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“Changes” - Sonic the Hedgehog #78

Like with “A Brave New World” before it, “Changes” focuses on setting up the new character dynamics and story arcs for the upcoming era.

We open up with King Max giving Sonic a medal of honor and knighting him Sir Sonic. He also reinstates the Freedom Fighters officially to help combat Eggman.

And oh my gosh, Bunnie’s wearing a bowtie!!! Gah, it’s the cutest fucking thing ever!!!!!  

Unfortunately we don’t ever get to see the rest of her outfit so I doodled up a quickhalf-assed concept.

Sloppy-coloring is sloppy. I legit did this with a mouse like ten minutes ago cause I didn’t want to take the time to hook up my tablet……

Next Antoine confines in Bunnie what he found out about his father a couple of weeks ago.

Ok a quick couple of things about this scene. First Bunnie is sporting her new design, meaning this takes place after “Upgrades”. Second this is setting up a future story-line later on down the road, between Ant and his dad. And last but not least baby Twan and his papa is still the greatest thing ever!

We also get an update on Sonic and Antione’s relationship.

Twan is now actively proud of his friend’s accomplishments and heroics. We’ve come a long way since his days of bitter jealousy.  

But he’s still not putting up with any of Sonic’s bullshit. Good for him. I love the fact that Ant is that one friend in Sonic’s life that actively stands up to him and tells him off when he needs it, without going into dick mode to do it.

Other things that happen in this story are…

• Sonic has a heart to heart with his parents and Nate movies into Uncle Chucks old room
• Unbeknownst to everybody Queen Alicia reacts to being near the chaos emerald that Nate happens to just have ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
• Space ships are heading towards Mobius    
• Mina is placed in charge of the orphans helping Rosie out. (It kinda makes me wish she and Rosie were shown developing a mentor relationship. But then again I’m always wishing for more Rosie)  
• Geoffrey and Sonic finally bury the hatchet. Both the FF and the Secret Service will be working together more often now.  
• Elias sulks around while looking pretty. He also overhears Doctor Quack tell his dad that his mom will die in a week. How much you wanna a bet that Max won’t tell his kids about it?
• Eggman starts planning for Sonic Adventure.

The other story in the comic is yet another part in the on going Tales of the Great Wararc.

You know it’s poetic really, having Antoine sitting in on this story, considering that’ll he’ll go through a similar experience later in his life. One can’t help but wonder that if the reboot hadn’t happened, just how much would history have repeated itself. hmmmm…….

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“Bunnie Rabbot: Upgrade” - Sonic Super Special #11

After going for nearly an entire era without Bunnie doing hardly anything at all, we finally get a story that focuses on her. And it is perhaps her most important story ever.  

While working, Bunnie gets ill and faints. 

After rushing her to the hospital and stabilizing her; the doctor gives her some bad news. 

I know that’s a wall of text, so I’ll summarize. Basically, Bunnie’s robotic implants are poisoning the rest of her body due to corrosion.  Her three options for survival are…..

1. Remove her robotic limbs completely, making her an amputee. She’d be bound to a wheel chair; though with the small hope that a cure could be found later. 
2. Replace her cybernetics with upgraded new ones. She would be able to continue with her life as she has been, but with no hope of ever becoming normal, because her new limbs would be fully robotic not robotized organic martial.(Robotization uses nanite technology to marry organic tissue to cybernetic microchips on a microbiological level. Meaning you could potentially reverse the process and separate the organic from the robotic. It wouldn’t work on normal robotics, though)  
3. Risk derobotization right now. As stated above. Derobotization can only reverse original robotized tissue. Over the years Bunnie’s been giving upgrades to help combat Robotnik. These power ups would be regular robotics and wouldn’t convert the same way as her robotized half. Meaning she could die from having foreign objects randomly trapped within her reformed organic body.(Presumably this is why she hasn’t undergone the processes yet and why she didn’t use the “port-a-bot” back in Mecha Maddness. Even though they didn’t explain that at the time. One could also assume that’s why the rest of the Robians haven’t under gone the procedure either. Though there’s the hope that a solution could be found later)  

None of these options are particularly appealing. There’s pros and cons to all of them, but the biggest blow is that she now is even further away from her goal of becoming normal more than ever.  

Fortunately for her, Antoine is there to be the best damn boyfriend ever! 

Originally posted by yourreactiongifs

Originally posted by allreactions

Originally posted by realitytvgifs

Originally posted by anothermadchild

Originally posted by ycleptslike

Guys, if there was ever any doubt that this ship wasn’t endgame than go back and read this story. Cause this right here. Right now. Is where they went from “just dating” to life partners. Yes, I know it’ll be awhile before the actual proposal and wedding. Yes, I know about the shit storm that’s coming that they’ll have to weather out. But it doesn’t matter. This here is the moment Antoine committed himself to being with her for the rest of his life. 

It’s also the moment Bunnie started to accept herself for who she is. She’s not fully there yet. She still has a ways to go before she gains the self-esteem and confidence she needs, but this is a major first step. 

Because Bunnie agrees to have the new cybernetic implants. She gives up her dream of ever being “normal”, but she hopefully has gained a new dream in return. A life filled with unconditional love and acceptance. 

And with that we have come full circle. Bunnie inspired Antoine down his path of redemption and in return he has helped her onto the road to recovery.  

The rest of the comic features a bunch of short stories focusing on some of the other ladies of Sonic. Sally learns not to trust the Source of All, Hershey goes on a solo mission, Lupe gets robotized, and Julie-Su rediscovers her origins. All in all, I highly recommend the issue, cause it’s always nice when the women get some of the spot light. 

Also…

Oh, hi there Armand! How you doing? 

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”Rebel Without A Pause” - Sonic the Hedgehog #77

So after Eggman’s take over, the Freedom Fighters return to Robotropolis to rescue the captured Mobians and to erase Knothole’s location from Eggman’s database.  They split up into two groups. 

Sonic, Sally, and Dulcy are on one team. Where they meet Mina Mongoose. 

More on her later folks. 

While Bunnie, Antoine, and Tails are on the other team. And they make it back to Knothole before Sonic and Sally. 

King Max here had ordered them to not go on any missions, disbanding the freedom fighters. 

He’s of coursed pissed. Now weather or not it’s because he’s worried about his daughter or because he’s a dick who can’t stand not to have people listen to him, is up in the air. Either way, witness the one and only time where the FFs stand up to him! 

It’s a weaksauce attempt because none of them are wanting to outright accuse their king of being an unreasonable asshat. They place the focus of their arguments on excusing Sonic’s actions rather than point out how the king was in the wrong to begin with. 

So when Sally and Sonic get back they are met with not applause and gratitude, but with hushed foreboding.  

I just like this little bit of interaction between Ant and Bunnie here, that is all. 

At first it appears as if the gang’s words had resonated with old Maxie. For once he doesn’t belittle his daughter and seems grateful that she’s safe. And he actually apologizes to Sonic. 

It’s not an “ego thing” it’s a “dick thing”. 

Now if handled properly, this could have been a point of character development for Max. But don’t get your hopes up; nothing’s actually changed here. 

The rest of the comic continues the Tales of the Great War arc. 

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“Zone Wars: A Tale of Two Hedgehogs” - Sonic Super Special #10

So we return to the world of Anti-Mobius and the Suppression Squad. They’re having difficulty over throwing the good Dr. Kintobor and are discussing strategies. In this outing we finally get a little more insight into who the anti-Freedom Fighters are. 

Well, more insight into Alicia and Patch anyways. Boomer and Miles are still just generic thugs and anti-Bunnie is nowhere to be seen. 

Patch is what would have happen if Antoine had given into his insecurities instead over coming them. He steps on people and even uses violence to get what he wants. All in a desperate bid for respect and admiration. But unlike Scourge, Patch tends to be more manipulative. Using also charm and wit to squirm his way into the good graces of those in power. He’s kind of like a more competent Snively, in that manner.

Alicia appears to be a less independent Sally. She’s perfectly capable of taking charge and yet she depends on Scourge to take the lead. When unsatisfied with his progress, she offers the job to Patch instead of just doing it herself. She also seems to thrive on attention in a way Sally doesn’t. Accepting Patch’s advancements and returning in them in kind.  

One has wonder if old Anti-Max was just as abusive as his prime counterpart. Is Alicia what would have happened if Sally had been raised by her father while growing up? Instead of gaining the confidence to be a leader on her own, her self esteem was broken by a controlling parent figure. Which is why she took the effort to dethroned him and only to then give the power to someone else. 

What I find really fascinating though, is how these slight but important changes alter the dynamic between Anti-Antoine and Anti-Sally. They openly flirt with one another, they have a shared interest in conquest, they both have self esteem issues and need constant admiration from others. Yet in spite of seemly now having more in common, they lack the deeper friendship that the original Sally/Antoine pairing was built off of.   

I totally ship Patch and Alicia, guys. I think they’re just the right kind of awful and disturbed that you could probably get a great story out of it. An unhealthy power couple using each other to claw their way to the top.    

Anyways this fight leads to the anti-FFs abandoning Scourge and going their own way. And we cut to the real FFs having a picnic. 

Antoine just casually taking a nap in Bunnie’s lap is the best thing ever! Gah, I live for little things like this. 

Also we get even more confirmation that Antoine is the best cook out of the group. 

Sally’s just sad that she can’t compare to Ant’s fine cooking skills…

Zonic the Zone Cop shows up to inform Sonic that Scourge is causing trouble another world and asks for Prime Sonic’s help. And the rest of the story is a crossover withSonic Underground. I know very little about the show and have yet to watch any of it. All I do know is that Sonic has a bother and sister, they have band together, and Uncle Chuck is it in despite none of the other SatAM characters being involved. Which is weird. 

But eventually Scourge is caught and imprisoned in the in-between zone. Where we discover that Patch did not become the new leader of the Suppression Squad.  

The special also features a crossover with Sabrina the Teenage Witch. It’s silly, but it does a good job representing the two franchises. Which already makes it leagues better than the Image crossover. It’s also possibly my fav crossover. Cause unlike Megaman, I actually have some familiarity with the world of Sabrina. 

Originally posted by psychoalienmermaid

Salem’s my spirit animal ya’ll. 

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“My Special Friend” - Knuckles the Echidna #29

We open up in Knothole with Antoine and Sally having a fight. 

Where, oh, where to start. Turns out Antoine knew about Elias and what the mission entailed when he flew that plane back in KtE 19. But he didn’t inform Sally until now because the King had ordered him not to. 

Was he in the right to keep such a secret from his best friend? Probably not. But Antoine was raised his whole life to be a solider. To follow orders and to respect the wishes of the royalty. No one ever warned him that the individuals  in charge might have conflicting views. And that doesn’t mean Ant won’t speak up if he feels something is wrong. It’s just he so explicitly trusts his king and his decisions that the idea that Max might be full of shit hasn’t occurred to him yet. (Nor most of the citizenry for that matter) 

And now his misplaced loyalty has hurt him and his friend, deeply. Sally and Antoine have had so few arguments in the book that this confrontation really stands out as being something serious. And in any other book this would be a turning point in their development. A reason to begin questioning the status quo and ones priorities. 

It would also be the prefect time for Sally to open up to Twan and tell him all of the BS Max had in store for both of them. But nope, Sally’s too “independent” to just tell people about her problems and seek help. That’s probably her greatest character flaw. She holds herself to impossible standers and underneath her calm collected exterior she’s really a mess of nerves.

So sadly Antoine will never come around to question his king or his responsibility as a knight. However Sally does attempt to finally confront her dad on her own. 

Originally posted by realitytvgifs

Now you’d also think that this would be the moment that Sally stands up for herself and tells her dad to fuck off, right? Only no, it isn’t. He gives her the same excuse as always. She accepts it, and in the very next scene she’s trying to rationalize what’s been happening to her. 

Ok list of the things that are wrong with this argument. 

1. Your father was not privy to Robotnik’s return at that time, and that wasn’t his excuse for turning on the Robians. Also he was mentally ill and possessed by an evil wizard. 
2. No you would not have done the same thing Sally. You were already there and didn’t agree with him then and if given the chance now I doubt you’d still do it. Honestly, all you are doing is lying to yourself in order to make yourself feel less guilty for not loving your abuser enough. A misplaced guilt that you only possess because your abuser has fucked with your head for too long.
3. Shut up Nicole! You are not helping. You’re the only person she’s confided in so far and instead of supporting her you’re only compounding the problem by trying to explain away an abuser’s behaivor. 
4. This is all very accurate to how abusive relationships work and how people remain trapped in them. Unfortunately the book isn’t self aware enough to realize this. You could have told a beautiful, deep, and important story with all this comic, but you fucked it up! 

Anyways Sally tries to get the Brotherhood to help in the fight against Eggman. Only they got their heads too far up their asses to do anything useful. Sally afterwards discusses things/argues with Knuckles. 

Knuckles is in a similar predicament as Sally, only he’s a little more removed from the toxic relationships of his forefathers. He has a pair of supportive parental figures he can turn to, his mother and his step dad. He realizes that the the treatment he’s received is fully wrong. He just can’t figure out a way to fix it. Which you can’t. The only way to fix an abusive relationship is to leave it.

However the argument doesn’t end well and Sally pushes Knuckles away the same as she did Antoine. 

She’s placing her frustrations on her friends shoulders because she knows they will still be there afterwards. She’s afraid to push too hard against her dad. Afraid of losing him again, if not physically, then emotionally. She equates the lost of his approval and attention with the lost of his love.Something that she’s been starved for ever since he went missing when she was a kid.

But her friends? They’ve always been there, despite her loud denials to the contrary she knows damn well that when everything is over they will still be friends. Right now she’s just deflecting everything she would actually want to say to her dad on to them. 

It’s not Antoine’s trust she’s lost, nor Knuckles’ dependability. It’s her dad’s. 

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The 25 Recap - 3rd Era

We’ve come to yet another bench mark and it’s time for me to recap the last 25 issues. 

The 3rd era includes…

• Sonic the Hedgehog 51-75 
• Knuckles the Echidna 1-28 
• Sonic Super Specials 1-9 (minus 6)

The third era is all about change. It breaks the formula of old and gives us new villains, new conflicts, new characters, and a new world to explore. And just when all the “new” is getting tiresome they return to form just to shake things up again. 

  

 Major events of the era are….

• The Dark Legion shows up KtE 1
• Introduction of Julie-Sue, Knuckles’ Mother, and Echdinapolis KtE 4 & 5 
• Robians regain their free will and Sonic finds out his parents are alive SSS 1
• Ixus Nagus, Kudos, and Uma Arachnis appear StH 53 
• Monkey Khan is introduced StH 55 
• The return of Dmitri and the fall of Mammoth Mogul (the master emerald is created) KtE 7-9 & StH 56 
• King Max is restored SSS 4
• Armand D'Coolette is discovered alive and Rob O’Hedge is introduced StH 58
• The Source of All is revealed StH 58 
• The fabled city of Albion is found KtE 12
• Sonic meets the Sandblast Freedom Fighters and Jack the Rabbit StH 63
• Meet Nate Morgan StH 64 
• Prince Elias and Queen Alicia is found and Knuckles meets the Brotherhood KtE 19 & 20 
• The first appearance of the Iron Queen StH 60
• The Ring of Acorns is rediscovered StH 67 
• Sonic’s 16th birthday StH 68 
• Antoine confesses his love for Bunnie StH 69
• Zonic the Zone Cop is introduced SSS 8
• Sonic gets a redesign StH 71 
• The Return of Robotnik (aka. Eggman shows up) StH 72-75

Favorite thing about the era: Breaking the Formula 

As I mentioned before, this era is all about change and I adore it for that. The whole reason this comic appeals to me (outside of having the ultimate OTP) is that it isn’t static like so many other comics out there. 

Least favorite thing about the era: Not enough Bunnie and Antoine 

As much as I enjoy the era, there’s no denying that the power couple took a backseat for most of it. Antoine was present in a few stories , but all too often received too little focus within them. And Bunnie got jack! She only got to do something in 4 issues max. 

Favorite Antoine Story: “Monkey Madness” StH 55 by Frank Strom 

I just really like the interplay between Antoine and Sonic in this one. I think it’s a major step in their relationship. One that helps solidify their dynamic post character development.  

Favorite Bunnie Story: “Down and Out in Downunda” SSS 4 by Micheal Gallagher

This is, quite literally, the only story in this era to have Bunnie do something other than stand around or punch stuff really hard. Granted, I love seeing her beat the crap out bad guys, but there’s more to her than just that! The comic really underserved her during this era. 

Favorite Buntwan Story or Moment: Antoine confesses his love for Bunnie in “A Day in the Life” StH 69 by Karl Bollers 

It’s a small, tucked away moment within a larger story, but it’s still very important to their growth as a couple. 

Favorite Single Story: “A Brave New World” SSS 1 by Ken Penders 

Yup, it’s still one of my favorites guys. I wish the comic would take the time to slow down and reflect on the characters more often, like this story does. 

Favorite Story Arc: Back In Business StH 72 - 75 by Karl Bollers 

It was a close call between this and The Lost Tribe. As much as I enjoy the latter, the arc had some pacing issues and had trouble juggling all the characters.  Back In Business is a payoff for a longer arc and is therefor less rushed in execution. Plus, all of the characters get to participate and show off their skill sets. 

Favorite Artist: Manny Galan

Manny Galan really came into his own during this era. Becoming something of a hybrid between Patrick Spaziante and Art Mawhinney. His work features all of the action, movement, and flow of Spaz but with Mawhinney’s more on-model attention to character design. 

So much for this recap. Tune in next time when we start in on the fourth era of the comic.  

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“I Am the Eggman!” Back In Business IV - Sonic the Hedgehog #75

So the new Robotnik is revealed to actually be Robo-Robotnik. Remember him from issue #19?  He’s popped up a few more times since then. However this time he’s defeated the Sonic from his world and has come to Mobius Prime seeking a new challenge. 

This of course doesn’t sit well with Bunnie. 

Originally posted by pastandpresentdanger

While the FFs are all trapped “Robo-Robotnik” sends his swatbots down to attack Mobotropolis. We get to see some of the non-Freedom Fighters be heroes and rescue some people, but ultimately the city has to be abandon again. 

Fortunately while the villain’s back is turned, Snively, of all people comes to the rescue.    

Have I ever mentioned how much I love, Snivley? Cause, like I really do. The Iron Queen maybe my fav villain in the series but her boyfriend here is a very, very close second. 

Sally’s brought a bomb to blow up the satellites, while Sonic heads off to rescue his family. He’s too late to save the rest of the Robians, but as luck would have it his mom and dad kept their free will though the power of their magic wedding bands.  

Everyone escapes, the base blows up, Mobotropolis is now Robotropolis once again, everyone not a robot has evacuated to Knothole, Robians have lost their free will again, including Uncle Chuck once more, and “Robo-Robotnik” gains a new body. 

And with that I shall now refer to him only as “Eggman”. Because that’s who he is and it helps distinguish him from the original Robotnik better. 

So all in all, with the exception of a few minor things here and there, we’re back to square one. I would call this retroactive, but there’s just enough here that’s unique to keep it from feeling like a retread. Though the question still remains on weather or not the coming era can differentiate itself from the early comic’s formula. 

But before we find the answer to that question, tune in next time when we recap this era. 

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“Don’t Call It a Come Back” Back in Business III - Sonic the Hedgehog #74 

So when we left off last time, all of the citizenry of Knothole disappeared. Sonic and company believe the disappearance to be connected to the mysterious satellites that have become active lately; along with several other disasters. Sonic wants to go up and investigate, but the Royal Dick-bag refuses.  

Oh, if only that were the case. Also being monarch isn’t a real reason Sally. Especially when said monarch has proven himself time and time again to be incompetent.  

Anyways, everyone comes around and agrees to help Sonic get to the bottom of whatever is going on and find his family. 

Nate helps them get one of Robotnik’s old space shuttles working, but they need Ducly to help them break through the atmosphere.  

Witness, the only thing Ducly’s ever done that’s worth a damn.  

Once there, everyone enters the satellite space station through the garbage shoot and are immediately attacked by swatbots. 

This is super nice to see again. The brilliance behind the 51-75 era is that they took a refreshing break from the normal formula, so that by the time they came back to it we wanted to see it again.  And that’s not to say the previous 20 something issues were boring, far from it actually, but rather seeing the old gang back in action after such a long break is indeed exciting.  

And everyone is contributing in a way that highlights how special each individual is. Sonic’s taking action, Bunnie’s kicking butt, Antoine is being nervous but brave, Tails is looking out for his buddies’ well being both emotional and psychical, Ducly’s flying, Nicole is giving strategy, and Sally is mediating between everybody. Even Amy gets to be a sweetheart and look out for everybody on the ground. The only thing missing is Rotor and his tech skills. He’s been replaced by Nate here, because Nate is redundant. 

So Robotnik seemly returns from the grave and the very first thing anybody does is to punch him in the face really, really hard!     

Did I mention how much I missed Bunnie doing stuff during this era? Cause, guys, this is beautiful!!!  

Originally posted by dormtainment

Moving on; turns out “Robotnik” captured all of the Robians and stripped them of there free will again and has them slaving on his ship. This thoroughly pisses Sonic off and he goes ballistic trying to pound the dude’s ass into the ground. Prompting concern from Tails. 

Antoine using his girlfriend's leg as a ladder to get down, ha! Oh and yes this a reminder that both Ant and Bunnie are really important to the on going story. They actually know things about Sonic that even his best friend and girlfriend doesn’t. 

“Robotnik” gets splattered with some toxic ooze during the fight and doesn’t die immediately. Leaving us with the cliffhanger for this issue. 

There’s a second story in the comic which is yet another chapter in the Tales of the Great War arc. 

More proof that Armand is awesome and one of the best parental figures in the comic’s history.