#since this happens before Eggmans disappearance and the Metal Virus

[theramblingsofadork]

Oh boy—

Tomorrow I think I’ll unleash a small snippet of the guilty pleasure that is my AU of Starline having actually had friends (and maybe something more) once.

I am going to die of cringe, but I made this blog specifically so I could talk about it, and I want my stupid platypus man to just be happy for a single moment gosh dangit!! So whatever. XD

[tenebraevesper]

Sonic the Hedgehog Analyzer, Issue #30: Cured

After the epic battle between Super Sonic and Super Silver & Kaiju!Zavok, as well as removing the Metal Virus from everything and everyone, we are left with a nice little epilogue to wrap things up and finally end The Metal Virus Saga. Welcome, folks, to The Out of the Blue Arc.

We are met with Super Sonic and Super Silver, just moments before the explosion in the last Issue happened. Super Silver cries out for Super Sonic that the Metal Virus is gone, so Super Sonic decides to ditch the Warp Topaz. One moment later, Silver crashes into the ground, explaining what had happened as Knuckles and Tails help him up.

Amy is horrified at the implication of Sonic being gone, but Knuckles is confident that Sonic just wanted to be dramatic and that he would float down in front of them, all smug and golden, any minute now.

Aaaaaany minute now.

Honestly, I love Knuckles here. I love how he knows Sonic so well and believes in him, thinking he’ll just appear out of nowhere, completely fine. It just shows that, even if Sonic does get on his nerves, they’re still friends and respect each other’s strength.

Amy and Tails meanwhile are not as hopeful, wanting to search for Sonic, but they have no idea where to start. Knuckles then gets annoyed, noting how Sonic makes him look bad, yelling to knock it off and get back.

Meanwhile, Eggman sneaks away into the shuttle, figuring that Sonic is gone, one way or another, and while everyone’s distracted, he can get away.

Meanwhile, as everyone in the background is celebrating, Cream and Vanilla are discussing how Sonic is nowhere in sight. Vanilla tries to comfort her, only for them to get approached by Gemerl, and Cream realizes he’s being controlled by Zavok. Pissed off, Cream yells at him to go home, but Zavok replies with a curt “No”.

Despite his ominous presence, he is still injured from the fight, clutching at his sides, but swearing he won’t suffer from another humiliating defeat at Sonic’s hands and since he lost the Zombots and the Metal Virus, he’ll tear the world down with his brute hands. Apparently, dude never heard of tactical retreat, huh?

Cream wants none of that, so she sics Cheese on him, who lands a hit on him. This is followed by Tangle wrapping him up in her tail. They then get joined by Vector, Espio and Charmy, as well as Silver and Whisper.

Zavok refuses to fall, throwing everyone off himself, but he gets hit by Whisper and held down by Silver, unable to counter the former’s psychokinesis. We even see Shadow in the last panel, just walking away. I guess the mighty leader of The Deadly Six isn’t worth his time.

Or maybe, it is something else. 

Meanwhile, Knuckles is still staring at the sky, holding out hope for Sonic’s return, while Amy and Tails are taking a moment to breathe. Amy has clearly enough of everything, on top of Sonic’s disappearance, but Tails reminds her the Zeti are still loose. We then see Zazz, Zeena, Zor, Zomom and Master Zik deciding to just ditch everything and reunite with Zavok.

We also see the Babylon Rogues, who had survived the Zombot onslaught, Storm hugging happily Jet and Wave. Jet tells him to put him down, while Wave asks Jet whether he’s okay. Jet assures her that he’s fine, with Wave wanting to find Zik and turn him into prune juice. Jet notes that Zik is probably on the run, with Wave pointing out who didn’t run - Jet! He remained with them, and Wave and Storm admire him for that, calling him brave and noble.

Gotta say, I absolutely agree with Wave here. Jet is a badass... even if his ego is bigger than the Babylon Rogues’ airship. Nevertheless, I like the moment here, even with Jet bragging about him being the greatest leader of all time.

Back on Angel Island, Amy laments about going back to whatever is left in the Restoration HQ, with Tails telling her to take a break and asks her why she took the role of the leader. Amy replies that she took it upon herself because a certain someone dissolved the Resistance. Knuckles responds how the War was over and his place was on Angel Island, and how Amy could’ve just refused, but Amy didn’t want to let the people rebuild without any help. They then realize the shuttle is gone, with Big pointing at it in the sky.

Tails and Amy realize it is Eggman who is flying it, while Knuckles leaves them, noting how there’s one more headache he has to deal with.

Knuckles approaches the Master Emerald, with Rouge still lounging on it. Knuckles informs he calmly about Eggman’s escape, asking her why she’s not keeping an eye on him, but Rouge responds how he’s the Guardian of the Island, so isn’t that his job? Knuckles responds how it’s time to scram, with Rouge telling him to give her another minute.

Honestly, I’m surprised that Knuckles hadn’t punched her off the Master Emerald. One would think he’d do that, but no, he takes a more diplomatic approach and just tells her to leave. Again, it’s great to see him like this.

On the other hand, he does threaten to throw her off the island, but Rouge gets down and seems to blush a little when Rouge says good-bye to him, calling him handsome.

Again, I love these two.

☆*:.｡.o(≧▽≦)o.｡.:*☆

Knuckles then once again looks up at the sky, still waiting for Sonic to show up.

“Any minute now.”

We then check in on Gemerl, who finds Orbot and Cubot. The duo tells Eggman they’ve been discovered, so Eggman commands Metal Sonic to retrieve them, punching a hole through Gemerl(!) and grabbing Orbot and Cubot, flying off. Damn, Gemerl is lucky he’s a robot, or else we would’ve seen blood.

Whisper fires at Metal Sonic, but Metal just activates his Black Shield, dropping Gemerl, Orbot and Cubot, then drops the Black Shield and snatches Orbot and Cubot, flying up again. Charmy attempts to go after him, but Vector holds him back, not wanting to go through losing Charmy again (Dad Mode activated!) and tells Silver to grab Metal. Silver, however, is too busy holding Zavok down, so he calls out for Shadow, who zooms right away.

Now, I genuinely like this sequence.

Shadow uses his air shoes in an attempt to catch up with the shuttle, but gets elbowed in the face by Metal Sonic The two fight, with Shadow jumping off a branch and using the air shoes to fly at Metal Sonic.

He spin-dashes into Metal Sonic, with the two continuing their fight.

Metal Sonic blocks another spin-dash, knocking Shadow into the forest below, and flies back to the shuttle. Shadow follows them, but he cannot reach the shuttle anymore, glaring at it, his hand shaking.

All of this is done in complete silence and honestly, I believe this was Shadow’s attempt to redeem himself for what happened at Sunset City. I know, I know, some might say that “oh, this is Shadow trying to get payback for his bruised ego” and I get it. However, my interpretation of this scene is that Shadow is frustrated at himself for not listening to Sonic, so he listens to Silver the moment the latter alerts him to Eggman’s escape. He tries to catch Eggman, but is beaten by Metal Sonic, failing once again at his duty at protecting the world. I believe that this will carry over into the next arc because of a specific scene that happens in this arc.

Meanwhile, in the Sol Dimension, Blaze enjoys the quiet evening, happy that things are peaceful...

...and then the universe itself decides to prove her wrong; and I swear I laughed for a solid minute at this panel.

Blaze runs up to the crater, swearing she’ll deal with anyone who dared to intrude and is shocked at whom she finds.

It is none other than Sonic the Hedgehog! Bruised, beaten, and a little crisp, but alive nonetheless.

Links:

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#Sonic the Hedgehog Analyzer (Masterlist)

[mothfinite]

okay okay okay here we go: what my s/is are doing during the different idw arcs!!!!!!!!!!

part 1 (just moth for now) cuz this post turned out way longer than i thought it would

some stuff definitely varies when factoring in different ship timelines but im just gonna do a general run down of things that happen no matter what

moth !

fallout / battle for angel island - the first half of the arc, theyre definitely doing some r&r after the war. they probably show up after sonic saves spiral hill but before mr. tinker is introduced. since they live just outside of their hometown, they go out to help when a badnik attack happens. sonic, catching wind of the attack, arrives to help moth defeat it. theyre later called in to help in the fight against neo metal.

metal virus saga - this one heavily varies depending on the ship timeline, but regardless of ship, moth narrowly escapes when their hometown is overrun with the virus and meets up with sonic, worried for his well being due to his affliction. they immediately join the efforts to evacuate different cities and towns, using their powers to avoid zombots as best as they can. they manage to last until the incident happens with restoration hq, where they get lost in the chaos and backed into a corner, fighting like hell and swinging their flail to no effect, creating a bubble shield with their powers that will only last for so long. amy is distracted by saving cream, and doesnt notice them. espio sees their bubble and tries to reach them in time -- but before he can make it, the bubble shatters and the horde swarms them. in the shuttle, when amy performs a headcount, espio delivers the news that moth also didnt make it out just before vector turns as well. their next appearance is in the horde of turned friends that swarms angel island, where theyre also cured like the rest.

tangent: bad guys - they ONLY show up here in the mimoth timeline where theyre basically persuaded by starline to see mimic again. they spend most of their time glued to mimic's side cuz hes basically the only one they have even a fraction of trust in. they disappear halfway through, when starline kidnaps them.

chao races & badnik bases - regardless of timeline, by the time this arc starts theyve been kidnapped and project luna v2 is well underway. they dont show up in this arc aside from a luna cameo/mention at the VERY end

test run - no mentions or cameos here

zeti hunt! - theyre semi-mentioned, but not by name. theyre at starlines lab for the time being

trial by fire - with surge and kit being sent out to Cause Trouble, luna is sent out as well, to different areas. the chaotix is handling their missing persons case, and are recieving multiple calls from different towns in response to someone who looks eerily similar to the person on the posters. they try to investigate, but get caught up in the other cases related to the power surges.

impostor syndrome - this is the first full appearance of luna v2. they're fully under starlines control at this point - not really having the same ""free will"" (heavy quotations) as surge and kit.

battle for the empire - luna is initially with starline until eggman attacks, where theyre then sent off to make sure surge and kits missions are going successfully. they end up stumbling across belle and metal and start to follow them. this leads them to witnessing starlines death. they have to be pulled away by belle, eyes remaining locked on the rubble as they run. they finally get brought back home in the end and start their recovery arc

overpowered - moth's brainwashing is effectively reversed, but its made clear that theyre not fully themself. their memories are scrambled and fuzzy, and their personality is just off. theyre recovering during all of the main stuff so they dont have much of a big role in this arc.

urban warfare - if they were Real there would probably be a mini-arc juuust before this arc to show their recovery. they convince the team to let them come along when sonic calls for backup. they help out as much as they can in their condition!

and thats everything up to the current misadventures arc!

[egg-emperor]

lol saw people are talking a bit about how Starline isn't mentioned in future solicitations or something and wonder what happens to him in #50. it's wishful thinking but if they finally take a break from using Starline all the time and hopefully also focus more on Eggman in that time instead of making him disappear in the same way for ages yet again, it would only be fair and he absolutely deserves it. if they don't focus on him enough and give him a more consistent important role in the stories, there's never going to be a chance for him to improve.

everyone complains like "ugh it's so boring when we get the same villain all the time with Eggman" but say nothing about how Eggman has barely been treated as important of a character to the plot for a good amount of time since the comic fucking started while it's usually always Starline Starline Starline that gets way more focus instead. they never say they're getting bored because they think he's better then Eggman for many reasons, which often include believing Eggman is as inferior as this comic keeps treating him and nowhere near as evil.

but with Starline's focus in the Metal Virus arc, Bad Guys, 2020 annual, Chao racing arc whatever it was called they had Clutch but still had to involve Starline, the Belle arc, Imposter Syndrome, and main issues since. maybe I'm forgetting something because I honestly don't pay enough attention to non Eggman involved arcs and issues anymore because I got really bored. and then when Eggman is actually there for once it's only a bit of focus for two issues max at a time but usually less, and it's instead the D6 and now Surge and Kit as other villains that are getting the most.

and this isn't just me being like "waaa other villains that aren't my husbando are hogging all the spotlight" though I can't lie that is a little part of it, you know me lol but also they genuinely haven't been balancing out the focus of villains well at all. and never seeing the main villain of the series for months on end while favoring Starline's excessive appearances in everything as if he really is the Eggman replacement he wants to be and how him and almost all other villains shit on Eggman really sucks. and why do we never get to know what Eggman is doing behind the scenes for these massive breaks in appearing? is he just sitting on his beautiful sexy fat ass? lol and it's like okay but please tell or show me because it's like he just phases out of existence every time he disappears and the only thing that reminds people he exists are abandoned bases and other villains shitting on him. but I feel it's because they don't know what he's supposed to be doing, they don't care to come up with anything.

and most damaging is how they've done Eggman so dirty to try to make Starline seem better and more evil that readers see him as a "poor innocent victim with Tinker as his true self trapped in "this nightmare" of being Eggman who was forced into it by super evil nasty Starline who's the most evil ever and totally the only one that's done fucked up gaslighting and been horrible to his creations and lackeys because Eggman is such a super great wholesome dad and caring person that's never done way more fucked up shit before!!!!" /s and if they don't do that then they believe Eggman is dumb like the comic tried to portray him as and refuse to acknowledge his evil and say Starline is more better and evil that way too.

I know I'm probably asking for too much by not only wishing that Starline gets much less focus at last after #50 and gets even a little less plot significance like Eggman has for most of the comic since it started, and for them to actually treat Eggman like the main evil intelligent villain of the series that he is for once. though it shouldn't be too much but this is IDW. and I guess really I should be prepared for the possibility of them focusing way more on other villains instead, even if Starline does disappear for a little bit. because apparently both fans and writers think Eggman is so boring, ignore all his potential, and truly just a loser.

even after everything there's still part of me that keeps desperately hoping and wishing for more good Eggman writing and an improving portrayal, even though I may end up a huge fool again. I just want my husband to get at least some of what he deserves :')