#killing myself and it's segas fault

[anti-enashinonome]

90 fucking pulls. Not a single card from the relax tea time set.

[egg-emperor]

Didn't realize you were a freak with a fart fetish ... you're no better or different from animated James...

I don't think I know who that is but what's wrong with me having a harmless kink where the worst offense is that it's a bit gross, involving something Eggman literally does in a game? Is that really so bad? Did it kill someone? Should we call the cops on myself and Sega/Sonic Team for depicting him farting on other characters? XD

If you saw that post and read it enough to get to the real ns4w details, you had to hit read more fully knowing what you were gonna see by then with the subject of the post and that's your fault pal. It's all tagged appropriately and if you dropped the puritan mindset you wouldn't care and would be much happier

You've gotta be a troll though because it's extremely obvious I'm a freak, my blog bio and almost all my posts tells you that right away. This is The eggfucker blog, there's no way you couldn't know :P

[randomheros]

Sonic movie 3 spoilers (again, cause I got more to say)

I love that this movie just immediately goes to the prison break. Like this movie really said "we know your here for him, we're not gonna make you wait." XD

The entire break out scene is so good. The lighting, the stasis tube thing is cool, the animation of Shadows little sleepy twitches. The subtle build up to the fact he's waking up (cause if he's twitching, that means he'd be in REM sleep, a stasis should be deeper, right?) The heart monitor alerting the guards to him waking up. Then there's the scene of him leaving the island, where he races across the water, and maybe I'm just imagining it, but I SWEAR you can see a learning curve in his initial animation. Like it looks like he takes a moment to figure out how to race across the water, which makes sense cause he's never done that before. It's some subtle but good animation and I appreciate it.

I love that he isn't immediately on a revenge spree, he's just kind of unsure what to do with himself. Like he hates GUN certainly, but like, yeah, he should. I wouldn't advise someone to trust the people that attacked his home and killed his best friend. Dude has every right to be defensive, and it was FULLY GUN's idea to attack him in a highly populated area.

I like that Shadow wasn't really too intent on harming Sonic and the gang, he was mostly trying to avoid and prevent them from following. I also like Shadow not being really cocky and arrogant, cause frankly I'm not sure that ever fit his backstory.

I like that it was Gerald who put the revenge idea in his head-annnnd as I say that, I understand that it was a way of doing the memory alter thing but in a less complicated way. NICE. I love the little haunted house moment in mountain base, loved seeing ma boi Casper. XD

I love Super Sonic's fight with Shadow. I love love LOVE Shadow's super form being more white gold, I'm sure that's not new, but he's real pretty. XD It's also really funny cause like...he has no idea what's going on but just goes with it. He has no idea what the chaos emeralds are, has no idea why Sonic is gold now, no idea why he's now gold, but is still unfazed. He is the epitome of the John Mulaney bit; "This might as well happen today."

I love that Shadow just kind of wants Sonic to kill him. Some good character writing. He wants justice/revenge for Maria, but he also just wants the pain to end. He just wants it all to go away.

tHE LIVE AND LEARN MOMENT WAS GREAT. NO NOTES. JUST PERFECTION. (The little genuine smile Shadow gets is so nice. Oh my god. It was hype)

HE TOOK OF THE POWER CUFFS! IT WAS NEVER STATED, THEY JUST FULLY TRUSTED THE FANS TO UNDERSTAND(at least...i don't recall the power cuffs ever being explained in the movie...)

While part of me misses the whole "Gerald made Shadow to cure Maria" thing, it doesn't really take away from the movie, and it does make it easier to do a Black Arms story line in the future, if they wanted to. Like they left that door WIDE open.

I think the only thing in this movie that I wasn't sure I liked was Gerald...we didn't really get any scenes of him before the 50 year imprisonment, so I kept having to remind myself that he likely wasn't this weird 50 years ago. But I also know they had to make him weird cause it's fucking Jim Carrey. XD Regardless, I think it ever so slightly took away from the emotional impact of the Eclipse canon scheme, cause I can't take him seriously for even a second. I'm also not sure how I feel about Keanu Reeves voice acting...like, he suits Shadow, but ...sometimes it feels like it's lacking some emotion. But maybe that's just the intended direction? Idk, I'll have to watch it a second time before I can really make a judgment. Maybe I'm just not used to it. XD Regardless, it would be the fans fault and not Sega cause yall asked for Reeves XD

I CALLED THE END CREDIT SCENE! I KNEW IT WAS GONNA BE METAL SONIC! Eggman has had that quill thing forever, it's been established that his quills can power things, it only makes sense for Metal Sonic to appear.

I did not suspect MANY metal sonics however, or AMY!?! YOOOO??? Never have I been so hyped to see Amy XD

I had a blast at this movie X3

[supernovasbeyond]

im gonna fight yiu

Not my fault I genuinely haven't seen Anhane's covers get any attention, it's been what? Days? A month for some reason?

Everyone was wooning over call boy but I don't remember anyone being that excited for any Anhane covers,

The FUCKING fans are so focused on the 2 out of 6 boys that literally everything is about them, wxs doesn't even get this syndrome! No Sega ,I don't want another fucking rad dogs cover. And I understand this opinion will get people to hate on me but WHEN I SEARCH FOR A FUCKING VBS SONG THEY'RE ALWAYS WOONING OVER THE AKITO AND TOYA VOCALS

I'm this close to killing myself

[beevean]

Agree to disagree with you on forces vs Frontiers, I feel Frontiers was an improvement however I hope your opinion in it is sincere cause sometimes I see a lot of " WOW forces is way better then Frontiers actually "" and it mostly seems to just people hating it more because Flynn is involved, rather then a honest opinion about both games. Also not gonna convince me Infinite's theme is better then Vandalize, that one slams :P

Funny that you mention it, because I was actually accused of this. And, to be fair, I did groan when they revealed that Flynn would have written the game's story, so I understand why the assumption is that I'm unfairly biased 😂

But the thing is that we don't fully know what was his role in the writing: from what I got, he wrote the script for an already established plot. And if that's true, I can blame him for things like the constant references or Sonic's buffy speak, but I can't blame him for much more substantial issues like the general emptiness of the story or Eggman's role. I'm also taking the game's rushed, crunched development into account, which obviously isn't anyone's fault but SEGA. And ofc the flat voice direction kills the writing even more, and that is not the writers' fault. It's a mix of things, and Flynn is not the scapegoat here.

The little minority that is defending Forces mostly comes from a place of backlash against years of the Sonic community treating it like the worst thing that has happened in the franchise, replacing '06 with it as the acceptable punching bag (esp now that '06 is approaching its 20th anniversary and thus getting the "actually it was underrated" treatment), even going so far as insult the few fans of it implying that they're stupid or children (ah, Sonic Stadium is a wonderful place). It is tangentially related to Flynn because IDW came out a little after Forces did, and it was taken as proof that he's a near perfect writer that can do no wrong and oh wow it's so much better than the stupid pontaff games, sega hire this man asap. After six years, almost seven, it's safe to say that Forces, while far from being perfect and surely with a ton of flaws in its plot and execution of it, is not the absolute disaster that it was painted to be... and I personally think that Frontiers, a game that really comes off as wanting to be praised for being "a step in the right direction", and a game whose story was immensely praised and that praise put squarely on Flynn, really isn't in the things that matter.

(story wise, I mean. The gameplay is another matter, and I can't judge it. I have mixed opinions on the "open zone" style.)

And hey, Vandalize is cool! I never said anything of the contrary :P I'm only perplexed as to why it was associated with Sonic in the first place, since it's a song about a crumbling toxic relationship (lmao at the fans who thought it would be about Sonamy). But most songs from Frontiers are complete slappers, and I found myself singing Vandalize and Undefeatable for months :P I like both OSTs, they're different and they both have their highs and downs.

[skaruresonic]

Some of the things I've seen Ian blamed for are truly wild. A lot of people have claimed for YEARS that he's just lying about the existence of creative guidelines and restrictions from Sega - or, as fans call them, The Mandates - even though they're just an inherent aspect of working on a licensed property. Others claim that The Mandates are real, but somehow Ian's fault.

For the record, Ian has stated that he hates the "buzzword" the term "mandates" has become because it was fandom that invented the concept of Sega mandates as creative constraints, not the haters. It's funny to me that fandom doesn't seem to want to abide by his wishes and continues to spread this erroneous "mandates" narrative as gospel truth. None of us have ever said Sega mandates don't exist period - they do in some form, as guidelines for how to remain IC - just that they're not these hard iron-clad rules created to specifically put the clamps on the staff's creativity; if anything, it's the staff who push that interpretation, as they're the ones who benefit from it whenever issues receive blowback. I personally question the veracity of Shadow-specific mandates because their existence seems wholly conditional and has never been corroborated with hard evidence. Reddit invented them for the express purpose of ad-hoc explaining Shadow's poor portrayal in IDW 19.

I don't hate Ian as a person, but I deeply dislike his unprofessional attitude, his unearned egotism and position (not in a jealousy way, in a "did he really earn this?" kind of way), and his penchant for shifting blame for his own writing mistakes onto Sega. Somehow it's slipped past everyone's radars that he offered in a Bumblekast Mini to bring up fan ideas at lore team meetings and "see what happens," even though that's a legally sketchy practice at best and a big faux pas that, as a creator working for the series for the past 16 years, he should know by now doesn't fly with stuff like this.

This is to say nothing of how his work never really seems to improve in spite of the discourse. Or how we seem vocal because everyone likes to twist our words into parodies of themselves: "Sonic doesn't care about Eggman's welfare, he doesn't just 'let him go' in the games, and he seems to have an overall attitude of 'if he dies, he dies'" morphs into "So you want Sonic to butcher his enemies in cold blood?" It's tiring. No one cares to know that we have tried to be civil and to state our views as clearly as possible. When my mutuals compiled our arguments in the IDW FAQ, it was largely met with indifference and sometimes even disdain for mere virtue of existing. Even though it's complete with sources and timestamps and is organized very clearly, a popular Twitter account framed it as a "document written to justify our hatred of Ian Flynn." There is literally no way to win in an environment like this. This will be taken as DARVO, but I feel it needs mentioning since it is not a negligible part of my past online experiences: the harassment I received on my views to the point of deleting my blog and having crying fits twice. Over, as you say, Sonic the Hedgehog.

I won't say I've behaved perfectly, but to be painted on par with someone who literally threatened to bomb SoA because of fictitious Shadow mandates is annoying. I have been called a moron and a liar and portrayed as mentally ill (as if that has any bearing on this, the allegedly Mentally Ill Webbed Site) too many times to count. I have been told to kill myself and that no one would miss me over this stuff. I have been told that my dead mother is burning in hell. While I don't hold Flynn responsible for the actions of his more unhinged fans, I now hold a far less charitable view of this fandom because of the salt it tends to rub in the wound by sneering "well, you're just as bad as them because you won't shut up about him." It seems, however, the sentiment is not mutual, and that I will get lumped in with people who send death threats, because I am not an individual with opinions that so happen to align with those of my friends', I am part of the Icky Hivemind.

I've been told that the harassment I've received isn't real and it has been heavily implied throughout the course of this whole thing that my suffering does not matter compared to Flynn's. So. Message received. I apologize for reblogging this with my addition, as I try not to add my two cents' to non-mutuals' posts these days, but I felt it needs saying. I am not the one forcing people to read my blog. If you don't like what I have to say, block me.

Help me out here: Why is there so much Ian Flynn hate going around lately? I thought everyone loved that he was contributing to the games. Now suddenly they aren't. I guess that's par for the course for this series but I don't get it. He isn't perfect but I like what he's done. Am I a weirdo?

Ian Flynn has always had a lot of fans, but any creator putting their work out there is going to have detractors as well. That's just the nature of being an artist. To some extent, it's no big deal. He's not a perfect writer. Nobody is! I consider myself a fan of his work, but I've criticized plenty of individual writing decisions from him on here.

But Ian doesn't just have critics. He has his own obsessive hatedom. And the specific nature of Ian's hatedom is... interesting.

A decade ago, Ian was only the guy writing for Archie Sonic, meaning any debates over his work were quarantined within that tiny niche of the larger Sonic fandom. Only people who kept up with the comics month to month had any real reason to have an opinion on the guy, which means we're talking about merely thousands of fans as opposed to millions.

Within that group, he had some haters. You had the people who were mad about story changes made during his run, particularly things like ancillary characters getting killed off (although over the years we've learned that most of those were editorial mandates from Mike Pellerito). You had the people mad that Ian didn't push their favorite ship, with feuding SonAmy and Sonally fans claiming that he was CLEARLY biased towards one or the other. You had the people who just really, really liked one of the previous writers way more - usually Penders, as hard as that may be to believe today. That sort of thing. Pretty normal comic fandom type stuff. Again, it comes with the territory.

Unfortunately, many of those haters only got worse over time, morphing into reactionaries who constantly try to incite Comicsgate type culture war bullshit.

There are people still mad at Ian for making Sally bi and pairing her with Nicole instead of Sonic in the later Archie comics. There have been elaborate MS Paint red string conspiracy boards explaining how people like Ian and Jon Gray have apparently been destroying the franchise from the inside for years by Making Sonic Woke. (Jon gets dragged into this because people are still mad about him drawing The Slap 20 years later. Yes, really!!) There was an unhinged change.org petition trying to get Ian fired, specifically from people who were mad that the Freedom Fighters aren't in the IDW comics. There was even a very sad little fan campaign from these people trying to get Sega to move the Sonic comic license away from IDW and over to Udon, because they thought Udon would bring Sally and Bunnie back and also make them sexy again. There's a lot of this.

(Unfortunately, Penders has also exacerbated this by gossiping about Ian on Twitter and giving these fans ammo, but that's a whole 'nother discussion.)

The thing is, for years, people who only played the games or watched the cartoons had no reason to pay attention to any of this. Now, though, Ian isn't just writing for some weird spinoff comics that only the super nerds read. Now he's writing comics that are canon to the games, and ALSO some of the games themselves, and ALSO consulting on other tie-in media like Sonic Prime, and ALSO writing the official Sonic encyclopedia, and ALSO serving as part of the new Sonic Lore Team at Sega. And on top of all this, he's got an increasingly popular podcast where he fields questions about his work on all of these things, which serves as one of the fandom's main windows into creative decisions being made behind the scenes.

As a fan of Ian's work, it's been really cool to see him rise in prominence. But the dark side of this is that his obsessive haters from the Archie days now have WAY more of a potential audience of their own. Now, every Sonic fan has to have an opinion on Ian. What this frequently means is that you'll have the Comicsgate types taking things Ian writes or says out of context, attempting to get more of the general fandom to yell at the guy.

Unfortunately, there are a wide variety of Sonic fans who take the bait:

You've got hardcore fans who disliked basically any recent piece of Sonic media and are looking for someone to blame.

You've got the people who are concerned about the sanctity of Sonic's canon, who shoot the messenger any time Ian mentions a new retcon from Sonic Team on the podcast - or any time he even mentions the THOUGHT of changing anything about the canon, as we saw recently with the Sol Dimension nonsense.

You've got people who romanticize some sort of mythical artistic vision that Sega of Japan supposedly has (or had) for the franchise. To many of these fans, American contributors like Ian just don't "get" the heart of the series and are trying to turn Sonic into something different. (This "heart of the series" tends to be some mix of Japanese instruction manual lore, the cinematics from Sonic CD, the OVA, and/or the games written by Shiro Maekawa, depending on what Sonic media the fan in question grew up with.)

You've got fans of specific characters or ships who pin the blame for how their faves are depicted entirely on Ian - most vocally fans of Shadow, even though the root problem is that Sonic Team hasn't known what to do with Shadow since 2006. At best this stops at regular old criticism, but at its worst this devolves into claims that Ian has an agenda against certain characters.

You've got fans annoyed by a perceived over-emphasis on comic-original characters in the IDW comics, ignoring the obvious facts that these characters exist because the game cast is so tightly controlled by Sega, and also, you know, that people just like the IDW characters and want more stories about them.

You've got a LOT of discourse over IDW's Sonic being a hero who tries to give his enemies second chances, as if half of Sonic's closest friends aren't already former villains and rivals. Honestly this is very transparently just reheated Steven Universe discourse lmao

You'll also see people who just think they could do Ian's job better. They can't believe that THIS GUY is the American fan working on all these Sonic projects, when clearly THEY understand the characters and lore and themes SO much better than this charlatan.

All it takes is for someone in one of these categories to be unhappy about some recent piece of Sonic media, and for them to come across an out of context quote or comic panel that rubs them the wrong way, and suddenly the leftist Zoomer Sonic fans will join the latest dogpile on Ian alongside the reactionary Comicsgate types who are mad at him for Making Sonic Woke.

In general, when fandoms get upset, they tend to want a scapegoat. A person or two to point a finger at and go "THAT's who ruined the thing I love!" This tends to be based less on reality and more on which contributors are the most visible online. You'll sometimes see teenage and adult fans of children's cartoons single out a storyboarder who's particularly vocal on Twitter, blame them for every story decision they don't like, and harass them off the platform out of a sense of retribution for their favorite ship or whatever. Failing that, fans might choose to blame every nitpick, down to individual lines of dialogue and frames of animation, on a showrunner, just because that's the name they associate with the show. And unfortunately, when it comes to Sonic, Ian is now arguably the most prolific and outspoken contributor on the English speaking internet, and therefore a common scapegoat.

Some of the things I've seen Ian blamed for are truly wild. A lot of people have claimed for YEARS that he's just lying about the existence of creative guidelines and restrictions from Sega - or, as fans call them, The Mandates - even though they're just an inherent aspect of working on a licensed property. Others claim that The Mandates are real, but somehow Ian's fault. A vocal minority of fans have convinced themselves that Ian is the sole reason the Freedom Fighters don't exist in the IDW comics, even though Ian says he's been pushing to bring them back since day one.

Sometimes you'll see people say he ruined shit he didn't even work on. A few weeks ago on Twitter I saw someone claim that Ian had written a rejected script for Sonic Forces in which Tails died. I could not find a source for this for the life of me. As far as I can tell, the rumor seems to have been born from an alleged leaked script for Forces with margin notes from Aaron Webber that criticized the way Tails was written, and also an old tweet where Aaron joked that Tails would die in an upcoming episode of Sonic Mania Adventures. These merged into "Aaron Webber criticized a draft of the Forces script in which Tails died." How'd Ian get dragged into this? Who fucking knows!

It's all just a big game of telephone. All it takes is some asshole to make something up about Ian on Twitter or YouTube or a DeviantArt journal or some forum, and at least a couple people will believe it, and then it gets repeated as fact. Again, this used to be contained by the niche nature of the Archie Sonic fandom, but now there are WAY more people who are receptive to this shit.

It's just sad to me that Ian tries to be so open and honest about his work, to try to explain the rationale for certain things, to keep fans looped in on the direction the franchise is headed, and this just gives the Flynnspiracy types more quotes to take out of context and try to paint him as the devil. If it sounds like I'm being overly defensive and dismissing his critics, man... some of the things I've seen people say directly to him are just unbelievable. People will send paragraphs-long angry screeds in to his podcast that completely tear him apart, and he has to sit there and be like "Well, that's your opinion, and you're entitled to it." People literally pay for special guest interview episodes where they just rapid fire complaints about his writing at him directly to his face. I don't know how he does it. I would snap.

All of this over Sonic the fucking Hedgehog of all things.

I don't know how to wrap this up. Engaging with fandoms online is very tiring, which is why I tend not to do it. Things like this are too common. I guess, just... remember that making art collaboratively is a complicated thing. The people involved are generally trying their best given the circumstances, but they're only human. They make mistakes. But please treat them like humans. Criticism and dogpiling are not the same thing.

[mobius-prime]

246. Sonic the Hedgehog #177

Home, New Home

Writer: Ian Flynn Pencils: Tracy Yardley! Colors: Jason Jensen

As the Egg Fleet approaches New Mobotropolis, Nicole erects a forcefield-like shield around the entire city, protecting it from the bombardment that Snively, leading the fleet, begins dropping on it. With the shield protecting everyone, however, a slightly more immediate concern reveals itself - namely, the many criminals that have been teleported here along with the actual residents of Knothole, who see an opportunity to not only break free of the justice system, but take a few of the citizens with them.

Amazing speech on your part there, Mogul. Really, it's a wonder everyone didn't immediately fall at your feet. Sonic and Sally are impressed at Nicole's foresight, only to become concerned when her hologram begins flickering and she appears to show signs of pain in response to more shells hitting the city's shield. She tells them that she has to devote most of the city's power supply to keeping the shield up, and reassures Sally that she'll always be nearby even when they can't see her before disappearing. Sally and Elias address the crowd of rescued civilians, telling them that right now they can trust Nicole to keep them safe while they come up with a plan and that for now everyone should find their new homes. Sally stops Sonic, however, and orders him to go get medical attention before he does anything else, something he's predictably a bit grumpy about.

Okay, so this is where we address one of the most controversial things Ian ever included in the comic. It's controversial for good reason. We've already established that one of the major things Ian has been doing for the comic since taking over as head writer is bringing the world of the comics more in line with that of the games, and this includes the various characters and their attitudes. Vector is no longer as insufferable as he was under Kenders, Knuckles is one of Sonic's closest allies now rather than a distant rival, and so on, but this is where the age discrepancy between Charmy from the games and Charmy from the comics becomes a problem. If you'll recall, Charmy is six in the games but sixteen in the comics, and obviously a sixteen-year-old is going to act pretty different from a six-year-old. So how exactly does one take a fairly mature teenager, who's a prince of a lost kingdom and literally engaged to someone else his age, and make him act like a child? Well, I don't have any particularly good ideas myself, but Ian's highly controversial solution was to give him brain damage. From this point on, Charmy suffers from some substantial memory loss, and generally has a much more childlike personality than he once did. There's many problems with this, and others have gone into this topic much more in depth than I care to, but suffice it to say that while giving a character brain damage simply as part of their character arc isn't inherently a bad thing, and can even be a positive if handled right, giving a character brain damage purely as a plot device to make them act more like a child feels incredibly insensitive and insulting. From what I understand, this isn't totally Ian's fault; Sega was pressuring him to make these changes, and I suppose at the time this was all he could think of for the Charmy problem, but I know he has stated later on that he wishes he'd handled this particular issue better, so at least he's acknowledged how bad this whole thing seems. Furthermore, he does appear to treat Charmy as a character with as much respect as possible in future issues, so there's that at least.

Anyway, Saffron is relieved when Charmy happily confirms that he remembers who she is and hugs her, and Dr. Quack moves on from Charmy to take a look at Sonic. It doesn't take him long to confirm his suspicions that indeed, all the magical ring energy Sonic's been exposed to have given him a high resistance to injury as well as apparently an accelerated rate of healing, something which is quite fascinating and I wish would have been expanded upon in this universe's worldbuilding at some point. As Dr. Quack heads off to find his own family, we take a quick look at the Chaos Chamber on Angel Island, where Finitevus appears to be doing some kind of weird ritual with the Master Emerald, reciting Tikal's prayer. Scourge runs up and informs him that Dimitri has run - err, floated off, presumably to contact Knuckles and warn him of Finitevus' treachery. Finitevus, however, merely tells him that this was part of his plan all along, and he isn't concerned, as he'll bring back Enerjak one way or another. Sounds quite ominous indeed…

Hey man, someone needs to remind Antoine that bravery isn't a lack of fear, it's standing up to danger even when you are afraid. Sally becomes lost in thought for a moment, remembering all the times she led the Freedom Fighters into danger in the past, long before she was ever thrust into the role of acting ruler or forced into a disastrous arranged marriage. She suddenly stands up and reminds Bunnie of her old hairdressing ambitions, and asks her for one more favor before they begin their defense against Eggman's attack… Meanwhile up in the sky, Snively continues to try to break through New Mobotropolis' shield, only to become startled when a single, tiny aircraft begins firing onto his flagship. His robots prepare to return fire, but he suddenly orders them to stand down with a look of shock, and contacts the plane… having recognized it as the plane that Hope built. Hope yells at him through the comm when he opens a channel, furious that she took his advice and went to Station Square, but when she tried to return to Knothole, which she still considered home, it was in ruins. She blames him for all of it, too ashamed to show her face to the Mobians again after leaving, and begins to sob.

I absolutely love the way that these comics continue to humanize Snively more and more. I feel so bad for Hope here, especially knowing that none of the Mobians would blame her for what happened, but as for Snively, it's clear that despite his nature, he does value family, and does care about Hope. He's gone from being the cowardly, sniveling, silly minion of the evil Dr. Robotnik to an actual human with flaws, feelings, and attachments. From inside the city shield, Tails watches the bombardment continue with his parents and Merlin, and Amadeus expresses that though the destruction of Knothole was a tragedy, all in all this may actually be a good thing for the populace, as he believes that such a major event will prepare them for "the shift in thinking" that he plans for them. Merlin, however, warns him not to push ahead with any reforms he has in mind too soon, as the monarchy will also be very tense from all this chaos. Rosemary expresses her belief in her husband, and Tails excitedly says he'll support his father no matter what, but the sentiment is interrupted by Eggman's furious screaming from outside the city walls, banging on the shield with his battle suit and yelling for the Freedom Fighters to come out and face him, infuriated that his perfect victory has been stolen from him. Sonic cheerfully interrupts his tantrum, suddenly standing outside the shield, and Eggman is initially pleased, mocking Sonic for not learning from his initial defeat mere hours ago. However, it turns out that Sonic has learned, and with the knowledge that the battle suit was created to counter Sonic and Sonic alone, he and Sally have come up with the perfect plan while Eggman wasn't looking.

The entire Freedom Fighter and Chaotix force descends on Eggman's battle suit, and they're all able to locate weaknesses that Eggman hadn't anticipated in its construction. They tear it apart piece by piece while Sonic gleefully reminds his nemesis that there are more heroes on this planet than just himself, and that anything he can't handle on his own, the others definitely can. In the end, Eggman is left with barely half a shell of his precious armor, furious and humiliated, which leads into perhaps one of my favorite pages of this entire era - perhaps even the entire comic.

Eggman, still unwilling to let victory slip away despite his situation, orders his fleet to fire directly on their location, meaning either he was somehow unaware that this would kill him too, or he was aware, and was more concerned with killing his foes than surviving. Honestly, my bet is on the latter - it seems like something he'd do if angry enough and feeling sufficiently cornered. However, he's forgotten that Nicole has full control over the nanites in the city, and since everything in the city is made of nanites, she's able to stretch the city's wall out to create a wall between everyone out on the field and the bombardment from the Egg Fleet. She projects her form to Eggman and urges him to reconsider his decision, as frankly, Sally is showing him more mercy than he deserves by a long shot. And honestly, she's right - it would be a much better decision to either kill him right there, or, if they're feeling too honorable and whatnot, at least arrest him and shove him in a cell next to Mammoth Mogul…

Well hello there, old haircut! I will say, I did enjoy Sally's long hair while she had it - I thought it looked good on her. But hey, cutting one's hair as a show of maturation is a common fictional trope, and in a way, it's nice to go back to seeing Sally rocking her old look. I will actually note here that while I've mentioned before that Tracy's pencils have standardized the design of a lot of characters, I actually don't care much for his redesign of Sally as a whole. While I appreciate her proportions becoming more like those of every other Mobian - the human body that a lot of other artists gave her looked kind of weird, to be honest - her facial features have actually been significantly altered by his style. She always had a distinctive slanted-back eye shape and a more gentle slope to her nose, but by making her eye shape closer to than of characters like Bunnie and Tails, I feel she's lost some of her unique visual charm. That isn't to say that I think Sally is lesser as a character for this change - she's still one of my top favorites in the series - nor that I disapprove of Tracy's art style as a whole. And in the end, her hairstyle change here marks the beginning of a new era - one where she begins to act once more like her old self and once again joins the others on missions just like old times. She's worked through a lot of the trauma and self-doubt that she's been plagued with ever since Sonic's return to Mobius, and now we can look forward to new adventures with her, in a new location. I mean that "new era" thing literally, by the way. Congratulations, we've reached the end of the comic's fifth era - many of the eras beyond this one are significantly shorter than the ones we've seen previously, but that also means we'll be moving through distinctive arcs a little more quickly, and furthermore, the next era holds some pretty exciting new surprises! Shall we now - how do they say - do it to it?

[rosebud1773]

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Tagged by: @fasterpuddytat. I’m game, I’ll play...

Your stereotypical masculine side

You love hoodies

.

You love shorts

. Dogs are better than cats. It’s hilarious when people get hurt. Shopping is torture. Sad movies suck.

You own a car racing game

.

You played with hot wheels cars as a kid

. At some point in time you wanted to be a firefighter.

You owned a ds, ps2, n64, or sega(it was an NES and an Atari, young’un)

. You used to be obsessed with power rangers. You have watched sports on tv.  

Gory movies are cool fun

. You go to your dad(s) for advice. You own like a trillion baseball caps. You used to collect hockey or baseball cards.

Baggy sweats are cool to wear.

It’s kinda weird to have sleepovers with a bunch of people

.

Green, black, red, blue, or silver are one of your favourite colours

.

You love to go crazy and not care what people think.

Sports are fun.

You talk with food in your mouth(sorry everyone).

You sleep with your socks on at night.

You have fished at least once

.

(This is funny because I’m a girl... lmao. Yay to the tomboy side.)

Your stereotypical feminine side

You love to shop. You wear eyeliner.

You wear the colour pink.

You go to your mom to talk. You consider cheer-leading a sport. You hate wearing the colour black.

You like going to the mall (occasionally)

. You like getting manicures and/or pedicures.

You like wearing jewelry

.

You cried watching The Notebook

. Dresses are a big part of your wardrobe. Shopping is one of your favourite hobbies. You don’t like the movie Star Wars. You are/were in gymnastics. It takes you around one hour to shower, get dressed, and apply make up. You smile a lot more than you should. You have more than ten pairs of shoes.

You care about what you look like.

You like wearing dresses when you can. You like wearing high heel shoes.

You used to play with dolls as a little kid.

You like putting make up on others. You like being the star of everything.

Appearance

I am shorter than 5’5”

.

I have scars. I tan easily.

I wish my hair was a different colour. I have friends who have never seen my natural hair colour. I have a tattoo.

I am self-conscious about my appearance.

I’ve had/have braces.

I’ve been told I’m attractive by a complete stranger.

 I have more than two piercings. I have/had piercings in places besides my ears.

I have freckles. I have freckles that aren’t on my face

. Usually bruised (all the time when I was working).

I paint my nails (occasionally)

. I don’t leave my hair natural.

I have a tooth gap (dental issues... sigh)

. I have facial hair.

I have burn marks

.

My birthmark is usually visible.

I smile with my teeth.

I have longer legs

. I have a longer torso. I have broad shoulders.

I am more muscular for my size.

Experiences

I’ve gotten lost in my city

.

I’ve seen a shooting star. I’ve wished on a shooting star. I’ve seen a meteor shower.

I’ve gone out in public in my pajamas.

I’ve pushed all the buttons on an elevator. I’ve kicked a guy where it hurts

. I’ve been to a casino. I’ve been skydiving. I’ve gone skinny-dipping. I’ve drank a whole gallon of milk in one hour.

I’ve crashed a car (wasn’t my fault)

. I’ve been skiing.

I’ve been in a musical. I’ve caught a snowflake or snow on my tongue.

I’ve seen the northern lights.

I’ve sat on a rooftop at night. I’ve played a prank on someone.

I’ve ridden in a taxi. I’ve seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I’ve eaten sushi.

I’ve been snowboarding.

Honesty/crime

I’ve done something I promised someone else I wouldn’t. I’ve done something I promised myself I wouldn’t.

I’ve snuck out (of my college dorm).

I’ve lied to my parents about where I am.

I’ve cheated while playing a game.

I’ve run a red light. I’ve witnessed a crime. I’ve been in a fist fight (I won too).

I’ve been arrested.

Random

I can sing well.

I’ve stolen a tray from a fast food restaurant. I open up to others easily. I watch the news. I don’t kill bugs.

I sing in the shower

. I am a morning person. I paid for a cell phone ring tone. I am a sports fanatic.

I twirl my hair. I care about grammar.

I have “?”’s in my screen name.

I’ve copied more than 30 cds in a day.

I bake well.  My favourite colour is either white, yellow, pink, red, blue, black, purple, or orange.

I would wear pajamas to school. I like martha stewart.

I know how to shoot a gun

.

I laugh at my own jokes.

I eat fast food weekly. I’ve not turned anything in and still got an A in a certain class. I can’t sleep if there is a spider/cockroach in the room.

I am ticklish.

I love white chocolate.

I bite my nails [did this half asleep. I do not bite my nails]. I’m good at remembering faces

.

I’m good at remembering names.

I’m good at remembering dates. I honestly have no idea what I want to do for the rest of my life.

Tagging: @miceenscene, @leez-ha, @crackinglamb, and anyone else who wants to play.

[retro-roulette]

Retro Roulette #54: After Burner II (Genesis, 1990)

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee [to be continued]

...eeeeeeeeee!

Sega released the original After Burner to Japanese arcades in July 1987, and launched a sequel just three months later. As you might expect based on the release dates, the games are extremely similar, to the point of After Burner II being arguably more of a re-working than a sequel. Some of the arcade versions did have a cockpit that moved along with the steering wheel, though, which totally rules.

Even the guy in the art gives this one a thumbs up. Both games are pretty straight forward - you play as a fighter pilot who has to speed through a series of levels, taking down as many enemy planes as possible in the process (though realistically, simply surviving is measurably more important than racking up kills).

The Genesis version of After Burner II, released in 1990, is a decently faithful adaptation of the original, save for the lack of a cool cockpit for me to sit in. The most important difference between this game and its predecessor is the ability to either speed up or slow down your plane. This is a subtle but extremely welcome addition, as the game is very, very fast-paced, and being able to slow down to dodge projectiles is a big deal. You also have a limited supply of powerful missiles, but are otherwise always firing automatically.

At first the constant fire seemed like a weird/lazy choice, but then I considered how arcade-style shooters tend to get played. even if I had to fire manually, I’d probably just be doing it all the time anyway. With shooting taken care of, you can spend more time focusing on the important act of “not dying.” The aforementioned ability to control your speed is huge here - the game is fast paced enough by default that I found myself slowing down more often than not. As I also mentioned before, there’s no minimum threshold for destroying enemies, so survival is what really matters. Knocking out a bunch of bad guys in quick succession still feels great, though, and if done quickly enough it can make surviving a bit easier.

If I could describe After Burner II in one word, it would probably have to be “frantic.” It doesn’t really let up, practically to a fault. Some might find it frustrating because of that, but it’s ultimately what one should expect from an arcade shooter - it’s fast, challenging, and pretty darn fun. Also, at one point I did a barrel roll. I don’t know how, but it was cool.

Another sequel, After Burner III, is a Sega CD exclusive. That’s pretty weird! As with a surprising number of games I blog about, the most recent game in the After Burner series is far more recent than I would’ve guessed - After Burner: Black Falcon was released in 2007 an exclusive to the PSP - again, that’s weird! Apparently it’s not great.

If you want to check out this one, it’s a relatively cheap pickup. Despite having a different title, the Tengen NES game After Burner is actually based on After Burner II, so you can play it there, too.

We’re sticking with the theme of “shooting-related titles on the Genesis” next week, to see what else it does that Nintendon’t. I’ve heard great things about this game, and hope to see you then.

[smokeybrand]

Smokey brand Movie Reviews: Knuck If You Buck

I finally got to see Sonic the Hedgehog 2! I missed it in theaters because of various ailments and had resigned myself to the VOD release but the internet is a funny place and i found an HD copy of this thing online. Like, this thing is still in theaters and i just screened it on my couch, in my underwear. Sometimes, I love the future. Though it was a little disappointing watching this thing on my computer, i must say, i enjoyed the f*ck out of it. But why did i enjoy it? IS it the best video game movie, ever? Is it a decent Sonic film? I got answers and thoughts. IF you’re interested, read on!

The Good

Ben Schwartz is the best Sonic we have to date. All love to my Sonic, Jaleel White, but Schwartz kills it in this role. There is a genuine sincerity in how he approaches this version of the character and it’s hard to fins fault in his choices.

Idris Elba is amazing as Knuckles. I thought he was a little stiff at first but then i realized that’s just Knuckles. He’s a stiff dude. It’s in his character and Elba knew when to lean into that. He did a great job with some of the levity, too. I damn near lost all of my sh*t with the Badnik steps.

Colleen O'Shaughnessey does her thing as Tails, which she’s done for years. O'Shaughnessey became the voice of tails eight years a go. I can’t hear anyone else playing the character so i am exceedingly glad that Paramount didn’t try to force in a “tar” for this role. It wouldn’t be Miles if they did.

Jim Carrey is Jim Carrey. He’s going to do his Jim Carrey thing and it’s always entertaining. It’s sad he’s “retired” now but he chose a solid role to go out on.

This film looks really good. Sega has pulled out all the stops to make this movie compete with other effect blockbusters and it rally shows. I am super glad they got bullied into redesigning Sonic because i shudder to thing what that Knuckles would look like.

I have to say, this is some solid Sonic world building. The universe this live action take is crafting, has my attention and i want to see so much more of it. I’ve been a Sonic fan since i was a kid, like five or six years old, and seeing my beloved Blue Blur getting such a rich narrative on the big screen feels my inner child with such joy.

SUPER SONIC!

I have to say, all those little references to the franchise were awesome. Chili dogs, buttcopters and wall climbs, Green Hills Zone ringtones, Robotnik’s Mean Bean, G.U.N, Sanic; My fanboy heart was all in a tizzy with so many goddamn easter eggs.

“That movie is the  wooooooooorrrrst!”

Project Shadow.

The Meh

The writing is a bit derivative but this is a movie for kids so it’s okay. Like, i wasn’t mad that this isn’t “Citizen Kane but with a hedgehog” but i feel like it could have used another pass over that script.

The Bad

The human parts derail this movie is the most uncouth way imaginable. The whole wedding plot is unnecessary and i cannot stand the sister character. Loud Black Woman is my least favorite movie trope and she was just going in on that sh*t hard.

Those human parts absolutely wrecked the pacing. This movie is over to hours long and it feels like it, but that’s because there are so many superfluous and useless human scenes. You could shave a whole half hour off this thing if you withe cut the wedding or just condensed it. I mean, Shemar Moore’s character absolutely disappeared with, like, an hour left to go. Why was he even in this thing??

The Verdict

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a fun time and a really good video game film. It’s not super profound or going to change your life after seeing it but it’s enjoyable and accessible. There is a whole world growing before our eyes and we get to experience that through some outstanding performances from Ben Schwartz, Idris Elba and Colleen O'Shaughnessey. Jim Carrey hams it all the way up as Eggman and ate every second of that sh*t up. At the end of the day, this is a movie for kids and fans but it’s surprisingly earnest with it’s message. It’s a little long in the tooth and A LOT of the human scenes could have been but but, all in all, i think it’s worth a watch. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a great example of how to make a video game into a film and i hope Sonic 3 is just as good.

[officialotakudome]

New Post has been published on Otaku Dome | The Latest News In Anime, Manga, Gaming, Tech, and Geek Culture

New Post has been published on https://otakudome.com/reviews/yakuza-like-a-dragon-review/

Yakuza: Like a Dragon Review

Yakuza returns with a new leading man in Ichiban Kasuga for Yakuza: Like a Dragon. A kind-hearted man who wants to help people and become a hero. Loyal to a fault, Ichiban is shocked to learn that his old Patriarch had joined an enemy Yakuza clan. Ichiban had taken the fall for a crime one of his fellow Yakuza committed on behalf his Patriarch’s request. Years later, following a reunion he searches for answers after his attempted murder by his Patriarch.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is a 2020 RPG game, it is developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios and published by SEGA. It is currently available on PC, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, and Xbox Series X.

Editor’s Note: A Playstation 4/5 review code for Yakuza: Like a Dragon was provided by SEGA in support of this review. Medium spoilers for Yakuza: Like a Dragon may be present within this review. I want to point out that moving forward for titles like Yakuza: Like a Dragon I’ll be using medium spoilers. This is due to me believing that any title with a major shift in direction should be experienced first hand.

Yakuza goes from beat’em up tp turn-based RPG in ‘Like a Dragon’.

Sometime has passed since Kiryu Kazuma left the Yakuza. Opting to disappear into the shadows for the safety of his friends and family his legendary run continues to be told. New lead Ichiban, as the title suggests is a lot like Kiryu. While he may be a member of the Yakuza, his heart is more often than not in the right place. Freshly released from prison Ichiban searches for answers after several changes have taken place in his former clan.

Character leveling and stat increases are important in Yakuza 7.

THE GOOD: Ichiban Kasuga is enjoying his life as a member of the Yakuza apart of the Tojo Clan’s Arakawa Family in 2001 Japan. One day, Ichiban is shocked when he is asked to take the fall for a murder he didn’t commit by his Patriarch Masumi Arakawa. The murder is committed by Jo Sawashiro, Arakawa’s right hand whom Ichiban never really liked. Due to his loyalty and love for the family Ichiban agrees and spends 18 years in prison aspiring to be a hero for Arakawa. Upon release Ichiban is disappointed that no family member is there waiting for him. Only to be greeted by ex-cop Koichi Adachi who begins grilling him on why he took the fall.

Adachi tries to warn Ichiban that things have changed immensely since he was incarcerated, but Ichiban refuses to believe him. Adachi takes him to a funeral which Arakawa & the family are attending. There he gets into a fight with Arakawa members who don’t recognizes him and calls out to his old Patriarch who seemingly ignores him. Adachi tells Ichiban that following the death of Arakawa’s son he betrayed the Tojo Clan and joined & later became the leader of the Omni Alliance. Disheartened by the news, Ichiban again refuses to believe Adachi and he plans to reunite with Arakawa. The two work out a plan to invade an Omni Alliance meeting where Arakawa will be attending.

Ichiban meets Jo after having been separated since his time in prison. Initially Jo is as cold as ever to Ichiban, but following his defeat in a fight he too tries to warn Ichiban over Arakawa’s changes. Arakawa greets Ichiban and the two have a conversation, but Arakawa shoots Ichiban with intent to kill. Three days later Ichiban awakes from being unconscious with his bullet wound being healed in a community of homeless Japanese citizens. There he meets former nurse Yu Nanba who helps him get back on his feet. He makes contact with Adachi again and they along with Yu work together to learn the truth of Omni Alliance & Arakawa.

As Yakuza grows it’s audience it successfully evolves as a franchise.

Ok so let me get this out of the way. People are going to have a love-hate relationship with this game. Doesn’t matter if you’re a Yakuza fan or an RPG fan somethings are going to be off putting. They were for me and it took me months of on and off gameplay to really get into it properly. I’ve been enjoying the Yakuza franchise since the release of 0, so I thought I knew what to expect from the franchise. RGG Studio told me to hold their karaoke mini-game, because Yakuza still has plenty of tricks up it’s sleeve.

There’s a lot to go over in regards to the new mechanics so buckle up. Let’s start with the combat since it’s one of the main draws of the series. It’s good, really good for what it is. You cycle through a menu that has your items, support and damaged based attacks, and special moves. Each party member can have items equipped to them such as weapons which increases their stats like attack and defense attributes. There’s also an option to run, because it’s an RPG so of course there is. After winning each battle you level up which further increases your states and there’s also tag team finishers that have unique purposes.

Here comes the part where people may get lost. Beyond the combat, there’s the rest of the RPG elements that at times can be overwhelming. Keep in mind while ‘Like a Dragon’ isn’t a traditional RPG it very much so is in a sense that newcomers to the genre who are Yakuza fans will get confused (and possibly scared) by it. Like any other RPG you have to use strategy to beat certain enemies like bosses. This means learning how to use support moves to lower attack and defense for example. While it’s not necessarily impossible to get the hang of general fans of Yakuza may not enjoy the extra work needed to make progress from within the game. As I mentioned above you also have to do a run down of the right equipment for proper stat gains from weaponry & gear. Oh yeah, fun fact the combat originally started as an April Fools joke that the team ended up liking as a real concept {yes, really).

Something else to keep in mind with the new mechanics is that enemies also have levels. This is also important because there will be instances where you’ll encounter high level enemy characters with no control of your own. And they will end you very quickly. Bosses also have levels and as expected are far stronger than regular enemies. Meaning they can and will end you in a few hits if you haven’t taken to take care of your party stat wise you won’t have a good time.

Believe it or not this game also has character classes in the form of jobs. While the jobs themselves are mini-games in certain instances the real purpose is to give the party an edge in combat. Jobs in addition to equipment as well as taking time to gain XP can make or break your run early into the game. Yakuza trademarks such as sub-stories and the arcade are also back. And kart racing makes it’s debut in the franchise as well.

In regards to the story it’s more or less what you’d expect from the series. Full of camp with some seriousness in it’s tone as it progresses. I like pretty much all of the main characters. And Ichiban while a more comedic relief version of Kiryu, he differs from him in that he’s willing to get his hands dirty for his goals. Kiryu was more altruistic in contrast with his desires. I wouldn’t mind if Ichiban stuck around as lead protagonist for awhile. But with reports of the next entry being a spinoff rather than a main title it seems we won’t be having a true protagonist for quite a bit.

Like a Dragon takes it’s role as an RPG 100% seriously.

THE BAD: I can see people finding it hard to look past the RPG aesthetic of the game from it’s design and mechanics. If you don’t like RPGs, but recently found yourself loving Yakuza it’s gonna be a rough ride. Even myself who enjoys both found some stopping periods where I had to put the controller down for a bit. The changes can be a bit overwhelming coming from the more simplistic beat up era.

Despite the changes Yakuza 7 never loses it’s trademark spirit.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Yakuza: Like a Dragon took a ton of risks and I really enjoy it when storied franchises go for that. It’s a double-edged sword unfortunately though. For every fan who loves it there’s probably twice as many who think it’s a poor imitation of an RPG. Or fans who think Yakuza is quickly losing it’s way. I think the change compliments the series as it’s never been made to be taken 100% seriously no matter how dark the story gets. Gaming is in this weird place where some publishers are changing things for the worst. But then you have publishers like SEGA and Capcom who are changing franchises, but doing so with genuine interest & heart for the fans put into it.

It’s why I wanted to take my time with Yakuza 7 instead of rushing out the review (about five months of gameplay on and off). Granted you won’t always nail it your first try, but I think the devs for Yakuza 7 should be proud of what they’ve. done. There’s a lot of gimmicky stuff you can do with Yakuza. SEGA actually has done so a bit including a zombie game and a casino like game. The important thing to remember with taking a fan-favorite franchise into some refreshing territory is to not insult the original fans while giving something to newcomers. And I think that Yakuza: Like a Dragon has certainly accomplished that.

[geek-gem]

Infinite's An Asshole

Just saying I’ve been thinking about this for some time and even mentioned in my last post about Chaos in Sonic Forces. Including when searching up Tumblr infinite sonic forces I’ve decided and even thought more when liking some stuff of finally making this.

Including I thought of making more where it’s other characters from other forms of media.

I know with the lyrics in Infinite’s theme seems like he has a tragic back story. Which seems very nice I like that. Yet what your about to read is very harsh yet funny. The characters even make some 4th wall mentions because they don’t give a shit. Including just I keep thinking Infinite is just the biggest asshole…also it may have some of my own thoughts in it.

Please be aware of not just spoilers but very…brutal and kind of dark things said in this that might bother you. Yet supposed to be done in a funny way.

Infinite to Shadow.

Infinite: Your whole existence is the reason why everyone on the Ark died. You are basically the reason why Maria died. Basically you killed your own family by existing.

Shadow: *looking disgusted and pissed off* how dare you.

Infinite to Sonic.

Infinite: Your up beat positivity and outlook on life sickens me. One of these days your gonna break down and realize how much of a failure you are. Your the reason why I exist and why the world’s gone to shit being taken over by Eggman and me. It’s all your fault.

Sonic:…the game hasn’t released yet and I don’t know if I know you in anyway. Also the breaking down thing I’m feeling depressed at times I’ll think about it…or wait till I see what the game has to offer.

Infinite to Chaos.

Infinite: All Chao’s deserve to die. Your a piss ass guardian and Chao’s are weak and deserved to be slaughtered to out right extinction.

*Chaos now instead of one middle finger and now puts up his arms, forms huge hands and puts up both middle fingers with his eyes looking like he’s pissed*

Infinite to Metal Sonic.

Infinite: You a weak copy of the real Sonic. You will never beat him and never be the real Sonic. Your life is filled with misery, your father hates you because you fail to do the one thing you were born to do. I’m surprised you haven’t decided to end your life yet. You will always the worst thing Eggman has ever built.

Metal Sonic: Must…kill…now. *puts up both middle fingers and his red eyes flash*

Infinite to Zavok.

Infinite: Nobody will give a shit about your achievements in Sonic Lost World. You will always be forgotten and never considered one of the greats. Even people didn’t know who you were in the E3 trailer. Shows how much of an impact you left because you hardly left an impact.

Zavok: *sigh* it’s true. *He looks down to the ground just being all depressed as fuck*

Infinite to Dr. Eggman.

Infinite: I find it embarrassing of working for you despite the game isn’t out yet. I don’t care how threatening you are and what achievements you’ve done in your life. Your a weak villain who can never beat Sonic until now and you had my help. I’m surprised you haven’t committed suicide yet. In fact Ken Penders is more of a villain then you and we all hate him.

Dr. Eggman: Orbot hold my beer. *Left hand gives beer to Orbot* Exuse me while I get the Egg Dragoon and kill this sorry exuse of a villain WHO SAID KEN PENDERS WAS MORE OF A VILLAIN THEN ME!

Infinite to Silver.

Infinite: I honestly feel sorry for you. Your birth is so tainted in a game were sick of joking about. Yet our memory still stays strong remembering your horrible exuse of a debut. Unless Sega and Sonic Team reinvents you in canon. You’ll forever be taunted and your potential will never be reached and remain as a joke forever.

Silver: I’m sorry ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME CRY! *Has tears being formed in his eyes*

Infinite to Mephiles. Had to look on Google twice for Mephile’s name.

Infinite: I don’t care what people say. You were never the greatest Sonic villain. Your such a dumbass that you would of killed Elise at any chance. I don’t care if you wanted to be an asshole just for the sake of it. The way you are written. Also even when Elise dies old everyone’s gonna die anyway. Your plan is so flawed…you just fucking suck and the game you debuted in sucks.

Mephiles: *sigh* I know. *Like Zavok just looks to the ground being depressed as all fuck*

Infinite to Classic Sonic.

Infinite: I don’t care if your pandering. You have no exuse to me here with your pandering ass even if I talked about that. Your a God damn punk ass who was inspired by Mickey Mouse and Felix The Cat and might never speak in this game maybe.

*Classic Sonic just looks sad with tears forming in his eyes. Along with his mouth being messy*

Infinite to Buddy the wolf the custom character.

Infinite: YOU FUCKING SUCK YOU DON’T DESERVE TO BE IN THIS GAME! WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE! THEY SHOULD OF LET ME BE THE THIRD PLAYABLE CHARACTER! YOU DON’T DESERVE TO BE EXISTING AND NEVER SHOULD OF EVEN BEING IN THIS GAME IN THE FIRST PLACE! I’LL BE ALMOST SICKENED IF IM RELATED TO YOU BECAUSE YOU DESERVE NO LOVE JUST NOTHING!

*Buddy just falls to the ground crying sobbing uncontrollably kind of like a baby but in his own voice*

Sonic: Jesus Christ Infinite what the fuck is wrong with you!

Infinite: What I’m an asshole!

Sonic: You didn’t have to make him cry like that my God seriously you made him feel more like shit then the others.

Infinite: I’ve been wanting to save the worse for him cause he deserves it.

Sonic: This is just GeekGem speaking isn’t it.

Infinite: What if GeekGem is Infinite.

Sonic: What.

Infinite: Or Jessie Eisenberg is Infinite.

Sonic: GOD DAMN IT INFINITE CAN YOU WAIT UNTIL THE GAME IS OUT!

Infinite: Damn it I just hope I’m really cool and I pick up buildings and throw them at people and me screaming I AM THE DEVIL I AM SATAN! Yeah I need to chill out and wait but I’m still an asshole.

Sonic: Damn it just Jesus Infinite.

Went to tags by mistake on that last part when choosing the word Infinite. To be honest the Classic Sonic part I don’t mind as long as they well the dimensions thing is an explanation.

Yet the custom character. I actually said in my head looked when making the you don’t deserve to be in this game I thought in my head or some shit the design looks cool. Seriously my head saying random shit okay it does don’t lie to self.

I’ve even made a post saying when I play the game I will make my own opinion about if I like the custom character or not. Saying I will not do anything special by just making the custom character look like what he’s been looking like. Because I rather not give a shit. Just don’t like to myself I could hate it or not.

We just have to wait and see. I wanted to make these pretty maybe not as harsh ha normal to smile yet well the funny parts are of how characters react Infinite’s insulting basically roasting them.

Well got tags down and forgot to mention Sonic Mania fuck it that looks good as fuck just as Sonic Forces and some new messages 4 by the same person scared me when getting the tags down.

edit this is funny read what I typed. Also fixed oh to or on the Jessie Eisenberg part

[thankskenpenders]

It's really impressive how far these guys go into "conspiracy theory" territory. Like... Karl Bollers literally released his unused comic plans online. They included Sonic and Amy starting a relationship BEHIND SALLY'S BACK (to say nothing of Ken Penders having Sonic "score" with Rouge). But they're hung up on the art being secretly manipulated or something, even though the script wouldn't have changed and Sally still broke up with Sonic for an asinine reason. And the editor didn't notice.

Honestly I’m convinced half of the loudest and most angry people in the Sonic comic community are like EXTREMELY HARDCORE Sonally fans who think everything bad that’s happened to that pairing in the 21st century is Ian’s fault. Rough spots where they cheated, Sega wanting to push SonAmy, Sally not being with Sonic at the end of the original continuity, Sega not allowing Sally to date Sonic anymore post-reboot, Sally being paired with Nicole, Sally not being in the IDW comics, all of it.

Even if they admit that Sega disapproved of the couple, they just insist that Ian should have, like… written them together anyway? Or something? I’ve seen several claims that Ian is “a fanboy” for not going against Sega and his editors’ wishes and following the games’ lore and stuff, as if Sega wouldn’t just get someone else who would do what they wanted if he was being difficult

Why some of these people choose to latch on to Penders, who wrote a ton of shitty love triangles, had Sally make out with a dude 6+ years older than her, and tried to permanently kill her off and replace her with an evil robot doppelganger? I don’t know. Maybe they just believe Penders when he says if he still ran the comics the Freedom Fighters would be back and it’d be so much better than Ian, you guys, he promises

(Granted, lots of Sonally fans are fine. I like the pairing fine myself. There are just some people who take it way too far and take it out on anyone they can lay the blame on)

[pixelgrotto]

RIP Archie’s Sonic the Hedgehog comic (1992-2017)  After 25 years and nearly 300 issues, Archie’s long-running Sonic the Hedgehog comic was officially cancelled earlier this week. The writing’s been on the wall for a while now, since the comic went on a forced hiatus several months ago and none of the creators were allowed to publicly discuss it due to ongoing negotiations between Archie and Sega. But this Thursday, the book’s final fate was declared, and it looks like the Freedom Fighters - who once announced that they could handle anything - couldn’t quite beat the threat of cancellation. A lot of people dunk on the Archie Sonic comic for being overly convoluted, going through some pretty low points or appealing primarily to furries, and all of these things are kinda true, except for maybe the furry one. But warts and all, Archie Sonic is a glorious beast of monstrously complex proportions. First of all, let the fact that Sonic holds the record for having the longest-running North American comic for a licensed character sink in. Seriously, this series ran from 1992 to 2017 and nearly reached 300 freaking issues. In a time when most comics from Marvel and DC can barely reach double digits before either being renumbered to generate a temporary boost in sales or flat-out cancelled, Sonic the Hedgehog kept chugging along, stealthily reinventing itself from its original status as a slapdash funny book to an ongoing saga that manifested lore so deep that it warranted the release of an entire encyclopedia to help people keep everything straight. 

What’s even more interesting is that Archie Sonic became the one place where you could still see characters carried over from the DiC Saturday morning Sonic cartoon show, which was produced in 1993. The show, affectionately dubbed SatAM by everyone who watched it back in the day, frankly doesn’t hold up that well and is a good example of nostalgia goggles at work. It had an incredible theme song, though (SONIC! HE CAN REALLY MOVE! SONIC! HE’S GOT AN ATTITUDE! SONIC! HE’S THE FAAAASTEST THING ALIVE), and the show did do an admirable job of developing a backstory for a mascot who, at the time, had no characterization other than the fact that he was fast and collected rings. SatAM fixed this by putting Sonic in the surprisingly dark world of Mobius, a place ruled by Dr. Robotnik, a dictator who had “roboticized” the population by turning them into droids. It also gave the hedgepig a variety of characters to play off of, like Princess Sally, Antoine the cowardly French fox, Bunnie the half-roboticized rabbit and Rotor the walrus. Along with Tails, this lot was collectively referred to as the Knothole Freedom Fighters.  Archie Sonic got its start telling stories with the Freedom Fighters while they were still on air, and even after the show was cancelled, the comic continued using them, essentially turning itself into season three of the cartoon. As the decades passed, the SatAM characters and story threads evolved and changed in wondrously unexpected ways - Sonic and Sally fell in love, the original Dr. Robotnik was killed and replaced with a robotic version of himself from an alternate dimension, Bunnie and Antoine got married and Mobius was revealed to be a future version of Earth that was attacked by the Xorda, aliens who had unleashed gene bombs on the planet, mutating the wildlife into anthropomorphic animals. (This was my goddamn favorite batshit crazy bit of Sonic comic lore ever.) Furthermore, the comic increasingly began introducing more elements from the actual Sonic video games, which had finally developed deeper stories of their own thanks to the advancement of technology. So you had stuff like Sonic and the Freedom Fighters teaming up to fight Perfect Chaos and meeting Silver the Hedgehog and Blaze the Cat. It was an unusual, unique combination of Western and Eastern concepts melding together in one pictorial arena, and it made Archie Sonic feel special. 

Speaking of the games, the book was also special because it damn well carried Sonic’s presence in North America during the years when the blue guy wasn’t starring in many video games (the Sega Saturn era) and couldn’t star in any decent video games (the Sonic ‘06 era). Even when Sega was releasing shovelware that damaged the brand, Archie Sonic kept pumping out issues, and its sheer determination to keep going won it legions of dedicated fans. Many of these people, including myself, got stuck on the comic at a young age and stayed long-term. I personally started picking up issues in 1994 or 1995, so basically only three or so years after the book was out. I think I was seven years old. A few years later, I got a subscription and had the comic delivered to my mailbox every month. (I still remember my first issue - it was number 41, when Sonic, Sally and that douchebag skunk Geoffrey St. John went to the Zone of Silence to rescue King Acorn.) The subscription continued until I was in college, and only ended around my junior year, when I forgot to renew it because I was too busy applying to go abroad after graduation. 

In short, I subscribed to a periodical about a damn blue hedgehog for a large majority of my life. Even when I stopped regularly reading around issue 180, I always kept abreast of the book’s developments (like that crossover with MEGAMAN!) and told myself that I’d eventually catch up on the stories I missed, likely in the excellent Sonic Select and Sonic Archives trade paperbacks that Archie was publishing. And there were tons of others like me. The Archie Sonic community is such a vibrant one, filled with 90s kids who grew up on this book and even older folks like the crazy Dan Drazen, a 60-something librarian who wrote the most detailed (and overly picky) online reviews of every issue. Many of these fans went on to work for the comic at one point or another, like the incredible Dawn Best and fan favorite Ian Flynn, who swooped in as a writer in the late 2000s and saved the book when it was suffering from a spell of plodding stories. For a lot of us, Archie Sonic was the preferred Sonic canon, and we got pissed when Sega pulled awful jump the shark moments outta their butts - like having Sonic hook up with human princesses in his broken 2006 game - when there was a wealth of solid lore in this weird little comic coming out in America that they always seemed content to ignore.

In fact, the only time Sega really paid close attention to the book was when Ken Penders launched a lawsuit against it, which may have been a contributor to its eventual cancellation. People better than me have already scripted lengthy writeups about Mr. Penders, and I encourage you to read this extremely in-depth take on the whole fiasco, which is a bizarre tale of copyright arguments and delusions of grandeur worthy of any John Grisham novel. But in a nutshell, Ken was a former writer who helped guide Archie Sonic away from simple gag strips and into the realm of full-on adventure tales. His control over the book was major until he was fired, and a few years later, he went on a vehement quest to prove that he owned all characters he had created while working for Archie, including series mainstays like Julie-Su, Knuckles the Echidna’s girlfriend. He ended up suing Archie multiple times and won on legal loopholes, which prompted him to start attacking the book’s current team while declaring that a buttload of barely-related story concepts were his. He also tried suing Sega when Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood came out, claiming that the enemies in the game were too similar to ones he had whipped up. Archie eventually had to come up with a plot device to kill off (trap in another dimension, really) all of the characters he had created during his tenure, and eventually they instituted a full reboot to wipe continuity clean and remove all traces of the lawsuit from history. Unfortunately, the legal issues did some pretty heavy damage to Archie’s relationship with Sega, who were reportedly pissed that the American comic company had let things get so screwed up. And I don’t blame them. To the Sonic fan community, Ken Penders is largely loathed as a megalomaniac who sabotaged a long-running comic for personal gain. But he doesn’t deserve all of the blame, and he did put out some good stories in the day before going bonkers. Archie’s also at fault, both due to their not-so-great freelancer deals as well as their incompetence at handling lawsuits. (At one point the company even fired their entire legal team and hired new attorneys, yeesh.) In recent years, Archie also seems to be terrible at handling their finances, even though they’re currently spearheading Riverdale, a successful show on the CW that’s made all of their high school characters into hot, emo Millennials. (I call it the “Archie Sex Show” in my head.) I’ve heard rumors that company management wants to streamline their output to ONLY focus on Riverdale-related stuff, and seeing as how the Ken Penders business was a tremendous waste of time that ripped some large holes in their relationship with Sega, it only makes sense that both companies would decide to part ways.  So where do we go from here? Well, it was suddenly announced today that IDW Publishing would be the ones picking up the Sonic license for a relaunch of the book in 2018. IDW’s a fit place for Sonic, since they currently publish the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles…which Archie once owned the license for. (Funny how these things go in circles, eh?) Unfortunately, I have a feeling that the current arc that was going on in the Archie books - a charming retelling of the Sonic CD story - is going to go unfinished, and I’m also fearful that we’ll be saying goodbye to the DiC Freedom Fighters. I’d LOVE to be proven wrong, and it would warm my heart to see Princess Sally, Bunnie Rabbot, Antoine, Rotor and Nicole survive a change in publishers. But since Sega’s never “officially” acknowledged those characters in a game (except for Sonic Spinball, which was made by an American studio and doesn’t really count) they’re likely going to be classified as expendable cannon fodder that are no longer relevant. There is some hope, though. Perhaps a miracle will occur and IDW will have the good sense to re-hire guys like Ian Flynn or maintain some semblance of the continuity that an entire generation knows and loves. Until the day we know for sure arrives, I’ll just have to re-read my old issues, revel in the glory of covers drawn by SPAZ, laugh at insane crossovers like the time Sonic met Spawn, and remember an era when a hedgehog with attitude and his Knothole friends kicked Dr. Robotnik’s butt and brought me twenty plus years of wonderful adventures.  For Mobius! For freedom!

The header image of the Archie Sonic cast was drawn by darkspeeds and found on Deviantart. The cover images are just a few of my favorites from the days when I was subscribed to the book, and were taken from Comic Vine and Cover Browser.

[operationrainfall]

Title Panzer Dragoon: Remake Developer Megapixel Studio Publisher Forever Entertainment S. A. Release Date March 26th, 2020 Genre Rail Shooter, Arcade Platform PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One Age Rating T for Teen – Animated Blood, Fantasy Violence Official Website

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I’m gonna start this review with a simple truth – I’ve never played the original Panzer Dragoon that Remake is based on. So when I agreed to review it, I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into. That said, I had always been intrigued by the series, and mostly hadn’t gotten around to it since the game started out on the Sega Saturn. As a lifelong Nintendo boy, that wasn’t a game I thought I’d ever get the opportunity to playing. So I was excited to tackle the remade game, developed by Megapixel Studio, despite not being familiar with their body of work. The question then is this. Was this lifelong Nintendo fanboy made a true believer of a Sega Saturn classic thanks to Panzer Dragoon: Remake?

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One thing I’m happy to report is that Remake is extremely faithful to the original. It’s pretty much a perfect recreation, which I can say after watching a playthrough online. What they essentially did is give the original game a beautiful new coat of paint, so fans should be right at home here. Special note goes to the breathtaking environments, which are all full of detail and packed with menacing monsters. And though I initially wasn’t that impressed by the cutscenes, which reminded me of a PS2 game at first, I have to admit they’re much prettier than the original ones. Perhaps the most impressive improvement in this regard is how seamless the levels are. Sure, there’s annoying load times before and after stages, but during them the action moves at a brisk clip and I experienced zero slowdown.

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As far as gameplay goes, it’s also remarkably faithful. You can weave back and forth, lock onto foes to blast with homing shots and fire standard shots. It’s fun to fly around wreaking havoc, especially since it’s pretty easy to move the camera around to hit foes on your flank and sides. All you need to do is press the shoulder buttons, and the camera will turn in that direction. That said, I’d be lying if I said the game was easy. Even on Normal, I got killed plenty of times, and foes like to hit you from blind angles. Even with radar showing enemy locations as blips, the action moves very quickly, so it’s easy to get surprised by bullets. Thankfully, once you start to learn the enemy patterns, levels begin to go smoother. Which is good, since inexplicably Panzer Dragoon: Remake features no tutorial. I literally had to figure out the combat on the fly (pun intended). Stranger yet, you can only access the control guide from the start screen. That may not sound like a problem, but keep in mind that if you are a few levels into the game and want to go back and check, you’ll have to forfeit your current run. I really think it would have been a better idea to make the guide able to be viewed from the pause screen as well. It’s not the end of the world, mind you, but it made the experience run less smoothly.

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The highlight of the game are definitely the boss battles. They are all massive (mostly) flying threats, and many of them have multiple phases. The big bad is the Prototype Dragon, a bulky little bastard responsible for murdering your blue dragon’s original pilot. He’s a recurring threat, and even shows up to hound you in stages that he’s not the actual boss. Perhaps my favorite boss is a segmented machine that splits into two different bosses. It starts as a dangerous windmill and transforms into a rampaging, missile spewing monstrosity. But all the bosses are fun, and they really make you earn your victory. I will say though, I do wish that losing to a boss didn’t mean replaying their entire level over again from the start. I gather the original Panzer Dragoon worked that way, but having a modern convenience like starting from where you died would have saved me a lot of time. Especially since I died right before the final stage my first run, and had to play through the entire game all over again to actually beat it. Then again, considering you can beat Remake in an hour or less, it’s not a big problem. Just a minor annoyance.

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Honestly my biggest issue with Panzer Dragoon: Remake was how it eschewed modern conventions. Sure, I get it’s a 1 to 1 port, but it also wouldn’t have hurt my experience any to smooth over some rough patches. For example, it can be difficult to avoid obstacles and projectiles. A big reason is that despite different buttons being mapped to move and aim, they essentially do the same thing. Your dragon aims with his entire body, so it’s very easy to get winged by giant cannonballs and the like. Especially in levels with narrow corridors. Suffice to say, your foes will get in several cheap shots, even hitting you as soon as gates open. As I played, I grew to wish that there was some sort of temporary dash move to provide invincibility, even for a few seconds. Cause you won’t find any med kits or the like to increase your health, meaning you have to beat each stage in one try. Oh and did I mention you only earn continues by beating stages? When you add the fact that sometimes I would start a new stage without my life bar full for some reason, you can start to see my dilemma. I’m still not sure if that last part was intentional design or a glitch. All I know is that problems like that made me yearn for a few more modern niceties.

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Though I already touched on the visuals, I’ll go into more detail. The artwork in Panzer Dragoon: Remake is why I’ve always been drawn to the series. Everything has great personality, especially the monstrous creatures of this world. That all goes a long way to make me not care that the plot of Remake is absent at best. Sure there’s some small details, but not a coherent narrative. But when you’re flying through the air, dodging giant fly traps, blasting ships out of the sky and chasing your nemesis, it’s easy to forgive the story’s faults. Musically the game is really enjoyable. While not every track is full of energy, they all do a good job of building on the momentum of each stage and driving the action forward.

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All in all, I had a good time with Panzer Dragoon: Remake. Sure, I would have preferred some quality of life tweaks to the original game, but it’s still a worthy adventure. And even though I only spent 2 hours with it, I feel that $24.99 is a fair price for this level of quality. That said, I hope you’ve expanded your system memory before you pick this up, since it’s a whopping 7 GB download. I don’t usually mention the size of games I review, but holy hell is that huge, and I realize not every Switch owner has supplemented their base memory yet. And while the original game’s cheat codes don’t work yet, I understand they’ll be added in a later update. Otherwise this is a perfect remake of a classic game. If you’re looking to relive your past or just experience a nostalgic jaunt to the days of the Sega Saturn, Panzer Dragoon: Remake is an excellent choice.

[easyreview cat1title=”Overall” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”3.5″]

Review Copy Provided by Developer

REVIEW: Panzer Dragoon: Remake Title Panzer Dragoon: Remake

[the-howling-wind]

Past me was either fiercely determined or stubbornly stupid

So, in the last week I’ve had a bit of a blast from the past, replaying Sonic Adventure 2 Battle and Sonic Heroes: though they clealry had their faults even back then, I’ve very fond memories of them and honestly, before Sonic Colors and Generations, I still think Heroes is the best 3D Sonic game, while City Escape is still the stage I’ve most replayed in my entire life and I still have a ton of fun ‘running around at the speed of sound’.

Anyway, it’s no big mistery that both the controls and the camera SUCKED: I believe this was the real Eggman’s master plan, to kill Sonic through terrible game design (it would have been more effective than turning him in a werewolf). I died A LOT.

And then I realized. Past me got 100% on every 3D Sonic game he owned. That means getting highest rank on all stages, which means not dying (even if you reached a checkpoint, the score resetted once you respawned), which means lots of good runs ruined by the camera or the controls (anyone who played a level with grinding rails suspended on death pits knows what I’m talking about). Not to mention the horrible Tails/Eggman and Knuckles/Rouge levels. Which goes back to the title of this post.

And boy, I’ve put myself thorugh some ordeals. Sonic Adventure DX, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, Sonic Heroes, Shadow The Hedgehog, Sonic and the Seven Rings, Sonic and the Black Knight, Sonic Unleashed... I’ve completed 100%. All of them. 

I’ve never been a patient person. I’ve got a teensy better with the years, but I’m far from a zen approach to life. I wonder how I’ve done it. In the last week, my swears count raised dramatically above the average (if I’m going to hell, I’m willing to partially blame SEGA)... I had no obligations, no further achievement to get a good rank in the stages and yet I’ve found myself resetting after death to retry from the beginning. Sometimes I’ve just given up and set aside my pride, getting an E Rank. 

But not Past Me. I honor you, you magnificent fool.