So this story is an obvious parody of Groundhog Day and it’s also another birthday story.
Wait! What?Why?!
We just had a birthday story seven issues ago. You can’t tell me that another year has passed since then. And if not, then where do we place this story in the timeline and how would that effect everybody’s ages?
Well there’s three options.
First, this is just a late celebration to make up for his last party being crashed by bad guys. The announcer on the radio even suggests as much in the opening scene.
However the radio announcer doesn’t specify which attack it was and between the two b-day stories we’ve had a couple of weeks of various attacks. It makes little sense for everybody throw a second party so late afterwards especially when another attack could happen at any time. Besides Sonic had a blast at the first party and told Rotor and the others not worry about it.
The second option is that this is a flash back to a previous birthday. We have one missing from the early years as I pointed out back in my review of #68. You could place this story right before Mecha Madness and the timeline and ages wouldn’t change.
Unfortunately there’s some continuity nods that interfere with that placement. Primarily the mention of Mina, Sonic’s green eyes, and Sally’s long hair. Now I can ignore the new designs given the widely varied artwork in this series but Mina existing before issue 76 not so much.
That leads us into the third option. This took place some time during the 100s before Sonic went into space. It makes the most sense. Mina is around and singing while Sonic and Sally started to sport their newer designs. Plus there’s an awful lot of stories that even with the time skip suggests more then just two years passed.
Even the Archie Continuity on the Sonic Wiki places it between #120 and #121. Now I would personally move that up a bit to right after Heart Held Hostage.But the point still stands. Acknowledging that Sonic had a birthday before going into space that would place everyone a year ahead of there “official” ages.
Sonic - 18 (because of the time skip)
Sally & Rotor - 19
Bunnie -20
Antoine - 21
Tails & Amy - 13
Only Tails just said he was a eleven a few issues ago so maybe he’s younger then Amy?
“Giving and Receiving” & “Birthday Boys” Birthday BashI & II - Sonic the Hedgehog #160 & #161
We have a couple of notable issues today. This is the first story ever written by Ian Flynn and the first story to be drawn by fan favorite Tracy Yardley, but most importantly it’s another birthday episode.
According to Rotor Sonic missed a birthday while traveling through space and it’s been two years since issue 68. This puts everyone at…
Sonic - 17 (because of the time skip)
Sally & Rotor - 18
Bunnie - 19
Antoine - 20
Tails & Amy - 12
Though Tails did say he was eleven just a few issues ago so his birthday must come after Sonic’s.
However there is one story that we’ll cover in the near future that could possibly throw a monkey wrench into the works, but more on that later.
In the meantime here are some highlights to take note of….
This is the first appearance of Bean the Dynamite and Bark the Polar Bear. Bark is the silent strong man type and Bean is basically a G rated version of Deadpool.
I fucking love Bean! But unfortunately his interaction with Bunnie and Antoine is practically nonexistent so we won’t see him often in this retrospective.
Fiona is finally given a personality and a story purpose beyond just “the love interest”. As stupid and forced as the whole Sally/Sonic/Fiona/Tails love triangle is, at least Flynn manages to give the characters life and unique dynamics.
Scourge gets a recolor and a permanent boost in power from the Master Emerald.
And Antoine is the one to defeat Bark.
That’s it for this retrospective, be sure to tune in next week!
“System Reboot” Shadow Returns III & “The Despicable Dr. Robotnik: "Insidious" - Sonic the Hedgehog #159
We have a very short review for today. I just wanted to point out a few things.
In the first story Knothole is attacked by a whole horde of Metal Sonics where we find out that Antoine has kept his title of Commander despite his evil counterpart earning that rank for him.
While it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, I’m actually fine with this revelation. For starters Antoine has been head of the royal guard for years anyways during the first Robotnik war and he’s more than proved himself responsible at leading several times before this. Plus it’s just nice to see that everyone trusts him in spite of the mess Patch caused.
PS. Why on earth is Bunnie carrying a bow and arrow when she has a laser cannon?
In the second story Robotnik hits upon the idea of infecting individuals with nanites, specifically individuals with robot components. These people are Jules, Nicole, Tommy Turtle, and Bunnie.
This is a direct follow up from the “Bunnie captured by the nanties” plot back in issue 152. All in all it’s an interesting idea that takes advantage of some unique characters who don’t come together often despite having so much in common. Unfortunately this is all setup for a future story, one that won’t fully explore the ramifications of this action and one that doesn’t lend itself to character development. Shame because this this set up would have been perfect for exploring this characters more.
However I’m going to blame the lack of follow up on the changing of the guard as this is Penders last story. Next issue will start in on Ian Flynn’s run on the comic. So until then viewers.
Been real busy as of late and things are about to get even busier for me so I might have to reschedule what days I post the reviews on. Though for now, I had a real tough time with this particular issue. I feel like I covered most of the points I wanted to talk about in the last review and I didn’t really want to repeat myself so here are the edited highlights.
Antoine and Sally go through with the wedding ceremony while Sonic runs off to see a “mysterious” person about helping him stop it. This person chooses not to help and Sonic rushes back to find out he’s too late.
I want you to remember this line right here viewers because I’m going to come back to it at the end.
He crashes the reception and “Antoine” has him thrown out and we see just how whipped Sally has become.
I’ve defended Sally’s actions or lack there of in the past mainly because of her father’s involvement. Bowing to the wishes of you’re abusive dad is one thing, blindly following the orders of a childhood friend is entirely another. Marriage or no, Sally wouldn’t just sit and do nothing while “Antoine” bossed everyone around instead. The only explanation I can come up with is that she’s regressing into depression again. Something she struggled with back when Sonic was lost in space. She’s both mentally and emotionally “shut down” so to speak.
But what of the “mysterious stranger” Sonic spoke to?
I’m more interested in the how more then the why honestly. Sonic has super speed, that’s how he got back in time for the reception, yet Elias makes it back in time for the reception as well despite taking the the time to have a serious talk with his wife and riding back on “horse back” (or what ever Penders calls those things). He was literally only ten minutes behind Sonic, meaning he must have changed his mind pretty damn fast.
Though it’s interesting to hear that Elias’s motivation for taking back the throne is because he doesn’t trust Antoine. Remember no-one knows that it’s really Patch in disguise yet, and at this point Elias only knows Twan as a Freedom Fighter and Sally’s friend.So really there’s no real reason for Elias’s suspicion and even Sonic is taken aback by this assumption. But oh how Elias will reverse this opinion once he get to know the real Antoine. But that’s much later folks.
However this exchange causes Sonic to start questioning “Antoine” and his motivations.
And once again Patch just proves how competent he is a villain because even with this upset in his plans he still never drops his facade. Sonic still can’t quite believe Elias’s assumptions. In fact the only time Patch screws up is when he gets too impatient.
I’m not entirely sure what Patch’s line of thinking is suppose to be here. First, it takes more then one dose of that poison to kill a person. Second, why try to poison him in front of everyone? Why not just wait until a more opportune moment when you’re alone with him and set up an “accident”? After all one of Patch’s greatest strengths as a character (and Antoine’s as well for that matter) is his perseverance. Both are persistent in their goals and patient enough to stick with it despite multiple set backs and failures. The difference between the two is how they apply that strength, Antoine to better himself and Patch to further his ambitions.
Anyways this leads to Sonic figuring out who Patch really is.
Boy that sure is a lot leaps in logic there, Sonic. Yeah, he is technically right but none of those points he made lead naturally to that conclusion. For starters Antoine is very much a competent fighter and has been for years; kicking both Scourge’s and Sonic’s asses on some occasions and fighting robots for heaven knows how long. He totally did have a killer instinct when thought you were Scourge and almost did you in. Though granted before his time on Anti-Mobius he wasn’t prone to violence but it’s not out of the realm of possibility that character development could be in play here. And last off, while the scar is the most tangible physical difference between the two it’s still not much in the way of evidence. No one on regular Mobius knew that Patch’s eye patch was fake and just because Bunnie didn’t know where he got the scar doesn’t mean he couldn’t be the real Antoine.
This is why I claim Patch’s defeat as a plot contrivance. First there’s Elias’s unfounded suspicion being the catalyst rather then coming from someone who actually knows Antoine like Sally or Sonic. Second there’s that out of character lapse in judgment where Patch gets caught trying to kill Elias in front of everyone. And then Sonic figuring everything out in two minutes using flimsy deduction despite Patch fooling everyone one, even his own father, for over six months.
It’s a pretty weak conclusion to a very potentially interesting long running development. However not all is wasted as Patch is a delight through out, Elias becomes the new ruler of the kingdom, a decision that would ultimately prove to be for the best, and we finally get the real Antoine back.
Not only is the Fiona/Sonic pairing poorly developed and badly established but it clashes narratively with the on going story. Remember just ten pages ago when Sonic was claiming how he should be with Sally? Remember how preventing her from marrying someone else was his enter motivation for two issues now? Remember how he kept going on and on about how Sally should have communicated with him better back in 155? Well Penders sure as fucking didn’t!
I mean what kind of logic involves him completely ignoring the object of his affections and forgetting his primary goal of the story, only to go out with someone else? Someone he barely fucking knows. The least he could have done was go talk to Sally. See how she was doing, maybe discuss their relationship first and the problems they’ve been having, like he’s clearly been wanting to, before going off with another girl.
Blah!
The second story continues Dulcy’s origin story. It’s boring and pointless. Fortunately will be moving on to some good stuff after this. See ya’ll later.
“Line of Succession Part 1″ - Line of Succession I - Sonic the Hedgehog #155
To the surprise of no one, it’s revealed this issue that “Antoine”, a.k.a. Patch, was the one poisoning the King and most likely the General as well.
Meanwhile, it’s revealed that Sonic and Fiona are now in a relationship and Tails is jealous.
“Since when?” You may ask. After all weren’t they building up to a Bunnie/Sonic relationship all this time? Alsowhy? Fiona just stated two issues ago that she still blamed Sonic for leaving her behind in Robotnik’s prison and thought he was selfish. And before you say “well Scourge charmed her”, we never actually saw the two of them together in issue 150; we’re just told through editor text boxes that he flirted with her.
I give Bollers a lot of shit for his cliched and forced romances, but at least he bothered to establish those relationships first. However, Penders’ romantic drama is just pointless and thrown in here without any thought what so ever.
(P.S. It’s still weird that Tails got upset over “Sonic” and Bunnie making out. I don’t know why the comic feels the need to bring that up again. It makes it look like Tails is in love with Sonic instead of Fiona)
Anyways due to the King’s illness worsening, he cuts his world tour short and places Sally in charge permanently; on one condition that is.
This is the biggest criticism I see hurled at this story; Sally’s lack of agency. And to be fair I can see where they’re coming from. After all, if Max is too ill to lead then Sally would be placed in charge regardless of his blessing and once in charge she can do or not do whatever the hell she feels like. There’s no logical reason for her to be forced into an unwanted marriage.
But abuse isn’t logical.
That’s what we’re seeing here. This is what we’ve been leading up to since issue 59, way back when Max first revealed the Source of All. Remember the Source told him that she would marry Antoine; it just failed to say which Antoine it would be.
Basically, after all of the manipulation, lies, and emotional abuse over the years, Sally’s lost control over her life. Yes, she could logically tell her dad to fuck off and do what she wanted, but that wouldn’t be in line with her character thus far. And honestly breaking away from such relationships is rarely that easy.
Now you could make the argument that Sally should never have been written into an abusive relationship begin with, or that after this story she should have made more of an effort to escape. Those are legitimate complaints. But within the context of the ongoing story, her behavior here does make sense.
Of course this news doesn’t go over well with Bunnie.
Babe? So are you two dating or not? Since when did you ever call her “babe’? Did Penders forget that this is the real Sonic and not Scourge?
Turns out that Bunnie is still in love with Twan, once again to the surprise of no one.
But enough of her feelings, which have been the primary focus of the “dark Antoine” arc up till now, lets focus on Sonic and his feelings instead.
Yeah, I’m not going to lie, I sometimes hate the fact that Sonic’s the main character of this series. He often steals panel time away from far more interesting characters.
And no I’m not delusional or anything. I fully understand why he is the main character and that it’s something that’ll never ever change regardless of medium. But lets face it, Sonic is constantly surrounded by a unique and likable supporting cast that quite often gets the shaft in terms of story development.
Ummm…Sonic, Sally’s not beholden to tell you a damn thing. She broke up with you, remember? And regardless of my personal feelings about the slap, she has every right not to have you involved in her relationship decisions.All this talk about how she hurt you and how it’s all her fault only serves to make you look bad, not the other way around.
Any hoo, Sonic is stopped at the gate by “Antoine” and they duke it out.
I love this scene. In fact there are a lot of little moments that I’ve cut due to time and their lack of plot reverence that I personally enjoy. If there’s one thing that this story does really well, it’s that it makes Patch a credible threat. He’s not only manipulative and conniving, but a physical force to be reckoned with. One that can and has taken on Sonic and won.
In fact I would argue that Patch is the most effective villain in the entire comic. In that he’s the one to accomplish the most without deteriorating due to diminishing returns. Think about, Snively and Linda are enjoyable characters but they aren’t real threats, Robotnik/Eggman, Mammoth Mogul, and the like start of competent but slowly lose their effectiveness due to constantly losing, while characters such as Scourge, Fiona, and Jack Rabbit can be interesting but their goals are generally more petty and focused on one individual rather then bringing harm to everyone, and Dimitri, Gefforey, and Thrash are more anti-villains then anything.
So that pretty much leaves who? Finitevus and the Iron Queen are pretty much the only other big bads to be serious threats to world but they don’t have the psychological edge that Patch does. Patch is both a villain who threatens the realm and one who personally harms and challenges our main heroes. But most importantly, he very nearly wins. I’ll get into it more next issue, but basically the only thing that stops him is the plot convenience fairy.
Speaking of being a manipulative asshat, after his altercation with Sonic, Patch visits Sally.
Ooooh, he’s good; acting like he’s just as much a victim as her, reinforcing the same bullshit about “duty” that her father has ingrained into her since childhood, pretending to still be her childhood friend that she’s known and trusted for years. This conversation would be almost sweet if it wasn’t for the fact we know who he really is. It’s easy to see from this scene just how Patch managed to replace Antoine with little suspicion despite the obvious changes in behavior. He knows just when to drop the cold exterior to keep people guessing.
The next morning, the King has gotten worse and Sally’s come to a decision.
You know it’s not explained very well about why Sally changed her mind. I’d like to think it’s a misguided attempt to honor her father’s dying wishes rather then “duty” or “obligation to the kingdom”. Especially since there is no real political, strategic, nor moral reason for her to marry anybody. The only reason this is a dilemma to begin with is because Max’s a jerk.
So we therefore end this part of the arc on Sally’s and “Antoine’s” wedding, while Sonic rushes off to find a way to stop it.
I do like Sally’s internal monologue here as she tries to justify to herself this horrible mistake. Especially the part about how the real Antoine has a lot of good qualities that she does like. Just the other day @nuttyrabbit asked me how I think a real Sally/Antoine relationship would play out, particularly if they came together early in the comics run. And I honestly do think they would be good for each other if they got together naturally and didn’t have this predestination forced down their throats. And if, you know, Patch and/or the Source of All wasn’t a total dick manipulating events.
The rest of the comic is a dumb and unimportant backstory for Ducly. Pay it no heed.
Next time we’ll finally conclude the dark Antoine arc. However I make no promises as to when the next review will come out. I’m going out of town next weekend and the weekend after that is my birthday. But rest assured I won't leave you hanging for too long viewers.
“No Where to Run” - Songoose I - Sonic the Hedgehog #153
We open up with the Freedom Fighters doing some training with General D’Coolette as their coach. Sally’s there too, to oversee things, and she has this chat with Armand while there.
So several things are going on here. Both Sonic and Antoine are being blamed for the behavior of their evil counterparts. (though honestly, Scourge’s flirting didn’t harm the last mission at all. None of the girls broke out into a fight or anything, and to be frank, the personal relationships of your team mates really aren’t any of your damn business Sally)However, Armand, blames himself for “Antoine’s” sudden change in behavior; thinking that the pressures of war and living in the shadow of a hero might have pushed him over the edge. It’s a poignant and ironic insight, and not just because we all know “Antoine” is really Patch. No it’s ironic because we have seen the real Antoine’s response to war and living in his dad’s shadow. It’s not cold, harsh, and standoffish behavior, rather it was arrogance and fearful cowering. But Armand wouldn’t know this about his son because he was reunited with him after all of his character development.
It’s also interesting to find out that Armand use to ship Sally and Antoine. Though one has to wonder why. Did Max inform him about the Source of All’s vision? Or was it merely a folly he had when they were both small kids? Like how adults do when they pretend about the life their children will have when they’re grown. Or did he genuinely see something between them and thought they would be good together? It’s telling that he claims that it is Antoine who is not right for Sally. Not that she is wrong for him or that they mutually might not be suited to each other. It kind of implies that it’s Patch he’s really talking about here, and that before the sudden change, he really did believe they would make a good couple.
However Armand is a stand up guy who, unlike Max, doesn’t threaten or belittle his children into complying to his wishes. Nor does he treat his son’s actual chosen significant other as being beneath him. Armand’s always been supportive of Bunnie and Antoine, no matter what his feelings of Sally may have been. And he even apologizes! He sincerely asks for Sally’s forgiveness for ever unintentionally putting pressure on either her or Antoine, despite the fact that he never ever did such a thing at all. Can Armand just be Sally’s new father now? Please! He’d be so much better then Max.
Speaking of the devil, Max and Alicia interpret them with a phone call.
Ok, so both Armand and Max have fallen ill, at the same time, with similar symptoms. And we know it’s not anything contagious because no one else has caught it. And Dr. Quack just thinks it’s some bullshit thing that happened long, long ago from the first war?
If it was radiation pensioning from like a bomb or a byproduct of chemical warfare then wouldn’t there be others coming down with it? Like Bernie, Chuck, or even Quack himself as they all would have fought in that same war. Probably in the very same battles. Also why would this “poison” only take effect so many many years later? Wouldn’t a more recent poisoning be the logical answer here?
Look I’m not saying everyone should immediately suspect Patch. We the audience know damn well he’s behind this. But of course the characters still believe him to be Antoine, and well Antoine would never harm his father nor betray the crown. But it is rather convenient that nobody even entertains the idea that there might be foul play afoot somewhere and that there isn’t any investigation launched at all.
But intrigue will have to wait, because Armand soon collapses.
And of course the only person who suspects anything is wrong is Bunnie.
I mean you would think something like you’re dad dying might cause a bit of concern from your friends. Especially if you’ve completely emotionally shut down, which is a sign of denial and a stage of grief. But nope, they all decide to go to a concert instead of checking up on “Antoine” personally.
This leads into the much less interesting main story for this arc. Eggman wants Mina dead for petty reasons and hires Nack to assassinate her. Oh and more dumb relationship drama that should have been done with ages ago.
But at least Bunnie gets to do something useful and puts out a fire.
The second story this issue involves yet another AU tale where this time the cast are in a fantasy medieval setting, and really it’s just an excuse to write and draw the characters as their pre-development selves. It’s a pointless, yet simi-fun throwback, that I personally wouldn’t mind if only one small niggle.
Rosie is the one narrating this story.
And she casts Antoine as a jester or the comic relief if you will. Which makes sense from a meta stand point, and if this was a Zone Wars story that would be fine. But here?
Rosie is Antoine’s adoptive mother. She raised him for ten years after he lost both his parents. She’s basically calling her own son an idiot!
Does no one working on this damn comic understand Rosie’s character and her relationships with the rest of the Freedom Fighters?
I’m sorry, but everyone ignoring Rosie’s role and importance with in the comic is something that really bothers me. It’s such a waste of potential that’s never been fully explored even in the reboot.
Gee, it’s almost like those are legitimate criticisms that’s been thrown at the comic before and instead of learning from them and growing as an artist you gave everybody the middle finger instead just to protect you’re own fragile ego.
