80 replies to this topic

[furrykef]

He brought his sword because again, that's what he always brings. Just like Amy always brings her hammer, or Rotor always brings his stomach.

I'd hate to see Rotor travel without his stomach.

[blue]

He brought his sword because again, that's what he always brings. Just like Amy always brings her hammer, or Rotor always brings his stomach. They brought out all the Freedom Fighters they had, and even equipped them with some Extreme Gear. It's the same thing they did with the Death Egg, only without one of the planes.

Don't you mean Rotor's intelligence?

[furrykef]

Maybe his intelligence is in his stomach.

[Speedy_25]

This is what everyone is talking about!!!!



Sonic #234: Sonic's Identity Crisis

• 3 days, 10 hours ago by ~gameboysage
• Journals / Personal

The unnecessary darkening of an entire franchise, ridiculous retcons, the insulting altering of many characters personalities just to make the story work, shock value and dark twists at every turn, shock value deaths or possible deaths for no other reason then just to make the story darker and more depressing due to the false belief that darker is better.....these are things that can be used to describe the recent Sonic the Hedgehog comics for the past year. However, it is also the exact same thing you can use to describe DC's Identity Crisis. This was a move by DC to make their comics darker and more depressing due to the fact that they thought Marvel was doing better then them thanks to darker story lines when in fact it was mostly due to Marvel having better story lines and advertising. Many people consider it a stain on DC's existence while others hail it was one great story.

For more info on this, you can watch Linkara's take on Identity Crisis here as well as why it was so flawed, with a ton of it having some amazingly similar comparisons to Sonic as of late: [link]

Essentially, Identity Crisis was a great divider. Unlike many stories, some people hated it and some people loved it, mostly based on preferences and what you enjoy to see in your comics. Do you like the heroes winning or do you like seeing them die at any moment? Do you like seeing them victorious or do you like seeing them devastated and broken as they hold their dead loved ones in their arms? Do you like stories that treats the characters with respect, or are you fine with their personalities being mutilated and altered just to fix the story? Do you consider this "just a comic book" or do you take more of a sports approach to these things and get mentally invested in them the way the fans do at sports game? The way you answer these questions will greatly decide if you hate or love Identity Crisis.

Why did I start a review for Sonic #234 like this? Because right now Sonic is going through his own version of Identity Crisis. An unnecessary darkening of the Sonic the Hedgehog universe that doesn't add a single thing to the story being told and is used just to be darker and make everything more depressing. I'll talk about this more farther down though.

#234 is a short and simple comic, once in which looking at the extra story at the end can be talked about before the main story. In the extra story we get a relatively pointless backstory that talked about Robotnik (the original Robotnik that's long dead...not the one currently in charge and talking to Naugus) and Naugus. What's important of this side story is the fact that Naugus is the one that told Robotnik that Elias was leaving the city and allowed him to ambush and attack him. You can tell Naugus will only become worse and worse as the stories go on based on this.

Now for the main story, Sonic, Tails, Amy, Bunnie and Antoine are set to escort Elias out of the city and not only is Tail's plane fixed....but Antoine and Bunnie are using hover boards. I already have massive issues with this, since it makes my wonder WHY DIDN'T SONIC USE ANY OF THESE TO GO AND SAVE SALLY? Would he have really waited around watching Geoffrey's trial if he could have used any of these to reach the Death Egg? It seems that Sonic even slept the night before escorting Elias so it raises even more questions. Already we have some rather stupid plotholes jumping out at us.

Not long into the escort the Death Egg shows up and we learn that Bunnie isn't handling her flesh and blood body well at all. As the robot goons come out she tries to use her arm blaster and remembers that she doesn't have one anymore (why...didn't she think of bringing any weapon at all? Antoine has a sword, Amy has her hammer, Sonic doesn't need one and Tails is flying his plane, so what's the deal Bunnie?). Soon into the scramble Robotnik sends out Metal Sonic and Mecha Sally and Bunnie gets tossed aside like a Fly by Metal Sonic and then Mecha Sally knocks her out cold in one hit, saying how useless she is now without her cybernetics. Mecha Sally then goes on to destroy Tails' plane and Robotnik orders Metal Sonic to self destruct onto Elias vehicle. Sonic goes to intercept him but Mecha Sally stops him, leaving Elias open for an attack by Metal Sonic. Sonic begs Sally to fight it but she is pretty much 100% gone at this point, nothing more then a brainwashed puppet for Robotnik to order around. With no other options, Antoine grabs on to Metal Sonic and pulls him away from the vehicle and Robotnik orders him to self destruct...blowing up Antoine in point blank range and sending his body plummeting to the ground.

That's right folks....a robot suicide bomber just horribly injured one of the main Freedom Fights for the last 19 years....

Upon his victory, Robotnik orders a retreat, sending Mecha Sally back and starts to celebrate, leaving the FF to pick up the pieces. Sonic is completely devastated and lost and Bunnie is holding Antoine in her hands, crying and equally as devastated, with Amy and Tails crying in the background. Sonic claims that there is still a chance since Antoine is still breathing and rushes to take him to the doctors and we end with Antoine's hand falling limp and lifeless to his side with a quote from him saying that it was always an honor fighting with his friends for the greater good.

THE END

[PuffinGrandeur]

Now for the main story, Sonic, Tails, Amy, Bunnie and Antoine are set to escort Elias out of the city and not only is Tail's plane fixed....but Antoine and Bunnie are using hover boards. I already have massive issues with this, since it makes my wonder WHY DIDN'T SONIC USE ANY OF THESE TO GO AND SAVE SALLY? Would he have really waited around watching Geoffrey's trial if he could have used any of these to reach the Death Egg? It seems that Sonic even slept the night before escorting Elias so it raises even more questions. Already we have some rather stupid plotholes jumping out at us

Nope. I'm out, too dumb.

[John Roberts]

SataM fans don't care if Antoine dies

Speak for yourself, champ. Season 1 Antoine was a lot of fun. Season 2... not so much.

Dulcy: Now THERE'S a satAM character that can be brutally plot murdered!

[furrykef]

I've said it many times before and I'll say it again: Antoine was one of the (very few) things that was done better in Archie Sonic's very earliest days than in either the show or later in the comic. Less of a coward and more of a dull bureaucrat, and didn't have his stupid accent written in.

[blue]

This is what everyone is talking about!!!!



Sonic #234: Sonic's Identity Crisis

• 3 days, 10 hours ago by ~gameboysage
• Journals / Personal

The unnecessary darkening of an entire franchise, ridiculous retcons, the insulting altering of many characters personalities just to make the story work, shock value and dark twists at every turn, shock value deaths or possible deaths for no other reason then just to make the story darker and more depressing due to the false belief that darker is better.....these are things that can be used to describe the recent Sonic the Hedgehog comics for the past year. However, it is also the exact same thing you can use to describe DC's Identity Crisis. This was a move by DC to make their comics darker and more depressing due to the fact that they thought Marvel was doing better then them thanks to darker story lines when in fact it was mostly due to Marvel having better story lines and advertising. Many people consider it a stain on DC's existence while others hail it was one great story.

For more info on this, you can watch Linkara's take on Identity Crisis here as well as why it was so flawed, with a ton of it having some amazingly similar comparisons to Sonic as of late: [link]

Essentially, Identity Crisis was a great divider. Unlike many stories, some people hated it and some people loved it, mostly based on preferences and what you enjoy to see in your comics. Do you like the heroes winning or do you like seeing them die at any moment? Do you like seeing them victorious or do you like seeing them devastated and broken as they hold their dead loved ones in their arms? Do you like stories that treats the characters with respect, or are you fine with their personalities being mutilated and altered just to fix the story? Do you consider this "just a comic book" or do you take more of a sports approach to these things and get mentally invested in them the way the fans do at sports game? The way you answer these questions will greatly decide if you hate or love Identity Crisis.

Why did I start a review for Sonic #234 like this? Because right now Sonic is going through his own version of Identity Crisis. An unnecessary darkening of the Sonic the Hedgehog universe that doesn't add a single thing to the story being told and is used just to be darker and make everything more depressing. I'll talk about this more farther down though.

#234 is a short and simple comic, once in which looking at the extra story at the end can be talked about before the main story. In the extra story we get a relatively pointless backstory that talked about Robotnik (the original Robotnik that's long dead...not the one currently in charge and talking to Naugus) and Naugus. What's important of this side story is the fact that Naugus is the one that told Robotnik that Elias was leaving the city and allowed him to ambush and attack him. You can tell Naugus will only become worse and worse as the stories go on based on this.

Now for the main story, Sonic, Tails, Amy, Bunnie and Antoine are set to escort Elias out of the city and not only is Tail's plane fixed....but Antoine and Bunnie are using hover boards. I already have massive issues with this, since it makes my wonder WHY DIDN'T SONIC USE ANY OF THESE TO GO AND SAVE SALLY? Would he have really waited around watching Geoffrey's trial if he could have used any of these to reach the Death Egg? It seems that Sonic even slept the night before escorting Elias so it raises even more questions. Already we have some rather stupid plotholes jumping out at us.

Not long into the escort the Death Egg shows up and we learn that Bunnie isn't handling her flesh and blood body well at all. As the robot goons come out she tries to use her arm blaster and remembers that she doesn't have one anymore (why...didn't she think of bringing any weapon at all? Antoine has a sword, Amy has her hammer, Sonic doesn't need one and Tails is flying his plane, so what's the deal Bunnie?). Soon into the scramble Robotnik sends out Metal Sonic and Mecha Sally and Bunnie gets tossed aside like a Fly by Metal Sonic and then Mecha Sally knocks her out cold in one hit, saying how useless she is now without her cybernetics. Mecha Sally then goes on to destroy Tails' plane and Robotnik orders Metal Sonic to self destruct onto Elias vehicle. Sonic goes to intercept him but Mecha Sally stops him, leaving Elias open for an attack by Metal Sonic. Sonic begs Sally to fight it but she is pretty much 100% gone at this point, nothing more then a brainwashed puppet for Robotnik to order around. With no other options, Antoine grabs on to Metal Sonic and pulls him away from the vehicle and Robotnik orders him to self destruct...blowing up Antoine in point blank range and sending his body plummeting to the ground.

That's right folks....a robot suicide bomber just horribly injured one of the main Freedom Fights for the last 19 years....

Upon his victory, Robotnik orders a retreat, sending Mecha Sally back and starts to celebrate, leaving the FF to pick up the pieces. Sonic is completely devastated and lost and Bunnie is holding Antoine in her hands, crying and equally as devastated, with Amy and Tails crying in the background. Sonic claims that there is still a chance since Antoine is still breathing and rushes to take him to the doctors and we end with Antoine's hand falling limp and lifeless to his side with a quote from him saying that it was always an honor fighting with his friends for the greater good.

THE END

Yeah, sorry I didn't explain it clearly because I didn't want to spoil it for people who didn't see issue 234

[blue]

SataM fans don't care if Antoine dies

Speak for yourself, champ. Season 1 Antoine was a lot of fun. Season 2... not so much.

Dulcy: Now THERE'S a satAM character that can be brutally plot murdered!

I like Antoine in both seasons of SatAM and I don't mind Dulcy.

[chief]

SataM fans don't care if Antoine dies

Speak for yourself, champ. Season 1 Antoine was a lot of fun. Season 2... not so much.

Dulcy: Now THERE'S a satAM character that can be brutally plot murdered!

I need to agree here. I did like Ant as a character quite a bit

As for Dulcy... I think the potential could have been there for her to be a interesting character. Sadly that was over shadowed by all her annoying attributes.

[Speedy_25]

but then there's Sonuc Universe: 30 years later arc, they show Ant, and Bunnie's kids, now the questions stands, if Ant gets "killed", now do they have kids?

[Gojira007]

I'm pretty sure the M:25/30YL timeline is one of those "one of only many possible futures" things. Consequently, just because Ant's alive in THAT future, it doesn't necessarily mean he'll live in the present as portrayed in the Comic. Though for what it's worth, I'm fairly sure he WILL survive.

[LaserX5]

Speak for yourself, champ. Season 1 Antoine was a lot of fun. Season 2... not so much.

Agreed. Antoine may not be the most popular character, but he does have his place in the series.

Dulcy: Now THERE'S a satAM character that can be brutally plot murdered!

Ehh... roboticized and used as a weapon against the Freedom Fighters would more than be enough IMHO.

But that's just me.

[blue]

You always think there's more behind the scenes.
How is this a slap in the face to anybody? So he got hurt. So things are tense right now. How is that necessarily bad? Is a good writer going to have Antoine come out unscathed and victorious at everything he does? Is making things dangerous something that should be AVOIDED because the fans asked for it? This is all very big and some of it's shocking, but it's hardly out of control.

Keeping Antoine alive is what's a slap in the face for SataM fans, considering his character in the original show.

The reason why I said that is because if Antoine survived from his injuries, then it would be a cop out to the fans and the fact that this is evidence that Ian is trying to erase SatAM concepts.It's not that I'm against it, but there are some people who probably won't like it because Antoine, Sally Acorn, Bunnie, Dulcy, Lupe, etc. kept fans hoping that this is the loose continuation of SatAM which to me I honestly doubt it. If they want they want to.

[MistressAli]

SataM fans don't care if Antoine dies

Speak for yourself, champ. Season 1 Antoine was a lot of fun. Season 2... not so much.

No kidding. Don't say all the SatAM fans could care less about Ant's death. WTH. I like Antoine! Both seasons, even.
And just to clarify, I prefer SatAM Antoine to Archie's. I'm not sure why every character has to be brave and noble. Why one character can't behave in a manner that many humans would (ie: trying to save their own skin, being afraid, trying to cover up their fear with pompousness, etc...) Yeah, they overdid it at times.
When Ant started becoming a true figher in Archie... I tuned out. It didn't feel like him.

[chief]

They made Ant brave and noble?

[RedMenace]

Sort of like making Stephen Hawking a triathlete.

[MistressAli]

Heh, well, maybe not noble, but Archie did make him brave. He doesn't have any trouble running into the fray, doesn't act scared and isn't bumbling at all. He fits in with everyone else now. Yay.

[PuffinGrandeur]

Actually compared to the others he is still bumbling and cowardly. Just not so much that he's hated: he'll stand his ground when it comes to something that's important, and he knows how to swing his sword and act as a royal soldier when he's focused. But he's still comic relief like he always was, just not to a hateful extent.

[MoKat]

I never said Antoine shouldn't have been out there, but pondering why Antoine didn't go with any weapon in hand(besides his sword)

He can fly with a hoverboard, but can't bring a weapon to help repel back a possible attack during the transfer?

*snip*

If they were going to help transfer Elias and his family to safety, why not have some form of protection to be on the safe side, especially since Eggman by that point was extremely unpredictable?

Even if that Metal Sonic didn't explode, it still would have kicked Antoine's butt because he's not that strong.

And I clearly saw Bunnie was useless in a battle now that she's deroboticized.

I think Laser has a good point there. If there was time enough to grab Extreme Gear, there was time enough for some of the gang to grab better weapons...or at the very least energy shields. You don't bring (just) a knife to a gunfight; ideally ya bring a gun (or 3), lots of ammo, -and- a knife

As for Ant being there, he's a Royal Guard; it's his duty to protect his King. I concede that he should have been better prepared to do so, but at least Ant has legitimate excuse for getting involved.