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ARCHIESONIC 101, MODULE 3: KEN PENDERS’ ECHIDNA OBSESSION BEGINS…

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #29: “STEEL-BELTED SALLY” & SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #30: “KNUCKLES’ CHAOTIX SNEAK PEEK!”

TIMELINE: 3235 (1 YEAR AFTER SONIC #1) Welcome back to ArchieSonic 101, where we visit your worst nightmares in the name of entertainment! Tails is home after his adventure abroad and is no doubt looking to spend time with his friends and recover from the multiple beatings he experienced. So what’s going to happen today?

...ahh. More trauma then? Cool cool, cool cool cool cool cool. Okay, let’s get into it.

Well this is a bit of a curveball - based on the cover, you probably weren’t expecting this story to open with the backstory and introduction of canon immigrant Dulcy. Although she is there on the cover, the readers’ eyes are more naturally drawn towards Sally’s robotic transformation. For those of you not familiar with this character, Dulcy was introduced in season 2 of SatAM. She was mainly used as a source of transportation for the Freedom Fighters as well as a source of comic relief, due to her habit of crashing every single time she came in for a landing. I hadn’t actually seen any of season 2 at the time this comic came out, so I didn’t really have any context for her. I liked her well enough though. Sadly she’s pretty underused in the comic series, considering how she was a member of the main cast for half of the cartoon. There are also some stories about her in future issues that are... well, we'll worry about that later.

This does feel like it could be an opening scene from a SatAM episode, except that this chase would probably take place at night rather than during daylight. And Sonic's arms wouldn't be blue. :P

Where’s the kaboom? Wouldn't there usually be a hovercraft-shattering kaboom? It's very convenient that the hovercraft didn’t just explode after hitting that wall. Or possibly inconvenient, considering what will happen as a result.

Ahhh, there’s the kaboom! Good ol’ Robotnik, building his planes out of explodium. I knew he wouldn’t let us down.

Heh, there’s a lot of good jokes at Antoine’s expense on this page.

So, I feel like Sally had the right idea at first, wanting to deroboticize Bunnie. But then when Bunnie raised the idea of having one of them get roboticized, I kinda feel like Sally stole her moment. Let’s have a look at the next page where the plan is fleshed out a bit more, and then I’ll go into a bit more detail with my problem with it.

Okay, so all in all not a bad plan. Sally tricks Robotnik into roboticizing her, but she secretly keeps her free will. Obviously after she’d completed her mission of unspecified sabotage, the Freedom Fighters would use the deroboticizer to transform Sally back to normal. Does this sound familiar at all? It should - Sally had a very similar plan way back in issue #1 of the original Sonic mini series. The main differences here are that this time Sally has let the rest of the team in on the plan, and they have a way to turn Sally back to normal.

So here’s my problem - why couldn’t Bunnie have done this? This could have been a great opportunity for Bunnie - getting one more opportunity to do some critical damage with her robotic parts before being transformed back to normal. But then Sally swooped in and decided she was going to be the one to take the mission instead. Now sure, Bunnie didn’t specify that she should be the one to do it, and there could have been any number of reasons why they decided to go with Sally instead. Maybe Bunnie decided she was of more use to the team if she remained a cyborg. Maybe Sally, being the leader of the Freedom Fighters, didn’t want to have any of her teammates take such a big risk. Maybe they all figured that the Princess would be a more enticing target than Bunnie, making Robotnik more likely to take the bait and less likely to look for a trap. For all we know, the team sat down together and had a long discussion about this plan, weighing up the pros and cons, and Sally and Bunnie had a heart to heart about whether now was the right time to restore Bunnie to normal. My problem is: we didn’t get to see any discussion about it. The way it’s presented, Sally says they should make Bunnie whole again, Bunnie suggests that they turn that opportunity into a sabotage mission, and Sally takes away this very rare opportunity for Bunnie to get her body back by taking the mission instead. This may once again be a case of me thinking too hard, but even though Bunnie is actually in this story, I feel obligated to use this:

From a story-telling perspective, I get it. It makes sense to use Sally for this story, as her close relationship with Sonic means it will hit that much harder when everything inevitably goes wrong. On top of that, it’d change the status quo if this story ended with Bunnie being completely deroboticized. And while the possibility of deroboticizing Bunnie has to be addressed - it would be a pretty obvious elephant in the room to avoid - using Sally instead also prevents the writer from having to address the awkward question of how Robotnik would even roboticize Bunnie anyway. Don't forget - we learned in the Princess Sally mini series that robots explode if you attempt to roboticize them. Would Robotnik have to design a unique roboticizer that was built only around Bunnie's upper body and right arm? Or would he detach her robotic parts and throw her into the roboticizer without legs and an arm? …yeah, it’d probably be that one, with him taunting her for good measure by calling her, “Torso Girl.” Pretty horrifying stuff, tbh.

These Swatbots were alarmingly close to spotting the entire team, not just Sally. They’re clearly not too smart though, as Sally was obviously waving and talking to someone when they spotted her on the previous page. Shouldn’t they have searched the immediate area for other intruders?

…uh-oh.

It’s interesting that this version of Robotnik is happy to reduce Sally to nothing more than a serial number. The way I see it, this is either because he has no interest in her beyond undermining the Freedom Fighters’ current plans and will likely just assign her to mindless menial tasks afterward, or because he wants to further humiliate her and outrage the other Freedom Fighters. Or both, both is good.

When Sally is later roboticized again by Robotnik’s successor, he’ll go in the exact opposite direction and upgrade her to be his enforcer and weapon against the Freedom Fighters.

It occurs to me that we don’t really know what Sally's mission was supposed to be once she became a robot, other than the vague description of “sabotage.” Was she going to access all of Robotnik’s computer files to learn what his upcoming evil plans were, then install a computer virus to completely wipe out his entire system infrastructure? Plant bombs on all of Robotnik’s aircraft? Use her new robotic strength to tear the building apart and/or toss Robotnik out the window of the 25th floor? D, all of the above? In the end I guess it doesn’t really matter that much, as Sally never got the chance to do whatever it was she was going to do, but I still would like to know just what kind of sabotage they had in mind that could only be done by a robot.

Where is the usual Swatbot army? Did Robotnik really not send anyone else to capture the entire core Freedom Fighter group? Certainly Mecha Sally had the element of surprise, but that can only carry you so far. I feel like once they realised what was going on, Tails and Bunnie at least would have tried to resist. And certainly Robotnik would need a bigger force to bring in Sonic, when he showed up. …right?

...right?!

You’re kidding me - Sonic surrendered without putting up a fight too?! He was only facing a single armed robot - surely he could have sped the rest of his team to safety before Sally could have shot any of them? Or grabbed the blaster off her? Snively said that the prisoners are all headed for the roboticizer anyway, so why not try to escape? Even after Sonic had been handcuffed, he could still run, right?

…I will forgive this though, because I enjoyed Sonic’s joke about blowing his nose on Robotnik’s photo so much. Nice save, Angelo Decasare! xD

It sure is lucky that Dulcy was introduced in this issue, considering that everyone else has been captured!

…huh. Well, so much for trying to figure out how to roboticize Bunnie, who already has robotic limbs. This must have been an oversight, huh?

Geeze Sonic, are you really going to wait until the last possible second to try to appeal to Sally’s true self? Where was this, “I know the real you is still in there,” attitude back when the Freedom Fighters were being held at gunpoint?

That centre panel feels very authentic to SatAM. Dulcy always had to do a massive inhale and chest-puff right before breathing fire or ice in the cartoon.

Cue the freeze frame and sitcom credits rolling.

…although I guess every panel of a comic book is technically a freeze frame, isn’t it?

I’ve been pretty harsh on this Angelo Decasare story today, lest you think I only criticise Ken Penders’ writing. :P The truth is that I quite like this story - Art Mawhinney’s pencils are always great, and the stakes are extremely high as the Freedom Fighters only just escape by the skin of their teeth. But as you can probably tell from all the ranting I’ve been doing today, I think there’s some room for improvement with the writing.

Let’s change things up here for a minute by talking about one of the episodes from season 1 of SatAM, Sonic’s Nightmare. It’s an episode where Sonic was having a recurring nightmare of being unable to save Sally from being roboticized.

In my opinion it’s one of the better episodes of season 1, as it shows that for all his usual bravado, Sonic is terrified of losing his loved ones just like everyone else is. It’s not just the idea of Sonic’s closest friend getting roboticized that makes this such an interesting episode, but it’s also how Sonic reacts to this nightmare he keeps having. He’s worried, he’s stressed, he’s asking Rotor for advice, and his anxiety grows throughout the episode until it comes to a head when he starts having the nightmare as a daydream while he’s wide awake and facing Robotnik’s forces.

At the end of the episode Sonic is all the more triumphant for having conquered his fear.

This is what I think is maybe missing from the story we just read in the comic - it just doesn’t have that kind of emotion in it. How do the Freedom Fighters feel about Sally taking on such a dangerous mission? How does Sally herself feel? None of this gets explored aside from Sonic and Antoine both saying that they think it’s a bad idea but then dropping it. What about when Sally is revealed to have lost her free will to Robotnik - how do the Freedom Fighters feel about that, knowing they’ve lost their friend and are about to face the same fate? None of that kind of thing gets explored at all, and I think it makes the story a little unsatisfying. The stakes are high and it’s a narrow escape for our heroes, but there’s no time to reflect on how any of them feel about what’s going on.

Years later when Ian Flynn would re-explore roboticizing Sally, he had a massive advantage that this story does not: Ian got multiple issues to work with where he could more properly explore the effect losing Sally had on her friends. While I don’t think this particular story needed an entire multi-issue arc, I do think that it might have benefited from having a few more pages to expand in (and also, then there might have had the time to explain what the plan was for Sally to do as a robot). Unfortunately the rest of the issue was dedicated to part two of Tails’ battle with LMD Fiona (man, the kid had a rough issue - he got trapped in a roboticizer in BOTH stories!). Maybe they should have waited on this story until they had the room to use a full issue for it?

Before we finish up today’s class, we have another 48 page special preview to check out! This comes from the next issue, Sonic #30, but as the Chaotix special is next in our timeline we’re going to have a look at the preview now.

So yeah, there’s not a whole lot going on here - it’s essentially just name drops of the cast of the Chaotix game, with the addition of comic original character Renfield the Rodent (do not steal).

One interesting thing to note here is that Heavy and Bomb are shown in their game designs - when we next see them in the special, Art Mawhinney will have given them a more cartoony design. But I’ll get into that a bit more next time, when we actually look at the special! Until then, class is dismissed!

#archiesonic101 #module3

ARCHIESONIC 101, MODULE 3: KEN PENDERS’ ECHIDNA OBSESSION BEGINS…

TAILS MINI SERIES #3

TIMELINE: 3235 (1 YEAR AFTER SONIC #1)

Welcome back to ArchieSonic 101, my friends! You all know why we’re here, so let’s just jump straight in and see how Tails is going to manage to save the day when half of his bones are broken!

This is a pretty dramatic cover, drawn beautifully by Spaziante. Tails seems to be in some real trtouble, but I have no idea what Athair is doing here. Is he trying to sabotage the tank or something? Just holding on and enjoying the ride? It’s not really clear. Maybe we’ll get some answers by reading the issue?

I don’t have much to say about this splash page. It looks good, but there’s not a whole lot going on here other than showing off the new characters. Although… are they all just running through the clouds here? That’s a bit weird.

Haha, I had to. I quite like how they recap the story with these comics drawn by Tails himself (once again drawn by writer Mike Gallagher). It’s a shame we don’t get to see any more of these after the end of the mini series, because they’re quite fun. At least this time around Tails has gone for a more honest approach than in previous issues. Either the latest in his series of butt-kickings has finally given him some humility, or Gallagher just didn’t want to take a few panels for Tails to admit that he’s a big, fat, liar-pants like he did last issue.

Tails is being awfully casual about this whole scenario. “Oh, you’re Knuckles’ ancestor, even though we thought he was the last echidna? And you think I’m the chosen one? That’s neat and all, but I really need to take half an hour to work on my comic book. Do you mind waiting?”

Soooo... what do you think these old weirdos what they want this time?

Oh sure, now Tails is in a hurry to get out of there.

That said, this little history lesson is neat. It makes sense that Angel the Floating Island originally came from Downunda, as all the inhabitants we’ve seen there in the Sonic & Knuckles and Triple Trouble specials seem to be Australian animals - kangaroos, dingos, cockatoos, and of course, Knuckles the Echidna and Vector the Crocodile. Although we will later learn that Vector wasn’t actually born on the island. Spoiler alert, I guess. :P

Whoops, I got so distracted by the revelation that the Floating Island came from Downunda that I overlooked the fact that we’re getting echidna lore here. That’s quite an unexpected twist in a story that’s not about Knuckles and not written by Ken Penders. As the editor notes on the previous page said, we’ll be getting more details about the comet incident in upcoming issues, and those will most definitely be written by Penders. But here we also get our first look at Knuckles’ father Locke (not counting the Sonic Kids story he was in, as that issue wasn’t out yet at the time this issue was published), as well as his grandfather Sabre, who will look nothing like this when he is introduced later in the series. I’m assuming that Sabre wasn’t actually intended to be a character back in these early days, hence his placeholder portrait of generic echidna #652.

Yes, stake Tails through the heart, it’s the only away to stop the echidna lor-

…wait. :P

Seriously though, why do these guys keep threatening the main characters of the series with pointy sticks?

“Ah man, 150 different channels and none of them have anything good on!”

The insertion of this CD requires our villain to put on an Akubra. However this does increase his coolness factor by 73%, and his Australianness factor by 300%.

The heroes are not off to a promising start in this battle. Also, I don’t think the editor’s note was strictly necessary for this one. I feel like the kids could have figured that one out by themselves. :P

I feel like this is a case of Tails, being completely confused with what Athair and the Walkers were trying to tell him, said, “Okay, okay, why don’t you start at the beginning?” And so they started at the literal beginning. :P

Also, props to the creative team here who decided that the Chaos Emeralds came from space, decades before that was retroactively made canon in Sonic Frontiers.

Who keeps putting echidna lore in my Tails story?!

But okay, there is an interesting revelation here - the Walkers are dinosaurs who got their hands on some Chaos Emeralds and apparently became divine beings as a result?

Was there really any need for Athair to gaslight Tails here, other than for his own personal amusement?

KOALAS ARE NOT BEARS THEY’RE MARSUPIALS AAAARGGHHHHH

Ahem. Seriously though, this is something I used to see books and tv shows and movies do all the time back in the day - call them “koala bears.” Is this still a common error these days, or am I showing my age again?

It seems that Athair went to the same ninja school of dramatic exits that Batman did.

I do question the idea of fitting an explosive into a boomerang, considering that those things are designed to COME BACK TO THE PERSON WHO THREW THEM. But on the other hand, every time I’ve thrown one of those things I’ve never been able to make it fly back to me, so what would I know?

A perfectly timed attack and quip from Tails! Our boy is growing up!

If this comic had come out about seven years later, I feel like Tails would have said, “See ya later, boi!”

Is this page making light of the Hindenburg disaster? How long does it take for, “Too soon,” to no longer apply?

Ouch, that looked like it hurt.

…why didn’t Crocbot just use the same door his giant rambot did, rather than smashing through the wall?

Guru’s change in philosophy certainly came about suddenly. Just one page ago he was singing about giving peace a chance.

The power of Crocbot’s nuclear tank is no match for the power of Athair’s medicinal marijuana! This is why supervillains should invest in renewable energies. :P

...I know, what I just said makes no sense. But neither does that cloud.

Tails never actually met Bottlenose back when the Forty Fathoms Freedom Fighters showed up to save his butt back in issue 1 - he was a little preoccupied with drowning. But with a name like Bottlenose, I guess it wouldn’t have been too difficult to figure out that they were a dolphin.

We can make it if we all stick together! We won't give up, not ever! It's easier with my friends by my side!

Also, I must applaud Tails’ dedication to storytelling - getting “The End” tattooed on his tails and/or butt is very impressive.

While I do enjoy the conclusion of this story, once again I feel like having Tails absent for a large chunk of the action in a book with his name on the comic isn’t the best choice. While the Downunda Freedom Fighters are off fighting for their lives, Tails is on a hippie trail, head full of zombie (at least Guru Emu would approve though).

That said, I still quite like this final issue, and the mini series as a whole too. The idea of Tails being “the chosen one,” is an interesting one - you would expect a chosen one prophecy to be about Sonic, not his (sort of) humble sidekick. However I think this issue shows that Tails actually has learned some humility from his experiences on this adventure. Getting beaten up and nearly killed multiple times seems to have taught him that he does still have a long way to go, and that it’s okay to ask others for help rather than trying to save the day all by himself. Indeed, when he teams up with the DFF in this issue he finds that he does a lot better than when he tried to take on the bad guys singlehandedly (Crocbot-induced migraine aside). While it could have been fun to see Tails winning more of his battles rather than getting beaten within an inch of his life multiple times, I think this mini series serves as an excellent first step on his hero’s journey.

Next time: Sally has a plan to get thrown in a roboticizer and sabotage Robotnik! …again! Until then, class is dismissed!

#archiesonic101 #module3

The Super Mario Super Marathon continues! It's time to start Mario Galaxy, and I'll be using the Wheel of Stars again to choose my path! https://www.twitch.tv/professorscruffymatt

ARCHIESONIC 101, MODULE 3: KEN PENDERS’ ECHIDNA OBSESSION BEGINS…

TAILS MINI SERIES #2

TIMELINE: 3235 (1 YEAR AFTER SONIC #1)

Welcome back to ArchieSonic 101, where today we’ll be throwing a shrimp on the barbie!

…I hate that stereotype. We don't even call them shrimps! Let us never speak of this again. :P

Anyway! Last time we gathered, we saw Tails take on an important mission all by himself! Results were…

…mixed. But will he fare any better today?

From this cover - another fantastic piece by Patrick Spaziante - it’s safe to assume that Tails will make it to Downunda in this issue and also meet some new characters! But let’s open up today’s textbook and see for ourselves.

This splash page is pretty, but it's more representative of the content from the previous issue than this one. It also shows something that didn’t actually happen - Tails hasn’t even met most of these characters aside from Ray. And it’s not like Tails stopped for a snorkelling break on the way to Downunda - as we’re about to see, Ray is the only one accompanying him and Fluke. Even if the others had come along, they wouldn’t have brought Octobot’s mangled corpse with them. And then we have this ridiculous use of a snorkel. The entire point of using a snorkel is to have a breathing tube that is sticking out of the water, so that you’re still getting air while your face is submerged. Using a snorkel like this while completely underwater defeats the purpose of using a snorkel in the first place! I see this kind of thing in media from time to time, and maybe it’s easier for the artists to draw a snorkel than full scuba gear, but it still drives me nuts. :P

We open once again with Tails’ self-drawn comic, drawn by writer Mike Gallagher. Tails might be having a slight case of ego here. Just a little.

Well, at least Tails is acknowledging that his comic is full of lies. I’m not sure I can get on board with Ray hand-waving (fin-waving?) the historical inaccuracies of Disney’s Pocahontas, but that’s a whole other web to untangle.

I’m trying to decide what song would make the best soundtrack for this page. “Great Southern Land” by Icehouse? “Sounds of Then (This is Australia)” by Ganggajang? We can’t just use “Down Under” by Men at Work all the time, you know. Gotta have a little bit of variety.

I do love a good Gilligan cut. I believe this will be Tails’ second time falling victim to such a gag, after his failed stealth mission in Sonic #25.

Am I the only one curious as to how Crocbot got to the point where he decided he wanted to overthrow Robotnik? Presumably Robotnik programmed him to be loyal, so what do you think went wrong? Could this possibly be some early sabotage courtesy of Snively? Or am I thinking too hard about this? …I’m usually thinking too hard about this.

Seriously, he really needs to shorten that superhero name.

Having Crocbot’s goons be winged dingoes was an interesting choice. I’m guessing that Mike Gallagher wanted to go for a similar vibe to the Wicked Witch of the West’s flying monkeys, just… you know, Australian. I do wonder if this was also meant to reference that whole “a dingo took my baby,” thing, what with Tails being the baby of the Freedom Fighters. :P

Oh crap, the dingoes really are going to eat the baby. D:

And here is our second new group of Freedom Fighters for this mini series! This may be personal bias as an Australian, but I like these guys a lot more than the Forty Fathoms Freedom Fighters. I just think they’re a lot more interesting.

If you’ll indulge my local knowledge here, I feel like there are some odd choices with the cast of this new team. Wombat Stu (which is an excellent pun on a famous Australian children’s book) works well enough as the younger, less experienced member of the team, as wombats are usually docile but can turn aggressive if they feel threatened. They’re better known for their defensive tactics though, as their buns of steel are nigh-impervious to predators. “Bill” Platypus feels believable enough too, especially as there’s a much more famous ass-kicking platypus in popular culture nowadays.

A lot of people see footage of platypuses swimming peacefully and think they must be docile, unaware of their poisonous spurs. So sure, let’s have a platypus warrior!

But it’s the other three members of the team that have me scratching my head. An emu is an extremely bizarre choice for a pacifist, as they are definitely not peaceful birds. In fact, to this day they remain the only bird that the people of Australia have lost a war to.

…no, really. Go read up on the Great Emu War, it’s bizarre. I'll be here when you get back.

Equally confusing is the choice of a koala of all animals to be a total badass, considering they spend approximately 18 hours a day sleeping and the other six eating and… well, that’s about it. Their lifestyle is very similar to that of a sloth - mostly just hanging around and chilling. Honestly, it would have made more sense for the emu to be the fighter and the koala to be the hippie, but maybe that’s an intentional joke on the part of the writer?

As for Walt Wallaby, I’m a little confused why the male wallaby has a pouch. …unless …could Walt be the first stealth transgender Sonic character? If so, mad respect. But I’d say the more likely explanation is that this was a case of the writer either not being aware that only female wallabies and kangaroos have pouches, or being aware but deciding that it didn’t matter for the purposes of a fictional story about a two-tailed fox. Either way, I have chosen to imagine Walt’s voice is the same as Jeice from Dragonball Z Abridged. I wonder if his hometown is Space Mobius Brisbane?

See, this is exactly why wombats hide in their burrows with their impervious butts facing outwards - so that they don’t get dragged away by robotic winged dingoes.

It’s also very funny to me that Guru’s stoner brain isn’t phased by Tails’ two tails, but instead he’s surprised that Tails spoke. “Whoa, dudes! How much of the mary jane have I smoked today?!”

I don’t know why, but I find the imagery of the winged dingo slamming partially through the wall very amusing. :)

Quick, Wombat Stu! Swivel around and slam into Crocbot with your impervious butt!

I do wonder how much the locals in Downunda know about Robotnik. Do they even know he’s taken over most of the planet, or are they only aware of his local enforcer, Crocbot?

Crocbot’s base is the Sydney Opera House, because of course it is. It would be more fitting for an evil ruler to operate out of Canberra’s Parliament House, but I do understand that only a very small percentage of the readerbase of this comic would recognise that building if they saw it here.

It makes sense that Guru Emu is a fan of Led Zeppelin, but this feels like a very unnatural way of communicating that. But if Guru is as high as I think he is, he probably thinks he’s making total sense.

Yeah, I’m still hearing Walt’s voice as Jeice in my head. Now I want to see a gif of Walt Wallaby repeatedly being punched in the nose by Goku. :P

Man, the acoustics in that Opera House must be fantastic. I’ve never actually seen a performance there myself, sadly.

Err… how exactly did Walt get Tails down to the bottom of that enormous crater? Did he lower him on a fishing pole or something?

Can someone PLEASE give Tails a sensu bean before his friends blast off to Namek without him?

...I've been watching a lot of Dragonball Z lately.

Oh look, those ancient weirdos from the Triple Trouble special are back. And it seems that there’s a new ancient weirdo joining them this time…

H’okay, so. One of the most well-known things about Ken Penders is that he created like a zillion superfluous echidna characters. But what a lot of people don’t realise is that the first OG echidna to be introduced in this series was not created by Ken Penders at all, but actually by Mike Gallagher! On top of being the first echidna OC out the gate, Athair would go on to also be one of the most prominent echidna characters. He would appear in many Knuckles stories (despite Ken Penders’ claims of not using other writers’ characters) and showed particular interest in Tails, for reasons we’ll better understand next issue. Most bizarrely of all, Athair broke loose of the shackles of ArchieSonic to appear in other Sonic media! He made an extremely unlikely appearance in the Sonic Underground cartoon, made even stranger by his Sean Connery-like accent!

Weird, right?

Looking at the issue as a whole, Tails #2 has a similar problem to the Princess Sally mini series: the title character is incapacitated for a large chunk of the issue. Fortunately this gives the writer a chance to avoid the other big misstep the Sally mini made, by spending more time showcasing the new characters. Crocbot is fine, I guess - he's essentially the Starscream to Robotnik's Megatron. But I think the Downunda Freedom Fighters are fun! They all show off that they’re capable fighters - well, except for Guru Emu, but he’s got a fun personality, so he’s still entertaining. I feel like Guru and Walt got the most fleshing out - my being able to hear Walt’s Australian accent so clearly in my head is definitely a sign of that. Overall I liked the issue, I just wish Tails had gotten to do more in it.

Next time: the heroes desperately try to stop Crobot’s special delivery, and the truth of the Chosen One prophecy is revealed! Until then, class is dismissed!

#archiesonic101 #module3

ARCHIESONIC 101, MODULE 3: KEN PENDERS’ ECHIDNA OBSESSION BEGINS…

TAILS MINI SERIES #1

TIMELINE: 3235 (1 YEAR AFTER SONIC #1)

Welcome back to ArchieSonic 101, my friends! Last time we gathered, Tails suffered a broken heart and very nearly a broken-everything else too. But he also found an opportunity for growth when he stumbled onto Robotnik’s latest scheme for world domination, and decided to take on this particular mission by himself rather than alert the other Freedom Fighters. Which leads us into his very own mini series!

This is a pretty exciting cover with a lot going on. We’ve got Tails riding a freaking whale, the promised return of Octobot, and some sort of ominous crocodile robot looming in the background. What do you say we open up this comic and have a look?

Tails, what are you doing?! That’s how Steve Irwin got killed!

So this intro page is really fun, portraying Tails as a Clark Kent-type character. I particularly like the transformation panel, with his tails going absolutely out of control! While the majority of this mini series was drawn by Dave Manak, this page was actually drawn by the writer of this mini series, Mike Gallagher. I really like this! It gives the page a very different kind of energy and highlights that this comic strip wasn’t drawn professionally. And this is WAY more entertaining than the giant pages of text Ken Penders put at the front of each issue of the Princess Sally mini series.

Considering that there’s probably a number of readers who picked up this book without having read the main Sonic comic, it makes sense to put in a recap page here. Thankfully, I’m pretty sure this will be the last time in the mini series that Tails dwells on Fiona’s betrayal. Hopefully he’ll be able to move on from that trauma.

…why are you laughing? :P

BUSTED!

I do like that title though. It feels right, considering where Tails is heading - the Southern Cross is a star constellation only visible in the Southern Hemisphere, and is even displayed proudly on the Australian national flag. New Zealand’s flag too for that matter, but unless the writers decide to send Tails on a trip to Kiwiland or something, that’s probably not going to come up.

So yeah, Sally is treating Tails like a little kid here. But Tails isn’t really helping his case either by acting like this, rather than asking her to sit down and have a rational conversation about it. And let’s not forget - up until this point, Tails hasn’t really done much as a Freedom Fighter. I pointed this out back in the Triple Trouble review, but Tails’ only real wins so far have been from the In Your Face special, and now his victory over Octobot in Triple Trouble. Oh, and I guess you can also give him credit for (briefly) being the last man standing when the amnesiac Sonic attacked the Freedom Fighters in Sonic #28.

How has Tails not run out of fuel yet? I guess we don’t know how far out he went when he came across fake Fiona’s fake island - it might have been reasonably close to where the Sea Fox was docked. But how is he supposed to get all the way to Downunda with only the fuel he salvaged from a single seagull? In the real world, a flight from the US to Australia usually takes over 14 hours, and that’s a best case scenario depending on what city you’re flying out of and into. There’s no way he should have enough fuel to cover a trip that long.

Ooooooh. That’s an impressive blimp. Very big and stuff.

Do you think Robotnik got the fuel for his blimp off of seagulls like Tails did?

Okay, so Tails may not have been planning to go all the way to the transport's final destination then, but intercept it along the way instead? That does make more sense. Also, Captain Etc. is a pretty long superhero name. If Tails were to announce himself while confronting a supervillain, the villain could have slaughtered a half dozen people before Tails finished getting the full name out.

That’s a pretty cool move from Tails! He's also clearly been taking bragging lessons from Sonic, because this is exactly the kind of thing Sonic would say when showing off his latest new attack.

Oh dear. Tails must have rolled a critical 1 on his spot check.

Well, that’s a grim ending. Do the next two issues centre around Tails’ ghost swearing revenge?

This feels like an empty threat for the Swatbot pilot. Wouldn’t an ejector seat fire the Swatbot up into the balloon and blow the entire thing up? Or is it a trapdoor-eject that would have the Swatbot fall into the ocean? Either way, I wonder if there even were any other Swatbot pilots aboard this thing that could have taken over?

Allow me to introduce you to the villain of this mini series, Crockpot - er, Crocbot! In the pantheon of ArchieSonic villains, Crocbot comes down somewhere in the middle, I guess. I don’t hate him or anything, he just doesn’t leave as big an impact as some of the other villains.

I think putting Akubras on the Swatbots would increase their coolness factor by about 73%. Also, curse your sudden yet inevitable betrayal, yadda yadda yadda.

Ray is really the best name they could come up with for this character, huh? Ninja Turtles didn't do much better with their manta character, I guess.

See, the jellyfish’s name is much more clever. Because he’s a P.B & J. Do you get it?

...do you get it?

…well I think it’s pretty good, anyway.

Sooo… did Bivalve actually contribute anything of value in this battle? Or was he (She? They? What are this clam’s pronouns?!) just there to cheer the others on?

RIP, Sea Fox. Maybe Tails should build his next one out of a robot dog. IYKYK.

…okay, that is pretty danged impressive. They definitely needed the full two pages for this reveal.

I dunno about this. Sure, Fluke can take him to Downunda, that’s not a problem. But how is Tails supposed to get back afterwards? But on the other hand, how wouldTails get home right now if he decided NOT to go to Downunda? I guess at this point his options are a little limited.

This was a promising start to the Tails mini series, but I feel like it might have been better to introduce Crocbot a little earlier in the story. Robotnik was a lot of fun in this issue, but I feel like his antics took up page time that could have been spent on building up and establishing the new villain of the story. I’m also not really a fan of the Forty Fathoms Freedom Fighters. You’d think a group of undersea freedom fighters would be pretty cool, but these guys really don’t interest me that much. They couldn’t even take down a single robot by themselves (one that Tails had absolutely no trouble defeating the last time he showed up, might I add) and had to rely on Fluke to finish the job. The underwater Mobians will be done a lot better in the post-reboot era of the comic, if you ask me.

I liked what was done with Tails in this issue though. He got plenty of action but had to work to win his battle with the Swatbots. While he left Knothole in a huff and wanted to prove he could do everything by himself, he quickly started to realise that he might be in over his head. If Octobot hadn’t ambushed him and he’d had some time to reflect, maybe Tails would have realised that he needed some help after all and tried to contact Sonic and Sally. But with how the circumstances have turned out, Tails is now locked into seeing this mission through by himself.

Next time: Tails finally makes landfall in the land Downunda! Will he be offered a Vegemite sandwich by a Brussels man who is 6 foot 4 and full of muscles? If he doesn’t, is there even any point to this whole mini series? We’ll find out in issue 2 of the Tails mini series! Until then, class is dismissed!

#archiesonic101 #module3

ARCHIESONIC 101, MODULE 3: KEN PENDERS’ ECHIDNA OBSESSION BEGINS…

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #29: “GROWING PAINS, PART 2”

TIMELINE: 3235 (1 YEAR AFTER SONIC #1)

Welcome back to ArchieSonic 101, my friends! Today we’ll be covering the conclusion of the Growing Pains story from issue #28 that we covered in our last class. Mike Gallagher, would you care to do the honours of recapping us on Wha Happun?

Thank you, Mike Gallagher! ...I hope to never see that expression on Tails' face ever again.

The filters, always the filters. I work in an appliance store doing customer service and installation scheduling, and a lot of the time when I take a call regarding an appliance breakdown, it’s a clogged filter that’s the problem.

Fiona may have possibly had a moment of doubt or regret in the final panel of last issue, but she’s clearly gotten over that - it might be that her programming demands she defends Dr. Robotnik at all costs. That’s a shame, because I would have quite liked to have seen the tiny Tails beat up a man twice his size.

Aaaaaaaaaaahhh. That was satisfying.

However I do have to wonder how Robotnik possibly got this entire island set up in time for Tails to come across it, especially considering that Tails had already started his journey when Robotnik's spy-camera spotted him. And this island comes fitted with built-in roboticizers and booby-trapped palm trees! You can’t just whip all that together in an hour, and even if you could, then you’d have to deploy it. Unless Robotnik already had all this set up and Tails’ path just happened to cross this island? Or the island can move? I dunno, once again I'm probably thinking about all of this too hard.

I don’t know about you, but I for one did not need to hear about Robotnik taking Tails’ innocence.

Well, that’s a convenient resolution. I wonder if Fiona was a one-off, or if all the auto-automatons were vulnerable to water? Could Sally have just waltzed into the factory where the robot doubles were being built with some buckets of water, rather than going through that whole convoluted plan with Geoffrey in her mini-series?

And that was the last we ever saw of Fiona Fox. Well, this Fiona Fox at least. After this issue, a lot of readers were left wondering, “If the auto-automatons are modelled after actual people, does that mean there’s an actual Fiona Fox out there?” It would be a few years before we got an answer to that question, but we did eventually get it.

I like this second half of the story more than the first half from last issue, mostly because Tails has snapped out of his lovesick stupor and is finally trying to defend himself. He gets in a few good hits against Robotnik too, which is really fun to see. I still think he was a bit overdramatic with his heartbreak, but let’s be honest - we were all a bit overdramatic when things went badly with our first crushes. Am I right? Oh yeah, you look like you know what I’m talking about. Sigh, so many memories of high-school angst…

…what was I talking about again? Oh, right! So a Tails mini-series, eh? Tails wanting to prove his worth and independence is a good thing, but he may not have really thought through trying to tackle this particular mission alone. It’d be difficult enough to do that close to home, where he’d at least be in familiar territory and probably have resources or allies he could fall back on. But on the other side of the world? He’s definitely getting in over his head. And you’ll get to see that right here next time, folks, when we look at Tails #1! Until then, class is dismissed!

#archiesonic101 #module3

spiritsonic

whats the deal with shadow liking "nothing" and disliking "all of humanity"?

For anybody out of the loop, Maverickindigo is referring to the recently-opened Sonic 35th anniversary site which among other things includes character bios. You can find it in the "about" section

The text of these bios were taken from Sonic Channel and localized into English... I dunno what to tell you. Shadow is a true antihero and just generally not a nice guy.

No new ArchieSonic 101 review ttoday, because I'm back on Twitch! The Super Mario Super Marathon continues! No matter what the wheel throws at me, I'm finishing Mario Sunshine today!

Watch this video on Twitch Live

ARCHIESONIC 101, MODULE 3: KEN PENDERS’ ECHIDNA OBSESSION BEGINS…

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #28

TIMELINE: 3235 (1 YEAR AFTER SONIC #1)

Welcome back to ArchieSonic 101, everyone! Last time, Sonic got conked on the head and was tricked into working for Dr. Robotnik! But don’t worry, I’m sure his friends will be able to stop him and bring him back to his senses, right?

…oh. Well, that’s not great. Shall we open up the issue and see how things go then?

Hmmmm. I wonder if the title of this story is an Elton John reference?

SONIC YOU BAD MAN YOU LEAVE ROTOR ALONE HE NEVER EVEN HURT A FLY

…a salamander, maybe, but not a fly! Never a fly!

Sally is doing more fighting on this one page than she did in her entire mini series.

Holy crap, they’re actually letting Bunnie do something in this issue?! What magical miracle is this?! I wonder if the reason she was missing for so long was because she was busy warning people not to go chasing waterfalls?

Wow, Sonic managed to throw all three of them off him with one move. That’s even more impressive when you take the weight of Bunnie’s metallic limbs into account. It’s also a stroke of luck for him that this fight took place in a room with lots of monitors he could use to deal out concussions with. :P

One thing I find a little weird is that Tails and Bunnie immediately take Sally’s side in the fight, with absolutely no context for what’s going on. They had no idea that Sonic had turned on them - all they could see was Sonic and Sally going at it while Rotor lay unconscious on the floor. I find it a bit odd that Tails, who idolises Sonic, would be so quick to grab him. Maybe it’s possible that they were just trying to separate Sonic and Sally until they figured out what was going on, and the best way to do that was to try and restrain the more powerful of the two? But then Tails said, “Say it ain’t so, Sonic,” which indicates he’d already assumed the worst of his friend.

I think what Sonic is trying to say to Tails is:

So here’s a question that I didn’t ask last issue - what’s going on with the video footage Robotnik and Snively are getting? Sometimes it’s been shown from Sonic’s point of view, which would make sense if it was coming from the transmitter they planted on him. But other times, such as on this page - Sonic was shown in third person. Has there been an invisible drone following him this entire time?

Snively, there’s a time and a place for everything. This is a time for panic, not a time for please.

Also, the Freedom Fighters’ low-level jammer seems to be very inconsistent. Sometimes the signal is blocked and sometimes it’s not. This usually changes when it’s most convenient for the plot. :P

Look who’s back - it’s Sally's merry band of misfits from her mini series. Let’s see if they learned anything useful during those three issues.

Wouldn’t being blind but fast just make Sonic more likely to crash into a wall?

When you started reading this issue about the Freedom Fighters fighting Sonic, I bet you didn’t expect the one to take him down would be a character who previously only appeared in a three issue mini series and didn’t really do much during it.

Oh sure, now Sally is fretting about almost drowning Sonic in the collapsed tunnel.

Also, considering that Sally and Rotor previously assumed the worst of Sonic, shouldn’t he be restrained in some way? How did they know that he wouldn’t attack them all again when he regained consciousness?

Hey, what happened to Sonic’s laser blaster that was installed in his glove last issue? If you think Rotor removed it while Sonic was unconscious, think again - look back over this whole issue and you’ll see that Art Mawhinney didn’t draw it at all. But I guess that’s a fairly minor continuity error.

Sonic pops his head out of the stump, pops back in again, and Robotnik immediately takes the schmuck bait. IQ of 300, my hairy butt.

I feel like Sonic could have buzz-sawed a new tunnel faster than these guys with the pick-axes, but I’m sure he appreciated the help nonetheless.

There we go then. Status quo restored, I guess. With no hard feelings from anyone, right?

…right?

Oops, looks like there were some hard feelings after all. There’s something off here though, because when we saw Tails a few [ages ago he was perfectly fine and seemed to understand that Sonic was back on their side again - although I guess he could have just been putting his personal feelings aside to report to Sally what was going on. The biggest question here is why Tails is suddenly covered in bruises. It’s a well-known fact that Ken Penders did not collaborate well with his fellow writers so this might possibly be as a result of that, or maybe they decided to show Tails banged up just for story purposes. I suppose a darker theory is that after the situation with the tanks homing in on Knothole was resolved that Tails confronted Sonic and it turned into a physical fight, but I think that’s a bit of a stretch. Maybe he tripped and decided to take out his frustration on Sonic?

We’ve seen Tails be frustrated about being treated as a lesser member of the Freedom Fighters (at least in his own eyes) for awhile now - particular in Sonic #14 and the Triple Trouble special. That now seems to be coming to a head after Sonic kicked his butt earlier in the issue. This is in spite of the fact that Sonic didn’t single him out in particular and was in fact fighting ALL of the Freedom Fighters, but Tails clearly isn’t thinking too clearly at the moment.

Oh boy. Here we go...

As if this wasn't bad enough, the narrator is channeling their inner Elphaba:

“Hands touch, Eyes meet, Sudden silence, Sudden heat. Hearts leap in a giddy whirl, He could be that boy, I am not that girl…”

I think I got a toothache from how sickeningly sweet this is…

Oh, thank god. Yes, please spring the trap. I don’t think I can take much more of this. Tails is far too young to be calling anyone, “Darling.” Actually now that I think about it, I don’t think any character from the Sonic series would naturally call someone Darling.

…okay, maybe Amy.

Woof, this is brutal. I wasn’t a fan of the ten year-old having this ridiculous love plot, but at the same time I don’t feel like they needed to rip Tails’ heart out, throw it on the ground, stomp on it and then set it on fire.

No surprise here that Robotnik would harm a child, he’s a complete monster even when he’s being goofy. The more important question is: is that just a tiny hint of regret from Fiona in the last panel?

As with many of Ken Penders’ issues, I have mixed feelings about this one. Getting to see Sonic take on the Freedom Fighters is pretty cool - especially getting to see Sally hold her own against him before Bunnie and Tails joined the fray. But as I mentioned before, I felt like at multiple times (in this issue AND the previous one) the Freedom Fighters understood what was going on for no other reason than the plot demanded it. Bunnie and Tails saw Sonic and Sally fighting with no context and immediately knew that Sonic was the threat somehow. Similarly, Sally and Rotor somehow knew that Sonic getting headbutted and knocked unconscious would make him good again and didn’t bother to restrain him or take any precautions in case he tried to attack them again.

And then there’s the very odd decision to have Dylan of all people be the one to stop Sonic. It feels like it comes out of nowhere, but on the other hand you may recall that back in issue 1 of the Princess Sally mini series that I pointed out he seemed to be introduced as a more cautious character who would perhaps analyse a situation from different angles before jumping into battle. So maybe that’s what Penders was going for here? It was certainly a surprise twist if nothing else.

Moving on, we next have Mike Gallagher’s story where he decides to set ten year-old Tails up with a honeypot. That’s kind of gross, honestly. I’m not saying Tails can’t have a love interest - I thought his relationship with Cosmo in Sonic X was very well done - but this particular story just doesn’t sit well with me. Tails is so consumed by his own hormones that he never even questions how Fiona got tied up in the first place, or if there might be some kind of threat he needs to be on guard for. A lot of the imagery of Tails being absolutely smitten is meant to be comedic - like the panel of Robotnik spying on him through the telescope - but it just feels wrong these 30+ years later.

Oh well. We’re only halfway through the Tails story so far, so maybe the resolution will be a bit better. That’s what we’ll be looking at next time, when I cover Growing Pains part 2 from Sonic #29! Until then, class is dismissed!

#archiesonic101 #module3 #Youtube

sonicthehedgehog

Take a sneak peek at the upcoming 35th Anniversary short form animation, Sonic the Hedgehog: Memories and Beyond!

ARCHIESONIC 101, MODULE 3: KEN PENDERS’ ECHIDNA OBSESSION BEGINS…

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #27: “A SCRAMBLED HEDGEHOG”

TIMELINE: 3235 (1 YEAR AFTER SONIC #1)

Welcome back to ArchieSonic 101, my friends! How are you doing today? Well, I hope. You know, sometimes reading these comic books feels a bit like taking a blow to the head. Take today’s text book, for example:

This cover is… well, a bit confusing. First of all, it’s an homage to the cover of Amazing Spider-Man #56, which featured the hero getting amnesia and joining forces with the villain, just like this comic!

But the way Sonic’s arm is positioned on this cover, it looks more like he just took a swing at Robotnik and missed. The newspaper text is odd too - there’s a only a couple of small portions that seem like they fit here, such as Tails’s sad quote of sadness and Sally refusing to resign as head of the Freedom Fighters. This honestly feels like pretty authentic journalism - reporters will ask leaders if they plan to resign if they so much as fail to use a napkin. Obviously there’s a lot of political leaders who SHOULD resign because they’re doing absolutely atrocious things, but I’m just saying that’s not the case with everyone, and certainly not Sally… although considering some of the stuff she does in this issue… hmm.

...

…what was I talking about again? Oh right, the confusing newspaper text on the cover. It took me awhile to realise there were three columns of text rather than two - I thought the middle and right sides were the same column. So you can guess what happened when I tried to read it:

...admittedly it's sort of gibberish both ways, just slightly less for the way it's supposed to be read.

Anyway, I think that’s enough squinting at this bewildering cover. Let’s take a look at the Ken Penders’ first major story writing by himself, after the departure of Mike Kanterovich.

Wow. I bet when you sat down for today’s class about a Sonic the Hedgehog comic that you didn’t expect to see shoutouts to Snoop Dogg and Sir Mix-a-lot. But American rappers aside, this is actually rather interesting. We got our first glimpse of a spy network working with the Freedom Fighters to undermine Robotnik’s regime back in Sonic #16, but as that was a joke-heavy story I didn’t take it too seriously. This is our first confirmation that yes, the spy network is still going strong.

I do wonder what the coded message really says. We never actually find out, frustratingly.

Sonic’s got a point - it looks like they need to find a better coded message drop system. Maybe they should consider messenger pigeons, like they did in SatAM.

…or messenger …whatever those ares.

Remember kids - always look left and right before crossing the street.

Ah, I see we have a case of laser-guided amnesia here. A classic trope of fiction.

Hmm, this feels familiar. There is of course the parallel that was alluded to with the cover's homage to Spider-Man, but much closer to home there was an episode of SatAM that had this very same premise!

The major difference is that Robotnik was out of town and Snively was calling the shots, but the theme of Sonic losing his memory and joining forces with the villains to hunt down the Freedom Fighters was the same.

Oh look, Robotnik seems to still have some auto-automatons that somehow escaped unscathed after the destruction of the factory in Princess Sally #3. It’s surprising he kept them around after he came to the (incorrect) conclusion that they were useless.

“Cousin”?! Oh sure, because the family resemblance is unmistakable. What is this, The Great Muppet Caper?

Man, I am so sick of evil Princesses trying to overthrow governments with their bands of cutthroats. First it was Leia, now Sally. Someone ought to stop them!

Also, what’s that thing on Sonic’s left hand?

Okay first of all, if Robotnik is so confident that Sonic is under his control, why does he want to blow him up with the rest of Knothole? Wouldn’t he be a good assassin to go after other potential rebels, like Knuckles? Roboticize him at the very least! And secondly… does Robotnik really drink oil? He may have a robotic arm, but isn’t he mostly still human?

Well, this isn’t good news.

Also, when did they change out the slide for these stairs?

Looks like Sally and Rotor are already on top of things. Well done, guys!

They slammed the door in his face. How rude.

This should be good...

Okay, how did Robotnik install a freaking laser on Sonic’s glove without him noticing?

Also, Rotor looks super-comfy and casual in that chair. Sit up straight, my man! That’s the Princess you’re talking to!

Does it matter if Robotnik doesn’t know which tunnel Sonic chose? I really don’t think a tank is going to be able to follow that underground path. I thought they were following a homing beacon on him anyway?

Wow, Sally turned against Sonic fast. I know it doesn’t look good, with him carrying some kind of transmitter and packing heat, but Sally didn’t even hesitate or try to figure out what was going on here. She threw a couple of doors at him, and when that didn’t work she immediately flooded the tunnel. The question is, was Sally actually trying to kill Sonic here? Or did she think he’d be able to outrun the water, unaware an explosion was about to go off in his face and block off his escape route?

I bet Sonic wishes he could do this in all his water-based levels from the games.

Oh yeah, Robotnik could have lost the signal for any reason, absolutely. I'm sure it has nothing to do with trying to bury Sonic in a flooding tunnel.

Wait, so is Robotnik trying to kill Sonic or not?! If not, then why did Robotnik explode a tank and trap him in the tunnel with a raging torrent of water coming up behind him?

Oh right! At some point in the series I guess we transitioned to the Freedom Fighters living in huts aboveground like they did in SatAM, rather than in the underground caverns. I didn’t even notice it happening when they made the change, but I think the first time we saw them living in huts was back in Sonic #17. #16 too, I guess, but that was only during the VR segments, so does that really count?

Ugh, this is cringe. This feels like Evil Sonic’s dialogue, honestly.

The rest of the issue is just dedicated to the preview of the Triple Trouble special, so since we already looked at that, I guess we’re done with this issue!

The idea of Sonic losing his memory and joining Robotnik is a decent enough premise, but it does feel pretty similar to the afore-mentioned SatAM episode. Also, for the most part this issue is just set up for Sonic vs the Freedom Fighters next issue. We get a lot of Sonic running around and talking to himself in this issue - I guess Ken Penders had to use him instead since Knuckles wasn't in this story. Sally seems unusually brutal and not even concerned about what’s happening to Sonic, just wanting to eliminate the threat he may represent. And Robotnik’s motives are very fuzzy, with him going from wanting to kill Sonic one minute to hoping he’s survived the next. So yeah: all in all, I’m not a huge fan of this issue. Decent premise, just not the best execution in my opinion.

Next time, it’s Sonic vs the Freedom Fighters! Can any of his friends possibly stop him? Will they forgive him for turning against them, even unwillingly? Will the tabloids continue to call for Sally’s resignation?! The answer to… some of those questions, next time! Until then, class is dismissed!

#archiesonic101 #module3

ARCHIESONIC 101, MODULE 3: KEN PENDERS’ ECHIDNA OBSESSION BEGINS…

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG TRIPLE TROUBLE #1 (PART 2)

TIMELINE: 3235 (1 YEAR AFTER SONIC #1)

This is part 2 of my review of the Triple Trouble special. If you haven’t read part 1 yet, you can check that out here. Now, on with the show!

One of the unique features of the Triple Trouble game is the Tails campaign having its own unique submarine section. As was briefly foreshadowed in the first story of the issue, we’re now going to get to see that submarine in action!

Okay, so we all know that Tails from the games is usually pretty capable and able to take care of himself. But he doesn’t quite have that track record in the comics yet, so you can see where Sally is coming from here. He did manage to infiltrate Robotropolis by himself twice, but he was immediately captured both times. Aside from that he’s mostly just tagged along with Sonic on a few missions but not contributed a whole lot to them, although he did race to get Sonic his normal shoes back after they were replaced with energy-draining ones that one time. The only times I can think of off the top of my head where Tails has really come through so far were in the In Your Face special, where he defeated a “robot” griffin and Robotnik himself, but only after getting his butt kicked in both situations.

It’s interesting that they’re calling back to that story from Sonic mini #1, as most of the stories from the mini series have been retconned by now. Also, I was under the impression that the story took place in a river, not the open ocean.

Pfft, “no wading.” Alright, Mike Gallagher. I’ll give you a pass on this one, as that genuinely made me chuckle. xD

It’s over already? Geeze, that was resolved quickly. The entire fight took up no more than four panels. That’s even shorter than the Sonic vs Knuckles fight from the first story!

Looks like it’s time for the obligatory Knuckles story written by Ken Penders, and once again drawn by him too. Interestingly, this story heralds the first appearance of one of the Chaotix, Vector the Crocodile, before his official debut in the upcoming Chaotix special. We did also get a tease of Espio back in Sonic #25.

Sneaky sneaky, Mr. Spaziante!

A bad smell makes his dreadlocks twitch? Echidna olfactory senses are weird.

Why does Knuckles hate this random cockatoo so much? He seems perfectly pleasant, if somewhat unobservant.

Also: as an Australian, I feel like Catweazle’s beak should be grey and his crest should be yellow. Like this!

Isn’t this the same Angel Island zone boss robot Sonic and Tails encountered back in Sonic #13? Has it really just been hanging out here since then? Man, Knuckles is really bad at his job if he’s only just coming across it now. On the other hand he defeats it with a single fistful of mud, while Sonic and Tails just ran away from it. So there’s that.

And now we have another familiar face! This time it’s the boss robot from Mushroom Hill zone! But Sonic already destroyed this one back in the Sonic & Knuckles special, which I believe makes this the first instance in the series (but certainly not the last) of Ken Penders forgetting his own lore.

Once again, I must ask - just how many secret entrances to the Chaos Emerald chamber are there?! Is this even an official entrance that Knuckles just forgot was there, or did his stalker possibly just weaken the ground in that spot so that he would fall through it?

I can’t help feeling that if Knuckles had a doorbell - or even a door, for that matter - that this guy would be annoying him by ringing the doorbell or knocking and then running away and giggling while hiding in the bushes.

Vector had an opportunity to do something very funny here and shove Knuckles off the edge. He would have immediately regretted it, as Knuckles would have just glided back up and punched him in the face, but it still would have been funny!

This special is okay, but I don't think it's as good as the previous ones. The biggest highlight is probably getting to see the debut of Nack and how tricky he is, although he seems much more competent here than in the games. The Tails story is fun but criminally short, as is the battle between Sonic and Knuckles. And the Knuckles story doesn’t really give us much besides Knuckles once again walking around and talking to himself, although Vector showing up early was kind of cool.

Next time: Sonic receives a severe head injury, and hijinks ensue! Oh, so many hijinks! Until then, class is dismissed!

#archiesonic101 #module3

ARCHIESONIC 101, MODULE 3: KEN PENDERS’ ECHIDNA OBSESSION BEGINS…

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG TRIPLE TROUBLE #1 (PART 1)

TIMELINE: 3235 (1 YEAR AFTER SONIC #1)

Welcome back to ArchieSonic 101, class! I hope you all did the homework I assigned - namely, playing Sonic Triple Trouble 16 bit? If you did: well done, I hope you enjoyed it! If not… see me after class.

…anyway! We have a new issue to look at today. Let’s get started, shall we?

Triple Trouble was an interesting choice for a comic adaptation. On the one hand, it’s a Game Gear title - in fact, the only Game Gear title that was adapted in ArchieSonic (in the ‘90s, at least). But on the other hand it’s a very good Game Gear title, arguably the best Sonic game for that handheld. The gameplay is fun and it introduces a new antagonist for Sonic’s rogues gallery, something which was sorely needed. It’s not without its faults, but it’s a lot better than many of the other Sonic games that came out on the Game Gear (I'm looking at you, Skypatrol, Blast, and Labyrinth). That’s probably why so much love and effort was put into the fan remake - it was already a good game that deserved the attention. Let’s take a look at how the comic book adaptation went.

It’s easy to spot that this is a Mike Gallagher story, because Crabmeat is here to mess things up and immediately die. Again. xD

My first reaction upon seeing this story back in 1995 was to ask myself, “How did Robotnik manage to get his hands on a Chaos Emerald?” The story never actually explains this, but it’s not as unlikely as you’d think. Half of the Sonic games on the Game Gear involved Robotnik nabbing a Chaos Emerald. Also let’s not forget that in this continuity there’s like a zillion Chaos Emeralds out there. Robotnik probably just tripped over it on his way to breakfast one morning.

The shattering of the emerald is a new wrinkle, but otherwise this fits with the story of the Triple Trouble game - Robotnik does an experiment on the Chaos Emeralds that blows up in his face and causes the Emeralds to scatter.

Foreshadowing!

Whoa. How many drugs did Mike Gallagher do when he was writing this story? Was it ALL the drugs? I think it was ALL the drugs.

Soooo… are we implying that this mysterious silhouette knew exactly where Knothole is, or that he just got lucky and happened to come across Sonic zooming away? Probably the latter - if he knew where Knothole was, he’d probably try to sell that information to Robotnik when he speaks to him later in the story.

OH GOD PLEASE TELL ME IT’S NOT TIME FOR GREEN KNUCKLES I’M NOT READY

Okay, a couple of things here. First of all, Angel Island already has at least 10 known zones on it (11 if you include Sky Sanctuary), so why is the writer inventing new places here instead of working with what was in the games? Secondly, if there’s a mountain that no one has ever climbed but Knuckles could get over to it at any time he wanted to, that implies that he just hasn’t yet. It’s not very Guardian-ish of him to leave any part of the island unexplored.

…he’ll probably be fine.

Aw man, look at this! How come only the bad guys get these cool watches? Well, bad guys and pretend bad guys I guess, as Geoffrey St. John turned out to be working with Sally in the end.

I hope you weren’t hoping to see a lot of the actual levels from Triple Trouble, because this is all that you’re going to get.

To no one’s surprise whatsoever, the mysterious silhouette who’s been stalking Sonic is the new antagonist from the Triple Trouble game, Nack the Weasel. These days he’s known as Fang the Hunter and he’s made an unexpected comeback thanks to the recent classic era game Sonic Superstars. As you can see, he’s a sneaky piece of work who has no problem whatsoever with shooting an unsuspecting Sonic in the back. Of course, this is probably because he’d have no hope of taking Sonic in a fair fight.

Jesus, Robotnik intends to nail Sonic’s head to the wall? That’s dark, even by his standards.

Yes, stake Knuckles through the heart! It’s the only way to be sure of stopping him and saving us from the impending echidna lore!

I guess it makes sense that an incomplete Chaos Emerald would be drawn to what it thinks would make it whole again. Come to think of it, maybe that’s why multiple Master Emerald shards were clustered in the same areas in the Sonic Adventure games.

This is going to become a bit of a theme for Knuckles - if you set foot on his island, he’ll punch you in the face without warning. The last two times he at least spied on the unwanted visitors for a while before attacking, but I guess he decided to not even worry about that this time because he’s on a deadline. The only problem with this approach is that it’s really difficult to interrogate an unconscious prisoner.

Well, this is going to be awkward. Up until this point in the series it’s mostly been Knuckles assuming the worst of Sonic and looking to pick a fight with him, but now Sonic is going to develop the same attitude towards Knuckles.

If you'll indulge me, I'd like to quote the 12th Doctor: "And we're off! Fingers on buzzers! Are you feeling lucky? Are you ready to play the game? Who's going to be quickest? Who's going to be the luckiest?"

I quite like this move Knuckles is doing, but I question the logic of him calling this attack, “Hyper Knuckles,” when that’s a completely different thing that already exists in the games.

Aaaaaand it’s already over. The big, hyped-up, long-awaited battle between Sonic & Knuckles… and it only lasts for two pages. Kinda disappointing, no? But don’t worry, these two idiots will be having many, MANY more fights in future issues. :P

How many secret tunnels does Knuckles have leading to the Chaos Emerald chamber? It doesn’t look like a very large room, and yet he always seems to be conveniently near an entrance whenever he needs it, no matter where he is on the island. Actually, you know who this reminds me of, now that I think about it?

Maybe if we gave Knuckles a hat…

WAIT STOP BAD IDEA

Nack’s Marvellous Queen is a pretty impressive vehicle, if it can spend 20 minutes at the bottom of a lake and come back out none the worse for wear.

I kinda wish Knuckles had popped up at this point and gone:

Due to Tumblr’s image-posting limitations, I’ll be finishing my review of the rest of this issue in part 2. See you there!

#archiesonic101 #module3

ARCHIESONIC 101, MODULE 3: KEN PENDERS’ ECHIDNA OBSESSION BEGINS…

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #27: “COMING SOON: SONIC THE HEDGEHOG TRIPLE TROUBLE”

TIMELINE: 3235 (1 YEAR AFTER SONIC #1)

I'm back! This post won't be a full-length review though, but you already got one today with the Sonic #26 review, so don't be greedy! In this post I'm covering the preview for the Triple Trouble special from Sonic #27. Shall we take a look?

...I want popcorn now. That reminds me, I need to book a ticket to see the new Supergirl movie. Then I shall feast on popcorn.

EDIT: 10 minutes after I posted this, I noticed that Sonic's spines are going right through his chair. Not cool, Sonic. Knothole's had a shortage of chairs ever since that thing with the Termitenator back in issue #5!

Wow, there’s a lot to take in here already. Robotnik getting his hands on a Chaos Emerald, and Sonic being taken out by some shadowy, totally mysterious and anonymous figure? Who could it possible be?!

...um. Who are these guys and what are they doing here? What, if anything, do they have to do with the Triple Trouble game?

Haha, no Sally bikini footage for you. Sorry, furries. You could always try looking on Deviantart if you need your fix, but don’t say I didn’t warn you of the horrors you’ll find there. That place was already dodgy even before it started churning out AI slop 24/7.

Now this is what the fans wanted to see - a real fight between Sonic and Knuckles, finally. It's been over 13 issues and 2 specials since Knuckles was introduced, and he and Sonic haven't really had a real fight yet!

This is how Rotor got fired from the local Cineplex.

Alright class, as I said before - next time we’re going to be looking at the Sonic Triple Trouble 48 page special, which is an adaptation of the Game Gear game. In honour of this occasion, I’m actually assigning you all some homework for a change! I want you to go and play the fan game, Sonic Triple Trouble 16-bit, which you can download right here!

It’s a reimagining of Triple Trouble in the style of the Mega Drive/Genesis Sonic games, and it’s one of the best Sonic fan games I’ve ever had the pleasure of trying. Not only that, it’s free to play! I very highly recommend it; in my opinion it’s well worth your time.

Okay, that’s your homework to get done before our next session. Until then, class is dismissed!

#archiesonic101 #module3

ARCHIESONIC 101, MODULE 3: KEN PENDERS’ ECHIDNA OBSESSION BEGINS…

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #26

TIMELINE: 3235 (1 YEAR AFTER SONIC #1)

Welcome back to ArchieSonic 101, class! Hey, do you like ice-related puns?

Of course you do, we all do, don’t be lyin’! Well then, do I ever have a treat for you today!

I think the cover says it all, huh? Well, let’s open this textbook up and see what we’re in for…

Hmm, looks like we need to update Sonic’s Six Speed Settings from the Sonic mini #0. The only water-related setting listed back then was Sub-Sonic, “for underwater undercover work - understood?”

Also, guess who’s missing from this story once again?

I wonder if Jesus would have fallen in the water too if a family of ducks had crossed His path?

Ahh, the old trope of a supervillain with a weather-controlling device. It’s a classic.

Hehe, I do like the joke of Sonic turning blue. It got a giggle out of me.

The Freedom Fighters sure were lucky there was a cave within walking distance. Although their circumstances don’t appear to have improved very much.

Well that’s awfully convenient. It’s always bothered me that Robotnik’s forces couldn’t find the Freedom Fighters in here. I mean, it’s a cave. Follow it long enough and eventually the tunnels have to end, surely?

Okay, so sensors don’t work down here. I still don’t buy it that an army of robots searching the cave wouldn’t be able to eventually find them, even if the tunnels had branching paths.

Wait, these guys have a weather-controlling device too? Are we sure they’re not also supervillains?

I believe Robotnik’s sweet disposition exists in the same fantasy realm as Snively’s hair, and Geoffrey St. John’s romantic interest in women his own age. :P

Oh, balls.

…snow, balls?

As per usual, Robotnik will blame anyone but himself for his failure. Perhaps he wouldn’t have been in this situation if he’d programmed his robots with the ability to properly search a freaking cave!

I feel like the Freedom Fighters brought this on themselves by standing all together in a line like that. Snively would have had a harder time pinning them down if they’d been better spread out. That’s Defensive Tactics 101.

…they’re a different class, down the hall from us.

As someone who only moved to Canada a couple of years ago and is still getting used to driving in Winter, this page fills me with a sense of dread. Driving in the snow is AWFUL, I don't know how you Northen Hemisphere people put up with it every year!

And while I haven’t been attacked by a polar bear yet, I figure it’s only a matter of time…

A few minutes ago they couldn’t even see the tower, but now all of a sudden they can magically aim the catapult at it? Okay, I guess. Still, it would have been extremely funny if they’d tried this and Sonic missed by a mile and went facefirst into a mountain.

Robotnik’s going to have an awfully bad case of brainfreeze after this.

…oh, so it's fine when the comic makes ice puns but not when I do?!

I’ve got to give credit to Angelo Decasare for not going overboard with the ice puns for this story. There inevitably had to be some given the type of story this is, but if this had been written by… ohhh, let’s say Mike Gallagher instead, I feel like this could have potentially turned into Batman & Robin. And then we might have ended up with that “Alone on a Friday night” panel from Sonic #9 again. You know the one:

I DEMAND JUSTICE FOR BUN-

…oh, she’s actually here for once! Okay, complaint withdrawn.

Ugh, it’s bad enough that Robotnik controls the entire world, but the public transportation industry too? No wonder the buses and trains are always late.

And of course the Freedom Fighters can’t ride - they haven’t purchased tickets yet.

This place looks more like somewhere you’d bring kids on a school trip, not somewhere you’d seriously consider as refuge against an invading armada.

Also, that joke with Antoine and the cannon always makes me smile. Especially the look of contempt on his face. :D

These guys are in serious trouble if Rotor’s pocket laser is anything like those you could purchase back in the ‘90. The most damage I ever did with one was when my childhood pet chased the laser straight into a cupboard door, face-first. :P

I rate the guided roboticizer tour 0/10, would not recommend.

This is a weird adaptation of Sonic & the Black Knight.

Oh shush, I don’t care if I already made that joke a few issues ago, it still works here.

Snively would be one of those bus drivers who intentionally runs down pedestrians just for the fun of it. I bet he's got over 300 hours logged in GTA V.

I feel like in that armour, Bunnie probably wouldn’t really have been hurt if she had been hit anyway. It would have been one of those comedy bits where she ended up stuck on the windscreen, screaming at the driver as the driver screamed right back at her. :P

This is a fun issue, with both stories written by Angelo Decasare. I think I prefer the second story - partly because Bunnie finally gets to do something in this ridiculous comic series, and partly because I think the jokes are better. You’ve got Antoine and the cannon, Robotnik threatening to stick his boot up Snively’s butt, that cringe-worthy “hare-removal” joke… a lot of good stuff!

Normally this would be where I finish the review for the day, but we’ve got a bit of a rare exception here. According to our timeline, the next issue we should look at is the Sonic Triple Trouble special. However there is a small preview for that comic in the next main issue, Sonic #27, so I figured I might as well review that today too!

#archiesonic101 #module3

ARCHIESONIC 101, MODULE 3: KEN PENDERS’ ECHIDNA OBSESSION BEGINS…

SONIC & KNUCKLES #1 (PART 2)

TIMELINE: 3235 (1 YEAR AFTER SONIC #1)

This is part 2 of my review of the Sonic & Knuckles special. If you need to catch up on part 1, you can find it here. Otherwise, let’s continue on!

Our second story is not only written by Ken Penders but drawn by him too. That first panel actually doesn’t look bad, even if it’s likely he was working from a reference to draw it. But if you compare that one panel to the rest of the story, it looks a bit different somehow. I’m not quite sure what it is - the shape of the head maybe, or a slightly lankier body? Still, at least we can be grateful it doesn’t look anything like Penders’ recent Knuckles art.

We are kicking off a grand tradition here - that of Knuckles wandering around the Floating Island and talking to himself. I hope you’re into that kind of thing, because it’s going to work its way into every 48 special in the foreseeable future, not to mention a number of the main Sonic issues.

Behold Knuckles’ rage at inanimate objects, such as a bush or a ruin. I wonder how many alarm clocks he's smashed into tiny pieces.

I don’t remember any rockfall traps in Sandopolis. What happened to the ghosts?

Also, that last panel’s Knuckles model looks a lot better than the others. Did Ken even draw that one?

And now there are axes? I feel like Mr Penders didn’t do much research into what the Sandopolis zone was like in the game but just threw in a bunch of random BS.

I called it - even more random BS. What even is this hidden room?

This at least feels a bit more like the game - sandfalls and Knuckles smashing his way through walls.

So it seems Knuckles is being menaced by an unknown prankster. As I said earlier, this plotline is going to be stretching out for a looong time, so get used to it.

Our final story for this issue is written again by Ken Penders, but this time the pencil duties fell to Harvey Mercadoocasio. Try saying that name 5 times fast.

Watching over everyone on the island is “part” of what Knuckles does? What else does he do, aside from wander around aimlessly while talking to himself?

Knuckles the Echidna says climate change is real!

These dingoes are going to be massively retconned when we next see them. Based on what’s done with them in future stories, they shouldn’t even be here right now.

Also, I can't help but notice that all the animals we've seen inhabiting the island in this story are Australian. I don't know if that was decided simply because echidnas are Australian or if it's foreshadowing for future stories, but there will be a reason for this.

I'm getting some serious Kanga and Roo vibes here. Are we sure Angel Island isn't the 100 Acre Wood?

This special is a bit of a mixed bag for me. I like the Sonic & Knuckles story, even though I still think it’s disappointing we didn’t get to see Art Mawhinney’s Knuckles in action due to the artist change halfway through the story. The last story isn’t bad either - it’s nice to see Knuckles looking out for the other inhabitants of the island. The middle story isn’t that interesting to me though, especially with the knowledge that we’ll be getting a lot of this kind of thing with Knuckles in future issues. I remember enjoying it well enough when it first came out, probably because I was distracted by getting to see Sandopolis and intrigued by the mystery person setting traps for Knuckles. But, you know. Hindsight and all that.

As I mentioned earlier, this issue marks an important turning point in the series. We can see in this issue that Ken Penders is starting to take more interest in Knuckles and is writing individual stories for him. At the moment it’s still pretty tame stuff and nothing we wouldn’t really expect to see, based on the games that were out at this point. But this is the beginning of the snowball rolling down the hill towards the dreaded ArchieSonic Echidna Lore.

Next time: Sonic faces an avalanche of ice and snow-related puns when he and the other Freedom Fighters (except Bunnie) are hit by an unexpected snowstorm. Until then, class is dismissed!

#archiesonic101 #module3

ARCHIESONIC 101

SONIC & KNUCKLES #1 (PART 1)

TIMELINE: 3235 (1 YEAR AFTER SONIC #1)

Welcome back to ArchieSonic 101, everyone! We’ve got a big issue today - one that is an important turning point in the series. And that means it’s time to begin our next course module!

MODULE 3: KEN PENDERS’ ECHIDNA OBSESSION BEGINS…

Ken Penders and Knuckles the Echidna - a combination that should fill you with dread.

So it looks like I got a little ahead of myself when I said that Sonic #24 was the last issue we’d be seeing co-written by Mike Kanterovich. Ken Penders worked on the first story of this issue with Mike Kanterovich as usual, however the remaining two stories were written by Penders alone. If you’re not already afraid, you should be…

Anyway, let’s take a look at the issue.

Once again, I’m not really sure we need these splash pages. Everything it has to tell us about Knuckles and the Floating Island (not to be confused with Angel Island) is going to be exposited on the next few pages anyway.

Oh look, it’s Sally’s team of former trainees (and a couple of randos)! Apparently they’ve been shipped out to the west coast. Maybe they’re on vacation? Or maybe they were exiled for crimes of blandness.

What are they freaking out for? Have they never seen a massive island floating in the sky before?

Considering that we’ve already seen Sally interacting with Knuckles when they were younger, right now she’s doing a very good job of pretending she has no idea what she’s looking at here. This is actually a retcon though - don’t forget that the Sonic Kids stories came out much later than this. The reveal that Sally and Knuckles already know each other is coming in a later special.

Also, Bunnie’s role in this story has been upgraded from “complete no show,” to “background extra with no dialogue.” Baby steps, I guess.

...nah, I'm still breaking it out.

You may recall that my first issue was Sonic #16. Because of that I hadn’t read that first Knuckles story when I got this special. At the time I assumed that Sonic and Tails being trapped in the dark with Knuckles in the spotlight was just for dramatic flashback effect, but nope, that’s what the original story actually looked like!

Err… where did this new plane come from? And why is it here? It looks a bit more high-tech than you’d expect Rotor to have been capable of building in the rustic woodland settings of Knothole. Is there any reason Sonic and Tails couldn’t have just flown out here in the pre-Tornado again?

Sonic to Knuckles: “Oh, you’ve redecorated. I don’t like it.”

There’s some slight shades of Fleetway’s Sonic the Comic here, with Sonic being just a little bit of a jerk to Tails. Let’s keep in mind that Sonic was a bit more of an in-your-face character back in the ‘90s. He’s mellowed a bit in his old age.

It took them 10 pages to get some Sonic & Knuckles into this Sonic & Knuckles adaptation. Even then, the mushrooms are the wrong colour. And for some reason, Sonic knows exactly what species of mushrooms they are.

…well that was random. I dig it, but it certainly came out of nowhere.

Now we’re talking, this feels more like the game!

Yeah, this boss fight is over about as quickly as it is in the game too.

I really like the shading done on Knuckles’ silhouette in that last panel. It definitely gives him a menacing aura.

Oh shoot, they changed artists partway through the story again. This means that Art Mawhinney doesn’t actually get to fully draw Knuckles at all in this issue (except for the flashback panels), as we’ve now switched out to Dave Manak for the rest of the story. Oh well. Next time, Art. ...wait, the next special is Triple Trouble. Um, maybe the time after that?

Did Sonic & Knuckles use a level select code to get from Mushroom Hill to Lava Reef so quickly? That would be an awfully helpful shortcut in the game.

Aww, look! Sonic learned a lesson in humility! …I bet it won’t stick.

Angel Island does canonically have a flight path that it follows across the planet, so that means the stars would be in different positions from Knuckles’ point of view on a regular basis anyway. But who knows, maybe he has the entire star map memorised for every step of the island’s migration path? Or for a simpler solution, he could have been looking at the stars the previous night and noticed the change is more different than a regular day of travel would cause.

Look, I’m not saying that Knuckles isn’t dumb enough to get shocked like this. What I am saying is that the conversation probably would have gone more like this: Knuckles: Energy syphons? Drawing power from the emerald?! Sonic: You should try punching them. No, first you should rub your face up against them, then punch them! Knuckles: Good idea! (ZZORRCH!)

It seems very unlikely that Knuckles wouldn’t have noticed this at any point. It must have taken at least a day or two to divert Angel Island from its regular flight path towards Knothole, at a minimum. Even if Knuckles couldn’t see Robotnik’s approach because he came via the underside of the island, you’d think he’d have noticed seismic activity with Robotnik drilling through the bedrock. At the very least, can you honestly tell me that Knuckles never checked on the Chaos Emerald chamber at any point during this hostile takeover? You’d think it would be a regular stop on his patrol of the island.

How is it that Robotnik suddenly knows where Knothole is? The point of the Freedom Fighters having a hidden base is that Robotnik doesn’t know where it is. If he’d said he was going to burn down the entire Great Forest that would be different, but no, he specified Knothole.

Whoa, this is hardcore. And it predates Sonic Adventure 2 by about 6 years!

Robotnik might be laughing now at all the ammunition and flamethrower fuel he’ll save, but those weapons are going to be destroyed in the crash anyway, so the joke is really on him!

So once again we have to keep in mind here that Chaos Emeralds are rare but can be found in this universe. There’s a lot more than just seven lying around, at any rate.

This one I’m a little more confused over. Where in the hicketty-heck did Knuckles get a fake Chaos Emerald? It’s not like Tails would have made one for him. I honestly would have found it easier to believe that Knuckles had a spare real Chaos Emerald than a fake one.

Oh look, Knuckles is saying goodbye by putting on a laser light show of himself, as drawn by Patrick Spaziante! Also, purple-muzzled Rotor scares me. And what is this random clifftop they're meeting on? Do they have a lot of cliffs in the Great Forest?

I’m going to have to split this issue into two parts, due to Tumblr’s image-posting limitations. Part 2 can be found here.

#archiesonic101 #module3

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