#sonic idw 56

[thealpacaavenger]

About Sonic IDW #56 (Post electric shock syndrome)

(Info found at https://www.verywellhealth.com and https://electrocuted.com)

Dang. That’s the best I can sum up this group of panels. I decided to look into the effects of electric shocks to the body. I swear, the authors did their absolute best to ensure that the amount of pain Sonic would go through would be as insane as possible.

Let’s start with this set of panels.

You can probably assume that the amount of volts Surge is sending into that water is excessive. Now, when someone’s skin is wet, not only does this make the shock more painful, it also makes it more deadly.

Next, are these panels. You can see here that Surge has her hands around either Sonic’s neck, or his shoulders. Either way, both areas are quite close to the heart. Shocks to the heart are another way to make electrical shocks more deadly. Another thing that makes an electrical shock more lethal is prolonged exposure. Which Sonic gets a fair share of. In the comic’s time, I’d say this lasted about 20-40 seconds, which may not seem long, but that is a very long time to be exposed to such a heavy voltage.

For obvious reasons, this causes Sonic to scream in pain, as you can see in both when Sonic first falls into the water and in the action panels (In the first, I believe it’s Sonic’s fist, though I struggle to tell. In the second, it’s clearly Sonic’s eye, meant to display fear or pain. And most importantly in the third panel, you can see Sonic’s mouth open screaming in pain).

When Surge passes out, Sonic is left in shock (no pun intended). Though, I have reason to believe he may have been dead in that panel.

Now, let’s talk about all the things Sonic would’ve gone through after that event. -Severe burns, both inside and outside his body. -An inconsistent or dangerous heartbeat -Numbness and tingling sensation throughout the body -Possible seizures -Weakness -Chronic pain

The weakness is one thing that is shown. Sonic needs help from Tails in order to get up. I also feel as though the patched hatching throughout Sonic’s body could also be interpreted as external burns.

Now, not only are there immediate physical reactions to getting electrocuted, there are also mental effects. These mental effects are labeled as post-electric shock syndrome. The symptoms are quite similar in nature to depression and PTSD.

-behavioral changes -Increased difficulty with memory and attention -irritability -anger -insomnia -aggressive behavior -difficulty enjoying hobbies -difficulty engaging with other people and work

In this next panel, I obviously don’t think that the only reason Sonic is angry is because of PESS, but I do think it may have made it a little harder to contain that anger, and maybe magnified it.

Sonic went through hell this time around. I suppose he always does.

[lyrarizii]

The most top notch garbage game gave us some of the best canon fuel for angst

Sonic forces is literally enuf angst for us to last atleast 5 yrs but make it even more traumatizing by adding a metal virus that made sonic isolate himself physically and not sleep for a solid week atleast i think.

SEGA is putting a 15yr old boy who got pushed into the hero shtick from really young age through some of the most unbearable things that someone of that age shouldn't go through

----------------------------------------------------

Some examples for angst for fanfic writers (because i'm nice and absolutely adore those kind of fics ❤️😏:

- yr own take on what could have happened in those 6 months death egg

- how sonic felt while the metal virus was a thing

- post sonic idw 56 (that shit was fucking traumatizing to read imagine if you had to go through that)

- post sonic Sa2

- a couple specials for the boom writers ❤️, how sonic is feeling while living in the village, post just a guy episode, how he feels abt his friends (who are honestly absolute trash sometimes) and why shadow and sonic their relation in that universe is so shitty and just a dumpster fire

- you could make a pretty angsty backstory if you want

- another forces idea is to rewrite it but much darker like they are actually going through a war for the world and ofcourse sonic his torture

- maybe unleashed like how it felt to be the werehog

- or just how sonic feels because we all know he is really good in pushing aside his feelings

If you wrote any of these ideas please message through the comments with the link to the fanfic in this post so i can read it ❤️

[koreyeet]

i want him to have an arc where he rethinks his life choices

[sonic-theknightofthewind]

no i didnt just bawl my eyes out because i saw and explanation of how much pain sonic was going through in idw issue 56 and how it was shown in the art

[komakomacora]

Babes, question, am I missing something? AINT NO WAY HE WENT FROM "😡😡😡" to fucking "😆😁😆" UNLESS HES MASKING HIS AUTISM AGAIN!!!!!! LITERALLY THE NEXT DAMN ISSUE?!

"Is this a surprise party?!"

NO!

It's THERAPY MEETING.

For ALL OF YOU GIRLS GAYS AND THEYS.

GET IN THE GOD DAMN CAR!

[pretzlforpresident]

Not while you’re still alive

[theamazingian]

Sonic, out of everything else is the world, inspires me to create like no other. I dunno why!! It was a curse I’m sure!

[molinaskies]

Sonic and the Mirror of Trauma: Scrapnik Island

Scrapnik Island is by far the most intriguing and impressive IDW Sonic miniseries so far. Daniel Barnes wrote an excellent story about recovering from trauma, struggling to escape your past, and facing the setbacks that come with both of those, and Nathalie Fourdraine and Jack Lawrence produced some beautiful art.

On its surface, the story has the potential to be a cheeky, cliché one-off akin to a spooky Halloween story (that started in December… hehe). But, when you look deeper at the plot and some of the tropes, and once you remember that it takes place between issue 56 (which I’ve crucially discussed at length) and issue 57, it suddenly becomes so much more important.

Mecha Sonic is a version of Sonic who has been forced to address the pain of his life and dabble with the consequences, and he represents the moment that Sonic has to face his own trauma—and that scares him.

Scrapnik Island sets off with the Scrapniks pursuing Sonic to help him, but Sonic, of course, has missed the memo. Mecha Sonic is hottest on Sonic’s trail, which stands out to me as not only is Sonic visibly afraid of Mecha (both from his sudden presence and from his memories of their last encounter), but he’s actively running away from his trauma, his past, his fear.

Even after Sonic’s been set straight on the Scrapniks’ deal, he’s still put off by Mecha Sonic’s silent demeanour and their history. So, Sonic treats him coldly, and this animosity triggers something deep within Mecha that he fights to starve off.

There is lots of visual storytelling to indicate that Sonic and Mecha Sonic are meant to be literary foils, but below is my favourite example. A flashback of a decommissioned Mecha Sonic fades into a present shot of Sonic “taking it easy,” but more so getting fed up with his situation.

Sonic is also particularly distrustful (and afraid) of Mecha Sonic, compared to the other Scrapniks. However, as time runs on, Sonic comes to an initial understanding of Mecha’s changed ways and wants to make peace. However, right after this, Mecha Knuckles attacks, Mecha Sonic defends and, in a way, sacrifices himself for Sonic, and things fall apart from here.

After Mecha Sonic is triggered during his battle with Mecca Knuckles (after a forceful encounter with Mecha Sonic’s past that sends him down a path of relapse), Mecha Sonic loses his ability to starve off Eggman’s primary programming. He turns on Sonic once again, but instead of serving Eggman, he strives to serve himself. While Mecha is falling victim to his traumatic past and coping mechanisms, the unfortunate thing about this is how it all reads to Sonic: another betrayal of his trust. It all calls back to Mr. Tinker, Metal Sonic, and Surge.

Mecha Sonic’s plan is to swap bodies with Sonic so that Mecha can use Sonic’s speed to escape the island, but the Scrapniks attack before the transfer can complete. This leaves Mecha and Sonic in an in-between state where they hear each other thoughts and feel each other’s feelings.

Even though Sonic states that the anger and sadness in his head is not his own, he’s still clearly shown to be feeling those feelings. They don’t originate from him, but their presence mingles with his own emotions to produce something darker and more irritated. Their presence also acts as a gateway of sorts, where the latent anger and sadness that Sonic can’t suppress makes it harder for him to put away his own feelings. Couple that with his physical pain from his sprained ankle (on the same leg he busted up a few issues prior), and soon, Sonic snaps for the first time in the entire IDW comic’s run.

I love whenever Sonic’s anger is allowed to shine because he is never enraged for petty reasons. Sonic has an attitude that often leads him to cranky comments, but Sonic is genuinely angry here because it hurts him to see someone speak so lowly of themselves, to have been hurt by the world so poorly. Mecha Sonic is also yet another person who has been created by Eggman’s terror specific to oppose Sonic. It’s another example of Surge’s “I will kill you or die trying” with the added complexity of Mecha’s attempt at redemption being corrupted by the trauma of Eggman’s influence. This puts pressure on Sonic because these impositions put Mecha, Surge, Kit, and others like them in direct opposition to Sonic for reasons entirely of no fault of his own—and that angers him. All Sonic strives to do with his life and his gift is help people, and to have so many people come out of the woodworks to say that the only thing he can do to help them is to kill himself is absolutely devastating to him. Not only because he believes in the direct opposite—that the only person who can give one purpose is oneself—but because it threatens to strip his own purpose away from him whenever these notions are unearthed.

Sonic isn’t angry at Mecha, personally. He’s angry at the system created to hurt them both.

The most important thing to remember is that, unless I fully missed something*, that strange mind-link thing between Sonic and Mecha Sonic is never undone. After Sonic cries Mecha Sonic’s tears, the story cuts to Tails officially deprogramming Mecha Sonic and Mecha Knuckles from Eggman’s directives, but it’s never explicitly stated that Mecha Sonic’s and Sonic’s mental link was reversed.

It can be reasonably assumed that it occurs off-screen (off-page? Outside of what is shown to the reader) because that would make general sense, but then again, so did the reprogramming, and that was explicitly mentioned. Further, it’s a general rule in writing for media that if you want something to be known about your story, it needs to be shown to the audience if not alluded to or directly referred to having happened. So, this is either an oversight, or it’s entirely intentional.

* The only way I can imagine this being accounted for is that the machine that linked Sonic and Mecha’s brains, the Egg Noggin, is (obviously) an Eggman device. Thus, whenever Tails removed Eggman’s programming from Mecha Sonic and Mecha Knuckles, perhaps it also restored Sonic’s brain to normal. This, however, feels like a bit of a stretch because we never see or hear of Sonic needing or receiving any treatment, but I am willing to consider it to be a viable reason. Either way, I think the point I’m about to make still stands as either a physical change or an emotional change in Sonic’s character.

This experience, this sharing of minds in such an intimate way where they can both so clearly hear each other’s hearts, taught them something. I read this as some sort of floodgates being opened, where while Mecha Sonic can more easily feel compassion and listen to the good in his core, Sonic now more clearly feels his anger and has a harder time suppressing his emotions. Whether there is lasting physical damage left in Sonic or he’s simply reeling from the depth of his emotions felt in this adventure, there’s been a clear impact.

Even if Sonic isn’t fully delving into things just yet, he’s taken a lesson away from all of this.

(From the IDW Endless Summer One-Shot, set between issue 64 and issue 65 and after the 900th adventure one-shot)

If nothing else, Sonic clearly understands trauma better now. Sonic is absolutely traumatized by his experiences with Eggman and other high-stakes adventures, but again, due to his tendency to push away his darker emotions, he hasn’t processed much of this. Sonic puts all his sadness and rage and fear and confusion into box after box after box before shoving everything onto a big, cluttered shelf, never to be seen again… until now. With such a clear look into the mind of someone actively reeling through trauma, a trauma so like his own, that shelf has collapsed, and now everything is spilling onto the floor before Sonic, quick as can be, can stop it.

Sonic is finally starting to understand the bigger picture, but I don’t think he’s fully on the path of self-awareness. I think there’s more boiling under the surface, more than even he realizes. And if Sonic keeps taking these micro-risks (instead of his usual Hail-Marys) that are fueled by his anger, like storming the Eggperial City too soon, then something will have to give.

Scrapnik Island is incredibly important to the IDW storyline because it showcases not only Sonic learning the depths of his pain and the pain of others but also yet another nail in Eggman’s coffin.

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

One day

One day I hope people realize that Kitsunami already "broke through his programming" back by issue #56 of Idw Sonic

He had an entire mini arc where he dealt with being without Surge for the first time, and in the real world. He met Sonic and his friends directly, tried to work out what his purpose would be without Surge in his life (gave it a shot trying to devote himself to Sonic, seeing him as the next best thing after Surge). And when it was all said and done, he decided after experiencing more that at Surge's side is where he wanted to be.

As of the recent IDW issues, Kit isn't sticking with Surge "because of programming" and "because he just needs for other characters to friend him and turn him into a better person". He is at her side because he wants to be. He protects her and aids her because he cares about her, not just because he's serving the strongest guy in the room. And he's not interacting with others because he's decided not to give a shit about anyone else other than Surge (because from his pov, even the "good guys" are fake. From his pov, everyone is someone trying to lie and manipulate their way into pulling him and Surge to their side)

Kit already has decided what he wants to do with his life. And he decided it on his own. Not because of anyone else's wants or wishes. That's the whole point of his speech at the end of #56.

He's burying whatever his and Surge's past is and moving forward with his conviction to be with Surge because it's what he wants.

[the-sky-queen]

Hey if anyone knows where to find this one post about IDW issue 56 entitled "6 seconds ago" where it goes into Sonic's POV when he died for a second, please let me know. I can't remember where I found it and I need it in my life again.

[keykidpilipili]

Surge the tenrec is truly furry lesbian Repliku

[lyrarizii]

I don't know but

Sonic unleashed opening cutscene + sonic idw 56 + sonic scrapnik island

Are all times when sonic got heavy voltage experience, some are worse than the others but still.

How is that poor boi not terrified of ⚡ yet?

[felikatze]

Rambling about IDW Amy because i love her

(i've currently only read to #56 so this post only covers up to there)

actually i'm still thinking abt amy. i really love how amy has this like, very quiet character arc in idw? she's introduced fighting alongside sonic and she has FUN and it's a blast and an escape for her and she sighs going back to the resistance. and it gets even WORSE when knuckles ditches to go back to angel island and amy is just The Leader Now.

what makes it great is that amy is a pretty compassionate character to begin with. she wants to help people!! both because she admires sonic being a hero i think but also because she just likes doing it. but her help for others tends to be on the more personable level rather than grand saving the world business. like how often is amy just a core supporting character (this is not an insult) and helps prop people up to do the hero-ing instead. like big examples of her being personable and compassionate in games being the SA games with gamma and how she was the one who got shadow to turn around, or her supporting role for silver in 06.

and like, again, her help is on a personal level. and she wants to help everyone, she really does. because now, with the restoration, she is Responsible for everyone. she doesn't just want to make people happy, she has to. as again, contrasted by knuckles being the lone hero type - the status quo is restored, so he's done, bye, while amy tries to get the people back to actually happily living their lives and moving on from trauma and whatnot, instead of just removing The Big Threat.

and she's the only one of the core cast who's gonna do that. who's gonna see beyond the big hero shtick. but it is simply Too Much <3 it is too much. she's constantly tired and exhausted. it's ACTIVIST BURNOUT BABEYYYYY

in making herself responsible for Everyone, she stops being able to help people on the personal level she's used to. and she CONSTANTLY grumbles about her job, about how she hates large scale organizing and logistics and all this dumb shit that actually goes into running a huge organization.

notable here how when she's w the restoration, she Immediately perks up when Sonic & co. show up, and ya ya, her crush on Sonic, but also because like, again, back to her introduction! The hero stuff becomes going back to her roots, making a big tangible difference, getting out of the minutae - it's an escape. yknow, that's what sonic stands for, and all. freedom. being w sonic and the gang, even outside her persistent infatuation (which she even tamps down to get to business!), sonic is freedom, to her.

and it all comes to a head w the zombot arc, obviously, because if running a rebuilding squad was tough, running a zombie apocalypse shelter is worse, just constant setbacks and losses and stress and Everything Sucks So Bad For Everyone.

there's not really a great big moment of realization for amy to step down, it's just that Tangle goes, hey, i got this friend who likes bureocracy, and amy JUMPS at the opportunity.

and after that, amy starts joining main storylines more often (e.g. chao races!! hanging out w cream and rouge!) and she's having more fun and obviously way less Fucking Stressed all the time.

thinking abt the camping arc or whatever it's called (i will never remember names of arcs) where amy takes the girls on a roadtrip. belle is experiencing major daddy issues, tangle is dealing with a breakup (kinda), and jewel is unsure of herself, and amy forces all of them to take a break. she's paying it forward!

and you see her in that arc slot right on back into that supporting role she's so much more comfortable in, in how she supports and encourages jewel to develop the leadership abilities amy knows she has, and this does actually help jewel step up to bat and solve the crisis.

amy's learned that she can't be responsible for everyone, or she's just gonna run herself into the ground without helping anyone, and her solution for that is to limit her scope. she focuses on her friends, on the people in her immediate surroundings, the people she knows and connects with. what she's good at.

which is!! such a good direction to take her character!! man!! i know ppl r complaining abt amy's crush on sonic being toned down in recent games (generations remaster WHAT are you doing) and i think the idw comics did a FANTASTIC job expanding her character beyond her crush (while still keeping it, even), by extrapolating the emotional impact of how she fares from her role in forces!! (considering how weak forces' writing is, isn't that Fucking Incredible.)

anyways, this is probably my favorite take on Amy <3 go girl set limits to your compassion because bleeding hearts can only bleed out <3 also again like fun Recontextualization what the crush on sonic means for her like, symbolically. it's good.

[rainbow-beanie]

My reaction to sonic idw issue #56

Wow, it was actually pretty nice of eggman to save sonic from being electrocuted in the water. Pretty sure his main reason for doing so is because he wants to be the one to defeat sonic, and not be outdone by electric water.

A few pages later…

WHA- HOLY SHIIIIIT!!! I’m upset this had been brought up in the next issue, since I’m pretty sure hearing sonic had been thrown into electric water would be greatly troubling. But the restoration had to take down an eggman city, so guess that had to take priority. Not that Sonic would ever admit he had been badly hurt

[beevean]

It’s actually scummy for Flynn to hand Evan the keys to a comic with a publisher on its last legs. He probably didn’t intend that. But I don’t know him personally to say. flynn at least has an influence on the franchise now while Evan and the others are nowhere close to his position, I hope they can continue working on sonic despite my grievances with the IDW staff.

That feels a bit uncharitable. I think they can decide who writes on what (I remember Stanley taking over the Eggperial Arc specifically to write Shadow), but we don't have enough proof to say that Flynn dumped IDW on Stanley's doorstep to make her handle a slowly dying comic. It's more likely that he's busy noawadays, or Stanley decided to write this arc, I don't know there are more possibilities.

The scummiest thing Flynn did regarding to Stanley was talking over her story when #56 came out. Why did he say that Sonic died for six seconds when Surge electrocuted him? Why didn't he say to please go ask Stanley on her Tumblr since she was the writers? Why does he have to talk and be in the spotlight?

and,of course, the fact that those two keep destroying each other's characters :P

[ponchcronch]

Oh Poncho, a deep analysis of the green hedgehog’s psyche is exactly what I’m looking for and I will be thrilled for that day when that’s all unleashed. 

I also wonder, only because I see nobody else talking about this, if you can, are you able to share briefly on what did Zobotnik mean by remolding Scourge into a force of good? 

It’s just the way he phrased that, made me think Scourge was going to be USED as a living weapon of some sorts. This is a version of Eggman after all.

And it’s those choice of words that made me had a thought about…,I know IDW and Archie have two different continuities, but Kit’s line from issue 56 comes up because of those kind of intentions. (And people do compare Surge to Scourge a lot, y’know how it goes.) 

“All that matters is what we can do. How can you change us. So you can prove your way is right.” 

While it can be argued how it’s not exactly true in IDW’s case, I think it was gonna be actually true in Scourge’s case had they succeeded in his rehabilitation. It’s not about him becoming a good person or even resolving his clear mental issues. That therapy was “optional”. He’s always been labeled as the Evil or Anti Sonic. Why actually change him? The Zone cops have been shown to leave certain things the way they are even if detrimental for some universal balance.  *issue 197

We just never get to see what these supposed reformed criminals look like, and Zouge’s therapy seems to rarely stick considering how quickly the inmates seem to resort back to their own ways despite months of “progress”. 

I might be looking too deeply and too literally into the lines myself, but still, the implications.

Oh yeah, thanks for the meme btw. 

Personally, I don’t think Zobotnik was ever molding Scourge to be a force of good; I mean, look at the tactics. He basically encouraged other inmates to beat the crap outta scourge until he was mentally broken. That’s not how you rehabilitate someone; that’s how you make someone a soldier, like you said.

What probably messed me up the most about that arc is how close zobotnik got to basically brainwashing him.

I mean, man’s support system was already trash, and he was pushed far enough to not trust the little support he had. If Fiona wasn’t able to talk him out of it (aka boost his ego), he might have been stuck in a baddd situation.

Scourge is also the perfect candidate for that kind of manipulation; he’s got a fragile ego and he can’t handle the kind of humiliation he was going through.

But considering Zobotnik, I have a neat theory… in that arc, you can see a great bit of tension between Zonic and Zobotnik. Zonic is top zone cop, and Zobotnik is just a warden (dude obviously wants more power). Maybe that’s why zobotnik was ‘rehabilitating’ scourge—he was the first alternate sonic that ended up in zone jail and he wanted to use his power to take over. Idk.

God now I’m imagining this as an au.. my brain… scourge in an enerjak like situation would destroy me bro