Scary Movie
"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"
Aqua Utopia|海の底で記憶を紡ぐ
cherry valley forever
Lint Roller? I Barely Know Her
Cosmic Funnies

★

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if i look back, i am lost
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Mike Driver
trying on a metaphor
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#extradirty

oozey mess
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Keni
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@lonewolf23k
Scary Movie
Strictly speaking, "ultimate" means "last", not "best". It's often figuratively employed in the latter sense to suggest that the thing so described is the final word on the subject, after which nothing more need be said, but if we're being real technical, describing a game or movie that was so bad it killed its entire franchise as the "ultimate" is in fact correct.
@ffoxer replied:
Now I'm thinking about the prefix "pen," which as far as I can think I may have only ever seen in "penultimate"
It's Latin for "nearly" or "almost", and it does pop up in a few other English words. "Penultimate", "penumbra" and "peninsula" are the only ones I can think of that you'd even remotely expect to encounter in everyday speech, though; the rest are all medical or mathematical jargon.
#so peninsula means what? #almost island? #lmao (via @actualanxiousswampwitch)
That is the actual etymology of the word "peninsula", yes.
That cat is legitimately getting a state funeral, several statues, a weepy 10 thousand word obituary from The Guardian and an Elton John tribute song when he goes.
how to make your effects extra special
It can be somewhat disheartening when you the artisans and craftsman of yesteryear who created miracles out of limited technology go forgotten. Always nice to see someone somewhere making tributes to them.
GO OFF BESTIE
Source
I’ve been thinking on it a bit further and I think that the reason that Nolan’s odyssey has the problems that it does is that it’s afraid to be seen as unserious for even one second.
Like they could’ve and in my opinion should’ve had Zendaya as Athena descend from the heavens in full battle armor but they didn’t. It would’ve been accurate to the original text.
We can’t have anything look rediculous in this movie though I guess. Can’t have a cyclops thinking that a guy is named Nobody. Can’t have a drugged up island of silly lotus eaters that Odysseus has to physically drag his men away from.
Anyways I did mostly enjoy this movie I swear but I wish they’d gotten silly with it even just once.
Comic relief has its place in serious stories but the only way that laughter is used in this movie is by the suitors to literally kick beggars.
THE FRENCH FUJOSHI: and you will put ze tips of your penise togezher, oui? and you will insert yourself into 'iz boyhole, oui?
Eevee finally accepts the cone!
Archie Sonic Reboot Wrap Up - Part 2
The Freedom Fighters
So I want to recognize that, before we go into this, that not everyone is a fan of the new version of the Freedom Fighters. For some it is their new designs, which for some was too dramatic of a change in the effort of making them appear more-in-line with the current modern Sonic designs. For others it is the change in roles and adherence to SEGA standards, with certain things, like Sonic’s romantic relationship with Sally, being gone. And for others, after being invested in the old versions of the cast, simply did not want to see those things altered. I understand all of those mindsets. In regards to the last one, I feel a similar way about the TMNT franchise, where I ultimately want the version of those characters I grew up with, and don’t care as much for the new stuff.
If anyone thinks I truly hate stuff, this is still my current phone background.
All that being said…I think the team deserves a lot of credit for what they were able to do with the Freedom Fighters even under the worst situation imaginable given the Penders lawsuit. It is unfair to compare a comic that lasted only a few years (i.e. reboot) with a story that lasted for nearly 250 issues (preboot). The team simply did not have the time to go as far with certain things as they may have liked (though ASR has given us a taste of what they had in mind for them). Ultimately, I quite liked this version of the Freedom Fighters. These characters were the highlights of the comic for me, and provided the emotional core I needed to be invested in these stories (something I cannot say for the game characters, but we will get there).
The team had so much more leeway with the Freedom Fighters, and they just felt more well-rounded and connected to the setting than the others. They have family members who they love or have lost in this world, they have romantic relationships with one another, and they have more opportunities to grow, effectively dodging many of the annoying SEGA mandates that annoy folks. And to the art team’s credit, every character was instantly recognizable and looked much closer to Sonic game designs, even if there was stuff I personally would have tweaked.
One of the themes that is pervasive throughout the comic, and comes up repeatedly for the Freedom Fighters, is that our heroes often need to be reminded of why they are fighting. Which is a theme some stories often forget. It is important that the audience like the world our heroes are trying to save, and even in the short time they had, the Archie Sonic team did a great job of giving the Freedom Fighters emotional reasons to fight.
Rotor the Walrus
Rotor has always been the most difficult Freedom Fighter to place, as is something that Flynn explains well in his podcast. And it is pretty easy to explain why. The role of Sonic’s engineer has been taken by Tails, and even the biggest of Rotor fans I have ever seen have never advocated that he would overtake Sonic’s little buddy. Now that being said, there is a little more nuance to this whole discussion we won’t get into here, as Rotor has played some different roles during the Archie preboot comics, and one could argue that an easy fix would just be having Rotor specialize in another area of engineering, but regardless most fans I have talked to agree that Rotor is the toughest Freedom Fighter to justify bringing back, and would likely only make the cut if it was along with the whole team.
That being said, we are here to talk about how he is in Reboot. As Sonic notes when he first sees his old friend, Rotor has gotten swole. Now you might think that because of this he plays the role of being the team’s “muscle,” but in practice, that was not the case. We will talk about why that is later on, but let’s just say that this role was taken by others, so for the most part we see Tails and Rotor working together when engineering things seem to happen. Once again, Rotor is a hard character to place.
That being said, I actually like Rotor’s appearance. It grew on me as I saw different artists give their own interpretation of his base design. Later on, once we see Skelli and Yardley draw Rotor, he eventually gets a softer looking form. He still has broad shoulders, but is certainly not as “tough” looking as he was originally. Now, one could ask, why can’t we have husky Rotor like we had before? That was more unique, but also not exactly the look of someone you’d play in a Sonic game and I recognize why they made the change.
Sonic giving family advice is like a blind man giving fashion advice.
That being said, plot wise Rotor’s main plot in the comic involves his father. After losing his mother (a backstory element that many of the Freedom Fighters share), Rotor has an adversarial relationship with his father, one of the Egg bosses, Tundra the Walrus. He is all about strength, a self-described “alpha” male figure, who is at odds with his engineering, world-saving son. It is a dynamic that works well, and still would resonate were it written today, even if we did not see where this story would have gone long term.
Thank goodness Amy is here to break it up.
Rotor’s other big trait, perhaps one inherited from his father, is that he is the one most focused on the mission. Several times throughout the story, we see Rotor remind the team that the Freedom Fighters are trying to save the world, and focusing on other things is a waste of time. A fair point, even if Rotor often needs to be reminded about why they are fighting to save the world. This was an element I actually liked and introduced some minor conflict within the team.
Antoine D’Coolette
For those of you who haven’t read my thoughts on Sonic SATAM, a reminder that I absolutely hate that version of Antoine. By far the most insufferable aspect of that show, he is an annoyance throughout, a detriment to the team he is on, and gets an annoying amount of time compared to the other Freedom Fighters. Considering how much I love SATAM, this version of Antoine may be my least favorite Sonic character of all time.
Flynn completely changed my opinion on him in Reboot. First, he made Antoine a contributing member of the team, fighting alongside the others with his swords. They gave him the comic’s only confirmed couple, with him and Bunnie being a very fun pair throughout. Antoine became one of my favorite characters after his Origin story, and we see him go through loss, turn from a coward into a knight, and how he learned to be strong after being inspired by his wife’s struggles. It is all so impeccably well done.
Unfortunately, one of the best comics in the reboot, Archie Sonic Universe 95, which elaborates a lot on Antoine’s backstory, was not officially released. But the fact that they managed to tie Antoine to elements from Sonic and the goddamn Black Knight is freaking brilliant, giving him a quest to find magic swords, a proper foil in Cortez, and a medieval land he hails from is all absolutely brilliant.
He also still gets to be a foil for Sonic, often mocking our hero behind his back, retaining his cocky Frenchman bit, while still being able to not be a hindrance on the stories he is in. The fact that comics were able to do so much more with his character compared to SATAM just makes his presence in the show all the more infuriating.
I recognize that not everyone is a fan of Antoine’s design, and of the entire squad, I agree. I like his face, but I dislike his outfit. It feels like he is missing something. Not necessarily his full uniform from his early designs, but even something like his new cape introduced in 95 would have gone a long way towards helping him to stand out.
Antoine has a lot of emotional moments in this comic, between the loss of his parents (revealed in one of the darkest images throughout the story), and his connection with Bunnie, the two work together so well, and their presence is so welcome given how there really is not all that much romance in the comics (for better or worse, more on that later).
Anyway, enough about Bunnie’s husband. Let’s talk about his boss.
Bunnie D’Coolette
Bunnie has, even since back in SATAM, the character who has more potential than she is generally allowed to reach. On paper, she seems like the Freedom Fighter who should be involved in the most fights given her abilities, but even as far back as SATAM, you may be surprised by how little time she actually gets. And unfortunately, while it is not quite to the same extent, Bunnie also feels a bit overlooked in reboot. That is not to say that she gets no time, but she was definitely the Freedom Fighter I wanted to see more of. That being said, that problem was also partially rectified by an unreleased issue eventually completed by the Archie Sonic Restored (ASR) team.
Bunnie also had quite a few changes. First off, Bunnie’s origin is quite different, where she is initially displayed in her origin as an orphan taken in by Rosie and Uncle Chuck before she lost her limbs in an explosion. As such, she was not roboticized by Eggman, but instead by Chuck for its intended purpose, as a medical device.
The other change was always planned, but never released in a completed issue, that she was going to be from Blaze’s Sol Dimension. A change that I understand threw some people off, but I thought it was quite interesting and gives more connections for Blaze to work with. We shall see where the ASR team can take it. But once again, one of the best stories for the character was never officially completed, pretty much the same plan as it was for Antoine. A damn shame.
That being said, what we do get from Bunnie is nice, particularly her dynamic with Antoine, with her inspiring Antoine to be brave, and Antoine making her feel comfortable with her cybernetic body. We also got a nice story with Homesick where Bunnie shares her history in the hopes of inspiring someone else to accept change. That being said, there were a lot of times where I wish we got to see more of Bunnie. I would love to see her take part in the tournament from Champions. Was she there in the game? Of course not. Still woulda been cool.
Nicole the Holo Lynx
Nicole is a character who is relatively new to me, going from being Sally’s plot device to a valued member of the team. Nicole, for me, was a highlight of the comic, from her story from Spark of Life (one of the best parts of the whole series), to her and Sally’s moments from Light in the Dark, I enjoyed almost every scene we got with her in it. She also, of all the Freedom Fighters, has my favorite reboot design. I know some folks liked her more “mystical” outfit, but I love her more superhero inspired costume.
I also feel that the artists really like Nicole, as every artist seems to be able to make her look great during every appearance, but that is just my opinion.
Nicole also got a super form! Not in the ‘super Sonic’ sense where she uses the power of the chaos emeralds, but using red rings to become her ‘overclocked’ form in a pretty awesome moment from Spark of Life, and returning during Panic in the Sky. Pure hype. That being said, we can’t talk about Nicole without talking about her relationship with the leader of the Freedom Fighters…
Sally Acorn
This may be a hot take, but I really don’t care. Having read all of the reboot comics and going back through them several times for the purposes of this blog, in the confines of the reboot…she remains the most well-rounded and complete feeling character. She is the one who feels the most human, the one who experiences the most emotional turmoil, and the one whose role has changed the most in controversial fashion.
She is the only one who gets mileage out of the memories returning.
Let’s address the elephant in the room. Sally was initially introduced, in part, as a love interest for Sonic. I am not going to get into the whole shipping war debate, but it is a fact that in terms of romancing the blue blur, she was able to go further than any other character is likely to do in the future. If you enjoy romance and shipping as part of this story, fine, if you don’t, also fine. Obviously, I was a fan of the pairing when it was well presented.
However, my interest in the character was not dependent on her being paired with Sonic. I was more interested in her as the tactician who was capable of matching wits with Eggman, the leader who does everything she can to protect the team, the Princess who knows she will have to fix the world if Sonic is able to save it, and the woman who fights alongside the heroes bravely even though she has no powers of her own. Sally was never dependent on being a love interest for Sonic to remain interesting.
So when you take that away, I found that it actually hurt the characterization of Sonic, not Sally, making his character feel less attached to the rest of the cast, taking away storytelling opportunities, and making him feel more flat, while Sally was free to pursue other interesting storylines. We will return to Sonic later, and I am well aware a lot of folks won’t like what I got to say, but it hasn’t stopped me before.
Anyway, Sallicole, whatever brief hints we got, between longing glances, emotional moments, and panels of handholding, was great. Obviously, with the reboot being cut short, and because Nicole is a far less important character than Sonic, their dynamic is not as key a part of the story, but what we got was great. I was sold on this pairing after the Light in the Dark storyline, where Sally reminds Nicole that sometimes logic has to take a backseat to defend the world you love. The two compliment each other well, with Sally showing Nicole how to be Mobian and love the world you fight to defend, while Nicole is the one who sees the emotional turmoil Sally goes through as the leader of the squad.
But what really makes Sally stand out is that she is the one who gets to show the most emotion. From the beginning, in Countdown to Chaos, the only character who has a remotely appropriate response to her memories returning is Sally whose last moments in the previous world had her being roboticized and fighting her friends. A feeling of anguish over what she had done that carries over to Damage Control, with Nicole being there to keep her focused.
And later on, who is it that puts all of the responsibility on herself when her team was nearly killed in Ambushed? Sally Acorn. Who is the one who shows Rotor that is important to help their world beyond just saving it in Special Occasion? Sally Acorn. Who is the one who gives Sonic that hopeful look as he fights Dark Gaia? Sally Acorn. Who, along with Amy, is able to talk Sonic out of going berserk when she first turns into the werehog? Sally Acorn. Who is the one that a multiverse of heroes all have to listen to because among the many Sega and Capcom franchises represented in Worlds Unite, is the best suited for the role of the leader? Princess Goddamn Sally Acorn.
It was abundantly clear to me that Flynn viewed Sally’s reboot as an opportunity to reset the character, leaving a lot of the baggage behind from preboot, and go back to the traits he valued from her appearances in SATAM. While she was not a love interest for Sonic, her struggles remain the emotional core of the story as, fundamentally, Sonic is still fighting to save her world.
And because she is no longer the love interest for Sonic, the writers no longer sexualized her to try to appeal to male fans. She gets to wear clothes. She isn’t drawn provocatively, and instead gets to be a cute, silly goober, who loves cake and videogames. Adorably, she even gets stage fright. It's a different take on the character, but if this is how she was presented in modern Sonic media, I would be satisfied. It also helps that of all the Freedom Fighters, Sally gets the most time. She may not be Sonic’s love interest, but she is pretty much always by his side.
A lot of people still say a bunch of crap about how Sally, and the other Freedom Fighters, could not work in modern Sonic media, but overall, reboot managed to keep the character recognizable while also tweaking their designs and roles to fit around SEGA’s mandates. While I share fan frustrations with a lot of them, Sally shows that the core of the character still works well, and there has never been (and likely will never be) anyone in the leadership role as well suited to the task as she was.
Team Sonic
Alright, here is one of the sections that is likely going to annoy some fans. It’s time to talk about the other members of the team. And when I say ‘Team Sonic,’ I am referring to Sonic himself, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy. Aka, the main crew from the games who have been present for decades. They are some of the primary characters from the franchise and are present for most storylines in some variety.
As part of the genesis wave, the version of the characters from preboot, with strange backstories that were unique to the comic, was removed. Knuckles does not have all of the Penders storylines and other Echidna characters. Tails no longer has his family or his super form of Titan Tails. Amy…is in about the same spot but without the strange part of her story where she ages up from her classic design to her modern one. And Sonic no longer has his family, was not a childhood friend of the Freedom Fighters, and really has no personal connection to the team.
And…I was very dissatisfied with how they were portrayed. I will defer to someone who plays more of the games to say if this interpretation of the characters is reflective of their game forms. I simply do not play enough of the modern games to comment one way or the other. But in the context of a comic, with an ongoing and semi-serious storyline, these characters were often present but not pursuing any plots of their own, felt disconnected from the setting, or had arcs that could only end in the status quo being retained. I recognize that SEGA has kept the status quo for some time and keeps their characters pretty flat. Heck, with the exception of Amy (more on her later), the others really have not changed since I first played the Sonic Adventure games.
For some, I recognize that they may prefer that. They want to be able to see the characters as they are in the games without any major changes occurring. But compared to the Freedom Fighters, who do have more development, are embedded into the setting, and are allowed to show more emotion...I found them to be far less appealing.
That is not to say that every character from the games is portrayed poorly. I am quite a big fan of how Flynn writes Big and Omega, both of whom were not characters who interested me before. Shadow has an interesting plot involving his “brother” Eclipse the Darkling, and because you see much less of him, the fact that his character is also restricted does not stand out as much of an issue.
This is going to be a hot take, but I found myself preferring the other versions of these characters I have seen. Whether that is the classic versions from Sonic Mega Drive, or even the cast of Sonic Boom. Yes, these are the “sillier” versions of the characters, and yet I found Boom Amy was more consistent and interesting, and Boom Tails was even allowed to have a girlfriend. Strange that the silly and absurd world of Boom was allowed more leeway with the characters.
Obviously, a big part of this whole discussion is the unwritten but suspected SEGA mandates, with SEGA putting restrictions on how these characters are used. But that is a separate topic that warrants its own section, so for now, let’s focus on the characters themselves in order of those I have the least to discuss.
Tails
Tails really does not get any real storylines in all of reboot. I do not know if Flynn simply did not have anything in mind for him or if he had ideas that were shot down, but of all the Team Sonic characters, Tails is the one who just feels like he is there. That’s not to say that he doesn’t have good lines. That’s not to say he can’t be entertaining. But in terms of how his character is portrayed, his biggest contribution is being the second engineer next to Rotor, with the two often working together on the same projects. Tails does not have any Sonic Universe storylines. He has no personal arc.
Now obviously, compared to SATAM, part of the change is that Tails is portrayed as he is in the games. As such, he is no longer the young member of the team who slowly gets to grow. That role now goes to Cream (more on her later). However, compared to Rotor, who built the Sky Patrol (the flying base of the Freedom Fighters), Tails often felt secondary.
The closest thing that Tails has to a storyline comes from the Champions storyline, where he is eliminated early, and is frustrated with himself. He talks about living in Sonics shadow (pun intended) and wants to prove that he can be a hero on his own. A pretty logical arc for him, with the obvious solution being to give him a Sonic Universe storyline that…does not happen. Instead, this storyline is revolved by the end of Champions, where Tails (and every other tournament participant, including Honey) take down Metal Sonic, and I guess that was supposed to satisfy him?
Weak.
Ultimately, Tails’s role is what it always was, he is Sonic’s number two. And ultimately, all Flynn or any writer is allowed to do is ask questions. What if Tails wanted to prove himself on his own? Well, SEGA does not want that and seems unlikely to ever take a chance on him being in his own game or even his own comic, so Tails has to be satisfied being Sonic’s little buddy for eternity.
Amy Rose
Alright, I will be upfront and just say, the character of Amy Rose does very little for me. The pink girly-girl with her random hammer that looks like it would break her arms with every swing never did a lot for me. And that’s okay, not every character has to be my favorite. However, I found myself frustrated with how inconsistently Amy was portrayed. She often seems to play a different role between storylines.
In Pirate Plunder Panic? Amy is the “straight (wo)man” for the stronger personalities of Blaze, Marine, and Cream. In the Heist? She plays the more familiar role of Sonic Adventure where she fawns over Sonic who ultimately ignores her interest. In Waves of Change and Shattered? She plays the role of cheerleader, providing emotional support to friends like Coral the Beta and Knuckles who are more connected to the plot than she is. Much like Tails, she often feels like she is just there, with no real character development or personal plots to speak of.
I got the sense that, much like with Tails, Flynn just did not have much for Amy. And I think the problems he has is kinda reflective of problems she has in the brand. She is supposed to be a potential love interest for Sonic, but for decades this has been portrayed as completely one-sided which, in my opinion unrealistically, she is portrayed as perfectly content with. She is a Freedom Fighter, but like the other game characters, does not really call Mobius her home and mostly just seems to fight because her friends are doing so as well.
Flynn tries to make her presence matter with her ability to detect the chaos emeralds, acquired somewhere along the way from Coral (though they did not explain when or how this was done), but even this is quickly made irrelevant by Knuckles who has the same ability and whose shattering the Master Emerald makes her power less useful because she cannot discriminate between the two.
Oh and she can play the flute now.
Now to address the elephant in the room…yup, I said earlier that Sally was the best character in the reboot, and I do not like Amy. Am I just a bitter Sonally shipper? Maybe, I won’t deny that I just find Sally to be a better character all around. But honestly, I genuinely do not care who is paired up with modern Sonic. I honestly would be happier and more interested in their dynamic if Sonic did reciprocate at some point. But what we got, this male fantasy relationship where a woman loves him and he doesn’t have to do a damn thing to earn it? Pass.
But let’s say you were a fan of Sonamy? Would you be satisfied by reboot? Outside of small moments like in the Chase, Knuckles teasing the werehog, a side hug, and her working with Sally to talk down Sonic in Control, there really was not much to go on. And Sally was trying AI dating, and you can’t even blame her for being the problem here. Compare this to Boom Amy, who does get to fluster Sonic, or Classic Amy who still fawns for the blue blur but gets teased for it, and it feels like there is not much they can safely do with modern Amy.
Can’t make the main female from the franchise obsessed like she was in Sonic Adventure, as that would not play well with modern audiences. Can’t criticize Sonic for not making a move, he is the hero. Can’t have her show interest in anyone else, that is her role, and we ain’t doing more love triangles. And so…she is stuck as she is, a pretty bland character whose personality seems to vary in each portrayal.
Knuckles the Echidna
Oh boy, where do we begin? Knuckles actually gets quite a bit of time from reboot, with three Sonic Universe arcs focused on him. His whole plot is centered around the Master Emerald, which he chooses to break when he feels that Eclipse, Snively, or someone else may try to steal it from him.
Let’s talk about modern Knuckles. He is the guardian of the Master Emerald, meaning that he is solely responsible for the security system of “one dude” protecting one of the most powerful forces in the universe. This security system can be undone with ease by two or more people attacking him at the same time, as we saw when Knuckles and Shadow brawling allowed Eclipse to take the emerald. Knuckles has Relic, but she is not a fighter.
So let’s be clear here. Knuckles is, as a character, tethered to an object that he alone cannot conceivably protect on his own if someone really wants it. This was not as big of a problem in Archie as Knuckles had the Chaotix, so he was not solely responsible for its protection. But the Chaotix are now detectives disconnected from Knuckles (something that he makes very clear when he is a dick to Vector in Sonic Universe 64). The logical thing, from my perspective, is that Knuckles should get other people to help him, but because his life of standing around a rock all day kinda sucks, he refuses to do so.
And so, Knuckles is trapped in a logical quandary. He can’t protect the emerald on his own, but he is so stubborn and that he won't find anyone else to help. Eggman has not even shown interest in the Emerald despite how easy it would be for him to take it. And the only solution to all this is that, when challenged, Knuckles breaks the Emerald, which is the equivalent of a bank blowing itself up as it is being robbed and planning to collect the money before anyone else does as it floats through the air.
Now remember, part of the reason that Knuckles is in this mess is because he does not want to burden anyone else with the role of guardian. But breaking the emerald requires help to put it back together, and Amy, one of the stronger member of the Freedom Fighters, joins him to help clean up his mess. It's fine though, its not like they are busy saving the world or anything.
This plot only works because Knuckles is an idiot.
Similar to Tails, at most, all Flynn can do is ask questions. Rouge asks him if he is happy in his role as the guardian. A fair question, but we all know that regardless, the status quo, illogical as it is, will be preserved. In Shattered, Amy tries to salvage it, by saying the world needs stubborn idiots like Knuckles, but it falls flat and comes across as too little too late.
Knuckles’s decision to break the Emerald introduced so many problems. It did nothing to prevent bad guys from getting their hands on it, including Naugus who uses it to restore his magic powers. Because Amy and others cannot distinguish between shards and emeralds with their powers to seek them out, the world was put in danger by them having a harder time finding them. And without the Emerald, if our heroes defeated Dark Gaia before the Emerald was restored, Angel Island would crash to the ocean and we all know how that would go.
And where does all of this storyline end? With Knuckles making duplicate emeralds to confuse enemies. Which would work if we didn’t know Knuckles was going to be standing right in front of the real one the next day. It did not stop the problem. At most, it potentially slowed people down. Besides, not like he has that in the games.
Knuckles was, as a kid, my favorite character. Mostly from the games, but also from the Sonic OVA. But this modern version of him? It sucks.
Sonic the Hedgehog
I miss SATAM Sonic. Not every aspect of him. Sonic looks better in his modern form than as the little chubby blue guy he once was. He does not need his catchphrases or other nineties tropes. Nor do I miss his Jaleel White voice. But there are a lot of elements of the character I found myself missing. I miss his connection to the setting and characters like Uncle Chuck, where we got to see in SATAM a more humanized version of the character frustrated by his inability to save his family. In reboot? Sonic just sort of appears. He did not grow up with the Freedom Fighters, but came along one day and said he was just going to fight Eggman.
I miss the Sonic who actually was allowed to show interest in others, be it Sally, Amy, or whoever you prefer. Yes, there are absolutely times that the focus on romance went too far, but it feels so limiting that Sonic keeps everyone in the friend zone. As a scholar of our time Bakugo once told Deku, if everyone is special, no one is (My Hero Academia reference for y’all).
I hate his lines here so much.
I miss the Sonic who was allowed to lose and show more emotion because of it. It is very notable that, conveniently, Sonic is the only member of the team not present for the fight during Ambush, the only time where the Freedom Fighters come close to losing, which sends the message that Sonic is the only super important member of the team. Hell, even the loss of his entire reality leads to Sonic only looking a bit sad as he talks to Tails.
I have heard a lot of people argue that Sonic does not need these things. He does not need a girlfriend. He does not need a family. He does not need to lose. He does not need to show a lot of emotion. But a comic is not a videogame, and when he is not playing the role of a videogame avatar, the character who is omnipresent throughout the series feels like he needs more to draw me in. The more you carve away, the less storyline opportunities you have.
The closest this version of Sonic came to being interesting to me as a character was during the Control storyline, where Sonic first transforms into the Werehog, and comes close to crossing a line he feared and potentially hurting his friends. It is over far too fast, but it was the closest Sonic came to drawing me in as a character in the context of reboot. Outside of that? I get cool art of him running around and breaking robots, but that is about it.
Now, I have heard some people argue that I may have too high standards for a Sonic comic. It’s a children’s franchise and we should not ask for or expect more than we get. But that always felt like a lame argument. First off, I have seen versions of these characters where these problems did not exist, where we did get less flat/static versions of these characters, and it worked. And I am familiar with many franchises with a similar target audience to Sonic that are allowed to do more with their characters. It’s just another bullshit argument Sonic fans use to defend this franchise they would use for few others.
Ultimately, where this all leaves us is that, in the confines of a comic, the “main” characters of the franchise did not draw me in. It is cool to see them, and there are funny moments, good action scenes, and great art, but they ultimately lack the emotional core that would keep me interested in an ongoing comic book series.
Anyway, we still have more to go. I don't think any of my takes will be as hot as not liking the main characters of the franchise, but who knows. Want to read part one or future parts? You can find a list of my posts here.
I’ve never ONCE seen one of these and not being just like…absolutely riddled with tension, so. Keep passing them around, I guess!
For thousands of years humanity has selectively bred chickens to have larger breasts and to have to lay eggs constantly. We did it to get more meat and per chicken, but from the perspective of the domesticated chickens they’re sorta living in a very specific fetish scenario
The first tags I see on this are absolutely inspired. Incredible pervert lesbian website.
after i finished this i paused and thought i don't have the heart to eat these women. but maybe you do. if you're hungry
Archie Sonic Reboot Wrap Up - Part 1
Archie Sonic Reboot Wrap Up
And here we are, having finished all of the official issues of Archie Sonic’s Reboot Era as well as some of the fan projects from the Archie Sonic Restored team, I felt it would be interesting to write about some overall thoughts on subjects that you only have the full context for once the story is concluded. So, without further ado, let’s get to it. I don’t have any set format or plan for this blog. It is mostly going to be a stream of consciousness where I write about various subjects until I have nothing else to share.
First, let me be very clear…I quite enjoyed Archie Sonic’s Reboot Era. It overall gets a B+ if we care about grades, and despite some issues is worth your time if you are a fan of this franchise and its characters. Whether you are like me and are a fan of Sonic SATAM, a fan of the Freedom Fighters from the comics, or even a fan of the current product and want something familiar, I think there is a lot to like here. I think the overall positivity I have for these comics is often lost when I delve into any topics where I am a bit more critical and want to make that point very clear right from the start.
Before we go forward, I think it is important to remind folks that I am primarily a fan of Sonic SATAM. I am not a fan of the current product. I do not have a deep emotional connection to the games outside of the Genesis classics or the Adventure series. So, certain things that likely will appeal (or annoy) some folks won’t do much for me. I do not have the same emotional connection to many of the game characters as I do the cast of Sonic SATAM. I tried to play Sonic Unleashed but could not finish it due to how terrible I feel the Werehog levels are. So if you are expecting me to comment on differences between the Unleashed plot and what we got in the comics, I am not your guy. If you are hoping I will compare how the characters are depicted here compared to the modern games, I am also not your guy.
The cool part about Sonic is that the franchise, at least at one point, was so diverse that you could easily have fans of very different portrayals of these characters. One could be a fan of Sonic SATAM like myself, a fan of Sonic X, Sonic Boom, the classic games, or any other part of the franchise and not care for others because of how different it all is. And that’s pretty neat. The downside is that when we think about what the best parts of the franchise are, we may all be thinking of very different things.
So I want to make it clear, if I make a comment about, say, Knuckles (and boy do I have stuff to say about him) I am limiting my comments to the character as he is portrayed in the comics. If you choose to extend my comments to other aspects of the franchise, that is ultimately a choice you are making.
Anyway, without further ado, let’s get started.
A Rough Start
By far the worst part of the Reboot was unfortunately its beginning. In case you are somehow reading this blog and not familiar with the Genesis Wave, suffice to say that due to the lawsuits and legal challenges of one of the franchise’s writers, Ken Penders, and Archie’s incompetence in their legal defense, the comic made a bold pivot, resetting the world in the middle of a storyline and losing many of the characters that had helped to define the comic and its world for almost twenty years. It is a situation so bizarre, its implementation so baffling, that I am not sure that any writer could have pulled it off successfully in a way that was satisfying for fans, and Flynn to his credit tries, but it ultimately falls flat.
Where to even begin with this…
I think it is important to keep in mind how dark the concept of the Genesis Wave was. The comic did not just reset randomly; the world was erased by a weapon Dr. Eggman had created, essentially rage-quitting the universe, meaning that not only do the characters all lose their friends and family, but they also lose their entire world. Sure, individuals who resemble their friends are also in this new version of Mobius, but the world they knew of was gone. Erased. Essentially dead. That is not just dark by Sonic standards, that is an awful ending for any world in the history of fiction.
But wait, it gets worse. Sonic can unlock the memories of his friends, meaning that he is able to remind his old friends of where they come from and what is vanishing from their memories. And he goes through with this, giving his friends the chance to remember where they came from and tease readers with the idea that the stories they read may still matter for the reboot. It's almost like a tease, giving the possibility that stuff from the old comics will still matter.
Oh but hold on, it gets worse.
See, these memories that they are gifted with are temporary, meaning that as soon as they start remembering their past lives, they also begin to lose them. What this all amounts to is that the Freedom Fighters are allowed to feel the pain of what they lost, with the painful knowledge that there is not a damn thing they can do about it as their new and old memories merge into one in a frightening and confusing experience I can only imagine resembles what real world Alzheimer's patients go through.
But wait…it gets worse.
For out-of-character, legal reasons, though these characters have access to their memories, they cannot do anything with them due to the sheer amount of characters being removed by the wave. So do we, as the readers, get to see references to any of the characters that are being viciously removed from the canon with all the subtlety of a meteor? Nope! Meaning that we are making this a plot point but, categorically, legalistically, cannot do anything with it.
Apparently, Archie Comics, the geniuses that they are, thought that if they kept the memories, it would help sell old copies of their stories. This is also part of the reason why they continued with Sonic 252 as opposed to doing a full clean reset at number 1 (which, sales wise, feels like a mistake). Regardless, we introduced a mandate that led to this incredibly dark storyline in a world where the main draw is a blue hedgehog jumping into robots with his freakishly round body.
But wait…it gets even worse.
Because of the legal issues, SEGA was now paying more close attention to the comic, and that means that the versions of the game characters we had were replaced with more clear rules and mandates. Despite the absolutely horrible situation our characters are facing, do you think any of them are able to respond with the appropriate amount of emotion? Nope! When Tails asks Sonic what they can do as their memories merge, Sonic says they can only take it one moment at a time, which turns what would be a cute moment between the two into a massive underreaction given the situation.
The only character who gets any mileage out of this moment is Sally Acorn, who remembers what she did when she was roboticized by Eggman, and is the closest to having a realistic reaction to all of these events. Why is she allowed to show this sort of emotion while the game characters don’t? Because SEGA doesn’t give a crap about Sally and Flynn is allowed more leeway.
But wait…it gets fucking worse.
One of the things that I think you come to understand when you read enough of a particular writer’s work is what stories they are personally invested in telling and what they could not care less about. And I think it is fair to say that Flynn is pretty transparent in that regard. It was very clear to me that Flynn, for good reason frankly, thought this memory idea was bad, that he wanted to do a clean reset, and was so ready to move on from this storyline that by 257, he never references the memories again.
Was this probably the right call given the situation? Yes. But words cannot convey how frustrating it is to have this whole storyline as the “closure” for the old preboot world while wasting time doing things like fighting random mechanical scorpions like in 252.
Yes Sonic...why?!
Now I hear your counterpoint. Because I am psychic. “This is Sonic the Hedgehog. Shouldn’t it be focused on action scenes involving the main character?” I agree! Which is why this whole storyline with the memories and the Genesis Wave is so unfathomably bad. When thinking about it conceptually, it is so grim and dark that I struggle to think of many examples in fiction of similarly cruel storylines. Who the hell wanted this storyline? New fans introduced to these characters with a grim storyline focused on a world with characters they can no longer use? Old fans upset over the fact that this is how their story ends in official media? Who is this for?
You may recall from my older blog posts that, in reading Countdown to Chaos, I actually enjoyed bits of it, from the nice art, to seeing the Freedom Fighters again with their new designs. Nostalgia goggles. But trying to think about the actual storyline at the time? It gets worse the more I think of it. I can’t quite say skip it, because there is stuff in there that is related to the overarching plot, but if someone was considering reading Reboot for themselves, I’d recommend checking out a later storyline first to see if you like it before going back to read the whole thing.
It’s awful on every front and everyone involved should be embarrassed by how this was handled.
A Sonic Universe
One of the things that I quite liked about the way Archie Sonic handled things compared to, say, the current comic, is that there were actually two ongoing comics for the series. The Sonic Universe comic line did not start during the reboot and was actually a holdover from preboot, but both were a part of the Flynn eras. For those unfamiliar with Sonic Universe, essentially these were side stories, relatively self-contained, focused on other characters within Sonic’s world but generally not focused on the Hedgehog himself (though he did sometimes still appear). Generally speaking, these stories were four issues long, with some notable exceptions.
And generally speaking, as a rule, I felt these stories were excellent. There are definitely some stories that rose above others, but there were no stories that I truly felt were bad or that I would recommend skipping. I know some folks were not big fans of Sonic Universe as they were generally disconnected from the main ongoing story. But for me, that was actually a positive. When the main story became a drag (and we will talk about that later on), I personally liked it when we got to take a break from the plot involving Gaia and got to see other aspects of the world. Do you want a standalone story with Team Dark? We got it (and it’s awesome). Want to see stories with Blaze, Knuckles, Silver, the Chaotix, or anyone else? That is what Sonic Universe is for. Sonic may be the proverbial draw for most people, but these sorts of stories help to make the world he is in feel more alive and interesting to explore.
I would actually recommend that those who are curious about Archie Sonic, but unsure if they would like it, start with a Sonic Universe storyline for a character they like. Archie Sonic, for justified and unjustified reasons, has a reputation online for inconsistent art, bizarre storylines, and everything else that still sometimes comes up on social media, but I think that folks may be surprised how well done and approachable these stories are. And since the stories are fairly standalone, no commitment if you do not like them.
Speaking of, the art for these stories is generally excellent between Yardley and later Thomas. Some of the best issues of the whole series come from Universe and look amazing. We will talk more about the best stories from the reboot later on, but suffice to say, many of the best stories in the series come from Universe and if you give Archie Sonic a shot, I would make sure to include Universe as well.
The Gaia Storyline
For those unaware, the main plot that we got to see in reboot was inspired by Sonic Unleashed. That means we get the Werehog, characters like Chip, and a final climatic showdown with Dark Gaia. In a fairly ambitious fashion, this is an ongoing plot that is present in both the main Archie Sonic and Sonic Universe comics, with just about every storyline, even if it is in only a small way, tying back to this story arc. So…how was it?
Yeah we get a lot of exposition and checklists.
Not great.
As I said before with Sonic Universe, a lot of the fun with reboot comes from the smaller storylines along the way. The four issue arcs that start and end somewhat independently. And it is a good thing that those storylines are so enjoyable, as the Dark Gaia storyline ranges from irrelevant to boring in terms of how it is portrayed.
I wanna be upfront; I did not complete Sonic Unleashed. I tried, because I was reading the comics and actually like the Werehog (more on that later), but that game is so repetitive that I found it hard to get far. So I am judging the story more on its own merits rather than comparing it to the game itself. For those unaware of the plot, the world has started to break apart due to a being known as Dark Gaia awakening due to the actions of Eggman, while his counterpart Light Gaia (spoilers, its Chip) is also present and trying to stop him. Due to Dark Gaia’s emergence, monsters have started to be infused with his energy, natural disasters are frequent, and Sonic gets a transformation.
The problem is that Dark Gaia very often feels distant and at worse disconnected from the plots. Take the Champions arc. On its own, Champions is excellent. Great humor. Phenomenal art. Fun action. It ties into the Sonic the Fighters game. There really are no major flaws I have with that story and I highly recommend it. However, the only connection Champions has to the ongoing plot is that the fighters are competing for only one of the Chaos Emeralds they need. Dark Gaia and the urgent events happening very often take a backseat for more interesting short-term storylines.
And the worst part is that so often this plot is focused on finding macguffins. The instant our heroes finish gathering the chaos emeralds, immediately we transition to find Dark Gaia keys. Collectathons work in videogames, not comic book plots, and it felt very hard to keep track of which sides have what and why our heroes are going to different places.
It is also so unnecessary. Do we need a chaos emerald or a key to be somewhere for our heroes to go to different locations? There is a war going on with Eggman. That alone should serve as ample motivation and reason for our heroes to travel to different locations.
Unfortunately, after being quite dull for most of the comic series, Flynn does not stick the landing. Some have said part of this problem is that the comic was cut short and they rushed the ending as they knew Archie Comics would be negotiating the fate of the license. Maybe, but I am not sure more time would have fixed the plot being boring.
Too little too late.
One of the core emotional pieces of this story is that Chip must sacrifice himself to save the world. And to make this moment work and resonate, ideally readers would have an emotional attachment to Chip. But that connection is never formed, and it almost feels like they forgot it by saying after the fact that Chip has learned to love the world they live in and have explored, but it feels like too little too late. I would argue Flynn never had much interest in Chip, and as a result, he never gets much time in the comic. And frankly, I am not sure there are many characters whose time in the comic I would want to cut to make more time for Chip. His ceiling is low.
And then there is the other issue…the human characters. I have been pretty consistent in saying I never liked the presence of human characters in the world beyond Eggman. They always look uncanny next to the animal creatures, and while the Unleashed designs are closer to looking like they are from the same world, they mostly look like rejected Pixar designs. None of the human characters are particularly interesting and at most they serve as plot devices to give keys to our heroes.
Unfortunately, the final fight scene is also a disappointment. For two key plots, this and the Worlds Unite storyline, the ending is that Super Sonic takes care of it. The Freedom Fighters are forced to watch because only Super Sonic can do anything to stop Dark Gaia. Well, him and Chip. Could no one come up with anything else for the other characters to do during the final fight? I get it, Sonic is the title character, but considering he is part of a team, this felt weak, in part because I had more emotional investment in the Freedom Fighters than Sonic or Chip. And if that’s a hot take…more on that later.
Was there anything about the Dark Gaia plot I liked? The Werehog storyline, particularly Controlled, was quite good, with phenomenal art and seeing Sonic briefly be a threat to his friends. It could have used a lot more time, but when your biggest problem is wanting more of something, there are much worse issues to have.
Due to the length of this blog post, this is part 1 of several. For a full list of my blog posts, please go here.
”but real lizards don’t have tits!” Lmao ok than you can draw your boring ass realistic lizard but I’m hanging out with the big titty argonians
TRUE
hearing anything about the nolan odyssey is so funny. it's like "they cut the extremely important and infamous nobody scene" "the cyclops is a giant puppet that they put in an actual historical cave + gave circe animatronics for her pig transformation instead of cgi" "they dumped plastic skeletons in an environmentally protected location they were not supposed to be in" "they recreated ancient greek instruments in order to have an accurate score" "all of odysseus's agency is basically gone" "anne hathaway actually learned how to weave ancient looms" "the women in this movie are treated like shit" "they actually buried actors alive to get those underworld shots" "did you see what the fuck zendaya was fucking wearing holy shit you can't DO THAT, MA'AM" "what do you mean there was a legitimate epic the musical reference" "NOT A SINGLE FUCKING GREEK WAS CAST IN THIS MOVIE"
like did nolan have two guys standing at his side at all times whispering ideas in his ear and one told the truth and the other told lies and they didnt tell him which was which until they wrapped production cause
Happy Fucking Moon Day
saw this suddenly get a flurry of notes which means it is once again fucking moon day! Happy fucking moon day, everyone.
hello all, it's Fucking Moon Day Monday
rules for thee and not for me