Oh?? An actual Zavok fan??! Genuine question, what do you like about him? I've never really liked Lost World or the new characters in it, the IDW comics made them a little better but not enough for me to really like them, so I'm very curious what you think :o
Hello! 💗 There are a few reasons why I really appreciate Zavok. First of all his design just works perfectly for me. He's a giant figure (until you compare him to Eggman lmao), very imposing, very bulky, almost looks like a big block with massive horns and spikes - it really sells his role as a leader of the group.
His color palette is simple but also striking - deep maroon and saturated dark mint work so nicely together (and they're incidentally my favourite colors), and then his yellow scleras almost shine when contrasted with black.
More importantly I like his personality cause somehow he's the least stereotypical or trope-y Zeti. Pontac and Graff (writers of Lost World) made very simple characters; Zeena is "haha woman", Zor is "haha emo" and so on but then Zavok does not read like a classic bad guy that's just ordering his henchmen around.
He's spiteful, sometimes mischievously cheeky and eager to show his strength but also always maintains some composure and this malevolent elegance. He could've just been this "haha evil guy number 23" but he's not. Although distorted, you can tell he feels some sort of comradery with other D6 members. He does call them "brothers" when they get to finally attack Eggman.
Zavok's lines are also comically edgy and angsty and somehow this too just works for him. One of my fave lines is: "It would be hard for you to joke with no teeth. I'll savor your every scream and feast upon your fear." It's just so silly but he does look like someone who could turn his threats into reality if he wasn't going against the raw force of nature that is Sonic.
One more thing that helps him a lot is the fact that he's voiced by Travis Willingham and Patrick Seitz, both of whom are great at playing big, imposing men and are just great in general.
I'm not too familiar with IDW but I know that he's written so well there that some people would be almost willing to like him if he got separated from other Zeti. I totally understand why people feel this way about him. He's a lot like Infinite - both had potential but were put in poorly written stories. Hopefully both of them will one day be blessed by one of the great writers that we have in the Sonic Team these days.
Thank you for this question! 💖
