I wish more people understood that Sega / Sonic Team carefully scrutinizes and approves every single issue of the IDW comics before they get printed and release, down to characters' facial expressions.

This isn't like the wild west of the 90s where people like Penders were allowed to do whatever they wanted. Scripts and storyboards are sent to Sega for approval multiple times for every issue. And the IDW team has to make the requested changes before it can print. One example that has been specifically mentioned was when Amy hugged Sonic in the "Chao Races and Badnik Bases" arc. Evan originally drew a little blush on Sonic's cheeks. Sega said "no" because Sonic doesn't show that much vulnerable emotion, and so Evan had to revise the panel to remove the blush. The oversight is that finite. Absolutely NOTHING gets put in the IDW comics that is against Sega or Sonic Team's ideas for their characters and brands. Like it or hate it, but that's simple fact.

So when you hear, "Sega wants to bring the comics and games (and potentially the shows) under the same canon umbrella" — yeah, it makes sense! Because while Sonic Team might not be crafting the comics themselves, they ARE overseeing their creation and are approving every story beat and facial expression contained within. They know exactly what is happening in the comics, are actively working to keep them in line with the current vision for the Sonic brand, etc. If they're working to keep them in line with their current vision for the games anyway, why NOT tie them all together? Especially when the comics have helped bring a new generation of kids to the franchise (similarly to how the movies did) while also being compliant with the games (unlike the movies). It just makes sense.

I understand that people who are perhaps more used to stories about what the Archie comics were like in the 90s might have reservations. But for good or for ill, the IDW comics are a completely different beast, despite having a lot of the same crew. I'm not saying Sega are overbearing evil overlords who don't let the IDW team have any fun (personally I think it's clear the team has a lot of fun working on the comics), because hell, they let a zombie pandemic arc happen. But I am saying that nothing that happens in the comics happens without Sega's express approval, right down to whether Sonic is allowed to blush when Amy hugs him or not. You still don't have to like the comics, everyone has different tastes and that's cool. But just know that the comics are Sega-approved panel by panel, so if you have an issue, take it up with them. Ultimately, they're the ones who get final say.

https://bumblekastclips.tumblr.com/post/728010854667272192/kyle-crouse-ian-flynn-kyle-ian

so Silver is so stupid that he needs to better more experienced oc to keep an eye on him and baby him, nice

and what is this about she fearing his powers that has never shown in the comics

also then Why is there this whole thing of Silver going crazy over the guardian angel every time again when Whisper does not even see him back or see him as a friend despite their working together before

what a dumb way to make a stupid plot even stupider and make Silver even stupider too.

Cream’s not a threat, Cream needs to be protected at all costs…

This is very minor, but considering that Flynn thinks Cream is too young to fight and how he put her in horrifying situations where she couldn't fight back... mmmmh. me no likey.

It’s just, he can do a lot of damage, and he can be tricked into pointing himself in the wrong direction. So he needs to– she needs to keep an eye on him.

... the fuck is this. Wow. That is. Wow.

I... don't really have words to explain right now why this is a slap in the face to Silver, his character development, and all of his fans. Just read that. I can't.

I think if you're a huge Sonic fan it's perfectly fine and valid to have critiques about the series and the way the writers handle it, because like. Y'know. It's healthy and shit to be able to critique your interests, even the ones you have the biggest attachment to. But if it's getting to a point where you're wishing the loss of a job, physical harm, or even death on people who have been creatively involved in the series because they "ruined it" then you need to dial it way wayyy back and also maybe get a hobby and perhaps seek therapy

i want to make it extremely clear that when i say idw sonic haters are annoying im not talking about people who simply dont like idw sonic or think that some storylines could have been handled better or dont care for some of the characters. i am specifically talking about people who hate idw sonic and are super aggressive about it and constantly complaining about it and throwing huge tantrums over small things like song lyrics being used in the dialogue or the characters making funny expressions or silvers eyes being drawn too rounded or amy being strong. or saying disgusting things about the writers and artists or making fun of people for liking idw sonic and going on random idw sonic posts and writing a long ass rant about how much you hate the comic. basically its ok to not like idw sonic just be normal about it please. if you hate the comics That much why are you constantly posting about them

tbc wrt whatever the takeovers r doing and in general. i do not care abt them doing shipbait stuff like thats just EZ marketing. the double standards for what is acceptable as "non-romance" is shit tho. cmon man.

I wonder why ppl interpret sonic not jumping at the chance to kill an enemy as him giving "second chances" to bad guys who don't deserve it like eggman

He was really good in Prime so I think he'll be good here

i didnt watch any prime cuz fuck dat but i trust you......

update my "brainrot over cut man" phase has upgraded into "FULL ON HYPERFIX OVER THE ARCHIE RUN OF MEGA MAN COMICS"

IDW Sonic is written so horribly that even the Rogues' Gallery of villains from the other comics (especially Archie, STC and whatnot) would either mock him, beat him down to an inch of his life or do both, maybe even kill him over his ideals of 'freedom' by letting them go scot-free and cause more chaos.

Sorry Sonic but you aren't Steven Universe and the talk no jitsu is useless here. Nice try. I mean it, this Sonic is more of a villain than of a hero as he claims to be and his speeches almost sound..familiar.. Honestly, I feel like I heard this sort of gloating egotistic speech from somewhere.. kinda reminds me of someone..

No matter what, it's never okay to come up with falsehoods about any person just because you do not like the content they make, no matter the quality of that content. Either stick exclusively to criticizing the content they make, or if they have genuinely done terrible things say that because it's the right thing to do, not because you want to ruin their career or whatever

i preferred when people working on the sonic comics didnt know jack shit about the games

Surprisingly, grandpa Battle Kukku single-handedly “handles” the situation and makes him and Abyss the first team to get their crap sorted!

Every iteration of the Battle Lord just has to have a corny but truly badass line in an action scene. First “Wake up, son, It’s time for school” and now this. xD

Hi, I was wondering if you were planning to play/watch any of Sonic Frontiers? It has a lot of lore and the eggman characterisation seems like it'd be right up your alley. I really liked it though obviously everyone has different tastes. BTW I love your meta 😃

Everything I have thus far observed about Sonic Frontiers has convinced me to stop looking at promotional stuff until I've properly experienced the game for myself. It is most certainly on my steam wishlist.

idk why people are mad that Tangle got a name drop when Kenders probably would've sold his echidna OCs to SEGA for a dollar and a corn chip if they'd just asked and kept his name to them

you sent me down the Sonic name rabbit hole and the misinformation is even more stupid then originally intended.

Archie Sonics Middle name being Maurice had only appeared twice in comic form, once as a definite joke and once as a dubious joke (hard to say if it was serious since it doubled as a throw back joke) but Maurice was kinda an inside joke for the most part and they even poked fun at it in one of the Sonic Prime adverts.

Olgilvie is where it gets stupid. Sonics 'first name' was never given in canon but was allegedly posted on Penders own website, saying that he intended it to be his first name but never actually applied it. I say allegedly because finding actual proof is basically impossible. There's no screenshots of the website, Penders never posted about it on social media and there doesn't appear to be any interviews with Penders saying so either. It is entirely possible that this was just a made up rumour/someones personal head canon posted on a mid 90s forum that spun out of control.

yeah i definitely think his middle name being maurice was just a joke at first and it was only mentioned by the characters themselves twice that i remember, but there were also multiple character profiles for sonic that mentioned his middle name being maurice and/or sonic not being his birth name, so it Was intended to be canon. but again the same cannot be said for olgilvie, i cant remember a single time the name was ever mentioned in the comic and other writers have said that it isnt considered canon

as far as penders himself talking about this goes, i actually did manage to find a couple tweets of his that mention it but theyre actually very recent and in response to someone asking about it, i still cant find the original source for this claim anywhere. but i do have some stuff to say about the tweets so.

part of the conversation is cut out because i didnt wanna post screenshots of some random persons tweets, but basically someone was asking where he originally confirmed this, where the inspiration for the name came from, and if anyone else used it. which as you can see he didnt really answer that first question. and he also says he DID use the name in one issue, but hes blatantly wrong here because issue 53 doesnt say sonics name is olgilvie, just that his birth name isnt sonic and his middle name is maurice. so hes definitely misremembering some details here

now im not saying this is actually what happened but wouldnt it be so funny if penders never intended for his name to be olgilvie specifically but someone on the internet just made it up and it became so widespread that penders himself even believed it and thats why no one not even him can provide the source for where this was originally stated

writers of the sonic franchise seem to have this weird idea characters who aren´t sonic and eggman can only be made like actually relevant if they are playable characters when that is like. not true