“Hero to Zero In No Time At All” Sink or Spin I - Sonic the Hedgehog #150
Great, now I got that song from Hercules stuck in my head.
Today’s story involves Sonic taking a sudden interest in the ladies. Only it’s not really Sonic, it’s Scourge the Anti-Sonic. He hits on a bunch of the women of Knothole, including Bunnie.
I see Bunnie’s self esteem issues popping up again.
Also, why do you care Tails? What does “Sonic” and Bunnie dating have to do with you? Do you secretly have a crush on Sonic as well? Or are you just a hard core Buntoine shipper?
Now, logically you would think Bunnie would call things off here insisting “Sonic” go talk with Tails. But nope.
Now there’s a pretty popular interpretation of this scene, suggesting Bunnie and Scourge had sex during the time skip. It’s an interpretation that I fully reject for several reasons and here’s why.
- I don’t give two shits what Penders’ original intent was, what he said after the fact, and/or weather or not he failed to deny this headcannon. At the end of the day I’m the one reading this. At the end of the day it’s my head cannon that counts when I’m reading. Not the one someone else came up with. And at some point you have to separate the author/artist from the work itself.
- If sex was the original intent it’s very poorly presented. Like, I was a full grown adult when I first read this scene and it didn’t occur to me that that was what the writer was trying to convey, and I highly doubt any little kids reading at the time would have considered it as well.
- I mean Bunnie’s not an idiot. Sure she makes knee-jerk decisions at times but sex on the first date seems pretty off. Especially when she was just berating “Sonic” for trying to make out after Tails got upset. What kind of sense does that make? Also, I’m no expert, but I don’t see any articles of clothing removed or mussed up hair or any of that messy stuff that comes with sex. It just seems like a leap in logic to me to automatically assume they did it, is what I’m saying.
- We’re not even sure if Bunnie can have sex. Like we do find out later she is physically intimate with her husband, but in what way or to what extant is still left in the air. This is in part due to comic’s target audience being children and also because Bunnie’s robotics have never been clearly defined in how they work. And granted there is an interesting discussion to be had about her cybernetics and how they effect her love life but I’m saving that for a future review when its more appropriate.
- This is still a kid’s comic! If Scourge did have sex with Bunnie it would qualify as rape because of false pretenses. Rape has no place in children’s media. Now I fully realize that Penders is oblivious to that fact and can’t tell his ass from his elbow, but the rest us know better. Why make yourselves more miserable then you have too by insisting this a thing that happened? The comic by no means shoves this interpretation down you’re throat, nor does it make any claims to be edgier than it is. If you see something that isn’t actually there than that’s all on you.
Now a head cannon is still a head cannon, and you’re allowed to keep which ever ones you want. Even if it flummoxes me personally as to why you would keep this particular one. However for myself, personally, I just see it as Bunnie and Scourge making out and nothing more. Sure it’s still sleazy on Scourge’s part and it’s still a stupid decision on Bunnie’s end, but at least it’s something everyone can walk away from with some amount of dignity.
Anyways now that that’s out of way, let’s get down to the real reason why we’re here. No doubt, if you haven’t figured it out yet, Ken Penders is today’s author and we finally get the reveal that “Antione” has been Patch all along.
Also pretty convenient that you shaved off his goatee with that sonic spin as well.
Now this is where I was getting at when I said you have to separate the creator from the work sometimes. I’ve noticed a growing trend where people let what an artist did or say in real life retroactively ruin a piece of art that they once enjoyed. Does that mean we should give creators a free pass when they do awful shit? Of course not! By all means continue calling Penders out on his bullshit, don’t let anyone forget that Woody Allen is a pedophile and a rapist, and always let the Chris Brown apologists know they are in the wrong. But that doesn’t mean you have to stop watching Annie Hall if you like it, or that you can no longer sing loudly to “No Air”. (Note: I hate Annie Hall and I enjoy “No Air” but I don’t really listen to Chris Brown regularly. I’m just providing examples)
Nor does it mean you have to rip to shred every single thing Penders writes. I don’t care if Penders made a sexiest comment about Lupe once, I still think “Lupe: Family” is a decent story. I don’t give a damn if he claimed Rotor is gay, I’m still going to headcannon him as ace anyways. And I will always defend Ken’s decision to retcon Evil-Antoine into Anti-Antoine. Even if the way he went about it was extremely douchey.
Ya see, Penders didn’t “win out” because he had the best idea, he won because he went behind Bollers’ back and published this story before Bollers could even start on his original plans. Like, is that not the epitome of dickbaggery you’ve ever heard of? Hell yeah! Does that mean I wish Bollers got fair chance to tell his story? Hell no!
I’ve discussed in length back in issue 137 why Bollers plans for Antoine were crap, but the long and short of it is; if Bollers had his way Antoine’s character would have been assassinated beyond repair. Years of character development down the drain all for the sake of cheap, forced drama. But with Penders idea, not only does it keep Antoine’s development intact but actually builds upon it; adding new backstory to potentially explore and new hardships for Twan to overcome and grow from.
There’s also the added bonus of creating a new and very effective villain in Patch, while simultaneously giving Ant an arch nemesis. The fact that this all can be traced back to Scourge seeking revenge on Antoine for his embarrassment in #122 is just icing on the cake.
Now that doesn’t mean this story is without flaws. I’ve already talked about Tails’ weird freak out and that poorly laid out scene involving Bunnie and Scourge, but there’s also an icky romance between Rouge and Locke (eww) made even worse by later writers trying to pair her with Knuckles, and a confusing lack of continuity. Like with Sally suddenly having short hair or this scene…..
Umm…Antoine was trapped in Anti-Mobuis for at least 6 months or more and Scrouge only just now got the idea to come over to Mobius and take Sonic’s place. It also took Patch several months to earn King Max’s favor. Why would Twan just randomly be in Scourge’s room spying on Patch? Shouldn’t the scene with Patch receiving the promotion from King Max be after the whole threatening Ant scene? Doesn’t that flow better? Or is Scourge just torturing poor Antoine by forcing him to helplessly watch Patch ruin his life. Yeah you know, I wouldn’t put it past him to do that.
Oh man, does this mean Scourge has been forcing Twan to keep the disguise on this whole time? Like I just thought he did it as a way to keep the Suppression Squad from killing him out right, but nope apparently Scourge has been threatening him all for his own personal amusement. I guess that explains why he didn’t just run away or try to receive help from the good Doctor. That’s kind of horrifying, especially considering that he would have been forced to join in on the Suppression Squad’s escapades. And considering that they’re villains, well you can imagine that their idea of fun involves lots of violence.
That’s sadly why we’ll never see Antoine’s time in Anti-Mobius fully explored. To do so would get very dark and disturbing very quickly. But still, my poor baby!
The second story this issue is the second half of “The Chosen One” arc. The whole Tails is the Chosen One thing started way back in the Tails mini-series. Penders and company thought it would be a good idea to wrap up the sixth milestone by concluding this dangling plot thread and tying up the loose ends of the Zone Wars series. Not a bad idea in of itself, but it falls apart when the whole thing turns into a retread of “Night of a Thousand Sonics”.
I can fully understand why someone would hate this story, but for me it’s one of those “so bad it’s entertaining” type tales.
I mean just look at this! That is a thing of beauty right there! You couldn’t ask for a more shitposting meme worthy image even if you tried!
Next week will do the usual 25 recap and then continue on with the Sink or Swim arc after that.
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