#and sure the freedom fighters may not be the Most popular characters in the sonic fandom but theyre still pretty well liked

[sonknuxadow]

to be honest i have mixed feelings on the idea of the freedom fighters ever coming back . because yeah i like them and i wouldnt mind getting to see them again. but the version of the sonic world theyre associated with is so different from the games that i feel like they cant just be thrown into the games or idw sonic with no changes. like maybe they could be introduced as a separate branch of the restoration or something but i feel like the group dynamic would be a bit different from before considering in every continuity theyre in sonic and tails are part of the freedom fighters too and have known those guys forever. or maybe they could just pretend theyre old friends of sonics who have been here the whole time and just havent shown up onscreen before but personally i dont really like that idea and cant put into words why. idk

[glapplebloom]

I saw SatAM trending because of this, so why not give it my thoughts.

SatAM is one of the first animated series for Sonic the Hedgehog. Since this was the 90s and only two games were released at the time with no dedicated cutscenes, DiC took this concept and ran wild in two different directions. While Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog was more cartoony, SatAM was a serious story. Serious in kids standards at least.

Dr. Robotnik has taken over Mobotropolis and it is up to Sonic and the Freedom Fighters to stop him from taking over the world. It was so popular, it inspired Archie Sonic to continue making comics after 50 issues. Though by that point any similarities to SatAM were surface level. So the question remains: should Sega bring back the Freedom Fighters into the Main Sonic line proper? Let’s look at the Reasons I can see for and against it.

SEGA should bring back the Freedom Fighters

Popularity: First premiering in 1993, fans of them are still talking about them to this day. The fact that SatAM was trending in 2024 definitely shows that there are still people willing to support these characters.

IDW: They would be super easy to establish into the Main Series thanks to IDW. Since those comics are considered canon, there could be an issue where the opposite side of the Restoration is having troubles and only Sonic can reach them in time. You can introduce them properly there.

Ian Flynn: Ian Flynn loves them and when he was working with Archie he did great things with them. He fixed the issues that they were having before the reboot and made them fit well with the more focused Game Canon in the Reboot. And he’s the current Head Writer of the Sega Games. 

Speed Battles: Look at how easy it is to add characters in this game. They had IDW Exclusive Characters, characters from Sonic Prime, the Sonic Movie versions, even the Lego Versions. They can easily insert the SatAM Cast in here.

Money Making: While I don’t know if they could print the stories that don't have Penders involvement, they could for Ian Flynn’s work. And that means if they can work on an agreement, we could have reprints of those Archie Comics again. And they can use those reprints to reintroduce new fans into these characters so when they do show up in IDW, they can get a leg up.

SEGA shouldn’t bring them back

Archie: While plenty of people who are supporting them are fans of SatAM, I have a feeling a good majority of them are actually following the Archie Version of the Freedom Fighters. And considering how the reboot got looked upon, I can see those who grew up with the comics not liking any direction they would take that isn’t one to one.

Redesigns: Despite the Reboot doing a great job redesigning them to fit more Game Canon, they would have to redesign them again to ensure they don’t look similar to their Archie designs. So there could be a chance people may not be able to recognize them as the Freedom Fighters when they first look at them.

Why not New: Sadly, regardless if they try to keep them as true as possible or give them the Breezie treatment, you probably can get more mileage if you just make a brand new character. They could probably do the same ideas as the Freedom Fighters and possibly more.

Jealousy: By bringing in the SatAM crew, you may get similar people rallying for others from other Sonic cartoons and wondering why not them. I know there are plenty of Sonic X fans who would love to see Tails’ best shipmate.

The Games: Sonic has a large cast of characters. The most we’ve seen recently was Murder Mystery. Whisper and Tangle only showed up in Sonic Forces Speed Battle, a mobile game where adding characters is the sales pitch. The last time they made a game where each character just wasn’t just a different version of the Sonic gameplay was Sonic Unleashed, and they were both Sonic.

My Stance?

Honestly, I’m not sure. I bet if Ian Flynn could bring them back to the Sonic Universe through IDW he would do a great job with them. Then again, I do like what he’s doing now. Belle’s tragic story. Surge and Kitsunami being the Sonic version of the Androids. The Diamond Cutters Interpersonal Relationships that Mimic is hoping to destroy. To add these characters now when we got two of these stories going on right now maybe is asking too much. Maybe when all of that is settled. And I’m still waiting for Sticks the Jungle Badger to return. So far it was just a name drop. And that was in 2022. 

But what about in a game? While I definitely can see ideas for a game using those characters, Sega just released Sonic Frontiers in 2022 and Sonic Superstars 2023. Those are good first steps for those types of gameplay. And they’re going to take a while since they’re working on Sonic X Shadow Generations now. If they would, I wouldn’t trust them until they iron out the Frontiers formula. 

[small-screen-superman]

Imagine liking characters because you like them and not because of whether or not the cartoons or comics they're from are still going on 😱

I wish people would either

just say "I don't care about the Freedom Fighters and as such I find their fans annoying", and/or

actually criticize the characters themselves. Call Sally a Mary Sue or point out all the times she was badly written, call Bunnie and Antoine stereotypes, etc. I may like them, but there are valid reasons to dislike them.

But "they don't currently appear in any new media, and aren't important to the franchise as a whole" is not an argument against a character. It has nothing to do with the character's quality, purpose, or function.

Saying characters are bad because their fans are bad is pretty normal among many fandoms, but personally, I find it annoying. It's not a substantive criticism. And the entire argument against them here is that they're not very relevant to the Sonic franchise, but some people value them greatly and want them to be a big part of the franchise, which is apparently automatically a bad thing. I guess assuming it's a bad thing is understandable if you like the Sonic franchise as it is, but it literally doesn't address the characters themselves at all.

The fact is, while it may not be that common, there are people who like and value Sonic SatAM and Archie Sonic more than the games. There's nothing wrong with that. Haven't you met someone who likes superhero movies but isn't interested in the comics? The difference is that video games are more mainstream than either comics or old cartoons (while movies are more mainstream than comics), but people aren't obligated to like the most popular or mainstream element of a franchise.

To be clear, I know the Freedom Fighters will never appear in official media again, nor do I especially care - I've already given up, and I like plenty of the game characters (many just as much or more than the FFs). Heck, I don't even read IDW. That makes it all the funnier that their haters are so bothered by their fans' enthusiasm.

Maybe our enthusiasm is boosted a bit by bitterness about so many people hating them so vocally, despite their irrelevance (when their irrelevance is often the main reason they're hated, funnily enough). I guess it's a vicious cycle. But can you really blame people for being peeved when so many people take it for granted that characters you love shouldn't exist just because of the media they originated in not being loyal to what Sonic was created to be, or what he is now, or being old, or whatever?

I mean, I'm sure it's annoying when people criticize game characters for supposedly being worse than the FFs, but game character fans obviously have a much, much better time in general. The characters they like are more popular by orders of magnitude and actually, you know, appear in official media and will continue to do so. The only effect FF fans have on the lives of FF-dislikers is influencing IDW, I guess, and being annoying in fandom conversations.

I'm pretty far outside the norm of Sonic fans these days since, well, I don't like the 3D games or their stories all that much for the most part. I just have to accept my tastes are irrelevant to the fandom as a whole. But I can't help but be annoyed when someone acts like the very act of strongly preferring a part of the Sonic franchise that's not the most mainstream or obvious part is baffling and bizarre.

Sally Acorn for character bingo?

They sure do exist: Pardon my French, but what the fuck do all these people see in her.

Same goes for the other Freedom Fighters. If they just found them neat, then fine, whatever, but what exactly makes a group of characters from a dead cartoon and a dead comic the cornerstone of the whole franchise? As opposed to Sonic and Eggman? What's the justification for all this deification?

I wish they didn't exist: If the Freedom Fighters just existed, with their own fan circles, then I'd be indifferent to them. It's the fandom's extremely vocal overhyping of them, their constant shitting on the game characters to prop them up, and popular writers turning new characters from IDW into decomposed corpses of their Archie waifus and husbandos, that make me want nothing to do with them.

[jsio]

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

MILES PROWER, ANTI-TAILS

Moebius' true king.

Art by Arealscrog

Archie's wasted character

Who is Miles?

Miles Prower is the Anti equivalent of Tails, from Mobius Prime. He is afew years older, being 11 instead of 8 and much more mature. He still appears to possess Tails' youthful tenacity and desire for independence, but he has a violent rebellious attitude and shows no interest in holding himself to childish things, even though he's only 11 years old himself, hating the nickname "Tails" being an example.

Miles holds his younger counterpart in utter contempt for traits Miles sees as weaknesses, especially how Tails went down the path of Science and technology instead of his magical Chaos force heritage, implying that Miles went down a more mystical path instead of Science, but from what we see in the comic Miles is more in the political field, by that I mean he manipulates all the political aspects of Moebius.

His actions throughout the comic run make him out to be smart, picky, but also cold, calculating and always 5 steps ahead of his own team and Adversaries, this leading to Alicia making him the Suppression Squads leader behind the scenes, while she is the figurehead "ruler."

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That's Anti-Tails, Who throughout this I'll be reffering to as "Miles." Now you may be thinking, "Why make a post on an extremely obscure and hardly used Archie character? Why not someone Like Tails, Shadow or a more popular Archie character?"

Well, it's because I believe that Miles had the potential to be one of Archie's most intresting original characters, I believe he could've easily held his own "Suppression Squad" comic run, but Archie Unfortunately really underused him and wasted his potential, but hey...

That's where us fans come in!

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This post is All about Miles Canonical self, every canon fact I can find about him and his full story in his short run during Pre-Reboot Archie Sonic, and my own personal headcanons in the later post.

But...before I get into any the headcanons, I need to teach those who don't know him about him, I need to talk about his Canonical self..so, let's get into it. Headcanons will be in the follow up post.

Canonical Apprearnces.

(Reworded from the wiki)

First appearance

The first appearance of Anti-Tails was back when the character was just "Evil Tails" and it was of him joining the Anti Freedom fighters in an attempt to take over Mobius Prime, prior to the downfall of Eggman.

He and his evil allies pretended to be the good Mobius Prime versions, and struck knothole with acts of mayhem, vandalism and overall mischief, a common thing on moebius. The real Freedom Fighters soon returned to set things straight, but their initial attempts to defeat the Anti-Freedom Fighters failed as their Anti-Mobius selves knew their moves as well as they did. Sally Acorn came upon the solution: switching combat partners. When he faced Rotor, Evil Tails proved unable to overcome the larger and stronger Mobian. Defeated along with the other Anti-Freedom Fighters, he was sent back to Anti-Mobius, where they continued to cause mayhem despite the efforts of the kindly Dr. Ivo Kintobor (Anti-Robotnik) to stop them.

This was the last we saw Evil Tails for awhile, however we did see a cameo of him along with every other tails when they all came together and formed Titan Tails.

The Suppression Squad

Art by Pota on Pixiv

Some time passed before his next appearance, and in that time "Anti-Mobius" went through changes in its name, now "Moebius." And all the characters changed alongside it.

Miles had assisted Boomer in stealing Dr Kintober's goal posts in order to allow the Suppression Squad to have access to inter-dimensional travel. Scourge obviously took this opportunity and went straight to Mobius Prime, along with a few other members of the SS, Miles being one of them, and they attempted an assult on the Freedom HQ, where we see Miles' and Tails face off, with Miles declaring to not be referrd to as Tails or Anti-Tails, but instead just "Miles".

He also indicated his disgust at Tails for having chosen a path of Science and study, despite having a strong connection to "Chaos force", aka magic. This has led to people believing Miles himself is a magic user.

When Metal Sonic attacked Scourge, believing him to be the real Sonic, Miles stayed back and observed instead of helping his king. Now, you may think that's betrayal, but in reality Miles didn't help because he did not wish to undermine Scourges strength, so instead he observed. Soon after Sonic came onto the scene he showed his willingness to help anyone, even his enimies, and this gave Miles an idea:

Let's team up with the freedom fighters to betray Scourge, that's the new plan.

Miles later met up with Sally, Bunnie, Antonie and Tails to offer an alliance, but didn't let Tails speak and showed his contempt to the original version, telling him, "Please don't talk, little boy, We're trying to have an intelligent conversation." Sally accepted the offer, knowing she needed all the help she could get for taking down Scourge.

Upon returning to Scourge, pretending to be running from the freedom fighters, Scourge asked for a summary on his mission, that being "bomb New Metropolis" but Miles ignored him however, instead reporting to Alicia (Anti-Sally) that his mission was a success. Immediately thereafter, Alicia told the Suppression Squad to, "Show our King just what we think of him", with Boomer and Patch clearly readying for battle

However, Miles was doubling up his betrayal, blasting both Sonic and Scourge back into Moebius for them to Duke it out there, with Boomer sealing the portal behind them. An ethical debate followed this, between Sally, Alicia and Miles, the trio being ordered to get the goal posts ready to be able to return the freedom fighters to Mobius after both groups agreed to make sure Scourge was defeated on Moebius by Sonic

Miles was as shocked as the rest of the group to find Scourge had defeated all of his opponents as Super Scourge. When the rest of the Knothole Freedom Fighters and Suppression Squad were quickly defeated, Scourge turned his sights on Miles, identifying him as the mastermind behind the betrayal.

Miles, cowering in fear, denied his role in betraying Scourge, who was threatening to beat him for his betrayal. However, Miles was saved by Silver the Hedgehog and unlike the rest of his allies, wasn't even hurt. Following Scourge's defeat and Miles' attempt to recruit Buns Rabbot into the Suppression Squad, Miles spoke to Alicia about who would be their new leader. Alicia explained that while she may be the figurehead ruler, they both knew Miles held the real authority at this point, to which Miles grinned.

That was the last we see of Miles in the Archie comics, he unfortunately isn't in the post reboot because he's now owned by Ken Penders, so we'll never see him again. Below is all of his official designs, and after that is my final thoughts on the character.

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My overview of Miles as a character.

I'm no Character analysist so I'll make this short and sweet, my review of Miles is that he's a Character with alot of potential, but he went wasted, not on purpose, but thanks to the lawsuit.

I believe that if that lawsuit never happened, and that arc was closed up nicely Anti-Tails would of became a far more realistic and grounded Character, and probably pretty popular too. Miles to me is a kid who was manipulated into a life of crime and now believes that's what is right, and I think that could of been an arc for him, mellowing out and becoming a true king for the people of Moebius. I also like how when Scourge goes Super and goes to Miles to confront him, he dosent stand up to him, he dosent become strong, but instead he cowers in fear, hes terrified and tries to lie, to me, that makes him feel more grounded, and I like that.

Personally I wish Miles was more popular, I wish he got more spotlight than he did and I wish his story got concluded, but with what we got, I think he's pretty good, and pretty interesting too! I've seen alot of ideas float around for this dude, all of them making sense in they're on way, and to be honest? His lack of story kinda helps make him more accessible.

Tl:Dr: I like Miles alot, and I hope this post helps you lot learn more about him and overall, gets more people down to write with him, draw with him and explore him!

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Would I change him in any way?

Yeah, there's one key part of Miles (from what we got) that I think was wasted. Now, what is that? What would I change about a Character I've mostly praised? Well...

I wish he was magical. In the Archie comics Tails is actually strongly connected to the "Chaos Force", not as connected as Shadow, but still VERY connected, and guess what? Miles and Tails ARE biologically the same, same DNA, and in that bit of the comic, Miles calls Tails out on something he should have no idea about if he himself isn't connected to the same thing (or Moebius equivalent). To me at least this kind of implies Miles is magical too.

Basically, I'd give Miles' moveset a touch of magical abilities, connecting him to Moebius' "Anarchy force". I think it would help separate him abit more from Tails, while also connecting them, because whenever you have science and magic together...they clash.

But yea that's all I'd change in what we got, just hints of magic, some magic attacks here and there. I think it'd be pretty neat, and it'd have the science Vs magic aspect with him and Tails relationship.

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Lets finally wrap this up! At least, for now.

Thank you so much for reading all this If you did, it, this took me alot of hours, and I, I think it's over 2000 words now you madman. Why not spend your time doing something more worthwhile? Why not...have fun? meet someone? Go on a date? Live your life? Why read a post on an obscure Character, mainac.

But in all seriousness thank you for reading my post, I really like this character (clearly) and I want to teach people about him, and I hope this post has done that! Post 2. There's going to be a sequel post going over all of my personal headcanons, and possibly a 3rd going over community ones. Keep ya eyes out~

But yea, big read, now you lot know about an obscure Character, and this was fun to write! But now I'm gonna end this post with a fun fact:

Miles and the Suppression Squad were going to have one more arc, it was teased at the end of issue 196, but unfortunately it never got written. That would of been really neat but unfortunately it never got to happen.

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BON'VOYAGE, HEDGEHOGS!

[mobius-prime]

222. Sonic the Hedgehog #154

Songoose (Part 2 of 2)

Writer: Karl Bollers Pencils: Ron Lim Colors: Jason Jensen

Today's issue is a bit bittersweet. While Karl Bollers hasn't always been the most popular writer, and I've definitely had my fair share of problems with certain aspects of his writing, it's hard to deny the heavy impact he had on the world of the comic. And this just so happens to be his last issue as a writer! That's right, though we've seen various writers come and go, this is the first time we're truly saying goodbye to a head writer. (You might be wondering about Michael Gallagher given his increasingly infrequent involvement with the series, but fear not, he's still got a few more future issues left in 'im.) Apparently he actually had quite a few plans for the storyline and characters post-StH#134, which was a while ago, but for one reason or another these never came to fruition, and never even had a chance to be salvaged for future issues by other writers due to his leaving the comic. So let's dedicate this issue to ol' Karl and the hard work he put into this comic, and appreciate what he brought to the table over the years. Onward!

It's the night of Mina's second concert, and the various Freedom Fighters are positioned at strategic points around and behind the stage and crowd to guard the venue from any more assassination attempts. Mina is pleased with Sonic's involvement in her protection detail, but Ash is considerably less so, and asks to speak to Mina privately before her performance. Sonic initially tries to refuse to leave her side given his duty to her, but when Ash gets in his face about it Mina steps in and tells Sonic she'll be okay to have a quick chat. Sonic reluctantly leaves the dressing room, and Ash confronts Mina about her decision to go through with tonight's concert, as he really feels it's too dangerous. She reiterates her feeling of security with Sonic around, and Ash's feelings of jealousy finally spill out as he details Sonic's perceived failings, including how he (totally unintentionally mind you) broke her heart a year ago by kissing Sally in front of her. He paradoxically refuses to "forgive" Sonic for… not dating Mina, I guess? Which you'd think he'd be pleased about considering that's the only reason he ever got to date her, but she stands firm against his tirade.

Really bad timing on this, Ash. Honestly, though, as abrasive and jealous as Ash can be, he's not wrong at all about his accusations, and in my opinion has every right to feel slighted and upset. He really does seem like a guy who's flawed yet genuinely likable - I mean, put yourself in his shoes (assuming you're not down for open relationships) and tell me you wouldn't feel the exact same way upon seeing your girlfriend routinely eyeing up another guy. Plus, he isn't flaky - notice that despite breaking up with Mina, he explicitly states his intentions to remain as her band manager. A lesser person might have left their ex high and dry out of spite, but despite their disagreement he's still completely ready and willing to help her organize everything she needs to remain a pop star. Careful, Mina, you better remember "Aly's" advice to you from a few issues ago before you let this guy slip through your fingers…

Outside the room, Sonic gets a call from Sally looking for an update, and when he lets slip that he let her stay in her dressing room alone Sally scolds him for not sticking to her like glue, ordering him back into the room to check on her. When he enters he's surprised to see her sitting alone with a sad expression, asking her what's bothering her. You'd think he'd have some clue of what was wrong considering he would have just seen Ash angrily stomping right through the very door he was guarding, but Mina just says she doesn't know how to explain, which Sonic quietly agrees with the sentiment of. She's able to collect herself for her performance, though, and begins by singing another song that definitely feels inspired by her crush on Sonic. However, Eggman's plan to kill her is still moving ahead, and he sends out Heavy and Bomb (well, Bombs, there's a lot of them) to infiltrate the concert crowd once the concert is well underway.

Sonic immediately grabs Mina and pulls her away from the edge of the stage while the rest of the Freedom Fighters rush in to battle the Bombs, something which I find funnier than it should be considering they're, well, bombs, and the best plan for dealing with bombs on legs would usually be to run the hell away from them before they blow up. Nevertheless, they seem to be holding their own by throwing or smacking the Bombs away before they explode, though Ash finds an excuse in the situation to insist once more than Sonic leave so he can protect Mina on his own, even somewhat spitefully pointing out that Mina was fine without Sonic for an entire year before now. Sonic initially refuses, but when Heavy himself arrives, crashing down onto the stage to target Mina directly, Sonic concedes and tells Ash to take her somewhere safe while he fights the robot one on one. At first Sonic teases and trash talks as normal, but when Heavy gives him more trouble than he bargained for he concocts a plan to drill into the earth and bait Heavy into following him, then drill straight into the nearby lake from below. This washes them both out into the open waters, disabling Heavy in the process. I'm not sure exactly how this plan even works, considering we've seen in previous issues that Heavy is waterproof - I mean, did Eggman take out that feature when he rebuilt him? - but either way, it does work, though Sonic falls unconscious once he gets washed out. Man, between his first battle against M in StH#132 and his easy escape from a watery grave in Anti-Mobius just a few issues ago, it really seems like later comic issues like to play fast and loose with the whole "he can't swim" character trait. Sometimes he can detangle himself from tight rope bonds and swim to safety without a problem, and other times he blacks out within scant seconds of touching water, and you never know which one you're gonna get till the plot calls for it. Of course, he's fine after waking up on shore, having been rescued by Bunnie, and the Freedom Fighters tell him that as far as they can tell they disabled or destroyed every Bomb in the area, meaning Mina is safe once more. With the threat ended, Sonic and Mina say goodbye to each other for the night, with Sonic making Mina promise they'll go out for chili dogs sometime soon. However, this wouldn't be a story if something didn't go wrong…

I like to think that this isn't even a case of the Freedom Fighters randomly missing a Bomb, rather being part of Eggman's plan - send in the big, obvious cavalry first to be fought and predictably defeated, then send in one last little Bomb to finish the job once everyone's guard is down. The explosion alerts everyone outside the backstage area, and they rush in to find Mina sobbing over Ash's body. Don't worry, though - when they rush him to the hospital Dr. Quack is able to get him in a stable condition, meaning that though he has a long slow recovery ahead he'll ultimately be fine. Sonic escorts a distraught Mina into Ash's room, where she admits her true feelings to his sleeping form.

I'm surprised that Sonic genuinely seems a little disappointed at their reconciliation, but then again, he and Mina were clearly shown to have some chemistry even before the time skip, though Sonic was obviously drawn more to Sally. It seems that with he and Sally currently being on the outs, and Mina having split from Ash, he had actually considered taking the chance with her - I mean, they did agree to a chili dog date after all - but now that's obviously not happening. Well, maybe the chili dog date is, but not Sonic and Mina becoming an item. What I'm trying to say is, this page has just sunk your Sonic/Mina ship. Fortunately, with this second failure Eggman has decided that trying to kill Mina is too hard and not worth his time, so she should be safe for now. He still finds himself lamenting the loss of his robotic body, however (something that you'd think should be child's play for him to fix considering previously roboticizing himself is literally part of his backstory), finding his current organic body too breakable. The use of that word suddenly makes him pause, having just come up with a new idea… but Karl certainly won't be the one writing about it, as with that final line of dialogue, he's officially completed his time as head writer for the Archie Sonic comics! Sayonara, Karl Bollers - though there were certainly some rough patches, on the whole I enjoyed your work on the comic, and we'll miss ya!

More Than Meets the Eye

Writer/Pencils: Ken Penders Colors: Josh Ray

…though remember, we are still dealing with Penders for a few more issues yet. Since the mission into Megaopolis a couple issues ago, Rotor, Uncle Chuck, Tommy, Tails, and Snively (plus apparently Fiona, for some reason) have all been hard at work studying and trying to understand the nanites. They try blasting them with a ton of electricity, but when that elicits no response from the nanites Tommy worriedly thinks Snively killed them with the zap, though Snively corrects him that biologically speaking, they're not really "alive," nor is anything that Eggman makes. While you may be technically correct from a scientific standpoint, Snively, I think Nicole might have a thing or two to say about your assertion that machines can't be alive…

Well! It seems Tommy was also unconvinced by Snively's words, and his tear splashing down into the nanite goo triggers some kind of reaction, prompting them to rapidly spread out and reach tendrils of themselves towards him. He's understandably a little freaked out and retreats into his shell, but the nanites don't hurt him as they make contact with the shell - in fact, the sensation is ticklish and causes him to start giggling uncontrollably, which must make for a very weird sight as Uncle Chuck reenters the room to investigate the noise. Tommy assures him that he's all right - and then from out of nowhere, his shell sprouts a pair of goddamn wings, because why the hell not?

I initially took issue with this concept due to it being established canon that the nanites can only absorb and reshape non-living matter, whereas turtle shells are definitely living matter, being full of nerve endings and basically being formed from repurposed bone matter from the turtle's ribs and pelvis. However, the above dialogue seems to indicate that they were able to fuse with Tommy's shell anyway by connecting straight into his nervous system. I would guess that after Sonic introduced the nanites to the concept of organic and synthetic coexistence a couple issues ago, they were just waiting for the chance to "study" an organic specimen in their own weird way, and Tommy just happened to end up as their test subject.  Chuck and Tommy call everyone else in, where he notes that the nanites seem to react to his thoughts without said thoughts actually controlling the nanites directly. He demonstrates this by thinking vaguely that he wants to go somewhere, prompting a pair of jetpack engines to sprout from his shell and ignite, carrying him straight out of the lab and into the sky above Knothole. The others watch with an odd mixture of bemusement and amusement as the nanites fly Tommy's body in a pattern, using contrails to write "We're just going for a test drive" in the air. Well Tommy, looks like you have a really cool and unique new ability! It'd certainly be interesting to be fused with self-replicating nanomachines that react to your thoughts and wishes by morphing themselves in ways to grant those wishes, especially when they seem to actively like their host.

[longcrierfunhouse]

Sonic Forces and Sonic in Non Games

Sonic Forces is a game changer for the Sonic franchise as a whole and Sega hasn’t let on about how much sway it will have on the franchise from now on. 

That’s a big opening sentence right? Sonic is a huge and extremely diverse franchise that as a game series has also been an extremely viable and popular cartoon, comic, toy, and music sensation that long extends past the reach of its home in Sega of Japan. 

Each region had a story of Sonic with the Western Story taking more place in their comics and cartoons while the Japanese story is more manual relegated when the Sega Megadrive and Genesis had finally gotten the mascot. The Japanese manuals had extensive lore that you can read on each page of Sonic Retro here, here, here, here, and here. This is the lore that from 1998 onwards shaped the franchise. It has islands that magically move on their own (or via tectonic plates), legends about gods with magical gem stones, and little planets that time travel. 

It’s a legacy series that has been a hallmark in games that Games Historians still don’t know how to fully process in regards to its rivalry in Nintendo’s Mario. Mario had tried cartoons and comics and even became the very first game to be adapted to film whose quality is very debatable among people for where it lacks faithfulness to Mario and where it was sensible to deviate from the 8-bit classic on the NES to make its story. Miyamoto even argues that it might have been too faithful to the respected series but that’s another discussion. Nintendo had a very experimental phase in the 90s when Sega became a serious competitor to the Games Industry. And one of those things was a pop culture presence that involved all of media. 

Sonic encompasses any media the blue hedgehog can get its hands into. Its even in unofficial mix tape CDs and continues on to be sampled in works by big musicians and the iconic ring jingle is even the sound used in digital cash registers. Sonic is ingrained into pop culture psyche. It is a true pop culture success Sega never anticipated. It’s a sensation that has worked as a sales machine everywhere except in Japan. That’s not that they didn’t try to make it big in Japan even having a short running manga series that came to be known in Sonic Fan Circles aside from the manga adaptations to advertise the games themselves.

It was a very interesting little series that almost comes across like Looney Tunes with superheroes and a bad guy. 

It introduced the East to Sonic’s own more unique adventures where Dr. Eggman would hatch a plan and spring it on the citizens of Hedgehog Town and Sonic would save the day. The new thing though is that Sonic has a Superman and Peter Parker secret alias that transformed into Sonic when the moment needed him to. It’s like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde but not as mentally unstable. It even introduces characters that are now series staples in the cast. 

Designs changed and they were adapted to the series since. Amy Rose is a fan favourite Canon Immigrant and Charmy Bee is part of the Chaotix who shows up from time to time. 

Then there were the Western takes on Sonic the Hedgehog. Some shortlived, some only getting cancelled in the early 2000s in the case of UK comics company Fleetway and their series, Sonic the Comic. 

Theirs is a very interesting story taking place after the  Origin of Sonic the Hedgehog promotional story that was reprinted in Disney Adventures’ Second Issue. This same book would take on plenty of game properties and Sonic was an early story for them.

This story involved Sonic having been friends with a Good Dr. Robotnik who was then known as Ovi Kintobor similar to Alucard in Dracula myths. In this story Sonic had engaged in a speed experiment gone wrong that turned him blue due to the effect of going past the speed of sound and turned the jovial scientist into the fearsome robot slave making Robotnik. It was an interesting story that the Western branches of Sega had made canon to their regions’ version of Sonic until 1998′s Sonic Adventure and Sega of Japan’s mythology came to be the full original canon. These comics have an ardent fanbase that celebrates the comic for being closer to the games than the Archie Comics counterpart and even has a dedicated online webcomic continuation of the story that’s running into the 200s now that features fan favourite online artists like @adamisart and @thekkmart. It’s a very fun read and these books are eclectic and fun even if unique in their interpretations of the franchise. One of these ideas are The Cyberniks. 

Shortfuse the Cybernik

Vermin the Cybernik 

These two are a form of Badnik that are Badniks but with animals the size of Sonic instead of the typical little “real” animals you���ll usually find popping out of Badniks. They’re made to be much stronger than your typical Badniks and have traits that, similar to Metal Sonic, are like a character but enhanced with technology. This is very similar to the very mysterious character of Infinite, a cybernetic character who we know nothing besides a name and a motivation to bring Sonic down. 

The Archie Comics are also something that seems to have had a huge imprint on this game via cultural osmosis or coincidence. The Archie Comics had a deal for a limited series of Sonic in 1993 which coincided with the showing of Sonic the Hedgehog on Saturday Mornings (known to fans as Sonic SatAM). These comics featured a team of Freedom Fighters against the wannabe tyrannical Dr. Robotnik who in SatAM had conquered their homeland of Mobotropolis and roboticized to become his lair in Robotropolis. This event also happened in the comics but it focused more on the humour of the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog until SatAM’s cancellation after the episode The Doomsday Project in December 3, 1994. The Archie comic was a fairly popular series that has run alongside the franchise from 1993 to 2017, finalizing it at 24 years strong. One more year and it would have hit a 25 year long milestone in publication. That is no small feat and is a testament to the popularity and strong nature of Archie’s Sonic to become a major part of the franchise that outlived the original cartoon it was based on. 

Boy those models sure look nice and professional.

The cancellation of Archie happened July 19, 2017. And on the day right after we got another trailer for Sonic Forces this time for Infinite Themselves. 

And this logo is the one that is shown to be the logo for the character. 

What is particularly interesting now is that the characters from Sonic the Comic inhabited the world of Mobius, a long running miscommunication between Sega of Japan and America. This caused the planet of Mobius to be the name that most people in pop culture would associate and accept as Sonic’s Home World. Here is some trivia:

“The name Mobius may be a reference to a shape known as the Möbius strip, a shape with no clear start or end that appears to have multiple sides, when in fact there is only one. This could be intended as a reference to the cyclical nature of species dominance on this alternate Earth / Mobius.”

The logo that we had seen before is a Moebius Loop, made popular by the artist, M.C. Escher. 

Look at those ants go. 

Something that is fairly popular and well noted in Sonic 2′s level design is the use of these strips in Emerald Hill Zone. We’ve seen these come up in the franchise several times over since. 

So why is this important? There’s still a branding issue. A single logo is used for consistency so you’re not confused about what it represents. This is a common practice in marketing. This is why the Sonic the Hedgehog logo stays roughly the same to its motifs even in new logos and designs. 

So what does this logo mean? 

Why did Sega make it a huge thing in the E3 Trailer? Archie Sonic doesn’t have that as a logo and neither does Sonic the Comic. This is a brand new logo. However, this logo can be simplified a lot like how Infinite’s turned out to be. It even looks like it could belong on a flag of a fictional nation. That’s interesting. The last time we saw a fictional nation in Sonic, we got Sonic Unleashed. 

And this was the logo of Eggmanland, the Doctor’s Nation that he built from the scraps of the Earth after it was destroyed. All of the nations alongside it were based on real world nations. 

Shamar’s Flag, Sonic Unleashed (2008)

South Africa’s Flag

If this is a new nation in the Sonic Universe then we could potentially be looking at the incorporation of Mobius into the Sonic Games’ Lore. This would be groundbreaking integration of the West’s ideas of Sonic coming into the games after years of fan demands and the cancellation of the Archie book which was coming right off of the Sonic Unleashed adaptation before it ended. There’s also the note that there is a world map in Sonic Forces which is particularly peculiarly similar to Sonic Unleashed. 

Sonic Unleashed (2008)

Sonic Forces (2017)

This may be all a coincidence, but there’s been a big marketing push that Sega has been more than happy to oblige with Sonic Forces that this game will be huge and that we haven’t begun to scratch the surface of it all. 

Let’s look at Infinite and the Avatar again. These characters are vital to the puzzle. 

Sonic Forces: Custom Hero Trailer, May 16, 2017

This kid has been an important part of the game the entire time. This character is tied to Infinite being in the game and this has been stressed over and over by Sega themselves. They’re You. They’re the Fans. They’re the love and dedication of 26 years of this franchise staying afloat. That’s way past cool. So if they’re You then who is Infinite? 

They’re the hands of an author rewriting the work to fit their vision. 

This is the Avatar of an Overly Controlling Mastermind of the Space Time Continuum. Which remember. Sonic is not unfamiliar with the concepts of space and time and how they affect the world. This was a big point in Sonic Generations, a game that used that as a plot to set up an anniversary game of revisiting old levels. 

What’s most curious is the roster of villains that accompany Infinite and how they interact with the game as a whole, particularly when it’s made clear that Infinite is wrong. 

They’re the living embodiment of a glitch in the system. Even the video of Their Theme is glitched out. 

They sure love to be a living image corruption that’s for sure. 

Let’s go back to the concept of a Cybernik. It was established that Dr. Eggman made these to be Super Badniks much like how Metal Sonic is one to Sonic. What if Infinite is the Cybernik version of our Avatar, Buddy? 

A diagram of a Cybernik

They’re not fully mechanical but they’re very cybernetic and appear to have very natural features suggesting that they’re not purely a robot. This idea would go on into the Archie Sonic Comics where Dr. Eggman has an army of willingly and unwillingly roboticized soldiers that have enhanced abilities. 

That’s too much of a coincidence. What bears intrigue more is the similarities in design to Vermin the Cybernik. 

Pointed ears, pointed snout, and Ultron like design similarities are all accounted for. The only thing wrong is the tail which is a fox’s moreso than a rat’s. But otherwise, Infinite’s motif is fairly similar to Vermin down to wanting Sonic and Buddy the Avatar dead. That’s interesting with what is canon to the Cyberniks. 

“Two Cyberniks were depicted during the series. The prototype was a squirrel-shaped Badnik, but an error occurred during the installation of Shorty the Squirrel as its organic battery, allowing Shorty to resist Robotnik's brainwashing. Shorty took on the name Shortfuse and became an outlaw, striving to defeat Robotnik's forces. Shortfuse possessed blasters on his arms and the ability to fly.

The second Cybernik, a rat named Vermin, was created to destroy Shortfuse. Although he could not fly, he was super strong and had more powerful blasters which were emitted from his eyes. He also possessed the ability to inject a crippling computer virus by means of his prehensile tail.”

Is it possible that Infinite is a Composite Character of these two? It’s looking more and more likely it seems. Also of note is that Vermin is a virus based character to himself as well and that is the basis of a lot of image corruption. Fascinating. 

Now let’s talk about that last image and Sonic’s artistic influences. 

Japan loves Felix the Cat and Mickey Mouse. They absolutely adore those two and Sonic was designed to be an incredibly iconic character that would sell competitively to Mario. 

He was designed with a cutesy punk vibe to gel with what kids liked at the time. Someone that parents could accept and kids could really get into. This was from the competition where Sega asked their employees to design a new mascot to replace then mascot Alex Kidd who just wasn’t working. The character that Infinite threatens is someone fairly basic in design and simple, but why is Infinite threatening them? They’re not as important as Sonic. Or are they? It bears minding that the competition had many designs come out of it, this one included. 

This kid bears a strong resemblance to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. 

Oswald is a prototype to a major company’s mascot. After Oswald, we got Mickey Mouse after Disney left Universal with his good friend and collaborator Ub Iwerks and their team. This rabbit concept would go on to become Ristar with the stretching arms idea intact. But it’s interesting to say that a possible prototype of Sonic would be threatened by a force that wants Sonic deader than Mephiles did. 

Is Sonic Forces a legacy game? Is this the most important Sonic game this side of Sonic Mania? Time will tell. 

I know that I’m excited though. Sega has my attention.  

[crusherthedoctor]

Can we have some unpopular Sonic opinions?

I tried to cram in a lot, so I hope this satisfies you. :P I tried to stick to the ones that I haven't brought up quite as often, since by this point, we all know that I think IDW's storytelling is dire, SA2's story is overrated, X Eggman is an embarrassing portrayal (at least from season 2 onwards), Blaze shouldn't be handcuffed to Silver, Shadow's backstory had issues with or without the Black Arms, Neo Metal Sonic looks silly, etc. But anyway, here we go:

- Knuckles may be tricky to incorporate into plots that don't relate to Angel Island, but making him obsessed with his duties is no better than having him forget about Angel Island entirely.

- I like Marine, and never found her annoying. Oh, I understood what they were trying to do with her, but I honestly wasn't put off by her, and found her Aussie lingo more endearing if anything. Since her debut was during the period in my life where where I couldn't stand Sonic himself, I instead thought he was irritating (and hypocritical) for getting annoyed with her for doing shit he would often be guilty of.

- Silver is just as guilty of being shoehorned into games and plots as the Deadly Six are. Having more fans than the latter is irrelevant, since we're still talking about a character who constantly has to time travel in order to be present.

- Speaking of Silver, if he has to stick around, please do something different with him. They've pulled the doomed future routine multiple times now, and it's been boring every single time. I wasn't interested when it involved Iblis. I wasn't interested when it involved Knuckles drinking the edgy Kool Aid. I wasn't interested when it involved a council of dumbasses... give it a rest already.

- The Tails Doll can work as a mildly creepy thing, with maybe more to it than meets the eye when it's time for a boss fight or what have you. But the memes about him stealing your soul are just dumb, and I thought it was dumb even back in my teenage youth.

- “Eggman is supposed to be clownish!” Yeah, well he's also meant to be a genuine villain with a 300 IQ. These qualities don't have to be mutually exclusive.

- “Sonic is supposed to have attitude!” Yeah, well that's not the same thing as being an absolute cunt. Sonic was only ever meant to come off as having an edge compared to Mario. He was never meant to be a GTA-tier protagonist.

- Rouge is not a villain, and never was a villain. Literally the whole point of her role in SA2 was to reveal that she was working against Eggman and Shadow the whole time, albeit using sneakier tactics to do so. You'd think all those people who exult SA2's story would remember this, but apparently not. She barely even qualifies as an anti-hero, since aside from stealing the Master Emerald, she rarely does anything morally questionable otherwise. She's got a lot more good in her than people give her credit for.

- Captain Whisker is a better Eggman Nega than the actual Eggman Nega. And as far as robot characters in this franchise go, Johnny's design is pretty underrated.

- I don't like Iblis or Mephiles, but I DO like Solaris, and it annoys me that it was out of focus for most of the story due to all the time spent on its less interesting halves. Had they kept the backstory with the Duke and his experiments, and worked from there, I think they could have provided an interesting contrast with Chaos (since Solaris can also qualify as a monster with a sympathetic backstory) instead of recycling the surface level schtick.

- Black Doom may technically be just as bad as Mephiles, Nega, Scourge, Mimic, etc, since he's yet another villain with one-note characterization and fucked over Eggman. But because he never gained a disproportionate fandom, he doesn't annoy me to the same extent. It's easier to ignore him by comparison, and his Dr. Claw voice and face shaped like a lady's delicate part make him enjoyable to mock.

- Likewise, while Lyric is also on the same level as these other villains, it's easier to dismiss him because I was never invested in the Boom games anyway, and being an obvious alternate universe (compared to Sonic X or IDW, which retain the Modern designs and plot elements), it never had an effect on the main series. I also unironically like his design, and if nothing else, at least this snake didn't start a hypnotism fetish across the internet.

- Sally - and the rest of the Freedom Fighters for that matter - have had their importance in the franchise severely inflated. They may have been lucky to be the face of popular media (SatAM and Archie), but they're not these magnificent entities that the game characters are but a speck of dust in comparison to. Having a “legacy” doesn't make them more entitled to shit than any other character, old or new.

- Conceptually, the treasure hunting gameplay is one of the better alternate gameplay styles IMO. But it was let down in SA2 by its one track minded radar (the levels may have been big, but I don't think that would have been an issue on its own if the radar was better). If they brought it back and made it more like SA1's treasure hunting, I'd be all for it, although it would probably be better suited for a spinoff title.

- This goes for a lot of games, but when it comes to 2D, I prefer sprites over models. Not that the Rush models are bad (though the ones in Chronicles sure as fuck are), but the sprites in Mania and the Advance trilogy are just so charming and full of character.

- I actually like Marble Zone. Yeah, the level design is a bit blocky, but I love the concept of an underground temple prison, mixed with lava elements in a zone that otherwise isn't a traditional volcano level.

- I also like Sandopolis Zone. Again, completely understand why it's not the most popular zone around, but I've been a sucker for the Ancient Egyptian aesthetic since childhood (you can thank Crash 3 for that), and Act 1 is visually stunning.

- I prefer the JP soundtrack for Sonic CD over the US version overall... but I also prefer Sonic Boom over You Can Do Anything.

- SA2's soundtrack isn't bad by any means - I love Rouge's tracks, and The Last Scene is one of my favourite pieces of music - but as far as variety goes, it's a step down from SA1's soundtrack.

- If Sonic X-Treme had been released, it probably would have been unenjoyable and confusing. Whatever your thoughts on SA1, it was probably the better option between the two as far as Sonic's first legitimate translation into 3D goes.

- I have no qualms with Modern Sonic and the other Modern designs and characters, but I also fully acknowledge that changing gears from Adventure onwards - and doing it with a great amount of fanfare - was always going to create one of the biggest divides in the fandom, and fans shouldn't act surprised that this happened. The fact that they felt the need to hype up a new design and direction in the first place (compared to Mario, who has mostly been the same since the beginning, with only the occasional minor change with little fanfare) also indicates that they weren't confident enough in Sonic and his universe being the way it was, which often gets ignored by all the “SEGA have no confidence!!!” complaints you see with their recent games.

- Unleashed did not deserve the incredibly harsh reviews it received back in the day... but it doesn't deserve its current sacred cow status either. It had more effort put into it than '06 to be sure, and I can respect that, but much of it was misguided effort, and even if you like the Werehog, you have to admit that the idea came at the absolute worst time. The intro cutscene may be awesome, as is the Egg Dragoon fight, but 2% doesn't make up the entire game. Chip was also quite annoying, and I wasn't particularly sad when he pressed F in the chat at the end.

- On the other hand, while Colours definitely has its shortcomings, and people have every right to criticse those shortcomings, a lot of its most vocal detractors tend to have a stick up their arse about the game because people actually enjoyed it, and it had a gimmick that people actually liked. Yes, it may have been the first game to have those writers everyone hates, but then SA1 was the first game to give the characters alternate gameplay styles and have other villains upstage Eggman, so...

- Forces is absolutely not on the level of '06. It's nowhere close. A game being flawed does not make it the next '06, clickbait YouTubers. Or should I say, the game they want to retroactively apply '06's reception to, since they've been trying hard to magically retcon '06's own quality...

- To echo @beevean, ALL of the 3D stories have their issues. SA1 is probably the most well-rounded of them on the whole, but even that one isn't perfect.

- To echo another opinion, although I do love SA1, I'm not crazy over the idea of a remake, and would prefer them to just take Sonic's gameplay from SA1 and work from there. Because with a remake, you're stuck in a hard spot: Do you keep it the way it is bar the expected graphical upgrades, and risk accusations of not doing anything to actually improve the experience? Or do you try to address past criticisms, and risk the wrath of the fans who will inevitably go on a #NotMyAdventure crusade about it? What people fail to consider is that the Crash and Spyro remakes were accepted gracefully because their original iterations were still unanimously beloved for the most part, whereas SA1 - and especially SA2 - have always been divisive, and have only gotten moreso over the years.

- People take their preferences for the character's voice actors too seriously. I have my own favourites like anyone else, but I don't make a big deal out of it.

- And with fandom voice actors, they usually focus too much on doing a basic impression of their preferred official voice actor, and not enough on the acting. So you end up getting a lot of fan voices who sound like decent impressions of Ryan Drummond or Jason Griffith on the surface, but they sound utterly empty beyond that impression, because there's no oomph or depth to the actual emotions. They think about the actor rather than the character, when it should really be the other way around.

- The thing with Ian Flynn is that he is capable of telling a decent story, and he can portray some characters well. But he's proven time and time again that everything will go off the rails if he's given too much freedom (ironic, given how quick he is to point the finger at mandates when something goes wrong).

- Ian Flynn and Shiro Maekawa are not the only people in the world who are allowed to write for Sonic. I understand that one should be cautious when seeking out new writing talent, but for all the fandom's accusations of playing it safe, they sure aren't in a rush to experiment outside of their own comfort zone.

- And of course, the big one: You don't fix the franchise's current problems by crawling back to its previous problems. It's much more helpful and constructive to discuss the good and bad alike with each of the games. Less “THIS GOOD, MODERN BAD”, and more “This could work, but maybe without that part...”