IDW's Contrived Drama | Sonic IDW 21 - 24

[@someotherstranger]

Whisper's reaction could potentially be warranted if one considers she has trauma (potentially PTSD?) from her past friends' deaths, in that losing Tangle was history repeating itself, so in that moment her emotions weren't from _just_ losing Tangle, but it was all of that emotion from when she lost her friends surging back. Especially considering that the way the Zombots attack people seems similar to how the Shadow Androids were portrayed, it would be more than enough for Whisper's mind to fill in the blanks. This still produces problems however. 1. One would still need to read the mini-series to even get an inkling of this. 2. From what I can remember, they don't delve this deeply into Whisper's psyche, so my explanation is still just a theory. I think a straightforward way to address both points would be to have Whisper have a PTSD-esque flashback to losing her friends, connecting her reaction to her trauma. Maybe even throw in another flashback where she remembers the friendship she formed with Tangle, thus more firmly connecting Tangle with Whisper's past friends. ... My biggest issue with this arc was that I didn't think putting every character through _this_ much trauma was a good idea. Like, this is the kind of stuff that would change a person. Like we saw how much Shadow was impacted by Maria's death. Even if Maria's death was somehow reversed, that wouldn't necessarily just _fix the trauma._ So to see the series traumatizing characters like Cream while knowing full well that it wouldn't matter in the long run made everything feel hollow and contrived. And that's the other issue. Even _if_ they actually made sure these consequences meant something, even if these consequences lasted, I don't think that would be good for the series' storytelling as a whole, namely because traumatizing every character would drastically change the tone of the stories going forward. The Sonic world and characters are not meant to be put through a zombie apocalypse. If it does matter, it would irreversibly mess up everything, so it can't be allowed to matter, but this ruins the zombie apocalypse story in the first place. I remember that Ian mentioned he originally intended this idea for the Archie series, and I honestly think that this idea would've worked much better there than it does here. Like, this idea is _intrinsically_ meant for _that_ universe and implementing it in the IDW universe doesn't make sense.

[@lazwardazure716]

Right? Wouldn't you think there should be Eggman hunts like. Everyone wants him dead now

[@someotherstranger]

@@lazwardazure716 Yeah, I'm honestly not a fan of how Eggman's written in IDW. I feel like he takes just a little too much from how Ian wrote Eggman during his Archie run. Archie Eggman was an absolute monster who took enjoyed causing pain to others. The Egg Grapes being a perfect example of this. Contrast this with game universe Eggman who's still _evil_ but not outright sadistic. SA2 is a good example of Eggman having a bit of humanity while still being evil enough to try to kill Sonic and friends and also hold the entire world at gunpoint. The sheer trauma and nigh catastrophic destruction that IDW Eggman so carelessly and callously causes with the Metal Virus should be enough for every character that has zero qualms with killing to come up with some sort of assassination plot lol. This isn't even to mention how IDW writes Eggman as being unable to plan ahead very well, which is very uncharacteristic for Eggman given his history.

[@ViroVeteruscy]

@@someotherstranger Gonna have to give some of that time since SEGA has been course correcting as of late, the IDW comics are considered canon to the games. As for Robotnik not planning ahead, this happens with nearly all of his plans as he is usually focused on one goal. There's always something afterwards that comes up that he has to address: Perfect Chaos, Ark falling into earth, practically any god-like character involved, the Zeti, Metal Sonic rebelling, the list goes on.

[@kotytang]

I considered the PTSD bit for Whisper in the video as well, I pointed out how she didn't even show this much emotion toward her own friend's killer. It's not like she's had problem after problem stacked onto the other, she's honestly been winning ever since she lost her friends. The worst part of her life seems to only be that she lost her friends. The Shadow androids is a bit of a stretch I think, if she was receiving PTSD from them, then she wouldn't even be able to fight them properly until she got over that. Whisper's character just isn't developed enough to throw a scene like this in here, we don't know what she's thinking, what she's feeling, nor who she is, there isn't much reason to care about her struggles at all. The entire panel relies on the fans massive insta-love of her character, which honestly, works every time. Fans fell for Sage immediately even though her character isn't developed well at all, and her story is extremely shallow, yet fans have constantly proclaimed crying real tears from the story. I agree, the story doesn't fit IDW's limitations, and would be better served in Archie, although the tone could still be worked back up to being light-hearted and things become back to normal. IDW simply doesn't have enough issues to deal with the ramifications of this Metal Virus flourishing as much as it has, a good chunk of this comic would be dealing with the aftermath, so they'll have to find a way to completely revert the virus entirely, making it as if it was at least just another bad day, rather than a whole virus that nearly wiped out the entire population of this region. A story like this requires an ending with significant changes to personality and the world itself, especially opinions on each other such as the Espio and Sonic scene. That scene is more than likely never going to be brought up again, that was a massive moment of weakness in Sonic that Espio just witnessed, as though Sonic was forcing his ideology onto somebody else, but of course, it's going to be swept up under the rug, because nobody can change, they can only remember that something happened, while not directly deaingl with it.

[@kotytang]

@@ViroVeteruscy Eggman focuses on one overarching/ultimate goal, but he plans in a large variety of ways to achieve the goal. He has no problem with planning ahead, things just tend to go south for him when the giant God-monster rebels. Chaos was an uncontrollable rage god. The Ark falling to Earth couldn't have been planned for Metal Sonic's rebellion couldn't have been planned for The plan with the Zeti only went south because of Sonic getting rid of the Conch. The list goes on and on.

[@Improvement05]

Unpopular opinion I hate how Flynn writes Amy. She has too much plot armor

[@lazwardazure716]

Also Boring as sin

[@spinballproduction9678]

I agree with the both of you so much.

[@kotytang]

The plot-armor is granted to many characters, not just Amy. Something I like about Amy is how she was slowly turning into an adventurer overtime, it could have been organic but Sega never fully committed to transitioning her character in that direction. What I don't like is the way that Ian Flynn just immediately turned her into an adventurer girl-boss, and because Ian has taken the reigns of the writing, Amy is just insta-tomboy everywhere now.

[@Improvement05]

@@kotytang you summed it up better than I could. Thanks

[@beauwalker9820]

I kinda preferred how Ian wrote Amy in the old Archie Sonic comic canon. She was adventurous, but still flawed, and childish and comical at times, but still a decent freedom Fighter, and action girl. IDW Amy seems to lack that childish girly comical charm Ian used to give her.

[@crystalmaiden7791]

Glad you're ripping into these comics so I wish I learned about this channel sooner but I never questioned the Metal Virus infecting clothes, we all know they can come from yarn which comes from sheep and leather which is also an organic material, so it makes sense that if their clothes are made of organic material they would be infected. Of course synthetic clothing material like polyester exists but clearly this is in a world where the specific clothing items that get the Metal Virus on them are always made of organic material and not processed stuff. Maybe I say this because I'm a Harvest Moon fan so I immediately think of sheep when it comes to clothing. I also never questioned Sonic being able to find info in one base that the heroes couldn't in the other bases, it's not out of Eggman's ability to be able to have it so that some information can ONLY be accessed from one base for security purposes. Eggman was just being a hypocrite by being fine with trying to carpetbomb Sonic himself, when it's somebody else he's not okay with it, and I always figured what he meant was that he could carpetbomb Sonic any time WHEN SONIC'S ASLEEP, since he has tried to do that when he was awake in Sonic 3 and failed. When he's awake it's an actual challenge because Sonic might be able to dodge, so he would indeed be fine with trying to do that. Starline's method would've had no chance of failure if Silver had been destroyed in time so it was dismissed as too easy. I don't remember complaining about the fact that Starline didn't use his easy hacking program in Issue 1 of Bad Guys when he had it later. I figure that there was no possible way for him to use it in Issue 1 because it was just a password input screen with nothing but buttons letting you input letters, numbers and symbols, and he couldn't have put in a flash drive to hack in like in the movies, so all he could've done was put in a password. Meanwhile he was sitting in front of a whole control panel in that later issue so there was more he could have done.

[@kotytang]

@@crystalmaiden7791 Well you made it to the channel now, so that’s what matters, appreciate you continuing to keep watching! Harvest Moon fans are alright with me 🙏🏾 the Metal Virus is a poorly explained major force - I dunno how next to nobody talks about this glaring issue, I again go into further detail for the full review and stack all of the problems I noticed about it on top of eachother, rather then spread among videos. My full Metal virus review is still one of my favorite videos of mine. While it’s absolutely in the realm of possibility they Eggman could his information between bases, we learned very quickly that every single place is connected over a grand network and all files are stored over the network, not terminal to terminal. Eggman’s motivation is entirely inconsistent behind his will-he-won’t-he-kill-Sonic. I dunno what IDW’s goal was there, but I assume they immediately backtracked that personality bit for Eggman, as I haven’t seen it come up yet. Something WORSE comes up later on between Sonic and Eggman though by the end. I have plenty to say about Bad Guys when you get to it. Evan Stanley vs Ian Flynn is the current topic I’m on, it’s my first time experiencing her, and I gotta say - I like her writing a lot more… although she doesn’t seem as well off doing plot points, but she’s good at writing character stories. Her characterization is a whole other thing though.

[@lamarfll]

It makes me sad that they handled Whisper how they did, because I was hoping she'd be a badass that happens to have a soft side when casually interacting with characters, but as time went on she became less and less cool as a character to me in all honesty. But I have similar issues to a number of the original characters they've made, had high hopes, and then they went a direction I'm just not into, Whisper happened to hit me the most since she felt like she could have just been a cool character to have around.

[@kotytang]

I had the same thoughts about Whisper, they built her up to be a badass character, only to not use her character at all for this saga and the last one. I'm hoping that they utliize her more in future Sagas. These new characters seem to just be add-ons for fun, rather than actual important characters to the story.

[@aaronkibler7359]

When Tangle pulled her shirt up, revealing her infection, this may be the IDW team's way of saying, "No, clothes don't get infected." But, really, their way of addressing the issue just raises more questions than answers. They could also just be trying to tell the critics to shut up.

[@kotytang]

I agree, it was the writers attempt at addressing how the virus works, this was just an awful way to go about it and honestly makes the virus even more confusing to follow.

[@aaronkibler7359]

​@@kotytang Also, Tangle kinda lied to Sonic, saying that Starline brought Eggman back and not him and that he "made sure Metal Sonic wasn't a threat" before letting him go. But letting Metal Sonic go resulted in Mr. Tinker's memories returning, so, yes, it technically is Sonic's fault for this whole mess. She should be quite angry with him honestly, especially with her best friend infected. In fact, having Tangle have to deal with Jewel's loss would have been a good chance for Whisper to sympathize with her, rather than just having Tangle get infected as well and having Whisper return to the status quo. There's just too much missed potential in this comic. Very good review.

[@kotytang]

@@aaronkibler7359 Tangle didn't lie to Sonic for two reasons; 1. Tangle's character would have no way of knowing that Metal Sonic played any sort of role in bringing back Eggman's memories. We as an audience would be the only ones that have that information, as well as the villains. 2. Tangle and the rest of the cast genuinely believe that Starline is wholly responsible for getting Eggman's memories back, because that's what Starline told them he did.

[@aaronkibler7359]

I should've worded it differently. It's just weird seeing Sonic actually be like, "Maybe I should've listened to Shadow and dealt with Eggman and Metal Sonic", (after being adamant with Espio and saying, "That was Mr. Tinker.") and another character having to basically put an end to his doubts. I mean, it's honestly preferable to Sonic defending himself, but, like, how can the writer keep blaming Sega? Sega allowed Dark Sonic in Sonic X. This proves completely that it's Ian Flynn trying to save face. Just move on and write a fun, creative story, rather than constantly embarrassing yourself and dividing the fanbase even more.

[@kotytang]

@@aaronkibler7359 I would never say that a show from 2003, which would have been 16 years ago at the point of the Metal Virus Saga, is a good indicator for how Sega operates in that time. Dark Sonic may have been fine then, even 100+ interpretations of characters, abilities, and story ideas, that they would never be okay with today, or in 2019 at the time of this saga’s release. Many fans seem to not understand that, especially a decade, is a HUGE amount of time for any company. The amount of staff changes and directions the franchise could go in 10 years is astronomical. In that time frame Sega has retconned Hyper Sonic, retconned Shadow, retconned the majority of the classic series, retconned super forms for various characters, retconned the core themes of the franchise, etc etc. While I do agree that Ian uses Sega as a scapegoat, Sonic X is not a good anchor for your argument, I’d suggest something more recent, and around the same timeframe.

[@charmyzard]

I mean, she already lost a family, and as if dragging a curse, she's about to lose the new one she was just making. It's not an over reaction, it's the scars of trauma. Powerlessness, survivor's guilt, thinking of the worst since it HAS happened.

[@kotytang]

For sure I understand the idea. Whisper's character makes complete sense.....if she was just a regular mercenary. Whisper's backstory contradicts this character trait, she's supposed to be a hardened elite-mercenary that's seen a lot, and been through a lot. What IDW is showing is a character who is an absolute rookie, and brand new to this space.

[@gtcproductions4097]

Vector is a hypocrite. He traps a woman for being infected, but brings a full Zombot Charmy into the ship and gets WAY more people infected, including himself. I know he’s not the brightest, but he’s not supposed to be outright dumb.

[@kotytang]

That's true, Vector's rational nature that IDW wrote seems to be tossed out the window when it comes to the Chaotix. Or at the least Charmy? It's definitely a flaw for his character, and was ultimately his downfall.

[@Zavraan]

I still don't understand why people love this comic series so much. You bring up points that I didn't even see. I didn't know Zavok stopped leading the deadly six. Not to spoil anything, but you are seriously going to hate Sonics' characterization when this arc ends, especially in issue 50 and so on. Let's just say that he is a hypocritical, self-absorbed, sociopathic moron who cares more about his "principles" and acts as someone who thinks he is morally absolute. This is honestly the worst version of this character I have ever seen. And then SEGA decided to make this comic canon...my god. I hope nothing from this comic influences anything about the next games. Also, this series was originally never meant to be canon, according to Ian Flynn. He said it takes inspiration from the game canon, but it was a: What if we went on from there, type of scenario. So, yeah. That's good to know, but it sucks. Great video, by the way.

[@lazwardazure716]

To ease some worries. Nothing has been said out right. And what has been said has been disregarded or Removed by SoJ. Plus no characters or mentions of anything that occurred in the comics showed up in any game. Even the murder of

[@lazwardazure716]

Like. You'd think they'd mention the literal zombie apocalypse or the Zeti showing up before Anything else? (Plus as of Frontiers none of the other Zeti are mentioned by name they can mention zavok but not the others?)

[@Zavraan]

@@lazwardazure716 Well, I hate to dissapoint you, but the recent Tailstube namedropped more characters of IDW > kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z2mke2iXo96Ir5o And Tailstube states things that are canon, so...yeah. I gave this comic an honest try, but by the time I reached that conversation where Sonic begs Eggman to become good, I lost interest. I didn't read the following issues, just sped through the video to see what happened next. But when I went back and read everything again, I realized just how bad this comic was. I've listened and watched plenty of reviews about the flaws of this comic, and the more thery talk about it, the worse this comic gets.

[@kotytang]

I’ve already come into contact with Sonic’s developing moral superiority in the next few issues. I can’t tell if the IDW team actually thinks Sonic pushes his morals onto everybody, or they just don’t know what to make him say, and found a terrible remedy to that. When IDW wasn’t canon it was much easier to judge it because everything was just an interpretation of the franchise, which I was pretty okay with. Since it’s canon now, that essentially means that it’s just a story filled with retcons, lore inconsistencies and much of the cast acting out of character.

[@Zavraan]

@@kotytang Yeah... But what I'm wondering, who came up with this idea? I don't want to start pointing fingers at people who had nothing to do with it, but I have a strong feeling that Ian wrote him like that. If that's the case, why? There's nothing likeble about this. But I won't go any further into this, since I would spoil most of what's to come. Let's just say that Sonic is going to piss you off as the comic goes on.

[@Zero.The.Hedgehog]

0:14 call something mean one more time and I will fight u (joke btw)

[@MayoTheNnaise]

another banger from the goat ✋🙂🤚

[@goldenboybenny7511]

1:49 that was a mistranslation in Japanese it just says he is the leader not former leader

[@kotytang]

You deleting your comment for the 100th time, or can I respond to you, lol.

[@kotytang]

Okay, nice you actually kept this one, thanks for the information, I appreciate that.

[@portalgaming8057]

It's time for the Season 3 video for Sonic Prime.

[@kotytang]

Don’t worry about that, it’s coming.

[@portalgaming8057]

@KotyTang I can't see your reply. Please repeat what you said. What do you think of Season 3?

[@portalgaming8057]

@@kotytang When?

[@kotytang]

@@portalgaming8057 It’s up now, my apologies. Real life was getting in the way, appreciate the enthusiasm though.

[@otakuboy1570]

The hate boner is insane!

[@kotytang]

And it's only EXPANDING

[@Zero.The.Hedgehog]

@@kotytang wait wut 💀

[@otakuboy1570]

@kotytang I mean if you want to hate for no reason I won't stop you.

[@kotytang]

@@otakuboy1570 Try to dispute something I said if you think it’s just hate for no reason.

[@otakuboy1570]

@kotytang literally almost everything it's like you hate the smallest of stuff and call it bad. Or look at it with a negative perspective without even giving it a chance, look at the end of the day it's your opinion because me along with thousands of people will continue to enjoy and appreciate what we actual sonic fans have been getting.

[@RysGameZ]

I love IDW, but the flaws do stick out in a really bad way. In my opinion, if Sega didn't have the mandates for IDW and IDW wasn’t canon or at least some sort of alternate timeline, so then the main timeline could do its own thing, and IDW could do its own thing.

[@kotytang]

Interesting, I don’t disagree with everything you’re saying, but I want to pick your brain if you’ll let me; What Mandates do you think changes the trajectory of the stories IDW writes, and why? There is no mandate that says Shadow has to be removed from a story, the mandates seem to only affect how a character acts, not how a story goes, that would to be IDW’s job. So I’m wondering what you think about that?

[@RysGameZ]

@@kotytang Not just talking about shadow, but I'm just talking about in general for IDW. But if you want my full opinion on Shadow, I haven't really played the Adventure Games or 06, so I can't really give you a detailed explanation about how shadow’s character is supposed to think and act. I have watched Sonic X, but I'm not sure if that version is the same as regular Shadow. I've seen everyone's comments on how Shadow should think. But that isn't my opinion. That's their opinion. So I can't really give my opinion on how shadow should and shouldn't act. Sorry.

[@kotytang]

@@RysGameZ I just meant in general as well. I’ve only read up to this saga, so I don’t have any knowledge of the rest, so in terms of the first two, what do you think the mandates directly changed?

[@RysGameZ]

@@kotytang I think personally that they would have a much better time with giving more of the game characters their own arcs and they wouldn't have to worry about being in the same continuity as cannons so they wouldn't have to worry about much recons as long as they stick to their own world, the world wouldn't feel really stale and empty since they could do lots more of what they want with the world building. As much as I like IDW, the world itself isn't very fleshed out. Plus, if IDW wasn’t canon, then everyone wouldn't be comparing them to the original canon all the time and since, these are different characters from the original that just so happened to take inspiration from the original. So yeah, what's your opinion on my opinion?

[@RysGameZ]

@@kotytang Sorry, there was a typo, I just edited it.