#reginald sneasel

[taffysannotatedsonichu]

Sonichu 11 Page 78

BANANASAUROS: Pbrrr…

BANANASAUROS {thought}: Aaaay, Punchy. It’s all cool, brah. I was dumped by a few women in my past life. (Granted, it was my fault for playing the field badly) Let’s go play some Call of Duty, dude.

PUNCHY: …Yeah. Give me lots of time to recover, then ask me again, banana-hopper.

CHRIS: I sincerely apologize, but time is short for this episode, with two pages left, so I’m summarizing the remainder.

CHRIS {narration}: So, after Layla leaves, she takes a cab to her temprary care-giving trainer, (like how volunteers temp care for cats and dogs, or like a volunteer big sibling) William Falkner. He lets her stay at his house, then the next day…

Caption: December 23, 3:30 PM, at an M.C.D…

CHRIS {narration}: Layla finds Reginald, recognizes him, and asks to share the table while she eats and searches the web for a job and a place to rent on her phone.

LAYLA: How have you been since the class?

REGINALD: Eh… I could be better right now.

Caption: December 27, 7:30 PM, Layla’s apartment… 

CHRIS {narration}: Reginald had not found a new place yet, so Layla invites him to bunk with her. A few days later, she finds a good place to rent, and a job at the electric company as a secretary in power management. Reginald moves in with her.

REGINALD: I’ll take the couch; you have the bed.

LAYLA: Nonsense, cutie. Come to bed with me.

Chris buts in to announce that the episode is almost over (I don’t know why he feels the need to wrap this up; it’s not like he had a strict time limit or anything. I guess he was just bored of this episode).

Seeing as Ivy is still dead, Layla is without a friend in the world, so she’s briefly taken under the wing of a “[temporary] care-giving trainer”. Her temp trainer shares his name with mid-Twentieth Century American novelist William Faulkner (whose birth name was in fact Falkner without the U), famous for The Sound and the Fury (1929) and As I Lay Dying (1930). Though Faulkner is from and strongly associated with his home state of Mississippi, he was briefly the writer-in-residence at the University of Virginia, where Chris was known to stalk girls at in his youth, so it’s possible Chris became familiar with his work through his time spent there (or it’s possible that he was assigned one of his books during his schooling, but given how well he did on most of his English assignments I doubt he would remember it). It’s also not impossible that this character is named for this Falkner, the Flying-Type gym leader from Johto, seeing that he and the Flaaffy Pokemon debuted in the same games.

After leaving Falkner’s care, she reunites with her old community college buddy Reginald Sneasel, and they meet for food at McDonald’s, possibly the same McDonald’s where Punchy and Layla had their first date. After getting a place of her own and getting a real job (apparently she wasn’t already working, like an unmarried and childless housewife), she invites Reginald not only into her house but into her bed, cementing their new relationship.

[taffysannotatedsonichu]

Sonichu 11 Page 63

ANGELICA: What in the name of all that’s holy…?

ANGELICA: Reginald?!

ANGELICA: Reginald… honey?… Are you okay?

REGINALD: Angelica.

ANGELICA: You’ve evolved, and you’re hurt. Let me help…

REGINALD: No!!! You can’t! Not like this! I am far gone, now. The docile Reginald you fell for is no more. I’ve evolved against my own will, and I’ve trashed your room in my sleep. I can’t stay here with you. Not as horrific as I’ve become.

ANGELICA: Sweetie, I do not blame you, and I can tell you are still good in heart and soul. I can heal you. Let me help.

REGINALD: Your kindness is appreciated, but I know, as the Weavile that I have become, I am vicious and more dark than the night. Farewell, love.

Angelica confronts Reginald and tries to comfort him in his new, enraged state, but he rejects her help and mopes that he can never go back to the non-feral Reginald he once was. He says he “evolved against [his] own will”, which is bullshit because he clearly didn’t have to wear the Razor Claw necklace to sleep. At best he could say he evolved due to his own lapse in judgement. He is concerned that if he sticks around longer, he might inadvertently hurt her, so he disappears into the night, leaving Angelica heartbroken.

[taffysannotatedsonichu]

Sonichu 11 Page 62

Caption: After a spot of cuddle and love, Angelica and Reginald retire for the night. But something special(?) happens…

Caption: 2:30 AM

SFX: Wham Boom Ka-Slice Thud Ka-Slice

Caption: Five minutes later… 

Apparently having sex with Angelica earns Reginald enough Experience Points to level up, and thus evolve (this, bizarrely enough, has logic in the Pokemon games - if you put two Pokemon in the Nursery, they’ll gain EXP and level up, and if you put a compatible male and female together they’ll produce an egg, so it’s actually technically canon that Pokemon gain EXP from having sex and I hate that Chris pointed that out to me.)

Unlike most Sneasels who evolve into Weaviles, Reginald’s transformation is more like a werewolf transformation as he immediately gains a destructive instinct and wrecks their room. Angelica also evolved in her sleep and faced no ill-effects for it, so it must be a Sneasel thing, in this universe where Sneasels are cyan instead of navy blue.]

Chris’s decision to make Reginald Weavile a crazed madman may be loosely inspired by one of the species’s entries in the Pokedex, specifically this one from Platinum, Black, and White: “Evolution made it even more devious. It communicates by clawing signs on boulders.” However, most other Pokedex entries stress how intelligent the species is, more conniving and cunning than brutish. Reginald is clearly not intelligent.

Chris must have been really fond of the sound effect “Ka-Slice” since it shows up twice.

Also, it appears that Angelica has a picture of the Virgin Mary hanging above her bed. Generally, in most Christian doctrines, it’s not considered nice to force the Virgin Mary to watch Sonic OCs have filthy sex, but I don’t know how things are done in Angelica’s denomination.

[taffysannotatedsonichu]

Sonichu 9 Page 98

MARY LEE {thought}: Oh well… he wins this time. I’m tired and I’ve done enough for now.

MARY LEE: Count, ensphere me and take us home.

COUNT GRADUON: Yes, Slaweel.

COUNT GRADUON {thought}: She’ll fall soon…

Caption: Meanwhile, below…

SONICHU: Thank you for catching me, sweetheart.

ROSECHU: That’s okay, honey-bolt. We watched your bought from down here. Why did you save her?

SONICHU: Well, as a hero, I could not help but to answer her cry. Besides which, the true final blow on that witch belongs only to Christian. Now, let’s help put the city back together, then let’s head home for dinner and “Mary Poppins” with our children.

Sign: Country Cookin’

Sign: CWCville Shopping Center

Let’s be clear here - Sonichu retreated. No one said that Mary Lee accepted defeat until she said she accepted defeat. Mary Lee was just saved by Sonichu, then he ran away, and then she said “I’m going to throw in the towel”. And despite the fact that Graduon just said that he was more than okay with letting Mary fall to her death, she tells Graduon to make a bubble, they’re going home. Graduon even ominously states “she’ll fall soon” - but Graduon, you’re carrying Mary several hundred feet above the ground. Unless removing this psychic bubble at this height would be liable to kill you too, why don’t you take the opportunity to kill her right now? Nevertheless, we’re meant to take away from this that Graduon and Mary’s formerly solid relationship is now on the rocks and their partnership will soon come to an end.

As an inverse of the earlier scene where Sonichu caught the unconscious Rosechu, Rosie returns the favor by catching Sonichu. She questions why Sonichu didn’t let Mary fall. He answers with the expected “I’m a classical, bleeding-heart hero who saves friend or foe”, with the added note that he believes he shouldn’t be the one to finish off Mary Lee, rather since this has been Christian’s vendetta all this time, only he has the motive to do her serious harm.

Team EHP gathers at the bottom of the screen, and Sonichu says that they’ll put in an appearance at the cleanup, then head on back to watch Chris’s favorite film, Mary Poppins, with his three children, seen here for the first time. From left to right (and oldest to youngest) we have Cerah, Christine, and Robbie. The three will get more individual characterization in the issues to come, but until they evolve, the three are just there to be cloying. Cerah is the only one of the three without a common name, though it’s assumed that she’s named after one of the many Sarahs in Chris’s life, most likely either Sarah Hammer or Sarah Cassandra McKenzie (Pandahalo). Christine’s name is a bit more obvious, and in fact Tomgirl Chris would later share the same name. Robbie was likely named after Chris’s father, or possibly the titular character from Chris’s second favorite film, The Adventures of the American Rabbit, Robert Rabbit, or less likely Robert Simmons V.

[taffysannotatedsonichu]

Sonichu 9 Page 15

Caption: *Montage* coming up…

WILD {IM}: Hello.

SIMONLA {IM}: Hello.

WILD: Nice day, isn’t it

SIMONLA: Yes, it is… how do you like the class?

WILD: It’s cool, even though I am usually wild, I feel shy around women. U?

PUNCHY {IM}: Hey. ‘Sup?

LAYLA {IM}: Hello. Uh… I’m feelin’ baashful.

PUNCHY: It’s cool. I would be shy myself, if I had not set my eyes on my goal.

LAYLA: :O How do you know you’ll still want her at the end of the semester?

LAYLA {thought}: My mind is a blank.

PUNCHY {IM}: I think I stand in good chances; she is a good girl :)

LAYLA {IM}: Really? Won’t you even give me a try before you go baa-bye?

PUNCHY: Ooh. R U jealous? ;)

REGINALD: Hey, Ponch, I hear your partner had a daddy Tauros, and loathes the color red; she likes women.

PUNCHY {thought}: Don’t mess with me, man.

SIMONLA {IM}: Same here. I get goose-pimply around guys a bit.

WILD {IM}: No worries. I promise not to bite. :D Do you like me so far?

SIMONLA: I am enjoying our chat so far. ;) You’re doing good.

The course of this day’s classes are played out in a montage. The pairings are connected via jagged white lines across the center of the page, signifying their electronic communication. Wild and Simonla hit it off immediately, because, perhaps from the inception of her character, Chris had destined her for a happy existence in his happy little fantasy world, and a loving husband in the form of Wild Sonichu, and a future with happy children, whether they be sons or daughters. It was that evil Evan that ripped these lovebirds apart, angered at the changes made to his fan character. See, fan portrayals of Wild tended to make him gay (most famously Asperchu, though that had yet to start at this point), and Chris was really pushing to find him a mate, any mate. So he changed Evan’s male Simonchu character into a female for Wild to get together with. Evan was not fond of this arrangement, done without his permission, so he conspired to take Simonla out of the picture.

The other couple on the page was having a bit more drama. Punchy is still intending to court Angelica and he makes no bones about telling his partner that he cares not at all for her. Despite her apparent apathy towards this situation, based off of her thought bubble, Layla attempts to talk Punchy down and convince him his attraction to Angelica won’t pan out, suggesting herself as a replacement in his heart. Layla’s speech is punctuated with “baa” signifying her past as a sheep, but while this would make sense as a verbal tic, this is written language, so Layla, aside from giving Punchy a clue to her identity as subtle as a two-by-four to the face, has no need to write out “baa-shful.”

Reginald, jealous little skank he is, tries to undermine Punchy and Layla’s newfound chemistry. I suppose his statements are meant to be a “two truths and a lie” sort of thing, the lie being that Layla is a lesbian. A Tauros is a species of Pokemon that resembles a bull (obviously), and it can breed with a the Mareep line, implying that Layla’s parents might be a Tauros and a Mareep/Flaaffy/Ampharos. Given that it says that “most of [the rumors] were verified false”, and Layla’s not a lesbian and given that she has no problems fucking the very red Punchy later, it’s safe to say she has no real aversion to the color red, I guess we’re meant to assume that the rumor that her father was a Tauros is the one fleeting thing Reginald got correct, though we never meet Layla’s parents (given that Reginald says that she “had” a Tauros father, it’s possible that he’s no longer in Layla’s life.)

Interestingly, whatever Chris uses to add that dialogue wouldn’t let him use two different fonts on the same page (or Chris was lazy) and Reginald’s speech and Punchy’s thought are written in the same, non-Comic Sans font as the IM’s. Page 19 uses both Comic Sans and the IM font, so I’m leaning towards Chris was being lazy.

[taffysannotatedsonichu]

Sonichu 9 Page 6

SARAH JACKARAS: Reginald? Simonla? Wild?

REGINALD SNEASEL: Here!

SIMONLA: Here!

WILD: Snergen-Flergen!

SARAH JACKARAS: What?

WILD: Uh… here!

SARAH JACKARAS: Oh-kay.

SARAH JACKARAS: Let’s get started with greetings.

Top left we are introduced to Reginald Sneasel, who, again, strangely has the same name as Simonla’s hypothetical son. It’s long been said that Reginald is, after going an entire issue (aside from a one page cameo) with no appearances, Chris finally installed a self-insert that was technically not him. Note that never in the Pokemon universe has a Sneasel been as bright a blue as Reginald - regular Sneasels are dark blue with red feathers and shinies are pink with gold feathers. Also of interest is Reginald’s eye colors - This picture has them both be green, but in other drawings, they’re done one blue, one green, just like you know who.

Wild is struck with a bout of RAH and announces “Snergen-Flergen” when his name is called. This is Chris’s idea of humor. “Snergen” and “Flergen” are nonsense words (although my computer isn’t flagging them as misspellings, so it’s possible that they’re obscure surnames), and Chris thinks stringing together rhyming nonsense is the pinnacle of humor. Wild seems to be suggesting that Wild is looking to be the “class clown” in Ms. Jackaras’ class, but the DAT 303 quiz at the end suggests that this is not an ideal archetype to resemble. Despite this, Wild is engaged to another classmate by the time finals roll around.

[taffysannotatedsonichu]

Sonichu 11 Page 61

Caption: A half-hour later, at Samuel Memorial United Christian Church.

WILD: I though Reggie might like to evolve someday.

ANGELICA: How thoughtful thank you, Wild. And many blessings to Simonchu too.

Caption: A half-hour later…

Caption: December 22, 2008, in Angelica’s room…

ANGELICA: I have a present for you. I can’t wait.

REGINALD: Wow!

ANGELICA: In case you ever wanted to evolve.

REGINALD: This is great. Thank you, Angelica. I got you something too. Freshly baked vanilla cookies. Kept it simple.

ANGELICA: My favorite kind of cookie. Thank you Reginald.

Wild inadvertently sets a snowball rolling that would destroy Angelica and Reginald’s relationship when he gifts the pair the Razor Claw. Angelica ties it to a string and turns it into a necklace, then wraps it up and gives it to her beau in the evening. She says it’s “in case he ever [wants] to evolve”, and seemingly he immediately wants to evolve because he puts it around his neck and keeps it on. Note that Razor Claws disappear after being used to evolve a Sneasel, so though it was a nice gesture when Reginald evolves he’ll be stuck with a piece of useless cord. Reginald’s gift in return is Angie’s favorite, vanilla cookies, emblematic of her bland personality.

[taffysannotatedsonichu]

Sonichu 9 Page 52

Caption: *Steel Wing*

SFX: *Crash to grass*

After hitting the energy ball back at the SAV, baseball-style, the ball slices a hole clean through the Decepticlone. Reginald was lucky he didn’t accidentally hit his beloved Angelica with that energy ball, as she was flying mere feet away, using Steel Wing to destroy a PVCC plane. Steel Wing is a Steel-Type Pokemon attack that can apparently cut clean through a plane. I think these are supposed to be more Crackders, by the way.

Angelica’s flight path is really weird. She cuts off the wing of one plane, but then she swoops behind the first plane then in between the two planes to slice the front off the other one.

*Crash to grass* is the first of many absurd onomatopoeia phrases in this chapter. Actually, it’s not onomatopoeia, because “Crash to grass” is literally what that plane just did and not the sound effect it made. “Crash” would have been onomatopoeia.