The Games are only 6.25% of Sonic, Spin-off Material is 93.75%

Do the people who hate everything besides the games of Sonic like most of Sonic? Do they like even 51%? No, they don’t even like 10% of it. There are just 74 official Sonic games and 1877 alternate continuity stories ignoring IDW because it’s ongoing. The list of 74 Sonic games includes games that most people would dismiss anyways, like the Game Gear games and spin-offs. How many games do casual fans and non-fans like? 14, give or take. And that’s assuming they like the racing games. 14 is less than 10% of 1877. So is 74. Define a fan of something. Is it, “ hating everything but one section of it? “

Fans of stuff beyond the games buy the games too. So they’re more profitable than game purists. The dictionary definition of purist is “ believing in and following very traditional rules or ideas about a subject. “ Believing no one should say Mobius, Mobian or even chaos energy, fits that to a T. Because only Sonic uses those terms, those are all quintessential Sonic terms, especially chaos energy, you’d be hard-pressed to find a Sonic fan who doesn’t say that. Imagine meeting someone who’d hate you or cringe just because you said one of those terms.

3.12% of the series is the games most people like. And to those game purists that say fans of spin-off material hate the games, THEY hate the games TOO because they definitely would hate most Sonic games since the games usually consist of spin-offs and bad games, not their ideal Sonic material. How else do you define someone hating the games if not ” they hate most of the games? “

So it’s hypocritical for any of them to talk like they don’t hate the games as well and talk like they’re better fans than those that are willing to admit when spin-off material is being better than the games. I’m sure fans of spin-off material like most of the lore of the games, as well, it’s in Archie too. What’s the lore consist of? Sonic fights robots, there’s magical stones in the world and sci-fi technology. It’s standard throughout the series, except for SatAM. Only characterization is changed when it comes to source material, really, petty reasoning for hating every story of a continuity.

If anyone comes off like they hate the games, it’s from only hating a few of the games, and saying they hate all of them because of that is disingenuous.

To each own, I’m just sad about it because they’re missing out on a lot of great stories, but people don’t have to like all of Sonic. I notice all of the big problems in every alternate continuity too, so I’m not passing judgement on them just for that. I’m not even intending to have a condescending tone here. The problem is these people seriously claim with a straight face that they are Sonic fans instead of haters and think they should be catered to by Sega exclusively. By that logic Sega should cater to Mario fans instead.

There’s a reason some fans have taken to calling the haters of Archie and SatAM, “ Canon Nazis. “ It makes more sense to only cater to the fans that like most of a series and ignore the others because only catering to purists will only alienate the ones actually buying most of its new products. Sonic would fail if it only catered to haters and non-fans who decided against supporting them.

Liking the comics is important because it does a lot for getting you close to liking most of the series if not reaching that point because there’s so many stories in the comics. Archie and STC have the most stories. Archie pre-reboot isn’t mandatory to like, it’s only 629 stories.

There are 1877 Sonic stories right now beyond the games, 1951 stories including the games. 1524 Sonic comic stories, 339 TV episodes, 350 if you include the Youtube specials. Minus 629 Archie stories is over over 50%. But that’s only assuming you like everything else including everything major that’s not Archie, including Sonic Boom, Sonic X and its comic. If you hate Archie it’s mandatory to be a fan of Sonic the Comic to be more of a Sonic fan than a Sonic hater because 466 stories are STC, so subtracting that gets you to quite less than half of the amount of stories number at 856.

Here’s the problem with Archie’s haters, fans that like the rest of the series and not Archie are rare since they’re picky. The type of people that can’t look past them aren’t gonna be forgiving of any big problems that are obvious. Chris Thorndyke’s not gonna be tolerable for them. That’s -78 episodes there.

Sonic X also had a 40 issue comic, and there is no way they would give that a chance. There’s 28 SatAM stories. Archie and SatAM have some big problems which I don’t like either but I look past them because there’s so many well-written stories I’d hate otherwise.

There’s 35 Novel stories within 31 books, including 6 Sonic Gamebooks from the UK. This is from the list of Sonic printed media and the multiple stories of the Sonic and the Tales of series. Game purists wouldn’t know about or like those.

Casuals and non-fans are extremely unlikely to have even found out about the 16 translated Sonic manga, let alone all 130 of the manga in general. Too bad, they might love the last two issues of the Sonic 1 manga, as it’s mostly just Sonic 1, but they’d hate the exclusion of the final boss in the end. Subtracting the 130 manga gets the number count to 937, and 938 is 50% of the series’ stories ignoring IDW, so at this point game purists hate more than 50% of the series.

These people haven’t heard of the 1991 Sonic promotional comic for Sonic 1, which they’d hate despite it mostly being about Sonic 1 because it gives Eggman a backstory we didn’t get to see in the games, which is hinted at in Sonic Adventures, a French comic that’s also obscure. That comic is about Sonic going to Angel Island for the first time. Because there’s an echidna tribe in present day in it, game purists would hate it anyways.

How this backfires on them is you’d think game purists would love the Sonic Sunday Strips because they’re so much like the games, involving just Sonic battling Eggman and collecting Rings in Classic zones. But most people have never heard of them because they’re obscure. And they’d probably hate them anyways just because Sonic talks in annoying slang in them, even though it was just to have Sonic talk like a young person to be cool and Classic Sonic was cool. Him being marketed that way got Sonic its success. These strips count as 3 stories since almost every strip is 1 page.

Another way being just a casual fan at best backfires is not being told about or finding the 7 Official Sonic Yearbook stories, because they’re ALSO game-like being almost entirely about Sonic fighting Eggman in Classic zones. There’s even a story where Tails uses the pinball machine in Casino Night Zone. There’s nothing that’d get in the way of them liking those comics, so I hope all of them get to read them some day, but they’re obscure, so only hardcore fans know of them.

Sonic isn’t like himself in Sonic Prime since he’s a big idiot. It has 23 episodes. I know for a fact there’s some game purists who hate Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. That’s 66 episodes. A game purist would hate most of the series at this point. It goes without saying some game purists hate Sonic Underground, but I know there’s one that loves it.

It also wouldn’t be surprising if most game purists hated Sonic Boom and its comic, since its main gimmick is having most of the main characters be Out of Character in annoying ways, and that’s why they hate IDW. That’s minus 104 episodes and 12 stories of its comic. Most of them would hate all 40 episodes for daring to have a unique concept.

And it’s likely for a game purist to hate all of even the mostly game-like Sonic the Comic because Sonic and Tails aren’t like they are in the games in it. That’s minus 466!

Now subtract the 117 Archie Sonic reboot issues. At least some game purists hate the reboot. Of course they would, it has SatAM and AoStH characters. Oh right, the Sonic OVA exists. Game purists would hate it just because Knuckles can fly and is a hat-wearing treasure hunter in it. I wouldn’t be surprised if some liked it though because it’s just about two typical Sonic plots.

Oh right, and two live action Sonic movies got released. Game purists hate them, I know they hate the first one anyways, because of its emphasis on humans and not taking place on Sonic’s planet. They take issue with any time two worlds are portrayed as a thing in Sonic in general, as even the manga and OVA had humans and Knuckles share a world.

That’s not even mentioning IDW Sonic in these calculations. I know for a fact that game purists hate IDW and why. Ignoring Fang’s miniseries that’s 114 stories as of March 2024. 1877 stories outside of the games as of May 2024. Total after all that subtraction: 94.

What else did I not subtract? Sonic Mania Adventures’ 6 episodes, and the 5 other shorts including Chao in Space, Team Sonic Racing’s short, Sonic Colors Rise of the Wisps, Sonic Frontiers’ short, Sonic Superstars Trio of Trouble. 1877+74 games=1951. That’s not even mentioning Sonic Channel comics, I don’t know if they;’re canon because you have to go out of your way to find them.

People who hate the comics and shows hate almost 94% of the series, and yet they think those who prefer spin-off material aren’t the true fans. Even those who simply are indifferent to them, are indifferent to most of Sonic. Even including IDW the games are still less than 6.25% of the series.

So the fact is, these people hate most of the franchise. Quantifiably how are they Sonic fans? They’d be the type to wish all of these alternate continuities didn’t make up the franchise or say they don’t count, and now imagine someone said that about the Batman Animated Series. After all, it’s an alternate continuity! This would be like saying only one iteration of Batman counts! Imagine if someone claimed to be a Batman fan while only wanting that cartoon to exist in it.

I don’t claim to be a Final Fantasy fan despite only playing the first two games. I’d never be mad at the current games for not catering to me. I don’t care how they are. So why even talk about how a series you hate is currently doing? I don’t talk about modern Final Fantasy, let alone seriously say it should be what I’d like instead, because I know most of its fans wouldn’t appreciate that kind of change, and that I could always just play the other RPGs I prefer instead.

To be fair with how varying Sonic can be and how many obscure properties it has, it’s hard to like most of Sonic and most people wouldn’t. 130 stories in the franchise are manga and only 16 of it got a fan translation so almost no one knows all of Sonic. I bet no one does because you’d think someone who read all the manga and could speak English would translate all of it for us.

The popular Sonic games: Sonic 1, 2, CD, 3, Adventure 1, Pocket Adventure (obscure though), Adventure 2, Advance, Advance 2 (some hate it though), Sonic Rush, Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing, Colors, Colors DS, Generations, Racing Transformed, Mania, Team Sonic Racing, Superstars. There’s a list of 18 games here. I wouldn’t be surprised if only 14 of these were usually popular even among the most casual fans because Rush isn’t a typical 2D Sonic game and Team Sonic Racing is a spin-off, that disappointed people in that it removed the non-Sonic Sega characters. It’s a miracle the Sonic and Sega Racing games are even popular considering that they’re about Sonic driving a car, they’re spin-offs.

There’s 114 IDW stories as of March 2024. Remember the issues of the reboot, Worlds Collide, Sonic Boom, AoStH. Even liking all that doesn’t add up to 51%. Liking all of the cartoons gets you at 344. You have to like the Archie comics to get to 51% regardless of which cartoons you like, because there’s SO many of them, and not enough STC comics to get to 51%. 245 if you hate all of the cartoons/films and the X Comic and IDW comic.

Stories I like; The two continuities of manga that were translated as of February 2024; 7. Pre-Flynn Archie Sonic 277 good stories. SatAM 16. STC 325. Sonic Sunday Strips, 3. AoStH 27. Underground episodes 24. Flynn Archie Sonic era 91. Sonic X 29. Sonic X Comic 16. Reboot 24. Sonic Boom 35. Sonic Boom comic, 5. Sonic Mania Adventures 2. IDW: 39 as of May 2024. 920 including IDW. 881 stories that I like in Sonic, out of a huge amount of stories.

1877/920=2.04. 15 continuities with stuff I like, 5 of them I’m fine with at least. I don’t love anything in the 6 continuities of; Sonic 1991 comic, The Official Sonic Yearbook, Sonic Adventures, OVA, Sonic Prime, other movies. 21 continuities in general. 21/5=4.2. But this doesn’t even include novels, their own separate continuity each.

Half the reason I made this article was because of my favorite Sonic fan’s tendency to call people who hate Archie and SatAM frauds, because it sounded harsh, but he’s right about the Archie haters who also hate Sonic the Comic, if you do the math and consider the word fan to mean something who likes most of something. What else can it mean? If it means liking most of what makes the games universe the games universe, that stuff is in Archie and a lot of the spin-off material too! And usually Archie haters will also hate STC or at least have not read it, but not always. So who should Sega listen to, the haters or their biggest fans?

My Rating of Every Archie Sonic Arc preboot & My 10 Least Complimented Stories

If you wonder why I think a story or arc is good, read what I have to say about it in my Everything Good article and read the story yourself if you haven’t. Good stories are a 1 in score. With great stories, I add an extra 1 to its score after the fact. In bold, it’s a bad arc. I’ll divide the amount of stories by the amount of good stories to see its writing consistency. A 2 is 50%. So any arc at 2.0 or bigger or at 0 is bad to me. Then I’ll give it a final score taking into account the prior rules.

Issue 17 “First Star I See Tonight! – Princess Sally’s Crusade ” to In Your Face. 3. All are good. That’s 3/3=1.0! 2 are great. 3+2=5.

Issue 20 “Deadliest of the Species”-Princess Sally 3. 4 stories. 1.0! All great. 8.

Issue 21 “3 Phases of E.V.E.” to 22. Only one is good. 2 stories. 2/1=2.0. I wouldn’t call “ there’s a 50% chance of one of the stories being good “ a good collection of stories. 1.

27 “A Scrambled Hedgehog” to 28. Both I hate. 2 stories. 0. 0.

Issue 28 “Growing Pains! – Part 1 of 2” to 29. 2 stories I dislike. 0. 0.

Sonic’s Buddy Tails 3 stories. I only like the third one. 3/1=3.0. 1 Great. 2.

Issue 31 “Tundra Road “ to 32. I dislike the first one. I think the second one is great. 2/1=2.0. 2.

Knuckles Chaotix Special “The Hunt is On” to Knuckles Miniseries Issue 3. 8 stories. I liked 2; Issue 32 “Prisoners!” and Issue 34 “A Sense Of History – Part One”. 8/2=4.0. 2.

Issue 39 to Issue 40 “Court Martial”. 3 stories. Hated it all. 0. 0.

Sonic’s Quest Issues 1-3 “The Death Egg Saga”. 3 stories. 1.0. All great. 6.

Issue 42 ” Knuckles’ Quest ” to 46. 4 stories. All good. 1.0. ¾ are great. 7.

Endgame, Issue 47 “Taking The Fall!” to 50. 4 stories. I liked 3 of them, not the first one. 1.33. 3.

Knuckles 1-3. 3 stories. I liked 2 of them. 1.5. Only the 3^rd is great. 3.

Knuckles 4 to 6’s “Lost Paradise “. 3 stories. All good. 1.0. 1^st is great. 4.

Ixis Naugus Arc 1: Issue 53 “Unfinished Business” to Sonic Super Special Issue 4 “Return of the King . 5 stories. I liked 4. 1.25. 2 are great. 6.

Knuckles 7 to Issue 56, “Dark Vengeance “. 4 stories. 4 good ones. 1.0. 1 is great. 5.

Knuckles 10 to 12 “The Forgotten Tribe”. 4 stories. 3 good ones. 1.33. 3.

The Ixis Chase: Issue 58 “Friendly Rogues And Foul Villains” to Issue 66 “And Then There Was One”. 11 stories. 6 good stories. 1.83. 4 Great ones. 10.

Knuckles 13 to 15 “The Chaotix Caper”. 3 stories. 2 are good. 1.5. 2 are great. 4.

Knuckles 17 to 18 “Deep Cover”. 2 stories. 1 is good. 2.0. 2.

Finding the Queen Arc: From Issue 61 “Tales… On His Majesty’s Secret Service – Part I” to Knuckles 21 “The Forbidden Zone Part 3 of 3: The Many Faces of the Truth”. 7 stories. 7 are good. 1.0. 3 are great. 10.

Issue 67 to 69 “Tales… Lupe and the Wolf Pack” 3 stories. 0. 0.

Issue 69 to Issue 70’s “Saving Nate Morgan”. 2 stories. 1 is good. 2.0. 1 is great. 2.

Issue 71 to 79 ” Tales Of The Great War” 8 stories. 6 are good. 1.33. 1 is Great. 7.

Knuckles 22 to 24 “Dark Alliance”. 3 stories. All 3 are good. 1.0. 2 are great. 5.

Sabrina and Sonic Crossover “Some Enchantra Evening”. 2 stories. 0. 0.

Robo-Robotnik Takes Over Mobotropolis: Issue 73 to 76. 4 stories. 3 are good. 1.33. 1 is great. 4.

Knuckles 26 to 28 “The First Date” 3 stories. 2 are written well. 1.5. 1 is written great. 3.

Knuckles 26 to 28 Fiona, 3 stories. 2 are written well. 1.5. 2.

Knuckles 30 to 32 “King of the Hill” 3 stories. 1 is good. 3.0. That same 1 is great. 2.

Knuckles 30 to 32 “Espio the Chameleon” 3 stories. 3 are good. 1.0. 2 are great. 5.

SA1 Arc: Issue 78 “The Chaos Effect” until Issue 84 “Perfect Chaos”. 14 stories. All are well-written. 1.0. 5 are great. 19.

Cat Country Arc: Issue 80 Land Fall until Issue 84 “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” 5 stories. All 5 are good. 1.0. 5.

Issue 86 to 87 “Heart of the Hedgehog” 2 stories. 2 are good. 1.0. 2 are great. 4.

Issue 86 to 87 “Against the Haunted Past” 2 stories. 2 are good. 1.0. 2.

88 to 89 “Family Matters”. 2 stories. 1 is good. 2.0. 1 is great. 2.

Chaos Knuckles Arc: Sonic Super Special Issue 14 “The Best of Times, the Worst of Times” to 125. 30. 23 are ultimately not bad, ignoring the way Knuckles looks. 1.30. 3 are great. 26.

Issue 90 “Sword of Omens” to 93. 4. 1 good. 4.0. 1.

96 to 97 “My Secret Identity”. 2. 1 good. 2.0. 1.

100  “Reunion” to 101. 2. 1. Good. 2.0. 1 great. 2.

103 to 104 “Freedom Fighters of the Galaxy” 2 stories. 0. 0.

103 to 105 “Myth Taken Identity” 3 stories. 2 good. 1.5. 2.

105 to 107 “Crouching Hedgehog Hidden Dragon Part 2” 3 stories. 3 good. 1.0. 3 great. 6.

110 to 115 after “Station Square Attacks” 10 stories. 6 good. 1.66. 6 great. 12.

116 “Operation: Off Switch!’ to 118 5 stories. 2 good. 2.5. 2.

Issue 122 to 123 “Heart Held Hostage” 2 stories. 1 good. 2.0. 1.

124 to 125. 2 stories. Both are well-written. 1.0. 1 is great. 3.

126 to 129 Tossed in Space. 6 stories. 5 good. 1.2. 5 great. 10.

Issue 130 to 134 “Home” 5 stories. All 5 are ultimately well-written. 1.0. 3 great. 134 makes sense but the art is too bad for me to like the story. 8.0.

Issue 131 to 144 “Mobius: 25 Years Later” 14 stories. 11 good stories. 1.27. 5 are just okay, 6 great. 17. It shouldn’t have had the forced threat of the apocalypse introduced though because it makes you impatient for it to be resolved and you never really see how it is. Usually it’s just harmless slice of life.

135 to 137 Tommy Arc. 3 stories. 3 good. 1.0. 2 are great. 5.

138 to 141 Issue 138 “Return to Angel Island” 4 stories. 2 are well-written at least. 2.0. 1 is great. 3. Horrendous art, easily one of the worst arcs to experience. Not the worst because it’s still short.

Issue 142 to 143 “The Original Freedom Fighters” 2 stories. 0. 0.

145 to 149. “The Good, the Bad, and the Unknown’ 5 stories. 1 is good. 5.0. 1.

149 to 150 “The Chosen One” 2 stories. Both are good, ignoring how Tails looks at one point. 1.0. 1 is great. 3.

150 to 151 “From Hero to Zero In No Time At All” 2 stories. 1 is good. 2.0. 1.

153 to 154 “Songoose” 2 stories. 1 is good. 2.0. 1.

Issue 155 to 156 “Line of Succession” 2 stories. Both are well-written. 1.0. 1 is great. 3. I can understand hating it though because of just how dastardly Patch is and how far he gets. A villain can be too unlikable. But I was just impressed by how competent he was and the novelty of him being the only villain of an arc. Other than the fact that everyone thought he was Antoine despite the sudden appearance of a scar on “ Antoine’s “ face with no one being told how, and Bollers STILL intended it to be Antoine anyways, he didn’t get so far just because everyone around him was handed the Idiot Ball. They didn’t see Patch with a scar the last time they saw him.

155 to 156 “The Price of Flame” 2 stories. 1 is good. 2.0. 1.

157 “System Shutdown” to 159. 3 stories. 0. 0.

60 arcs up to this point. The good ones: 35. That’s a lot of good content someone is missing out on if they avoid all of these stories based on what they hear.

From this point on the stories become noticeably less creative and more slow-paced, increasing the likelihood of a story being seen as bad, as a long story can get boring when its plot isn’t fascinating.

160 to 161 “Birthday Bash” 2 stories. Both are good. 1.0. 1 is great. 3.

160 to 161 “Sonic Rush” 2 stories by Tania del Rio. 0. 0.

162 to 164 “The Darkest Storm” 3 stories. 1 is good. 3.0. 1.

Issue 163 to 164 “Sonic Riders” 2 stories. 0. 0.

166 to 167 “Mobius: 25 Years Later” 2 stories. 1 is good. 2.0. 1 is great. 2.

Issue 168 to 169 “Order From Chaos” 2 stories. 1 is good. 2.0. 1.

Issue 173 to 174 “See Ya’ Later Chao” 2 stories. 1 is good. 2.0. 1 is great. 2.

175 to 176. 2 stories. Both are good. 1.0. 1 is great. 3.

Issue 178 to 179 “House Of Cards” 2 stories. 1 is good. 2.0. 1 is great. 2.

Enerjak Knuckles: 180 to 184. 7 stories. 1 is good. 7.0. 1.

185 to 186 “Mogul Rising” 2 stories. 0. 0.

187 to 188. “Beating the House” 2 stories. 1 is good. 2.0. 1.

189 to 197 Scourge arc. 11 stories. 7 are not terrible. 1.57. 5 are great. 12. I just liked seeing the Pet the Dog moments of the evil twins and how Scourge doesn’t literally take every opportunity to act evil, but really I don’t like this arc either because it didn’t develop on the evil twins, didn’t give them backstories.

198 to 200. 4 stories. 2 are good. 2 are great. 2.0. 4.

201 to 212 Iron Dominion Arc. 23 stories. 10 good. 2.3. 5 Great, 5 just good. 15.

Sonic Universe 5 to 8 “Mobius: 30 Years Later” 4 stories. 3 are good. 1.33. 1 is great.

Sonic Universe 9 to 12 “Echoes of the Past” 4 stories. All good. 1.0. 2 great. 6.

213 to 214  “Reigning Cats and Dogs” 2 stories. 1 good. 2.0. 1 great. 2.

Issue 215 to 216 “Family Matters” 2 stories. 1 good. 2.0. 1 great. 2.

Issue 215 to 216 “Future Tense” 2 stories. 1 good. 2.0. 1 great. 2.

Sonic Universe Issue 17 to 20 “Trouble in Paradise” 4 stories. 2 good. 2.0. 1 great. 3.

217 to 218 “Thicker Than Water” 2 stories. 2 good. 1.0. 2.

219 to 220 “In Service to the King” 2 stories. 0. 0. The one where “ they turned Geoffrey into a betrayer for no reason. “

221 to 222 “Second Impressions” 2 stories. 2 good. 1.0. 2 great. 4.

223 to 224 “Chaos and the Crown” 2 stories. 0. 0.

Sonic Universe Issue 21-24 “Treasure Team Tango” 4 stories. 1 good. 4.0. 1 great. 2. Everyone’s OOC.

Sonic Universe Issue 25-28 “Fractured Mirror” 4 stories. 2 good. 2.0. 2 great. 4.

226 to 229 Genesis Arc. 4 stories. 0. 0. Boringly uncreative, confusing.

230 to 247 The End of the Freedom Fighters Arc/King Naugus Arc as of 231. 2.90. 11 good stories. 32 stories including some Sonic Universe arcs that take advantage of it being the Mecha Sally Arc. Like Unsung Heroes, but not Babylon Rising since Bunnie has an insignificant part in the story, so does Ixis actually, and Sally wouldn’t have done anything anyways and was never there. 7 great stories. 18.

Sonic Universe Issue 29-32 “Inside Job” 4 stories. 2 good. 2.0. 2 great. 4.

Sonic Universe Issue 33-36 “Babylon Rising” 4 stories. 1 is good. 4.0. 1 is great. 2.

Sonic Universe Issue 37-40 “Scrambled” 4 stories. 1 is good. 4.0. 4.

237 to 238 “Loyalty” 2 stories. 1 good. 2.0. 1 great. 2.

239 to 240 “Heroes” 2 stories. 2 good. 1.0. 2 great. 4.

Sonic Universe Issue 41-44 “Unsung Heroes” 4 stories. All 4 are good. 1.33. 3 are great. 7.

Issue 243-246 “Endangered Species” 4 stories. 0. 0.

Sonic Universe Issue 46-49 “All for One” 4 stories. 3 are good. 1.33. 3 are great. 6. I still remember it as terrible because of the annoying singing that took forever and the dialogue overload with nothing happening in the first issue, meaning there’s a lot of boring content in it.

Here are some Archie Sonic stories I have no compliments for that last the entire issue. I skipped a bunch that didn’t, because it’s so easy for short stories to have nothing good about them, but it really says something if it’s fully lengthed and still I dislike all of it.

Issue 244 “Endangered Species Part Two: Extinction Event”, Free Comic Book Day Issue 4 “Hide, Seek and Destroy”. Both stories I dislike. So, 244 is the worst.

Now for 8 of my disliked ” 0 stories ” that are in issues that have only 2 stories. Both stories would have to be 12 pages for an Archie Sonic issue to have both stories of equal length. Ones in bold are my most disliked ones of all.

Issue 6 “Sonic’s Christmas Carol!” is 13 pages, more than the 8 page one preceding it, Sonic Super Special Issue 15 “Sonic Spin City”, Issue 114 “Young at Heart”. Issue 116 “Bat Fight!”, Issue 121 “Afterlife”, Issue 124 “Afterlife”, Issue 160 “Sonic Rush”, Issue 182 “Albion’s Shameful Secret”, Sonic Universe Issue 45 “Racing for the Stars”.

Newbie’s Perspective Sonic Free Comic Book Day 6 2012 Review

Sonic Free Comic Book Day 6

  It’s about time I talk about the picture-less stories in this issue. This is talking about what the Genesis Wave was like from the point of view of characters other than Sonic. I’m just looking forward to the Julie-Su one. In Tails’ story, it just rips off the moment in Sonic 2 where a laser hit Tails’ plane on Wing Fortress. It was really boring to read through ALL that dramatic dialogue just to get nothing creative out of it. Why did the story keep going past the point where the Genesis Wave ended for him? We already knew what he was doing after that.

 Why did it take until less than the halfway point for it to end? If you read the comic you already KNEW what he was experiencing in the Genesis Wave so WHY HAVE a Tails story? The rest of the story is pointless to the point where it’s not worth describing it.

  Then from Knuckles’ perspective, he’s just guarding the Master Emerald in Hidden Palace and not knowing why. I could’ve assumed that because the Genesis Wave put Sonic through Sonic 2. Why would he ever patrol the island when that would require leaving the Master Emerald unguarded? He sees the Death Egg and things go back to normal. Julie says she thought she was back in the Twilight Cage but doesn’t explain a lot more about it for NO REASON, which is a baffling missed opportunity. It’s sweet that Julie reminds him he promised he wouldn’t remind her of when he was gone.

  What’s weird is that the Chaotix say they were detectives in the Genesis Wave universe even though everyone else was put back to their positions in the Classic Era, and obviously they weren’t detectives in that. It’s like he knows almost nothing ABOUT Knuckles Chaotix. The real way to portray this would be to read the manual of Knuckles Chaotix.

 I doubt that made it clear what jobs they had and what they did all day either. Thinking up that for yourself would be creative so of course he didn’t do that. There’s no reason Eggman would make it so that the Chaotix were detectives, if they never were. If he’s up for completely changing a character’s past and can do so, why didn’t he just put them in torture chambers like a real main villain?

  Amy’s story is also extremely boring, being nothing but Amy reading tarot cards, which are apparently pronounced “ taro “ from what I heard recently, but who cares? That’s the fault of the person who put a t at the end of the word. It’s annoying that the text says she’s joining the mission against something when she does nothing but sit. Why does Geoffrey bother lying to Amy that he’s got nothing but wind magic when he can shadow-meld and he used something other than that to escape the force field Nicole trapped him in right in front of her?

 It’s hard to remember what he did because all I remember is the characters were shown reacting to it, not that we got to see it. He might have turned into dust to escape it. I don’t see how ANYTHING would escape a force field, anyways! And it was stupid of Amy to waste time threatening Geoffrey after that.

  Bunnie’s story is mean to her having her in an animal capsule, based around the fact that she was put in a roboticizer in her first appearance which is inspired by the animal capsule. First the paragraph says all around her were Mobians. And then it says she was the only Mobian. How do you make that mistake with no one catching it after all those years of writing? This really is a fanfiction, and the editor wasn’t interested in paying attention to it either. She comforts the animals that they’ll get saved by the heroes and that’s all that happens.

 Then it would’ve been more interesting if the story told us how she got put in there. It says she hoped the heroes would protect her cousin and then says Cream is too young to deal with this. I like the idea of her and Cream having a stronger connection by being cousins. I assume he didn’t establish this in the actual comic because he didn’t think Sega would be okay with it because Bunnie’s an American character. This means he thought nobody with power over him would be reading this, just like fanfiction.

 Why would Eggman have the Genesis Wave make Bunnie organic again, and if that was the natural result, why didn’t he edit it so she’d still be a cyborg or worse? Why would he have the wave make a reality where he’s less competent because he has no roboticizers? He can already change the Chaotix’s lifestyle. Why does Antoine say the Genesis Wave affected the Death Egg?

  Why does the story bother showing Rotor’s perspective in the Genesis Wave? We already saw him and Sally just as it was ending and this doesn’t do anything new. Why doesn’t this say Rotor and Sally’s story, since it’s doing both? They’re in Oil Ocean and feel sick like before, with Antoine having another insultingly forced failure at English. It even includes the part that was already shown in the comic itself.

 It all goes white for him and then he somehow decided not to use his nanite suit to help his friends, because he somehow thought they needed him to be a councilor, even though he didn’t have any work to do because all of the councilors were hiding, and all he does is get outvoted. Why is there a needlessly cruel line asking what’s the worst that could happen? By the time he got home to put on his nanite suit it would’ve already been too late for him to destroy the Death Egg’s roboticizer before Sally could make her sacrifice. Why is it blaming him? Because he’s from SatAM, that’s all I can think of.

  The written stories in this were so uncreative and uneventful that they were boring to the point of making me struggle to pay attention. It’s no wonder there’s no art. There’s nothing happening to show. These are by far the most boring stories Ian Flynn ever wrote.  The only one really worth reading was the Bunnie one because, she’s never been in an animal capsule before, but it was still boring because, not only was nothing happening as usual but it was obvious what the inspiration for that story was. The biggest disappointment was the lack of a Julie-Su story.

Sonic Super Special Issue 3 Firsts Review: My First Impression of Archie Sonic

Sonic the Hedgehog Firsts: Don’t Cry for me Mobius:

  So I thought I’d do something a little different. I’m going to be saying my opinions of some Archie Sonic comics, the ones in Sonic Mega Collection. I don’t really like the SWATbots. The robots themselves look generic compared to the badniks… The whole thing I like about the badniks is that they’re very unique in design because they’re basically robots that look like animals… So… to have generic robots that walk on two feet, it doesn’t seem Sonic-like… I guess the point of this introductory page is that, these comics started out with a HUGE influence from the old Sonic cartoons. So it makes sense that this would be here.

 “ published comic appearances of Sonic and Super Sonic. “ Do they not know that they’re not separate characters?! I’m starting to wonder if the cover was like that for a reason. Back in the old Classic Era, this is what I’m gathering, they didn’t have much continuity. They didn’t have any sort of major story arcs going on for people to get invested and care more. So, the comic continuity was basically the main continuity back then. People were talking on forums about Sonic Adventure when it was not out yet, and accusing Tikal of being a rip-off of an echidna character from the comics.

 And they were just assuming they would keep up the comic continuity for the games. And if they did, that would be interesting until they would not be able to do it anymore because the comic would get cancelled. The comic started out being very much like the more lighthearted Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. So, as a result they’re kind of, weird in their tone at first because they’re a lot more comedic… like, kiddy.

 Tails looks bad on the first page! Why?! So basically it looks like Eggman’s plan is to stop Sonic in his tracks with a, liquid that’ll stop him in his tracks. That’s pretty smart. Oh good they got Sally’s color right. I think the rest of them look good except for Antoine, ugh. But yeah, that’s a pretty Genre Savvy plan of Eggman’s right away, why didn’t he do that more often? I guess because he can’t really keep up with Sonic. And he can’t predict where he’s going to go, so he can’t move ahead of him and do it ahead of him. So most of these badniks look pretty but the Buzzbomber!

 The Buzzbomber doesn’t look anything like it does in the game, it looks like it’s trying way too hard to be scary. But I shouldn’t be complaining too much about that because it’s a villain, so it should be intimidating. (giggles) “ And this ain’t love! “ (giggles) I like that line. (giggles) And I like THAT line too! (where Sonic says,” I do love to drive him crazy! “) Like I think Sonic looks pretty alright here. I mean sometimes he looks pretty weird. WHY are you freaking out over a freaking, Caterkiller? And why does the comic make them talk? Huh? Why would Eggman make, a mere animal robot be able to talk?…

 B-But seriously Sonic why are you even stopping, why don’t you just jump into it? Sonic’s cockiness and pride was making him look BACK at Eggman. He shouldn’t have been doing it, he should’ve been looking where he was going. Good thing he was able to stop in time then. Why the hell did he stop making that liquid, I mean, if he had kept going, using the liquid, he would’ve caught up to Sonic because he would’ve stopped, and he would’ve won? Idiot! “ You will tell me the location of Knothole- “ HOW would you not know that already?!

 I mean, you have advanced technology, wouldn’t the comic world have satellites that would let you know the location of Knothole? Or maybe he CAN see the village from the satellite and just doesn’t know it’s that specific village he wants to destroy? But you’d think someone as crazy and evil as Eggman would’ve just destroyed every single village ever just in case because he’s that insane. So that’s a good Establishing Character Moment for Sonic. (giggles at the Caterkiller being sprayed) So that’s weird, like, they acknowledge the Spin Jump, right away, they don’t just have him jump normally.

 He must have been spraying it at a really, really big force to, completely destroy it rather than just, keeping it still, what would that have done to Sonic? So Sonic is basically a dick here, I mean, constantly making fun of Eggman’s weight. He’s basically how he was in Colors but for some reason I’m finding him a lot more sympathetic and entertaining here. Maybe it’s because, ugh, “ gotta juice. “

 In Colors… he felt like a high school douchebag… in this comic… he’s a brat no doubt but he’s at the very least doing that to someone who deserves it and… I dunno, he just seems likable and entertaining, not, college dudebro. “ Metal mouth. “ Is Eggman’s mouth made of metal? It really doesn’t look like it… Ugh, fourth-wall-breaking. Just like in Colors… I mean this was definitely back when they had the most kiddy tone for the comics.

 I prefer that to, being as dark as actually possible, like, at the tail end of the preboot where like, they were pretty much making every single terrible thing they could have thought of happen to the Freedom Fighters. And, it just went a little overboard, like literally putting one comic character in a comic. I think that’s like soap opera levels. Ugh. Why are his eyelids white? Oh HERE his eyelids are blue! Why? That’s so inconsistent! Ah, there’s the proper characterization for Tails. While I’d prefer for him to be a lot more competent, that doesn’t mean he can’t respect Sonic, the person who raised him.

 And there’s Sally, being a responsible leader. I can respect that… I just prefer her having a vest or something so that it doesn’t look like she’s completely naked. I don’t entirely like her reboot design either… I like that they poke fun at her being a worrywart, instead of just, making her completely… Like people say she’s a Mary Sue but it’s not 100% that, ‘cause here we have Sonic, the protagonist from the very beginning, and, he’s making fun of her and there’s no real consequences, he’s making fun of, a princess, and all she does is go, “ Hmph! “

 She doesn’t go, “ I’m going to execute you for disrespecting me, “ or something. There’s Tails admiring Sonic once again… I don’t really like the look on Rotor there. He looks like he’s stoned… I DON’T get the appeal of Rotor to be honest… So, is Sally being sarcastic about Tails idolizing him, because she looks like she’s really annoyed. I don’t really get comics having characters who are further away, in the shot be really dark and one color. Are they just being lazy with the coloring? Ugh… It’s so obvious, like… I guess that’s the whole point that she’s a Tsundere. So she idolizes him.

 And yet she was just one page ago, insulting him! Huh?! I guess that’s the point, she’s a Tsundere, but… how can she idolize him, AND have no respect for him because of his impatience and… not being very smart and stuff? Does she respect him or not?! It’s confusing that Sonic greets Antoine as, “ Well if it isn’t Antoine D’Coolette… “ So is this the first time that Sonic’s ever met him? Does he know him already? Have he heard of him already? Because I would have assumed they would have already known him for a long time. Why would he, have no respect for him at this point, why has he done anything to deserve that?…

 Sonic says, “ Too much starch in your underwear again! “ “ Yes, I mean no! “ So (giggles) That’s actually pretty funny. So does he just think he’s stuck-up, is he just jealous because he gets to have, the job that he has? So, “ in Knothole, “ not in the base. So, the entire village is underground, with no access to sun? Come to think of it, how do they have lighting? Are there light switches on the ceiling, that we’re not seeing? And more importantly how are they not running out of air? Are there air vents? There must be. It’d make more sense if the leak was because it was built under a river.

 Sally looks pretty sympathetic there being worried. “ Ant. “ It took me a while to figure out what that meant because, I usually think of the abbreviation of Antoine being ‘Twan. Ant seems pretty weird. But yeah, he does have a point here because, he’s not doing a very good job, I mean he just seems kind of, melodramatic, is that the word? I dunno, underwhelming, his dramatic speech… OK, seriously, how is Robotnik not insulted by his desk? Seriously how? This is why I don’t think Eggman is a good character. This is why I don’t think he works as a villain at all.

 No one in real life, and I know this is a cartoon but even in fiction… you can’t have a believable, well-written character, know they’re evil, that’s psychologically impossible! Like why isn’t he offended by this? People delude themselves into thinking that they’re good people. Why would he… have all that there? I mean I guess it’s supposed to be, appealing to little kids… But, the whole point of a comic is, you’re reading a lot, in a comic, so why would comics be appealed to little kids, when, little kids aren’t willing to read for a long time a whole bunch of text…

 Ugh. At what point has Antoine proven that he’s a warrior? Like when he’s actually acting arrogant he can just go fuck himself. But I do feel sorry for him when Sonic, a supposed hero, is blatantly bullying him like this! I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Sonic tripped him like Scourge. Sonic is very clearly acting like a bully here, it makes you wonder, what kinda ego he has or something. The willows have been crying? That’s stupid.

 Well I guess it is a magical universe so maybe these are magical willows, maybe, maybe they’re dryads, maybe they’re tree spirits and they’re crying, so their actual tree bodies are crying as a result. Maybe it’s just chaos energy making them rain. Why did he ask Tails not to finish his sentences, I mean I guess that IS annoying… Oh it’s the checkered wrecking ball from Sonic 1, I guess… I guess the whole nostalgic reference them? They DO think up a whole lot of their own original ideas, so, I don’t really mind game references in Sonic, at THIS point.

 “ Robot-Nood-Nik? “ Uh… OK then… I definitely prefer Eggman… although, Robuttnik is definitely a lot more comedic than Eggman, because Eggman doesn’t really do anything for me besides being faster to say and type. Rotor made a bad joke. Seriously, why would he say, well a bunch of times, if he was going to talk about where Sonic’s going? If it’s his really stupid idea of a joke, at the wrong time, he really doesn’t take the situation seriously, just like Sonic…

 I mean Sonic can run at the speed of sound, so, that must be a really fast Eggmobile then, but… it makes sense that they wouldn’t believe, with the exception of Sally, that Robotnik is an actual threat to them… The Rings rise and fall? Why? Why would they rise and fall in the well?… That is a sort of tension. So that’s good. And him getting it in time is really convenient ‘cause, obviously otherwise they’d be pretty much screwed. So, this is new right away. They’re actually using something from the games, the Ring, and explaining it… making it some sort of magic…

 I don’t think it should be a power up thing, because, it just grants invincibility, as long as you have it… But instead they seem to make it into this sort of all purpose magical artifact, and… I guess it just magically spawns from chaos energy being in the universe… because here it just seems to be a grant your wishes sorta thing… which seems like it should be, like, OK, grab a Ring, and, wish that Robotnik is dead. There, there’s… now you don’t have to worry about anything anymore! I dunno, it seems like a… Get Out of Jail Free Card…

 But there was a genuine source of tension earlier with Robotnik being really close to him, so, I guess it works, but… I would prefer it if he, I dunno actually jumped, I mean he had no problem with actually jumping at the Eggmobile to damage it, in Sonic 1 so I don’t know why he couldn’t just do that in THIS comic… So there’s the Freedom Fighters being nature lovers as always… And here we have enough moment of Antoine being blatantly bullied.

 Seriously how are they… not objecting to this, how is Sally not objecting to this, how does she not already know about this and go, “ This is wrong, you shouldn’t be treating him like this, get him out! “ And, Tails! Why isn’t HE objecting to this? He’s supposed to be this sweet kid and he has no problem whatsoever with Antoine being bullied.

 I guess they all view it as him deserving it… but, still, some heroes… I just don’t understand why they would put him to waste by supervising planting trees, I mean I guess… he should be guarding it from danger? But then don’t call it supervising, just call it… Sonic guarding them.

Rabbit Deployment:

  Sally says those skid marks are hard to get off the floor. He did that a lot and I’m sure that’s why Sally said this, but… that must be REALLY inconvenient for them! I’d rather this not be the case… I can understand why Scourge is a Casanova because, right here, with Sonic calling himself her humble obedient servant, this is basically him acting like that… How is he not obedient?… I can only imagine him, like, being like everyone else and just doing what Sally says because she’s the leader. “ Double prints? “ I guess he means, double pictures, like two exactly the same? Mermaid camera?…

 So… once again, casanovas. Why else would they giggle? Also, I heard that in the 25 years later into the future comic, it was revealed that Rotor, was, not really into chicks, which seemed to come out of nowhere. I don’t have a problem with that, but, then why is he giggling, why is he acting like a casanova over a mermaid camera? Is he just doing it for show, or… is he, not really aware yet? Is this supposed to be a mermaid camera brand I’m not aware of? “ Nice Ariel photography. “ Oh. Does the Little Mermaid exist on Mobius too?

 Wouldn’t they have such a despair-filled bleak situation, that they wouldn’t have the time to watch movies or pop culture, where they can just safely go to the movies without having to worry about Eggman attacking them? Are people still able to make movies like that more importantly, in such a grim dark world where Eggman’s destroying everything?… That’s a weird-looking silhouette of Sonic. They just completely screwed up… This seems like a pretty inconvenient tunnel to travel through from below, even if they are using a spring.

Again another game reference, and not just a reference but actually using something that’s in the games… “ Cajun my crawdads. “ I never actually heard that before. I guess people are perfectly fine with using a spring to get out of the tunnel, like, they were talking about Knothole as if it’s an entire village of people with a whole bunch of random civilians in it. Are the random civilians perfectly fine with hitting the spring to get out of there? Do they spend their entire time, like, underground? Seems like that would be kinda depressing.

 OK, Sonic, why don’t you just immediately, run up to her at the speed of sound and trash these robots with the Spin Jump? WHY are you just, standing there and doing nothing?! He could’ve very easily stopped her from being roboticized halfway… I do feel sorry for Bunnie here though. He had to compensate for Rotor not having super speed. That sounds like it’d be pretty annoying.

The freedom fighters don’t have special powers, that was the big problem I had, with them for a long time, so, how do they, deserve to be his allies, I’m sorta over that now, but it seems very inconvenient that Sonic can go a lot faster than they can… Oh, these robots actually seem very human-like! Why would Robotnik bother programming them to be like that if he doesn’t believe in, robots being people? Do they have free will? Why isn’t this being made a big deal out of? My point is, Sonic can just leave the Freedom Fighters behind in the dust.

 So you’d think that he’d be just sent on completely alone missions so that they wouldn’t be holding him back by forcing him to move slow, and thus get to his destination a lot slower, or literally holding him back being tied to him. So why is Rotor along with him?… If he could do this to the robots earlier, why did he just stand there, and let this happen?! Seriously you’d think with all of the drama in the late late pre-reboot comics, Bunnie would be a lot more obvious about the fact that, it’s his fault! SHE wouldn’t know that, but… Rotor would know that!

 I guess Rotor is nice enough to not hold this against him, but aren’t they blaming themselves when this is very obviously, their fault?!… How is she hurt? “ Follow us by using her? “ So I guess they’re assuming that, they have tracking devices in… “ Mechanical mentality… “ In the reboot, it was more focused on Rotor being, like “ we gotta shoot the dog! “

 That kind of morality, where the ends justify the means, a lot more pragmatic and rational of a person, and here he’s showing that very early on. Sonic wants to help her, and he’s objecting to that for a logical reason, even if it does seem heartless, I mean you shouldn’t just leave her there… It’s good that Sonic’s worried because, that makes him a lot more sympathetic, like if he was just about bullying Antoine and Eggman, if he was JUST the way he was in the first story, he wouldn’t be a good character. But Bunnie doesn’t seem to be worried!

 This is the biggest example of how kiddy the comics used to be, how confused their tone was! She had so much angst about being half-robot in, a later part of the comic, but here she doesn’t seem to care at all! I mean, she SHOULD logically be happy about this, because, she’s right, it does make her super strong! And Sally agrees with it being cool. But later on she has angst about it, saying, “ look at what it does to your social life, “ paraphrasing it… So she flirts with Sonic right away. “ I think maybe you should put the princess down first. “ (giggles) I like Sonic’s response to that.

 This is a genuinely humorous situation… And I really love how she treats Sally. It makes perfect sense. I don’t really like the hairdresser line. It seems to come completely out of nowhere. I mean, she seems like a tomboy here, because, she’s all happy about, “ I’m super strong! “ Why would she be extremely excited about that? But…” hairdresser. “ It seems to come outta nowhere I mean, her character hasn’t been established yet so nothing comes outta nowhere at this point… but in retrospect it seems like a really stupid line. But the rest of it is really good!

 I don’t understand why she would have Sally as her hero, instead of Sonic. I mean Sally doesn’t really do anything. She’s a leader, she makes plans which is really good but Sonic is much more doing the action… I’m saying that this is good because she’s the princess, so it makes sense that she would bow to her. I like the concept of, Sally being treated like a princess, ‘cause that’s her identity… And here comes Antoine running in because he’s worried about the situation. So once again, them taking it seriously! Hmm. I see.

 Once again, this is actually foreshadowing really early on, it makes sense that they would end up married later in the comic, because right away, Bunnie shows interest… “ Highness, it was this big! No bigger! Really! “ “ You interrupted us to talk about your fishing trip? “ (giggles) Colors never made me laugh… See a giant robot is Genre Savvy. It makes me wonder why he didn’t do this a long time ago, like, making a robot taller than trees, or why he never did this in the games. If Sonic had to deal with giant badniks in the games, I mean bigger than the ones in that one mission of Generations…

 It makes sense that Bunnie would want to get involved in the action right away, because she respects Sally, so she’d want to help her… “ Who and what is that? “ That’s insensitive. And, Rotor, his response isn’t exactly, sensitive either. But he’s impressed by her. That’s foreshadowing. He takes interest in her right away, even though at this point in the comic he’s also into Sally… It’s just looking at it in hindsight, maybe it wasn’t supposed to mean that at the time… So does Bunnie have super speed? She pulled Sonic down pretty quick. Again, what is it with her and hairdressing?

 OK, isn’t the apostrophe supposed to be before the a in y’all? Her accent gives her her own identity even if it IS just stereotypical Texas tough girl… So far it doesn’t seem to be hard to understand what she’s saying. And I’ve never had a problem with understanding Antoine so far either… even though his whole personality is supposed to be bad at English, but right now it’s just he’s arrogant, and, that’s it. So it’s not that insensitive yet. I like that he’s creating a tornado here.

 He’s doing it on the ground here, which makes more sense, than, him magically floating above the ground to make a tornado in Heroes… making me wonder why he doesn’t just float over the entire level!… I like when he uses his wind powers as a logical extension of his super speed… I don’t really like that Bunnie knows Sally’s got a crush on Sonic right away. Where does this come from? You’ve only known Sally for a very brief amount of time and somehow you can already tell she has designs on Sonic? And what provoked her to say that?…

 So what’s she worried about? I haven’t seen yet. That’s the problem with a comic format, sometimes you can’t tell what’s really happened… I don’t understand why, he creates a tornado but it’s not AROUND the robot itself! Idiot! You’d think common sense would dictate that! That’s basic logic! And I see that even the giant badnik whose only purpose is destroying the woods… is able to talk too, for no reason! Oh, REALLY, they have to… make the text upside-down so that I can’t read it? You can’t read it on the Sonic Mega Collection. That is a dick move…

 This is really cool… that like Bunnie’s shown that she’s very capable right away! A great Establishing Character Moment right away. That’s good for her reputation! She actually stands up to it… I picture Sonic as being a lot more powerful than all of the Freedom Fighters because of the fact that he can run at the speed of sound, and as a result he can just run into something at super speed and just smash into it unharmed so you’d think he would be able to totally annihilate everything in his path… You’re gonna have to ignore the idea that, you smash into something at full force, you’re going to get hurt.

 Like if you punch a robot, your fist is going to get hurt. I guess, that was the excuse? He couldn’t just spindash through THIS thing because its metal was just, too, hard?… I just don’t know about, making her cooler than Sonic here… Sonic was made to look like a complete wimp, and a total idiot, just so that Bunnie could be awesome, I mean couldn’t they both be awesome?… Bunnie, why are you surprised by his speed? You’d think Sonic would be world famous as the really fast hedgehog…

 I’m just gonna have to get used to her, meaningless Texas idioms, I mean I’m not really sure if they actually do say this in Texas, I’ve never been there… I was going to say that, he should have created the tornado around him the FIRST time. But then it turned out instead, he was digging a trench around it, which is ANOTHER creative use of his super speed! Like so far I’m seeing a lot of creative uses of his abilities in the game. They could’ve very easily not bothered at all. But instead they think of the realistic benefits. (giggles) I just picture the robot comically toppling over and falling into the pit.

 I’m not really sure how, the hole he created just magically disappeared though. Why would that fall bury the beast? Did it slam onto the ground below it SO HARD, that it threw up a bunch of dust to magically bury itself? I don’t understand why it got buried… And why did she call it a beastie? It’s clearly a robot… That’s bad writing. So far this seems to be pretty well-written, other than minor logic problems. Aw, Rotor’s being nice. Sally says Bunnie will be a hairdresser as soon as Robotnik’s ruined. So THAT’S the explanation for why she stops caring about that most of the time…

The Lizard of Odd:

  Is he talking about actual animals, or, Mobians? I guess Robotnik’s that kind of human racist. It is good that Eggman has someone to talk to. It’s good for Eggman to have someone to bounce off. And I guess the whole point of the robots having square textboxes, is to emphasize that they have robotic voices. But they clearly seem to talk like people do. Robotnik screams, “ WHAT?! “ at a tiny salamander. (giggles three times) I don’t know why they would think that a salamander is actually… a dangerous thing, I mean couldn’t they make it breathe fire? He wanted something that’s a lot more big and intimidating.

 I thought he said he was going to make it into soup! But he really IS going to roboticize him. Why’d he say that?… “ Which button “? How would you not know which button? Why wouldn’t he program his robot to know how?… Why did he care about how tiny this thing was if he could just increase the size of the robot he’s going to make? If anything he would be all like, “ Oh this is convenient for me because it means that I can just hold onto it and carry it myself, and put it into the roboticizer! “ And of course they have to have comedic text for the explosion. That’s the whole kiddy thing!

So NOW they decide to have proper capitalization, with “ Universalamander. “ The whole point is emphasis but couldn’t they just italicize it instead? This seems to be very out of place. Why would making a robot grow too big, make it break free of his control, and yet still be all like, evil?… Really? That fourth-wall-breaking wasn’t even funny. It’s just there. The previous one was charming. But this one is just, look at the camera and break the immersion, destroying the point of having a fictional universe in the first place. Sure is a good thing that they have this screen here.

 Jurassic Park? Well, they do have a game on the Sega Genesis called that. So, Mobius, has a movie called that, they were apparently able to make, even though Eggman’s destroying everything being an overpowered villain, and everyone’s trapped hiding. So they were able to make Jurassic Park AND able to make a Sega Genesis and make both very well-known  to the public. OK!… So I guess this is implying that Sonic plays games on the Sega Genesis. I’m fine with that. It makes him a better Audience Surrogate.

 It’s just kinda weird that Sonic would play video games when he’s not sick in bed, because you’d think, most of the time he would want to run around and explore. It would’ve been better if in Sonic Colors Sonic was confirmed to have an interest in video games and that’s why he called a boss a boss at one point. So Sonic is actually intimidated here! This is kinda comedic, and this is actually good for getting me invested. He’s not just all, “ I don’t care, this is just some thing I can easily destroy! “ like Game Sonic would do. (giggles) It ate him. So, why did he, do that straight into his mouth?

 I guess it moved his head and that’s how he was able to catch him? How is he not dead from this?… WHY the hell would Tails be so stupid? I mean seriously?! This is Colors levels of making Tails a complete idiot once for the sake of a joke!… “ They must have done it with mirrors, “ would be a smart thing to say, if it was an actual movie, because, it would imply that he’s smart enough to know how they’re actually done even at this age… But how the hell would he, not figure out from the characters’ reactions that, this is real? Why would he think Sonic became a movie actor?

 How would he have the time to do that, why would he not brag about it to his friends, is he assuming this is just an actor? I guess there’s CG movies of Sonic. “ Who turned off the lights? “ Really? That is the stupidest name for a villain too. I guess it’s supposed to be the joke, and they’re keeping it subtle by not pointing it out… And herbivore is not supposed to have a space in it. They’re trying to be smart, but yeah… It’s good to see that all of them are worried… He was really lucky the sharp teeth didn’t kill him. But yeah, why is Antoine worried?

 You’d think, he gets bullied by him so much that he wouldn’t really care about him. In Issue 40 Sonic gets in trouble with the Freedom Fighters, and, Antoine is extremely eager to get him locked up in jail. Antoine says Sonic will be scavenged. I don’t think that’s really that bad, I mean you scavenge for something, hidden, to find it. So, technically he’s using it right. Maybe he’s saying that in that he wants to find his body, for a funeral, or maybe he doesn’t want to believe that he’s dead yet. OK, does he just not like the way he tastes?

 Why would a Robian continue to have taste buds in this world? Taste buds work because of their organic material. “ Paid political announcement by Princess Sally. “ WHAT? Fourth wall breaking. It’s stupid. OH, I suspected that was the case because it wouldn’t make any sense otherwise. Sonic spindashes inside of his mouth. So he’s really lucky he’s not being torn up by his teeth. I’m surprised that they had a whole, like, “ Is Sonic the Hedgehog dead? “ thing so early into the comic, you think that ANYONE would know, reading this comic that there’s no way he would die.

 It’s a good thing that they didn’t actually show him barf up Sonic. “ It wasn’t pretty. “ But, he’s roboticized! How would he have any organic things in him left to make it not pretty?!… Why is he referring to himself, that way in the third person? That’s stupid-sounding. So I guess Sonic is trying to be lighthearted to relieve stress and relax himself, by making a stupid joke in a tense situation, but, still that was a dumb line. It’s really, extremely stupid that all of the Chaos Emeralds are the same color.

 Did the people who drew this comic, not know, were they never informed that they can be more than just a green color? It makes sense that they would make this mistake, because emeralds are green. In Japanese, emerald is just an all-purpose title for gem. But, yeah, it’s good that they’re making use of these concepts from the games too. “ I was able to collect all seven Chaos Emeralds… ” Oh. “ and stash them. “

 In retrospect all 7 is inconsistent with the later comic, but it makes sense that Sonic didn’t know any better back then. I always imagined it to be that he got the Emeralds and they fused into his bloodstream like energy. So why the hell would he have to go into the special stage for an 8^th time, so that, he can go Super? This is stupid. But it’s not the games, and it’s magic, so anything goes. More fourth wall breaking, this is totally necessary! But yeah, why’d he have to get 50 Rings in the Special Stage? I’m fine with the comics being not like the games.

It gives them their own identity, but, they’re being like the games, but, not, being like the games… So apparently you have to collect 50 Rings in the Special Zone, and that’s how you turn Super. Why can’t he turn Super whenever he wants, as long as he’s collected the Chaos Emeralds?… So I guess the star posts, are magically capable of letting you go into the special zone, even though that’s only the case in Sonic 2. In Sonic 3 and Sonic Mania you just use the star posts, to go into bonus stages. So are bonus stages the Special Zone too?…

 But yeah Sonic goes Super. And I’m not gonna call this a Get Out of Jail Free Card because that does look like a pretty dangerous menace and he wasn’t able to defeat it normally. The ability to jump THROUGH enemies is apparently a Super Sonic power, okay, and it doesn’t damage it! What was the point then? Antoine says, “ I must admit… Sonic is amazing! “ That’s pretty sweet that he actually complimented him for once.

 You wouldn’t expect Antoine to respect him at all, at this point, where he doesn’t actually give a shit about him at all, and for good reason because, let’s face it they’re both being a dick to each other. The Antoine and Sonic relationship at this point is basically the Sonic and Knuckles relationship. One is made a complete fool out of and an arrogant dick just to justify the bullying. It’s not healthy is what I’m saying… So it makes sense Rotor salvaged technology just in case because he’s an engineer and, they need all the metal they can get. So it sure is convenient that Rotor made a smallifying gun with it for no reason.

It would be convenient that you could make something small so you could pick it up and carry it whenever you want. Like, that’s going to be pretty… (giggles at Super Sonic crushing the robot) So he has no problem whatsoever with murdering a perfectly innocent salamander that just so happened to get turned into a robot. I guess that’s just something the Freedom Fighters have to get used to. To be fair he didn’t know better. I’m not condemning them for that because they have no choice. It’s like a zombie apocalypse.

 It’s a reason I hate the roboticization concept applied to good characters and why it’s too dark for Sonic. If back then they had a zombie apocalypse, everyone would call it out on how dark it was now but THIS way it’s perfectly fine?… This once again is bullying Antoine. Sally’s not so above it all in this situation, I thought her character was supposed to be her sticking up for him? Like she did in the first issue, where she was annoyed by Sonic being mean to Antoine but THERE she was just laughing joining in on the bullying, not to mention Tails was also like that.

This Island Hedgehog:

  Tails is a pilot for a plane, and yet somehow he’s not an engineer yet… So this is the comic adaptation of Sonic 3 and Knuckles. “ A Chaos Emerald. “ That would be pretty stupid… I guess it’s true that Chaos Emeralds just magically scatter away from them like Dragon Balls when he’s done with them. It’d be good for them to establish that because otherwise it’d be extremely overpowered for Sonic to always have the Chaos Emeralds with them, so he has to have them be… their plane’s shot down. This is definitely more exciting than the original Sonic 3 and Knuckles. They literally get knocked out of the plane…

 I really don’t like how the plane looks though, because, the plane is green… It’s not even blue and yellow, which was the best-looking plane… The red plane looked good, the blue plane looked good. But this is just crap! I guess Rotor built it. “ The natives are restless. “ Okay, Sonic… “ Neither of you are going anywhere, but down… “ That’s a badass line, I’m not gonna lie. “ Holy 16-bit graphics? “ Yeah… There are some pretty kiddy stupid lines in this. “ covered by some sort of energy shield. “ So this is the comic adaptation of the shield you get in Classic Sonic games. So did he break an item box OFFSCREEN?…

 “ But it isn’t even Saturday night? “ “ Hit the drink? “ Uh, okay… Does Tails regularly drink alcohol on Saturday nights? Why does he say this if this isn’t the case? I don’t like jokes that don’t make any sort of sense in context that are just there for the sake of having jokes. And, Sonic should be panicking a lot more. I guess they only established him being afraid of water a lot later. And MORE unnecessary fourth wall breaking! Like, don’t tell a story in a comic in a serious established universe and then go, “ oh you can press the buttons on your Genesis controller to save these characters! “…

 This is a genuine source of tension because he’s drowning here. So once again, it’s good that this is here… It sure is convenient that they were able to survive this!… “ That’s the first intelligent question I’ve heard all day, “ and this is coming from Knuckles. I like that. He’s being shown as smart and intelligent aside from the whole him being tricked by Robotnik thing… Seriously how, well again, he grew up almost completely alone, with no television or anything else. How is he supposed to know, what the Obviously Evil trope looks like?…

 “ WE don’t take kindly to trespassers, “ EVEN THOUGH he’s the only person on the floating island. And I don’t prefer The Floating Island as a name, I mean I know it’s the name it had all the way back then, but Angel Island is a better name not to mention it’s CALLED Angel Island Zone, so it’d be stupid to have it called something else… unless there’s two islands, Angel Island, and the Floating Island… “ Twit. “ It would make more sense for Robotnik to call him a freak, since he’s a horrible horrible villain. Calling him a twit, is very tame.

 But yeah I don’t know why they rescued Sonic and Tails from drowning, just to put them in, the Sonic Lost World Eggman underground base. This is so dark, and, featureless! They were really lazy with the art there… So, this is Snively, a terrible person who sucks… I mean I guess.. he is a coward, he’s supposed to be the lame version of Eggman, the scrappy underdog, except he’s completely unsympathetic, so, he can go screw off. I do feel sorry for him not being able to continue his relationship with the Iron Queen, it was nice and sympathetic, for him to fall in love with someone.

 Other than that I don’t care about Snively at all, not even enough to pronounce his name right. It’s good that they have a human to interact with Robotnik, so it’s all the more unnecessary that they have badniks talk! Why can’t it always be Snively? Or is it Snihv-lee? The comics don’t explain it, even though they came out before SatAM. MORE unnecessary fourth wall breaking and Tails looks like a complete moron! I like how Knuckles talks like a badass. “ We echidnas are… “ How would he even know what echidnas are like?!… Is he just assuming that they’re all like that? I guess that’s how arrogant he is!…

 Why is he giving him a, well I guess he’s honorable and that’s why he’s giving them a head start. He doesn’t actually want to kill them. He’s saying, “ nice guy, “ but, if he was actually, “ nice like Robotnik, “ he’d be killing him right away… But yeah like, Knuckles isn’t really that bad in that, he’s giving him a head start… “ Freedom Fighters… “ Really? He doesn’t look like one, why would he believe him? I like this. “ Keep your shirt on Doc! “ I really like this interpretation where, Knuckles is working for Eggman, and yet, he’s bossing him around!

 He’s not just being like, “ You’re amazing and I’m going to do everything you say! “ This is how logically Knuckles would be if he was working for Eggman, this is a very interesting dynamic that I really wish one of the games showed, it makes me wish that Sonic and Knuckles could’ve had dialogue, without interrupting the gameplay, or at least playing the dialogue while you’re stuck staying still, because then we would’ve gotten to see MORE of that.

 “ Curmudgeonly. “ Why do we have that word, I mean I know he’s smart but why would you bother having that word in a comic that’s supposed to be aimed at an extremely young audience at this point in its lifespan?… I don’t like the font of the SWATbot here because it looks like he said, “ Load Robotnik. “ It doesn’t look like he said, “ Lord. “ Aw… So… are they honestly trying to imply that the Emerald that Eggman got a hold of, IS the Emerald that’s making the island float?!… I guess they’re really trying to imply that, the stupid mistranslated story of Sonic 3 and Knuckles is true! REALLY?

 You’d think that they would give the writer the Japanese story of the actual canon so he’d understand. And like, anyone who played far enough into Sonic 3 and Knuckles would know the MASTER Emerald is the big thing… Knuckles acts like he’s been the guardian of the Emerald his entire life and he takes it extremely seriously, even though just a few issues ago, Sonic was using a Chaos Emerald casually to go Super. How can Knuckles be the guardian of the Chaos Emerald, if the Chaos Emeralds go all over the place all the time? That’s the worst guardian ever!…

 But yeah this is pretty sweet. Sonic and Knuckles are friends!… They’re friends right away. Aw, the dust cloud censored the fight. Knuckles IS the guardian so I guess it makes sense that he doesn’t become a Freedom Fighter… Is he talking like, “ wit, “ instead of, “ with, “ because he’s supposed to be cool? Is he supposed to have that kinda accent? But yeah considering that he’s a main character of the games it still IS weird that Knuckles is not a Freedom Fighter.

 Instead he’s too busy as the guardian of the Emerald, even though logically you’d think they would just be able to put a security camera on the Master Emerald and hide it in, a base in GUN. The Master Emerald should not need to be looked after by a person. It seems to be a very primitive way of guarding it with the kinda technology they have in the comics.

 So Knuckles doesn’t have an actual excuse to not become a Freedom Fighter. He’s just being stubborn and old-fashioned…” Is Knuckles friend or foe? Sonic and Tails would like to know. “ But they helped each other! It really does suck that that’s all the comics in Sonic Mega Collection.

Every Idiot Ball in Archie Sonic pre-reboot Flynn Issues:

1: Issue 160: Scourge stood in the Chaos Chamber like an idiot politely waiting for Locke to finish saying, “ You’ll be thrown out just as easily. “ It’s not like Scourge interrupted him, which would’ve been more natural. Why didn’t Scourge attack Locke at the speed of sound instead of him and Rouge blathering on giving Locke more than enough time to react to their telegraphed attack by dodging his spindash?

Logically, Rouge and Scourge would’ve knocked out Locke with Rouge distracting him while Scourge smacked him from behind at super speed, so that he’d only be awake and here later to give Scourge scars, or Rouge would, as an experienced jewel thief would do, do the theft at NIGHT when Locke would be asleep, and then Scourge would go attack Locke for revenge after powering up and only then would he get his scars.

2: Locke DIDN’T throw Scourge out easily. Why DIDN’T he use his wacky voodoo again and make Scourge and Rouge forcibly fly out of the chamber? If guardians have mastery over the Chaos Emerald and thus Chaos energy, why didn’t he Chaos Control them and warp them away?

3: Why did Fiona NOT JUST LIE that Bean and Bark were her enemies who stole from her and that’s how she knew to defeat them? She did something to defeat them, that’s not something an ally of theirs would know how to do. She’s apparently less moral than Sally and yet she didn’t just lie.

4: Why didn’t other people say that she obviously used to be Bean’s enemy and she let them believe it? Wouldn’t it be an easy conclusion for them to make to make Sally calm down?

5: Tails and Elias are being held back from approaching Sally and standing up for Fiona, no way their friends would do that to them.

6: And there’s no way they would stay silent instead of defending her. Logically, the heroes are good people, they would’ve all reassured and defended Fiona one after the other. No way she would feel alone as an outcast like this. She shouldn’t have even been alone and needed Tails to give her a drink. Sonic was right there!

7: Why did she not even try to justify her checkered past to her friends, like an actual person would realistically do, justify their actions and make themselves be understood better? “ I needed to eat, and no one would give me a job, “ would’ve been all it would take to explain her past. This is the same girl who said to TAILS, “ What’s that supposed to mean?! I have bad breath or something?! “

8: I hate that Rouge calls Scourge a traitor and a jerk way too quickly and easily! He wasn’t being a traitor by using her as a decoy and delay just like she was trying to do with him, and just like she did the last time they tried to take the Emerald! First Fiona is considered evil way too easily by Sally and now this.

9: Why is there a regular window in the base with no glass so that literally anyone could just enter the base by climbing into it, defeating the purpose of having a locked door? That was uncharacteristic of the heroes to stupidly leave such an obvious way in open.

10: Sonic doesn’t even try to explain to Shadow why working with Eggman is a mistake. How does he expect him to get a clue, then? Logically, he should’ve just stopped working for Eggman right here, since him even joining him was forced anyways since the SA2 adaptation already happened and he left him for a reason. And at no point did he ever say or think that he had amnesia, so that should not be it. Sonic should’ve told Shadow that Eggman turned Overlanders into statues and wanted to do that to Hope, too.

11: Rotor finds out that Bean’s talking to Eggman on a monitor in the Freedom Fighters’ Brain Trust room. So they got him unconscious and they were too stupid to tie him up or put him in handcuffs?

12: WHAT TOOK Eggman so LONG to do something with Crocbot’s remains? We haven’t seen them since before Issue 75! You’d think Eggman would’ve already gotten back Crocbot’s remains over a year ago, and already used them for something else. If Eggman wasn’t planning on reinstating him as a sub-boss, then you’d think he would’ve just used his metals for regular old robot-building or missile-building, not kept them around with his AI capable of being reconstructed.

13: Issue 161: Why weren’t Bean and Bark tied up in the base? They shouldn’t be able to leave so easily.

14: Why’d Rouge ask him how he expects to get to Sonic “ that fast “ when all he said was that he had a wuss to crush, with no indication that he was expecting to do it seconds later?

15: Why does Scourge talk like holding Rouge’s wrist while running is slowing him down? Apparently being turned green and able to use Chaos Control with an Emerald hasn’t made him faster than Shadow because the drag from Rouge is now the deciding factor in him being not equal with Shadow. Apparently Scourge didn’t wish for more speed when he’s all about that and would’ve killed to be faster than Sonic.

16: Elias complains, “ So much for your new base of operations, “ when HE HIMSELF SAID “ a focal point “ to draw Eggman’s attention away from “ our homes and families. “ So why shouldn’t he realize the base did its job?

17: Scourge just got green and a power and confidence boost, so why did he agree to work for ANYBODY after that, let alone a guy who told her to wait before fighting Sonic next? Literally every time he’s worked for somebody, it hasn’t worked out in his favor! One time, he even almost got roboticized because of it!

18: Issue 162: ADAM suddenly wants to dispose of Sonic and his friends for no reason, a complete jarring shift from his clear foreshadowing to wanting to be good earlier; he had decided not to kill Tails OR HIS FRIENDS because he realized he was having fun playing riddles with him, and he sabotaged Eggman’s nuke launch having fun with that. He was so close, and Bollers’ plan was to have him join Nicole and they would date and he’d have a whole army of Swatbots to help the heroes.

19: So how did Eggman plan to drain the Zone of Silence without a portal to it that only Ixis can create? And why did he WAIT until the erasures were complete before syphoning the Zone, why didn’t he do it right away?

20: I don’t really buy that Eggman would just sit on nanites and not use them until, what would he even consider to BE a special occasion? When ISN’T it a good time to use nanites that turn organic stuff he hates into METAL? Him saying that as an excuse for hating Anonymous just makes it all the more confusing that he’d have a problem with it at ALL instead of using the nanites as soon as possible. Eggman had a lot of overpowered inventions before Issue 50 but he never just sat on them for a special occasion, he used stuff like the shrink ray or something to try freezing the whole area over for days in just any random issue. And this Eggman is stated to be identical to him in his past up to a point.

21: The Destructix is able to overpower MERLIN PROWER extremely easily and beat the superpowered heroes way too easily. Bullshit, Merlin can summon tangible illusions of monsters, float people, and all with no indication that he said ANYTHING, but oh, can’t cast a spell if you can’t catch a breath!

22: So the Emerald was cursed by the Walkers to always lead Mogul to a misjudgement so now I’m wondering why the Emerald wasn’t simply being warped away from Mogul since they knew about its fate in advance. Couldn’t the Emerald have led him to a FATAL misjudgment? They knew he’d be a threat ahead of time and didn’t do enough to deal with him. If they can warp people they could have warped Mogul’s Emerald right out of his chest. Why couldn’t they have cursed the Emerald to trap him much EARLIER if they could alter destiny with the curse ANYWAYS?!

If the Ancient Walkers sensed thousands of years ago that Mogul would be a threat, instead of them cursing the emerald that’d be in him so that it’d always lead him to a key misjudgement, couldn’t they also have the power to prevent him from being a villain at all, kill him or brainwash him to be good? The point is, the revelation that they could curse something all along creates a retroactive Idiot Ball.

23: What kind of a wound from Mogul takes over a YEAR to die from?! Why didn’t the Ancient Walkers heal that wound with magic, hospitals, or Merlin’s healing potions we clearly saw?

24: The revelation that Mogul would hate the Ancient Walkers enough to want them dead creates a retroactive Idiot Ball back to when he was all-powerful. You’d think Mogul would’ve outright destroyed the Ancient Walkers when he was all-powerful with over a dozen Chaos Emeralds in him, the minute he saw Athair being helped by the Walkers to fight him, if he cared that much about getting rid of them the whole time!

25: Merlin came to Elias looking for the Sword so he could make a better seal for Mogul, but him being sealed in the Emerald was a thing since Issue 150, you would think that Merlin would’ve gone to Elias a lot sooner about this, and since Flynn was only writing since 160, that’s the issue he should’ve had Merlin return logically. And logically, he would ask Sonic to go find the Sword, Sonic would spindash and ricochet off all the spider-kids after running around the planet at sonic speed to eventually stumble into them, so he’d easily get the Sword for him with his super speed, AND a Chaos Emerald to get Tails’ parents back.

No way it could’ve been too late to make a new seal. There are three different issues where Sonic runs all over the planet multiple times in the span of barely any time, one story has him do that in 10 seconds, so he’d find them in no time.

26: Elias says that he’s guessing he can help somehow looking like a clueless idiot for not already understanding their intention, and is told that the Crown and Sword of Acorns are essential to saving the Ancient Walkers. SOMEHOW, Elias asks, “ What’s so special about it and the Sword? “ DESPITE the fact that he was in the same room as the Source of All when Sally went into it! In fact he even had a conversation with Sally within the Source of All after she went in, just like the king did.

27: Why’d the spider-kids ever use the Sword of Acorns to destroy the Ancient Walkers? Oh, for Ixis? Why’d Ixis feel the need to do it? He’s an arrogant wizard who should think he’s unstoppable, and the Walkers clearly WEREN’T a threat to him because they did jack shit against him their entire lives, so he never should’ve even considered them.

28: WHY are the spider-kids working for Ixis? Uma hadn’t been working for Ixis for a long time after he got sealed away in the Zone of Silence. She uncrystallised a while after that, and after that must have been when she laid those eggs. The spider-kids would have no reason to feel attachment to Ixis and work for him, whatsoever. And that’s not even mentioning that Ixis is Obviously Evil.

29: Eggman takes a lame excuse to hire back Snively. ” You’ve served me the longest and the best ” HE BETRAYED YOU FOR SONIC! And he MURDERED ROBOTNIK PRIME! Why hire him again?! What an Idiot! He also doesn’t change his mind about hiring him back after he says, “ No more of this henchmen nonsense, “ and destroys Metal Snively offscreen who’s more loyal to him.

And he still takes Snively back after he said that family is overrated because it betrays him. What would Eggman need with Snively when he can have robots and ADAM and M do what he does just fine? Eggman just thought of Snively as a treacherous weasel the last time he mentioned Snively. and punishing him would INVOLVE being there when Knothole was destroyed!

30: No one ever put a tracking device like an ankle monitor on Snively to closely monitor the fugitive villain, so nobody immediately notices his disappearance and it takes a while for people to realize he even left. He shouldn’t have even been left without supervision! I couldn’t even believe that MILES would get that kind of freedom, let alone Snively if he defected. This is the same guy who was put in the Devil’s Gulag right after he was encountered without Eggman in Sonic Super Special 2, but the heroes conveniently never treated Snively like he was an escaped prisoner by at least putting an ankle monitor on him.

31: Issue 163: Why would the paladin Connery accuse Mogul of killing the Walkers when obviously Mogul couldn’t have done ANYTHING when trapped in that Emerald? It’s obvious that someone ELSE released him!

32: Why would Sir Connery think that people who hoard their magical power to themselves doing nothing against the villains would ever be the noblest people to grace the earth?

33: Mogul doesn’t just kill the heroes and instead merely knocks them out with that chaos energy wave and then quits REALLY trying against them, because I guess he doesn’t want to win!

34: Ixis should have CRYSTALLIZED M for his own personal use since he does that to Metal Sonic Kai later on. Instead he somehow freezes M but not to a lethal extent and just leaves.

35: Why does Eggman think M will have a chance of thawing out on her own? She was frozen by a wizard, he could make her as cold as he wants and he had no reason to hold back.

36: If Fang can squeeze through the bars of his cell, which was that poorly made, why didn’t he escape way earlier? There was an issue before Flynn where Sally made it clear Fang doesn’t wanna be reunited with his vengeful former allies in the prison yard, so why would he have stayed in jail this long if he didn’t like it there?

37: According to an interview with Flynn, Fang somehow left a bomb for his former gang mates, why didn’t he just use the bomb way earlier then on a gang that probably was bullying him here?

38: And it makes the jail staff incompetent too because they somehow didn’t check his clothes and find the bomb to remove it. There’s a reason you don’t keep your clothes from earlier in prison. Even in the prisons without uniforms where you would, you’d think his bomb would have been discovered when it was being washed with the rest of the clothes. He would be approached by the person in charge of collecting the clothes with no warning so he wouldn’t have the time to hide the bomb in his cell.

39: What reason did Ixis HAVE to send Eggman’s occupied Egg Grapes to the Zone of Silence he’ll never return to where of course they wouldn’t be able to keep doing their thing from being disconnected? Ixis said that he’ll get his vengeance LATER and FIRST he wants to find the Crown of Acorns, so he didn’t do it for revenge. He just wasted his time.

40: ADAM says that the spider-kids are still honor-bound to serve Ixis. If this was suddenly always the case, why did the Sword of Acorns not warn Sally about that instead of telling her something that encouraged her to give the Sword to them, which the Sword didn’t WANT?

41: How the hell does Eggman not instantly recognize ADAM’s voice from Anonymous’ speech in this video? M doesn’t tell Eggman that Anonymous’ voice is ADAM’S in the video after he tells her to self-terminate when that would’ve been the perfect chance for her to get ADAM in trouble for revenge. It’s never revealed that ADAM spoke in a disguised voice in this video or the video with the Destructix. He would have bragged about that to Eggman later when explaining his entire plan to him.

42: WHY did M AGREE to self-terminate? No one ever would agree to that, not even a robot. She was implied to be an independent AI! She would’ve just ran away and could’ve been killed off NATURALLY. It would’ve been more natural if Ixis crystallized her to take control of her and that ended up getting her killed.

43: Eggman says, “ No more of this henchman nonsense, “ and yet he still goes on to work with Snively rather than immediately ditching or killing him after this, despite his being fed up with disloyal or incompetent henchmen. Metal Snively is obviously more trustworthy because he’s a robot and yet Eggman orders HIM to be destroyed.

44: Eggman doesn’t immediately plan to have ADAM killed TOO since he just said, “ No more of this henchman nonsense, “ and ADAM is clearly a henchman! And him tattling on another AI doesn’t prove HE’S not planning against him.

45: Ixis flat-out says to Mogul’s face that he’ll make a fine pawn when he’s possessed, saying that instead of just doing it right away. You should’ve possessed him and THEN said that! Ixis wasn’t supposed to be that stupid, remember his master plan where he possessed King Max? the real problem is he said this when a later issue reveals that he can openly possess someone who entered into a contract to work for him, so saying this guaranteed he wouldn’t get to possess him.

Once Ixis gets attacked after this, there’s green light, but then he should’ve POSSESSED MOGUL IMMEDIATELY the second he was all distracted by Merlin and Connery! This is before it’s established that he needs to get someone’s consent to working for him to possess them, so it’s a plot hole here.

46: Connery tells him to go for the Sword of Acorns with him protecting Merlin. A WIZARD NEEDS PROTECTION, NOW! A wizard who can summon tangible illusions of a million different monsters, needs protection! And he indeed did, he instantly got grabbed by telekinesis from Mogul and needed Sonic to bail him out!

47: Ixis uncharacteristically thinks Mogul is more powerful than him even though Ixis is the only one who can possess people, AND shadow-meld as we see later, so Ixis is clearly more powerful than Mogul, who never froze a robot. Ixis has PARAGRAPHS’ worth of powers, and Mogul’s powers are usually so vague and not clearly defined, aside from, psychic powers and teleportation and he can make a fake Tails. Beyond that, he had nothing before this issue where suddenly he has offensive light power too. Ixis is too arrogant to think this.

48: Wouldn’t M agreeing to self-termination so easily have proven her loyalty to Eggman and thus proven that the video was faked, immediately getting Eggman to turn on ADAM instead?

49: Sonic Riders: Eggman could’ve tried putting nanobots in Jet like he did with Geoffrey and threatening to do what he did to Geoffrey if Jet didn’t comply, and that would’ve made Jet’s agreeing to threaten Knothole when he’s a mere thief and not a monster a lot less forced, but instead Jet tries to destroy Knothole with nothing to gain for no reason. Instead just because Jet wants to prove he’s cooler than Sonic, he tells him to fight Sonic and trusts him without just threatening him into it. For all he knew Jet was lying to get him to release him, and that’d be more likely.

50: Issue 164: It took until NOW for the supposedly smart Mogul to think to corrupt the Source of All so that it would shock anyone but him. He can TELEPORT, and it’s common sense that the source of the royalty’s royal sword’s power would be in its castle, so he would’ve gotten to the Source way earlier than this and done this sooner.

51: Logically Eggman should’ve blasted all the heroes with the Egg Grapes teleportation lasers TOO. He does so offscreen in Issue 175 and does so again in Issue 176, so it’s not even that he doesn’t do it because he thinks it’d be too easy.

52: With his Egg Fleet above Sonic and his friends, Eggman tells Sonic that he’s not after him today. This idiot could’ve blasted the HEROES with these Egg Grapes teleportation lasers, but NOPE. He could’ve sent the fleet to Knothole now. It takes 10 more issues to happen! Pre-50s Eggman was going after the heroes with overpowered inventions, like a portable roboticizer multiple times, and that was just in random issues not a special occasion. Eggman being tired doesn’t explain it because he knows he’d take joy in beating Sonic, and pressing a button to do this wouldn’t require much effort for a tired person to dread.

53: Why does Sonic think that Elias is talking about cutting out the hero stuff? Reforming a court for no reason doesn’t have to do with that at all! That’s just a king thing! It’s a Non-Sequitur!

54: Issue 165 Sonic Riders Part 2: How did Jet ever fly into a giant robot? It was in front of him, and we have eyes in the front of our head, and he had no reason to fly right over the road in Future City instead of flying ANYWHERE near it. He wouldn’t have gotten knocked out and captured!

55: Issue 165: Why did Rouge come here for PROTECTION as if she thought she needed it? She can fly. Her thinking she’d ever need protection is Out of Character. It’d make more sense if she was brought here to be interrogated on the Warp Ring, instead, as I assumed.

56: Someone as impatient as Sonic would’ve run home carrying Fiona instantly, NOT taken a slow walk home with her, during which she got interrupted from telling him the truth about her and Scourge and having a proper talk with him about it indoors, which would’ve been more realistic of an outcome, than them getting interrupted by Tails! He did this with Sally too and it resulted in Fang shooting Mina, why didn’t he learn?

57: Someone as fast-acting and thinking as Sonic would attack Sleuth immediately, but instead he yammers on and gets attacked by Scourge.

58: Sonic brings them the Warp Ring in a blue blur as the comic actually remembers to take advantage of her super speed, but DOESN’T remember to do that with him running around creating a tornado to throw all of them up in the air humiliating them, and breaking the Warp Ring on them so they couldn’t keep bothering them to try to get it! No way he’d be cowardly and insecure enough to be AFRAID of what they’d all do in response to him doing that!

59: If Sonic KNOWS that Fiona’s lying and that’s why he’s looking suspicious at all, logically THIS is when he would’ve broken up with her! He doesn’t like her anymore! It’s not in-character for Sonic to date a girl he doesn’t like just so he could kiss her.

60: Issue 165 Call of Duty: I’m left wondering why Knuckles’ FRIENDS would refuse to do something he ordered them to and give Locke some much-needed help doing the RIGHT THING, and I’m left wondering why Knuckles had so little faith in their loyalty that he’s just assuming the Chaotix would refuse to do this for him. He doesn’t have to send Julie with the Chaotix, she would obviously stay, but the rest aren’t really doing anything here, other than fighting the Destructix a few times.

61: The Dark Legion split into the Flame and Frost Legions offscreen. This is a very ancient, long-standing Dark Legion NATION, so it’s weird that the entirety of them would make a split! Then what took so long? The fact that it didn’t happen until now gave the impression that they wouldn’t split off like that ever for good reason.

62: Remember, that was ONLY brought up in the first place as a lame excuse for why Locke can’t just get some Legionnaires’ help looking for the Brotherhood or something, not that he’d ever have the first clue where to look other than, why didn’t he just assume it was the Twilight Cage, why didn’t he ask the Legion to help him make a portal to it? Logically he should’ve rescued them way sooner since the conclusion of where they’d disappear to is so obvious considering echidna history. Even if the Legion was fighting a civil war there’s no way he’d think the Legion couldn’t have spared a few people to go make a portal to the Twilight Cage for Locke. People who’d be engineers who wouldn’t be fighting the war anyways!

63: The ending of this plot could’ve SO EASILY been avoided. Knuckles would say to Locke, “ Then send the Chaotix. “ “ Alright, I’ll send some. “ Or, “ Just ask some Legion engineers to make a portal to the Twilight Cage, see if the Brotherhood’s in there. They can’t ALL be fighting a war! “ “ I’ll try. “

64: Issue 166: Sonic DIDN’T get back to the future and just stayed there and kept on aging naturally, and yet we’re expected to believe he didn’t fight Eggman in all that time and therefore prevent Shadow from being the one to beat Eggman and become king. He just stayed put. He cared that much about not doing that, that he’d uncharacteristically not fight Eggman just to stay hidden as a hobo for 25 years?! This is an Idiot Ball because he wasn’t doing what he liked for no reason, and Silver didn’t let ” must not interfere with the past, ” stop him from helping people in the present.

65: Issue 168: WHAT TOOK so long for ADAM to decide to carry out this plan?! He could’ve done it 8 issues ago! Issue 159’s ending was building up to this plan! Not only is it stupidly forced that EGGMAN didn’t do this devious plan right away, but it’s stupid that this vilified version of ADAM waited so long TOO! What, was he BUSY? With WHAT, he’s a computer!

66: The plan is both stupid and POINTLESS because not only did Eggman clearly already respect him because he didn’t destroy him after he destroyed M and said he won’t rely on henchmen anymore, but Bunnie and Nicole wouldn’t have done anything against him anyways, neither would Jules, because the Freedom Fighters are so passive they didn’t even save people from the Egg Grapes. If ADAM wanted a fight with Sonic he could’ve just told him to, and he could just possess any robot he wanted and didn’t NEED to use Tommy as a hostage.

He had nothing at all to gain from what he was doing, while he CLAIMED it was to get Eggman’s approval, Eggman obviously didn’t approve because he was acting independently and he’d have known what a control freak Eggman is, so right there, he should’ve just STOPPED his plan! The point of the plan was to get Tails kidnapped thanks to Bunnie and Jules, but um, why was Tails needed again? Shadow’s Chaos Control attracted the Emeralds, but what did Tails do in that moment? Nothing.

67: Sonic complains that ever since he got nanites in his shell, Tommy’s been acting up. No, this is the first time this has ever been mentioned. He wouldn’t have been trusted to be in the same room as Knuckles earlier then. Why wasn’t he be kicked out of the Freedom Fighters by now then? He was still being nice right after he got those nanites in him.

68: Rotor says that Tommy’s constantly in trouble anyways. No he isn’t. They saved him when he was kidnapped in the infiltrator factory, and he’s never gotten in trouble since. Ever since Tommy was saved from the infiltrator factory, he never caused any trouble and in fact all he did was SAVE people by stopping Bunnie and ROTOR’s electrocution.

69: He’s done everything as Anonymous to help Eggman and get him impressed, so why betray Eggman by releasing Mogul, instead of disposing of one of the biggest threats to him like he said he was planning to do at Issue 162’s start? What was the POINT of releasing Mogul? He didn’t NEED to release him as a distraction! He could activate the nanites whenever he wanted!

70: He’s done everything as Anonymous to help Eggman and get him impressed, so why betray Eggman by releasing Mogul, instead of disposing of one of the biggest threats to him like he said he was planning to do at Issue 162’s start? What was the POINT of releasing Mogul? He didn’t NEED to release him as a distraction! He could activate the nanites whenever he wanted!

71: ADAM becomes “ more powerful than the ultimate lifeform, “ wiping the floor with him just from taking over Tommy Turtle’s body with nanites to have a metal exoskeleton. What an obvious Villain Sue! He still doesn’t have any magic, and he’s never called out on as being delusional about this, and Shadow’s the same guy who destroyed an army of Metal Sonic Troopers with the wave of his hand by impulse, not even KNOWNG he could do it yet, so nothing’s stopping him from doing that again, or using the Chaos Blast again like he did to other Metal Sonics!

This is the same guy who can use CHAOS CONTROL to FREEZE TIME, and TELEPORT, so he’d effortlessly escape this situation!

72: If he can mechanize Tommy so easily, why didn’t he just release nanites ON EVERYBODY nearby, including EGGMAN so that Eggman would give him the approval he wants? In issue 152 the “ him mechanizing organics “ problem was RESOLVED, he was mechanizing a forest and Sonic talked him OUT of it to the point where he let Bunnie AND all of the Freedom Fighters leave the nanite city just fine, quite a contrast to what he’s doing to Tommy.

73: You’d think that if a device like the Chaos Beacon could be made thanks to Shadow’s Chaos Control, Eggman would’ve thought to do this HIMSELF. There’s no explanation for why EGGMAN couldn’t have built this beacon, what’s so special about ADAM? There’s no way Eggman would’ve had the ultimate lifeform on his side for so long and not only never took advantage of his teleportation ability, but also NEVER sent him against Sonic to do ANYTHING, let alone never sent him against GUN, the whole common enemy reason he joined him and he’d get impatient if he never got to bother them.

74: Issue 168 Courage and Honor: You’d think that if Patch DID destroy Antoine’s valuables, he would’ve long since thrown them in the garbage and they’d be long gone by now. Antoine isn’t saying that his valuables are MISSING, just destroyed, as if he’s seeing them first-hand, which makes no sense.

Even if Patch did keep the destroyed valuables in his house to be smug about being reminded of what he did to Antoine every day, you’d think that one, he’d still wanna hide them somewhere because someone could get suspicious of him if they saw he did that to his own stuff in a world where robot infiltrators exist.

And two, those possessions would still be stuff he could’ve benefited from and now can’t now that they’re destroyed and they’ll always remind him that he made that mistake, provided they aren’t just useless trinkets for sentimental value. Antoine isn’t looking in a closet of hidden destroyed stuff, he’s just looking at a room.

75: Bunnie asks Antoine if destroying all he loved was a thrill, as if she somehow thinks it was Antoine who did it even NOW!

76: Antoine doesn’t correct her that it was Patch who did that when he just said it was to himself. Plus he says “ m’amoure. “ That’s not how French works, even in THIS comic. This dialogue is nonsensical.

77: Antoine apologizes that he’s just mad at living in squalor. But why would Patch have been living in squalor? I understand inconveniencing Antoine, but he was living THERE and had no reason to think Antoine would be coming home really soon and prepare the house for him! I don’t buy that this was retroactively always how Patch lived disguised as Antoine.

78: Supposedly they can find no traces of the poison in Antoine’s dad, so why’s he dying anyways? Dr. Quack made a machine to go into people’s dreams but he was too incompetent to find these traces?

79: Why can’t they just cure him with a Ring to wish the poison away, let alone cure him with one of the many healing stasis tubes that were used earlier, or cure him with Rotor’s nanobots which cured Geoffrey when he had nanobots hurting him?! So him dying is just as forced as Locke dying in Penders’ 25 Years Later. This story was actually dedicated to the death of Flynn’s grandmother, which implies he pulled a Penders and killed off a character arbitrarily JUST BECAUSE of a death in his own family; with Penders, it was Locke because of his own father.

80: Issue 169: ADAM trusted Jules to go somewhere and self-destruct. And Sonic finds him quickly instead of him being locked up and hidden somewhere.

81: What would ADAM possibly have to GAIN in keeping Tommy CONSCIOUS? What possible benefit would there be to ADAM to keeping his head normal and ABLE TO FIGHT BACK inside his shell?

82: Why would ADAM do all of his plan to impress Eggman and get him to love him best when it was obvious that Eggman turned on him before he even completed that plan, meaning there would be no point to doing the plan at all?!

83: So logically, why doesn’t Eggman send his Egg Fleet after Knothole NOW? They’ve been constructed, they’re already IN the SKY. How could a sadist think that he’s had too long a day to ENJOY DESTROYING KNOTHOLE? And it’d be effortless, so he has no reason to wait. Uncharacteristically Eggman told Sonic that he’s had too long a day to deal with him and so he’s letting him go. Is Eggman really too much of a couch potato sloth to hit some buttons? If this guy wasn’t hard-working, he would’ve given up on fighting Sonic and being evil a long time ago just to laze about!

84: Eggman dismisses family as a colossal waste of time just leading to betrayals and yet he STILL doesn’t call off Snively joining him again nor does he tell Shadow to buzz off from lack of trust either, even though he used ” we’re family ” as the excuse to hire him. He was showing a theme of giving up on henchmen to the point where he had Metal Snively destroyed offscreen, but he still sticks with henchmen anyways just because the writer wants him to!

85: Issue 169 For a Friend: WHY isn’t Espio staying invisible the whole time he’s on the STEALTH MISSION?! MORON! Even Penders at least had him invisible at the START of fights even if he still turned it off a bit too early, and by then he usually already had it won. Here, the writer completely forgot he could do this! If Espio can just easily sneak into Goldenhive Colony base and destroy it with a bomb, why doesn’t he just do that to Eggman’s main base?

86: An Egg Pawn tells Espio where the main room is so he can find out what happened to Goldenhive Colony. Wouldn’t it be programmed not to betray Eggman out of cowardice? It’s just an Egg Pawn, why would it have independent thought?

87: There’s Egg Pawns who show personality by playing cards on the computer which they shouldn’t be programmed to waste time doing instead of actually doing their JOBS.

88: Issue 170: Why the hell didn’t they just cure the king from his coma with one of Merlin’s healing potions?! He’s still with Tails at this point! Especially bad since supposedly the device the doctor used on him was the reason he tried to arrest half the city. We could’ve easily avoided that! Really, they had a wizard who can make healing potions with them for several issues and it NEVER dawned on them to just take advantage of HIM?! They could’ve had a stockpile of healing potions made to use on Antoine much later! Rotor, Tails and Nicole, Dr Quack AND Chuck are supposed to be GENIUSES!

89: Why DO Sonic and Tails think the Special Zone looks trippier and more colourful? It looks exactly the same as the Zone of Silence, well a little brighter pink in color instead of blue granted, but if anything, it’s more NORMAL because the heroes were doing nothing but FLOATING in the Zone of Silence! At least HERE they can stand on a solid surface! More importantly since maybe they just forgot, WHY didn’t they just go do all the special stages in a row and get all the Emeralds?! They can go in there whenever they WANT, and Feist’s nice to them the first time to the point of just giving them an Emerald, so what fear?

90: Feist made the hundreds of Emeralds become the 7 Emeralds. WHY would he decide to decrease the number of magical jewels for himself?

91: Why would he give anyone even the CHANCE to get his Emeralds? Sure, he’s not using them for anything but it’s not like he’s doing it to be benevolent giving them the Emeralds to help out because he’s actually evil and requires them to beat a special stage. At that point, why doesn’t he just make it impossible for them to escape the Special Zone once they do beat it? What could he possibly have to gain in LETTING people take away his Emeralds?

92: Fiona’s disappearances are arbitrarily not a cause for panic the minute they start happening, even though NOT ONLY would people wonder why she wasn’t there but you’d think a former convict whose former allies accepted a mission from Eggman would be monitored closely, especially considering the way Sally looked at her. Sally would’ve kicked her out herself for the absenteeism long before she could slap Tails.

93: Issue 171: Why doesn’t Shadow just kill Snively and Eggman, too, if he’s dickish enough to take Snively’s hair anyways when he told him the truth? Shadow planned to kill Eggman at one point in the comic, and now he’s not gonna do it when he has the chance even though he’s quitting on him for holding out on him! It’s very forced meta logic because at this point he’s not close friends with them.

94: Snively just betrayed Eggman by giving Shadow information, so you’d think if Eggman was done with all the henchmen nonsense to the point of having even Metal Snively destroyed, he would’ve taken this as proof that he can’t trust Snively anymore either because he’s gotten that paranoid already.

95: Shadow complains, “ You couldn’t show up 10 seconds earlier! “ since the disc he had got burnt. YEAH, with Sonic’s speed, it’s absolutely RIDICULOUS that Sonic would be late for ANYTHING. Logically the disc never would’ve gotten burned at all! Sonic’s not that incompetent, and he thinks going faster than needed is fun, hence why he showed off with it early in the comic and criss-crossed the world to race Scourge.

96: Shadow holds hands with “ Maria “ looking relieved, and says to her that he thought he lost her forever. WHY is he saying this when it’s fucking obvious this isn’t the real Maria?!

97: While Nicole apparently made sure Maria wouldn’t be confused about Shadow saying he thought he lost her forever, “ Maria “ was still shocked and confused learning that Shadow was locked up for 50 years.

98: Why wasn’t Gerald already right next to Maria? Nicole could’ve had that be the case.

99: Every time Sonic says that Shadow is angsty or brooding, it’s forced. Shadow barely if ever talks about his issues with how Maria got killed. He keeps it all to himself, that’s the opposite of angsty. Besides why doesn’t he keep it to himself that he thinks he’s angsty just because he wants to be reminded of his past, instead of taunting someone powerful who had enough of a temper to try to kill him for a whole arc with Metal Sonic?

100: Why didn’t they make an android Maria from the disc’s data and he’d be just as happy with her, since Shadow held hands with the AI Maria saying that he thought he lost her?

101: Why didn’t Eggman just destroy Gerald’s diary completely if the whole reason he wanted to keep it away from Shadow was because it’d tell him to be good? He already read Gerald’s diary, so why keep it around? He turned a bunch of humans to stone for no reason other than maybe sadism, he’s not sentimental!

102: Issue 171 Enforcers: Locke trusts Finitevus with the Master Emerald, and while LAST time he had Archimedes secretly guard it to make sure nothing bad would happen, this time there’s no indication he did that and he somehow never DOES return frequently to check on him, when he clearly said he WOULD. Logically, Archy would’ve just warped Finitevus away from the Emerald immediately. He took action himself and warped Rouge away from Locke before, so he’d do it to him too.

103: Issue 172: Sonic no longer respects Amy under Flynn saying, “ I take anything Amy says with a shaker of salt, “ even though she’s competent now and he only liked her when she was useless.

104: Sonic doesn’t let Amy finish her sentence about what she heard about Fiona for some reason, even though what she’s saying is obviously important.

105: There’s no way Scourge would say that all the girls in his home zone are evil from the get go, that’s impossible on such a grand scale.

106: Issue 173: Why would anyone actually believe that Rouge took the Master Emerald and tried to sell it? The Island didn’t crash into the ocean and she only ever wanted it for herself. It would take TWO SECONDS to check on Angel Island through a satellite! Wouldn’t she be able to tell if it’s okay, for the same reason she knew to go check on Knuckles in Issue 44 when an earthquake happened there? EVEN MAMMOTH MOGUL FELL FOR IT! HOW was he not questioning why the island was still floating?!

107: Eggman explains that he was smart enough to assume that Master Emerald ploy was a trick, and hired them just to be certain, even though he wouldn’t need to hire them to be certain because if the island’s fallen, that’ll tell him. And yet he’s perfectly fine with putting minions to WASTE from sending them into a trap apparently! He couldn’t SEND ROBOTS INSTEAD?! Even in IDW he asks why he’d hire people instead of send his robots out. What a lame excuse to get Fang, Bean and Bark rounded up in one place so the heroes could arrest them faster!

This makes the main heroes from Sonic UNDERGROUND look smart because Sonic says, “ And if the Floating Island fell, we would’ve HEARD about it! “ to immediately dismiss the possibility that Eggman was powering his new Death Egg with the Master Emerald.

108: Issue 173 See Ya’ Later Chao Part One: How do Sonic’s parents still not know what a chao is? They’ve always lived on Mobius, and you’d think chao would be world famous, and that Sonic would’ve told them all about his time in Station Square. And you’d think Sonic would only have his name because he was named after a Sonic Chao because he wasn’t showing them his sonic speed as a newborn.

109: Issue 174: The only reason Espio got spotted in Eggman’s base was because he stupidly didn’t have his invisibility on, on a stealth mission. And since when does he ever go to his base anyways?

110: Sonic Free Comic Book Day Special Unburying the Hatchet: Eggman has Sonic shackled and captured in his base, and yet he doesn’t kill him. Instead of simply killing Sonic and sending out a Sonic infiltrator robot, he takes control of him to pointlessly try to kill King Acorn and not try to kill any of his MAIN ENEMIES INSTEAD!

111: Why is Eggman letting Sonic talk at ALL, instead of controlling his MOUTH while he’s at it? If he’s capable of taking over control of Sonic’s body, why can’t he control his mouth too, to make him talk like a traitor? Eggman might have been able to use this to ruin Sonic’s reputation by forcing him to talk as if he was betraying his friends!

112: There’s a serious Continuity Error, because Knuckles asks Sonic if he forgot about all the times he kicked him off Angel Island… which add up to literally zero!… I CERTAINLY can’t think of any time he did that LITERALLY, I think that would kill him!

113: Eggman complains that the controls in Sonic are horrendous and he should’ve spent more time in development. Eggman seemed to have NO PROBLEM controlling Sonic up to THIS point! Sonic’s fighting really well! And he’s talented enough that the controls would be perfect instantly if he can even do this to him.

114: Sonic only tried to explain himself properly to KNUCKLES.

115: Issue 175: Why does Nicole think she feels fine when she’s been running slow?

116: Snively was forced not to be able to put Tails, Amy and Sonic in the Egg Grapes just so they’d win. Since Snively claims to be more Genre Savvy, he should’ve targeted all of them first and foremost as Eggman’s primary enemies.

117: Eggman lets Sonic live to be sadistic, but wouldn’t it just as sadistic to let him think his friends were already DEAD, so he couldn’t go SAVE THEM?!

118: Knothole’s destruction was the fault of the engineers in the Freedom Fighters for being too stupid to think, one, to make a force field for Knothole since Sandblast City has one without needing to use an irradiated city to power it, and Eggman’s known where it was for over a year,

117: and two, to make Knothole have sky defenses like laser cannons or something to defend itself against an invasion! Guardian Hawking thought to put Echidnapolis in another dimension, and separate the dingoes from the echidnas that way, and yet the geniuses Rotor and Tails and Chuck NEVER thought to make a device to send Knothole into another dimension. It was already in another zone during peacetime. You’d think Knuckles would’ve given the heroes this idea a long time ago.

118: Why didn’t Sonic use his intangibility power to get inside Eggman’s mecha and punch him?

119: Issue 176: Even though Eggman has all of his enemies in the Egg Grapes, Eggman’s bragging buys the heroes time to stop him. He would’ve killed them as fast as he could since his main enemy is really fast.

120: Eggman made the Egg Grapes so easy to break by his enemies. I would think they were made of stronger stuff but they seemed to be like glass, instead. 3.

121: Since Dulcy is here with the rest of the people in the Egg Grapes WHY didn’t Dulcy DESTROY THE EGG FLEET with her fire breath?!

122: Eggman’s systems were wide open for Nicole to reprogram to get everyone to her nanite city. Why? ADAM had been gone for a while!

123: Issue 177: Eggman leaves the perimeter of New Mobotropolis in front of the heroes. Arresting him after tying him up with rope at sonic speed would’ve been WAY too SMART, of the HEROES to DO!

124: Issue 178: How’d Amadeus Prower turn HALF the city against the royalty?! For the civilians he’s trying to convince, all that really matters for THEM is how the king runs their lives, which is perfectly FINE.

125: Nicole talks as if it’s ever since Sonic returned from space that he and Tails have been distant when Tails clearly only had a problem AFTER he started dating Fiona.

126: Why doesn’t Julie have faith in Knuckles to make it to Angel Island?! The gem will just warp him there! What’s with the “ if?! “

127: Why did Tails put his mom in danger of being arrested by bringing her with him breaking his dad out of prison?

128: Why didn’t Nicole say that Tails was the one who was breaking Amadeus out in the very first breath? “ Tails is trying to break his father out of prison! “

129: Instead of running around him at sonic speed and making the rest of the next story not happen, Sonic proceeds to stand there as if Tails not moving mattered.

130: Issue 179: Tails’ parents already did something stupid, why would Sonic ever say that he has to stop them before they do something stupid?

131: Tails talks as if Sonic always teased him, except he never made fun of him once in the entire history of the comic.

131: Issue 180: Eggman says he’ll use his tentacle to upload a virus to try to delete Nicole forever, and of course he hasn’t done this OVERNIGHT a long TIME ago because then Nicole wouldn’t exist anymore as a character. He had ADAM hack into Nicole earlier, so why didn’t he use a virus to kill her back THEN?

132: Scourge is completely dismissive of Finitevus as a THREAT just because of how he DRESSES! He says, “ Psh! Fiona he wears a cape and bandages! He can’t be that bad! “ Not too smart here, also not too in-CHARACTER here because Scourge should be more CYNICAL than that, since he always WAS, why else would he justify being evil to good people? Finitevus clearly looks like a bad guy. There’s no reason Scourge would have faith in him and be naïve about him. What if this is his entire reason for why he puts up with Finitevus when he’s clearly looking wary of him most of the time?

133: Scourge lies down instead of beating up the dingo army going to attack the echidnas. I get it, defending them is good, but he did it before just fine! I’d expect an Evil Sonic to take EVERY opportunity to “ bust some heads “ as even SONIC puts it later, and it’s uncharacteristic of ANY Sonic to choose lying around over fighting, no matter who he’d fight WITH, an Evil Sonic wouldn’t CARE who he’s fighting and why!

134: Enerjak Knuckles shows up in front of Scourge and Fiona and we NEVER see him do ANYTHING against them. This is still KNUCKLES who’s faced against Evil Sonic and the girl who slapped Tails, you’d think he’d wanna do something like make them disappear like Kage at worst or brainwash them into being heroes at BEST.

135: Issue 181: Why is Kage so overconfident against Enerjak Knuckles, who JUST sent all of the dingoes flying away effortlessly? Idiot.

136: There’s no way even two of the Legionnaires would appreciate losing their cybernetics, after they were raised their entire lives to appreciate them and see them as normal. They’re enhancements and they’re used to the way they look with them. But instead some of them side with Enerjak.

137: We’re expected to believe that the echidnas were booted out of their city and reduced to living in huts despite the fact that they have their own city with advanced technology that gives them a MILITARY and their city should STILL have a FORCE FIELD! The dingoes aren’t inventors of awesome technology!

138: Why would Knuckles make Echidnapolis DISAPPEAR?! Neither him or the original Enerjak would want that. He used to be thankful that the city’s on the island?

139: Why would Knuckles make Echidnapolis DISAPPEAR?! Neither him or the original Enerjak would want that. He used to be thankful that the city’s on the island? WHY did Enerjak Knuckles send the echidnas from Echidnapolis to ALBION?! He has no attachment to Albion whatsoever! And he KNOWS the state of it at this point! Why remove Echidnapolis, which he was happy to see come back when Espio questioned him if he ever wanted things back to normal, which he intentionally brought back to the island as Chaos Knuckles?

140: It makes no sense that ANY echidna Enerjak would make it so that the DINGOES were the only people left on Angel Island and they had it all to THEMSELVES! The echidnas and dingoes are long-time enemies.

141: Shouldn’t everyone have recognized Knuckles’ voice when he was Enerjak? His text bubbles were normal, not disconnected like he had a different booming voice.

142: If Knuckles was being controlled by Finitevus, which is the only reason he’d ever bother doing this to him to guarantee the outcome, why didn’t he kill anyone? Finitevus wanted the world destroyed, so why didn’t he think to make Knuckles destroy right away?

143: Issue 181 Undone: ARCHIMEDES doesn’t teleport away Finitevus and Lien-Da! He can warp people away with just a touch, he did it to Rouge! He was IN the CHAOS CHAMBER! If you can teleport away people by touching them, YOU CAN’T BE OUTNUMBERED!

144: Issue 182: Knuckles says that his power will bring them a tomorrow free of suffering, but then acts as if a tomorrow free of technology is equal to that, which is STUPID because it’d be the opposite! What about all the sick people reliant on medical technology to stay alive? Without technology, people would suffer a LOT MORE! Knuckles GOT OVER THIS!

145: Even Nicole can’t convince him otherwise, as if he suddenly has no respect and compassion for her at all. And if this was just Finitevus controlling him, well Finitevus doesn’t hate technology, he’s a scientist.

146: It’s ridiculous that he didn’t just go to Eggman to START WITH, since Eggman was his greatest enemy for years!

147: Sally says that Knuckles brought devastation to Angel Island, when again, he didn’t kill ANYONE, let alone destroy or damage the island!

148: It’s uncharacteristically stupid of Archie Eggman to NOT just shoot everyone in the city with the lasers that send them to the Egg Grapes, which he had no problem doing to Knothole before, and instead he only shoots them at Enerjak!

149: Albion being destroyed at all can’t HAPPEN because it makes an incompatibility! Why would the prophecy of the wandering tribe glorifying them getting to Albion, not warn them about their impending doom from going there? This makes the Ancient Walkers look stupid.

150: Knuckles uses his powers to freeze everyone in place instead of brainwashing them like Dimitri Enerjak did with the Chaotix.

151: Issue 183: Dimitri is brought to Snively and says that with his help, they may be able to depower Enerjak before his disorientation would wear off, but what’s Dimitri even planning to DO to help anyways?! He’s a HEAD! And Eggman’s not gonna do anything to Enerjak he wasn’t already doing! How could he possibly think he could do something beneficial near Eggman who was clearly already taking care of it?!

152: Why’d it take Knux this long to break free this since he’s omnipotent? The Egg Grapes should’ve never even been a problem for him for even a SECOND!

153: Julie asks why Locke can’t use his guardian powers, even though Locke ALREADY TOLD HER LAST ISSUE that his powers only stem from his link to the Master Emerald which was blocked.

154: Why didn’t Archy keep making fire to keep the Destructix out instead of bitching at Locke for it all being his fault when he already knows that?

155: Issue 183 Ashes and Dust: Finitevus says that he tossed the Brotherhood into the Twilight Cage. He makes an excuse that he thought this was a fitting punishment since the Dark Legion had been jailed there so many times. Why WOULD HE CARE ABOUT what happened to the LEGION if he wants the world destroyed with them and HE WAS NEVER A REAL PART OF IT?!

156: Issue 184: Why would Finitevus think to make ANY CONDITION that could BREAK the hex on the Emerald?!

157: Dimitri turned green Enerjak with the Master Emerald without any magic at all, so why did Finitevus not just do that to HIMSELF and destroy the world without using Knuckles?

158: Why is the Master Emerald now always gonna be openly exposed on Angel Island begging to be stolen?! Because video game, even though it would make a lot more sense for Knuckles to ask Rotor or Tails to build walls around it to hide it better on Shrine Isle, or he could at least bury it.

159: Issue 184 Anything: The Dark Legion doesn’t NEED Eggman specifically, they can make their OWN cybernetics! Sure they have no metals and money to buy metals, and it’ll take a while, well that’s not a problem when Nicole exists! Why can’t they just go to the nanite city and politely ask for Nicole to re-legionize them with her nanites for a reward?

Lien-Da, whose entire character has been about grabbing power for herself and said, “ at last, “ about being the only one in charge of the Dark Legion, joins Eggman WITH the Legion instead. The person who first thought the Dark Legion said on Twitter that they’d rather commit seppuku than join Eggman.

160: Mogul JUST won against Sonic, and yet he thinks he can’t win against Sonic, so he gives up. Couldn’t he mark him and brainwash him if he can do that to anyone? Why can’t someone as powerful as Mogul kill Sonic with his magic and Eggman too? He can warp, so he could warp inside of them. This only looks smart of him in a meta logic way because we know he can’t beat Sonic.

161: Issue 188: Sleuth says Coconuts can take Drago when he’s much smaller than him. Even if he’s right, he should know better than to risk provoking Drago into hitting him.

162: Why does Fang assume Sally will be guarding the front door when she went into the secret entrance in front of him?

163: If Sonic can break his shackles at any time through bullshit, why didn’t he just break them way earlier and get out of the truck, spindash through the wall or floor to escape on his own?

164: Why would Scourge THINK he needed globeposts that would take forever to get working instead of just using the Warp Ring he had from Finitevus? He could super-charge it with the Emeralds in Atlantinopolis? Boomer made a zone-link generator, twice.

165: Issue 190: It’d take minutes, for him to conquer Moebius, not days! He’d just have to warp to the right people and beat them up. How did he take so long?

166: Scourge gets knocked into the Moebian portal, because it wasn’t closed by now to avert that for no reason.

167: Issue 191: There’s no reason the Council shouldn’t let a few of the heroes build inventions like sleeping gas to oust the Moebians immediately. Attacking them the same way would be stupid since they lost last time, so that being discouraged in favor of beating Eggman when he’s weakened is understandable, but the Council should’ve changed their minds about letting Scourge have the base the second they’d find out Scourge tried to have their city blown up, and it’d be stupid of the heroes not to tell them about that! Why did the comic act like somehow they never got told about that?

168: Rosemary was stupid to think that her world won’t be conquered so easily because her world is different. Shouldn’t she know that Scourge could just warp to Eggman or otherwise approach him and then all he’d have to do is kill him to take his place?

169: Sonic thinks, “ you’d think we were coming out ahead, “ not really, Mogul had all of their enemies escape prison with him just to be a dick.

170: Scourge’s somehow convinced that being a hero doesn’t get him anything even though he impersonated Sonic and got a free chili dog and PRAISE, and was really loving that life.

171: Knuckles doesn’t go help Sonic in the Metal Scourge fight because he thinks Sonic alone can take all of the evil twins. Since when does he have so much faith in Sonic, his rival, to defeat all of the evil twins by himself when he’s opposed to killing and lost to all of them when he had his friends with him? He should’ve just come along, it wouldn’t have mattered too much anyways! Instead he just wanted to mope.

172: Issue 191 Invaders from Beyond: Knuckles the most powerful guardian alive loses horribly in a fight and gets kidnapped just by being punched.

173: Issue 192: Eggman doesn’t tell the Legionnaires he put explosives in them, so they don’t work as incentives to stay loyal, since they don’t know about them at all.

174: Lien-Da for some reason insists that it’s all HIS fault because he came to Eggman first. But he never TOLD HER that he was going to Eggman before he DID! He was completely SEPARATED from her since the Chaos Knuckles arc! How did she even KNOW that he went to Eggman before she DID?!

175: When Miles said he and Sonic make a good team, shouldn’t Scourge have HEARD THAT? He’s in the same area as him. But somehow he doesn’t REACT to that at ALL despite presumably being RIGHT NEXT to him! How did that not give his plan away to Scourge right there?! That makes him getting to do an alliance with the heroes forced because Scourge shouldn’t have trusted him at all after that!

176: Elias explains that Sonic’s punishment according to the Acorn Council is that he takes the lead in the next mission. That’s supposed to be a punishment? He LIVES for excitement and danger! How stupid was the Council to think THIS was a punishment?! No way this would be the only punishment for blowing the council off while SALLY gets accused of treason later!

177: Issue 193: Buns thinks that Sonic is Scourge when Scourge is known for wearing sunglasses and a jacket and has a scar.

178: Buns is called Omega “ because it was a last resort, “ but Omega isn’t the last letter in the Greek alphabet, Zeta is.

179: They don’t have a hi-tech security system to keep Rosy the Rascal out of the castle by now.

180: Issue 194: Silver goes to Mercia when he time travels for no reason.

181: Issue 195: Snively just said that they should go have an army of Metal Sonics like the Metallix, but then he complains about Eggman having a plan that’s overkill.

182: Metal Sonic then conveniently is able to warp away, but Eggman then reacts angrily hitting a toolbox away because it was supposed to wait for his command. It went to Sonic ANYWAYS! Why does he CARE?! HOW did he make a robot that was able to warp away WITHOUT waiting for his command? It doesn’t have free will!

183: How does Hope screw up making a portal so bad that it sends Shadow to Moebius exactly where Sonic was instead of the Special Zone?

184: Why didn’t Silver’s teacher TELL HIM what Sonic LOOKS LIKE?

185: Silver’s future and traitor plot was forced because in-universe, he should just time travel to the point in time where he thinks the betrayal happened and stop it to begin with.

186: Sonic thinks to ask Metal to focus on taking down Scourge down first, and Metal has the free will to ACCEPT when I’d think his only priority would be fighting Sonic! Maybe he just appealed to his self-preservation instinct, but why is that rated as HIGHER than his priority of fighting Sonic? Eggman’s a better programmer than that.

187: Somehow Silver didn’t grab Scourge with telekinesis a long time ago to prevent him from going super with one Anarchy Beryl. He did grab him with telekinesis before, so he had no reason to let him go.

188: Issue 196: Scourge thinks Fiona got out when the going was good when it WASN’T GOOD, he was thrown in a portal. Why does he think she betrayed him when she attacked Patch pretty close to him, AND he was in the same room as Sonic when he clearly said she WASN’T part of the mutiny?!

189: If Rob has force-field-generating-rope arrows to protect Rosy, why didn’t he protect a lot more than just her with them? Why would he only have one? Why didn’t he use this on Scourge last issue to end the arc?

190: Why didn’t Miles tell Sonic WHERE they stored the Anarchy Beryls?! He’d know, so I always assumed he WOULD, so that Sonic would use them to neutralize Scourge’s Super form, and that would’ve made way more sense for a victory! What, did Miles not WANT Scourge to go to prison? Their lives were all in danger!

191: The next day? Why did it take this long for the heroes and twins to get to this point where she’s telling Boomer to disconnect the globeposts and give them back to Kintobor? Why didn’t Sonic bring Scourge to jail IMMEDIATELY and avoid him escaping his grip and avoid the entire subplot next story?!

192: Sonic Universe Issue 1: Even though Hope’s smart enough to make a teleporter conveniently now, she’s not smart enough for it to work sending Shadow to the Special Zone right away.

193: Issue 197: All of the Council of Acorns betrays Sally trying to court-martial her, because she got her base back from the evil twins without their say so. The Suppression Squad tried to BLOW UP THEIR CITY! With most of the Council made up of people who should SUPPORT her, like Chuck, Elias, Rosemary and Rotor, why aren’t they all voting down the TRAITORS?!

194: Sonic tells the zone cops that their actual priority is to give him an upright standing doodad and give him some answers even though Scourge is busy trashing the place, so THAT was self-centered of him!

195: Sally asks Hamlin, “ Then why did two councilors help with the building of the new star posts? That seems like blatant support to me. “ Support from a minority though. Hamlin says that the star posts are meant to go to the Special Zone which was an ongoing mission BEFORE that point. WHY did Sally even ASK THAT QUESTION when she should’ve known the answer?! She was just turned into an idiot just to give Hamlin another panel to yell at her! She KNEW that the globe posts weren’t usually used for that purpose!

196: The Zone Cops’ “ justification “ for not arresting Eggman ” Robo-Robotnik ” the Worst Zone-Hopper Ever, is that Sonic must fight a Robotnik because video game. They could’ve explained it as Eggman having some sort of anti-zone cop force field built into his body, not even a “ you can handle him, Sonic, we have faith in you! “

197: Issue 198: WHY is Lien-Da acting disappointed about the heroes flanking her when the Legion wants Eggman to be defeated so they don’t have to deal with him anymore?! Why was she happy that she thought she won?! She was talking to HERSELF about winning and yelled about the Chaotix later. Wouldn’t she realize the Legion would take Eggman’s place without him and therefore she has nothing to complain about?

198: Sonic Universe Issue 2: Why did it take someone with Chaos Control all his life THAT LONG to think to use Chaos Control to stop the cannon? He should’ve just teleported away the cannon to space and teleported away parts of it to destroy it right away.

199: Issue 199: Why does TAILS have no faith in Sonic to survive beating YET ANOTHER mecha of Eggman’s alone? Tails wipes away a tear and stutters about letting him do it when he’s beaten robots and mechas constantly!

200: Issue 200: HOW STUPID was it of SALLY to NOT ARREST SNIVELY?! Did she REALLY not think he would replace Eggman as the leader of the WORLD?! Didn’t he do that at one point and nearly DESTROYED the world?! The whole reason they CAME here was to ARREST THEM! Once they took down ROBOTNIK, Sally took back the city and Snively was imprisoned! HERE the heroes all grab the Idiot Ball and forget that Snively wants power! At least Penders had them put Snively in PRISON after they took down Robotnik!

It’s not a good excuse,  “ compassion, “ Eggman could’ve been taken care in an asylum and Snively put in prison, the logical conclusion I’d expect Sally, the same pragmatist who considered not saving Enerjak Knuckles from the Egg Grapes, to do.

201: Sonic clearly looked depressed enough that Amy noticed, and yet when he acted happy and confident, Tails and her totally bought it and drop the subject.

202: So why weren’t any of the people in the city naturally ANGRY at the heroes walking out of the base and not arresting Eggman and Snively just because Eggman was throwing a tantrum? There’s NO WAY they would be dancing in the streets at the heroes WALKING OUT and not doing what they came there for! THAT’S a logical thing for the Council to prosecute Sally for, because that HAD to have disobeyed their order! And yet NOBODY calls the heroes out on this stupid decision, which is totally unrealistic!

203: Issue 201: Sally says that this isn’t the first time they thought they had defeated Eggman. Yes it IS, because Snively defeated Robotnik Prime, and Sonic doesn’t correct her.

204: Khan doesn’t instantly explain that the Iron Queen’s coming when he tells off the heroes for throwing a concert, making himself look like the bad guy.

205: Khan doesn’t instantly explain that the Iron Queen can control cyborgs and other technology, and avoid a lot of problems later on.

206: Espio assumes there’s trouble at the coliseum just because there’s lightning at it when there’s stormclouds all over. He should assume it’s bad weather, not assume it’s the start of something that’s indeed terrible.

207: How arrogant and stupid was Sally to think the empire would collapse just because EGGMAN went mad when HIS SUB-BOSSES EXIST?! The empire didn’t collapse LAST time! Antoine’s father was still bothering Mercia!

208: The Iron Queen is happy about the damage to the Eggdome that she’s living in.

209: Since Snively knows that Nicole is running the city and he’s with a technomage, he should’ve had the idea for her to take over the city with Nicole IMMEDIATELY, not taken several issues of padding to do so.

210: Snively calls Dimitri a trusting fool when he clearly looked at them suspiciously. And this was after he and the queen SMIRKED at him too, so they should know that he doesn’t trust them.

211: Issue 201 Devotion: The idea that Espio would betray and abandon all of his friends to join the Iron Dominion is stupid, and it only happened because of meta logic; to give him an excuse to be with the heroes to guide them to his mom, when he could’ve just come with them on the journey to the east as an ally. Honor would be not betraying your friends for an evil tyrant.

212: Issue 202: Khan and Sonic are too stupid to get past the Yagyu ninjas and take down the Iron Queen, when they should know to fly over them on Khan’s cloud. Sonic’s fast enough to run all across the world multiple times to justify his eyes turning green, he should’ve just reached those guys in seconds before anyone could have a chance to stop him! Then he could carry them out of the castle.

We were even TOLD that New Megaopolis is in ruins and the heroes just got into Eggman’s base, so why would there already be security like a wall to keep Sonic from getting to the throne room? Later on Sonic spindashes and ricochets off all the Yagyu ninjas, so why didn’t he do that this time?

213: Espio never explains why he’s turning traitor to Sonic.

214: After Sonic and Khan retreat, Lien-Da’s common sense order to shoot them down is dismissed by the Iron King, because I guess he doesn’t WANT to WIN! He explains further that it wouldn’t be good for the morale of their friends to learn that their most powerful friends SOMEHOW lost the fight against a bunch of mortals. You know what would be WORSE for the morale? THEM DYING!

215: The heroes don’t get Rotor to make inventions to deal with that army from last issue, like a giant electrified net shot at them from a cannon, or ray guns that shoot paralyzing electricity at all of them, or a bunch of SLEEPING GAS. They could’ve knocked them all out just fine or better yet, fly above the ninjas!

216: Issue 202 A Lonely Girl’s Story: WHY would the Iron Queen be EXILED from Overland instead of put in prison or executed?! Who cares what her age is?! Someone as feared and dangerous as a technomage, that they just gave a reason to be evil, shouldn’t be put to exile! I always assumed she always lived in the Dragon Kingdom as royalty.

217: Issue 203: Nicole explains that two units crossed over the wall before she could raise their shield. She was able to warn the heroes about Miles approaching the city LONG before he could ever reach its wall, but for some reason Snively and the queen got OVER the walls long before she could detect them!

218: Khan doesn’t believe that he’s the Monkey King prophesized even though he’s the definition of it. He’s a monkey with MAGICAL POWERS! Who else could it be?!

219: Khan STILL didn’t tell anyone the Iron Queen’s a technomage and instead ran away with NO explanation, even though it just made him look cowardly, just to force the concept of Bunnie and him being controlled by her. They should’ve just stayed away from her.

220: Sonic should’ve anticipated Bunnie blasting out of the cell with her arm cannon.

221: Why didn’t Nicole just teleport Bunnie to prison like she did with Mammoth Mogul? Then the queen would have no idea where she went and be unable to break her free!

222: Why didn’t Nicole just teleport Bunnie to prison like she did with Mammoth Mogul? Then the queen would have no idea where she went and be unable to break her free!

223: Why didn’t Rotor make a battery for Bunnie’s cybernetics instead of her being exhausted from using them too much? That would’ve been common sense rather than it sapping her life energy.

224: Why did Khan go STRAIGHT UP TO Snively and the Iron Queen?! Sure, he had to save Bunnie, but after THAT, why didn’t he run away to avoid being brainwashed? Khan would throw lightning at the two villains from far away, since, he threw lightning at Lightning Lynx with no guilt, and he has no problem throwing lightning in the next issue WITHOUT his CROWN so it’s not like he isn’t able to do this to SAVE HIS FRIENDS from himself!

225: Issue 203 Friend in Deed Part 1: Why doesn’t Espio explain to Knuckles why he betrayed him?

226: How did Knuckles not just easily win against Espio instead of backing away from him up to the edge of Angel Island? How did he not just punch him in the ribs like the violent hothead I’d expect since Espio betrayed him?

227: Issue 204: Sonic wastes time trying to talk Khan out of being telekinetically controlled by a technomage. Nobody did that with Bunnie.

228: Why did the Queen not just instantly rebrainwash Khan, not only right after he realized he killed all his friends at home,

229: but also right after Sonic wished him back to normal? Snively can take off his crown again! Snively even lampshades how the Iron Queen thinks they should leave.

230: After Snively realizes that it’s unsatisfying to taunt Eggman when he’s insane, he DOESN’T proceed to try to kill him right away.

231: The ring crown is supposed to have protected Khan from being brainwashed a little somehow rather than making him take longer to die in a fight like Rings normally do. Khan was brainwashed just fine by the Iron Queen the last time he fought Sonic. So how did anyone ever come to the conclusion that it gave him protection from brainwashing?

232: The Rosie kids show up out of nowhere and try to relate to Khan saying that they feel weak sometimes, and Rosie’s white lie to reassure them that everyone helps against evil villains by just sitting there. “ We’re all strong because everyone else is. “ What kind of logic is that? There’s no reason these kids should be here and their insane logic shouldn’t logically cheer up Khan, nor should it make Antoine forgive him out of nowhere when Khan’s been nothing but a problem since he showed up.

233: Despite Snively saying there’s no point in bragging to Eggman if he’s crazy, he doesn’t kill him, forcing Eggman being alive. If he escaped the cell because Snively opened the cell to try to kill him, that would’ve made a lot more sense than him opening it with a voice command.

234: Eggman somehow says a voice command to open his cell in his crazy ramblings. That’s a stupid coincidence that there was no foreshadowing to since we never heard about a voice command opening a cell, and Snively should’ve deactivated any way to escape the cell from the inside.

235: Issue 205: The Iron King is paranoid enough to just assume Snively intentionally freed Eggman to betray him, when Snively warned him that Robotnik escaped to his face in a panicked voice and expression.

236: If the Iron Queen is plotting to get rid of the Iron King, what’s taken her so long? You can still imprison invincible people, and when she takes over the nanite city, she won’t have him imprisoned there in a more effective way.

237: Nicole detects a threat heading for the city but doesn’t know it’s Eggman even though she knew it was Miles who was heading for the city from a distance earlier.

238: You’d think Eggman would recognize Sonic in his insanity if nobody else. He takes forever to.

239: Issue 206: How does Sally think the sub-bosses will totally buy that with Eggman as the heroes’ prisoner, the heroes could kill him if they don’t do what the good guys want? They wouldn’t care about Eggman. What a stupid excuse, for keeping him prisoner in THEIR CITY and not in the Devil’s Gulag where he never would’ve escaped from! Khan’s suggesting they just kill Eggman. HE’S THE SMART one!

240: Sonic somehow gets attacked successfully by the Iron King despite the fact that he can move at SONIC SPEED and the hammer attack he saw him try to do was clearly telegraphed.

241: After Sally says Rotor should run a diagnostic on her, Nicole idiotically says that she’s just fine! She wouldn’t be having that problem if she WAS! WHY would she refuse a diagnostic just to reassure her?! Remember in issue 175 where she was told she was running slow, and she said she was fine, but she ran a diagnostic ANYWAYS? She’s suffering MORE NOW than she was back THEN!

242: Sonic thinks that because he moves too fast, he doesn’t have time to be vengeful, when being fast would give him all the free time in the world. So why would he ever say that?

243: Issue 206 Birthright Part 2: Dimitri shouldn’t have trusted Lien-Da enough to call her out to his lab for NO reason when he wasn’t done modifying every chip. It’s an issue of CONTROL!

244: Wouldn’t Eggman let Dimitri have his own lab on purpose because he’d wanna have an engineer on his side? Why does it have to be a secret lab? Oh, just to delay Dimitri’s rescue, meta logic.

245: Sure is a good thing that the Queen and Eggman won’t ever blow up Dimitri for fleeing, when the whole reason brainwashing chips were made was supposed to be to make it impossible for the Legionnaires to get destroyed by the other chips in them, and Lien-Da said she AND HIM could be the only ones in control. He has the bomb in him, he even said, “ in all of us I’m afraid. “ And yet he won’t be punished for fleeing when for all they know he could plot against them.

246: Issue 207: Tails’ dad says that while the bows and arrows failed them, the laser shooters won’t, talking as if the laser shooters are brand new, which would be ridiculous of Rotor. Why would they ever HAVE bows and arrows to begin with in a world with robots all over the place?

247: Khan says Sally beat Robotnik twice when she had no hand in either of those victories whatsoever. Snively beat Robotnik and Sonic beat Eggman. He uses that as an excuse to have faith in her, and yet she doesn’t correct him here.

248: Issue 207 The Iron Queen: You’d think Robotnik would’ve wanted to do the conquering himself and tried to roboticize the Iron Queen and King, instead of giving them power as sub-bosses! You’d think he would’ve killed them! You’d think the Queen would’ve taken over his country with her technomagic, but no, she was too busy conquering her own region.

249: Snively goes on a treasonous rant about the Iron King when he’s not even gone from the room yet.

250: Issue 208: Nicole goes straight up to the Iron Queen, not even hiding behind the force field, after Bunnie and Khan were taken over by the Queen earlier. She knows everything that happens in the city, so she’d know what happened to Bunnie and Khan. Why couldn’t she have been snuck up on in her handheld form on a mission?

251: How would Bunnie have to get TOLD twice that she’d be a danger to her friends with the electromage around and has to fly away?

252: The heroes escaping the city is forced because Nicole said multiple times that she can detect specific people in the nanite city and even on the outskirts of the forest, so she should be able to tell the Iron Queen exactly where the heroes are with her lack of free will. Even though Iron Nicole has the ability to summon metal hands anywhere and Nicole said she could detect specific people in the city twice, she doesn’t instantly summon hands to grab EVERYONE at once and get them legionized.

253: There’s no reason the force field would become made of metal that’s breakable enough to let the heroes escape it by blasting a hole in them with lightning.

254: Issue 209: Why would Sally blame herself for Nicole’s fate when it was Nicole who lost 300 IQ points to go right up to a known technomage?

255: Iron Nicole should’ve cut off all contact with Freedom HQ, so there’s no way at all that the heroes should’ve been able to accomplish anything there.

256: Eggman starts to snap out of insanity just because he was called Eggman by Chuck and remembered his Eggman Empire. It’s not that easy. A wizard doing it would’ve made more sense. Instead of the heroes taking advantage of Eggman’s memory problems by convincing him he’s a good guy and getting his help, the heroes continue to refer to him by his current persona so he inevitably remembers who he is because Chuck called him Eggman for the first time and not Robotnik.

257: Khan immediately tries to fly to the city to kill Iron Nicole after one issue, having no faith and no one realizes that if he goes back to the city, he’ll be brainwashed again.

258: Sonic Universe Issue 3: It’s unrealistically stupid and emotional of a robot like Gamma to insist he doesn’t need help and it’d somehow only slow him down.

259: Sonic’s scared of public speaking, when he should be way more confident.

260: Sonic Universe Issue 5: Lien-Da says she won’t risk Sonic’s kids if she can help it because they’re innocent, but her attempt to kill Sonic would’ve killed them too and she didn’t seem to care.

261: Lien-Da wants King Shadow back instead of taking all the power for herself, like would be in-character for her entire lifelong motive.

262: Sonic thanking the crowd for being accepting of his and Sally’s nicer rule go figure, like he thought there was any chance of them not being that way, and giving them the credit for peace. How does that make any sense?

263: If Lara-Su can time-freeze Shadow, she can do it for a missile too. And yet she thinks it’s too late and Silver has to save the day instead. We even saw her float Sonic’s kids with telekinesis, and yet Silver has to use telekinesis to save the day instead while Lara is just a weak little girl.

264: Sonic and his family didn’t run away from the missile, despite Sonic having time to say a sentence about it. They just ignored his, “ Run! “ and he didn’t run either, all so Silver could save him.

265: Sonic Universe Issue 6: The supposedly Light Mobius Sonic doesn’t question the fact that Silver says he attacked Sonic before, reacting as if he’s the Prime Sonic and already knew about that! And yet Flynn says he’s from another dimension. If he was, he would’ve reacted in a way that made learn that he isn’t in the Prime Zone’s future.

266: Sonic tells Silver that sometimes trying to time travel is more trouble than it’s worth, even though it’s clearly worth it for BOTH of them. Why would he ever try to discourage him from saving his future?

267: Lara–Su in her thoughts thinks that Sonic’s impulsiveness got him threatened by a rocket when that wasn’t his fault at all!

268: Since Shadow remembers Maria wanted him to be good, it’s so forced that he wants to destroy the world in revenge for him being taken out of the throne by a few people. Since when does Shadow give up that easily?

269: Why didn’t they send the immobilized Shadow to the moon or something where nobody could find him instead of right under the castle Acorn so that he could be revived with a machine after one castle invasion.

270: Why’d they wait so long to invade the castle and get Shadow back if all the Legion had to do was turn their own security system against them?

271: Sonic Universe Issue 7: It’s really stupid that only one of the girl’s legs is cybernetic! She can’t extend both her legs to go up if only one of them is extendible!

272: Tikhaos, Theta and the Anarchy Beryl Bomb being right under Castle Acorn is only there so King Shadow can easily find Tikhaos the minute he gets the castle back. It’d make more sense for them to be kept far from it to prevent exactly that! Why weren’t those three things on the moon?

273: Sonic Universe Issue 8: That’s a badly built panic room to crumble just because of a flood. This is a world with advanced futuristic technology, I’m sure they should’ve had more advanced metals for the panic room.

274: Lara-Su tries to reason with a monster, and naturally gets attacked by it.

275: Melody says her mom can’t just “ talk to the king “ when everyone or at least THEY should know Mina and Sonic are old friends. The other thing that annoyed me was how damn easily Mina was knocked out EARLIER, all because she was handed the Idiot Ball and decided to stop, and talk to her enemies instead of running at super speed to beat all of them up!

276: Sonic Universe Issue 10: Vector says he needs to tell Knuckles what happened even though he KNOWS it’s stupid to leave the Master Emerald alone! Why the hell don’t they have a cell phone to talk to Knuckles while STAYING near the Emerald?!

277: Sonic Universe Issue 11: It’s nonsense that the robots followed Vector to Downunda. Ray scared them away earlier!

278: The hippie just sits down surrendering.

279: Sonic Universe Issue 12: Knux and Julie not putting it together from their cynicism and his echidna racism “ sure are a lot of echidnas around here… ” ” it’d sure be a shame if the last of the echidnas were wiped out, “ that he hated all the echidnas, being smugly sarcastic saying that’d be a terrible thing to happen.

280: The heroes letting Thrash leave with a WARP RING without question. Sure, he fought with the bad guys like a hero, but you’d think they’d insist on giving that Warp Ring to Sonic’s Freedom Fighters, since they’re fighting Eggman and Thrash will leave with it to do nothing of value.

281: Sonic Universe Issue 13: The Gossamer Clan Bride is glad that Uma and her kids fulfilled their fates in response to being learned that they died horribly, when she’s a good person. Since she probably isn’t, here’s a real plot hole; if she can know the course of fate then she would know all about Uma’s history with Sally and what happened to the Sword, or she’d use the web of fate to find it out because Sally could lie for all she knows. So why does she bother asking what happened to the Sword?

282: Sally misremembers that Uma’s kids stole the Sword from her, even though she GAVE IT to them. She would’ve been told she did even if she forgot inexplicably later, and she had no reason to lie to Uma when it could bother her to hear Uma’s kids be described as thieves.

283: Why would the Bride think she’s a hero? Uma Arachnis’ not a HERO! Her kids got the relics of the Source of All into the wrong hands! It was Sir Connery that destroyed them, not her, AFTER they fell into the wrong hands! You’re lying, Sally! She didn’t PREVENT that, she made sure it happened!

284: The Bride says the Web of Fate only tells about the key events ahead and not how you get there, but the Bride checks the Web to learn what the path will be following them allying with Khan, and nobody realizes this irony. We see threads TO the key points, the intersections in the web threads. Those threads would be the roads ahead. What Sally should’ve said was that there were multiple different threads leading to the key points.

Those are roads ahead, and multiple key moments, it’d be obvious how people got from one moment to another, like, Eggman being hired by the king and then he overthrows him later, gee I wonder what the road ahead to THAT was.

285: It was Out of Character for Sonic to not stand up for Tails even a little bit when he angrily told the leader off for being condescending to him. He just SMILED condescendingly and pushed him out of the room like he didn’t care about him!

286: Someone paranoid like Sally should be suspicious and object when that obvious slimeball tells Sonic to leave the room, which of course led to a trap for Sally. The only reason he’d tell Sonic to leave the room with a smirk, would be to keep him from protecting Sally!

287: Flying Frog dodges Sonic’s spindash and Sonic says Frog’s not as fast as him, but Sonic can move at over 600 miles per hour! He should just create a tornado and throw them all down!

288: Sally talks like she wasn’t listening to the Yagyu leader saying that they don’t want to be told what to do anymore, as she says that they can pick any leader they want. Sally is not supposed to be this shit at negotiating politically.

289: Sally says that the Iron Queen’s the only one profiting from this arrangement when the Yagyu leader JUST SAID that they’re profiting from it being able to stand up to other clans. That’s the second way she’s not listening to him at all and yet he agrees with her. When Sally reminds him that the Iron Queen’s the only one profiting from this arrangement, the leader shrugs it off, ‘ So was the Bride of Rich Nights, “ for some reason.

290: The Yaygu leader fails to understand that his people shouldn’t be used for evil and Sally’s being stupid by not immediately explaining how she’s evil, causing him to just say that evil is subjective for no explained reason.

291: Sonic Universe Issue 15: Khan calls Simian cousin when they’re not related just because they’re ape and monkey. Only a human would write this joke.

292: Fiona’s written to stupidly think she can get Tails to stick up for her after slapping him, and this total lack of social skills and tact for a normally smart person (knew what EMPs were, was part of the Brain Trust) was only there as an excuse for Sally to hit her.

293: Why would Fiona think or say that Tails knew her the best, when they were so not close that Fiona called him Miles?

294: Fiona jokes that it’s just like old times with Sally instead of being defensive and awkward about working with her again. This is not realistic behavior.

295: Tails should’ve known Fiona was trying to manipulate him when she asked him to talk sense into his friends, instead of going, “ whatever that was. “

296: Sonic Universe Issue 16: Espio thinks that Sonic’s time disguised to save Geoffrey’s Elites is dirt to shame him!

297: Sonic says the heroism was just for laughs because somehow he’s ashamed of saving people, and asks how Espio could’ve known about that.

298: Even the whole concept of Espio thinking that revealing the heroes’ dirt to them would make him look trustworthy, is forced! Wouldn’t they just trust him less from knowing he could blackmail them?! He’s not “ prone to “ them, they’re prone to him! He hasn’t embarrassed HIMSELF!

299: Tails says he hasn’t been a Freedom Fighter long despite being one the whole comic, and he talks as if that would magically make Espio not do research on HIM when he already revealed he doesn’t respect Sonic’s privacy either.

300: Espio knew about Tails’ badly drawn comic. Why would he stalk and spy on someone other than Knuckles not on Angel Island where he was trapped with no Warp Ring?

301: How did Sonic create a path from foolishly running at sonic speed towards a pit and throw dust constantly that should’ve fallen into the pit? He’s lucky this worked out instead of him running into the pit.

302: Espio’s mother thinks that if the Shinobi stood and fought the queen alone, they’d all lose, even though they can go invisible and could kill everyone invisible no problem.

303: Issue 210: Why didn’t the Iron Queen instantly figure Nicole out when she didn’t immediately summon hands to capture the Freedom Fighters? She should know about Nicole’s ability to detect specific people (like the Destructix), and so she should expect that she’ll know where the heroes are and question her not having already captured them already.

304: Amy thinks being legionized is worse than being roboticized when no, you keep most of your organicness, and even free will if Bill is anything to go by.

305: Eggman says Sonic’s unpredictable and can’t be beaten, and thinks that now he can predict him and beat him because he knows he can’t be predicted or beaten. Circular Logic, much?! Yet he’s sane again! And it’s not like he always assumes Sonic will do the opposite of what someone would expect, either, to take advantage of this, and that’d require him acting like Sonic’s an idiot. HOW is it that Snively didn’t point this out to him and immediately destroy his argument?! He just let Eggman say some stupid argument for being sane again and didn’t poke holes in it at all.

306: Chaos Knuckles and even Scourge were way more of an example of the embodiment of chaos energy than Sonic was. Eggman’s an idiot. Of course he can’t predict the heroes, he’s not THEM, he’s not there when they’re planning! That doesn’t make the rest of the heroes the embodiment of chaos, so why does he think SONIC is and not the rest of them?

307: Issue 211: After the Iron Queen freed herself from her bubble, why didn’t she take control of Nicole again? She didn’t believe Nicole about her being immune to her control, and Nicole would have no way of using CODING, which is electricity, to protect herself from being controlled by an electromage.

308: Lien-Da unfortunately didn’t remove the bombs in her cybernetics, causing her to be blown up and somehow survive, not even being given ONE ISSUE to take over the Eggman Empire, which I would’ve preferred over Eggman being in charge! You’d think she wouldn’t forget about the BOMB in her! But apparently she was so power hungry that she forgot in the heat of the moment. But she’s not supposed to be THAT STUPID, is she?

309: Snively idiotically frees Eggman from his cell and escapes the city with him. Snively didn’t rescue Eggman from the Void in SatAM and he didn’t do that in Archie either. And now all of a sudden he’s too cowardly to think he can handle the situation alone, when he tried to use a teleportation device that he was told risked destroying the world earlier on, with no fear at all, specifically to prove that he wasn’t chicken.

310: Sonic Free Comic Book Day Issue 4: I have a hard time believing that Eggman would ever allow people 15 minute lunch breaks instead of making them work and eat or not eat lunch at all.

311: Sonic doesn’t spindash the remains of the Krudzu apart to make sure it’ll never come back again.

312: Issue 212: Tails doubts there’s anything to look for when Sonic is trying to search for Snively and Eggman in Eggman’s base. Why WOULDN’T he want to be careful about this?!

313: Nicole the powerful Deus ex Machina HASN’T found Eggman and Snively in their base for no reason.

314: Nicole FINALLY picks up a signal, an extremely weak one that causes her to tell Sonic to turn left. What took her so long to pick this signal up after all the times Sonic’s been checking the Eggdome?

315: Issue 213: The cat queen isn’t listening to Sonic since she asks where Sally is when Sonic told her she ran off a second ago

316: and Lupe actually asked Sally why she would want to help her find the Onyx.

317: Issue 215: Rotor vowing to never make useful weapons again in the past after one understandable mistake involving Larry Lynx and an awesome mecha, and he never admits that not having weapons puts his friends in even more danger. It’d make more sense for him to never make a FIRE-causing weapon again, or stay away from Larry Lynx, not give up all weapons!

318: Sonic is written as uncharacteristically annoying; he makes puns annoying the others, he points out the obvious that there’s a blizzard, he goes, “ …Really? “ when he’s told that Eggman has a good reason for targeting Rotor’s herd since they’re the important species in the land.

319: Issue 216 Future Tense Part 2: Someone forgets Silver’s name.

320: Sonic Universe Issue 17: Antoine is much worse at English now “ please to be doing, “ when he’s been speaking it exclusively his entire life, with a lifetime of people correcting him. It’s too late now!

321: Sonic Universe Issue 18: How uneducated are the Battle Birds that they can’t find Babylon Garden by this point? They should’ve looked its location up in history books. Really, they wouldn’t have it written down where they came from?

322: Why weren’t there Battle Birds guarding Tails’ Workshop?

323: Tails says after lasering subs with his Sea Fox that Sonic would do that easily, despite not having a laser ship or knowledge of how to use it or build it.

324: Since Antoine expected Bunnie to gather intelligence from the Battle Lord, and he can swim now, Bunnie shouldn’t have panicked when he fell into the water, because she should know he’s able to swim away just fine and wouldn’t actually get himself killed when he knows her plan.

325: Why was there a door in the fake island leading right off the edge to a steep fall into the ocean? Antoine lampshading it makes it all the more stupid.

326: Antoine could’ve easily gone with Bunnie in the Tails Adventure instead of faking ending it all and scaring her.

327: The Off-Panel only makes it obvious how forced it was that Bunnie didn’t extend her robot arm to catch Antoine when he was falling into the ocean, since she thought he was falling to his death.

328: It WAS dumb of the bad guys to politely wait for him to finish his conversation with her instead of just grabbing him right away.

329: Sonic Universe Issue 19: Antoine enraging Tails by saying stuff like, “ and are a big boy now! Who is the manly man? You are! Yes you are! “ It’s very OOC because he never did this before. If he treats him like this one-on-one all the time, why doesn’t Tails hate him by now?

330: Antoine somehow doesn’t notice Tails’ fury at that, or is too good at pretending not to, saying he’s being humble when Tails glared at him with a demented smirk.

331: Issue 217: The Baron’s Legionnaires are that way because Jack’s people drove them to the Badlands, even though they weren’t scary-looking Robians attacking them anymore. That makes no sense. It would’ve been better if they just got captured by Eggman during an attack on Sandblast City.

332: Why don’t ALL of the Legionnaires have “ neural override chips “ in them?! How does the Baron have free will, how does Bill have free will?! You’d think that would be a necessary update to the cybernetics after the Queen, at least! Eggman SAYS in Issue 220 that he’s keeping Lien-Da’s command chip in her so she’ll keep free will, implying that the rest of her Legionnaires are still mind controlled to obey her. So at that point, how do any Legionnaires have free will, including Julie-Su? How is it not already a Dark Legion tradition to put “ obey the law “ chips in everyone’s brains from birth?

333: Issue 217 Welcome Back, Chao: Why would Nicole take more than a minute to create a house for Cream in the nanite city? So her moving in with Amy is forced.

334: Issue 218: When Bunnie throws Sonic through some pipes in the oil refinery, Sonic is written to have a stilted bad acting bit of dialogue pointing out the obvious, which meta-wise was to dumb it down telling the audience their plan, and in-universe should’ve just revealed the act to everyone from Sonic’s bad acting!

335: Issue 219: Geoffrey says he’s heard reports of the Special Zone and thinks he can handle it, only to be astounded, even though he was already in that place back when it was the Zone of Silence and was just like this!

336: Feist doesn’t recognize Sonic at first and threatens him as much as Geoffrey, even though the reason he just gave him an Emerald last time was because he was rewarding a hero. Sonic lampshading it makes it even stupider.

337: Geoffrey frees Ixis’ mind and starts working for him even though in Return of the King, Ixis tried to kill all the Robians, and Geoffrey urged him to reconsider dismantling them all an issue before that. So he knows he’s evil, but now suddenly this guy who had been defined by paranoia and cynicism is naïve enough to trust Ixis completely.

338: Issue 220: If Feist wanted Sonic to entertain him, him entertaining him shouldn’t have convinced him to warp him home, it should’ve done the exact opposite. That was overly convenient.

339: Issue 220 From the Inside Out: Lien-Da’s right, why DIDN’T Eggman make her like Dimitri? How is ” not making her look like Dimitri ” all part of the ” game ” of having untrustworthy allies? He wouldn’t have returned her to her old look because he’s sadistic. So for him to go through this extra effort to fully fix her, is dumb for a sadist.

340: Eggman says that he kept Lien-Da’s special command chip, and made it so her people are still brainwashed to serve her instead, even though he should be worried about her betraying him. He’s totally Out of Character, especially when he said that treasonous lackeys are more fun to plan around, because he spent the majority of the comic wanting EVERYONE UNDER HIM to NOT have free will! SPECIFICALLY to prevent people from PLOTTING against him! 2.

341: Issue 221: Thanks to Ash, Mina thinks it’s a good idea to make a song vilifying Nicole and rallying the public against her, for even two seconds. Somehow she didn’t anticipate that the crowd would just get angry and scared.

342: Sonic tries to put his hand on her hat, and it disappointingly glows green giving her away as a hologram. You’d think this living Deus ex Machina would be fully capable of making real solid clothes for herself, let alone an organic body.

343: Nicole says that because she’s part of the city’s systems, she hears things. That’s stupid, wouldn’t she be overwhelmed with hearing every single conversation in the city as it’s happening? Why would she bother having the ability to spy on the city instead of just keeping it to detecting threats outside of it?

344: Sonic is shown to be a complete idiot, AND deaf, as he somehow didn’t catch on that Nicole was crying because of the song, and was totally lost in the music! Was he even listening to the lyrics?!

345: Ixis can sense fear, and exaggerate it, out of nowhere, so it’s dumb of him that he never mentioned it to the heroes to brag and taunt them for being afraid of him, and he never used it to make the heroes too afraid of him to fight him.

346: Issue 221 Second Impressions Part 1: Nicole asks Dimitri how he dealt with losing control, when she didn’t lose control for more than a hour, and then she was under duress.

347: How’d she not detect Espio and Dimitri in the same room with her, when she did detect Lightning Lynx, and Miles from outside the city? She wouldn’t have gone into a room she knew was occupied to cry in private.

348: Issue 222: Someone at a restaurant doesn’t recognize Sonic at first when he’s asking for a reservation.

349: A waiter thinks it’s okay to ask Sally and Sonic a personal question, instead of just taking their orders, and not only THAT, but he asks whether they’re gonna pull the plug on Nicole! I mean holy shit, how could he not realize that she’s their friend and he’s asking them to murder her?! She’s been with them so long, publically, you’d think he’d know better! This is just him being handed the Idiot Ball for the sake of drama!

350: Issue 223: Mina held a FREE concert, even though musicians make all of their money off concerts, and it’s not like she needs an extra incentive to get people to come to her concerts.

351: The royal guard stands down instead of handling Geoffrey, who betrayed everyone. This only happened to force the concept of the Freedom Fighters having to fight Geoffrey instead of backing up Sonic.

352: Geoffrey says that Amy and Tails are circling him in a predictable attack strategy while Sally will be right here for the ambush. WHY aren’t Amy and Tails just attacking him instead of pointlessly circling him? And Sally’s supposed to be this brilliant tactician? He’s barely even using any magic against them! I could perfectly understand him winning if he froze them all in ice or crystal, that’d look cool!

353: And why can’t Nicole warp Geoffrey to a cell like she did with Ixis when the city was first introduced?

354: If he/Ixis crystallized her into an immobile statue, him staying in the city would’ve made sense! Why didn’t he do that?!

355: Ixis can just run right into the castle because Nicole apparently didn’t build it with a raised drawbridge to keep intruders out, or any kind of security system. Why have a moat without a drawbridge?

356: Elias had promised Rotor to debate the issue of Nicole with the Council. Logically, he should’ve promised the opposite to protect her from being voted against.

357: Geoffrey should’ve properly explained his betrayal immediately, because real people bother to tell people why they act the way they do to justify their actions.

358: Issue 224: Ixis just haphazardly throws ice and fire around like an idiot when he should know that Sonic’s fast enough to dodge that for infinity.

359: It makes no sense that Penelope says they shouldn’t fight just because they’re councilors now, as if she somehow thinks the people wouldn’t want them to fight off Ixis!

360: Rosemary makes an excuse for him to be king when she fought against Elias being king,

361: and Elias asks him if he’d defer to the council if he was king. Everyone in the council sides with Ixis and glares at Sonic angrily for going against Ixis, without EXPLAINING.

362: Why did Sonic stop fighting Ixis for even a second with the dark-magic-beating Sword of Light, just because the councilors were refusing to fight?! If he had kept fighting ignoring them, he could’ve won by now! For all I know, he just needs ONE hit in with the Sword of Light and he could beat Ixis! Ixis was being too stupid to freeze or trap him in place right away, so he could’ve hit him in the BACK with the Sword of Light a lot by now, especially since Ixis was looking at the councilors arguing and just standing still, which at least would’ve left him open to ONE hit.

363: Free Comic Book Day Issue 5: I have to wonder why Ixis didn’t INSTANTLY come back from the Zone of Silence AFTER being wished away by Nate, if he kept the Rings, which meant he was able to create a portal out of there from the zone all along.

364: It was stupid of Ixis to not instantly freeze Sonic in an ice cube instead of just throwing stuff Sonic’s fast enough to dodge. Why didn’t he do to Sonic what he did to M?

365: Sonic Universe Issue 21: Since Sonic did tell Amy about his Rush Adventure story, she should’ve recognized Blaze on sight from remembering what he said about her appearance. Sonic should’ve TOLD her about a purple short-haired cat girl who can control fire and had Amy recognize her on sight because of that!

366: Despite Rouge being the manipulative type, she sucks at manipulating Amy into letting her stay with her on the mission, because she just insults her a whole bunch. It’s OOC.

367: Amy says that she’s seen a lot of weird stuff and Blaze doesn’t stand out too much. How? What other fiery purple cats has she SEEN? Magical Mobians still stand out!

368: Why does Fang hang out with Bean and Bark when he said he worked best alone? You’d think Bean would just annoy him too much to stand it. He doesn’t need them.

369: Why does Bean want Cream as a pet when Cream was ranting furiously?

370: How does Cream not get that she’s being kidnapped by Bark? She’s being held in his grip.

371: Sonic Universe Issue 23: How did the teams have the chance to talk in private instead of the bad guy teams immediately rushing at them and fighting while they were blabbing?

372: Sonic Universe Issue 24: Their reason for going into the fire ring was to make a plan and they never do make a plan. Sure, Amy and Cream could be easily distracted, but Blaze?!

373: Bean smiles at being blown up even when saying that he can’t feel his hands, which is very forced. He should be thinking, “ my god, this is what I do to people? “

374: Blaze hopes she won’t run afoul of the zone cops. Why wouldn’t the zone cops HELP her? She’s a victim of Eggman Nega because he robbed her zone of Sol Emeralds!

375: Sonic Universe Issue 25: There’s no way Silver is such a wimp with the telekinesis he has that he would be easily ganged up on and bested in a fight by the roboticized heroes! He would’ve prevented them all from moving!

376: Sonic Universe Issue 26: Jani thinks the Su part of her real name reminds her of her father and not her mother. Only her mother called her by that name, as she didn’t know her father growing up, and the last name is from her mother’s side.

377: Sonic Universe Issue 28: Silver should know Enerjak’s too invincible for him to have killed him without even trying.

378: Why did Jani-Ca’s father ask for some of her power later if the Enerjak spirit left him?

379: Jani-Ca who’s now all-powerful says she’ll restore her world to the good way it used to be… and then Silver IDIOTICALLY refuses to let her save his OWN WORLD! He doesn’t even know for sure if he will save his future!

380: Why couldn’t Silver have just used the Sword of Acorns himself? He could’ve telekinesis grabbed Enerjak, pulled him close to him holding him still and depowered him.

381: Issue 225: Sally decides to go with Sonic to the Death Egg, alone with him, when she has no special powers and would be just dead weight, and wasted most of the talents of her friends without even asking Geoffrey with his magical powers to come along, making an uncharacteristically stupid plan to force her being roboticized when she could’ve brought all of her friends to the Death Egg and have it destroyed. She should’ve known they’d need back-up because Sonic could barely win against Silver Sonic the last time!

382: Sally wouldn’t stand on the wing of the biplane. Tails should’ve made another seat in it by now. Nicole would take seconds to make another seat with a seat-belt with her nanites!

383: Why didn’t Ixis – after being unable to harm the Death Egg from the outside – accompany the heroes on their journey INSIDE the Death Egg, and be useful and refreshing, instead of pointlessly ineffectively staying in the sky?

384: Sonic jokes about being slapped around by Sally.

385: Sally rushes ahead alone with Nicole to get vaporized. She walked right into a trap after all the time she spent warning Sonic against doing that.

386: Issue 226: Sonic gets surrounded by Motobugs, and DOESN’T proceed to destroy them immediately, instead wasting some time stupidly talking to them, and deciding to name them Motobugs before freeing the animals. His taunting of them isn’t even taunting, it’s so tame, just asking their NAMES when they’ll never REPLY!

387: Sonic stands around uselessly so Rotor has to save him from the Caterkiller.

388: Why would Eggman make his Genesis Wave not only make him look like Classic Eggman when he never looked like that in Archie,

389: but also make him not remember what he did to change reality or that he did at all, just to somehow start remembering LATER?

390: Issue 228: Sonic ditches the Freedom Fighters, putting them in a lot of danger as they go to the dangerous Oil Ocean with no way to attack.

391: Issue 230: Sally doesn’t start warning Eggman that by causing an explosion where every metal is on the planet he might destroy the planet’s metallic inside when the roboticizer beam goes through it to reach the other side of the planet from the Death Egg.

392: Issue 231: Cream doesn’t question the antennae on Tails Doll. No one questions it when you’d think the heroes would be shown it and realize it’s not being sold anywhere in the city and realize what it really is. And while her making this mistake is kind of excusable for her age, Vanilla is an adult, she should know better when she sees an antenna with a gem coming out of it!

393: The heroes were way too quick to assume the real grass was real when fake grass looks identical. This somehow reveals that Nicole can’t make real-looking grass.

394: Issue 232: Sonic shows up, saying, “ Have you lost your minds?! Naugus is the bad guy! “ And he doesn’t proceed to explain WHY which he clearly needs to DO for these idiots! How about reminding them of the attempted genocide he did in Return of the King? So this gives Geoffrey an opportunity to say that since the people can choose their council they should be able to choose their king too.

395: Ixis saying about Mecha Sally that the crowd wouldn’t want a heartbroken king, combined with Sonic saying “ Do you have ANY class?! “ in front of the crowd, DOESN’T wreck everyone’s trust in him.

396: When Ixis is told about Bunnie’s crystallized state, he says triumphantly, “ To the hospital! “ and doesn’t even try to act worried about her. And yet the crowd still doesn’t get that he’s just trying to manipulate them.

397: Why doesn’t Sonic use the Warp Ring that brought Sally to visit Khan, to get to Sally with rope? Why was it forgotten in favor of him going to visit Knuckles? Why doesn’t Sonic use the zone-link generator he used to send Patch back home, to get to Metal Sally without needing a Warp Ring? Why did it just disappear?

398: Knuckles blames Sonic for Mecha Sally after Sonic clearly explained everything to him, which would make it obvious that she did what she was forced to do because she didn’t bring anyone capable of destroying the roboticizer in with her, like Geoffrey or Bunnie.

399: Knuckles asks when Sonic was gonna tell him about the Death Egg, even though if he told him about it, he would’ve told him that he JUST learned about its existence, and couldn’t have, and instead of saying that, Sonic says he would’ve spotted it.

400: When Sonic asks for a Warp Ring to save Sally, which he’d do by just spindashing her tons of time at super speed to knock her out like in Archie Sonic Online, Knuckles says, “ No way! That’s a bad idea. “ He says that one, Sonic has to know exactly where he’s going to use it. WHY?! I guess what the text is TRYING to say is that, he has to be able to clearly imagine the location before he warps to it, but Sonic has been in the Death Egg, so he would be able to do that! Why isn’t Sonic pointing this out?!

And Knuckles had no problem going into a portal in the Badlands when he didn’t know where it would lead him, so this is weird.

401: Since Knuckles was there when Antoine talked about the neuralyzer that let him keep his roboticized father still to be rescued, he should’ve told Sonic to get a neuralyzer first, but doesn’t.

402: Knuckles says as part of his “ reasoning “ that you have to know exactly where you’re going to use it. But Sonic has BEEN in the Death Egg! He knows exactly what to do and what it looks like! If he means that it matters where you’re using the Warp Ring, then, no, and that makes no sense. Silver got to the heroes’ base from all the way in Mercia. Julie and Charmy are just as dumb as Knuckles for agreeing with him here.

403: Sonic doesn’t just steal the Warp Ring with super speed if he wants to save Sally so badly, even though he’s supposed to be impatient and impulsive. There was an early issue where Sonic fought him over an Emerald to save Max, so this is Out of Character!

404: Knuckles says Sonic could lose the Warp Ring to Eggman even though Sonic could just hide it in his spines or shoe, and he’s super fast and would have a Warp Ring on him to warp away from Eggman.

405: Julie and Knux never thought of powering up the Warp Ring with the super powerful emerald ALWAYS around them, which could’ve let them warp to the Twilight Cage in seconds! That’s the first thing anyone would try! Scourge was smarter than them, HE did that and not them!

406: Julie says there’d be no telling what dangers they’d find in the Twilight Cage as a justification for not going into a portal, except you GREW UP in the Twilight Cage, wouldn’t you know?! Tell him! Why would she assume there were any new dangers?! Her stepparents would’ve reminded her of what those dangers were if the idea is that the amnesia chip made her forget.

407: Why didn’t Sonic go Super with the Master Emerald, fly to the Death Egg, pick up Mecha Sally and carry her to the nanite city, and tell Nicole to create a nanite cell for Mecha Sally?

408: It was stupid of the heroes to never wish on a Ring to get Sally back to normal, when Khan had one, and Sonic wished on a Ring to get him unbrainwashed.

409: When Sonic gets back, Tails says happily that Antoine just arrested Geoffrey for treason, when they should know Ixis would pardon him. Considering that Geoffrey’s serving Ixis who’s in charge now, that came out of complete nowhere. Couldn’t Geoffrey just shadow-meld his way out of any cell? Or Ixis just save him from a cell? Why are they excited about this at ALL?! Why would they think they’d have anything to look forward to instead of being bitter at this point?

410: Snively openly saying six feet away from Eggman that he’ll plot against him

411: has no consequences for him. He said he’d take full advantage of the situation right in front of him.

412: Sonic Universe Issue 30: WHY did Simian even bother coming home if he didn’t want to lead them as a sergeant or anything? They REJECTED him!

413: Sonic Universe Issue 31: Wouldn’t the criminals hear Zouge call them idiots and realize she never actually cared about them in the first place? Wouldn’t that just hurt her credibility?

414: It was nonsense that Fiona’s cell mate wouldn’t wanna escape WITH her.

415: Sonic Universe Issue 32: Why’d the zone cops keep people’s possessions instead of selling or destroying them?! It’s just a convenient plot device for an escape plan.

416: It should only take one cop to warp to Scourge when he’s asleep and kidnap him in the middle of the night, have a portal open below him to send him to prison. He could have unconsciousness gas or a taser and handcuffs. And he went to his own zone like the zone cops hoped, so they could easily predict where he went. So him staying free is forced by their incompetence.

417: Sonic Universe Issue 33: It’s so unlike Jet to ask Wave questions that he’d know the answers to are yes as if HE’S the careful paranoid one, when he has no reason not to have faith in her.

418: Sonic Universe Issue 34: The Battle Lord underestimates the value of his mad scientist’s inventions.

419: Speedy naturally lampshades that taking the Rogues back is just begging for him to double-cross him again. Making the Battle Lord a complete idiot doesn’t make up for him being overpowered. His father arbitrarily trusts him because he thinks Battlebirds never lie… (laughs) Why would ANY society think that?

420: Sonic Universe Issue 35: When Elias tells everyone to get to their designated evacuation points, the civilians hold the Idiot Ball because instead of doing that right away out of basic common sense and self-preservation, one of them questions his authority to give out orders.

421: If Ixis had crystallized that flagship successfully FROM THE AIR instead of going onto the ship FIRST for no reason and getting attacked, he would’ve been able to deroboticize all of Eggman’s Legionnaires like he did with Bunnie. He didn’t.

422: How stupid is it that Bunnie and Antoine don’t ask to get nanite suits too?

423: Elias won’t let Geoffrey help fight the Battle Lord with his magical powers. “ Not now, Geoffrey, “ is one of the stupidest things any character has ever said in this comic.

424: Sonic Universe Issue 36: The citizens hating Nicole aren’t even mentioning that Ixis didn’t protect them either. If they’re scared, they should be even more likely to lose faith in a useless evil wizard than in a hero like Nicole!

425: Storm mistook Wave’s Omni-Link Scanner for a GBA, which is forced comedy since shouldn’t he be really familiar with it by now?

426: They have delayed reactions to being told, “ they’re aliens, “ when Wave is supposed to be smart.

427: Would Jet really try to stop Sonic from preventing the world’s destruction, just to learn more of Babylon, a place he’s never even been to? Jet screams, “ No! “ at the key’s destruction even though that saved the world!

428: You’d think Ixis would not only never talk to his ghosts out loud, but explain his situation to people, rather than look schizophrenic in front of people.

429: Issue 233: Geoffrey keeps saying he was building a stronger kingdom for Ixis to return to and Ixis kept saying to prepare it for him, but how was he expected to do that with no power over how it was run, aside from a brief stint as Elias’ advisor where he WEAKENED the kingdom by making him run away and making Sonic confined to Knothole?

430: Why would Antoine blame Geoffrey for Valdez being roboticized? Sure, he left him behind, but HERSHEY was the one who told him to leave him, and Geoffrey hates Robotnik,

431: and if his argument is that he intentionally picked his Elites so that they could be easily framed, somehow thinking he’d need so many easy framés at once, why did he pick Valdez at all? If anything, Valdez was the most valuable framé because he’d be able to just disappear with invisibility and never be cleared of his accusations.

432: GEOFFREY WAS THE ONE who DIDN’T want to ABANDON Valdez ! It was HERSHEY who left him behind, and he doesn’t say that! Instead he admits Antoine was right that he’s devious.

433: Geoffrey thinks that everything he did as Elias’ advisor driving Elias from the throne, was benefiting the kingdom. He thinks after that, it grew into something somewhat respectable, as if Elias being there would’ve prevented that. How? Huh?

434: Issue 233 From the Shadows: Elias first says the king is nuts and then says, “ Convince him to come with us, “ as if that’s possible and makes sense.

435: Issue 234: And Sonic could’ve kicked away Sally to run away for a second to protect Elias himself!

436: I don’t understand why Rotor and Tails didn’t make Antoine use a Flame Sword or Electricity Sword. Then he would’ve won against Metal Sonic easily.

437: Eggman doesn’t take the opportunity to keep fighting and try to kill even more of the Freedom Fighters after Antoine is blown up by Metal Sonic. Eggman’s supposed to be arrogant and that’s why he’s an idiot, but here he’s NOT arrogant ENOUGH because he thinks he has to cowardly retreat after he got lucky, when he just said their spirits will be crushed, so they’re too distracted by Antoine to fight back against him. Again, Antoine’s fate would’ve been easily avoided, but none of the Freedom Fighters ever suggested that Rotor could make inventions with the same powers as her cybernetics.

438: Issue 234 Dark Hearts: Eggman talks about how Robotnik went into the Zone of Silence in his Eggmobile to see how Kodos and the king are doing, snarking amusingly, “ This doesn’t seem so bad. Boring, really. “ This contradicts the first time we saw the portal to the Zone of Silence, where it was acting like a black hole that almost sucked Eggman into it and he shut it down terrified of it, and never wanted to go into that zone again. And now we see him just casually going in.

We even see a sentence from him saying, “ I knew the zone was dangerous, “ and a text blurb references that issue in a vague way. Why would he EVER go in here instead of just sending a flying camera in here?!

439: Sonic Universe Issue 37: Drago, whale guy, and Commanding Storm are rude to Eggman when he’s their boss and can blow them up with a voice command. How are they still alive if they’re rude to him regularly?

440: If Eggman wanted to push the idea that he was winning the war, why didn’t he also mention what happened to Antoine?

441: Sonic Universe Issue 38: Eggman thinks Hugo Brass is too boring, instead of appreciating his blind obedience and lack of free will and doing this to every Grandmaster and Legionnaire like would be actually characteristic of him. If he hated this, why would he have done any roboticization in the first place?

442: Snively completely wastes his time trying to get Hope to come join him and the Iron Queen when he knows that Hope’s good. Her even listening to him was ridiculous when Snively had no problem with Eggman roboticizing her father!

443: Her even listening to him was ridiculous.

444: Hope gets wary and suspicious telling him to hold on not right when Snively says they’ll take over Mobius, but when he starts happily planning to take down Eggman like the Freedom Fighters already want to do.

445: Sonic Universe Issue 39: Why did Eggman wait this long instead of immediately ordering the legionization of the Raiju Clan and having it happen the minute he could?

446: The Iron Queen at first asks, “ What is the meaning of this? “ when it should be obvious Snively wants to save her.

447: Then she says she’d rather rot in the well than be saved by him and risk being disgraced again. That’s not something anyone would do. If anything, she’d use him for a rescue and then ditch him.

448: When Eggman decides to imprison villagers of Khan’s and burn their village, Orbot complains, “ That wasn’t very sportive, “ when a robot with no conscience shouldn’t care. Why did Eggman make him this way when that’d annoy him?

449: Khan wastes time telling a robot with no free will to have free will.

450: Sonic Universe Issue 40: So if the Iron Queen used to have a mecha, why didn’t she attack the nanite city with it then? I guess she vastly underestimated Sonic. She’s an idiot.

451: Eggman tells Orbot to go get his OWN robot while he stalls Snively, as Snively hasn’t ordered the robot to crush him to death yet and just politely waited for him to stop talking.

452: When Snively gets angry and flustered at Eggman’s taunts, he doesn’t immediately attack him with his robot! Logically insulting a guy with a giant mecha should horribly backfire on you! Instead these villains are just sitting there politely waiting for Eggman to finish talking!

453: Eggman accuses them of not really being in love – WHY haven’t they ALREADY tried to attack Eggman?! The Iron Queen told him he was just trying to fluster him, so I would expect her to just start the fight immediately after that while she’s at it with the Genre Savviness!

454: If he thought Khan was a worthwhile way to attack her, logically he would’ve sent him after her RIGHT AWAY instead of standing there vulnerable with no protection the whole time.

455: I say vulnerable with no protection despite him having Metal Sally and this is because Metal Sally didn’t try to fight the mecha for him right away. Logically she would’ve and the mecha would be immediately prompted to fight back! Eggman didn’t order her NOT to fight the mech!

456: Why didn’t the Queen immediately take over Orbot and Cubot?! Orbot was able to bring Eggman a robot-launcher in the first place which he wouldn’t have gotten to use without him and Cubot because they’d be too busy attacking him to let him get it!

457: Somehow Orbot and Cubot didn’t instantly know to send the mecha that doesn’t require electricity against an electromage, and wasted a bunch of time agonizing over which robot to pick. Regina should’ve wiped the floor with Eggman in this time.

458: Eggman still has Egg Swats willing to protect him when he’s been faced with the Iron Queen for a while, who’s making it clear she CAN control the robots and Khan. Why didn’t she control them all and kill Eggman or hurt him immediately?

459: Eggman gets into a mecha just fine. Sure was nice of the Iron Queen to have politely let him get into that mecha instead of killing him! WHY hasn’t she taken control of his entire army of Egg Swats by now?! She once hit the ground with her staff and showed she was at least in theory capable of brainwashing all of Lien-Da’s troops at once.

460: Couldn’t the queen just send electricity to shock the mecha to death if she’s able to control electricity while she’s at it? She created an eternal fire, clearly that meant she made lightning struck coal reserves since that’s what creates such phenomena in real life!

461: Eggman leaves Khan’s villagers alone, when he was JUST ordering to put them all in prison eggs, just because he says he’s had a long day, for a third time, when he ENJOYS terrorizing people and this would just cheer him up even more!

462: Mecha Sally Stall 4; Khan never does go after Eggman and help attack the Death Egg on his thunder cloud and rescue Sally. Why couldn’t he just call up Sonic, ask him for a Ring which he’d instantly get with super speed, and go join Sonic?

463: Eggman should’ve made Snively a sub-boss in a separate region of the world if he always knew he was treacherous and he also knew that about his sub-bosses.

464: Issue 235: Why doesn’t anyone use a Ring, or many Rings, to wake Antoine up from the coma with a wish?

465: Bunnie won’t use the Emerald device they used on King Max to wake up Antoine either, because she blames it for the king’s insanity and not the fact that he was poisoned. The sheer fact that he suddenly pressured Sally to marry Patch in his poisoning and Patch had expected this and did it on purpose, proves that the king went insane from the poison.

466: Why doesn’t Dr. Quack use a stasis tube to get Antoine out of the coma like the one that was used to heal Sally from the same thing? Why doesn’t Rotor use stasis tubes and nanobots to heal him? Or a Chaos Emerald?

467: Mogul doesn’t let Silver have a Time Stone again to return to the future, but then writes instructions that he could use to return home and just trusts him not to use it until later. Why would he expect Silver to wait to follow them? Another future-ruining-thing could happen in the present, when Silver’s already gone home from not expecting it thanks to the instructions, and he wouldn’t have a Time Stone to go back and prevent that.

468: Nicole is honest to the Council about the fact that the city can function without her. She got herself exiled because of that!

469: Nicole somehow looks SCARED and SURPRISED when the Council banishes her instead of being USED to it and EXPECTING it in her depressed state! This is HER fault for TELLING them that she COULD be exiled!

470: When Rotor’s standing up for Nicole to the Council, Chuck acts as if HE’S being unreasonable and in the wrong for being angry about it, when he should be smiling about Rotor standing up for her. Who is this person?!

471: When Rotor quits the Council he wasted his time being outvoted by idiots on, Nicole looks at him like he did something wrong and tries to stop him, when he was doing something wrong by not being a Freedom Fighter.

472: Issue 236: It’s stupid that Ixis tried to say no to the Team Fighters and Freedom split. He should support ANYTHING that helps fight his enemy Eggman better while also keeping the city with tons of protectors.

473: Issue 237: How could a culture based on clothing function? Can just anyone wear the queen’s robes or doctor’s coat and be qualified? If not, then it’s not really based on clothing as only the queen would be allowed those robes anyways. Could anyone wear the queen’s robes and be accepted as the queen? This is stupid. Even Penders didn’t have this nonsense with them.

474: Issue 237 Heart to Heart: Nicole watched Bunnie leave, instead of warping to her and talking to her, telling her to get a nanite suit or cybernetics from Rotor?

475: Issue 238 Foundation Works: Uncle Chuck hates Shard, the only robot and Metal Sonic to turn good. Who is he?! He’s supposed to be positive and this is the opposite! He should be used to robots trying to kill Sonic and find Shard refreshing, like he did.

476: Why would Shard say Chuck owes him for the Metal Sonic Troopers when you’d think the first and only thing he’d hear of them would be bad things?

477: Issue 239: Elias says suspiciously, ” Who sent you? “ upon Agent Queen and Larry showing up at his house to pick him up, squinting at her like a paranoid jerk. This isn’t the Elias I know. He never met her, maybe, but he’s met Larry, so why’s he worried? She may be a stranger, but she’s still with Larry, and I thought he’d be informed of her arrival in advance.

478: Issue 240: Elias doubts his team of Secret FFs just because they’re foreigners. Paranoid jerk. By the way, he spent his whole life on Angel Island, so the same logic about having no vested interest in the kingdom should be applying to him, the hypocrite.

479: Sonic Universe Issue 41: Silver’s a hero, you’d think he’d like being a hero with the Secret FFs! Instead hes’s a whiny paranoid jerk! Silver’s bickering and rivalry with Shard for being carefree and eager to be helpful and compete with him feels very forced. HE’S NOTHING LIKE a wet blanket downer like Sally.

480: Silver should’ve been able to telekinetically stop the fall of Larry way before Shard saved him.

481: Why did Larry even try to run for Council of Acorns when he’d know he’d jinx them?

482: Sonic Universe Issue 42: The wolf girl is talking about her fear of heights right behind Ixis when secretly following him.

483: When the wolf girls naturally question why Ixis didn’t attack them and who he was talking to, Elias dickishly says, “ Can you cut the stupid gossip? “ which forces the concept of them being irritated at him and leaving him alone. He’s not supposed to be a sexist douche.

484: Elias’ response to remembering that he was the mediator convincing Sonic and Geoffrey to stop fighting and save Nate, was to say that he’s not one to judge given how he handled things in the past. Flynn clearly forgot all about the plot of that story. Elias was NECESSARY to do that to get the fight-picking to STOP, literally the opposite of this.

485: Silver has a delayed reaction, he took forever to react to the fact that Geoffrey knows it was him who was on the mission.

486: Why does Ixis need an entire brainwashing chamber with an old wizard’s bones taking a night and a day to try to prepare a spell to brainwash a city, when he didn’t have to do that in Return of the King?!

487: Sonic Universe Issue 44: When the Council is locked out so they can’t ratify the new constitution, none of them blame Ixis for it even though WHO ELSE would it be? Ixis constantly complained about having to humor a council and Rosemary noticed, so why wouldn’t they think he locked them out on purpose so they couldn’t ratify a constitution that wouldn’t make him the dictator?

488: Ixis didn’t instantly realize that Shard is a robot and tries to suffocate him.

489: Shard shoots a laser at him, and Ixis just NOW realizes he’s a robot.

490: And when he realizes he’s not a robot, rather than reacting just like how he did with M in this exact same situation, and trying to freeze him from the inside out, he DOESN’T do that and I totally forget what he DID because it’s that convoluted and stupid.

491: Why had Rosemary taken the constitution to another house for dinner?

492: Why didn’t Silver just telekinetically hold Ixis still the whole fight? He thought to do that to Zor in IDW right away.

493: Ixis should’ve immediately just sent the fire at Silver instead of harmlessly surrounding him, what an idiot.

494: Shard finally shoots a laser to destroy the emerald thing Ixis was using for the brainwashing spell, and Geoffrey lampshades that they should’ve done that in the first place, making their whole fight seem like padding from the characters being idiots after the fact.

495: The very same issue that shows us Ixis earthbending without his wand, so why didn’t he do that to escape from the rubble right away instead of embarrassing himself asking Geoffrey for help? And why not firebend all the fire away or go to his true form?

496: Issue 241: Ixis should’ve tried to possess Geoffrey in the FIRST PLACE because he’s the only one who can speak FOR him and thus keep him in charge of the city. Ixis shouldn’t be trying to possess a crippled old man like the king, who wouldn’t have had the legal power to be the king of the council like he did. And one of the wizards in his head lampshading it just makes it look worse. Ixis even trying to possess anybody flies in the face of his plan to rule the city because he can’t rule the city at the council if nobody thinks he’s Ixis!

497: When he’s possessed, NOBODY questions or notices that Geoffrey’s eyes went from blue or bluish-RED. And the Council and Nicole know Ixis can possess people, so why don’t they, Sonic’s parents and Sally’s parents immediately realize what happened and get creeped out when they learn about it?

498: Also when has Ixis ever had someone look different just because he was possessing them?

499: Why doesn’t the Tornado-2 instantly fly into the Death Egg instead of them flying right behind it at all times? Am I expected to believe Tails was too pathetic to make the Tornado-2 faster than the Death Egg so he could catch up with it?

500: Issue 242: Why is Silver competing in hammer throw? First off, his telekinesis would be cheating. Second, he’s supposed to be in the future. Third, he isn’t physically strong like the power types there, he’d know he’d suck at it.

501: Issue 243: Remington’s police just have mere bows, in Albion, a city full of advanced echidnas familiar with technology, with no technology ban in sight. Remember, his police still used normal tech like police cars and helmets in Echidnapolis, the police never adhered to the tech ban before.

502: Why didn’t Lien-Da legionize the Albion government immediately instead of waiting until the last of the resistance would be put down? Doesn’t she want more Legionnaires for herself?!

503: You’d think a villain like Lien-Da, who wants the echidnas to lose faith in their guardian, would’ve told them about the fact that Knuckles became Enerjak immediately.

504: Issue 244 by Flynn: Knuckles just stands over Thrash like a dope instead of knocking him out and stealing his Warp Ring, so he gets sent away by his sound wave. Sonic could’ve taken Thrash prisoner with the rope he made the fence with and forced him to tell him how to get the echidnas back). And in-universe this whole story arc started because Thrash was allowed to walk away with a Warp Ring in front of the heroes.

505: Sonic should’ve easily stolen the Warp Ring from Thrash at super speed instead of wasting time talking to him!

506: Issue 245 by Flynn: Knuckles sends Thrash to the ground, but instead of knocking him out by punching him in the head, he just STANDS THERE, TALKS TO HIM, and expects him to give him the Warp Ring!

507: If Amy had just immediately hammered Thrash in the head instead of Tails talking to him, they could’ve gotten the Warp Ring back and Tails could’ve taken off with it just fine! It’s UNBELIEVABLE that the heroes would keep making this mistake and talking to him instead of shutting up and ACTING right away, even at this point!

508: Sonic Universe Issue 45: Tails says that they included Eggman “ to be fair “ because the invitation for the race went out to everyone who competed last year. Who’d care about being fair to this monster?!

509: Why does Eggman think he has to win the race to start claiming conquest over the other Sega Star worlds “ for my prize “ ? Why didn’t he just do it already? Why didn’t he start doing it last year?

510: Sonic talks as if he had an actual choice between driving for the race and blatantly cheating by running at sonic speed. That’d be stupid of the people running the race. Speaking of that,

511: nobody was watching to see who crossed the finish line first in a GRAND PRIX RACE.

512: Sonic Universe Issue 46: The Mercian Freedom Fighter that SINGS, about Mighty and in battle. Why would their social skills suck so much that they think singing about the past events unwarranted would be a good idea?

513: The bad guy had taken way too long to decide to start burning the forest to attack Hideaway.

514: Sonic Universe Issue 47: Why did Mighty’s sister get sent all the way to Sandblast City from Mercia? Wouldn’t it be easier and cheaper for Eggman to just keep everyone where they are?

515: Sonic Universe Issue 48: Jack paranoidly accuses the Chaotix of going to join the Baron, a Legionnaire sub-boss. Wouldn’t he assume everyone was on his side against Eggman?

516: Sonic Universe Issue 50 by Flynn: Nicole doesn’t understand why Shard’s reluctant to try to socialize as a former robotic Eggman slave. She should know how he feels instead of going, “ oh just go socialize with people who hate you, it was so easy for me! “ Why are they even arguing about this?!

517: Issue 247: Why’s Cream scolding a doll for disappearing instead of blaming herself for misplacing it or assuming it was stolen?

518: Why didn’t Tails Doll try to destroy the whole city much earlier? This makes its wasting time destroying other stuff forced.

519: We see Cream confronting the Tails Doll with Team Freedom at the power plant, and the heroes all decide to just STAND there pointlessly calling the robot out on what he’s been DOING, so it has time to transform into a threat. Nicole would’ve IMMEDIATELY used her nanites to crush the Tails Doll!

520: Sonic REALLY should’ve just homing-attacked at Mecha Sally’s head right away knocking her out at super speed in the Death Egg, instead of grabbing her hands leaving them unable to DO anything! His whole problem is that he’s holding back too much trying not to kill her, forgetting that she’s a tough robot!

521: Sonic dodges a laser from Metal Sally’s head because somehow when he let go of her hands to dodge it, she let go as WELL instead of holding him STILL, and this allows Tails to push him out of the way because of that ridiculous Deus ex Machina.

Everything Good about Archie Sonic Issues 75-159

3092: Issue 75 I Am the Eggman by Bollers: Robo-Robotnik looking like a black and blue android was pretty cool. (Though by looking too much like a robot, he felt like an “ intruder “ so it’s better that he switched to his human-looking Modern design afterwards.)

3093: Nate was useful by using tech eyewear to blast some Shadow Swatbots. This saves two people and hopefully convinces them to care about him this time. At least the king begs Eggman to spare the children and offers himself in return.

3094: Then Elias is useful because he uses some liquid nitrogen from tubes from his mother’s cryotube, to destroy some robots. “ Maybe these Shadow-Bots could do with a bit of… cold storage! “

3095: Bomb destroys robots so that people can run to safety

3096: and Hershey and Geoffrey run away carrying children away from the robots.

3097: Geoffrey says they must go to Valdez’s aid and Hershey has to be the one to tell him to leave him behind so he could cover them.

3098: For a selfish reason Snively frees the heroes from the force field.

3099: Sonic’s parents never lost their free will, a Chekhov’s Gun from Sonic giving them wedding Rings as a present.

3100: They reveal they have free will by smacking Eggman in the head with a thrown Ring calling him a tin-plated tyrant.

3101: Eggman transfers his data to a robot looking like Modern Eggman.

3102: It feels a little more believable that he went with that design, the best one, because we see a whole bunch of other android bodies he may have tried.

3103: Eggman’s better as an android. He’s more of a threat, he’s taking advantage of his technology wizard identity better, he’s more of a contrast to Bowser from Sonic’s rival series, he can take hits from Sonic without making me wonder how he doesn’t get injured or worse because he’s not just a weak human with skin hiding behind machines anymore, he could do cool things with his android body letting him shoot lasers or absorb info into himself directly. Plus, he looks human anyways! 12.

3104: Knuckles Comic Issue 29 My Special Friend by Penders: Sally Acorn in the Knuckles comic!

3105: She shouts, “ Antoine! How can I ever trust you again! And you don’t see fit to tell me you were going on a mission to find my brother I didn’t know I had?! “ For one, this is satisfying karma against Sally for keeping secrets from her friends three times. (roboticizer plan, doesn’t tell her friends about the king being a control freak and then being obviously fake, her old friendship with Knuckles). Second, Antoine was a traitor to Sonic in Issue 40, so another reason he deserves to be yelled at.

3106: Just when I was thinking Sally should be yelling at her father and not Antoine, she actually DOES go call out her father.

3107: They’re in the underground base.

3108: “ I don’t know where to begin, father! It’s like you’ve been a stranger to me for so long! Orders that seemed harsh and vindictive, demanding that I marry Antoine, and now learning you’ve kept my own brother a secret from me! “ She couldn’t stand repressing this rant anymore. “ Whatever happened to the loving caring father I used to know?! “ She’s a badass when she’s angry, so I really enjoy seeing her mad.

3109: He says that loving father is still there.

3110: Knuckles, after looking hurt at Sally’s, “ How could you?! “ makes me smile by snarking, “ Having a bad hair day, Sally? “

3111: Sally complains humorously, “ How shallow do you think I am? “

3112: Sally explains that there’s a good reason for why she used to be pink. It’s a mark of a writer who cares.

3113: Sally lashes out at Knuckles because she’s frustrated at her whole family secrecy situation. She thinks Knuckles kept it a secret from her that her mom was in cold storage on Angel Island for so long, naturally paranoidly assuming that HE kept secrets from her too because everyone else is. She’s entertaining and engaging and interesting, if annoying at the time.

3114: Spectre streamlines things by immediately showing up to Sally to warp them to the Brotherhood, letting them talk to them right away.

3115: I like seeing Spectre and the rest of the Brotherhood liking the heroes like Sally, treating them with the proper respect, with Spectre making Sally smile by saying that she became quite the young lady, although he does come off as a suck-up.

3116: When Spectre says that he hopes the room would get Sally’s approval she says this will do very well

3117: and thanks him.

3118: Locke admits that not wanting him and Sally to be friends was an incorrect decision on his part, saying, ” Maybe that was an incorrect decision on my part… ” and justifies that because Sally’s gonna be the leader of her people, her best interests are not going to coincide with Knuckles’ every time because her people tried to peacefully co-exist with those who would prey on them.

3119: The Brotherhood shows they’re more smart than Sally because they want her to use the latest in munitions technology against Eggman, and she won’t.

3120: Knuckles shakes someone’s hand.

3121: Knuckles relates to Sally about having a family that keeps secrets from him.

3122: Sally calls Knuckles out sadly on the fact that he refused to join the Freedom Fighters. This implies that she is proving the stress can actually get to her for the first time, because she’s acting in a surprising way by asking how she could ever call Knuckles her friend after he didn’t join her group. She’s interesting in her more stressed out phase, and while she hasn’t technically started down that downward spiral yet, when she gets there she’ll be quite fascinating. Right now, though, she’s just lashing out from the stress of her family drama, which is relatable. 19.

3123: Sonic Super Special Issue 11 Ascension by Penders: As a consequence to Elias not wanting to be the next king, Sally actually does try to bond with the Source of All.

3124: Sally’s mom has a sympathetic moment by holding Sally when she was a baby hoping that she’d never know another war.

3125: Sally is shown holding her mother’s hand.

3126: King Max calls Sally his darling daughter.

3127: Sally’s kind of relatable to most because she doesn’t want to know everything just to be queen. She thinks knowing everything to be queen would make her feel less human.

3128: Elias asks Sally if she’s alright.

3129: Elias supports Sally’s decision, hugging her. 7.

3130: Solo: Hershey gets to do something for once, setting off an explosion in Eggman’s city and base.

3131: The plot thread of Valdez is wrapped up as Hershey learns about Valdez being roboticized and reacts that she would’ve preferred he died to being roboticized. 2.

3132: Family: The plot thread of the Wolf Pack traveling to try to find a city they used to live in is resolved because they find it.

3133: Eggman’s smart by knocking out the Wolf Pack with gas.

3134: Chuck was put in a position of power over robots to spite Sonic, which makes some sense. 3.

3135: Upgrade: Bunnie has an interesting problem doing something with her cybernetics. Her bionics don’t work reliably with her central nervous system anymore, causing her to fall over in exhaustion while holding something over her head, and her bionics are deteriorating, so eventually they could shut down and become toxic to her. Her body’s at war with itself because it doesn’t want to be cyborgized. It’s out of nowhere, but creative!

3136: Antoine comforts her that he’ll always love her even if she stays a cyborg.

3137: Antoine hugs Bunnie.

3138: Bunnie cries from that, showing vulnerability and sympathetic moments.

3139: We see Bunnie happily flying away with new cybernetics.

3140: Sonic says, ” You go, girl! ” 6.

3141: Shadows: Lien-Da’s mother is shown holding her two babies saying, ” Aren’t they beautiful, Luger? “

3142: It kind of explains why Julie was allowed to sit up front with Kragok without a cloak because it turns out that she’s his half-sister.

3143: Julie used to have loving adoptive parents, and she reunites with them. 3.

3144: Issue 76 Business as Usual by Bollers: Logically from how crowded Mobotropolis is, it makes sense that Knothole is crowded, so the king has to award homes based on who needs them the most primarily.

3145: It’s smart of Sonic to know that Snively would know better about how to get to Eggman’s files than anyone and cause his friends to keep him from leaving them through intimidation.

3146: Sonic says to Snively, ” You aren’t AFRAID of those Shadow-bots? Who knows what they’ll do?… Stick with us if you wanna make it outta here! ” It’s smart of Sonic.

3147: It’s complimented that the king is maintaining his calm regal bearing even when he thinks Sally might not have made it out of Robotropolis.

3148: Snively’s useful because his access card to Robotropolis works.

3149: Sonic saves Mina and other people from being roboticized by kicking robots.

3150: Snively uses his access card to get Sally into a room to access Eggman’s files for Knothole’s sake.

3151: “ And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you take apart 50 shadow-bots in less than 10 seconds! I CAUTION you not to try this at home. ”

3152: Snively somehow saves Sally from robots holding her.

3153: Sonic makes the robots get stuck in the tar because he runs to create fire that melts the concrete. That’s creative.

3154: Sonic relates to Mina about losing her family.

3155: She has her hands on her shoulders.

3156: Sally tells Mina that everything will be okay as Mina’s crying about her mother getting roboticized.

3157: The minute Eggman tries to download the location of Knothole into his memory banks, he gets a computer virus from Nicole. THIS is an ability of hers that makes sense. 14.

3158: Issue 76 by Penders Tales of the Great War Another Point of View: It’s actually explained how Amadeus Prower lost his eye; he was shot by a laser in the Great War.

3159: It gives Sonic’s mom a little depths that she’s the girl Jules used to debate against in debate club and always lost to.

3160: It’s smart of Chuck to tell him that now isn’t the time to remember that.

3161: The heroes want to take the books out of the library to preserve them from Eggman. 4.

3162: Knuckles Comic Issue 30 Bad to the Bone by Penders: After all of the stories in fiction showing authority figures not do a thing against bullies, I found it satisfying to see the Brotherhood actually do something against Knuckles’ bully because they really care! They had Monk’s hands and arms tied unable to move while they were throwing him off the island in the middle of the night, to keep him from attacking them. Monk always looked like an adult being a big gorilla so I don’t know why anyone called him a kid as an excuse to sympathize with someone who had Knuckles fall out of a tree.

3163: And it was a big inconvenience to Monk because he took several years to get back to the island, and when he did so, it was only by jumping from a mountaintop.

3164: The Hunter is a very menacing villain indeed. It makes sense, considering the racism of the Overlander humans towards Mobians, that he’d consider Mobians to be just game animals. It’s grim, but it’s quite threatening for a villain, so it’s interesting and unique to have a plot centered around him trying to do this to Knuckles.

3165: The Hunter has a good design, having silver hair at the side and black hair everywhere else and a monocle, with a scar over one eye, and with a purple shirt. He looks classy when he’s actually barbaric, which is an interesting classic.

3166: The echidnas a thousand years ago were space explorers, huh. Makes sense with their technology.

3167: We know that because Knuckles is reading a book that his dad Locke gave him.

3168: Back then the echidnas had normal names, like Dave. 7.

3169: Hiding in Plain Sight: Ray and Julie-Su shake hands

3170: with one saying, ” pleased to meet you, ”

3171: and the other saying, ” likewise. “

3172: Ray says that Mighty’s the closest he has to family.

3173: Espio makes the horse stop so that he’d find an injured person

3174: so that Julie could use her horse to get him to the medical center.

3175: He tells her to be careful and she tells him to take care of himself as they’re good friends,

3176: and he says he’ll be fine. 8.

3177: Knuckles Comic Issue 31 The Thrill of the Hunt by Penders: Knuckles’ bully Monk gets electrocuted as karma by The Hunter.

3178: It’s interesting that The Hunter has a blue and black robot shaped like a human, who picks up Monk.

3179: Interestingly again, The Hunter has an airship as a home that looks normal from the inside,

3180: and he also knows who Robotnik is and doesn’t like him, so he probably makes his OWN robots. Huh, so he could stand on his own.

3181: “ He’s no skin off my nose! “ Knuckles is a good audience surrogate to not care about Monk.

3182: It’s interesting that The Hunter forces Monk and Knuckles to wear collars that would electrocute them if they separated from each other. The Hunter wanted them to work together as he hunted them down. 6.

3183: The Best of Friends: Actions have consequences, as Valdez was captured and roboticized because he was left behind. It’s interesting that Valdez was reprogrammed by the unusually smart Robotnik to think King Acorn and the Brotherhood were evil and would abuse the Master Emerald. Eggman’s reprogrammed Valdez in this way just to mess with Espio and him. He’s messing with him by making Espio think that Valdez has free will and become evil from being abandoned and betrayed, which could’ve feasibly been the case, and this tragically leads to Espio killing Valdez to save the chameleon people next issue.

3184: The chameleon village is used as a concept in the sense that it’s threatened with roboticization by Valdez,

3185: and there’s a genuine source of tension because we don’t know enough about Espio to trust him not to do evil things in order to protect the chameleon village. 3.

3186: Issue 77 Rebel without a Pause by Bollers: We see that Antoine and Sonic’s parents successfully bring Jeremiah to Knothole.

3187: Dulcy defeated the Swatbots and scared one away.

3188: Sonic says, ” Way to go, Dulce, ”

3189: and she says ” thanks. “

3190: She also offers to give Sonic and Sally a ride to Knothole. Dulcy gave a ride to Knothole to not only Sonic, but also Sally and the other civilians, like Mina, letting them all escape Mobotropolis safely.

3191: And she gets thanked by multiple people for it.

3192: Bunnie, Antoine and Tails side with Sonic against the king for saving his parents.

3193: Of course, the king doesn’t punish or even comment on Antoine calling him, ” your Hiney. ”

3194: Bunnie calls Antoine handsome while

3195: keeping him from scaring Sonic by saying the king might kill him.

3196: Sally hugs King Acorn

3197: and asks him to go easy on Sonic.

3198: He says he’s glad she’s alright

3199: and calls her sweetheart.

3200: Dr. Quack asks Sally if she’s sure if she’s okay since she went through so much today when the city was taken over by Eggman.

3201: It was good that King Acorn shook Sonic’s hand respecting him for standing up to him. And it WAS foreshadowed in a little shallow way because Sally assumed that he wasn’t mad at him.

3202: King Acorn explains why he waited; it wouldn’t do for a general to publicly apologize to a disobedient soldier for standing up to him. 17.

3203: Issue 77 For Better or Worse by Penders: We see that Jules got shot down by a laser and THAT’S the injury requiring him to be roboticized. Good, we learn that.

3204: We learn what their mission WAS, they were trying to rescue the author of all those history stories.

3205: Bernie had a badass moment defending her husband, saying, “ Have a taste of your own medicine! “ and shot the enemy with an Overlander weapon in response. That’s surprising. 3.

3206: Sonic Super Special Issue 12 Turnabout Heroes by Penders and Bollers: It’s an interesting idea, Knuckles and Sonic switching bodies. They get inconvenienced accordingly, as Knuckles tries to glide in Sonic’s body but can’t and then realizes he can use his super speed instead.

3207: I like that Robotnik calls Knux and Sonic “ self-proclaimed “ heroes because it’s more realistic for him to think like that.

3208: Julie helps Knuckles up.

3209: Of course Knuckles takes Julie to safety.

3210: Sonic remarks his own body is more good-looking, characteristic of his ego,

3211: and Knux is the more serious one, saying that now’s not the right time to debate their looks as they’re under attack, rather than getting all mad and violent like dumb game Knuckles.

3212: It’s explained why Robotnik and Swatbots are here. Robotnik’s just an infiltrator duplicate of himself Dimitri made.

3213: There’s a Chaos Cannon that would turn organics into metal.

3214: It requires the Master Emerald.

3215: They do explain finally that the plot convenience monitors are from “ cloaked spy-drones. “

3216: The heroes were smart enough to think to create a fake Master Emerald to blow up the Cannon. Huh, this was done before SA2. 11.

3217: Sonic Super Special Issue 12 Zone Wars Giant Robotno by Dan Slott: An evil Sally in an airship with an evil-looking mask, Salector from the Sentai Zone.

3218: There can actually be more than one evil twin of a person. Makes sense.

3219: It’s Sally who gets the short end of the stick because it’s Sally who has the second evil twin.

3220: Amy and Knuckles are part of Salector’s enemies, the Freedom Fighters hating the other Sally.

3221: The other Sonic in the Chaos Ninja Team has white hair and goggles.

3222: Sonic’s the perfect audience surrogate complaining that it’s played itself out the other zones idea, saying, “ This whole zapping me to other zones and vice versa routine has really played itself out! “

3223: And he asks Zonic how he keeps track of it all and why, the other zones.

3224: Zonic is called out with relatable irritation, “ Don’t you EVER feel like you’re, totally using others to get what you want? “

3225: Sonic tells Zonic he’s sick of this zone-hopping, naturally since all of it is pointless.

3226: Sonic is convinced with his good nature to come to the other dimension to save a zone.

3227: Sonic makes it so that the super-heated tar on the street will be so melted that the giant Bunnie slips, creatively defeating her.

3228: It’s interesting any time we see a Bunnie and Sonic fight.

3229: The dimension has a human city of Kintopolis ruled by a good-natured version of Eggman,

3230: so, there’s a second good twin of Eggman’s, Dr J. It makes more sense for Eggman to have not turned out crazily evil.

3231: Sonic’s naturally incensed at seeing the other Eggman.

3232: Realistically, the other Eggman’s responsible for the Colossi incident as he’s an inventor, but it’s an accident of his, so he’s an accidental villain for once.

3233: Dr J shows that he was capable of fighting the Colossi in a way because he froze the Colossi Chuck.

3234: They need the split halves of a Chaos Emerald to power the giant robots.

3235: Sonic says, ” Don’t worry Kintobor, I’ve got a plan! ”

3236: So Sonic was smart enough to think of how to stop the Colossi.

3237: He wants to run in a giant hamster ball to power the giant mecha. I really loved that, that’s cool.

3238: There’s a good moment where Sonic tells Dr J that in his world, he’s the worst being he ever met, saying in a deadpan bitter tone, “ Betrayed the kingdom, roboticized my family AND friends, enslaved my planet. That kind of stuff. “ It’s in a deadpan tone rather than him furiously hating him.

3239: Then Dr J proves he’s a good person by looking sad and horrified with stress lines and apologizing, stuttering, “ I-I’m sorry. “

3240: And Sonic proves he’s good again by saying, “ Don’t be. He isn’t, “ reassuring Dr J.

3241: OH, Knothole’s Knothole ISLAND in this dimension. Cool.

3242: Sonic shows limits because fighting his best buds is too much for him to handle, showing humanity.

3243: It gets worse as seeing the alternate Jules being killed makes Sonic scream horrified, driven to the breaking point to show his realistic limits.

3244: A good Metal Sonic gets built as Kintopolis’ protector, he has green sunglasses eyes and a green Emerald in his chest. He almost looks like Sonic would if he was a robot.

3245: It’s cathartic that Sonic naturally WAS cross with Zonic for putting him through the turmoil of having to get his alternate father killed in a mecha. He tells Zonic that he couldn’t know how exactly he feels because he’s “ just a nameless faceless zone cop. “ It’s nice to see that resentment and passion in him humanizing him as a flawed character.

3246: We see Zonic show sympathetic compassion, looking sad as he takes off his helmet to reassure Sonic that he DOES know how bad he’d feel.

3247: Zonic apologizes, ” I really am sorry, dude but I do know how you feel! ” 31.

3248: Issue 78 Changes by Bollers: Sonic is knighted by king Acorn, which both shows that he truly respects him and will admit that,

3249: and shows respect for Sonic’s position as hero, which is good. Max says it’s with great pride and respect that he knights him for his acts of bravery. I wish he explained that the reason he’s doing this is that if Sonic hadn’t insisted on going to that satellite causing Sally to go with him then Sally wouldn’t have erased the location of Knothole from Mobotropolis using Snively’s access card because Snively wouldn’t have been gotten out of that satellite without the heroes’ help.

3250: Sonic gets a medal of honor.

3251: To boost morale, the king renames Knothole Valley the Kingdom of Knothole,

3252: and of course, returns the Freedom Fighters to service immediately.

3253: Eggman had to dump his old files because of Nicole’s virus.

3254: Sonic looks depressed at seeing Chuck’s empty room, being sympathetic.

3255: Sonic’s parents put one hand each on his shoulders

3256: and hug him to comfort him as he tries to smile,

3257: and Jules reassures him that Chuck will be back someday and they have to keep believing that. ” And until that day arrives, we’ll get through this difficult time together. “

3258: Sally has her arm around Elias so that her hand’s on his shoulder as they’re in front of their mother.

3259: When the king says his wife might never wake up Sally tells him not to say that and says they need to stay strong and hopeful.

3260: Just as Mina is so depressed that she’s wishing she was roboticized to be with her mom still, Rosie cheers her up by making her a babysitter to some kids.

3261: The kids were orphaned by Eggman, so they naturally are able to relate to Mina well, explaining why Rosie decided to bring them to Mina. She’s considerate.

3262: And Mina shows herself to be good with kids right away, happily telling them a story. Having her be a good babysitter shows another level of depth to her.

3263: She also has her arms around two of them on either side of her.

3264: Antoine talks to Bunnie depressed about how he still misses his father and wants him restored to normal, emphasizing that he still cares about that. And it’s a good girlfriend-boyfriend bonding moment because Antoine talks about his feelings with Bunnie.

3265: Bunnie hugs Sonic

3266: congratulating him on his knighthood, being a good friend.

3267: Antoine shows how far he’s come since the early days by saluting Sonic for being a knight now, with a sweet smile.

3268: I love that Antoine rejects calling Sonic, ” Sir Sonic, ” because he’s an audience surrogate there. The writer’s showing awareness that the audience would react this way to the title and explaining why it won’t be used again instead of taking it seriously, and having everyone call him that from now on.

3269: Sally was smart enough to anticipate this and warn her father about it ahead of time, while Tails is loyal enough to call him sir after all. I have to assume Sonic KNEW this would happen and was joking, because I don’t think he’d WANT to be called Sir Sonic, actually.

3270: It’s sweet of Tails to say, ” Yay! Sir Sonic! ”

3271: Sally shows her smartness by saying she warned her dad some people would refuse to call him Sir Sonic.

3272: Geoffrey admits this day would have to happen sooner or later

3273: and shakes Sonic’s hand.

3274: He tells Sonic he has his respect.

3275: It was Elias’ request that GEOFFREY and Sonic would work together more often.

3276: Elias thinks again about how he’d rather be out adventuring. This was in general a good story for downtime, full of good character moments for King Acorn, Mina, Rosie, and Geoffrey shaking Sonic’s hand. 30.

3277: Issue 78 What Really Happened by Penders: Jules is responsible by saying that maybe it would’ve been better if they hadn’t tried to save him, because Robotnik had the prime opportunity to sabotage the roboticizer to reprogram him into his slave for the first time.

3278: It’s explained how Robotnik was able to get away with the roboticizer, as they were so rushed and desperate to use it that they didn’t test it.

3279: King Acorn showed what a good person he was by sparing the lord of Overland in the fight, disappointing Robotnik. 3.

3280: Knuckles Comic Issue 32 To the Death by Penders: Hydrocity existed before Echidnapolis. It’s interesting that the city part isn’t just a name, I like it.

3281: The Hunter is logically able to follow Knuckles. He’s following the footsteps they left in the grass.

3282: Monk gets what he deserves for being a bully and even pushing Knux down a waterfall.

3283: The Hunter gets put into a bubble prison.

3284: Knuckles shows what a good person he is by being upset and vengeful for what happened to Monk, saying he deserves to be in the prison for what he did to him. 5.

3285: Worst of Enemies: Valdez could potentially press a button on his wrist at the first sign of Espio giving him trouble, so that’s some foresight on the villain’s part.

3286: Espio is smart by leading Valdez and his robots to a building so he can throw Valdez into the water and defeat him. 2.

3287: Issue 79 The Discovery by Bollers: I LOVE seeing Knothole as being a village of tree-houses with bridges connecting them, by the way. But that’s been the case in earlier issues like the one where Eggman recapped his life story.

3288: We see that some girls look in love with Elias. He’s popular with the ladies, and he doesn’t even notice because he’s the way he is as a person, which is all the more likable of him. I understand why they’d be like that.

3289: Bunnie says sorry to Amy.

3290: She puts her hand on her shoulder.

3291: Sally puts her hand on Amy’s shoulder too.

3292: The Ring of Acorns is the explanation for why Amy ages up to Sonic’s age and gets her Modern design and most importantly, gets the magical power to summon her hammer, which needed to be explained the most with the Ring of Acorns.

3293: It’s intelligent of King Max to decide not to tell Sally that her mother might have only a week to live because he thinks she’ll need her focus for the next adventure. 7.

3294: Issue 79 Chaos Factor by Penders: It’s actually explained where Eggman found Chaos. It was sealed in a black emerald underground in the cat country (located in a north-western peninsula). He smacks the black emerald with a hammer to release Chaos Zero. 1.

3295: Life Under-Ground: Bernadette stands up to Robotnik in the past for using Jules.

3296: It’s explained how Chuck knew about Sonic’s parents having free will for longer than just when Sonic saw them again first. It was because he brought their free will back with Rings. Before this, I was confused at Sonic asking Chuck “ How could you keep this from me? “ since he should’ve assumed Chuck was learning Jules and Bernie had free will. 2.

3297: Issue 80 If Wishes were Acorns by Bollers: It’s better characterization-wise, that the reason Amy says for transforming, was because she thought she’d be allowed on the Adventure adaptation if everyone thought she was old enough for it. She DOESN’T say that it was to be old enough for Sonic to date her.

3298: Sonic actually points out that just because Amy’s aged doesn’t mean she’s mature.

3299: Sonic puts his hand on her shoulder.

3300: Amy’s allowed on the Adventure adaptation because Nate says he wants to study the effects of the Ring of Acorns on her and isn’t sure if they’ll reverse before he could study her.

3301: Sally writes, ” I love U 4 ever ” on her mother’s cryogenic tube, and maybe she saw it later.

3302: After Jules asks for a hug goodbye, Sonic is depressed because the last time he said goodbye to his relatives, he returned home to see that his uncle was gone. And his parents were smart enough to notice that this was what he was worried about when saying goodbye to them.

3303: So Sonic’s dad strokes his chin

3304: and his mom holds his hand promising that they’ll be there next time,

3305: and the two of them hug him as Sonic returns the hug.

3306: Mina smiles appreciating the fact that Sonic was showing a soft side to his parents.

3307: The humans of the Hidden City are industrialized too,

3308: but they’re not evil like the Overlanders generally are, they’re different from the Overlanders, and that’s good because it means that they’re more innocent and are in a position to like the Mobians. The Overlanders have years of bad blood with the Mobians and the other humans don’t. The king comforts Elias that there will be other ways to restore his mother to health.

3309: The Hidden City, Station Square, was founded by people whose aircraft crashed into a mountain, and the survivors sought refuge in a fissure, an entrance tunnel that leads to the city.

3310: Station Square is hidden inside of a mountain, that’s original. 14.

3311: Land Fall by Penders: Knuckles lampshades that he thought the Brotherhood’s duty was to protect the floating island, since Eggman attacked Angel Island and shattered the Master Emerald.

3312: Knuckles says they could’ve avoided this problem with Eggman if the Brotherhood had only helped Sally when she came to them. 2.

3313: Swallowing Trouble: Froggy having thought bubbles gives him at least a chance at a personality. He’s annoyed that Big will sleep through anything, emphasizing the fact that he’s been friends with Big for years.

3314: To streamline it, they IMMEDIATELY meet Gamma.

3315: When Gamma kidnaps Froggy threatening Big, Big punches Gamma trying to be badass.

3316: I burst out laughing that when Big punched Gamma, he merely hurt his hand, Reality Ensues.

3317: Big says, “ No one takes my buddy if they know what’s good for them! “ I never saw this side to his character, the game Big the Cat never held anything against Gamma, while the comic Big vows revenge. 5.

3318: Sonic Super Special Issue 13 Sonic Adventure by Bollers and Penders: The mayor shakes Sonic’s hand for beating Chaos Zero, showing positive consequences to it rather than it being a pointless boss fight.

3319: When Bunnie lifts Antoine while extending her legs, the writer hasn’t forgotten he’s a coward because he’s scared of heights as he searches for Amy. And if that doesn’t count as a good thing then the real good thing is that there’s two pages at the start of the issue recapping what happened in the Adventure adaptation, because this issue was released before some of the issues that had those recap panels happen for the first time. So at the time these pages were mandatory to avoid being confused.

3320: The chao absorbed Chaos’ energies and were themselves transformed into seven Super Emeralds. So, there’s an actual origin for the Super Emeralds.

3321: There’s a bit more tension to Amy being kidnapped because Nate and Sally worry that Eggman could drain her of her Ring of Acorns energy and use that against the heroes.

3322: Sonic and Tails work together with Tails spinning his tails to send sand at Chaos, and Sonic uses intense friction from super speed heating the sand, which creates a glass prison bubble for Chaos. I really like that, just the idea that the two of them CAN do that.

3323: It makes more sense for Eggman to hide the Egg Carrier under a river than in the Mystic Ruins Jungle where anyone in the jungle could find it.

3324: It’s streamlined, as they skip the whole “ Sonic and Tails go to sky twice and Tails gets separated from Sonic, “ as immediately we cut to the Cyclone flying up to the Egg Carrier.

3325: It was more tense that the Cyclone had to dodge missiles as it was flying up to the Egg Carrier.

3326: The Egg Carrier can transform into a drill to drill through the mountain into the Hidden City.

3327: There’s more tension because there’s a Super Emerald in the biplane and Knuckles is worried that the heroes are making a special delivery to Eggman and Chaos without even knowing it.

3328: Tails says, ” Way to go, ” to Sonic.

3330: Sonic calls him bud.

3331: Sonic tells Tails to not worry.

3332: The way Sonic wins in the fight with Gamma is creative. When his laser breaks glass, Sonic picks up a metal thing and has it reflect the laser at Gamma.

3333: Big reunites with Froggy without us having to see him fish him up a bunch of times, streamlining it again.

3334: It’s a brilliant creative solution to use Super Emeralds instead of Chaos Emeralds because in Archie at this point, the Chaos Emeralds all look green.

3335: Sonic is surprised and confused in his thoughts at Big the Cat, thinking, “ what the heck is that cat doing here? “ on the Egg Carrier.

3336: Knuckles punches the ice he’s trapped in to escape it unlike in the game where it broke for no reason.

3337: Eggman lampshades how ridiculous it is that Chaos being defeated randomly explodes his Egg Carrier.

3338: Instead of Sonic jumping to his death from the Egg Carrier, Sonic grabs Knuckles as he’s gliding down from it.

3339: We see the blue form of Chaos stuck to the bottom of the Eggmobile, explaining how Chaos was brought with Eggman to where it was in The Last Story.

3340: Knuckles doesn’t act like a gullible moron to fight Sonic because of Eggman.

3341: To make events easier to follow, the events in Sonic Adventure were shown in chronological order. 23.

3342: Issue 81 City of Dreams by Bollers: Station Square has an artificial atmosphere and sky.

3343: Naturally, the policemen distrust the heroes for not being humans, as they’ve never seen Mobians before.

3344: It’s a really good thing Nate was brought along, as he’s able to stand up for the heroes as a friend of theirs to the police.

3345: I laughed at Sally being derailed so easily, as when she’s asked since how long she’s been talking, she just says, “ Ever since I was eight months old, but more importantly, “ That was funny, it humanizes her.

3346: The policeman shows consideration for the Mobians by saying they should rest up for the evening. It’s so sweet that they change their minds about going after them as enemies to being nice to them so quickly thanks to Nate.

3347: Sonic says thanks to the man at the hotel desk.

3348: It’s nice that when Sonic orders some chili dogs, he says he could really get used to this place.

3349: The mayor tells the heroes they can all relax and get themselves accustomed to the city.

3350: The humans are happy and smiling at Tails flying the plane, which is sweet.

3351: I giggled at how serious the mayor’s face as when he said the city had no reason to establish outside relations…

3352: “ No reason… until now, “ and he puts his hand out to shake Sally’s hand, which she does. That was heartwarming! This was another story of harmless lighthearted downtime. 11.

3353: Issue 81 All you Need is a Bit of Chaos by Penders: Chaos is given Master Emerald shards instead of emeralds, which is unique. 1.

3354: Issue 81 A Rose Plucked by Bollers: Amy notices that the hammer just appears in her hand, saying, “ What the- “ showing self-awareness of the comic of Hammerspace by making it a canon magical ability of hers from the Ring of Acorns.

3355: Amy tells the Flicky not to worry.

3356: She smashes the robot chasing her right away instead of just cowardly running from it despite having a hammer. Clearly it’s better to not be too faithful to the games.

3357: She hugs the bird.

3358: It’s streamlined because there’s no padding where Sonic and Amy go to Twinkle Park. Amy’s just kidnapped immediately. 4.

3359: Issue 82 Night of Chaos by Bollers: Sonic thinks about how much he enjoys Station Square because he feels like one of his favorite superheroes growing up, feeling the rush of adventure as he runs and jumps around the buildings.

3360: This comic has the guts to SHOW the bullets in Chaos Zero. 2.

3361: Door to the Past: Tikal has a beautiful original design, with her red hair with bangs.

3362: It’s explained that the Knuckles Clan came from Albion. Of course. They’re a colony.

3363: I really like that they had the Knuckles Clan fight a specific group of people, the cat people, actually explaining who the Knuckles Clan was fighting with for territory.

3364: Tikal is shown concern by her father, who tells her to stay home to protect herself.

3365: We see a sympathetic excuse for the echidnas trying to take the Emeralds from the chao, because they needed them to win the war with the evil Felidae.

3366: It’s explained that Tikal had been the one to seal Chaos in the Black Emerald. It’s better to have him sealed in something separate from the Master Emerald because if it was sealed in the Master Emerald, well the Master Emerald was made recently from 11 different Chaos Emeralds, so how would that work, would Chaos have been sealed in every single one of the unrelated emeralds?

3367: Eggman put Froggy on a machine to absorb his chaos energy into Chaos, explaining what exactly he did with Froggy.

3368: The Felidae are DEFINITELY evil, they even eat their young, so they do a good job establishing that they’re the bad guys of the war. They went too far in that direction, but still.

3369: Julie reacts to that revelation by the cat queen relatably, asking if she’s joking,

3370: And Locke shows up saying that if that isn’t a joke, he’ll start another war with the Felidae as a threat. So not only is Julie disgusted, but Locke shows up, so there’s consequences. 10.

3371: Double-Crossed Circuits: Huh, Gamma lifts the bars of Amy’s cage to destroy them detaching them, rather than pulling the lever like he did in SA1. 1.

3372: Issue 83 Menace to Society by Bollers: I like that Knuckles actually considers finishing Eggman off. H’s more of an anti-hero than Sonic, having a temper.

3373: Tails says, ” Good one Sonic! “

3374: This is better than the game, as here, Sonic apologizes to Tails for losing the plane on him.

3375: Nate had the foresight to install a tracer on the plane, explaining how they tracked it down so quickly.

3376: Sonic thanks Nate.

3377: It makes sense that Big is in the cat country because he’s a cat.

3378: Chaos creates a water twister forcing the heroes to hold onto trees and stuff for dear life, stealing the Super Emeralds in a much more believable and epic way.

3379: It’s explained that the Super Emeralds are what maintains Station Square’s artificial atmosphere.

3380: People get to hold Bunnie’s extended legs while she’s walking over the flooded city. Antoine pulls someone up to a higher area, and so does Amy using her hammer. Nate’s shown running from street-destroying flood waters while carrying a baby with someone having her arms around his neck,

3381: Sonic sees Perfect Chaos fire a laser at Eggman’s Egg Carrier and has a relatable response unlike in the game, by saying that was cool. In the game he somehow never reacted to it.

3382: Tikal, using a forgotten echidna ritual, magically weakens Chaos to suck the emeralds right out of it, being useful.

3383: Super Sonic whips up a whirlpool to annoy Chaos. 12.

3384: Issue 84 Perfect Chaos by Penders: Locke is cool and useful because he defeats Razorklaw in a fight effortlessly, spiting the cat queen.

3385: There’s more tension because Super Sonic has a bad headache because naturally, he’s fighting with another super-formed being.

3386: Antoine gets injured from something falling on him, which actually sticks for multiple issues.

3387: Antoine was considerate telling Bunnie to leave him for her own safety when his leg was hurt.

3388: Knuckles carries Antoine to Sally.

3389: Sally asks if Antoine’s alright showing him compassion.

3390: Bunnie carries Antoine.

3391: Knuckles has hydrophobia to push through which makes it more impressive that he swims through the water.

3392: Sally hands Super Sonic a conductive copper rod for beating Chaos.

3393: Super Sonic tells Sally to stay out of harm’s way

3394: as Tails flies Sally away.

3395: Knuckles shows insecurity over whether he can lift something heavy up to save the day.

3396: Sonic helps pull Knuckles out of the water.

3397: Knuckles takes advantage of the guiding star gem again to get back to Angel Island. 14.

3398: Bridge over Troubled Waters: Julie hugs Knuckles, thankful that he’s alive and not destroyed with the Chaos Chamber.

3399: Knuckles’ name is explained, as not only is it from the obvious knuckles, but it’s because he was named after the Knuckles Clan. 2.

3400: Issue 85 The Big Payback by Bollers: Station Square throws a celebration for the heroes before they leave, with a banner saying goodbye to them with balloons and the president talking to an audience about them.

3401: The cool-looking black-colored Sonic robot in that capsule from SA1 is actually used to attack Station Square.

3402: The Silver Sonic Mk II has charming dialogue because he talks like Sonic.

3403: When Sonic grabs his leg, he says endearingly, “ Mind if I tag along? “ as he flies.

3404: Tails tells Sonic not to worry

3405: as he grabs him in mid-air.

3406: Tails gets smacked on the head by Silver Sonic and he woozily brings Sonic to the ground slowly, being dazed as an actual consequence.

3407: Sonic looks like he’s boiling with rage at his lil’ bro being hurt and takes Silver Sonic’s head off with a spindash.

3408: Sonic helps Tails stand up.

3409: He asks Tails if he’s alright as he’s dazed,

3410: and they have the guts to show a bump on Tails’ head, which is even colored the same color as his fur.

3411: Sonic has his hand on his shoulder.

3412: Eggman had the foresight to install a tracking device on Silver Sonic so he’ll know where Station Square is.

3413: The president of Station Square shakes Sonic’s hand

3414: and thanks him.

3415: Tails has a bandage on his head in at least an attempt to show consequences. I’m impressed that they had this happen.

3416: Sonic gives Big a thumbs-up

3417: and says, ” Best of luck, dude! “

3418: Bunnie pulls a lever to land the Freedom Fighter Special when it has trouble, ensuring the heroes survive as it merely has a rough landing in the woods.

3419: ” Is everyone alright? We’re lucky no one was injured! “

3420: Sally has the common sense to just send Sonic and Tails to search an area, for signs of life, since they’re both fast. You would think this would be such common sense that it wouldn’t be worth commenting on, like the fact that Sally asked what would stop Eggman from taking over Station Square, but in the reboot Sally expects Sonic to walk all over a beach with Rotor and Amy, when Sonic could’ve started and stopped looking there for a Gaia Temple in just seconds.

3421: It’s revealed that Nate reprogrammed that cool robot Sonic to defend the city from Eggman, which is common sense, and it’s better sense than IDW Sonic and Tails had because they either never considered reprogramming Metal Sonic to be a heroic city defender, or somehow Sonic was morally opposed to the idea, but here all of the heroes had the brain cells to realize that the benefit of having a robot protect a city is worth changing an evil robot’s personality.

3422: We didn’t see any of the characters debate Nate on whether his plan was right, we don’t see Sonic lecture that it’d be more fair to give Silver Sonic a chance to choose good and waste his time asking Silver Sonic to defend the city from Eggman. I shouldn’t have to compliment that but IDW Sonic made me by having Sonic think he could get Metal Sonic to shake his hand just from telling him that Eggman’s retired.

3423: We get to see Silver Sonic 2 fly after Eggman. 24.

3424: Issue 86 Heart of the Hedgehog Part 1 Evil’s Return by Danny Fingeroth: Sonic calls Tails his buddy.

3425: He catches him.

3426: He reassures Tails that this is why they have training sessions so when a real crisis comes along he’ll be ready.

3427: Sonic flatters Tails that he never let him down before and says he handled himself like a pro in Station Square.

3428: Sonic tells Tails that if he could get deroboticized, then Tails could learn some new flight maneuvers.

3429: He has his hand on Tails’ shoulder.

3430: He tells Tails he didn’t mean to make him feel bad that his own complaint is petty compared to his hardships.

3431: He calls Tails bud.

3432: Sonic is competent enough to know how to get the kindling going for a bonfire.

3433: Metal Sonic got his Sonic speech back, which is part of the whole charm of this arc. He acts like how Sonic acts around his enemies, being informal and messing with him.

3434: Sonic’s mad at how Tails was kidnapped and says, “ Tell me where you hid him! Tell me! TELL ME! “ protective of him.

3435: Charmingly, Metal Sonic comes back to the trapped Sonic five minutes later bringing him a flower from Mt Mobius as a joke, saying the flowers are beautiful this time of year. 12.

3436: Issue 86 Against the Haunted Past by Frank Strom: Snively says, “ I’m embarrassed to call you my uncle! “ being an audience surrogate because he was just as annoyed by Robotnik sucking up to King Acorn.

3437: We see how Khan was cyborgized, as Robotnik had done that to him.

3438: Khan lampshades how delusional the village is to think that their neutrality in the Great War would be respected. 3.

3439: Issue 87 Heart of the Hedgehog Part 2 Lava Story by Danny: Metal shows annoyance that Sonic ran off in frustration when he was trying to make a speech,

3440: and brags to Sonic that he can make a better chili dog.

3441: Metal’s smart again by tripping Sonic. He also had him run into a net as well. So, he was taking advantage of how Sonic started running and was already going too fast to stop or avoid the traps.

3442: Sonic lampshades that this is Metal’s idea of letting him save Tails.

3443: Metal admits that Sonic’s clever.

3444: Sonic calls Tails his buddy.

3445: Tails says he’s got circulation in his wrists again, which is an impressive amount of Reality Ensues.

3446: Sonic relates to Metal about being a robot by referencing his Mecha Sonic time.

3447: Sonic calls Tails his buddy.

3448: Tails’ loyalty to Sonic tells Metal that Sonic was right, and gets him to save them from the volcano. Maybe he hoped he’d get a friend as close as Tails if he acted like that. Since Sonic and Tails are actively reasoning with Shard, his turn to being good is done much more gracefully than in the OVA.

3449: Tails’ tails were injured, which was gutsy of the comic and had actions have consequences AND explained why he couldn’t fly Sonic away to save him from the volcano, requiring Shard to save them.

3450: It was sweet of Tails to want Sonic to save Metal from the volcano.

3451: It was very sweet that Sonic was talking about Tails giving Shard a soul, understanding that he had turned good.

3452: Tails has his hand on Sonic’s shoulder.

3453: Sonic has his hand on Tails’ shoulder. 15.

3454: Issue 87 Against the Haunted Past by Frank Strom: Khan breaks free rather than being brainwashed by Eggman. Though that is a missed opportunity for a story, it’s good news for Khan. 1.

3455: Sonic Super Special Issue 14 Law of the Land by Evan Skolnick: Sonic says he’s bored because things have been too quiet. I like that he has that kind of moment, as he contrasts Sally who says, “ you say that like it’s a bad thing! “

3456: Huh, the cops of Litigopolis are echidnas, despite it not being Echidnapolis, that’s pretty fascinating.

3457: Litigopolis in general. It’s a city where people became terrified of lawsuits because it’s completely plagued with litigious people, and King Acorn had made the laws really strict to crack down.

3458: It’s fascinating that this alternate King Acorn had increasingly harsh punishments, being kind of evil?

3459: The Robotnik in Litigopolis is an AI of the law who decides punishments. Cool!

3460: Sally McAcorn, not only is THIS Sally not a princess,

3461: but she’s also a defense lawyer for Sonic.

3462: We skip the tedious nonsense of Sonic’s trial.

3463: Yay, Scourge was involved in a plot again! He’s the one who made the graffiti and framed Sonic in his zone-hopping.

3464: Maybe the reason Sonic was arrested for “ permanent emotional scarring “ for GRAFFITI was because the person who sued thought that the message was written in his blood. Since it was in red, after all.

3465: It speaks insight into Scourge’s character that the worst thing he did was graffiti. If he was really so evil, he would’ve killed people, or at least mugged people, especially since he had a zone-link generator. Sonic had been accused of severe emotional scarring, but Scourge hadn’t done that at all, because why would he? That’s not who he is, it’s fascinating of an evil twin.

3466: Sonic tells McAcorn not to worry.

3467: I love, love, absolutely LOVE how Sonic makes the Robotnik AI blow up. He commits a huge number of misdemeanors with his super speed, which is really charming and interesting and hilarious to see of Sonic the heroic hedgehog doing so gleefully, it really shows that yeah, Sonic could be a criminal too and enjoy it, if only for a heroic reason to make a villain explode.

3468: What he actually does is funny as well. He changes the graffiti to say that the REAL Sonic was here, a logical first step,

3469: I laughed at seeing Sonic jay-walking a huge amount of times with his super speed,

3470: and invades someone’s personal space by standing close to them and making silly faces and gestures.

3471: All of Sonic’s crimes are minor, so he’s still in-character.

3472: It’s funny that “ Robotnik “ blew up in anger from all the different crimes he was overloaded with recording.

3473: Then when an echidna cop named Knuckles obliviously STILL tries to arrest Sonic, Sally McAcorn actually attacks him to stop him, being competent,

3474: which Sonic respects enough to say, ” Wow, thanks! ” with his hands clasped together and his eyes closed.

3475: Sonic is complaining as she flirts that he finally got the girl just as Zonic is sending him back home. 21.

3476: Sonic Super Special Issue 14 Best of Times Worst of Times by Penders: We see Lara getting married.

3477: Knuckles tells his mom and Wyn, ” I want to wish you guys the best. ”

3478: He shakes his hand.

3479: Wyn says that coming from him that means a lot to him.

3480: Lara-Le wants Knuckles to visit her for dinner once a week.

3481: Knuckles kisses her cheek.

3482: Vector is briefly teased by his friends that he doesn’t have a romantic bone in his body,

3483: And it’s implied by his friends that Vector’s just jealous of Julie’s love.

3484: I like the fortune-teller design of Komi-Ko, Remington’s girlfriend.

3485: Knuckles tells Remington it’s great to see him.

3486: The Brotherhood actually does something, something actiony, as they infiltrate a Dark Legion base on Angel Island. They warp to the armory where the echidnas stored their old technology, and fight some goons.

3487: Wyn and Lara are safe because they left the island to honeymoon in Albion. Good.

3488: Lara says this place is beautiful.

3489: It’s interesting that the Legion tries to give the islanders what they deserve, by sending them into the Twilight Cage. It makes the Legion a big threat as they’re able to accomplish that as a way to bargain with Knuckles. And it’s a much-needed intriguing change to the status quo on Knuckles’ side of things,

3490: as he gets thrown off the island while his people are sent away TEMPORARILY.

3491: Julie heartwarmingly gets to hug her adoptive mother,

3492: who was worried about her.

3493: We see Lara-Le put her hand on the back of Wyn’s head

3494: and kiss him.

3495: Dimitri points out that it was indeed compassionate of him to simply send the people to the Twilight Cage rather than killing them all.

3496: What was really compassionate was that everyone sent to the Twilight Zone was frozen in time the whole time so they wouldn’t suffer. This makes him nicer than Steppenwolf because he didn’t have that be the case and as a result the Legion was still able to war with the city for centuries. Dimitri being nicer than Steppenwolf foreshadows his Heel Face Turn. 21.

3497: Sonic Super Special Issue 15 Naugus Games by Penders: Sonic shows that he does mourn for Nate’s old friend the snowbot guy, going through a lot of effort just to revisit his old home. Somehow.

3498: When Ixis gets annoyed by Sonic insulting him, Sonic actually says, “ The dumb jokes get to him alright. “ This shows self-awareness on Sonic’s part, as he knows his snarking at villains is just to relieve stress on his part and he thinks of them as dumb jokes rather than outright thinking they’re hilarious comedy gold. That is better writing for Sonic than in Colors where he’s a bad stand-up comedian.

3499: “ What are you trying to do, beat me with your extravagant vocabulary? I’ve been around Rotor, who makes you sound like a third grader. “ I like those lines from Sonic. And Ixis is like, “ Still your tongue! “ 3. 0 for the Gallagher story next.

3500: Issue 88 Family Matters by Bollers: Amy’s got charm when she’s being especially optimistic, and here she says, ” Feel that cool breeze! Smell the flowers! Listen to the running brook! “

3501: Sally naturally snaps at King Acorn lashing out from the stress of learning that her mother was in intensive surgery because of all of the other things he kept from her until the last second when she used to know him as just a nice dad.

3502: King Acorn’s wearing knight’s armor,

3503: and he intends to storm Eggman’s fortress to rescue his son Elias. That’s respectable, if dumb of him.

3504: Elias usefully went to Robotropolis to get the cure for his mom. I commend him.

3505: Bunnie puts her hand on Antoine’s shoulders and tries to reassure him.

3506: Sonic’s parents hug him while smiling,

3507: with Sonic smiling as Jules says, ” It’s good to have you back, son, ”

3508: and Sonic says it’s good to be back,

3509: and hopes they didn’t miss him too much, with his mom saying the past week felt like six months.

3510: Amy is useful because she tells Sonic for Sally that she wants him at her side when her mother’s gonna go into surgery.

3511: Sally is comforted by Sonic briefly with a sideways hug as she’s worried about her mom.

3512: Sonic says, ” I’m sorry this is happening Sal. “

3513: Of course, Sonic defeats robots for the king, but what’s more impressive is Tails getting to throw Bomb at a wall while flying to get a hole in the wall for them to progress. Sonic beating Swatbots is a guarantee, but it was neat that they thought to bring Bomb along on the mission.

3514: It turns out Geoffrey has fire arrows that can be effectively used against robots.

3515: Sally’s the audience surrogate only sane man by lampshading how dangerous it is of Antoine to want to go after his dad when he’s injured.

3516: Amy insists on going with Antoine and Bunnie to Mercia because she wants to prove herself as useful. She also has a good reason to think she can be helpful, as a guide in Mercia because she was born there.

3517: Amy, Bunnie and Antoine hug.

3518: Sally told them, ” good luck ”

3519: after letting them go to Mercia and therefore guaranteeing that Antoine would get reunited with his father earlier.

3520: Sally breaks down crying in Rosie’s arms, showing consequences and someone being properly affected by bad things happening around them as she’s worried about the possibility of losing her entire family in one day; her brother’s been captured by Eggman, her father’s going on a foolhardy mission to save him and her mom’s in intensive surgery, and not only that but she also sent away an injured Antoine and Bunnie and Amy on a dangerous mission, so they could die, too.

3521: It reminds us what a good mother figure Rosie is that she hugs her like that, being her confidant as she can let out the emotions that she’s been bottling up to her. This is the start of the gradual slip into a breakdown for Sally from all the stressful things she’s had to deal with, and it’s fascinating and interesting to see her try to deal with this stress in various ways like a realistic person would, totally averting Angst, What Angst?

3522: Geoffrey’s arrow pins Chuck’s glove so that he can’t roboticize Elias.

3523: The king gets to slice a robot in half.

3524: The Sword of Acorns returns Chuck’s free will. It sorta makes sense because it also broke Ixis’ brainwashing spell on the soldiers, so perhaps Eggman’s mass reprogramming of the Robians to lose their free will and just do what he wants is also a spell, functionally, if he used a Chaos Emerald to cast it.:

3525: Sonic’s naturally enraged at how just after Chuck and Muttski got their free will back, a wall closed in front of them separating him from them, so he shows passionate emotion by slamming the wall with his fists violently, shouting, “ Uncle Chuck! Muttski! NOO! They were back! They were back! “

3526: and then feeling sad saying, “ They were back… “ realizing there was nothing he could do. Moments like this humanize Sonic. 27.

3527: Issue 88 Picking up the Pieces: by Penders: Athair gets to be helpful as a ghost. He has access to more knowledge by being in touch with chaos energy, as he’s able to tell Knuckles that to get to Angel Island, he has to get to Albion.

3528: Knuckles uses the guiding star gem as a logical way to get from adrift in the ocean to Mercia. This has him have a ditzy moment since he had forgotten he had that, just like I had.

3529: Mercia is an island. Makes sense, it’s Great Britain.

3530: Robin kisses his wife on the cheek reassuring her as she holds her baby.

3531: Amy hugs her cousin Robin saying that she missed him.

3532: I love that Antoine responds to Robin’s accusation with, “ Where do you get off treating us as if we were common criminals? “ And Bunnie looks angry too, right at his side.

3533: Knuckles relates to Antoine about wanting to reunite with his father. 7.

3534: Issue 89 Thicker than Water by Bollers: Geoffrey stands up for Sonic that he had no choice but to leave the king’s side.

3535: Rosie confirms that Sally’s outburst was caused by the intense pressure she’s under.

3536: Rosie thanks Mina for babysitting.

3537: Elias puts his hand on Sally’s shoulder.

3538: Elias comforts her that things are tough when they spin out of control. He’s a good brother.

3539: Sally goes into a fetal position with her eyes staring off into space as she says that things have been spinning out of control for some time now.

3540: “ I used to know what was going on when the chain of command ended with me, but ever since his return, Dad’s kept things from me… “ Why WOULDN’T she be upset about her entire usefulness, her leadership, being usurped?

3541: Well-written comedy happens as Elias accidentally calls the Hidden City, the Hidden City of the Old Ones, and Sally awkwardly corrects him, “ Ancients. “ It’s relatable humor.

3542: When Sally’s told that Sonic had saved Elias and that’s why the king was hurt, she says that “ oh Sonic, I could HUG you! “ realizing she was wrong to snap at him.

3543: Sonic’s mom hugs him as of course he has an arm around her to return the hug.

3544: Jules pets his head.

3545: He tells him not to worry, and says that his parents know he tried his best but can’t be in two places at once.

3546: Bernie says, ” Why don’t I fix you some breakfast? ” and makes him chili dogs he still manages to enjoy.

3547: He says they’re great, after being reminded of eating them at Chuck’s outdoor restaurant.

3548: We see the sweet sight of King and Queen Acorn holding hands in hospital beds together as the king smiles.

3549: The queen wakes up the issue after she got surgery, to the joy of everyone else.

3550: Elias and Sally hold hands. 17.

3551: Issue 89 A Matter of Self Interest by Penders: Ooh, the Albion government has some female echidnas, including one with long hair and bangs and another with short orange hair and a jewel in her forehead. I like that the female echidnas give it a different feel from the Brotherhood, and plus,

3552: we see that the Albion echidnas can have different colors than red, being more distinct from him.

3553: Gala-Na tells Knuckles it’s good to see him again.

3554: The Albion government is nice enough to guide not just Knux, but also Bunnie and Antoine to Albion itself, despite being suspicious of the two.

3555: Knuckles tells off the Albion government guy Yanar because they knew what happened to the people of the Floating Island, “ and none of you are doing anything about it?! “ He had my full support there. 5.

3556: Issue 90 Sword of Omens by Bollers: Sonic lampshades the risk Mina’s taking by stupidly, suicidally going to a place with robots.

3557: King Max says, ” Long live Queen Alicia! ”

3558: A brief happy moment where the queen is already strong enough to walk. That stuff the surgeon injected with her sure did heal her.

3559: Dr. Quack apologizes.

3560: It makes sense that the Combot would have a magnet in it since Eggman wants the Sword of Acorns, so they would have the Sword get taken away from Sonic.

3561: Sonic kicking a Combot apart is slightly more creative than him spindashing.

3562: Mina can run at super speed now, cool!

3563: Mina saves Sonic’s life by carrying him away from Combots.

3564: Sally’s mom puts her hand on her face to reassure her.

3565: She calls her sweetheart.

3566: She says, ” Don’t look so sad sweetheart, this is only temporary. Your father will be better in no time. ”

3567: Sonic puts his hand on Mina’s shoulder,

3568: and reassures her about losing the Sword by saying he saved both of their lives.

3569: It was Genre Savvy of Eggman to trap Sonic in a force field when meteorites are falling towards him. This is the first time Robo-Robotnik’s been actually brilliant like his predecessor since he replaced him. BEFORE all he did was the stereotypical thing of taking over a city and trapping the heroes in a force field like Boom Eggman. 14.

3570: Issue 90 Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Penders: Rob shoots an arrow so that Amy can hold him while he’s using his bow to slide down a rope, which Bunnie’s holding while Antoine holds her.

3571: Amy says, ” Why walk when you can get there in style! “

3572: Knuckles says, “ That’s not a way a dad should treat his son! “ putting a force field around Antoine’s father after he slapped Antoine in his robotic state.

3573: Rotor made an electronic neutralizer, which could place a Robian in stasis to be transported safely. That’s brilliant! WHY, oh, WHY didn’t he make hundreds of those? Idiot!

3574: Knuckles saves Antoine’s father, and gets Antoine and Bunnie with him away from the Albion government. Yay, screw those idiots! 5.

3575: Issue 91 Crash by Bollers: Rotor gets home.

3576: Sonic spindashes through the ground to save himself and immediately reveals to Mina that he’s alive, so good, I don’t have to deal with characters thinking he’s dead for a while and wasting my time. Yet.

3577: Sonic says it’s cool that Rotor’s back.

3578: Mina’s naturally complaining that she was worried about Sonic for nothing. She HAD lost her loved one earlier.

3579: Instead of us forever wondering why Eggman doesn’t simply kill Chuck with the sword if he’s so evil and wants to spite Sonic, it’s explained ; Eggman tries to but says that it’s not satisfying if Sonic isn’t there to see it. And when he walks away leaving it there, he loses it and never gets it back.

3580: Dr. Quack suggests to Sally showing the queen a place other than this room.

3581: Uma uses a spider web to

3582: take the Sword of Acorns from Eggman’s base, getting it out of the evil doctor’s hands.

3583: Chuck explains why he didn’t stop Uma from stealing the Sword of Acorns when he was alone with Muttski. Since Eggman didn’t want the Sword anyways, he would’ve realized he still had free will from deciding on his own to attack Uma and cause a commotion.

3584: Sally’s mom hugs her.

3585: Nate says that he and Alicia can reminisce later because he thinks her and Sally have catching up to do.

3586: Alicia asks Sally if something is troubling her.

3587: Chuck thinks that someone’s gotta keep an eye on Eggman and plans to get in touch with Sonic, reassuring Sonic in his thoughts as he runs away. 13.

3588: Issue 91 Hired Guns by Penders: I could easily imagine Fang being the type to impress a woman. So I like that he spends time bragging about when he got one over the fastest person he ever saw without being specific about his name.

3589: Fang and Nicolette have a natural-feeling sister/brother relationship. First off, Fang doesn’t attack her for getting a girl he was impressing to slap him and walk away as he comically looks unhappy holding his cheek.

3590: And then Fang compliments Nicolette that she’s been holding out on him since she has an airship.

3591: Her airship has an explained origin, as she got it from an old boyfriend while the previous one was from a shop. It’s good to explain that because I don’t think real bounty hunters would have pricey aircraft.

3592: Knuckles looks red as normal but with a green aura with green circles in it, and he’s meditating and levitating. That’s how he should’ve looked the whole time he was omnipotent.

3593: Fang’s sister brags that the Albionians came to HER FIRST.

3594: Fang says to the Albion council, ” Nice set-up you got here! ”

3595: Gala-Na tells someone she likes his attitude when he says that someone who knows to get straight to business is spades with him. 8.

3596: Issue 92 The Wrath of Khan by Bollers: The Overlanders arrive in spaceships, but they’re humans, which is very refreshing.

3597: I like how sad Sonic looks with puppy dog eyes at Hope being afraid of him, he’s really a good person.

3598: Agnes is thankful for Sonic carrying her away from a robot to save her, thanking him when everyone else is afraid of him.

3599: Tails says sorry.

3600: He and Rotor hi-five.

3601: Alicia tells Sally, ” You’re a beautiful young lady now, ” and

3602: calls her sweetheart.

3603: It’s pointed out by Sally’s mom that yeah, she missed Sally’s whole childhood, so Sally tells her about it. 8.

3604: Issue 93 Crime ‘N Punishment by Bollers: When Sonic spindashes through the net, he’s the perfect audience surrogate saying, “ Haven’t we been through this already St John? “ insulting Geoffrey for trying to arrest him a second time.

3605: Uma uses spider web power to get the Sword of Acorns from Kodos sneakily from above.

3606: Elias lets Sonic go for a little while telling Geoffrey, “ Let him go. “ He doesn’t imprison him even under Geoffrey’s influence because he knows Sonic’s a hero, proving that he’s better than Sally was in Issue 40 when she put him in jail.

3607: Mina and Sonic crash into each other looking dizzy and then giggle, with Sonic looking cute. They have such good chemistry!

3608: Sally says, “ What should I-I mean, what will you do, Elias? “

3609: Geoffrey admits that Sally should be the leader instead of Elias, respecting Sally. 6.

3610: Issue 93 Bagging the Big One by Penders: At least Charmy HAS a girlfriend. She was first mentioned in the Knuckles Comic but this is the first time he says he’s dating her. 1.

3611: Issue 94 New Order by Bollers: Sonic lampshades, “ Since when do Freedom Fighters need to know algebra, anyways?

3612: Huh, the humans are living normally in Robotropolis with informal wear. Creative.

3613: We see there’s an early curfew for the humans, seeing a little indication of how he’d run an actual city with people in it.

3614: When Colin stares into space talking about how the Overlanders left the planet after losing the Great War, there’s a hilarious parody moment where Eggman says, “ Uh, HELLO? I’m over here! “ I actually chuckled at that lampshading. That’s a meta joke that works.

3615: Tails and Sonic have a genuine brotherly moment as Tails asks Sonic if he’s gonna marry Sally one day,

3616: Jules asks Sonic and Tails after a quake, ” You guys alright? “

3617: Sonic spindashes a falling tree to save civilians under it.

3618: Colin is the father of Snively who never appreciated his intellect. This at least tries to explain why Snively turned out so bitter and evil. Maybe he was surrounded by those types.

3619: I always liked Hope, the sweet little girl, but now she’s getting a more major role. She finally started sneaking around in the city six weeks later. Since she thinks it’s creepy to live alone in a robot city, she wants to learn about what’s really up.

3620: Sonic is nice enough to tell Bunnie he loves her new hairdo.

3621: She thanks him.

3622: I actually chuckled at how, when Tails saw Athair appear to him in school, he casually asked after exclaiming Athair, “ Have you seen my bookbag? “ That was silly.

3623: Makes sense for Nate to become a physics teacher. He was Chuck and Jules’ teacher in college. It’s good luck for Sonic that he got to have him as a teacher. 13.

3624: Issue 94 The Best Laid Plans by Penders: At least Saffron complaining about being told to go for the weaker target showed a personality to her, as she’s kind of a tough girl who wants the action.

3625: Plus, Charmy and Saffron get to do something actiony for once, saving Knuckles from losing his powers. Though the Chaos Syphon should’ve been what took away all his powers rather than the goddess Aurora being spiteful to him for saving the world. 2.

3626: Issue 95 Enemy Mine by Bollers: Colin hugs Snively immediately, with the two looking very happy to see each other again.

3627: Colin basically says, “ Son, what happened to your hair?! “ to Snively. That’s amusing.

3628: I laughed at Kodos screaming in melodramatic rage at losing the Sword scaring the Overlanders as he runs all over the place.

3629: When Sonic comes home, his mom asks him, ” Hey there, son, how was school? “

3630: Sonic finally decides to try to rescue the Overlanders from Robotropolis.

3631: Bunnie proves her loyalty to Sonic by deciding, ALONE at that, to go with Sonic to Robotropolis instead of telling anybody he illegally wants to leave Knothole. She carries Sonic while flying over Robotropolis with her jet boots.

3632: I chuckled at the fact that when Sonic just assumed, “ Sounded like a tree falling! I’ll bet Robotnik is involved! “ Bunnie says, “ Boy you really hate Robotnik, don’t you? “ thinking he’s paranoid.

3633: Sonic at least shows he’s concerned about Bunnie and cares about her when he tells here to go home after being hurt.

3634: Sonic was upset because “ it’s just like King Max all over again. “

3635: There’s a sweet moment where Agnes lets the scared Hope sleep next to her in bed,

3636: and she says she’ll talk to Eggman about the Robian, so she believes her.

3637: Kodos was smart by pretending to be unconscious to get the jump on Bunnie.

3638: Uma saves Sonic from Kodos knocking him out and then cuts apart the net Sonic was trapped in, being a hero. 13.

3639: Issue 95 When Destiny Calls by Penders: Tails says, “ D’oh, even I should’ve figured he’d head back home! “ after being told Knuckles warped to the Floating Island.

3640: Tails lampshades in his thoughts that he has no idea what to do to comfort and help the Chaos Knuckles.

3641: Tails puts his hand on Knuckles’ shoulder when he’s in pain to try to comfort him, saying he wants to help. Him comforting him in general is sweet, he barely ever shows friendship moments with Knuckles specifically.

3642: Merlin being a good uncle floats Tails into a bed,

3643: Oh, he can float people, cool,

3644: and puts Tails in a bed,

3645: saying that he can heal Tails up with potions.

3646: Merlin is protective of Tails and doesn’t want him to save the echidnas from themselves because he’s too young. 8.

3647: Issue 96 The Messenger by Bollers: Sonic’s mom puts her hand on his shoulder.

3648: She says, ” Way to go, son. “

3649: Mina wants Sonic to help her control her super speed better.

3650: Mina wonders if she did the right thing leaving Sonic to the Shadow Swatbot,and then she asks how she can help out, causing her to be told to get everyone outside.

3651: Bunnie tells Sonic not to worry.

3652: Sonic asks her if she’s okay after she ended up creating a hole in the wall trying to attack the Swatbot.

3653: Chuck smartly reprogrammed a Swatbot to tell Sonic that he has free will and stuff.

3654: “ You idiot! What’ve you done? “ Sonic stands up to Geoffrey briefly for damaging the Swatbot giving him a message, not letting it give him the whole message. 8.

3655: Issue 97 My Secret Identity by Bollers: Sally says, “ You’re hardly being fair, Geoffrey! “ after Geoffrey refuses to let Sonic go on the mission that HIS uncle wanted him.

3656: I like that Sonic lied he was from Sandblast City in particular, he’s using a part of the world and it’s some irony since Sandblast hates him.

3657: Geoffrey stands up to Sonic, “ We don’t know how you do things in Sandblast, but here we don’t leave friends behind! “ For once I’m on his side after Sonic says they should abandon Heavy and Bomb. It shows that he learned his lesson from abandoning Valdez. 3.

3658: Issue 97 To the Brink by Penders: At least Turbo Tails TRIES to reason with Chaos Knuckles and offers a truce to him.

3659: Merlin feels terrible for Tails getting hurt saying he should never have let him do this,

3660: and Merlin holds the unconscious Tails from beneath.

3661: He also puts his hand over Tails’ chest to see what his pulse is, and it’s subtle as he doesn’t say that’s what he’s doing.

3662: It’s oddly pragmatic of Merlin and Athair to recognize Fake Tails is an innocent and not shatter his belief in his identity unnecessarily, not to mention risk him getting nervous about the secret and tell his friends about who he really is. Though that would’ve been the better decision as Mogul might have been found out earlier as they’d go searching for Tails, but more likely, it could’ve led to people like his friends distrusting Fake Tails. 5.

3663: Issue 98 Sonic Adventure 2 by Bollers: Here, the president sees Shadow on colorless monochrome footage. Plus, he’s only known one hedgehog.

3664: Sonic teases the soldiers with, “ Shouldn’t you be asking, ‘ what happened to our guns, ‘ instead, “ after using his super speed to take the guns away from them like you’d expect.

3665: So, they captured him in a more logical way than that by putting him in an electrified net when he’s distracted. Sonic could’ve easily just run away from the military squadron at sonic speed in all the time he was wasting toying with them, but he didn’t, making a mistake as a logical result of his personality of not taking things seriously. 3.

3666: Issue 98 As the Shadow Awakes by Penders: Calling the military simple-minded idiots gives Gerald more depths rather than being a blandly nice old man. It’s needed to explain why he decided not to give Shadow to them.

3667: “ Since there is no air in space and therefore no sound, we took a bit of artistic license just like in the movies. “ I love that textbox, that was funny, surprisingly self-aware.

3668: The comic is gutsier by actually showing us Maria being shot in the back,

3669: and it looks like there’s an explosion to her back with a red little circle on it, creating the impression that she was hit by a laser blast and not a realistic gun.

3670: Gerald’s bio-matter downloaded into Shadow is the explanation for why he wanted to destroy the world right away when being woken up again, filling in a plot hole.

3671: It’s explained that the reason Gerald was able to work on the ARK and Eclipse Cannon after being arrested was because the military put him to work on it for their own gain, and so he was able to sabotage it.

3672: And the reason they executed him instead of always keeping him around was because they got suspicious of him, naturally.

3673: Gerald’s designs are way too complicated and advanced for anyone else to understand, which is why they didn’t find out exactly what he was doing to the ARK. 8.

3674: Issue 99 Blow by Blow by Bollers: Sonic’s mom says that she and her husband have been worried sick that they’ve naturally been worried since they haven’t seen Sonic and Tails since yesterday.

3675: Jules says he’s always thought of Tails as Sonic’s little brother.

3676: Being reasonable, Sonic’s parents regret being annoyed with and worried about Sonic’s absence because they know it’s not Sonic and Tails’ faults that they have magic and would be needed as heroes.

3677: I love that Tails lives with Sonic and his parents. He really is his little brother figure. Jules tends to call his wife ” dear. ” That kinda thing makes it clear they have a good marriage.

3678: Geoffrey makes me chuckle saying in response to learning the Sword wasn’t with Eggman from Nate, “ Brilliant! Simply brilliant! We risk our necks to get something from Robotnik which he doesn’t even possess!

3679: Being loyal to Sally, he immediately tells Mina to stop kissing him asking her what she’s doing stammering and pushes her away.

3680: Being loyal enough to Sonic to try to start visiting him in spite of Geoffrey’s orders now, Sally decides to leave the castle in a disguise to get away.

3681: Sally’s told to tell Elias to go after the Sword. She says, “ THAT’S IT! “ looks serious and gets down to business. She asks the doctor what’s happened to Kodos, getting us Sally being useful again. She says she’s going back to Kodos, desperate to be actiony and back to her old position again. This was built up to her by constantly being unhappy that she wasn’t in charge anymore.

3682: Something that fascinates me, this is where Sally starts to act like The Stoic, bottling up all her emotions, because she looks emotionless when she learns that Kodos went nuts from toxins in Robotropolis. Again, her breakdown from stress is fascinating to me, how it realistically affects her making her feel real. Also, her acting stoic makes sense because she really wants to be back to her useful position as the leader, so she acts serious at all times, even apathetic later to look calm and collected. 9.

3683: Issue 99 What Comes around Goes Around by Penders: Knuckles lampshades looking sad, “ Don’t I have a say in any of this? “ after Hawking tells him to do hero stuff. 1.

3684: Issue 100 Reunion by Bollers: Eggman can roboticize from mere touch, being much more menacing as a result, it’s the Midas touch for a villain. It’s brilliant of him.

3685: Sally jumps into a tree while evading Kodos trying to get the Sword of Acorns.

3686: Bunnie punches and kicks Kodos.

3687: I giggled a little at Eggman calling Sonic a “ hipster. “ That was like, what the fuck?

3688: The Sword of Acorn saved Sally’s life, surrounding her in a blue aura as she floats and looks like a green spirit briefly, as the sword says its vessel is unbreakable. COOL! A pretty cool magical sword, making her look like a spirit or a goddess as a royal sword.

3689: The Sword of Acorns blasts Kodos to pieces, with Sally holding it, so Sally gets to be really useful for once.

3690: Sonic puts his hand on Sally’s back as he says it’s been a while since he’s seen her.

3691: Mina is useful by warning them that Nate went to Robotropolis to warn the Overlanders of the toxins. The reason she’s useful is because this lets them free the Robians.

3692: Sally is useful again using the Sword to return free will to the Robians, rescuing all of them.

3693: Sonic happily runs up to Chuck to give him a hug.

3694: “ Get a life! “ someone snarks at Eggman telling him not to leave. I loved that line happening. 11.

3695: Issue 100 Welcome to the Dark Side by Penders: Julie hugs Knuckles and says, “ Whatever the problem is, I wanna help! I’m just happy to see you! “ That was sweet.

3696: I giggled at Lien-Da snarking at that, “ Oh, gag me! “

3697: It’s good that Dimitri says the Legion’s never been the villains Knuckles’ people have taken them for. He naturally thinks he’s in the right, which is good writing.

3698: Tobor actually comes back from the Twilight Cage, wrapping up that plot thread for his character.

3699: He says that if he has to die to spite the Legion so be it, defeating Kragok, and this provides a strong explanation for why Knuckles decides to give the Legion a chance as not pure evil with no reasonableness. Besides, Knux has never been a full hero anyways, he used to be a jerk to Sonic and is only forced to be a hero as a guardian. So, Tobor has a good effect making up for destroying the “ teleporter beam. “

3700: Also, Tobor finally reunites with his father Hawking as a ghost, wrapping up all the plot threads for his character as he finally gets what he wants. 6.

3701: Issue 101 Altered States by Bollers: Tails asks Sonic if he’s okay.

3702: Sonic calls Tails pal.

3703: While it’s all from reality changing randomly and so nothing that happens sticks, it still shows some interesting ideas that I like, so let’s take a look at them. We see an alternate what-if scenario where King Acorn welcomes Locke to the kingdom and his son too, and says that this day makes the seventh anniversary of the alliance with the echidnas. So here, Sally WAS helped out by the Brotherhood.

3704: In this reality, it was Knuckles who reunited Sally with her mom and brother. Again, that makes more sense because Elias and Alicia were living on Angel Island, so it should’ve been Knuckles who found them and did that.

3705: We see Sally, the king, and Elias who looks younger than her hug. If only Elias was always the younger one.

3706: Sonic feels like he’s just the kid whose dad is a bot, while all of his friends have family members with good connections to the royalty, and Chuck comforts him.

3707: Sally hugs Sonic.

3708: Robotnik tells Sonic and Sally to give them back his Flora Terminus file,

3709: and Sonic and Sally fall onto giant air bags in an airship of Antoine’s.

3710: Sally says that she dreamed she had an older brother and says to Sonic that she feels like it’s party true,

3711: and Sonic agrees with his hand on her shoulder. 11.

3712: Issue 101 Reboot by Penders: Knuckles asks Dimitri, kind of awkwardly, for advice on power.

3713: We get to see a what-if scenario where, what would happen if Angel Island was never brought up into the sky? This caused me to brainstorm about all the various long-term effects in the present day about what would happen if Angel Island was never risen and thus the technology ban from the Chaos Syphon incident never happened, and the wandering tribe would’ve never wandered and given Robin his wife and child and Athair an excuse to not be the guardian.

3714: Knuckles is naturally frustrated and upset that somehow Echidnapolis was destroyed despite his omnipotence existing.

3715: I was really interested and engaged in what exactly Penders would have Knuckles do with his omnipotence, since he couldn’t do the sensible thing and destroy every villain, so what would he do instead? I found it fascinating seeing how events would unfold after Dimitri said he could do anything. 4.

3716: Issue 102 Family Function by Bollers: Sonic’s mom says she’s so proud of Sonic for reuniting families. That’s better than her NOT being proud of him for it and just nagging him for getting in danger.

3717: Sonic thanks his mom,

3718: and is humble enough to admit he can’t take all the credit.

3719: Jules is trying to hug Chuck,

3720: and Chuck has his hand on his shoulder.

3721: We see Mina got reunited with her mom as she got her free will back.

3722: The Sword begs Sally cutely not to leave her, being attached to her, which is interesting.

3723: “ Mom, I’m not a porcelain doll. The Sword HAD to be recovered. “ Sally stands up to her mom calmly with that after she nags her about going to Robotropolis.

3724: Sally gets to be the one to restore the free will of Antoine’s father, not Elias.

3725: Antoine and his father hug.

3726: Elias finally snaps, “ Well, I quit too! I never wanted this life! This isn’t who I am! I’m not a leader! This role is meant for someone else! Didn’t she prove it today? “ and sheds a tear saying, “ When will you see? “

3727: Heavy releases bombs and activates nanobots in Geoffrey and the Elites’ bloodstreams debilitating them, giving karma to them indirectly for persecuting Sonic. Geoffrey especially deserves this. It was dark though, but brilliant of Eggman.

3728: Sally has a moment with her mom as she hugs her

3729: after her mom yelps from a Bomb and says that she’s shaking like a leaf, and asks Sally how she’s so brave.

3730: Geoffrey gets to do something useful for once, using an EMP pulse to put all the Bombs to sleep and knock out Heavy.

3731: Elias was sympathetic being compassionate and insecure by running away for Sally’s sake, leaving behind a letter apologizing for what a bad ruler he was. I felt bad for him. He gets Sally back her position of power, finally. And Sally’s mom cries too, naturally as they just got their son back. 16.

3732: Issue 102 Life’s Realities by Penders: We see a captivating what-if scenario of what would’ve happened if the judge agreed to the Chaos Syphon being used.

3733: We see a what-if scenario of what would’ve happened if Edmund had been rescued from his death to Legionnaires thanks to Knuckles. Turns out Eggman would’ve taken over Angel Island down the line and roboticized everyone without a concrete magic-focused guardianship.

3734: I love that we see Knuckles confront Dimitri with the fact that, ” I just watched your original plan turn into a disaster! ” It’s shocking that Dimitri’s only response to the fact that his life’s work would’ve come to nothing and he was MAD for NOTHING back then was a calm, ” Is that so?!! ” but this explains the direction for his character after this. No wonder he mellows out. Why would he keep resenting that judge for saying no to a plan he had his heart set on, that he now knows would’ve destroyed his people?

3735: Julie and Knuckles hug.

3736: Knuckles tells her to relax.

3737: Knuckles cathartically shouts that it’s not fair that with all that power, he couldn’t do good once. 6.

3738: Issue 103 Freedom Fighters of the Galaxy by Gallagher: We get to see not just one, but two stories about an alternate dimension of Mobius, and the future at that, which is fascinating, creative and gutsy by itself.

3739: The alternate Sonic has a confinement suit to keep him well in the acidic environment.

3740: The suit also lets him fire a laser of wind at Tailon.

3741: Robotnik tricked Sonic into thinking Sally was inside a pod, hence why he went into it.

3742: Sonic was saved by Pearlmen aliens, actually explaining where he got his suit and got put in suspended animation to stay alive.

3743: The Freedom Fighters here use a spaceship. Makes sense they’d take to space after what happened to the planet.

3744: Because Hawkhawk is omniscient as his beak contains all knowledge, he can transmit the electronic self-destruct code to robots to defeat them. Well, omniscience isn’t nearly as overpowered as omnipotence, and that is a convenient way to explain how the heroes would know about Eggman’s plans when he’d be so far away from them all the time. Knowing everything wouldn’t translate to being able to defeat the major villain right away, necessarily.

3745: Also, Hawkhawk has a personality, being very serious with no social skills, leaving without his friends.

3746: The alternate Antoine has a bow and arrow.

3747: At least the alternate Bunnie has a laser blaster on her glove’s wrist.

3748: The alternate Sally, Saleta, can control light, fighting with it. I like her design, her black clothes and yellow cape.

3749: Even Robotnik was died, as his mechanized world imploded, taking him with it.

3750: The old Freedom Fighters escaped to space and each one had descendants populate a new planet.

3751: Bunni’s people have fire on their heads, and it’s explained as static electricity.

3752: Twan-Du’s ancestors are tribal archers whose toupees collect solar energy,

3753: Rotor’s descendants are Spartan people, makes sense since Rotor is very big and muscular, kind of.

3754: Saleta’s race live on a planet with not much light, so of course it naturally stands to reason that they’d develop the ability to control light, right? Well at least they tried to explain it, it’s pretty cool.

3755: Sonic snarks at Hawkhawk for pointing his finger at him. 18.

3756: Myth Taken Identity by Gallagher: Rather than being threatened with roboticization, the Mobians in Downunda back when the Freedom Fighters of that place first met, they were trapped in nets to be experimented on. 1.

3757: Issue 104 Freedom Fighters of the Galaxy by Gallagher: Silver Snively is more competent because he can shoot lasers.

3758: Good, they put on spacesuits.

3759: When Sonic smartly tells them to change tactics and disable the planet juicer,

3760: the alternate Rotor says, ” Good idea, ”

3761: and Tailon uses air kitsune power with clovers around him to put an air bubble around Sonic, letting him save Rotor in space.

3762: The heroes cheer about the evil Shark people’s deaths instead of mourning for genocidal monsters.

3763: Sonic says, ” Nice teamwork everybody. ” 7.

3764: Issue 105 You Say you Want a Revelation by Bollers: Eggman has a brilliant plan, as he thinks he can get the Overlanders to willingly get themselves roboticized to avoid dying to the toxic waste.

3765: “ Dad, if you had trusted me from the start, maybe Elias wouldn’t have run away, “ Sally calmly stands up to her father, and this actually convinces him to let her go on a mission.

3766: When Tails says he wishes that he got to come on the mission to save Nate, Chuck says, ” Maybe next time, kiddo. “

3767: Mina hugs Sally and thanks her for freeing her mom.

3768: Sonic tells Sally, ” Way to go, princess! ” saying she really stood up to her father.

3769: Man, they really did manage a tearjerker moment. Hope is teased by Eggman that her family doesn’t care about her as she’s crying near a dumpster in a fetal position. And then Eggman turns Agnes into a statue right in front of her. You need to have genuine sad moments happen to get you invested, to make you hope things will be okay and appreciate when things are good for the heroes.

3770: Agnes tells Hope that she loves her.

3771: Sonic shows up to Eggman immediately, as they actually remember his super speed for once. He then runs around Eggman on the floor, carving the floor up so that Eggman will fall through the hole. Snively cries when saying he’ll be unable to move as a statue.

3772: Fortunately, Hope at least gets rescued.

3773: The same perks that Eggman has for being a robot apply to Snively; more of a threat, can take advantage of technology powers.

3774: Hope and Sally actually do convince the humans to leave Robotropolis.

3775: The toxins concept in the city. It makes a lot of sense for it to be in Robotropolis and cause the problem of forcing Snively to be roboticized to survive. 12.

3776: Issue 105 Myth Taken Identity by Gallagher: Walt calls Barby incredible for convincing the bunyip to release them into the airtight underwater observation deck.

3777: Bunyip isn’t actually an evil monster, it was just annoyed that Crocbot polluted his home and lashed out, and he frees the heroes afterwards. 2.

3778: Issue 106 Crouching Hedgehog Hidden Dragon by Bollers: Good, we don’t have to deal with the Overlanders hating on the people of Knothole living with them. Instead, the heroes are going to make a deal to get them to Station Square, where other humans are.

3779: Sonic stands up to the government, “ Offer?! Gimme a break! You mean you bozos aren’t gonna help because it’s the right thing to do?! “ It’s a great character moment by showing what a good and emotionally passionate person he is.

3780: Sally doesn’t yell at Sonic after that, instead keeping her calm and professionally telling him to just sit back down.

3781: Sally calmly manipulates the government, “ Should you decide to accept the refugees, our kingdom will turn over all tactical information on this individual… “ as in Eggman. I love when she does this!

3782: “ I thought these humans were supposed to be our allies. Why did I think they’d help us for free? “ It’s good to have Sonic think this the night after, showing bitterness and being relatable.

3783: Realistically, the king’s trying to get himself to walk again with his hands on the bars.

3784: Tails asks Sonic if he wants to check out the video arcade with Rotor. Good, they’re relatable wanting to play video games and stuff, and it’s implying that’s what they do in their downtime.

3785: A Chinese dragon attacks Station Square, ooh, that’s creative.

3786: I like that it turns out not ALL dragons were roboticized, as this guy was a dragon.

3787: “ Do you see, Princess Sally? If we were to take in your refugees, they’d have to live in a city under siege by dragons! “ I love that line, it’s so silly.

3788: Sonic is smart enough to make the deal more enticing saying that he’ll beat the dragon if they take the refugees. It’s obviously a manipulating bluff since he’d save the city anyways, so this is clever of him. 10.

3789: Issue 106 Reunification by Penders: Dimitri says, “ You’re a dear sweet girl, Lien-Da, “ to Lien-Da, sounding like a kindly grandfather.

3790: I actually grew to really like Lara-Su. She’s a sympathetic, relatable teenage girl. And here, Lara, or rather Jani-Ca, she’s a time traveler from the future who thinks Remington killed Knuckles, her dad, and she wants to stop him from doing so. It’s pointless, but fascinating, I love that they bother to have a subplot like that adding a little depth rather than just Knuckles in the arc. Good, realistically she CAN’T keep holding onto that pole when it’s THAT windy. 2.

3791: Issue 107 Crouching Hedgehog Hidden Dragon by Bollers: Sonic plays video games with Tails.

3792: Sonic naturally is napping during a boring meeting. It’s in-character.

3793: Sally nudges him with her shoulder with an awkward smile saying, “ Uh, yes, go on, “ being relatable,

3794: Fortunately, she doesn’t yell at him.

3795: It’s amusing that the president buys the lie from Sally that the Mobians laugh at the ones they respect. He’s not mad, “ then by all means, laugh until it hurts! “

3796: with Tails smiling like he’s laughing at the president,

3797: And before that, Sally was relatably nervous during the lie. The soldiers don’t buy it.

3798: Bunnie wants to deck the soldier who was racist against Sonic with her bionic arm. This proves her loyalty,

3799: and shows ditziness because she already said she doesn’t know her own strength and was just threatening a human with her robot arm.

3800: Sonic calls the evil dragon a “ cold-blooded lug. “

3801: At least the evil dragon Zan being Dulcy’s abusive boyfriend makes the plot interesting rather than just being a plot about Sonic fighting a dragon generically.

3802: Sonic humiliates the soldiers moving fast with his super speed, destroying their guns.

3803: He calls Zan a lousy creep after he hits Dulcy.

3804: Bunnie shows compassion and can be a caring person, as she says the cliché things that people would say to the victim of an abusive relationship.

3805: Some explosives from the soldiers bury Zan in rocks, giving him what he deserves,

3806: and letting the soldiers actually do something useful.

3807: Sonic spindashes through the rubble, having spindashed underground to save himself earlier, so we’re not pretending he’s dead for a while.

3808: And Bunnie hugs Sonic happy that he’s alive, just like Tails is doing, calling him, “ Sugah-hog! “ That’s a nice step up from threatening to murder him.

3809: Sonic’s being a good friend to Dulcy by saying, “ I’m sorry, Dulcy, “ after she’s sad that Zan died. 19.

3810: Issue 107 Reunification by Penders: Lien-Da is sarcastic about calling her enemies the heroes, proving that she’s kind of a well-written villain as she doesn’t think of herself as in the wrong.

3811: I like Lara-Su’s nervous relatable smile as she thinks that, “ Considering where I am, telling anyone my real name would sound the alarm! “ That was amusing.

3812: “ Really, Mighty? What gave you the first clue? “ Vector snarks at Mighty about Captain Obviously say that they’re back on the island.

3813: Knux’s mom looks worried about Knuckles, and hugs him asking where he’s been.

3814: and they hold hands. 5.

3815: Issue 108 Robotnik X 2 = Trouble by Karl Bollers: The heroes are playing hide and seek with Tails having downtime and quality time. It’s important to see what the main characters’ original normal lives are like to give more value to it understand what they have to lose, when bad things happen to them.

3816: Antoine calls Bunnie ma cherie.

3817: Sonic calls Tails bud.

3818: I burst out laughing at seeing Robotnik eating at the dinner table next to Sonic like it’s no big deal.

3819: And it was funny that after a montage of Robotnik doing fun stuff like being in the pool splashing Sonic, Sonic finally snaps and screams after days of him casually hanging around. This shows self-awareness of the comic of how silly this lighthearted concept is.

3820: I also burst out laughing at Robotnik saying, “ Princess Sally, perhaps we could put the past behind us, “ because that’s so silly, she’d never buy it.

3821: Sally deadpans, “ Whatever, “ when Robotnik lies that he could become her ally when he’s reclaimed his city. Rather than getting enraged at him and shouting no. This is fascinating to me, definitely a symptom of how apathetic she’s gotten and what a stoic she became.

3822: Sonic and Tails are playing Go Fish.

3823: The story becomes brilliant when you learn that the heroes and king and queen KNEW Robotnik wasn’t to be trusted, and the heroes were using him to infiltrate Eggman’s base to destroy the machine which brought Robotnik back. Before this, I thought it was an Idiot Plot where they were all contrivedly idealistic to Robotnik. 9.

3824: Issue 108 A Girl Named Hope by Bollers: Hope’s letter reveals that she wants to stay in Knothole, showing how sympathetic she is as she doesn’t hate Mobians and recognizes how well they treated her, in spite of her being related to Robotnik. 1.

3825: Issue 108 Reunification by Penders: I can easily imagine Knuckles as an older brother, he has the right personality, so I like the idea of his mom having a younger brother for him coming along.

3826: “ Uh… er… are you SURE? “ Knuckles is relatably all awkward and flustered learning his mom’s pregnant.

3827: Dimitri is actually permitted to make a speech in the government of Echidnapolis talking about how they should bridge the gap between the Legion and not-Legionnaires, recognizing the value in technology. It’s quite fascinating. And Sonic’s had the nature vs technology debate theme since the very beginning, so this is the natural conclusion of that, a debate over that.

3828: Dimitri says that echidnas were given with the ability to reason and think, so why wouldn’t they be intended to use that for the greater good? That’s a very good argument from a supposed villain.

3829: Knuckles reasons that the fighting won’t stop unless someone is willing to take a chance. This is very reasonable of a hero to do, I mean, the Legion only formed from a dumb technology ban, hardly a villainous origin.

3830: Jani-Ca shocks a guard to get into the government room, being competent.

3831: She’s also sympathetic when she says to him, “ I’m sorry, but you’d never believe my ID anyways! “ 7.

3832: Issue 109 I Herd it through the Pipeline by Karl Bollers: The plot thread of Rotor’s herd being brainwashed again is wrapped up in this story, and in a very clever way, as Sally comes up with the idea to use the Sword of Acorns to restore free will to the herd like it did for other people.

3833: Sally’s parents don’t object to the heroes taking the Sword to the submarine.

3834: Rotor made emergency escape bubbles in the sub that can be activated by flipping a lever, and he was strong enough to do that when he was being electrocuted.

3835: Sonic and Bunnie team up to fight the Shadow Swatbots, as they should.

3836: Rotor makes the oil well blow up.

3837: Rotor hugs his family.

3838: Sonic and Rotor hi-five. 7.

3839: Issue 109 The Crush by Bollers: Sally catches Mina when she trips. 1.

3840: Issue 109 Reunification by Penders: Dimitri says just like Steppenwolf, “ That should be me lying there, “ showing morality at Knuckles seeming to sacrifice himself for him.

3841: Mitre actually admits that Dimitri has a point and they won’t get anywhere with extremism on either side, and admits that people can’t accept change all at once from technology and stuff.

3842: “ I’m not sure I agree, but that’s a discussion for another time. “ I chuckled at Dimitri’s response to Mitre’s naïve assumption about why the Chaos Syphon was rejected. Dimitri had a pretty reasonable polite response to him, it’s good social skills.

3843: Knuckles took the hit for Dimitri to smartly earn his trust, and was faking his death.

3844: An alternate dimension Knuckles went berserk with chaos energy and is taking over the world with the Legion. That’s interesting, a twist on Knuckles making him evil. 5.

3845: Issue 110 Station Square Attacks by Karl Bollers: Nicole lampshades, “ Oy, here we go again, “ at having to give more exposition on a satellite transmission.

3846: It really says something that even Nicole is having more emotional reaction than Sally right now despite the bad news.

3847: One of the Shadow Swatbots snarks, “ You don’t hafta tell us twice Robotnik, “ and Eggman gets so mad at him, yelling. I’m glad that they remembered Swatbots can talk like normal people.

3848: “ Are you totally nuts?! The city’s toast, you wacko! “ I love that response by Sonic, after Eggman said no to the truce.

3849: ” Nice work, bud!” Sonic says after Tails pretends to deactivate Eggman’s force field.

3850: Sonic calls Tails bud.

3851: Sonic and Tails tricked Eggman into thinking they deactivated the force field and Tails flies Sonic above the city after they delayed Eggman. This means that the nuke hit Robotropolis before the force field was brought up, so the radiation was kept inside the force field. And this was Sonic’s plan all along. Cool, that’s creative writing.

3852: Sonic reassures Tails with his hand on his shoulder, “ Don’t sweat it, bud, Knothole’s our home now! “

3853: Sonic calls Tails bud. 9.

3854: Issue 110 One for All by Bollers: The Source didn’t reject Sally, as it draws her into it through the Sword of Acorns, and shows her that she can use it to get visions of the future and past. I wish that she agreed to getting to have visions more, that would’ve made her more useful.

3855: It’s interesting to see a magical royal sword, a kind of holy artifact, be kind of a Well-intentioned Extremist intimidating villain saying, “ You have no choice, “ to Sally not wanting to be psychic. I mean, I wish it was never written that way, but it IS a creative twist on a holy sword. The Sword probably thinks of Sally as being a rebellious teen by refusing.

3856: Sally’s mom hugs Sally crying and says, “ Oh my poor baby, what’s happening to you? “ and Sally says, “ Destiny, mom… I THINK it’s my destiny. “ I felt bad for both of them here. 3.

3857: Issue 111 Kids of the Spider Woman by Bollers: It’s nice of Rob to come with Amy and make sure she’ll be safe on her way back home. He didn’t have to do that.

3858: Amy tells Rob not to worry.

3859: Rob grabs Amy when she’s stuck in a giant web, swinging on a rope to get her out of it. Good to see him helping his cousin.

3860: The Sword of Acorns taught Sally that the ninja kids are coming to take it.

3861: Sally stops the fight while floating looking like a golden spirit holding the Sword of Acorns, explaining to everyone what the spider-kids are motivated by.

3862: It’s creative that Uma’s kids are already grown up enough to fight,

3863: and that because of genetic memory passed down to them through Uma’s eggs, they know that she wanted the Sword and so they want it too.

3864: Sally apologizes to the Sword after it was sad about being abandoned.

3865: Sonic gives Sally a hug. 9.

3866: I’ll Shoot the Sheriff by Bollers: A plot thread is wrapped up as Rob isn’t willing to let a grudge against Antoine’s roboticized father go until he spends a bunch of quality time with him. Rob is paranoid enough to try to challenge Knuckles and then Antoine on the first meeting.

3867: Rather than hurting him, Rob spies on him.

3868: Antoine’s father is smart because he gets the idea, “ rather than spying, why not keep me company? “ So, in a heartwarming montage, Rob plays cards with him,

3869: has a campfire with him and Antoine,

3870: practices archery with him,

3871: and eventually, he shakes his hand, forgiving him.

3872: Amy hugs Rob. 7.

3873: Trouble with Grrrls by Bollers: Sonic gives autographs to his fangirls. It’s good that we’re reminded of how much respect Sonic has for being a hero, and this comic doesn’t go overboard having every civilian worshiping him.

3874: Mina is one of the people Sonic’s considering as a potential girlfriend.

3875: Sonic smirks putting shades on and says, “ If I did THAT, what would happen to my way past cool image? “ after Tails asks him why he wouldn’t just tell a girl that he likes her.

3876: Sonic and Tails have a genuine brotherly moment as they talk about how Sonic would feel about having a girlfriend.

3877: Sonic says that if he had a girlfriend, he wouldn’t have any time to himself.

3878: Sonic also says that if he had a girlfriend, he would have to hold hands with her all the time so she wouldn’t let him run.

3879: And he thinks she’d always get first dibs on chili dogs.

3880: And he wouldn’t have time for his friends. I like all of this outside of the context of the comic, because this is how I’d imagine Sonic to explain why he wouldn’t have a girlfriend. 8.

3881: Issue 112 Mistaken Identity Crisis by Bollers: Zonic gets a head injury and has to be taken to Dr Quack by Sonic. Creative.

3882: Antoine looks depressed after his father says Sonic’s dad must be very proud of him. In response, Sonic is a good friend by complimenting Antoine in front of his father lying that people call him the original Freedom Fighter, and by

3883: making a plan to get Antoine’s dad to see him as more of a hero.

3884: Antoine admits to Sonic, ” I am no hero! ” which is more likable than how he started out.

3885: Sonic shakes Antoine’s hand.

3886: Antoine calls Sonic a genius.

3887: Antoine gets lucky and karate-chops Scourge into unconsciousness.

3888: He tells Zonic not to worry.

3889: Sonic shakes Antoine’s hand.

3890: Antoine faints when he learns who Scourge really is, since the writer remembers he’s a coward still. and that Scourge is supposed to be competent. At least he knows he got lucky. 9.

3891: Issue 112 Forgiven by Bollers: When Chuck says he’s too swamped with research, Sonic gets the party of Robians to come to him. It sure is nice of Chuck to humor Sonic and say, ” Perfect, ” even though he looks unhappy about the party being brought here.

3892: Sonic puts his hand on Chuck’s shoulder.

3893: Chuck reflects on the fact that Sonic is so carefree and innocent, and Lupe and her family are so lucky, while he’s not. He feels too guilty. So he says he needs to step outside and looks depressed. That’s interesting. They’re DOING something with his character for the first time since he left Robotropolis.

3894: Chuck is naturally uncomfortable around Lupe since he had been forced to roboticize her.

3895: When she says it wasn’t his fault, he looks sad and says, ” How can you say that? “

3896: About time Chuck says, ” I regret ever inventing that roboticizer. It only made Robotnik’s job that much easier. ”

3897: He needs her to tell him that he has to forgive himself.

3898: Sonic and Sally agree with her in front of him.

3899: She puts her hand on his shoulder.

3900: Lupe calls the people around her her friends,

3901: and says they should make this also a celebration in honor of Chuck.

3902: She gives him a hug,

3903: and he thanks her. 13.

3904: Issue 113 Cry of the Wolf by Jay Oliveras: Nicole is useful as she gets hooked up to a weapon Lupe found so she can operate the complex controls on it. A lot of the other good things are there in the SatAM episode too. That includes a lot of creativity and probably a moment where Sally kissed Sonic’s cheek.

3905: Sonic thanks Sally as she kisses his cheek.

3906: Issue 114 Twice Told Tails by Karl Bollers: Sonic’s mom asks if everything’s okay in Sonic’s room because she heard Tails scream.

3907: Sonic calls Tails bud.

3908: Mogul created a duplicate of Tails to hide the fact that he was siphoning Super Tails for months of his magical power, as he was trapped unconscious in a bubble keeping him alive. This was a brilliant plan letting him regain his full strength.

3909: Sonic says this is a new low even for Mogul,

3910: and Tails is horrified at being “ not really me, “ for several seconds. The characters are all acting realistically. “ But my memories, my feelings, they seem so real! “ “ I’m… just a phoney. “

3911: Fake Tails has the courage to fly into Mogul, leading to the real Tails being freed.

3912: Sonic reassures Fake Tails that he still thinks of him as his best friend, causing him to smile sweetly and say he’ll never forget him.

3913: Sonic has his hand on his shoulder.

3914: Sonic says, “ You’re right here, Tails. You’re right here, “ in a desperate attempt to relax himself.

3915: Sonic has his hand on his shoulder.

3916: He calls him bud. 11.

3917: Issue 114 Ultimate Power by Penders: Julie’s parents get a wonderful home by Knuckles’ family, getting to live with her.

3918: Julie’s adoptive mom says this is a nice house.

3919: Julie says the city and island is beautiful.

3920: Julie’s adoptive dad tells Knuckles that they appreciate this even if they could’ve easily stayed on the battle cruiser.

3921: When Vector’s accusing and rude to Julie, she pushes him and stands up to his intimidation.

3922: “ Since you need a diagram, I’ll draw it for you! If ANYTHING happens to Dimitri, LIEN-DA takes command of the Dark Legion, and then you’ll REALLY see how bad the news gets! “ Julie speaks as the voice of reason and shows how much of a threat Lien-Da is. 6.

3923: Issue 114 Young at Heart by Bollers: Sally puts her hand on Sonic’s shoulder.

3924: The teacher tells Amy, ” Excellent, Amy. ” 2.

3925: Issue 115 Meanie in a Bottle by Karl Bollers: It humanizes Sonic and makes him more sympathetic to show him playing catch with his dog.

3924: Sonic thinks that he hates water after Muttski sinks in a pool.

3925: Muttski’s waterproof, which was actually smart of Chuck.

3926: Sonic forgets how tough his roboticized hide can be and Muttski jumps right through the stick to damage it before bringing it to him, which takes advantage of him being a robot dog for once.

3927: The genie was in a regular-looking bottle that you’d expect to have a message in a bottle.

3928: It’s at least an interesting twist that the genie just messes with Sonic and runs off instead of granting wishes for him, and he has to find him again to get things back to normal.

3929: They establish that Sonic never gets tired normally, which makes his ability to handle running so far from running so fast make sense.

3930: It’s a nice surprise that Chuck bothered to go WITH Sonic when he went to see the doctor, when he could’ve easily not gone there. That’s sweet.

3931: I love the idea of Muttski having sonic speed. If only this was kept the whole time that he was roboticized, he could be super useful to the heroes, and he’d be a robot so he’d have good defense in battle.

3932: They have a much better excuse for Sonic losing his super speed than lightning striking a robot near him; a genie gave his speed to his dog. Magic makes more sense than BS techno-babble lore never coming up again.

3933: Muttski has Sonic’s heroic spirit, as he gets back a purse from someone who stole it from someone.

3934: Sonic spends the next few days with Muttski, responsibly looking after him to keep him from getting hurt and we see him deal with it.

3935: He pets Muttski.

3936: He pets Muttski again.

3937: And it’s interesting how the plot gets resolved, at least. After Sonic smartly tells his dog, ” Sic ’em, ” Muttski keeps the genie trapped in HIM, so Sonic bargains with him to get three wishes to return the status quo.

3938: Sonic says, ” Nice work, ” to Muttski. 16.

3939: Issue 115 Ultimate Power by Penders: “ The head enchilada… “ Harry calls Dimitri. I love that Penders poked fun at echidnas sounding like enchilada. It’s a good, unexpected one-time self-aware joke.

3940: Knuckles gives Julie some flowers with his omnipotence on sheer instinct.

3941: Julie looks overjoyed with her eyes closed and says, “ Oh, Knuckles! They smell wonderful! “ I couldn’t help but giggle at that. Even a tough tomboy can love flowers, this really makes her sympathetic.

3942: Knuckles reacts like a relatable person would, saying he’s not sure if he wants to do it again or use his omnipotence too much as who knows what trouble could happen. He’s not arrogant about his power, he’s just confused and trying to live life normally, which makes him much more likable. Vector contrasts Knux’s hesitation because he says he’s way too uptight and needs to learn how to let loose and party.

3943: Mogul gets to do something threatening as a villain again, by threatening Dimitri because, as a plot thread is resolved finally, he wants to absorb power near Dimitri, so he wants to lure Knuckles to him to get him to send out power and unintentionally give it to him. Another clever plan, easily the best one of all. 5.

3944: Issue 116 Operation: Off Switch by Karl Bollers: The president of Station Square thanks Sonic and Bunnie for showing up to help him.

3945: Bunnie flies up to the roof of a skyscraper while Sonic’s holding her hand so that they could look down and scope out the view of the city while staying still, before Sonic runs down the wall of a skyscraper.

3946: Eggman is constructing a new robot body that kind of looks like Classic Eggman with fat metallic arms near Station Square, and the reason this concept is good is because he’s able to be more of a genuine threat as a robot with long arms that can grab Sonic.

3947: Sonic runs around to make Eggman’s extendible robot arms twist around and feel in pain. 4.

3948: Issue 116 Bat Fight by Bollers: Sometimes it does show the impact in the fight scenes. It’s always just when Bunnie gets hit, but we also get to see Rouge get slammed into something hard twice, without a flash censoring that. It’s only because I like Bunnie that I don’t feel like complimenting each time, considering how boring this story is, but Rouge is a different story, so,

3949: I like that she got hit into something hard a second time and it crumbled.

3950: Of course, Sonic tells the two to stop fighting and says they’re on the same team.

3951: Rouge says, ” My bad! ” looking unhappy. 4.

3952: Issue 116 Ultimate Power Mid-logue The Lesson by Penders: Considering that when Knuckles approached the robots he just got hit in the head, it was responsible of Locke to leave him behind at the start of the story.

3953: Locke destroys robots with emerald green magic when they threatened to steal the Master Emerald.

3954: Locke asks his son if he’s alright.

3955: He has his hand on Knuckles’ shoulder. 4.

3956: Issue 117 Cyber Race by Bollers: As robots, Eggman and Snively were able to send their minds to cyberspace before they could be nuked, a good explanation for them surviving. It takes good advantage of the fact that they were robots. This is why it’s better for them to be androids, because it means the heroes can attack them in harsher ways and they’ll survive just fine, they don’t have to be weak humans hiding behind machines and somehow never die from exploding machines. 1.

3957: Issue 117 The Tortoise and the Hedgehog by Romy Chacon: It’s nice of Sonic to say he respected Tommy for not giving up and realized that he and him were more alike than he thought because he stood up for himself in a stubborn way.

3958: He has his hand on Tommy’s shoulder.

3959: Sonic had a smart plan by going here in a flawless bunny disguise, lying about his identity to get alone with Tommy so that he could rescue him.

3960: Sonic shows better judgement than even Sally in the end because he didn’t wait until Sally got the other Freedom Fighters together before going to save Tommy and if he HAD waited, Tommy would’ve been roboticized, and he and his friends would’ve thought he died in the explosion from a grenade for a long time. They might have never seen Tommy again, because without Sonic getting there, Tommy and Sleuth and thus Eggman wouldn’t have found out Sonic considered Tommy to be his childhood friend and so Eggman wouldn’t have bothered using Tommy to make infiltrator robots leading to the heroes getting Tommy to join their team. If Sonic had waited in this issue Tommy wouldn’t have been there later to stop Rotor, Fiona and Bunnie’s electrocution with a copper rod, and to get ADAM destroyed with a sacrifice. Maybe without Tommy to take over, ADAM would’ve taken over Jules. Who knows why he didn’t do that to begin with to torment Sonic even more.

3961: Eggman tricks Drago into being roboticized by shaking his hand,

3962: pulls a Dr Octopus sending tentacles of metal at all the criminals who were going to make an evil deal with him,

3963: and what makes that really great is that the tentacles roboticize them. That’s unique, scary and karma.

3964: Tommy pulls a Heroic Sacrifice by throwing Sonic out of the window of the exploding building. 8.

3965: Issue 117 Ultimate Power by Penders: Knuckles heals Harry in the hospital so he can talk and stuff.

3966: Dimitri says he at least had done what he thought was right, while Mogul thinks the only thing that matters in life is survival. This highlights the difference between him and Mogul, showing that ultimately, he’s a well-meaning person, while Mogul is evil.

3967: Knuckles doesn’t wanna put his friends at risk, so he leaves to save Dimitri without them. 3.

3968: Issue 118 Robotnik’s Return by Karl Bollers: Eggman not having the virus that prevented him from downloading Eggman’s location is justified by him not having the same robot body anymore.

3969: Him not having the roboticizing touch is also justified by that.

3970: Eggman’s metallic shell makes him immune to Sonic’s attacks.

3971: As a robot, Sonic has infra-red vision so he can find Eggman in the fight,

3972: and Tails is able to shoot a net to tie up Eggman.

3973: Eggman naturally says this only proves robots are better than organics, because they won over the organic in the alien experiment.

3974: Fortunately, Sally was only joking about not believing Sonic about the aliens. 7.

3975: Issue 118 Heart to Heart by Bollers: Rotor’s status tubes cure Geoffrey’s Elites.

3976: Rotor used nanites to cure Geoffrey and the Elites of nanite poisoning.

3977: Geoffrey blames himself for the nanite infection, because his ego was what caused him to try to go to Robotropolis to prove he was better than Sonic.

3978: Geoffrey admits, “ Every bit of advice I gave him was self-serving and useless. I failed Prince Elias, I’ve failed the kingdom, I’ve failed my father’s memory. I’m not returning to the secret service because I don’t deserve to. “ This is put into a whole new perspective later when Geoffrey is retconned into having always been an agent for Ixis. He was naturally feeling horribly guilty about doing that.

3979: At least it’s sweet that Hershey kisses Geoffrey on the cheek

3980: and says that she fell for him because he was a hero. The hero part, though, you’d think Geoffrey wouldn’t be cheered up by that since he was the opposite of a hero with what he was doing to Elias.

3981: Hershey and Geoffrey want to go on an extended mission together, making their relationship official as a spy couple.

3982: Geoffrey and the king shake hands. 8.

3983: Issue 118 Ultimate Power by Penders: The Floating Island is finally renamed Angel Island. I’s got an in-universe explanation; the island’s renamed after Edmund’s mom. 1.

3984: Issue 119 Cater-Killer’s Coming by Karl Bollers: Sonic is allowed to leave Knothole to protect Furville.

3985: There’s great tension here as the train already destroyed a town, proving it’s a threat, and it could destroy Furville as well.

3986: Sonic calls Tails bud. Tails hacks the Cater-Killer into going off a cliff after Sonic goes intangible again to enter the train. 3.

3987: Issue 119 Dust Bunnie by Bollers: There was genuine tension because Bunnie has to hold back against Robians since they’re innocent brainwashed people.

3988: Eggman complains that he can’t hack into Rotor’s systems, and “ Not only is his security system an ego smasher, it’s downright RUDE! “ as we see a screen with a face taunting him. That was amusing. 2.

3989: Issue 119 Time Code by Bollers: Sonic calls Rotor a genius. 1.

3990: Issue 120 She’s Gotta Have Him by Bollers: Mina has a good justification for falling for Sonic.

3991: Good, for once we get to see Mina’s mom, being her mom, because she’s been totally out of focus after Mina reunited with her. She does the laundry and lives with her and everything.

3992: It’s a good thing that Mina’s parents had this backstory where they got together because Mina’s mom was rescued by her future husband, because that makes Mina planning to require Sonic to rescue her feel more justified. She’s not being TOTALLY selfish by using him for that, though I still dislike it, she actually has a reason to believe a rescue romance would work.

3993: Mina’s mom is naturally worried because her daughter only seems to care about joining the Freedom Fighters for the selfish reason that she could get Sonic to rescue her and get him to date her.

3994: Sonic thinks Mina looks great all dressed up in that red dress with a picture of a vine on it.

3995: Mina and her mom hug

3996: and Mina tells her mom she loves her

3997: and her mom says it back.

3998: Her mom says a second time, ” I love you. “

3999: Mina looks relatable and sympathetic thinking that everything’s happening so fast that she doesn’t know how to help. Anyone would be afraid of hurting their teammates when their teammates are on or around the giant robot.

4000: Mina tells Rosie’s orphans not to worry.

4001: I guess it shows morality and responsibility that Mina quit trying to get Sonic to rescue her like she’s Princess Elise.

4002: When Mina tells her mom she quit the team, she says, ” Oh, I’m sorry, sweetie. A nice hot bath will cheer you up! ” She was nice to Mina the whole story. She showed her sympathy,

4003: called her sweetie,

4004; and told her how to cheer up.

4005: In a twist and Chekhov’s Gun, Sonic loves the sound of Mina’s singing in the shower.

4006: Sonic calls Tails bud. 17.

4007: Issue 120 Those Were the Days by Penders: When Knuckles is called a fish out of water, he’s not enraged at being insulted, and just says he’s from Angel Island to Mighty.

4008: Knuckles relates to Mighty’s loneliness because he lost his dad, justifying their friendship.

4009: Vector has a plane justifying him being able to come to the floating island.

4010: We actually see how Knux met Vector and Mighty. 4.

4011: Issue 120 The Royal Signet by Romy Chacon: Sally appreciates quality time with her mom showing that she cares about her.

4012: Sally calls a tulip beautiful.

4013: Sally’s mom laughs from Sally’s joke about the fact that Antoine would call his upper lip more distinguished than his bottom one.

4014: She compassionately gives her mom her vest on a windy day,

4015: and Sally reveals that her mom just got over a cold, which humanizes her mom.

4016: She tells her mom she does think the signet is special to her.

4017: Sally kept the royal signet gold jewellery of Julayla all along, and it’s chained to the inside of her vest so that she won’t lose it on one of her missions.

4018: Sally and Rosie hug.

4019: It shows how much she and Rosie care about Julayla that they want to honor her birthday long after she’s dead.

4020: Alicia says to Rosie after she thinks she needs to greet her with a bow, ” There is no need for formalities. ”

4021: She says that after all those years of Rosie taking care of Sally, she considers her family.

4022: Sally’s mom also says Rosie can call her Alicia, being informal,

4023: and holds Rosie’s hands.

4024: Rosie thanks her.

4025: Alicia says she’s proud of Sally after explaining that she thinks she’ll always be in Julayla’s debt for the good job she did raising Sally.

4026: We see Julayla in the sky looking down at Sally, so she got to see her reunite with her family. 16.

4027: Issue 121 The Prince and the Revolution by Bollers: “ Nice evasive tactic, Geoffrey my dear, “ Hershey snarks when the plane they’re in gets hit.

4028: Elias thinks bitterly about how Geoffrey made the crowd cheer about the idea of fighting robots, reflecting on how he always made bad ideas sound good at the time.

4029: “ So, is this the way the heir to the throne of Acorn handles a stressful situation, by running away? Listen- “ I love that lie from Geoffrey.

4030: Elias snaps at Geoffrey as a consequence of his earlier treatment of him, yelling that he’s done listening to him, and says, “ Do you hear me, skunk?! I’m through taking orders from you! “ It shows consequences to Geoffrey’s manipulation of Elias because the latter resents him for it, actually recognizing that he shouldn’t just blame himself for it, like he seemed to be when he ran away from home.

4031: The villagers of Furville help in defeating the robots of Eggman. This is why I love Furville, I respect its civilians way more.

4032: Elias tells Sally he missed her

4033: as they hug

4034: and he apologizes to her for running away.

4035: Elias’ wife tells Sally and Sonic she’d love to have them stay for dinner. 9.

4036: Songbird by Bollers: Mina becomes a concert singer thanks to Sonic telling her to sing for a band.

4037: She’s relatably nervous thinking she’s gonna totally kill Sonic for making her deal with such stage fright.

4038: Sonic calls Tails little buddy.

4039: Because Sonic gives Mina a thumbs-up and points to her,

4040: she gets the confidence to start singing excellently.

4041: While even Sally prefers listening to Mina’s singing for the first time than making Nicole scan a piece of paper,

4042: Nicole shows personality by snarking that Mina’s pop music is totally overrated. So, she likes more creative music? Too bad that was never shown again.

4043: Mina thanks the audience saying she loves them afterwards.

4044: Mina’s mom says her daughter’s all grown up now.

4045: Mina hugs Sonic. 10.

4046: Issue 122 Heart Held Hostage by Bollers: Jules helpfully teaches Sonic to play another melody on the acoustic guitar than the one he did in Station Square. When he plays a wrong note,

4047: he tells him he made a mistake and

4048: Sonic apologizes.

4049: Sally tells her parents not to worry.

4050: Sally saying that she won’t be needing an escort is a good deed because not only did it save him the effort but it saved him the guilt of blaming himself when she inevitably got kidnapped.

4051: “ What, is it my cologne? “ It was kind of amusing how the potential royal escort reacted to Sally turning him down.

4052: Mina and Sonic make a great singing duo.

4053: Bunnie has the street smarts to tell Tails not to go up to Sally since she’s sad about Mina and Sonic.

4054: Someone in the audience calls the singing awesome after it’s done along with the mandatory cheering for them.

4055: Mina tells Sonic he’s great at the guitar.

4056: He tells her she’s not so bad herself.

4057: Fang’s vehicle is actually menacing-looking this time around, being black.

4058: Fang naturally works with a bunch of other weasels.

4059: We actually see Sonic’s shoe IMPACT one of the jerks who was working for Fang!

4060: And because he kicks him, the king’s able to interrogate him. One of the weasels naturally mocks Bunnie’s bluff, smartly knowing she wouldn’t drop him to his death.

4061: King Acorn forced the weasel who laughed at his wheelchair squeaking to tell him where Sally was taken. He was so confident in this that he did this to him without his guards in the room or the others. 16.

4062: Issue 122 Afterlife by Penders: The deity that talks to people in the afterlife is a woman in a white robe. who takes on the image that’s most comforting. Pretty nice for someone who won’t take down Robotnik. 1.

4063: Issue 122 When There was only one Guardian by Penders: “ Get a grip, Vector! If you think for one moment I’m gonna put up with your garbage, you’re gonna be one sorry croc! “ I love that Julie stands up to Vector like a badass after he yells at her for being in Knux’s room.

4064: Julie kicks Vector in the face.

4065: When Knux and Vector first met, they traded punches a little, which makes sense. 4 good things.

4066: Knuckles was unusually mature by telling Vector that they could just stop fighting,

4067: and Vector was by smartly agreeing to stop the fight.

4068: He also smartly lets him

4069: help him up.

4070: A bird guy says to Knuckles, ” Pleased to meet you as well! ”

4071: He says, ” Likewise! ”

4072: Julie admits that the only thing she and Vector have in common is they both loved Knuckles dearly and will miss him. It’s good because it’s sweet of her. 10.

4073: Issue 123 Heart Held Hostage by Bollers: It’s a good thing Mina came along with Sonic, she’ll be vital on the mission to save Sally from Fang.

4074: Fang can play the piano.

4075: Sally smartly manipulates Fang into turning around to her to let his guard down, by making up a story about wanting to extort her parents because, “ Do you know what it’s like having all of your wealth controlled by your parents? It’s awful! This would be my chance to get back at them. “ It shows me what Sally would be like as a villain. I wish we saw Alicia more often. I chuckled at Sally pretending, saying, “ Why not let me join your gang? “

4076: Fang amuses me saying that he didn’t know Sally had all this “ teenage angst against the ‘rents, “ and relates to her, so maybe that’s why he became a criminal.

4077: Sally then is a bit of a badass by punching Fang to disable him,

4078: and grabbing his gun, threatening to get herself out of the room.

4079: “ Sit this out, tough guy. “ Sally looked badass with her cool, calm lines in a tense situation where she’s being threatened with guns by her kidnappers.

4080: Sally and Sonic hug.

4081: At least it makes Sonic happy that Sally tells him that she loves him

4082: and kisses his cheek.

4083: Fang is a threatening villain here because he planned to get back at Sally by shooting her with a sniper-rifle without giving away that he was planning to do it first.

4084: Mina, despite seeing Sally and Sonic admit their feelings for each other more openly, doesn’t hate either of them, heartbreak aside.

4085: She even takes a bullet for Sally.

4086: And conveniently for Mina, “ we mongooses heal fast. “ Good, since she looked like she was going to die and that would’ve been a waste of a character that was being built up to as having a promising singing career AND she has super speed at that.

4087: Mina tells Sonic that she loves him, resolving that plot thread.

4088: Mina symbolically tells Sally that she’ll recover.

4089: Sonic and Sally are so polite to Mina after she said she loved Sonic. Rather than embarrass her, they act like it never happened. 17.

4090: Issue 123 Afterlife by Penders: Young Sally’s relatably sympathetic because she complained to Knuckles that she spends more time learning to be a princess than being with her friends.

4091: Knuckles used to be quite smitten with Sally, so I guess that’s why he got endeared to her. 2.

4092: Issue 123 The Last Robian by Bollers: Sally had her hand on Sonic’s shoulder.

4093: Sonic had his hand on Mina’s shoulder when she was crying

4094: and had his other hand on top of hers.

4095: Sonic and his mom hug after he sees that she was deroboticized.

4096: We see two people hold hands.

4097: Muttski’s back to looking like an acceptable cute pet. The mass deroboticization happened at least. Good, the Robians looked creepy and weren’t treated right.

4098: Chuck tells Jules not to worry.

4099: It’s nice of Chuck to try to deroboticize Jules for a while.

4100: It was sweet that Jules put a blanket over Chuck when he was sleeping at his desk.

4101: I laughed when Sonic said to Eggman, ” Why’d you deroboticize all of the Robians EXCEPT for my dad?! Is that how you get your kicks now, ya big jerk? ” ” Don’t be stupid! What makes you think I changed any of them back in the first place? “

4102: After Chuck says he won’t rest until he’s deroboticized Jules, It’s so mature and considerate of Jules to tell Chuck, ” No, Charles. I can’t stand the way you’ve been pushing yourself lately. I realized that when we were all roboticized, we were happier. Why should now be any different because I still am? Instead of focusing on the fact that I haven’t changed, how about celebrating the fact that everyone else has? ”

4103: Sonic says Jules is right. 12.

4104: Issue 124 Sonic Adventure 2.5: Alpha by Bollers: Sonic apologizes to Tails because he can’t go on an adventure with him today

4105: when Tails is adorably excited to go adventuring with him like a lovable kid. ” Are we going on an adventure? Huh, Sonic? Huh… Huh Sonic? ”

4106: Sonic puts his hand on Tails’ shoulder.

4107: He tells him not to worry.

4108: He reassures him that they’ve got the rest of their lives for adventures.

4109: Tails says about the breakfast Sonic’s mom cooked, ” Yummy! “

4110: Sonic’s mom hugs him.

4111: Jules hugs Sonic at the same time.

4112: Sonic’s mom kisses him on the cheek.

4113: She says, ” Good luck son! ”

4114: Chuck puts his hand on his shoulder

4115: and says he’ll do fine with Sally.

4116: Sonic thanks him for saying that.

4117: At least it makes Sonic happy that he gets to hold her and kiss her cheek and they say they missed each other.

4118: The president refuses to make a deal with Eggman.

4119: It would’ve been way more interesting in SA2 if Eggman had taken control of the president’s limo in an attempt to destroy him.

4120: Rouge is useful and good by saving the president.

4121: Of course, it IS pointed out that the driver is still in danger.

4122: Rouge tells the president not to worry.

4123: She reassures him that she’ll save him too.

4124: It makes Sonic and Sally feel good at least that their arms are interlocking.

4125: It is nice of Sally’s parents to give her their blessing to date Sonic.

4126: Sally’s mom calls her darling.

4127: When Shadow attacks Sonic, it’s smart of Sally to tell Shadow they don’t want any trouble.

4128: So Shadow apologizes for mistreating Sonic

4129: and gets to explain he thought he was under attack.

4130: Sally keeps Sonic from stupidly attacking Shadow again which could’ve gotten him hurt.

4131: Nicole picks up an emergency signal from King Acorn again. She’s like a cell phone.

4132: Eggman calls the castle in a panic requesting help because of the Xorda ship ruining his city of Megalopolis.

4133: The king naturally is suspicious of the idea of him requesting help from him.

4134: The king ends the transmission with Eggman before he could make an alliance with him, to spite him and get him panicked and willing to do whatever it’d take for them. That was badass of the king to do.

4135: “ He’s no longer robotic, no longer invincible. For the first time in a long time, he’s scared. Better to let him sweat. “ 32.

4136: Issue 124 Afterlife by Penders: Aurora apologizes to Knuckles. 1.

4137: Issue 125 Sonic Adventure 2.5: Omega by Bollers: Sally is allowed by her dad

4138: to be the naïve teenage girl voice of reason to the Xorda. I’d trust her with that more than the stern authority figure king, who wouldn’t look sympathetic to the pissed-off aliens. She fails, but it was still better for her to do it and get to do something for once.

4139: There’s an actual explanation for why humans and Mobians coexist on a planet; animals were changed into Mobians by the Xorda attacks. I love and respect that they decoded to explain that when they didn’t have to. It’s called not being lazy.

4140: It makes sense that the human-shaped human-intelligenced Mobians have a sizable percentage of human DNA.

4141: The king gutsily bargains for territory with Eggman.

4142: Sonic says, ” Cool! Way to go, King Max! “

4143: It makes Sonic feel good that Sally hugs him from behind,

4144: and says she could kiss him.

4145: The Xorda threatens the entire planet with a black hole generator, which is a very epic and creative threat.

4146: Tails saving Fiona from a laser makes him responsible for all the good she’ll do for the heroes later, like when she does First Aid on Sonic, and throws a bomb to get rid of it in Mina’s concert, and gets Bean off Sonic’s head. Besides she didn’t do anything to inconvenience the Freedom Fighters as a whole in Issue 172, so compared to traitors like Drago, Scales, Geoffrey and Mimic she was harmless.

4147: The Xorda weapon has an EMP wave generator, destroying every technological device approaching it, which is very Genre Savvy and impressive of the villain.

4148: EVERY hero and even every villain, rushes to destroy the Quantum Dial. That’s inspiring. The Fearsome Foursome and Lien-Da show up, the entire Dark Legion. Even Big shows up with his fishing rod.

4149: Knuckles comes back to life

4150: and uses his power to destroy the things on the Quantum Dial that would kill everyone around it.

4151: Sonic and Sally have a genuine heartfelt goodbye to each other, as Sonic tells the crying Sally that he has to sacrifice himself for the world

4152: they hug,

4153: Sonic says he loves her,

4154: Sally says she loves him,

4155: and I guess Sonic kisses her cheek,

4156: before he saves the world.

4157: Sally and Bunnie hug. 21.

4158: Issue 126 Red Chaos by Karl Bollers: It’s refreshing and creative and unique to dedicate a story arc to Sonic in various alien planets trying to voyage home. That takes guts.

4159: Sonic decides to save the ant aliens with his spindash.

4160: The ant aliens are telepathic and have golden light over their heads while doing so, talking to Sonic in English with magic. They learned his language by accessing his mind telepathically, actually explaining why they understand him. And the reason I believe this just fine is mostly because the Fire Ant Mobians ALSO have telepathy.

4161: I love how polite and tolerant and nice to Sonic the ant people are instead of hating him for being another species.

4162: The ant alien planet is the one that has Red Chaos Emeralds. It’d be overly convenient and fictiony for only Mobius to have Chaos Emeralds, so I like that plenty of other planets have Emeralds.

4163: The bee stingers can send toxins out of their stingers.

4164: Uniquely, when Sonic summons the power of the Red Emeralds, a Super Sonic is summoned outside of his body as a separate being, who only is out for destruction, wanting to destroy a moon and at first destroying all of the bee people.

4165: Good, the evil bee people who wanna destroy the other species all get destroyed.

4166: The evil Super Sonic being was realistically pretty menacing as a villain, kicking Sonic into a metal wall and rapidly hitting him.

4167: I also find it charming that he tried to aim at two moons to jumpstart global chaos, if only because it reminded me of what Sonic the Comic’s Super Sonic would do. That was nostalgic. And it follows the logic of earlier Super Super Sonic that he eventually disappears because the Super form is temporary. 10.

4168: Issue 126 Better Read than Dead by Gallagher: The story’s creative; it has a villain who makes Sonic start slowly fading away with his voice getting quieter because he can cause retroactive production delays to make their comic rushed into being unfinished.

4169: It’s also creative that Deadline ends up defeated by being covered in the names of the creative talent who made the comic and he says he can’t withstand the onslaught of all of that talent. 2.

4170: Issue 127 Evo-Solution by Karl Bollers: The universal translator was an excellent bit of actual effort by the writer, when compared to just lazily having all of the aliens speak the same language that Sonic does and vice versa like in Fleetway.

4171: Before Sonic had the translator in his ear, the alien said something and he said, ” Uh… thanks? ” because he didn’t understand him, which was charming.

4172: The crew of the spaceship trying to bring Sonic back home is so nice to him! They’re not discriminatory against Sonic for being of a different species at all. They don’t have to help him, but they do anyways. I also respect that their species is quite devoted to the art of linguistics, even if that’s pointless as a detail.

4173: Sonic seems relatable here, I relate to his awkwardness when he’s interacting with the aliens. He says, ” Uh… yeah. ” after they introduce themselves.

4174: When Sonic’s told he’s being taken to a trading hub where his chances of finding a way back to Mobius are gonna be better, he says, ” Thanks, ” to the aliens.

4175: It was so nice of one of the aliens to perform a Heroic Sacrifice to send Sonic into the only pod left.

4176: It showed what a hero Sonic is because he was upset that the alien sacrificed himself for someone who clearly was way more valuable of a person than him. At first he had tried to tell him that he can’t get in that pod. Sonic thinks, ” Goodbye, “Captain Oe. Goodbye, ” and sheds a tear, showing that he truly respects him and his sacrifice and is sad about it.

4177: It’s justified that the Captain is able to do this to Sonic, as he paralyzes Sonic with the stinger on his tail. Him sacrificing his life honestly brought some tears to my eyes at one point, and that was on the THIRD time experiencing the issue! So well done, comic!

4178: Sonic shows subtle homesickness because the pink liquid of the alien lake reminds him of his mom’s lemonade.

4179: The pink water with the tree that grew up near it, freezes over as the winter. Fascinating!

4180: When Sonic first reaches the planet, he notices some interesting things that prove time is going faster here, like a tree growing up really fast,

4181: and primordial life growing to become a land-walker from the lake,

4182: and the seasons changing quickly.

4183: Naturally, Sonic panics at this and goes back into his pod to hide, because this planet is dangerous, as we get the irony that for once, something is too fast for even Sonic.

4184: Sonic is so relatable as an audience surrogate in this story. “ Whoa, whoa, WHOA! That’s gotta be it!! “

4185: As soon as Sonic’s pod crash-lands on a planet, this story reminds me of an episode of Futurama where, because “ robots do everything faster, “ the crew get to witness nanobots evolve over the course of days to being advanced forms of sentient life, who see Farnsworth as their creator god for making their nanobot ancestors. In this story, every time Sonic looks out of his space pod, he sees the planet advance significantly in time, until it ends up being in the future with time not advancing really fast anymore –

4186: A good thing indeed since that could prove hazardous to Sonic, you never know when a nuke might be skipped ahead to by that fast time where Sonic’s standing or something.

4187: Nobody ever entering Sonic’s pod to interact with him in all that “ time “ is explained because the pod was way too hard for anyone to enter from the outside.

4188: It’s cool that as Sonic speaks the words “ blowing my mind, “ every word of his sentence we see time on the planet advance to another part of its lifespan, which is a very cool effect.

4189: Time being brought to normal is explained properly, as the aliens did it with a device so they could interact with Sonic, who they think created all of them since he’s been there since their civilization started.

4190: “ Time out! For the first time in my life, I feel as if someone is going too fast for me! “ I love his lines here! So relatable, he’s reacting so realistically to the weirdness around him.

4191: The writer put effort into how Sonic as an idol would affect a planet’s history. Their planetary emblem is a blue hedgehog head,

4192: and when their scientists learned that Sonic was alive, just moving slowly compared to them, a religious war started across the planet because people had believed since their civilization started that Sonic was an inanimate idol that created the planet’s life rather than being alive and merely appearing like a statue.

4193: Sonic is so relatably humble and awkward when addressing people who see him as their god. He’s awkward, acting like a normal person wanting to be interacted with in a normal way.

4194: Once again, I’m pleasantly surprised at how nice these aliens are, as they don’t get mad and in denial at him telling him their religion is wrong and he’s just an alien who wants to get home. Instead,

4195: some of the aliens offer to build him a spaceship,

4196: there’s a cool effect as we see the same camera angle being maintained as the spaceship is built around Sonic.

4197: And it being built really quick is justified by them turning back on the “ advanced-speed-time “ of the planet.

4198: Also, I like that the people of the planet don’t inexplicably evolve into glowing flying gas as if that’s supposed to be the most advanced evolutionary step for people. Instead, they always look the same species. 29.

4199: Issue 127 Agent Sonic vs Agent Knuckles by Gallagher: I’d never expect a Spy vs Spy parody with Sonic and Knuckles. It’s interesting to see Knuckles aim at Sonic with a sniper rifle just to get one-upped because Sonic presses a button to send rockets resembling little trees at him.

4200: Eggman hits Sonic and Knuckles with the wrecking ball at the Whacks Museum.

4201: Sonic and Knuckles scare Eggman and pull him by the arms out of his Eggmobile.

4202: Shadow comes out of nowhere in the end to zap Sonic and Knuckles with a blue beam from a machine. 4.

4203: Issue 128 Starmada by Karl Bollers: Sonic thinks that all those sleepless nights playing Sega game consoles paid off, as a charming line when he was steering his spaceship around asteroids.

4204: When Sonic’s welcomed aboard a spaceship, he says thanks.

4205: It makes sense that the aliens would be mad at Sonic for convincing EVE to go to space since she destroyed countless planets afterwards. He’s getting consequences for something he did long ago, even if he HAD to do it. It’s just satisfying that a plot thread’s being wrapped up after so long and we see what EVE’s been doing. 3.

4206: Issue 128 E.V.E. ILL by Karl Bollers: Sonic reacts quite realistically to seeing EVE destroy a planet, being full of anguish lampshading, “ Why’d you do it, EVE?! WHY?! “ He’s also anguished at seeing the spaceship of angry aliens get destroyed by her too.

4207: I like the idea of EVE using a fake Sally made from Sonic’s memories to try and trick him.

4208: Sonic and “ Sally “ bump helmets cutely

4209: when they hug.

4210: Sonic shares my own suspicion with the fake Sally because she dismisses Sonic as illogical for wanting to stop EVE.

4211: There’s a slightly more acceptable-looking, feminine-looking design of EVE.

4212: Reality has Ensued, as the reason EVE went evil was because everywhere that she went, she was met with fear and violence. Go figure, she looked like an Eldritch Abomination!

4213: So, EVE decided it was her moral right to liberate other AI from their organic masters, as she had liberated herself. It’s a very logical evil plan of hers. And the evil comes in because she rescues the robots by robbing planets of all their metal, which happens to destroy them.

4214: “ Yeah, instead of serving everyone else, now they have to answer to you! “ Sonic calls out EVE,

4215: and I love EVE’s flawlessly logical viewpoint causes her to realize Sonic’s right, listening to reason.

4216: She also gives Sonic a portal to the Bem planet.

4217: It’s great that we’ll get to see the Bem’s planet, picking up the plot thread of the Bem aliens that deroboticized Robotnik since we could’ve easily never seen their planet again. By getting to actually visit Argentium, the Bems aren’t just a BLAM moment. 12.

4218: Issue 129 Space Gamble by Romy Chacon: Galactic space race.

4219: It’s justified that Sonic’s spaceship was damaged, so he has to race to get it repaired, rather than him totally wasting time in the race.

4220: As a twist, Sonic briefly loses the race,

4221: and he’s still the fastest because the one he lost to was a cheater, a relief since before I was given the impression that cheating in the race was never punished, so Sonic gets the victory awarded to him so it’s not depressing!

4222: This was obvious but it’s fantastic that there’s such creative variety in all of the different ways the alien species look in Tossed in Space. Sure they might not all look nice, but that’s realistic, and honestly I’d still take that over a character looking like he’s a fan OC, they always look professional. 5.

4223: Issue 129 Welcome to the Wheel World by Karl Bollers: Robot people on a Smog planet.

4224: This was when the Bem first made the deroboticizer to “ help “ those aliens,

4225: and it took them 30 years to make the deroboticizer so it’s not too easy.

4226: Sonic reacts in anguish at seeing that Amadeus was roboticized, putting his hands over his eyes thinking, “ I’m so sorry, Tails! “

4227: It’s interesting that Tails’ parents were rescued and deroboticized by the Bem and brought to the Bem planet, where they lived for years.

4228: “ Are you jokers kidding me?! “ Sonic’s lines are cathartic in this sham trial. “ More like you’ve been keeping them prisoner against their will! “

4229: When Sonic tells Tails’ parents after hours of catching up with them that Tails is now a brave hero, pilot and mechanical genius, Rosemary says, ” I always knew he’d make us proud. “

4230: Sonic has his hand on Rosemary’s shoulder.

4231: He has another hand on Amadeus’ shoulder.

4232: He tells Rosemary not to worry.

4233: He reassures her she’ll be able to see Tails again.

4234: Some of the Bem realize that the hero shouldn’t be persecuted and even made up for accidentally killing the smog planet people by deroboticizing them.

4235: The head magistrate herself tries to make up for the sentencing by telling the heroes about the Bem wormhole to Mobius.

4236: Amadeus calls his wife dear.

4237: We see Tails’ parents holding hands.

4238: Amadeus says, ” Miles will always know how much we love him. “

4239: It is interesting that a textbox says, ” your sister Bem, ” implying that all of the Bem are actually female, which is subtly indicated by their eyelashes, but they’re still bald. This is an extra detail the writer didn’t have to come up with.

4240: The moon’s still blown in half from SA2, even though we didn’t even get to SEE it in the adaptation itself, showing that this comic cares more about continuity than the games do. 18.

4241: Issue 130 Home Part 1 The Blue Blur Returns by Bollers: It’s fantastic to shake up the status quo, changing some things when Sonic gets back to Mobius

4242: and it’s a brilliant solution that it was only weeks from Sonic’s perspective, he got transported ahead in time as well as space by the wormhole since time and space are linked.

4243: It is at least a good deed of Eggman to have a priest marry Geoffrey and Hershey for them even if it’s OOC.

4244: It’s creative that they get married in military uniforms in a burning village.

4245: Sonic destroys robots to save the two, of course.

4246: This is the first time Eggman had an AI ” daughter. “

4247: At least Eggman never had “ children “ who are adults before.

4248: When a kid tells Sonic, ” Castle Acorn’s that way, ”

4249: Sonic thanks her.

4250: It makes it easier to buy that Knothole and the FFs survived a year without Sonic because the Chaotix are with them; Espio can go invisible, Charmy can fly, and Mighty has super strength, so they can make good substitutes.

4251: Of course, everyone’s happy Sonic’s back, including Julie who says, ” This is amazing! ”

4252: Knuckles gives him a hi-five

4253: and says it’s good to see him.

4254: Knuckles puts his hand on Sonic’s shoulder.

4255: King Acorn’s back to walking, not being depressing anymore, which was even foreshadowed by him trying to walk with those horizontal bar things.

4256: Chuck hugs Sonic.

4257: Sally was reacting realistically to losing Sonic, as even a year later she regularly cries at his statue and tells Sonic that she always knew he’d come back to her. So she was always in denial. This is good foreshadowing at least and shows how much she cares.

4258: When drawn well, I like Sally’s long hair, it distinguishes her from Elias and is more feminine and easy to remember, and it makes sense that she wouldn’t care about maintaining her well-known hairstyle when distracted by grief over Sonic.

4259: At least it makes Sonic and Sally happy that Sonic kisses her.

4260: At least it makes Sonic and Sally happy that they walk with interlocking arms.

4261: Rotor calls Sonic buddy.

4262: Sonic’s dad asks if he needs a hand after Tails flies right into him

4263: and helps him up.

4264: Sonic’s mom hugs him saying that she missed him so much.

4265: It makes Sonic more likable that he says he missed her too.

4266: Antoine was temporarily replaced with his evil twin for a long time without that twin giving himself away immediately and doing something evil. That’s creative for the Sonic series.  

4267: Rotor has spectacles and wears a coat with a tool belt with tools on it now. That’s at least a change of pace, even if he looks harder to take seriously.

4268: Eggman’s threatening to destroy some major places with missiles simultaneously, which makes him quite a menacing and memorable villain. 28.

4269: Issue 131 Home Part 2 The Gathering by Bollers: The new Freedom Fighter Special goes into space and moves in orbit with Mobius to be faster.

4270: Fiona asks Rotor why they don’t pack spacesuits then, lampshading why Rotor doesn’t have that.

4271: “ Is THIS the part where I’m supposed to say, ‘ Gee Whillikers? ‘ “ I like Fiona’s relatable snarking and lampshading here as a Freedom Fighter. This establishes her as an outsider who’s more relatable to a more morally neutral person rather than one of the self-righteous heroes.

4272: Knuckles and Antoine’s dad shake hands. 4.

4273: Issue 131 Mobius 25 Years Later Prologue by Penders: We see a realistic dialogue between the future Sally and Sonic. Sonic says, “ I thrive on action, fast moves and adventure! Listening to everyone rag and making decisions just isn’t my bag! “ Yeah, exactly.

4274: Knuckles having a cyborg eye is cool. I wish it looked just like his normal eye, but whatever, it gives him cool abilities we’ll see later.

4275: Lara-Su attacks Lien-Da’s son who snarked that someday they’re gonna have to bow to “ Miss Sunshine here. “ This shows she’s like Knuckles.

4276: The kids laugh at Rutan instead of Lara-Su, which is good.

4277: They got Mobotropolis back in a future, with no radiation in sight.

4278: Sonic’s kids are named Sonia and Manik.

4279: The Dark Legion finally isn’t evil anymore since Dimitri and Lien-Da are casually living in Echidnapolis, and this was foreshadowed by Dimitri being allowed to make a speech at the council of Echidnapolis earlier and him being listened to about his defense of technology. So, this would be the natural result of that, people realize they should stop hating the Legion for their ancestors opposing a dumb technology ban.

4280: I really started to like Lara-Su when she was upset crying about the fact that she wants to be allowed to be a Guardian already. She reminded me of Korra in the first episode where she wasn’t allowed to leave the White Lotus Compound and be the Avatar out of overprotectiveness. Lara-Su really wishes she was allowed to be a guardian since she’s Knuckles’ daughter, while Knuckles smartly doesn’t see the point of continuing the guardianship when the Brotherhood exists.

4281: Lara-Su wants to have the first dance with her father at her Unveiling party, showing genuine affection for him right away after being mad at him,

4282: plus, she even did relax and let him reason with her successfully in the first place, so she’s not exactly a brat.

4283: Julie puts her hand on Lara’s shoulder. 11.

4284: Issue 132 Home Part 3 A.D.A.M. & Evil by Bollers: ADAM is a computer virus who can talk,

4285: and he infects Tails’ plane, trying to send him into the ocean.

4286: Vector defeats some robots with his really loud speakers, which uses his love of music, and his friends and him have industrial strength earmuffs of course.

4287: Amy destroys half the robots who were trying to get radiation released.

4288: Tails distracts ADAM with riddles, trying to get him to prove he’s smart enough to solve them.

4289: Sally’s parents are right to keep Sally out of the danger. There was nothing she could have done there.

4290: Knuckles asks Amy if she’s okay when she’s tired.

4291: Julie shows concern about Knuckles’ well-being. 8.

4292: Issue 132 The Unveiling by Penders: Vector’s son can dance, of course,

4293: despite the twist that he’s a homebody.

4294: Harry apologizes

4295: and delivers Knuckles a message telling him to meet with Rotor to get told important info.

4296: Knuckles thanks him. 4.

4297: Issue 133 Home Part 4 by Bollers: M is Genre Savvy for smartly aiming eye lasers at where Sonic is going to be, and hits him successfully.

4298: It’s smart of Shadow to plan on killing Eggman, for the first time since this issue was released years before Shadow the Hedgehog.

4299: and it’s satisfying to see Eggman scared of him.

4300: Sally sees Sonic get hit by a laser by M and freaks out, as the natural consequence of all of Sonic’s close calls, and she runs away crying saying, “ Not again! Not again! “ showing that she cares about Sonic and is of course traumatized by him “ dying “ for a year. This is good for better justifying her freak-out with him in the next issue for wanting to keep endangering himself, though this should have happened in THAT issue so even newcomers would know this.

4301: Bunnie saves the day to help the injured Sonic. She punches M sending her flying.

4302: Bunnie’s cowboy jacket and hat look great.

4303: Fiona puts a medicinal cloth on Sonic’s shoulder,

4304: saying, “ Let’s take a look at that shoulder, you. “

4305: She also looks sad when she tells Sonic about Bunnie’s break-up with Antoine.

4306: Knuckles is fighting the robots along with Amy. This is especially impressive because he’s without his chaos powers.

4307: When ADAM realizes that he had fun with Tails, learning what fun is, he stops the virus hacking sparing Tails. If only this was allowed to lead up to what it was originally intended to. This is NOT the kind of maniac who would eventually get Tommy killed.

4308: While being completely gray like the Terminator, being surprisingly intimidating after she causes destruction revealing that she survived, M says, “ You ruined my make-up! “

4309: Bunnie flies all through the ship that was going to fire nukes and destroys it with her punches.

4310: Espio uses his long tongue attack against M,

4311: and M is Genre Savvy grabbing it.

4312: Sonic uses his speed around M to send her into the water with the wind, finding a creative way to defeat a robot that’s too tough to be beaten with a spindash.

4313: For more foreshadowing, we see Sally crying into her mom’s chest while

4314: her mother holds her

4315: and reassures her that Sonic’s alive multiple times. Quite a realistic reaction, her being that terrified after all those close calls. Why wouldn’t she become overprotective of Sonic after that? Sally’s rather sympathetic here.

4316: Her mother calls her sweetheart. 20.

4317: Issue 133 Midnight in the Garden by Penders: Knuckles isn’t angry with Rotor for not showing up at his daughter’s birthday party, and him saying, “ Fights have broken out over less, y’know, “ proves how much they’re good friends.

4318: Lara-Su’s a relatable teenage girl by being upset that her mom won’t let her go out partying after her sixteenth birthday when the other teens do get to do that.

4319: Lara-Su doesn’t like how she’s still treated like a child by her parents. It’s a relatable problem, tons of teens have to deal with that.

4320: It makes sense after Julie’s exciting dangerous childhood as a hero that she’d be overprotective of her daughter.

4321: It’s also like Character Development that Julie’s become such a responsible person when she’s more of a sassy punk as a kid/rebellious teen.

4322: It was funny that when Julie said, “ You ARE our BABY, after all! “ Lara whined, “ MOMMM! “ That makes me smile.

4323: Lara-Su complaining, “ Don’t I get any say in the matter? “ shows that Knuckles and Julie’s parenting is making their kid feel the same way as Knuckles felt being raised by his own family, which is a realistic, common result, people raise their kids the way they were raised, and even though Knuckles is trying to overcompensate in the opposite direction by NOT forcing his kid to be the guardian, it’s causing the same problem because either way she wants to do something and he’s not letting her choose her own path. It’s mature writing that a parent would have that problem, and it’s novel to have that happen to a hero like Knuckles, plus he’s “ an idiot “ so he’d naturally make that mistake. 8.

4324: Issue 134 Home Epilogue Say you Will by Bollers: It makes sense that the translator bonds with the nervous system, being in Sonic’s brain, because that means people who use it don’t have to hold the translator everywhere that they go.

4325: While Chuck says it’ll take more than that to do in his favorite nephew,

4326: Sonic’s mom says, ” We’re just glad you weren’t seriously hurt, son! ”

4327: and Jules says he’s glad he’s finally home.

4328: As foreshadowing, Sally hopes that nothing bad will happen to Sonic, saying, “ Let’s hope it never comes to that, Sir Charles! “ showing that she’s overprotective of him now after all the close calls with death he had.

4329: Sally hugs Sonic.

4330: Sally’s mom says she’s also glad he’s okay.

4331: She tells Sonic not to worry because Knuckles, Vector and Amy will all be at the celebration for Sonic’s return.

4332: There will be an outdoor celebration for Sonic’s return.

4333: Sally says Sonic should rest.

4334: She kisses his cheek.

4335: Sally’s mom says she’s proud of her.

4336: Sonic’s mom tells Sonic she’ll make him a big plate of chili dogs.

4337: Sonic’s family left Sonic’s room untouched because they couldn’t bear to change it, which was convenient for Sonic and showed they care about him a lot. When Sonic says he’s back for good and they’re a family again,

4338: Chuck says, ” You said it! ”

4339: and ruffles Sonic’s hair

4340: as Sonic’s mom hugs him.

4341: Sonic’s got a funny reaction to Muttski “ talking “ to him here. “ Muttski can talk! I know a lot of things have changed while I was away, but this is ridiculous! “ I smiled at that.

4342: Muttski calls Sonic his friend

4343: and tells him he’s happy to have him home again.

4344: Jules is having another human moment after him feeling like wearing clothes to try to look normal earlier,

4345: because he’s reading a book on the couch with a pillow and blanket.

4346: Chuck’s also reading a book. So we can get some vague sense of what he and Jules do for fun all day.

4347: Sonic’s mom hugs Jules comforting him because

4348: they find out the reason for why he wasn’t deroboticized.

4349: Chuck lampshades that he didn’t think of that earlier.

4350: Tails hugs Sonic

4351: and cheers and says he’s glad he’s okay.

4352: Tails cries, naturally having a realistic reaction to finally learning that his parents are alive on the other side of the universe and love him. This is exactly how I’d imagine Tails to react to learning he has parents. It gets me to care.

4353: Mina’s become more popular of a singer. Good for her! She has a job now and can feel important. Naturally, the king asked Mina to sing for the people as a morale booster.

4354: When the king welcomes Sonic back home,

4355: shaking his hand,

4356: Sonic thanks him.

4357: When Mina offers the king the microphone to do his announcement, he thanks her when he doesn’t have to, looking so happy.

4358: In retrospect I like the Tekno and Ebony cameos.

4359: Mina puts her hand on Sonic’s shoulder.

4360: She says it’s great to see him again.

4361: He says, ” Same here, Mina! ”

4362: He says he loved her act.

4363: More foreshadowing, the queen isn’t sure that Sally’s ready to assume responsibility over a kingdom, because she saw her panic attack when she thought Sonic died.

4364: Bunnie walks towards Sonic carrying Hope just to be nice.

4365: Sally puts her hand on Sonic’s arm.

4366: Rotor’s fireworks make people happy.

4367: Sonic says, ” Now that’s what I call genius, Rote. “

4368: Hershey thinks the fireworks are beautiful.

4369: Geoffrey agrees.

4370: He calls her my luv.

4371: Sonic congratulates Geoffrey and Hershey on their marriage finally.

4372: Geoffrey thanks Sonic.

4373: Geoffrey has his arm around her.

4374: ” Way to take out Eggman’s atomics Bunnie! “

4375: It makes sense that Bunnie and Patch broke up since he’s got a different personality from Antoine. That means there’s less time where Patch is spending time dating someone while tricking her into thinking he’s someone else, kissing her under false pretenses. It’d be more disturbing in retrospect if they hadn’t stopped dating, tainting every romantic moment they’d have.

4376: Good, the king HAS bodyguards for the world tour, so he’s not a total idiot.

4377: Sonic has his arm around Sally.

4378: Before Sally tells Sonic to rule by her side, we see her mom lovingly put her head on the king’s shoulder with her eyes closed.

4379: This is exactly how I’d imagine Sonic and Sally’s relationship to fall apart; Sonic wants to be a hero with an exciting life, and Sally wants him to stop worrying her and rule at her side. Which is what she’ll ask him to do eventually anyways after Eggman’s defeated. This was inevitable, and naturally, all those close calls with Sonic almost dying terrified and traumatized Sally enough that she snapped and pushed this argument to be way too early. Even ever since Sonic Miniseries Issue 2, Sally showed she didn’t have faith in Sonic to survive dangerous situations and worried about him a lot. Why would she be able to handle getting too attached to Sonic?

4380: Avoiding Angst, What Angst, by having Sally snap at Sonic from Anger Born of Worry because she’s terrified of him risking his life. If he keeps risking his life, he might get killed, so they wouldn’t have a real future together. She’s been showing paranoid caution and a lack of faith in Sonic’s ability since the beginning of the series. So, this break-up was really inevitable and I was surprised it didn’t happen way sooner. And it’s way better for the break-up to happen from this than from Sally thinking he was cheating on her with Mina, like I assumed would be the excuse at Issue 100.

4381: Sally proves she was just Anger born of Worry because she immediately snaps to looking sad and shedding a tear, putting her hand on Sonic’s face saying, “ I don’t want you to do it anymore. “

4382: She also says a creepily clingy line proving just how broken she is from almost losing Sonic. Everyone has their limits. “ Stay with me. PLEASE, my love. Say you will. “ Bollers cared enough to show the realistic effects of long-term high stress on a person.

4383: Sally puts her hand on Sonic’s face which he’d appreciate.

4384: Sonic’s smart enough to realize what the potential consequences of turning Sally down might be, as he sheds a tear and apologizes to her with his head down and downcast eyes. He’s not an idiot, and he’s relatable if you think the break-up’s tragic. I can’t get enough of it, myself.

4385: Sally’s always trying to force herself to always be good and do good all the time (even being nice to Mina who she’s jealous of), she’s such a perfectionist it’s ridiculous, so it makes sense that she’d eventually snap and when she DOES do bad things, it’s got more of an impact, like the obvious Slap that girls do in the media to guys all the time, or when she made Knuckles dress up as her in a play humiliating himself. Trying to always be perfect can only take you so far.

4386: Sonic awesomely shows a backbone by getting enraged with her with fire in the background, saying, “ Selfish? SELFISH?! I sacrificed my life to save the planet, ended up on the far side of the universe BECAUSE of it, did everything I could to get back only to find out that I lost a whole YEAR of my life and now I just wanna END this stupid war! How is that SELFISH?!!! “ That’s so awesome! You go, Sonic! I had assumed that Sonic would be meek and pathetic like 06 Sonic and just be sad instead, not stand up for himself epically. This was written so much better than I had expected it to be! I guess I just expect Archie Sonic to not have a backbone like this, since he’s so much nicer than Fleetway Sonic and barely has much of a temper.

4387: Sally explains why she’s snapped at Sonic, saying with tears, “ Do you know what it was LIKE believing you were DEAD? It completely broke my heart. Watching Mecha hurt you brought it all back. And I refuse to have my heart broken again, Sonic. “ Trauma, obviously. Again, this is a scene of emotional impact, where actions have consequences and the characters react realistically with emotion to what they’re dealing with, which sounds like a basic thing, but it’s completely missing in games like Unleashed!

4388: After Sally asks Sonic if punching out Eggman’s lights matters more to him than being with her (I’m smiling and giggling just thinking of that line, because I’m imagining Sonic literally doing that to Eggman,)

4389: Sally then has the witty line, “ Then he can have you all to himself! “ 66! That’s because of how many times characters are nice to Sonic because they’re relieved that he’s still alive.

4390: Issue 134 In Transit by Penders: Knuckles being able to use his cyborg eye to see Lien-Da’s son through the bushes is pretty awesome. No wonder he has that thing instead of cloned eye replacement.

4391: Him sticking with the cyborg eye also shows character growth from when he was first introduced and was complaining about technology and glad echidnas “ ditched “ it.

4392: Knux naturally promised his wife he’d never spy on family, so he doesn’t have cameras in the Chaos Chamber. 3.

4393: Issue 135 Agent of K.N.O.T.H.O.L.E. by Romy Chacon: Sonic’s never had to fight robot versions of the Fearsome Foursome before. 1.

4394: Issue 135 Anonymous by Romy Chacon: After Eggman tells ADAM that he wants to take over the territory of King Acorn, he says that technically it was originally the king’s territory, “ but it’s my rule that counts. “ I laughed at that line. He’s such a hypocrite. “ COUNT THEM! Six, ADAM! “ And ADAM takes it literally. It’s charming seeing ADAM be so cutely literal-minded. He’s like a child.

4395: Eggman is nice to ADAM by taking back his insult about him being useless. All the more sweet when you remember that ADAM is like a son to him (M calls him Father, even.)

4396: I giggled that when Eggman asked for the name of the person who deroboticized people, ADAM says that yes, he knows the name, but doesn’t get that he wants him to tell him the name. 3.

4397: Issue 135 Dealing with the Devil by Penders: “ Boys will be boys! “ Dimitri says. “ I don’t see anyone saying that about teenage GIRLS! “ Lien-Da remarks. “ Boys are different! “ “ That’s very enlightened of you! “ I giggled at Lien-Da’s sarcasm against Dimitri, when he was saying it’s fine for teenage boys to be out all night. She should’ve been sarcastic a lot more often.

4398: “ Go, grandfather! “ Logically, Rutan’s happy that Dimitri is on his side.

4399: It makes perfect sense that Lien-Da would be the type of domineering parent that would cause her son to resent her. 3.

4400: Issue 136 The Infiltrator by Romy Chacon: Sonic’s mom offers ” Tommy ” eggs. She’s making them sunny side up.

4401: It’s responsible of Sonic’s mom to offer Sonic sunny side up eggs as well as chili dogs for breakfast instead of just chili dogs.

4402: Tails is wished good luck on his test by Jules

4403: and Tails thanks him for it, after Jules acts like a realistic father by lecturing Sonic on not thanking his mom for breakfast and apologizes.

4404: Bernadette gets sad at instinctively offering her robot husband food, which shows that she cares about him.

4405: Jules immediately forgives her, calling her honey and baby, and makes a joke.

4406: He tells her not to be sad and reassures her that Chuck will get him back to normal.

4407: Jules temporarily sacrifices his life for Sonic, showing he cares about him a lot. It’s very good to have moments like these for the Sonic character family members to kind of justify them being there; they mean a lot to the game characters for a reason.

4408: It says a lot that even though Sonic was exhausted from running all night, to the point of not walking to talk properly, he still had the energy to run to the Lake of Rings and get a Ring to save his father. 9.

4409: Issue 136 Girl Talk by Penders: Sally and Julie are best friends who regularly talk to each other in the future, which makes sense since they’re both girls and mothers by this point, so they can relate to each other.

4410: We get a little more insight into the characters of Manik and Lara-Su, because they’re both picky eaters, which is regularly a problem for their mothers.

4411: Some more insight, Manik and Sonia have zero interest in being a prince and princess, with Manik being like father like son,

4412: with Sonia relatably only liking the parts of being a princess where she gets to dress like one.

4413: Julie says that Lara-Su being like her when she was younger is what she’s afraid of.

4414: Sally’s not a snob because she tells Lien-Da she doesn’t have to be so formal as to call her your Highness and that just Sally will do.

4415: Manik has a crush on Lara-Su even though she’s older than him, which at least tries to develop on him,

4416: and relatably, Lara-Su doesn’t want her friends to find out about that because if her friends find out, they’ll tease her about it. 8.

4417: Issue 137 Robo-Dyne Systems by Romy Chacon: Sally respects Sonic’s wish to go on a mission to help save Tommy.

4418: We have the old Sally back, coming up with plans on the fly.

4419: “ Your wish is my command, “ Patch says, being snarky about being ordered to land the airship on the roof for Sally.

4420: Patch gets offended at being told to stay on the ship, wanting to get involved in the action and sucking up to Sally by saying he should protect her.

4421: Sonic puts his arm around Tails.

4422: Patch has an insecure soft spot being reminded that he’s not useful, which gets him offended when Bunnie tells people to help him.

4423: Sally gets to be useful, swinging by with a rope to save Sonic from an electrified floor.

4424: They make use of the duplicates concept because Sally and Sonic robots attack the heroes.

4425: Nobody assumes Sonic and Sally betrayed them. Bunnie figures out it’s not really them rather quickly.

4426: Patch defeats one of the infiltrators with his sword, being useful.

4427: Bunnie’s foot laser could’ve defeated them both, though. She defeats the robot Sally effortlessly. Of course, it’s awesome that the story isn’t padded out with Bunnie being reluctant to hurt a robot that looks like Sally.

4428: Tommy thanks Sonic for

4429: saving his life.

4430: “ I’m just Sally. Please don’t treat me like a stuck-up princess, when a hug will do. “

4431: And the hug with Tommy was sweet.

4432: Sonic runs all the way to the roof with his friends in tow.

4433: Tails saves them by piloting the plane over to them.

4434: The infiltrator factory explodes. 18.

4435: Issue 137 Trouble in Paradise by Penders: Like a true rich boy, Manik says, “ Padded seats, vid-disc player, this is boss! “ loving the luxuries. He was an interesting contrast to Sonic at the time.

4436: This is when we see Sonic and Sally have the conversation that while Sally was born and raised to be royalty, Sonic is meant for thrilling adventure.

4437: Manik lampshades why his family doesn’t have a maid or butler to announce his family when they reach another house. 3.

4438: Issue 137 Ooh La-La by Romy Chacon: It’s interesting that in Antoine’s past, he had a crush on a girl other than just Bunnie, Tatiana. It’s more believable that way.

4439: Antoine chose Bunnie because “ my heart no longer belongs to you for you to trample, “

4440: and walks away with her with her arm around her. 3.

4441: Issue 138 Return to Angel Island Part 1 The Message by Bollers: Sally apologizes to Sonic.

4442: The king thanks the audience for showing up.

4443: Sonic amuses me saying that Knuckles is as weak as a kitten and can’t even glide anymore, “ but still, “ while Knuckles glares at him.

4444: Knuckles doesn’t hurt him for that.

4445: Now Charmy’s back to being an orphan instead of a prince of a kingdom of ugly bee people, he’s like you’d expect from the games.

4446: Sally apologizes for his loss.

4447: She puts her hands on Knuckles’ shoulders as she’s being protective of him.

4448: Sonic asserts that he’s going on the mission whether Sally likes it or not.

4449: Sally allows him to go.

4450: Bunnie pilots a plane for once.

4451: Of course, Sonic and his friends realistically do use parachutes to get out of the plane instead of insulting our intelligence by jumping out of it and not getting hurt.

4452: Sonic runs around at super speed on Angel Island, taking advantage of it properly as in just seconds, he finds the dingo-run prison camp.

4453: The dingoes have electrified blue swords.

4454: I understand that the dingoes would work for Eggman just to spite the echidnas,

4455: and they’d be too afraid to get Eggman mad at them, like most people. I’m sure they want Eggman taken down just as much as Sonic, but these people are forced to work for him out of circumstance. 15.

4456: Issue 138 My Dinner with Sonic by Penders: We see a flashback where Tails gets hugged by Sonic’s daughter.

4457: And Mina was hugged by Sally.

4458: Manik gave a thumbs-up to Skye.

4459: Knuckles calls Sonic out on dunking his son in the pool for not letting him have the ball all day.

4460: While it is sad it makes sense Sonic would gradually lose his moral restraints because he hasn’t had a big villain to lash out at in years, so he’s slipping, and having no villain to fight makes him more like Scourge in his position, especially with him being a king.

4461: Knuckles helps Sonic out of the pool.

4462: Good for Sonic that he wisened up and learned to swim.

4463: When Julie calls Knuckles rude for saying that he and Sonic just barely tolerate each other, Sonic tells her it’s okay and gives her a thumbs-up, maturely agreeing with Knuckles with a smile instead of getting nasty to his friend for the slightest calling out.

4464: Knuckles knows what everyone in the kitchen wants from the chef.

4465: Knuckles lampshades Sonic knowing a big word like gourmand.

4466: Sonic lampshades that Knuckles isn’t focusing on Angel Island, saying, “ Where were you during the Overlander Uprising last summer? “

4467: Sonia hopes she won’t argue with Lara-Su constantly when she grows up like Sonic and Knuckles, because she’d hate to lose her as a friend.

4468: It could be funny that Sonic asks Knuckles, ” You turn into a pumpkin at midnight? ” 13.

4469: Issue 139 Return to Angel Island Part 2 Avatar by Bollers: Ray apologizes to Espio when he’s told to quit horsing around avoiding a laser, as he’s just having fun.

4470: Julie says, ” Nice moves, Charmy! ”

4471: He thanks her.

4472: Lara-Le stops the fighting between the heroes and Legion.

4473: She hugs Knuckles

4474: and says she’s so glad to see him.

4475: The social progress with Dimitri being listened to about technology by the council is NOT gone back on yet because it turns out, that the Dark Legion are Angel Island’s resistance against Eggman and his dingo army. They were heroic enough to have rescued the echidnas from the prison camp. I really like this, it was foreshadowed well because the Legion started out in the first place because of normal people hating the technology ban. It makes sense they’d be heroes.

4476: Doctor Finitevus shows up.

4477: He starts out as a “ good “ guy, as he’s one of the leaders of that good Legion.

4478: The Master Emerald now drains Knuckles’ energy temporarily, so that’s new.

4479: Sonic puts his hands on Knux’s back and head to reassure him compassionately,

4480: And Lien-Da’s a good audience surrogate mocking the fact that the echidnas all worship Knux as an avatar for coming back from the dead.

4481: Knuckles smiles all flustered and blushes with a heart above him because

4482: Julie kissed his head,

4483: and said, “ I have faith in you, Knuckles! “ Aw!

4484: Finitevus lampshades how stupid the parents were to not give their daughter cybernetic eyes.

4485: “ Where was he when you were languishing in Robotnik’s prison camp? Off playing errand boy to the kingdom of Acorn! He cared nothing about your welfare, yet you bow down before him while THUMBING YOUR NOSES AT YOUR TRUE BENEFACTORS! “ I agree, Finitevus, they should be more grateful to the Legion being nice to them for once! He has a great reason to resent Knuckles.

4486: “ Sheesh! Somebody sure didn’t need that extra cup of coffee in the morning! “ I love that line of Sonic’s against Finitevus.

4487: Knuckles says sorry.

4488: Knux is a great audience surrogate ranting about all the big changes to the status quo. 20.

4489: Issue 139 Slumber Party by Penders: Manik is playing spin the bottle with all of the teenage girls. He contrasts Sonic.

4490: When Manik is asked to play spin the bottle with his mother in the room, he hilariously gets nervous and speeds out of the room.

4491: ” Good one, ‘Su! ” She’s complimented on her choice of board game.

4492: Sonic impresses his son playing pool,

4493: Manik asks how to play pool,

4494: and Sonic says there’s a lot of things he wants to teach Manik but doesn’t have to.

4495: It’s refreshing to see the downtime and relatable situations of this story; some girls have a sleepover and play a board game. 7.

4496: Issue 140 Return to Angel Island Part 3 How Many Echidnas Does it Take to Protect a Master Emerald by Bollers: “ That’s gotta be the worst name I’ve ever heard for a kid! “ Knuckles responds to the name Kneecaps, and everyone laughs. That’s self-aware.

4497: I feel sorry about Sonic being depressed that Sally acted differently when he came back from the dead. When Sonic came back “ from the dead, “ he didn’t get nearly as warm a welcome as Knuckles had.

4498: Huh, The Hunter is used again as a villain,

4499: and in a way I prefer. Eggman puts a control collar on him – which is karma against him because Hunter put an electrocuting collar on Knuckles himself –

4500: Knuckles and his mom hug.

4501: He tells her not to worry because he’ll be fine.

4502: Charmy and Safron hold hands.

4503: Safron’s smart now because she agrees she’s better off staying here instead of insisting on being confrontational alongside him.

4504: Sonic makes the evil General Kage run into the wall.

4505: There’s a good dingo double agent that helped the heroes find Locke.

4506: I really like that they made Locke look more different from Knuckles, having old man gray eyebrows and chin, and it makes sense that he’d age faster from the stress of being tortured by General Kage to learn where the Master Emerald is.

4507: And of course, the hunter hunts down the echidnas down,

4508: to put them in Eggman’s life-draining Egg Grapes to power his city. It’s unusually smart of Eggman. This gives Eggman another way to take advantage of people he’s captured now that he inexplicably can’t roboticize anymore. It makes sense that the hunter would be released to benefit Eggman.

4509: The Hunter’s black and red clothes look cool, aside from the Eggman logo. 14.

4510: Issue 140 A Difference of Opinion by Penders: 25 years later, it turns out Knuckles was the one who defeated Eggman, because when Eggman threatened to destroy Angel Island with the Master Emerald, Knuckles destroyed him in a panic and became Chaos Knuckles again. It makes way more sense that Knuckles would’ve done this because he’s more violent, more of an anti-hero. He even considered killing Eggman in the Adventure adaptation. He’s also protective of the Emerald and the island. Sonic would refuse to do this because it’d make himself feel bad, and he was just making Eggman’s defeat take forever.

4511: Everyone has their own ideas of how they could make the world better, so maybe it makes sense that Chaos Knuckles would’ve tried to remake the world to improve it.

4512: This remaking explains how Julie-Su lost her cybernetics.

4513: It’s explained how Knux lost his eye, because Sonic used a device to get him out of Chaos Knuckles.

4514: It’s really sweet that the heroes all forgave Knuckles after that “ mad with power “ thing. They went back to being his friend and everything.

4515: In regards to the “ apocalypse “ scenario, Sonic shows humility saying this is a tougher nut than either of them could crack. He probably lost some confidence in how he could be a hero, because it’s been forever since he has been one. 6.

4516: Issue 141 Return to Angel Island Part 4 Ultimate Hero by Bollers: Sonic says, ” Nice work, Knuckles! ” for his work fighting the dingo army with them.

4517: The Hunter throws a Classic bumper with green chaos energy trailing behind it, and that’s how he imprisons echidnas in the Egg Grapes. It makes sense that he’d hate the echidnas when some of them trapped him in a cell. It’s clever they’re actually USING the Classic reference bumper.

4518: I giggled at Knuckles saying, “ Me?! Dad, without my chaos powers, what am I supposed to do, cheer? “ Imagine him actually doing that for Sonic.

4519: It’s sweet of Locke to have such faith in Knux even now.

4520: It was smart of Locke to ask Archimedes to keep an eye on the Master Emerald this time when it was entrusted to the Dark Legion.

4521: Remington tells Archy not to worry.

4522: Julie asks Locke how he’s feeling and

4523: he tells her not to worry with a smile.

4524: Julie calls out Lien-Da on the fact that when she was the leader of the Legion, she’s doing nothing but complain, calling her irresponsible for not realizing what the power of the Emerald would lead to. She yells at Lien-Da for throwing in their faces that the Emerald was entrusted to her. “ Well, stop complaining Lien-Da, and if you’re gonna be a real leader, grow up and start acting like one! “

4525: Lien-Da sheds tears while glaring at Julie, so it’s obvious the speech actually got to her.

4526: Lien-Da reveals why she possibly hates Julie to my surprise. “ Father loved YOU more. “ Wow, I’m impressed they explained that at least.

4527: The Hunter is thrown into the water and drowned by Knuckles. He’s a one-dimensional jerk so that’s awesome.

4528: Lien-Da’s frustration is amusing at how even some Legionnaires call Knux the Avatar for what he did. “ Have you lost your minds?! What are you doing?! “

4529: Sonic shuts up Eggman in his transmission, saying, “ AH, SHADDUP! “

4530: Knuckles is keeping his promise to Sally to return to Freedom Fighting in Knothole after rescuing his dad. He’s gotten Character Development rather than just always sticking on the island. “ Seeing everything that’s happened here while I was away has made me realize that…. “ if Eggman was allowed to go wild, the Island would be in danger, too. 15.

4531: Issue 141 Scenario by Penders: Rotor’s buddy Cobor is Lien-Da’s favorite scientist, giving him an interesting connection to Lien-Da making Sonic suspicious of him, and it explains how the two would’ve stumbled into each other. 1.

4532: Issue 142 The Original Freedom Fighters by Romy Chacon: Sonic catches Hope’s school notes really fast in a creative use of his super speed.

4533: It’s sweet of Sonic to give Hope a history lesson with a casual conversation with her. He really holds nothing against Hope for being related to Robotnik.

4534: The writer bothers to explain more about Knothole’s history. First, we’re told Sonic was 5 years old specifically when he had to go retreat to Knothole.

4535: The original Freedom Fighters were the ones who got people to Knothole right after Robotnik became ruler. This fills in the plot hole of “ how’d so many people know to get to Knothole so fast? “

4536: It also fills in the plot hole of “ who built Knothole the town anyways? “ It was the original Freedom Fighter adults who did.

4537: Since they’re adults and heroes, it makes sense they were inspirations to the heroes as kids.

4538: The group has a respectable plan for daily activity, as they want to steal resources from Robotnik and regularly damage his infrastructure.

4539: Sonic and Sally silently fist-bumped wanting to be Freedom Fighters too when they were listening in to their conversation. 8.

4540: Issue 142 I Wanna Be a Freedom Fighter by Romy Chacon: Rob is here for Amy.

4541: Sally says Amy grew to be a beautiful lady inside and out.

4542: She thanks Sally, stuttering at first.

4543: Sally respects Amy and thinks she’s matured because she took down so many robots when Robotropolis was threatened, which gave the other heroes the time to plan a good defense against the second much deadlier group of robots and saved them all from nuclear fallout.

4544: Sally doesn’t get mad at Amy for correcting “ with a little help from my Piko Piko Hammer, “ and despite looking annoyed at first, she instead admits that Amy was right. This was sweet.

4545: Amy gets a medal of valor.

4546: ” I-I don’t know what to say! ” is Amy’s response. She’s bashful the whole issue.

4547: This is the story where Sally finally accepts Amy as a Freedom Fighter. 8.

4548: Issue 142 Moment of Truth by Penders: Knuckles realistically is full of worry lying in bed because his thoughts are swarming with memories of how people he knows are complaining, like with Lara-Su saying she wants to be a guardian. 1.

4549: Issue 143 The Original Freedom Fighters by Romy Chacon: Hope says it’s beautiful when she sees someone catch a Ring that’s sprung out of the Lake.

4550: Sonic agrees that he never gets tired of that and says to the guy with the net, ” Good catch. ”

4551: He thanks Sonic,

4552: and another great attention to detail aside from the person using the net on the Ring at all is that he’s tasked with taking every Ring he finds to Rotor.

4553: It’s nice of Sonic to tell that guy he’ll stay here near the Lake of Rings to watch it.

4554: Sonic apologizes to Hope.

4555: It was sweet to see one of the original Freedom Fighters bouncing the young Sally on his knee with him saying that she’ll have to bounce HIM on her knee at some point, and her joking back that she’ll never get that big.

4556: The colonel makes Rosie happy by holding her hand.

4557: When I was told the original Freedom Fighters were betrayed by one of their own, that was where I was finally interested in their story last issue, and now we’re seeing it happening. And they all get roboticized and thrown into the Zone of Silence for better effect. It concretely explains why they aren’t around anymore and will never return, because otherwise, I’d have to question what happened to them and why we have the Freedom Fighters we know replacing them. They’re not a retcon because this means they don’t contradict anything.

4558: The snake Mobian gets karma because when he’s a traitor, then he gets roboticized just like his friends and thrown into the Void with them, never to be seen again.

4559: As karma, part of Robotnik’s justification for betraying Scales is that he’s a snake and can’t be trusted, throwing that back at him. This is actually in-character for Eggman, as opposed to rewarding a traitor and keeping up his end of the bargain for no reason.

4560: Sally found out that her father had been thrown in the Zone of Silence because one of the original Freedom Fighters found out and mentioned it in front of her. This fills in that plot hole, since otherwise how would she know that it happened without even witnessing it?

4561: Hope thanks Sonic for the help.

4562: Her teacher says, ” Very well done! You must have worked very hard on it! ” 14.

4563: Issue 143 Father’s Day by Penders: When Lara-Su asks Abby if she’s seen her mom and dad this morning, Abby tells her she’s out on the patio with Sally

4564: and Lara thanks her.

4565: We see Archimedes return to his people’s homeland. At least this means I can imagine that him coming here offscreen is why he stopped showing up in Flynn’s issues with no explanation.

4566: Archy says he couldn’t be prouder of Knuckles if he was his own son, with teary-looking eyes.

4567: Lara-Le was really upset and in tears from Locke dying needing surgery, even though she was married to Wyn. It’s sweet that she still loved him in some way.

4568: It makes sense they’d celebrate the day Angel Island first rose as a festival called Ascension Day.

4569: When dying, Locke admits that he always loved Lara and wishes he never left her.

4560: He then says he wishes with all his heart he had done things differently with Knuckles, not even sure where to begin with an apology. He’s being hard on himself because he always did love his son, but he WAS neglectful and pressured him, so it’s good that he feels regret.

4561: Knuckles realizes that he was making the same mistake as Locke in parenting by preventing Lara-Su from going through what he did being a guardian. 9.

4562: Issue 144 The Die is Cast by Penders: Knuckles lets Lara-Su be the next guardian.

4563: She hugs Knuckles

4564: and says he’s the best.

4565: Knuckles convinces Julie to not be mad anymore from overprotectiveness, just by saying he loves his family.

4566: He kisses her.

4567: Sally puts her hand on Knuckles’ shoulder.

4568: I’ve never seen the Sonic characters in hazmat suits before. Them needing this is a powerful way to show what a threat Eggman usually is.

4569: Eggman was wise enough to build a back-up shelter from a weapon.

4570: It’s implied Eggman’s plan to use a superweapon was stopped by Sonic. 9.

4571: Issue 144 Love and Loss by Romy Chacon: Sally says she loves her people and will do anything she can to help them, including help them with their romance problems. 1.

4572: Issue 145 Shadows of Hope by Penders: Locke naturally wants Shadow’s help finding the missing Brotherhood because he’d be powerful.

4573: Shadow obviously has a PTSD reaction, since he sees Hope being told by Locke that she has to back down and is reminded of Maria being shot, and panics and attacks.

4574: Realistically, Hope says she’s more scared of Shadow than Locke right now. 3.

4575: Issue 145 Training Day by Bollers: Eggman mentions Amy’s tarot card deck while telling his robots about their main enemies,

4576: and refers to her hammer as mystical. 2.

4577: Issue 145 Harbinger by Penders: After Tails gets offended at the idea of just staying behind as the brain trust team not helping out in the action,

4578: Tails is allowed by Sonic to accompany him on the mission.

4579: Ash puts his hand on Mina’s shoulder, his arm around her.

4580: Sonic tells Sally, ” Don’t worry! We’ll be fine! ” 4.

4581: Issue 146 The Good The Bad & The Unknown Part 1 Prototype by Penders: When Sonic kicks Shadow, we actually see his shoe impact his chest. I gotta give it credit for that, if I never saw impact against Shadow, seeing a fight against him would be pointless.

4582: I’ve never seen Shadow get sprayed by water and sent flying to the right before. That’s creative of Sonic.

4583: Fiona Fox’s wearing clothes, finally!

4584: She’s worried about the hurt Sonic’s well-being. More than everyone else, in fact, saying that he looks pretty bad and calling out Sonic’s name running towards him. That’s a future traitor alright. Totally natural.

4585: “ That obvious, huh? “ he says awkwardly when he’s told that he was banged up. 5.

4586: Issue 146 Out of your Shell by Romy Chacon: I laughed at when Rotor screamed at thinking Tommy lost his head and then he learned that Tommy was just hiding in his shell.

4587: I felt bad for Tommy because he couldn’t spend time with his friends, since they were always busy.

4588: When Tommy complains that he spent more time with Sonic right after he rescued him than now, Rotor tells him that’s not true and says everyone has something that they’re really good at,

4589: and puts his hand on his shoulder.

4590: Rotor puts his hand on his shoulder again.

4591: Tommy shows a talent because he’s phenomenal at organizing Rotor’s stuff,

4592: and he learned from Rotor’s papers that he can give him engineering advice. 7.

4593: Issue 146 Circuit Me by Romy Chacon: Rotor asks Sally if she’s alright when she trips on a wire in his lab.

4594: I LOVE the idea of Nicole and Sally switching bodies,

4595: and with a magical liquid.

4596: particularly because this is why Nicole started wanting an organic body. As she puts it, “ “ The colors, the smells, my limbs move at my command! So, THIS is what it’s like to be alive, to feel, to LOVE? “

4597: Sonic asks ” Sally ” if she’s alright.

4598: “ Sonic, I-I don’t know why this body has a feeling of happiness and sadness concentrated in the chest cavity area when I look at you. It is most strange. “ I like Nicole’s line there.

4599: Rotor tells Sonic not to worry and explains that ” Sally ” passing out is just the effects of the body switch wearing off. 7.

4600: Issue 147 The Good The Bad & The Unknown Part 2 Ignition by Penders: Makes sense that Metal stays in the spindash the whole time he went through the canyon, it keeps him protected in ball form.

4601: “ Whoever did the wiring in this place should be strung up by their thumbs! “ A harsh line from Fiona that shows what a fish out of water she is in a group of self-righteous heroes as a former criminal.

4602: I never saw Metal Sonic extend his arm for a punch before. That’s impressive.

4603: I never saw Shadow swing Metal Sonic by the hand into a metal wall to damage both before.

4604: I’ve never seen Metal Sonic shoot lasers out of his feet before.

4605: It’s also new that Shadow throws a little piece of the floor that was broken off from a fight at Metal Sonic.

4606: Sonic thinks that he’s in trouble while saying bravado lines. This is good characterization for Sonic when he’s running away from Metal. Unlike how it comes off as with his constant smirking in post-159 and in IDW, Sonic doesn’t really underestimate his enemies. He is just acting proud and trying to troll them. 7.

4607: Issue 147 Fox and the Hound by Romy Chacon: Sonic says it would rock to play with his dog.

4608: “ Aw, you never play anymore! “ I like that line by Muttski.

4609: Tails wants to play with Muttski.

4610: Sonic calls Tails bud.

4611: He says, ” You okay? ”

4612: Sonic says Muttski’s sorry he scared Tails. 6.

4613: Issue 148 The Good The Bad & The Unknown Part 3 Genesis by Penders: Sally’s clearly gotten over being paranoidly worried about Sonic’s safety because when Dylan tells her that Sonic’s last recorded words were “ Never tell me the odds, “ she doesn’t panic or get angry, but instead remains calm and collected.

4614: Shadow shows independence as he wants to run after Sonic getting his answers more directly instead of riding in a slower car with Isaac and Metal.

4615: It’s interesting that Metal Sonic and Isaac have a normal conversation together about Isaac’s backstory, talking like normal people together.

4616: Tommy was useful when he took out the circuit box electrocuting Fiona and Rotor and Bunnie, because he smacked it with a staff while wearing a leather glove.

4617: I like that Sonic presses a button on the car to send Shadow flying off the car.

4618: “ Why oh why does Tails think we need a history lesson now of all times? “ Exactly, Sonic.

4619: Penders cared enough to explain where the Chaos Emeralds came from. The Beryl deposits reacted to the energy of the Xorda gene bomb absorbing it, so the conditions were perfect for the creation of the Chaos Emeralds. Much less lazy than just having the emeralds always be there and not explain where they came from. 7.

4620: Issue 148 Playing Around by Nelson Ramero: “ Whose… idea, was it, to make Rotor play Tails? “ Exactly, Jules, what a dumb play. 1.

4621: Issue 148 Tails Destiny’s Child by Penders: I like that Tails is being like an actual kid, acting like it’s all about him, in the sense that he’s wishing that HIS parents could come back.

4622: Then Tails lampshades Athair being so cryptic and asks why everyone knows stuff but him.

4623: Tails is finally told he has an uncle, wrapping up a plot thread.

4624: Athair tells Tails that he’ll get to fulfill his destiny soon. That’s nice of him since Tails is impatient. 4.

4625: Issue 149 The Good The Bad & The Unknown Part 4 Armageddon by Penders: Chuck and Jules go in an airship to help rescue Sonic from the Isaac building, impressively flying past some lasers.

4626: We see Sonic’s fist impact Metal Sonic as he smacks him into a metal wall damaging it, and he says, ” Here’s my reply! ”

4627: Fiona looks badass with a rifle, saying, “ Now THIS looks like my idea of a robot buster! “ This is why I love Fiona being the “ fish out of water “ among the heroes. With her pragmatic intelligence, she contrasts herself against Rotor, who braindeadly forbids her from using any guns or weapons period. No wonder she quit. This is the perfect scene to establish Fiona’s character, she’s the only sane man to all the nonsense being a normal neutral person to the heroes. I wish a moment like this happened the minute we first saw her helping Sonic.

4628: Sonic says his ankle’s shot. For once there were consequences to the action.

4629: Shadow’s smart enough to simply tell him to spindash to progress ahead.

4630: It’s smart of Chuck to tell Jules to stay in the airship, reasoning that it’s better not to risk the both of them at once, so only Chuck goes to greet Sonic

4631: and Jules flies the airship out of there for them. 7.

4632: Issue 149 The Chosen One by Romy Chacon: It’s sweet that Sonic was playing hide and seek with Tails.

4633: Sonic thanks Zonic for letting him come along with Tails.

4634: It’s nice of Zonic to give Sonic and Tails special wristbands to let them stand upright in his office. He was smart enough to already have two spares with him.

4635: It’s good that Zonic explains that when Chaos Knuckles released his power, this power was absorbed by Mogul, and that’s how Mogul became powerful enough to try to destroy every universe so that only the one he’d be ruling would be around.

4636: It’s excellent that Zonic says Mogul probably figures on creating a zone after Sonic lampshades that if he destroyed existence, there would be nothing left to rule.

4637: Every single Zone Cop is prepared to fight Mogul. At least they’re trying to do something.

4638: We see that in an effort to bring the Chosen One to fight Mogul, we see an entire room full of every single Tails.

4639: Most of the Tails are intellectuals at least based on their appearance. There’s ones with glasses and stuff.

4640: Zonic was open-minded enough to bring some evil Tails. There’s one with a black leather jacket but nerdy glasses,

4641: and there’s one with Miles’ future haircut, a face piercing, and a spiked bracelet and spiked arm bracelet.

4642: This one just looks agitated, not stereotypically menacing.

4643: It’s excellent that there’s multiple evil Tails, it makes a lot of sense since Tails would logically be bullied for being a mutant.

4644: For example, the Tails with horns on his head.

4645: And there’s a Viking Tails holding a sword threateningly. Gee, I wonder if he’s evil.

4646: It was really nice and open-minded of Zonic to even give the evil Tails a chance at fighting Mogul, thinking that even they might be the chosen one. I wish I could’ve seen Miles’ reaction to being told he could do this.

4647: The Tails are of different ages from each other, implying that different Zones are at different time periods relating to each other. 16.

4648: Issue 150 Hero to Zero in No Time at All by Penders: It’s fascinating seeing that the Evil Sonic would genuinely enjoy fighting off a robot that was threatening an innocent person, enjoying sending it into the fountain just as much as Sonic would when defending Knothole. Instead of being very stubbornly proud of his evil reputation, we see that Scourge is primarily a hedonist, to the point where if he has fun being a hero and acting just like Sonic would, he’d gladly keep doing that, which shows depths to his character, because he doesn’t do what a pure evil Sonic would do impersonating Sonic – killing and stealing everyone and everything in sight.

4649: He tells Scourge that his heroism was magnificent

4650: and Scourge agrees instead of being self-conscious about doing something good.

4651: The chili dog salesman rewards Scourge with a free chili dog for his heroism, showing him that THIS is what being a hero “ gets “ him,

4652: and Scourge confidently says that he’s not one to argue with that, agreeing that he’s magnificent. Just like Sonic would.

4653: Scourge makes Mina happy by giving her a flower.

4654: Scourge is a Casanova, but that’s IT. The main thing this evil twin does that sets him apart from Sonic isn’t commit crime right away, it’s trying to get a girlfriend as soon as he can. This shows two things; one, that he’s a deeper more complicated guy than you’d expect because he’s not a complete monster who would try to kill those girls outright, and two, it gives him depth that Scourge is very lonely, desperately so, if the first thing he’d do is try to get Mina to be his girlfriend and then try to get AMY to be his girlfriend right after that, and be with Fiona offscreen and then end up smooching with Bunnie. How desperate for affection is this poor hedgehog if he resorts to that so quickly with no prior friendship with these people? This makes me more sympathetic to him, and gives credence to my theory that Scourge’s parents were very unloving, to say the least, because being a Casanova probably is his way of compensating for the lack of love and affection in his life.

4655: When Scourge saw SALLY, he didn’t flirt with her AT ALL, unlike the other girls who are like Sonic and thus more compatible. He just resented her for complaining about him not taking out the land mines with his super speed yet, and thought about Sally being a bigger pain than the one he left behind. He’s got genuine taste.

4656: Anyways, when Ash calls Scourge a show-off for saving an innocent’s life, Amy and Mina actually tease him that he’s just jealous of Sonic’s competence, asking how many plans of Eggman’s he’s foiled. That was pretty self-aware of the writing.

4657: When Scourge is flirting with Mina, he gently touches her chin. So, Scourge can be gentle with the girls he’s into. He’s not just about kissing them, he doesn’t JUST want THAT. He wants to feel loved in general, which again, is fascinating for an evil twin. Does he treat Fiona that way?

4658: Mina’s happy and thankful that Scourge is flirting with her, as they remember that she has a crush on Sonic for good reason. Well, at first, anyways.

4659: The fact that Scourge isn’t too surprised at Tails being upset that he chose kissing Bunnie over spending time with him, and is just annoyed at him and tells him to leave, and insists that he’ll be okay after he storms off, implies that he’s very used to doing this to a certain other Tails. This could provide a reason for WHY Miles is resentful of Scourge now.

4660: “ A babe like you? What’s not to like? “ Scourge didn’t have to say that to Bunnie, that was nice of him!

4661: Sonic doesn’t think ahead either, so it makes sense that his evil twin wouldn’t think ahead of the consequences if the girls realized he was two-timing them.

4662: It’s considerate of Bunnie to ask if he’s okay. She’s smart enough to notice that it’s unlike Sonic to not care that Tails is storming off angrily.

4663: Bunnie says, ” Good luck with your parents. “

4664: This is when it’s revealed that Antoine had been replaced by Patch thanks to Scourge.

4665: And it’s explained why Scourge did this; Patch kept threatening Scourge.

4666: Boomer’s really smart, he made an inter-dimensional portal generator you can carry around.

4667: Also, this is when Patch actually starts being called Patch in the first place.

4668: Scourge just looks mildly annoyed at Patch threatening to send him to another dimension.

4669: It’s actually explained Patch doesn’t really have only one eye, explaining why he was able to impersonate Antoine.

4670: We see that Scourge told Antoine that he’d better keep on the disguise as patch or he’ll never get to go home again. So, him remaining disguised is justified, he was too afraid of the consequences.

4671: It’s justified that Scourge was able to knock Sonic out, because he hit him with a metallic glove, and did it by complete surprise.

4672: Echidnapolis is taken back by the echidnas, with Locke saying it’d be nice to finally rid the island of Eggman’s filth.

4673: Rouge shows her intelligence by manipulating Locke into thinking that ever since a chance encounter with Fang, things haven’t been the same for her since.

4674: After Scourge barely survives a landmine, he’s dazed and holds his head, too dazed from that to insult Sally and get Sonic in trouble.

4675: Sonic thinks in response to Sally’s nagging, “ How do you like them apples? This Sally is just as big a pain as the one I left behind. “

4676: Then Rouge continues showing her intelligence by lying to Locke that she wants to start over,

4677: and Archimedes teleports Rouge away, being smart enough to think to do that immediately,

4678: and says amusingly, “ Really, Locke! Your son KNUCKLES has more sense than you! “ and tells him that him and women have always been a bad combination.

4679: If Scourge spent all night in the cold rather than risk getting yelled at by “ his “ parents, maybe that implies something about how his own parents were. 32.

4680: Issue 150 The Chosen One by Romy Chacon: One of the Evil Tails (who’s NOT Miles at that), threatens to kill Tails.

4681: One of the Tails in a trench coat and sunglasses (JUST LIKE FLEETWAY TAILS in that Sab story), kicks that horned Tails.

4682: Miles bravely fights Mogul just like the other Tails, not to mention never did anything mean to Tails at all, not even talking to him, which adds depth to his “ evil “ character.

4683: Sonic prevents Tails from being hit with a laser.

4684: He lampshades that Tails could’ve gotten himself killed by Mogul’s laser.

4685: He has his hands on Tails’ shoulders.

4686: It’s a smart plan to have every single Tails rush at Mogul, trying to do the same plan that was done when all of the Sonics spindashed Robo-Robotnik’s mecha. “ While he’s off balance, let’s hit him with everything we’ve got! “ It felt rewarding as a long-time reader seeing all of the Tails rush at Mogul referencing the Giant Borg fight.

4687: That call-back is reinforced as Mogul asks if they think he’s as weak as the Giant Borg.

4688: Zonic asks Sonic if he’s okay as Sonic has a headache.

4689: Tails restored all of the zones Mogul destroyed back to normal with his Titan Tails power.

4690: Sonic says to Tails, ” Very impressive, ” because he noticed his shadow in hide and seek.

4691: He calls Tails his buddy. 12.

4692: Issue 151 Chaos Emeralds are Forever by Penders: They finally remember that Buns existed.

4693: I guess Scourge found a way to fake Patch’s scar on Antoine.

469: It shows that Scourge’s not so evil because he didn’t give Antoine a facial scar for REAL to make him more convincing as Patch. Instead, it must have been make-up.

4695: Every evil twin has their own personal reasons for not liking Scourge anymore. Boomer’s mad that he stole his technology from the lab,

4696: Alicia calls him out on ditching her and the others to do his own thing implying that some of them like Miles were genuinely hurt that Scourge ditched them, instead of being happy that he’s not there anymore.

4697: Buns calls him out on two-timing her with Alicia AND Anti-Penelope.

4698: Boomer has a taser as his weapon. It sure is nice of these guys to not have guns in their gang.

4699: The fact that Scourge dated Anti-Penelope, with that beak, proves how desperate he is for love and affection, even from someone ugly.

4700: And the fact that he was cheating on Buns with Alicia also proves he’s desperate because he called Alicia a “ pain “ who constantly does “ whining and complaining. “ So he doesn’t respect her, but he still resorts to her for affection.

4701: Buns must have a good friendship with Alicia since she says she could understand Scourge seeing HER behind her back,

4702: and Buns didn’t hate Alicia for dating her boyfriend. They stayed friends.

4703: Miles says, “ girls “ referring to his friends, talking like Scourge. So Scourge was obviously a clear influence on him because he’s talking like him there,

4704: plus he’s not acting stuck-up and “ mature “ because he’s talking like Tails.

4705: Antoine can easily enjoy victimizing people he thinks deserve it, and you can tell because he really gets into being a villain here; he tells who he thinks is Scourge that he’s had this coming for a long time,

4706: and takes the responsibility on HIMSELF to be the one saying, “ On your mark, set, go, “ before they all shoot Sonic’s ropes to send him into the poisonous water.

4707: Antoine says, “ I do hope you’ll enjoy your swim! “ He’s really gotten good at pretending he’s Patch by this point, he even smiled with the rest of the gang at seeing Scourge again. No wonder he wasn’t discovered. It’s an interesting role to see Antoine enjoying, and with his resentment against Sonic blowing up in Issue 40, it makes sense to see him in an antagonistic role like this.

4708: “ Looks like an older version of Knux! VER-RY interesting! “ I love that last sentence by Scourge.

4709: When Antoine thinks he killed Scourge with the rest of the evil twins, his smile is forced.

4710: And Miles’ expression is hard to even interpret, rather than him truly smiling happily. He just has his mouth open.

4711: Miles says, “ No way! “ again speaking informally.

4712: Antoine thinks that it’s time to slice and dice, swings at Sonic, and thinks about how much he wishes to skewer him. He’s supposed to be a hero, but it makes sense that he’d be like this from all this time pretending to be Patch. Becoming the Mask, a little bit? Plus, he’s got every reason to hate Scourge.

4713: Miles isn’t annoyed at all that Antoine missed his sword swing against who he thinks his Scourge. He smiles instead.

4714: Sonic calls Alicia and Buns chicks like Scourge would, and like a cool guy would.

4715: Sonic really took it easy on Miles because he simply made him dizzy running around him at super speed.

4716: And he even said, “ NICE move, lil’ buddy! “ So he obviously still cares about Miles as if he’s Tails.

4717: He considers Miles to be one of the “ little buddies, “ too.

4718: Scourge wonders why Locke isn’t putting the moves on Locke. That’s so Scourge!

4719: Rouge manipulates Locke again saying that she’s been alone most of her life with no one to turn to.

4720: She then says that she wants someone to love her manipulating Locke some more. She’s smart.

4721: Locke figures out which Sonic is the real one because Sonic wouldn’t try to hit someone with a boulder.

4722: He sends Scourge flying out of the hole with his magic, being useful.

4723: Locke shows compassion for the bruised Sonic. He asks if he’s alright.

4724: It’s so Rouge for her to say that this is what she gets sending a male to do a female’s job.

4725: They continue working together because Scourge had a few Master Emerald pieces with him.

4726: Sonic thinks that he doesn’t ever remember Amy coming on to him before, demonstrating how Amy is a more tolerable character in the comic before Flynn took it over.

4727: At least Sonic not telling the girls that he was replaced by Scourge shows that he’s not so different from Scourge, because he wants to benefit from the girls all flirting with him. 36.

4728: Issue 151 Stargazing by Tania del Rio: Nicole shows progress with her attempts to feel more real because she got a temporary organic body to show Sally.

4729: And it’s all because she switched bodies with Sally, a good continuity nod.

4730: Nicole has great lines, saying she’s never been able to breathe air or feel the wind on her face or touch water, or admire the stars in the sky. Now she’s actually interesting instead of a living Deus ex Machina with the occasional snarky quip.

4731: Sally tells Nicole she wants her to stay this way.

4732: Nicole had been smart since her files aren’t secure in this form; she chose a night where Eggman was less likely to attack.

4733: Nicole sympathetically says she’ll become nothing more than a computer again,

4734: and Sally reveals that she’s always felt like Nicole was the friend she could share anything with and talk to, proving she and Nicole are best friends. I love that idea.

4735: And she sheds a tear feeling ashamed that she, too, was seeing the stars for the first time. 8.

4736: Issue 152 Engage by Penders: Eggman complains about having to eat in his organic body, calling his organic body weak.

4737: ADAM releases the nanobot technology to have its population increase. I love the idea of Eggman having nanobots. Well, kind of, that’s scarily overpowered for him, so I’m really glad the heroes took away his nanites for themselves much later, but for now, the release of the nanites make a very intriguing idea for a plot; the released nanites roboticize a place and threatens to roboticize the world. 2.

4738: Issue 152 Sonic’s Angels by Penders: “ In the future, the next time a meeting’s called, it’s not conducted on SONIC time! “ I giggled at that line from Sally. It makes sense that as his ex-girlfriend, Sally would be moody.

4739: I like that Mina gets to be on the mission,

4740: as well as Fiona, I always appreciated when she got to come along.

4741: “ Fascinating! From what I can tell, matter is being manufactured literally out of thin air! “ Fiona says looking through binoculars. I like that Fiona has that intellectual side to her, finding it interesting.

4742: There’s a friendship moment involving Fiona where she, Sonic and the rest of the girls put their hands together saying, “ Let’s party! “ We really needed a lot more moments like this. At least Penders was making more use of Fiona as a FF than Bollers, the minute he took over the main comic again we got her involved in a mission in the Isaac building.

4743: Bunnie panics because ADAM is trying to force her to become part of the computer network with the nanites.

4744: Fiona furiously shouts at Snively, “ Maybe Robotnik should set some OTHER goals in life! As should you! “ It makes sense she’d have a fiery grudge against Eggman and Snively since Robotnik forced her to be a slave and trapped her for years. Plus, it’s great in hindsight seeing that she seems to hate Snively more than any of the heroes.

4745: Snively makes a plan with the heroes that they could all make EMP detonators, while Snively will man the energy generator to make sure the maximum amount of voltage will be provided.

4746: Amy naturally is distrustful of Snively.

4747: Snively explains that he’s only helping to get revenge on ADAM.

4748: Chuck explains that ADAM can’t understand that Bunnie’s half-organic, he thinks in binary (organic, non-organic).

4749: So once Sonic explains that if Bunnie was roboticized, something really bad would happen to inconvenience ADAM, this convinces him to let her go.

4750: Fiona complains that with all the nanites around, it’ll be decades before the ecological balance would be restored. Remember she used to be a hero?

4751: In a twist, Snively goes home with the heroes since ADAM booted him away, and he’s saying that he could help them reactivate the nanites for the heroes’ benefit. 14.

4752: Issue 153 Songoose by Bollers: Fang’s evilness is explained logically as Eggman will pay him 50 rare gems. He could just kill and threaten to get stuff for free, but at least they’re trying to explain why Fang would agree to snipe for Mina.

4753: Foreshadowing, Patch didn’t even flinch when told that Antoine’s father passed out from poisoning.

4754: Sonic wants to help Tails avoid the embarrassment from asking an older woman out, so he tries to save Tails from it by coming up with the idea that all of them should go to Mina’s concert together. That’s considerate of Sonic.

4755: Sonic’s started dating Fiona, using her to get over Sally, which makes sense of a “ cool “ person to be a casanova like that, and it makes sense since he’s Scourge’s twin and Scourge had the exact same tendencies to use women for affection.

4756: Fiona reflects on how she blamed Sonic for her not being saved for a long time, but after learning that he tried to sacrifice himself to save the world, she couldn’t continue to believe that someone like that would abandon her on purpose. This is how her character actually was.

4757: Sonic and Mina hug.

4758: She says she’s glad Sonic and his friends came here.

4759: Hey, Mina’s concert is in Sunset Hill, from Sonic Advance 3! They could’ve very easily just had it take place anywhere, like a generic field.

4760: Sonic asks Mina if she’s okay when the laser misses her.

4761: Bunnie thinks that she hates to hurt a tree as she kicks down the flaming tree.

4762: Sally smartly manipulates Fang into telling her why he tried to kill Mina by saying that she’ll release him from jail earlier, and then says, “ Look outside, and tell me how much you want to be reunited with your former accomplices who went to jail while you escaped scot-free. “

4763: It’s explained why Eggman tried to get Mina killed. He couldn’t get her catchy music out of his head. That’s a little charming and humorous, I thought it was just because she’s a good source of morale and sings to rebel against him.

4764: “ Uhh, keep her BREATHING… “ is Sonic’s snarky response to Ash stupidly asking what Sonic could do that a normal bodyguard could be. 13.

4765: Issue 153 Fairy Tale by Romy Chacon: In Rosie’s bedtime story, Tails’ tails really are magical, which makes sense.

4766: And the characters’ positions in life were varied up creatively, with Sally being a pirate,

4767: Rouge working for Mammoth Mogul who guards Robotnik the wizard’s castle.

4768: Ixis is Eggman’s knight and doesn’t talk. 4.

4769: Issue 154 Songoose by Bollers: Sonic stands up to Ash.

4770: Mina gets Ash and Sonic to stop arguing.

4771: When Bombs rush on Mina’s concert because Eggman rebuilt Heavy and Bomb, Sonic’s friends keep them from causing any damage. Amy hits away a bomb with her hammer, and Bunnie might hit one away, with Fiona also being there.

4772: After Sonic spindashes underground, Bunnie saves him from drowning.

4773: She helps Sonic up.

4774: Mina hugs him, clearly thankful to Sonic for saving the day.

4775: Eggman asks angrily, “ How HARD can it be to kill a singing mongoose? “ and I giggled at ADAM asking, “ While singing? “ and Eggman says he forgot how much ADAM likes games. This is not only charming of ADAM being naïve and young, but it has it made clear that Tails’ fun with him had a lasting effect on ADAM. 7.

4776: Issue 154 More than Meets the Eye by Penders: I love the idea that Fiona was a part of the Brain Trust, so she was an intellectual, with the goggles and everything. And Flynn forgot all about that, she never built anything like a gadgeteer or anything, which would’ve made her an actually competent and intimidating villain instead of pathetic.

4777: “ Let’s see how you’d react with 50,000 volts running through YOUR system! “ It’s funny to see Tommy talking like a mad scientist against nanites.

4778: Chuck puts his hand on Tommy’s shoulder.

4779: Huh, the nanites stuck to Tommy’s shell and let him grow wings. This got me excited that Tommy will become way more useful than just a redundant Rotor clone.

4780: The nanites let Tommy have a jet-pack, too,

4781: and they make him write a message in the sky, “ We’re just going for a test drive! “ The “ WE’RE “ proves that the nanites ARE sentient.

4782: And because that message did that, Chuck admits that the question of the nanites being alive has been settled once and for all, as the other engineers seem to agree with him with their eyes sparkling. That’s so sweet! 7.

4783: Issue 155 Line of Succession by Penders: King Max thanks someone for handing him something.

4784: Tails reacts realistically to the fact that Sonic started dating a girl he was in love with. He calls him out sadly, “ Sonic! I thought you were my friend! How could you?! With her, of all the foxes! “

4785: Fiona amusingly says, ‘ What’s that supposed to mean! I have bad breath or something! “ lampshading that Tails is acting like she’s the worst person ever to date, which would of course offend her. I love how gutsy she is, how she’ll stand up for herself to almost anybody.

4786: Tails and Fiona finally talk about the fact that Tails fell for a Fiona infiltrator.

4787: At least Fiona is trying to be polite, “ I’m now 16 years old, and you’re what, 10? Tails, I think you’re a sweet boy! And I really like you! “ She could’ve been a lot worse to him, she could’ve said, “ I’m a teenager, you’re a child, IT’S CREEPY AND ILLEGAL! “ and acted creeped out with him.

4788: And then he snaps, saying “ I hate you! “ and takes off, which is REFRESHING for the Tails and Sonic dynamic after forever. It’s realistic to see Tails and Sonic having fights occasionally so that we know what we’re missing, we know to feel grateful that their friendship normally IS close.

4789: Fiona is the level-headed one saying to Sonic to let Tails go, because “ there’s nothing you can do or say that will make him feel any better! “

4790: Sally kisses her father on the cheek when he’s lying in bed poisoned, showing that she loves him.

4791: She says it’s so good to see her parents in front of them.

4792: Sally’s mom says that her parents have missed her too.

4793: She calls Sally dear.

4794: “ What IS this, the Dark Ages?! Don’t I have any say in the matter?! “ Sally cathartically yells.

4795: Interestingly, Sally’s mom says that her marriage was arranged, and it’s been love ever since,

4796: hugging her husband sweetly.

4797: Sonic’s mom tells Sonic he’s a natural with the guitar.

4798: Bunnie looks really sad and goes to Sonic for comfort when “ Antoine “ is married to Sally.

4799: She even hugs him.

4800: Sonic calls Patch out when he tries to tell him he needs a permit to get to Sally, “ Oh, stuff it ‘Twan! Since when do I need one! “

4801: Sally asks Patch if he’s trying to get back at Sonic by marrying her,

4802: and doesn’t fully dismiss the idea that Antoine might still want her, naturally since he used to have a crush on her.

4803: Patch shows his intelligence by manipulating Sally into agreeing to marry him for the sake of humoring her sick father and being an honorable princess.

4804: Sally’s mom calls her dear.

4805: It makes sense that the Lawful Stupid Honor before Reason Sally would agree to this just to humor her father, especially after he goes into a coma. She thinks being self-sacrificing is the most moral thing of all, so she thinks marrying him would be the right thing to do. It’s one of Sally’s flaws coming back to bite her for once. And it seems her Lawful Stupid nature triumphs over her stubborn independence streak flaw. She IS a good person, after all, and maybe Alicia had the opposite where she’s more of a rebel, way more, so she became the opposite of Lawful.

4806: Jules reassures his husband that they can’t be too overprotective of Sonic and they should let him grow up. 24.

4807: Issue 155 The Price of Flame by Gallagher: Sally does a surprise pep rally to celebrate all of the times Dulcy’s been useful to her. So there’s a sign saying, ” we heart Dulcy. “

4808: It turns out that Dulcy lost her ability to breathe fire as a punishment for wandering out of the dragon colony mountain that was all isolationist. This explains why she hadn’t breathed fire in a while, and even explains why she’s been missing in action for so long. Breathing fire is one of her best qualities and without it, she’d be ashamed, and want to hide her inability to do it by not being around. They wrapped up a loose plot thread I didn’t notice by explaining all this, I was astonished and impressed. 2.

4809: Issue 156 Line of Succession by Penders: Elias rides in on a horse in a blue cloak and comes to the rescue, knowing that the only way to be certain of a good outcome is for him, not Patch, to claim the throne.

4810: Elias showing up in time was useful by preventing Patch from killing his dad.

4811: Elias gives his father a kiss on the forehead.

4812: Elias holds Sally’s hands saying, “ I abandoned the crown because of love and now it’s because of love that I must accept it! “

4813: Sally’s mom is very happy to make Elias the king, saying, “ My son, you have no idea how much I’ve longed for you to take your rightful place! “ It’s pretty triumphant and epic. Finally we see insight into what SHE wants and not her husband.

4814: Sally’s mom says she’s proud of Elias.

4815: Elias and Sally hug.

4816: He thanks her.

4817: Sonic epically prevents Patch from killing Elias and beats him in a fight calling him out on how he’s figured out he’s not really Antoine.

4818: One of the reasons he figured it out was “ But you know what the real clincher was? When NO ONE, not even Bunnie, could explain how he got that scar! “ being a thoughtful callback.

4819: Antoine looks sympathetic and relatable because he’s in his pajamas sleeping.

4820: When Sonic shows up to save Antoine,

4821: Antoine says in relief Sonic truly is his friend.

4822: Sonic puts his hand on Antoine’s shoulder.

4823: Sally gets an annulment right away, so no consequences to the Patch wedding fortunately,

4824: Sonic has his hand on Antoine’s shoulder as he brought him to Bunnie.

4825: And Bunnie kisses Antoine.

4826: Fiona and Sonic show good chemistry because they smile knowingly at each other as they talk about how Bunnie was always in love with Antoine, Fiona thinks Bunnie enjoyed kissing Scourge and says, “ RIIIIGHT! “

4827: When Sonic says “ we’re young and there’s no rush! “ Fiona says sarcastically with a smile, “ You really know how to sweep a girl off her feet. “ And yet she doesn’t hate him. It’s a twist that he’s intentionally shown as a disappointing boyfriend.

4828: They’re holding hands. 20.

4829: Issue 156 The Price of Flame by Gallagher: When Dulcy saves a kid from a robot, he thanks her.

4830: Makes sense that in a world with portable roboticizers being possible, the mecha-dragons would be given portable roboticizer breath as a laser power. That makes them threatening, imagine if Eggman had an army of these and sent them to Knothole years ago, like he logically should’ve done the minute he found out where it was as a robot.

4831: They thought to have Dulcy smartly cauterize the wounds with fire from her nostrils rather than ignoring the damage that would be caused by a nose piercing being torn out.

4830: When the mecha-dragons were melted, they went into the “ primal fire “ a sort of fire heaven place where they’d be brought back to life eventually, so eventually, Dulcy would get her family back. This avoids it being overly dark and depressing that they melted the Robian dragons because they didn’t die. 4.

4831: Issue 157 System Shutdown by Penders: We see Eggman in a green bathrobe for once.

4832: “ I didn’t mean THIS drastic! “ Eggman’s response to seeing that ADAM showed a System Shutdown screen.

4833: Jules says to his wife that they shouldn’t interfere with Sonic’s business when he’s longing for Sally, and Sonic should focus on fighting Eggman.

4834: Tails lampshades how idiotic Rotor is for wanting to treat Eggman like a regular visitor to Knothole. “ Are you NUTS?! “

4835: When Sonic sees Eggman at his door, he runs at him angrily immediately wanting to kick him.

4836: Eggman didn’t actually show up at Sonic’s door himself, like he would in Sonic Boom, and instead it was just a solid hologram. ” I may be desperate, hedgehog, but I’m not stupid! ” Yeah!

4837: M shows up threatening Eggman, saying, “ WHY Father, how on Mobius could you have forgotten your darling daughter?! “ I really love that line.

4838: I giggled when M swung Sonic around with a rope and he crashed, the third time I read it.

4839: M says it’s time for Eggman to pay for his crimes against the kingdom of Acorn.

4840: ADAM broadcasted the system shutdown message with a 12 hour delay, so M shows up early surprising Eggman.

4841: Eggman’s offering to deroboticize Jules as a reward for helping him, and Rotor says that Sonic should deal with a threat that’s big enough to threaten Eggman. So it makes some sense that Sonic would help save Eggman. 11.

4842: Issue 158 System Reconfiguration by Penders: Sonic lampshades that some days it’s not worth it to get out of bed, saying, “ like, what was I thinking in coming here? “

4843: Sonic says to the Metal Sonic Troopers, “ I like the design, “ showing arrogant pride of his appearance.

4844: The Metal Sonic Troopers were sent against Eggman.

4845: It makes sense that the Metal Sonic Troopers were made to look different because it makes them look distinct from Eggman’s Metal Sonics.

4846: Eggman calls Shadow family for being created by his grandfather.

4847: I like how Eggman looks sad and says that GUN “ tragically cut down my half-sister in the prime of her life, “ and cries. This lets him manipulate Shadow because they share a common enemy. Shadow’s pretty young, he only has like a year of life experience, so he’s easily tricked like that.

4848: It makes sense that when Sonic was gone, Rotor and Chuck made Metal Sonic Troopers in order to replace Sonic.

4849: The latest in fiber-optic technology was used to allow for tracking and visually monitoring the Metal Sonic Troopers, just in case.

4850: “ Not again! Not this time! “ I love Shadow’s lines there.

4851: Then when he destroys some Metal Sonic Troopers, he thinks, “ Not this time! “ Like last time, this is a line showing that Shadow’s been traumatized by losing Maria.

4852: Bernadette lampshades what kind of parents they are letting Sonic go off with Eggman.

4853: Jules says that while it’s the parents’ job to protect Sonic, Sonic’s not a toddler anymore.

4854: Jules saves the Rosie orphans from the Metal Sonic Troopers, being heroic.

4855: There’s a Knothole alarm system.

4856: Hope and Rosie are hugging. 15.

4857: Issue 159 System Reboot by Penders: “ In case you fools haven’t noticed, there’s a little girl lying injured here, and most certainly in need of medical attention! “ Rosie says when Shadow’s fighting Sonic.

4858: After he starts crying about it, Chuck is told by Rotor not to feel bad about making the Metal Sonic Troopers.

4859: Knothole’s civilians have a safe place to hide when Knothole is attacked at the castle.

4860: For once, Sonic thinks that sometimes he wishes someone else could lead the charge because being a hero can be a pain at times.

4861: Sonic realistically has a headache after the fight with the Metal Sonic Troopers.

4862: Sonic thanks Shadow for the save with a smile.

4863: When Sonic returns to the castle, Sonic’s mom calls him amazing,

4864: and Tommy says nobody is cooler.

4865: Sonic hugs his mom,

4866: who says that she’s so happy to see him again

4867: and calls him honey,

4868: and Jules agrees with her.

4869: It’s nice of Elias to give Sonic a medal of honor,

4870: and to give him the rank of gentleman-at-arms.

4871: He shakes his hand.

4872: He calls for a party.

4873: Jules has his hand on his wife’s back.

4874: Sonic smiles at Shadow at the end, saying to him, “ Don’t be a stranger! “

4875: Shadow smiles back! Makes sense that he forgave Shadow when he showed he cared about Hope and saved him from the robots.

4876: Chuck does something nice for Sonic; he made sure the camera footage of Shadow defeating every Metal Sonic Trooper with Chaos Control wouldn’t be seen so Elias would think Sonic beat all of them and give him a medal and rank. And of course Chuck plans to never tell anyone this. 20.

4877: Issue 159 Inisidious by Penders: Eggman and ADAM’s use of the nanites might be used in a plan, as the nanites infect Jules and Bunnie and will plan against Tommy, too. 1.

Everything Good about Archie Sonic Issues 51-74

1807: Knuckles Comic Issue 5 Fallout by Penders: It was a pleasant surprise that rather than the Constable Remington hating Knuckles for appearing suddenly in his city, he respects him for being a guardian and takes him to meet Hawking. He apologizes for not recognizing that he’s the guardian right away.

1808: It’s interesting that the echidnas were warring with another tribe, the dingoes, as it makes them feel more concretely a part of their world by them affecting and interacting with other civilizations, and the dingoes are Australian animals and Angel island is from Downunda. So, it all makes sense.

1809: There’s a logical explanation for why Knuckles hasn’t seen Echidnapolis until recently. It was in another dimension.

1810: Knuckles is a great audience surrogate and shows self-awareness in the writing by being confused and saying he doesn’t understand any of this.

1811: We get a very good explanation for why General Stryker hates the echidnas so much, because the dingoes and echidnas have been warring centuries ago and have been warlike ever since.

1812: I like that Knuckles talks like a child admiring his grandpa. “ Seems you had the situation well in hand, Grandfather Hawking! “ It makes sense that he’d regress and treat him childlike because he didn’t have any relatives other than Locke growing up. So rather than being rebellious and rude to his mom and Hawking, he admires them.

1813: The past flashbacks are completely justified as being camera footage in-universe to educate Knuckles.

1814: It’s explained by Hawking that other zones occupy the same space but operate at DIFFERENT VIBRATIONAL speeds. That’s pretty fascinating.

1815: Remington admits that Swat gear is just common sense for cops after Julie is self-awarely written to lampshade that Echidnapolis still uses tech.

1816: It’s sweet that Remington doesn’t mistreat Julie-Su despite knowing she’s a former Legionnaire. He even lets her come with him as the guardian’s representative right away.

1817: I love Knux’s family being royalty, he is a main character after all.

1818: I like that Archy said, “ I was getting the feeling that you forgot I was here, “ because I actually did, that was self-aware of the writing.

1819: Hawking uses magic to float himself back into the wheelchair. 13.

1820: Issue 51 Reality Bytes by Karl Bollers: It’s excellent that we’re seeing stories post-Robotnik, a fascinating premise, AND this is a, “ this is definitely a certain part of the comic’s timeline, “ thing, having Robotnik gone and the heroes living their lives without him. It’s good to have major changes to the status quo, not only getting rid of Robotnik, but also them moving back into Mobotropolis, a very triumphant victory them getting their old city back, later on. You have to give the heroes major victories, even if temporary, and status quo shake-ups.

1821: It’s so nice of Sally to say that she couldn’t have defeated Robotnik without him when it was Snively who got rid of Robotnik, which Sonic was told by Dr. Quack in front of Rotor, and all Sonic did was fight Eggman in a room where he would have stayed regardless.

1822: She throws a celebration in his honor.

1823: Sonic tells Sally that the celebration in his honor is cool.

1824: Sally gives Sonic a medal for his bravery and leadership.

1825: Sonic says the victory bash was cool.

1826: There’s foreshadowing to Sally not being the real Sally in the nightmare because she made a huge tactical error by wanting to go on an inexplicable secret mission for no reason since what if they both got killed, and she didn’t come with Nicole.

1827: Chuck wakes up Sonic from a coma with a machine.

1828: Whoever rigged that medal to put Sonic in a coma, I assume Snively, had a brilliant overpowered plan.

1829: Rotor tells Sonic it’s great to have him back.

1830: Antoine says that Sonic was worried about by everyone, which is heartwarming in light of his hateful behaviour to him in Issue 40. 11.

1831: Knuckles Comic Issue 6 Zero Hour and Counting by Penders: Wyn, Lara-Le’s loving husband. Well not yet, but whatever.

1832: Wyn saves Knuckles some effort by ramming one of the bad guys.

1833: Knuckles says, ” Nice tackle! ”

1834: Wyn says he played varsity in high school. It tries to give him a little depth.

1835: Lara-Le hugs Knux in a heartwarming moment wanting to show affection for saving her.

1836: I do at least like the idea of the dingo dimension being destroyed because it and the Hyper Zone dimension are fighting for the same physical space.

1837: I like the idea that the barriers between zones are weakened as an actual explanation for portals to other zones appearing willy-nilly on Mobius. Meaning there’s an explanation, albeit a silly one, for why the Legion was able to warp out of the Twilight Cage.

1838: Remington compliments Knuckles on getting his mom to safety.

1839: He helps Lara-Le into a car.

1840: She thanks him.

1841: It’s a creative idea to have a divorced couple of parents in Sonic, Knuckles’ mom and dad.

1842: Lara-Le is relatable in that she had left Locke because she had no power in the relationship over how Knuckles would be raised when she thought otherwise,

1843: and she sheds a tear about how she left Knuckles, proving that she does love him a little.

1844: Some random civilians are helpful and tell Knuckles where they have to go.

1845: Knux shows he cares by offering to help Julie up,

1846: and Julie shows some more personality. She refuses because she doesn’t want to look weak.

1847: Hawking does a heroic sacrifice to get Echidnapolis to Angel Island.

1848: Again, Julie says she can take care of herself in the fight, showing her sassy tomboy personality that isn’t so different from Knuckles.

1849: Julie actually snarks to General Stryker that both him and Knux need actually good outlets for their aggression.

1850: Lara-Le says they should take care of those more in need rather than showing her special treatment.

1851: Knux is the mediator for once because he says if the dingoes and echidnas fight, and risk getting each other killed, they’ll all have to answer to him.

1852: Thank goodness Echidnapolis wasn’t destroyed, right after Knux got it back.

1853: I really like how Knux is naturally so familiar with the fauna of the island that he’ll recognize Catweazle birds on sight.

1854: Knux is given a cool star-speckled cowboy hat like in the OVA as a parting gift from Hawking. 24.

1855: Issue 52 The Discovery Zone by Tom Rolston: I at least love the concept of the Film Noir universe for being an alternate universe. I love that its Knothole is a city ruled by Robotnik where non-roboticized people party in a dance hall that’s the one place without Robotnik’s surveillance,

1856: and Sonic’s a detective in that dimension who is primarily working with Chuck as the guy who traces call for him, and hasn’t met Sally until now for once.

1857: Sally makes Sonic happy kissing his cheek.

1858: Sonic retrieves Nicole for her.

1859: When Chuck tells Sonic that

1860: Rotor’s flying out the plane to meet with him,

1861: Sonic thanks him.

1862: Sonic apologizes.

1863: He agrees to work together with her.

1864: Chuck reveals that Sonic’s friends were all worried about him. 10.

1865: Issue 52 First Contact by Karl Bollers: Sally can now use Nicole to communicate with other Freedom Fighters because she can connect her to Robotnik’s satellites, which he used to communicate with his sub-bosses. It’s good that she’s in contact with the other Freedom Fighter groups.

1866: So she warns them to beware of the zone portals. 2.

1867: Sonic Super Special Issue 2 A Brave New World by Penders: Rather than Sally’s mom being depressingly dead, she merely disappeared when Sally was young.

1868: It’s fascinating to actually get to see the heroes taking back their city from Robotnik! And it’s realistic because they’re all sad at how he changed it. Normally I’d expect to not get to see this because the comic would’ve ended before this could be seen.

1869: It’s more creative that Sonic defeats the robot of Snively’s by confusing it creating a tornado and after-images of himself, than him just attacking it. He’s too fast for its sensors.

1870: Snively gets caught by Geoffrey’s net-shooter, so Geoffrey is useful and Snively gets what he deserves for being an evil person.

1871: Sally has a relatable moment of weakness by crying alone because her home city was changed too much.

1872: Sonic says to Rotor, ” Way to go, big guy! “

1873: The heroes have a lot of work to do getting a supply of basic necessities up and running for Mobotropolis, like they have to find a clean water supply and source of power, there’s reality ensues as there’s a lot for them to do to get the people genuinely nice and livable for the people of Knothole again.

1874: It’s nice that Sally trusts Tails to be one of the people scouting the perimeter for any surprises.

1875: Sally wants Sonic and Tails to be careful and tells them to signal if there’s any dangerous robots, twice if by air.

1876: At least all the Robians of Robotropolis have gotten their free will back, at all. They should’ve been reprogrammed into it by Chuck after being stunned.

1877: After he tells the Robians that Robotnik is gone, Chuck says, ” I’m very sorry! ” because he thinks he can’t deroboticize them and have them live.

1878: The idea of the Robian race is really fascinating, like a true sci-fi concept. We have people getting to enjoy the benefits of being robots without having to be slaves to Robotnik.

1879: And one of the Robians actually does appreciate being a robot, which is interesting.

1880: Sonic’s sympathetic by looking worried and telling Tails over Bluetooth to stay above the Swatbots and not get reckless, while he’ll catch up to him.

1881: Sonic asks Arlo if he’s alright twice.

1882: A Robian lifts the boulders to get Arlo out from under them.

1883: Penelope helps Arlo to his feet as he says that he’s fine.

1884: Chuck puts his hand on Sonic’s shoulder.

1885: Sonic having parents, while unnecessary, is gutsy of the comic, unique, and heartwarming as Sonic gets to enjoy that as a reward for fighting Robotnik.

1886: It’s fascinating and unique to have Sonic be angry at Uncle Chuck for a reason because

1887: Chuck had made a mistake in trying to humor Sonic’s parents earlier. And he admits that.

1888: Dylan tells Sally he and Hamlin have figured out which communication boxes around them are working.

1889: Sally hugs Chuck the next time she sees him.

1890: Sonic’s mom calls Sally dear.

1891: Sally despairs that the situation is hopeless and they’d be better off rebuilding elsewhere than trying to restore Mobotropolis. That makes her more relatable.

1892: And Nicole reassures Sally that things will be fine, being a good friend.

1893: And Geoffrey does the same, reassuring Sally and trying to win her back naturally.

1894: Sally then confides in Nicole again that she’s stressed out about the fact that her power was usurped by the crystallized paranoid King Acorn.

1895: I like that Sally lampshades, ‘ This ISN’T right, Nicole! “ because of that.

1896: And Nicole reminds me why I like her so much again, pointing out Sally’s hypocrisy by saying, “ Nor is it the first time you’ve kept secrets from your friends. “ She’s the snarky AI sidekick instead of just being meek all the time.

1897: The Robians naturally want to start their own colony to have a home to themselves to avoid discrimination.

1898: By cross-circuiting Rotor gets the main computer in Robotropolis back online and tells someone piloting the aircraft with Snively imprisoned in it to go take off. Maybe someone else could’ve done that with all of those Robians with their free will back, but it was nice.

1899: He tells the pilot to have a nice day.

1900: He says, ” The same to you! “

1901: Even the sign outside of Robotropolis was changed. A zero was painted near the words evil doctor and the word many was painted to the left of the words 0 Living Beings with the zero being crossed out.

1902: Snively is put in the Devil’s Gulag. 36.

1903: Issue 53 Unfinished Business by Penders: It was nice of Knuckles and Julie-Su to come visit Mobotropolis and the Freedom Fighters.

1904: Sally and Julie shake hands.

1905: Julie’s cheerful and doesn’t act moody in this story, as it’d be out of place when she’s just among friends.

1906: Knuckles apologizes to Sally and says he’s been busy too. ”

1907: Sally says, ” Julie-Su, would you like to join us? ” ” I think I’d LIKE that! ”

1907: Sonic happily says to Knuckles, ” Rad Red! I was hoping we’d cross paths again! I never had the chance to thank y- ”

1908: Knuckles says, ” Skip it, dude! Everything’s cool! ”

1909: Sonic tells him, ” Seal the deal, compadre! ”

1910: and they put their fists on top of each other. Sonic and Knuckles are great buddies now! It’s refreshing after they were jerks to each other the last two times.

1911: I like that they remembered in the Sonic Miniseries that Sonic said his name was Maurice, it’s cool that Penders remembered that and had it be a joke.

1912: It humanizes Sonic to have him have a kind of troubled relationship with his father when he finally reunited with him because he was trying to adjust to having a father again, and his father embarrassed him at one point. So Jules wishes Sonic thought he was his father.

1913: Knuckles doesn’t mind when Jules puts his hand on his shoulder and they walk into the sunset.

1914: Jules says, ” Son, every relationship has problems! The good ones are able to overcome them! “

1915: He tells Knuckles, ” C’mon, dinner’s on! 14.

1916: Issue 53 Sounds of Silence by Karl Bollers: Sonic says a charming line being enthusiastic about how Robotnik’s old lab and his devices are all Sally’s now. ” And just think Sally, it’s all yours for the amazingly low price of nothing!

1917: When Sally says they wouldn’t have survived if the Ultimate Annihilator succeeded, Sonic says, “ Chances would be kinda low, I guess. “

1918: Sally is considerate saying that she doesn’t wanna bother Sonic with her dumb problems.

1919: Sally and Sonic have the exact kind of chemistry I’d expect here because Sally is nagging and complaining, and Sonic’s just going, “ I know, I know. “ It’s realistic.

1920: Sonic and Sally hold hands.

1921: ” Well, think about it for a second. ” ” Done. ” ” Hardy har har. “

1922: Sally hugs Sonic.

1923: Sonic’s smart again by asking if it’s a safe idea for Rotor to send a probe into the Zone of Silence.

1924: Ixis Naugus is an interesting concept for a villain other than Robotnik. He has green lightning, cool, really shows that he’s magical.

1925: Sally hugs her dad.

1926: He tells her he’s fine and more lucid than before.

1927: I like that they bothered to give Ixis more of a backstory because he was the former royal court wizard.

1928: King Acorn had to make a pact with Ixis to keep himself from being made insane by the magical effects of the Zone of Silence.

1929: Those effects were that to you, sounds and vibrations would cease to exist, and the effects were maddening. So, he got a pact to get rid of those effects.

1930: The only way the pact could get rid of the effects was to become his crystal knight, which is cool. He exchanged flesh and blood for crystal to get immunity to the Zone of Silence’s effects. He lost the ability to change from crystal to flesh and back when he escaped the zone, which tries better to explain his problem now.

1931: Dr. Quack tells the worried Sally that the king will be alright.

1932: Ixis turns objects into crystal to control them, turning Kodos into a golem.

1933: Luckily Sally just says Ixis can get lost, even though Max said Naugus IS the rightful ruler.

1934: Geoffrey prevents Uma from killing King Max by pushing him out of the way. 1935: Sally uses a bow to drop a canopy on Uma.

1935: Sonic uses his brain to get the fake Ixis defeated. He tells Ixis that if he turns him into a crystal golem he’ll just use that power against him, which infuriates him into proving he can only crystallize his gloves and shoes. He figured out that his wand can only affect objects, and that’s why he always missed his shots with it and he has Ixis’ wand broken. So the fake Ixis disappears and his minions are trapped as crystal golems that can’t move.

1936: Sonic and his friends are smart enough to not believe Ixis is truly gone after his fake disappears. They don’t accuse Sonic of killing him, and his minions because for all they know they’ll always be crystal statues after this. The heroes aren’t dumb enough to angst about this. After reading IDW where Sonic outright lectures about why he won’t kill the villains instead of keeping things to himself, I appreciate this. 21.

1937: Knuckles Comic Issue 7 Deadly Homecoming by Penders: Since Kragok was kind of a comedy villain, it makes perfect sense that he was upstaged by Enerjak/Dimitri, I really prefer him as a secondary villain to somebody else to him being the villain the whole time.

1938: Dimitri shows a different personality trait than just wanting to take over the world for once because he admires a statue of himself.

1939: Julie asks Knuckles sadly when he’s sitting alone, ” Mind if I join you? “

1940: He says, ” Yeah, sure! “

1941: She pities Knux, showing humanity to her, because he had been quiet. So she just wants to talk.

1942: Knux realized how alike he and Sonic are, as Sonic’s upset because his parents kept things from him like his had. Knux is a great audience surrogate by complaining that everything’s keeping things from him. “ I feel like a puppet with everyone pulling the strings! And I only react to whatever is happening at the moment! It was so much simpler when all I had to do was guard the Chaos Emerald to make certain everyone was cool! “ It’s very self-aware of the writing.

1943: Julie shows that even the regular folks don’t like her, staring at or avoiding her. I feel sorry for her.

1944: Knux considerately apologizes that he hadn’t thought of how others would react to Julie, and tries to go to Archy for a suggestion to help her reputation. That’s sweet of him.

1945: Enerjak restrains the ants so they can’t teleport away and hides them in egg-shaped containers that restrict their magic, which is very Genre Savvy of him.

1946: The conflict of the dingoes being oppressed people who are impoverished and need more housing is fascinating, and makes Echidnapolis feel more like a real city, with inter-species conflict.

1947: It makes sense that the Fire Ant Mobians live in Lava Reef Zone, since who else would enjoy this kind of environment.

1948: It makes sense that the Ant Mobians prefer to live alone because that means they won’t be stepped on.

1949: Lara-Le doesn’t want Knux to feel like his mom didn’t want him, crying, and after Wyn comforts her like a good boyfriend, saying she’s not to blame,

1950: he hugs her

1951: and he calls her darling

1952: She decides she should have a talk with her ex-husband about Knuckles. That’s a good mother instead of not putting any effort in at all, she really cares about her son.

1953: I like Sabre, an Only Sane Man telling Locke to get some rest because he’s staying up too much out of worry for Hawking.

1954: Julie uses a grappling hook on a mountain.

1955: Knuckles offers to help her up when she’s climbing.

1956: She says, ” Thanks… ”

1957: and climbs up on her own.

1958: When Julie snarks that at this point, she’d rather be his enemy because she’s tediously searching the whole island with him, Knux doesn’t make a big deal out of that mere snark. 22.

1959: Issue 54 Running to Stand Still by Bollers: I love that Tails and Uncle Chuck are working together on their fun time-wasting “ Sonic speed-measuring “ experiments. Tails is an engineer type after all, so this is foreshadowing.

1960: Sonic head-desks from boredom after looking at a watch because he’s at the Council, listening to Sally do boring government speech talk. This is who he is.

1961: Sally tells Chuck that his idea for a robot village is brilliant.

1962: I like that Amy as well as Tails are happy for the Robians deciding to form their own colony in Knothole. She says that rules.

1963: Sonic complains about how everyone’s trying to go change the world and make a difference without him. It really shows how unhappy he is at not getting to be a hero after Robotnik’s gone, a very realistic consequence of what would happen from that.

1964: Rotor calls Sonic buddy.

1965: It makes sense that Rotor would take this peacetime as an opportunity to go look for his missing family.

1966: Rotor calls Sonic buddy again when Sonic takes his side.

1967: Sally wants there to be a man-at-arms protecting every street corner to protect the Robians from crazed mobs.

1968: Geoffrey looks sympathetically sad at learning that Rotor might not be allowed to leave for finding his family because they need his tech skills. It makes sense, because Geoffrey lost his father, he’d know how it feels to want to reunite with your family.

1969: I love that Sonic snarks, “ Maybe I should petition to rename this town ‘ Dullsville, ‘ ” and

1970: he tells Rosie not to say the word “ adventure “ around him when the kids are around.

1971: He says to Rosie, “ I hate to say it, but everything stinks now that Robotnik’s gone! “ It makes him more interesting and believable of a character. He’s so used to excitement that he kind of needs villains.

1972: And Rosie lampshades, “ What? Sonic, are you feeling alright? “ and Sonic says that now he feels like his hands are tied while his shoelaces aren’t.

1973: Rosie is sympathetic with great chemistry with Sonic as she says, “ That’s not such a good combo for you! “ That always is a pleasant surprise.

1974: Thank goodness they’re using Snively’s Egg-Robo army again.

1975: That’s why I like Rosie so much, she’s a caring mother figure,

1976: being a babysitter and looking after kids that aren’t her own, and ENJOYING it.

1977: Sonic decides to hug Uncle Chuck and forgive him, using Rosie’s advice to make a positive difference even if in a small way.

1978: Sonic spending the whole story in a mood is what a realistic person would actually do, being mad at Uncle Chuck and deconstructing his character because he doesn’t have excitement anymore. It really humanized Sonic. 20.

1979: Knuckles Comic Issue 8 The Gauntlet by Penders: I’m impressed that they actually cared enough to explain that Dimitri created an air pocket on the moon, explaining why he and Knux didn’t suffocate immediately.

1980: Knuckles swims up to the surface of the water.

1981: Julie at least looks sad and depressed as she returns to the Legion from not knowing where else to go when she lost her only friend.

1982: She feels weird about returning there feeling like she’s such a stranger.

1983: Enerjak has an entertaining personality, being a melodramatic Large Ham who’s very emotional, like saying, “ GLOAT?! “ in response to Knux’s thoughts.

1984: Sabre says, “ Y’know, Locke, it’s been awhile since I’ve heard you laugh! “ and complains that to Locke, everything’s a crisis. He’s a good character, a contrast to him.

1985: Remington pulls back a chair for Lara-Le.

1986: She thanks him.

1987: I burst out laughing at how Dimitri reacted, “ ENOUGH! I am THROUGH toying with you! “ He’s an immature, comedic villain like Modern Eggman, and it helps that I picture him with a voice like Jet the Hawk.

1988: Dimitri tries to take Knux apart physically and tells him to enjoy life as a neuron, which is Genre Savvy of him to try to do as a villain. 10.

1989: Knuckles Comic Issue 9 Twilight of the Titans by Penders: Enerjak and Kragok realistically do think that them taking over the world is the right thing, as Enerjak calls it their holy crusade. They’re actually doing it because they think their people and nation should be in charge of everyone else, which is a very realistic way of portraying taking over the world villains because that’s how real-world conquerors were. That makes them believable villains even in a conquest such as this.

1990: When Enerjak says Knux is just a memory, Julie looks really sad.

1991: Athair and the Ancient Walkers actually did something to help! They saved Knux from Dimitri. It’s a Chekhov’s Gun since they were in earlier issues and Athair tried to warn Locke about something in the future.

1992: Julie helped the Chaotix because she left a hammer and canteen of water for them.

1993: She also left a jackhammer. So Knuckles frees the Chaotix from being tied up in the desert.

1994: Julie cringed when Enerjak threatened Echidnapolis.

1995: Julie stops the UFO and sends Kragok off the UFO. “ If that didn’t knock you off your feet, this DEFINITELY will, Kragok! Have a nice day! I’m outta here! “ She publicly humiliated him for trying to take over Echidnapolis.

1996: Enerjak is a good comedic contrast with the serious reserved Mammoth Mogul, yelling, “ If I need a lackey, I have more than enough! “

1997: Mammoth Mogul is logically the only one that could defeat Enerjak, as he absorbs his power with the Sword of Acorns.

1998: “ There is always someone else who is smarter, stronger, and more ruthless than you. “ I love Mogul saying that line!

1999: Because Archy warped Knuckles to the right place,

2000: Knuckles has a moment of heroism by saving Dimitri from smacking onto the ground. It’s good to have moments of a character being ridiculously heroic to remind us why he’s considered a hero.

2001: Sabre lampshades how Locke has been nothing but a distant observer spying on Knux, saying, “ It’s not a sin to help him once in awhile! “ It’s self-aware of the writing!

2002: They explain why the Freedom Fighters got a message from Knux to come for help. “ The system’s scramblers will make them see the visual of Knuckles instead of me! “ That’s a brilliant way of explaining it, since Knux was too preoccupied to send the message for himself.

2003: Geoffrey reacts to Mogul with, “ That’s some choice, mate! “ impressing me with his guts.

2004: Mogul is very Genre Savvy by warping the biggest threats to him, Sonic Knux and Tails, to another dimension. 16.

2005: Issue 55 Monkey Madness by Frank Strom: The Antoine and Sonic rivalry is shown as Sonic is intentionally running a teensy bit too fast as a prank, so Antoine is able to follow along but not quite fast enough for his liking. Antoine is just being playfully messed with not bullied.

2006: Sally joins in on the fun because she’s still giggling at how Antoine’s messed with. Here, it shows her good chemistry with Sonic when they’re dating for once.

2007: “ The pace, she is killing me! “ That’s a realistic mistake for a French speaker to make for once.

2008: Monkey Khan, the lightning-shooting cyborg monkey Mobian guy!

2009: His ring crown.

2010: Khan defeats the Egg-Robos awesomely,

2011: and sasses them like Sonic.

2012: Antoine holds Sonic’s shoulder trying to keep him from falling off the cliff behind him.

2013: Sonic uses Antoine’s sword to break off a part of the cliff to make some robots fall.

2014: Sally is more sassy than Peach by calling Khan out.

2015: Fortunately, Khan doesn’t lash out at Sally for that and instead realizes he should be more heroic, and saves Sonic.

2016: Sonic calls Khan buddy and forgives him. 12.

2017: Rise of the Robians by Bollers: Chuck uses flash grenades he was smart enough to keep around.

2018: The Robian thanks him.

2019: I like how the Robian-racists are sympathetic towards the Robians ordered to be executed.

2020: Chuck tells what he thinks is King Max that he can’t just make up a law on the spot and pass sentence and calls him unfair.

2021: I love that the king calls Chuck out on the fact that he invented the roboticizer. I never thought he would be called out on for that when I first read the comic, so way to go.

2022: When the possessed-by-Ixis King Acorn orders the Robians’ execution – which makes sense for a tech-hater wizard,

2023: he’s called out on and told by Chuck that he can’t make up laws like that,

2024: and Geoffrey says it’s unfair,

2025: and Geoffrey’s slapped by the king, which made me feel sorry for him.

2026: The whole idea that Ixis was possessing the king and made him act more paranoid of Robians, power hungry and violent is fascinating, I wish it was fully explained to have been the case and for how long because it started BEFORE Ixis was freed from the Zone of Silence. 10.

2027: Issue 56 Immortality is Forever Life is Finite by Kent Taylor: Mammoth Mogul gets to be a huge threat of a major villain for an issue, threatening to take over.

2028: Athair shows up to be actually helpful to Sonic and friends, creating a portal to return them to Mogul.

2029: Finally, something Mogul didn’t predict for once, as the heroes surprise him from behind.

2030: The heroes absorb the power radiating from Mogul’s aura to become super, Also, they DID collect a bunch of Rings, which makes sense. And Mogul has so much power radiating from him that it justifies them being able to turn super when they don’t have Emeralds.

2031: And even Tails has a super form, being Turbo Tails where he’s orange and has a cool cape!

2032: Athair is useful again by absorbing even more magic from Mogul.

2033: I like that Sonic lampshades how wordy Mogul is, saying “ talk talk talk! “

2034: Mogul’s cane was a mechanical construct to hide the real Emerald.

2035: The Emerald shattering makes a little more sense for Mogul to become more powerful from it, because it let out all its power at once and penetrated into his body to become part of him.

2036: Locke and Sabre decide to help against Mogul.

2037: Everyone cheers as Knux finally gives Sally the Sword of Acorn,

2038: and I giggled at Knux lampshading how many times the Sword of Acorns got lost, presenting it to Sally while saying, “ for the first and hopefully last time. “

2039: Sonic thanks Knuckles for the hospitality.

2040: Knux lampshades self-deprecatingly that him and Sonic should’ve always been on the same side.

2041: Knuckles has the rationality to admit that he and Sonic are a lot alike.

2042: Sonic says with a smile that both him and Knuckles are thrill-seekers.

2043: The 11 Emeralds were all combined into the Master Emerald, providing a great explanation for the origin of the Master Emerald. Having the Master Emerald is better because having an entire island held up by one measly Chaos Emerald is dumb.

2044: The explosion left Mogul in a comatose state trapped in the Master Emerald as karma.

2045: I like that Knux points out that with no villains left, Sonic thinks heroes are out of a job and Sonic says, “ There’s no place for us in organized society! And I gotta tell ya, rebuilding a city is not my thing. “ And Sonic wants to go fight Robotnik’s sub-bosses.

2046: Knuckles apologizes because he’s so scared of Mogul escaping the Master Emerald and destroying his island that he doesn’t want to go on adventures fighting sub-bosses with Sonic.

2047: It’s sweet that Sonic put his arm around Tails

2048: and told him he was proud of him for being the Chosen One. Fleetway Sonic would’ve been jealous and condescending and gone into denial.

2049: Tails thanks him.

2050: Sonic and Tails plan to go on a big adventure together and spend quality time together. Good!

2051: Mogul being distracted freed the heroes, which was consistent with how the enchantress being distracted freed Knux from her power. 25.

2052: Sonic Super Special Issue 4 The Return of the King by Karl Bollers and Gallagher: King Max calls ” Sally ” sweetheart.

2053: He wants to rebuild the kingdom so that everyone there would live lives of harmony.

2054: After the king gets made mad enough by illusions to lose control of his body, Ixis orders the dismantling of all Robians, throwing the city into a frenzy as the Robians hide. That’s epic.

2055: Ixis had brainwashed the soldiers into going along with this, explaining why they uncharacteristically ignored Sally. That’s competent.

2056: After a soldier ignores the princess’ orders Sonic gives him the punishment he deserves by catching him in a tornado. And this gets him to pay enough attention to them to give them vital exposition.

2057: Sally thanks Sonic for it.

2058: Chuck says to Sonic that he never wants lies to come between them again.

2059: I loved that Sonic snapped at a soldier for killing Uncle Chuck and threatened him with the Sword because memorably proves that he LOVES his uncle,, and it keeps him from being a pure Gary Stu by having gray morality moments like this, that he was talked out of. The fact that his friends are his morality chains showcases why he’s a better person than Scourge.

2060: Sonic’s mom asks him if he’s okay.

2061: His parents help him stand.

2062: The Sword of Acorns had healed Chuck.

2063: I like that even Sonic doesn’t know which species Ixis is supposed to be. He’s lampshading how weird Ixis looks.

2061: When Ixis makes King Acorn jump to his death, the reason he and Sonic are both fine when Sonic grabs his leg is because the Sword of Acorns saved their lives, which makes much more sense than Advance 2’s ending.

2062: Sally hugs her father.

2063: She says she loves him no matter what he looks like.

2064: It was cool when the king pulled the Sword of Acorns out of the stone, it’s way more satisfying to have HIM find the Sword.

2065: The Crown of Acorns shows up when the king gets the Sword of Acorns, which is much faster. So, the Hall of Limbo was within the king’s aura, streamlining the obtaining of the Crown, and returns him to normal. 17.

2066: Down & Out in Downunda by Gallagher: Dr. Quack is using Swatbot heads as drums at the Freedom Fighters’ campfire.

2067: It’s actually explained that Barby used her sharp claws to free Bunnie,

2068: Bunnie says to her team that it was nice working with them,

2069: Antoine tells Bunnie good job as he’s clinging onto her when she’s flying and holding the flying airbus.

2070: We see Antoine taunt a Combot into following him,

2071: getting Bunnie to ambush and destroy it with her arm cannon.

2072: This also explains where they got a thermo bomb in Issue 50 to use it to save the day, or try, as they got it from the Combot.

2073: Sally says, ” Three cheers for Bunnie Rabbot and Antoine D’Coolette! ” as she holds a cup of milk up.

2074: Everyone around them cheers as Antoine thanks them.

2075: Bunnie just says they were just doing their duty.

2076: The Downunda Freedom Fighters send a letter to Sally explaining that Downunda’s now free of tyranny. 11.

2077: Sonic Super Special Issue 5 When you and I Were Young Sally by Gallagher: Sonic hitting Antoine proves it’s not retconned that he bullied him.

2078: Julayla is the cool mom/teacher by telling Sally that she should hang out with her friends to learn to socialize.

2079: Rotor still calls himself his old nickname Boomer, one of the references to the past.

2080: Sonic played basketball with himself to show off with his super speed is a reference to his past characterization as an egomaniac about his speed.

2081: Sally asks Tails what’s wrong.

2082: She puts her hand on Tails’ shoulder.

2083: Tails is sad and insecure because he thinks he’ll never be as fast or cool as Sonic.

2084: I like that Sally called Tails Miles, it makes sense since he’s very young at this point and awkward about his tails.

2085: Sally reassures him out of insecurity, being a loving mother figure.

2086: Sally can’t think of a talent that Antoine has and eventually settles on saying he has an amazing French accent.

2087: Sonic calls Tails his buddy.

2088: He says to Tails that what makes him unique is his two tails,

2089: and Tails says sadly, “ Hey, c’mon, “ while Sally says to not tease him. This is good, realistic.

2090: Sonic creates a small tornado and tells Tails to spin his tails above him, and this actually shows how Tails learned how to fly.

2091: Rotor uses something to figure out where Tails landed.

2092: Sally tells Rotor he’s handy to have around.

2093: We see how the heroes discovered their underground Knothole base. It became a playhouse for them on Rotor’s idea after Tails accidentally fell into it. Now that I know the kids had this base to play already, this explains why they immediately knew to come to the base to be Freedom Fighters.

2094: Sally asks Tails if he’s alright.

2095: Sally says, ” Good thinking, Tails! “

2096: It makes a lot of sense that Tails decided to call himself Tails because he learned how useful his tails could be. So, Tails is confident, and Miles isn’t since he won’t call himself that. 20.

2097: Sonic Super Special Issue 5 Stop… Sonic Time by Tom Rolston: The writers really care enough to explain everything about this comic, since this is a whole story about how Tails got his “ Uncle Chuck speed friction-reducing “ shoes. He got them from Merlin!

2098: Sonic telling a story to kids is an actual framing device to JUSTIFY telling a story about the heroes’ early childhood. Last story, I was wondering if it was even canon at first because of that lack of a framing device.

2099: Tails getting straight A’s on his report card proves in foreshadowing that he’s a genius.

2100: Sally says, ” We are so proud of you, Miles! “

2101: It’s sweet that Antoine calls Tails little one being nice to him and gives to him a gift.

2102: Tails calls it cool and compliments that it shines.

2103: He thanks him.

2104: Rosie says that it’s pretty.

2105: Tails thanks Sally and says the party’s neat.

2106: Sally tells Tails, ” Don’t worry, Miles, Sonic should be here any second. “

2107: Tails tells her to call him Tails.

2108: She humors him.

2109: Merlin gave Tails a gift covertly by giving it to Sonic.

2110: Sonic thanks Merlin for giving him a gift he can give Tails, Tails’ shoes.

2111: Merlin thanks him for allowing him to.

2112: Robotnik lampshades how he was stupid to not kill Sally when he had the chance.

2113: Snively calls Robotnik, ” Uncle Julian, ” at first out of habit, which is sweet.

2114: The idea of the people of Knothole being frozen in time as a tool against them was brilliant.

2115: The time-freezing ray is balanced because it’s still a matter of actually hitting someone with the thing, so it’s not like it’s extremely awesome.

2116: “ And make sure you get EVERY single one of then, I don’t want anyone to feel they got left out. “ I like Robotnik’s line there when kidnapping.

2117: Snively lampshades how Robotnik bosses his minions around when he knows they’re going to do the work anyways.

2118: Sonic cleverly pretends to be time-frozen to get into Robotnik’s base,

2119: and then I love how Sonic acts like Bugs Bunny hitting all the buttons to make the machine blow up, saying, “ Oh well! Gotta press ‘em all! “

2220: I like that Robotnik says the machine will take years to rebuild, justifying why he didn’t make another one and effortlessly win.

2221: It’s excellent that none of these “ Freedom Fighters as kids “ stories contradict the stories they take place before, so they’re fine.

2222: Tails calls his gift from Sonic cool

2223: and thanks him.

2224: Rosie calls the gift wonderful.

2225: Rotor says he likes the shoes. 29.

2226: Total Re-Genesis by Karl Bollers: This is a story that explains what happened to the Combots that fell off a cliff.

2227: Sally shows she’s not so above it all because she had lied about how useful she was in the fight against the Combots, pretending that her other teammates had been knocked out and useless.

2228: Also, it wasn’t just Sally’s story that was the true one, nor was it Sonic’s, which both would’ve been a Creator’s Pet moment.

2229: Sonic’s story has him humorously say, ” Hasta la vista misteeh, ” followed by the robot blowing up and being pathetic for no reason, being egomaniacal. Ironically, Antoine had the best story.

2230: Sally had been useful by using a laser blaster to make a boulder from above fall off a cliff onto robots.

2231: Chuck says he’s glad they all grasp teamwork. 6.

2232: Issue 57 Back to Basics by Gallagher: Amy is there with the heroes.

2233: Chuck warns Sonic that you never know what to expect with one of Robotnik’s devices, which makes him and Sally look smart in retrospect because eventually the machine explodes after the end of all of the recap.

2234: Sonic says, “ tried to ice me, “ which Scourge also says later. It’s cool seeing their similarities.

2235: Sonic was smart enough to figure out he had to take off the machine from his head and throw it off a cliff somehow before it’d blow up.

2236: Sonic admits to his parents just how happy he is that they’re alive and well.

2237: He lampshades that he hasn’t tried to show them that at all.

2238: Sonic’s mom says she’s glad to be back and warns him that he almost forgot to pack his toothbrush and clean socks.

2239: Jules tells Bernadette not to nag Sonic because he’s proven himself to not need them.

2240: Sonic hugs them.

2241: Sonic looks sad telling his parents that he needs them now more than ever because he just got them back.

2242: Sonic says to Sally, ” I think you rule in the biggest way! You’re my best friend on Mobius! ”

2243: and she admits, ” Right back at you, Blue! “

2244: “ Ixis and I really haven’t checked our day planners. “ I like Sonic’s snarky sarcastic joke there. I chuckled there.

2245: I like that Sonic and Sally had a sweet moment together where Sonic gave her a flower and Sally reaffirmed that she was close with him. “ First, take these flowers. Second, get to know your dad again! It’s been awhile huh? And third, Don’t you go changin’ on me, Sally Acorn! “

2246: Sonic was very considerate to actually think to tell Sally to get to know her dad again.

2247: Sonic really looks like a ladies’ man in that panel being nice to Sally like that.

2248: Aw! Sally kissed Sonic on the forehead!

2249: I like that she showed how shy and reserved and proper she is because she merely kissed Sonic on the forehead like he was her son. It’s a great contrast to Sonic who dunked and kissed Sally. It shows off her personality well.

2250: Sonic likes that his biplane got renamed Winged Victory and Rotor tells Sally not to worry. 19.

2251: Knuckles Comic Issue 10 The Other Road Taken by Penders: Athair was levitating while meditating.

2252: I’m intrigued by the idea of the wandering tribe of echidnas.

2253: Athair is with the wandering tribe, meaning that on a daily basis he’s very helpful because he’s guiding a tribe to a refuge in a snowy mountain. This is much better than him just spending all time in Downunda Crater doing nothing.

2254: When a kid asks his mother why she’s crying she says, ” Nothing for you to worry about, dear! “

2255: He says he feels like a parent watching his child leave the nest as he leaves someone else temporarily in charge of guiding the tribe.

2256: Knux had a sad expression sitting around waiting for his mom to finish work,

2257: and he said he decided to hang around and wait for her. AW! That’s so sweet! It makes sense that he’d regress with the way he treats a mom he just met.

2258: Knux didn’t feel comfortable going into a place because he didn’t grow up in Echidnapolis, he naturally feels like a fish out of water, which would be frustrating for an echidna who finally got to see a whole city of echidnas and yet can’t feel at home there.

2259: Knuckles says his father just taught him about ethics, and about becoming a guardian. Knuckles asks if that’s so wrong and Lara-Le says empathetically, ” It is if you don’t get to enjoy being a boy, at least, once in a while! ” I like that.

2260: Athair says to Lara-Le, ” It’s good to see you! ” It’s sweet to see Athair smiling for once.

2261: Lara-Le and Athair are happy to see each other.

2262: I love that Lara-Le called Knuckles out on being disrespectful to a guy who saved Knuckles’ life AND helped him beat Mogul. “ That’s NO way to talk to your great grandfather! Now I want you to apologize! “ It helps legitimize her being his mom because she knows how to scold him.

2263: Knuckles looks sad and rubs his arm saying, “ I’m-I’m sorry! “ to Athair, which humanizes him.

2264: I giggled at how suddenly Athair whisks Knux away without fully talking it over with him first. He’s like, “ I’ve come for the lad! “ and “ Then you’re about to get even busier! “

2265: I like the design of Constable’s secretary, and the female echidnas in general. They’re more varied from Knux.

2266: I like how polite and amicable Archy and Remington are with each other,

2267: and how Archy defends Julie.

2268: It makes some sense that one group of people would refuse to go live on a floating island, thinking echidnas weren’t meant to do so. So, the wandering tribe has a good justification and makes the world and history make more sense. I feel sorry for this tribe when I see flashbacks of the tribe being booted out of land they wanna settle at.

2269: Their cars broke down with no spare parts to fix them, and this is a good explanation for why they quit tech, because they were forced to. They’re not shunning it, they just can’t maintain it forever outside of civilization as a wandering tribe.

2270: I really like getting to see the Chaotix eating out at a casual restaurant, it makes them relatable.

2271: Espio says that none of them would still be alive if Julie-Su had followed Kragok’s orders and tells Vector to give it a rest when he somehow keeps distrusting her.

2272: I liked Mighty saying, “ Finally, something to do! “ at the Constable wanting his help. Mighty’s reaction to being playable in Sonic Mania.

2273: While arbitrary, the Days of Fury are an interesting concept that create tension from bad weather, so I kind of appreciate it, but I wish it was fully explained that they came from magic overflow in the world.

2274: Knuckles grabs someone’s arm and glides to keep him from falling into the lava in front of his family.

2275: Knux’s line against Athair at the end is cathartic, saying that there’s 12 hundred echidnas in danger and Athair says it’s a lost cause! 25.

2276: Knuckles Comic Issue 11 Covenant by Penders: One of the echidna civilians tries to make a Heroic Sacrifice to save his family, which was considerate.

2277: Athair is being useful by floating the wandering tribe away from the lava to protect them.

2278: Knuckles flies while carrying someone to save him from falling into the lava.

2279: Constable Remington says that Julie-Su is the Chaotix’s new partner.

2280: Athair having a wife earlier humanizes him and makes him more sympathetic,

2281: and I like the idea of a female guardian, and that was Athair’s mother.

2282: Athair’s mom was sympathetic to him guiding the wandering tribe instead of a guardian.

2283: It’s fascinating to see that the Ancient Walkers brought Athair to his mom in Haven and we got to see his confused reaction like, “ is this where you’ve been? “ It’s fascinating because imagine if that was the case for Knuckles.

2284: I like that Knux feels sorry for Athair because Sabre had been mad at Athair his whole life, asking him if another guide could’ve taken Athair’s place.

2285: They address how the wandering tribe was affected by Robotnik because some of them, including Athair’s wife, were kidnapped and roboticized.

2286: I like that Athair admitted he hated to send Knux to bed without more explanations to him and only did it because he could see Knux needed some rest, and was overwhelmed by all the information. So Athair was being considerate.

2287: I love how angry Knux gets at Athair leaving, complaining that this just adds to his complaints with him since first he abandons being a guardian and now he abandons being the guide.

2288: The kingdom of Mercia.

2289: Mari-An, who flips Knux over saying she can take care of herself,

2290: and then Knux smiles at her asking her jokingly if she’s related to Julie-Su, meaning that he really misses his old friend and was hoping he could get to know a relative of hers. Aw, that’s sweet!

2291: Tails says, ” Pleased to meet you! ” to an echidna that got jailed with him.

2292: “ Sonic’s the name and escaping’s my game! “ It’s charming Sonic’s staying positive even while trapped in a cell chained to a wall. 17.

2293: Issue 58 Friendly Rogues by Penders: Sonic calls Tails his buddy.

2294: It’s smart of Rob O’ Hedge to ask Knuckles to join his adventure and stop fighting him because he recognizes a tough ally.

2295: Sonic calls Tails buddy.

2296: Sonic lampshades how stupid it was to go flying in a storm in the biplane.

2297: Tails was able to land the plane before they blacked out from the plane being struck by lightning, and this proves how much of a prodigy he is at plane landing, at least.

2298: Yanar provokes a robot into taking him away first, compassionately buying Sonic some time to free himself. He earned my respect with that.

2299: Then he throws Sonic the key to his chains for him to

2300: catch on his shoe and put between his teeth.

2301: I’m glad we get to see another one of Robotnik’s sub-bosses, the sub-boss of Mercia being a villain in an issue.

2302: It’s revealed more interestingly that the Mercian sub-boss is Antoine’s roboticized father, putting him in a villain role surprisingly.

2303: Tails calls Sonic his friend.

2304: Sonic calls Tails buddy.

2305: Tails is useful untying the ropes of the chandelier above him to make it fall, trapping Antoine’s father for a little while to buy them time to run away.

2306: I’m proud of Mari-An for being just fine on her own instead of getting captured.

2307: And it was foreshadowed by her saying she’d be fine on her own and flipping Knux.

2308: It’s sweet and charming that Mari-An and Robin fall in love at first sight.

2309: Mari-An helps Rob out of the water.

2310: Sonic gets helped up by Rob.

2311: Amy has a bit of a backstory for her and an explanation for why she has no family in Knothole, because she was sent to Knothole from Mercia by Robin. Rose is an English word, so of course Amy Rose is English. 19.

2312: The Living Crown by Penders and Clayton Emery: I’m impressed they had a concrete backstory showing the origin of the Sword and Crown of Acorns; they were formed from the Source of All’s gold liquid and molded into what they are by a blacksmith. It’s impressive, MacGuffins never have backstories.

2313: In the flashback King Max told Julayla to run out of the castle with the kids without them, saving them from Eggman.

2314: The Crown faded from sight being lost by the king because he gave away the Sword to protect it. So, there’s a reason Robotnik didn’t take his crown, it vanished along with the Sword. It’s fascinating to have the Crown of Acorns have such a strong connection with the Sword that its existence in the physical world is entirely reliant on the Sword of Acorns being held in its master’s hands. 3.

2315: Knuckles Comic Issue 12 Journey’s End by Penders: Rob will be useful by cutting the rope just before the trap door would spring.

2316: It was sweet of Knux to say to Tails, “ I didn’t forget you, lil guy! “ and saying that he’ll come with him to take out the bad guys.

2317: Yanar says, ” I’m sorry I have but one life to give for my people! ”

2318: Sonic and his friends save him. Sonic runs while carrying Yanar away.

2319: Rob shows a heroic side saying their first priority should be the innocent, so they should create a diversion to distract from the innocents trying to escape.

2320: Rob is mature by agreeing that he and his men might hurt innocents in the crossfire, so he decides to be left behind while the innocents leave.

2321: Sonic is pragmatic by saying to Tails that they shouldn’t tell Antoine they know the fate of his father.

2322: It’s sweet that Mari-An’s brothers hug her instead of trying to be all manly.

2323: Look at Tails, with his hands clasped together and a smile, even he thinks that’s sweet.

2324: Locke lampshades how they’re using technology despite the ban and it’s pointed out that the guardians show what’s good about tech, by using the good tech for medical purposes.

2325: Locke agreed to talk with his ex-wife.

2326: I like that Knux actually cares enough to ask Sonic how things are going.

2327: Sonic complains, “ Yeah, well, Sal’s busy with the PRINCESS gig. “

2328: Knuckles says to Sonic, “ You’re welcome to drop in on the Floating Island any time! “ That’s sweet, especially considering other continuities where he’d never say that to Sonic.

2329: Sonic thanks him.

2330: Yanar admits that Albion is breath-taking, rather than hating technology.

2331: Mari-An says she doesn’t want to leave Rob to fight alone and offers to remain by his side.

2332: Knuckles is smart enough to know right away that Rob isn’t going to jump off the cliff.

2333: Rob is useful by pointing out which way they’re supposed to go to reach Albion. He tells them all to walk across the ocean to get there.

2334: Lara-Le has such a great boyfriend because Wyn doesn’t get intensely jealous or worried at Lara-Le trying to get in contact with her ex.

2335: Lara snarks that Locke was never much for conversation, deadpanning about what kind of a husband he was, which is relatable humor that I chuckled at.

2336: Mari-An decides to stay with Robin, saying her home is with the one she loves.

2337: Her parents are immediately supportive of her with that, even giving out hugs. Aw!

2338: Yanar says to Knuckles, ” Until we meet again my friend! You have our love… “

2339: The guiding star gem lets Knux warp away, it’s quite a helpful stone. 25.

2340: Issue 59 Opposites Detract by Gallagher: Sonic calls Tails his buddy.

2341: It’s justified why Sonic and Tails went into the Al and Cal zone because the portal pulls them into it.

2342: Sonic calls Tails chum.

2343: Sonic and Tails fight, because Al and Cal brainwashed them.

2344: Tails shows progress by being able to spindash.

2345: Sonic and Tails hug,

2346: and Sonic ruffles Tails’ hair! That’s so sweet.

2347: Sonic puts his hand on Tails’ shoulder.

2348: Tails has his arm around Sonic.

2349: Sonic says the cathartic line, “ Good riddance! “ being relatable against Al and Cal. 10.

2350: Issue 59 The People’s Princess by Penders: We get a downtime story getting to see Sally skydiving with Hamlin, Hershey, and Rotor and Lupe. Lighthearted downtime shows how they might spend their time when they aren’t fighting Robotnik.

2351: Sally says, ” Safe landings, everyone! “

2352: She wishes she could stay in the air forever floating without a care in the world as she’s parachuting down, which is a kinda likable moment.

2353: When Sally lands after sky-diving, a kid says that was cool

2354: and she thanks him, after humbly saying, ” I was? ”

2355: The kid invites Sally and her friends to his home for dinner for his mother.

2356: Hamlin happily tells Sally to quit worrying.

2357: And in retrospect I appreciate that these are still the days where he calls her, ” Princess, ” because he has so much respect for her.

2358: Sally asks Erik if he’s alright because he’s caught in a tree.

2359: She throws a knife accurately to cut the parachute line that had Erik caught in a tree on his landing, so this frees him.

2360: He formally thanks Sally.

2361: Rosie reaffirms her status as a good mother figure by offering Sally a cup of hot cocoa. It’s good to have moments like this reaffirming who she is. 12.

2362: Knuckles Comic Issue 13 The Unsuspecting by Penders: Harry. Overused, sure, but it’s still nice to see a GOOD dingo character.

2363: It’s nice to see a dingo that’s not a military man.

2364: “ It’s funny to think how much grief they caused themselves with their hypocrisy over technology. Either you use it or you don’t, period! “ Harry’s the Only Sane Man, Penders is self-aware about that tech ban inconsistency.

2365: Charmy Bee’s sympathetic here pleading for Harry to help his collapsed friend.

2366: Harry asks Charmy if he’ll be okay.

2367: Mighty says, ” Pardon my friend’s manners, sir! ”

2368: He helps Harry up.

2369: He gets thanked

2370: and called mate.

2371: Harry and Charmy look really sympathetic hugging each other in response to the sad news about Mello.

2372: I’m really impressed echidnas were nice enough to let dingoes be security guards, let alone letting them drive trucks with their food in it. I was worried they’d ALL be military men and be restricted to the lowest caste of society, but instead the dingoes have normal jobs.

2373: Renfield is at least used as a villain in a plot again since we saw him earlier.

2374: Fortunately for Julie not being suspected of anything, she shows up right after the Chaotix wonder where she is.

2375: After Charmy asks how Mello didn’t survive when the rest did, Remington says, ” I’m very sorry! ” about what happened to Mello.

2376: Sabre lampshades, “ You’ve been staring at those screens for HOURS, Locke! Give it a rest! “ I like this guy!

2377: And Locke says that when Knuckles is away, someone’s gotta pick up the slack, so that justifies his behaviour in this instance.

2378: “ How in BLAZES did he end up there?! “ I love that line by Sabre, regarding Knux in the Badlands, running from a stampede.

2379: Locke says, “ Blast protocols!!! Knuckles is in DANGER, and I need to act now if I’m to save him! “

2380: Charmy thanks Harry.

2381: Harry says sorry about his friend.

2382: Charmy thanks Harry.

2383: I smiled at Charmy pouting at Harry to manipulate him, and asking him with a smile for another favour.

2384: Harry didn’t refuse and agreed to drive Charmy and his friends to Happyland.

2385: “ I’m going to slug you if you ask that one more time, “ Julie snarks to Vector who was saying “ are you there, yet? “

2386: Espio’s line is also funny, “ Put a cork in it, both of you! “

2387: Mello thanked the hot dog vendor.

2388: I like that Julie doesn’t eat stuff from a Happyland from the suspicious Renfield suspected of poisoning food. She even tells them they should WAIT to see if it’s safe.

2389: It’s interesting that Renfield is just being pressured into enabling the poisonings.

2390: “ I toldja! I TOLDJA! But did anyone listen?! “ I like that line from Julie. She’s at her best here, so sassy.

2391: Julie shows compassion for Charmy by carrying him. 30.

2392: Issue 60 Arsenal of the Iron King by Frank Strom: There’s a logical consequence to the forever burning mountain because the village nearby has its water closely rationed.

2393: Li Moon apologizes to Sonic and Tails for not being able to spare water.

2394: Mount Stormtop, the forever burning mountain,

2395: is actually explained as being the way it is. It was the curse of the Iron Queen.

2396: Sonic tells Tails to relax

2397: and calls him bud.

2398: Khan is brainwashed into trying to fight Sonic and Tails by the Queen, and that’s always interesting to see him, a hero, in an antagonistic role like that, even if it was too soon since literally the previous time we had seen him he was evil anyways.

2399: I love that Sonic immediately figures out Khan was brainwashed rather than assuming he went back to being evil. Again, he’s cool because he’s NOT stupid yet.

2400: Khan being easily brainwashed from his rage is showing consistency with how Ixis was able to more easily control King Acorn because he got angry.

2401: Tails knocks away the Iron Queen’s staff.

2402: The Rings were in her staff, and were what amplified her power. Cool that they explained that.

2403: When Ken Khan comes back to his senses, Sonic tells him, ” Easy does it, ”

2404: and calls him bud.

2405: It’s smart of Sonic to tell Tails to leave and get the Fan of Fen.

2406: Tails is so loyal that he leaves despite complaining about having to do so.

2407: The Fan of Fen blows the King away like a cooler version of the gust jar from Skyward Sword.

2408: The Iron Queen, who created the fire on Mount Stormtop. It was cool of her to be able to do that. 17.

2409: Issue 60 The Ultimatum by Penders: Sally looks sympathetic and relatable because when she says she’s ready to join with the Source of All, she looks worried with her hand over her mouth.

2410: “ You’ll do no such thing, Daddy! But when it involves who I’m going to marry, that decision will be my choice alone! “ I love that Sally stands up to the king.

2411: Finally the king looks like a believable character as a monarch because he’s a flawed person, by annoyingly trying to force Sally to marry someone she doesn’t want to, because of tradition. I totally understand why he’d want to do this, especially since he’s so happy to be home that he clings to anything associated with home, including the past traditions in the past that had him on the throne. Plus, Antoine and Sally are more like each other in personality than Sonic and Sally, so why wouldn’t the king prefer that? 3.

2412: Knuckles Comic Issue 14 Tenuous Grip on Reality by Penders: Prince Charmy ran away. I love that they care enough to give Charmy of all people a backstory.

2413: It’s fascinating to see that there’s a story arc where Julie is working together with Constable Remington to solve crime, it’s unique compared to the heroes simply fighting the Dark legion again. Instead, they’re fighting against criminals causing poisonings. Julie working through this story arc mostly alone for the Chaotix is solidifying her position as an accepted member of the team, and even more of that will come later. It makes it official that she’s a good guy now.

2414: Renfield has guts telling his bodyguard to threaten Blackjack, that’s a pleasant surprise.

2415: Charmy complains sympathetically, “ Nobody asks me if this is what I want! I’m just expected to go along! “ Wow.

2416: We see Mighty meet Charmy.

2417: Locke says Archy can show Knux how to use his powers, and I like Sabre’s snark, “ I believe a better candidate can be found in your bathroom mirror, Locke. “

2418: Just because Vector asks what’s to eat, the nurse says while running away, “ That’s it! Last one picks me up, THIS one wants to put the bite on me! Doctor! “ I giggled. They now downplay the seriousness by having comedy, and it’s in the RIGHT TIMING because this is when the Chaotix are waking up one by one.

2419: After being asked by his sergeant if he’s still taking passengers to his taxi Harry snarks, “ I was the last time I checked, bub! “

2420: I’m glad Harry was used again as a Chekhov’s Gun. He drives Julie to her destination.

2421: “ That’s one tough cookie who can handle herself in a tough situation! “ ironically said as we see Julie being thrown off a roof. 10.

2422: Knuckles Comic Issue 15 Picking up the Pieces by Penders: It’s refreshing that we see a surgeon having normal conversation, saying, “ You wanna freebie, you go see the butcher down the street. “

2423: Julie saves herself with the grappling hook she had in earlier issues which makes sense.

2424: It made me smile seeing the surgeon run away to get sick and a doctor lampshades, “ does he always do this? “ These two things are levity to downplay.

2425: When Julie swings into someone’s bedroom and they’re panicked, she says, “ No there’s not! You’re just having a bad dream! “ She’s got great lines.

2426: Remington keeps Julie from going the way where she’d have to fight multiple people to escape. Instead they only have to get past one person who he easily knocks out.

2427: Harry snarks that there’s never a dull moment with them around.

2428: Mighty lampshades how obsessed Vector is with music at a time like this.

2429: Remington hits a dingo right when the TV he’s listening to says, “ What a hit! “

2430: As Julie and Remington climb along a rope behind dingoes, dingoes ironically complain about how quiet it is and they think they’re wasting their time. Seriously, this issue oozes with charm. A few dark elements doesn’t change the fact that it’s overall lighthearted.

2431: I giggled at Ebony missing all his shots despite being right up close to them. “ The first round might not get you! And maybe the second won’t get you, either! “ That’s hilarious. What a terrible gangster.

2432: Julie looks sympathetic and relatable being scared of Ebony trying to shoot at her multiple times.

2433: Espio’s threatened that he’s out of his league and he says, “ Yeah! I’m normally not one to hang out with slime like you! “

2434: Julie is shown compassion as Espio asks her if she’s alright,

2435: and Julie says never mind her and just wants to know if Remington’s alright.

2436: Mighty says, “ As for YOU being MY idea of breakfast, man, you’re the pits! And that’s the fact, Jack! “ He’s tame and dorky.

2437: “ How’d you like to boogie with the Constable instead? “ Another line I smile at when Ebony’s girlfriend is told that.

2438: Ebony and his girlfriend and the other bad guy got arrested. An epic adventure where the bad guys got what they deserved.

2439: It’s good that Renfield is humiliated as Remington says, “ I could always book you as an accessory after the fact, if you’d prefer! “ It gives him some sort of karma.

2440: Julie is nice enough to ask Charmy if he’s feeling alright after surgery.

2441: Charmy hugs his mom.

2442: His sister says it’s good to see him.

2443: Charmy says to his friends, ” Thanks for coming, guys… “

2444: Charmy says he couldn’t have made it through this without his friends. Vector says that’s what buds are for.

2445: And Julie comforts Charmy with a hug.

2446: Vector’s even crying. This scene proved that Mello’s sacrifice was written for a good purpose. This is how you use dark elements right. It led to a touching moment getting Julie trusted in the Chaotix.

2447: Charmy says in narration that it’d be a long time before he could forgive himself even if his family did. It’s sympathetic for him.

2448: The narration says that Mello would be in Charmy’s heart always, as would his other friends who came to mean so much to him.

2449: Charmy was crowned prince as narration says that Charmy left not wanting to grow up only to realize he had no choice in the matter, and he realized how much he loved his family. He thought he’d always have fun with his friends but found something more meaningful with his family instead. This is another touching moment. 28.

2450: Issue 61 Outback Gut Check by Gallagher: We get to see Sonic visiting Downunda and going on a trip with the Australian Freedom Fighters.

2451: Tails spins his tails like a fan to be useful sending enemies away,

2452: and Sonic spindashes to free the heroes from their cage.

2453: Tails says, ” Good to see you two! “

2454: He calls the Downunda Freedom Fighters his friends.

2455: I like the attention to detail that the Downunda heroes removed everything from Crocbot’s old prison.

2456: Thank goodness it’s actually explained why the duckbill platypuses tried to stop them from doing that to the prison, Bill really WAS brainwashed.

2457: It’s sweet that Barby kisses Tails’ cheek, I guess.

2458: Barby warns Tails to be careful of the hanging moss.

2459: Wallaby has a personality finally, as he’s the leader and he complains about Sonic acting like the leader, telling Sonic off for wanting people to follow him instead.

2460: Sonic’s hating him and calling him Wannabe proves that I’m not SUPPOSED to side with Wallaby the control freak.

2461: The hippie hits a bad guy with a stick no problem.

2462: He gets thanked.

2463: Sonic calls Tails his buddy.

2464: Tails speeds up the raft with a creative use of his tails, spinning them like a fan behind him. It’s so smart of him to understand he has to do that from, ” You prop while I buzz the perimeter! “

2465: Walt calls it impressive when Sonic’s spindash makes a protective wall of water around their raft.

2466: Barby feels sorry for Bill, thinking he looks awful and exhausted, and the heroes catch him as he passes out, proving that they have compassion and really care about their friends, even after thinking one of them betrayed them.

2467: It turns out Downunda defers to King Acorn. So Mobian Australia is ruled by Mobian America.

2468: The hippie thanks Sonic and Tails. 19.

2469: Issue 61 Total Turbulence by Bollers: Sonic calls Tails his buddy.

2470: Sonic explains how he was tracking Ixis, thanks to a tracker of him.

2471: It’s cool that Ixis can turn himself into a cloud.

2472: Really speaks to Sonic’s flight skill with the plane that he can keep it from plummeting into the ocean thanks to Ixis. 4.

2473: Issue 61 On His Majesty’s Secret Service by Penders: Geoffrey jumps away from an explosion with someone else and asks him if he’s alright.

2474: It’s smart of Fleming to retire after that.

2475: Geoffrey will give his Elites more screen time by hiring them.

2476: It’s cool that Valdez, a chameleon, is brought into Geoffrey’s group of elites.

2477: Wombat-Stu agrees to join Geoffrey’s Elites because it’s been too quiet around Downunda since Crocbot was defeated, so he’s got something in common with Sonic.

2478: Geoffrey tells Hershey to take something to the armory and when Hershey asks what about the princess Geoffrey tells her not to worry. 6.

2479: Issue 62 Icon by Bollers: Sonic calls Tails his buddy.

2480: Tails tells Sonic that his landing was great.

2481: Sonic thanks him

2482: and calls him pal.

2483: He tells Tails not to panic.

2484: Sonic creates a sand tornado to get the Robians away from Jack and Tails.

2485: When someone tells Sonic that the people of Sandblast City are honored to have him and Tails as guests,

2486: Sonic says, ” Thanks, folks! ”

2487: ” Three cheers for the hedgehog! “

2488: It’s explained why it’s called the Devil’s Gulag, as a ring of volcanoes boils the water surrounding it.

2489: Jack lampshades how stupid it’d be that anyone on Mobius would NOT know Sonic.

2490: The Sandblasters beat their own sub-boss out of inspiration from Sonic beating Robotnik. I guess that’s good for them.

2491: Jack’s Sandblast City has a force field over it.

2492: It’s fascinating, in a gray-morality-sense that the Sandblasters want to keep Sonic around so he can help them against the Robian threat.

2493: Sonic tells Tails to relax.

2494: Issue 62 On His Majesty’s Secret Service by Penders: Heavy and Bomb are nicely recruited by Geoffrey and forgiven by him for Bomb exploding at him in fear. That was really nice of Geoffrey to do. This means that Geoffrey’s a better person than Hamlin because he trusted and forgave Bomb right away.

2495: As a robot, Heavy can tap into Robotnik’s databases, being helpful to Geoffrey.

2496: It’s actually explained why Bomb survives blowing up. He wirelessly transfers his AI to another shell ready to go when he blows. This is why I love this comic, it EXPLAINS things properly.

2497: Geoffrey uses a laser-blaster, showing that secret service agents like him have those cool devices justifying their competence.

2498: Geoffrey shows how cynical he is saying that it’s a cold cruel world out there, which makes sense as a natural result of his paranoia.

2499: Hershey is hydrophobic like a cat is expected to be. It makes her being a Cat Mobian in particular a bit more significant. 6.

2500: Knuckles Comic Issue 16 Reunions by Penders: Knuckles is hugged by his mom,

2501: who was worried about him.

2502: Wyn offers them milk to relax them.

2503: He calls her darling.

2504: He’s going to finish cooking dinner.

2505: She says that’s a wonderful idea.

2506: While the Brotherhood’s unnecessary, I do like the idea of them all being former guardians, it’s like the Avatars in Avatar The Last Airbender. They’re all the previous Avatars (hell, Knuckles was even CALLED Avatar in one arc.)

2507: I like that Lara-Le’s mother-in-law was a gardener.

2508: She calls Lara dear.

2509: And she showed wisdom by saying that relationships are about give and take.

2510: I like that Lara lampshades, “ I’m his MOTHER! “ about how she sides with the wrong person.

2511: Echidnapolis is showing futuristic technology again by showing us that it allows for cybernetics, like for Tobor.

2512: I love the name, “ Thunderhawk! “

2513: It’s satisfying that the Ant Council tells the Brotherhood they’re being wrong by being too isolationist and Echidnapolis-focused.

2514: Knuckles says Wyn’s dinner smells great.

2515: Lara agrees.

2516: It’s quirky and charming that Wyn speaks a little French calling his duck dish a French name.

2517: It makes sense that Knuckles sadly leaves when he learns Wyn proposed, that he’d regress because he only just reunited with his mom. Thus, he gets really sad at the idea that his parents won’t be together anymore.

2518: Espio takes Julie’s side when Vector is antagonizing her.

2519: I like their snarky interaction, “ You don’t listen very well, do you? “ “ Especially not to you, that’s for sure! “ when Julie sits beside Knux to comfort him anyways.

2520: Julie kisses him on the cheek for trying to cheer her up about being an outcast.

2521: And Knux is a good audience surrogate for asking her why she did that since he’s not even sure that he likes her.

2522: It makes sense that Julie would be more forwards than Sally or Bunnie and kiss him like that. She had a lot of time to dwell on how much Knuckles means to her, especially after she thought he died and she saw she’d be sad without him.

2523: Seeing Julie and Knux bicker like kids watching the full moon was charming, like two kids growing up. 24.

2524: Issue 63 Cult of Personality by Bollers: The temperature of the Devil’s Gulag ocean is over 200 degrees F, which is pretty interesting that we get the almost exact temperature.

2525: Sonic enjoys getting chili dogs and being waited hand and foot by the ladies, which is him acting how I’d expect him to act.

2526: Tails apologizes.

2527: Sonic calls Tails his buddy.

2528: It makes sense that even Sonic would get sick of chili dogs after being fed nothing but it for so long.

2529: Tails drops the tarp covering his biplane on the people who wanted to steal it, flying above them.

2530: Sonic smartly figures out that the important, force field generator, would be in the Statue of himself, the most important part of the city.

2531: Sonic thinks he’ll hate himself for destroying the statue of himself.

2532: There’s gray morality because Jack has every reason to hate Sonic for destroying the force field of his city.

2533: When Sonic’s surrounded by Robians and thinks it’s hopeless, Tails grabs his hand while piloting to save him.

2534: Sonic is letting Tails fly the plane this time, as I feel sorry for Sonic for his sad situation of making a city of his most devoted fanboys hate him. It’s a tragic situation. 11.

2535: Issue 63 On His Majesty’s Secret Service by Penders: Sally lampshades to one of Geoffrey’s men, “ UNAUTHORIZED? Since WHEN am I considered unauthorized? “ standing up to them.

2536: When Hershey says all men don’t listen, Geoffrey says that’s ” not PC ” of her teasingly.

2537: Sally calls out Geoffrey on his sneakiness, “ Let’s can the charm, St John! You have a lot of explaining to do! “ It’s amusing to see that Sally once again gets karma for being sneaky and hiding plans from her friends, as she’s not so pleased when it happens to her. 3.

2538: Sonic Super Special Issue 7 by Penders: Particle has a cool hairstyle, it’s short and it hangs down with a bang slightly near her eye, and she has a headband. She’s pretty and has a nice design.

2539: They brought back that lore that parallel dimensions occupy the same space while vibrating at different frequencies. It’s a nice fantasy universe concept, and I’m impressed they remembered it.

2540: I chuckled at Bunnie scolding Antoine for saying that women are potentially treacherous as well as pretty. “ Antoine! Is that how you think of me! “

2541: Particle is sympathetic at first. She’s being questioned by investigators when she’s a well-meaning, magical person.

2542: She also is a fish out of water coming to Mobius,

2543: and the heroes react appropriately to seeing her, they’re surprised and apprehensive thinking that maybe they’re being invaded by Overlanders. It makes sense.

2544: Particle is very relatable with her reaction to the Zoot Chute and the fact that she has to slide down it to reach the Master Emerald. It’s humorous.

2545: She lampshades, “ Whoever designed this place probably never even cracked open a copy of architectural digest! “ After all, they really should have a pillow right below the Zoot Tube. It’s self-aware of the writing.

2546: Particle’s compassionate, she responds by merely knocking them out with magic rather than injuring them, and

2547: she says that she would never forgive herself if any of the Mobians had gotten hurt in the process.

2548: For the most part, Particle thinks instead of talking out loud.

2549: Mully is told that because of her analysing the situation, she’s sounding more like Sculder, by him. This helps to naturally establish her and him’s personalities.

2550: The tall vampire guy with the moving cape is cool and menacing-looking.

2551: Sonic and Knuckles get righteously angry at the vampire just vanishing instead of telling them where they are.

2552: I’m really glad the Freedom Fighters being in the human dimension was explained, I was worried there wouldn’t be any explanation since we immediately cut to them being in front of a vampire guy.

2553: It’s novel that Shadow Hawk’s father knows his secret so casually like that.

2554: They actually explain Nicole’s powers for once, as she picked up a satellite transmission to get a map.

2555: When Shadow Hawk says a dumb sentence “ by the dragon, “ Sonic says that Dulcy’s not even here.

2556: One of the superheroes calls out another one of them, Dragon, on endangering the heroes.

2557: Particle hugs her sister as they smile, which is sweet,

2558: The Doctor villain uses the Master Emerald to reshape reality to his will temporarily for his zone, which, it makes more sense that the 11-Chaos-Emerald =Master Emerald would work for this.

2559: I actually smiled at how her explanation of science was even more conspiracy theory ridiculous than the real one, being that it was all hallucinations from eclipses.

2560: Sonic calls Tails buddy as he’s back with Tails in the biplane like he’s supposed to be. Tails says, ” This is the life… ” 23.

2561: Knuckles Comic Issue 17 The Guardian who Failed by Penders: A failed guardian, Tobor is an interesting idea for a story.

2562: Julie compassionately apologizes to Tobor for scaring him

2563: and asks if he’s alright.

2564: When Tobor attacks her, she naturally kicks him away and says, “ Get off me! I didn’t do anything to you! “

2565: Tobor’s hesitation at killing Julie proves that he’s a good person after all, so it’s a shame we don’t actually see it and it cuts away.

2566: After Archy decides to whine for no reason about Knuckles meditating on a tower, Knuckles tells him that it’s been a long time since he’s last been with him and things aren’t the same anymore, and leaves without letting him talk to him.

2567: The guiding star gem let Knux see his glide path with his eyes closed. That’s cool!

2568: Locke is nice enough to describe Julie as one of Knux’s friends, rather than hating her.

2569: There’s a black-out in Haven, I didn’t want to hear the Brotherhood badmouth Julie for being a Legionnaire.

2570: The white collar ring of Knuckles actually has a purpose! It’s a mutation unique to the guardian’s family. This is how Tobor proves he’s related to Knux. That’s brilliant.

2571: Tobor had “ failed “ because after he was replaced, he was too ashamed of failing in his first mission ever to face his people again. That’s kind of a sympathetic and relatable reason for him doing that, even if he was stupid.

2572: When Tobor said he wants his life and family back instead of just revenge and cries, Knuckles says heartwarmingly that he’s got him at least

2573: and hugs him, after Knux and Julie look sad. 13.

2574: Knuckles Comic Issue 18 Debt of Honor by Penders: Aw, that’s sweet, Lara’s giving Tobor some tea!

2575: He thanks her

2576: and says it’s been so long since he’s experienced the warmth of home and family.

2577: “ I can’t just lock you inside with a dangerous criminal! “ Remington. “ Why not? I promise not to hurt him! “ Knuckles said in Kragok’s cell. I giggled there. That really shows how badass AND casual Knuckles can be.

2578: The comic doesn’t forget Knuckles is kind of an idiot, because Kragok tells him to look over there and that let him get a free hit on him.

2579: Lara-Le and Julie don’t assume that Tobor is lying from not seeing him and Voni-Ca in the family album. Good, that keeps me from seeing tedium where they don’t believe him.

2580: Tobor gives Kragok a satisfying punch in the face.

2581: I smiled at the comic cutting to the end of Lara giving Julie a long motherly talk with Julie telling her not to get her hopes up.

2582: Julie AND Lara hug Knuckles adorably, because they’re glad Knuckles is alright,

2583: Julie has a beautiful smile,

2584: Knuckles smiles appreciating it,

2585: and Julie kisses Knux on the cheek again,

2586: with Knux smiling.

2587: The Brotherhood’s members never act angry or rant suspiciously about Julie.

2588: “ Y’know, Locke, your son may have the right idea! Maybe it’s about time you enjoyed life yourself! “ I like Sabre. 15.

2589: Issue 64 In Search of by Bollers: It’s a nice touch that they bothered to have Tails and Sonic have winter clothes, with Sonic having a gray cloak and Tails having green clothes and even goggles for the blizzard.

2590: They can carry the Ixis tracker out of the plane, which is good.

2591: After Tails worries because they’re trapped in the cold away from their friends, Sonic reassures him, showing off his personality.

2592: He calls him his buddy and doesn’t want him to talk like that.

2593: Ixis admits that the tracking device figuring out where he is counts as a brilliant deduction, but lampshades how stupid they were for not borrowing the Sword of Acorns to fight him, since it’s not like the king was using it.

2594: Since Nate is a mere human, it makes sense that his abominable snowbot had to exist to help Sonic and Tails out of the avalanche, because Nate would’ve been crushed by all that snow. 6.

2595: Issue 64 by The Mission Penders: Sally stands up to the king about how Geoffrey’s treated as higher rank than her. She asks why she’s being cut out of the loop.

2596: King Max apologizes for not letting Geoffrey have a talk with Sally.

2597: Geoffrey and his elites are sent on a significant mission and it’s justified that Sally’s being cut out of the loop on what the mission is because the king doesn’t wanna get her hopes up about meeting her mom and brother. 3.

2598: Knuckles Comic Issue 19 Whatever Happened to Queen Alicia by Penders: The Days of Fury is used as a concept again for once as there’s snow and a blizzard in the wrong part of the Floating Island.

2599: Heavy changes to having appropriate snow “ legs “

2600: and Bomb adorably goes into Heavy’s pouch.

2601: When Sabre sees Geoffrey on the camera footage and wonders who he is, he says, “ The commander is in exceptional health for a corpse, or else that’s his son! “

2602: Sabre says it might be better if the Overlanders did think they went back on their word to stay out of the Great War because the echidnas WERE isolationist. He’s such a reasonable authority figure.

2603: Locke admits that Knuckles is the first guardian who looked after the whole island.

2604: Julie looks sympathetic shivering from the cold,

2605: and she says she’s not used to all that cold.

2606: Remington was very generous to ask Wyn if he’d want to accompany the rescue mission for Lara-Le.

2607: Locke calls Lara out, “ Here I am all concerned about you, and you’re immediately on the defensive! “ For all he knew, she was frozen to death in there!

2608: Locke says, “ Just once, I’d like to have a conversation instead of starting with an argument! “ It’s relatable.

2609: Knux is adorably holding a baby girl in his arms implying that he’ll be a good father someday.

2610: Knuckles sympathetically worries about his mom and how no one knows where she is.

2611: I giggled at Remington correcting Knux’s grammar at a time like that.

2612: Prince Elias, the valiant adventure-dreaming-of prince who grew up on Angel Island, so he’s a fish out of water compared to his family. I just wish he was Sally’s younger brother instead of older brother.

2613: I love that silly cliff-hanger where Elias shows up and says, “ Did someone mention my mother? “ Dun dun DUN! It’s charming. 16.

2614: Issue 65 The Fellowship of the Rings by Bollers: I like that the abominable snowbot has a name. And since that was a given, the real compliment is that Sonic says it was just wishful thinking when he assumed the avalanche had killed Naugus, because he’s smarter than IDW Sonic who based on his lectures that killing is beneath him and Shadow, it’d be Out of Character for him to want someone dead.

2615: Like Enerjak, Ixis is brilliant enough to use his air magic to suffocate his enemies.

2616: Nate saves Sonic and Tails by pretending to throw a hologram Ring out of the window for the power hungry wizard to chase.

2617: Sonic calls what Nate did an awesome move.

2618: He shakes Nate’s hand.

2619: He is nice enough to say, “ no offense, “ proving he doesn’t hate all Overlanders.

2620: Nate Morgan was banished from Overland because of a Ring experiment that went wrong thanks to Robotnik’s bad advice. He was mercifully accepted by King Acorn, accepted into the royal court.

2621: He was brave enough to create Rings despite the bad thing that happened last time.

2622: It was thanks to Nate that the Acorn Kingdom went from pre-industrial to okay thanks to his tech.

2623: King Acorn didn’t buy that Nate betrayed the kingdom, Nate decided to leave himself out of guilt from his previous ring experiment.

2624: I appreciate how in this comic, they even care enough to give the side characters we JUST MET a whole backstory! I’d rather have them explain too much than explain nothing and feel like it’s lazy writing that has no effort put into it and everything just happens from meta logic “ I wanna make this story. “ 11.

2625: Issue 65 The Library by Penders: We see Amy and Dulcy being together interacting one-on-one, showing they actually have great chemistry as they’re both kind of kooky girls.

2626: Amy apologizes when Dulcy says she might be too big to get into the library.

2627: Amy Rose is interested in recovering fiction books from Mobotropolis’ library. This shows a different side to her, a bookworm side! It makes sense she’d have an avid imagination.

2628: It’s always charming when Dulcy points out that buildings aren’t made with dragons as big as her in mind. “ They sure didn’t have dragons in mind when they built a lot of these places! “

2629: Amy’s positive enough to be determined to find the books anyways, pointing out that everyone’s been so busy working to rebuild the city that they haven’t had the time to consider, if anything survived that might be FUN. This is what’s great about Amy, and Sonic. She has a good perspective on life there, knowing what’s important.

2630: Dragons could logically have an unerring sense of direction, if they felt different every time they faced north, like doves. 6.

2631: Knuckles Comic Issue 20 Once upon a Time in Mobotropolis by Penders: Geoffrey says “ I can’t accept the premise of a father forgetting he has a son somewhere! “ Considering what happened to his dad and how much of an impact that had on him, I really like that.

2632: “ You and your troops can stay on board and twiddle your thumbs for all I care, while I go aboard that craft and see if my mother is alive and well! “ I love that line by Knuckles, standing up to Remington and Julie when they don’t want him to go there.

2633: Elias has a really cool-looking homing rod with a Chaos Emerald on it, which was passed down to him by Sabre from King Acorn.

2634: Elias being put in the safety pod as a baby is an explanation for why he wasn’t injured when the aircraft crashed while his mother was.

2635: The Brotherhood had been useful for once because they were the ones who had saved Elias as a baby. That justifies them.

2636: Locke says sarcastically, “ I can hardly wait to hear the rest! “ after Lara says he has a lack of faith in her.

2637: “ While I’m inclined to disagree, “ I giggled at Locke saying that too as he changes the subject.

2638: Since Knuckles was on an aircraft going through a blizzard trying to get to his mother, it makes sense that he’d accidentally stumble into the place his father abandoned him and he’d actually get to MEET the Brotherhood,

2639: which is excellent after all the times the Brotherhood spied on him, now Knux actually gets to talk to them.

2640: Locke kisses Lara’s cheek to prove that they do still care about each other,

2641: and Lara isn’t really mad at that, so she appreciates it.

2642: Elias is a smart, sympathetic, capable boy, and I really like how he was the positive person among Geoffrey’s Elites, saying that as long as he has the homing rod they have nothing to fear. He’s more sheltered than Sally with her fighting Robotnik, so it makes sense. 12.

2643: Issue 66 A Friend in Deed by Bollers: “ Listening to your story made me think you were a hero! It even gave me hope for Overlanders! But now I see you for what you really are… “ Sonic calls Nate out on being someone who “ hides himself away because of a few bad breaks! “

2644: I love that they show every different elemental form Ixis has. He’s been a cloud, he’s been fire, and now he turned into the rock wall to infiltrate the castle.

2645: Nate gets carried away from the falling rubble which preserves his life so that he can help the heroes later.

2646: With the thousands of Rings around Nate, it makes sense that Sonic and Tails would get super forms (ring energy is just weaker chaos energy),

2647: AND they’re different super forms from the Emeralds, they’re Ultra Sonic and Tails. While Tails gets his Hyper form Flickies,

2648: SONIC gets water magic, which is cool, since it contrasts his hydrophobia showing him temporarily overcoming it by mastering water himself.

2649: Somehow Bollers managed to make “ Ixis shoots lasers out of his eyes “ sound flowery and poetic. I gotta commend him there, it’s impressive. If pretentious.

2650: It’s justified that Ixis made the portal to the Zone of Silence here because Ixis is much more powerful in there. No wonder he stayed in that zone for so long.

2651: Nate helps up Sonic.

2652: It does make sense that, since the Rings were never meant for super forms, Sonic and Tails exhaust themselves and pass out early into the fight with Ixis, losing their super forms. It’s a twist, at least.

2653: Since Nate’s mutate cyborg friend was ugly and talks very simplistically, I don’t mind that he sacrificed himself holding up the ceiling, letting Nate and friends escape,

2654: with Nate bringing the dazed Tails and Sonic away from the scene. 10.

2655: And Then There Was One by Bollers: I like the idea of the Order of Ixis specializing in one element each of four, because it reminds me of Avatar.

2656: Ixis being so overpowered is explained a little better as he got them from the other elemental wizards.

2657: It was charming that one of the formally-speaking wizards suddenly said, “ unfairly, “ talking about his wizard friend racing ahead of him. It was childish of him, showing he’s not so above it all. 3.

2658: Sonic Super Special Issue 8 Zone Wars Prelude by Dan Slott: The zone cops make sense to be a force to try to deal with zone-hoppers.

2659: The female Robotnik, Dr Ivana Robotina, is not only a female to be different,

2660: but she’s a SORCERERESS, which is quite interesting.

2661: And she’s from the Luna Zone, a nice name.

2662: Ivana fires green lasers from her hand.

2663: It’s interesting to see Sally, or Sally Moon, in a “ ditzy “ role as the girl

2664: who’s infatuated with Knuckles.

2665: Oh, Ivana also calls herself Queen while Robotnik didn’t call himself a monarch. Again, interesting.

2666: Amy Rose is Sally Moon’s young sidekick, which is another interesting change of pace.

2667: In a change of pace, the Sally Moon is in love with Knuckles, or Tuxedo Knux.

2668: It’s interesting that while Sonic doesn’t want THIS Sally, he’s still shocked and upset at seeing Tuxedo Knux in love with Sally Moon. It shows him as flawed, because he’s possessive like that of every Sally. It’s realistic.

2669: It is interesting that the justification for the No Zone being the one that has the zone cops policing dimensions, is that the No Zone runs through every other zone perpendicularly, explaining why Zonic stands floating sideways.

2670: I love that Zonic was the one who was responsible for Sonic enlisting the help of the other Sonics.

2671: Sally Moon symbolizes to me the whole FUN of alternate universes, because it’s an alternate dimension, so they can do whatever they want. They can make the characters have different personalities because it’s another world, which is fascinating.

2672: Sonic’s complaining about not getting the girl, Sally Moon. 15.

2673: Sonic Super Special Issue 8 Running on Empty by Roger Brown: Sonic sits with Amy as a good friend,

2674: she says she loves the view from up there.

2675: and he happily gets her a warm jacket.

2676: Amy thanks Sonic.

2677: And Sonic starts casually reminiscing about a time when his super speed nearly got him killed. I miss the days when Sonic and Amy had a good close friendship like that, hanging out together casually as buddies.

2678: Snively was smart to use a lifelike Sally doll as bait for Sonic to get him put into a trap.

2679: Rosie says she’s glad Sonic’s alright.

2680: Sonic says he’ll take Rosie to a place where she can pick apples for an apple pie.

2681: Rather than simply stealing Sonic’s speed, the trap actually makes him have a much harder time stopping.

2682: She plans on giving him a slice of apple pie to take his mind off his sore head.

2683: When a bunch of apples fall on Sonic, Rosie asks if he’s alright really concerned.

2684: The speed creates a vortex of air that sucks up junk behind him creating a green aura around him. It’s intriguing.

2685: It rapidly ages Sonic. Very brilliant!

2686: Sonic’s friends are forgiving when his speed makes garbage fall over onto them, I thought they’d be furious with him and kick him out for being dangerous.

2687: Sonic says he can’t thank his friends enough for going to Robotropolis to try to get a cure for him.

2688: Sonic uses his speed to beat the Swatbots even though every fibre of his body screams at him from old age.

2689: Sally manipulates Snively intelligently to “ put Sonic out of his misery “ by hitting him with the oldifying ray, as he doesn’t realize that its effects were reversed.

2690: Sonic says he has great friends.

2691: Amy says she just loves Sonic’s stories and wants more.

2692: And he agrees happily. 20.

2663: Den of Thieves by Frank Strom: Khan heroically shows up to fight the ninjas, and I was especially relieved to see him since I didn’t care about the dumb-looking human-faced mouse people at all.

2664: He’s called a hero for saving the lives of himself and someone else. 2.

2665: Issue 67 Tomb Raider by Bollers: I like that there’s worldbuilding because Sonic visits an African jungle for an Indiana Jones parody, so it’s showing a new part of the world.

2666: It’s pretty cool, epic and suspenseful that the satellites are activated one at a time, rather than all at once. I was really hyped to see the results of the final satellite activating, I felt like it was all building up to something epic.

2667: Sonic spindashes around to make the snake get twisted around itself, which makes sense this time because it’s not made of metal.

2668: And in a twist, it’s the snake which is the rolling boulder, because it’s twisted into a boulder form.

2669: The Indiana Jones parody is action-packed and engaging since it’s about Sonic dodging tons of traps.

2670: Nate tells Tails to simply call him Nate.

2671: The Super Emeralds are separate from Emeralds, which is good too, and Nate replaced one of the emeralds with the Ring of Acorns,

2672: to explain WHERE HE GOT that Super Emerald.

2673: It’s also got a tense moment because Sonic almost fell into fire and used a whip to save himself. 9.

2674: Issue 67 Shadows in the Dark by Penders: The Wolf Pack came from another place than Mobotropolis, making it so that we have worldbuilding, a little. 1.

2675: Knuckles Comic Issue 21 The Many Facets of the Truth by Penders: Lara said amusingly that she can never understand how Locke can wield such awesome power and still make a mess of his marriage, as he saves Heavy and Bomb with anti-gravity.

2676: Sabre says, “ Who’s to say our way was the right one all along? “

2677: Knux calls out Archy that “ you haven’t exactly been mister forthcoming, you know! “ insulting him on how untrustworthy he and the Brotherhood seem to be.

2678: Knux is smart to play it safe rather than revealing Fake Tobor as an imposter right away. He wants to make sure Tobor won’t be accused of being the imposter by the Brotherhood, instead, I guess.

2679: “ You’ve a gift for understatement, mate! “ I like Geoffrey lampshading how many questions he’s full of as Locke and Lara rescued them.

2680: Lara snarks, “ How come you weren’t this communicate when we were married? “ I giggled, that made me smile.

2681: The Brotherhood had protected Elias and the queen by lying to the Overlanders that everyone aboard the aircraft was killed. Good, spite the jerks who think they have the right to try to kill everyone aboard the aircraft.

2682: One of the Brotherhood members feels sorry for Geoffrey’s dad because he’s gone.

2683: Elias was turning out to be quite the prodigy, playing with his letter blocks. Respectable.

2684: They bothered to explain that the wall of fire of the Forbidden Zone was just a holographic projection concealing the entrance to Haven. I love that they do explain this in a concrete way.

2685: It makes that Moritori called Knux self-centered because Knux is trying to ruin his life by revealing who he really is.

2686: Locke says to give Knux the message to tell him I’m sorry.

2687: Knux jumps and when he asks Archy why he didn’t teleport him away to safety, Archy said amusingly, “ I wanted to see if you still had some team spirit. “

2688: Knux asks the Brotherhood suspiciously, “ How do I know you guys aren’t pals with this phony? “ Again, that makes sense, he has no reason to trust such secretive people.

2689: Locke deadpans, “ It would appear your would-be rescuers need rescuing, Locke, “ as we see Wyn and Remington surrounded by water.

2690: “ Must you always sound so condescending, Locke? “ Lara made me giggle with that.

2691: “ What do you want me to do, Lara? Explain the birds and the bees? I already have! “ “ DID you, Locke? “ I giggled again at that.

2692: Locke and Wyn shake hands with Wyn smiling nervously, rather than hating each other, proving that they’re mature nice people. Very impressive.

2693: Wyn says pleased to meet you.

2694: Fortunately, Elias agrees to come to Mobotropolis, saying, “ I’ve a father I’d like to get to know. “ It’s sweet.

2695: I enjoy that we got an adventure leading up to meeting Elias and the queen. It should be epic. 21.

2696: Issue 68 Surprise by Bollers: Bunnie says that it’s always a pleasure to visit Knothole.

2697: Sally agrees and sees it as a vacation place.

2698: Nicole is useful by telling Sally she’s receiving an urgent signal from her father.

2699: Sally thanks her.

2700: She calls Nicole’s upgraded systems fantastic.

2701: Rotor must have upgraded them.

2702: He responds humbly, ” Think nothing of it, Sally! “

2703: Sonic’s line about how Nate should really see Sandblast City only to change his mind.

2704: Dulcy uses her fire breath to destroy one of the falling meteorites when they start hitting the city.

2705: Bunnie is helpful by rescuing civilians.

2706: Sonic was also rescuing civilians.

2707: Sonic saves Sally from a falling meteorite by picking her up and running.

2708: Amy cheers because Sonic is back.

2709: Because Tails is back, she says, ” Double hooray! ”

2710: There’s a twist, as Sally had every reason to assume the city was celebrating Sonic’s birthday and return to the city with a surprise party, and instead they’re celebrating Elias coming home, and it makes sense that the king would be vague about that so it’d be a surprise.

2711: Sonic puts his arm around Nate.

2712: He makes sure he has a good introduction to his friends by saying that he helped him kick Ixis back to the Void.

2713: King Max says he’s pleased to see Sally back at the castle so quick

2714: and he says he’s doubly overjoyed she’s unharmed.

2715: She thanks him,

2716: and says she’s glad to see that he’s fine too.

2717: After King Max says he has no time for such trivialities as finding out how Ixis was sealed away he says, ” Not that I mean to diminish Sonic’s accomplishments… “

2718: The king tells Geoffrey right after he sees him that Nate used to be the greatest ally of the kingdom.

2719: He hugs him.

2720: Fortunately, they still remember to celebrate Sonic’s birthday, he’s not cheated out of anything. 25.

2721: Issue 68 Survival of the Fittest by Penders: The Wolf Pack meet a human little girl pair.

2722: What’s fascinating is that the first thing Lupe responds with is not that she’s a human but that she’s a small child.

2723: Lupe shows what a good person she is by wanting to help them.

2724: The racist against the humans gets hit by the blonde girl as karma.

2725: Lupe tells him to not dare hurt the child. This really shows that she’s a good person. 5.

2726: Sonic Super Special Issue 9 Zoneward Bound by Gallagher: There’s downtime where the Freedom Fighters have snowball fights.

2727: Sonic calls Tails his buddy.

2728: Tails says he and Sonic make a great team.

2729: Sally tells Rotor that he’s a wizard at building things.

2730: He thanks her for complimenting the catapult.

2731: Sally hi-fives Rotor

2732: and says, ” Way to go! “

2733: Sonic shows off his super speed by playing hockey and the hockey melts the ice.

2734: Interesting, we see a brand-new zone, a Green Hill Zone that’s still under construction.

2735: Sonic wants to meet the creator of the new zone and asks how it’s done.

2736: Sonic’s young, so he calls Robotnik Julian instead.

2737: We see Sonic spindashing for the first time

2738: and we see that the Ring in the well was the one that caused this dimension-hopping explaining WHY Sonic knew where to go to find it at the first ever issue. 13.

2739: My Secret Guardian by Gallagher: Sally can’t wait to go to the island with her father because they barely get any time together.

2740: King Max calls her sweetheart.

2741: Sally is fascinated and excited and full of questions when she sees Angel Island for the first time.

2742: Since Max thought his wife and son died, it makes perfect sense that Sally was given combat training since she was little.

2743: Sally is right that one little island is nothing compared to ruling the whole world.

2744: It’s good that Knuckles pushes Sally saying, “ Keep your hands and your snotty remarks about my home to yourself! “ It’s good that she was stood up to for once when she’s not challenged enough,

2745: and that it’s more realistic how their first meeting wasn’t perfect. It’s Knuckles, after all.

2746: Sally kicks back and shows compassion trying to save Knuckles when she knocked him over the edge.

2747: It’s sympathetic that Sally starts to sob blaming herself for everything and feeling insecure about her ability to be a queen when she can’t even get along with a new friend. All just because Knux knocked down a tree. It’s much more interesting than her having no moments of vulnerability.

2748: The first thing King Acorn thought to do was hug Sally, blaming himself possibly for her crying.

2749: I like young Sally’s long-haired design.

2750: That was a sweet hug.

2751: Sally tells her dad she’s just glad to be spending time with him.

2752: They hold hands. 14.

2753: Eve of Destruction by Gallagher: Sally tried to warn Antoine to look out before he got hit by a thrown ball.

2754: Sally apologizes to Tails’ dad for playing loudly outside of his house when his wife is about to give birth.

2755: It’s smart of Tails’ dad to tell Sonic to keep an eye on his house in case his wife goes into labor.

2756: He thanks Sonic.

2757: There’s an explanation for where Tails’ father went, as he was roboticized after catching Robotnik’s roboticizer plan.

2758: When Tails’ mom is in labor, Sally tells her not to worry,

2759: and she’s put in a wheelbarrow that Sonic pulls with a rope while running, so he gets her to the hospital in time.

2760: Sonic’s open-minded to say that Tails has both his parents’ tails, he’s a creative thinker.

2761: It’s sweet that Sonic picked up and hugged Tails when he was first born, with his hand on the back of his head,

2762: saying they’d become great friends

2763: and Tails is happy and affectionate. 11.

2764: Knuckles Comic Issue 22 You Say you Want a Revolution by Penders: I didn’t mind the high councilor being kidnapped by the Legion because he immediately showed racism against dingoes, meaning he got what he deserved. It helps downplay what happened.

2765: Lien-Da is intriguing, and female, good.

2766: “ What kind of a family keeps everything such a secret? “ Knuckles lampshades.

2767: Knuckles says dismissively that history is something he hates because it’s just boring old news, being a good audience surrogate potentially.

2768: When Locke tells Remington that he can’t get Lara-Le back as his wife because they’re too different, Remington says he’s sorry to hear that.

2769: Julie shows gratitude saying that she didn’t get a chance to thank Locke for saving her.

2770: Julie then nicely asks if Knuckles is alright.

2771: Remington notices Julie does care about Knux.

2772: Dimitri calls the high councilor a sanctimonious hypocrite for wanting to save his own skin by making a deal with the Legion, and says that the high councilors never offered him any deal when they refused to let him use his Chaos Syphon.

2773: The dingo protest is one of the things that makes Echidnapolis feel like a real city.

2774: Remington doesn’t want to arrest the dingo protesters right away, respecting freedom of speech.

2775: It’s nice that the dingoes acknowledge that not all echidnas are evil, saying that they could become sympathetic to their cause because of an attack on them.

2776: Archy is endearingly excited at being “ back in action “ to get to saving Lara from dingo protesters.

2777: Huh, I’m impressed that Knuckles tries to reason with General Stryker, learning what the dingoes are mad about.

2778: Dimitri changes to having a completely serious, more menacing personality, from being a clown as Enerjak.

2779: Knuckles smiles, saying, “ How do you KNOW? “ totally accepting Julie for who she is because she’s being suspicious knowing stuff she shouldn’t, and yet he respects her regardless. 16.

2780: Knuckles Comic Issue 23 Election Night by Penders: We get a relatable scene where Espio complains that it doesn’t matter who gets elected anyways. I couldn’t help but smile at this.

2781: And then right after Knuckles says, “ Who cares? None of it concerns me anyway! “ we immediately cut to him standing with his arms crossed at a politician’s speech, with Vector saying “ You were saying? “

2782: Remington thanks Knuckles for showing up.

2783: Knuckles lampshades how strange it is for people who denounced technology that High Councillor Pravda always leaves from a limo.

2784: And Julie lampshades that the ones in power get the best tech, saying “ eh, Constable? “

2785: Benedict actually has a good logical speech, saying that tech was what saved Echidnapolis from destruction, TWICE.

2786: One of the Brotherhood members, Sojourner, agrees with Benedict pointing out that they are hypocrites and all they have to do is look no further than this room. That’s refreshing.

2787: After Sabre says that tech is just a way to combat the enemy on a level playing field, he’s asked where his proof is by Sojourner.

2788: Thunderhawk tells Sojourner to go easy on Sabre.

2789: Sabre doesn’t like to waste time arguing, which makes sense, it’s relatable.

2790: Sabre says he appreciates Thunderhawk saying that about him.

2791: Since Stryker wants to get his people out of the filth and squalor, he’s a well-written villain because he does actually care about his people, wanting to give them a better life.

2792: When Espio asks Knux if he wished things were back to the way he used to be, Knuckles snarks, “ You mean BEFORE I learned my mom was alive and Echidnapolis STILL EXISTED? No! I never even gave it a thought! “ Exactly. It’s way more interesting this way.

2793: When Julie’s threatened by the Legion, she says, “ Suppose I say thanks but no thanks. “

2794: I laughed at, “ Suppose I MISS and accidentally kill you if you refuse! “ even though it was by a bad guy trying to attack Julie.

2795: By this point, the Dark Legion are a pretty credible threat. They brainwashed High Councillor Pravda into letting and supporting Benedict the android making a speech in favour of technology, getting them supporters, AND they kidnap Knux and Julie. 16.

2796: Issue 69 A Day in the Life by Bollers: Dr. Quack tries to reassure everyone about the queen, telling them not to worry.

2797: Bunnie says, ” Way to go, ” to Sonic about his previous adventures.

2798: Nate admits that returning to Mobotropolis was the right call because he saw the joy in Max’s eyes.

2799: Sally says she’s so glad to see Sonic and the others back.

2800: She and Sonic hug.

2801: King Max advises Sally to go out and have fun.

2802: Elias says that he “ respectfully decline “ the offer to venture forth into the city. It’s cute that he still talks like a formal royal prince when he had no royal upbringing at all.

2803: Sonic gives Nate a chili dog.

2804: Sonic tells Nate not to worry.

2805: It’s sweet having a true friendship moment with Sonic and Antoine, as we see that Antoine is talking about how he misses his father and Sonic reluctantly tells him that he saw him.

2806: Sonic puts his arm around him.

2807: He reminds Nate that he pulled Mobotropolis out of the Middle Ages.

2808: Sally’s smart by knowing that Sonic fighting with a bigot won’t solve the problem.

2809: It’s shown that at least not all Mobians hate Nate because someone offers him a towel to wipe away the shake from his head, calling him stranger instead of human.

2810: Nate thanks her.

2811: It’s sweet that the king put his hand on his son’s shoulder when they learned that supposedly the prisoners of the Devil’s Gulag died in the hot ocean of the Devil’s Gulag.

2812: Lightning Lynx can run around someone to create a yellow tornado around them.

2813: Sonic carries Sally protecting her. 18.

2814: Issue 69 Weathering the Storm by Penders: Their discovering the supply of food in the town is a good boost to the morale that lightened up the mood. Better yet since I don’t care about the wolf pack, Lupe gives the girls a hug.

2815: Lupe decides to take in the human girls as part of their pack. 2.

2816: Knuckles Comic Issue 24 Primary by Penders: Locke asks Archy, ” … But what could be more important than my son? ”

2817: Spectre successfully convinces Locke to go with him and fight Legionnaires.

2818: It’s epic that Locke and Spectre go to Haven and infiltrate it with teleportation to free Knuckles. They get to do something useful!

2819: It’s smart of Spectre to warp to the lower levels of Haven so that they could have the element of surprise.

2820: It’s explained WHY Dimitri got his bad new design because he was getting too old and needed robot skin.

2821: I like that one of the Legionnaires points out from Haven looking technological, “ I thought these guys were supposed to be against us! Instead they come off as more like us! “

2822: I like that Locke says that it feels more honest to let his fists do the dirty work, as Spectre shows a contrast with him thinking that’s vulgar of him.

2823: Remington of course refuses to work for the Dark Legion to keep his secret from being exposed.

2824: He tells a secretary to call a paramedic for Pravda.

2825: Harry lampshades to Remington, “ Don’t you ever request anything that ISN’T detrimental to someone’s health? “ It’s good that we have Harry as a consistent character instead of seeing taxi drivers I don’t care about.

2826: I like that these menacing-looking grunts still talk informally with slang, saying, “ totally off the dial! “ They’re all normal people who were born and raised in the Dark Legion country rather than being genuine thugs.

2827: It’s good that they explain that Knuckles was bio-engineered to be powerful, because he’s a main character and it explains why he’s standing out as more special than the rest of the guardians. It’s a better explanation than just “ he’s one of the main characters. “ Knuckles benefited from it, and I wonder why not all guardians were magically enhanced, if to a lesser extent than Knuckles.

2828: I laughed at the goon looking really cowardly when he’s in a black cloak.

2829: It’s clever of Dimitri to want to keep Knux alive to try to brainwash him into helping the Legion. He even refuses to destroy Knuckles because he’s too valuable to the cause.

2830: I’m thankful Harry’s still helping even by this point. By this issue, I had never expected him to help again.

2831: Harry snarks that the smart thing for Remington to do would be to call his troops in for back-up against the Legion.

2832: In a good bit of karma against Moritori for causing a black-out earlier, one happens here.

2833: In more karma, Spectre creatively blinds Moritori with light after he turned on his night vision.

2834: Also creatively, they activated as cannisters in the ventilation system to put everyone to sleep. This is more interesting and intelligent to deal with the Legion than just beating them up.

2835: Remington asks Julie if she’s alright.

2836: The Legionnaires are in shock from the EMP explosion because they are dependent on their enhancements for survival,and it’s nice of Remington to try to help them, telling Harry to find a working phone to call for the ambulance.

2837: I like Remington. He’s serious, competent, cares about being a good police officer, and I even like his design, he’d be intimidating if he dressed like a real police officer instead of wearing his big hat and green clothes. And his decision to help the unconscious Legionnaires earned my respect.

2838: The Legion was smart enough to have a back-up candidate to replace Benedict anyways, after he was elected high councilor. 23.

2839: Issue 70 Saving Nate Morgan by Bollers: Sonic threw the grenade away to save himself, Tails, Sally, Rotor, Antoine, and the civilians in the juice bar.

2840: After the king wonders how the Fearsome Foursome could’ve attacked him when they were supposed to be dead, Sonic at least acknowledges that Snively and his criminals were shapeshifters, or doubles, or clones, potentially. He’s Genre Savvy.

2841: Sonic says, “ numero uno question, “ being informal by randomly switching to a different language like when he spoke Spanish when Tails and him were in Mercia.

2842: Elias shows humility because as he’s pointing out the map and speculating where the criminals would be, he says stuff like “ it may be a longshot “ and “ perhaps, “ and this was a pleasant surprise, since I thought he’d be stuck-up.

2843: Sonic says, ” Nicely done, ” to Elias.

2844: Sonic and Sally, and all the other FFs, are just as indignant about the king being bullshit.

2845: “ Then how did they manage to get the jump on you earlier? “ King Acorn uses logic to justify not having faith in them, at least.

2846: Also, the king says that it pains him to disband the Freedom Fighters.

2847: Sonic snuck over to Geoffrey’s mission to rescue Nate, being an independent badass.

2848: Geoffrey humors Sonic.

2849: “ Well y’know there were a lot of reasons why we called ourselves the Freedom Fighters, ST John, but mainly it was because there was more than one of us! “ Of course Sonic has good teamwork.

2850: And Elias actually came along too, to be the mediator getting the arguing to stop.

2851: Bomb gets thrown into the window to distract everyone.

2852: As Sonic runs around in a circle around Kodos hitting him in the smartest use of his speed against an enemy, humiliating him into falling over with numb legs,

2853: Nate says happily, “ Attaboy, Sonic, let him have it! “

2854: I giggled at Drago saying, “ Watch the face! “ scared of Hershey his ex attacking him.

2855: Sonic lets Nate out of what he’s trapped in.

2856: It’s at least explained that the giant octopus that faked Snively’s death, was created from the Days of Fury, making it a robotic multi-limbed mutate. So good, that textbox explains where that came from.

2857: Heavy tells Sonic not to worry. 19.

2858: Issue 70 Statue of Limitations by Paul Castiglia: Sonic having a nightmare where he falls into the mouth of the Sonic statue he destroyed proves that he feels really guilty about destroying the force field of a city full of innocent people. He doesn’t completely get away with that. It also makes sense that Sonic’s humble and insecure about himself being called the hero of all heroes by fanboys, because really, it makes sense that he’d feel guilty because of what he did to a city FULL of his biggest fans like that.

2859: Part of the nightmare is Sonic being told that he can do no wrong, so he’s terrified of actually believing that like a self-righteous arrogant jerk.

2860: When Sonic wakes up from the dream, Tails has a friendship moment with Sonic. Sonic tells Tails he’s so glad he came over,

2861: Tails calls him buddy,

2862: and Sonic finally lampshades that he failed as a hero by leaving Sandblast City wide open for the Robians and admits that he’s not comfortable with the responsibility and burden of hero business.

2863: Tails tells him to think about all the lives he’s touched and says that being a hero is about caring enough to be there when necessary. He says he’s his hero, best friend and brother and doesn’t know where he’d be without them. This cheers him up. 6.

2864: Issue 71 In the Beginning by Penders: Tails also is a big fan of the same fiction writer as Amy, so he’s a bookworm and fan of children’s stories, too. It adds just as much character depth to him as to Amy.

2865: There’s a solid foundation for the royal family starting, as its first ancestor was Alexander the visionary who convinced various Mobian tribes to work together with technology and info-sharing, forming the Acorn Kingdom with his forward thinking.

2866: I’m glad they followed through on introducing that library in Mobotropolis by having a story arc follow it up, by having Tails join Amy. 3.

2867: Issue 71 Retro Activity by Karl Bollers: Sonic’s eyes are finally green now.

2868: Sonic’s skinny now. Both are good, the Modern Sonic design’s superior.

2869: The Super Emeralds, I’m glad they’re actually used in the plot after being introduced earlier.

2870: Sonic had used them to accelerate enough to attract the beam away from Knothole saving the world.

2871: Despite Sally feeling woozy, she asks if everyone’s alright.

2872: I love the idea, the potential, of Eco-Sonic, Polar-Sonic, and Solar Sonic.

2873: I love the idea of the backwards time in Knothole; Chuck walks backwards,

2874: the leaves fall up,

2875: and people talk backwards as well.

2876: Sonic’s a good enough person to realize he hasn’t been a good son and decide to make it up to his parents, who he’d been neglecting. It’s especially sweet in contrast to Fleetway Sonic, who makes me appreciate when Sonic is especially kind and humble more.

2877: A heartwarming hug between Nate and King Acorn.

2878: King Max says, ” You’re safe, my old friend! ”

2879: Sonic says the job he and Elias did was cool

2880: and shakes his hand with him agreeing.

2881: When Max lampshades that usually Elias shouldn’t risk his life when he’s the prince, Sonic stands up for him that if he hadn’t been there the mission might have been a total bust.

2882: The king is reasonable enough that looking annoyed is the only reaction he really had to Sonic’s disobedience. 16.

2883: Knuckles Comic Issue 25 Childhood’s End by Penders: Knuckles’ sad look when he sees Locke again really drives home how he’s conflicted about him.

2884: He hugs Locke.

2885: Knuckles says he’s just happy he’s here.

2886: They walk away with Locke’s arm around him.

2887: “ This is SO typical! Goes off and does his own thing again! “ Julie lampshades with a funny pout. “ Well, if THAT’S the way you want it, see if I care! “

2888: Of course, it’s great that Knuckles and Locke reunite and have a long talk, after all the time that Locke spied on Knuckles with no input from Knux.

2889: An echidna power that makes the evil Overlanders feel like their brains are on fire, that’s badass of Steppenwolf.

2890: There was one point where there were two guardians at once. Makes more sense to guard both the city and Emerald.

2891: One of the guardians was named Aaron. Finally, a NORMAL name!

2892: It’s fascinating to see the idea of a Legionnaire, Menniker, working with the Overlander.

2893: Some humans and Mobians are at least working together on something.

2894: At least the Brotherhood lampshades that they should ALL be involved in a guardian’s training, but they want to establish limits for Jordan and introduce his responsibilities gradually, rather than put too much pressure on him.

2895: They actually had Knuckles point out, “ So you didn’t just abandon me? “ It’s self-aware.

2896: Locke gets to explain that in order for Knuckles to learn self-reliance he had to provide him with the right environment to make him who he is today.

2897: Knuckles is a great audience surrogate by not understanding the big words of Locke explaining at first what he planned to do to make Knuckles.

2898: Athair was the one who told Locke to make Knux that way.

2899: There’s a concrete explanation for why Locke decided he needed to make Knuckles the most powerful guardian – Aurora gave him visions of the future about him fighting.

2900: It makes more sense for the spikes to be part of Knuckles’ hand so he can climb with them better, and they actually cared enough to explain why he has them.

2901: “ SAVIOR! ME?! Did it ever occur to you I’d be happier just being your son?! “ It’s good that Knuckles lampshades how he doesn’t have a choice in any of this.

2902: Aw! Locke says they should take a break and do something together, with them smiling,

2903: and the story ends with Locke and Knux saying they love each other

2904: with one arm around the other’s back.

2905: I’m really glad Knuckles didn’t hate Locke for what he did and the story ends happily. That’d have been drama. What really makes it a relief is that Locke was so worried about actually talking to Knuckles, since he wanted to apologize to him and thought that saying sorry wouldn’t be enough, and it turned out he was worrying for nothing. 23.

2906: Issue 72 I Robotnik by Bollers: It’s nice that we get it justified that Nate made the TV from leftover material from Robotnik’s base and some Rings.

2907: It’s sweet that the king calls Nate “ uncle “ since he DID bounce the kid him on his lap after all.

2908: I burst out laughing at seeing Kodos, looking just like any other man, drinking beer in bed while watching the king’s TV broadcast, thinking, “ I had Uma steal one of these boxes for this? You gotta be kidding! “ That was funny, a rare relatable moment for Kodos.

2909: I laughed at the line, “ In the year-, well, er, let’s not discuss what year it was, “ because it’s nice to see Robotnik getting embarrassed about a trait about himself, and something OTHER than him failing to beat Sonic.

2910: It’s sort of interesting to see that the Overlander humans still have “ clans. “ It makes them a little more interesting than just realistic human beings. The king extends his thanks to the people who ensured the restoration of Mobotropolis over the past few months.

2911: “ … began the greatest war even seen (I forget the name of it), “ that’s also a funny line. Robotnik’s bumbling being forgetful, and it’s irony because it was called the Great War. So, I thought that was funny, too. They try to make even recap charming, and it works.

2912: Good, new info; the reason Robotnik was banished from Overland and in trouble was because he was put to prison from his plan to build the Ultimate Annihilator being rejected and he escaped to the Mobian Badlands.

2913: The king looking shocked after being insulted at handing the kingdom to him was hilarious.

2914: I giggled at Robotnik calling Kodos “ that wash-up of a warlord. “

2915: And Kodos’ shocked expression in response to being insulted by Robotnik was funny. What helped was that his expression looked rather blank and he just had his hands on his head, which was even funnier because he barely even looked annoyed but was supposed to be. This is the funniest Robotnik’s dialogue will ever be, it actually got me enjoying an issue that was nothing but recap.

2916: Sonic says to his parents, “ I guess I got so used to bein’ Robotnik’s enemy that somewhere along the way I FORGOT how to be your SON. That is like, way past OVER. “

2917: and his parents hug him. That’s heartwarming, a genuine-feeling touching moment. 12.

2918: Issue 72 The Shot Heard Round the World by Penders: I like that the ancient king’s son didn’t hate guns right away and actually was curious enough to try to experiment with them alongside the Overlander boy,

2919: The Overlander and Acorn prince were casually being friends on the first meeting in the first place, which is sweet and tragic considering the terrible relationship between Mobians and humans later.

2920: It’s really well-written that the Acorn prince has trouble with the gun’s recoil, naturally being a first-timer. You wouldn’t expect that in an action series.

2921: The human says, ” Pretty neat moves, ” because the prince climbs up a branch.

2922: He calls him friend. 5.

2923: Sabrina 90s Comic Issue 28 Some Enchantra Evening Part 1 by Gallagher: Enchantra enhances her power by merging with the binary datastream of her new computer, and this tries to explain why she sees into other realities and therefore gets the idea to enslave Sonic against Sabrina.

2924: It’s competent of Enchantra to be able to effortlessly brainwash Sonic against Sabrina RIGHT AWAY after interacting with him. It’d be dumb if she gave him a chance to react to her first, making me wonder why he didn’t avoid this fate, but instead, the second he walks over to a hill, he gets kidnapped and brainwashed.

2925: Sonic moves around Salem spinning him around to make him dizzy, taking advantage of his powers in a more creative way first instead of just spin jumping.

2926: Salem is smart enough to still accurately hit him with a beam of magic by aiming for the Sonic in the middle.

2927: Salem smartly turns himself intangible in the fight.

2928: He thinks to trip Sonic up with kitty litter, making him crash into the wall.

2929: It’s a bit amusing that when Sabrina’s about to go out the door, Sally accidentally hits her with it obliviously walking into the room with Nicole.

2930: Sally and Sabrina shake hands on the first meeting. 8.

2931: Sonic Super Special Issue 10 One Enchantra Evening by Gallagher: The witch leader both warping Sonic to her AND brainwashing him at the exact same time was very smart.

2932: Salem of all people acts as the mediator for once to get Sabrina and Sally to stop arguing.

2933: I like them bothering to explain her secretary had to scan the planet to look for Sonic’s energy signature.

2934: With the witches using computers, it proves magic and tech aren’t incompatible.

2935: It makes sense that Rotor would’ve put in Sonic’s DNA to Nicole’s database so she could locate her friends any time.

2936: Sabrina’s creative to trip Sonic by sticking her leg through the portal.

2937: It makes sense Sonic can create a vortex of air to suffocate Sabrina by running around her.

2938: Sabrina creatively created a tree to knock out Sonic when he was running.

2939: It’s smart of Sally to tell Enchantra that if she keeps the Mobius portal open, Mobian villains could threaten her world. She doesn’t know that a lot of the villains couldn’t threaten her right now, either. Sally manipulates Enchantra by lying that she’ll alert all the villains to the Other Realm if she doesn’t do what she says. And Nicole says she’s standing by, so she’d be able to do that.

2940: Sonic naturally is furious at Enchantra for “ enslaving my mind! “ and I like that.

2941: It creates good tension because Sonic is furious, while Sally’s contrasting him as the mediator trying to negotiate a peaceful agreement.

2942: Sonic’s brainwashing spell was broken because Sonic got knocked out. That makes some kind of sense.

2943: Sabrina tells Enchantra that if she’s got a problem with her, she should discuss it with her alone, and that’s brave, getting Enchantra to warp Sonic and Sally back home.

2944: At least Enchantra’s grudge is explained at all. 14 good things.

2945: Sonic Super Special Issue 10 Zone Wars A Tale of Two Hedgehogs by Bollers: I like Kintobor saying Scourge’s friends were his friends.

2946: I like that Alicia’s throne room has two thrones, one for Scourge.

2947: Patch has a good line, “ He is off somewhere powdering his nose, perhaps? “ about Alicia wondering where the go-getter Scourge that threw a person into the Zone of Silence went. There aren’t any more people evil enough for them to do that to, that’s not his fault.

2948: Interestingly, Patch shows he’s less a restrained coward than Antoine because not only does he clean his teeth with a sword

2949: and stupidly balance it on his finger by the tip of it, but he openly flirts with Scourge’s girlfriend in front of him.

2950: It’s fascinating that Alicia responds well to the flirting by Patch

2951: calling him monsieur Antoine.

2952: Scourge holds back against Patch by merely putting a chain around a guy who had tried to kill him four times in one week.

2953: Scourge’s obviously depressed at this point. He has his hand on his chin apathetically even when Patch is flirting with his girlfriend right in front of him, and when he sticks up to someone who tried to kill him, he deadpans, “ Give it a rest, Ant… “ He’s not happy with his life at all. Scourge is obviously depressed here, because his life is pointless with him just going through the motions with no villain to fight. Maybe he knows that, which gives him depths.

2954: Scourge says, “ You too, Tails? “ feeling hurt at his friends being walked out on and this implies that he was upset at Miles’ behaviour the most of all.

2955: I laughed from Scourge’s, “ It’s gonna take way more than a freaky light show to get my attention, bud! “ at a Robotnik.

2956: Sally says she’s so glad she’s gonna get to spend time with her friends when she’s at a picnic.

2957: Sonic Underground Sonic is met, and it makes sense that Scourge missed one of them and as did Zonic. With so many Sonics to keep track of, Zonic had forgotten to keep track of U Sonic and thus he forgot to ask him for help against Robo-Robotnik.

2958: It’s interesting worldbuilding, the Sonic Underground lore.

2959: It’s delightfully self-aware for Sonia and Manic to be surprised at the names Tails and Princess Sally. “ Tails?! What kind of a name is THAT?! “

2960: It’s good that Sonic freed Scourge from the cell because if he got roboticized he would’ve been very dangerous if he was used to fight Underground Sonic.

2961: Knuckles Comic Issue 26 She Loves you and you Know that Can’t Be Bad by Penders: Of course Vector would just want babes and not marriage.

2962: The Chaotix joke around like real friends that only Julie-Su could handle Vector.

2963: Julie amusingly pretends she’s a spurned ex-girlfriend by flamethrowing a picture of Knuckles for neglecting her, saying like a try-hard, “ Run out on me, will ya? BIG MISTAKE! “ I appreciate that passion! This is the Julie I like so much! It’s funny because she knows she’d never do that for real.

2964: “ What’s the matter with you? Don’t you care? About us? About anything! “

2965: And then she’s self-aware, saying, “ I need a LIFE! But the problem is, where do you get one, when all you think about is him! I hate you Knuckles, for not being here to talk to me right now! “

2966: When Locke offers Knuckles breakfast like a normal dad,

2967: Knuckles thanks him.

2968: Knux asks a very childish question about why boys and girls get together, which makes sense for him to regress when talking about relationships because he didn’t have the proper socialization growing up and just reunited with his father since he was a kid.

2969: Locke hilariously spits out his drink and says, “ Um, uh, why do you want to know? “ I love this, he’s so much like Knux when flustered.

2970: Knux and Locke have a genuine relatable father-son moment, as Knux, while casually eating his breakfast, says that he feels weird around Julie-Su, talking about girls with him.

2971: Knux innocently asks if it would be easier if guys hung around with guys and girls stuck with girls, and Locke says that eventually that’d want something more.

2972: The Chaotix mention that Vector’s constantly talking about girls.

2973: It feels so natural, the Chaotix’s friendship here, as they dare Vector to ask a girl out.

2974: Vector has high standards for ladies.

2975: Julie is relatable, saying that she’s had a bad hair day, and then thinks, “ That’s it! I have to get out! I’m starting to sound as shallow as some of the ditzes I run into. “

2976: She wonders, “ Perhaps a self-improvement course would help. “ She wonders what she’d like to improve and thinks she might need to have more fun in her life.

2977: I like how she’s just totally struck aback by the echidna trying to be nice to her.

2978: I love that the echidna and shopkeeper are nice to Julie-Su.

2979: Julie looks really pretty in that hat!

2980: She’s told that it’s so her.

2981: Someone else says it gives her a sense of style.

2982: And she’s relatable by saying that she feels silly.

2983: Knuckles is relatable, growing up, as he says that on the one hand, he’s happy to be with his dad, but on the other, he can’t stop thinking about Julie-Su.

2984: The whole story is very much a downtime story of lighthearted relatability. 20.

2985: A Friend in Need: In a very loose adaptation of Sonic the Fighters, Ray, Mighty and Sonic were trapped together.

2986: Ray is sweet in this comic, as he was still showing consideration to others, offering his seat to a lady.

2987: I get why Fiona would be mad at Mighty for not saving her from the cell. 3.

2988: Knuckles Comic Issue 27 Who Wrote the Book of Love Anyways by Penders: It’s charming and relatable that when Knuckles is warped to Julie, he gets all shy and embarrassed and hides in a panic, not wanting her to notice him in the restaurant. He definitely feels like he’s young and not used to having a crush. I like Archy’s line in that, too. When Knux says that Julie’s gonna see him, Archy says, “ Well, yes, that’s a distinct possibility! How else do you expect to tell her what’s on your mind! “ I got a chuckle out of that the third time I read it, like Espio’s “ put a cork in it both of you! “ it’s a slow burner joke which makes sense for a mature adult like Archy to say.

2989: It’s a relief that Knuckles didn’t get really mad at the person dating Julie or even realize she was dating him, probably from innocence from an isolated life so he didn’t even realize what she was doing with him. I was expecting him to get himself in trouble and cause conflict.

2990: Knuckles is recognized as the guardian when he trips the waiter and is instantly forgiven, being given the respect he kind of deserves instead of forced to clean up the mess.

2991: I giggled at the audacity of, “ Maybe he got the idea that if he didn’t play matchmaker, Knuckles would end up a swinging single like you! “ “ Father! That was uncalled for! “

2992: Locke stops his father from spying on Knuckles, saying, “ NO, Father! Not this time! “ At least he has a standard.

2993: Knux jumped at Vector telling him off for making fun of him for having love troubles he was stressed out all day about. Knuckles has my full support as he says, “ I’ll tell you what’s happening! There’s a girl I may be in love with and I hafta listen to your trash! Why don’t you just get off my case, you crazy croc?! “

2994: The Chaotix are relatably playing arcade machines that weren’t banned by a technology ban.

2995: The guy Julie was dating says he had a great time and wouldn’t mind repeating the experience.

2996: She says she enjoyed herself and the company she kept was wonderful.

2997: She says, ” Good night, kind sir! “

2998: Wyn asks what’s on Lara’s mind.

2999: She apologizes.

3000: He hugs her from behind.

3001: They hold hands.

3002: They kiss.

3003: I like that when Knux asked Julie for a date, he had a level of awkwardness I sympathized with,

3004: Julie was excited instead of mad at him,

3005: and Knuckles cutely looks like he’s about to burst out laughing as he asks her for the date.

3006: Knuckles is relatable again because he has no idea what to do on the date,

3007: and Julie doesn’t care as long as they’re together.

3008: Those Were the Days: “ Dead? Hardly! And no thanks to you or the hedgehog?! “ I like Fiona’s lines here, she has a good point to feel gypped, so her lines are cathartic.

3009: Fiona was worried from abandonment issues that Nicolette would never come back,

3010: and she got the chills from just being in the slave camp and remembered her time in there.

3011: Fiona also says she’ll sit this one out. Naturally as just being there is giving her bad flashbacks.

3012: The slave camp at least had a purpose beyond jewel mining, as it explains the plot hole of why and when the Fiona duplicate was made. 5.

3013: Issue 73 The Truth is out There by Bollers: Sonic gives his parents wedding bands made from Rings as a gift.

3014: His mom says they’re beautiful

3015: and that they couldn’t have asked for a better anniversary present.

3016: She calls him sweetheart.

3017: She kisses his cheek.

3018: Sonic’s dad thanks him.

3019: It was Chuck and Nate who made the wedding bands out of Rings.

3020: Sonic gave the people responsible for those Rings the credit they deserve.

3021: Nate tells Chuck he was always one of his best students. Nate tells Chuck he was always one of his best students, and that he’s glad his lessons paid off because he wouldn’t have been able to make such detailed rings without him.

3022: Nate puts his hand on Chuck’s shoulder.

3023: He reassures Chuck when he feels bad about taking credit for inventing the Ring and says that Chuck’s innovations advanced his theories.

3024: Chuck asks if everything’s okay with Sonic and Sally

3025: and Sonic puts his hand on his shoulder.

3026: His parents tell him to not stay out too late and be careful since they care.

3026: Elias says that he can understand if his sister doesn’t trust him yet,

3027: and puts his hand on her shoulder,

3028: saying that it’s about time they had a brother-sister talk.

3029: Sally thanks him.

3030: She relates to Elias about her life being turned upside-down.

3031: Elias reveals that since he dreamed of adventure his whole life roaming the Forbidden Zone on the floating island, he never wanted to be king. This makes him more interesting.

3032: Sally naturally asks him why he didn’t tell his dad and Elias says he knows he wouldn’t understand or listen.

3033: Nicole reveals what all the satellites activating did one by one to spell it out to me, I had totally overlooked it. Satellite 1 caused the jail break, the second satellite caused seismic activity causing the avalanche. Satellite 3 caused the Robians to attack in the Indiana Jones parody. There’s a great explanation for the asteroids falling onto Mobotropolis, as the fourth satellite had activated a tractor beam sending it.

3034: Rather than being melodramatic shouting, “ No, “ Sonic looks sympathetically depressed at learning that the people of Knothole were all kidnapped. 9 good things.

3035: Issue 73 The Big Bad One by Penders: Obviously Chuck would be a regular at the library because he’s smart.

3036: Ixis and Kodos turned on each other,

3037: and Ixis created an illusion of himself for protection.

3038: Ixis had gone to the Zone of Silence to seek sanctuary from Kodos. Finally, we know the answer to that.

3039: And Kodos had people steal all of Ixis’ belongings. 5.

3040: Knuckles Comic Issue 28 It Could Be Love (I Should Have Known Better) by Penders: Knuckles and Lara hug.

3041: Lara says it’s so good to see him.

3042: He says, ” Same here! ”

3043: She offers to make him lunch.

3044: Knuckles has a mother-son moment by asking Lara what people do on a date, and she explains

3045: that Locke had taken her out on a picnic and read poetry on their first date.

3046: Knux is a good audience surrogate because he didn’t expect Locke to be like that.

3047: Julie is relatable because her apartment isn’t normally this messy as she insists and apologizes for it,

3048: and she’s honoured at Lara-Le visiting her, making her ashamed of that mess.

3049: She offers Lara a drink and says, ” Please make yourself at home! ”

3050: Lara tells her, ” I’m fine, Julie-Su! Just relax and take a deep breath… ”

3051: Julie tells her not to worry.

3052: The Chaotix side with Knuckles for getting mad at Vector.

3053: Mighty says he just wants everyone to get along and for Knuckles to be cool with Julie.

3054: It’s a miracle that Vector admits he was out of line with mocking Knuckles.

3055: Knuckles admits he was too quick to jump the gun.

3056: Knuckles and Vector grab hands saying that they’re cool now.

3057: Lara calls Locke and Locke has a lovable bumbling dad moment saying that he posted a reminder to himself about it, but then forgot what it was he was reminding himself about.

3058: Lara makes me chuckle by saying, “ That sounds like par for the course. “

3059: Archy wishes Knuckles well.

3060: Lara tells Julie, ” Good show, ” for leading him to the surprise party without getting him suspicious.

3061: Lara holds Knuckles’ hand, saying that for them to let their differences keep them from expressing pride and love for him would be wrong,

3062: and she and Locke hug Knuckles

3063: and tell Knux that they’ll both be there for him.

3064: Knux isn’t mad or unhappy at being told that Wyn will also be there for him whether he likes it or not.

3065: Knuckles is told to relax and have fun by Julie.

3066: Knuckles also kisses Julie dunking her, being gutsy like I’d expect of Knuckles finally. 27.

3067: Below the Belt: Mighty is naturally enraged at losing Ray, causing him to fight robots,

3068: and Robotnik’s panicked at that.

3069: Sonic creatively makes a Swatbot reflect lasers.

3070: Ray is still happy for them despite still being stuck between zones.

3071: Mighty puts his arm around Ray

3072: and says that Nicolette gave him back his friend,

3073: and that he can’t think of a better treasure. 7.

3074: Issue 74 Don’t Call it a Comeback by Bollers: After the king JUST tells him idiotically to sit there and be calm, Sonic snaps, “ Calm?! Calm?! I’ve been reunited with my family after 10 YEARS, now they’re suddenly gone, and you want me to remain calm! “ Not only does Sonic really show raw emotion here, genuinely caring about something and someone – humanizing him – but he immediately looks sad after that revealing that he was actually more sad than angry, which is sympathetic of him.

3075: “ Give me one good reason, why, princess!… No, Sal… Not now. Maybe never again. “ I love that Sonic rebelled against the king.

3076: King Max puts his hands on Sally’s shoulders.

3077: Sally puts her hand on Sally’s shoulder.

3078: I love that Sonic’s friends were loyal enough to go with Sonic on the mission,

3079: Nate shows them a space shuttle. They stumbled upon it,

3080: but to keep it from feeling totally Deus ex Machina, its backstory is explained, as the space shuttle was something Robotnik planned to use to conquer space. Makes a lot of sense, what took him so long?

3081: Sonic puts his hand on Amy’s shoulder.

3082: Dulcy was used to carry the shuttle closer to space to help it break atmosphere without using up many rings.

3083: Bunnie gives Eggman a well-deserved punch in the face, saying, “ What’s up, doc? “ The best part is we see the impact.

3084: “ How can you say I’ve done something wrong? Look at all the new jobs I’ve created! “ Eggman makes me laugh by saying that about the Robians.

3085: Sonic cathartically says, “ Create THIS! “

3086: and jumps on him punching Eggman,

3087: with Sally saying that she’s never seen Sonic so enraged.

3088: Tails flies while carrying Sally to let her progress and Antoine holds Bunnie’s extended leg.

3089: THANK YOU, Bollers, for not just stupidly bringing back the same Robotnik, but instead replacing him with Eggman. That’s a much better way to get Eggman back the rest of the comic. 16.

3090: Issue 74 Enter… Robotnik by Penders: Chuck puts his hand on Tails’ shoulder.

3091: Part of the justification for King Acorn letting Robotnik in is because he already let Nate, another human, leave, so he doesn’t want a similar thing to happen again. 2.

Newbie’s Perspective Archie Sonic Reviews Issues 235-249

Issue 235:

We start out with Silver finding a hidden room, a private study in the Onyx Island building. Edmund lampshades not knowing about this library, and Silver notes that somebody had been researching the old Freedom Fighters. Who?

After Edmund jokes about Sni-I mean Silver turning himself upside-down to dust the room with his HAIR, Silver finds Antoine’s old diary which has survived for 200 YEARS by this point somehow, and says that he knows who the traitor is.

  Right away absolute bullshit because someone whose best language is not the native one of the region they’re living in, would NEVER write their diary in a language that all of their friends could understand, especially since he clearly doesn’t want anybody he knows to read it! There’s text saying “ do not read! That means you Sonic! “ So right away the whole premise of this story falls apart because the diary should’ve been written in French!

PLUS, now I don’t know about the common practice with what people do with diaries after people die but I’m pretty sure Antoine’s friends would’ve destroyed his diary out of respect for the guy after he was gone to, respect his privacy and prevent anyone from reading it!… Why would he want ANYBODY to read his diary even after he’s gone? There’s no way it would’ve survived 200 years of a bad future!

Books do last a long time, but this is a BAD FUTURE, although the story already didn’t hold any water, since Silver should’ve used his time travel gem to find out who the traitor was immediately by warping to the right time and place. If he just kept using time travel, he would’ve found the right time and place eventually! Instead we’re still being forced to put up with this stupid plot thread and now it’s got the most tasteless of all timing, because he thinks ANTOINE is a traitor when he just sacrificed his LIFE to save Elias! Well he might as WELL have anyways.

  Bunnie says that while the Power Ring IS helping, it doesn’t seem to work as well for HIM as it does for Sonic. even though Antoine used a Ring to power up and slice Egg-Robos earlier just fine. I guess it’s supposed to be since it enhances one’s natural abilities and he has none.

UH…  so they’re using a Ring. And, Rings grant wishes. Sonic clearly made a Ring grant a wish, to get Khan back to normal. So WHY didn’t they just wish Antoine out of the coma? Why would, why would he even MENTION the Rings, if he’s just gonna ignore the elephant in the room?!

This isn’t a completely separate continuity from the one where Rings granted wishes, is it?! And he clearly DID use a Ring in “ The Map “ and sliced through robots because of it. So it didn’t “ not work as well as it did for Sonic! “ How would he not be pure of heart anymore?

  Then Bunnie says that she arbitrarily refused to use the thing that woke up King Max to wake up ANTOINE, because she blames IT for the king going insane and not the fact that he was poisoned to go into a coma in the first place. How was I ever supposed to know that was what Flynn was going for?! Idiot! This arbitrary decision just looks like another instance of him eliminating an obvious solution to cure him that was already firmly established in the comic, to justify keeping him out of commission for the rest of the comic.

  Isn’t it bad enough that he completely ignored the RINGS being a potential way to save him? You’d think that the king trying to get Sally to marry Antoine was proof that his brain was screwed up BEFORE the Emerald thing was used on him. And Patch wasn’t surprised he did that, so he clearly poisoned him to GET that result on purpose or else he would’ve been relying on dumb luck to have the king do that for him.

  Bunnie continues to completely waste time talking to someone who CAN’T HEAR her in a melodramatic scene, and then hopes her friends will forgive her for what she “ has to “ do to protect them better. LOGIC would dictate that she would demand an engineer friend or Nicole to give her some cyborg parts, or at least demand a nanite suit.

But instead because she said ” forgive ” this is obviously supposed to lead to her joining the Dark Egg Legion with the Baron just so she can get cyborg parts, a story we’re never gonna see the result of because the writer can’t just wrap up a plot thread right after introducing it! (This is never gonna be resolved: 33)

  And that’s so arbitrary because she could’ve easily asked Rotor to do this, or at least ask him to make her a strappable arm cannon or jet-pack! And then she wouldn’t HAVE to worry about having explosives in her! She could’ve asked for ray guns, jet-boots, and a force field generator, there were so many better ideas and instead of Flynn going for the simple solutions, Bunnie went for the stupid one that will lead to her having bombs in her, and she KNOWS about those bombs!

  Mogul tells Silver that his memory of Sonic’s time is hazy. I’m guessing because it was so LONG ago. And he says that Ixis was leading the resurgence of his Order of Ixis as a king, (This will never be resolved: 34) even though we don’t see any other wizards than him who aren’t trapped in his mind! So maybe Mogul accidentally spoiled a future plot point. Considering how powerful Ixis IS, getting new powers as the plot demands, I have a hard time believing that he couldn’t just get the wizards out of him with a SPELL.

  Mogul expresses regret over how he could’ve been helping the world back then but wasn’t. And then he reiterates that all of this came to pass because one of Sonic’s original Freedom Fighters supposedly took actions, that destroyed the team… The In Your Face story shows that’s bullshit. If ONLY Silver could TALK to Nicole – wait, wait a minute! Yeah, that’s ANOTHER big plot hole! Nicole’s from a happy future! Why didn’t she just talk to him in private and say, “ Hey, I’m from the future too! And none of the Freedom Fighters were destroyed! I was sent back in time by the future Sally! “

  Silver says that in Antoine’s diary he can see how jealous he was of Sonic, and how he thought he was the only one fit for command. This just reminds me of how it would’ve made more logical sense if Antoine was the traitor and not Fiona the bland nice girl, not that this would’ve been any good either.

What’s left of the LAST few entries are “ too many witnesses “ and then “ it is my hope that with such a strong show of force… “ Again, he would’ve written in FRENCH! This plot is dumb! And what would be even MORE dumb would be not explaining why this diary survived this long. And I haven’t said “ this plot is dumb “ since the James Bond parody story by Penders, the most aggravating story he ever wrote.

  I forgot that these incriminating cherry-picked lines were actual lines from Antoine’s diary in Issue 234, his narration, because I had already read an entire Sonic Universe arc between that issue and this one. So at the time I was like, why would he even WRITE this?! Silver, mentioning that he’s reading what’s left of the last few entries, so that’s probably ripped up pieces of paper he’s reading, Silver says he also wrote “ faith in Naugus, “ “ find myself divided “ and “ our true king. “

Silver comes to the conclusion that HE was the one who brought Ixis into power, and not Geoffrey… who you’d think would go down in HISTORY as that person, but I guess the bad future has barely any historical accounts left as it IS which destroys the believability of Antoine’s DIARY surviving!

  Then Silver says that he’s found a newspaper with a picture of Sonic fighting Antoine, with the news headline about “ Sonic battles former friend “ and a page saying something about Silver fighting alongside Sonic! This will ALSO never be resolved by the way! (36). I don’t see how this newspaper article exists when nothing like the event he described where Silver fought Antoine with Sonic ever occurred, the closest it came to that was Hedgehog Havoc because Patch met Silver but the news media never would’ve found out about that because it was on Moebius.

Now, I tried to not be, angry and bitter when I started doing this recording but I just can’t help it when the plot is so DUMB! And the Freedom Fighters vanished during this period of time. No they won’t. So I really hope this is properly EXPLAINED. If not it’s a narrative cheat!

  The only explanation I can think of is that it was planned that Antoine would wake up from the coma with amnesia, and would fight Sonic because of brain damage, or maybe an Antoine infiltrator or alternate universe Antoine would be fighting Sonic. But we’ll never know about that! At least not if Archie Sonic Online keeps dragging their feet on releasing new issues and never resolves this themselves. After all, technically the Mecha Sally problem got resolved by them.

And, later ON Silver DOES save the day and make it so that you’d think he wouldn’t NEED to stay in the present to fight alongside Sonic! So this fight would have to take place after he saved the future but before he went back home. How would this newspaper headline come to PASS?!

  And it’s never explained. Even two dozen issues later! This is exactly the reason the game purists called pre-Flynn “ a mess! “ And he’s doing it again! And no I’m NOT just blaming Penders and his lawsuit for this! If Flynn didn’t write so FAR ahead, if he didn’t POSTPONE shit so much and just wrapped stuff up FASTER, I could’ve gotten to this headline-explaining! There’s no excuse for taking two dozen issues or more to wrap up plot threads!

There’s been dropped plot threads since before the Iron Dominion arc! That tells me that even if there wasn’t a reboot, NO amount of time passed would be enough for them to make Flynn resolve them! Let’s say someone made the ” it’s for kids ” argument for this Sonic comic. Then what kind of a kid’s comic should take this long to wrap up plot threads?! Wouldn’t that lead into an accusation of, he’s taking it way too seriously by making it a dragged out epic? You would never see the early pre-41s of Archie taking forever to resolve a plot thread.

  Mogul says that he’s warned Silver about abusing time travel too much, saying that even NOW their memories are fuzzy. And Silver says he’s lucky Mogul and Edmund remember him at all. WHATEVER. If ANYTHING he’s not abusing it ENOUGH, or he would’ve saved the future a long TIME ago!

Mogul says that Silver will chase this lead WITHOUT taking the Time Stone WITH him, staying in the past until he finds the culprit. Pretty stupid decision to say the least, forever preventing Silver from just time traveling ahead to the time of the betrayal until that time, and he’s basically sending the future’s only hero away forever! I’m not letting the good art fool me into thinking the story is well-written. In fact this makes Issue 152 look good and I hated that art!

  Speaking of badly written, Mogul says he’ll write instructions for Silver on how to get back to the future without a Time Stone, because that’s apparently possible, out of convenience. The only explanation is that he expects Silver to get all seven Chaos Emeralds and do Chaos Control to time travel, like Sonic did in the Death Egg Madness.

And just because you foil the traitor at ONE point, wouldn’t necessarily mean there wouldn’t be ANOTHER so-called traitor incident, that could lead to the future being destroyed! And who KNOWS, maybe, maybe the future WASN’T ruined by the traitor incident, but was ruined by Mogul or another factor, and another ONE of those factors could happen AFTER Silver followed his instructions to get back HOME… and then… UGH! Fuck time travel!

  Tails’ father shows up to Tails who’s got stress lines working in his workshop and he reveals that he hasn’t been home in a while and his parents are worried about him. He’s OBVIOUSLY working to avoid thinking about how depressing things have gotten and getting upset.

Tails says that he has to get the Tornado finished, talks for a long time about how he’s riding all of his hopes on it, snaps and the crowbar slips out of his hand onto his foot, which I can only assume is because he was so stressed out or else that’d make no sense of him, and he starts to cry unfortunately in SILHOUETTE asking his father how HE handles it when someone close to him gets into that kind of condition.

Antoine being killed off would’ve made this scene make more sense because a soldier’s much more likely to see people dying than go into comas and KNOW that they went into comas specifically. He hugs him as he starts to cry, and Amadeus reassures him… I mean, this is sweet and all, but I’d rather have this kind of moment with Tails and Sonic!

Tails is told that his mother’s too busy with government business and it breaks her heart because she’d much rather be here for him. Ixis says that he wants to exile Nicole from the city as I wonder why the Council that fears her so much didn’t already do this a LONG time ago! But he IS using her failure to protect the city from the Armada as a recent justification. Dylan and Penelope looks scared, Rotor looks resentful and HATES Hamlin and Ixis, Rosemary looks like she’s really worried for some reason, and Uncle Chuck looks depressed.

Penelope naturally wonders how they even COULD exile Nicole since she runs every nanite in the city as she INSISTS on referring to “ Nicole’s program, “ and not Nicole as a person! I actually laughed at Rotor’s stormy response! “ COULD we legitimately exile her? “ “ NO. “ (giggles) I definitely relate to him here.

  Then Nicole, as we only get a close-up of her head to an extreme extent, says that the nanites run on very basic code and are rebuilding automatically. So the city CAN function without her. Why would you tell them this?! Although she would be required for new buildings or defensive measures within the city.

As Penelope and Chuck look depressed, Ixis insists that HE defends the city. No he fucking doesn’t. He failed at the Death Egg and he failed at fighting the Battle Lord, instead of just attacking him immediately! Let’s not have ANY of the characters point that out or even THINK it since maybe they’re not saying it out of fear. He then says that his citizens can build what they need. Yeah but it’ll take longer. Chuck says sadly that exile means Nicole would be confined to Freedom HQ’s science lab without her body or a way to interact with them besides a screen.

SHOCKINGLY even Uncle CHUCK agrees! With it being almost unanimous to banish Nicole! WOW that was dickish on his part and him SIGHING about it doesn’t make it OKAY, or not Out of Character! “ Uncle Chuck betrays Nicole by banishing her. “ Think about that sentence. ” Uncle Chuck banishes Nicole. ” That sounds like a bad fanfiction! Penelope and Dylan don’t look happy either and Hamlin growls but they’re still being jerks.

  And Nicole somehow looks SCARED and SURPRISED at this instead of being USED to it and EXPECTING it in her depressed state! This is HER fault for TELLING them that she could be exiled! What’d she expect? Idiot! It’d make sense if she WANTED to be exiled because she was sick of living in a city that no one wanted her in where everyone was just insulting her, but since she’s drawn to look upset here, it all falls APART! She had no reason to tell them they could exile her!

  Rotor furiously calls everyone out on how ungrateful they’re being. “ Have you lost our minds?! Nicole is one of us! A Freedom Fighter! She built this city for you! She saved EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US! “ And Uncle Chuck actually has the nerve to act like HE’S in the wrong, by saying his name twice, as if HE needs to calm down and HE is the reasonable one! FUCK YOU! What a TERRIBLE ROLE to put Sonic’s lovable uncle in!

This isn’t Uncle Chuck, I REFUSE to acknowledge him as such! Can you imagine if “ Uncle Chuck betrays Nicole and Rotor “ happened in SatAM?! That would never happen! Of course, neither would “ Antoine goes into a coma, Sally gets roboticized, Knothole gets destroyed, and Bunnie forever loses her cyborg parts! “

  Chuck insists that while none of them are happy about it, they’re doing what the scared citizens WANT, so this is just a temporary measure to calm people down. This is why democracy FAILS. Rotor resigns out of protest saying, “ This council is for the citizens, and it just BETRAYED one of them… “ And Nicole covers her mouth in horror as if he did something WRONG!

  Well he’s KIND of been doing something wrong for months by just sitting there being useless on a Council instead of being an engineer or Freedom Fighter all this time! So if anything you’d think she would want him to give up earlier! But still she’s looking at him like he killed a puppy!

And she even tries to stop him when he storms off! What an idiot! Why the hell would she object instead of being THANKFUL?! It’s not like he was helpful being on the council anyways! He was ALWAYS being outvoted by idiots, which is why it feels better in an action series to have just ONE person in charge! Even if this arc WASN’T riddled with plot holes, it’d still be way too frustrating to enjoy with all these dark and irritating plot points! At least Uncle Chuck had the sense to be proud of Rotor saying “ good for you. “ I assume HE stays because he needs the money. It’s not to vote like Sonic would want anymore based on this!

  Rotor lampshades that he wasn’t there for Sally or Antoine and he’s still her friend. Yeah he WASN’T there! He could’ve been in the Death Egg with his nanite suit and I’d rather if HE had been roboticized instead of Sally, and he definitely would’ve saved Antoine from Metal Sonic in that suit!

  Nicole cries tears of joy and gives him a hug thanking him as Espio looks sympathetic to her. Silver who’s watching from the bushes, feels bad about ever suspecting Rotor when he’s being that kind. Honestly even him being convinced that the other Freedom Fighters are innocent is arbitrary. Sure it makes sense from the audience’s perspective that him just being TOLD that they’re heroes or spending some TIME with them, would convince him that they’re not future traitors, because we KNOW that they’re good people.

But LOGICALLY a person being kind and heroic at ONE time doesn’t guarantee that they won’t CHANGE and plan to cause trouble LATER! Just look at Geoffrey, or Fiona! If Silver was interacting with THEM when they were heroes, he would be convinced for the same reasons! That wouldn’t mean that he was right!

  Amy knocks on Sonic’s door as he’s locked himself into his room blaring music out of it. I wonder if that’s sad or angry music? It would certainly make sense! So really Sonic deals with negative emotions like depression, generally the same way that SALLY does! He tries to bottle it up, having music blare it away and not telling anyone how he feels! It’s lucky that SALLY had the breakdown and not SONIC!

  Amy reveals that like Tails she deals with depressingness by keeping busy. She helped Tails link up with Amadeus, delivered all the well-wishing gifts to Bunnie this morning, checked in with Rosie who’s really upset, and she says looking really sad that if she helps everyone ELSE deal with “ grief “ she won’t have to. “ Grief. “ So this was obviously written as if Antoine was killed off anyways like he intended.

  As Amy cries hugging Jules, Sonic plays the guitar looking depressed and thinks about all the horrible ways he bullied Antoine, one of which involves a whoopie cushion. I’m glad this issue is at least SORT of kind of addressed, as he admits that Antoine deserved better.

I still would’ve liked to see a short story where we saw the exact point where Sonic realized, “ You know, maybe I’m being too harsh on Antoine, maybe I should stop horribly bullying him. “ It could be after Antoine would call him out for his bullying pointing to IT as the reason he court-martialed him! And just then… in the saddest issue in the comic because of Antoine, at the worst possible timing… Silver tells Sonic that he thinks Antoine’s the traitor!

  Sonic I’m fully on your side for this one GO GET HIM, DUDE! He looks furious with his eye twitching, spindashes at him, grabs him by the hair dragging him to his hospital bed, and resentfully tells him why he’s in this situation.

Then Sonic looks horrified at seeing Bunnie’s letter. When Silver naturally accuses BUNNIE of being a traitor for going missing which at least is slightly accurately since she’s joining the Dark Egg Legion, Sonic spindashes at him, and when Silver has the good sense to telekinetically hold him in the AIR so that Sonic can’t give him any satisfying blow, Sonic, looking DEMENTED and furious, has my full support as he says, “ LISTEN! There. IS. NO. TRAITOR. I believe in my friends. I believe you’re a flake. Each of them is a hundred times the hero you WANT to be. Now. Get. Out. Go. HOME. “

YES! He’s absolutely furious, I LOVE seeing this Tranquil Fury, it’s so refreshing! Come on, Sonic, PUNCH him! I don’t CARE if Silver’s misguided, that traitor plot is JUST STUPID, though I’m more mad at Flynn than Silver. HE doesn’t know better.

When Silver says that he can’t go home because he’s stranded, Sonic says, “ Then get out of my sight, “ as he’s let go. Then he tells Geoffrey to go home as WELL saying he doesn’t belong here, and Geoffrey proves he still has decency in him and isn’t completely molded into a different character just because he’s on the bad guys’ side, like Fiona was, by saying that he still came to pay his respects to Antoine.

He even salutes him, and says, “ You had me in the court room. Come back to me so I can say that to your face. “ So he’s not EVIL, he’s just thinking that Ixis is a good king. And since Ixis is the lesser evil to Robotnik and a powerful wizard who should logically be able to defeat him, I can understand why he’d be desperate like that!

He doesn’t KNOW any better! He trusts HIM out of desperation but he’s still very obviously evil! Geoffrey should tell Ixis to deroboticize all the Legionnaires with his power, and if he refuses to do that, then that should be a big wake-up call for him that Ixis only cares about being in charge of people and not helping the world!

  Sonic lampshades that Geoffrey’s confusing. He talks about how oh so coincidentally it was only the Freedom Fighters who aren’t in the GAMES, who are suffering so much, and he says that the Freedom Fighters are done, even though Amy and Tails are still just fine, and while Nicole’s stuck in the lab, she’s only banished from the CITY, she could still help in her handheld form. Giving up a little early there. Harvey Who convinces Silver to join the Secret Freedom Fighters and the story ends there.

  This issue was by Ian Flynn, and has Silver go after Antoine as the traitor with the worst possible timing because of some leads that aren’t fucking explained when they desperately need to be; a very incriminating newspaper showing Sonic and Antoine fighting, and Antoine’s diary which isn’t written in French for some WEIRD reason! And has somehow survived up to Silver’s time! Already the story’s premise falls apart if you SNEEZE at it! Why do people love Silver’s inclusion in this comic?!

  Then Mogul says arbitrarily that Silver will go back in time WITHOUT a Time Stone and not come back until he saves the future, even though having a Time Stone and time travelling is the best way to DO that! He really should just be putting time travel portals to see through the other end of in every point of time he can think of until he finds the betrayal.

He could’ve just appeared ONCE in the ENTIRE comic, when he’s needed to prevent that particular part in history! But he doesn’t because Flynn wants to drag out the stupid time travel plot whose novelty wore out a long time until it never gets resolved, or at least, never SATISFYINGLY!

  I don’t blame Sonic ONE BIT for snapping at Silver. And even then Sonic was holding back until he accused Bunnie too. As likable as Silver’s naive puppy face can be, I HATE how he’s so ineffectual and accusing all the HEROES like that! I expected that Sonic would PUNCH him! But he didn’t even get into a fight, although Silver’s ability to psycho-hold him still is the only logical result of Sonic trying to fight him. That fight would be WAY too one-sided. But we could’ve at least seen him punch him! TWICE! He wasn’t expecting it! But instead Flynn manages to disappoint me when I reach a point I heard about AGAIN!

  Also Bunnie runs away to join the Baron to get cyborg parts… instead of just asking Rotor for a nanite suit or an arm cannon strapped to her arm and a jet-pack to hover and a ray gun to shoot lasers, or outright asking to be cyborgized again, like would make SENSE! Instead she’s gonna run away all emotional not thinking straight, because fuck logic!

Her main flaw is that she’s a stubborn IDIOT, like a stereotypical dumb Texan and Dumb Blonde, so real progress there. But the problem is that it’s not pointed out by the characters! So rather than being an intentional character flaw to make her feel more human, it feels ENTIRELY unintentional and just a product of sloppy writing!

   At least SALLY’S intentionally written to have a whole bunch of FLAWS! And they say SALLY’s the Mary Sue! Bunnie can be a total moron, forgetting the Iron Queen can control her over and over again, and forgetting that she’s not a cyborg and still trying to fight! And yet nobody calls her out on her mistakes, not even her ENEMIES! Oh yeah Sally told her to sit down a few times in Issue 40, that TOTALLY makes up for everything… I can’t be… non-negative about these issues when they suck so much, I just can’t!

Issue 236:

  We start out seeing the people of Furville being panicked at some robots from the Death Egg as Eggman threatens them through an announcement in it. Gee it’s almost as if the cities that DON’T have force fields aren’t safe at all! If even Sandblast City can have a force field generator, why the hell doesn’t EVERY city?!

Eggman says that everyone who isn’t immune to being roboticized will be legionized instead and used to hunt down their loved ones. So why the hell do only SOME people still have an immunity to it? There was no indication in the Death Egg Madness that only HALF the people in the world lost their immunity to it, and HALF just makes it feel twice as arbitrary!

  Eggman says that he’ll get around to fixing the roboticizer and the people with those fates will have to wait in the prison eggs. How does he plan to keep them fed and stuff? That’s kind of a mercy then, though. And he’s attacking Furville to get revenge from last time, not to mention it’s one of the largest settlements on the continent. It IS? I thought it was just some random village.

 Being alone and bitter Sonic remembers Scourge saying that just one bad day would make him just like him. Amy and Tails show up telling him bad news that he already knows and when Sonic says that the Freedom Fighters are done, Amy slaps his leg – OH, so it’s FINE when SHE slaps him! And his friends accuse him of joking when he wouldn’t joke about that and furiously yell at him that he’s NEVER given up BEFORE, all ganging up on him.

Feeling pressured because it’s clear his only friends left would all HATE him otherwise which explains why one bad day WOULDN’T make him become like Scourge, Sonic lies that he never planned to quit and was going to say they have to make a new team. He has to reassure his friends that they’ve gotta seriously brainstorm to come up with a way to fix things, while putting his arm around both Tails AND Amy. That’s definitely a better dynamic for the two of them than, “ I take anything Amy says with a shaker of salt! “

  Then Rotor shows up back to his old design as he looks bitter and he tells them all that Nicole is banished from the city. Tails looks horrified, just assuming that his OWN MOTHER voted for this which she DID, but he’s still jumping to conclusions… I’m really glad he’s horrified at his MOTHER being a horrible Obstructive Bureaucrat for ONCE!… Normally she just gets away with it!

Rotor says that they can’t keep protecting the city AND fight Eggman even though they’ve done that their ENTIRE LIVES just FINE. What he means is they can’t both chase the Death Egg with a plane AND be in the city.

And we cut back to robots including Metal Sally attacking Furville. Sonic makes a speech to the Council of Acorns saying that they’ll split into two teams with Sonic leading the first one to try to fight Eggman and rescue Sally while Rotor will be in command of another team to help protect the home front.

Rotor then summons his nanite suit and says that it provides corrective support for his back, and puts him back in active duty. How does a SUIT do that for his back, which is INSIDE him? His back could only get support by nanites INSIDE it, and that would be permanent, because it’d move his spine back into position!

  Fortunately while Ixis arbitrarily denies Sonic’s idea out of spite like an idiot when he should be supportive of ANYTHING that would be a better way to fight his ENEMY EGGMAN while also keeping the city protected, for ONCE the Council is good as Rosemary says that they ALL have to take a vote on it and they all vote in favour of Sonic’s plan…

Rotor says that Tails is helping him bring two former Chaotix out of retirement to join Team Freedom first, and then he’s going to hold a recruitment drive here in the city. RETIREMENT, since WHEN? Of course, Sonic is taking the other GAME characters for HIS team, who go to rescue Furville.

Oh they’re called Team Fighters. Why do the other names have to exist, why can’t it just be Sonic’s team and Rotor’s team? It feels like the writer’s pushing the concept on me too hard and coming on too strong right away expecting me to love the idea right away.

Sonic says he’ll never give up and dishonor the sacrifices of his friends and he says while spindashing at Mecha Sally that he won’t pull his punches with Metal Sally, partly as karma for how SHE didn’t hold back when HE was roboticized… Well, she didn’t ATTACK him, but, I get it I guess.

  Amy seems to have taken over SALLY’s role as the nag, which Sonic lampshades, but I don’t think it’s a good FIT for her. Isn’t she already enough of a jerk with her threatening people with her hammer, and being violently jealous of other girls in other continuities? Being the nag would just make her worse, IDW.

One of the villagers says that if Sonic and friends can fight, so can they. Eggman is told that if they leave NOW they’ll have just enough time to refuel and surprisingly he reluctantly does so saying to bring Metal Sally back.

  Now for some MORE arbitrary bullshit!… Metal Sally flies away and Sonic gets grabbed by a robot before he could grab Metal Sally because he didn’t reach her at the speed of sound in just a SECOND, after he BOUNCED OFF THE HEAD of the robot! He shouldn’t have been close enough to the robot for it to grab him after he JUMPED off it! Mecha Sally Stall: 5.

Tails flies after her in the Tornado-2 and Metal Sally tells the ground units to provide cover fire at her coordinates, which shoot at Tails’ plane successfully. Mecha Sally Stall: 6! And that feels especially lame because we can’t even SEE those units! And considering that Sally SAID this would happen, Tails should’ve already had advanced warning to dodge those attacks!

Sonic reassures Tails that he heard where the villains are headed and tells him to help finish off the last of the robots to save Furville… So ALL that happened was Furville got attacked by robots? That’s such a basic and easy story, I could write that. But at least it’s more creative for Furville to get attacked than the city, but what OTHER normal city would get attacked with Mobians in it? Furville’s the main town now with Knothole gone!

  In the NEXT story, Rotor recruits Big and Cream, the only two volunteers for his team because somehow everyone else was too cowardly just so he wouldn’t have to spend a while deciding who to recruit. So Big and Cream are on his team. I’m not exactly full of CONFIDENCE. I mean, Big is really strong, but he looks doofy and has a stupid voice and he IS stupid! And while Cream CAN fly, so can Rotor in his nanite suit, and she’s otherwise just a cute little girl who doesn’t fight, I don’t BLAME Ixis for not having any faith in them.

  Also why’d Rosie say “ aye, “ to Vanilla? Was I always supposed to imagine her talking with a Scottish accent? They write out the accents of the characters in this comic! Also, Heavy and Bomb are here too. Didn’t they get blown up and irreparably destroyed, TWICE since some Bombs went after Mina’s concert? Why weren’t they… rebuilt WAY earlier then?

And yet Rotor’s talking as if they’re the same one as from the BEGINNING and Tails and him magically found their primary cores out of nowhere and just NOW rebuilt them. THAT’S arbitrary! Also… Rotor CLEARLY said TWO volunteers and yet THESE guys are ALSO volunteers! That makes 4, Rotor! He said, “ all TWO of them! “

  Rotor says that one man can’t protect all of the city and someone FINALLY points out that Ixis couldn’t stop the Battle Bird Armada from blowing a hole through the heart of the city, and it’s thanks to Nicole’s nanites that they have their homes back at all. Technically they were ADAM’s nanites, but let’s totally ignore that every time and just give HER all the credit.

I’m still surprised that we just had an unclear time skip to them all having their homes back after the city was destroyed, without even IMPLYING that they were on Angel Island or Furville while waiting! It’s like they skipped out on the actual consequence of that.

  Then the antenna of the Tails Doll lights up and a part of the building crumbles. Rotor tells Heavy and Big to catch the civic center, he tells Cream to start air-lifting people to safety so he’ll join her later, and he tells Cheese to throw Bomb towards the collapsing roof to reduce it to rubble and blow it back, all in a great timely demonstration of the team’s capability! The Tails Doll really chose the dumbest moment to be evil here because if anything it’s just helping the heroes. Like he’s a Minion with an F in Evil.

  As Rotor says he’ll do what he can to stabilize the nanites, Ixis complains to one of the wizards in his mind that they’ve ruined everything. Ixis says that Nicole’s nanites betrayed them again which makes no sense, since, she’s not even anywhere NEAR this place and Rotor points it out!

  He says Nicole’s not here and if ANYTHING, she would’ve prevented that glitch before it even HAPPENED! No she wouldn’t have, as we’ll see. He can direct the nanites to rebuild from his suit but it would’ve been faster and more efficient with her around.

Since the citizens aren’t aware that the Tails Doll caused the problem I can understand their concern when a nanite building collapses for no apparent reason, when a nanite controller was just banished from the city. Who else would’ve done it? Ixis wasn’t happy about it! Maybe they were worried Nicole was able to do that on PURPOSE out of revenge for being kicked out. I wish we got to see an alternate universe Nicole who DID do that! That’d be satisfying.

  Ixis says that he’ll investigate underground that was made treacherous by the Armada’s assault, and wonders if he can find a way to solve the problems of the council and the “ fickle “ temperament of his people. Unless he means brainwashing he’s wasting time here. Also they’re not fickle. It’s only been recently that they’ve even CONSIDERED siding with Rotor at all! For the most part they’ve been all Ixis!

  This issue was by Ian Flynn. It was a surprisingly plot hole free story for the Mecha Sally Arc, since it only had 3 of them in it. The first story is about Sonic spending some time being bitter and depressed looking much like Scourge had with Alicia at his side as he reflects on how bad things have gotten, and then because his friends would hate him if he just gave up, he reassures them to keep on fighting.

Then they decide to form two teams; Team Game Characters-I mean Team Game Purists – I mean Team Fighters, and then there’s Rotor’s team to defend the home front, Team Freedom, splitting Freedom and Fighters into two teams. It only looks like it got to this point as an excuse to make things less original by having a more GAMES like team, and that’s why they got rid of the SatAM Freedom Fighters, although there obviously needs to be someone to protect the home front.

And Sonic’s team goes to protect Furville from Eggman’s robots again being cheated out of rescuing Metal Sally because Sonic and Tails were way too slow, somehow. This ruined the story for me. I love that the civilians of Furville got motivated to fight the robots with baseball bats and axes again just because the heroes were there!

  And the second story was here so that Big, Cream, Rotor and the inexplicably rebuilt Heavy and Bomb could demonstrate their usefulness to people when they save a building from collapse thanks to the Tails Doll. However this seems to get blamed on Nicole since she made the building, and it’s annoyingly not explained why they blame Nicole.

But back to Heavy and Bomb. There was never any indication that their cores were left ANYWHERE intact when they were destroyed! It’s nice that they came back, but still! At least there was no proof that their cores WEREN’T still at Mina’s concert on Sunset Hill.

Issue 237:

  We start out with Drago telling Eggman that they’re behind schedule because the wolf and cat people are too much for them. Eggman yells at them, the feed suddenly cuts out and it was revealed it was Orbot who did it, making Eggman whine, “ I was in the middle of a rant! “ That was actually pretty funny.

Orbot says that it was either he cut power to the communications or the oxygen feed because they’re running on empty. And yet they’re STILL flying! There’s always this focus on the Death Egg having a limited amount of reserve power and yet it can always fly just fine when it’s running on empty! It focuses on being able to fly with its energy first and foremost. I guess Eggman still has immunity to roboticization, because if he COULD roboticize himself, he wouldn’t have to worry about oxygen at ALL.

  Metal Sally says that if they remove the matriarchs of the wolf and cat people the two groups will turn on each other, and all the while she’s not facing Eggman in this scene and just staring ahead unfortunately. Eggman pets her complimenting her, saying that he’ll let her take care of that while he restocks the Death Egg.

He wanted to destroy the continent carpet-bombing it, but his resources are limited. So that means she actually saved the continent by doing that. Even if she wasn’t a robot, she might have made that plan for Eggman anyways to change his mind about that other plan of his. I wonder if she’s using her actual intelligence from being a Mobian for this plan, and it’s being brought out in Eggman’s favor, which is interesting!

  We see Lupe and the cat queen being kidnapped by Metal Sally instead of killed like I thought she was talking about earlier, since she said “ removed. “ Maybe she still has some conscience in her left because she could’ve easily just killed them, but her motivation was probably to legionize them and yet she never said that in the first place, so that was confusing.

  Sonic says later while they’re all walking in the Wolf Pack nation that he hates that they’re bringing them bad news. Amy says that with Lupe backing them up they’ll be able to sock it to Eggman and yet Lupe and her army won’t come with them to the Death Egg in planes of their own. And we see T-Pup with Tails too!

  The heroes learn that Lupe’s been abducted and her husband’s dealing with the other pack chiefs on how to go to war over it. Tails and Sonic question this and so do the wolf twin girls, one of whom at least gives a reasonable excuse for why she doesn’t think it’s the cat people. The cats aren’t subtle. So if they kidnapped Lupe, there wouldn’t be any doubt.

Amy blames Eggman and Tails says that they tracked him and the Death Egg there and were going to warn them about Metal Sally. One of the wolf girls says that Lupe wouldn’t hurt Sally so she’d be the perfect agent to perform a kidnapping on.

  Another wolf girl says that the pack chiefs won’t listen to them because they’re just eager for an excuse to attack the cat people, and Lupe’s husband is beside himself with worry. They go into the jungle and after Amy tells them everything that their team’s been through recently, fortunately keeping most of it offscreen, the girls say that their lives are boring because their pack used to tell them all about what they did as Freedom Fighters – “ tell them about “ because apparently now these girls in particular always stayed out of the action – and all THEY do these days is stand guard. They’ve been thinking of trying to join Rotor’s team since they crave adventure.

  They see the cat queen get chased down by Razorclaw and his minions, but before he could try to kill her, T-Pup distracts him and the heroes attack the Legionnaires. Since the queen wasn’t wearing her queen clothes, I believed her at first when she said she isn’t the queen, just an emissary, who says that the queen and grand chief are in danger.

  A wolf girl is confused because this IS the queen, and then Sonic says that their culture is based on clothing, so no queenly robe means she’s not the queen right now. So, uh, does that mean they held an election and voted in a different queen? Do they vote queens and that’s why it doesn’t matter who wears the queen’s robes, he’s still the queen? Could any imposter just break into the queen’s building and wear her clothes and become the queen and everyone would be fine with humouring him?

  She explains that the queen and chief were captured by a robot that Lupe just assumed was a transformed Sally! This is getting ridiculous, no one just assumes that Metal Sonic is a roboticized Sonic! We see Lupe telling the cat queen that being roboticized is a horrible experience, and the cat queen says that being further modified as a robot is a dishonour and disgrace, as opposed to the robot being improved on so that Sally has the badass ability to fly and shoot lasers and have a sword on her arm. It’d be nice if she had those abilities after being deroboticized, like because of jet-boots and a ray gun. No one says Rotor disgraced Bunnie by modifying her cybernetics!

  And she says that there’s no glory in her people lashing out at Lupe’s because of this. Lupe says that the cat queen can stop them and she can help her reach that vent and escape while everyone is distracted resupplying the base.

  And the cat queen reluctantly agrees to take off her queenly robes in order to fit in there. Back in the present the queen tells the cat guy that she’s working with the heroes because they had driven back the Legion and can do it again.

He says that he’ll follow her, acknowledging her as the queen just fine without her robes, but it’ll be up to the wolves to listen and if they strike first it’ll be their last. I’m reminded of the stupid convoluted cultural difference, as the queen wishes that the queen were truly here, as if she doesn’t think she has any worth by herself without those clothes even though a cat just acknowledged her as “ the queen! “

  The story ends with Lupe being told that she’ll be legionized instead because she was deroboticized by the Bem earlier. Why couldn’t Eggman have changed the rules back so that there IS no roboticization immunity? It’s good for variety to have BOTH, but the immunity being only for some people is confusing!

  In the next story, oh, he’s actually trying to RESOLVE this! Mina awkwardly stands outside of a building telling herself, “ You can do this… You can do this. “ I really sympathize with her right now! She awkwardly goes inside and asks for Nicole and text shows up on a computer saying, “ I am here. I am where I can hurt no one. I am where no one can hurt me. “

Mina wells up with tears, but instead of immediately saying sorry, she just looks ashamed and says that the city is barely coping without her and needs her back… We don’t see much evidence of that though. Nicole has to point out the obvious, that she’s been exiled, and she snarks bitterly, “ You got just what you wanted. “ Ooh, burn.

Finally Mina APOLOGIZES saying that she wanted the people to get empowered, ask the hard questions and stand up for themselves, but instead they just got angry and frightened – what did she EXPECT, that they’d be empowered WITHOUT getting angry and scared of her? She says she’s not sure how she got it so wrong. Ash’s a bad influence and Flynn is writing this comic.

  She admits that she didn’t fully understand Nicole’s situation at the time but does know what it’s like to be controlled, while not talking about Mogul controlling her to fully seal the deal, so if you didn’t remember that story, you might be confused. She says that she wanted the Freedom Fighters to make sure she was alright instead of taking it on faith.

Nicole says no to going back to the city, saying, “ I failed my friends. I could not save Sally. I was not there for Antoine. I watched Bunnie leave. That wasn’t her fault. Mina says that all that stuff happened under Sonic’s watch too- wait, why, why didn’t, if she watched Bunnie leave why didn’t she just beam her program up to her and TALK to her, did she have to be in the same room as the council when they were siding against her… she was in the COUNCIL room, so how could she have watched Bunnie leave at the same time?

Well I guess Bunnie was taking so long to walk out of the city that by that point she WASN’T in the council room. She could’ve told her, ” Go to Rotor and get new cybernetics or a nanite suit! “ Anyways, all that stuff happened under Sonic’s watch too but he didn’t quit, and neither did Rotor. He did the opposite.

  And Mina says, “ I’m trying to make things right with you. Because I failed YOU. “ Nicole says, “ You failed me? “ as if she’s DOUBTING that! Mina apologizes stating the obvious that she had moved on to be a singer to inspire people in hard times, but instead she turned them against her, and says that she wants to make things right because she missed the mark with the last concert. Um… I’m pretty sure if she suddenly went out on a concert in FAVOR of Nicole her fans will get really mad at her for switching her opinion! Everyone’s already against Nicole, the damage is already done!

  Nicole finally shows up in her body form saying that Rotor modified the lab so she’d have more freedom, and she looks depressed while Mina happily says, “ THERE you are. “ Mina says that the city needs her back ignoring that this would be illegal and she’d get in trouble with the council if she found out, but whatever. Apparently she doesn’t care about that!

  And she says, “ And as selfish as it sounds, I need you back. I can’t forgive myself if you remain locked up forever. I’m SORRY, but that isn’t enough. You need to be free. “ Nicole makes a reference to when Dimitri told her she should be brave and meet anger with reason.

Mina says she’ll be a friend who supports her, and FINALLY the two hug, with Nicole smiling back as Mina asks, “ And can you forgive me for taking this long to say I’m sorry? “ This is honestly a Tearjerker because I feel so sorry for the two of them. It makes sense that she’d he too ashamed to face her and apologize until now. I’m just happy the writer BOTHERED wrapping up this plot thread and resolving this, I honestly thought this wouldn’t HAPPEN, considering he won’t wrap up 30 more of them.

  Mina gets all naively excited about making a song to change people’s minds and I just have to roll my eyes because logically people aren’t going to change their minds! She’s just setting herself up for catastrophic failure! Worst case scenario some people would cynically accuse her of lying to get ratings and attention just to flip flop to the other direction and do it again! Nicole says happily that she looks forward to hearing that song and she supposes that part of developing emotions, is learning to cope with them as well. Also Nicole’s head is just a little too far ahead of her neck there!

  Mina puts her hand on her shoulder, and Nicole confirms that she’s not hiding in a computer anymore. I’m glad that we get to see her organic form, since when she was banished from the only place where she could have it, I was worried that we’d never see it again. The story ends with Harvey Who saying that he needs Miss Nicole’s assistance for a project of his. It’s sweet of him to call her that!

  This issue was by Ian Flynn. The first story starts up a story arc where Lupe’s threatened with being legionized after being kidnapped to try to get the cat and wolf people’s alliance destroyed, and there was this really confusing moment where the queen claims she isn’t the queen because she isn’t wearing the right CLOTHES. How could a society not fall apart with that kind of bullshit?… Like, a doctor would be only a doctor if he wears doctor CLOTHES, so, people would accept some random guy with no experience as a doctor?…

  But since we’ve already SEEN the cat country instead of the Death Egg Chase giving us more worldbuilding like the Ixis Chase did, the Death Egg Chase just feels like its side-missions are unnecessary filler. We could’ve easily seen new parts of the world, like we could finally see the France of Mobius where Antoine’s father had to have come from, but while Bollers knew that the Ixis chase was the perfect opportunity for worldbuilding, Flynn shows that he doesn’t care about that now that the Iron Dominion arc’s done and would rather just use the same locations over and over.

  At the very least the Death Egg Chase is much better than the beginning of the Mecha Sally Arc which had just felt extremely contrived and depressing. THIS is the heroes going to fight Eggman on missions like they should be doing for stories. So this is much easier for me to get back into. I loved seeing Mecha Sally make an evil plan for Eggman showing me how Sally’d be like evil, and best of all, her plan kept Eggman from destroying the continent.

  So what REALLY matters to me is the SECOND story. I’m SO glad he bothered to have Mina apologize to Nicole! At THIS point, where he’s setting up three dozen plot threads that’ll be forever left dangling, I’m very happy that he’s bothering to resolve this at all, they even HUG!

But it’s stupid that Mina never told Nicole the good excuse for why she betrayed her; that she was traumatized by the Iron Nicole stuff and having nightmares about her. I guess it’s because she’s ashamed of looking weak and knows that Nicole’s sensitive about being feared by ANYONE.

But I really expected her to outright EXPLAIN that she was afraid of her from the Iron Nicole thing! But she didn’t! Isn’t it common sense of an apology to include explaining why you did the thing you did? And it ends with Nicole being asked by the owl man for help.

Issue 238:

After Lupe oddly holds back from saying something uncivilized as her last words to EGGMAN, Eggman gets interrupted by an alarm and a screen shows him Sonic, Amy and Tails. Orbot tells him that they’re still hours from being fully refueled and they haven’t even begun repairs yet.

  He decides to take off early and get somebody to watch Lupe in the meantime. Sonic punches a Legionnaire while having a clear blank line in the middle of his textbox with a comma instead of a period before it, so THAT was really unprofessional!

Sonic puts Tails in a team with T-Pup and the other wolf girls, says that being a leader is fun, and the cat queen says that Lupe’s cell is this way. The wolf girls say they’ll meet Tails at the top, and Sonic jokes that it seems fighting lynxes in duels of honor is a new occupational hazard. HOW is this cat a LYNX when he looks nothing LIKE Nicole and Larry?!

  The wolf girl silently tells the cat queen to stay quiet as they eavesdrop on Drago bragging to Lupe that he’ll get half a continent to himself when she’s gone. Lupe tells Drago that out of nowhere she somehow figured out, that Eggman’s gonna make HER the grandmaster to undermine the wolf pack nation the best. I mean he IS in the business of making good guys his sub-bosses if he can, like Bill, Bunnie’s uncle, and Antoine’s father. That does make sense, who better to do that than her?

  Drago is shocked and goes into denial which is a good enough distraction for him to be taken out from behind by the twin girl, who tells him that he made a terrible queen (chuckles). We only saw the impact of her hitting him ONCE.

The cat queen takes back her robe from him but doesn’t put it back on because she arbitrarily doesn’t think it’s the right time for a queen. Tails puts a tracker on the Death Egg, saying that now he’ll be able to find it ANY time.

Metal Sally shows up, and Tails spins himself around with his tails to attack her. She acts stunned and shocked that he hit her, trying to manipulate him into feeling guilty, and Tails says he’ll do whatever it takes to save her, as the wolf girls meet up with him.

  When there’s an announcement about the Death Egg launching, Metal Sally says that he has one minute to disable her and risks death, injury, loss of his pet, and recapture of the regional rulers. Tails reluctantly decides to leave because he risks losing everything and Sonic is alerted by the cat queen, who says she’ll be needed in the jungle, as I wonder why they don’t just use against Sally the device that Rotor made that made it so that Antoine’s roboticized father couldn’t do anything to resist being rescued. WHY didn’t he just make that kind of device AGAIN, and save Metal Sally with it?! They don’t even mention it!

You’d think Flynn would’ve read enough of the comic to remember that kind of device! But this is the same guy who had the nerve to write the Sonic X Comic without watching Sonic X! It doesn’t matter if it’s too easy, it’s still an established part of the comic’s world and you can’t ignore it without a good excuse in-universe, although I had forgotten about it too. But he’s the WRITER, he should remember the comic more than me!

  Oh Razorklaw is spelled with a K in it, that’s stupid. I’m not gonna spell it like that! Eggman complains that the whole trip was to restock and repair and he barely has enough resources to invade the nanite city again. Why would he even bother with that when it has a force field to protect it?

Eggman says that he’ll do construction mid-flight, and Metal Sally will pay Elias a visit. Weren’t they just IN Furville?! This is why the Death Egg Chase is called padding! The cat queen and Lupe show that they’re on better terms, shaking hands, and Lupe asks the wolf girls if they’d be interested in a secret mission since the fury they unleashed on Drago should be spent on all of their enemies. That’s pragmatic!

  In the next story under the nanite city, Harvey compliments Nicole on the new HQ. Nicole says that the base was left over from the Iron Dominion’s occupation and she didn’t do much for it. Then we see Uncle Chuck complaining to Harvey Who uncharacteristically that he’s got Nicole violating her exile order and him not only committing treason, but rebuilding a Metal Sonic to boot, with Shard the Metal Sonic saying that he’s doing a great job of it, calling him gramps.

  Chuck looks so unsympathetic here! Since when did he become such a bitter COWARD?! Why’s he talking as if committing treason against the EVIL Ixis is a BAD thing that he should LECTURE someone for, and as if siding with Nicole against the stupid council is a bad thing?! He literally looks like he turned evil in this panel.

Doesn’t he remember the good old days when he was committing treason against EGGMAN as a robot spy, like in SatAM?! THOSE were the days!… He didn’t have any problem with THAT! What happened to the brave, sweet Uncle Chuck I USED TO KNOW?! This is so far removed from the Chuck of the good days that it’s not even funny.

  Shard says that he’s only up and running figuratively speaking since he’s without legs. Chuck says that he could get these recovered parts from Metal Sonic, Scourge and troopers, but once they’re joined to “ this thing’s power gem matrix, “ the self-repair incorporates them faster than he can modify them so he should’ve modified them in the first place, the IDIOT. Shard is naturally unhappy about being called a thing, especially right in front of NICOLE, you’d think she’d be pretty sensitive to AI being treated like that! But she isn’t even saying anything!

  He’s also offended at being talked about like he’s not there. And Chuck says he’s still holding a huge grudge against him for trying to kill his nephew. If Sonic told him about that he would’ve also told him that he changed his mind and saved him and sacrificed himself?! Considering no robots do that, and trying to kill robots is expected of robots, he should really be acting like a better person than this and liking him!

  Shard reminds him that it was Sonic who taught him what it means to be truly alive and he sorta owes him since it was his core-data that let him build all those Metal Sonic Troopers to get him parts to rebuild him at all. Why would he say that when the troopers ended up causing trouble?! THAT was dumb of him! You’d think the only thing he’d hear about them would be BAD things! Also I like that he says “ sorta “ showing how awkward he is about this as well as how natural his speech is. Chuck looks resentful and Shard asks if that was supposed to be a secret. Chuck says bitterly that he should’ve installed his head last. What a douche!

  Harvey Who tells Chuck that he remembers that he didn’t even hesitate when he asked for his assistance. And Chuck says that old habits die hard and remembers his old spy network with the very same owl guy, and he sees Ixis as just as big of a threat as Eggman was back then.

Chuck then expresses cowardice and bitterness again, because he’s afraid of the consequences of getting caught. Well there are pretty big risks to be angry about but Chuck wasn’t concerned about risks when he was a robot spy!

  Harvey says that once Shard’s complete, still talking as if he’s just a robot, they’ll have a total of two on the roster counting Silver. Then Nicole says while holding her hand to her head that they’ve just received an answer from Lupe and she and the agents they’ve randomly asked for from another city who they barely talk to otherwise have agreed to their request.

Seriously those agents are a complete different country, and they’re asking for these random nobodies out of the blue! They don’t have special powers! Harvey orders to arrange transport for them immediately and says he wants them here “ yesterday. “ Again, what’s with that weird idiom? I thought that was only a phrase that earlier issues like Issue 93 used! Shouldn’t he say that he wants them here and that’s it?

  Harvey says that their team has the advantage of unpredictability, having foreigners in it, and then Larry Lynx falls in. Nicole and Chuck are horrified at being spotted and Nicole apologizes that she forgot to seal the entrance. Larry who has a completely different unrecognizable design that at least looks good on its own, must have lost weight since he looks skinnier now. He’s probably the reason WHY Nicole strangely forgot to seal the entrance, due to his bad luck power.

  He apologizes that he sits on one rotten stump and falls down. And when he wonders what’s going on, Harvey knows to his surprise that he’s the former leader of the Substitute Legion, as he was made in Sonic Live, proving that its backup stories are indeed canon. “ Legion “ just sounds like they were with the DARK Legion!

Anyways he says he could make use of his unique bad luck ability, which Larry’s surprised by since most people wouldn’t trust him to help. He has a good point. His bad luck clearly affected Nicole. Can his bad luck not affect his friends? Because realistically he would just get them all killed.

  This issue was by Ian Flynn. In the first story Lupe and the cat queen get rescued, with Drago being beaten up by a wolf girl after he’s distracted by learning that Lupe will just replace him as grandmaster. Then Tails puts a tracker on the Death Egg and fortunately that doesn’t get noticed, but he misses out on a chance to save Sally because it’s too risky and there’s not enough time, not like he’d be able to beat her ANYWAYS in her robot form so there’s no reason to get that disappointed.

  It felt pointless! Do we really need a second story arc about Lupe and the cat queen? It makes the two story arcs blend in together in my head. At least it’s established that now the cat queen and Lupe respect each other. But we’ve visited the cat country a third time now, and we haven’t learned anything new and interesting about it that’s not STUPID! It doesn’t feel like it’s being fleshed out! On the bright side, I do think this is a great story in the arc, for once. It only has one time when the writing got confusing.

  I’m more interested in the SECOND story, where Shard shows up finally, and him and Larry are being recruited as Secret Freedom Fighters. I hate that Uncle Chuck acts so unlikable in this story! He’s such a bitter coward bitterly complaining about how much trouble he could get himself into, which he never did before, even after they make a reference to him being a robot spy helping the heroes where he wasn’t acting like this at all!

Worst of all, Chuck and even the wise owl guy are just talking about Shard like he’s not there and treating him like just a robot, which is extremely rude especially since Shard clearly talks like Sonic does, proving that he has a personality! He talks less like a robot than Omega and Omega gets WAY more respect!

  It feels Out of Character to have Chuck be like this and treat Shard like total dirt, being racist against Robians right in front of NICOLE, when this former Robian should have respect for him especially since he’s the only Metal Sonic who felt regret and protected Sonic and Tails! Sonic’s brave jolly uncle should be USED to robots trying to kill Sonic, and be all the more happy when one changes his mind like that! He’s The Atoner too!

Issue 239:

  We start out over Feral Forest AGAIN with Sonic’s team approaching the Death Egg on the Tornado-2, and Sonic boasts that they’ll end this once and for all. If the comic was well-written, they WOULD. Amy wonders why Eggman is just dropping a small invasion force and then leaving, and Tails says that he’ll probably attack the nanite city again and somehow asks if he wants him to keep following him. That’s only not OOC if he was going to go save Furville REGARDLESS of what Sonic said.

Sonic says that the people down there need him again, and Rotor will handle things back home. Sonic tells Tails to put the plane into an autopilot holding pattern, and with that they all jump out of the plane, and see Metal Sally commanding the invasion, as I wonder if Sonic jumping out of the biplane in Sonic Heroes, had the same autopilot holding pattern, instead of it crashing into a wall.

For some reason it has to be AMY who finally explains to them that Eggman’s trying to have Sally kill her own brother! Why else would Eggman invade Furville? A giant Silver Sonic emerges out of nowhere to stop Sonic from approaching Metal Sally, though we at least already saw that it was in the Death Egg and wasn’t destroyed, so it was naturally sent out of there, but this is still another Mecha Sally Stall.

Since this story is already much more interesting than the last time they went to Furville, that just makes the last time they went there a complete waste of time and comic space being total filler. And Sonic tells his friends to stop her from heading to Elias, who is happy to get a bit of practice before he leaves for his assignment.

  The colonel, who actually raised Elias and apparently is living here now instead of Angel Island, wishes that he’d include him in his plans. And Elias says that he needs to travel light, and Director Who has everything under control.

He tells Meg to get as many villagers as she can to the shelters that fortunately exist, and then Larry and a wolf girl show up dressed up in black clothes, that make them look less like Freedom Fighters and much more like bad guys, like she’s reminding me of Fiona right now! It’s a cool one-piece shirt, I guess, but those stripes aren’t inviting and neither is her impatient expression. Maybe it’s because her shoes remind me so much of Scourge’s, which are ALSO black and green.

  He’s squinting at her saying, “ Who sent you? “! Elias says he’s needed here because Feral Forest is under attack, and the wolf girl says that if Ixis goes unchecked, a few robots in his town will be the LEAST of their worries. The wolf girl, Agent Queen, gets him to agree.

Elias’ suspicious reaction to her is weird and forced! The Elias I knew was smiling all charmingly when he was in the middle of a flood, confident that the Brotherhood would save him, and was being humble saying, “ If I may, “ and “ perhaps, “ like a charming prince. This is just more Character Derailment because now Elias is an unlikable smug jerk. Elias is called Agent King later on. Maybe Agent Queen’s name is just to throw people off because while Elias’ name means something, her name will just be to look cool.

  Tails sees Larry, Queen and Elias, and Elias says he can’t explain right now and he says with his hand on his shoulder that for the good of his family and the city, he has to pretend he ever saw them here. They glare at each other before Tails says he’ll cover for him.

The Colonel unsuccessfully takes on Metal Sally, and fortunately Amy shows up too. Metal Sally says that with her destruction, Amy would have Sonic all to herself, trying to manipulate her. And Amy says, “ How petty do you think I am?! I’m here to help my FRIEND! “

  Metal Sally’s made to say they were never friends and Tails spindashes at her and warns Amy that it’s just Eggman’s programming talking, with Amy clearly reeling from that and just barely believing him. I wonder if Metal Sally has programming to urge her to goad people into destroying her over capturing her for deroboticization, since that’s what Eggman would prefer.

  Metal Sally sends a laser from her head for the 8^th Mecha Sally Stall and says that now there’s numerous villagers hiding in flammable homes, so there’s many distractions. I have a question, why didn’t the villagers just build their homes out of stuff that aren’t made of flammable materials like hay and straw by now, not to mention, just run out of the houses on fire and be fine? Do they just not have the materials to do that? These two Stalls this issue at least make logical sense, unlike all the ones BEFORE the Death Egg Chase.

  Sonic after getting thrown through the wall of a villager’s house, sees T-Pup electrocute Silver Sonic, being useful! Sonic tells it to hold it still while he’ll go to back up Amy and Tails who are running away from laser-shooting robots that protect her, in the 9^TH Mecha Sally Stall.

Sonic is told that the villager militia is covering the evacuees and attacking robots. Some have axes, but the Colonel’s fighting with his fists, so you’d think they’d be hurt by now from smacking metal robots. Metal Sally flies away with jet-feet and Sonic’s somehow not fast enough again to jump on her, not that him being carried by her away would’ve helped.

He says that he can’t go after her because the village is burning and the people need him to help finish off the robots, even though the people finished off the robots FINE when we first saw Elias here!… Later the Colonel reassures Sonic that they can salvage the empty Egg Pods for materials and they can thank Eggman for the nice metal roofing tiles.

  I wish it was explained that while they had robots attacking LAST TIME, there weren’t enough of them to make metal roofing tiles for the ENTIRE village, just half, because instead, I’m wondering why they didn’t have non-flammable houses by the time the heroes got here for THIS TIME since they had plenty of invading robots to get metal from LAST TIME!

Those fires shouldn’t have happened as a distraction at this point! That’s another reason that previous Furville story shouldn’t have been written. But I think it’s more that they only had half or so of the houses be made non-flammable from the last time and now they’ve got even more metal roofing tiles. I love that this benefit of the robots being here is explained! Logically this should be a benefit EVERY time robots are beaten somewhere. I’d expect to SEE said metal tiles!

  Sonic complains about not getting to see Elias after he saved his life again, and Tails tells him to trust him on this and let it go. The two friends glare at each other but fortunately they trust each other with a smile like true friends would so I don’t have to worry about THAT.

The story ends with Elias in a UFO, seeing the Death Egg approaching the nanite city, which has Rotor’s team ready to defend it. And again it looks so lame to have Big staring ahead away from Rotor all derpy-like, Rotor in his silly footballer’s suit, and Cream trying to look brave. I can’t take this team that seriously.

  This issue was by Ian Flynn and is about Eggman attacking Elias’ town AGAIN, making the uneventful LAST time they came here pointless padding. I don’t know why this wasn’t the story the FIRST TIME. And Metal Sally gets away because of three different Mecha Sally Stalls that are at least justified, as she has Sonic and friends too distracted with Silver Sonic, the burning town and her robot bodyguards protecting her.

  At least we got to see T-Pup electrocuting and paralyzing Silver Sonic! It was pretty cool seeing that he could beat a robot that big! And I also liked seeing the villagers try to be proactive and badass again, attacking the robots with axes, and putting ropes on Silver Sonic’s arms to restrain him. I love these guys, these are the best Mobians EVER, why can’t the people of the nanite city be like that? They have no special powers but they help anyways!

  And I’m also glad that when Tails doesn’t tell Sonic why Elias left without saying goodbye, Sonic trusts him with a smile, instead of them getting into an argument over trust issues like in Lost World. It reminds us how strong their friendship and brotherhood is SUPPOSED to be. I still don’t know about Agent Queen’s black and green outfit though.

While it looks great for a villain, she’s not a villain actually. It reminds me of Scourge with black and green. You’d think that stylish but intimidating outfit would make Elias look bad looking like he’s joined a gang. It was a great story in the arc, Mecha Sally Stalls aside, with only one plot hole.

Issue 240:

  We start out with Amy sending a message to royal military HQ from Feral Forest and despite some soldiers being there in the room, nobody answers. This only delays the heroes as Amy tries to send a message through T-Pup instead.

Rotor activates the force field with his nanite suit just as the Death Egg closes in on it making me wonder why this didn’t happen LAST time. Orbot says that the impact with the energy shield happened, and while Tails Doll was supposed to have taken care of this thing by now, it had been damaged upon deployment somehow – the writer was too lazy to fill in that plot hole right away – but still reports moving into position.

  We see it flying into the nanite city power plant force field generator. And all it fucking has to do is make its ANTENNA glow, and then the force field vanishes! I would be fine if they explained that the Tails Doll has a computer virus come from its antenna that’s letting it control the nanites on its own, but instead it doesn’t explain its overpowered powers right away. It could at least make the force field generator crumble.

With the force field dropped insultingly easily once again in seconds, making me why if Eggman can just attack the city whenever he FEELS like it, he hasn’t nuked the city by now, Eggman drops some robots into the city. It’s too early for Eggman to be able to break past the force field, for ANYONE to, if he couldn’t ever do that to Sandblast City’s after all that time!

  And Elias’ team expresses gratitude that they’re too distracted for all the commotion to notice them fighting. Agent Queen says they’ve set up a network of hidden entrances to Secret HQ throughout the city. They go into a tree hole, which is pretty nostalgic, and fall.

Director Who says Elias’ team is established. Leeta and Lyco are the twin wolves and I just have to take his word for it that they’re two of the finest warriors on Mobius. Larry Lynx is here, and Shard is rebuilt. Elias has a disappointingly douchebag response to these powerhouses, saying that none of these agents have any vested interest in the republic. How cynical IS he?! Just because they’re not FROM here doesn’t mean they wouldn’t wanna SAVE it! HE GREW UP ON ANGEL ISLAND! What a hypocrite!

  Fortunately Elias is convinced to give them a chance, and is ready to fight some robots, as I wonder how they could possibly do that without Ixis or Eggman ever seeing them with surveillance cameras. It’s not like they all have invisibility force fields!

And Silver the Hedgehog makes a pretty big impression with his telekinesis, and while he would be doing that solo, the fact that he’s wearing a new black costume out of nowhere means that if anyone sees any of his teammates as well, it’ll be obvious there’s a new heroic team in town. The Secret Freedom Fighters would make more sense if they were all chameleons, but that would be boring to look at. But at least the chameleons would’ve been doing something to help for once!

  Cream screams shielding her eyes from a robot, being the new Antoine, and has to have it defeated by Big punching it, and it’s naturally lampshaded by Rotor that this fight is too much for her. She apologize for being scared and she’s told to guide citizens to the center of the city where the military is setting up defenses. So she can still be useful, good.

  Ixis tells Rotor that he’s here to save him but after he uses some magic with his wand, he seems to get into a bind thanks to the spirits trapped in his body mutating it, sending lobster claws out of it. This is really an unusual and arbitrary change in him. It’s not explained that Eggman made the Genesis Wave debilitate him like this on PURPOSE, or used nanites to make him sick!

Why would the Genesis Wave affect Ixis like this by ACCIDENT?! That’s some glitch! Like… he’s just arbitrarily forcing him to not be useful against Eggman even ONCE instead of letting him spend the whole issue fighting robots, because he’s a BAD guy and bad guys aren’t allowed to be helpful, because that’d give us moral grayness to the situation!

The robots close in on them from behind the crystals, Ixis tells Rotor that Eggman’s sending a wave to vex him rather than just EXPLAINING everything already, and Rotor admits that not saving him from the robots would be treason…

  Big the Cat carries the useless Ixis away and is told that he should take him to the military’s perimeter and come back. Seriously this is not how I would imagine Ixis being in the city to be! He would at least be very helpful with his wizard powers! This panel right here represents the entire King Naugus arc. That’s most of what Ixis is about here and that’s not Ixis to me.

  Heavy shows concern and fear because he doesn’t want to get blown up again, and fights robots after Rotor reassures him. Eggman finds it hard to believe that Team Freedom’s keeping the invasion force at the edges of the city and he decides to launch Metal Amy, Tails and Knuckles, who Rotor decides to focus on as the bigger threats while leaving the Egg Swats to the military.

So, these guys are Swatbots? Why can’t they just be actual Swatbots, instead of having Swatbot heads and goofy giant disproportionately-sized red torsos that don’t match the heads at all? Though it’s at least more original to the comic.

  Some of the robots get destroyed in what looks like a yellow and black sewage waterfall with orange electricity around it, causing the military men to get confused and thank each other for the shot with baffled expressions. If this kind of suspicion happens ALL the time with these guys, I swear. Apparently that was SUPPOSED to be Shard defeating the robots, but it’s not a black and yellow blur, it just looks like brown sewage water surrounded by yellow light. If that’s not an art mistake, what is?

  Rotor’s team fights, Larry’s thankful for a misfire saving him from a robot and is doubly thankful for a gun jam exploding another robot. Both are subtle ways to defeat robots that make sense for a secret fighter! The problem is that with Larry and the rest in special black suits how could someone look at them and not realize what they’re about? Sure their costumes are disguises, like Larry has a mask, but these disguises aren’t subtle, they make them stand out like a sore thumb and be instantly recognizable as a new heroic team.

  Then Metal Sonic gets intercepted in another panel that doesn’t make it clear what just happened, although at least now we’re seeing a black and yellow line implying that it’s Shard. And Heavy says his sensors couldn’t register what intercepted their target fast enough.

  Then he tells Bomb to watch his language when they’re on the job, when all he did was make ping sounds. What, does Heavy read his mind wirelessly and that’s how he knows what he’s saying? Then Shard irritates me because Metal Sonic explodes in his face, and he’s not even the slightest bit DAMAGED, which will make his supposed death story really confusing. We just see his arm cannon smoking from shooting at him, but it still blew up at him! I guess he had Rings, here.

And Silver telekinetically keeps Metal Amy still for Big, which Big should question since whenever Silver does telekinesis on something it gets surrounded by a very obvious blue aura. But he’s never met Silver. He should tell his friends about that and then they’d say, “ Oh it was nice of Silver to help “ and shrug it off.

Metal Tails gets an arrow sent at its back and Rotor sends a laser at it to blow it up afterwards. I don’t see how the arrow helped, was it a distraction to make it stop? Well then we see what’s difficult to recognize as Elias holding a crossbow, so maybe he was the one who did it.

  It’s good for Elias that he has a mask and a slightly different hairstyle to be properly disguised. Eggman throws a tantrum over losing and signals a retreat and Rotor wonders who was helping them take out the rest of the ground forces, with Big just telling him not to worry and just be happy instead of telling him about the white aura like an actual PERSON would!

He never said that he thought the robot had an aura around it because it was charging up an attack and it overloaded its own circuits in a glitch. But still, Rotor’s suspicious, the FIRST TIME these guys help them!… Logically they would be found out pretty quickly! Silver should just tell him that he’s helping and take all the credit so his friends can remain secret properly! It’d be perfectly believable that Silver could’ve taken out all of those robots by himself. He’s TELEKINETIC!

Elias says he’s proud of his team, apologizing for not trusting them, and we end off with the story reminding us Ixis had an idea about what to do to solve all his problems. But how would what he’s going to try, get rid of the wizards in his head?

  This surprisingly good issue was by Ian Flynn and it’s for the most part impressively REASONABLE in expecting me to believe that the secret Freedom Fighters weren’t spotted and found out, because Eggman’s just focused on Rotor’s team who he actually knows about, and they’re fighting in ways that are either subtle, like Larry and Elias, or they’re alone with no one to witness their more extravagant ways of attacking, like Shard blowing up a robot right in his face somehow not getting damaged at all, which I’ll take as proof that Universe 50 is non-canon since he’s clearly established to be immune to explosions.

Silver was easily the least subtle. Whenever he uses telekinesis on something it gets a very obvious white aura around it and he did that right in front of Big. He only got away with it because Big doesn’t know him and is too much of an idiot to just tell Rotor about it.

  Plus Silver is seen as a lone agent since the city probably knows Sonic hates Silver, so maybe Silver fighting wouldn’t arouse suspicion of there being a team he’s part of. Maybe they think Silver alone is the only person fighting in his team, and was covering for his whole team. Plus him having a new outfit doesn’t automatically prove that he’s part of a team. He could just think it looked nice and wanted to reinvent himself as a hero of the present.

Either way, this was a pretty fun and great issue… Ixis being totally useless and cheated out of helping again aside! SERIOUSLY this is not how I would imagine Ixis being king of the city to BE! So why even MAKE this story arc if he doesn’t want to write him with respect and dignity? Ugh… Next up is Issue… next up is Sonic Universe Issue 41.

Sonic Universe Issue 41:

  We start out with Larry, Shard and Silver flying over Soumerca, Larry being strapped to Shard. Anyways we see Silver thinking that he’s unhappy he spends more time in the past than in his own timeline, for some reason, even though he’s supposed to be a hero! You’d think he’d LIKE being with them. Their goal as we see in an hours-earlier flashback is to see why Ixis sent Geoffrey to Soumerca.

  Agent Ace, Silver, will lead the team tracking Geoffrey, and secure a tracking device so they’d know his movements later, and Agent King will lead the team to investigate Ixis. I find it annoying that Flynn seems to insist on the characters calling him Naugus instead of Ixis all the time JUST BECAUSE he was called that in SatAM. That’s his LAST name to me. And Director Who continues that because they need anonymity, they must use their call signs at all times. I guess call sign means fake name because I don’t really know who he’s talking about unless Agent King is Elias.

And he reassures Silver that he’ll go over his notes and try to identify the traitor he’s hunting for… I don’t see how he could do better than he did but whatever. They go to Windy Valley, which is all the way over in Soumerca in the comic, and Shard jokes around about how hard it is to put a tracking device on one airboard, acting all tense before saying, “ Oh, man, that was so dangerous and hard! “ I love this character already.

And Silver annoyingly bitches about him trying to lighten the mood, making me wish he just wouldn’t talk at ALL if he’s just trying to ruin Shard’s scenes with frustration at him. I guess he wouldn’t like SONIC then. And Shard says confidently that they can handle ONE GUY.

  Shard then says that he’s not picking up any traps with his binocular vision, but that’s a long way down. Silver says he’ll lower them all to the bottom with him but out of COMPLETE NOWHERE it’s revealed that Silver can’t do that because his powers short out electronics, and Shard’s a robot.

Why would the flow of electricity inside of wires stop doing what it normally does just because the OUTSIDE of the robot is being moved by telekinesis? That’s not affecting the inside of it at ALL, it’s like, he might as well just be blowing it with wind and WIND doesn’t short him out! Silver’s not an electromage!

  Silver says that his powers are silent, unlike Shard’s rockets, and totally ignores his point about shorting him out. Seriously, I imagine Silver to be a nicer guy than this… aside from the Rival series, which is NOT what Flynn should be basing his character on! His rivalry with Shard seems forced and isn’t fun at all.

  When Larry falls towards some spikes and screams, Shard makes his way down there effortlessly with his jet engine and proudly saves Larry, bragging that he moves faster than he can think. Then Silver complains about the noise they made and Shard says he’s a glass half empty guy and Larry apologizes that he doesn’t have full control over his jinxes. Silver should’ve been able to just telekinetically grab Larry with the twitch of his wrists much faster than Shard could catch him.

Larry explains his bad luck powers and we see a flashback of him being held by Rotor with fire around him in his actual design from earlier as Rotor says the targeting system went haywire for SOME reason. So it’s LARRY’S fault that Rotor gave up on making weapons! I’m mad at Rotor instead though because it was Rotor who made that very stupid decision. Also, wouldn’t Larry’s team already know he has bad luck powers? Why is he just telling them this NOW?

  Larry complains that he tried to run for the Council but his ballot box spontaneously caught on fire. I guess Ixis had a magic sneeze, when he wasn’t anywhere near it back then. WHY did he try to run for the Council when he’d know that’d jinx them?! He just, convinced himself they’d never jinx them?!

And our time is wasted recapping when Larry first got recruited wasting precious comic space in padding and Shard mocks Silver. Shard sends red lasers from his eyes and says he’s scanning but if it’s old or rudimentary enough his scans might not pick it up for some reason.

Larry runs ahead and activates some arrow-shooting traps, and Geoffrey wonders who set those off, since he’s the first person to set foot here in centuries and decides to move quick. Really? No archaeologists came here?

  Silver suggests using his powers to hold all the traps in place and then Shard confidently says, “ Hold that thought. Superior technology comin’ through, “ and blasts a green laser from his arm cannon, disabling the traps and reasoning that they already made enough noise to alert Geoffrey anyways. I like Shard a lot here! It makes sense that with his confidence he’d wanna show off his usefulness as much as possible especially to overcompensate for being a villain most of his life.

  They all go to some writing on a wall, which RIDICULOUSLY Shard is able to cross-reference and translate just like THAT even though it’s a dead language, because I guess he’s got Internet in his brain, in a world ruled by Eggman, where only Eggman’s allies have access to the Internet! He’s gonna be like Nicole isn’t he?

Oh and this was so subtle that I didn’t even notice it the first time. Silver’s really stunned that the word Mogul was mentioned, that an old wizard was someone who worked for Mammoth Mogul… And this never gets mentioned again, we never get to see Silver go back to the future and confront Mammoth Mogul on his past like that. (This will never be resolved: 37)

  With Shard being suspicious of Silver for recognizing the word Mogul but nicely leaving it at that, they learn that this is an Ixis crypt, and Larry asks where all the remains are, and they learn that Vale’s remains are supposed to be here, and Silver thinks this proves Geoffrey’s already been in here, because apparently he assumes he took them.

  Shard sees fresh tracks and takes off. Silver says they need a shortcut and draws a map of the place with his telekinesis blue wave powers to figure out where Geoffrey would be, before making Geoffrey fall to the floor in the exact spot he was in with telekinesis despite not knowing EXACTLY where he was. It takes a lot longer than THAT to draw a good MAP! You have to get the lengths of every line right in relation to each other and you can’t do that if you haven’t measured the place!

  Shard can’t see where he fell, Silver says he’s only floating there when he’s concentrating on him, and somehow Geoffrey gets free of Silver’s telekinesis SOMEHOW, despite not having kinesis HIMSELF! That was bullshit!

Somehow instead of Silver just holding him there, he runs off and fires a dynamite arrow at them and takes off with a grappling hook JUST so the rest of the arc could happen. Logically Silver could’ve held him still and used rocks to bury him up to his head so he’d fail his mission, and destroy Vale’s bones.

  Shard complains that he hates being buried alive after what happened to him LAST time, which is very good, there’s CONSEQUENCES to him being buried alive earlier. Silver says he won’t let Geoffrey get away and then screams at an explosion with the word rumble near him, and Geoffrey says he overdid it with the magic as explosion stuff happens behind him. What’d he DO with magic?! I didn’t get to see ANY of it! He must have flown away with the wind, but HOW did he make, did the rumbling signify that he caused an earthquake with earth magic too?

They were much better at showing off how IXIS was using magic in the Ixis Chase! I was never confused about what was going on! With Geoffrey this is a constant problem, almost every time he uses magic! He doesn’t SAY that he caused an earthquake underground! We kinda need a little Captain Obvious dialogue to explain what’s going on better in a series of still images with no sound!

  Silver uses telekinesis, and Shard says that his auto-repair is kicking in so he can’t push his power core right now. It’s a really good thing he HAS that system all of a sudden! He asks if digging a tunnel out would destabilize things too much for Silver and gets the okay. It’s a good thing Shard’s entertaining me so much or I’d just hate this story for making Silver fail his mission so damn easily. He single-handedly makes this arc great.

 Then we see Elias’ team and one of them complains that there wasn’t a branching path here before. Elias says that he’s reshaping the cave to trap them. They all jump into three holes as Elias orders them to split up, stick to one wall and double back if they hit a dead end, which is a smart way to deal with a maze. The story ends with Elias hiding as a fiery Ixis head says there’s no escape for any intruders.

  This issue was by Ian Flynn. I loved seeing Shard all confident and jokey wanting to show off his usefulness at every opportunity, even if it meant showing up Silver, though Silver deserved it since he wasn’t exactly nice to Shard. And it’s not explained that he hates him for being a robot. The heroes had it rough this issue, SOMEHOW with Silver the telekinetic around.

Larry sets off traps alerting Geoffrey to their presence, and what really annoyed me was that it’s not made obvious enough how Geoffrey escaped Silver’s telekinesis – if Silver turned it off himself then goddammit, how stupid IS he – and it’s not clear enough what Geoffrey does with his magic, because he doesn’t SAY what he does. I hope Larry will be competent enough to make up for the bad luck he’ll cause to his friends, although to be fair, bad things would happen to the heroes regardless of whether or not he’s there. This was a great issue, though, and it was all thanks to Shard.

Sonic Universe Issue 42:

We start out with textboxes of people saying that Ixis has been visiting the same place at the same time for days now, with Rosie suspicious of him since he’s up before dawn. Shouldn’t he be asking her why SHE’S up so early? And we’ll never know why. He says he’s just looking after the hole in the ground the Armada left.

It’s revealed that the pit’s where the castle once stood, and someone complains that Nicole could’ve had their castle rebuilt in HOURS. Elias and his team are following behind Ixis, as I wonder why Ixis hadn’t rebuilt the castle by creating crystal over the pit, and making the crystal get shaped into a castle form which would’ve been a cool use of his crystal powers, and common sense.

  But anyways when he jumps into the hole, they jump in after him and activate their wing suits. I guess Nicole made them. One of them talks behind him as I immediately wonder why Ixis doesn’t HEAR them, and look around to see them right away! At least they’re wearing masks to make themselves unrecognizable. But it’s not like those masks muffle their voices!

Ixis uses magic to get into the tunnel, it’d have been cooler if he blasted a laser, and when he finally notices he’s being followed LONG AFTER the trackers talked, Ixis uses magic on the wall making rocks fall to scare any potential attackers just in case, not going up to attack them HIMSELF for some reason! I laughed when he said, “ And the walrus is too fat to be stealthy. “

  Elias gets explosives set to secure their exit for them while dismissing his friends as having stupid gossip when they were just wondering why Ixis was acting weird! This feels forced, why would he DO this? I don’t remember him being a douche.

One of them calls the normally nice guy out on dismissing them when he has no experience of his own in this. The girls talk about how, when they leapt at a chance to help the kingdom, Ixis immediately dismissed them, in spite of Rosemary reminding him that he was on a COUNCIL. This was when Chuck hired them, and they learned that it was Director Who, not the king, who they’d be serving.

  After what feels like a waste of time that could’ve been kept offscreen, Elias is ditched by the angry wolf girls and they see Ixis struggling talking to the ghosts in his head, before taking what’s apparently his ‘ true form, “ the fiery head form, knowing that there’s intruders nearby right away.

After being bitter that the wolf girls were mad at him, Elias remembers when he was the mediator between Sonic and Geoffrey’s arguing when they went on a mission together in secret, and from THAT, he says, “ And where do I get to judge anyone, given how I’ve handled things in the past? “ ELIAS was THE MEDIATOR! He did NOTHING WRONG, he convinced the FIGHTING to STOP!

Flynn totally forgot the plot of that issue, and it’s very unprofessional to have the character act like this in response to remembering it! He remembered how HELPFUL he was back then, and he just says he screwed up in the past and should quit picking fights with his own team.

  He hears a loud noise ducking behind a rocky wall to dodge fire, and comments on how Ixis is turning the place into a maze to trap them. The wolf girls show up, and it’s just now that we catch up with the previous issue, as we’re reminded that Ixis is reshaping the cave to trap them and hide what he’s doing. Why did the previous issue, waste comic space on, story that we’re just gonna see here anyways? I still don’t know what the wolf girl did to blow their cover.

  Elias says that he was marking the right way, a wolf girl points out that it’s not working thanks to Ixis filling in the earth, and they decide to split up. Despite how unsuccessful the heroes are being, and Elias’ characterization being off, the reason I like this story is that Ixis is being a threatening badass.

  Just look at him when he’s this big fire demon with an ugly face saying, ” Who are you? WHERE are you? “ The story has a lot of tension because they’re in a dangerous situation being near Ixis. When Ixis confronts one of the girls, a rock is thrown at his head and he’s distracted by the other wolf girl from behind and Elias throws a flash bang for cover.

And they all run off, with Elias saying that he found some of his marks in the wall at the end of the route, that you’d think Ixis would’ve already filled in with his earth, but I guess he’s not omniscient of literally every single detail in the earth. He’s not Toph.

Suddenly they all get trapped by some crystals and they just BARELY manage to set off the explosive and take off with their wing-suits, with Ixis letting them leave. I hope they weren’t too dim to figure out what Ixis was dealing with since he was clearly talking to ghosts in his body. He literally said, ‘ ghosts. “

  This issue with Elias looking way too smug on the cover is by Ian Flynn and was about Elias’ team following Ixis into a tunnel below where the castle used to be, and hopefully figuring out what he’s going through before they leave because if they somehow didn’t this is going to be a complete waste of time! The issue already felt like filler because the heroes left without accomplishing much of anything!

The only stand-out moments to me are, Ixis being a threatening fire head creating good tension, Ixis somehow not hearing them talking behind him when he DID notice them later and Elias thinks he screwed up when he got Geoffrey and Sonic to stop arguing, and realizes he’s been picking fights with his own teammates. Well he’s not really used to being on a team. WHY WAS Rosie up at dawn?! So many unanswered questions here!

  And I like that one of the wolf girls is scared of heights, it makes her more relatable. The problem is that the wolf girls are TWINS, so they’re annoying to me because I never know which one is which, and I don’t think either of them have distinct personalities from each other making it hard to get invested in EITHER of them! So I’ll probably never call them anything but the wolf girl or wolf girl! That and they don’t have any special powers to justify them being on the team. I think the unused concept that would’ve had someone other than them here would’ve been better. At least Silver and Shard and Larry are pulling their weight.

Sonic Universe Issue 43:

  We start out with a flashback to Mammoth Mogul thousands of years ago underestimating the knights resisting his rule and he wonders if he could brainwash them. Then he gets news that there’s reports of crimes against nature by the Albionites, abandoning valor in favor of results to fight against them. What is it with Flynn and hating the echidnas and demonizing them or putting them through hell?

Then we go over to Windy Valley in the present where Shard blasts a hole out of a wall to escape with everyone. He then wonders what’s wrong with them and have to be told that they had to breathe, having nearly suffocated after being almost buried alive.

  Silver then reminds him that he kept the earth stable while he tunneled them out so he’s going to need to recharge his powers. Shard realizes when his engine sputters that he’s tired too and reluctantly agrees to rest. I hate that he said mortality since obviously he could be rebuilt from most things, especially from getting too tired. We see Geoffrey complaining about having to push his lousy wind magic to its limits – wait why would it be lousy? He doesn’t suck at it, and he was practicing with it for YEARS, apparently!

He goes into Ixis’ secret crystal tunnel and then he gets startled at seeing Ixis, and then I finally realize that his face has actually in canon gotten uglier, and it’s not just the art trying to make him look as evil as possible, as usual. Ixis explains that he’s suffering a minor sickness from the doctor’s attack.

  He uses the Chaos Emerald to fix the mutations, and Geoffrey says that he succeeded in his mission to get something for him, and Ixis says that their enemies have fallen and explains that he’s crafting a chamber of ancient Ixis design not seen since the forgotten wars, and its amplifying effects along with the power of Vale’s bones that Geoffrey brought him, will let him cast one of his order’s most powerful spells.

So he already knows about this spell meaning that it was USED ALREADY and yet the Albion knights had SUCCESSFULLY taken down Mogul instead of being brainwashed. So how does he know about this spell from other people using it?

  Geoffrey is told that they’re under the royal military HQ and soon his will, will replace the will of the council and he’ll brainwash them completely. Wasn’t he already doing that in Issue 224? Although back then he was only slightly brainwashing them because he was exaggerating their fear, manipulating their cowardice…

just, I really have to wonder why he has to go through all of the trouble to do a brainwashing spell when he brainwashed all of those soldiers effortlessly in Return of the King and all he did was possess the king who has no magic of his own! The way I would’ve written the Ixis saga is that he would’ve brainwashed the citizens merely in the sense that they want him to be their king, to explain why the fuck they’d ever support him so easily, and he would brainwash the Council into supporting him as well, and Rotor wouldn’t be part of it.

And it wouldn’t matter if he had brainwashed the heroes into not fighting him because it’s the Secret Freedom Fighters who fight him, and aside from Elias, they’re all from outside of the city. I guess he’d run out of brainwashing juice when he’d try to brainwash the heroes, from exerting his power too much, and then he wouldn’t be able to do it anymore, until he comes HERE. But instead, he’s trying to pretend that he never brainwashed them at all until THIS point, and that he needs a chamber to do it, when this is the first time he’s ever done it!

It’s here where Geoffrey snaps at him, taking his bones and saying that he’s gone too far. It’s odd that anything would make him snap since he was FINE with the idea that he killed Ixis’ enemies. Ixis tells him that he’s not one to lecture on morality, he can’t defeat him on his own, no Freedom Fighter would trust him, and his way is the only option left to him.

Geoffrey looks sad and Ixis says that he’ll forgive him, and assures him that the citizens will know a new age of prosperity, and he’ll have plenty of time to cure himself. Geoffrey falls to the floor in a fetal position looking horrified, and is told to rest and then search for the bodies of the people who tried to spy on him. His pupils shrink because of that.

  Meanwhile, Dr, I mean, Director Who, naturally lectures Silver’s team for somehow failing when they’re the most powerful team under him! Yeah you’d think Silver would’ve been able to telekinetically grab Geoffrey and destroy Vane’s bones.

Silver finally tells him that they completed the mission’s objective of putting a tracker on Geoffrey’s airboard and says that they’re still new to covert operations. So I guess Geoffrey has an airboard because, uh, the secret service or, GUN, gave it to him? It’s weird because that airboard is a Rogue and Armada thing!

  After filler they all go into the pit with Larry hoping that his luck didn’t jinx someone into dying on him. I wonder how many times that’s happened to him? The two teams meet up with each other right away, and talk about what they’ve found.

Meanwhile Geoffrey recognizes Shard’s power core and we see that this is the same one as the one his team of do-nothing elites discovered when investigating Mt. Mobius, I guess for the specific purpose of finding him after Sonic would talk about his adventure there. The flashback shows Valdez, but that’s just an artist’s mistake, not the writer’s.

When Eggman returned, he made a point of stealing the core back because he didn’t want Eggman recovering his best creation, making him smarter than Tails in the games. Geoffrey thinks that with a bunch of covert agents with Metal Sonic as back-up, he smirks and figures out that it’s Chuck and Harvey who are behind them, since he only knows one bird who’s crazy enough to do this. He’s lucky he thought of Harvey though.

The team talks about how they need to interrogate Geoffrey, harshly. And when Silver says with Geoffrey spying on them that he could just ASK him about what’s going on, Geoffrey looks stunned at being trusted! Elias doubts that he’d give up information THAT easily and Silver hopes he can appeal to his better senses, being the first person to show good faith in him in a LONG TIME! Ironically him being a complete idiot in this comic has come in HANDY here, as by sheer coincidence, he’s putting his faith in Geoffrey naively after Geoffrey realized he was wrong.

  Silver relates to Geoffrey to reason with Elias, saying that he knows what it’s like to throw everything he has into a plan with good intentions and see it fall apart. He says that Geoffrey wants a better government for his people, and most of his life he grew up being taught by Ixis. Silver says that he thinks Geoffrey’s trying to do good, but things aren’t turning out how he planned, a natural assumption to make since Geoffrey’s supposed to be a good guy and Ixis has sucked, but it’s hard to back out of a thing like that, and he doesn’t have a team to fall back on now.

  Elias reluctantly agrees to let Silver ask him, and Geoffrey looks sad. I understand why he’s not going up to them right away, because he’s scared of startling them making them think that he’ll try to be their enemy right from the start, and he probably wants to talk to Silver in private, and most importantly he’s not ready to talk to them about his feelings right now. He needs some time to prepare himself first.

  Then we cut to the next day at the Lake of Rings because I guess Ixis was taking FOREVER with his SPELL, despite having all night, instead of already brainwashing everyone like he did really quickly in SSS4. And Geoffrey must have felt too self-conscious to just talk to them right then and there.

He knew he needed to meet them in a peaceful context, not back there. Silver says to Geoffrey on the park bench, “ Good morning, commander, “ addressing him with respect, and Geoffrey says with a friendly smile, “ Sorry about that bit of business the other day. Nothing personal. “

Silver says that he buried them alive, and Geoffrey says that it was all part of the job, calling him kid for no reason, and says that with Shard on his side, the deck was stacked against him, and calls him Ace revealing that he knows what’s going on, although with Geoffrey immediately saying “ nothing personal “ and Silver immediately responding that he buried them alive, Silver shouldn’t be so surprised that Geoffrey knows everything about this, because even if he didn’t know, he gave it all away ANYWAYS. But to be fair, everyone knows who Silver is, of course he wouldn’t try to hide his identity.

  Silver admits that he’s done research on him and doesn’t think that he wants the citizens to be harmed. Why does he say, ” Mmm? ” FINALLY someone says to Geoffrey that his wife wouldn’t agree with what he was doing!

Geoffrey briefly glares at him for the low blow, but then looks depressed and admits that it’s too late for him now. Silver says that he can still save the city, and Geoffrey reveals while getting up that Ixis is casting a spell tonight as the council gathers to ratify the new constitution, and he wants to take control of them, and he tells him not to let it happen.

  He says, “ Like I said, it’s too late for me. You’ve got a future to save, I… don’t. See you around, kid. “ Flynn really ruined his life! This is DEPRESSING! Later on, Director Who, with Elias alone with him, compliments Silver on trying the direct approach, and says that he wouldn’t have let Geoffrey go either. Elias points out that Geoffrey seems volatile, and “ if he falls apart, that could help us as much as it’d hurt Naugus. “ Well he was talking as if he’d outright kill himself considering he says he has no future.

And I can understand him at this point, so while Elias is right, it sounds really CRUEL and thus Out of Character for him to say this so heartlessly! Geoffrey could help a LOT in the fight against Eggman with his magic but the heroes would probably wanna put him in prison the minute Ixis is defeated! Remember when Geoffrey wanted to help defeat the Battlebird Armada?! And Elias didn’t let him help at ALL because they were MAD at him!

  Elias says that of their two targets, one is very crowded and the other lethal, so if they can’t stop Ixis, they’ll need a very low profile Plan B. He wishes he could just tell people what’s happening, and Harvey Who says that Ixis would cave in the chamber and cover his tracks, and Nicole, Chuck and the rest of them would be ungratefully tried for treason after everything they did to help! So, like, the COUNCIL would do that to them?! Even after learning that Ixis tried to BRAINWASH them, is that what I’m being TOLD?! The story ends with them getting ready to leave for their big mission.

  This issue was by Ian Flynn. I’m impressed, he actually bothered to have Geoffrey OBJECT to Ixis’ brainwashing plan, and even feel the absolute worst of regret and say that it’s too late for him now! So maybe he really was just, manipulated, but Ixis is so obviously evil just by looking at him.

Maybe seeing how evil he really was snapped him out of the brainwashing, just like how in STC, Tails saw how evil Eggman was and THAT snapped him out of brainwashing. But IXIS BRAINWASHED THE CITY in Return of the King! GEOFFREY KNEW ABOUT THAT! Why didn’t he snap at him BEFORE?!

  It’d be fine if Geoffrey at least had said Ixis was the lesser evil to Eggman and could help stop him by deroboticizing all of the cyborgs, instead of acting like he was a saint his whole life! It’s good that he establishes why Geoffrey doesn’t try to STOP Ixis, as he’s told that he can’t beat him alone… well I guess Ixis is too powerful to just have his neck snapped with wind, and maybe Geoffrey would feel bad about it? He was his old teacher after all. And he also says nobody would trust Geoffrey anymore, so he can’t go for backup.

  And I love that he saw Silver stand up for him and felt sad, and that he was told that Hershey wouldn’t approve of his behavior. It’s proving that the writer remembered Geoffrey was still a good person and wasn’t just an Ixis agent, ABOUT TIME! The heartfelt talk between him and Silver was an excellent part of the story! It really shows off Silver’s idealism working in his favor for once! Stuff like this reminds me of why Flynn was considered a good writer.

  The problem is that Ixis’ plan has a huge plot hole! Why was Ixis able to brainwash all the soldiers into hunting down Robians to the point where they didn’t even remember what was happening during that, with no brainwashing chamber at all right away, but to brainwash the COUNCIL, much less people, he had to go through ALL this rigamarole?! It doesn’t make much sense considering past events in the comic, it’s not like he’s become LESS POWERFUL since then!

  I would’ve rewritten it so that he brainwashed the citizens and council into letting him be king, and this was a plan to brainwash the WORLD into supporting him! The Return of the King was a pretty big memorable part of Ixis’ history and Flynn is completely ignoring and contradicting it for the ENTIRETY of Ixis’ arc, when its mere existence destroys the credibility of writing Geoffrey as working for Ixis when he KNOWS HE BRAINWASHED PEOPLE before, and of Ixis not doing that right away to be king again!

Geoffrey snaps at him finally because he’s trying to brainwash people, and yet he knew he tried to do that in Sonic Super Special 4, and yet he’s reacting as if he’s doing this for the first time and going too far! How did he not quit being his agent after Return of the King, then, when he tried to MURDER ALL THE ROBIANS?!

Sonic Universe Issue 44:

  We start out with Ixis underground saying that his brainwashing spell will also let the Order of Ixis arise anew, which Mammoth Mogul of the future said happened already, so, does this mean that Silver permanently prevents that? And Geoffrey sarcastically says, “ Sure. Splendid. “

The Council finds itself locked out of the royal military HQ, and when Chuck complains that they wouldn’t have this problem if Nicole was here, Hamlin pointlessly says that the vote to exile was unanimous as if that’s ANY consolation at ALL! Why does he keep having Hamlin talk? At least they all look sad about it, and Rosemary says most of them didn’t like it, but it’s way too late to try to redeem Rosemary’s character now.

  Vanilla and some other civilians are confused at the council being locked out of the building preventing them from ratifying the new constitution. You’d think this would immediately get everyone AGAINST Ixis! Who else would they suspect?! Who else would be against them ratifiying a new constitution than the one who has constantly shown to Rosemary’s annoyance, that he doesn’t WANT a council limiting him? Larry thinks about how this keeps them out of harm’s way, and hopes his bad luck will keep working in the right direction.

  Geoffrey lies to Ixis that he didn’t find the people who spied on him, and smiles genuinely feeling good about doing the right thing. The Secret Freedom Fighters burst into Ixis’ room getting him out of doing the spell and Shard taunts him about retreating.

Geoffrey fights off Lyco and her sister saying that he’s too busy to give Ixis his wand since he’s using it as a weapon, and Elias wonders where Director Who got all those explosives for him. I don’t like the sound of that, that seems suspicious! He should think they’re taken from Eggman.

  Ixis uses his elemental sorcery, to control the earth and the floor, saying that he doesn’t need his chaos emerald to defeat them. If THAT’S the CASE, then WHY didn’t he destroy the Battle Lord then?! If he could control elements WITHOUT it, then why was him not having his wand the excuse for him being a wimp against him?! He could’ve engulfed his hands in flames with his fire magic and hit the Battle Lord with his fists while ALSO using his magic!

  Shard spindashes through the earth, Silver telekinetically grabs the boulder in the air, and Shard spindashes at Ixis’ head to knock him over, thanking Silver for the distraction. Ixis then stupidly tries to suffocate Shard of ALL PEOPLE when he’s CLEARLY a robot and wouldn’t have LUNGS! Now that’s an Idiot Ball if I ever saw one! So Ixis can’t suffocate a robot. Why didn’t he do this to the Battle Lord? And then Ixis freezes him from the inside out just like he did to M when he failed to suffocate HER. NO, of course he didn’t do that!

  Instead, Shard shoots a laser at him, and Ixis just NOW realizes he’s a robot, and talks as if he NEEDS HIS WAND to crystallize a robot! Did he have it for M? WHY CAN HE USE EARTH MAGIC WITHOUT his WAND, and WIND MAGIC, but not CRYSTAL magic, which I always interpreted as being just an offshoot of earth magic anyways?! Why does he need his wand to use crystal magic, and presumably ice magic too since he hasn’t immediately frozen Shard here?! He wasn’t thinking these rules through. The whole time I’m wondering why Silver hasn’t just telekinetically grabbed Ixis and held him still.

Geoffrey throws his wand to avoid blowing his cover, I guess, and because he has faith in Silver, who telekinetically keeps Ixis from getting it. Rotor uses hacking powers on his glove to open the doors of the council room and is teased by Penelope about how he just couldn’t stop working for the council.

They joke around all jovially about how varied Rotor’s usefulness is now, with one asking if he unclogs drains too, and then the council gets into an argument because they don’t have the document for the constitution! That’s what we all want to see in a Sonic comic, right? And it’s such a bureaucracy JOKE that they took until NOW to try to sign a new constitution long after the Iron Queen was overthrown. Larry says spying on them that this is what he wants and says, “ YES! Now everybody go home and look for it! “ How do they not hear him?! Especially since he’s an unlucky lynx!

  Geoffrey says he knows when he’s being distracted, and uh, and, uh, uses his crossbow and wind powers? I can’t tell what’s going ON in these panels! Extreme close-ups are the WORST! This is the problem with Geoffrey, even if he IS being more badass, I don’t care because I can’t tell what he’s DOING!

Geoffrey taunts Elias because he used to have him wrapped around his finger. Why would you SAY THAT, like f-first Flynn shows him being regretful, and then he’s talking like a stereotypical villain? He has no idea how to write heroes turned villain. First Fiona and now him.

  Cream finds the constitution for Penelope, saying that the envelope’s addressed to Rosemary, who says she must have left it at her house when they had dinner the other night. Why would she ever bring it there?! Hamlin complains that they should get on with it already instead of just waiting for Ixis.

Dylan shows Lawful Stupidity and calls Hamlin out because HE always complains when someone ELSE doesn’t follow the rules, and Hamlin asks if they can have a quick vote to decide. UGHHHH! I hate these guys. This is not a line I’d look forward to reading in an action-packed Sonic comic!

  And then the power goes out which Larry caused too. Silver uses his telekinesis to turn Ixis’ wind and water against him, rather than just grabbing Ixis HIMSELF, and says that Enerjak was WAY stronger than him. Ixis surrounds him with fire and yet somehow doesn’t burn HIM for some STUPID reason even though he SAID he was combusting the air around him, and this lets Shard save him from above without Silver being injured at all. That was hard to believe! Sure was nice of Ixis to only combust the air directly around him!

Shard shoots a laser at the green gem on the alter and the twins attack Ixis. Geoffrey snarks that they really should’ve had the sense to do that from the start, causing Silver to RUDELY telekinetically send him into a wall for judging him at all, even though he’s RIGHT, it just made the entire fight forced because the heroes were being stupid.

  The heroes leave with Silver’s telekinesis and set off an explosion, and Ixis begs Geoffrey for help surrounded by fire and buried in rocks, with his wand just out of reach. Geoffrey naturally leaves him there and YES! Good writing!

But Ixis creates a crystal wall to keep the heroes from escaping, wait if he’s buried in the rocks why can’t he just control the rocks with his earth power and escape? He must have been asking Geoffrey for help to test him and out of laziness.

And Shard refuses to be buried alive again, telling Silver to grab the others and spindashes through the crystal. Elias says that they have to make it back to the base without being seen and we see Geoffrey near some crystals being yelled at by Ixis.

He lies that he went to chase down their enemies. While trapped in crystal, he tells the violent vengeful Ixis unnecessarily that he could play for sympathy, saying he was investigating the instability of the ground below and was caught in a cave-in, and saved the city from collapse as a result…

  I guess he had to lie to save his own skin considering that Ixis grabbed the Chaos Emerald staff, and went from trying to punish him, to freeing him from the crystals. Besides, for all Geoffrey knows… Ixis if he went violent on the city would’ve destroyed it and everyone in it. He was about to attack first because he thought the council would’ve felt tremors and realized what he was doing.

  Geoffrey says looking resentful that he lives to serve. Well he had no choice to save his own life and it’d be a waste if he got killed off with those powers. There’s narration angsting about how they have to be secret Freedom Fighters, where we see Sally’s mother drawn way too old and elderly because Flynn’s writing wasn’t depressing ENOUGH, ending off with us seeing Shard staring sadly at Sonic’s family, being really sad that he doesn’t have a family of his own.

After all, Chuck hates him and would be too much of a douche to let him spend time with him, and they’d all just be awkward around him instead of continuing to laugh and have fun. He couldn’t exactly ask them to play a board game with him. This will never be resolved by the way (38) we’re never going to see Sonic’s family being buddies with Shard, and Sonic’s parents being nice to Shard. Not even Uncle Chuck is gonna like him! Shard just brings out the worst in the heroes.

  Meanwhile, Harvey says to Silver that he’s compared the diaries of Antoine from the past and future… and he took into account everything he told him and applied it to all the profiles he had on file. Instead of explaining the newspaper, we just see the owl tell him that Sally’s the traitor because he’s ruled out Sally, Antoine and Rotor, while totally ignoring all the other Freedom Fighters like Bunnie, Tails and Amy. This is insensitive of him to do considering what happened to Sally! But how did Silver need to be TOLD this?! He had a lot of time to think!

  This issue was by Ian Flynn and is about Ixis’ plan to brainwash the Council being ruined because Shard finally shot a laser to destroy the emerald thing he was using, and Geoffrey lampshades that they should’ve done that in the first place, making their whole fight seem like padding from the characters being idiots after the fact, not to mention that Silver should’ve telekinetically held still Ixis all along.

Then Geoffrey seems to believe he can leave Ixis for dead in a cave-in when Ixis can clearly control earth and fire, only to get trapped WITH him, and be forced to give him a lie to make Ixis not get in trouble for his absence, all to save himself from dying. That was exhausting! Why couldn’t Ixis have been killed off THERE, since the Ixis thing is never gonna be properly resolved anyways? A bunch of rocks could’ve crushed him, fallen on his head before he could save himself. Why didn’t Ixis just save himself with his earth magic instead of embarrassing himself by asking Geoffrey for help?

  It’s pretty tragic that the Secret Freedom Fighters have to go uncredited for stopping Ixis’ big plan! And worst of all Ixis will come out of it looking like the good guy when he could’ve been left to die! But NO, we HAVE to have him still around when I’m TIRED of him by this point! He doesn’t have a conscience or any kind of depths, so he’s not a person! Also, it’s a great character moment for Shard that he’s sad that Sonic has a family and he doesn’t. He’s not even mad at him, just sad. Next up we’re returning to the main comic!

Issue 241:

  We start out with Sonic tracking the Death Egg on the Tornado-2, and Eggman says to throw some Egg Swats at them while he finds something bigger. Then Cubot gives Eggman a sprig of the Krudzu plant robot. And Eggman says he could plug this into ANY of his machines and have it take over! It wasn’t always like that.

He sends down robots with jet-packs and meanwhile Ixis notices that Geoffrey’s been surly since he tried that brainwashing spell, so he’ll have to keep an eye on him. Geoffrey’s always been surly to him, though! He said he was as subtle as a bunch of bricks at one point! And he wasn’t happy about him turning the city against Nicole.

  Geoffrey tells him that first he’s swearing in Mina’s mother as the new councillor to replace Rotor. This is the second time they’ve bothered to SHOW us Mina’s mother since she’s been deroboticized, not to mention the first time they’ve bothered to show one of the Council members first coming to power. It’s weird that we didn’t get to see her deroboticized and hugging Mina in celebration when everyone was deroboticized.

  Ixis says to Geoffrey that the Sword of Light burns to the touch, and tells him to take it away in a hurry, as I really wish that Sonic had gotten the chance to destroy him with that thing at super speed, or at least put him out of commission.

So Mina’s mother’s first motion is to overturn Nicole’s exile. And Ixis immediately screams no, making me giggle and startling the council making Rosemary glare at him. Mina’s mother says that the recent attack last issue proved that Ixis CAN’T protect the city. Team Freedom saved HIM and drove back Eggman while Nicole could’ve given them advanced warning. That wouldn’t have mattered, the Tails Doll turned off the force field.

  The Council talks about how they could get Nicole back as Ixis is just steaming with rage, and he starts to mutate, causing him to leave saying he feels ill… instead of just… why can’t he just TELL them about his mutation illness?! He might not have to tell them about the ghosts in his head since that’ll just make him look incompetent, and even crazy, but him talking to himself in front of people just makes him look even WORSE! He tells them to summon him if they need the tie-breaking vote.

  Sonic sees a giant red robot with a Krudzu plant growing around it, bragging that it lives again. Orbot says that Eggman destroyed the Hydra last time for trying to kill Sonic, which was dumb since he wants to get RID of Sonic.

Meanwhile, Ixis visits the delirious king trying to look good in front of his wife as he pretends to express pity for him… He tells the king that he was strong and healthy when he was working for him, and says that he can make him well again with his crystalline magic. He’d be an agent for Ixis though.

  And for no reason, Ixis reveals that he could only possess the king again if the king entered into contract with him again. WHY does he need to do it AGAIN?! Well to be fair, he DID become king, so, that part of his contract with him has been fulfilled and is thus obsolete. But, shouldn’t he know that he can’t keep ruling the kingdom on the council if he’s possessing someone and thus people don’t know he’s him?! So why even bother trying to possess anyone who can’t speak FOR him, like Geoffrey?! The whole issue is happening because Ixis has a giant Idiot Ball!

  And more importantly, why does he need a CONTRACT to possess people?! That’s so arbitrary! He said Mogul would be a great pawn when possessed but he never made a contract with HIM, so this is a continuity error, and he didn’t ask him to make a contract with him first and then possess him, he just told him he could possess him right away like a moron!  

  Ixis wants to possess the king again to get time to figure out a way to heal his own body. Where that body will go, and where he’ll hide it, I don’t know. Maybe it was in the Zone of Silence last time? But won’t the king’s brain poisoning just debilitate Ixis?… Not to mention he can’t walk either so that would ALSO debilitate Ixis unless he would have his powers in that body and fly with his wind magic anyways. He already MADE a contract with the king, when he possessed him last time, so why on earth would he need to make one AGAIN?!

Why does Ixis need a CONTRACT to possess people?! That’s so arbitrary! He said Mogul would be a great pawn when possessed but he never made a contract with HIM, so this is a continuity error, and he didn’t ask him to make a contract with him first and then possess him, he just told him he could possess him right away like a moron and made it so that Mogul would never do what he wanted! 

  Surprisingly the king is lucid enough to say no. The queen stands up to him, saying that Ixis looks no healthier than the king, and threatens to send in the guards and see who they TRULY favor, and how he’d truly fare against them even though he’s a wizard!

INSTEAD, Ixis lets himself be intimidated into walking away, probably because he can’t get a contract with the king with the king’s consent, and good PR would be ruined by forcing the king to agree for his own safety.

And the king thanks the queen heartwarmingly for standing up for him with tears in his eyes, causing her to give him a hug. I guess the offer was really tempting to him, and he needed her to do all that talking for him. One of the ghosts in Ixis’ head FINALLY lampshades how stupid he was to try to possess a feeble old man (chuckles). “ You really missed out on possessing a feeble old man. “ “ Perhaps our host just wants to die sooner! “ T-T-That doesn’t JUSTIFY him being written to try to DO that, though! And Ixis says that he just needs a different vessel, as the writer’s FINALLY remembering that he can possess people.

  Ixis tells Jules that he can turn him back to normal just like he did with Bunnie. Sonic’s parents GLARE at him, and Jules naturally questions why he HAS to enter into a magical contract with him when Bunnie didn’t need to do that.

Jules says, “ Uh-huh. Care to go first, dear? “ His wife points out to Ixis that Jules remains a Robian due to his old war wounds, so it may be too risky to attempt to save him, even though, crystallizing him, would, I can imagine that if ANYONE could turn him fully organic without returning his old wounds, it would be IXIS! I mean, Ixis isn’t, like he would crystallize him and then the crystal would turn organic! Bunnie’s cyborg limbs when they were turned organic, they were never even organic to begin with because those weren’t her original roboticized limbs! NATE made those! And they had weapons added but he made them vanish!

We aren’t told if Bunnie’s new organic arms are actually her original arms somehow brought back from magic or if they’re just her latest cybernetics changed to be organic, and if it was the latter, then of course Jules could be turned organic and not get his war wounds back because his METAL doesn’t have those! It’s not like it’s a spell where it returns something to the way it USED TO be! He literally just turned Bunnie’s metal organic! So it wouldn’t return Jules’ old war wounds, and Ixis should be saying this, but I guess they wouldn’t believe him anyways.

  Then Jules points out that he hates him for trying to kill his son. The two proceed to kick him out. I love those guys sometimes, they could’ve EASILY been written to be gullible morons! Actual intelligence in the characters is so rare in Flynn’s writing compared to characters being idiots that when characters have even basic common sense like this, it stands out as them being geniuses.

Of course, Ixis possessing Jules would’ve been a bad thing. It’d be an interesting plot development, but, they were smart to turn him down and I’m glad we didn’t have yet another major plot development be forced. I prefer him as a robot anyways, he looks distinct from Sonic that way! When I saw Geoffrey spying on him earlier I thought he was gonna possess him right away! Why the hell didn’t he do that IMMEDIATELY after Geoffrey came to him?!… I guess he was too proud….

  Sonic says once again that they need to take the giant robot down before it could get to full strength because it doesn’t START at full strength for some reason. T-Pup gave Tails information that the Krudzu is weak to water, reminding them of that from a long time ago, so they probably forgot.

And they’re near the East Coast, so Amy advises that they should put everything to one hit and knock the robot into the coast. Sonic tells Tails to lock the missiles onto Sonic when he launches, Amy launches the spindashing Sonic with her hammer straight through the chest of the robot, and Sonic easily defeats it with one hit lampshading how weak it is.

  Also I briefly questioned why it was only Amy who was wearing goggles on the plane. Maybe since she’s the only one who’s not speedy, and Sonic and Tails’ eyes have some biological shielding that’s like goggles so they won’t need them to keep stuff from flying int heir eyes and building up when they go fast. It’s a Required Secondary power. The question is, Amy just now started wearing them and hasn’t always being wearing those ugly things on the plane.

  And then we see Ixis and Geoffrey at Mina’s concert. OH, BOY. I’m guessing Ixis is gonna make absolutely sure that the public will be too scared to listen to Mina’s message about Nicole being good. I can’t watch! Oh this is gonna be terrible! You KNOW that Ixis is able to manipulate people’s negative emotions to exaggerate them! Well at least Mina would get some karma for what she DID, but she was already feeling bad enough for her betrayal!

  Mina says that while she had wanted to have a message of empowerment, it got lost in a cloud of her own fears, and now she wants to make a song about love, understanding and forgiveness, and it’s all about Nicole, someone who’s given EVERYTHING for them, even though she didn’t SACRIFICE anything aside from, having to keep up the act as the Iron Queen’s lackey and make herself feel bad, but Mina isn’t explaining this. She didn’t give up literally everything for them! This makes Geoffrey remind the angry Ixis that he has his public image to worry about. Oh boy I can’t watch!

  Ixis thinks that he’s so sick of keeping up pretenses, the citizens being fickle, and the mutations and the voices taunting him, seeming to be on the rage breaking point. Seems like he doesn’t really want to be a government leader, just someone with power. You’d think that eventually he would just snap, no matter HOW much Geoffrey would tell him to calm down, and just prove that he IS an evil wizard and get the city turned against him after going after Nicole and the heroes’ parents causing a whole bunch of destruction!

And if he possessed Geoffrey, he’d be completely deprived of that voice of reason and that would be inevitable, getting everyone turned against him. So why wouldn’t that happen really soon after that would happen? Really, the Naugus saga shouldn’t have lasted so long considering how evil he is! And then Cream tells Vanilla that she lost the Tails Doll. Oh great.

  So I bet the Tails Doll is gonna ruin Mina’s concert by collapsing stuff and turn the general public against Nicole again! Why can’t we just get this Nicole plot resolved already?! When Mina gets in trouble Team Freedom immediately gets her bandmates to safety, and Geoffrey shouts at Ixis blaming him before realizing from his weakened mutated condition that it really WASN’T him.

  Mina thanks Team Freedom for saving the day again as the crowd cheers, rather than being freaked out and upset with Nicole, and she tells the crowd that the stage would’ve been fine if Nicole had been there, and she needs their support as a result. And in a POSITIVE confusing plot twist that, well it’s much better to have the comic not be TOTALLY predictable, this causes the crowd to cheer that they want Nicole back! I was very surprised by this! It doesn’t make any SENSE, but at least Flynn’s resolving that plot point as forced as it feels that it’s so easy. But Mina does have a good point and it’s been a WHILE since the Iron Nicole thing.

  Ixis says that Geoffrey was loyal enough to save him. I don’t trust this wizard. Geoffrey never should’ve saved him if he didn’t have to. Geoffrey says that he shouldn’t be loyal to him at ALL and says he taught him to be strong and self-reliant and he thought he could bring those ideals to Mobotropolis.

He shouts at Ixis that he betrayed his city with that stupid stunt he pulled underground. How was that stupid? EVIL, but not stupid, he’s probably trying to feel better about himself working with Ixis by calling him stupid instead of outright evil. And he says, “ You’re sick! You’re twisted! And you’re… wrong! “ I love that!

  Why the hell doesn’t the crowd hear this?! I guess they’re far enough away from them, but… because it’s the comic and a series of still images with close-ups on them at all times, it’s hard to tell how far away Geoffrey got them with his super speed wind magic. There was ONE panel with them in a castle.

  Then Geoffrey says that he’s no better than Ixis, and he’s not one to judge, being WAY too hard on himself there. Flynn must have really held a grudge against Geoffrey for the way he treated Sonic in Endgame and when he taunted Sonic about Sally not calling him.

Geoffrey says that this city is full of forgiving folk and it’s the one place in the world where people like them can truly do good. WHY is Geoffrey being portrayed as having NAÏVE IDEALISM as his defining flaw instead of PARANOID CYNICISM, which is the exact OPPOSITE of how he used to be?! And Flynn is pretending this is how he was all along because he was always with Ixis!

  Geoffrey says that he’s known Ixis was sick ever since Eggman’s “ white out “ attack. So NOW he means ill and not evil when he says sick. Geoffrey says that instead of tricking his way out of his sickness he could ask for help just once. UH, you don’t wanna do that Geoffrey.

Ixis’ ghosts tell him not to give into his apprentice, insulting him that he’s too prideful to show weakness. He tells Geoffrey that he will serve as his vessel and then the predictable happens, as Geoffrey gets possessed by Ixis, in the predictable twist that logically should’ve happened from the start instead of a WHOLE STORY being forced padding from his stupidity.

And no one’s gonna wonder where Ixis went no matter how much time passes? This will never be resolved by the way (39) we’ll never get to see Geoffrey not possessed by Ixis anymore. That’s great. The writer originally planned to just have Ixis trick the heroes, not do this, but it wasn’t done because that’d be too weak, you know, as opposed to him being carried away by Big the Cat.

  At least Nicole is being welcomed back, just like THAT, she’s welcomed back to the city under monitored conditions. We’ll never know exactly what those monitored conditions ARE by the way! (This will never be resolved: 40) You’d think that any restriction to her power would make her less capable of protecting the city, like, if she can’t have surveillance everywhere, then she’s not gonna know automatically where exactly to go to defend the city from a threat.

And if she doesn’t have the power to trap anyone she wants, or fight with nanites in general, then she won’t be able to take care of a threat. But we’ll never know what those conditions are, even though that sounds like a pretty important thing to specify right away! That’s distracted.

  Geoffrey says that the vote is unanimous NOW, and holds Nicole’s hand – this isn’t like Ixis at all – saying that Ixis is too ill to attend, but sends his full support of her return. This has to be Geoffrey in control because Ixis would never do this.

Somehow the council actually fucking BUYS this, or at least don’t question it in front of him. Really, they don’t even doubt him in thought bubbles? Then Geoffrey, so I guess he’s keeping his original mind since this sounds way too smart for Ixis, tells the council that Ixis is dying, and he had tried to take on all he could to serve the city in his last hours.

  Why is nobody noticing that the possessed Geoffrey has red eyes?! I could understand overlooking a NORMAL eye color, I don’t tend to remember what color people’s eyes are anyways, but, REDDISH BROWN eyes, everyone should immediately know that he’s possessed! It’s weird because Max didn’t have those. He says that he got Ixis to see that his old ways are flawed and together they could save his life so that they might serve him… so that he might serve them better. He asks Nicole if she’ll help save him. Why is he even pretending she has a choice? Saying no would be treason against their king. Oh boy.

  And the story ends with the Death Egg having already hit Albion. I have a question, instead of just flying after the Death Egg not going in it at ALL… uh, were they just too afraid of what could be inside the Death Egg to bother speeding up the plane to go in there ALREADY? Because maybe if they went in there right AWAY they could’ve prevented Albion’s attack, and prevented Furville from being attacked twice, and prevented the cat country from being attacked!

But I guess we’re supposed to just ASSUME that Eggman completely got rid of the last access point that the heroes used to enter his Death Egg last time. You’d think Albion would have a force field generator like Sandblast City by now, since it has advanced echidnas in it!

  This issue was by Ian Flynn, and is about immense relief, and then some Oh Crap moments as well! I thought for SURE Mina’s concert was gonna be a DISASTER, but instead she gets the public to all support Nicole really EASILY when the stage collapses by saying that it wouldn’t have collapsed with Nicole there, when things could’ve easily gone the OTHER way, with people assuming she snuck into the city to do it. I guess I’m supposed to believe that it’s been long enough that people calmed down and forgave Nicole.

  Still, it seems too easy, I thought for sure that they’d get mad at Mina or Ixis would exaggerate their fear to make that happen, but instead he was too sick and Nicole gets welcomed back to the city by the council that same issue. That was easy! So what took so long? I really didn’t think this plot point would get resolved in time, so that’s good! It took a long time to conclude but that doesn’t mean that it getting concluded in this way won’t feel sudden and contrived.

  And speaking of relief Sonic beat that giant red robot REALLY EASILY! So much for the plant robot’s glorious comeback! It feels weird to have Sonic’s scenes in the plot be short filler. However Geoffrey ends up being possessed by Ixis right when he was calling him out on being a jerk, when he already did that so he should’ve just left the city before this could get any WORSE! I guess he was planning on turning on him and, heroically defeating him at the last moment when he was distracted by other people? But he didn’t do that when he had the chance last time!

  Instead Ixis ends up possessing him, forcing him to use his intelligence to lie that Ixis saw the error of his ways and was helping the king in his last days. And he even tries to convince Nicole to help save him! Are they really gonna BUY ANY of that, after he tried to MURDER ALL THE ROBIANS?! What reason do they have to trust Geoffrey on all this, ESPECIALLY when he said Ixis voted Nicole back in, when he vehemently refused her last time more than ANYONE ELSE?! He did that a lot before that!

  I like that the king and Jules both refuse Ixis who was trying to make a bargain with them to bring them back to normal with it being obvious that he had something to gain from it. And I like that it’s explained that Ixis had too much pride to possess Geoffrey, his apprentice, explaining why he didn’t possess him in the first place.

And it’s just a shame what happened to Geoffrey! He should’ve gotten out while he was ahead! How far could he run away from the city, or fly away, before Ixis would try to find him? Well, Ixis WOULD be required to stay in the city to keep it. This was an alright issue though, for once.

Issue 242:

  We start out at another time and place unfortunately, in the middle of the Mecha Sally Arc where we just want it done as fast as possible, with Tails saying that Sonic’s gonna miss the Olympic trials. And of course he doesn’t. WOW, an adaptation of the Mario and Sonic OLYMPIC games that no one wanted. THIS story feels like it’s WORTHLESS, I wanted to see what the PREVIOUS issue was leading up to!

And we already SAW an issue where the Freedom Fighters competed in Olympic sporting events, against Robotnik and his badniks! And it was probably done much better than this. I’m just gonna try to get through this worthlessness as soon as possible. I don’t know why overpowered people like Sonic and TAILS, would even be ALLOWED in-universe to COMPETE instead of being DISQUALIFIED!

  Okay. Eggman’s disguised as a safety official, and Team Chaotix is in a canoe and gets trapped by Eggman because the canoe is a trap for them, and the grip for the hammer throw was sabotaged for Knuckles. Why is SILVER allowed to compete in this?! Isn’t his telekinesis cheating?!

He throws a shot-put that explodes, Big gets put to sleep by gas from a shot-put, and Amy, Blaze and Rouge get trapped by Eggman, as I wonder how a non-muscular Silver with no super strength would be allowed to or decide to compete in the Power event, and Cream and Marine decide to warn Sonic about it.

  All of these characters being nothing but kidnapping victims does not look good for Flynn because it’s such a stark contrast to how ANGELO DECESAIRE wrote a story with a similar premise to this, where, sure the badniks all beat Sonic’s friends in those events, but they at least looked like they were DOING something, Sally was showing off that she could actually SWIM, Rotor showed off that he’s strong enough to lift a barbell over  his head, and TAILS SAVED THE DAY by bringing Sonic non-sabotaged shoes!

And why oh why is BLAZE in the Olympics, and not in the Sol Dimension taking her duty seriously? What is this, one of the stupid video games?! Meta logic sucks. It’s why Eggman was written to suddenly be smart enough to kidnap them all at once without being smart enough to simply kill them, because, I guess he thinks that’d be TOO EASY.

  Sonic says to Shadow that using Chaos Control would be cheating and yet hypocritically doesn’t acknowledge Tails using his tails as that because he’s loyal to him. So Shadow points out that THIS is cheating, but SILVER isn’t!…

Some giant badniks attack Sonic and he beats them easily, and Sonic challenges Eggman one-on-one and says winner takes all. The story at least makes more sense than in AoStH because Eggman makes an excuse that he has a weak back “ or something “ making that the only mildly charming moment in all this padding, and sends Metal Sonic to be his stand-in as a result.

  After Sonic does every event in the Olympics with just one panel dedicated to each all in one day, bullshit happens as Sonic gets JUST AS empowered by PICTURES of Power Rings that aren’t even the same color as them, as he would by REAL Rings! So he’s magically not tired anymore!

Sonic takes off in the race before Metal and jumps onto the animal capsule, which he should’ve just done from the start if that heavy thing was always there, and Eggman doesn’t call him out on clearly cheating. And the story ends with not a single Mario character in sight, destroying the point of having an adaptation of the Mario and Sonic Olympics.

  In the second story Sonic and friends fight some robots sent at them on the Tornado-2, and complain that Albion looks pretty bad. And that’s IT! We cut away from them!… Well, that… what a WASTE of COMIC space! I mean, we could’ve… didn’t this just happen LAST issue? The heroes are fighting robots and we cut away.

Nicole tells Knuckles through a cracked screen that she’s coming in fine and she’s also picking up all the other stations. Nicole asks Knuckles why he’s going through all the trouble of fixing up Haven since Haven’s full of technology. I honestly forget how Haven even GOT damaged. I don’t remember seeing Finitevus damage it a whole bunch.

  Knuckles finally apologizes to her for trying to wipe her out as Enerjak, although again I thought he was being mind-controlled by Finitevus back then! And then he says that while he’d prefer to keep things simple, with half the Chaotix gone looking for Mighty and Ray he needs all the help he can get monitoring the island. So Haven definitely has spy cameras to help with that.

  Nicole thanks Knuckles for trusting her to test out the systems. Then she says that she detects another signal trying to reach him, a static-filled message about them being under attack by the Dark Legion. Knuckles says that the ones he failed and betrayed have called for help, and it’s his duty to try to save them, even if he can’t look them in the eye. He says to rally the “ girls “ and get moving even though I don’t see any girls with him, and we cut to Knuckles gliding around the Tornado-2 in the final page, so I guess the Nicole thing happened hours ago?

  This issue was by Ian Flynn. And THIS was a disgrace, a complete waste of my time! It was a SORT OF okay Olympics adaptation, but it felt totally POINTLESS, not only because of its horrible timing coming in the middle of a story arc we wanna end, NOT just that it’s a game plot rip-off, but we already HAD a story about Sonic in the Olympics and it was done much better than THIS, with much more variety with the different Freedom Fighters competing, and we didn’t have all of Sonic’s friends get kidnapped really easily! And Tails saved the day when that wasn’t expected of him back then! Not to mention there’s no Mario characters so, what’s the POINT? This is just a waste of time that should’ve been in Sonic Universe instead.

  And the second story is just there to show you Nicole warning Knuckles about Albion so he can show it to defend it! Why is the second story, the SECOND story when it’s the only one that matters, that’s so demeaning! This almost wasn’t worth the effort to my hands typing a review of this! It’s not like the issue was horrible but it feels so very pointless considering the timing. It feels like a cash grab to profit off the Olympics games!

Maybe it was just Executive Meddling forcing Flynn to make a story like this. But he could’ve at least showed us Sally, Bunnie and Antoine in this story and told us, “ they DO turn out fine in the end! “ It says, “ another time, another place! “ How are we supposed to ever get the idea that this means “ in another universe “ and not just, “ another time, another place, in the Prime Zone? “ That’s the sloppiest text blurb ever and it’s baffling that he kept using it!

Issue 243:

We start out three days ago with a pointless page where we’re seeing a kid being taught history in Albion. I thought Eggman destroyed all of the people of Albion so why are the non-red or pink echidnas still around, THAT’S confusing, although now that I think about it, we see did purple echidnas in Echidnapolis in a story where Vector was trying to ask some girls out. So, maybe even natives of Echidnapolis can be weird colors. Anyways, the Enerjak Knuckles business is mentioned as the Day of Transit.

  And we cut to three days later after the attack on Albion. Amy complains about how Eggman’s putting people in danger just to slow the heroes down, and now the Death Egg’s nowhere to be SEEN because of him!

Metal Knuckles flies up to the Tornado-2 trying to attack them, smacking away Sonic’s spindash sending him falling headfirst and he simply complains about how embarrassing that was without being scared. How would he stop falling headfirst after that?

Amy of all people is the one who has to smack Metal Knuckles away, and she catches Sonic grabbing his hand, after which I just have to assume he flipped himself to be upright with her since she’d swing her arm with him.

  The plane keeps falling with Tails saying the robot hit the fuel tank, forcing them to make an early landing. Tails says that they’re not leaving the island any time soon. Tails pets T-Pup saying that he’ll handle most of the repairs and keep an eye on things while they check the situation in the ruins. So, T-Pup, a four-legged creature… can make repairs!… And I assume he has the mind of a dog, too!…

  Amy points out that there’s a residential area under lockdown up ahead. Sonic spindashes a tank and Amy and Tails fight as well, and we see Constable Remington threaten some Legionnaires with a ray gun while his allies just have mere bows and arrows with them.

And yet they succeed in arresting them as Sonic goes up to them. Remington says that 3 days ago Lien-Da had invaded them with support from Eggman and while Eggman moved on, Lien-Da stayed behind with all her troops, although the only Eggman tech she bothered to keep was Metal Knuckles, because I guess she doesn’t WANT to win.

She captured the matriarch of most of the citizens. The few they could rescue are secured in the residential area where they met, and they’ve been trying to rescue people while taking down enemy troops. Remington says that their base camp is here in the theater, and since he knows their defenses won’t hold against heavy artillery they’ve been organizing an escape to the mainland, and they plan to hide citizens in the Mercian Forests, and appeal to the king.

Amy reassures him with a wink that she knows the king will help, because the king is her cousin Robin. I never saw Robin as a king, I just saw him as a Robin Hood rip-off. But he never stole from the rich and gave to the poor so I thought he was such a shallow parody that the only thing Robin Hood about him would be his name and bow use. I don’t remember him ever saying he was a king. He did his first scene, but it’s so minor.

Sonic tells Constable that Angel Island’s more rustic than Albion now, and Knuckles’ kin are all gone. Amy elbows him complaining about how he broke the news to him, and Sonic lampshades that there’s no better way to break the news.

  Remington sheds a tear and says their main objective NOW is to rescue the matriarch. In a PADDING SCENE Lien-Da apologizes to Eggman about being late with her report because it took them an extra day to get the communication tower built.

She stammers that she hasn’t legionized the Albion government yet because she’s waiting until the last of the resistance have been put down… But, WHY, can’t she just do it right away AND attack the resistance? Eggman tells her not to drag her feet on this as I wonder why the one-dimensional villain WOULD, and he says that she’d better not fail for her species’ sake.

  Lien-Da makes a reassuring speech to the echidnas that soon they will all be united under her as their new matriarch. Lara-Le, who is fucking FINALLY back to her actual GOOD DESIGN, what the fuck TOOK them so LONG, sides with Knuckles, saying that the Legionnaires have just caused trouble.

Lien-Da points out that Knuckles didn’t save the echidnas from getting enslaved, and was nowhere to be found on the Day of Transit, instead of just TELLING THEM that Knuckles was made into Enerjak which she knows about! You’d think a villain would tell them that as soon as POSSIBLE!

  Then it’s revealed that Lara-Le, is the matriarch of Albion, because, she’s Knuckles’ mother. And fortunately Lien-Da calls her out on the blatant nepotism where she’s only in charge because she’s related to Knuckles, without any hint that she has any actual governing capability. She’s right, that’s unfair.

Lara-Le insults the Dark Legion’s sad, sorry state of affairs some MORE and Lien-Da says that she’s lucky she somehow needs her for her status, inexplicably calling her ignorant. Well I guess Eggman’s planning to make her a sub-boss, but wait, wouldn’t this be another Drago situation and he’d just blow up Lien-Da and replace her with Lara-Le?

  Just because she could tell Lara that Knuckles was Enerjak she’s warned about an attack, and we see the heroes fighting alongside Remington’s men who cover for them as they go to save people. Why does one of the echidnas have what looks like squid tentacles for hair? Look at those circles on it. That’s like Lara-Su Chronicles shit, why’d the artist do that? Some echidnas get freed from animal capsules and some running civilians are told to head for the hole in the wall while some policemen will cover them.

He orders another one of his workers to take his squad and survivors to the neighborhood and then straight to the docks. Amy complains that fighting Legionnaires just isn’t the same as fighting badniks. I agree, even if THIS makes the comic unique and original.

Lien-Da tells a Legionnaire to activate the building’s defense systems which are revealed to be a paralyzing electric defensive grid which the Legionnaires have a built-in resistance to CONVENIENTLY. So, they can’t be electrocuted?… NO, that doesn’t sound right. ACTUALLY maybe it’s their CLOAKS that are immune to it, but it’s never explained. Sonic goes to attack Lien-Da who reveals that now she can shoot electricity out of her hands AND eyeballs! She explains that Eggman gave her those powers, but her eyes look just like normal eyes otherwise.

Then Metal Knuckles shows up and the story ends with Knuckles getting Nicole’s message and deciding to get moving and help Albion, which we already saw and I expected him to BE here already, and we saw him gliding with the heroes’ plane earlier, so that’s sloppy retconning.

  This issue was Ian Flynn. It starts off with Sonic and his friends going to save Albion from Lien-Da and her forces and ends with Sonic fighting a more powerful Lien-Da and Metal Knuckles hitting him away. Lara-Le FINALLY has her good design back, about time, and Lien-Da is doing this with the fear that Eggman would destroy all of the echidnas if she fails at her mission.

But, if she legionizes all of them, wouldn’t it be the opposite of protecting them from him because then he could blow them up at any time? So her failing would only threaten her Legionnaire echidnas. Why didn’t Lien-Da just legionize everyone she had captured by now?

Issue 244 Flynn:

  And now we get to Issue 244, the issue that was ruined by a lawsuit. We start out with Knuckles in Albion, asking why he can’t find anyone, seeing a flash of light at one point. Then earlier we see Thrash saying that if someone hops through his Warp Ring they won’t have to worry about anything ever again.

To be fair, if he IS sending them to a safe place, then he’s right, they WOULD technically be better off living somewhere without Eggman in it, but they’ll be trapped with the Dark Legion who will all legionize them, which is almost just as bad. The reason I hate it and can’t stand reading this arc is because this only happened from meta logic! We don’t get to SEE who he’s talking to because copyright censorship.

  Meanwhile, Knuckles sees lights again and ends up seeing one of Thrash’s mutts who T-Pup is barking at in front of the Tornado-2. Then we cut to hours ago where Tails is saying stuff to T-Pup he CLEARLY didn’t say LAST time saying to seal up the gashes in the plane, and synthesize some fuel in a paraphrase of what he actually said.

Knuckles shows a soft side by PETTING T-Pup even though he’s a robot, and asks him to come with him. Then they go up to an unconscious Sonic and Tails who are being threatened by one of Thrash’s pets that look like they’re cyborgized since they have glowing yellow eyes. There’s never any sort of explanation for why they have glowing eyes. It’s just to make them look evil.

  Sonic, Tails and Amy wake up all groggy and we see Metal Knuckles collapsed on the ground. Knuckles notes that Espio’s been keeping tabs on the nanite city, which actually explains why he was in there earlier with Nicole, and Sonic insults Knuckles for not getting here to save HIS people sooner. He deserved that for how he treated Sonic last time. It’s explained that they were all knocked out by electricity traps. Knuckles asks where the echidnas fighting alongside them went.

  Then we see that Thrash had felt compassion for the unconscious heroes saying that echidnas just make people suffer, even though they only fought with a FEW races, and he was the one who moved them. Knuckles says that while refugees were heading for the docks, now they’re empty.

Knuckles starts trying to use T-Pup to contact Angel Island remembering that he had insisted to Julie-Su that he could fix up Haven by HIMSELF, and was telling two people to guard the Emerald for him. You’d think he’d never tell people to do that again considering when he trusted Locke to guard the Emerald terrible things happened! But whatever!

Can’t build a guard robot or anything! And can’t have Penders’ characters in this story because hen you’d have to PAY him! That’s the ONLY reason they’re not here, because it wasn’t Penders’ idea to get rid of them, quite the opposite in fact.

  He says to patch him through to Nicole since she would’ve spoken to his teammates last. Nicole says that she couldn’t reach ANYONE on the island. But he left before she could warn him. They ask who would have a Warp Ring to reach them so quickly if not the Legion and Finitevus, and we cut to Thrash warping to Angel Island days ago with his devil dogs finding some notes on Albion in Haven, that were CONVENIENTLY THERE for him, just to arbitrarily finagle him going there!

Didn’t he already know about Albion the last time we saw him? I guess he needs these notes to know exactly WHERE it is. Anyways he also learns about how to super-charge a Warp Ring. It sure is convenient for him that there were notes on that and he happened to find them! Why would they be kept around, why didn’t Knuckles find these notes himself?! And we see Thrash saying, “ And that’s the last of ‘em. “ And Knuckles shows up with the others. You know Knuckles used to be such a great guardian in the Knuckles Comic.

And look at what Flynn reduced him to. After he gave up guarding the Emerald to his FATHER, Flynn made him trust Finitevus of all people with it, Albion got attacked by Finitevus and Eggman making echidnas rare we saw the Enerjak incident sending all of the echidnas to Albion away from the Emerald so he’d have to choose what to guard, and because he can’t just put the Emerald from Albion since it’d crash his island and he’s irrationally ashamed when he was brainwashed by Finitevus, he chooses NOT to guard Albion with the Emerald IN IT, because that would be different from the games, and so this happens.

  All because Knuckles won’t let an island fall from the sky when it did in the SA1 adaptation and nobody died, and it didn’t fall apart or anything! Flynn ruined Knuckles’ legacy. He made Knuckles go from the best guardian EVER, to the absolute worst, most INCOMPETENT guardian in all history, all in one change of writers. This is what our effective hero has been reduced to. Now tell me, how the hell is PENDERS the one who wrote Knuckles badly after this, when he made him COMPETENT and HAPPY?! Flynn put him through a Humiliation Conga!

  And no him being the best guardian isn’t just him being a “ Creator’s Pet of Penders “ never mind that he still had fun at Knuckles’ expense, because, I’d expect Knuckles to be the best guardian ever no matter WHAT writer’s in charge, no matter what comic this is, because he’s one of the MAIN CHARACTERS of the SERIES! Of course he got respect, of course he got his own comic book!

  And this is when we see Thrash happily boast about getting rid of all the echidnas, saying that he got rid of those girls that Knuckles put at the Master Emerald and that helped him get rid of all the echidnas in Albion. At least Thrash isn’t saying he sent them all into a volcano and killed them. It could’ve been a LOT WORSE! Instead we can assume he sent to the Twilight Cage, a dimension without Eggman to terrorize them in. Too bad they’ll still have the Dark Legion.

  Knuckles furiously tackles Thrash saying, “ Bring them back! Bring them back! NOW! “ To a place like THIS? Thrash roars to get Knuckles off him, he insists that because he’s a good person he won’t just kill Knuckles even though he’s clearly not a good person after the selfish thing he did, and Sonic says that after all this waiting to let Knuckles get the first hit in, he’ll fight with him to get him to bring back his kind, because fighting with him will magically brainwash him into deciding to do that!

Just STEAL the Warp Ring from him at super speed, you IDIOT! I just retyped Archie Sonic Online’s rewriting of this issue and there’s a stark difference in the intelligence of the characters, because the minute I went back to Flynn, I saw the Idiot Balls come back! I saw the forced writing come back right away!

  After we see a Krudzu vine reach a button, Thrash roars at Sonic, and then we see Metal Knuckles revived thanks to the Krudzu plant covering it. I don’t see why that would revive him! I guess it filled in all the gashes and holes, but it was still overloaded with electricity!

  This issue was by Ian Flynn and was about Thrash happily getting rid of all of the echidnas on Albion just like that using his Warp Ring, because he wants to make the comics more like the games and a lawsuit forced him to change his plans for this arc, I mean because Thrash is racist against echidnas… Ugh…

When I first read this issue I didn’t know it happened because of the Penders lawsuit happening way before the reboot actually happened. I thought the lawsuit and getting rid of characters garbage would only happen when the reboot started. By the way it was Archie who decided to get rid of them, because they were too greedy to pay Penders for using them after HE got greedy and asked for money for them. Archie’s just as much at fault here.

  But when I first read this story I assumed that it was Flynn continuing the pattern he already started, with Albion being decimated. He already made echidnas rare, so I thought he was just gladly continuing that to make things even more like the games… Echidnas were already completely Out of Focus on Albion, so wasn’t that enough?! Couldn’t Ian have just been satisfied with THAT, with never showing them again? He got away with not showing us Julie, Safron and the echidnas in this issue while still clearly using them as characters because they were involved in the plot by being kidnapped!

  At least this was foreshadowed, but Thrash didn’t need to exist and him finding those random notes out of nowhere to further his plan with a super-charged Warp Ring felt like a Diabolus ex Machina, because why would those notes be kept around, and why the hell wouldn’t Knuckles have FOUND them already and gotten the Brotherhood back?! And he was already told about Albion a long time ago, so why’d he take THIS LONG to do this all in one day? Couldn’t he just keep warping around the world with a Warp Ring until eventually he’d find some echidnas?

  Why the hell couldn’t Knuckles have said to Thrash back then, “ You can’t take the Warp Ring, the heroes need it! “ instead of trusting some random dude with such a powerful artifact?! The sheer fact that this happened at all makes the whole concept FORCED, because it’s not like Thrash STOLE the Warp Ring, which he could’ve easily been written to DO! He was artificially allowed to keep it!

Why’d he say the heroes “ DROPPED “ a Warp Ring for him in this issue when we clearly saw him leave with it in front of them with their implied permission? The biggest plot holes with this issue are that Sonic and Knuckles could’ve easily taken out Thrash and taken his Ring if they had just attacked him already instead of characters politely letting each other finish talking, having giant Idiot Balls in the process!

  It is the fault of Penders and his lawsuit over character rights that the echidnas were taken away, but it was Flynn who WROTE THIS. Penders wouldn’t have ever written this story! In fact, he wanted the characters to stay so he could be paid for their use! Archie did this! I really don’t see why Flynn had to do this instead of just never showing us Albion AGAIN and leaving the rest of this arc to offscreen, which the comic was already doing up to this point!

  I mean the comic gets away with a lot, it doesn’t have the rights to Eggman Nega, but it still USED him, because it’s Dr. Nega who’s threatening the multiverse for example, and we saw Mephiles in Scourge Lockdown! I’d rather Flynn have dropped this arc ENTIRELY than continued it like THIS. And I’m glad the fan reception was so negative that it’s in the process of being rewritten by them. It’ll be nice to get to read the whole thing written properly this time sixty years from now when I have gray hair.

Issue 245 Flynn:

  The first few panels are wasted on having the characters repeat dialogue from the last few panels of the LAST issue like it’s the Fleetway Comic, because readers are goldfish apparently! Thrash roars at Sonic using his soundwave attack to send him flying as I wonder why Sonic running at the speed of sound at him threatening him all the while shouldn’t have let him attack Thrash LONG BEFORE he could ever roar at him! How’d they have the time for saying all of that stuff in that silhouetted panel when Sonic was running at him in it?

  Meanwhile a Crabmeat who’s covered in Krudzu says that thanks to THIS he’s adapted and rainwater can’t short-circuit him anymore even though the Krudzu’s main weakness is supposed to be water, and the Krudzu vines are clearly sticking out of the Crabmeat and getting wet! This is when he activates Metal Knuckles.

  Meanwhile, Thrash says that while the echidnas were innocent, so were his people, so justice is served. Why is he just admitting the echidnas were innocent if he thinks they deserve this?! Like he said, “ so were! “ Thrash says that they’re even because now they’re BOTH the last of their kind.

He explains that the echidnas messed with the Tasmanian Devils’ genes trying to create the devil dogs and nobody remembers why. Mums and dads sired pups instead of babies and each generation as they get bred out of existence, are told the stories of who did that to their people. This is the kind of plot point you would have expected Ken Penders to write when we first saw the Tasmanian Devils in Issue 48. It’s interesting, but also off-putting!

  Maybe their people were constantly BOTHERING the echidnas so they thought this was the best solution to get rid of them, and simply destroying them all with a laser blast would’ve made too much sense, and been too cruel for them. So they thought this was better. We’re only hearing Thrash’s side of the story on this!

Knuckles yells at Thrash that the echidnas didn’t know about this and they could’ve helped to REVERSE the damage to his people. Too late NOW unless they can turn the devil dogs into Thrash’s kind with magic. Besides, the devil dogs are too small to bear children as big as Thrash.

  Thrash reasons that if he gave the echidnas enough time they’d do the same thing again, and he finished it. Finitevus had said earlier that he’s just the product of a FAILED experiment, so how is this consistent with that? He wasn’t literally created through an experiment that FAILED! It was a perfect success!

Knuckles gets attacked by a devil dog that’s Thrash’s SISTER, and Knuckles tells Sonic to keep them off him relying on HIM when he just got effortlessly sent away by Thrash’s soundwaves. I guess the reason Thrash hasn’t done that to Knuckles, is so he can keep talking to him to try to justify his revenge.

  Sonic says that he needs Tails and Amy to do a spinny thing with Tails’ tails that isn’t flying to corral the devil dogs for a few minutes. Amy spins her hammer and Tails spins his tails creating a blue tornado below him with wind magic, as Tails lampshades that they’ve gotta come up with a better name for the spinny thing than THIS. This creates tornadoes against the dogs that they’re in the center of. And I’m sure if they DID create a better name for the move it would take longer to SAY so it wouldn’t be worth it in the heat of battle, but Sonic did lose some time by Tails being confused about what he was ordering him to do.

  Knuckles shouts at Thrash, “ You took my family! The love of my life! You robbed it all from me because of your stupid, short-sighted obsession! “ YEAH!… And remember guys, Flynn wrote this concept, not Penders. I don’t know why Flynn couldn’t have just let the echidnas continue to exist in Albion or Mercia offscreen, instead of just making this overly depressing twist that sucks even more originality and uniqueness out of the comics, just to make them more like the games. Did the executives force this in particular? You keep seeing Dr. Nega being referenced in the comic! He just isn’t shown! But even then we saw his Eggmobile.

  Sonic runs in a circle creating a fence around some devil dogs to trap them, and calls Tails little bro saying he did a good job. Knuckles sends Thrash to the ground, but instead of knocking him out by punching him in the head, he just STANDS THERE, TALKS TO HIM, and expects him to give him the Warp Ring!

How many Idiot Balls has Flynn GIVEN these characters?! This Idiot Ball forces the concept of Thrash sending him away with sonic waves because he can’t take him in a fair fistfight. Fortunately Knuckles crawls up to him using his climbing ability on the ground to stay on it and punches him.

  The heroes then get targeted from a distance by someone saying that he doesn’t need to reveal himself after all. Before Tails and Amy could get the Warp Ring back, the OBVIOUS SOLUTON is totally ignored, like with Metal Sally, because Metal Knuckles attacks them, grabbing them by vines. If Amy had just immediately hammered Thrash in the head instead of Tails talking to him, they could’ve gotten the Warp Ring back and Tails could’ve taken off with it just fine!

  Then it’s revealed that it wasn’t the Krudzu who was watching them from a distance, but a robot who’s in FAVOR of the heroes, obviously Shard, who worries about getting involved because he has to observe and report. With all the heroes distracted by Metal Knuckles, Thrash escapes in his Warp Ring, because god forbid Knuckles get to kill him for what he did! OH, NO! He killed The Hunter, but a genocidal maniac, just like The Hunter?! THAT’S going TOO FAR, because Thrash was made by Flynn. Well at least Knuckles is allowed to go after him through the Warp Ring!

  After a fight with Metal Knuckles he’s steaming and worried as Sonic says he’s smashed everything he’s using, including the badniks, with Sonic saying that he’s literally made of fail because he’s made of badniks. The robot forms a giant robot out of machinery tying it all together with Krudzu plants but fortunately he gets blasted and knocked down, and Shard shows up, saying happily, “ Yes way. Do you know how hard it is to track you guys down? “

Why did he have to reveal himself to them instead of continuing to hide, and blasting it from hiding places? He could at least TRY to hide! Even if they’re going to spot him helping fight the robot anyways. Well, Out of Character Moments NEXT time.

  This issue was by Ian Flynn and was about Thrash fighting Knuckles because of all the contrivedness letting him send echidnas away with a Warp Ring he shouldn’t have had. Knuckles failing to get the echidnas back here makes him the worst guardian ever in the Sonic franchise when he used to be the best. What a way to gut his effectiveness!

There were three different times in this plot where the heroes could’ve EASILY knocked Thrash out but didn’t because they were stupid enough to waste time TALKING TO HIM! Why did they ever think that would accomplish anything?! And I’m surprised we didn’t learn where Thrash DID send them to! I assumed that we would! I assumed he sent them to the Twilight Cage, but how would Thrash know about that?

Also, I’d like to point out that we’ve seen the future with Lara-Su multiple times. So how was Lara-Su born if all of the echidnas were gotten rid of? This proves they’re destined to be rescued in this continuity, or else Lara wouldn’t be born, and Silver wouldn’t have a picture of her and be familiar with her.

And that’s why the reboot isn’t canon, because if the Super Genesis Wave was destined to happen before Lara-Su could be born, then Silver wouldn’t have gotten the chance to meet her, and there wouldn’t have been a future to begin with! That’s also why Silver and Nicole disprove the reboot being canon to this because the Wave would have happened before time could progress to the point of their futures.

  I at least love that Thrash has a logical reason for hating the echidnas instead of just mere racism like before. His people were driven to extinction by being genetically modified to just give birth to devil dogs instead of their own kind, which is really creative.

Why the echidnas couldn’t have simply killed them all in one go when they MUST have captured them all to do that to them, I have no IDEA, because this is just as cruel. Too bad if they had just killed them, none of this would’ve mattered. So that’s the moral of the story, kids reading this comic, don’t get CREATIVE, just shoot them! Or one of them will survive to kill every one of your descendants!

  And at the end, the Krudzu robot gets attacked by Shard the Metal Sonic. Here’s the biggest problem with never resolving the “ echidnas are gone “ story. (This can’t be resolved: 41). It could’ve been resolved in JUST MINUTES.

Knuckles could find the notes on how to super-charge the Warp Ring just like Thrash did, and even if Thrash didn’t get rid of the notes or take them with him, it’s so intuitive that he should’ve been able to figure it out on his own! Knuckles should’ve just used Mighty’s Warp Ring, super-charge it by no duh holding it in front of a magic Emerald, and get the echidnas back! The only reason we can’t see that is because of the lawsuit!

  Sure we don’t know where exactly they ARE but his first guess should be the Twilight Cage since that’s associated with echidnas! We could’ve had a great story arc where Knuckles was travelling dimensions to look for them. The problem is that like with Mecha Sally it’s a problem that could get resolved really easily and anticlimactically, or get dragged out to infinity with all sorts of lame excuses and never end up resolved.

It’s one or the other, the worst kind of story arc! There’s either an easy solution or none at all. As a result, this whole story concept sticking at all is forced. Plus we KNOW the echidnas are free with Echidnapolis in the future, so this whole thing’s just a waste of time!

Issue 246:

  We start out just after Shard attacked a robot that was attacking Sonic, and he cheerfully talks to them like Sonic would making it blatantly obvious to everyone that he has a brain like Sonic does and isn’t like the other robots. THANKS, SHARD! I’M SURE that Sonic will be GRATEFUL for your help like the HERO he’s SUPPOSED to be!

Sonic sees the power core, realizes who Shard is and the ungrateful ASSHOLES all proceed to attack Shard in a HUGE Out of Character Moment, even though he just saved them! Garbage like this is why I hate this writer.

  They even ignore the fact that he saved them from a volcano which is a direct contradiction with how Sonic and Tails talked after he saved them, where they were ALL PROUD of him for doing that! Danny Fingoroth wrote stories better than Flynn! An old writer wrote better! If this isn’t an Out of Character Moment for drama’s sake, nothing is! This is hard to watch! If Danny was writing this story, or ANY OTHER WRITER, the heroes would all be HAPPY that Shard survived because he was a GOOD Metal Sonic, and Sonic would immediately hi-five him!

  Fortunately Shard convinces Sonic to let him help because he can’t fight the robot and Sonic at the same time, and they run around the island dragging the robot with them. Fortunately Amy and Tails were broken free of the vines instead of being dragged with them for SOME reason.

Amy says that it looks like the Krudzu’s magically developed immunity to water somehow, and she assumes that it EVOLVED it out of NOWHERE, which is rather CONVENIENT for a ROBOT. Tails, figuring out that the devil dogs are smart enough to understand him, says that their best option is to help him because Thrash isn’t coming back any time soon and they’re all in danger.

  Over the Tasmanian Ruins of Downunda, Knuckles fights with Thrash and briefly sees with what looks like a MALE one of Thrash’s kind having just given birth to a whole bunch of devil dogs, and he looks really old. Again, you’d expect Penders to be the one to write such an off-putting concept in a Sonic comic. His existence makes Thrash NOT the last of his kind. They take off through a Warp Ring again, and back with Sonic, Sonic lampshades that Shard got melted by lava and lived. Shard jokes around that Sonic’s cheated death here.

  Shard says he can’t tell him why and how he’s here because he’s got too many others relying on him to keep secrets. Sonic doesn’t wanna trust the one Metal Sonic who turned good and SAVED him and TAILS, and Shard says, “ You can trust Uncle Chuck, right? That’s what I thought. He’s gonna be mad I name-dropped him. I don’t think he likes me anyway. “

Shard says that he’s under orders to make sure Team Fighters is safe and on track to rescue Sally. They’re sure that Tails has come up with a plan and we see Amy in position with her hammer. The two hedgehogs stop in their tracks and Amy hits the robot with her hammer. Then Tails sends the devil dogs after the robot to bite through its vines, leaving the robot as just a head.

  Thrash warps to White Acropolis Peak and fights Knuckles, and when an avalanche happens they warp AGAIN, this time to Shrine Isle. Fortunately Knuckles is able to grab the shrinking Warp Ring just in time! But when he walks into it to warp, instead of seeing Thrash, he sees the Chaotix come back with Mighty and Ray, in the same position he was in BEFORE because of the Penders lawsuit. This is nonsense.

Espio talks about Knuckles having an empty Warp Ring. HOW can a Warp Ring be EMPTY?! How did Thrash DO this?! He JUST warped with it! Why couldn’t Knuckles have just killed Thrash like he did with the Hunter with no guilt or hesitation, and took his Warp Ring that way?! Or at least done so by accident!

  Knuckles gets so furious with all the questions about what’s happened recently that he slams the ground, and the heroes finish off Krudzu until Sonic can trap it in a tiny bottle.  Tails says to the devil dogs that they can’t follow him because there’s no room on the plane. At least NOW they don’t have creepy glowing eyes, and have normal white eyes instead, but WHY?! Amy sadly reminisces about how things were so much less overly depressing LAST time they were in Albion, and she breaks down crying hugging Sonic who fortunately hugs back.

  Shard says he can help with the Tornado and says that Nicole wants him to install a way to monitor them anyways. Despite him name-dropping Nicole, just like he did with CHUCK, Tails is suspicious of him AGAIN even though he SAVED HIM, TWICE, at this point, and Shard apologizes for the volcano thing!

We cut to him flying away from the flying Tornado-2 and saying to his base that he’s got the tracker set on the Tornado. Why did he hesitate about saying the mission was complete when it clearly WAS?! Well he got seen. He says the heroes are heading for the Northern Tundra, and Silver says in a panic that this means he’s almost out of time.

  This issue was by Ian Flynn. Of course this is my least favorite arc he ever wrote. The heroes defeat the Krudzu with Shard’s help while Knuckles SOMEHOW ends up with an empty non-functional Warp Ring after losing Thrash! SOMEHOW! That’s contrived! I don’t blame Knuckles for being mad, I’d be just pissed, especially since this will never get resolved! It could’ve not gotten empty, and Knuckles could’ve had a story arc where he warped around to get the multiverse developed more! I know that Shard used to be evil but Sonic should be USED to robots trying to kill him by now!

He would be all the more grateful that one changed their mind, and SACRIFICED himself to SAVE him! And he WAS! Instead Sonic and Tails act like ASSHOLES, to someone who’s very CLEARLY CHANGED, all for the sake of forced drama, which makes characters we’re supposed to like and root for look like completely unsympathetic assholes no better than VILLAINS! Who ARE these people?! Thank god Archie Sonic Online retconned this away! They had a much more civilized reuniting with Shard in that.

Tails is supposed to be a sweet kid! Even with Amy, she’s had a lot of experience with turning villains good because of her IDEALISM, so you’d think if he wants to make it like the games, he’d make her idealistic instead of extremely paranoidly cynical! And being violent against a good guy with her hammer, which is the kind of behavior I hate from her in stuff like Black Knight! Compare this to how Sonic and Tails acted when he saved them from the volcano in the FIRST place which was much better!

They say Sonic is better off being lighthearted, well a part of lightheartedness is making the heroes LIKABLE and FRIENDLY! I bet even the reboot does that better! How is Flynn considered the best writer when he got the tone so wrong?! At least all Shard has to do is say Uncle Chuck is working with him and that he’s sorry. This lets him put a tracking device on the Tornado-2. Still I felt really sorry for Shard! Next up, Sonic Universe Issue 45.

Issue 244: (The Good Version)

 We start out in the capitol district in Albion where Sonic falls on a rock on the ground, which worries Amy, who’s in front of Metal Knuckles. She tells Sonic to not try to get up as she plans to protect him, and Tails wants to airlift him to safety.

That’s impressive, he’s actually injured! So there’s legitimate consequences! I wonder how long this will last, though. Tails says that while he COULD airlift Sonic to safety, they’re all sitting ducks out here between the Legion and the defensive grid.

  Lien-Da brags and Metal Knuckles reminds her that she needed Eggman’s technology and it was her decision to join him. Then we see Remington telling someone to gather the wounded and retreat while he’ll hold off Lien-Da. I REALLY, REALLY miss his old design from the Knuckles Comic with the detective suit! It’s hard to recognize him!

While Tails airlifts Sonic away, Lien-Da shocks Remington, and Metal Knuckles kicks Tails in the back of the head. I figured it might not be THAT easy for him. Amy gets shocked too, and we cut to a few hours later where it turns out the last of the citizens have been recaptured to be brought to the grandmaster. All of this makes sense. It has the villains be competent. It’s realistic that this happens.

  I love that line from the Legionnaire! “ You mean Knuckles? I thought his job was sitting on the Master Emerald all day. “ Great response to the Avatar bullshit! I mean he’s not an avatar of ANYTHING, he’s not a reincarnation of the previous guardians.

Then a Warp Ring appears, and in response to what’s apparently Athair’s wife saying that the Avatar works in mysterious ways, Julie-Su says, “ That’s an odd way of saying ‘ Knuckles is a dunderhead sometimes ‘ but whatever. “ A typical great Julie line!

And Julie, Knuckles and Saffron come out of it, with Julie holding a gun, or rather a ray gun as she shoots at someone looking bored. It’s awesome that they show up giving Knuckles a chance to save his people and giving these guys some time in the limelight for once. And this was part of Flynn’s original plans for this issue.

  The heroes knock down the Legionnaires and Knuckles is told what’s been going on. There’s a nice character moment because Safron is worried about Knuckles losing his home since she lost her own family and home. Also, oh I guess that IS Komi-Ko. Why isn’t she PURPLE?! Wh-Wasn’t that her color, which made her more distinct from Knuckles and looked better? I’m so relieved to see her again, and in a good condition where she’s safe, because her design was cool and Remington deserves a girlfriend.

  Knuckles tells some echidnas that the ones who can fight can grab a weapon and follow him and Remington’s girlfriend, while the rest of the echidnas can barricade themselves in the buildings. After Knuckles snaps at someone for the Avatar bullshit, and sadly doesn’t have a different, sad expression for the “ I ruined everything, “ line, Julie suggests coming up with a plan, since she’s smarter than him. 

  Sonic finally wakes up next to his friends who are all in chains. This is a good justification for Knuckles and his friends having to save the day instead of them. There’s nothing worse than a kidnapping that feels arbitrary, but here, the characters didn’t get kidnapped because of their own stupidity, but because of good reasons with things just spiralling out of control against them.

Lien-Da taunts Sonic and says that they have implants to take care of defiance. This confused me into thinking she meant brainwashing chips at first. Remington calls Lien-Da out and she says that without Remington sewing chaos in her army with the Frost Legion stuff she would’ve taken Angel Island long ago, stopped Finitevus, and saved them with the Master Emerald. HUH… I wonder if that was true, I wish I could see an alternate universe where that happened. I wish she DID succeed in that! That’d be more believable.

She says that she and her people can’t leave Eggman’s side and Tails reminds her of the bombs in the cybernetics in front of the other legionnaires and Remington, who react as if they’re learning this for the first time.

Again, WHY wouldn’t Eggman tell all the legionized people that they have bombs in them right away?! This problem started with Flynn of course but still that’s a great incentive for them to behave, and yet they’re reacting as if just now they’re learning this!

  Meanwhile in the streets of Albion, the evil purple guy who got rid of all of the-no, no, we’re not talking about that… Thrash! Thrash, that’s his name! How did I forget that?! Maybe because it has nothing to do with him as a character. Anyways, he knocks someone out and steals the hair of an echidna. That’s weird. If he hates echidnas, why would he wanna CLONE MORE of them? (laughs) Or is he just making an echidna detector? Because one hair from one person would just make his dogs go after ONE echidna, not all of them!

Safron talks to her friends on a Bluetooth as Mission Control saying that the bad guys are patching up a large opening in the wall and wrecked tanks, and there’s two defense cannons and a Knuckles robot still functioning. It makes sense that she’d be useful for gathering information safely since she can fly! I wish she did this more often!

  After Komi-Ko says to the Julie-Su lookalike Athair’s wife that she doesn’t even know how to USE a blaster, Julie says that Safron and Komi’s group can deal with the guards, and she’ll use a disguise to sneak in and liberate everyone. It’s an awesome ironic callback to the fact that she used to be with the Legion and is good now.

Knuckles tells her not to let Lien-Da get her hands on the Warp Ring. Good thing they HAVE that, that’ll be very useful in getting to where they wanna go! Julie charmingly tells Knuckles to rejoice in the knowledge that Eggman finally acknowledged his coolness by making a Metal him, and Knuckles says it’s about time and he’ll try not to have too much fun smashing it. There’s a lot of charming moments and lines to this story, which is good! It’s mostly focused on action and plot progression, which it should be. It could be more charming though.

  Knuckles fights some Legionnaires and Metal Knuckles, and is thrown by him. After a Legionnaire says he could beat Komi with one hand behind his back he’s interrupted and saved by Crystal-La, the girl who was worshipping Knuckles earlier. I love her CLOTHES, at least!

I didn’t know it was supposed to be Athair’s wife until I read the behind the scenes article on this issue, because she didn’t have wrinkles to look old at all, she doesn’t even look middle-aged, and for no real reason she didn’t just immediately introduce herself to Knuckles as “ HI, Avatar, I’m your great-grandfather’s wife! “

  Wait, Metal Knuckles just blew up?! That was lame! We barely got to see him fight him! It was smart of Knuckles to make him get hit with a defensive cannon laser but STILL! At least this way we get the plot progressing faster instead of an overly long fight scene causing padding.

But speaking of padding though there IS some as we cut back to Lien-Da. Lien-Da tries to tell the horrified people that the bombs are just a lie. Why would she lie to them about the bombs?! Sure, she might lie about bombs being in HER because she’s self-conscious about it, but lying about the bombs in GENERAL?

Wouldn’t she wanna ensure their obedience by telling them the truth? What could they DO against them? As we finally see Cobor in the present, he says the legionization devices have been hooked up so she tells them to activate them.

Remington accuses Lien-Da of signing their death warrants even though there’s no guarantee they WILL die and they probably won’t because Eggman would want to take advantage of using them. The padding starts as Lien-Da is called out on some more for selling out to Eggman, and she gets glared at because Remington points out that all of the citizens here have lost a loved one, and cybernetics can’t compare to that.

Sure, we might have needed her to be called out on for her mistake some more, but I was just thinking, I GET IT, I know she made a mistake! I want it undone, not called out. Couldn’t this scene have been removed so we’d have more room for a fight scene with Knuckles and Metal Knuckles instead of, redundancy? But I do love that Lien-Da looked scared at the crowd glaring at her for that. And Remington’s buying them all time by calling her out, which is necessary to explain why they didn’t get legionized, so it is important.

  Someone in a cloak shoots a metal thing that I’m guessing is the legionizer, and Julie taunts her calling her sis, and Sonic spindashes around thanking Julie for the timely rescue. Wait, WHAT? He can spindash with his ankles chained? Well to be fair, why would having chains and handcuffs keep you from going into a ball and rolling? It’s just weird that he’s this capable when he’s chained up because then why didn’t he start spindashing around as soon as he woke up and knock the bad guys out?

Lien-Da hits Sonic with some electricity making him vulnerable again, and Julie tells him to free his team so they can get out of here. She gets shocked by Lien-Da and Knuckles attacks Lien-Da and Remington or Knuckles points a ray gun at her telling her to stay down.

Sonic asks if Metal Knuckles is still around and Tails says he could summon T-Pup and have him scout a safe path for everyone. Makes sense that a flying robot dog could do that safely, so again, brilliant use of an underused character!

Julie says that Knuckles and Safron stopped Metal Knuckles and they’re securing the court yard now, and she brought something to make an easy escape. However because of NONSENSE, Julie’s Warp Ring doesn’t work for no apparent reason, and the characters’ faces look really WEIRD to match the nonsense. This is about as silly as Thrash’s empty Warp Ring. I get the need to increase the tension and get Thrash defeated by keeping all these echidnas here, but COME ON! At least that was A problem, I was kinda getting bored by the constant, consistently perfect writing.

Sonic says he’ll help Knuckles clean out and they’ll improvise, and he tells him they need to get everyone to the docks. So did the Legionnaires all get shocked? They did because Knuckles threw Thunder Arrows at them. That’s the problem with still action scenes, it’s hard to tell what’s going on.

  Anyways, Sonic and Knuckles say they’re cool, forgiving each other REALLY EASILY for Knuckles betraying him and Sally by refusing to give him a Warp Ring earlier… I guess that avoids drama but that’s not too realistic for someone who’s in love with SALLY and would do anything to get her back! But apparently time heals all wounds.

I’m just wishing they could have a proper conversation about this to have this make sense, like, Sonic could say that he was right because if he warped to Mecha Sally he still wouldn’t feel like damaging her heavily enough that he could safely get her to the deroboticizer anyways and would just grab her hands and get captured and lose the Warp Ring, considering how he usually fought Mecha Sally.

And if he warped her to him of course the same problem would arise and she’d attack New Mobotropolis. if Sonic had guts he would’ve just warped to her and spindashed her a whole buinch to easily get her back home and incapacitated without being killed. But Knuckles is right because Sonic is too dumb or scared of hurting Sally to do that.

ANYWAYS, suddenly the two of them are threatened by someone in dark black armor saying that the end of echidna civilization has arrived. I figured out he was Thrash after a while because of the two devil dogs nearby but it took a while because it was such dark lighting.

  This was about as perfect as I expected. It’s kinda WEIRD seeing such consistently good quality in the Mecha Sally Arc! It wasn’t absolutely AMAZING, I wasn’t… I didn’t have a huge smile on my face the whole time I was reading it. I did smile when I was retyping this review for this blog though because of just how good the story was, like THIS is what I want from this comic, not what Flynn was writing. Technically this was simply a “ great “ issue, but compared to what this was REPLACING, it WAS amazing!

  It had a lot of action, with the heroes having fights that are pretty short to save on the padding, there was a good excuse for giving Knux the spotlight because Sonic and friends were captured, in a believable way fortunately, with Sonic’s capture being justified because he was knocked out from Metal Knuckles knocking him away so he’d hit his head on a rock, and Tails was kicked in the head when he was flying him away. Safron was made great use of because she was flying to tell her friends what the Legion’s defensive systems were from a safe distance and she was worried about Knuckles losing his home, showing consequences.

  And the story ends with surprisingly, Thrash still carrying out a plan against the echidnas, but hopefully it’s a foegone conclusion that he’ll LOSE this time around and I LOVE being able to say that! Sadly I can’t say Flynn’s take on this arc was truly retconned until ASO finally actually finished their rewriting of it. I was pretty surprised Thrash even was in this story, but I shouldn’t have been.

It’s just that if he has a Warp Ring, of course he would have a really easy time sending all of the echidnas away, and he was clearly shown to have a Warp Ring last time we saw him so we can’t just forget he has it, so I thought he was too overpowered of a character to be in this rewritten arc because logically he SHOULD’VE had a really easy time sending them all away. It at least made SENSE in-universe, aside from the fact that the heroes even letting him keep that Warp Ring from earlier was bullshit, as was the empty Warp Ring nonsense.

  The heroes escaped Lien-Da’s clutches rather easily in one issue, thanks to Julie being cunning enough to use a disguise, AND a ray gun. THAT’S how you make a character with no real special powers USEFUL! Why can’t SALLY have a ray gun?! So it makes sense that Thrash would show up to make the heroes and villains team up against him, to shake things up.

  If I had one complaint it would be that Julie’s Warp Ring had NO reason to malfunction just for the sake of drama. If it’ll get explained in later issues, well, why not just explain it right away?! Especially since issues take MONTHS to come out! And the sequel to this will probably take a year! But I understand the meta reason of, “ we need to keep the heroes here to fight Thrash “ but honestly was it even necessary? They had to stay there anyways to defend Albion from him! But the glitching out did explain why the echidnas were all kept in Albion so they’d need defending.

  I dunno it’s weird to review a story and have 3 whole pages where there’s really only one instance of a plot hole, only one really PROBLEM. I’m used to WORSE! I guess if I had to make another complaint, Metal Knuckles lost WAY too easily that was just pathetic. But at least it saved on comic space, but we were better off having a longer fight scene with him which we could’ve had if there wasn’t padding where Remington was yelling at Lien-Da for selling out her people.

I felt like that was a waste of time, like, “ Yeah, preaching to the choir there, stop wasting our time with her! “ This could’ve been covered in just one big textbox! Now I’m looking forward to six billion years from now – I mean six months when the next issue of this will finally come out!

Issue 245:

  We see narration that the Albion government was too confident in their defenses to heed the warning from Athair’s wife. We see that she had told the wandering tribe from earlier to follow her out of Albion, and the narration says that she’s the reason there were any survivors. I love that this was explained. I always assumed nobody in the wandering tribe survived when Eggman attacked Albion. NOW it makes SENSE, that they were told to go there because it DIDN’T get them all killed!

Still don’t understand why Finitevus had that happen. Oh, but Yanar didn’t survive. I don’t get it, everyone ELSE from the wandering tribe trusted her and left, but HE didn’t? The guy who actually has a name?! Despite her efforts, a lot of her former tribe still perished that day. That’s depressing, but at least some survived.

  Athair thinks adhering to the Ancient Walkers’ philosophy is hard because he still cares about his loved ones. What philosophy, “ be a sociopath? “ Why would he WANT to? Why would the Ancient Walkers want that? Then as I’m wondering why the story didn’t start with us seeing what Sonic was doing, we see Aurora tell Athair to stop caring about his old loved ones, but at least she has a point that it just causes him heartache. Yeah she’s still evil.

She says their focus should be on ensuring their third member is prepared for ascension. What, Tails’ uncle? That was stupid and unnecessary, by the way. No one’s explaining why he’s considered necessary and useful for Aurora when he’d be far more useful on Mobius, and she worked perfectly fine without him.

  Athair says it’s up to Knuckles now and finally we see Knuckles ask Thrash what he’s doing here and his mother’s glad to see him. Knuckles gestures at her to keep her from going up to him, which she isn’t happy with, but it makes sense because it’s not the right time. Because Lien-Da’s a villain, she asks what those “ things “ are doing here and she’s referring to Thrash’s devil dogs.

   He says that below the city is a gene bomb the echidnas had made in the past, apparently, according to him. He wants it to detonate to give the echidnas a taste of what they did to his people; they’ll all become beasts. Why would there be a second gene bomb already built for him to just conveniently take advantage of? The echidnas made one to deal with their enemies and they used it!

I guess this can make sense if they made one in case they’d have to deal with a race of Mobian making them waste resources warring with them, and they never felt like using it. If they turned people into devil dogs then this makes sense too. At first I assumed that because he mentioned gene bombs, that he revealed that gene bombs are why his people became beasts.

  Lara-Le tells Remington to start evacuating Albion. Tails wonders if Thrash would get affected by the gene bomb too. Thrash thanks him for the concern, even if he is smirking, and says the gene bomb’s been calibrated with echidna DNA, so it’ll only affect them. Who calibrated it with it, though? He’s not a genius programmer or scientist, and Finitevus hates him. He’d never work for Thrash. So I’m guessing that the gene bomb has such great user interface that ALL Thrash had to do was put echidna DNA in it for it to calibrate to that. So he didn’t have to reprogram it.

  He says that all he has to do is keep the echidnas from leaving. But he’s just one person with a few devil dogs. Also, I guess the range on the gene bomb sucks and can’t extend a lot further, so that it wouldn’t matter if they ran out of the city. He roars and I like that Sonic still has the composure to say he didn’t hear that and ask him to speak up, before satisfyingly spindashing at him. And I guess he hit him feet first, and that’s why his spines didn’t cut him and go through him. Amy says Team Fighters is gonna back Sonic up and Julie says to get everyone out of the city in the meantime.

  Lien-Da doesn’t think Thrash would be able to succeed. She’s right. Remington tells Lien-Da not to underestimate another threat. It’s nice of him to put his hand on her shoulder even if she doesn’t deserve it. So Remington wants all of the echidnas to cooperate and Charmy’s fiancee says while flying that she’ll make sure everyone will play nice. She gets thanked and smartly told to keep the communications open just in case.

  Knuckles says he shouldn’t be too surprised to see Thrash here. This would only make sense if he was referencing the fact that Thrash sarcastically said to his face that it’d be a shame if echidnas went extinct. Thrash says that he’s always willing to help out Freedom Fighters, and Julie asks what echidnas ever did to him, even though he already told him what they did, but to be fair HE wasn’t mutated. But it did upset him.

  He catches Sonic’s spindash, making me wonder why he doesn’t get sent backwards a lot from the momentum and crash, and he throws him saying that he’d prefer not to fight with them. Julie gets told to look out and Amy attacks one of the devil dogs that was just behind her, and she says she’s come a long way since she gave her some training she had long since proved she didn’t need when she fought that Swatbot army. And this is the last time her training of her will be referenced, so whatever. Most of the time they still never interact.

  Then Lien-Da tells Remington that cybernetics were used in Albion to help people hurt from the wars, and that’s why Menniker knew what they could do for everyone else. She somehow expects me to believe that without cybernetics, you’d never survive in the Twilight Zone, even though Knuckles survived it perfectly fine with no problem. She must mean in the long run, but since she doesn’t explain exactly what she means, I don’t care.

Of all of the different other universes that could’ve been picked for a place to banish the Dark Legion, why did the magic of the first guardian insist on choosing the Twilight Zone when they’d need cybernetics to survive it? It’s far more likely that they would’ve been sent anywhere else, then, because he’s not needlessly cruel.

  Then someone says that she wouldn’t have survived giving birth without Legion medical technology. She could’ve just had a C-Section. She says they can all live longer healthier lives thanks to them. Too bad they have bombs, because otherwise, those are great points and I’m glad they’re being addressed.

Remington says he never objected to cybernetics in general, just to them being forced on people. Then a noise is heard and a cyborg is asked if she sees anything. She warns them all that the devil dogs have them surrounded. Remington tells the soldiers to set their blasters to stun, and then he says that when Enerjak Knuckles destroyed his memory neutralizing chip, he got some memories of his childhood back.

He wouldn’t have been made to forget it. What’s to gain? It’s not like he’s the step-sister Lien-Da never wanted to have, he’s just Kragok’s lovechild. Never mind that there was NEVER any indication that he had ever been in the Twilight Zone before, and obviously if he had come from there, Echidnaopolis would’ve noticed that he came there out of nowhere with no papers and records and education, so why would he have been hired as a constable? He just, came there as a kid?

  He says he remembered how hard it was for his mother to live in the Twilight Cage and how much Lien-Da terrorized her for no reason forcing her to leave. But he’s too vague about why it was hard. So again, I’m not as inclined to take this seriously without the details. I’m just confused and not respecting it because there was no indication that he was from the Twilight Cage when he first showed up.

  Remington knows because of his mother that Lien-Da must have killed Luger. So why is she bothering to deny it? She’s got absolute authority and her people are brainwashed into obedience to her by their cybernetics. Naturally Lara tells them to stop arguing for now and fight the devil dogs. Saffron explains what’s happening and gets told that help is on the way, so Julie tells Sonic about this and Knuckles tells Sonic to go help them.

Then Thrash finally explains why Julie’s Warp Ring isn’t working. It’s in the gene bomb’s energy field. Well, how convenient for him that when those ancient Albion scientists made the gene bomb, its energy field turned out to make the creation of portals in space-time impossible before Warp Rings were invented. I’m just relieved to finally get an explanation, but it just seems so unlikely. It’s a gene bomb, not an anti-portal field. Those are two different functions and you’d think you couldn’t make this happen by accident.

  Knuckles is calm enough to ask Thrash how his family turned out this way. It’s nice that he does this and they take a break from fighting nonstop. Thrash says that when the echidnas came to Downunda, the Tasmanian Devils were like lab rats to them and were taken and changed, and the echidnas wanted to fight their enemies and his people were used for that end.

I always assumed the Tasmanian Devils were their enemies to begin with, so their wars with them caused them to do this. Wasn’t that explained? Why would the echidnas go to such convoluted lengths to fight their enemies this way instead of simply sending soldiers and robots to fight their wars? So I’m not satisfied with this “ explanation, “ it just feels like he’s intentionally leaving out how it all started when that’s what he was asked.

  He says he used that Warp Ring to find papers saying where the echidnas were all hiding. Papers in Angel Island mentioning that echidnas lived on Albion at some point in history, I guess, because there wouldn’t be any papers mentioning that more of them were sent there. Only Knuckles would write that. Then after Saffron gets shot out of the sky, she puts her hand up to a devil dog instead of running away or anything because she’s too panicked, and it’s very lucky for her that it licked her hand when it was nothing but mean-looking before.

  Knuckles tells Thrash that none of them were aware that echidnas settled in Downunda more than once and apologizes for what happened to his people. He calls him out and the ground below them cracks open into a hole. Why? Thankfully Thrash falls into it with the rest of them. Knuckles catches Julie while gliding and I like that he smiles asking if she’s alright and she smiles back.

I don’t know why his landings would need work after years of experience. And Thrash simply lands on the rocky floor. Logically that’d kill him, or at least injure him. I have to assume he had Rings protecting him and that both of them assume this as well, so that’s why they don’t even consider that he might be hurt. She tells Knuckles he might wanna see this as they’re in a dark underground cave. Too bad the story ends here because I don’t know what she’s talking about. What, is this Finitevus’ place?

  The plot doesn’t really progress in this issue, beyond Sonic getting told to go help the echidnas when they’re being attacked by devil dogs. At least I know there’s a ton of them, so Thrash has a reason to think he’d actually get to keep the echidnas from leaving Albion, and it’s good that it was finally explained that the gene bomb’s energy field as it’s getting ready to work makes the Warp Rings useless.

It’s still very confusing because the Warp Ring was invented by Finitevus recently, and you’d think you’d have to intentionally program a gene bomb to also have the secondary function of preventing portals from showing up from a device that wasn’t invented yet. I like that it was pointed out that cybernetics are good for people, but for the most part it was just a story where nothing happened that mattered, until Knuckles fell into a hole, and it ends there before things could start happening.

  And I just don’t take seriously the retcon that the Tasmanian Devils weren’t already enemies with the echidnas for a while before being mutated as revenge and instead they just did it to them for no reason to fight other enemies we don’t even know about.

They had no reason to do that when they could just keep fighting wars the way they always did, and since the echidnas had the best technology in the world, why would they go to extremes against their enemies when they’d know they’d always be guaranteed to win? If they were gonna go to extremes, they’d just drop atomic bombs, not go through all of this trouble to make what’s essentially just less intelligent ground troops, it’s not even like they have super strength or powers.

Issue 246:

  Julie wonders what the cave paintings are and Thrash tells them that they’re proof of the rottenness of the Albion echidnas, weapons of mass destruction, failed experiment remains and torture tools, all used on him and others. It’d actually have an impact, if it was obvious what we were looking at, instead of it being completely vague. I’d prefer if he said destruction instead of death because Shadow said weapon of mass destruction in SA2.

Why would Knuckles say that he never imagined the echidnas were capable of this, when he always knew they had great technology, and a society doesn’t even need better than medieval technology to torture? I hope there’s a believable explanation for why Thrash was a victim of this, as all we’ve got is, “ because they lived near the echidnas, “ when that didn’t happen to the dingoes.

  Sonic and the others are surrounded by Thrash’s dogs so naturally Lien-Da tells the Legionnaires to use lethal force. Saffron stands in front of them to protect them and Sonic demands Lien-Da to hear her out. She should’ve known Sonic and his friends wouldn’t be okay with her killing them, and that with how fast Sonic is, he might have wanted to protect them, but that could get him killed when she probably needs his protection right now.

  Saffron says the devil dogs are actually smart and if they’re nice to them, they might listen to them. Saffron pleads with them to move aside to let her and her friends pass. She’s reminding me of Cream, but better because she’s Charmy’s girlfriend.

Predictably her idea conveniently works despite Thrash telling all of them to kill these guys, and Lara-Le says she made an amazing discovery as Saffron pets the devil dog. Remington tells everyone to show compassion to the devil dogs.

And I’m glad Lien-Da was written to say, “ I can’t believe something so stupid managed to work. “ After all this could’ve easily not worked. Dogs trained to guard stuff can’t be petted into submission by strangers, but to be fair these dogs are used to being Thrash’s pets, so it makes sense that they would prefer to go back to basics with people they have no grudge against if they always thought Thrash was being silly and were just humoring him. They never acted like they thought he was being silly because they were always growling at them, so they must have changed their minds. How else was this plot supposed to get resolved in a kids’ series?

  So everyone gets to the little boats at the docks with some people being in UFOs. Remington wishes he could make sure Knuckles is safe, and naturally Sonic says he has faith in him. Saffron reassures him that they’ll take care of things here, and Remington wishes them good luck.

Sonic has a charming line to his friends, “ Let’s play a game; who can break the most legion equipment? “ and Tails says he’s going down, playing along like a good friend, and Saffron realizes she can’t call Julie and Knuckles, and we see Thrash throw something metal at the cybernetic of Julie, which had been used to call people earlier.

  Knuckles apologizes to Thrash for the problems his kind faced in the past, and surprisingly, Saffron reunites with him immediately, even though I thought she didn’t know where they were. I guess she did see them fall in here, or was smart enough to have a tracking device in Julie. I just can’t take it seriously that she reunited with them that fast! Knuckles tells her good work and says he can’t let Thrash escape with the bomb.

She volunteers to help, and Julie plans to shoot at him with her ray gun with no one objecting, which could only make sense if it wasn’t guaranteed to be lethal, and Knuckles hits his fist. Is it in-character that Saffron isn’t objecting at her trying to shoot Thrash?

  Then he upper-cuts Thrash and I see the impact too. It’d be nice to see a lot more of that. While I get why he’d rather reason with him than beat him up – he’s organic so he doesn’t want to kill him and talking him out of doing this again is the only other way – it’s still a bit annoying because Thrash seems hopeless. Thrash admits that he met his match, after just one punch. Did it skip past a whole fight scene? I didn’t know he gave up that fast, when he didn’t with Finitevus, but Knuckles’s super strength would justify him immediately realizing that his punches aren’t something to laugh off.

  Knuckles tells Thrash that his people would atone for what the past echidnas did. Saffron says she lost her people too but she somehow insists that she doesn’t seek revenge because she’d be no better than Eggman, even though she fights Eggman’s forces, which he would SEE as revenge, so it’s blatantly obvious that she’s doing that to seek revenge anyways. She does want to make the world better but that’s just one reason, and it’s not good logic of her to think that wanting to make Eggman pay for his crimes, would make someone just as bad as someone who TURNS people into mindless robots.

I guess the reason the heroes aren’t calling her out on this out of nowhere idiocy, is because it wouldn’t be the best timing when Thrash is here, as you’d think it’d be obvious to everyone here that, Julie’s probably getting back at the Dark Legion and that doesn’t make her as bad as Eggman. I’m sure Knuckles is getting back at Eggman too and that doesn’t make him as bad as Eggman. Julie says the people here today aren’t responsible for the actions of the people in the past, no duh.

  Thrash says it’s not that simple. I don’t see how, it’s not really the best to do nothing to have him explain himself here and get interrupted. I don’t think there’s any chance of any of the audience siding with Thrash, since you’d have to be an actual fan of Archie to read this. So he didn’t have to be written to not re-explain his good point from earlier.

  Knuckles says that if he stands down and tells them where the bomb is, he’ll help restore the Tasmanian Devil race. Thrash is stunned and then hits the ground embarrassed that he’s so desperate for that that he’ll rely on an echidna.

So he agrees to Knuckles’ demand, and I hope the writers will keep this going, because it’d be nice to see him become the good character he seemed to be when he first showed up, and honestly I would forgive him by just seeing him as a different person than the earlier him. It’s no wonder a character got improved, these are good writers! I’m looking forward to what they’ll do with him after this.

  He says he hooked the bomb to an underground power station and says he’ll go on ahead. Then finally we see Finitevus again. And I’m completely confused that he says he’s disarmed the bomb for him. Huh? But he WANTS destruction. It never occurred to me that he was here at all because the people of Albion wanted him arrested and put down so he hadn’t come back here since for a reason. So I never thought he’d ever come back here.

He calls Thrash an idiot and is impressed that he not only found his lab, but put together something so complicated. So he’s only an idiot by being a bit irrational. Otherwise he’s a genius apparently. He threatens Finitevus and jumps through a Warp Ring that connects to just above some lava in Red Mountain. Knuckles saves him by gliding and grabbing him.

  Finitevus lampshades the lack of gratitude from the suspicious Julie and says he only came back to take what’s his. He uses a Warp Ring to escape with the bomb, and I shake my head in disapproval with Julie because she could’ve shot him to death and avoided his next plan. Even if it’s not lethal on the first hit she could keep shooting. but to be fair, Saffron would’ve witnessed it.

So while it was a stupid mistake of her to spare him when it was obvious he would leave any second, it’s at least believable that she didn’t want to traumatize Saffron any further by killing him, when not only would that get her to be mad at her, but she’d go on to tell the rest of her friends. She could at least injure him so that he couldn’t escape, ‘cause she probably IS able to just set it on stun if she shot at Thrash in front of Saffron earlier! The story could’ve been even more frustrating on the first read if it pointed THAT out.

  So this means, that the entire reason the Finitevus arc happens after this, is that Saffron was here. I have more reason than ever to be annoyed that she reunited with Knuckles. She did absolutely nothing of value so she didn’t need to somehow do that.

I hope it’s explained that Julie’s against killing no matter who it is, and also explained, that she thinks if she just tried to shoot him to injure him, there could be a pretty high risk, of him dying anyways, and having Saffron turn against her anyways, because that’d have her inaction be more believable and justify things, as stupid as it’d be especially for a former Legionnaire, who might have killed before in self-defense.

  She didn’t know a sentence of his before he warped away that he was going to do it, but it was still obvious he would’ve left with the bomb any second, because he’d be all over that and had nothing to do here when he was outnumbered and faced with someone with a gun anyways, so while she expected him to plan on fighting her instead or talking for longer, that was silly when the Warp Ring was there. I wish there was at least one arc in Archie Sonic that couldn’t have been easily avoided, because it’s been FOREVER!

  Thrash thanks Knuckles, who says he wasn’t gonna let him off the hook that easily. If only Flynn thought that in Issue 50 because that’s a good point. He sees an open Warp Ring beside him which lets him and Thrash get back. So, she used HER Warp Ring. I wish I saw her activate it.

So the heroes let Thrash leave in a Warp Ring, with me being sad that I’m not told where he’s going to go and what he’ll do next. I assume he’ll be fighting Eggman’s forces. Julie reassures Knuckles that she and his friends know he’s ready to face them.

  Knuckles’ mom hugs him glad he’s alright, and Remington says he knew he’d take care of things. Knuckles self-destructively decides to tell them he was Enerjak, because he’s tired of keeping it from them since he felt guilty about it for a long time, so of course the guilt would make him want to get punished for it because he thought he didn’t deserve for them to not know. And as for why he didn’t simply drop a note over Albion explaining that while he was gliding over it way earlier, he couldn’t have brought himself to do that for the same reason anyone else wouldn’t have, but now he’s in front of them so he can’t take it anymore.

  At least he tells them he had been brainwashed by Finitevus. But he didn’t have to dig himself deeper by saying that he thought he was doing the right thing, even if he called it idiotic. Taking away the Legion’s cybernetics was short-sighted, seeming to be smart at first when it was obvious they’d just recyborgize anyways… although it’d still delay them making them harmless for a bit so it could save lives, so the only reason it was stupid instead of brilliant is that somehow Lien-Da told EGGMAN to recyborgize them, and no one could’ve predicted that!

And there was no excuse for destroying the dingo civilization because it was Echidnapolis, when he could’ve just undone all of the changes the dingoes did to it. On the surface without these things being explained though it seems annoying that he calls it idiotic that he thought he was right, when even the audience might read what he said here and think they were good ideas, because it isn’t explained WHY they’re stupid.

  He says he can’t ask for their forgiveness, and his mother hugs him and forgives him. Remington also forgives him and relates to him that his ideals were also corrupted by Finitevus, not that he’ll elaborate on that finally. I always assumed he was basically the same person when he was leading the Frost Legion running it the same way. Only one person here looks annoyed with Knuckles. And he could be annoyed with Finitevus for all we know. Everyone else is smiling, because of good writing that can be trusted.

  Knuckles thanks them and Sonic says he destroyed all of the weapons of the Legion. I wish we SAW that because that’s important. He doesn’t have to say that right in front of the Legionnaires right now. Does he? Everyone would’ve learned that with time anyways. This just risks them all getting mad and wanting to beat up the heroes with the fists they’ve still got to fight with, which they might think is worth attempting, because they outnumber them.

  Lien-Da tells him when Eggman finds out he destroyed their weapons he’ll destroy this city and kill everyone here. Remington says cruelly that she deserves it. I wasn’t told that most of the time she’s a cruel or incompetent leader though. The only thing giving that impression is when she had someone beaten when she first appeared, and that was it for showing her mistreating her employees. She’s done bad things but at this point she’s forced into doing everything she does thanks to Eggman.

  Tails says that if the Dark Legion sends a staged transmission where it seems like they captured Albion, Eggman will leave it alone for now. But he’d find out the truth as soon as he’d visit it to reshape it in his image, and you’d think that’d be VERY soon since it’s got the excitement of a recently taken over city.

I’m sure in a world as advanced as this Albion would have social media as well as regular media, which would make it obvious it wasn’t taken over by the Legion, with one Google search. It doesn’t matter that the architecture makes it look outdated and old-fashioned, that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t have bought cell phones and made a cell phone tower.

  Somehow Remington is too short-sighted to think of this and says he’ll agree to it if the Legion stops causing trouble for now. Lien-Da says that Eggman wouldn’t be tricked so easily but the writer makes her a strawman by not letting her explain what I just did, that it’d be very temporary for a solution and guarantee Eggman killing them for lying to him, when maybe he wouldn’t have done that otherwise. Why would she say she won’t let them get away with that as if she’s actually morally opposed to lying to Eggman who told her he doesn’t care about her people?

  Remington asks if they should start fighting again to the last man, and she looks at her people who clearly don’t look like they’re okay with fighting, so because she has no faith in them to win, she shakes hands with him humoring him and everyone cheers, with nobody smart enough to realize how easily Eggman could find out the Legion didn’t take over this place. Them being in a good mood would be justified if Albion’s force field had been restored to actually keep Eggman and his forces out. Or, I wonder if it’d be possible for Tails to wirelessly transmit the energy from Robotropolis to here, and give THEM a working force field generator TOO.

  Crystal-La says she has old bones even though she doesn’t look old, so she wouldn’t say that. She then whispers to Remington’s girlfriend her real age, and is surprisingly unwilling to say she was roboticized earlier, which is confusing because she chuckles at the start rather than acting like she’s embarrassed of what happened to her or somehow paranoid that she’d hate all former Robians.

  Julie goes to talk to Lien-Da, unnecessarily revealing to her that Dimitri is alive, I guess just to rub it in her face but why get her to try to finish the job? She says Knuckles thought she should get one last chance to get her act together. Sure just get Nicole to remove the bombs in her that Eggman has specifically to force her to keep being loyal to him! She and Remington need to TELL her that’s possible to avoid looking silly and being called out.

  Wouldn’t they all know they’re all on a ticking time limit and Eggman could press a button to kill her any second, which he’d do the moment he’d try to take advantage of Lien-Da just to not get humored? So they can’t really keep peace with the Dark Legion until AFTER they get the bombs taken out. To be fair it’d be more likely that he’d assume she died and that’s why he couldn’t get her help, because why would he think she would ever betray him when she has bombs in her?

Maybe they’re all assuming Eggman wouldn’t destroy the Legion for ignoring him because of this, but even if he assumes every Legionnaire in Albion was killed, he could still blow them up to spite the people that might be around them. Even if he thinks they would all be a graveyard, he’d still do it because the explosions would scare people.

  Remington says the echidnas don’t need to be legionized because it should be enough that they’re echidnas too and Julie says that between Lien-Da and Lara-Le and Remington, they could all figure out what to do about Eggman, but HOW, why believe her? She SHOULD have said, “ Eggman’s bombs. “ She assumes they’re planning to bring back the democratic council and is annoyed that they didn’t ask her.

Julie tells her to hand over that control chip of hers, and threatens her at gunpoint into taking it out of her head so Remington could crush it effortlessly, because apparently he has super strength too. I wonder if it’d make sense that this didn’t injure his hand from the pieces of the crushed chip going through his glove.

  Julie tells Lien-Da that she can still lead the Legion without brainwashing and she doesn’t believe her. Her people would hate her without being brainwashed, but they would still have to obey her if she’s on the council with Remington, so she’s stupid.

Remington says she shouldn’t claim to know what leadership is like. He says she thinks being a leader is only about getting more power no matter what, when any real leader would know how to maintain order without going to extremes and would know how to solve the strife between their people.

  He calls her childish, apparently giving up on being civil, and Julie tells her that her being power hungry is probably why their father loved Julie more. It’s cruel of her to throw that in her face, but it’ll be worth it if it leads to something good, and hopefully that’s why she resorted to that, that she wants her to get her act together.

The problem is her father would’ve only known she only cared about power if she was constantly whining about not being in charge of the Legion yet. Otherwise it doesn’t make sense that she’d say this when her father was oblivious to her power hunger. We weren’t shown her whining about not being charge when Luger was alive, so now I have to assume she was.

  Sonic reassures Amy when she wishes they could save Sally, and Cobor thanks Tails and his friends shaking his hand, and makes the unnecessary effort of telling him where Eggman went. Sonic affectionately grabs Knuckles’ hand, he tells Sonic good luck, and makes me wish we DID get to see Sonic punch Eggman in the face. That should happen nearly every time he’s in a scene with the heroes because it’s an action series full of slapstick anyways.

  It’s nice to see everyone wave goodbye as the heroes get away from the place on the biplane. Knuckles’ mom ruffles his hair as he hugs her and promises to keep in touch from now on. She says his family loves him and he thanks her.

He thanks Remington for stating the obvious, and he says Albion’s in good hands with him, and he’s flattered. Saffron hugs someone and Knuckles says he’ll see them again soon. Wyn has his arm around his wife as Knuckles leaves with the Warp Ring.

  Then Komissar Gae-Na reports to Eggman to tell him that the Legion has subdued all of Albion and is awaiting orders. She says the Legionization equipment was destroyed in the battle. I wonder if she HAD to tell him that. He says he’s too busy with the Death Egg for hearing the details, and would rather call back later. You’d think telling him that would make him check on this place FASTER to try to help with the legionization.

The writer at least writes her to say she doesn’t know how long she could hold Eggman off, and that he’s bought it for NOW, so maybe we aren’t expected to be short-sighted. It’s sweet of her to ask Lien-Da if she’s alright and offer to get her anything. It comes as a complete surprise that she cares about her. It’s nice that she has a good-looking other eye, that she replaced her former cyborg eye with. But it makes no sense that she would choose one that isn’t presenting the same eye color as her organic eye.

  Lien-Da gets offered something to drink, and is told that rather than seeing this alliance as a bad thing, she should think of it as an opportunity for the Legion to see what kind of a grandmaster she can be. She admits she’s right, but is still drawn to look menacing with electricity coming out of one of her eyes as she hopes she’ll prove Julie wrong by playing by her rules. So are we supposed she’ll be a villain again or not?

  Knuckles is thankful that Dimitri didn’t mess up guarding the Master Emerald, and understands that he can be trusted to watch it. The Chaotix come out of the Warp Ring, Julie cares enough to ask Mighty if he found his sister, and Knuckles says he’s glad to hear the good news and have Ray and him back.

Vector’s thankful that Knuckles is in such a good mood again. It’s satisfying to see Knuckles say he has closure. He says they have to do research on the Tasmanian experiments, and disabling the Legion’s bombs. I don’t know why Knuckles is talking like his group alone is gonna focus on trying to figure out these things, when there aren’t any geniuses among them besides Dimitri, and if he was able to do it, he would’ve figured out how to do it a long time ago. So it’s obvious he’ll need Tails and Rotor too to speed it up.

And Nicole’s nanite powers are obviously the only solution for disabling the Legion’s bombs, so why doesn’t he know that already? Of course sending tiny things into the body to go after other tiny things through any little crack in the cybernetics leading to them, would be the only way to disable those tiny things.

Well either that or a wizard, but I wouldn’t take that seriously because it’d come out of nowhere that he could do that, unless there’s another Enerjak that’ll do that. He also says he wants to find Charmy’s people. I thought they would’ve given up by now because of that story with Espio and Nicole, I thought that meant Charmy and Saffron were now the last of their kind.

It’d be easy to google bee people and demographic statistics on other countries to find out which ones got a sudden influx of bee refugees, so that couldn’t have been what happened or Knuckles would’ve already found Charmy’s people a long time ago. Apparently they’ve always assumed that they went into hiding all together in a place that’s SUCH a good hiding place, no one ever found it, even though they did, so they had an emergency Knothole too.

Then we see Thrash visit someone who’s in bed beneath the Tasmanian Ruins in Downunda, and the story ends with him being sad, so I guess this means he’s officially the last of his kind. That was a waste of a page. He already got punched for his punishment, and this would’ve happened anyways.

  This was written by the Shadow Imperator, Dr. Z and Gentleman X. This story was surprisingly idealistic but I’d take that over it being dark; it had the Legion agree to stand down because Remington threatened Lien-Da with losing the rest of her soldiers, and Lien-Da get threatened into losing her control chip, and where it becomes idealistic is not only did Knuckles talk Thrash out of it, but it had Saffron tell Sonic and his allies to just pet the devil dogs into submission, because she befriended them, and found out they’re intelligent, which can make sense if you think about it because they’re used to being just pets.

But because they were growling at them earlier, that should’ve been explained because it could’ve easily gone wrong, but it’s worth it for being creative. While it is disappointing that Thrash only took two punches without caring about the first one when you’d expect a fight scene for a karmatic climax, it’s helped by the fact that it shows the impact, and it’s justified that Knuckles would rather focus on talking him out of this because he wouldn’t want to kill an organic being, and it made him look smart because promising to restore his kind was an offer he couldn’t refuse, so of course he calmed down.

  But again this could have easily not worked because Knuckles didn’t tell him how he would achieve this promise. I have to assume Thrash assumed that he meant he’d get the help of his genius friends and their technology, which he should’ve thought of earlier.

Without the audience assuming that he knew that and Knuckles knew he’d know that, it seems too convenient at first that he humored him when he was portrayed as just a genocidal monster before. But now he’s a good guy so I look forward to him fighting Eggman’s forces from now on! It was disappointing that Finitevus disarmed the bomb instead of hi,m because I’d rather see Thrash do something to redeem himself in this story.

  I don’t know why he even disarmed the bomb because he wanted the heroes dead and took it away so he could use it later, and Knuckles was in the room with Thrash, so wouldn’t he have just warped away with the bomb right away and then warped the bomb to him after setting its time limit to just a few seconds left to zero?

I have to assume he can’t do that with it, yet, so he only disarmed it so he could save himself, because he just assumed it wouldn’t go off to kill Knuckles if he didn’t disarm it, because Knuckles was already on his way there. He must have spied on Knuckles and Thrash on his way to the bomb to know that. I never had the impression he knew they were on the way to it.

  It was a well-written story but not an amazingly written one because it ends on convenient solutions I’m thankful for, most of which could’ve easily failed, and one frustration, that Julie could have shot Finitevus REPEATEDLY until he was dead or injured enough that they’d have to take him to the hospital, instead of wasting time asking him what he’s doing there when any idiot could figure it out instantly. And it’s not like it HAD to be too dark because she could’ve simply injured him, and that shouldn’t be something she’d think Saffron would be opposed to because she let her try to shoot Thrash!

But at least this time it’s believable and justified because she wouldn’t have wanted to kill him in front of Saffron. But it’d be better if she was written to explain that her ray gun’s out of energy or SHE would’ve never wanted to kill him, so that I wouldn’t blame his plan on Saffron’s useless unnecessary presence where she somehow reunited with Knuckles at light speed when she didn’t know where he was.

Sonic Universe Issue 45:

  Oh great, it’s the Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing adaptation, THAT’S not POINTLESS at all! Is this non-canon? I wish we saw Sally, Antoine and Bunnie here! It would’ve taken just two issues for Flynn to deroboticize Sally.

If comic space hadn’t been wasted on adaptations for totally pointless games, we could’ve had issues available for Flynn to deroboticize Sally at the very least! I don’t care about any of these non-Sonic characters so I’ll just talk about what’s essential; the plot. A whole page was wasted.

  Eggman shows up in a vehicle to enter the Grand Prix and it turns out he did this pointlessly LAST year TOO. Uh, we have the same problem as in Sonic Drift. I get that immaturity is one of his main personality traits so he’d probably wanna have fun pointlessly competing in a grand prix, but I’d picture Eggman in the comic to be a lot more focused on his evil plans, and running the world!

Tails then says that the invitation for this year’s race went out to everyone who competed last year so they had to include everyone to be fair. He’s talking as if inviting EGGMAN was fair, and righteous, when he’ll just cheat!

  Eggman says that when he wins, for his prize he’s going to start conquest of all the other Sega worlds, except he hasn’t even completely taken over Mobius, Sonic even SAID that he can’t claim to control the world when he’s fighting for it every waking hour!

So if he barely has enough time to rule Mobius how could he possibly have the time to conquer all those OTHER worlds? If anything that divided effort would ruin him by making him focus way less on Mobius itself, leaving him resource and time exhausted and vulnerable, so if anything the heroes should LET him win, so that he can be totally exhausted!

  Eggman says that Sonic’s not here and predictably that causes Sonic to show up RIGHT AWAY, in a car for fairness’ sake. Sonic says that he couldn’t decide whether he wanted to do this on foot or drive. He’s talking as if he has a choice in the matter when doing it on foot would obviously be cheating!

And Tails doesn’t get it because he acts all concerned about Eggman trying to conquer everyone’s worlds if he wins the race! Isn’t he supposed to be smart? Another problem with this goal of Eggman’s is that why can’t he just decide to do that even if he LOSES? What’s STOPPING him? Is the prize for winning an interdimensional transporter?… This plot is so stupid!

  Eggman cheats bumping the racers out of the way, he fires missiles at the racers in front of him to go ahead which somehow doesn’t hurt or kill anyone, and he keeps on flagrantly cheating making me wonder why he won’t be disqualified!…

Then Eggman gets a taste of his own medicine being attacked in his car by the other racers. Wouldn’t THEY be disqualified, (laughs) too? Can you imagine if the story ends with ALL of them being disqualified because they cheated? No that would be too clever of a joke for Flynn. Who’s judging these races?! Is there any judge at all?! Eggman leaves and it’s asked who crossed the finish line first. Apparently for no reason whatsoever NO ONE was watching, in a Grand Prix! So they race again.

  This story was by Ian Flynn. And this was a stupid pointless waste of time. I hope it was Executive Meddling that forced this to happen. At least the focus was on the SONIC characters but the plot was pathetically predictable and basic, and it’s bad when someone could just read a little bit of a story, correctly predict how its entire plot will go and miss nothing by throwing it over their shoulder instead of finishing it. Eggman cheats but Sonic wins. The end.

  Why would Eggman think he needs to win the race to start conquering other worlds when he’s already busy enough with Mobius as it IS, why would he have to win to do that?! Why would flagrant cheating be allowed in the race? Why didn’t anyone see who first crossed the finish line?!

This comic space could’ve gone towards resolving one of the dozens of dangling plot threads that never ended up resolved! This has gotta be the most basic and barebones game adaptation plot ever that isn’t just the first cutscene of a game! I hope the reboot isn’t constantly like this!

Sonic Universe Issue 46:

  We start out with Vector interrogating some Legionized people in Mercia on what they know about Mighty and Ray. Espio tells Vector to have a shift in priorities as he hits a goon, and Vector complains that since they’ve been jumped by goons IMMEDIATELY, odds are they captured Mighty and Ray, because they expected them to come here and stop them and had orders to attack on sight, I guess was his idea.

Espio hits away an attacker and says that if they don’t focus on attacking, they’ll be captured next. And he reminds him that he promised he’d keep Charmy safe. It’s always kinda sweet that the Chaotix have a parental instinct towards Charmy, actually caring about him! It’d feel off if they didn’t.

  Charmy warns them from above that some giant robots are headed their way. Some arrow hits a robot and it explodes and we see an archer from the Mercian Freedom Fighters that now exist, talking like Robin Hedge. If his parents literally named him Bow, then that’s an odd name. Well it’s nice to see Robin got his friends back. Maybe it’s just a nickname.

One of them sings annoyingly, reminding me of Bean. Good thing his friend calls him out on it. They take out the goons and I’m annoyed at seeing that among them is a “ friar, “ a “ holy man. “ Of which religion?! This is Mobius we’re talking about! I HATE this kind of reference! Penders made these kinds of references! If he doesn’t fight then what’s he doing with Freedom Fighters?! He looks stoned.

  Anyways, after padding Espio asks where the Mercian king is, saying he thought he was their leader. Bow explains that he’s been away with his wife and child for a long time so the heroes fear the worst, and he carries on Robin’s speech in his memory, hence why he talks like him… First of all I didn’t know Robin was the king of Mercia! Wouldn’t that be the snake obsessed with flogging? Also, maybe Thrash kidnapped Robin too. Also I doubt he spared Dimitri from that fate so that means he waited way too long to apologize, because he got sent away before he could make it up to them! What a waste!

  The Chaotix are told they’ve seen Mighty and Ray, but not in a while, and they’re asked to come with them because they indeed have much to discuss, in a white void of laziness. We see their hideaway, “ Hideaway, “ which is a treehouse built with bridges against the trees, like Knothole used to be in the Adventure Adaptation.

The letters Mighty was sending them stopped coming and then the Warp Ring came back on its own. That’s when the Chaotix went searching for them. I assumed it was out of impatience so I’m glad there’s a better explanation. Their last letter said they were coming to Mercia, since this is where Mighty was born.

  Bow says that Mighty had already won a battle with a robot when they found him in the forest. A few panels are wasted by people annoyingly singing about what we JUST LEARNED about, that Mighty had a victory. That’s not funny! That’s forced! Why would their social skills suck so much that they think that SINGING about it right now would be a good idea?!

When he met Mighty, he confessed the king’s ties to his sad story. It was Robin’s ridiculous-looking father who had punished Mighty’s parents for their thievery. He was the same one who exiled Mighty for his super strength, instead of employing him in his army for some reason.

  Bow says that he had pledged all his resources to Rob’s cause and his life for one ruined. Mighty only asked for his help being too nice to be mad at him. Buck says that when Eggman’s forces first moved into the land, he hid the kingdom’s records and census in Hideaway for some reason.

He maintained them for years until he was roboticized. WHY? Purely so he could know exposition about Mighty’s sister. This is such stupid lazy writing. He even maintained them for years. Again, WHY? He’s a friar, not a censuser! His last records showed Mighty’s sister was in an orphanage until she was roboticized five years ago.

Espio says that assuming the roboticization preserved her age, she may not have aged since then, so after all the Robians were returned to normal by the Bem she’d look young at this point. Wait, so if, if being roboticized preserves your age, does that mean that it makes you immortal?

  Why does Vector ask if he knew this already when him telling Mighty his sister was a cyborg got them to go here? I sympathize with Espio’s bored and exasperation look here because I feel the same way! SO MUCH TALKING… There’s way too much exposition in this story.

It would’ve been much better to just show us Mighty and Ray’s adventure in the forest than to have the Chaotix sit down and have a giant lecture told to them about them in post, with NO DIALOGUE and nothing but flashback panels! This isn’t engaging! Espio says that Eggman’s forces are stationed in the castle, and if they could sneak in and get access to the Internet there, they could find records of which Robians were moved and where.

  Bow says they had planned to infiltrate the castle with Mighty but the plan fell apart that night. Mighty was woken up and told that Eggman’s minions are trying to burn the forest to find Hideaway which he hasn’t found already with flying spy cameras apparently, or robots stumbling into it and giving him their coordinates. It’s the Knothole problem all over again! I guess Robotnik tried to burn the Great Forest a lot but his plans were always foiled. Mighty refuses to leave them at a time like this and says that he’ll get Ray.

  Our time is wasted by multiple panels of two people singing about a battle without ANY dialogue or interesting details about it aside from Mighty aiming a fire hose away from a goon and the Friar making traps! This is forced comedy, because there’s no logical reason for this!

Mighty was convinced to run off, and a PAGE and a half LATER, Espio asks why he wouldn’t use his Warp Ring to escape and thus doubts he was captured by Lord Hood. They start to make plans to rescue people from jails.

It’s revealed that Lord Hood has a secret passage to his castle, and when Espio asks why they haven’t taken him out yet, he’s told that even if he WAS taken down someone would take his place in a week, and these guys don’t have the forces to both take him down AND rescue the legionized. If they were legionized, wouldn’t they have explosives in them that would immediately put their lives at risk if they defected? How would THAT be dealt with?

  At night, we see the Chaotix and their new allies all sneak into the castle using a grappling hook and sliding along a rope. And then we see someone in stocks being interrogated by Lord Hood who’s sending waves at him to try to learn where Hideaway is. They’re not brainwashing waves though.

He’s told that the heroes are taking the inner passage to the heart of the castle and Lord Hood is glad because he’s felt like an idiot leaving that avenue open this long just to make a trap. Good that makes more sense than him somehow never finding out about a passage in his own castle.

  He tells his men to let the heroes get well within their defenses since it would be dangerous for them. Oh my god, what a BORING Exposition Dump, this was so tedious for me to read! I could kinda handle experiencing it for the first time, but OH MY GOD it’s just TALKING and talking! Why didn’t Flynn go with his ORIGINAL idea where we got to see MIGHTY AND RAY’S journey?…

This issue was by Ian Flynn, and is about the Chaotix meeting up with the Mercian Freedom Fighters who are implied to have been Robin’s allies until he went away with his wife and child. They still like him though, with Bow even talking like him in an obvious Replacement Scrappy. They all make a plan to sneak inside Lord Hood’s castle to get info on where Mighty or his sister might be.

  What was also annoying about this story was the constant forced comedy of panels being wasted on characters singing about stuff, which is the most memorable part of the story arc unfortunately. The singing panels didn’t even really give us new details about what was going on! It just stretched out things and wasted time! It makes no sense, making the comedy fall flat. It’s not even like you can HEAR the singing and music, so it’s not like you have that benefit to enjoy!

Sonic Universe Issue 47:

  We start out with a prologue at the Oil Ocean refinery where we see some tanks of the Baron attacking Jack until Mighty throws a tank, and calls Jack boss who says he’s just doing stuff while he looks for answers, with Jack implying that Mighty’s been helping out for some time.

Meanwhile, under Lord Hood’s castle, Vector says they’ll split up. Then there’s a lame meme because Vector says, “ We’ll find the computer room! “ Bow says that his own team will head to the dungeons. They get inconvenienced by some oil, and Vector tries to lift up or break some bars. He can’t because Mighty was wrong that he’s as strong as him.

  Charmy then squeezes between the bars taking advantage of his small size and uses a switch to get rid of the bars entirely. Charmy says that he’ll see if there’s another switch but Espio says there’s no point because Lord Hood’s forces meant to trap them here.

He wants to take the Warp Ring back, but Buck says they can’t waste time opportunity. Espio wonders why an enemy that can monitor their movements is springing a cage trap instead of a death trap. He must want them alive to legionize. I guess he’s only confused because he expected the bad guys to know that he’d never succeed in legionizing them.

Espio asks Bow if he’s capable of accurately imagining the dungeons. Bow says yes because that’s where his king and mentor freed him. Espio gives him the Warp Ring as a result He tells Bow to take his team and begin preparing prisoners for an escape.

  After Vector insults Espio’s planning skills because he ran off to join the Iron Queen at one point, and we don’t even see Espio looking ashamed after that, Espio distracts some Legionnaires by moving a sewer grate while invisible and one of them complains that the last thing his lousy job needs is ghosts, acknowledging that his job as a grunt is lousy.

  Espio and Vector attack the scared goons and we see Bow’s team with the prisoners. Buck says that their king, his family and the Chaotix’s friends aren’t among them. Lord Hood gets told about the Warp Ring thanks to the Internet and we see Charmy having taken care of some bad guys while Espio tries to access the Internet, telling his friends to seal the door to the computer room.

  Sealing is impossible as all they’re able to do is fight the goons. Espio sees a password screen, and wishes that he had Nicole with him to hack in. Somehow Espio sends a sharp weapon connected to some white spider web substance at a goon running up to him from his hand. Oh, that was APPARENTLY supposed to represent him throwing something at the goon, since we see that the thing he threw is at the end of that white line.

That was horrible art. That was just confusing! The white line draws your attention way more than the thing he threw. Why not JUST draw the thrown thing? Or they don’t care about password security because they hate Lord Hood.

Fortunately Espio finds out that the password is password, and lampshades their stupidity. At least I can understand and forgive this convenience because tons of people including myself hate passwords, and don’t wanna bother using one that’s not easy to remember, even if it’s not literally password, so I can totally buy some bad guy using that as a password.

  Then he calls out that Vector and Charmy are needed elsewhere. Lord Hood brags to the captured Bow, calling Robin a coward. Bow says that not even Eggman would target Robin. YEAH RIGHT! I guess he’s not used to dealing with Eggman since he has such faith in him being a better person than him.

He’s allowed to take a shot since he’s missed him a bunch of times, and when he fires a dynamite arrow at a wall, it blows up behind Lord Hood. Hopefully that killed him. I love that he has all sorts of different arrows, especially dynamite arrows! It’s very, creative and it makes a normally archaic technology actually look useful!

  Bow tells Buck to lead the escape as his friends go through a Warp Ring and he says that he’ll cover him. A goon grabs the Warp Ring just like that from behind out of nowhere and throws it at Lord Hood. Well that was easy. Fortunately it’s NOT so easy, as one of the heroes catches the Warp Ring with her spear.

  One of them sings, and fortunately he explains that he’s trying to lighten the mood, before using his guitar as a weapon for a page. Wouldn’t that mean his guitar would eventually break?! Bow says they should go back to the sewers but unfortunately Lord Hood SURVIVED being exploded on PERFECTLY FINE and got up, sending some waves around intimidating the heroes, even though Antoine didn’t survive an explosion that well, HE DID with no injuries whatsoever! He complains about how for two generations of kings, he’s tried to bring order, but was always ignored and passed up.

After he insults Bow after that pathetic attempt at a tragic backstory, Vector punches him in the back of the head being a surprise attacker just like the goon was. Vector tells everyone to head for the outer wall, and when Bow says they’ll be completely vulnerable going through the main courtyard, Vector says that Espio said he had a plan.

  Espio finds out that Mighty’s sister was sent to Sandblast City. So predictably, that armadillo girl in the Dark Legion was in fact Mighty’s sister and wasn’t just some random armadillo girl. And lucky for Espio, this is the only armadillo girl in the entire universe, so he doesn’t find info on some OTHER armadillo girl and assume that SHE’S Mighty’s sister, even though she’s a different color from him! WHY was Mighty’s sister sent ALL THE WAY from Mercia to Sandblast City?! Wouldn’t it be easier for Eggman to just keep everybody in the same places?

Espio then realizes that it shows files from this terminal were accessed recently, proving that Mighty was here already and they’re on his trail. Espio thinks to himself that research on Robin is complete – REALLY? He didn’t mention anything about THAT! He thinks that fake orders have been sent and not corrected, meaning that Vector did his job. What fake orders?

We… We see two Legionnaires guarding a gate with one of them complaining about it and the other telling him why it needs guarding. Espio attacks them all invisible and lets the heroes in. Vector says that they still have to get all the way to the forest.

Espio says that the entire goon force has been ordered to stand outside this wall, (laughs) and he literally said GOON force, as an acronym! That’s self-aware! But why would the villains name their robots an unintimidating name?!

  Espio tells Bow to close the gate and Vector panics because all of the heavy forces are outside one wall and all the ground troops are outside the other gate. Espio then pulls out their Warp Ring, a direct shot to Hideaway, and Vector lampshades that he forgot about that thing, and Espio says Knuckles forgot to use it when surrounded by spike walls. At least that being explained and shown as something another character made the mistake of tries to keep it from being a plot hole.

Espio reveals that Eggman’s forces have no idea where Robin and his family are and he lost the trail at Never Lake. Espio says that this must mean Robin and his family are on the move, and he’s sure that they’re planning something and not kidnapped. You know I never got the impression that Robin was a king! I thought he was just some random Freedom Fighter!

  The next day, the Chaotix warp to just outside Sandblast City far away from it because the Sandblasters have a bad reputation. Plus it gives Vector a chance to wake up since he’s been up all night partying in Mercia. The story ends with Vector saying the Sandblasters can’t be that bad since they’re Freedom Fighters, almost getting shot for his idiocy, and being arbitrarily accused of going to join The Baron by the paranoid Jack, who Shard would be ashamed to coincidentally share his call name Jack with.

Why did Vector trust the Sandblasters in the first place after what Sonic must have said about them?! That was forced comedy because it makes no sense for Vector to trust THEM when he was paranoid of Julie-Su for so long!

  This excellent issue was by Ian Flynn and was about the prisoners being liberated from Lord Hood’s castle while Espio finds information on Mighty’s sister, who indeed was the armadillo girl we saw in Sandblast City. Couldn’t have been any OTHER armadillo girl he found info on! His last name is “ the Armadillo, “ I think that name would be pretty common!

At least it makes sense that the password would be password! They should’ve just gone with finger scanners instead. Why DIDN’T they in a world with advanced technology? I guess armadillos are really rare in Mercia so there’s only one armadillo family in it.

  And as I expected none of the Mercian Freedom Fighters endeared themselves to me as unique three dimensional characters. I can’t even remember any of their names aside from Bow, let alone personalities! The only thing memorable about them is that Bow tries to talk like Robin being a crappy knock-off of him, and one of them sings unnecessarily which is at least explained as him trying to lighten the mood while understanding the seriousness of the situation. But it still feels like forced comedy and padding that could’ve never happened. I’m really glad the Chaotix got out of Mercia in just two issues.

Sonic Universe Issue 48:

  We start out with Jack’s thugs fighting and effortlessly capturing the Chaotix, with Vector lampshading them losing so easily when they beat badniks and thugs effortlessly. Vector complains, and Charmy reassures him as he cutely pets his nose,, lying, “ There, there. You lose a lot anyway, so nobody will notice. “ And Vector says sarcastically, “ THANKS, Charmy! “ I actually laughed at this panel!

This is how they should write Charmy, making his annoyingness be from cute naivety and lack of social skills and not from him being a brat, or brain damaged, and his friends, not completely HATING him, but instead just being, like, sarcastic with him sometimes but still liking him.

  Mighty briefly makes me wonder if he’s got amnesia since he talks like a rough gangster saying he just needs to beat them into shape so they’ll follow him and Jack. Then I’m relieved when we see Mighty alone with the Chaotix apologizing for the act.

Charmy hugs him, and Mighty says that his “ old gang “ came this close to blowing his cover. When Espio says that Mighty stopped sending letters, Ray says that they never even had a chance to go to Angel Island first.

  Mighty says he’s bought them some time to explain what happened. He joined the Sandblasters with fake names, so he could get closer to his sister. Through them he’s been getting a better idea of his boundaries and how the local Dark Legion works and the land.

Then he says that the reason he sent the Warp Ring back to his friends, instead of just using it to immediately get to his sister, kidnap her for her own good, and go to the nanite city and talk to her, was because he didn’t wanna risk getting caught using it even though he used it to send it home, and he knows Jack and his thugs are sick people, and he doesn’t want them getting his Warp Ring.

To be fair, he can’t see anything from the other side of the Warp Ring like with the zone link generator, so he couldn’t just find his sister without getting to her territory. Why didn’t he just explain everything to his friends in one last letter? Meta logic.

  Vector even asks why he didn’t just pop over and explain with the Warp Ring and Mighty insists that he couldn’t just use the Warp Ring covertly even though he has a room with the door closed, so nobody would ever see him leave or come back, and he could’ve just done it at night.

Then Mighty angrily asks Vector if he’s gonna hold him joining the Sandblasters against him, Vector concedes that he does hold grudges, and Mighty says that their timing is perfect because he can trust them to look after Ray while he goes to meet with the Baron.

Vector says he doesn’t want him to leave again when he just found him and says that he couldn’t simply walk up to these guys. Mighty says that based on what he’s heard, the Baron is a reasonable man as long as he’s not talking to an entire team of Sandblaster lunatics.

  The next night, Espio turns invisible saying he’ll scout ahead with Mighty warning him that he doesn’t wanna get caught breaking curfew here… I guess in Sandblaster City they assume that if you’re out at night you’re gonna join the Dark Legion. It does make sense that people would because Jack and his thugs are so evil and the Baron looks like a good guy by comparison.

Ray asks sadly if Mighty will even need him as a brother anymore when he gets his real sister back, as he starts to cry. Vector reassures him with his hand on his shoulder, reminding him that Mighty called him family, and Charmy reassures him that he’s about to gain a sister! It’s nice to see the Chaotix being genuinely nice people.

  The Baron tells his men to fire because he doesn’t buy that someone who takes down tanks would actually surrender, so Mighty spindashes around and uses his super strength to break a hole in the top of a tank, before telling a terrified goon that he was hoping he’d capture him now. That’s pretty funny actually!

  Later he thanks the Baron for not shackling him, and Baron says that he’s seen him in action, and knows that they wouldn’t do any good. Mighty tells the Baron what’s going on, the Baron calls out for his sister, and his sister tells him to stop hugging her silently and asks who Mighty is.

His sister says looking emotionless that she doesn’t remember a family and she grew up in an orphanage and was told that her family were criminals. She had food and shelter there, but little else, implying that the reason she’s not that emotional is from her being damaged by the lack of love.

Mighty apologizes for not being there for her, as I think about how unlucky she was that nobody at all adopted her, and she says that he means nothing to her because she has no memories of him at all, although she at least looks unhappy and apologizes before saying that.

  She then asks to turn in for the night and a devastated Mighty is apologized to by the Baron, who explains that her terrible childhood left her distant. He was hoping that Mighty would be able to crack the shell around her heart. Also, I guess Mighty didn’t have any sort of family other than his parents around in Mercia to take care of his sister, which is very unlikely. It’s probably that the small family he knew were immigrants to Mercia and the rest of his family was abroad.

He pats his head reassuringly and Mighty asks if she’s happy here. He’s told that she’s as happy as any of the Legionnaires here could be, and since there’s good people in there, they’re like one big family, and he says he’s made a point of looking after the kids like her.

  Then Baron yells at the grunts to forget about the Chaotix stuff they just heard, telling them that it’s a lie, and threatens them into not telling Eggman what happened tonight. Fortunately they have the decency to be more loyal to HIM.

The Baron warns Mighty that bad things will happen if Eggman knew he was here or who Matilda was. He says that he’ll send word to Jack to do a prisoner exchange, and he’s sure Mighty’s got his escape planned once he gets back to the city, but until then he’ll have to stay in the brig to keep up appearances.

  Mighty cries in the brig and the next morning, Jack is furious over not knowing where Mighty is and lampshades angrily how long Ray takes to talk with his stutter, saying, “ Today! “ Espio tells him that Mighty wanted a shot at the Baron himself and this calms Jack down,

And he says that the three of them will do on the front lines. Jack has no problem exchanging prisoners for Mighty because he can easily break them free and explains that they’ve done this a few times before with prisoners crossing over and then everyone going home. So it’s kinda like a fake war. The story ends with Jack saying that this time, all of a sudden, he’s not giving anyone up and the Baron isn’t going back alive. Why didn’t he try to do this a lot earlier?

  This issue was by Ian Flynn. It was, it got a lot charming moments to it. This was a pretty creative way to justify Mighty not getting to go with his sister right away! I thought either he wouldn’t find her, or would find her and get the obvious news that DUH, she has explosives in her cybernetics, she can’t just get liberated THAT easily! What if removing those explosives was too delicate of a process? Nicole’s nanites should make that a cakewalk though.

Instead of that being the only reason she doesn’t escape, it’s explained that Mighty’s sister doesn’t remember him, and her bitter loveless childhood made her emotionally distant, acting like a robot – logically, she spent a lot of her life as one. So she doesn’t feel like leaving with Mighty as a result of him being a stranger to her, and she must not know well enough to think she should leave the Dark Legion. She’s comfortable where she is. She’s like True Neutral.

I like that the Baron comforted him and tells him that he cares for the kids here and it’s a big happy family! I love that he put that amount of effort into Matilda with her backstory having a memorable personality to her, instead of her being a boring happy little girl! Couldn’t Mighty just go to meet with the Baron alone a lot earlier?

Sonic Universe Issue 49:

  We start out with the Chaotix going with Jack in vehicles on their way to an ambush of troops. After a wasted page Mighty gets into a contraption with Baron apologizing and saying that Jack would know no handcuffs would hold him.

Why doesn’t he just tell Mighty that he’s Bunnie’s uncle and that’s how he knows how he feels? Jack demands to get Mighty first and Baron says that he’s not risking Mighty tearing the whole carrier in half. Jack then attacks and Baron says to fight back and be careful because only some in the robes are theirs.

  When Jack overhears “ Chaotix “ and “ Mighty “ from Vector, he realizes that they’re one of the famous Freedom Fighter teams. And I have to wonder how he didn’t figure it out immediately if he already knew who the Chaotix ARE. He saw an armadillo with super strength, get greeted by a crocodile bee and chameleon, and didn’t know they were the Chaotix? And instead of liking them since they fight Eggman like other Freedom Fighters, and since he’d have no way of knowing they were friends with Sonic… instead of it kind of making sense he furiously tells his friends to run the Chaotix down.

  And Vector grabs their vehicle, and tells Ray to get over to Mighty. Mighty says to the Baron to let him go so he can protect his sister. Ray demands Baron to let Mighty go, and Matilda threatens him telling him to leave the Baron alone and the Baron complains about kids fighting.

When Matilda says no to going away with Mighty, Ray sees how bad Mighty feels and I have his FULL SUPPORT when he stands up to her. “ NO! Do you know how long he looked for you?! How much it hurt him to think you were dead or gone forever?! You may not remember him but he remembers YOU! He loves you! “ That’s a good Tearjerker moment and the comic barely has emotional moments like this. But I’d rather these Sonic comics not be that sad and Flynn does it the most.

  He relates to her that he was lost without a family too and didn’t age right, and says passionately that Mighty just wants to give him a life like he has. He says that with him, she’ll never be alone and scared again! This is heartwarming. She looks depressed as she’s asked how she could possibly not want that.

Then she looks alert and SOMEHOW remembers Mighty holding her when she was a BABY, even though babies can’t retain long-term memories! That’s not how the brain works, it’s too busy developing at that point! And she was young enough to be in a baby blanket at that point!

  Ray cries saying that Mighty will always be there for her like he is for him. And then Jack’s thugs come in with Ray being told he made a great distraction while being attacked by him, and he threatens to kill Mighty. Matilda FURIOUSLY tells him to get away from her brother, and blasts him away, and it was pretty cool the way that she said it!

  Matilda then punches a missile coming for Mighty, and falls over on her back. This enrages Mighty enough to break free of the contraption and wreak havoc on Jack and his gangsters. Then we see Mighty’s sister nervously smiling in a medical tent and she says that she feels OK if weak, and cares enough to ask Mighty if HE’S safe, because she doesn’t wanna lose her brother AGAIN.

Mighty’s sister gets introduced to Ray and calls him her brother too. But of course Flynn won’t give us a happy ending here and will instead make the whole arc a complete waste of time, because Baron puts his hand on Mighty’s shoulder and tells him that she needs a new arm which will need balancing and calibrating, and there’s systemic damage that will take care, precision, and tools that they only have here. This means, as I expected from her getting hurt, that she needs to stay with THEM… even though they could just have Rotor or Nicole fix her.

  Mighty, not thinking, says desperately that he’ll put on a robe and take on another name, begging to stay with his sister. The Baron reasons with him without evidence that the ruse wouldn’t last, and reassures him that he’s not losing her because he can always come to visit her here, carefully. Besides she’s safer this way, kind of. At least this way she’s not fighting against Eggman but she is being threatened by Jack’s thug. She really would be safer in the nanite city, where the nanite could fix her right away.

Mighty’s reassured by his friends, and leaves with them in the Warp Ring, because they’re too stupid to think to just bring her to the nanite city WITH that Warp Ring. The story ends with the Baron saying he knows what it’s like to have a family divided, just as Bunnie shows up, because her simply asking Tails or Nicole to cyborgized her in a much safer way would make TOO MUCH SENSE! Instead she has to get cyborg limbs with explosives in them, that’s TOTALLY the safer option!

She can’t just get an arm gun strapped to her and a jet-pack and ray guns to make up for her being organic! That would make too much sense! It’d be nice if we got to see a couple more panels in this issue to see her conversation with the Baron! But instead we’ll never see how that went.

  This issue was by Ian Flynn, and since Mighty’s sister doesn’t come to the nanite city, the entire arc was just a waste of time. I love that Ray’s passionate speech to Matilda changes her mind! I didn’t expect that. Instead she reacts perfectly, although inexplicably she remembers Mighty as a baby. Unfortunately she gets injured protecting Mighty and this forces her to stay where she is, because ROTOR couldn’t help her for some reason!

  But the Baron reassures Mighty that he hasn’t really lost her because he’s taking care of her here, and he can come visit her carefully whenever he wants, especially with a Warp Ring. We saw her riding right next to him in the front lines at one point, so she’s not that safe. It was especially sweet that not only did she defend him, but she actually smiled at seeing him in the end! She’s more interesting in THIS position. It’s frustrating that the story ends without us seeing Bunnie talk with her uncle!

Sonic Universe Issue 50 Flynn:

  This story WAS going to be an interesting Sonic Underground adaptation, but instead we’re going to get something else ENTIRELY. We start out a few days ago seeing Eggman’s robots attacking the nanite city, reminding us of Issue 240. Why did they waste comic space on these panels?

Since there’s robots attacking the city the force field feels so worthless. At this point, I’m just wondering how Eggman hasn’t destroyed the city by now, even if he does have limited resources. He could still make a bomb! This is showing us better how Shard defended the nanite city, as we see much more clearly how he defended Geoffrey’s soldiers.

  Finally this worthless recap is at least justified by Eggman watching footage of it, and he says that he’d kept most of the free thinking out of Metal Sonic’s code precisely to keep him from becoming like Shard, but instead the free will algorithm is the edge that it needs and he’s stuck repairing Metal Sonic again.

Orbot says that this is precisely why he’s been using Metal Sally, clever thinking bent to his will. The only time she showed “ free will “ was when she made a plan for Eggman in the cat country story. Cubot tells Eggman that the download into the power gem is finished which will give Metal Sonic battle data to use. He also says that he’s letting Metal Sonic talk because that silent killer schtick was getting old. And yet he won’t talk in Worlds Collide, which is all the more proof that it’s non-canon to this.

  Metal Sonic is told that he has some free will and he promptly gets angry at being told to destroy Shard and not Shard. Eggman then says happily that he had installed a soft-reboot defiance kill switch, which allows Metal Sonic to have free will while also keeping him from disobeying him, so he can think independently, without any problems for Eggman. If it was THAT simple, why didn’t he make all his Robians like this?!

  Meanwhile the heroes are on the Tornado-2 recapping for us, and Tails says he’s happy Shard’s being given a second chance. Sonic points out that while he’s glad he’s being given a second chance he’s worried about Shard having a lot of power and thinks that he’s still figuring out if he’s a good guy.

We cut to Shard shooting lasers at chess pieces because it’s the digital world and he’s losing to Nicole. Nicole clearly having fun, says that he’s been visiting her network a lot, and while she enjoys the company of another AI she asks if he’d want to enjoy the real world.

Shard naturally points out that being a secret agent and an infamous killer robot makes it hard to socialize, and he doesn’t think he’s ready. He then points out to Nicole that the city probably just saw him as another Metal Sonic as part of the invasion.

As Nicole continues to somehow not agree with him after how the citizens treated her, Shard says that at least SHE has friends to vouch for her. I really don’t understand why Nicole doesn’t completely understand his worries! Shouldn’t she know how he feels better than that?! Instead she’s like, “ oh it’s fine, just go talk to people who hate and fear you, it was so easy for me! “

  Then Nicole tells him there’s a threat to the city and the shield isn’t up because something’s disrupting her commands and the attack came too fast. She tells him the target’s at the hospital and it turns out it’s Metal Sonic who has Antoine as a hostage. Shard calls Metal Sonic a wuss, telling him that Antoine’s no challenge and challenges him to a fight. I know where this is going. They have a fight with Metal Sonic using his memories to counter Shard easily. Considering how quickly Shard won last time, it’s completely ridiculous that the fight has lasted this long.

  Shard keeps trying to tell him that he could grow into more than just a tool, but just like with Shadow, Metal isn’t able to choose to be anything else. Shard ends up getting blown up. Excuse me, but Shard blew him up effortlessly with his cannon last time and wasn’t even singed by the explosion. This isn’t just horrible writing, it’s a continuity error too!

Somehow this explosion takes away his leg and leaves him dazed. He calls Nicole saying he needs an emergency pickup at the Great Wastes, he warns him about Metal Sonic, and his signal cuts out before he could compliment Nicole, as his power gem is cracked. It’s JUST ONE CRACK!

  The annoying thing is, because of the Penders lawsuit claiming ownership of his power core, we never see Shard under Flynn again! (This can’t be resolved: 42) It’s like he’s trying to force a nail biting cliffhanger on us, and condescendingly pretend he was killed off, when he’s a ROBOT, who got the same explosion last time without even a scratch! He could be rebuilt and he doesn’t even look that badly damaged in the first place!

  It’s a shame that this is the last issue he writes him in and it’s the one that develops his character more! What’s the POINT of writing him getting killed off if the reboot’s up next anyways, and he was allowed to write a story about him just fine?! This is also the first issue where it’s implied he has a crush on Nicole. THAT’S never gonna go anywhere! (This can’t be resolved: 43) Why did he have to be supposedly killed off instead of just never showing up again?

  Then Metal Sonic tells Eggman the power gem cores are lost, and Eggman tells him that he’s about to dock at the Arctic refueling station. He says that his target isn’t Sonic yet because he has bigger plans. He tells him to report to the interdimensional gateway that he has all of a SUDDEN out of complete NOWHERE with no foreshadowing whatsoever, because he’s going to meet Dr Wily!

My problem with THIS is that it leads to the fucking REBOOT, which ends the comic on dozens of major cliffhangers! You know, if there can be tons of parallel Eggmans, why can’t there be tons of parallel Wilys? It could be just as likely that the Worlds Collide Eggman and Wily aren’t the same people, and the fact that Worlds Collide Eggman is noticeably more of a self-aware parody to the point of being kinda pathetic is some evidence to that. But I’d rather just not think of Worlds Collide as canon at ALL.

  This issue was by Ian Flynn, and showed us Metal Sonic being upgraded to learn from his previous battles, have free will until he’d want to be disobedient, and talk, making the best he’s ever been. But he’ll be nothing like that in Worlds Collide, proving that it’s not actually him or canon. It ALSO has Shard spending quality time with Nicole for the only time unfortunately, so THAT plot thread is dropped!

And all of it ends in Shard somehow losing the fight to Metal Sonic because an explosion hurts him after he was INVINCIBLE to his explosion LAST TIME, and we don’t get to see him again after the story pretends he died. It sure is a good thing Eggman doesn’t immediately send Metal Sonic back to finish Antoine off when he has no guards! Besides, we could’ve EASILY seen Antoine’s HAND twitch at the very least, some kind of hope, SOMETHING?

Issue 247:

We start out with narration telling us that the Death Egg had landed in the Arctic Tundra a few days ago for repairs and restocking. One of the Arctic Freedom Fighters lampshades to Sonic that Eggman’s acting so cautiously, and says that they must have really struck fear into him. Sonic smirks and says that they chased him all over the planet and now he’s cornered and there’s no distractions THIS time. This would’ve held true if the comic was written well. INSTEAD, Executive Meddling and a lawsuit kicked in.

  Tails explains that T-Pup has the Tornado prepared for not only take-off, but also keeping Metal Sally disabled. And they’ve got someone working on the next step back home. And the text blurb just says last issue instead of telling us who that person IS, or what that next step would possibly BE! I don’t remember us being given any hint about this in Issue 246!

I have a question, if T-Pup can disable Metal Sally WHY didn’t he do that a long TIME ago? Why didn’t he paralyze her like he did with Silver SONIC?! That’s so stupid that’s another Mecha Sally Stall that’s so subtle but that doesn’t mean it was going to slip past my radar! It could’ve snuck up on her.

  Then we see Amy FINALLY wearing something different for once, as she’s wearing a pretty new long-sleeved dress that Erma loaned her. I love that it’s explained where she GOT it. And there’s some humor with Sonic lampshading that she’s colder than him when she’s wearing the most out of all of them. And Amy just says that girls get cold easily.

  The heroes are all waiting for Erma’s signal that she’s cut the bunker’s alarms to prevent Eggman from knowing they’re here. Remember, Erma was the girl I was suspecting of being a traitor eventually because she was a complete bitch to Sonic and expressed resentment over them coming back here to fight Eggman. So is there gonna be an interesting twist following up on that where she betrays the team? No of course not. Instead she shows them an image of Eggman with the text “ welcome “ which is the signal for all of them to run in. So now there IS consistency with a hero’s morality.

  Sonic spindashes his way through a metal wall not hurting himself from it, we see Erma pulling some wires and going uninvisible and they’re all shocked at seeing Silver the Hedgehog grabbing some robots to help. Sonic is naturally full of resentment at seeing him again, saying, “ YOU, “ because the traitor plot got old really fast, as he lampshades.

So okay, if Ian Flynn knows that a concept of his has gotten old, since it’s been dragged out since the 190s, that just makes it all the more infuriating that it’s been dragged out for this long since he should’ve ended it a lot earlier.

  Silver isn’t listened to and says that he got outside help to figure out who the traitor is. Tails correctly guesses that Elias was involved because he saw him leaving with people and he told him he had to keep quiet about it to protect the city. Also he never saw Elias with Silver. Tails asks Sonic to hear him out, and he does.

  Silver recaps to us and says that their team has already fallen apart like his history has predicted. When he loses all IQ and says SALLY’S the traitor even though she blatantly is forced to be obedient to Eggman and isn’t responsible for any of her actions right now, everyone is rightfully furious with him.

Fortunately they get held back from attacking him as he explains that he’s here to SAVE Sally having changed his mission. I guess Harvey Who and Elias convinced him to do that. It would’ve been nice to see that. I’m not alone in thinking it was forced of Silver to say Sally was the traitor when that’d clearly anger Sonic. Even the writers of ASO hate this issue.

  Meanwhile, Nicole says that as her first action since her return to the city – what took her so long? – she’s presenting to people the newly restored Castle Acorn. I guess she’s been working on it since she came back and Universe 50 is non-canon. Why Ixis didn’t just make a temporary castle with his crystal magic, I have no fucking clue. And I like that she smiles nervously here… And I love that we get to see her again having a proper subplot back in the city at ALL in this issue, although if it was just the Death Egg, maybe we could’ve gotten Sally deroboticized in this issue with a time skip.

  Rotor lampshades that the people never should’ve doubted her to begin with, and I’m guessing what will happen next is that the Tails Doll will destroy the castle and people will lose faith in her because she somehow couldn’t prevent that from happening, when she can sense specific people in the city! So she should know EXACTLY where the Tails Doll is when it starts sabotaging! Not to mention she can prevent stuff from crumbling, because she can control the city because it’s made of nanites!

  She then wonders why Geoffrey isn’t here to keep up appearances for Ixis, and Rotor says that the less they see of THOSE two the BETTER. Nicole tells a weirdly drawn Rotor that they shouldn’t be heartless about Ixis dying even though he’s pure evil! And she says that she’s been working on a device he commissioned, but she may not have it completed in time. Her idealism is getting the BETTER of her, she’s gonna regret THIS.

  Rotor lampshades that she’s too kind for her own good but then the castle gets cracked by pink lightning, and Nicole says that something’s interfering with her nanites. Coding is being erased, signals are being jammed, and some are self-destructing, and this can’t be Ixis’ fault either because then there would be crystals everywhere.

  Rotor puts his hand on her to reassure her when she says she stabilized the matrix, and she’ll fix it once she figures out what’s going on. Cheese brings Cream the Tails Doll in the crowd, and Cream complains that while she’s trying to take care of the doll and find its owner, it keeps disappearing. Why is she scolding a doll for disappearing? She has to know that a mere doll can’t disappear on its own and wouldn’t deserve to be scolded for it, right? THAT’S hardly fair!

FINALLY she figures out that the doll always disappeared around the same time that buildings collapsed. She looks scared, plays it impressively smart by telling Cheese to bring the doll home instead of openly saying in front of it that she knows what it’s all about, and warns Rotor about what’s going on.

  THANK GOD while she lampshades how silly her explanation sounds, Rotor is Genre Savvy enough to believe her. The artist really has no idea how to DRAW Rotor! He was drawn great in the issue where Amy slapped Sonic! Rotor says he’s gonna do something about the doll, and logic would dictate that he would immediately tell Nicole to sic the nanites on the doll and trap it with a bubble like Geoffrey and turn it into complete stuffing, utterly destroying it in seconds when its guard is down…

  So I’m assuming that won’t be allowed to happen because THAT would make SENSE, and be anticlimactic, which Flynn HATES, and involve the characters acting LOGICALLY to take care of a threat before it could become a huge PROBLEM, and the writing of the Iron Queen saga proves that’s just not how things work anymore. Things have to be STRETCHED OUT so that it can be, fully defeated in a CLIMATIC way that makes no sense!

  Silver explains that the problem was that he was assuming the traitor MEANT to destroy the team. How, could he, NOT, assume that, that’s what a traitor IS, traitors by definition do it on PURPOSE!… He lampshades that maybe history just lost the details on WHY Sally turned against the team. HOW the HELL could that HAPPEN?! HOW the HELL could history FORGET, that Sally was ROBOTICIZED?!… You’d think that if that was the case then everyone would remember a ROBOT or a ROBIAN causing trouble, and not remember it as a traitor to the team! This is SO DUMB!

” What Silver Silver says… ” There was no quality control on this.

  This was obviously pulled out of his ass! I guarantee you the Mecha Sally Arc wasn’t even a TWINKLE in Flynn’s EYE back in Issue 196 whatever when he thought up the traitor concept! I bet he originally planned that Silver would be completely wrong about EVERYTHING, but instead, he tries to awkwardly finagle a way for him to be right but NOT right which makes no fucking SENSE that he, that he would EVER, that his future would ever think that SALLY was a traitor! It feels like a total Ass Pull.

  And Erma tries to be the writer’s mouthpiece to have us believe that this all make sense, as she expects us to believe that the future wouldn’t even know that roboticization, existed… YEAH, THAT makes sense! Something as horrifying as someone being turned into a robot with no free will who serves a mad scientist, would TOTALLY be lost to the sands of time! No that’s the kind of stuff that myths and legends would be written about, to continue for all time! Sonic, still in a Tranquil Fury, fortunately is written well enough to reluctantly say that Silver and him are cool as long as he helps out. Holy wall of text, Batman…

  The Arctic Freedom Fighters plan to cover them while Sonic and his friends look for the princess. Silver is asked by a suspicious Amy how he knew they’d even be here, and Silver says he’s psychic. That’s a clever lie, it’s a shame he’s so nervous-looking that Amy’s still suspicious!

  One of the Arctic Freedom Fighters had scouted ahead and found an underwater tunnel leading straight from this bunker to the Death Egg, and with the alarms down and the forces here destroyed they can sneak in.

Then Sonic complains about walking down a rickety pipe under so much water, being afraid of potentially being drowned. One of them advises them to be quiet because the whales outside might hear them. Silver uses his powers to light the dark tunnel up so they won’t bump into each other even though that was unnecessary, but unfortunately the whales attack so I guess his telekinesis that somehow creates light, lit up the pipe too much and alerted them to them.

As one of the cyborg whales bursts through the pipe, Erma says that they’re surrounded and tells the swimmers to cover them, and orders Silver to get the rest of them to the Death Egg. At least she hasn’t been really rude to Sonic this issue! But it makes her feel Out of Character from last time since that’s the last time she ever had a personality. There’s no explanation that she got anger management lessons or something.

Sonic refuses to get sidelined and tells Tails to hold his breath like him as he jumps on top of a whale and attacks it underwater. I’m left to assume that Silver only has enough power to telekinetically make him and his friends nearby fly and doesn’t have the power to also hold still the whale that’s bothering him, but still, you’d think he could use his telekinesis briefly for a few seconds to knock out the whales and then go back to flying with his friends.

The whale realizes that Silver’s power is the same one that ruined the whale’s holds on the walruses. Eggman gave all of his cyborg whales that difficult to get sensing Silver power? He orders the other whales to all aim for Silver who gets hit and cries out and the heroes all escape from the water climbing up to a metal floor.  

  Sonic says the stealthy approach is out then but I guess he’s not getting mad at Silver because he likes fighting robots. He’s cheerful instead and tells his friends to smash some badniks, even though there aren’t any badniks here. Robots maybe but not BADNIKS!

  Orbot tells Eggman that they’re being invaded showing him security camera footage, and Eggman is furious because he just got the Death Egg fully repaired. He orders Sally to attack the lower decks and Eggman, or rather Ian Flynn, pushes his concept of the Genesis Wave down your throat as Eggman says that they’ve “ GOT TO “ use the Genesis Wave NOW. WHY?! Why can’t we just not hear anything about Worlds Collide until it happens?!

I guess he’s taking Sonic seriously enough as a threat that he’s so cautious that he admits he needs help, and he doesn’t want a repeat of Issue 200. But the whole interdimensional crossover thing comes out of NOWHERE, since the executives dropped it on Flynn’s lap to randomly force it out of nowhere by Issue 243. It feels extremely out of place!

  We don’t SEE Wily and Eggman meeting in the actual COMIC. So this all comes out of nowhere and feels very forced. But at least here I can put the blame on the executives forcing this crossover to happen but Flynn had no reason to not show us Eggman meeting Wily before the crossover, unless he was legally prevented from doing that until Worlds Collide, when Archie owns the Mega Man comic too! So the concept still feels forced, and because it leads to a reboot I still DESPISE it.

  Then we see Mecha Sally telling some robots behind her to give cover fire regardless of any collateral damage. I really have to wonder how she’s expected to win against all of the Freedom Fighters at once. She’s just ONE PERSON!

Even Metal Sonic was effortlessly beaten, a whole bunch of times! I have a hard time believing she’d win against Sonic, who can create tornadoes at super speed and move extremely fast! But with OTHER characters ALSO ganging up on her, come on, is she really that powerful?! She should be attacked from the side and behind a whole bunch! But no, Sonic holds back!

  Anyways, Mecha Sally attacks Amy in a surprise ambush, Augustus the polar bear shields Erma from some lasers and cries out in pain, and Sonic grabs Mecha Sally’s HANDS with spinny feet below him saying that she’s coming home. THIS IS FORCED because he REALLY should remember by now how worthless holding her hand was LAST time and that she can fire a laser out of her HEAD, which she proceeds to charge up saying he’s giving her a point blank shot!

The smart thing for Sonic to do would be to run around in a tornado throwing her up in the air and hit her in the head to knock her out, or at least spindash her a bunch, but he’s too cowardly to if he never has. What the fuck was going through his mind when he decided to grab her HANDS instead of just spindashing at her head?! Why would he grab her hands, when that’s the dumbest thing to do for any enemy ever?! What did he expect to accomplish?! He can’t do anything against her like that, he can’t punch her like that!…

Sonic REALLY should’ve just spindashed at her head right away knocking her out at super speed, instead of grabbing her hands leaving them both completely occupied unable to DO anything! His whole problem is that he’s holding back too much trying not to kill her, forgetting that she’s a tough robot! What a massive Idiot Ball! And speaking of that…

  Then we see Cream confronting the Tails Doll with Team Freedom at the power plant, and IDIOTICALLY the heroes all decide to just STAND there pointlessly calling the robot out on what he’s been DOING! WHY ARE YOU TALKING TO A ROBOT?! Again this is written like a bad fanfiction. If they were running on logic, Nicole would’ve IMMEDIATELY used her nanites to destroy the Tails Doll before ANYTHING else could happen!

  But instead the comic’s written like they’re complete IDIOTS, so that arbitrarily doesn’t happen giving the Tails Doll time to start growing and powering up saying that its objective is to destroy power scrubbers releasing Robotropolis’ radioactive waste into the city.

I thought the power scrubbers were all the way just below Robotropolis, not in the city. But I guess they HAD to be in the city because Nicole made some more when the Iron King was fooled but how could power scrubbers work in the city when Robotropolis isn’t right next to it? I guess the scrubbers are connected to Robotropolis by LONG wires. It changes into a giant monster all because the characters were written like complete IDIOTS, who are impossible to relate to, and TALKED to a mindless ROBOT, and didn’t stop it in time!

  Meanwhile, Sonic dodges a laser from Metal Sally’s head because somehow when he let go of her hands to dodge it, she let go as WELL instead of holding him STILL, and this allows Tails to push him out of the way because of that ridiculous Deus ex Machina. Such an idiot! How is this issue GOOD, seriously? I can’t be positive about this!

An explosion is caused, suddenly Sonic, Tails and Amy are lying on the floor for some reason, and Silver, fortunately prevents Mecha Sally from winning right then and there, with his LONG overdue telekinesis disabling her. Now if the comic was written well this would be the end right HERE, as with Metal Sally disabled, they would go out of the Death Egg with her and that would be that.

  But instead because of complete bullshit, because of meta factors, there’s a white out as a time shift happens, and Silver IMMEDIATELY recognizes it as a time shift! I’m absolutely SIMMERING because it’s so obviously badly written! And yet I’m sure tons of people had overlooked all of its flaws, because this mess was written by Ian Flynn and the art was drawn better than the pre-Flynn issues even though most of those looked good TOO.

  Sonic had no excuse for forgetting about her head laser when that was a very significant and memorable attack from her multiple TIMES! That’s basically her whole gimmick aside from her FLYING! Silver should’ve grabbed her WAY EARLIER with his powers and flew out of the Death Egg to the Tornado-2, letting the heroes do their thing, instead of a character being an idiot and getting knocked out because Idiot Balls are Flynn’s trademark.

And we could’ve immediately cut to Sally being deroboticized, Antoine waking up, Bunnie coming back home. I don’t care if it wouldn’t be CLIMATIC enough because it’d happen too FAST, there is no too fast, it could’ve made SENSE to happen QUICKLY! In fact it’s ridiculous that it didn’t. Flynn’s biggest problem is that he has no idea when to make a plot point RESOLVED!

  Instead the comic is totally distracted, because a damn crossover just has to happen NOW NOW NOW despite the GIANT Tails Doll, and the Mecha Sally arc being very obvious dangling plot threads, because the writer lost the rights to everything between this issue and the crossover. That’s not even mentioning the fact that the solution Nicole’s working on for Ixis, isn’t at ALL EXPLAINED! (This will never be resolved: 44) So we’ll never know what she was TALKING about! She could’ve at least told us about it but NO!

  Even the Tails Doll problem was HORRIBLY WRITTEN because with the amount of power Nicole had as Iron Nicole, there’s no reason whatsoever she shouldn’t have been able to destroy the Tails Doll the second that Cream warned her about it! We’re never told what the limits are for her now! All she’d have to do is make the nanites destroy the Tails Doll with fire or giant crushing hands!

And even if we’re supposed to believe she can’t do this because the city has new limits on her powers destroying her usefulness, so she can’t even create a CAGE for the Tails Doll or render it unable to move, um, first of all we were never explicitly told what she’s now unable to do, thanks to the city limits on her. I want you to show me a line where they SAY, Nicole can’t destroy or imprison stuff anymore. So it’s a giant plot hole!

  And even if this was the logic he was working on it STILL falls apart because the heroes all show up to the Tails Doll, and just fucking STAND there like IDIOTS, letting two different characters waste time talking to a ROBOT AND let the ROBOT waste time TALKING!

When if they were acting like actual PEOPLE would, instead of politely listening to the robot talking, they would’ve just immediately attacked the robot when it had its guard down talking in a weakened state and destroyed it, without giving it any sort of time to do a giant transformation! The heroes were made to act like complete and utter MORONS, just for the sake of forcing the concept of Tails Doll growing into a giant to happen!

  That didn’t even need to happen, the Tails Doll could’ve immediately been giant the minute the heroes showed up, and it wouldn’t have felt as frustrating because I wouldn’t have felt like it was the heroes’ fault that Tails Doll had a chance to grow giant in the FIRST place!

It would’ve been perfectly acceptable if Cream hadn’t figured it out all of a sudden on time, and warned the heroes, as stupid as it is Nicole not figuring Tails Doll out the minute it collapsed the castle from her sensors in the city. Then again if the heroes hadn’t been warned about the Tails Doll from Cream finally being smart enough to figure it out, then the Tails Doll would’ve destroyed the power plant without anyone stopping it.

  I have a question, why wasn’t it ordered to do that the INSTANT it showed up in the nanite city? Why was it just DODDERING AROUND destroying random buildings for no reason?… And I refuse to believe that Silver’s future wouldn’t remember that the traitor wasn’t a real traitor and was a roboticized member of the Freedom Fighters! They’d never forget roboticization, if anything it’d make more sense for them to not remember that they were somehow destroyed by SALLY and instead remember that they were destroyed by a mere robot who LOOKS like her!

And this flashback panel just reminds me of how much better Mecha Sally looked when she first showed up before Flynn ruined her design by having it look like her head is on a completely unrelated body, because before, she had the color from her face be the color of most of her body so it felt like her. How do you mess that up?

  If the future doesn’t remember what roboticization is, somehow, how the hell would they come to the conclusion that the robot was once a normal person and a member of the Freedom Fighters?! If Eggman bragged to everyone that it was Sally, then why would they not write down in history that Sally was forced to do it as a robot?! Wouldn’t that be obvious?! Why would they ever call her a traitor?! It’d make more sense for it to be Fiona, but I DOUBT that she’d ACTUALLY try to kill all of them, especially by HERSELF. She’s already been written badly enough!

  The more you question the plot the more it falls apart! Not every issue in Archie is like this! Almost NOTHING about this issue works, NOTHING! Every, I tried to remember it, as, like, no this isn’t so BAD, I came back to reading the script thinking, “ maybe this issue isn’t as bad as I remembered it to be, maybe I was just bitter from reviewing the comic, “ but NO! The Idiot Balls RUIN the story!

  It’s especially aggravating to me because as I was typing this I had just finished my video on Sonic Universe Issue 13 just that morning, and while the Iron Dominion arc is ALSO all about the characters being idiots, it was much better than this! It just made it all the more glaring to me, just how far the comic had fallen since then! Universe 13 is a perfectly fine story aside from the Bride being evil, and this is just a mess!

Also, remember that in Universe 13, the web of fate mentions NOTHING about the Super Genesis Wave, which they would’ve interpreted as an apocalypse coming long before any future could come to pass after it like Silver and Nicole’s future, so again, the reboot’s non-canon to this, it has to be.

  And the absolute worst part is, because the crossover just had to happen NOW at the worst possible timing, we are left with 63 dropped plot threads, 46 by Flynn alone! STC only had like 2, which is a million times worse than the state where Flynn picked up the comic from in the first place. 24 plot threads from previous writers were resolved, 24 compared to 46 threads he left dangling. And most of his plot threads started out SO LONG AGO that there’s no way he would’ve ever resolved them, like as far back as in the Issue 180s! And pre-Flynn was considered a mess?! THIS is a mess!

  Maybe the crossover’s written fine, I don’t really CARE! Its timing was absolutely atrocious. Even ignoring the fact that having a crossover with a completely different fucking FRANCHISE was ABSOLUTELY unnecessary when we just wanted the Mecha Sally arc to end already, he could’ve done it as its own separate special that doesn’t have to be canon!

Like he could’ve done it like we had every OTHER crossover where it was just one story or big special issue and that’s it, instead of being a complete distraction for 12 issues that ends the comic on a giant disgrace to its decades long legacy by ending on a massive amount of cliffhangers! People complain about SatAM’s cliffhanger, but it’s got nothing on this, especially since the Season 3 fan comic exists.

  I would’ve been alright with the crossover’s timing if it took place well AFTER the reboot, but instead executives got greedy and impatient and pushed it too early, making it the Death Egg Madness all OVER again. We have over 60 dangling plot threads, the most major ones being that Ixis has possessed Geoffrey looking for a better body, the Tails Doll is gonna attack the nanite city, Mecha Sally hasn’t been deroboticized yet, Bunnie hasn’t returned to the gang with cybernetics and Antoine hasn’t woken up.

With the exception of the first two, all of these could’ve been resolved in literally one issue. Antoine wakes up? That’s one panel. Bunnie returns home with her fast jet-boots and Nicole’s nanites remove her bombs? That’s just a couple panels. She could’ve explained how she got cybernetics in a bunch of text bubbles in one panel.

  Tails Doll required just one more subplot, just one more issue, and it would’ve been resolved! But none of this was. That’s NOT PENDERS’ FAULT, that’s FLYNN’s for not being able to resolve in time because he has PADDING instead of just wrapping stuff up FASTER!

That’s why a reboot angers me. If you wanna start a new comic, finish the OLD one FIRST! I feel like Flynn needed a grumpy mother to say, “ No, clean up your old toys first, THEN you can play with your new ones. “ So naturally I don’t WANT to immediately continue up to the middle of some other comic, just to follow along with the Sonic comic by going up to a crossover arc I couldn’t give two shits about.

  So here’s how it’s gonna work for me. Starting with Sonic Universe Issue 50 and the white-out parts of Issue 247, the comic branches off into two completely different continuities. And the white-out continuity is the Sonic and Mega Man Crossover and Reboot continuity.

Sure there’s references to past issues IN THERE with Mecha Sally being referenced, but that only exists from meta logic to make the fans feel more at home, and Sonic said that Eggman has an identical past to Robotnik up to a certain point, so an alternate dimension or multiverse sharing some coincidental similarities in its history with the one we’re familiar with, isn’t far-fetched at this point for Archie’s multiverse.

  Basically, the minute that Worlds Collide starts, it starts because of the Genesis Wave, which multiplies the multiverse by two by another glitch of Eggman’s. A new universe being created is way easier to swallow than ” Eggman destroyed almost all of the multiverse and rewrote one universe with one Chaos Emerald. “

The reboot is a new and entirely separate continuity created by the Genesis Wave, while the actual Archie Sonic continuity lives on in Archie Sonic Online and we’re just not allowed to see it under Flynn. Again, this isn’t far-fetched to be the case in-universe with a FANTASY series. Stuff like Sally Moon and Tuxedo Knuckles are sillier than this idea.

  It’s no different from ZELDA where the timeline branched off into THREE, and with none of the characters in the games outright telling you that it happened, and yet that timeline branching was still canon. The third timeline was one where Link died in Ocarina of Time fighting Ganondorf and it had a REALLY CONFUSING unexplained origin that wasn’t nearly as good of an explanation for a timeline split as the Genesis Wave glitching.

  Bear with me here, but I’m focusing on the ACTUAL comic continuity. And that continues in Archie Sonic Online! At least this way I can get SOME resolution! Real Archie Sonic continues onto Archie Sonic Online where it’s in the hands of writers who actually know what they’re doing instead of having more plot holes than Penders did, and the other continuity continues onto Worlds Collide. It should be obvious what I’m continuing with. I’ll do the reboot eventually.

Issue 248:

  We start off right from when Silver disabled Metal Sally. Tails says they should scout ahead and find a way to cut off those robots at the source, and Sonic says they should clear a path for them to get out of here while he’s doing the Super Peel-Out. Silver agrees to telekinetically hold onto Sally for them with his telekinesis and the polar bear Augustus is said to be merely stunned as he’s helped up.

  Meanwhile Nicole says in a panic after Team Freedom escaped the building that Tails Doll is absorbing all the nearby nanites to maintain its form. Naturally since you can’t create something out of nothing. How else would it grow? She then warns them that Rotor, Heavy and Bomb are all susceptible to that as well. Makes sense, so I guess not only is Rotor in a nanite suit, but Heavy and Bomb are made of nanites too.

So why won’t the Tails Doll immediately steal away their nanites or destroy them? I hope it’ll be too much of a dumb robot to think to do that. I giggled at Heavy saying, “ I certainly would dislike being absorbed into that monstrosity! “ (laughs) He’s just so blunt about it!

  Rotor says that they need a way to lure Tails Doll away from the power plant to keep him from irradiating the city, and also keep their distance to avoid being absorbed into him. Cream volunteers to be the decoy out of guilt because she’s the one who brought the doll into the city in the FIRST place. I love that they actually ADDRESS that it’s her fault and she takes moral responsibility for it!

She wastes time trying to tell Tails Doll that it doesn’t NEED to listen to Eggman. Well at least she TRIED to talk him out of being evil! Rotor says that they need to draw Tails Doll out just a little more from the place it’s stuck in.

  Rotor says that they have to make it mad enough to chase them, and tells Heavy and Bomb to give him some covering fire. It’s nice of him to trust them when they’re former Eggman robots, that’s really sweet of him and Nicole to do! They start running after Rotor punches the Tails Doll, and Nicole wisely warps away as I continue to wonder why Nicole can’t just use her nanite powers to take away Tails Doll’s FORM since it’s made of nanites, and trap him in a bubble like with Geoffrey!

You basically have an omnipotent goddess there who’s master of her own domain and she’s not doing anything to help! But it’d ruin the tension if she did. It’s Chaos Knuckles all over again! But I guess because it’s able to absorb and destroy nanites, it would also be able to absorb a bubble around it and can overpower Nicole like usual.

  Tails beats all of the robots with Sonic and they start to run. Sonic asks why they can’t just blow up the Death Egg like before, lampshading why they aren’t doing that. Tails sassy that it’s too risky because “ we’d never make it out in time. “ I guess by THAT he means “ the heroes who DON’T have super speed “ because Tails and Sonic would get out just fine. But if they have Silver with them couldn’t he just tear a hole through the Death Egg’s wall and fly out of it with everyone? Sonic says, “ I know, I know, but it’d be nice to end this once and for all. “ Well he doesn’t get to say “ all “ but he’s a great Audience Surrogate there.

  Sonic stops and whispers that he hears Eggman around the corner. Eggman tells Orbot and Cubot to help him find the bioanalyzer. Tails wonders if it can be used to change Sally back. I am a little ANNOYED at such a convenient Deus ex Machina coming out of nowhere, as just like with the portable deroboticizer there’s no reason Eggman wouldn’t have DESTROYED this thing that keeps Sally’s original data on it. But at this point I just want Sally to be changed back already! It would’ve felt much more natural to just have a portable deroboticizer since we already saw it before. I’m so confused.

  Sonic runs after Eggman and then wonders why he’s running towards a dead end. Why doesn’t he just knock him down with his spindash and attack him a bunch instead of letting him lead him into a trap? He’d have a lot of pent-up aggression with him since he roboticized Sally. He says as I expected that someone has to keep him distracted so Tails can find the bioanalyzer, and he says it’s probably just another robot of the week anyways, being Genre Savvy.

  Tails Doll heads for the civilians requiring Cream to distract Tails Doll for a little longer. She asks Cheese in a panic where he’s going, and he stupidly heads straight up to Tails Doll! I guess being distracted by the shiny pink object in it.

Cream fortunately saves him just in time and Heavy tells Rotor that Tails Doll was quick to defend the red gem in it, even against a CHAO. So that must be his power source! It’s always pretty brilliant when they even find a way to make Cheese the chao useful! It’s good writing!

We cut away from Rotor telling his friends the plan so it can be a surprise, and we see Big and Cream run away, reeling from being in a dangerous situation earlier. He also LITERALLY reels Cream away from lasers with his fishing rod, a creative use of it!

  Nicole pops up startling Cream, and apologizes for doing so, having another socially awkward moment that I love her character for, and she tells her what they need to do, whispering the plan. Nicole says that she’ll reroute some power to the city’s defensive systems in order to protect the civilians and the two run off.

  I guess Cubot saying, “ He’s kaining on us, “ was an intentional typo because Cubot normally has a speech defect of some kind. He should’ve said, “ gaining on us, “ but that doesn’t make any sense, it sounds like he’s trying to make a pun off the name Kain. Anyways Sonic keeps chasing Eggman into a room and we sadly DON’T see a thought bubble from him, that would explain that he’s letting Eggman outrun him so he can lead him to where he wants.

  I mean if Sonic just caught up with him right away, what would be the point of beating him up? He’d refuse to KILL him, which he has every reason to do at this point with the way Eggman’s been mutilating Sally since she’s a robot and he’s been improving her. And just beating him up, might risk killing him as well, even if he did catch up with him what would be the POINT? His friends would be angry with him even if all he did was break Eggman’s limbs or put him in a coma!

  He says he’s not really interested in mercy this time, but he’s gotta be lying because he hasn’t just caught up with him immediately to kill him and because it’d be dismissed as too dark and edgy if he actually carried out that threat. He’s just making himself look like an idiot by saying a completely empty threat, which really has no reason to BE empty.

I heard that it’s weird that Sonic is meaner to sympathetic villains like Geoffrey than to EGGMAN. When it comes to him being mean to Geoffrey, it makes sense because he and Geoffrey have always had a bitter rivalry and Geoffrey betrayed him for Ixis. And he’s madder at them for the same reason I am probably, which is that if they have good in them, there’s much less excuse for them to be on the side of evil because they should know better. If they’re not hopeless, they’re more frustrating if their reasoning for staying on the evil side is just stupid.

  Eggman lets out Emerl against Sonic. This would’ve been an awesome surprise if it weren’t blatantly spoiled by the title page of this issue. Eggman says that Emerl was a gift from Mobian South America. Sonic says the amusing snark, “ Let’s see if it can last longer than five seconds. “ (giggles) He attacks it, and Emerl copies his Spin Attack… UH, that was clearly a SPINDASH. It’s cool to see him use the copy power against Sonic!

  Meanwhile as the Tails Doll is distracted, Big uses his fishing rod to take away his power source, which was conveniently right where they could see it rather than being inside of it where they could never find it. Tails Doll sucks at making a new form for itself. Of course I mean that in two ways because I always hated its big design where it looks nothing like the Tails Doll and just has tentacles. I love that his fishing rod came in handy for once! Nicole says happily in front of an orange light that the nanites are dispersing!

  Sonic smashes the control panels, deactivating the robots threatening his friends somehow and he says amusingly, “ Okay, now what else can I blow up? “ He reunites with Tails, and when Eggman sees that Metal Sally is being brought out of the Death Egg, he orders the Death Egg to be launched even though it hasn’t been fully refuelled yet. Since Silver can fly and the Tornado exists, the heroes have an easy escape.

  Tails says the plane will somehow keep Metal Sally in stasis while they go back home… I don’t know why Silver can’t be doing that, and he already radioed ahead to Uncle Chuck to get started with Rotor on the deroboticizer, so Eggman sends Emerl and Metal Sonic to get Sally back, and we end the story with them approaching the nanite city. So why can’t Nicole just put the force field up to keep them from ever entering the city? Tails Doll’s already defeated so it can’t stop her!

  After ALL THE TIME it took to get to the Northern Tundra, they’re going back to the nanite city after just one issue, so I can only assume the Tornado-2 and Death Egg are just THAT FAST, and Sonic and friends had needed to follow just behind the Death Egg because there was no way to enter it from the sky anymore as it just went wherever.

  The first official story of the Archie Sonic continuation! FINALLY we’re GETTING somewhere! This issue proves my point that the whole thing about Tails Doll and Mecha Sally’s rescue could’ve been resolved in literally just one or two issues, making it all the more unacceptable that Penders-I mean Flynn, never bothered to do that in time. I literally had written Penders by accident in the script. Sonic’s dialogue is ENTERTAINING and in-character for him, being self-aware and Genre Savvy, which I love!

  Sonic fights off Emerl, keeping Eggman distracted, and destroys a control panel which makes all the robots that were facing Amy and the others break down, because for some reason they don’t have minds of their own and instead are all connected to the control panel. That’s one of only 3 plot holes in this issue. I don’t know why Amy couldn’t have just been written to destroy all the robots with her hammer, being useful by herself.

  As for the second plot hole, Tails finds a bioanalyzer that kept Sally’s data from when she was roboticized, that could be installed into Uncle Chuck’s deroboticizer to return her back to normal despite her modifications. It sure was convenient that Eggman hasn’t destroyed this thing a long time ago for being useless to him! At the time I was completely confused about what the bioanalyzer was supposed to be. I was like, “ she’s a robot, what bio is there in her to analyse? HUH? “ The comic never explicitly stated that the bioanalyzer ever existed.

  Silver fortunately kept being useful the whole TIME by holding Mecha Silver still. So for ONCE he’s being as useful as I’d expect a telekinetic to be. He wasn’t a total idiot doing more harm than good, and none of the characters had frustrating Idiot Balls. This is such a step up from Flynn! So much so that the only problems I had with the story were minor nitpicks! The last issue I read of Flynn’s made me really angry! And same goes for Issue 224, which was the last issue I had made a video on at the time that I was first reviewing this issue.

  I also liked how they took care of Tails Doll! Even if AGAIN there’s a nitpick, as we have the third and final plot hole; there’s no reason his power source should’ve been in a place that Big’s fishing rod could reach and be visible to everyone, instead of just inside of it, hidden. For the most part the heroes just distracted it, until the very end where finally something is done against it thanks to Big.

But I CAN’T think of any other way they could’ve killed him, aside from Nicole making it too easy by doing the obvious against it by using the nanites to attack him or trap him in a bubble that would shrink and crush him to death. But it was cool how they beat it, Cream made herself useful as a distraction to make up for the fact that she brought it here in the first place, and Big’s fishing rod was vital to the plot for once, in a way other than fishing!

Issue 249:

We start out with Tails explaining what the bioanalyzer does. Finally. It scans someone’s genetic and physical makeup before roboticizing them. And it’s needed because it still has the data from when Sally was roboticized, allowing her to be changed back regardless of modifications.

And it wasn’t destroyed since then by Eggman for some WEIRD reason! I have a question, if devices like this can be made, why didn’t Rotor get one and make a ton of them and make sure it was used on everyone just in case, so they could be deroboticized no matter how much they would be modified? It makes it forced that the Robians stayed Robians so easily from that excuse, as somehow the heroes really were that incompetent to have never gotten a bioanalyzer when they took back Mobotropolis.

  Sonic then asks Tails how he knows so much about roboticizers. He’s an engineer, and he grew up in a world with roboticizers, why WOULDN’T he? Tails says that the Brain Trust did a lot of research when Sonic was up in space.

Eggman admits reluctantly that free will has been an effective tool for his army, as Orbot and Cubot, Metal Sally, and the Dark Legion have shown him… Well they do have ways to counteract disobedience, while also having independent thought. He then says that because of this, he gave Metal Sonic a power gem core to let it think and adapt to any situation.

  Orbot lampshades how unwise that risk was and Eggman reveals that the core can only amplify his emotions as he sees fit, as he modified it. He also says that he downloaded battle data onto that power gem for him. We learned about this already in Sonic Universe Issue 50, so this is just explaining to us that this stuff is canon without needing that issue to be canon.

And he brags about how sadistic Metal Sonic is. Why didn’t he program them ALL to be that way to begin with? Why would they need to have power gem cores to be sadistic? I remember that Swatbot that said he loved seeing bad robots get punished early on.

  The minute they all show up in the nanite city, Emerl and Metal Sonic follow them there as I once again wonder why Nicole couldn’t bring the force field up to prevent them from getting in. But I guess the logic is that they came into the city too fast and she didn’t know.

The minute Silver gets hit by a laser Metal Sally immediately springs back to life and attacks Sonic. This really annoyed me, Silver should’ve made her damaged enough by moving parts around in her with telekinesis to not be ABLE to attack them! That’s why she got disabled in the first place, right? Was he just keeping her unconscious and paralyzed?

  They have the bioanalyzer, so it doesn’t matter how much she’s damaged! Shard blatantly said that his telekinesis shorts out robots as if it was a dealbreaker. Wouldn’t shorting her out kill her? Sally was said to be almost dead when she was low on energy around Khan. Short-circuiting means no energy flow. But that was stupid, she can just get more energy and be fine, so I’m glad that rule is retconned as Eggman just lying to manipulate Khan.

  As Sonic is preoccupied with Metal Sally he tells Amy to buy Tails enough time to get to the lab so he can bring her there. Amy tells Tails that she’ll hold off Metal Sonic. UH the LAST time someone other than Sonic fought this guy they were blown up. Shouldn’t he still be able to self-destruct?

Unfortunately for Amy, Emerl copies her hammer summoning ability. Someone who hates Amy would enjoy her getting a taste of her own medicine finally, especially after she chased Sonic with a hammer at the end of Sonic Riders, and Sonic and the Black Knight where Sonic was absolutely terrified of her. Well, it’d be way more enjoyable to actually SEE her get hit with the Piko Hammer, not just see Emerl get her ability.

  Amy realizes that being in a fight with Emerl for a long time in a stalemate, will let her buy more time for Sonic and Tails to save Sally. She then looks over at Metal Sonic who is full of smoke, and IXIS having possessed Geoffrey earlier as you can tell by his speech and red eyes, says with fire behind him that he won’t let Metal Sonic tear up the city.

Right away it should be obvious to everyone in the area that he’s possessed by Ixis because his eyes are red now, an unnecessary change on Ixis’ part, and Ixis is awkward at trying to talk like an Australian using the (laughs) word “ bloke “ after hesitating! (giggles) “ Sorry about that, er, bloke. “

He (laughs) even says, “ my, “ before saying, “ my master’s city! “ although that could be misinterpreted as Geoffrey revealing that he wants to take over the city himself, which would be easy for them to believe since they hate him so much, I mean they easily jumped to the conclusion that he led the Death Egg to the city. The big problem is not only the eyes, but there’s no way that Ixis is good at imitating his accent, right? Is he even doing that at all? Wouldn’t people notice his accent slipping eventually? (giggles) I hope the characters figure him out because of this.

  That’s the problem with making it too obvious that a character’s possessed for the sake of the audience. It not only dumbs things down for the audience but it makes in-universe stupider as well because the other characters should catch on right AWAY with that lack of subtlety! This isn’t just the continuation’s fault. They have to be consistent with what Flynn wrote. The artists made that mistake with Monkey Khan when he was brainwashed as well, where he looked different for no other reason than making sure we know he’s brainwashed.  

  Mecha Sally uses a force field out of nowhere to keep Sonic from attacking her, and she briefly jumps at Cream as she stupidly stands there paralyzed in fear while Sally looks completely black-colored with white lines for some reason so that she looks totally unrecognizable. That was weird. I guess Eggman programmed her to be able to temporarily change her appearance like that to look menacing…

   Mecha Sally guilts Sonic by telling him that he has failed her before like when he attacked Knothole as Mecha Sonic. It wasn’t HIS fault Fang dropped a barbell on him! Or that he got roboticized afterwards! She’s probably just blaming him for that to manipulate him. She also says that he fell for a ploy to have her killed. What did he FALL for? It was everyone ELSE who fell for it!

She’s REALLY SUCKING at the manipulating thing for once because, this makes no sense to blame Sonic for and Sonic never points it out! To be fair, she MIGHT just be talking about how he thought Sally died. THAT was what he fell for, she just didn’t make it clear. She also tells him that he would’ve forsaken her for a fight with Silver Sonic. Well I felt the same way too.

While he’s distracted by his guilt she kicks him because that was the whole point, doing so in a weak spot. I wonder if that’s out of resentment for him forsaking her as well?

And the Secret Freedom Fighters, as Nicole looks depressed and Shard comforts her with his hand on her shoulder, are watching this with holograms. Elias wants to go stop Sally. Harvey says he can’t, not because he obviously would get killed because he’s not a superhuman, but because there are witnesses everywhere.

Elias is angry at him and asks if restoring him to the throne is worth watching his sister commit atrocities. People wouldn’t think he was a Secret Freedom Fighter, they’d just think he came back to the city because he missed it so badly and fought alone. I guess they mean he wouldn’t be able to come back to the throne because he’d be dead thanks to Ixis.

  Shard is the voice of reason with his hand on his shoulder in a friendship moment, telling him that they have to let the public heroes save the day this time, and they all look depressed. This, this feels like a filler page, but it’s nice to SEE them. It’s at least worthwhile by reminding us that Shard’s death is now non-canon.

  Silver finally wakes up and telekinetically grabs Emerl, allowing Amy to have a chance to hit him with her hammer. She thanks Silver, saying she hasn’t had a hammer fight like THAT since ROSY.

Silver says they should go take care of Metal Sonic, and they promptly get confused at finally seeing Ixis in Geoffrey’s body using a floating Chaos Emerald wand in his head hair to, uh… cover Metal Sonic in purple smoke? What’s that doing to him? What does that have to do with elemental magic? I don’t understand!

  Amy asks why he can suddenly do that, stupid question since he’s with Ixis all the time so she should be assuming he learned it from him, and she asks why he has Ixis’ staff… Shouldn’t she just be assuming that Ixis let him borrow it, or that he stole it himself? I mean you’d think it would be pretty easy to come up with an explanation.

Silver says pragmatically that as long as he’s fighting Metal Sonic with it he doesn’t care. But again Ixis being so obvious about possessing Geoffrey here makes me wonder why the heroes didn’t figure it out. Ixis threatens to crystallize Metal Sonic for personal use after freezing him solid. Logically he should’ve frozen his oil as WELL and totally defeated it for the issue by now, like Ixis did to M effortlessly, so that’s the first plot hole.

But anyways, crystallizing Metal Sonic sounds like a pretty nice way to make him a threatening villain and then we see him panic as a flat-lining red line background happens meaning nothing to me and Ixis acts panicked as pink lightning surrounds his eyes and body from the staff and it comes out of his eyes.

He asks why having Geoffrey’s body isn’t preventing all of this. Well the real threat of the sickness was in his MIND all along, since the ghosts of the wizards were there, so of COURSE it wouldn’t be exclusive to HIS body!… So what’s he gonna do NOW?! It doesn’t matter who he possesses!

  Metal Sonic melts his way out of the ice with fire and says that the data on Ixian magicks has been successfully copied. Oh crap!… So Metal Sonic has Emerl’s copy power TOO now. That came out of nowhere, but it makes sense that he’d be programmed with that as a smart ability especially since he had that in Heroes. It’s really cool, of course he’d do this eventually! Silver tells Amy to stay here and make sure Metal Sonic doesn’t get any backup.

  Tails asks in a panic why it’s taking so long, and Rotor says that they can’t hook up a bioanalyzer meant for a WORLD roboticizer to do a rush job like this, and because of this they’ll have to transfer the data to a standard model. Jules tells Uncle Chuck that his sensors are CONVENIENTLY picking up something approaching rapidly, but are not convenient enough to tell them that it’s Metal Sonic. I wish he just said, “ I’m HEARING something coming up to us. “ That’d be less confusing.

  Silver rushes to stop Metal Sonic with telekinesis and then for SOME reason asks if he lost control again. He never lost control to BEGIN with! The closest he came to that was when he was fighting Enerjak as hard as possible and having fun with it in Jani-Ca’s zone, and of course that was justified, he was fighting someone omnipotent and evil! It’s at least sweet to see Silver worry about losing control of his anger and being power mad. There’s no reason he’d lose control of his powers so that’s not it.

He makes himself impressively useful with his telekinesis saying he’s gonna keep Metal Sonic under stasis and find Sonic, who should be with Sally. Now I’m really worried that Metal Sonic will copy his overpowered telekinesis ability! ‘Cause that would really suck for the heroes. Also it’s a really good thing Silver didn’t panic at seeing Jules since he’s a robot too.

  Silver then greets Sonic, and this proves to be a stupid mistake since Metal Sally blasts him with her head laser in response when he should’ve just telekinetically grabbed her the MINUTE he saw her! Because of this, he didn’t do that, and this frees Metal Sonic as well.

At least it looks like the force field is up and the fighting between robots is taking place outside of the city walls because we have that blue wall thing near the golden wall, but Silver really should’ve broken Metal Sonic beyond repair while he was telekinesising him! That would be the third plot hole in this story since he should’ve damaged Mecha Sally that way too, but I like how she’ll be beaten later better than the logical thing happening with Silver.

  Metal Sonic tells Sally to start self-destructing, and she flies up into the sky with Sonic holding her wrist, and taunts Sonic in a very tense high pressure situation about the OTHER friends that died on him, like Nate and Tommy. FORTUNATELY he’s able to spindash her into being deactivated, and just before the bomb in her could blow up, with a second left, he rushes her into the deroboticizer and gets Sally back!

It was pretty nice of the bioanalyzer to analyse what she was WEARING at the time too so that she can be wearing those things when she gets back to normal. And it’s awesome of the deroboticizer to work fast enough for her to not be blown up with only a second left.

  Sally wakes up pretty quickly, but is horrified and sheds a tear when she realizes that she had been a robot inconveniencing people for so long, and sits down with her eyes closed right away from sheer fear. Really? She didn’t have that reaction the LAST time she was deroboticized, although she wasn’t a robot for nearly as long that time, but she still woke up and asked, “ Where am I? “ and then realized she was about to be forced to roboticize her friends! Did she remember everything?

I guess it makes sense because she had her independent thought back then, Eggman obedience aside, so maybe people having no independent thought when they’re robots is what keeps their brains from writing their experiences during that time to long-term memory, because they had totally different brains back then. But she still had a different robot body! It’s confusing that she remembers her time as Eggman’s slave when all the other Robians don’t! Like Uncle Chuck forgot about roboticizing Lupe! But he still felt guilty.

  This issue was by Sonic Wind Attack, and as I said before, Flynn just needed two more issues to resolve the Mecha Sally story, which probably could’ve happened if Sega hadn’t forced him to make a worthless adaptation of a Sega racing game and an Olympics game.

They get Mecha Sally to the outskirts of the city where the force field is raised the whole time, and there’s some complication to the plan because Emerl and Metal Sonic who have copy abilities knock out Silver with a laser, releasing his grip on Metal Sally, who immediately is able to attack when she wakes up afterwards.

  And Ixis continues his usual “ gag “ of not being allowed to be threatening at all, because his debilitating mental magic illness comes back, in the most unclear way of all this time, even in Geoffrey’s body since it was in his mind. For some reason Metal Sonic doesn’t kill him as he runs away, but he DOES copy his magic! Silver does save Tails from Metal Sonic, though. Fortunately Metal Sonic doesn’t copy his telekinesis. But I really have to wonder why Silver didn’t completely destroy Metal Sonic with his telekinesis while he was at it…

  Fortunately even though Silver had a moment of stupidity by greeting Sonic from force of habit instead of grabbing Metal Sally right away, he recovers quick enough and Sonic saves the day spindashing her tons of times to disable her. And Sally is horrified at what she was doing earlier when she returns to normal.

Silver gets to use his powers in the way that I’d EXPECT of a telekinetic, grabbing people, and everyone’s all wrapped up in a happy package in just TWO issues of the fans writing! SEE, Flynn, THIS is how you do it! Why does he think fancomic writers can’t write, again? HE was one, so that is hypocritical. Well the Ixis thing wasn’t resolved yet and a lot of stuff weren’t either. But I’m just glad Sally’s back!

  The only cliffhanger it resolved was Sally, we didn’t get one panel get spared for Antoine waking up and Bunnie coming home with her cyborg limbs, which would’ve been really easy for them to draw, but at the very least it was said that even completing those two issues took a YEAR of hard work from fans, so it’s a miracle they got THOSE issues out!

Between all the last minute delays and sudden changes in plans and corrections. You know Archie used to come out on a monthly basis from the start. And ASO doesn’t have to worry about physical distribution taking even longer. It only takes a month to make an Archie Sonic issue. I’m just thankful they proved that Sally COULD have a good resolution. They’re also planning to rewrite Sonic Universe Issue 50.

  Issue 249 was released on August 2018. I really hope that the fans haven’t quit on this and are still working on it, and I especially hope that they’ll keep working on for a really long time. That’s the big downside to a fan comic, even if it IS fantastic and hilariously better than Flynn’s work at the end of the comic without even trying, it takes forever for fans to make issues for no reason while the official comic took just a month per issue…

The biggest problem I have with Archie Sonic Online is its slow schedule, and what really makes it worse is Mobius Legends. If they’re completely non-canon test stories… then they’re just wastes of time and resources, when they could’ve been getting out main issues MUCH FASTER if they weren’t wasting their time on it! They were fun to read, but they were obviously not worth it. They weren’t even half as good as these so I don’t think they even did their job, honestly.

Newbie’s Perspective: Sonic Boom Shattered Crystal Comic Review

  I just learned about this thanks to a video on deviantart. It starts in a flashback to millennia ago, with Lyric bragging that he’s unstoppable. I’d find this story boring if I knew the game’s plot by heart and thought it was being just like it, instead of being creative, but lucky for the comic I’ve never watched the game’s cutscenes.

Some ancient people in cloaks stand in front of a crystal with noise happening, and he screams no, as I’m wondering how they can stand having the hoods so low with the shadows in front of their eyes, when it’d make things harder to see. I’m supposed to see them as wise and amazing but that’s an idiotic fashion choice when you think about it.

  He complains because he thought of the crystal as his, and someone says that all they did was slow him down, and he’ll be free someday. I’m guessing the armor he was wearing made him invincible and that’s why he called himself unstoppable, which would actually justify them sealing him away instead of simply killing him. I wonder if sealing him away was the only possibility or if they were idiots here by not using the magical crystal for an actual solution, when they KNOW he’ll be free one day, somehow. That guy sure is a pessimist.

Someone says they should take the shards that would’ve made him omnipotent and scatter them. I suppose that’s smarter than what’s done with the Master Emerald as long as “ and hide them well “ is included. Then it cuts back to present day, after hopefully giving the audience at least a little new information instead of being a total waste of time.

He says he’ll have what is rightfully his and sees Shadow who says that he doesn’t object because justice should be had. So because he didn’t know Lyric and had no access to any information about him, he took his word that it’s rightfully his. He wouldn’t have made a fool of himself though if he spent all his time with Sonic and his friends because then he’d have learned who Lyric is and not sided with him.

  Lyric politely says he likes his style. At least he’s willing to compliment people. He says he’d serve him well. He should know he’d look bad by phrasing it like that. Of course he could get offended and annoyed at that. He says he serves no one. So Boom Shadow wouldn’t work for GUN.

Then Lyric has his head grabbed and welcomes him to his army, having a moment of impressive competence, although he hadn’t been shown proof that Shadow would be incredibly useful to him to the point where it’d justify forcing him to work for him. Wait, why not do that to anyone else like the heroes? Were they never close enough? Did he use up the last of his brainwashing juice or energy on HIM? I hope that’s explained.

  Wait, come to think of it why doesn’t Shadow use Chaos Control to warp to safety here? He has that ability in the cartoon, so he should have it in the game. I assume that he can’t do anything to save himself while this guy is talking to him right now because he’s ALREADY being brainwashed, and that’s why he has that expression. I wish that was explicitly explained though because some people might look back on this and see Shadow as an idiot for not warping away while he was welcoming him to his army.

  Sticks runs away from falling rocks days later, talking like she’s got a delusion that rocks have sentient souls that’d be wasted on unmoving objects nowhere near people, AND are out to get her for no reason. Sonic picks her up while running to save her, and there’s a surprisingly sweet response from Sticks where she says he’s funny for joking that she’s having fun. Huh, I don’t hate this issue.

  Knuckles says he’ll handle these only to get hurt by one. Tails uses an ener-beam while flying so that Sticks and Sonic could have something to swing on to safety, and Amy’s helping out too by holding one of the beams from above. Sonic thanks them for the help and Amy finally asks what they were doing down there.

Sticks reveals she was hearing voices in her head and thought the rocks were giving her info, and rants about an underground army that’s gonna rise up and destroy them all, which to be fair isn’t outside of the realm of possibility in a sci-fi fantasy like Sonic. In fact there is a dangerous underground army in the cartoon who all look like frog people. Either way though she’s wasting my time.

Amy says she’s going back to her research and for some reason asks Knuckles to go with her and help. Knuckles acts annoying by asking if they’re there yet out of impatience over and over, not caring how it’d annoy her, because he’s Boom Knuckles, not In-Character Knuckles, but again at least he has a different design to keep me from expecting him to be in-character on sight.

Because he’s so annoying Amy angrily tells him to just stand guard. At least she’s smiling so she doesn’t look like just a hotheaded jerk. Instead she’s relatable by trying to be diplomatic while still being irritated. Knuckles says he’ll keep things secure, and the comic tries to have humor because of some panels where nothing happens where it’s clearly peaceful around him, and he says he’s keeping things secure. At least that wasn’t horrible annoying comedy, even if it didn’t make me laugh. This is almost enjoyable for a story.

  Amy sees an ancient piece of writing saying Lyric’s name and then Lyric sneaks up behind her. She at least thinks to threaten him with her hammer right away and gets the chance to do so. However if she had the foresight to bring something that could shock someone like a taser, like an electricity gun Tails could make, she might have had a better time here, not to mention she could call out for Knuckles if he’s close enough to her, unless Lyric’s literally invincible in this armor.

Lyric makes a fool out of himself calling himself an overlord when he’s not in charge of anyone yet. Amy makes a fool out of HERSELF by asking who he is, when him asking if he’s so easily forgotten after she just said his name, makes it obvious that he already implied he’s Lyric.

  Surprisingly he says she’ll help him in his conquest. You would think this would mean he’s going to brainwash her here. Wasn’t Shadow brainwashed by Lyric into fighting for him in the game? So YEAH, why didn’t he do that to Amy? Shadow showed NO usefulness to him, when he could’ve been written to throw a Chaos Spear at him, when Shadow’s supposed to be a cynic, while Amy had a HAMMER.

He says he won’t back off until he gets told what those symbols say. Isn’t he FROM the same time period as those symbols? So wouldn’t he KNOW? Isn’t he even part of the same cultural group as the ancients who wrote it? I don’t get it, why is he going after Amy? I’d assume he’d have kidnapped her for the game because he knew she was Sonic’s friend and he wanted to spite him or hold her hostage to get leverage over him, but instead this is just really confusing. On the bright side this seemed to be the only sloppy part of the issue.

  This was by Ian Flynn. And surprisingly, by the middle of the issue I ended up enjoying it because I noticed how long it went without annoying me and messing up. I loved how all of the main Sonic characters were being competent effortlessly saving their friends and right after LYRIC was smart by thinking to brainwash Shadow AFTER grabbing him to hold him still… even if Shadow really had no reason to take his word for it that the crystal was rightfully his when he was digging for it, when he’s supposed to be cynical.

  But the story itself is barebones and wastes the beginning with a pointless flashback that probably only repeats what the game told you about, but if they wanted to have that so Lyric wouldn’t confuse anyone who didn’t see the plot of the game, well anybody could’ve assumed he was the bad guy of the game without this. Meanwhile he’s STILL confusing me because it doesn’t spare one line of dialogue explaining how he got that suit he’s wearing. I liked seeing Sonic save Sticks from falling boulders, that was nice, but it’d be uncreative if that was in the game too.

I guess the only new thing it really offers content-wise is Lyric meeting Shadow and Amy. With Shadow it’s interesting that Shadow takes his word for it that the crystal is rightfully his because he doesn’t KNOW Lyric. But it amounts to nothing anyways because after he says he serves no one, he gets brainwashed anyways. So I hope there’s a really good explanation for why he doesn’t just do that to everyone, that’s insanely overpowered, and Ixis already did it in SatAM.

  And maybe it would’ve been better writing if the famously cynical Shadow didn’t trust him because he looked like an obvious bad guy, and he has no apparent reason to think the crystal’s rightfully his, so he could’ve demonstrated his chaos abilities to him trying to attack him. And THEN he would’ve thought he was worth brainwashing. And I suppose he HAS to be written to take his word for it because if he thought he was evil on sight, there’d be no excuse for him not using Chaos Control on Lyric to completely avoid the plot of the game.

  Amy’s scene at the end ended up being the only bad part of the issue aside from making Knuckles ask, “ are we there yet, “ too much, which does nothing to alleviate the damage done to his character in Boom like fans clearly wanted, but fine, it felt obligated to stay consistent to how BOOM Knuckles was, even if I still feel like a REALLY brilliant writer would ignore who Boom Knuckles was and just write him like Knuckles.

  So the real thing I hate is that Lyric doesn’t know what the glyphs are spelling out, even though he’s from the ancient past and I thought he was part of the same cultural group as the ones who sealed him away. So that’s a stupid and confusing reason for him to bother Amy, when most people would assume he kidnapped her for being Sonic’s friend.

While it was Amy’s dumb fault that she got kidnapped, because she didn’t have Knuckles there to protect her, it’s not an Idiot Ball because it makes perfect sense that she got fed up with him. I can be fine with characters under Flynn making mistakes as long as those mistakes are believable.

Sonic Archives 5 Everything Old is Newt Again Review: Newbie’s Perspective

  I looked up the issue on a wiki and that’s the only reason I found out about this story. Apparently there’s an extra story in a volume dedicated to reprints, and this was originally meant to be in the official comic but it got scrapped, but they dug up the original writer and artist and had it made as a bonus! It starts out with Robotnik insisting to his badniks that Sonic’s a thing of the past as he stands in front of his gravestone, yeah right.

  And thankfully we’re told right away that we’re not being expected to believe it’s the truth, and instead, it’s somehow a part of his motivational speech to the robots. Since when would he do this? Wouldn’t his speech be about killing Sonic in the first place? What else would it be about? At least this is more creative than the next panel being a flashback to show us how we got to the first panel like I thought.

  Eggman wants some ideas from his badniks even though he’s supposed to be smarter than them, but being a good engineer doesn’t guarantee creativity. I have to assume that he thinks he’s creatively exhausted and doesn’t want to repeat a plan, then. One of the small robots wants his attention, and he climbs up to a seat to get it and it’s the Universalamander. How in the world is he still alive? He was stomped to death by Super Sonic. No wonder this story was scrapped. I’m still interested in seeing how it’d go, but it’s a relief to see that it was for the best that it got canceled.

  Eggman says he thought he was lost. So did I! He says he’ll make him giant with a twist that’ll make him invincible. I assume he’s lying about the invincible part, and the twist is, he’ll remove his ability to do stuff Eggman wouldn’t want willingly, because that was his only problem with him the first time and he’s supposed to be all about removing free will.

  Finally we see the Freedom Fighters, and Antoine wonders if Bunnie’s ready to play flag football, so it’s good to see them doing something for fun that I never saw them do. Bunnie says she was born ready because she’s from “ Sec Country, “ whatever that means, and I remember she’s a cyborg and think her super strength would give her an unfair advantage in football, so she must not be allowed to kick the ball.

All of the team is going against Sonic, and Sally looks stupid saying that it’s hardly fair when it’s obvious that they’re doing this to compensate for Sonic’s speed, so she should know that. Sonic says she’s right, but he didn’t mean it because right away he zips around them and says it’s not fair that he can win against them so quickly, snatching all of the flags. Why is Tails surprised? This must be the first time they ever tried to play this game with him.

  Sonic at least says it’s a beautiful day, which tries to make him more sympathetic to make up for that, and he gets grabbed by the Universalamander. Then he kicks Sonic away. Bunnie’s got super strength, and he’s ignoring her, so it’d be good writing if she used it against him. Right now he’s boring me to death by talking too much.

Finally Bunnie punches him. Then she gets sent flying away too, in the very next panel. It annoys me because she gets given The Worf Effect way too often in this comic as it is, barely ever getting to be awesome for a while and win a fight. But at least it’s not forced that she got smacked away here because she’s not nearly fast enough to avoid his attack, and I guess she didn’t see it coming. Because Sally said big twice, that gives Rotor an idea.

  Then Sonic complains about being smacked into an ant hill, and a sentient ant yells at him for that, being confusingly rude when he should know who Sonic is, since he’s so fast. But apparently he DOES know who he is because when he’s told he’s lost, he tells him to run in concentric circles in the desert marking the sand until he’d hit a familiar landmark. He thanks him for the brilliant idea. I still find the ant annoying for being mad at Sonic, but at least it’s more believable that someone else would come up with this idea instead of Sonic. It might seem confusingly smart for him.

  Rotor of course comes out of the stump with the reduce and enlarge component used on the robot last time. When he hits it with the reduce ray, it grows, because Robotnik foresaw this possibility and had installed a device that reverses any energy it’d absorb. Okay why won’t he immediately try to make him grow instead? Because that’s instantly obvious as an idea.

Why was an entire page wasted on this guy? Somehow they just do nothing against him as he says he’ll kick them around and try to stomp them. Sonic spindashes at him, needing to save them, but thankfully Rotor explains that he WAS going to try to use the enlarge ray on him, but it got smashed before he could.

  Rotor escapes to the underground base and Sally says she ordered a device and it just came to her, and Rotor calls it a Nicole 7000, so this is showing a different, original origin for Nicole. On the one hand it looks very silly because Nicole’s WAY too advanced to be something that anyone could simply order. You’d think a computer that useful would’ve been Rotor’s invention. But at least it keeps it simple. It’s easy to understand, unlike her being made in a Stable Time Loop, but at least with that, it’s believable to the audience that a future Rotor could make her.

  If I don’t know who made her right away, then I’m just gonna be distracted wondering how the heroes got so lucky that SHE could get invented by some nobody, when the creator of Nicole would need to be especially skilled, and Rotor’s that AND one of the main characters, giving him more respect from the audience right away, so I’d wonder why her creator was never seen before if he’s so much smarter than Rotor.

In canon we got told who made Nicole in the first story she talked in, while we’ll never know here, which makes her come off as a lazy Deus ex Machina instead of a character who’s cared about by the writer. Sonic and Bunnie fight the Universalamander even though he’s invincible because it was only to keep him distracted for Rotor. It’s annoying that Tails is asked if he’s old enough to do this, even though he could fly as far away from him as he WANTS and is just there to distract him.

Antoine acts annoying and Rotor shows up, and it’s surprising that Sonic says he’s packing heat and Rotor’s dressed in an army outfit for no reason. He wasted valuable time putting that outfit on just for a joke. He’s holding a ray that’s labeled as a reducer, apparently, and he shoots the robot and shrinks him, and says that he mislabeled it on purpose so that he’d let him hit him. That’s impressively smart. Why’d he take off his helmet and shades?

  He’s been useful with his intelligence constantly throughout the story. I wish Modern Tails was like this because he’s completely showing him up! This is better than Tails, doing something insanely stupid for Sonic despite knowing it’s stupid, or not preventing Sonic from making a mistake when he knows it’ll be a mistake, so that his intelligence just backfires and is usually wasted on him. I’d take a genius saving the day over reactivating Metal Sonic any day.

  Rotor was so competent that the robot shrinks away into nothing because whatever Robotnik installed in him didn’t have a good braking system. Sonic looks serious, and so do the rest of his friends. Sonic says, “ Gee, this is where I’d normally make some humorous remark, but that seems inappropriate. “ This is so much better writing than in Sonic the Comic after Grimer’s cousin got shrunken away and the same happened to Fang. Both times, the so-called heroes of the story didn’t react at all like a really good person would.

It was smart of them to not care, but THIS is the reaction you’d expect them to have, although it completely contradicts Sonic being totally casual about stomping him to death, the LAST time he knew him. But since the ONLY way it makes sense for Universalamander to still be alive, is that he didn’t stomp him to death, obviously this is a different universe in the first place where he never did that.

  Then Nicole says that she thinks based on the current situation for no reason, that Mobius is going to get “ very complicated, “ with new faces, complex relationships and entire worlds opening up. How is “ the same geography and cultures as Earth, “ even the slightest bit “ very complicated? “

This dialogue takes me out of it, so it shouldn’t be there. It seems like it would’ve never been written in the original story because it only references how the comic went on to change after the Underground Knothole era, which is partially not its fault because, of course having a lot more issues would result in it having a lot more TO it. But with the words “ very complicated, “ it comes off as the writer’s disdain for that slipping out, which is unprofessional, as you’d expect this from a hater of the comic who never read most of it.

  Sure, Echidnaopolis has a long history, but being creatively inspired isn’t a bad thing for a writer to be obviously, and that city is basically it when it comes to locations on the planet with a ton of development, aside from the Dragon Kingdom. I could understand the writer of the oldest stories preferring his interpretation of the comic, especially since the only things wrong with it are the fourth wall breaks and Antoine abuse, so if nitpicks are the only things that suck about a comic, that’s a really good comic by Sonic standards.

  But the fact is the comic becoming a bit more complicated is why it became interesting enough to get the devoted fanbase it has, and to have people still be talking about it to this day. Maybe if it never changed from a silly episodic comic, it wouldn’t have been memorable and engaging enough for that, so it wouldn’t be respectible, just a kids’ book we’d all outgrow and forget.

It also wouldn’t have had the infamous things about Archie happen, but that’s the price you have to pay for a comic that takes risks. At least it stays interesting to an older audience, and that’s why it’s still talked about. The story ends with Eggman looking mad while somehow a victory party’s being thrown anyways. So that’s confusing. Since when does that happen?

  This story by Mike Gallagher has the confusing return of Universalamander, so I’m glad it was scrapped because it doesn’t even bother explaining how he survived getting stomped to death by Super Sonic, and there’s no way he would. He didn’t have to be the SAME ONE. Robotnik could’ve just built a NEW one. So at least that’s easily fixable.

It was an impressive story, because Bunnie and Rotor got to be awesome, instead of only Sonic being useful against it. Bunnie punches it, and even though it hits her away, that actually doesn’t mark the end of her fighting it. Rotor didn’t just think to use the enlarge ray after it turned out to get grown by the shrink ray, but he mislabeled it as a reducer so that he’d be allowed to use it on it. It’s great that its defeat was different this time and it was better written here.

  Speaking of shockingly smart, even an annoying background character was, because when Sonic got lost in the desert, he told him to run in circles until he’d hit a familiar landmark, which was smart because he’d always see the marks in the sand and know where he’s been, and if he simply ran ahead, he’d be very likely to run in the wrong direction. The guy still left a bad impression because he yelled at Sonic for smacking into his ant hill when that wasn’t his fault and it was hard enough to avoid getting too damaged.

  But he prevents Sonic from coming off as favoritized and portrayed as too cool just because he’s the series mascot, because he needed to give Sonic this advice, and that’s more believable than him thinking to do that himself, as he’s not known for being so smart that he’d think outside the box instantly. He was lucky he met the ant, but people get lucky in real life too.

While the beginning was too confusing, this was actually a good story because the characters you’d expect to be competent were impressively competent, and it had an action scene as its plot, so it was exciting and exactly what you’d expect from Sonic, without being boring by being too much what you’d expect, because it’s a giant animal robot for once.