#idw sonic issue 55

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

(Art by Natalie Fourdraine)

You know what you know what you know what?

Metonurge

[calista-222]

Power surge

[krafterwrites]

I think we should stop letting people call stuff filler unless it's DBZ or something with a similar situation to it

[qasian-tech-support]

Please ignore if I clicked the wrong blog to respond to.

But I also want new Megas and Protomen :(

RIGHT?!?!

I mean, yeah, the Megas also have their takes on Skullman's theme ("Cracked Skulls"; inspired by MM4) and Chill Penguin's theme ("Chill XMas"; inspired by MMX), and I guess there's also one based on Storm Eagle's theme ("Rougmer Storm"; MMX), but I haven't listened to that one yet.

Like, I get that they have a good story arc to cover the first 3 classic games, but it would be so cool if they explored some of the themes of the following games, y'know? Or flesh out the MMX or other series music! Or hell, pick and choose some Robot Masters and make a new narrative, or like literally anything, please, people are starving over here! And it's not like they aren't still active. Don't get me wrong, I love their Castlevania stuff under the Belmonts label, but it would be nice to get Mega Man content outside of just remixes/remasters of their existing songs. Plus, they're still doing concerts, so like the audience is there for it!

And as for the Protomen, I hope that they actually end up releasing Act III at some point. Having listened to The Fight, it makes me crave it to an unhealthy degree. I love the grimdark kinda take on Mega Man that focuses more on the role that humanity takes in all of the conflict. I feel like that angle gets extremely neglected in Mega Man media.

Idk, as a fan, it's just kinda frustrating how neglected mega man gets. Like, it feels like the rare times whenever we do get content, it focuses on the first three or four games (if we're lucky), and then it just dies off! Or goes dormant for a decade or more. The franchise has so much creative potential that just isn't realized and it's so sad!

[the-sky-queen]

Sky's AU ask game masterlist!

Here's a list of all 55 AUs that appeared in my ask game, including their real name and links to the posts they were in! Feel free to send their numbers again for more snippets or just ask me questions about them!

(Some of these names are placeholders. XD You'll be able to tell which ones.)

The Black Prince - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

New Beginnings - 1

Guardian Swap - 1 2

Survivor Swap - 1

Shadow the Hedgehog: Restoration - 1

Good King Shadow - 1

My Fanfic World (Nexus) (need a name for this one) - 1

Soon May the Wellerman Come - 1

The Fall of King Arthur - 1 2

The Blind Hero - 1

Memory Lost - 1 2

Hivemind - 1 2

Legacy - 1

Metal - 1 2

The Void - 1

Broken and Whole - 1 2

Little Gremlins - 1 2 3 4 5 6

Mystery - 1 2

Future Families - 1

Angel of Death - 1

Sonic Phantoms (+ Forces Aftermath) - 1 2 3 4

Movie SSS and Game SSS - 1 2 3

Sonic was created with Shadow - 1

Mega Swap! - 1

Sonic is Just Literally the Ultimate Lifeform - 1 2

(Splitting it up because it's too long otherwise)

26. Shadow Biological Parents - 1

27. Deaf Sonic - 1 2

28. Star Dust - 1

29. Mind Merge - 1 2

30. Actually Dead AU (I NEED TO RENAME THIS ONE, THIS NAME IS TAKEN) - 1 2

31. Sonic 3M AU - 1

32. A Ghost of Who I Used to Be - 1 2

33. The Best Years of Our Lives - 1

34. Father, I wanted to Make You Proud - 1

35. Masks - 1

36. Adventures in Moebius - 1

37. Alter-Egos - 1

38. Shadow has Celiac now :) - 1

39. Sonic is a manipulating hypnotizing little jerk :) - 1

40. SONIC IS BLIND - 1

41. Gone Wrong - 1 2 3 4

42. The Unleashed Thing I Had a Dream About - 1

43. Spirits AU - 1

44. IDW Issue 19 Rewrite - 1

45. SA2 Shadow's Sacrifice Rewritten - 1

46. To Make It Right - 1

47. Awakened - 1

48. Impostor Syndrome Mini Sequel - 1

49. Shadow the Hedgehog: Origin - 1

50. Fruits Basket Sonic yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee - 1

51. Scourge: Fanfilm - 1

52. Sonic and the Avengers??!! - 1 2 3 4

53. Shadow Whipple Story :D - 1

54. Immortals - 1

55. Sonic's Choose Your Own Adventure Story - 1

[beevean]

I have yet to read the new issue myself, but I believe Surge and Kit are explicitly stated/shown to be in it just to go fuck everyone over and hurt all their enemies in the Restoration, right? That is one of the many problems with IDW for me: instead of keeping things remotely under wraps and letting us as audience put together clues ourselves that the villains did actually not turn over a new leaf, it very explicitly shows this to be the case to us from the second they appear... yet none of the hero characters know about it, and the plot honestly is specifically tailored to ensuring they will not find out until it is too late (I'm still mad at all the bs pulled in issue 63, for example). It adds such an extra layer of frustration when we know that the more sceptic characters are one hundred percent in the right, only for them to be brushed off by their peers and not taken seriously. Like, surely I am not the only one who does not like seeing a favorite character of mine be made fun of despite knowing that they're just plain correct in their suspicions? I feel that a "dramatic irony" plot does not have to immediately equate to "unenjoyable teeth-grinding of frustration"... but only if it didn't come at the expense of legit all the respect the cast has for the Woobie Characters™️ who are Only Here To Be Hurt Because Isn't That Only Why People Like Them, like Silver or Whisper.

Oh, it's not just that. It's not just about seeing S&K teaming up with Clutch.

Surge keeps being confrontational and mocking, praising Whisper for being suspicious of her, at one point literally suggesting to burn the base down, to which Sonic responds "yeah sure fuck around and find out"...

But he still has the balls to say "but they deserve a second and third chance 🥺"

You idiot. You clown. You absolute buffoon. What. In the fuck. Are you doing.

Yes sure Surge and Kit deserve to have the chance to be free! But

they can't. Not so easily. You have learned in #55 that they were literally programmed to be antagonistic: you can't really get over brainwashing after a few nice words. I know you refused to give a shit because you're a heartless asshole, but you know this.

they have done literally nothing to indicate that they want to do better. "oh buh muh knuckles, muh shadow, muh silver" shut the fuck up, all these three actually HELPED Sonic to prove that they had a change of heart! Knuckles brought them to Sky Sanctuary! Shadow went to fight the Biolizard! Silver saved Sonic from Eggman's robots and helped him to look for the Egg Carrier! Surge has literally walked to Amy like "yo bestie are we cool?" and Amy... I don't even know what her deal is.

SHE JOKED ABOUT BURNING THE BASE. TO YOUR FACE. YOU KNOW THAT SHE'S MORE THAN CAPABLE OF DOING THAT. YOU EVEN TOOK THE THREAT TO FACE VALUE.

What about Whisper and Belle's choice? They don't want Surge and Kit around, for legitimate reasons. But you steamrolled over their mistrust because you are so eager to play Mr. Principles. Hell he even responded to Belle's "but Dr. Starline made them!" with "and Eggman made Gemerl and Omega", which makes my head bang on the wall so hard you have no idea.

you are the biggest hypocrite on this cursed earth:

I hate you and everything you stand for.

But most importantly... we went through this already. With Duo. Duo infiltrating the base and rousing Silver and Whisper's suspicious. Why should I see this again. What do I gain from this.

My brain is melting.

[sth-lgbtq]

I made a "Sonic characters who play Minecraft" headcanon post and several "Sonic characters with disabilities" headcanon posts so here's the logical next step:

Sonic characters who are undoubtedly systems:

Gonna start this post by saying that the most correct answer is all of them, but if we're only going off of ones that can be quote unquote justified, here's the list:

Sonic the Hedgehog: he is a fucking mess of trauma and internalized emotions. He's also a homeless orphan and has been for literally as long as he can remember. There's like 12 hedgehogs in there, maybe more. Also, insert that one post my friend @sonicaspeed123 made about how easy it is to read basically the entire ost of Sonic Frontiers as This Hog's A System. Also also, the whole Nicky situation from the manga.

Infinite is IMHO one of the best candidates for being a system, even if admittedly I base most of my judgement off of popular headcanons that's just BARELY hinted towards in official media, if at all. He seems very much like a "forced to mature at the age of 3, raised by himself" kinda guy. Insanely easy to exploit his desire for stability and just... general compensation from the world, and that's indicative of him having experienced the worst of it for himself (not to imply you need to experience intense trauma to have DID but it surely helps). Hell the one we call "Infinite" is probably a protector-turned-host who is protecting the old exploitable mercenary he used to be and / or someone else entirely (my money's on a scared little kid, the "weak" side of him. Makes sense to retain that level of vulnerability and immaturity when you're forced to grow up overnight.)

Shadow the Hedgehog

Surge is an interesting case because her dissociative symptoms are fully canonical. Like not to spoil issues 50-55 of the IDW comics but holy shit

I'll add more to this probably but right now I'm eepy

[samethstarr]

1 year as a Sonic artist :)

I wasn't going to share this because I find it painfully embarrassing, but a friend told me someone else might find it inspiring so here we go, I guess. Today it has been exactly 1 year since I started making Sonic fanart.

The first was a simple Sonic Frontiers picture, I believe a friend of mine had recently finished their play-through so we were constantly geeking out over the game. As a result of posting art into the fandom, I was starting to peek into the community a little more and I noticed that the IDW comic fans were freaking the heck out. Issue #55 had come out and I kept seeing these panels from it:

I had seen Starline a few times before and was mildly curious about him, but my first impression of him was that he was a comic relief character. I thought people liked him because he was comically extra. But people were talking about how messed up he was and I was intrigued because he had clearly died at some point and left some sort of mess for everyone, serious enough that the heroes and villains were teaming up to deal with it.

The art for this issue is amazing and combined with the realization that Starline was actually a kind of serious villain, I just HAD to know more. Once I started seriously reading the comic there was no more hope for me, I was hooked. I did some fanart of Starline in January and people loved it, which made me even more interested in the community. I like positive attention and Starline fans are really really really nice to people who feed them. Shoutout to Starline fans for being so awesome to newcomers.

It was a bit of a one off for me skill wise, but I put a LOT more effort into it than I had put into anything else for a long time. The attention I got motivated the heck out of me. I felt appreciated.

I ended up joining several communities, I've made friends, I've done 4 Bumblekast thumbs, I got accepted into 2 zines, one of which I completed a 5 page comic for and the other one is probably one of the coolest things I have ever drawn in my life and I can't even share it here T.T

But the biggest thing starting Sonic fanart did for me is it got me practicing and studying. Not just drawing pictures and improving after each one; I was drawing with the intent to build skill, not to create a final result. I seriously wanted to work to improve.

My main goal for this year ended up being figuring out an effective method for learning how to draw characters and objects on model in general. Not just Sonic characters, any character I want.

I improved a lot with technique and my eye for color has improved a little too. I've got a knack for technical drawing, so I pick up things like perspective really quickly, but I have a difficult time making things look organic and I still struggle with that, but I am getting better.

What I'm gonna need to focus on for the next year is looking like general composition, dynamic poses, and expressions. With the amount of improvement I've seen this last year, I'm curious what kind of skills I'll have this time next year.

[birthbynightmare]

IDW Sonic issue 63 spoilers

Context time!

In this issue we can see as little cameos the ghosts Lah, Su and Uh; from the Sonic Unleashed tie-in 3D- animation short "Sonic: Night of the Werehog" produced by "Marza Animation Planet Inc."

Although they appear in a Sonic media and the Marza company is known for making almost all the CGI animations for Sonic, they're status as available characters for the comics was unknown. Ian Flynn himself answered this question in one of his BumbleKasts this past February.

Look at 9:55 to hear his answer.

With that said there's also the question that has been ask too many times: Where are the humans!?

Ian Flynn has answered many times that, for the moment, humans are unavailable at the moment, which is way we have only seen anthropomorphic characters (mobians, furries, nermies?) for now.

For the moment we know that they're there, somewhere. But they haven't appeared in any issue in the IDW Sonic comic yet.

Which is why I imply that for the ghosts to appear, Ian Flyn and the team were forced to cut out the humans because, while in Spagonia, Sonic Unleashed favorite human city for the fandom, there are no humans in sight, only a few as shadows way in the background.

Time will tell when we'll see them again.

[tokiro07]

Still reading IDW Sonic through a free Comixology trial, and for some reason only issue 55 isn’t part of the trial

I have to pay for that one issue, and only that issue, apparently

That’s absurd

[scenekitteh]

i hyperfocused and read the entire sonic idw comic in 1 sitting yesterday (thank FUCK theres only 55 issues so far i was only there for like 4-5 maybe 6 hours or something. idk im a slow reader im dyslexic) and this panel gave me so much gender envy that i went to walgreens and bought hair dye and now i have 3 more raccoon tails

[kamenrideryeets]

*sighs at having to describe this AGAIN*

But is the comic going to actually address this?

Is it going to have any long-term effect on Sonic as a character?

No.

I’m not even going to begin to address the “morality” of the situation because it’s been addressed a hundred times and every “future of the comic” analysis anyone has ever done can consistently be utterly destroyed with the same universal answer: “Sega will never, EVER allow it.”

This story was frankly never about Sonic’s “morals” as everyone made it out to be. Surge ultimately used that as an excuse in their first meeting, and like much of her reason for fighting Sonic, forgot about it.

However, that doesn’t change the fact that literally everything Sonic did over the course of the entire arc either proved Surge right or just made the situation worse in general.

And frankly, this post originated as an issue 55 reaction. Issue 56 RUINED it.

Like... Surge’s primary reason for being angry at Sonic when she gets the Dynamo Cage is that he refuses to fight her seriously and keeps telling her to be his friend. Then, after he finds out the truth about her... he refuses to fight her AT ALL and cranks the “telling her to be his friend” up to a thousand. 

Can you see the problem with this?

We know why he chooses to do it - that was OP’s original point. He doesn’t want to hurt an innocent victim. But LOGICALLY, from HEARING all Surge’s ranting in their past fights, HE SHOULD KNOW that doing that will only serve to piss her off further. Especially mid-battle, while she’s still highly volatile and very capable of murdering him. WHICH SHE THEN ACTUALLY DID.

And next thing you know, Sonic walks off LITERALLY DYING “for a few seconds,” and the arc ends without a single word addressing the unwinnability of the situation. He lets Eggman off with essentially a >:( (which the writers/artists probably had to fight to keep,) and all is forgotten for Scrapnik Island (let’s not get into the whole “Mecha’s memories” situation which hammers this home even harder) and Urban Warfare where Sonic is just normal again.

It was swept under the rug even harder than the Metal Virus. We at least SAW the aftershocks of the virus, short and Sonic-righteous as they were. The Surge arc literally HAS NO ENDING. Everyone just LEAVES, and the next arc begins with no mention of any effects on anyone (other than Whisper, who, as an IDW original, is exempt from the ban on character development and strong emotion.)

The reason the fans are angry is because, though he can have empathic moments as shown by OP, in the end, IDW Sonic is blind. People are happy he makes mistakes, but are angry because he CONSTANTLY makes THE EXACT SAME mistakes, and then LEARNS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING FROM THEM regardless of how many times they repeat. 

AKA the definition of insanity.

And this is no different - contrary to all these analyses, there is ZERO implication of future change, and zero evidence against the concrete fact that Sega will never let Sonic admit to doing the wrong thing ever again.

I love “big” Sonic stories/arcs in theory, but in practice, I hate going into them already knowing how they end.

Also, I hate having to do these rants.

They make me sound like I read IDW out of spite.

I really don’t. 

Whispangle OTP.

I cannot get over the horror on Sonic's face when he learns the truth about Surge and Kit. He had no idea what they really went through. It's sickening. You don't see him that shaken very often.

Surge did say she was built to end him before, but he didn't know what that meant. He didn't know the extent. Imagine being someone who is all about freedom and then meeting someone who had theirs stripped away in the worst way possible.

With that, the thrill of adventure is gone. This isn't just a rescue anymore. Sonic doesn't want to fight against someone who has suffered so much. You can see he really wishes for a way to resolve this peacefully.

I have no idea how the next issue is going to go, but I hope it's a result that doesn't weigh anymore on Sonic's mind. 😢

[000marie198]

Sonic doesn't understand what exactly Eggman is saying but Tails knows the meaning of those words. Little guy is horrified...

[krafterwrites]

It's really funny that the only mainline issue of IDW that Sonic Prime was advertised on the covers of was issue 55, since 2/3 of its covers were Surge having a breakdown

[mr-hammer-exe]

U-Uh, Sonic? 

I don’t- uhm... 

...

[niyana-the-ambiguous-mobian]

They weren’t kidding, Surge really went and bit someone this issue. Eggman could have lost a finger for real...