#sandy rosechu

[taffysannotatedsonichu]

Sonichu 11 Page 69

SFX: Whoosh!

SIMON: Woah! Punchy, what was in that food you gave him?

PUNCHY Just some Pocky, man; wheat, soy, milk and strawberry powder. Simple Pocky. It’s not a rare candy; less than a dollar per box.

SANDY: Wow! We sure do grow up fast!

BANANASAUROS: Ner flem bamble flooby?

BANANASAUROS {thought}: What are y’all looking at>

PUNCHY: Banana…sauros!

BANANASAUROS {thought}: Dude. You’re spooking me.

PUNCHY: You just evolved. 

BANANASAUROS {thought}: Whaaa…?

PUNCHY: I have heard dragon Pokemon evolve super-late, but you hatched just a few minutes ago.

BANANASAUROS {thought}: Maybe it was your kindness that zapped me forward.

PUNCHY: It’s beyond me, man. Oh, well, let’s go, dude.

BANANASAUROS {thought}: You still take me in, dude?

PUNCHY: Hell yeah.

Caption: Bananasauros Grass/Dragon (normally evolves from Bananasaur at level 45)

The Pocky causes Bananasaur to spontaneously evolve, despite him presumably not being anywhere close to the Level 45 his species normally evolves at (which is actually fairly late for fossil Pokemon, who normally evolve somewhere between level 30 and 40, though Punchy notes that Dragon-Type Pokemon usually evolve at high levels, possibly referring to the Pseudo-Legendary phenomenon). Sandy muses that he grew up fast, just like she grew up fast, but while she had to grow up fast to drill Evan’s dick off, Bananasauros has no reason to be so hasty. Bananasauros chalks it up to Punchy’s kindness, seemingly quick to handwave the evolution into a more banana-like form.

The somewhat dull and uninspired name change from “Bananasaur” to “Bananasauros” is possibly based on the similarly bland change from “Kabuto” to “Kabutops”, another Pokemon that comes from a fossil.

Typing “Bananasauros” is surprisingly annoying, so I’m just gonna call him “BS” from now on. That seems fitting.

[meetaftermidnight]

[misskazehana]

While waiting in office hell, I drew busts of everyone i can think off from sonichu; the infamous comic series written by the one and only Christine Weston Chandler. The second page got wet in the rain, had to make a mad dash to the house; hope you like these guys

All characters belong to CwC

The art is mine, misskazehana

[taffysannotatedsonichu]

Sonichu 11 Page 66

SIMON: A new pocket monster, huh? Let’s have a look-see.

BANANASAUR: Bleh! Warble-warble!

Caption: Bananasaur Grass/Dragon

SANDY: Aww! Look at this cute thing. I feel like I wanna keep it!

BANANASAUR: Whee! Nerp-in flabbin’ ne-boo!

SANDY: Welcome to the world, Bananasaur, what’s your first thought?

BANANASAUR: Blegh! Nerp-flam wobble, ni-boop! Wam wam ka-blam!

SANDY: Wha…?

SANDY: Weird… as a Pokemon myself, I can understand a freshly hatched Pidgey, even a Dieno, but I only hear gibberish from him.

Simon and Sandy, curious about the monstrosity they’ve discovered, release Bananasaur to the world, revealing a small, green, not-quite-banana-like beast. His green color may reference unripe bananas, which are green.

Bananasaur is a Grass/Dragon-Type, a typing that might not have been in use by any real Pokemon when Bananasaur was created (the earliest evidence we have for the thing is 2014, the same year that Mega Sceptile was released, a Mega Evolution that added the Dragon-Type to the normally mono-Grass-Type Sceptile). By 2017, when this was released, Mega Sceptile was firmly established and was joined by Alolan Exeggutor, and since then the Grass/Dragon-Type has been expanded to include Applin and its evolutions Flapple and Appletun. Despite the typing, Bananasauros most strongly resembles Tropius, a Grass/Flying-Type banana dinosaur. Though the latter Pokemon didn’t exist at this point, Bananasaur retroactively resembles a cross between Tropius and the Applin line, the former’s banana focus and the like the latter it’s essentially a living fruit.

Bananasaur does not speak its name like most Pokemon, instead it mumbles and warbles. Sandy notes that she can normally understand Pokemon speak, even Dragon-Types like Deino, but Bananasaur’s garbled talk is all Greek to her. Luckily for Bananasaur, an ally is nearby.

[taffysannotatedsonichu]

Sonichu 11 Page 60

SANDY: I’m sorry too, Uncle Simonchu.

WILD: Wow! I had no idea that was going on there too. My dad suffered a similar fate with Team Rocket.

WILD: I am really sorry for you, man.

SANDY: What did you do after all that?

SIMON: Well, Sandy, after being set free, I pursued my interest in fossils and geology. Feeling banned from Virginia, I started a new life in West Virginia. It’s not a swift. I recieved the invitation from Simonla on my phone yesterday, shortly after uncovering this Razor Claw and this fossil. I figured I’d revive the fossil while I was here.

WILD: Hmm. I know someone who’d appreciate this. May I take the Razor Claw to him as a gift?

SIMON: Sure, Wild. I have no use for it.

WILD: Cool.

SANDY: I would like to guide you to the CWCville museum for your fossil restoration, Uncle Simon.

SIMON: Thank you, Sandy; that is very kind of you.

Wild and Sandy suddenly realize they’ve been jerks and Wild particularly empathizes with Simon’s abuse because his father was similarly forced to perform evil under the wing of Team Rocket.

Simon ends his story with what he’s been doing since his release from prison, seeing that he was acquitted due to being coerced into the crime. He felt “banned from Virginia”, despite him walking off scot-free, seemingly not getting much attention in the media, given how little of a role he plays in Sonichu 10, what’s presumably the CWCville gvt’s official public record of the events, and CWCville events seemingly being of little importance to the rest of the state of Virginia. He left to the mountainous Appalachian region of West Virginia, a fresh start away from his abusers in Virginia and Minnesota, and a place for him to fulfill his passion - digging for fossils. He now looks forward to a future where he’s on speaking terms with his sister, brother-in-law, and niece.

Simon’s two gifts are the crux of the conflict of this issue - a Razor Claw, a holdable item in Pokemon games used primarily to evolve Sneasels into Weaviles (provided they hold it while leveling up at night), and an unknown fossil. Were it not for the unforgettable arrival of Bananasaurus, birthed from this fossil, and Reginald finding his new Weavile form monstrous, this episode would have ended here and now.

[taffysannotatedsonichu]

Sonichu 11 Page 65

UNNAMED BLUE ROSECHU: Yes, sir. We will have it ready in a few minutes.

Sign: Fossil research!

SIMON: Huh. Forget Wild’s dating education class, I ought to ask that cutie out.

SIMON: You know what, Sandy? I think I will move here. I have only a few possessions. A breeze for me.

SANDY: A good choice. CWCville is a great city with very supportive communities, and a safe space.

SIMON: Hmm… how are you doing in school?

SANDY: Oh, silly uncle. I’ve only just started. After evolving, and everyone teaching me this and that, I filled an application, I got placed in the fourth grade. Basic handwriting is easy; Zapina taught me. My first day in October was nice. Math was copable.

SIMON: Well, in my digs, I’ve found more than a dozen gold nuggets; after selling them, I rented a comfy place in town. I hold on to the Quick Ball I was caught in to remember that no matter what in my life, it can only get better in my life. Plus, it’s easier to store things in than a bulky backpack.

Caption: 15 minutes later…

UNNAMED BLUE ROSECHU: Your fossil has been revived. This is a new Pokemon you’ve uncovered.

UNNAMED BLUE ROSECHU: I’ve contacted Professor Cedar; it has been dubbed Bananasaur. We’ve 3D-scanned it and got some vitals. We would greatly appreciate one or two more for further research; please consider a day care center. Here you go.

Here we meet this blue Rosechu scientist who, despite Chris’s love of all things EHP, has never been given much characterization - she may as well be a human - she doesn’t even have a name (“Unnamed Blue Rosechu” is a pretty unwieldy name, I’m just going to call her “Marjorie” from here on out.) Marjorie works in Pokemon fossil restoration, working under CWCville’s very own Pokemon Professor “Professor Cedar”, one of very few EHPs we’ve ever seen to hold a steady job. She has a distinctively orange Raichu tail. This might just be because she’s on the job, but she’s also one of very few EHPs to regularly wear a full set of clothes. Her elemental typing is unclear, but it’s possible she’s a Water/Electric-Type like Bubbles, just without the Marril tail. Simon is attracted to her, and thinks about asking her out, a plot thread that’s not expanded upon any further. Neither Simon nor Marjorie reappear in Sonichu 12, despite Simon expressing interest in returning to CWCville.

Speaking of, Simon, since his brother-in-law and niece are no longer out for his blood, realizes nothing’s keeping him from Virginia. He did have a place in West Virginia, rented out with the money he made from selling the things he dug up, but he’s okay with uprooting his life to be closer to family, despite the fact that he probably won’t be able to do as much digging far away from the mountains. He keeps Evan’s Quick Ball as a reminder of how far he’s come after leaving his control. Sandy also talks about entering the fourth grade, which was alluded to in Sonichu 10 (I can’t believe Chris got that continuity right.)

CWCville’s Pokemon Professor, in line with the tradition that most Pokemon Professors take their names from trees, is dubbed Cedar, and little is known about them. In fact, their role as Professor would seemingly be usurped in April 2019, when Chris would take umbrage with the fact that Trickie’s Rosechu’s Story implied that Cole Smithey was a Pokemon Professor, so Chris changed it so that “Professor Cole” was fired for doing poor work and he was replaced by one “Cindy Zapbud”, a Professor named after the fictional electric flower Rosechu loves. Presumably, Prof Zapbud also replaced Prof Cedar, assuming that Zapbud isn’t a rename of Cedar (it’s more likely Chris forgot mentioning the Cedar character, seeing how little presence they have in the story, and assumed the position was open when creating the Zapbud character.)

Here, we’re introduced to the concept of the Bananasaur for the first time in the story. The fossil Simon found didn’t contain any of the twenty-five currently known fossil Pokemon, but something totally new, and so much worse. Marjorie recommends dropping the thing off at a Pokemon Day Care to breed it with a Ditto to make further specimens for research, something that would be followed up on.

[taffysannotatedsonichu]

Sonichu 11 Page 68

SIMON: I’m flummoxed as well, Sandy.

PUNCHY: I get what he’s saying.

SIMON: Aaah!!

SANDY: Punchy, hi!

PUNCHY: Hey, Sandy. Hi, Simon. Yeah, that little guy was just groovin’ with AC/DC before hatching. 

BANANASAUR {thought}: You understand my speech, red dude?

PUNCHY: Yeah, little dude. Jam with me. Wha’ cha know?

BANANASAUR {thought}: Oh, rightous. Thank God!

BANANASAUR {thought}: I was diggin AC/DC’s latest beats, when ka-blam! A car hits me. Next thing I know, I’m out of an egg, tryin’ to convince the blue gal I was late to a video game play with my buds. Guess they won’t get me now. Ugh!!!

PUNCHY: Major bummer, dude. You want some strawberry Pocky?

BANANASAUR {thought}: Thanks, dude! I love fruit snacks.

SIMON: Wow. You seem to be the only one who can understand this Bananasaur. Would you take care of him? Also, as he is a newly-discovered Pokemon, would you breed him at a day care center?

BANANASAUR {thought}: Yum! This is good.

Punchy makes a beeline to the museum and immediately hits it off with Bananasaur, they share some Pocky over recollections of Bananasaur’s previous life, and Punchy agrees to take him of Simon and Sandy’s hands, inadvertently sealing the doom of his relationship with Layla.

Bananasaur claims he was listening to AC/DC’s “latest beats” when he died (note that the slang term “beats” is generally only used in reference to rap, techno, EDM, stuff where a “beat” is more important than other rhythms… not hard rock like AC/DC, is what I’m trying to say), which leads to some confusion about exactly when he died. He later is shown to be good at the video game God of War, the first game of which came out in 2005, since the beginning of the God of War franchise AC/DC has released albums in 2008, 2014, and 2020, it’s possible that he was listening to Black Ice (the 2008 album) and was familiar with God of War I and II, or maybe he died closer to his apparent creation date in 2014, and was listening to Rock or Bust (2014) and was familiar with the entire God of War classic trilogy. It’s fairly safe to say that either 2008 or 2014 is his year of death, given the ties to AC/DC album releases.

[taffysannotatedsonichu]

Sonichu 11 Page 58

Caption: 30 minutes later…

SIMON: Hmmm!! That was some really good soup, and my nerves needed the celery. Thank you. And thanks again so much for forgiving me. You’re good for my sister, Wild. Any you two made a very spirited kid. 

SIMON: Ahhh… I was not as fortunate, though. I was forraging for berries for my family…

SIMON: Evan caught me as a Sonee from behind with a Quick Ball.

SIMON: He and his crew force-evolved me to something of their M.S. Paint “design”.

Screen: Troll-velution 3.5

SIMON: I was not the only one caught for their “collection”.

SIMON: They “trained” us with abusive attacks from their level 100 Beedrills.

SIMON: We were all kept locked in cages; mentally dumbed-down with videos of the seriously mentally-challenged.

Man on TV: Duh-er!

SIMON: Over the time, I’ve heard talk of a familiar name. My sister Simonla. I tried to contact her. I found her number on the CWCville Construction Company’s website. I sent her links to the videos of Evan abusing me.

After Simon comes to his senses, he monologues his entire life story to Wild and Sandy, who have presumably seen very little of him aside from immediately following Simonla’s “death”. His life thus far has been rather tragic: as a Sonee (a yellow Sonee, notably, granting further credence to my theory that most Sonees/Roseys are supposed to be yellow/pink respectively, then evolve into their primary element’s color) he was kidnapped by Evan and then forcibly evolved, brutally trained with other EHPs, and they were forced to dull their senses and intelligence. Despite the fact that by 2017 when this was written Evan had long left the trolling sphere and Chris’s feud with him was over, Chris continues to add false charges to his quote-unquote “rap sheet”. What is Chris doing, continuing to paint Evan as an animal abuser behind his back? Given that Chris’s fervor towards him had otherwise subsided, is it possible that he wrote Evan like this in a rare display of continuity, since Evan’s character was established during the period of loathing? Notably, Simon says that Evan forced him to fight with Beedrills, the Pokemon species that Evan claimed was the inspiration for Simon’s drills (seeing as Chris wouldn’t have gotten the Gurren Lagann reference).

Simon did make attempts to reach apparently his only living family member (despite saying he was foraging for his family earlier), Simonla. Apparently, according to this weird wording, Simon sent Simonla videos of Evan’s abuse over the phone, because the only thing he mentions is having Simonla’s phone number from the CWCville Construction site. Even if we are meant to assume that he also got her email there, he tried to reach her through her work email and not a personal one, though she did reply sympathetically, according to the next page. I question though how Simon was able to record videos of the Asperpedia Four abusing him. This was 2008, when cell phone video cameras were rather primitive, and given Evan’s other treatment of him I don’t know why Evan would let him even have a cell phone. Apparently, according to the next page, Simon used one of the A4’s phones, but how then did they not notice Simon stealing their phones to record their abuse and later alert his sister?

“Duh-er” calls to mind “D’oh”, the catchphrase of Homer Simpson.

[taffysannotatedsonichu]

Sonichu 11 Page 59

SIMON: Having to take one of their iPhones, i received Simonla’s e-mail responses. She had heard of them through Chris Chan, is that right?, Sonichu and Rosechu of their character abuse and defacing. 

SIMON: She assured me of my rescue as soon as possible. I was with Evan, in the Quick Ball, that day 4-Cent Garbage fell to rubble. All of the surviving trolls had scattered.

EVAN CHRISTOPHER GEORGE {thought}: You’ll pay for this!

SIMON: After the release of the prisoner Sonichus, Rosechus, and abused Pokemon, at Alec’s hide-out, he, Evan, Mao and Sean plotted to kill Chris’ Sonichus and Rosechus, one by one. Sadly starting with Simonla, and those at the mall, two days later. I was set up to be a decoy. I was forced to repeat “kill Simonla” in my mind.

ALEC BENSON LEARY: While Chris Chan is speeching on, I’ll plant the Voltorbs and detonate each of them. Evan, drop the chandelier, Mao, kill from behind, and Sean, throw rocks.

SIMON: I was totally paralyzed with fear, but I was obligated to my master’s orders. I am not a bad Pokemon. Frankly, I was relieve after the five of us were captured. Then, super scared after hearing Simonla got blow up. During our jail time, I was kept well-separated from Evan and the others. I was better fed in jail than ever before; I was finding peace of mind. The down side was Wild’s weekly visits; he really hated the five of us. And then one visit he brought Sandy; I was really ashamed. I could not live that down.

WILD: Murderer!

SANDY: My mother is in a coma, because of you, Uncle!!

Despite Simonla’s promise to rescue him ASAP, Simonchu is present for the destruction of the 4CG building. This despite the A4 not having been mentioned as having been in Clarksville on the day of the disaster in any previous mention. Remember that all of Sonichu 10 up until after Simonla’s “death” seemingly happened on one day - including but not limited to the 4CG collapse, the raid on the Asperchu base in Minnesota, and Chris’s speech and the Voltorb explosion. This brings up the unpleasant question of logistics, given that the A4 didn’t have the deus ex machina powers that Chris does of Sonichu/Chris-Chan Sonichu’s super speed and Magi-Chan’s teleportation, along with wondering the locations of the remaining 3 Asperpedia Foursmen, seeing as the only one we saw prior to Chris’s speech was Alec, getting beaten up in Minnesota. Alec was beaten up at his house in Minnesota in the afternoon, then was in CWCville, Virginia by that evening to plant the Voltorb, which is possible but improbable if he was flying commercial air, the Occam’s Razor explanation of how he got halfway across the country. And Evan, who we didn’t see in Sonichu 10 until Chris’s speech, was now apparently in Tennessee, also not close to CWCville (this would also be the first time we’ve seen A4 members acting independent of the group). We see Evan at 4CG Ground Zero, shaking his fists at the rubble and… something blue and yellow and orange? Are those supposed to be paramedics carting off an injured/dead troll away?

The Asperpedia Four’s seemingly random attack is reframed as revenge for the 4CG collapse (again, possibly on the same day - the speech section is delineated from what came before by a vague “later”, but Chris usually likes to state the full month/day/year everytime a new day is shown, so probably all the same evening), and the full scope of their plans is revealed to us here. Alec says that he was going to plant “Voltorbs” plural, implying that the attack was originally intended as a larger bombing attack. It’s unknown why it was pared down to just Simonla’s restroom, it’s implied by Alec’s wording that he was to detonate the Voltorbs one by one which makes no sense because presumably the building would be evacuated after the first Voltorb explosion, limiting the casualties if that’s what they were going for. Evan’s instructions were to “drop the chandelier”, despite there not being any chandeliers in the place the speech was being held at, Evan instead tried to cut down the jumbotron over Chris’s head. Giving Chris the benefit of a doubt, “chandelier” could have been a codeword used as a sweet Phantom of the Opera reference. Mao’s job was the extremely vague “kill from behind” - with what? The A4 seemed to have a thing for structural carnage, so it’s possible that Mao’s job was to seal possible exits by bringing down part of the building, thus trapping Chris and all his cronies inside, but I’m just spitballing here. Sean, fitting the characterization presented to him so far as a brain-dead rock-loving fool, is ordered to throw rocks at people. Given that his three compatriots are murdering people en masse, Sean causing moderate injuries with throwable rocks is laughable, in fact it almost seems like a comic relief joke thrown in amongst the rest of the crew’s serious and scary terrorist plot. I could give Chris the benefit of a doubt again and say “throw rocks” is another euphemism/codeword for something like a Molotov Cocktail, but given Sean’s obsession with rocks I really don’t want to. Simon, too, has a part to play - he’s the decoy to distract Magi-Chan, thinking “Kill Simonla” so Magi’s psychic patrol senses would get alerted to him and not the rest of the A4, so they’d be free to do as they pleased. The problem is that by having Simon think “kill Simonla”, he alerted Magi-Chan to the fact that there’d be an attempt on Simonla’s life that evening, the CWCki describes it as “a tactical decision that is comparable to setting off the sprinklers so you can commit arson”. Indeed, it’s quite possible that using Simon as a decoy was the only thing preventing the A4’s most extreme version of their attack from occurring. Good job shooting yourselves in the foot guys.

Simon had no choice but to follow orders and he’s relieved that he’s separated from his abusers when the five are arrested. Unfortunately, his arrest flings him out of the A4’s frying pan and into Wild and Sandy’s fire, as they decry him as a murderer, despite no one actually having died, and presumably they’re aware he was an unwitting participant. Whatever jail he’s being held in apparently just lets people go in and berate its prisoners.

[taffysannotatedsonichu]

Sonichu 11 Page 48

BLAKE: *clears throat*

CHRIS: Yes, Blake?

BLAKE: Beggin’ your pardon miss, but… nice rack.

CHRIS: Thanks Blake. But, don’t get any ideas.

BLAKE: Of course not! Believe me, I was more durprised now than when I heard of what you have been, Miss Chandler!

CHRIS: Quite, Blake.

Blake gives Chris an awkward comment about his newly enlarged breasts, despite the fact that Blake is married to Bubbles by this point. Chris probably did this to make it seem like the new, female him was not only more physically attractive than his former male self but more physically attractive in general. I question why it was Blake who hit on him, rather than, say, the newly single Punchy or Chris’s future husbando Magi-Chan. If I was Bubbles I’d have slapped Blake in the face for saying that.

At the bottom of the page, everyone, including Chris’s parents, pose for a picture outside his house. Bob had been dead for going on six years at this point, and 2017 Barb looked much more decrepit than she does in this photo, hinting these were taken from pictures taken many many many years prior hidden away somewhere on the Chandlers’s computer.

[taffysannotatedsonichu]

Sonichu 11 Page 57

SIMONLA: I can’t believe you two! Simon was not the one who planted and detonated the bomb! 

SIMONLA: Alec did that! Magi-Chan told me while I was bedridden!

SIMONLA: I had forgiven Simon; he genuinely felt bad and sad about what happened.

SIMONLA: I expect you both to forgive my brother too.

SIMONLA: Simonchu was a victim of poor circumstances!

SIMONLA: And I want you both to put that mess behind you, and apologize to Simonchu right…

SIMONLA: Sandy, go get the first aid kit and smelling salts from the bathroom.

SIMONLA: And, Wild, fix up some soup; lots of celery on the side.

SIMONCHU: Zzz

Simonla explains to her husband and daughter what should have been painfully clear to them almost immediately after her murder attempt - that Simonchu was not in any way responsible for her near-death and that they were crazy psychos for trying to kill him over a murder that did not happen that he did not take meaningful part in. Wild, despite clearly having not forgiven Simon last page, claims that he’d forgiven Simon due to his remorse.

Simonla, laying by her fallen brother’s side, orders Wild to fix him celery soup and Sandy to help her wake him up with the help of smelling salts.

[taffysannotatedsonichu]

Sonichu 11 Page 47

SONICHU, ROSECHU, WILD, BUBBLES, PUNCHY, ANGELICA, MAGI, BLAKE, SIMONLA, SANDY, ZAPINA, AND SILVANA: Merry Christmas, Christine!

CHRIS: Sonichu, Rosechus, merry Christmas to you all too. What’s up? “Welcome back, Christine”?

ROSECHU: We all realized we’ve never celebrated your return from the future, and we unanimously decided to come over and celebrate. 

SONICHU: We’ve all missed you the many months. Heck, it felt like years!

CHRIS: That is really sweet! I love you all! You all are family to me. Please, come in.

Cake: Welcome back, Christine

Returning to the fumetti style seen in Issues 6 and 10, the EHP squad arrives at Chris’s real front door to give him a cake. The photos were taken in May of 2017, hence the trees being green and Chris wearing short sleeves, while the rest of the crew looks incredibly over-dressed, still in their Christmas coats. If Chris cared about consistency, he could have either covered the trees with fake snow (it’s literally a bundle of cotton, it’s not that expensive) or edited snow in Photoshop when he put in the speech bubbles. But alas, Chris assumed no one would notice or care, so this ostensibly yuletide scene is surrounded by May trees. There’s literally a big purple flower behind Simonla’s head.

It’s obviously the same slack-jawed picture of Chris in panel 1 and panel 2, although there appears to be a little Photoshopping on his arms and necklace.

[taffysannotatedsonichu]

Sonichu 11 Page 41

Caption: Robbie got his Lego set and game. After opening her C.0.D. game, Cera tells him, “I get to play my game after you, bro.”

Caption: Sandy and Zapina joked each other with lightbulbs and a shovel. Zapina puts a bulb over her head with a “bright idea”, Sandy replied “I can dig that.” Christine laughs.

MAGI-CHAN {thought}: Life is good.

We see several happy scenes, which cause Magi-Chan to note how good everyone in Chris inner circle has it. While Sonichu and Rosechu make out, Blake and Bubbles and Wild and Simonla also do cute couple stuff, and the newly-single Punchy and Angelica flirt, Robbie and Cerah open presents, both getting Wii games, along with a Lego set for Robbie. The pair then decide to set up time frames in which they’d each get to play their games, since they share a single Wii system between the two of them. At the same time, Zapina and Sandy make fun of their elemental talents, Zapina playing with a lightbulb and making a “bright idea” joke, while Sandy and her shovel make a digging joke.

I actually give Chris a lot of continuity points for remembering that as this scene was set in ‘08 the most recent Nintendo console was the Wii, even though by the time this was drawn Nintendo was two further generations along was the Switch, the little red and blue box responsible for 100% of TAS delays. It would totally be unsurprising if he totally blanked on that and had them play at least a Wii U game instead, but no he gave them a period accurate game. Good on you Chris.

[taffysannotatedsonichu]

Sonichu 11 Page 56

SANDY: Mom!

SANDY: You can not be serious! He was one of those… trolls!!! That plotted to kill you!

SIMON: Actually, in my defense, I was against that whole mess, but Evan…

SANDY: Shut up, troll!!!

SIMON: Y-yes, S-s-san…

SANDY: Don’t call me “San” either!

WILD: Simonla! I felt my jungle sense tingling, and I just heard the shouting… wha?

WILD: You!!

Caption: *twang*

SIMONLA: Enough!!!

SIMON: Zzz

Caption: *thud*

Caption: *He fainted*

Caption: *stomp*

Sandy argues with her mother, flabbergasted at her willingness to accept someone who tried to kill her into her home. Simon pleads with her that he was not a willing participant but Sandy yells at him to shut up. In response to his stuttering, Sandy screams to him that even inadvertently shortening her name to “San” will still cause the same freak out that calling her Samantha would, and prepares to begin drilling him just as she did to Evan, despite her mother’s scowl.

Wild, drawn home by his “Jungle Sense” (furthering him becoming a ripoff of Spider-Man, now having an equivalent to his “Spidey-Senses”), sees Simonchu and immediately readies his arm-vines to beat him with.

Simonla finally puts her foot down (literally, you hear her stomp) and all the shock gets to Simonchu, causing him to faint. Presumably that means in the non-Pokemon context, as he did not receive any damage. Wild looks somewhat sheepish about his impulsivity, letting his vine drop to the floor. Sandy, meanwhile, is as furious as ever.

There’s a “Certified” certificate on the wall behind Wild but I have no idea who’s certificate it is and what it certifies him or her to do. It was in the floor plan of Simonla’s house back in Sonichu 9 too, but it remains as enigmatic now as it did then.

[taffysannotatedsonichu]

Sonichu 11 Page 55

Sign: Tunnel 1

SANDY: That’s right!

SANDY: I have a middle name! Samantha!!!

SANDY: And if you, or anyone!, Calls me that, “Sam”, “Sammy”, or anything similar,… 

SANDY: …After being warned once, you’ll die with horn drill!!!

Caption: *Fourth-Wall break; Sandy is talking to you, here.

Sandy’s rage at her being called her middle name causes nearly the entire page to be consumed by a red-and-yellow void, and her face is surrounded by those plus signs they use in anime to show that a character is angry (they’re supposed to represent bulging veins, despite them not all being connected to Sandy’s face, though this is not unheard of in anime.) She begins spinning all three of her drills, pointing two of them at the audience, as she yells. She refuses to accept even the acknowledgement of her middle name, and says that if anyone dares to call her by even a diminutive form of Samantha, she’ll kill them with Horn Drill, a Pokemon move that causes instant death if it hits (which only happens 30% of the time). This doesn’t just apply to her mother and her uncle, but also the audience, as Chris makes sure to note that Sandy looking into the camera was intended as a fourth wall break.

The concept of a “fourth wall” originates from the world of theater, where actors are told that despite most sets in proscenium-style theaters having at most three walls, to pretend that an invisible fourth wall separates them from the audience and to not break it by acknowledging the audience; any deliberate metafictional acknowledgements of an audience or other storytelling conventions are “breaking the fourth wall”. Chris has expanded the concept, particularly in 2019, to be the invisible barrier separating the fictional world from the real world. Only those creative enough can breach it to meet fictional characters “OCs”, and whenever a fourth wall break happens in media, an OC is attempting to contact the real world. Apparently all creative works are sparked by meetings between OCs and creative people. By this logic, in 1605 King Lear appeared to Shakespeare, explained his life’s story, and implored Shakespeare to turn it into a play, Louisa May Alcott was inspired to write Little Women from meeting Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March and not from her own experiences, Martin Scorsese and screenwriter Paul Schrader based Taxi Driver on the life Travis Bickle lead in C-197, and Masahiro Sakurai is free to visit Kirby and his universe at his leisure. Despite this apparently being true of all creatives throughout time and across the globe, only Chris has ever mentioned it. I wonder why.

Also I have no idea why there’s a picture of “Tunnel 1”, presumably where Sandy just entered from, on this page. It’d have made much more sense on the previous page.

[taffysannotatedsonichu]

Sonichu 11 Page 54

Caption: Downstairs… 

Sign: Tunnel 4

SIMON: …So, I was scared to come over. My only other reason for being here is to revive this fossil. 

SIMONLA: Silly Simon. I do not blame you for what happened. That was never really you; it was the bad people you were with. I will talk with Wild about it. I’m sure he will forgive you too.

SANDY: Hi, mom, I’m home. Winter vacay from school starts… 

SANDY {thought}: Hell no!

SANDY: Uncle Simon… Mon, get away from that MALE!!

SIMON: Mercy! Mercy!

SIMONLA: Sandy Samantha Rosechu! How dare you react like that to my brother; your uncle?! I want you to apologize to him right now!

Simonchu and Simonla shoot the breeze about the reasons for the former’s visit, which is apparently also to revive the fossil, as reviving fossils Jurassic Park-style into living Pokemon is a staple mechanic of the Pokemon games. Unfortunately, Wild’s luck runs dry as Sandy returns, now on winter break from school, and erupts with anger, her eyes turning scarlet red with fury. She demeaningly refers to Simon as “male”, suggesting that she’s some sort of misandrist, despite having a strong male role model for all of her short life in Wild and not seeming to have any hatred for the Asperpedia Four on account of their sex in Sonichu 10. This is likely because after making the jump from tomgirl to trans woman, Chris’s own misandry that had prior been tempered by the fact that he himself was a man was now free to manifest frequently with Chris replacing “jerk” with “male” to refer to men he hated, as seen in this chat with the troll Colin in 2014. Weirdly, Sandy uses the term despite being portrayed as decidedly in the wrong here, despite parroting Chris. Simonla chides her by using her here-to-for unrevealed full name, Sandy Samantha Rosechu. Despite “Sandy” usually being short for Sandra, “Sandy” appears to be her full first name, which is less common but not unheard of.

Speaking of winter break, even though it was snowing for much of Episode 22, which this episode is set contemporaneously during, it’s not snowing here.