#sonic forces review

[pichlive]

So this is my thoughts on the Sonic Forces DLC– Long overdue due to some IRL business, but I'm ready to get this out so I can finally transition this blog onto the next game I wanna live blog. Be warned that spoilers are beyond the read more!

So… I have… a lot of mixed feelings on this DLC. As you might have been able to tell— I myself had so much trouble with this thing that I had to use mods just to get through it after Sonic's first trial! Which is sad to me– I had such high hopes for it, and I was having fun… until all the issues came trickling in. Which is a shame– because there's so many ways in which it's really great extra content… and then so many ways it kind of… falls flat in the end to me? Like they bent back to a lot of needless criticisms of the game to… in my opinion, kind of a version of the game I don't really like all that much. 

To get it out of the way right here right now: The dlc is just insanely unfairly hard. And to clarify: if this was even fair at all, I wouldn't mind. Personally, I would have preferred this difficulty be reserved… for hard. And you know. Not for people playing on easy, let alone the kids doing that? My issue isn't even just that it's hard– it's that the difficulty is made for a system that won't accommodate it. This is NOT a system made for like, the level of intensity or precision that these challenges want you to do. It feels like a desperate attempt to appear more 'hardcore' and… kind of strangely rushed? For a free DLC? Like some of it doesn't feel… all that playtested. 

Now, thankfully, much of the writing is still sosososoossoooooo solid to me. I did like that Sonic's friends took more precedence here– rescuing themselves and working to help Sonic, and god, Amy's VA just NAILED IT AND WENT OFF. But these character interactions without Sonic– as much as I love him– were a treat to see, and to see different dynamics was so refreshing. If this is a step into the water of possibly having more interactions like this… then I'm all for it. However, despite how much I liked all that… the writing near the end was… how do I put it. On one hand, I love Sonic and friends and Eggman and Sage all being involved in the final battle! On the other, as cool as Sonic going all out was, removing Sage vs The End feels more… generic? 

Other than all that– It did feel like there were way more issues here than in the original game, at least I swear there were– but I will be transparent and say I have this game on an external drive so I will account for if that caused any errors at all. Regarding how Sonic's friends played: Amy's is the best, and actually feels like she was playtested/the best balanced? Knuckles was just frustrating for me, and Tails was fun but also extremely OP in ways that I'm not sure were intended? But the cyber levels of what I've played are fantastic. Way more objectives with extremely fair level design and BANGER tracks in all of them!

I dunno, it feels like on some level they got scared of people reacting negatively to how experimental the game was, how 'easy' it was– so they tried to appeal to an audience of people who wouldn't really even like this game anyway. It feels like a really awkward hybrid of both that uh– the 'hardcore' video game people aren't… going to even look Sonic Frontiers's way, or at least they likely won't like how they balanced the game and are more likely to install their own mods. And the regular audience is obviously not going to like having to slog through the sudden 'difficulty' shift either! So… unfortunately– while the writing is easily a 4/5 to me… this DLC gets a 1/5. I could only recommend it either to people who really think they can handle the 'challenge' or are patient for it– or for the most dedicated of sonic players. Or at the very least– just get to Sonic and at least play the cyber levels. Those seem pretty solid. I guess the other cutscenes if it gets to you too much you can watch on youtube but even then, imo, I liked the original ending better– even if again I did like the character interactions here.   

[tomboymikayla]

THANK YOU!

[mashand]

Sonic fans when they tough forces was gonna be good.

[miloscat]

[Review] Sonic Forces (PS4)

An underrated Sonic game...?

After Sonic Generations in 2011, Sonic Team experimented with a different format in Lost World. 2017's Forces is then a follow-up of sorts to Generations with the Classic and Modern versions of Sonic in the game bringing their respective gameplay styles. They are joined by a third gameplay style in Forces... and now I must convey to you a conspiracy theory, and the reason I'm playing this immediately after the Boom games (also I finished watching the show, it's very good).

The timing of Boom as a high-profile spinoff and some 2016 promotional artwork depicting the three Sonics together may suggest that at some point in development Boom's Sonic was to appear alongside the other two. There is some evidence in the final product to support this: the third element in Forces is the custom character, who has swappable Wisp-powered weapons and... a grappling hook, which is not dissimilar to Boom's Enerbeam. Some lines in the script about Classic Sonic being from another dimension have led people to assume they were repurposed from referencing Boom's Sonic; I consider this a red herring due to the timeline of scripting and early drafts we have access to, but I could be wrong. More convincing is the final boss—the "Death Egg Robot"—having a suspiciously similar appearance to Lyric's mech suit, perhaps leftover assets being reused. Boom Sonic's scarf and sports-tape bedecked gloves and shoes are available as Avatar cosmetics, so it's not like Boom was totally memory-holed either way. There's never been any official statements about this, so we have to piece together what information we have, but it seems plausible enough to me. Now with that out of the way...

On the surface Forces seems to be taking a "darker and grittier" angle on the Sonic universe (although I'd argue that many games in the series have been trying this to various degrees since Adventure). The characters talk about war sometimes and the "Eggman has taken over 99.99% of Mobius while Sonic has been tortured in space prison for six months" plot sounds absurdly melodramatic, but once the game gets going it's mostly pretty light on in its tone and themes, not much different to other Sonic games. A handful of Sonic's friends do stuff off-screen and chat to you over the radio; I wish they'd pulled out all the stops for character appearances given the stakes of the story, but oh well. No Blaze, again.

The new co-antagonist is Infinite, the try-hard-iest edgelord you've ever seen with the dumbest, most awesome metal theme song. His illusion powers make for one or two cool level concepts, but often they are just a simple plot device. These powers also enable the reuse of previous antagonists like Zavok (snore) and Shadow... also Chaos is there in one cutscene and then proceeds to do sweet bugger all for the rest of the game. Some missed opportunities here.

Forces lifts the Classic Sonic crossover concept from Generations without much interrogation. He just shows up through a portal for no reason and since he’s one of those silent protagonists for no reason, he isn’t even able to tell anyone about the Phantom Ruby (the source of Infinite’s powers) also appearing in Mania, which none of the other characters remember for no reason (something something other dimension??). His sidescrolling Classic-style levels were my least favourite but I’m glad they were included for a change of pace. He’s also been given Mania’s drop-dash which is a great snappy movement upgrade.

Modern Sonic is your standard boosting 3D corridors / 2D sections / rail grinding gameplay with homing attacks and stomps. The really interesting new addition is of course the Avatar, whose gameplay is a little slower paced and includes swinging and the Wispon. You choose from various weapons between stages and some are much more useful in certain levels; I wish the game indicated a recommendation. But most of them have powerful attacks for smashing groups of badniks as well as fun movement tech. A fourth level style has Modern Sonic team up with the Avatar, combining their abilities.

The story plays out across a world map, going back and forth sporadically over the eight or so different environments. Of course many of these are throwback biomes, but with fun twists like a desertified Green Hill or a casino/jungle, and they invariably look colourful and detailed. The 30 levels are quite short on average (and some are even reused wholesale between characters), but I don’t mind this. It makes revisiting them for collectibles and missions breezier, and I ended up 100%ing the game thanks to this. Free DLC added three new Shadow levels plus the ability to play as Shadow in parts of the main game, as well as the option for Super Sonic which made those repeat runs even more painless. I believe this is also the first big Sonic game to do away with the concept of extra lives entirely, which I must applaud wholeheartedly.

I’ve gone too long now without really getting into the Avatar/Rookie/Buddy, which really is a genius feature. People have been making their own Sonic OCs for forever, so integrating that in the game is an easy win. I loved creating characters that aren’t otherwise in the game, like Blaze, Sticks, or Fang, characters from other Sonic media like Tekno, Bunnie, or Sally, and even other furry-type characters like Krystal or Bubsy. I then adored unlocking more and more costume parts and dressing them up! It’s a great incentive to engage with the mission structure. It’s too bad you’re locked to one type until you beat the story, so I picked Tekno as my primary for the bird’s double jump ability. Truly this concept is powerful, and I’d love to see it expanded in future games since the options for customisation can feel limited. This definitely needs another pass.

My final point is about what I think is one of Forces’ greatest strengths: the soundtrack. While still grinding out Avatar levels and mission unlocks, I sought out the game’s music to listen to at work. I used to think I disliked vocal tracks playing over gameplay but I was wrong! (Maybe I just don’t like Crush 40, but don’t tell the Sonic fans I said that.) Whenever the main theme Fist Bump kicked into the chorus during a double boost, I got hype every time, that song is sick as hell! The Classic Sonic Mega Drive-style tracks rock, Infinite’s theme is a banger, even the jingles are a joy... the game is just infused with track after track of cool techno-symphonic music in different tones. Truly I developed a deep respect for lead composer Tomoya Ohtani playing this game (even though I already thought he did a great job on Rush Adventure and Unleashed).

Before playing Forces for myself, I just knew that fans thought of it as "one of the bad ones", that it was supposedly farmed out to a B-team and half-baked to mediocrity. Sure it's got flaws and weaknesses, the story is dumb, the bosses aren't great... but it's solid, stylish, and I thought it had such a fun energy and so much cool stuff; now it's my favourite 3D Sonic game! To be fair I haven't played that many of them, so I'm going to work on that. Either way I've learned by now that my feelings on Sonic often go directly against the grain of mainstream opinion, and I'm so totally fine with that if it means I can listen to Fist Bump on repeat over here in the corner. It's a brand new day...!

[lowder-the-koopa]

Lowder Reviews 2023

Here's a list of all the reviews that will be done during 2023.

Power Rangers Wild Force: Watching in March and releasing review in June.

Kamen Rider Amazon: Watching and releasing review in the Summer.

Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger: Watching and releasing review in the Summer.

Uchu Sentai Kyuranger: Watching and releasing review in the summer.

King Kong (1933): Watching and releasing review in the summer.

Sonic X: Watching and releasing review after the summer.

Yo-Kai Watch Season 1: Watching and releasing review after the summer.

Kamen Rider Den-O: Watching and releasing review sometime during October or early November.

Kamen Rider Decade: Watching and releasing review sometime during November or Late December.

These will be all done during the year, probably.

[lycanine9]

started and finished sonic forces in one sitting uhhhh no thoughts

jk i have thoughts

but it was ok? i liked the fight w infinite with the snake i thought that was fun

but also idk it’s new to me this is my first taste of the boost games

all i can say is the game honestly felt very hollow

i don’t remember which youtube video said this in their review of forces but they said something along the lines of “right when you felt like you were having fun in the level, it was over”

a good couple of times i went “oh that was it?”

i still felt like i was controlling a baby controlling the controller half of the time 😭😭😭

ALSO disliked the whole friendship boost thing like i wanna do the final hit stop giving me this qte to high five in 2 seconds

uhhhh final review 4 customizable characters out of 10

infinite lowkey reminded me of someone pretending to be an anime antag but i’m teasing LOL i enjoy his deign very much and wish they did so much more w him, clearly he had his mind set differently than eggman and showed confidence in his own power but still would listen and stoop down by eggman a side? i felt like he should of done some mutiny

or just do his own thing against eggman but then that would lead to like sonic teaming up w eggman (Again….Again..Aga) idk! i wish he was COOLER.

[arcsin27]

I’ve beaten generations mania and forces btw (this is part of my “brother having me play every Wii/switch mainline sonic game (plus black knight) in order since unleashed” arc)

Generations was pretty fire, very fun and I liked how it’s like a love letter to the series! A bit cheesy with it yes but it was also very cute

Mania was rather fun, kinda hard, my brother was actually able to play with me, the level design was super cool, it wasn’t as memorable or fun for me as unleashed or generations but still great!

Forces was bad. The internet was not exaggerating. The plot was all over the place and made no sense. It was so tonally inconsistent and did not commit to/deliver on its premise at all. It was not fun. The controls were clunky to the point it felt like my guys weren’t following my inputs. My brother once looked over mid-level and said my face had zero emotion whatsoever. Infinites theme played for maybe a minute in the background of a cutscene full of dialogue, it wasn’t even a boss theme. Can’t explain how disappointing not hearing more of that absolute fire song was. Infinite himself was fantastic tho, I love overly edgy and *emotionally scars you for fun* villains and Liam O’Brien go brr

I’m now onto frontiers. Only an hour in and I love it (even though it took me like five tries to beat asura). If I remember to I will review that one when I beat it

[the-sky-queen]

On Saturday I watched Spider-Man Far From Home, but I didn't have time to review it, so I'll do that now.

I really liked this one! I think I just enjoyed the villain more, but I also really like the base and the story. Exploring the aftermath of the blip is really interesting and I love it! It's a lot more complicated than we were expecting.

I also kinda adored the whole thing with May and Happy. That was so cute and made me laugh! A lot of moments in this one made me laugh, honestly. What I really want to talk about though is Mysterio.

I. Loved. Mysterio!!!

This is probably my favorite villain since Doc Ock or Electro! The coolest thing is that he doesn't actually have any powers, but you can hardly tell! He has such control over his illusions that you can't tell the difference until its too late! Y’know that scene where Mysterio traps Peter in a massive illusion that keeps changing until he tricks him into telling him which of his friends know? I love that scene so much. It's so cool!!!

(Honestly, I watched that scene and thought, 'THIS is what Infinite torturing Sonic in Forces should've been like!')

And that ending! Peter's in trouble! He is in serious trouble! I kinda want Happy to just scoop him and May up and take them to one of Tony’s old mansions so they can be safe. I just know Peter's gonna be so wanted now.

Overall, really great movie! I loved it! I should be watching No Way Home tomorrow and I am beyond excited. This is what I've been waiting for!!!

[thankskenpenders]

Finished reading the M&R, now I have a real question: I did some research, but I can't find anything about a settlement between KP and Sega/EA (just with Archie). All I find is that it was dismissed several times and is now like "frozen". Could you point towards the right direction to get more information about this settlement? Also, only if it is ok to ask a more personal question? What is your opinion on KP's attitude towards Shade and Chronicles, and the actions he has taken about them?

My wording was a little off there. I don't believe Ken ever had a direct settlement with Sega, but Sega made Archie deal with him on their behalf in the settlement. One of the big reasons that lawsuit was such a mess was that Sega forced Archie to handle the lawsuit themselves and cover all the expenses, threatening to revoke the Sonic license from them if they couldn't handle it. I've updated the wording of that sentence in the review to clear this up.

As for the Chronicles thing, Ken's right about the game being inspired by his Knuckles comics, but it's absurd that he thinks that means he can claim ownership of it.

[blazehedgehog]

Be Aware

Back in December, I got an email from someone claiming to be Team Cherry, the developers of Hollow Knight. This "marketing liason" was offering me early access to the sequel/expansion, Silksong, to review.

A friend with connections to the game press quickly pointed out that the real Team Cherry wasn't sending out early access review codes and that they were actually warning users about impersonators on their "Contact Us" form. The email I received was a scam from someone looking to infect me with malware and/or steal my identity. (I wrote a twitter thread about it here)

About a month later, as I was wrapping up work on my "Definitive way to Play Sonic Adventure 2" video, I received another email, this one claiming to be someone from Frontier Foundry asking to sponsor an upcoming video for the release of "Deliver Us Mars." I told them I already had a sponsor for the Sonic Adventure 2 video, and after I was done, I was planning on taking a holiday. They got weirdly pushy with me, saying I could "make a short video" and put the brand deal there. I was too busy finishing the video, so I ignored them and moved on.

Now another month later, I find myself finishing a quick little video and thinking about that Frontier Foundry offer again, but upon looking at it with fresh eyes, it also was a clear and obvious scam. Just like with the fake Team Cherry offer, the person isn't listed as an employee at Frontier Foundry, the email they sent the offer from seems to be a personal email address that doesn't match who they said they were, and the "Contract" they tried to force on me was a huge Google Drive zip file that was password protected to prevent me from seeing what was inside before I downloaded it. The fact that they were so pushy with me suddenly started making a lot more sense.

As icing on the cake, I tried to ask the person for proof of identity, and in the month+ since we last talked to each other, their email address has been forcibly closed by Gmail.

If you're an up-and-coming content creator, please be careful and be aware of tactics like this. It's easy to get starstruck by the idea that you're special enough to get picked for a sponsorship deal or an exclusive beta, but always research WHO is sending you that email and NEVER be afraid to ask for proof of identity. Go over their heads and check with the employer they claim to be from if you need to.

Be smart, protect yourself, and stay safe out there.

[welcome-to-green-hills]

I’ve seen your breadcrumbs for Generations and now I’m a little concerned. Do you think that they’re good at least?

Hi Honey!❤️✨

My review can be found under the “read more” tab😊

For Sonic’s side of the story—to ME—the extra dialogue and details given to each of the characters isn’t the best. Some interactions feel forced, nor do they necessarily match with body movements and facial expressions made with some scenes. The same can be said with Shadow’s story for over-explanation in its dialogue.

If you adore the changes to the game, then continue to love it. I love your excitement and enthusiasm for the remaster.

As I’ve said before, it’s not for me. And that’s perfectly okay. 😊

[thewatcher727]

Writing Tip: Be Inspired, Not Controlled

More writing tips

While it is considerate to think about your readers, this is your story at the end of the day and you can tell it how you please. Allow me tell you a little story based on an actual experience.

I have this friend who wrote Rio stories. In this one story he did, the villain named Marco killed Blu about halfway through. Then near the end, Blu returns from the dead and fights Marco, killing him once and for all. But the friend told me that wasn't his original plan. He intended for Blu to stay dead and for Jewel to have been the one to kill Marco. I asked him why he changed it. He told me his readers were threatening to not review anymore if he didn't bring Blu back, as well as even went as far as to make a petition to ban him from FanFiction.

Do you see the point I'm trying to make? Don't feel like you have to put aside your ideas for others. By all means consider ideas they may have for you, but don't feel forced into making a change.

Not everyone is going to support certain things, and that's okay. I've spoken to people who told me they thought my stories were too dark for Sonic. I thanked and acknowledged their feedback, but also assured them this darker tone is necessary to tell the story I want to tell.

[aortaplatinum]

Why Sonic sucked in the first half of the 2010s

One thing I constantly see brought up in the constant Sonic discourse is the concept of the "Meta Era": the period of time in the 2010s when Sonic stories and the series presentation was the lightest and most shallow it had ever been. This era starts with Sonic Colors and ends with Sonic Forces, but doesn't count the failed Sonic BOOM sub-franchise experiment since that was done by entirely different teams compared to those who usually work on Sonic games. The "Meta Era" term seems to have been coined by J's Reviews on YouTube, and is characterized by fourth-wall-breaking, Marvel movie esque English scripts written by Ken Pontac and Warren Graff of Happy Tree Friends and MadWorld fame, along with strange characterization of the Sonic cast. But no one ever tries to look at WHY this happened. I'm splitting this post into two parts because 2010-2015 is very different from 2015-2020 in terms of why the games' stories and then the game[s] themselves sucked. So, the year is 2009. Sonic and the Black Knight has just released following last year's console entry of Sonic World Adventure [titled Sonic Unleashed outside of Japan], and both are torn to shreds by millennial games journalists who grew up with the SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis games, for having stories that are "too dark/edgy". That aspect paired with these games' mostly mediocre gameplay caused them to be branded as "shitty Sonic games" by journos and the general public for years, until they were re-examined by the Sonic community as a whole, who found the good in Unleashed and Black Knight's stories and stage design in the mid-late 2010s. But, SEGA had just recently financially recovered from the failure of the Saturn outside of Japan and the worldwide failure of the Dreamcast, having to be bought out by pachinko manufacturer Sammy Corporation in the early 2000s to avoid going bankrupt. And despite Sonic historically being the company's best-seller worldwide [with the exception of Japan, ironically], SEGA Sammy Holdings [referred to as SEGA] wanted Sonic to be as beloved as much as it could and to sell as much as it could. The series' lack of popularity in Japan has always caused it to be seen as a mascot cash cow by SEGA Japan, just a source of income. Meanwhile, the same publications who cringed at Sonic LAUDED SEGA's recently published PlatinumGames release, MadWorld, for its presentation and its comedy dialogue, and with this positive reception, SEGA had an idea; marry the praised daytime Sonic Unleashed gameplay, with the tone and comedy writing of MadWorld- complete with giving the English script those same writers. There's just one problem- MadWorld is an ultraviolent M-rated comic book style comedy, sharing similarities with the original The Mask comic series. So you can probably imagine what happened when these writers were tasked with creating English localized dialogue for kids' games.

It wasn't very good.

But, sales were up. REVIEW SCORES were up. And this lead to Sonic Generations, which refined the daytime boost gameplay of Unleashed and even used it's same game engine, while introducing the world to "Classic Sonic", a modern re-interpretation of what Sonic played and acted like in the Mega Drive games from the 90's. Gens went on to become one of the most beloved Sonic games of all time- and thankfully, since the game had nearly zero story, there wasn't much script there for Pontac and Graff to... alter.

But, seeing the praise Colors' tone was getting from the professional journalists who bashed the 2000s games, SEGA decided the next course of action was to reach out and work with more Western studios. End part 1.

[neoclassic-sonic]

Metal Knuckles receiving a Funko Pop and Fang receiving a Jakks Pacific 2.5 Figure (as well as Trip being announced to get one too in the next wave) all in the past year strikes a very interesting development in terms of Sonic Merchandising!

For the longest time the characters available to be used in Classic Sonic merchandising have always been Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Dr. Eggman, Metal Sonic and Super Sonic. It's always been this way since 2009 when First 4 Figures first released a line of figurines done in the Classic Style. (Two years before Sonic Generations by the way!)

And every company afterwards followed the same trend. (... Not always. Amy and Metal Sonic's inclusion is always dependent on if the company has enough ''character slots'' to fit them and Eggman's status as a non-animal villain puts him in a unique position where he's sometimes included sometimes not but yknow potato potato) Regardless, for the longest time no other character was /added/ to that 7 piece lineup.

That is... until the release of Sonic Mania Plus in 2018, bringing back two beloved characters Mighty and Ray into the Classic spotlight. And not as cameo characters either but as main protagonists in their own right.

Now a little background is needed, for the longest time a toy company called Jazwares held the license for making Sonic articluated figurines (there were a few others who had the license too but Jazwares was THE head bitch in the industry), they lost the license in 2013/2014 to Tomy who would go on to make Sonic Boom Figurines and then regular figurines in 2017~. Tomy would lose that license to Jakks Pacific in 2019~.

During Jazwares run, they released their line of Classic figurines but lost the license before they could release Knuckles

(They have an eggman too btw just. not included in this pack)

And during Tomy's run, they released their own Classic line too in 2017 (bundled with a modern version of the characters figurine and a copy of a comic book from Archie Sonic themed around the character...

... well. supposed to be. Archie lost the license to the comics in the middle of the series so Sonic and Knuckles had Archie books while Tails and Metal Sonic were delayed.

The status of their releases (iirc) were actually really... doubtful... Keep in mind this was in the middle of Sega reviewing the Sonic licenses before Forces, after cutting Archie, Tomy was also on the chopping block. Thankfully the two released a year later in 2018, their initial comic books were replaced with english versions of Sonic Comics that were posted for Sonic's 25th anniversary. These were the only way you could get english versions of those comics I think?

Amy and Eggman were originally planned for this series as well, shown off in the 2017 catalogue that initially announced this line but Tomy lost the license soon after Tails and Metal Sonic release. The fact the two even released was kind of a hail mary, I think it was generally agreed back then that they were gonna be shelved and only got to release /because/ of those 25th Anni comics.

Jakks Pacific would get the toy license in 2019 but during their first year... they would only release /Modern/ Sonic figurines. And they didn't release waves of products as fast as they are nowadays. Back then each new announcement was like a dripping faucet. Hell, from what I remember, their very first line of products wasn't even articulated figures but stretchy figures?

We got the pinball figures in 2019 though,

Which at least told us that A) Jakks Pacific had the license for classic sonic products and B) Mighty! and Ray!!!! First ever merchandise!!! The lack of Amy though did set us in that weird limbo were people were wondering if Classic Amy would ever be acknowledged by Sega. Especially post Sonic Mania. Keep in mind 2017 was like that soft reset of the franchise and her not being in Mania at all, not being included in Tomy's classic merchline in 2017-2018, not being included in these pinball figurines, only ever being used in promotional stuff like the shorts and two posts on twitter... (at the time) like. Amy fans were really worried for her!!! It wasn't until Sonic's 30th IDW Comic where we finally get to see her again in any substantial form and that was all the way in 2021!

Anyway, we finally got the articulated figurines announced in 2020 but the first few lines... only had /modern/ sonic stuff.

The first two waves of both the 2.5 inch and 4 inch line only featured modern characters. Thankfully classic series figurines would be announced for both lines around Fall, classic sonic for the 2.5 inch line in December and...

THATS RIGHT BITCHES, MIGHTY FOR THE 4 INCH LINE

Releasing NOVEMBER 2020, our very first Classic Sonic articulated figurine and its MIGHTY. I remember being so hyped for that. It was kinda awkward since these were the first two classic toys and mighty was bigger. Thankfully Sonic would get a 4 inch figure in the wave in February but Mighty would get a 2.5 inch figure the much later in October.

Starting then classic characters would gradually be introduced in the figurine line. For 2.5 inches:

Tails would get his on January 2022

Amy on February 2022

Knuckles and Eggman on June 2022

And Ray! on September 2022! alongside Metal Sonic

After that badniks (and mecha sonic (2023)) would be joining the series throughout the years. The 4 inch line would see a similar path but with different characters kinda? After Sonic in February we would see:

Mecha Sonic and Eggman in August 2021

Eggrobo in June 2022

Ray in September 2022

Tails in February 2024

Knuckles in March 2024

Amy in September 2024

(Yes, the classic figures really wouldnt get that much releases in the 4'' line ironically enough. It's kinda accepted that, proportions wise, Classic Characters work better as 2.5 inchers and Modern Characters work better as 4 inchers. Eggman, Mecha Sonic and the hardboiled heavies would release as 4 inchers though and they work better in proportion with the 2.5 inch sonic and friends)

What was that? Yes! The hardboiled heavies finally receive 4'' figurines! Heavy Gunner in December 2023 and Heavy King in the next wave March 2024! finally after 7 years after their debut game!

The other heavies have yet to recieve figurines but it's only a matter of time really. Especially since Fang released as a 2.5'' last August and Trip will be getting hers before the end of the Fall.

Which brings us back to my original point, We're finally getting new characters in Classic Sonic merchandising! The Hardboiled heavies were long overdue, and I was hesitant to consider them as a pivotal moment,,, they're older characters and badniks for one thing. But Fang??? Metal Knuckles??? Trip? Something must have changed in Sega's product team and imo this bodes well for the future. I won't get my hopes up and expect Bean or Bark despite them appearing in Sonic Mania and yes while they've been really active as of late due to IDW Fang the Hunter miniseries, Fang's inclusion is definitely a Sonic Superstars thing. It's safer to assume that characters who get figurines are most likely going to be those who've made an appearance in games. Which brings us to Metal Knuckles. who's a Sonic R character, sure, but his design and recent release definitely points to Sonic Superstars... where he shares his minor role with Metal Amy, Tails and Trip.... look. I'm just saying. I'd much rather see the Metal series come to Jakks Pacific more than the badniks or Rocky or Flicky or whatever.

[lowder-the-koopa]

The Return of Lowder Reviews 2023-Early 2024 Batch

Here's an updated list of what I'm watching and reviewing throughout this year and during early 2024 (January to March)

Somethings were moved around if you look at the much larger that I have pinned.

Power Rangers Wild Force (Status: Finished watching and writing review that will release later this week)

Kamen Rider Amazon

Uchu Sentai Kyuranger

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (2022)

King Kong (1933)

Sonic X Season 1

Yo-Kai Watch Season 1 (Episode 1 to 26) and the movie

Kamen Rider Den-O

Kamen Rider Decade

Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger

Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger

Kamen Rider Fourze

[greenyvertekins]

Oh my god I just had an epiphany on the core flaw of IDW’s story.

Sonic is one of those fictional worlds that’s incredibly idealized. By making the core story of the comics be about Sonic’s morality, it forces characters to be written OOC by making them always go, “Hey, Sonic. Why don’t you just kill Eggman?”

This in turn forces Sonic to be written “out of character” because his world wasn’t designed to have an answer to that question, meaning any answer he’d have for said question would always be out of character no matter what answer he gives. It breaks the suspension of disbelief you’re supposed to have about stories in this franchise. You’re not supposed to ask that question because it ruins the flow of too many stories in the franchise.

This also explains why people have less critiques with the games Flynn writes (Which are prompts given to him by Sega) compared to the constant flack he’s under for IDW (A story he came up with himself that’s merely peer-reviewed by Sega). He’s fighting a losing battle by coming up with stories that don’t fit a world that wasn’t designed with those themes in mind.

Archie’s (or rather, SatAM’s universe) was designed with those inherent morals in mind. Now that he needs to write for the universe of the games, he comes up with stories that would’ve fit better in that universe instead. A “square peg in round hole” logic, if you will. This isn’t an inherent flaw of the Archie universe compared to the game universe, it’s simply an adaptation with different rules, but one’s logic cannot fit in the other and vice-versa, leaving Flynn as a fish out of water.

TLDR: The problem with IDW is that Flynn is putting too much thought into the moral dilemmas of the Sonic universe when the world of the games is completely incompatible with the way he normally writes stories.

In short, the comic introduced a moral quandary that not only doesn’t fit the franchise whatsoever and is thoroughly incompatible with Sonic as a character, it needs to defile the canon it parasitises as well.

The funniest thing about it is Flynn’s lame-ass attempt to brush off criticism by claiming that Sonic is a kids work anyway, effectively saying you’re stupid for investing in it as well.