#stc issue 103

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I always like when they get letters from readers in other countries. This was in the very early days of Internet availability as well, so I bet these fans probably went the extra mile to get the comic

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With Decap Attack taking a break this issue, we’re back up to four Sonic-related stories, with the final slot going to a Tails story and, oh, this is the hypnotherapy one, isn’t it?

This is how the Mobians in this comic talk about Tails all the time. The writers really know the cards to play to keep the many Tails fans rooting for this underdog. “That erm… fox bloke!” is very funny tho

I wonder if residents of the Green-Field Zone hate the Green Hill Zone for being the centre of everything in the Sonic brand. Maybe they’re sitting there like, “I’m sick of the Green Hill Zone always getting all the government funding when they won’t even fix the potholes in our roads”. …That does sound like how StC background characters talk, doesn’t it?

Literally nothing on that poster said anything about hypnotising, which should be a red flag in itself. But like me, Tails just kind of lets stuff happen to him without speaking up

We’re about to see what Tails could be like if he had self-confidence to rival even Sonic’s

Dr. Sorder’s dialogue on this panel sounds like annoying people on xitter complaining about IDW Sonic every month for saying the word “gumshoe” or whatever they’re mad about now. Also, like people complaining about StC Sonic being too mean. Also, like people complaining about Archie Sonic for… pretty much everything. People like to blow Sonic’s characterisation out of proportion in their complaints about every Sonic comic ever, so it’s best just to ignore the hate and have fun with what you like lol

…Sorry, these rants are just in me, waiting for excuses to come out at any time

Maybe this is the Mobius equivalent of billionaires putting themselves in submarines to the Titanic. Anyway, Tails is here now and he’s dressed like every “cool Sonic” in the fanart section

It really doesn’t take much to sway the opinion of your average Mobian. This is like the sneakers story all over again

Looks like Tails won’t save those guys. That’s not cool! …Even if they are millionaires. But like, the woodpecker guy probably isn’t a millionaire, so they should definitely save him. At least in the next issue, because that’s all they’ve got time for today

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Speaking of Amy, she gets the whole fanart section to herself this issue and you know I’m going to love that :D

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Hold the phone, we’ve got Tekno in a story with Elson’s art! That’s a big win! You’ll probably recognise this image of Tekno, because it always comes up when you look her up. In fact, at time of posting, I’m pretty sure it’s the main image for her on the Sonic wiki

But we’re still not quite in the Amy & Tekno era just yet, as Johnny joins the girls so they can scout through the wreckage of the big climactic battle from issue 100

Tekno quit working for Robotnik back when he found out she was stealing supplies for her own use. So what better way to celebrate Robotnik’s defeat by stealing the last of his office supplies?

It would also be very embarrassing for Shortfuse if these guys found him offline after he stormed out on them a while ago

Johnny’s over here like “Please let me have some kind of superpower. I just get beaten up in every fight scene!”

You know how I mentioned during the Windy Wallis story that there were a lot of Mobians who actually supported Robotnik and we'd be seeing what they’ve been doing over time? Well, this is what they’ve been doing

Doing these blog posts during Trump and Musk’s presidency is just me constantly trying very tiredly to not make references to them every time the characters in this comic say stuff like “Trust a tyrant to be hero-worshipped!”

The heroes decide that it’s time to shut down this farce

I don’t have anything to say here, I’m just glad Tekno’s around as part of the team now

Okay, this Egg o’Matic or Eggmobile or whatever you call it does look very cool. You can always trust Elson to do a great job with the dynamic mech art. I guess that Brother Norman just decided to pilot it, because the rooster guy didn’t even get given a name so he's probably not that important

Thankfully, the heroes don’t even have to do anything to win this one

Sometimes I see people who haven’t read StC think of this Amy as “the bad girl” Amy or something. And to each their own, but I always think of her more like this - she is very cool, yes, she’s also a capable leader, yes, but most of the time she’s smiling and saying puns while she’s doing all of that stuff. And that’s why she’s awesome

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It’s Captain Plunder time! This is where I admit that I’m a massive hypocrite, because after spending that whole Special Zone arc going “I think the Marvel references are boring!” I have to admit that I really like the Spice Maidens. But given my track record, that might not be too surprising

Anyway, either Plunder decided that he was only going to take the enduring members of his crew out for this one, or Simpson decided he was going to crash Plunder and Filch’s date night

In his own way, I think Simpson could secretly be one of the most OP characters in the comic. So I’d pick him to clobber someone with a mallet for me as well

Oh no, it looks like Plunder’s reputation has taken a nosedive! Given everything that he’s done up to this point, I can’t say that’s too surprising

The downside of asking Simpson to beat someone up for you

Woohoo, it’s Zorabel! The pirate queen! And she’s bringing her daughters with her, too :D 

We get a proper introduction to them in the next issue, but for now, here’s our first appearance from the Spice Maidens, as StC gets ready to take advantage of the Spicemania that was gripping the UK in the late 90s. Admittedly, this is the first thing StC has referenced where I remember it being current when I was a kid and not just, like, something my dad would’ve heard of

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Last issue it was decided that each zone on Mobius shall be governed by an elected official. Without a Robotnik to fight, it looks like Sonic is taking some downtime to oversee some zone improvement events, even if he finds it boring

Time to meet this issue’s problem to be dealt with, Roger Bodge, a chipmunk handyman. I have to admit that I thought this story was his only appearance, but when looking him up on the wiki to see if he was inspired by any real life celebrities (he wasn’t, but I thought maybe he could’ve been a Bodger and Badger reference? Perhaps that was after StC’s time), it turns out he appears in two other stories after this one

I do wonder why Sonic waited until now to do anything if he knew the bridge wasn’t safe. For the bants, perhaps?

At least half the repair workers they sends out when something breaks at my workplace talk like this guy lol

Sonic really wishes he had something better to do. He’ll be glad of the Flickies’ Island story arc next issue, I bet

I’m amused by how much this guy’s wife and also Sonic seem to hate him

You can probably guess where this is going

Yep! That went about as expected. Looks like they’ve got a picture of Mobian Elvis Presley on their wall, too

The house is probably more dangerous than the trooper is. Also, idk why, but it just struck me that this would probably be a fun story for someone to do a fan audio recording for

Make up your own joke about British people an tea opinions here

The only thing that made it out of the house okay was them and the kitchen sink. And now these guys are homeless! But don’t worry, they strike me as one of those annoying middle-class couples you see on stuff like “Escape to the Country” that my gran watches, so I’m sure they have lots of money for a new one. Especially if they can afford to indulge Roger’s DIY habits

I’m not sure when Roger appears again, but for now we’ve finished our break of oneshots for the main story and next issue we’ll be back to the plot-driven stuff again

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Here’s a guide about how you can get your fanart featured in a comic that’s been out of print for 25 years, featuring a regal Sonic with some cool colours

As well as this, the usual games charts in Control Zone have had the Game Gear and Mega-CD sections removed to make way for an ad for the upcoming Flickies’ Island arc. I can’t remember if this is a permanent change or not, but I guess we’ll see

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Captain Plunder joins Sonic for the cover art today. They don’t actually cross paths in either of their stories, but we are about to start StC’s final Captain Plunder story in this issue. I’ll miss him :’(