives him a thumbs up.

“You guys’ll be okay?” Tails still asks just to make sure.

“Golden,” Sonic assures him.  “Go on and see what the big guy wants. We’ll wait for you.”

Tails takes heart in knowing he doesn’t have to question that for a second.

When he finds Optimus, though, he looks more... harrowed, somehow, than Tails expected. Maybe it’s just that Tails is used to him looking so unshakable, though comparatively, Optimus still looks a lot less shaken than the rest of them. It makes Tails wonder what really did happen with Megatron.

Then again... the battle hadn’t been easy on any of them. It’s not a stretch to say that there’s probably not an unshaken ‘bot among them.

“Sir?” Tails greets, standing to respectful attention none the less.  “You wanted to see me?”  

“Yes, Tails. Thank you for lending me a few moments of your time.  I know you must want to be with your team right now.”  Optimus pauses, and Tails tries not to waver under his scrutiny.  “Are they all alright?”

“We’ve had worse scrapes, sir!” Tails assures him, and then winces a little, because that makes all the lives that have just been lost seem horribly trivial.  “ -- I just mean! We were lucky, this time. Sonic got shot, but I patched him right up.”

Optimus nods slowly.  “Ratchet tells me he commends you on your medical skill.”

It takes a second for that to sink in.  “Commends -- ?”  Tails stumbles over his own words.  Ratchet? The Ratchet?  The Autobots’ most famous and accomplished medic?  If-Tails-Had-A-Hero-Besides-Sonic-Himself Ratchet?   

“Oh,” is all he ends up saying,and he winces immediately and tries to amend:  “Wow. That’s... quite an honor, sir.”

“Well, he isn’t one to give out easy praise.”  Optimus’ tone sounds a little warmer now.  “Which is why I had... hoped to ask you for a favor.”

Name it,  Tails wants to say,  whatever you need!  But, he reminds himself, that’s not exactly his call to make.  Sonic is the de facto leader of their team, and even if Tails was to act individually, he... wouldn’t want to do it without consulting his friends. Still. To even be asked, by Optimus Prime no less, is...

It’s...

“What is it?” Tails asks, focused and somber.

Optimus barely hesitates, in a way most ‘bots wouldn’t recognize, in a way Tails only just manages to catch.  “The war may be over. Shockwave may be gone, and the threat he posed along with him, but... I fear there are dangerous days yet to come.”

It’s not exactly reassuring. Tails represses the urge to shift his weight nervously. Is there some lingering threat Optimus is still worried about... ?

“Will you stay here on Cybertron?”  Optimus finishes his request finally.  “At least for the duration of Megatron’s trial?”

“Megatron is -- going on trial?” Tails blurts out before he can stop himself. Again, he thinks back to Knuckles’ rumor.

“He says he plans on pleading guilty. If that proves true... it won’t be a long one.”

The list of Megatron’s crimes is so immeasurably extensive that Tails understands the worry of the alternative. To contest each and every charge could take years.

And, after all, it’s Megatron.  It’s not unreasonable to wonder if he has something else up his sleeve.

“But want to account for every possibility, in the meantime,” Tails provides, nodding to himself.

“At the very least, some of the Decepticons won’t stand for it. Ratchet wants as many medics on standby as possible. And... I wanted to request you specifically.”   

Tails’ spark feels like it’s fizzling in his chest.  “...Why?”

“Because you’ve held onto your kindness, all this time,” Optimus replies heavily.  “And I think we’re about to need a lot of that.”

It should make Tails swell with pride. But for a moment, it only makes him sad. What will become of them now, their kind, who have only ever known war with one another for millions and millions of years? 

But whatever the future holds, Optimus needs him today.  Resolutely, Tails answers, “I’ll have to ask my team. I dunno what the plan was, as far as staying on Cybertron goes, but... if Sonic thinks we’re needed here, I’m sure he won’t say no.”

“Thank you. Even just for considering the request,” Optimus’ gratitude is resolute, and Tails can’t help but smile in response.  “You know where to find me, whenever you’ve made your decision.”

“We won’t keep you waiting long,” Tails promises, and giving him a wave, turns to make his way back to his friends. In a way, maybe it’s a good thing they already have another mission ahead of them.  Primus knows none of them have ever been the type to stand still.