prince turned runaway

3 15 16 22 smirks

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

ok if im being honest im STILL thinking about ytp/exploding hotdogs inthe micrwave-amy. NO SHE WOULD FUCKING NOTTTTT you guys just think that any girl liking traditionally feminine things automatically = no personality so the only way you can wrap your head around "fixing her" is making her less "girly". im still going to war over what ppl are doing to amy. literally no one on the planet understands amy like i do and shes not even one of my faves. i dont even enjoy understanding her like she's my own daughter i do it like its an obligation like im legally required. i also recently learned that "does naruto having blonde hair and blue eyes mean he's white-coded" is legitimate discourse and i fr think you all need serious help

15. that one thing you see in fanart all the time

ok this is my biggest hater opinion and i KNOWWWW its like unnecessarily pissy so i havent said antyhing abt it until now but i think you might understand me. I DONT LIKE IT WHEN PEOPLE GIVE SHADOW SOME LITTLE THING TO TAKE CARE OF. I DONT LIKE HIS CHAO AND I DONT LIKE [expunged for my and others' safety] AND I DONT LIKE WHEN PEOPLE JUST GIVE HIM CATS. HE CANT TAKE CARE OF LITTLE CREATURES HE DOESNT CARE TO DO THAT HE DOESNT WANT TO HE JUST DOES NOT HAVE THE CARETAKERS SOUL LIKE HES NOT DOING THAT. HES NOT DOING THAT. BUT PPL DRAW IT ALLLLL THE TIMEE.......... IS THERE NO OTHER WAY WE CAN SHOW HIS SOFT SIDE THEN GIVING HIM SOME LITTLE CREATURE. HES NOT DOING THAT SHIT!!!!!!!!!! its so stupid bc its not even like ooc NECESSARILY i mean his chao exists in at least some canons and theres nothing really saying it COULDNT happen and its such a harmless thing to be a hater about BUT I HATE ITTTTTT also when ppl make the hedgehogs wag their tails BE SO SERIOUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

literally every ship with amy. i think you guys just are desperate to ship her w someone. AROACE AMY SWEEP. ASK ME ABOUT MY AROACE AMY AGENDA!!! also i know youve talked about this 1 million times but i cannot fucking stand how the greater fandom talks about scourge bc none of them even KNOW HIM AT ALL and miss literally EVERYTHING that makes his character interesting and fun bc you didnt even READ ARCHIE you just decided to take this one dude out and sand him of everything of note so you can make him a sad little meow meow ToT SONIC HAS PLENTY OF SAD LITTLE MEOW MEOWS CANT A GUY JTSU SUCK??? CANT HE JUST BE A TERRIBLE LOSER? COME ONNNNNNN but ofc you wouldnt understand bc you didnt even READ ARCHIEEEEEE.

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

JULIE SU. JULIE SU. JULIE SU ALWAYS. theres literally so much that could be said and expanded upon w her family and background and not even in the way that canon didnt give her anything at all and you gotta diy everything, shes SUCH A FUN CHARACTER shes so funny and such a jerk and everyone writes her off as "girl knuckles" so fast that they wont even LOOK at how much unique personality she has and how UNIQUE her relationship w knuckles is LIKE.... ken penders actually gave js a fun and unique and dope personality, the FANS are the ones writing her off as girl knuckles. ummmmm its not looking good for you people! and theres the assumption ig that all the romances in archie just suck bc theres sort of a lot of them, obviously i dont like every one COUGHken and sallyCOUGH but like ToT KNUXSU IS SO SO SO GOOD.... THE WAY THEY TALK TO EACH OTHER IS SO GOOD like you guys wipe every characters personality to put them in a ship, then talk about knuxsu as if thats the issue with it and why you dont like it, but. ITS NOT EVEN LIKE THAT. AND IF IT WAS SHOULDNT YOU LIKE THAT SORT OF SLOPim sounding like lorillee rn. QPR KNUXSU AGENDA WILL NEVER DIE

and in the same vein as js, lien da also. ppl just in passing say that either shes hot or shes ugly and no one talks about that creepy as fuck issue where eggman surgically put her back together. that issue was so fucking dope. shes so awesome. i love you lien da you are terrible and i love you.

obviously literally just all of archie. nobody talks about archie. i fucking love archie but everyones too scared. i wish i could make that au

Type: Chaos Energy Theories and General Worldbuilding

Under a read more, if you're curious just open up the post!

I'm warning you, there's a lot of info here. But it does explain lots of things, soooo up to youuuuu~.

So! A proper explanation of how Chaos Energy works in each world that my muses are in (the main universes, anyway). Alongside a little bit of tech-explanation per world. This-- will take me a lil' while to make. Let's get to it!

General

Before we get down to brass tacks, there's something that needs to be understood about how all of my versions of Mobius deal with Chaos Energy- the thing put out by both the Master and Chaos Emeralds.

'Chaos Energy' is produced by all living beings- with mobians and humans (if the universe has humans) putting out the most amount of Chaos Energy. A way to think of it would be like life force/aura- constantly pushing out of the body like a steady stream. Like Nen from Hunter x Hunter, it can be trained and specialized towards specific abilities- like Sonic's supernatural speed, Knuckles'/Amy's strength, or Shadow's 'Chaos' attacks.

Also like life force/aura/Nen, an overload of it- or completely lacking it- results in death. Mobians/humans who are sick generally put out less Chaos Energy, which others around them can 'sense' to a degree. Only highly-specialized Chaos Energy wielders can actually see Chaos Energy, though. For most, it's just a general sense. And of course, being overloaded with it- interacting with the Chaos Emeralds or Master Emerald- can result in death for the untrained wielder. There have been legends of beings who could wield the powers of the Chaos Emeralds/Master Emerald, but those are just old fairy tales- until Sonic & Co./Eggman began their constant struggle for the powerful gems.

Of course, this means that mobians and humans (regardless of universe) are like natural Chaos Energy batteries- so long as they aren't drained of too much, and are kept alive, they will continue to produce Chaos Energy indefinitely. For Dr. Eggman, this resulted in him experimenting and finding out that a creature even as small as a rabbit or a bird, if kept alive inside a robotic shell, could power his mechanical minions essentially indefinitely.

However, beyond that- the way Chaos Energy itself functions outside of mobians/humans, and how it is approached, differs per universe on this blog. So now we can actually delve into the differences!

Sandstorm

The universe of Sandstorm is high-tech, low magic. Chaos Energy is treated essentially like an ultra-powerful electricity source, and almost nothing else. Magic is possible, but only through the unknown power of the Chaos Emeralds.- And usually, it results in things like Super Forms. Super Forms can only be granted by making a deal with the Chaos Emeralds. In this world, the Chaos Emeralds are pseudo-sentient- and like to keep everything in 'balance'. In order to have a Super Form, which requires a lot of 'Light' Chaos Energy... One must be willing to make a deal to absorb the same amount of 'Dark' Chaos Energy, whether all at once or over time. This shows for Sonic as his werehog form, which he is permanently stuck having every single night.

If one's internal Chaos Energy evolves enough (or it is trained/honed to a degree), it will begin to output its own form of power. You can think of this like an artist first starting and drawing stick figures (those who never train/evolve their Chaos Energy), vs. an artist of thirty or so years of practice putting out masterpieces (those who train/evolve their Chaos Energy).

Beings like Bless and Silver have subconsciously trained their Chaos Energy from birth, thanks to the environment they grew up in. This resulted in super speed (Bless does love to run) and telekinesis.

Right now, the Chaos Emeralds for the universe of Sandstorm are missing- but the world (in the past year or so) has recovered greatly from the damage caused to it by Eggman's multiple attempts to take it over- to the point that hovercars are a thing, not just hoverboards- and floating cities are officially the norm (though Node and Bless choose to live on the ground).

Sandstorm has dealt with neither S. W. O. R. D. nor the Chaos Temple, since neither organization exist in that universe.- Yet.

Enlighted Darkness

The universe of Enlightened Darkness is modern-tech, but high magic. Chaos Energy, in this world, functions on a far more mystical property than in Sandstorm, where it's effectively a muscle. Here, Chaos Energy is the source of all spells, from the power behind runes to the source of flying bolts of energy, to massive summoning circles and glyphs used to harness the elements. There is no 'catch-all' to the magic used in this world- you can use a summoning circle just as well as you can use glyphs, but each way to use magic comes with its own costs to one's internal Chaos Energy.

The more physical elements there are in a spell, the less Chaos Energy it requires of the caster- so things like potions are borderline inconsequential, though potions in of themselves are hard to craft, so potion breweries aren't exactly common (but they do exist, and drive high prices for their products). Those who can cast spells without uttering a word, moving, barely even thinking- have access to almost instantaneous magic, but the Chaos Energy cost is almost a hundredfold that of what it would be for a potion-maker.

One's internal Chaos Energy is usually the power one draws from to use magic, so most regular citizens are careful about what spells and magic they learn. However, for those with more Chaos Energy than normal (or special talents concerning Chaos Energy), they're usually gifted to the Chaos Temple- an organization that praises the gods Light Gaia and Solaris, while condemning Dark Gaia, Iblis, and Mephiles. After Dark Gaia's release onto Mobius, the Chaos Temple has been gathering supporters- trying to figure out Dark Gaia's true form and kill the beast for its crimes over the millennia.

The Chaos Temple is currently unaware of Mephiles' existence.

Alongside that, in this universe, there is S. W. O. R. D.- an agency that works essentially for its own ends. unlike G. U. N. (which does not exist in this world) S. W. O. R. D. seeks advancement and power at all costs.- Including innocent lives, and the lives of their own soldiers. They'll kill, steal, blackmail, poison, destroy- whatever it takes to be the top organization on Mobius.

Since Murk and Tenebrosity are the embodiments of deities in this world, their power is virtually limitless. Or at least, it would be- had they not both taken mortal forms to tread among the living. If Murk's body were to be destroyed, he would just retreat into the shadows until he gained enough energy to return- and Tenebrosity, if her physical form were destroyed, would retreat back to her true form in Mobius' core. Murk has already been weakened due to Iblis' destruction, but Tenebrosity- despite being the result of her own forced awakening and return to snoozeville- is still relatively strong, far stronger than a normal mobian- strong enough to still give Super Sonic a run for his money, if the hedgehog were to try to destroy her mobian form.

Burnt Soul

Burnt Soul is mostly stone-age (with Sonic & Co. and a few scattered mobian cities having modern/slightly-higher-than-usual tech). The world is a semi-barren ruin, and mobian cities/settlements are few and far between. Some still work with only rock and fire, while others have phones, internet, tanks, electricity, the works.- Chaos Energy is not understood here, and it has a mixed set of properties. Chaos Energy can be used to cast very basic spells (if one is careful), but it takes a lot out of the user- and the only method is verbal casting. Super Forms are the only other known mystical use of the Chaos Emeralds/Chaos Energy, though they are insanely hard to achieve if one does not acquire all of the Chaos Emeralds. Only having some of them- or warped versions of them- will result in a 'Dark' Form instead.

For the most part, Chaos Energy in this world is used as electricity- and nothing more. To use it for spells is deemed dangerous to one's health, and Super Forms are for special occasions only, due to how draining a Super Form is on the user.

Neither S. W. O. R. D. nor the Chaos Temple exist in this universe, nor will they ever rise to power/form. G. U. N. exists on Earth, but was never made on this version of Mobius.

Wielders of Chaos - Previously "Cinnamon Twists"

This world is still (in part) a development and not totally set in stone. However, I do know that the technology is modern- and you can guess based on the updated name ('Cinnamon Twists' was a placeholder) that this won't be quite like the others. Magic isn't understood here, but it has the same applications and costs as in Enlightened Darkness- that is to say, any and all types of magic can be used, but since no one has ever bothered to explore it... It's a virtually unknown field.

Alongside that, every human/mobian has a natural elemental affinity- which, when specific requirements are met, will unlock and transform into a type of kinesis. This kinesis is always based on the element one has a special affinity for- and there are many elements. However, the Chaos Emeralds represent seven of the core elements of the world- and the Master Emerald, the most powerful of them all.

If you haven't guessed why I was using a pony icon for this verse yet, then time to guess (and yes, I specifically chose icons per universe, as a sort of theme-pairing from my collection of face claims)!

The Chaos Emeralds in this universe are a legend still, and have yet to be discovered (save the one Cinnamon has), let alone used. Similar (but not quite) like the Elements of Harmony of My Little Pony, there are specific wielders for each Emerald. However, it is not based on elemental matches or who's most compatible with what... It's whoever finds a Chaos Emerald first. Once bonded to a Chaos Emerald, one cannot be bonded to another- but all of them can still be brought together to give one (or multiple) beings a 'Super Form' in order to stop some world-ending catastrophe. There is no 'deal' one needs to make in order to use a Super Form, but it is still a humongous strain on the body and mind.

When the 'Super Form' power of the Emeralds is used, the Chaos Emeralds will scatter after either the user's death or the user sends them away- but the Chaos Emeralds will always, inevitably, find their way back to their owner.

While every type of element is technically canon in this universe (so there's a fucking ton someone please save me), there are seven represented by the Chaos Emeralds themselves... However, Cinn doesn't yet know the elemental affinity of their Chaos Emerald (let alone that it has one), and doesn't know about wielders and whatnot. This was moreso spoken for the sake of whoever comes across this blog, and for potential plotting purposes in AUs and the like.

White - Cinnamon (Gravity) | Element Unknown | Windmill Isle, Apotos Green - Wielder/Element/Location Unknown Purple - Wielder/Element/Location Unknown Teal - Wielder/Element/Location Unknown Blue - Wielder/Element/Location Unknown Red - Wielder/Element/Location Unknown Yellow - Wielder/Element/Location Unknown

Master Emerald - Wielder/Element/Location Unknown

Annnnd I think I'll stop now before I write every plot point I have in mind for all of the worlds mentioned... But that's meant to be a semi-decent explanation of the tech and magic in each world, as well as how Chaos Energy/the Chaos Emeralds factor in!

What happened with green hills?

There was some drama with one of the voice actors, so like working an actor out of already edited and synched audio is hard. That combined with the pandemic my PC repair forcing me to switch drawing programs (and subsequently loosing all the work in progress frames i hade for episode three) kinda killed the project. My grandmother died. At around the same time paramount announced sonic movie 2 and well. Like someones picking up where the movie left off for me, so why bother. Especially since this semester Im actually in an animation class working on stuff that is actually portolio worthy.  Even at shit frames per second that Green Hills ran on, pulling off a series of that scale while also churning out a polished 24fps animation for class every week, requires time and energy I just don’t have. Not during a pandemic. Not while living with covid fatigue. Not while scrambling to work out how finacials and living situations are going to work at the art institute Im attending next year.  Like I kept telling myself that hey id finish this but the more I go on the more I look at green hills and the plot I had for it and just think “this is bad”. I feel bad for ending it and I kinda want to congregate all of my notes for it somewhere eventually. Just for like closure.  Cause I know that thing had and still has fans craving more. I get comments on it on ao3 once a month that say like “cant wait till the next episode” and every time I feel sick with guilt because It’s just not gonna happen. If it continues at all it will be in the form of  raw storyboards like you see in some of my wip shots on the green hills blog. Emphasis on the if. If you want what I would consider to be its closest continuation in terms of plot right now that’s already published, the fic, silicon baby picks up about a year after ivo returns to earth. At around the same time tails and knuckles show up and join the wachowski family. It follows the robotnik perspective for the most part . I’d consider it an epilogue for what would’ve been a finished green hills. I’m really sorry bout it y’all. I swear. Shit keeps me up at night.

Yeah, this is the big one. Grab your popcorn

Sally finally gets a moment to talk to Sonic after being ignored all day, and tells him what’s up. With her being put in charge, and Sonic being her royal consort (basically, the guy who’s committed to marrying her someday but isn’t quite her fiance yet), Sally wants Sonic to stop going on away missions and lead Knothole by her side

Look. Let’s set aside all of our preconceived notions about what a Sonic comic should or shouldn’t be. Ignore the fact that we obviously want to see Sonic go on adventures. Forget it. Let’s look at it from Sally’s perspective for a second

Yes, this is the post in which I explain that “The Slap” isn’t that bad. It’s certainly not great, but it’s not The Worst Thing Ever like it’s been made out to be. I wish I didn’t have to spend my evening writing this, but 15 years of hyperbolic fan outrage (note: some Wikia rando added that “reception” section this year) have forced my hand

First of all, again, Sonic is formally committed to marrying her and ruling alongside her someday. This was established ten issues ago. He was already committed to this. Then, Sonic went and died. Sally still spent an entire year of her life thinking her basically-fiance was dead, and had to deal with shit in Knothole without him as things continued to get worse and worse. No one can just bounce back from that unscathed. After his return, she WANTED to help Sonic and go be a Freedom Fighter on the last mission, but her parents forbade her and the royal guards kept her in the castle. (That SUCKS, but is a whole ‘nother conversation.) She wants to fight by his side and keep him safe, but her parents are forcing her to stay home and be the princess, which only makes her more distraught. Last issue, she broke down into tears when she saw Sonic get shot by M over Eggman’s video feed, and her mother had to console her and reassure her Sonic wasn’t dead

Sally very clearly has PTSD over Sonic’s “death” a year ago. She doesn’t want to lose him again. She’s outright said as much

And also... when she says Sonic isn’t the only hero around, she’s got a point?Sonic barely did anything in the last arc! Tails was the one who outsmarted ADAM. Shadow dealt with Eggman. Bunnie did most of the damage to M and took out an entire fucking aircraft carrier on her own. Knuckles, the Chaotix, Rouge, and Amy took out the robot horde. All Sonic did was land the final attack on M--which, honestly, someone else could’ve done. And he got his arm injured in the process

Add on to this all of the chaos of the last few days. Sally’s barely had a free moment to see Sonic since she found out he was alive. They nearly got nuked by Eggman. They’re being harangued by the paparazzi. It sucks. And hell, it goes back WAY further than this! She spent years as a kid trying to save her parents, and now all they do is belittle her. She found out she had a secret older brother, and then her parents decided he was the more important child. She went through all sorts of relationship drama. She nearly died a few times herself. And now, her parents have decided to leave her in charge of their whole kingdom at a time of war, while she’s still a mess from the trauma of losing Sonic. The idea Bollers had was apparently that Sally had been bottling up her issues for years (which she totally had been), and this was just the breaking point

I know Sonic’s desire to keep being a hero is understandable. I know he’s right. That’s all he really knows how to do, and he feels useless in times of peace. And obviously, we the readers want to see Sonic go on adventures. But Sally’s concerns are valid. We don’t have to agree with her plan to have Sonic rule by her side for her emotions to be understandable

Sally’s been on the verge of a breakdown for who knows how long. She should be mad at her parents, but they’ve worn her down to the point where she thinks she’s unable to confront them. (It would be very, very easy to make a case arguing that Sally’s parents are emotionally abusive. Max especially.) She thinks that Sonic is the one person who will listen to her and have her back. They’re betrothed, after all. This is literally what he signed up for. After trying to get his attention ALL DAY, she finally gets a chance to talk to him. But he wants other things in life, and refuses. In front of a crowd, no less

So she lashes out at Sonic and slaps him

Then they both start yelling at each other and crying. Sally asks Sonic if she’s more important to him than fighting Eggman, Sonic can’t answer, and Sally runs away in tears. For all intents and purposes, Sonic and Sally are now broken up. (For now.)

Should Sally be lashing out at Sonic? No. Could this scene be done better? Oh, absolutely. This is not the direction I would want Sally to go in as a character, and if you ARE gonna have them fight, this wasn’t written with the care required to make fans sympathize with both parties. The fact that we’ve seen everything from Sonic’s perspective with barely any insight into Sally’s certainly doesn’t help. But as the several lengthy paragraphs above explain, this does not come out of nowhere. It’s easy to find lots of fans online calling Sally all sorts of names (sometimes very misogynistic or ableist ones) because they think she just flipped out on Sonic out of nowhere. But she didn’t. Sally having some sort of breakdown had been foreshadowed for several issues, and the reasons why make sense. No, she shouldn’t have lashed out at Sonic, but this isn’t just her going “Oh no, my period! Let’s nuke England!” as so many have made it out to be. (And hell, the comics already had a lengthy history of treating Sally even worse than this, with Gallagher making her the nagging girlfriend who bickered with Sonic all the time and Penders sympathizing more with her shitty dad.)

Again, this was supposed to be a turning point in which Sally bottling up all this crap and carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders finally leads to her breaking. It’s a dramatic low point to build back up from. The problem is that Bollers left the series only a few issues later, and Penders and “Chacon” never did much with this. So in hindsight, many view this as her randomly snapping “for no reason,” because the followup stories that would have explored how she’d been bottling up her feelings were never actually written. But it’s not hard to figure out what’s supposed to be going on in her head if you actually go back and look at the preceding Sally scenes

For the most part, this is just run of the mill relationship drama for Archie Sonic. You see this kind of shit all the time in serialized media. Characters date, but the writers need to keep things ~spicy~, so they break up, see other people... then inevitably end up back together, and the process repeats ad nauseum. You ever watch Scrubs? You know how JD and Elliot are obviously love interests from episode one, but they had to do that will they/won’t they shit for years and have flings with other characters to keep up ratings? Yeah, it’s just that. For Sonic, there’s also the added pressure from Sega, who never allowed Sonic to be in any stable relationship for very long. Several writers have talked about how this limited what they could do with Sonic and Sally. Do I like that this cycle of drama is the norm? No. But after over 200 of these comics, I’m used to it

(And hell, at this point in the comics, they had literally just broken up Bunnie and Antoine, and Rouge was starting to get in the way of Knuckles and Julie-Su’s relationship. Between Julie-Su and Knuckles’ first kiss and them actually dating, Penders had Julie-Su get mad at Knuckles and go out with some random other guy. They do this shit all the time)

The worst you can really say about this scene is that Jon’s art is a little too goofy and undermines the drama a bit. In his own words from his website’s FAQ: “I’m sorry. Like I said, I was an overeager noob and I drew what I was given.” But really, he had been drawing these sorts of exaggerated, frantic expressions throughout the entire issue. Not just with Sally. Look at all the panels of Sonic wigging out in the previous pages. I still think his work is fantastic. If anything, it was a bad call on Archie’s part to give this somber scene to a brand new artist with a very exaggerated, silly art style. He just drew what was in the script

You know what really blows about this whole thing, though? Jon Gray is still, to this day, over 15 years later, getting harassed for drawing The Slap

That is so utterly ridiculous and shitty. People have made up all sorts of conspiracy theories about the slap, saying that Jon had some sort of “anti-Sally agenda” and that it wasn’t in the script. (This is completely false.) People are so stuck in the past and bent out of shape over this one panel in a pretty run-of-the-mill Archie Sonic issue that Jon has to block people who come into his Twitter mentions accusing him of “sabotaging” the series on a regular basis. Y’all, Jon’s a good guy, and he doesn’t deserve to be treated like that

And lord. There’s so much nastier shit within this series. Penders hooking a 15-year-old Sally up with a dude in his 20s (and later saying that he wanted her to lose his virginity to said dude). Gallagher making Barby Koala have a creepy crush on Tails. Penders rephrasing a poem about the Holocaust to be about hedgehogs. Penders having Sally rationalize her dad’s attempt at genocide. (I could go on and on with Penders, can you tell)

This whole thing is just, so blown out of proportion. It’s not a great scene, but it didn’t “ruin” Sally’s character. Neither Jon nor Bollers had some sort of “anti-Sally agenda.” They weren’t out to ruin your fucking ship. And for god’s sake, quit yelling at them about it. This was 15 years ago and all parties involved have moved on. It’s just more melodrama in a series that’s always 90% melodrama

It’s a single panel in a comic about Sonic the Hedgehog. Can we move on

269. Sonic Universe #2

The Shadow Saga (Part 2 of 4): Time & Again

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

So, do you remember how way back when we got the single-issue incomplete "adaption" of Sonic Adventure 2, I mentioned that the events of the incident would be clarified by Ian Flynn in a later issue? Well, this is the one! Interspersed within the events of the modern story are flashbacks to what happened during Sonic Adventure 2, heavily modified to fit within the comic's world. However, I've elected to tackle the modern half of the story first, and explore Sonic Adventure 2 afterward, mostly because though Ian seems to be trying to draw parallels between the latter story and the former, they don't really… work all that well, nowhere near the level that they did in the first arc of KtE anyway.

The modern story opens with Shadow approaching the Freedom Fighters' camp not far from the Eggdome in the middle of the night, waking Sonic up to invite him along to a little bonus mission.

I mean, while I can understand wanting to invite Sonic on a mission against Eggman, 1. he's already on one, and 2. you'd think Shadow would realize he'd need some sleep before the final battle against his arch-nemesis. What, you can't handle this alone, Shadow? Well, as it turns out he's not actually alone, as Sonic reaches the rendezvous point first (zooming off ahead of Shadow, of course), and finds Rouge waiting for him. Apparently, Eggman's been working on a sneaky plan to turn a telescope in the city into a massive laser capable of wiping the Freedom Fighters' little camp off the map, shield or no… as well as half of the rest of the city. Sonic thinks this is overkill even for someone like Eggman, but as Shadow catches up he explains that GUN doesn't quite think so.

To be fair, Sonic, you haven't been seeing the behind-the-scenes insane ramblings of his that Snively's been subject to recently. They break into the laser control room, and Sonic and Shadow deal with the smaller security lasers while Rouge hacks into the control system, trying to disable the thing. The cannon is already moving into position to fire, and worse still, the console then fries itself, Rouge having accidentally triggered a self-destruct command. Sonic and Shadow try to destroy the cannon directly, but no amount of spindashing or Chaos Spear-ing will pierce its armor, so Rouge suggests going for the bolts holding it in place, hoping it might throw off the shot.

Brilliant job, guys! Shadow, seeing no other choice, removes his inhibitor rings and climbs onto the top of the cannon just as it begins to fire. He uses all of his power to force the shot to misfire outwards instead of straight ahead, wrecking the barrel but saving the Freedom Fighters. This is really the only place where the parallels Ian tries to draw make sense, as then we see a flashback of him using his power a year ago to force the ARK back into orbit, and subsequently falling back into the atmosphere.

Aww, look at 'em! As the sun begins to rise, the three walk back towards the camp, and Sonic asks if they want in on the invasion. Shadow refuses, saying that he believes this is Sonic's fight considering how long he's been fighting against Eggman. As Sonic leaves, Rouge smirks at Shadow, and remarks on how far their relationship has come from before. Shadow, of course, has to defend his ego and insists he merely respects Sonic, to which Rouge teases him even more about how of course he can't admit he's made a friend.

Now, time to take a look at what their relationship used to be like, in the very-condensed Adaption 2.0 of Sonic Adventure 2! Instead of following exactly how it's portrayed in this issue, I'm just going to explain how exactly everything went down starting from the beginning, relying on context clues from this issue and previous ones. In case you've forgotten, during the events of the incident, both Tails and Knuckles were otherwise occupied, Amy was chilling in Mercia with Rob, and basically no one was even aware of where Sonic was at the time, as he was apprehended while sneaking back into Knothole while he was still supposed to be confined there. StH#98 covered what happened leading up to his arrest and subsequent breakout, but naturally, after the GUN truck chase he was rearrested and taken to Prison Island. Meanwhile, of course, Shadow had been released from his pod by Eggman, stolen a Chaos Emerald from Station Square, and presumably explained how the ARK's Eclipse Cannon worked to Eggman. Like in the game, Rouge also showed up at this point to offer her support in procuring more Chaos Emeralds - though as you might remember, at this point in the comic's history the emeralds still hadn't been combined into their distinct seven forms yet, so the Eclipse Cannon only required seven random emeralds to fire. Conspicuously missing is the entire plot point about Rouge stealing the Master Emerald from Knuckles, and the both of them subsequently searching for its shattered remnants all over the world, but if we're being quite honest the entire story still makes perfect sense without Knuckles and the Master Emerald, which I suppose is lucky for Ian trying to make sense out of all of this.

The point at which this issue actually starts recapping prior events begins on Prison Island after Sonic had broken out of prison once again - without the help of Amy or anyone else, mind you, since once again, they were all elsewhere at time. Really, this version of events is so stripped-down precisely because half of the game cast is missing, which is why the events of the game were able to fit into a single day despite several days passing in the game itself. Sonic and Shadow had their famous "faker" exchange in the forest and began fighting each other, with Rouge's voice coming over Shadow's communicator and informing them she'd found the remaining six Chaos Emeralds they'd need. At that point, Eggman reminded Shadow the whole island was about to blow, and at the same time Rouge called for help as she'd found herself stuck inside the vault. When Sonic heard Eggman tell Shadow to leave her and that they'd come back later to "dig the emeralds out of the ashes," he was outraged and offered Shadow a truce so they could rescue Rouge together. Shadow accepted, and they raced back to the facility as the timer counted down, with Shadow Chaos Control-ing them off the island and into the desert just before the place exploded.

See, while I understand where Ian is going with this, I really don't like his rewrite of Shadow's motivations here. For those not familiar, in the game, Shadow makes the decision to go back for Rouge entirely on his own, because the thought of her dying alone in the facility made him flash back to Maria's death. Later on, when she tries to talk to him about how he saved her, he avoids her questions, giving a similar excuse to this one, but with it being pretty obvious that that's not the case, as he hasn't stopped thinking about Maria since the mission. Here, Ian makes it seem like Shadow actually didn't care and indeed was only after the Chaos Emeralds, and he only went to the trouble of rescuing her thanks to Sonic's suggestion. However, I understand why this was kind of necessary - with his main allies elsewhere, Sonic needed someone to ally with for the next part of the plot. He ended up teaming up with Rouge, who was quite offended at Shadow's attitude, to break into the pyramid containing Eggman's base, and she piloted the space shuttle within up to the ARK. As I've pointed out before, at no point in the comic is it even slightly hinted that Eggman broke the moon in half as he does in the game - the only indication we have of such an event would be in StH#197, when Sonic recognizes Mobius from orbit by its half-destroyed moon, but in all fairness, the issue doesn't actually state the reason why the moon is broken. Remember, it's canon that Mobius has one hundred moons - that wasn't even retconned! Ian just made up a story behind it and put it in the Complete Sonic Comic Encyclopedia afterwards, but with one hundred whole-ass moons, it's entirely probable that at least one got bodied at some point in the planet's history, and Sonic just happened to recognize that particular one as he was reentering the planet's atmosphere. But anyway, once Sonic and Rouge made it up to the ARK, Sonic and Shadow quickly got into a fight on the catwalks outside the station, presumably while Eggman slotted the emeralds into their positions in the cannon.

*sigh* One of the biggest problems I have with the preboot is its handling of Shadow's entire story. I don't think Shadow ever got an actual chance to shine from his initial appearance until StH#171, when he had his whole "This is who I am" moment after exploring Gerald's digital diary. Everything about him, his entire backstory, was horribly neglected compared to his actually very rich and deep character arc from the games. This, above, is exactly what I'm talking about. In the game, it's implied that Shadow actually wins his final fight against Sonic (though Sonic obviously doesn't die from it), and then once the Eclipse Cannon is up and running, he moves into one of the ARK's observation rooms to quietly reflect on the past and watch the station crash into the planet. He doesn't snap out of it until Amy enters the room and her subsequent words trigger a flashback of Maria's real final wish. Furthermore, he's the only person in the cast who doesn't actually see the video of Gerald's execution or read his final diary entry. In other words, in the game, he comes back to his right mind organically, by remembering what his purpose is, while in the comic he apparently just got to watch a video telling him outright why he's wrong without him actually having to do the thinking that brings him back to reality. Seeing as Shadow is my favorite character in the entire franchise, this brushing-aside of one of the most important moments in his character arc irks me a little. But then again, I will still acknowledge that Ian wasn't really left a lot to work with here, and if anything the fault lies more with Karl Bollers and Kenders carelessly brushing past Sonic Adventure 2 in favor of their ongoing story about Robotropolis getting nuked or whatever.

Anyway, in the end, Shadow and Sonic went to the ARK's internal chamber that housed the Biolizard, and when it fused with the ARK to bring it crashing down to earth anyway, he and Sonic went Super and defeated it out in space, just like in the game. The game actually doesn't give a very clear reason why Shadow fell from orbit while Sonic was fine, but in the comic, it's shown that the act of teleporting the ARK back into orbit exhausted all his energy, resulting in the loss of his Super form early. As one of the above images shows, Sonic actually reached for him but was unable to catch him in time, hence his remark of not wanting to go through that again (even though realistically a fall from a five-story cannon is hardly going to do the same damage to Shadow as a fall from orbit). And that's it! As I said, the comic's adaption is incredibly stripped-down from the events of the game, but with so much of the cast missing, it kind of had to be. While I don't agree with all of Ian's decisions on how to adapt the circumstances while still retaining the basic gist of the story, I understand his ultimate conclusions, and in the end, they do work pretty well given how different the history of the world is in the comics versus the game. And despite Shadow not having a clear history with Rouge in the comics as he does in the games, Ian's finally saw fit to bring them together as a team in this issue, and they remain as such for the rest of the comic, including through the reboot.

But - hey, speaking of which, remember another adaption that was missing a few key plot points? Say… the first Sonic Adventure? Remember how the conclusion of Gamma's entire character arc was totally forgotten about and ignored? That would seem to imply that he's still out there somewhere… I wonder what he's up to nowadays. And for that matter, with the entirety of Sonic Heroes missing from the comics' timeline, where the heck is Omega in all this? Does he even exist? Gee, I wonder if we'll ever get to see these two important robot characters in the comic - like, say, next issue?

Took a stab at designing Moebius/inverted AU versions of my OCs! Click for HD and also there’s an explanation under the cut.

All of these are super rough concepts that’ll probably change, and the designs as well might change--the only ones I’m p sure of are Rhys and Unknown. None of them have separate names yet, so I’m still just calling them “anti-[character]”

For anyone unfamiliar with my OCs and curious about them, here’s a masterpost I’ve made

Side note in case someone’s confused--Moebius is the world Scourge came from, a reality parallel to Sonic’s where the world fell into decay. The characters are defined by extreme distortions of canon character personalities (ie, Scourge is Sonic minus his kind and selfless nature, it being twisted into cruelty and selfishness). Sometimes they seem to be written as polar opposites, sometimes they seems to be written as very similar, but the Moebius counterparts just have magnified versions of the normal characters’ flaws. That’s kinda the approach I’ve taken and I’ll explain it more here. Also, usually Moebius counterparts don’t change the colour palettes of the characters, but that can be...confusing to say the least so I’ve elected to at least tweak the colours of my characters to make them more distinct. 

It’s important to note that in Moebius, Vex, Vitriol and Unknown did not stay together after escaping the facility that created them. They barely even worked together (more out of a general understanding that escaping alive would require a combination of skills) and once free promptly never spoke to each other again. They have no family ties. 

Anti-Vex: Unlike Vex, anti-Vex feels that because they have the ability to manipulate people, they shouldn’t restrain themself from doing so. They do whatever they want with no care for other people, and are being hunted by Moebius’s version of G.U.N. for a wide variety of crimes. They prefer to steal things, sort of as a way to exert their power over others without actually hurting or killing people. They don’t really like killing people. They will if they have to, but usually, they’re just too lazy--and they like outwitting people, shaming them for not being as smart and powerful.

Anti-Unknown: Anti-Unknown is absolutely ruthless. They can and will kill people if they think it’ll give them some kind of an edge. And if they find out they were wrong, and they gain nothing, they only regret wasting energy. For the most part, they’re relatively safe to be around, so long as they don’t decide you’re in their way. They were the catalyst for the escape, which was an absolute bloodbath; after escaping, they mostly kept to themself, and so unlike anti-Vex they don’t have a bounty on their head. That being said, they do have a bit of a reputation worldwide--many people believe they’re some kind of ghoul or apparition. Them coming to town is a nightmare. 

Anti-Toxic: Opposite to Toxic, anti-Toxic loves anything and everything feminine. They also love chaos, but have no aversion to hurting and killing people, whereas normal Toxic just likes making a bit of a mess. Anti-Toxic collects bones and organs in jars of formaldehyde, and refuses to tell people just where the bones and bits came from. Overall, they are much more of an outward danger and a loose cannon, one that can’t be reigned in by anyone. They love heart patterns and their shtick is often to pretend to just be an innocent girl (they are neither of those things; anti-Toxic is also nonbinary) in order to make people drop their guard. They have absolutely no motives other than adding to their ‘collection.’ 

Anti-Rhys: Anti-Rhys is actually @creative-sanic ‘s creation! He’s classy as hell, and absolutely bloodthirsty, but he doesn’t prefer to get his own hands dirty. This is where anti-Vitriol comes in. The two met at an underground wrestling ring--anti-Rhys would often visit them just to see some violence and bet on the fighters, and one day anti-Vitriol was the winning fighter. His super-strength made the fight....unfair to say the least. Fascinated by his brute strength, anti-Rhys found anti-Vitriol after the fight and offered the ferret money to fight for him. Anti-Vitriol decided to stay with anti-Rhys. Anti-Vitriol is essentially anti-Rhys’s attack dog, doing his dirty work, but not to be confused with some sort of lowly drudge. Anti-Rhys truly does love anti-Vitriol, and never puts him in any situation that he thinks anti-Vitriol wouldn’t win. He often buys or commissions weapons such as brass knuckles to be made special for anti-Vitriol, and paid for anti-Vitriol to get metal veneers applied to his teeth.

Anti-Vitriol: Anti-Vitriol takes an animalistic pleasure in using his powers to hurt people. He prefers to wear brightly coloured tank tops with absurd sayings on them like “SUN’S OUT, GUNS OUT,” often in clashing colours. He buys cheaply since most of his clothes get irreversibly bloodstained. Additionally his fur pattern is different from normal Vitriol’s; ferrets have such a wide variety of marking patterns that the scientists who created him could easily just pick and choose patterns they want. Anti-Vitriol is only dangerous if anti-Rhys tells him to be; he’s fairly docile unless provoked. The only thing that could truly keep you safe from him is if anti-Rhys previously established that you’re someone he wants safe.

That’s that! Thank you for reading if you’ve gotten this far, and feel free to send me an anon or reply here if you have something to say/ask. 

Bonus: alternate drawing of anti-Vex that I didn’t like so much

I'm curious if at this point you're good enough at writing and video editing, to get reviews out on time, and the gimmick is just held out of legacy. It feels like you could.

There is no gimmick.

This is going to be very “how the sausage is made,” meaning it’s a long post. A very, very long post. So I’m hiding it behind a “read more” tag.

I mean, I guess there kind of was a gimmick, nine years ago when I first started doing video reviews. And that’s because I originally envisioned my video reviews as the same stuff everyone else was doing at the time: older games. I didn’t have a lot of money, so it wasn’t going to be a show for new games. It was going to be whatever I was thinking of and playing at the time, which was universally going to be old games, and usually old games I’d replayed more than once. Astal, Shenmue, Klonoa, etc. Classics and oddities.

Starting with Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, I started doing video reviews for new games almost exclusively. I’d get a new game at launch, and from the moment it was in my hands, I’d put together a video review for TSSZ. So, it took me six weeks to put together the All-Stars Racing review. Five weeks for the Sonic Lost World review. And so on.  

When I got bold enough to start doing video reviews in HD, things started taking exponentially longer. DKC Tropical Freeze, Mario Kart 8, etc. all took me around 3 months a piece. Part of that was the methods used to create HD reviews, as my crummy Roxio Gamecap HD required huge amounts of time (weeks, sometimes) to transcode footage out of their broken format in to something Sony Vegas would accept. But I also began to incorporate more artwork in to my reviews, because I wanted to utilize a talent of mine that was beginning to atrophy. It was a good excuse to draw again.

The longest video on my channel is my “How Do We Fix Sonic?” video. It’s 30 minutes and 30 seconds long, and took me 14-16 months to put together. It took more than a hundred drawings, and even some animation, something I’d never done before. It was the biggest video project I’d ever undertaken at the time.

For reference, the Sonic Mania video review I published in July is the exact same length – 30 minutes and 30 seconds. Depending on how you count, the Sonic Mania video review was put together in three months – the same amount of time it took for Tropical Freeze, Mario Kart 8, et al.

I say “depending on how you count” because Sonic Mania came out in August of 2017, in a period of time where I was homeless. I technically had a Sonic Mania video review script written by September of 2017, but we did not find an apartment to move in to until November of 2017. And, even then, when we moved in, my desktop PC was damaged – the motherboard and power supply had suffered an electrical surge when I plugged my system in to an unsafe outlet while staying at my brother’s house in the four intervening months. I spent $200+ on replacement parts and had to rebuild the whole system, something I was not keen on doing in the middle of the holiday season in an unfamiliar town, in an unfamiliar state. I’d just left my childhood home, the place I’d spent 24 years of my life in. It was a nightmare. All of this took place a year ago, and I still feel tremendously homesick. I abandoned everyone, everywhere and everything I ever knew.

So I didn’t get my system rebuilt until March of 2018, and didn’t really get to work on the Sonic Mania video until April. April to May, May to June, June to July. Three months. For a video that was the same length as the longest, most difficult video I’d ever put together for my channel.

Tristan wanted to air my video review on the TSSZ Twitch channel on the day Sonic Mania Plus was launching. I was hoping to get it out before then, but in the end, I think I only had maybe a week (or less) between finishing my video and Plus launching. So it goes.

There’s a small lie in there, however, in that Sega offered us an early review copy of Sonic Mania Plus. I recall that I was still putting the finishing touches on the original Sonic Mania video review when I had a copy of Plus sitting here on my desk.

I took a few days to myself, just to rest and recharge, before I dove head first into producing the Sonic Mania Plus video. Except that when Sonic Mania came out in August of 2017, I finished the game once as Sonic & Tails. I started files as Tails and Knuckles, but I hadn’t really played too far with them, knowing I’d need to replay the whole game multiple times for video capture purposes. When Plus came out, I was coming off a stint of having replayed Sonic Mania four times for the capture – as Sonic & Tails (with the emeralds), as Tails, Knuckles, and Sonic alone (without the emeralds). I was not actually in the mood to keep playing it.

So my playthrough of Mania Plus was… sluggish. I think the game had been out for a week by the time I’d finished it as Mighty, Ray, and done a full playthrough of Encore Mode. But, by early August I had a video review script written and production was starting to get underway on the Sonic Mania Plus video review. I had a sketch of what I thought the review would look like in the end (called a “shotlist,” which I have uploaded here) and I was starting to capture the video I needed and whatever else.

There was one problem with this: SAGE 2018. It dropped in the middle of August and upended everything I was doing. It was a tremendous undertaking. I wrote nearly 30 pages of text about 85 games in just six days. I thought I could handle it, and in a lot of ways I did, but it left me absolutely fried. On top of the growing burnout from spending now four and a half months doing two Sonic Mania video reviews back to back.

After SAGE, I was going to take a few days off, maybe a week. It ended up being nearly four weeks. That still didn’t feel like enough. It threw everything off balance.

Getting those gears turning again was a struggle. It was October now, and I had plans to do other videos for October. Halloween videos. I split my time researching potential Halloween videos with capturing the rest of my footage (a week), doing artwork (a week and a half), and getting my voice over in order (another week, as the stress was starting to get to me, and that doesn’t make for a good environment to do voice work).

I actually tried to cut corners on my video capturing. Rather than capture footage from six full-length playthroughs of Sonic Mania, I scaled things way back, hoping I wouldn’t need quite as much b-roll as I usually capture. Instead of playing Sonic Mania to completion six more times, I:

Captured one entire playthrough of Encore Mode, minus collecting the seven emeralds. I already had a completed file with the emeralds, so having two files would let me compare the endings.

Because I wanted footage of Ray and Mighty also in Mania Mode, I split one playthrough in half between them: every three levels, I would trade off. Ray would take Green Hill, Chemical Plant, and Studiopolis, then Mighty would do Flying Battery, Press Garden, and Stardust Speedway before I’d switch back to Ray again for the next three. This gave me half of the game as each character, and one complete playthrough between them.

Similarly, I needed footage of Sonic, Tails and Knuckles in Mania mode, but since I had Sonic Mania Plus on PS4 and my original review was produced using the PC version, my save couldn’t be transferred. Instead, I grinded out Blue Spheres medals until I could unlock Debug Mode, and summarily, stage select. Then I just did the same thing, but every two levels: Sonic would get Green Hill and Chemical Plant, Tails would get Studiopolis and Flying Battery, Knuckles would get Press Garden and Stardust Speedway, etc.

Unfortunately, even with being smart like that, it wasn’t enough, and in the middle of editing everything together, I still had to go back and capture footage of specific moments to fill in the gaps I was missing. The lesson is: though you’ll throw away 99% of it, you’ll never have enough b-roll captured. Never ever.

Which brings us to the end of October, me not getting to do any Halloween videos, and the final, finished Sonic Mania Plus review. This time, 20 minutes of video in four months.

Could I have been faster? I don’t know if that’s for me to say. Even though I took a month off (almost all of September), I was still struggling really hard with burnout on the Sonic Mania Plus video. I work on these videos from home, and I have an incredibly poor work-life balance as a result. Essentially, I wake up every morning, turn on my PC, and work on whatever until I go to bed. The only breaks I take are to eat, go to the bathroom, or run errands (shop for food, help babysit my nephews, etc.)

What this really means is something that’s familiar to people who have struggled with burnout, and that’s days where all you do is sit around and worry about work but not actually do any work. I’m trying to get better about this, to have hard cutoff points in the afternoon where I stop working and let myself relax, but that’s easier said than done when you relax at the same place you also work. It’s a learning process for sure.

So, like, yeah, it could have been done a few weeks earlier, but that’s assuming I wasn’t burnt out from working too hard, which means I wouldn’t have worked super hard to get to that point anyway, so no, maybe it wouldn’t have been done a few weeks earlier. I’m not a robot.

I am, however, incredibly stressed. Still stressed about moving to Nevada, stressed about being so far behind on the videos I promised to put out, stressed out about things I won’t even mention here on tumblr because they’re personal issues.

But I am going as fast as I can. I might even be going faster than is healthy for my body.

You’ll get your videos when I’m actually done with them and not a second sooner.

But for now, I need a lot of rest. It’s time for an extended rest-and-recharge session. I still have the promised Sonic Forces video to figure out, and that’ll get done eventually, but I’m running on fumes, I need to gas back up, and it’s a big, empty tank.

A quickie AU concept Background for my Rosy redesign

So, on and off I've been juggling with coming up with a background for my Rosy redesign but never felt like anything really worked because I just constantly want to involve the whole franchise in some form or another. Even going for an AU approach it's proven a challenging task. Then there is also the fact that I seem to better at writing synopses than anything else really resulting in me not knowing the best approach to take. Well, getting tired of my indecisiveness I figured why not just put something out that's part story synopsis and outline and put this little piece together.

Hedgehog Circus

A History of Rosy

Her origins are unknown and she doesn’t ever bring it up herself so for most she first was noticed in the company of the treasure hunter/ mercenary Fang the Sniper. Though her actual name is still Amy Rose, Fang is the one who took to calling her Rosy as a nickname and her rascal title came from being in the company of the shifty jerboa/wolf. As for why she accompanied Fang is a matter of benefit for the both of them as her fortune telling abilities easily allowed Fang to sniff out treasure and she craved adventure being inspired by the stories of the most famous hedgehog in the world: Sonic. For the most part the two provided the other with what they wanted and despite Rosy’s title as a rascal Fang was still taken aback when he was one who was betrayed of all people.

Rosy’s betrayal was not out of spite to Fang in any regard but rather out of reverence to the powers that spoke to her through her fortune telling. For Rosy their commands were absolute so when her cards told her to travel to Never Lake for a fated encounter she questioned them not. Using her personal magic carpet Rosy promptly traveled to the lake and was greeted by the sight of none other than the Miracle Planet: Little Planet. Rosy was aware of the portals between worlds but was still astounded to see the dwarf planet that itself traveled once a month to her home world there before her eyes. While Fangs treasure hunts had taken her across three of the four worlds that were known to be connected by the powers of the legendary gems of Chaos, Sol, and Time, it was her first time seeing Little Planet. Lulled by her sense of adventure Rosy forgot her reasons for visiting Never Lake and ventured to Little Planet to satisfy herself. In short order she found herself in over her head as she became embroiled with the latest clash between Dr. Eggman and her hero, Sonic the Hedgehog. Experiencing the battle not just between Sonic and Eggman, but also the Time Stones and the Phantom Ruby, Eggman’s own unique gem of legend which could transform the world into his image, enamored Rosy beyond her wildest imaginings with Sonic. When it was all over though and she found herself alone at Never Lake as the rescued Little Planet warped back to whence it came it was almost as though it had all been a wild fever dream. Dream or no though she was positive that meeting Sonic was indeed the encounter that the powers that be desired her to experience and it would change her relationship with Fang forever.

Already feeling betrayed by Rosy her sudden desire to chase after Sonic and be a part of the hedgehog’s life was a major inconvenience to Fang beyond even whether he could trust her anymore. Disgusted he would eventually take a job from Eggman to try and off the blue hedgehog and secure the chaos emeralds for himself. When that failed he would later encounter the last echidna and guardian of the Master Emerald, Knuckles, and form an easy relationship that has persisted to this day. Rosy would not be a part of this new life partnership with Fang effectively handing her over claiming how she was beloved by the gods to the shrewd business woman, Breezie, who was the proprietor of the Hedgehog Circus.

For Rosy who wanted to chase after Sonic the Hedgehog Circus was pretty much a prison. Even so though she would make friends with the majority of the traveling circus’ members, including; Chuck, the hedgehog robotics engineer who also acted as the conscious to Breezie’s cold hearted business mindset; the pop superstar, twins Sonia and Manic and their mother Aleena whose compassion would encourage Rosy to keep dreaming big; and lastly the mail pilot turned stunt pilot Paulie and his wife Brenda, son Nicky, and daughter Anita. Of the various members of the Hedgehog Circus it was Paulie and his stories of adventure that most enamored Amy and the closeness between the two resulted in Rosy not just being the circus’ resident fortune teller but also an acrobatic wing walker for the main events.

Unfortunately for Rosy the amount of money she could make Breezie made her the traveling circus’ star attraction with the headline “the hedgehog girl who’ll become more famous than even Sonic” meant she had all of no freedom. With Fang’s warnings about Rosy’s willingness to just run off based on her fortunes even those were closely watched and Rosy had all of no chance to again pursue her love of adventure beyond the locals the circus visited. That did not mean she was totally trapped though as some adventures still awaited her such as a chance encounter with Sonic in Station Square and the short lived adventure that followed before Chaos, God of Destruction laid the city low before eventually being stopped by Sonic. Seeing the power of the gods first hand though and how Rosy was unharmed during the events by all but Eggman’s minions Breezie became even more greedy and though Rosy was known as a rascal began promoting the love struck hedgehog as beloved by the gods. With such a title it was of little surprise when Rosy was summoned by Lumina to Maginaryworld to restore the Precious Stone along with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles resulting in Rosy learning that Fang was well. As a reward for her part in restoring the precious stone Rosy was returned to her world away from the Hedgehog Circus and finally had the chance to finally pursue her dream of chasing after Sonic and becoming a part of his life.

Freedom was not as easily obtained as Rosy believed though as her reputation with the Hedgehog Circus had spread well throughout the three worlds and she was recognized everywhere she went. It was only a matter of time before her whereabouts were discovered by the Hedgehog Circus. Her time in Maginaryworld had changed her though and her desires to chase after Sonic manifested in being able to achieve speeds that would allow her to do just that resulting in her being able to travel the world. Feeling mischievous and free both Rosy traveled to as many random and disparate places as she could in as short a time as she could to make it impossible for Breezie to track her down. However, as her speed and freedom were gifts of the powers that be, or the gods to be exact, Rosy still considered herself obligated to answer their commands and wasted no time in doing so when her fortune telling directed her to Soleanna.

Unsure of what to expect in Soleanna, Rosy convinced herself that if she was required to go that she would likely have another destined encounter with Sonic. What she found instead was Silver the Hedgehog and found herself entangled with his quest to stop the God of Time Solaris from laying waste to the world through its avatar Iblis. When it turned out that Sonic was the target of Silver’s quest Rosy defended Sonic based solely on her faith in him and his willingness to save the world no matter what he’s up against. Despite Rosy’s faith in Sonic though her decision seemed to backfire as she finds herself uninvolved with anything of note Eventually by the time Rosy decides to leave Soleanna before Breezie catches up with her she finally notices something major happen as she finds herself back in time to just before the start of the Festival of the Sun. Confused and unsure Rosy turns to her fortune telling and learns that her and another hedgehog have been granted a second chance. Guessing it is Silver who has been granted a second chance Rosy searches for the time displaced hedgehog and learns that he is trapped in the past with nowhere to go and no one to confide in after watching Sonic save Solaris. Feeling like she is supposed to be responsible for him Rosy decides to try and patch things up with him by inviting him to watch the Festival of the Sun. It is at this point that Breezie finally catches up with Rosy with the Jackal Squad in tow having suspected that one “beloved by the gods” would attend such a festival. Though not wanting to give up her freedom, Rosy also does not desire to endanger Silver and willingly returns to the Hedgehog Circus with the telekinetic hedgehog finding a home within.

With Silver’s telekinesis being a major draw and the stunts that it could allow Rosy to perform as a wing walker, Breezie has Silver trained as a stunt pilot by Paulie. Additionally, when she learns that Silver’s telekinesis can be used to prevent Rosy from running off she metaphorically twists the time displaced hedgehogs arm so that he acts as her personally assurance that Rosy won’t run off again. Feeling betrayed when she learns of Silver’s new role Rosy still surprises her fellow hedgehog when she casually blames herself and calls it karma for her own actions against Fang and Breezie and optimistically says they should just make the best of it. Despite her good intentions though, Rosy still considers herself beholden to the powers that be so when they portend of a world shattering disaster she naturally becomes most anxious.

When the human world is shattered by Eggman as he releases Dark Gaia, Rosy runs off in search of Sonic believing that he will likely already be embroiled in what’s going on and that her fortune telling foretold these events as she needed to be involved to some capacity. Feeling like he has no choice due to his debt to Breezie, Silver heads off in pursuit of Rosy but has little luck in finding her due to her not getting personally involved in the conflict. In truth, after being rescued by Sonic from Dark Gaia’s minions Rosy found herself teaming up with Professor Pickle, Tails, and a vixen named Zooey who works a junior member of an organization called Checkpoint in researching the Gaia Manuscripts to help Sonic restore the planet. Having a chance to help out by expanding her knowledge of the ancient world and legends Rosy develops a newfound passion that she had not experienced since her time traveling with Fang and gains a yearning to go adventuring again to discover what other wonders the world holds. Faithful that Sonic will save the world in the end Rosy is not even bothered when she doesn’t get to see him again afterward, instead desiring to go off on her own adventures so that way when she does encounter Sonic again she’ll have so much more to share and just might finally be able to get him to open up to her a little.

To pursue her new dream Rosy learns what she can about Checkpoint from Zooey. As it turns out, Checkpoint is an organization that adventurers, including Soinc, report their findings to from their adventures to make a living. Zooey herself was a history buff who after befriending Tails through their mutual association with Professor Pickle also got into machinery tinkering. Though she doesn’t personally explore she loves hearing the stories of adventurers, especially those related to whenever a new Warp Zone between worlds is discovered. Having befriended Zooey, Rosy promises to share stories of her adventures too and registers with Checkpoint. Meanwhile, Silver’s own journey to find Rosy persists unsuccessfully and Breezie growing impatient with her star attraction being out of her grip again once more hires the Jackal Squad to bring the errant hedgehog back to her.

----- Anyway, that's my little AU concept background for my Rosy redesign. Let me know what you think and whether or not I should go with it, or if you have any questions about the setting let me know. It's kind of all concept nonsense at this point though so I would appreciate any thoughts everyone has to share. Thanks ^_^

The match that amuses the fights together with Hell's hordes by requiring you to constantly estimate the best methods to rip off, tear, and keep alive.

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Loud Silence

[The quidditch game between Sylvania and Music Plant is today and it’s promising to be fantastic, but Sonic is being held hostage by homework...]

The annual quidditch game against Music Plant is the most important event in second term, maybe even the whole year. Some would argue that the End of Year Ball in December is the most important social event at school, but they would be wrong, at least in Sonic’s oh so well-experienced opinion. The quidditch game, between the best of the best at both schools with teams comprised of students from all houses, is the singular event that Sonic has been looking forward to all year. He heard stories from the older students about how heated the rivalry could get between the two schools, but when some fifth years came back from Ice Paradise with bloody noses and black eyes, he finally understood. This isn’t just any old game. It’s the end all be all quidditch game to decide which school had the best team, and he needs to be there to watch it.

Music Plant is a snooty magical music school just on the other side of Ice Paradise, so it and Sylvania’s students often mingled in Ice Paradise on the weekends. Usually, this promoted friendships and inter-school union, but around the end of term it led to scuffles in the street over the quidditch game. Sonic can’t imagine how tense the whole town must’ve been last weekend, but he would’ve given anything to be there.

He’d been looking forward to the game for months, perhaps almost all year, because Sylvania had a twelve-year winning streak and Music Plant was frothing at the mouth to break it. And, because the game is at Sylvania this year, the energy is even more eager. Sylvania’s students desperately wanted to hold on to their title and Music Plant frantically wanted to take it away from Sylvania on its own turf. Sonic can’t imagine how crazy it will be, how loud the crowd will be, how the teachers will react, how the stands will hold all those people.

And, of course, Sonic is stuck inside.

About an hour before the game, the castle goes silent as everyone filters outside. The only people left are the ghosts, Big, and Sonic.

He’s not bitter about it, oh no. It’s not like he was looking forward to the game or anything. Psh, why would he? He only adored quidditch, and flying is the only magic he can do consistently without screwing it up. Why would be want to go to the biggest quidditch event of the year when he could instead be here, in the library, by himself, ears ringing, unable to focus on the ungodly amount of potions homework Eggman heaped on him, and just him, in order to get his grades up?

Okay, so maybe he’s a little bitter about it.

He’s under house arrest from the teacher collective, but especially Professor Pickle. The headmaster expressed... discontent with Sonic’s dead drop, thudding grades, and implied very gently that if he didn’t get them up by the end of the term, he might not be able to return to school. When Sonic stood up for himself and claimed it was because his magic just didn’t work, Professor Pickle had seemed contrite and apologetic, and he promised to talk to his teachers.

That talk resulted in three extra essays, a few potions tutoring sessions, and Professor Marine promising to work with him on the weekends. The professors were sympathetic to Sonic’s plight, but they couldn’t just pass him; he has to prove that he’s learning even if his magic isn’t cooperating, so theoretical work it is.

This is all because of his stupid, worthless magic. He’s gone through all the stages of grief at this point when it comes to his uncooperative magic and he’s well on his way to acceptance, but he’s still frustrated every time he thinks about it. He just can’t get his wand to respond, his spells to take shape. Some days are better than others, when he can almost pretend that things aren’t falling apart and he can actually perform a few spells; other days land with harsh crashes, backfires from his wand, and an ache deep inside him because he knows he can do it, but he just can’t get it to work.

His pronunciation is spot on because he’s worked hard with Knuckles to get it right. Knuckles knows exactly how to say spells, how to shape his mouth to get them right, because he’s not a native Mobian speaker, let alone fluent or capable in Latin, so that’s always the first thing he does before trying to perform a spell. He gets his lips around the word and says it over and over, over and over, until it’s innate on his tongue, and only then does he wave his wand. As a result, he’s really good at teaching Sonic how to say them, so Sonic’s almost as good as his friend at saying the spells, which puts him way ahead of his classmates, who just fling the spells out of their mouths along with their wand waves.

So, it’s not a pronunciation issue. And his form is good. He’s practiced in the Room of Requirement in front of a mirror, Knuckles clutching his elbow and guiding him through the movements when he’s even slightly off, and even Rouge has helped him some there. She’s really good at weaving, and she has a no-nonsense style of teaching that Sonic responds to, much like Knuckles. His forms is great; he’s practiced so much he can probably do the motions in a dead trace in the middle of lunch.

But, that doesn’t matter, because his magic just. Won’t. At all.

To say he’s frustrated would be an understatement, but he’s also getting desperate. He wants to learn, to do magic... He wants it so bad. He wants to be able to whip out his wand and flip his wrist just as easily as he twists his ankles or curls and rolls into a ball to gain momentum. His dedication is clear, but the part of him where the magic is locked up, the distant pocket of power that he knows is there, doesn’t quite get it yet.

He’s tired and he wants to go to quidditch, but, instead, he’s stuck writing a charms essay. It’s not fair, and no one knows what’s wrong with him beyond the abstract concept of “Chaos.” Knuckles says that his Chaos is too strong, Professor Robotnik says that he probably has an imbalance somewhere, and Professor Pickle says to keep his mouth shut about it because Chaos is still very much a taboo subject. If it got out that they have a student whose innate Chaos Energy is blocking his magic, the school might not survive the aftermath.

(Of course, they probably have bigger things to worry about, considering Knuckles has the Master Emerald hiding in the castle, not that the teachers know that. Sonic isn’t exactly sure of everything that’s going on with Knuckles, but he knows that a lot of it is frowned upon. But then, Knuckles is his friend and he trusts him, and he’s interesting, which is more than Sonic can say for almost every other student currently in the school, save maybe Espio.)

The door of the library scrapes open, breaking Sonic’s moping to pieces and drawing his attention away from his blank essay. A dark head pokes into the room, looks around, spots Sonic, and a pair of red eyes narrow.

“Shadow,” Sonic hisses, and feels every hair on his body rise. Shadow hears him and scoffs, pushes the door open the rest of the way, clearly unintimidated by tiny, eleven-year-old Sonic with his large quills and even larger eyes.

“Sonic,” he greets, nonchalant, as if they’re great, longtime friends, and turns toward the shelves. He disappears into the stacks, somehow moving silently in those clunky shoes of his, and Sonic considers it. His options are thus: essay, mope over his malfunctioning magic, or follow Shadow.

It isn’t much of a choice really.

Sonic Adventure 2 Design Thread (mirrored from Twitter)

This article was originally a Twitter thread I wrote. I am mirroring it here as I plan to revive this blog, and feel its content fits the theme.

Released for the Dreamcast in 2001, Sonic Adventure 2 remains a VERY divisive game, yet deep analysis of its design as a game is surprisingly scarce. I hope to change that. To paraphrase a friend, gamedev, & Cheesecake Factory patron, this is Sonic Adventure 2: A Design Thread.

Sonic Adventure 2 follows up 1999's Sonic Adventure, which was Sonic the Hedgehog's first proper foray into 3D platforming after skipping the Saturn. Though this thread is about Sonic Adventure 2, comparisons to its predecessor will be made to examine how things changed.Sonic Adventure was a very ambitious game. Rather than simply bring standard Sonic gameplay to 3D, the game was divided between six different characters, each with their own very unique missions and abilities, with tasks ranging from racing to treasure hunting to fishing. While its six separate stories and hub worlds showed off massive ambition, certain parts of Sonic Adventure felt relatively half-baked; Sonic's story was much longer than everyone else's, the hub worlds felt barren. and certain gameplay styles just plain weren't fun.

So SA2 downsized things a bit. The hub worlds were dropped, and while the playable character count remained at six, the types of gameplay were narrowed to three, with three of the characters being near identical to the other three, divided between just two stories.The upside to this is that, rather than every character visiting some of the same stages as it was in the first game, every stage is unique (though they still share environments and some geometry). SA2 features three gameplay styles: -Sonic/Shadow -Tails/Eggman -Knuckles/Rouge

Sonic/Shadow stages are fast-paced, linear platforming. Sonic and newcomer Shadow have to run, jump, Homing Attack, and grind to the end of stages at high speed. This is generally the most fondly-remembered part of the game.

Tails/Eggman stages see the characters piloting armed mechs through linear stages. The mechs are equipped with a lock-on shot that can target multiple enemies at once for more points - more on the scoring later, as it is the key to the whole game.

Knuckles/Rouge stages task the player with navigating open levels to find three hidden objects through the use of a "hot/cold" radar and optional hints. Their abilities to glide and climb allow them to explore in all directions easily.

The division of SA2 into essentially three different games that the player alternates between is frequently derided, and while a more focused game could indeed be a better product, I would argue that SA2 realizes all three of its styles fully, thanks to another new addition.

That new addition is the Rank system. Sonic Adventure 2 keeps a score for each stage as you play through it, and at the end of each stage a letter grade is awarded. Higher scores lead to better ranks, with A ranks being the best and E ranks being the worst. The thing is, scoring systems in both 3D platformers and console games in general were essentially a thing of the past. As games on consoles diverged from their arcade counterparts, scores became less relevant and were frequently removed all together. Super Mario 64, which codified the 3D platformer, featured no proper scoring system at all. And while the first Sonic Adventure did feature scores, there was no in-game incentive to reach for higher scores, rendering them mostly meaningless.Super Mario 64 also did something else that many 3D platformers would follow suit in: it placed a focus on collection. Gathering the game's 120 Stars put exploration and problem solving at the forefront, and games like Banjo-Kazooie and Spyro The Dragon followed similar formulas. Notably, these games did not care how you reached their goals. Time constraints were rare, and moment-to-moment performance was de-emphasized in favor of letting the player progress as they see fit. Their mechanics reinforced that freedom. SA2 went in the opposite direction.Perhaps thanks to SEGA's history with arcade games, Sonic Adventure 2 uses its scoring & ranking systems as in-game incentives to perform as well as possible. This probably bounced off many players (for valid reasons), but I'd argue it's the key to the entire game!

Scoring in Sonic Adventure 2 is based on a number of factors, some universal and some specific to the gameplay styles. Universal ways to score are: -collecting Rings (10 points) -destroying enemies (varies by enemy) -Time Bonus (awarded depending on how long the level took)

One notable scoring mechanic is the Gold Beetle, a special version of the standard Beetle enemy. There is a single Gold Beetle in every stage; it appears for a few seconds before vanishing. Destroying this is worth 1000 points, which is a hefty fraction of points on most stages! The other most important thing to remember about scoring for all characters is that if you die, when you reappear at a checkpoint your score is reset to zero, basically guaranteeing a bad rank. Therefore, step 1 to attaining good ranks is completing levels without dying at all.

Now, for specifics: Bonus points can be awarded as you play through stages, but how exactly you get them depends on the type of stage you're currently playing. 

Sonic/Shadow stages are perhaps the hardest to describe. While you can consistently get bonuses from attacking multiple enemies in a row without touching the ground with their Homing Attack, as well as performing tricks off ramps and certain rails, other methods vary by stage.Taking different paths or rails, using certain abilities, or interacting with some objects in specific ways might give you points. While there's no one way to do it, the bonuses become pretty intuitive if you keep an eye out for chances to do cool or tricky things.

Tails/Eggman stages have the most straightforward bonuses, and the only ones the game directly tells you about; simply lock on to multiple enemies at once before firing to gain bonus points. The more enemies you lock on to, the more points you get.

Knuckles/Rouge stages have tricky bonuses; points are awarded when you collect each item depending on how quickly you did so and how few hints you used. As the items' locations are randomized each time you play a level, it could take a few restarts before you have a good run.

Knowing the sources of points and really striving for A-ranks is only required for 100% completion, but I'd argue that being aware of these systems is actually what makes Sonic Adventure 2 fun. Sonic Adventure 2 is known as a frustrating game for new players. The game doesn't do a good job of drawing focus to the bonus points, and the lives system (where it costs a life to restart a stage without returning to the menu) doesn't encourage the actions needed for A-ranks. The boss fights are another slight wrinkle; they're not ranked at all, leaving players to just go through them. Like many platformers, bosses are the least interesting part of Sonic Adventure 2. And, of course, there are a few stages or sections that are a bit annoying even when you're good at the game. SA2 definitely isn't perfect, and even if you understand the game you might still find yourself frustrated with Mad Space or Eternal Engine.

So Sonic Adventure 2 is a game with a design philosophy that goes against most of its genre, an unusual divided gameplay setup, some issues with communicating its core design, and some incredibly "early 2000's" aesthetics on top. It's no wonder many people don't like it. BUT.

That aforementioned design philosophy is EXTREMELY satisfying to play with. Mastering the stages in order to get A-ranks gives a feeling that not many platformers can give, and you can do it with some time & effort. Sonic Adventure 2 is a game where you get out what you put in.On a more general note, scoring/ranking systems are somewhat rare in console games, but they're a great way to add longevity to a game by encouraging a player to play better, rather than just completing the given content once. 

So anyway, I hope this thread gave you some stuff to think about in regards to game design, and maybe even encouraged you to give Sonic Adventure 2 a closer look. It's an odd game, but certainly an interesting one, and it's relatively unique among 3D platformers even to this day.

34. Special - Sonic & Knuckles

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Is everyone ready for the Kenders-est issue yet? Not only did he have a hand in writing every story in this special, but he did the pencils for one of the stories for the first time. He's back to writing about his favorite character in the universe, Knuckles, and for the first time we're gonna be getting some backstory for him.

The issue begins with another intro page, characteristic of Penders-headed stories, which gives us a little more info on this canon's version of the Floating Island (not yet referred to as Angel Island). As mentioned before, the island is held aloft not by the Master Emerald but by a Chaos Emerald. The island is mentioned to be one of the very last places on Mobius to be untouched by the war raging below on the surface. The page also mentions that Knuckles' role as the island's guardian is passed down from generation to generation, a claim that I don't recall any other canons ever making (the games just refer to him as having this role with no knowledge of how he ended up with it), a detail which will be expanded upon later on, thanks to Kenders' neverending obsession with the echidnas.

Panic in the Sky!

Writers: Mike Kanterovich and Ken Penders Pencils: Art Mawhinney and Dave Manak Colors: Barry Grossman

The Floating Island, which apparently has always floated somewhere on the other side of the ocean, has started flying wildly off course, terrifying local Mobians and alerting the Freedom Fighters. No one has apparently ever heard of this thing before, but it's headed for Knothole, and considering all other massive things that head for Knothole tend to be deadly, that's not a good sign.

Of course, Sonic and Tails recognize this thing from their excursion onto it not that long ago, and fill everyone in, though why they didn't tell everyone all about their adventure and entanglement with Knuckles before now is beyond me (well, I know logically why - they needed an excuse to recap for the readers). Sonic and Tails decide to fly in to investigate, and thus we have our first showcase of Antoine being an accomplished pilot, which essentially makes half the entire cast pilots at this point. Also, the Floating Island has machine guns now!

Antoine flies them above the horizon line and out of danger, and they airdrop in only to immediately be attacked by several different bots, which the story is very unclear on whether they are from Robotnik or like, automated defense systems for the island or something. Sonic ends up going tumbling off a cliff, only for Knuckles to make his appearance and immediately try to murder him by stepping on his hand. What the hell, Knuckles?

Luckily, Tails is there to distract him, and after some brief fighting, Sonic is able to stop Knuckles from swinging his fists long enough to point out that the island has flown wildly off course, and that Knuckles is basically being a giant reactionary idiot. Seriously, Knuckles, how the hell did you somehow not notice your entire island being retrofitted into a giant fortress despite being its guardian? Talk about not doing your job.

Knuckles leads Sonic and Tails to the Chaos Chamber, where the Chaos Emerald sits. Interestingly, unlike the games where the Master Emerald need merely sit on the island to magically provide the lift to make it float, in the comics the Chaos Emerald actually provides literal power to a system that allows the island to defy gravity. However, an energy siphon has been installed to draw power towards Robotnik's guns and engines instead, so he can use the island as a method of obliterating Knothole. Again, despite being the island's guardian, Knuckles somehow noticed none of this. Robotnik's face appears and explains his plan to them over a screen, and then he makes an absolutely incredible facial expression on a backdrop of the ashes of civilization.

He doesn't even look like he's evilly laughing, he looks like he's taking an extremely painful dump or something. What the hell happened here, pencillers?

Anyway, Knuckles, ashamed by his failure, takes the emerald and shatters it, removing both Robotnik's power source and the source of the power keeping the island afloat. Robotnik chooses to abort rather than fall with it, thinking that he may still win the day after all.

I have to halt everything for a moment to discuss his claim right here, that the island is eight miles high. Now perhaps this is just a reference to the song Eight Miles High (I wasn't aware of it before now, but it popped up a lot while I was Googling information for this), but let's take him at his word and assume that the Floating Island really does hover at an altitude of eight miles (that's about thirteen kilometers for my non-American readers). That's approximately 42,000 feet in the air, which is the absolute maximum limit for modern commercial aircraft before the engines are no longer able to maintain lift. At that altitude, our planet's atmosphere is far too thin to breathe, and most people will suffer from hypoxia within seconds, and probably suffocate within a few minutes at most (for reference, Mt. Everest's peak is 29,000 feet above sea level, and even trained and prepared mountain climbers have to bring bottled oxygen and are at great risk of hypoxia and death at that kind of altitude). Now if we assume that Mobians have similar oxygen requirements to humans, and that Mobius' atmospheric conditions are similar to Earth's (two assumptions that are reasonable to make as later issues will reveal), absolutely no life should even exist on the Floating Island at all. Sonic and Tails would have suffocated within seconds of ever setting foot on it, and Knuckles wouldn't even be alive to watch them die, let alone attack them.

But whatever, it's a comic. We are dealing with a world where portals to alternate universes open and close on the regular, after all. Knuckles, once he's sure that Robotnik is gone, pulls out… another Chaos Emerald! Turns out he simply made a switch with a fake to fool Robotnik and then destroyed the fake, and thus replaces the real, unharmed emerald to halt the island's descent. Another quick bit of math - if we assume that the island's terminal velocity takes a little longer to reach than a human's (I have no idea how to calculate how fast something of that much mass would be able to fall, so I'm working on a lot of assumptions here) then we can say it would probably have taken nearly three and a half minutes to crash to earth had it been allowed to fall, yet the next panel shows it halting at what seems like a mere few hundred feet above the village - again, probably just for the dramatic effect, but I find it amusing that Knuckles might have waited almost three minutes playing chicken with Robotnik until he bailed, before replacing the real emerald.

With the day saved, Knuckles rejects Sonic's offer to join the Freedom Fighters, because he needs to pretend to be a lone wolf for a little while longer. Sonic and Tails return to tell the others what happened, and wonder what Knuckles will do in the future…

Fire Drill

Writer/Pencils: Ken Penders Colors: Freddy Mendez

…luckily, we don't need to wait long to find out, because every story in this issue is about Knuckles! This is the first story penciled by Penders himself, which is noteworthy, especially as he becomes a more frequent artist in later issues. Also to note is that Barry Grossman no longer has a monopoly on the coloring - we finally have someone new for the first time since the third freaking issue! Welcome to the party, Freddy!

While there's not a lot of plot to this story, it does contain some interesting tidbits. Knuckles is chilling on his island as normal, when a loud explosion startles him. He traces the explosion from the beach and follows footprints into the Sandopolis Zone ruins, believing the troublemaker to be Sonic and ready to throw hands once more. He faces several traps within the ruins, such as falling rocks, a tripwire-activated axe, and a sand trap, but things don't really get interesting until these few panels:

He mentions family for the first time - a father - which not even the games hint at. The way he speaks, we can assume his father hasn't been around for some time. However, this seems to follow what the intro page said about this duty being passed on between generations - clearly, his father was a guardian before him, but for whatever reason, he and the rest of the echidnas have disappeared…

Anyway, after facing a few more traps and trials, Knuckles emerges from the ruins to find that the footprints seem to lead off the edge of the island, and assumes that Sonic has had his fun and vacated the island. However, we the readers can see that that's not the case - a mysterious silhouette is the real troublemaker, and apparently, they were the one testing Knuckles… but why?

Lord of the Floating Island

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Harvey Mercadoocasio Colors: Freddy Mendez

This is really just a plot meant to establish what exactly Knuckles tends to do on an average day on his island. Knuckles is flying around - because he can just do that in the comics, I know he can usually glide in other media but he just straight up flies here - when the wind buffets him around and he spots a young kangaroo hopping around in fear. Unlike in other canons, the Floating Island is actually quite populated - Knuckles isn't alone there but acts as guardian of not only the Chaos Emerald, but all the island's Mobian inhabitants. He swoops down to pick the kangaroo up to protect it, and while they wait out the storm they spot what's causing it - a solar eclipse, because that's how eclipses work.

Interestingly, Knuckles refers to "the moon" rather than "one of the moons." I can't remember at this point whether Mobius having one hundred moons was retconned in later issues, but either this issue acts as the retcon, or else Knuckles is merely referring to only one moon that regularly causes the eclipse or something. In addition, we get to see the first appearance of the dingoes, which become regulars in later issues but for now are treated like some kind of mindless stampeding mob, despite them clearly being Mobians as well with shoes and gloves.

Anyway, in the end, the eclipse ends, the winds die down, and the kangaroo's mother finds him again, thanking Knuckles for his role as guardian. It really kind of acts like he's a one-man police force for the entire island, which I suppose isn't entirely inaccurate for this canon.