krafterwrites · 2 years ago
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I think we should stop letting people call stuff filler unless it's DBZ or something with a similar situation to it
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meiloorun-notthefruit · 1 year ago
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nothing like resting after a long day by going through every single Adrenaline Dubs IDW Sonic fan-dub. The quality is *chef’s kiss* 👍👍👍👍🫶👌👌👌 and only gets better as time goes on
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essycogany · 1 year ago
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Rare But Not So Rare Sonic Moments. Character Analysis.
Crying
A weird topic I’m more then happy to discuss.
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Mandate: “Sonic’s not allowed to get overly emotional.”
I’m starting to think the mandates do break in a few instances. This one specifically is something I’m quite interested in because this is probably one of the rarest emotions Sonic displays. Getting sad/emotional.
Hopefully this essay will be a positive outlook on the mandate.
(Despite being a discussion about negative emotions.)
Examples Of Sonic Getting Emotional
I might not include everything, but the examples I have knowledge of will be stated. If you have anymore examples, I’d love to see them.
SATAM: Sonic cried when he and the Freedomfighters had to leave his Uncle Chuck in Robotnik’s lab.
Archie: The times Sonic cried/teared up was when the weight of a situation got to him, when something tragic occurred and all hope was lost, or when he was filled with joy after those instances ended. Those moments like others, didn’t go too far. (For the most part)
Pretty sure he never out right sobbed.
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Underground: I think Sonic only cried when he was a little kid.
Correct me if I’m wrong.
X: In episode 52 Sonic allowed his tears to shed with his head turned away from us. He and Chris ran one last time before Sonic left through a portal to go home forever. It obviously crushed him even if we didn’t see his face.
Boom: Sonic cried/teared up in two episodes of the show. First when Tails was reminiscing about the Tornado and noticed Sonic wiping his eyes. Sonic replied, “What?” Then he, Knuckles, and Tails all cried when they thought the baby they took care of was gone. Also, in Archie when Stick’s rock friend broke or “Died,” everyone in team Boom morned it. Sonic included.
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IDW: Sonic shed tears in the Scrapnick Island Issue. Even if it was “Mecha Sonic’s” tears I’ll count it anyways because it’s a good loophole and it came out of Sonic’s eyes.
Movie 1: It’s implied he indeed cried during the baseball scene. The sources being a deleted scene and story-board of the film.
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Prime: This doesn’t really count, but Sonic teared up in the first episode when he was held captive by the Chaos Council and had light blasted in his eyes, when he was in darkness. Then Sonic actually cried in episode 7 when he ate a seadog. Either because he was home-sick or starving.
(In the last episode of season two it’s implied he might cry in the next episode. Especially with the shot of him looking on the verge of tears and then covered his eyes in the background of the last shot, but we’ll see.)
By the way. You can see the instant improvement from episode 1 to 7 of the tears animation. Just thought I’d say that.
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My Overall Thoughts
Hold on because this is going to be a long ride.
First thing I’d like to discuss is the mandate itself.
I personally don’t believe it means, “Sonic shouldn’t cry.”
(Which has been stated a bunch)
If that were the case, I don’t think this majority of moments (specifically the recent ones) would’ve happened. I think the mandate meant Sonic couldn’t and or shouldn’t go too far with his emotions. I don’t think the mandate existing makes any since, but I won’t get into that.
My point is, Sonic can cry, just not in an overly dramatized way unless it’s done for comedic purposes.
(I say that because of Sonic Boom and the 7th episode of Prime examples. Which are obviously not meant to be taken seriously)
My opinions on Sonic crying.
It’s not necessarily needed, but I don’t mind if it’s done well. I do believe Sonic shouldn’t go too far unless the situation does.
One Issue in Archie when Sonic’s entire life was basically ruined, is a good example. If you’re going to have such calamities happen to him, especially since he has zero ego or mask to hold onto, I think it’s a fair enough scenario for him to react as drastic as his misfortune.
But I believe if he were to cry in something like the Metal Virus. (Just for an example) it could be like how Espio teared up after Vector’s sacrifice.
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Crazy idea. Let’s talk about Shadow for a minute.
Shadow is one of the most stoic characters in the entire franchise. He barely smiles, gets excited, or displays any overly positive emotions. While Sonic rarely cries, gets angry, or shows any harsh negative emotions. Shadow and Sonic are opposites because of that.
Sonic’s overall a positive and outgoing guy who wants to keep moving forward. Whenever he has the time to worry, he runs. Faces his problems head on. Sonic only let’s a small amount of his true emotions out when helping someone else. In general Sonic’s a pretty optimistic character.
Shadow on the other hand is a reserved and serious guy. Who wants what’s best for the world too, but in a more calculated and planned out manner. But for some reason, in Sonic Adventure 2 after Amy encouraged Shadow to save the world, (Which reminded him of Maria’s real wish) He sheds a tear.
I repeat. Shadow is the most stoic character in the entire franchise. Who rarely shows his emotions. And yet he cries.
Why can’t Sonic? To be fair, Sonic usually doesn’t have time to think, let alone worry about how he feels. But if Shadow himself can have a short moment of releasing his emotional baggage, why can’t the blue blur?
Is Sonic even as happy as he let’s on?
I’d say he’s genuinely happy half of the time. Then the other half Sonic’s internalizing everything negative in him. Everyone knows Sonic’s overall upbeat, but we’ve seen plenty of times (In the Metal Virus specifically) when he’s thinking, or enduring the chaos around him, he doubts himself. Sonic has these insecurities and emotions he barely let’s anyone see.
Besides Issue #24
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Even in Sonic Prime while Sonic shows the most guilt, sincerity, anger, fear, and sadness in the show. He sometimes still puts on a front and acts like everything’s fine.
Sonic Unleashed I’m pretty sure was the first and only time we’ve seen him mope for a minute. All because Amy didn’t know who he was. So, he does have some level of insecurities lingering every once in a while.
Can Sonic crying even work?
How I interpret him crying is when he’s alone. Some people theorize in certain instances like SA2 and Unleashed with Shadow and Chip’s sacrifices, he cried a little. I’m fascinated by this idea. I believe it’s the most in character way to let him cry. Maybe even something like X when his face isn’t shown, but you know how he’s feeling.
Even if we do see Sonic’s face, him crying or tearing up could be shown without being over the top. Normalize it in a way that doesn’t fly off the handle. His expression could have a hint of frustration, anger, or exhaustion. Crying is normal and I don’t see Sonic crying as out of character because it’s been done plenty of times.
It’d be nice if it happened in order to make Sonic feel more believable and sympathetic. As long as the dude’s not on the floor whaling, I’m sure it can work.
Final Thoughts
There are other ways to show Sonic’s emotions. Again, crying doesn’t have to happen, but it does help the writing feel less unnecessarily limited of what kind of emotions can be displayed on this character.
Though there are benefits too. Like finding fun loopholes or small animated details like in IDW and Prime. Sonic not crying so much makes the times he does (or may do in the future) feel earned and impactful. The examples before prove it can be done without taking away what makes Sonic who he is. It just needs to be subtle, quiet, and quick. (Or humorous) Depends on what you think.
At the end of it all, Sonic’s a tough hedgehog. Him shedding a few tears won’t ever change that.
Stay Creative! 💜
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archiesoniconline · 2 years ago
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Sonic Universe Online #52 Behind The Scenes!
Hello, everyone!  Boy, it’s been a while since we’ve done one of these, huh?  But considering we finally managed to release this issue after its nightmarish production cycle, we decided that it was a good time to bring the “behind the scenes” posts back.  There’s a lot to talk about with this one, so get ready for a real doozy!
As usual, let’s start with the cover.  We wanted to have Bunnie and Scarlett as the focus, and RocketPOW! went through several drafts of what that would look like.  In the end, we settled on having them playing cards in the bar from Sonic Mania’s Mirage Saloon Zone to fit with the desert theme.  It’s also worth noting that we had Jack on the cover at one point but ultimately decided against it, since the story focuses more on his lackeys than himself.
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Before we start on the actual story, I guess we should begin with the elephant in the room: Bunnie’s redesign.  Even though we technically first saw her new look in issue 51, we might as well go over it now.  Picking up from where the official comic left off, we knew that Bunnie had a redesign after being legionized, but the reboot happened before we ever got to see it.  And with the redesign of such an important character, obviously there was a lot of pressure to do her justice.  There was some old concept art by Tracy Yardley of legionnaire Bunnie, but we didn’t want to just take that and call it a day.  We had quite a field day with many of our talented artists coming up with their own interpretations of her redesign, including @miitoons, @riggo-draws, @drawloverlala, @fritzymagpies, Tim Campbell, CrimDa, DoNotDelete, and more that I sadly can’t remember anymore.  From the shape and function of her cybernetics, her overall color scheme, her clothing, her hairstyle, her weapons, etc., every last detail was meticulously gone over until we arrived at the final design taking what we liked most from each of them.
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At first, we had gotten Tale to draw out the first several pages, and even though they were finished, he unfortunately had to step out of the issue and we had Gilgalad take over, better known as Thomas Rothlisberger, who we were lucky to have on the team before he moved on to the IDW Sonic comics.  For the sake of consistency (lol), we unfortunately had to scrap Tale’s pages so he could redo those as well.
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Holly’s sickness isn’t elaborated on in the actual story, but the gist is that she’s a snow leapord who was roboticized during the First Robotnik War.  But after the Bem deroboticized her while she was in the desert, her body became sick due to being stuck in the inhospitable environment, which is an example of how misplaced many of the former Robians were being sent far out of their natural habitats, and losing the protection of their robot bodies was actually a detriment.
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A Sonic fan with a good eye for detail may notice that the guard who takes over watching Bunnie after Scarlett is actually one of the unnamed members of Infinite’s Jackal Squad from the Sonic Forces prequel comic.  Since this cameo may or may not go anywhere in regards to Infinite in ASO, we opted against using Infinite himself since he’s too important of a character to pass off as a mere cameo.  If you want this plot thread to be expanded upon, let us know!
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Since this is where we introduce Holly and her relationship with Scarlett, it’s as good a time as any to discuss the process of their creation.  With Scarlett, we wanted to introduce a character who would serve as a foil to Bunnie, another person struggling due to their bedridden lover, but with diametrically-opposed views regarding cybernetics.  Her design was actually taken from a random Sand Blaster who appeared in a single panel of StH #218, who we decided to turn into a full-fledged character.  Although her species was unknown during her single appearance, we decided to make her a fennec fox.  On the other hand, Holly was an entirely new design that we came up with for the story.  The LGBT aspect of their relationship was actually the idea of my editor for the issue, The Shadow Imperator.  I stated in the interview after the issue that I was the one who came up with their names, but that’s not the whole truth.  There was a whole team effort dedicated to naming the two of them, before I suggested Scarlett since there was an abandoned plot point about how Bunnie’s true name was at one point planned to be Scarlett O’Hare.  Our Scarlett’s full name is Scarlett O’Fenn, with ShadImp being the one to suggest adding the last name as well.  But since her last name didn’t come up in the story, I apologize for forgetting to mention it.  Holly was also one of several names I came up with, which was agreed on due to the sort of “snowy” feel it has to it.
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In my initial draft for Scarlett and Holly’s conversation, I wrote Holly as being more openly pessimistic about her condition, outright stating that Scarlett would be better off if she was gone.  But since that seemed rather inconsiderate to Scarlett’s feelings, ShadImp suggested that I tone it down a little and have her only mention feeling like a burden.  He was also the one to suggest that I make sure their romantic relationship is mentioned as explicitly as possible, so there would be no room for ambiguity that might lessen the impact of their sexual orientation.
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Scarlett taking off her hat here wasn’t actually in the script I wrote, but it was a smart move by Gilgalad, showing her letting her guard down around the one person she can afford to do so with.  To put it simply, Scarlett offers Holly physical support while Holly offers Scarlett emotional support, so neither one is one-sidedly supporting the other.  This scene also demonstrates that even though Scarlett is easily the most level-headed and compassionate Sand Blaster we’ve seen so far, some of the old bigotries and prejudice against cyborgs and robots that Jack instilled into her still remain.
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Gilgalad had actually already penciled out the next couple pages, but since he wasn’t able to stick around for the full story, we decided that that the end of Scarlett and Holly’s scene was a good cutoff point for the drastic shift in art style.  Red Rabbit is an amazing artist with a style very similar to Patrick Spaziante, but it is still a jarring shift compared to most other artists on the project.  I had also originally written Bunnie mentioning not being very good at undercover missions, but when ShadImp brought up her successful operation tricking Battle Lord Kukku I changed the script to have her mention that instead.
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At first, I was planning for the poker scene to have the characters holding cards that reflected their position in the conversation, such as holding a winning hand when they have the upper hand in the argument.  But since I have absolutely no knowledge or experience with poker, that idea ultimately didn’t come through in the final story.  This scene also serves to flesh out the Sand Blasters and show that none of them are blindly loyal to Jack.  Tex obviously has his own agenda, Avery just goes along with whatever’s the least troublesome, Shift wants to get his hands on new technology, and Jolt does genuinely want the city to open up to the rest of the world.
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You may have noticed that instead of rocket feet like her old design, Bunnie now flies with a removable jet pack on her back.  If you’re wondering how that wouldn’t burn her tail off, it was specifically designed so that the fire trails would shoot aiming away from her tail.
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Originally, during the car chase sequence Bunnie’s jet pack was just written to malfunction for no real reason.  But eventually, I decided to give it a more interesting explanation by adding in hints that Shift may have intentionally sabotaged it to trip up Bunnie, only to reveal that he was actually trying to fix it and he didn’t betray her after all.  This was also the portion of the story where Ink Pants took over for pencils, and then Lav after him.  Even though they’re all fine artists in their own right, hopefully this will be the last time that we need to include so many drastic changes in art style to illustrate a single story.
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We almost had one more shift in art style, with @gendeerfluid​ penciling the last page.  In the end, Lav managed to finish that one as well, giving us a massive cliffhanger both figuratively and literally in the form of Jun Kun, the Iron King.
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That’s about it for this one, folks!  Thanks for sticking with us all this time, and look forward to the conclusion of this story next issue.  Until then, keep on juicin’!
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the-sky-queen · 9 months ago
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Sky's AU ask game masterlist!
Here's a list of all 55 AUs that appeared in my ask game, including their real name and links to the posts they were in! Feel free to send their numbers again for more snippets or just ask me questions about them!
(Some of these names are placeholders. XD You'll be able to tell which ones.)
The Black Prince - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
New Beginnings - 1
Guardian Swap - 1 2
Survivor Swap - 1
Shadow the Hedgehog: Restoration - 1
Good King Shadow - 1
My Fanfic World (Nexus) (need a name for this one) - 1
Soon May the Wellerman Come - 1
The Fall of King Arthur - 1 2
The Blind Hero - 1
Memory Lost - 1 2
Hivemind - 1 2
Legacy - 1
Metal - 1 2
The Void - 1
Broken and Whole - 1 2
Little Gremlins - 1 2 3 4 5 6
Mystery - 1 2
Future Families - 1
Angel of Death - 1
Sonic Phantoms (+ Forces Aftermath) - 1 2 3 4
Movie SSS and Game SSS - 1 2 3
Sonic was created with Shadow - 1
Mega Swap! - 1
Sonic is Just Literally the Ultimate Lifeform - 1 2
(Splitting it up because it's too long otherwise)
26. Shadow Biological Parents - 1
27. Deaf Sonic - 1 2
28. Star Dust - 1
29. Mind Merge - 1 2
30. Actually Dead AU (I NEED TO RENAME THIS ONE, THIS NAME IS TAKEN) - 1 2
31. Sonic 3M AU - 1
32. A Ghost of Who I Used to Be - 1 2
33. The Best Years of Our Lives - 1
34. Father, I wanted to Make You Proud - 1
35. Masks - 1
36. Adventures in Moebius - 1
37. Alter-Egos - 1
38. Shadow has Celiac now :) - 1
39. Sonic is a manipulating hypnotizing little jerk :) - 1
40. SONIC IS BLIND - 1
41. Gone Wrong - 1 2 3 4
42. The Unleashed Thing I Had a Dream About - 1
43. Spirits AU - 1
44. IDW Issue 19 Rewrite - 1
45. SA2 Shadow's Sacrifice Rewritten - 1
46. To Make It Right - 1
47. Awakened - 1
48. Impostor Syndrome Mini Sequel - 1
49. Shadow the Hedgehog: Origin - 1
50. Fruits Basket Sonic yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee - 1
51. Scourge: Fanfilm - 1
52. Sonic and the Avengers??!! - 1 2 3 4
53. Shadow Whipple Story :D - 1
54. Immortals - 1
55. Sonic's Choose Your Own Adventure Story - 1
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blazehedgehog · 1 year ago
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What do you think of the new characters introduced in the IDW Sonic the Hedgehog comics (Tangle, Whisper, Starline, Belle, etc.)?
All of them great. I miss Starline, though he literally lives on in spirit, I think.
I've actually wondered what they're going to do about that. If Surge keeps sticking around, either they're going to have to cure her of her Starline hallucinations or they're going to have to make him real again, because it would be weird if, in two years, Surge sees another hallucination of Starline and there are readers who either only know him as a hallucination or are outright confused by who that is.
(Given an upcoming story is hinting at possible multiverse shenanigans, it could be a good chance to bring in a new version of Starline from an alternate reality. A Sideline Starline from Another Timeline, if you will.)
But I appreciate how unique all the new characters are. They all have a reason to exist, they all have a role that doesn't push anyone else out of the spotlight, they're all cool and interesting in their own ways. It's great. Not a single complaint.
I need to make an effort to catch up on IDW, though. The last issue I read was 52 or 53 and then I shut down to devote all my attention to the SA2 video. I missed Scrapnik Island and everything.
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sonicku · 2 years ago
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My Progress With Sonic!
For a few years now, I've been a fan of Sonic the Hedghog. But... I haven't actually engaged with much of the media! (I've been making great progress with the franchise by now)! So I'm going to use this pinned post to note how much I've seen, played, and read, a journey I'm excited to take!
There are multiple completion statuses for reference:
Complete Story (Games only)
Truly Complete (Simply 'Complete' for non games) [Identified as all Steam achivements unlocked, or an equivalent]
In Progress
Dropped (For now...)
Maxed ('Truly Complete' for media still being updated/released, or with DLC I don’t own.)
Minmaxed ('Complete Story' for games still being updated/released, or with DLC I don’t own.)
N/A (Games with no viable completion status)
(Last updated: 27/01/2024, British Format)
---
Movies:
Sonic the Hedgehog [2020] (Complete)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 [2022] (Complete)
TV Shows:
Adventures of STH (In Progress) [Episode 6]
Sonic X Pilot (Complete) [Episode 2]
Sonic X (In Progress) [Season 2, Episode 5]
Sonic BOOM (Complete) [Season 2, Episode 52]
Sonic Prime (Complete) [Season 3, Episode 7]
Archie Comics:
Sonic the Hedgehog MINI (Complete) [Issue 3~4]
Sonic the Hedgehog (In Progress) [Issue 206]
Sonic In Your Face Special (Complete) [Issue 1]
Princess Sally (Complete) [Issue 3]
Sonic & Knuckles (Complete) [Issue 1]
Triple Trouble Special (Complete) [Issue 1]
Tails (Complete) [Issue 3]
Knuckles' Chaotix (Complete) [Issue 1]
Super Sonic vs. Hyper Knuckles (Complete) [Issue 1]
Sonic’s Friendly Nemesis Knuckles (Complete) [Issue 3]
Sonic & Knuckles: Mecha Madness (Complete) [Issue 1]
Sonic Quest: The Death Egg Saga (Complete) [Issue 3]
Sonic Super Special (Complete) [Issue 15]
Knuckles the Echidna (Complete) [Issue 32]
Sonic X (Complete) [Issue 40]
Sonic Universe (In Progress) [Issue 10]
Sonic Boom (In Progress) [Issue 3]
IDW Comics
Sonic Forces: Moment of Truth (Complete) [Issue 4]
Sonic the Hedgehog (Maxed) [Issue 68]
Team Sonic Racing One Shot (Complete) [Issue 1]
Sonic: Tangle and Whisper (Complete) [Issue 4]
Bad Guys (Complete) [Issue 4]
Imposter Syndrome (Complete) [Issue 4]
Sonic 2 Movie Pre-quill (Complete) [Issue 1]
Scrapnik Island (Complete) [Issue 4]
Sonic Frontiers Prologue: Convegance (Complete) [Issue 1]
Winter Jam (Complete) [Issue 1]
Books:
Sonic the Hedgehog: In the Fourth Dimension (In Progress)
2D Platformers:
Sonic the Hedgehog 16-Bit (In Progress)
Sonic Chaos (Dropped)
Sonic Blast (Dropped)
Sonic Advance (In Progress)
Sonic Rush (In Progress)
Sonic the Hedgehog, Episode 4, Part I (In Progress)
Sonic the Hedgehog, Episode 4, Part II (Dropped)
Sonic Mania (In Progress)
Sonic Superstars (In Progress)
3D Platformers:
Sonic Adventure (Complete Story)
Sonic Adventure 2 (Complete Story)
Sonic Heroes (In Progress)
Shadow the Hedgehog (In Progress)
Sonic the Hedgehog [2006] (In Progress)
Sonic and the Secret Rings (Dropped)
Sonic Generations (In Progress)
Sonic Lost World (In Progress)
Sonic Forces (Complete Story)
Sonic Frontiers (In Progress)
Sonic Dream Team (In Progress)
Racing Games:
Team Sonic Racing (In Progress)
Other Spin-Off Games:
Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (Dropped)
Sonic Pinball Party (Dropped)
Sonic Battle (In Progress)
Sonic Forces: Speed Battle (N/A) [Level 8]
Sonic Speed Simulator (N/A) [7 Rebirths]
Compilations:
Sega Genesis Classics (In Progress)
Sonic Origins (In Progress)
... And much more to come!
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neomel · 3 months ago
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IDW Sonic Arcs Tierlist Masterpost!
Introduction
Arcs
Miniseries
One-shots & Annuals
Sagas
FAQ
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Introduction
Hello! This is the masterpost for my Tiermaker template regarding all of IDW Sonic's stories - "arcs", for short! Due both to the somewhat messy reading order of the comic and Tiermaker's restrictions on description lengths, I concluded the best course of action to best inform people was to just make a big post on here, detailing all possible questions and confusion you might have. I of course can't decide what you want to do with this info - make your tierlist however you want! - but I hope to at least give some pointers to help clear up confusion.
The images on the template are divided into four categories per the color of their banner (with colors and names that you might've noticed in the table of contents above!). These represent the various ways in which IDW Sonic's stories are officially* categorized in: Arcs, Miniseries, One-Shots / Annuals. and Sagas. The default order that the images appear in on the list, as seen in the above image, follows their release and recommended reading order. Detailed descriptions of what each of these categories mean, as well as where every issue fits in, can be found on each of the bullet-points below.
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2. Arcs
Arcs in Sonic IDW are how the comic's main numbered issues are bunched together: think of the issues as chapters, and the arcs as the narrative those chapters form. Every issue with a number, from #1 to today, is part of an arc, and said arcs typically to follow a narrative throughline throughout them, beginning at the start of the arc and being resolved - or changing focus - by the end.
These arcs are officially named and sorted through IDW's paperback reprints, a list of which can be found here. These paperbacks also insert some one-shots and annuals into some arcs, despite these being mostly disconnected from the ongoing arc. As a result of this, some arcs contain 5 whole issues, while others only contain 2 with the rest being made up of these one-shot additions. Whether or not you count these self-contained stories as being part of arcs or not is entirely up to you when making the list!
As of writing [2024-07-26], issues #72 - #75 are yet to be released and yet to be given an official arc name. Once said arc name is revealed, it will be added to the template.
Fallout! > #1 - #4
The Fate of Dr. Eggman > #5 - #8
Battle for Angel Island > #9 - #12
Infection > #13 - #16
Crisis City > #17 - #20
The Last Minute > #21 - #24
All or Nothing > #25 - #29
Out of the Blue > [Annual 2020] #30 - #32
Chao Races & Badnik Bases > #33 - #36
Test Run! > #37 - #40
Zeti Hunt! > #41 - #44
Trial by Fire > #45 - #49
Battle for the Empire > #50 - #51 [Deep Trouble] [Annual 2022]
Overpowered > #52 - #56
Urban Warfare > #57 - #61
Misadventures > #62 - #66
Adventure Awaits > #67 - #68 [900th Adventure] [Endless Summer] [Chaotix Halloween]
Extreme Competition > #69 - #71 [Winter Jam] [Spring Broken]
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3. Miniseries
Miniseries are 4-issue side stories that take place inbetween main arcs, typically starring other characters from the comic than Sonic and c.o! These are still part of the story of the comic, but the order they're listed in here is specifically based on the date they were released, not when they canonically take place.
Tangle & Whisper > After Infection
Bad Guys > After Out of the Blue
Imposter Syndrome > After Trial by Fire
Scrapnik Island > After Overpowered
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4. One-shots / Annuals
One-shots, as the name implies, are stories contained entirely to a single comic issue. Annuals are similar: Think of them like collections of several smaller One-shots, all drawn by different artists! Like with the Miniseries, these are all canon and part of the storyline, and all but one are officially included as part of arcs per the paperback reprints. As they're typically disconnected from the events of the main comic's arcs, I recommend ranking these on their own!
Annual 2019 > Not part of any arc
Annual 2020 > Part of Out of the Blue
Deep Trouble > Part of Battle for the Empire
Annual 2022 > Part of Battle for the Empire
900th Adventure > Part of Adventure Awaits
Endless Summer > Part of Adventure Awaits
Chaotix Halloween > Part of Adventure Awaits
Winter Jam > Part of Extreme Competition
Spring Broken > Part of Extreme Competition
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5. Sagas
The little asterisk at the end of "officially" in the introduction was referring to this category in particular. Sagas in IDW Sonic are ways to group together the greater story of the book into phases, mainly through a common thread that binds the arcs and issues featured together. This classification is the only one not officially provided by IDW themselves - however, the comic book's main writer Ian Flynn has provided the names and outline for them through his podcast, to help divide the comic's run into different sections. Sagas are effectively a way to view the IDW Sonic story on a macro scale, combining multiple pieces of the story into larger wholes.
Whilst looking at the tiermaker template, think of it like this: Every Arc, Miniseries and One-shot / Annual featured before a Saga icon is part of said Saga, and everything after said Saga icon is part of the next Saga. As of writing [2024-07-26], the ongoing saga beginning with Scrapnik Island and issue #57 lacks a given name and is thus not featured on the tierlist template.
Revenge of Neo Metal [#1 - #12] Fallout!, The Fate of Dr. Eggman, Battle for Angel Island, Annual 2019
The Metal Virus [#13 - #32] Infection!, Tangle & Whisper, Crisis City, The Last Minute, All or Nothing, Annual 2020, Out of the Blue,
Eggman's Legacy [#33 - #56] Bad Guys, Chao Races & Badnik Bases, Test Run!, Zeti Hunt!, Trial by Fire, Imposter Syndrome, Battle for the Empire, Deep Trouble, Annual 2022, Overpowered
Saga of Misadventures [#57 - #75] Scrapnik Island, Urban Warfare, Misadventures, Adventure Awaits, 900th Adventure, Endless Summer, Chaotix Halloween, Extreme Competition, Winter Jam, Spring Broken, Phantom Riders
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6. FAQ
I'll be using this section to address some common questions that I've received from others in asking for feedback in this template. If you have further questions, feel free to add them in the reblog tags or replies, and I'll edit the post to include them!
Why aren't the Classic Sonic IDW issues featured, such as the 30th Anniversary Special or Fang the Hunter?
My goal with the default sorting of this template, as described in the introduction, to follow both with their release and recommended reading order. The Classic Sonic IDW issues are very disconnected from the core Sonic IDW storyline, as the Classic Sonic games still exist in a nebulous amount of time in the past before the original Sonic Adventure. Because of this, they're not part of any of the three currently established sagas nor part of any of IDW's officially released reading orders - and I have no way of adding them to the template that doesn't mess with the sorting. For instance, due to how Tiermaker works, all images added are shoved into the very back: This means that if I were to put all the Classic Sonic stories in at the beginning of the template (per their Chronological appearance), all new Classic IDW releases such as the upcoming Knuckles anniversary release would end up awkwardly squeezed in the middle of the main series.
However, since Tiermaker lets users add their own custom images to templates, I want to eventually make a sort of "DLC pack" with images of all the Classic Sonic releases. These will be linked here with a Google Drive link at a later date.
What about the Sonic Forces, Team Sonic Racing, and Sonic Frontiers prequel / tie-in comics?
Those may also be included in the future - and if so, they'll be released the same way as the Classic Sonic releases.
What the heck is "Deep Trouble"?
During 2021 and 2022, IDW released "Free Comic Book Day" issues of the Sonic comic, released for free as per the name of the annual holiday. Whilst 2021's release was halfway a Classic Sonic story and a halfway a clipshow recap of the IDW comic from issue #1 to #49, the 2022 release included a new story canon to the main Sonic IDW storyline. That's "Deep Trouble"!
Why are #67 and #68 not part of "Misadventures"? What even is "Adventure Awaits"?!
I was surprised to learn this too! The paperback releases seem to have an upper cap for how many issues they're willing to include, which meant that #62-68 couldn't all be fit into one release. I think it's perfectly valid to consider them all still part of the same arc and to just ignore "Adventure Awaits" (particularly with #67, I believe that one really should have been in the "Misadventures" paperback). Nevertheless, the aim in including releases like "Adventure Awaits" is to allow the template to have as many options as possible for the sake of ranking: I would rather include too many options than too few, and I reckon that ignoring arc classifications that you find stupid is a completely valid option in making your tierlist!
What's the deal with "Extreme Competition" Isn't the arc called "Phantom Riders"?
Issues #69-75 have a similar quirk as "Misadventures" described above, where what's seemingly presented as one arc is instead split up into two paperbacks. This is, of course, because #69-#75 is a LOT of comic book: With #75 being double-sized, the stretch's total run is equivalent to that of EIGHT issues: Double that of the standard paperback release! Therefore, "Extreme Competition" collects the start of this larger Phantom Riders arc in #69-#71, alongside two one-shot stories that center on competition, in "Winter Jam" and "Spring Broken". While we don't yet have a formal announcement on what the next paperback release will be after this, it's nigh inevitable that it's going to be collecting #72-#75 under the "Phantom Riders" name.
What all this means for you, effectively, is that you'll (soon) have the choice to either rank "Phantom Riders" as the entire stretch of issues from #69 to #75, or rank it as specifically the second half of the story, with "Extreme Competition" making up the first half. If you don't want to engage with this split-in-two system that the paperbacks did, my advice is the same as in the above question regarding "Adventure Awaits": If you think the arc classification is stupid, just disregard it! Most people will probably understand "Phantom Riders" as meaning the entire arc anyway.
You mentioned them by name above; when are "Phantom Riders" and "Saga of Misadventures" being added to the template?
When the paperback for "Phantom Riders" is officially announced.
Where did the Saga name "Saga of Misadventures" come from?
While the comic's first three names were provided by Ian Flynn through his podcast, these three sagas were also the ones that he was most prominently involved with. Evan Stanley wrote a majority of material from #57 to #75, and in her opinion this stretch of the book isn't to be considered a saga. She's further said that, if the stretch of issues had to be labeled under any name, it would be "Misadventures". I of course respect Evan Stanley's wishes for her run in the book, yet also am bound by the template's framework to still encapsulate #57-#75 under a name: Thus, to avoid confusion with the arc of the same name, I coined the name "Saga of Misadventures".
If you want to adhere to Evan's wishes of avoiding considering the stretch a saga whatsoever, you're free to avoid ranking the saga altogether.
In the list of arcs, why is Annual 2020 listed first on Out of the Blue, before the issues that make up the arc?
That's the way it was printed in the paperback! I assume it's because Annual 2020 features a good number of stories regarding the Metal Virus, and that Out of the Blue is the definitive end to the Metal Virus saga.
What about the Archie Comics?
I haven't read them!
Can I ask you something?
Sure thing! And if it's a question relevant enough to the template, I'll add it on here!
[LAST EDIT: 2024-09-23]
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crystalmaiden77real · 8 months ago
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IDW Sonic Stories I'm Fine with or Better:
35 stories as of the release of Issue 68 including Issues 1, 4, 7, Annual 2019’s first 3 stories and final one, 15, 16, 20, 24, Annual 2020’s second and final stories, 25, 26, 29, 30, 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 30th Anniversary Special’s first story, Sonic Free Comic Book Day 2021, 47, Imposter Syndrome 2, 52, Annual 2022’s first story, Scrapnik Island 1 & 4, 61, and Sonic Halloween Special, Winter Jam, 68.
Ones that I suppose are great because they're both good and make sense to have happened: Annual 2019 Sonic Fan Club by James Kochalka, 2020 Annual Darkest Hour, Annual 2020 Flock Together. So these are top tier. Which ones belong in a hypothetical center paragraph would be the ones in the first paragraph that I like the most, especially the ones that make the most sense.
As for why more stories aren't in these lists, to be fair, I am easily bored if it makes you feel better... I like stories that have fast pacing or at least center around a new idea for the series.
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XD, she’s really coming into her own hanging around the Sonic crew so far. That seems like something Sonic would do in this situation.
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endersigil · 2 years ago
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wake up babe, new sonic idw issue just dropped
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sonknuxadow · 2 years ago
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thinking about how in one of the earlier issues of the metal virus arc sonic was thinking about how he isnt used to being a liability to his friends but hes been through similar stuff before so he'll be ok... and his werehog form was shown as an example of similar stuff.... sonic what did you mean by that let me have a look inside your brain please
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000marie198 · 2 years ago
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Oh Tails, sweetie, you're turning into a big brother.
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marinaiguess · 2 years ago
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I just read issue #52 from the idw comics and I’ve been thinking abt this one moment.
Spoilers ahead
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Sonic is asking Kit to help them and after hesitating for a little bit, he agrees. At first glance, I thought this was Kit escaping from his “coding”, fighting the only purpose he has served his enitre life; helping Surge. I thought this was him making a new start, finding a new purpose in his life, one that wouldn’t include Starline’s wills but only his own. Trusting new people, coming to terms with the ones you were programmed to destroy should signify the beginning of a self-discovering journey.
But then it hit me. This is not Kit escaping his coding, this is quite the opposite, he is following it. He wants to do whatever Surge wants to, he agrees with anything Surge says, he follows her orders. But Surge is modeled after Sonic. She has Sonic’s attitude, the same leading skills, the same self-confident (and reckless) spirit, same speaking patterns. Sure, she is his "roboticized" (for lack of a better term) evil counterpart more than anything, nevertheless the similarities are apparent. So, maybe Kit sees Surge in Sonic and in a way, agreeing to help him and save him is exactly what he has always been doing.
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idwsonicnews · 2 years ago
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Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) #52 Preview Pages
Script/Pencils: Evan Stanley
Inks: Rik Mack (with Maria Keane also providing inks later in the issue)
Colors: Reggie Graham
Letters: Shawn Lee
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thankskenpenders · 2 years ago
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I wasn’t going to make a post about this because it’s just so goddamn stupid and isn’t going to go anywhere and this person doesn’t deserve the attention, but here we are
Covers for both the IDW Sonic 2022 Annual issue as well as issue #52 are out now. It’s always a fun time over on Twitter when all the artists get to share the cool covers they’ve been working on. Except, this time, there’s a problem. Multiple posts of Jen Hernandez’s cover for Sonic #52 have been DMCA’d, because said cover features Belle... and someone is claiming that Belle is a ripoff of their character
The character in question, “Boingkid,” was created for a series of comics, as well as a retro throwback platformer that had an unsuccessful Kickstarter in 2017 titled Boingkid and the Chambers of Destiny. According to the creator, he contacted IDW about potentially publishing his comics in early 2019, but got no response. He alleges that Evan, a freelance creator who presumably has no role whatsoever in IDW’s licensing process, saw this pitch and then decided to steal the Boingkid concept, thus creating Belle
The problem, of course, is that beyond the well-established “sentient toy” concept, the clown nose, and the standard three-dot freckles... the characters don’t have much in common. Judge for yourself:
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Like, come the fuck on. One is a spring toy with a suction cup stuck to his feet, the other is a robotic marionette with woodworking tools built into her fingers. Any similarities are mostly due to the shared Pinocchio influence, as well as broad stylistic influences from classic cartoons and video games that Boingkid guy can claim no ownership of. The creator of Boingkid is reaching so hard that he’s trying to say both characters are “flexible,” which... I have no idea how that applies to Belle, either physically or in terms of personality. After getting in an argument with Jen, who was upset that her cover got DMCA’d, the artist even went as far as drawing this, which only undermines their point further by showing how dissimilar the characters are. If it wasn’t labeled then no one would look at this and think it was Belle. The pigtails are the only real signifier
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As always, as an indie dev and freelance artist myself, I feel for anyone trying to make a living in the scene, and this guy is undeniably a skilled artist. But going after your peers like this is lower than low. It's hard to read this as anything but a cheap publicity stunt. And digging into the Kickstarter for the Boingkid game, this isn’t even a case of a young artist pulling some stupid stunt out of naivety. The creator is a grown-ass man from Italy with over 20 years of industry experience
But it’s always fuckin’ something, huh. This obviously isn’t going to go anywhere because the allegations are so laughable, and I feel sorry that Evan and the crew have to deal with this, but I figured it was worth addressing. Sonic Twitter is gonna do what it always does and pile on the quote tweets, but I would advise people to not give this guy the attention he wants
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