Sonic #142-145 Penders needs just a little bit of time adjusting to his new position as head Sonic writer. So we have Romy Chacon writing for a couple issues about… THE FIRST FREEDOM FIGHTERS! What, you thought Sonic and the gang were the first? Hahaha, no! And then, the conclusion of 25 Years Later! Then, relationship drama via “anonymous” letters! And Penders starts writing Shadow! That all sounds good, right?
Question: With only a few of his stories left, now’s a good time to ask. What did you think of Bollers’ run? High point? Low point? Overall rating?
>>141064935 >the look Sally’s sending Bunnie Wow there princess, I know you’re both going through a romantic rough patch but that’s hot as fuck, can I watch?
>That all sounds good, right? ... 25YL finally ending does.
Question: With only a few of his stories left, now’s a good time to ask. What did you think of Bollers’ run? While he's a better writer than Penders, and makes efforts to put some life into these characters and making all this lore actually matter, he still has some highly questionable ideas. Also, he seems to be the writer who most actively shits on Sally.
>High point? Return to Angel Island. >Low point? The Slap.
>>141065024 I'll be the first to say it. Those designs are awful. Just generic furry shit. Honestly, Art Mawhinney has overstayed his welcome in this book.
>>141065101 Sally is the kind of girl who fucks other chicks every time she breaks up with a guy to relieve frustration before getting right back with a guy.
Tommy and now this. What I’m the actual fuck. Like I don’t mind some stories about other characters in the world of sonic and exploring the past but this shit is ridiculous
>>141065167 I prefer the Alicia lookalike version of Julayla. And not because she's hot. I swear. >>141065123 Happens quite a bit in comics too. Because writers always want to make their team THE REAL FIRST.
>>141064926 >Question: With only a few of his stories left, now’s a good time to ask. What did you think of Bollers’ run? High point? Low point? Overall rating? I mostly enjoyed it up until THE SLAP. Still has some fun bits too.
>>141065210 I was expecting more resistance from Sally on Amy being a Freedom Fighter but that never really happened. Maybe a moody panel or two but that's it.
>>141064926 >Question Hit-or-miss. When it was good, it was really good, but when you get stuff like the school or the Sword of Acorns arc, it just gets tedious. Then you get the era where the pacing is just weird and the Benny Lee stories and yeah. >High point Either Tossed in Space or Return to Angel Island >Low Point The aforementioned arcs.
>>141065268 >>141065273 I wonder if the one billionth ring was a mistake or if they were intentionally trying to retcon that Amy selfishly stole a magic ring meant to heal Sally's mom.
>>141065342 >Lara, sweetie, you have NO idea what being a guardian entails. It's not all godhood powers and living in the woods like a hermit... >Knuckles gets a thousand-yard stare, with the sound of a microwave running and dinging getting louder until Lara snaps him out of it
>>141065352 >sonic once again complaining about king >because he was talking to knuckles and rotor about reality falling apart >says sally should've been there instead of him That makes no sense especially since all the blame was on Sonic. He'd be pissed if this was discussed without him.
>>141065396 >sonia is older than manik I'll admit I don't know about this variation of the kids but aren't they supposed to be twins? Is she saying she's older by minutes?
>>141065437 LETTERS! >>141065411 Everyone bottoms to Sally. >>141065430 It sounds like he doesn't want to do anything. Not even the stuff he used to do when he was a teen.
>>141065449 Amanda with the cute Tails. >>141065436 Amy being the leader of another Freedom Fighter group would be interesting. Maybe not Gallagher's favorite team.
>>141065352 God damn that Echidna is so fucking ancient and decrepit. Even Rotor with his accelerated aging doesn’t look nearly as bad as him. I have no idea why Penders thought these two should be lovers.
>>141065466 Betrayal? But who? Surely nobody figured it out! >>141065442 >sonic: who's that? sounds like someone that's dead to me for some unspecified reason.
>>141065442 Can you imagine how nuts 25 Years Later would be if it was the boys and the FF reuniting (though, I can't imagine they wouldn't not be in touch all these years) getting together to kick some interdimensional ass?
>>141065513 But first, time to collect a power ring! >>141065496 >patrilineal >relating to or based on relationship to the father or descent through the male line.
>>141065536 Now that Sonic has nothing better to do than wait around, time to finish this exciting story! >>141065518 Aside from stealing the thunder of being the first from Sonic and the others, they're just forgotten filler characters.
>>141065513 Apparently, if you wore your earing on the left, it meant you were straight, rather than gay, meaning the earing would be on the right. So MP Bones is straight.
>>141065575 Only thing Ian did was establish the snake was a Southern Baronies loyalist in the encyclopedia. Otherwise he figured they died when Feist took over the Special Zone.
>>141065612 Reptile bigotry propaganda, I bet this is just historical revisionism to justify the false supremacy of mammals in society and the discrimination of the scaled
>>141065717 >>141065751 Well, at least this won't be a recurring thing like T*mmy. I think I would have been slightly more amenable to the idea if they we're explicitly the First Freedom Fighters™, Hell, I would've been ok if they had said something cornier like "Our group will fight for all our freedom" or something like that.
>>141065751 >Back in his Military days, Stripes was known as Capitan Smooth Operator >Dude had women all over Mobius. >Probably had a few bastards out of wedlock as well.
>>141065836 >lost one father figure >about to lose another At least there's Wynmacher. >>141065787 More like he was flirting with other women. >>141065810 :O
>>141065876 Maybe he shouldn't have been experimenting on himself because he had a bad dream. Come to think of it, Knuckles should get checked, too. Never too early to get a prostate exam.
>>141065895 Just pull a Locke and keep him living despite his body telling him he should be dead. Hawking will laugh his ass off as Locke is denied the sweet embrace of death.
>>141065811 >I'll try to be respectful. I won't. Fuck Penders and fuck his dad. Imagine trying to use a Sonic the Hedgehog of all things to work out your daddy issues.
>>141065870 Of hooking up and the gradually one of them losing all character and personality to just be a doting lesbian when before she was an entertaining character and independentally motivated….like pic example?
>>141065919 I thought Echidna tech would be advanced beyond any need for exploratory surgery. Guess they're not as high and mighty as they say they are, huh?
>>141065960 >Locke: There could never be another. ... Well, except for Max. >Lara-Le: I knew it! >Locke: Yeah, no point bullshitting about that anymore.
>>141065937 >We can't understand it! It's as if your father somehow bombarded himself inside of a giant microwave filled with chaos energy all while doping himself up on experimental chemicals! >Or maybe he smoked a lot, we're not sure.
>>141065987 >lara-le and wynmacher still alive and together Feelsgoodman >>141065972 I can imagine Penders having an amazing stepdad and ignoring him while crying over his real deadbeat father. Like I said before I'm trying to be respectful.
>>141066016 But yeah, losing a loved one sucks. I just wish these comics weren't used as a form of therapy that obviously didn't work as he'll be very pissed at Ian later on.
>>141065987 >Locke crosses over >Moondancer: Welcome, Honored Lock-- >Hawking makes a fucking beeline to pummel Locke >Hawking: I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS YOU SON OF A BITCH!!! SHUFFLE OFF THE MORTAL COIL IN YOUR SLEEP WILL YA?!
>>141066050 >>141066018 >literally "i'm not a furry but..." The real answer is that they have good designs and share qualities of a typical attractive female and are drawn by an artist that can only draw hot women and bless him for it.
>>141066016 >Pender's stepdad Wendell was a cool-ass guy. Made great cocktails, had a smoking robe, had passionate sex with Pender's mom, supported Pender's through college, the works.
>>141066027 On the one hand, you can't deny this is a touching tribute and it's a deeply relatable personal event. There's no ego or showing off, it's just a guy coming to terms about his dad's death.
But on the other hand, so much of what we know about Pender's dad influencing Locke makes it so much stranger and it feels awkward to read in a Sonic the Hedgehog comic. There's a lot more baggage to this and it comes off more as someone desperately wishing this is how their last goodbyes with their dad went instead of a whole other way around
>>141066047 He really didn’t. Much of Locke’s monologue is still the same in Locke’s canon death as it is in M25 years later. Locke is regretful that he did horrible things to Knuckles for the greater good and wants to give his son his freedom back. Locke was changed to die in a more fantasy way instead of something as realistic as cancer which fits the world of sonic more.
>>141066126 You get to be guardian and will get training. Don't push your luck! >>141066103 Knuckles grew up with only his father as a parental figure. He was attached to him and was willing to forgive everything he was put through because of Locke.
>>141065994 >When King Max learns Locke is dead, he breaks down into ugly sobbing and takes the photos and letters out from the safe behind the family crest
>>141066189 I'm still confused why Sonic was complaining about being King and Sally not helping out and yet she never does and he keeps doing this without her.
>>141066169 You know, I like how everyone gives Harry business. He's like that old family friend. I can imagine them inviting Harry over for some Christmas dinner
>>141066214 Fun place to visit. >>141066194 It's good that he is against repeating what the Brotherhood did and then realizing that denying his daughter the chance to make the choice herself is still bad. At least he didn't ditch her after mutating her.
>>141066194 In theory I don’t disagree, the problem is this is dragged down by the plodding pacing, weird plot directions and characterizations and all the other usual penderisms
>>141066265 Sure thing, Sonic. This is all your fault after all. >>141066230 Seeing as he only cares about being a cabbie, it's the best thing for him. He's everyone's friend and always gets special business.
>>141065922 Penders isn’t even the first writer to use the book as a way to cope about the death of a family member and he won’t be the last. Bollers dedicated a story to his late grandmother and Ian dedicates a story to his late dad.
>>141066242 >"Zonic"? Who is this Zonic? - Ken Penders By all accounts, that legion of Robotniks back in Sonic Live should've been at war with the Zone Cops.
>>141066237 >Lara-Su is so excited to stay at Grandpa's for a week. He has that new boat he and Grandma La got for their anniversary and she's so pumped to see it. >She learns she's going to visit Grandpa Locke. >Locke and the other Guardians mainly sit around, watch TV, yell slurs at the dingoes on screen, and reheat Hot Pockets.
>>141066265 >Tachyon Chamber Those idiots wouldn't know a goddamn Tachyon if it bit them on the fucking dick. There's only ONE Doctor who can fix this! And he's a LONG ways away.
>>141066309 So yeah, if that felt anti-climatic, there's a reason for it: This wasn't the intended ending. There were at least two more parts. though they probably weren't much better. >SONIC: ALL MY TOMORROWS… (SONIC #160 & #161) – King Sonic discovers he’s returned to the scene of one of his greatest battles and possibly the cause of his problems in the future. The problem is that no one can see or hear him, and any attempt to take action results in someone suspecting a supernatural cause. When he returns to the future, he discovers a changed world on top of having failed to change events in the past. As a last resort, Rotor sends Nicole into the past after having created her.
>>141066338 I wonder how many girls bought the Sonic comics. I know there have been quite a bit of fanart from girls and probably letters from them as well. Maybe Archie really is giving a good number of readers what they want.
>>141066346 >As a last resort, Rotor sends Nicole into the past after having created her. I guess that was the other objective mentioned here. >>141066265
>>141066359 First up, Bunnie! >>141066346 I remember seeing some fan covers by a diehard Penders fan that wanted to do a series continuing Penders' plans as if Ian never took over. Nothing really came of it.
>>141066309 And this is why 25YL is the absolute low point of the entire book in my opinion. over 200 issues, and this is the bottom of the barrel. 12 issues of fucking nothing, only for a sudden non-ending with no apparent point to any of it. Again, DESTINY is unironically better because at least it's funny. Fuck this "story".
>>141066338 >>141066359 For as much as the relationship drama is a drag, I gotta say Jon's art is so expressive and sharp. Like I can't describe what it reminds me of, but it's that funky early 2000s vibe that just fits the comic.
The action stuff he did for Angel Island was good too.
>>141066436 No. I'll post another comment after the story is over, but Penders intended for it to be a time loop sort of thing, with Nicole coming back the slow way.
>>141066407 I'd say Ken's final issues where he totally denounces Eggman and Gerald for their achievements at least tie for that title, given how the first thing Ian did was immediately retcon that nonsense.
>>141066469 >Sonic Underground >Interdimensional Tour Why. The fuck. Did we spend 12 issues on 25YL. When we could've been reading about THIS? Give me that shit right now, oh my god.
>>141066346 >Sonic's two most heroic achievements that saved the world were actually massive failures >Sonic has no friends, doesn't see Tails, Knuckles dislikes him. >Sonic is in a mid-life crisis >Sonic's attempt to save the future is a miserable failure.
>>141066309 >though our destinies are etched in stone This is all an AU, Penders. Everybody else agreed it's not the true future, get with the program.
>>141066718 >in answer to a zillion letter requests Figures. Penders would never willingly write a Shadow story. It had to be forced upon him by fan demand/ editorial demand.
>>141066771 What is wrong with Ron Lim's artwork I thought it was just furries he couldn't draw, but here's a totally normal human girl and she looks like a freak. Was his career on Spiderman as a fill-in artist to help with deadlines?
>>141066818 Yeah, this story is apparently because Mike wanted a lead-in to the next storyline (which Penders and Bollers were supposed to take turns on, but Bollers left, so...)
>>141066830 >Shadow, the character lost practically everything and became a weapon of revenge, until he was coerced out of it and reminded of Maria's wish. >"I wouldn't know! I've never had anything!"
>>141066830 >>141066842 Yeah, that's not how that works. It's also factually wrong because even before Shadow's own game came out, it was pretty clear he's biological.
>>141066902 Now for a Bollers backup story. I don't know if he left after issue 141 and these are old stories he wrote or he stuck around to do a couple more before leaving.
>>141066830 >The Brotherhood is in the Twilight Cage >Spectre is pissed off >I mean PISSED >He's already broke 3 Nocturnus necks and vowed to kill Fini, The Dark Legion and to throw Locke off the island. Into a Volcano.
>>141066987 Make no mistake, as we will see with Stargazing, Nicole is the real deal.
Fuck me, that's actually really soon. It comes right after DESTINY, a fact I am always amused by. One of the low points of the book immediately followed up by one of the highs.
>>141067022 That's the neat part it wasn't Presumably it was part of Knuckles: 20 Years Later and got scrapped, unless it was part of the changed future.
>>141067136 Back in the day, one of Amy's interests was tarot. It was the reason she was at Little Planet in Sonic CD. That element got phased out aside from a few nods until very recently where it's been played up more (to the point of Frontiers making the cards a very prominent part of her moveset).
>>141067136 In Sonic Frontiers, Amy mostly uses her Tarot cards offensively unstead of using her hammer, and regardless of wether you prefer her hammer or not, the Tarot Card style of gameplay just isn't fun AND looks gofy.
>>141067136 Sega censored them as "Fortune Cards". Also they're another symbol of how bad IDW Sonic is, alongside "Big Oof", "Sonic Cycle", and the Open Your Heart quotation.
>>141067215 And with that, we're done for today! Tomorrow at 7pm EST it's Sonic vs Shadow as well as the return of a character! Kind of. Let's just say this is another, more game accurate version.
So here's a comment from one of Penders' forum admins about Nicole in M:25YL (via Sonic Retro) >Nicole was created in the Mobian year 3261 (The year M:25YL takes place.) She was programmed with all the information Sally would need in the fight against Robotnik. But, she was also programmed to record and track any anomaly that affected Mobius and the zones. She was then sent back to Sally in the year 3228 (Robotnik took over in 3225) with indications that Nicole came from her father, the king. That was to keep Sally from asking too many questions about where Nicole really came from. As a young girl, getting something from her father whom she had not seen in several years, she glommed onto Nicole right away, accepting everything she was told. Would an older Sally have accepted that statement? Probably not. >So Sally grows with Nicole as a constant companion and confidante, moving into the adventures as we see them in SatAM and later the comic. All the while, unbeknownst to anyone at the time, Nicole is constantly scanning for these zonal anomalies. Nicole eventually reaches the year 3261 again, right after the point the “just built” Nicole was sent back. The lock on the memory of our now 33-year old Nicole releases, and all that data she accumulated during the past 33 years comes flooding back to help King Sonic, Guardian Knuckles, Royal Engineer Rotor, and Legion Scientist Cobar figure out a way to fix the problem. And something else, too, for Guardian Knuckles discovers he had a daughter whose existence was wiped out when Sonic went back in the time machine the first time to try to fix the problem…if you remember, Lara-Su vanished at the end of that story by Ken. So for Knuckles, the stakes were even greater than the survival of the planet Mobius.
>>141067243 >>141067226 >>141067202 Sonic Battle is well-made from a conceptual standpoint, but the AI is bullshit levels of difficult and often makes you fight the same battle twice for no reason whatsoever.
It was also one of Amy's worst appearances, made her look absolutely unhinged.
>>141067201 Quoted by not-Finitevus. To quote my favorite criticism of it: "If it were any more on the nose it would come with a link to a Youtube video of the writer furiously mugging for the camera."
>>141067202 It's a pretty fun game, though kind of simplistic and repetitive. Still, pretty damn impressive for the GBA, 4-player casual fighters often weren't that competent even on consoles.
>>141067276 >the AI is bullshit levels of difficult I mostly remember using the one-hit kill moves you get from entering secret passwords to nuke every opponent.
>>141067067 So how was this a story being heavily requested by people? I get why Shadow was super-requested, but this is just a filler story with a couple pages of setup for later stories.
>>141066931 They're inventory stories. He wrote a couple extra scripts for emergency situations, basically. This was common practice back in the day, and the reason Romy Chacon is "around" so long is Gabrie sold Romy stories in bulk to himself (some people would call this embezzlement).
Mike taking control of the book led to a few years of just blitzing through the backlog of inventory stories in order to recoup costs and fixing the mangled plot with massive retcon storylines.
>>141067813 You think it's just a funny coincidence that the last ten issues of Ken's run reintroduce the Wolf Pack, bring back Snively, pull in the Patch retcon, place Elias on the throne, finish off Tails' destiny, and prep for Scourge?
What are you, stupid? Mike's the one who started cleaning house. That's why Ian was hired in the first place.
>>141067878 Retcons that change the direction of a storyline or reintroduce old cast members aren't necessarily housecleaning in my book. Stuff like Gathering Storm and Order From Chaos gets that label from me because it's a large-scale torching of old plot points into a more simplified status quo.
So, yeah. About Rotor and Cobar stuff. So much for two small indirect pronouns amidst word salads bearing still no hints whatsoever on Rotor gayness, as if that itself is what Rotor needed urgently the most for his underdeveloped character.
Yeah, that was awkward. If you were to, which man would you pair Rotor with? For reference, we have already way better characters to pair with, like Guntiver, Augustus, Larry Lynx (you will see soon why in a hundred couple more issues), Tommy, Silver...
Go wild. No matter what, you're proving yourself more capable than Mr. Ken "I-Can't-Be-Arsed-To-Think-Beyond-Self-Fellating" Penders.
>>141015208 The best it. I hope Penders and Gabrie give each other AIDS.In the other hand, this is when Rotor looked on his best.
>>141068318 >Augustus I know they already vaguely are, but I'm a bit surprised that Arctic Freedom Fighters being vaguely associated with Rotor isn't played with much. Maybe if Rotor had his own mini-series like Tails.
>>141068664 Honestly long hair Sally is pretty terrible outside of the design itself looking cute. But everything about these stories ranges from boring to bad so I find myself not even that much bothered about her specifically.
There was way more cool stuff happening in those 1~20 gag comics.
>>141068864 It feels like Sally's current character is just an excuse to write her out of the story so no wonder it looks bad, even in the future, despite being married to Sonic, she barely does anything related to the actual plot.
>>141068957 The attitude I remember from around this time was people were starting to lean more towards the game versions of the characters than the comic ones, people couldn't see that version of Sonic willing to get married and act as king.
>According to penciller Jon Gray's website page on StH #144 (3), Romy Chacon's Love and Loss was extensively rewritten by him after discussions between the former and editor Mike Pellerito. Some of the changes are:
>Bunnie’s Letter mentioning how Antoine once loved her for who she was and not what she looked like instead of concentrating on how Antoine would now get verbally nasty with Bunnie. >Mina’s letter was changed to reflect on her internal conflict between Ash and Sonic and provided a way for her to finally make up her mind rather than the way it was worded originally, which left an opening for a rekindling of the love triangle. >The scene with Mina calling Ash was also changed, extending from less than a panel or two to six, with the reader seeing all the reactions from Ash as he talks to her and ending with a smile on his face, rather than the “Lets date” call the original had. >Amy’s Letter, while concentrating on Sonic, also had Amy throwing hints at Tails in the original, which was discarded in the final version.
>>141069046 >Sally’s letter and the ending were completely rewritten several times before the final version: >The wording in the original focused on the aftermath of her breaking up with Sonic, with part of the letter written as follows: "I’ve asked him to be with me and drop his missions but he’s too stubborn to do it until Robotnik’s reign is at an end. I gave him an ultimatum; it was either me or his missions. He couldn’t choose so I chose for him. I walked. I know he’s right, but I’m right, too." This was changed to focus on the reasoning behind her decision. >The ending went under four iterations: In the original ending, Sally breaks the fourth wall and began talking to the reader. Teasing at first, she explains the letter to herself was to throw off anyone else who may think Aly is Sally, as her secrets are made public for the entire world to see, but maybe not all of them. And when questioned why she does this in her free time, she ends the story by replying that "A girl’s got to have a hobby, you know." The first rewrite kept the fourth wall ending but threw out everything else and changed the text to reflect the context of the story. The second rewrite removed the fourth wall ending along with a redrawing which would be the way Love and Loss was intended to end. However, the package with the last page was ruined in the rainstorm of Hurricane Francis with no further copies existing, making it impossible for the page to be reproduced. With a ruined page and a deadline for print, Pellerito combined the second redrawing with the page designed to fit the original fourth wall ending, leading to the final version
>Amy’s Letter, while concentrating on Sonic, also had Amy throwing hints at Tails in the original, which was discarded in the final version.
I know Penders' original plan, or at least his intent, was for Tails and Amy to have hooked up instead of Tails and Mina in the future, but did the comic EVER actually put any hints of Amy and Tails in anywhere?
>>141069022 I don't know anything about that, but the stories made sure to paint the role of being a king as the most boring thing imaginable.
Even king Max ironically had a lot more exciting stuff happening during his reign with all the wars and betrayals and getting trapped in some alternate dimension and turned into a living crystal.
>>141068957 >It feels like Sally's current character is just an excuse to write her out of the story so no wonder it looks bad, even in the future, despite being married to Sonic, she barely does anything related to the actual plot. Sally suffered under Penders, Bollers, and Gabrie because they didn't know what to do with her and didn't want to use her. And yet she was perfectly fine as her role as leader that she had for the 50+ issues. Gallagher and Ian knew what to do with her and had no problem with her being with Sonic. No surprise that those are the two best writers Sonic had. Bollers had some good spots but he's uneven.
>>141069109 >or at least his intent, was for Tails and Amy to have hooked up instead of Tails and Mina in the future From what I understand, they weren't going to real mention who Tails ended up with, if at all (unless you mean in the main comic). As for hints, none really unless you count them being in the same class at school.
>>141068864 So pretty much 75 to 160. I like to call most of that period the "Three Stooges" era - Penders, Bollers and Gabrie providing most of the stories and either stepping on each other's toes or making just really stupid creative decisions, like putting Sonic in a high school or Knuckles turning green and trying to fulfill Dimitri's stupid ideas.
>>141069109 >I know Penders' original plan, or at least his intent, was for Tails and Amy to have hooked up instead of Tails and Mina in the future, but did the comic EVER actually put any hints of Amy and Tails in anywhere? Closest I've seen was that short story where they were in school together but that was more about their friendship. Still a decent foundation for a possible relationship if it was ever built upon.
>>141069109 The Stooges just did not respect Amy for whatever reason. Why else would Mina exist if you weren't going out of your way to ignore the character giftwrapped for relationship drama?
>>141069109 Not a bad pairing being honest, but it would need an actual competent writer to pull off the romance between the two. Anyway, it doesn't matter because Barby was still robbed.
>>141069199 I always had the impression Archie as a whole just didn't want to use Amy altogether, which I could believe since she as Sega was writing her was very much a wrench in their overall plan (along with the many other wrenches Sonic Adventure-onwards threw at them).
It's not as if they didn't have a HUGE cast of characters they could have used instead.
>>141069199 Even though she was aged up, she was still considered a kid and Sonic never showed interest in her. Also did you really want Amy to be in Mina's position? Mina was only created for relationship drama. And Sally got messed with over that. And Bollers was planning on bringing her in on that shit but he left before he could do it. Amy got lucky.
>>141065612 >hurr hurr snakes are so evil because of the bible and satan and they're scaly and icky and waaaaaah Fucking Western retardation towards snakes, they're beautiful animals and so many other cultures and religions hold them as neutral and positive forces and symbols. Poor Kaa got hit with it so hard thanks to Disney, he went from being one of Mowgli's closest allies and friends to a villain because Western audiences wouldn't accept a heroic snake character, and he's never recovered since in Western media.
>Also did you really want Amy to be in Mina's position?
I'm perpetually thankful they didn't use Amy for that, we'd still be hearing it even now in the era where Sega's actually trying to make Sonamy a thing.
>>141069247 >Also did you really want Amy to be in Mina's position? An insecure but love-motivated girl gifted with super-speed and singing talent posing competition against Sally for Sonic's affections sounds like a great outline to give Amy.
>>141069245 The writers were throwing wrenches into their own plans at that point. By the point Mina was introduced, they'd failed to make a satisfying follow-through for Naugus twice and totally forgotten about Snively. And meanwhile, Amy was getting almost nothing. She's lucky Penders gave her even the scrap of making Rob her cousin.
>>141066971 We were so close to Shadow and Spectre meeting! They'd be killing motherfuckers left and right and brooding over dead loved ones for the rest of the day.
>>141069223 >action girl potential love interest and easy way to justify Tails going on his own adventures, is even introduced during one of the first times he goes do stuff by himself >completely ignored >meanwhile characters like Fiona and Mina get glued to Tails instead and are the ones who are remembered for how terrible or nonsensical their interactions with him were Despair.
From what I'm getting from some of the posts in her. Amy and Sally got mistreated a lot in this comic, the former being treated as an afterthought and the latter getting assassinated.
>>141069343 Mina got cucked and simped after Sonic even after getting a boyfriend. Amy still gets cucked later on but at least she owned up to it and became supportive. Amy looked so much better compared to everyone else because she missed that shit.
>>141069414 Amy's problems result from Archie being unable to competently reconcile the changes Sonic Adventure introduced with their pre-existing SatAM basis. You can really tell they were fighting back against these changes.
The same is true for Sally to a much lesser extent, but it's mainly because of too many different writers not being able to stick to a cohesive vision for her.
>>141069354 Some of the writers are also artists. Penders is a writer, Gallagher can draw, Bollers started as a colorist. There's another artist that will be writing a couple stories. I wouldn't be surprised if the artists had more input than they would with any other publisher. Look at what Mawhinney gets away with.
>>141069414 Amy had no place and no writer cared that much for her. She was used a lot outside of Archie because she was the girl character. But Archie had a lot of those already. Sally is divisive and some writers, the bad ones, preferred using her for drama and nothing else.
>>141069482 Anon we are undeniably in the Dark Ages. Getting less writing is better for any character. Ian treats Amy with more respect than anyone else. You were close to Amy being in a secret relationship with Sonic and that was only to be part of a love triangle with Sally.
>>141069431 Should have made Barby look closer to Tails age and made it explicitly clear because trying to memory hole what was a cute dynamic just left a bad taste in my mouth
>>141064926 >Question There's some obvious issues, but overall I like his writing. Apart from (or maybe because of) the Remington torture, Return to Angel Island was easily my favorite, with Tossed in Space a close second. I think we all know what the low point is >>141065101 100% agree, but then I think all Mobians are >>141065221 lmao >>141065248 >>141065308 Sold! >>141065253 >BUTLERRRRR! He can't keep getting away with it! >>141065274 Sold! There's really not enough bara Sonic characters >>141065315 I was kinda hoping you'd just forget to post these >>141065352 I'll ship any two (or more!) guys that even look at each other and I still don't see any hint of romance between them outside of lewd fanart of course
>>141069586 NTA: Barby's age is never explicitly mentioned, but her design in her later appearances (particularly the one during the world tour) makes her look far taller, and by extension older, than Tails.
>>141069689 And doing so currently is a minefield.
Recently Evan Stanley revealed on social media that Sega was loosening the restrictions on how Shadow could be written (with the admission she still couldn't write him as a flaming faggot like she would with complete and total freedom), and that would be shown off in his next IDW comic appearance. After the issue came out she wrote that Sega sent her "a lot of notes" about how she handled it.
>>141067289 Is he wrong, though? The fanbase has agreed for years and years that this cycle exists. It also exists with several other franchises, like Zelda. It being acknowledged in the comic seriously sent Sonicfags into a shitstorm?
>>141065612 Gasp, not Scales! I do love how smug he looks >>141065687 F >>141065702 Gabrie constantly fucks up continuity despite also being the editor >>141065751 That's a really sweet ending >>141065811 A story so important only Penders could write and draw it! >>141065836 >Once again, Jensen's coloring is making bad art passable. He's trying his best to give Archimedes a nose >>141065870 They were so hot in BTAS >>141065937 The serious nature of the story juxtaposed with the hilarious Penders faces is too much >>141065960 I can't believe Max isn't in the room >>141065987 F >>141066047 lmao
>>141069815 It's worse than being on the nose about it, he uses references in place of actual dialogue between characters. Sonic Frontiers was very rampant with that.
>>141069770 Making undisguised references isn't funny. Not when the story around it is so painfully forgettable. By that point in IDW we'd already been subjected to a blatant quoting of Open Your Heart and an utterly butchered Shadow in the middle of an overly long, zero-real-stakes arc.
>>141069849 "Big Oof" was Sonic's reaction to learning about Starline's (apparent) death. Not sure what the Open Your Heart quote was, but I do know a similar reference, where Surge quoted the first Sonic vs Shadow cutscene from SA2 while fighting Metal Sonic.
>>141069354 Jon had some say, like chipping in on RtAI, or getting into the mangled mess which was Kneecaps' name. Spaz may not look like he contributed much since he rarely did interiors, but he was doing so much behind the scenes, like tons of concept art, he was allowed to have his say in too; and the other writers/editors knew this because of just how skilled he was (he literally sold the book to gullible kids because of his fantastic covers alone). I won't be surprised if other artist might of had something to say about certain writing choices, because this book such had a lot of them.
Since we're in the Penders era now and things aren't going to get any better until he leaves I might as well ask now, what are some post-Endgame, pre-160 highlights to you?
>>141066287 Harry's always handsome, regardless of age >>141066309 It's finally fucking over! Fun fact: He's planning on redrawing this page for the printed release early next year lol, as if it's ever coming out >>141066429 Mina's clearly upset Sonic and Ash are now dating >>141066448 >shirtless Ash Oh my! >>141066544 Gasp! >>141066559 >elias with stubble Kinda hot >>141066694 His blond chest fur's finally fixed!
>>141069815 >>141069855 I honestly don't see the reason for so much hostility with Ian referencing Sonic material, especially this claim that "He only references because he can't write!". Seems to me that you're so obsessed with the references you ignore the rest of the content around them.
>>141067276 >It was also one of Amy's worst appearances, made her look absolutely unhinged. You can't tell me that Rouge making Amy hallucinate Sonic, then having to fight Amy and the hallucination as Rouge isn't funny as fuck
>>141070003 It's moreso that the references and quotes can be distracting or taking you out of the story in a "really?" sort of way. And I say this as someone who generally likes Flynn's writing.
>>141069959 Tossed in space, Return to Angel Island, Sonic Adventure 2.5, Heart Held Hostage, the one shot stories of Chuck with Lupe and the other with Sonic's dad, Elias (just in general, what a great dude).
>>141070019 100% both base and DLC. I enjoyed all of the references and nods to things I've been enjoying about the franchise since 1991. I like when a franchise acknowledges itself instead of trying to pretend every piece of it exists in a vacuum.
>>141069959 Same answers as they always are: Brave New World, Robotnik's Return, Giant Robotno, Heart of the Hedgehog, the nuking of Robotropolis, Heart Held Hostage, and Return To Angel Island.
>>141066756 lmao >>141066830 >neither biological, mineral nor a vegetable My favorite line in the entire series! >>141066937 You can really tell Penders hates Shadow >>141067039 >Imagine living in Knothole and all these mostly naked mobians are just chilling. It's genuinely distracting! >>141067089 >spoiler Cute and canon! >>141067120 He's extra sultry today! >>141067163 >Also, what's with that tail of hers? It's also her hair, the colorist made a mistake >>141067233 Thanks Konductor!
>>141065987 >>141066016 I'm not going to hate on Penders for this but I do feel like I'm intruding on something very personal, which makes me uncomfortable
>>141070041 >Omega going "Annihilate-Charge" as he's just SHOOTING SOMETHING That's not how that goes. That's what he says when he's punching. The joke would've worked if he was just saying "Fire-Fire-Fire-Fire" like his midair shot attack.
>>141070560 Unless they learn from their mistakes and focus more on making content like this instead of the crying lesbian OC squad, IDW doesn't deserve that trust.
>>141069431 SA2 ripped off a story where an 8 year old fucked an 18 year old, then they got married and lived happily ever after Not our fault Gallagher is a chad and Ian’s a microdicked faggot
>>141070814 Anon means SA2 was partially inspired by PSME, a shotacon manga And that Gallagher intended for Barby to be a love interest every time he write for the characters, the only writer who hated the idea of Tails and her was Ian
>>141070843 > the only writer who hated the idea of Tails and her was Ian I think that's because none of the other writers really thought about her. Bollers showed that Tails still held a candle for Fiona (though whether that was his decision or editorial's is up in the air).
