RoughandTumble-r talks about the Sonic IDW 2022 Annual!
It came out yesterday, so it’s time for me to talk about each story in the 2022 Annual! Also, today’s my birthday! Thank you for the present, IDW :3
(Also, spoilers ahead)
Guardians:
Blaze has finished defeating every pirate on her world and has the Sol Emeralds locked in a safe place for the time being, but she now isn’t sure what to do. Marine tells her that she should take a vacation, but having so many responsibilities and never really having the opportunity to do so before makes Blaze unsure about whether or not she should. And so, she decides to ask another guardian in a situation similar to her own, Knuckles, what he thinks she should do, and he tells her that she should indeed take some time off. And so, Blaze decides to give Marine the responsibility to call her if anything happens for a little bit and takes that time to go hang out with Sonic, Amy, and Cream. I think this story is really nice, and I think Blaze and Knuckles are a pair that really fit together well and have some nice interactions here. Also, Marine!
Weapons:
Taking place shortly after Tails and Belle first finish Omega’s new body, Tails recommends that he and Gemerl have a bit of a sparring match to test it out. A fight between the two then ensues while Omega tells Gemerl that he’s become weak after living with Cream and Vanilla, and he also offers to let him hang out with him to defeat Eggman alongside him. Gemerl declines however, as protecting Cream and Vanilla is what he’s dedicated his life to, and the two continue fighting before returning to the lab, having almost destroyed each other and earning each other’s respect. Like the previous story, I think Omega and Gemerl are a pair that makes a lot of sense when put together, but their differences in viewpoints and interactions with each other are really good and do a good job showcasing the differences between them while also showing their similarities at the same time.
Hero Camp:
Vanilla takes Cream to spend some time at a camp called Hero Camp that was advertised as a place for kids to learn to become heroes and learn camping skills, but little do they know that the two running it are actually Orbot and Cubot in disguise! After spending a day (not) learning camping stuff from them and coming to the realization that Orbot doesn’t know what a smore is, Cream realizes that something is up with the two leading the camp and leads the rest of the kids to use what they learned to beat them up! I like how the kids from the Sonic Fan Club in the first two annuals show up once again for this one, and I also thought it was pretty funny when Cream (who usually is the pacifist) just suddenly tells them to attack Orbot and Cubot :3
Future Growth:
Silver has just finished helping Sonic and the gang harvest some tomatoes from the Garden he and Blaze started back in the 2019 Annual, but something is bugging him, and he wanders off. Espio notices that something is off and follows him, and when he asks what’s up, Silver reveals that after all of the work he’s done in the past, his future has actually been saved, meaning he now isn’t sure what to do or why he’s even still in the past at all. Espio then tells him to just have faith in himself and that if anything happens, he has everyone else to help him. I find it kinda interesting how this story also kinda lines up with the first one, with both Silver and Blaze achieving their goals and not really knowing what to do afterward. I’m also wondering what this means for Silver in the series moving forward or if it ends up being more essential to the plot later down the line, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Another Grand Adventure for Jet the Hawk:
Jet is busy relaxing while reading a belated birthday card from his father (who exists, by the way) and preparing to eat a calzone, when all of a sudden, a Laser Wisp shows up and takes his calzone just as he’s about to eat it! Jet then goes to find the Wisp who stole it when he sees Whisper eating it while sniping at an Eggman robot, and it’s revealed that it was her own Laser Wisp who stole it! Jet then gets grabbed by the robot, and Whisper has to use Jet’s Extreme Gear to get a clear shot and blast the robot to save him. This one I think is pretty funny too, both because of the concept of Jet being upset about his calzone being stolen, and also because of the contrast between Jet and Whisper’s demeanors. Whisper snapping and yelling at Jet to be quiet was also pretty good :3
Rough Patch:
And to finish us off, here’s the one that unsurprisingly is my personal favorite of them :3 Rough and Tumble are having an argument about rhymes when the two decide that they’d be better off working on their own, and Tumble storms out of their new hideout in Spiral Hill Zone. Later that night, they both prepare to steal a Chaos Emerald from Jewel’s Museum when they suddenly realize that the other is also there, and they also notice that Tumble has teamed up with Rouge and that Rough has teamed up with Tangle. While Rough and Tumble then begin to fight amongst themselves, Rouge and Tangle then reveal that they only teamed up with them because Tumble had a plan to steal the Emerald and Rough begged Tangle to help him. Rouge and Tangle then decide to team up themselves to beat Rough and Tumble just as Rough and Tumble decide to set aside their differences and become bros again, but after doing so, Rouge takes the opportunity to snag the Emerald and fly away, leaving Tangle in tears. Obviously, the inclusion of Rough and Tumble was enough to get me on board for this one, but I also really like all the interactions between them and Rouge and Tangle, and I also really like the art Aaron Hammerstrom did for it...
Best boys/10 :3
And that’s it for the 2022 Annual! Honestly, even though I also really liked the first two and am definitely looking forward to future ones, I think I liked this Annual more than the first two, and I really like every story in it for different reasons. We’ll also be getting Issue 52 next week, which is also pretty cool.
