What Would You Do Differently? Archie Sonic Edition

[Mike Arcade]

Since Wulfsbane made an Archie Sonic Reconstruction, I figured this would be a nice companion piece to it.

This is exactly like Stranger's What Would You Do Differently? You redesign how certain elements from the comic would have been handled had you written for Archie Sonic, because let's face it; we would ALL change something in the comics, or several things really. XP

That being said, I actually got 3 questions for you guys, that's how I roll when it comes to this.

1. How would you handle The Echidnas? Yes, of course this is the first question.

2. Since Sonic Adventure 1's adaption was half a straight forward adaption, half a complete mess, and Sonic Adventure 2's storyline was only a one issue promo for the game, how would you incorporate Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 into the comic?

3. Let's say, much like Ian Flynn did, you have to Reboot Archie Sonic. Reboot is literally the only option here, in that case how would you handle it?
 

[ToaArcan]

I don't have much to say regarding the first two, but with the third...

 

Make it a full reboot. Reset everything to zero. No half-assed attempt to pretend that the preboot comics matter, no pathetic clinging to the number because it grants them an arbitrary record, just take everything back to basics. Sonic and his ragtag group of friends living in a hidden base and making attacks on the empire of their nemesis, Robotnik. Loose adaptations of the games follow, starting with Sonic 1, then Sonic 2, then CD, and then Sonic 3&K. Other, original stories, to establish the world and address other parts of the classics would be mixed in and put into side-stories. Universe would be cancelled, and instead become a second release of the main title per month, at least until such a time that there were enough characters to tell SU stories again.

 

The status quo would crumble with the end of Sonic 3's adaptation. With the destruction of the Death Egg, Robotnik's empire would collapse, especially with the doctor presumed dead. EggRobo would become an interim villain at first, supposedly being a copy of Robotnik intended to take over after his death, but he would never quite be the same threat, mostly using repaired versions of Robotnik's own mechs. At the same time, the FF would be dealing with their own personal troubles, namely that they freed Sally's father but he's also a giant prick, along with a few other villains. EggRobo would also turn out to be being remote-controlled by Robotnik himself, using the droid to inact some of his plans from the transitional bit between S3K and SA1. EggRobo would eventually go to Angel Island to try and reclaim Mecha Sonic, but would be destroyed by the rogue warbot.

 

The comic would also have a defined end point- Solaris. The gestalt god's destruction of the timestream would lead to a scene where, after its own death, Sonic would erase the flame that would become it, and cause another reboot, at which point, I'd end my run as head writer and pass it on to someone else.

[Mike Arcade]

I'll admit I didn't handle this topic that well originally, so I'll just ask one question rather then multiple ones. Welcome back to WWYDD guys, let's bring this topic back to life! The first question comes from The Red Stranger in bringing it back here, one regarding how the Multiple Zones were handled.

How would you handle the multiverse in both backstory (lore), mechanics, and narrative?

 

[Wulfsbane]

I was thinking of doing a post about how differently I would do the House of Cards arc.

[Mike Arcade]

21 hours ago, Wulfsbane said:

I was thinking of doing a post about how differently I would do the House of Cards arc.

Sure man you can ask that question.  
Although for the one I recently posted I would like a response to that, been thinking about a House of Cards question for awhile but wasn't sure how to phrase it, what is yours?

[Akessel92]

Honestly, instead of adapting unleashed with shattered world they should have began with either comic only adventure or started with a new square one.

[TheRedStranger]

12 hours ago, Akessel92 said:

Honestly, instead of adapting unleashed with shattered world they should have began with either comic only adventure or started with a new square one.

Any details on what you would want that to be?

[Akessel92]

I thought I was self explanatory. But really if we were still keeping the numbers they could just have a unique comic story of having it be a sonic and co. vs eggman and cronies basic story but have them go through setting by setting and character by character but devote time to who these characters are and emotionally invest in them.

[Akessel92]

But even before they started with the whole restore memories and save pickle bit.

[F07E]

5 hours ago, TheRedAuthar said:

They sorta did, with the dumb underwater arc.  Sure it is sort of part of the same arc but it does happen first and it's not from the games.

Tangent here, but I've stated before that I think cream would have been better suited for that arc than amy, and would have helped build her character rather than make amy become more of a plot device.

4 hours ago, Akessel92 said:

But even before they started with the whole restore memories and save pickle bit.

I've seconded this opinion since issue 252, it was a shame that they didn't.

[Akessel92]

1 hour ago, F07E said:

Tangent here, but I've stated before that I think cream would have been better suited for that arc than amy, and would have helped build her character rather than make amy become more of a plot device.

I've seconded this opinion since issue 252, it was a shame that they didn't.

Maybe... But cream never was really the character into the mystical stuff. Chao raising yes. Mystical stuff... No. Out of all the characters on the side of the ffs that are still in existence and newbies excluding coral, pearl, tikal, and undina, Amy actually has that pedigree as she was into reading tarot cards and throughout her history in the compendium of sonic she has presented herself as a magic user or a mythology seeker(ie boom counterpart). Honestly, I'll post that in the sister thread for the games in general.

[Mike Arcade]

Well I'm glad to see this topic start coming to life at long last.

Alright you know how the rules go so I'll properly REBOOT this topic! *shot*

Since the Archie Comic has been on a long hiatus for awhile now I'll start out with this question...

The Hiatus is over and you are added in as a new head writer, what would you do with the Archie Sonic Series?

[WarTraveller]

On 3/23/2017 at 7:58 PM, Mike Arcade said:

The Hiatus is over and you are added in as a new head writer, what would you do with the Archie Sonic Series?

1. Completely start from scratch. A full reboot. No soft reboot, no tying the old world to the new one, not even a "new timeline". A full on, hard as rock reboot, right back to the beginning. Call it The New Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.
2. Refocus characters. While I'm all for multiple characters in Sonic...anything, I feel like a lot of the ones in the Archie comics are a bit unneeded and maybe a little too rushed. Therefore, the entire structure will need a massive overhaul. Remove a good amount of them to begin with, and focus on establishing the protagonists (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Sally) first. THEN, once they're set up, introduce new characters into the stories. Not every one of them needs to be a hero or a villain or even related to the plot - a lot of them can be background characters to help give the world a feeling of actual life. And maybe NOT make them complete morons who openly show contempt for the guys trying to save their butts every week (COUGHsonicboomCOUGH).
3. Refocus villains. Remove the God-Mode Eggman, perhaps even remove Eggman entirely, and focus on other, new villains with no plot armour. They could die at ANY time, and be replaced by someone worse, in a way that the reader hopes they DON'T die in fear of a new villain coming along who is worse rather than them knowing they WON'T die because SEGA breaks out in hives at the mere thought of it. The cast of villains should vary, not unlike Batman's ever popular Rogues Gallery. From the serious to the silly, from the bombastic to the subtle, from the funny to the truly terrifying.
4. Darker and Edgier, with a comedic twist. A good story is a balance of light-hearted and dark-hearted. Make it too silly, you get Sonic Boom with its awful jokes, use of outdated memes, no story or character to speak of and patronising tone. Make it too gritty and you get Shadow the Hedgehog, which tries too hard to be edgy and comes across as childish and amateur for it. Therefore, while the overall tone will get more serious, comedic elements will still be a massive part of the series, to help break up the darker elements and prevent Darkness Induced Audience Apathy. A proper ratio I think would be 1/3 silly, 2/3 serious.
5. Different Art Style. Don't get me wrong, I like Yardly's work fine, but it's overall style leaves a bit to be desired. It sort of feels like a comic version of modern kids film CGI - all colour and no detail, so everything looks A: like it's made out of plastic and B: the same. A better idea would be something a small bit grittier and a touch more stylised, with darker colours and more shadows. The lighter colours should obviously be there, we do NOT need a return to grey-brown desaturation, but the colours and style should fit the tone, being brighter in happier moments or darker in sadder moments. Perhaps then the art style could be used to create red herrings for the reader, making them think they know what they're going to get and then subverting it for dramatic or comedic effect.
6. Adaptations good, Original Storylines better. One of the problems I had with the comics - and most Sonic media in general - is that a lot of them tried to adapt the video game stories and try to update them to make them better. The only problem is that a lot of these tend to be...awful, with some truly moronic changes. Like the Sonic X adaption of Adventure 2, which turned Chris into the catalyst for Shadow's Heel-Face Turn instead of Amy, or the same show's adaptation of Sonic Battle where Cream manages to defeat the superpowered Emerl...somehow. Or the Archie adaptation of Unleashed (which for some reason happens AFTER the events of Colours in the timeline) which turned the whole thing into a glorified fetch quest when the original game felt so much grander. So while adaptations will still be a thing, they will not be common. Instead, more original stories must be drafted, which can branch off existing stories but otherwise should be their own thing (like, say, a Bad Future for Sonic Lost World).
7. Avoid anything Classic. This...goes without saying. Nostalgia should not be a crutch.
8. NO MEMES. No Sanic, no & Knuckles, no Tails Doll, NOTHING. The Sonic franchise already has a reputation for cringe ta very much, the last thing we need is to allow it to live up to those pathetic stereotypes.
9. Buckle mandates as much as possible. Fact of the matter is, the mandates that SEGA has in place strangled the last comic spectacularly, for their own corporate culture. But the thing is, a lot of those things that are shunned and prevented are almost necessary. Like a family, and a backstory, and emotions. Otherwise we're watching a showy invincible hero doing showy invincible things. And unless it's Superman, it's boring as hell and hard to care.
10. Write new characters. Not a lot of them, but enough to balance the old cast with newer members so it doesn't get boring. Specifically, it would be best to avoid what this community calls Characters of the Day or something along those lines. This means that no characters like Chip or Yacker or arguably the Deadly Six, which have major importance in one story and then have no stake in anything else, thus fading into the backdrop or becoming fodder for party games. Characters that are designed do one thing and become worthless when that thing is done is wasteful, to say the least. We make new characters, we make them to stay. Like as said above, they could be siding with the good guys or the bad guys, or even just milling around the world doing their own things and dealing with their own problems. As long as they have SOME worth in the grand scheme of the plot, even if it is merely to serve the lore and colour the background a bit.
11. Bring back old characters, but keep them grounded in their origins...mostly. In other words, the characters we do bring back should feel like they're actually the characters they were in the original thing, but updated. A good example of this would be one of my personal Archie bugbears, Breezie. Now, Breezie in the original AOSTH cartoon had a...nonstandard design, but she was a secret agent robot that defected from Eggman's control and gained proper emotions. That sounds interesting, and could potentially be built on. So...why is Archie!Breezie a corrupt, amoral, greedy AF business mongol who doesn't even vaguely resemble the original design?! I mean this is flying very close to the sun considering that this is SEGA and Archie we're talking about but come on. If a character from something out of left field is going to be added, even if it is something that most people did not care for, at the very least keep some of the elements the same...unless they didn't work in the first place. For characters like that (such as a certain Carrot Leggings), changes WILL need to be made, often drastic ones, for the greater good. It is, annoyingly, a complicated issue.

[TheRedStranger]

 How would you handle the villains beyond Robotnik/Eggman? What would you teak about their backstories and the conflicts they get into with the main characters? 

[HaloEssence111]

On 7/7/2017 at 1:10 AM, TheRedAuthar said:

As stated above, make expendable or small time villains that either Sonic and Co can defeat or Robotnik can wipe from the board.  They should be infrequent and used to break up longer story arcs.  

I can't say that I don't agree with you on that point, but I question the apparent use of inventing new villains out of nowhere. Creating throwaway characters for the sake of them being yet another foil for the heroes is... well, it's lazy, not to mention unsatisfactory for the reader. What I'd suggest instead is bringing back old villains or expanding on a current villain's character instead of just up and introducing a new one.

On 7/7/2017 at 1:10 AM, TheRedAuthar said:

And while we're on the subject, Anti-Mobius/Moebius....
I enjoy the concept of a multi-verse in Comics, but again, keep it to a minimum.  If Scourge/Anti-Sonic is going to frequently cross over to the main universe to attack Sonic, might as well just make him an evil hedgehog from Sonic's world.  Why bother giving him an overly complex origin if it's ultimately going to come down to him just being "evil-Sonic".  

That's the thing, a major part of Scourge's character is that he doesn't want to be an "Evil Sonic". That was the reason why he renamed himself and began to fulfill his incredible potential. The reasons why he so frequently crosses over to Mobius Prime is either A. He's there on a mercenary job for a third party, B. He feels like messing with Sonic, or C. He's got his own plans that involve the Prime Zone (note that these reasons often coincide). No matter what, he's usually got a pretty good reason for showing up. If he were simply an evil hedgehog from the Prime Zone, there wouldn't be much reason for him not to be constantly interfering with Sonic and the other Freedom Fighters. 

Personally, I really enjoy Scourge as a villain. What Sonic said to him, "all it would take is a little selflessness... a little decency.. and you'd be just like me." He was right. Scourge is essentially Sonic gone horribly wrong. And man, is that an awesome concept. 

That's not to say that Scourge is a perfect character- he definitely has his shortcomings. But most of those can be remedied by simply fleshing him out a bit more. I loved the Lockdown arc in SU because it showed us a whole new side of Scourge, one that I never saw coming. This Scourge had been stripped of any power had had and literally beaten into submission, completely resigning himself to his fate. The Sonic we know never would do that- But this isn't Sonic. This is Scourge, not just the anti-Sonic, but a totally separate character. 

[TheRedStranger]

5 hours ago, HaloEssence111 said:

What I'd suggest instead is bringing back old villains or expanding on a current villain's character instead of just up and introducing a new one

This sounds like a happy medium. I personally think a good hero always has a few one-hit wonder villains yes, but a Rogue's gallery hits that sweet spot between depth and breadth. I also think that the best villains have always been foils excised from the abstract aspects of a hero's character. For example Batman has a mental foil in the Riddler, Bruce has a social foil in the Penguin, and his morality and philosophy is foiled brilliantly by the Joker. I also think there should not be merely black and white in the quest for good versus evil. Our hero's need antivillains like Victor Frieze for example who wants to save a life but it's selfish and limiting. Come to think of it Batman's rogue's gallery is a great and success by the book model. Sonic is different though but my writing theory is applicable. We need to look into what makes Sonic Sonic and then twisted aspects of his character around to make dynamic antagonistic foils. 

Which brings me to Scourge. Eggman is not "his Joker" in Archie like many claim. Robotnik was a constrasf to many of his values about the natural world and freedom. His worldview reminds me a lot of Friedrich Hyeck versus Dialectical Materialism in Robotnik (Libertarian Spontaneous Order versus Planned Stalinistic Socioeconomic structures). Eggman seems to loose that more and more through out the series to just become more of a tropey mad scientist. Yet Scourge seems to bring back the moral foil. In fact those lines are not original to the Sonic franchise. They were taken from the Killing Joke. I don't Scourage reaches this level just yet because he seems to just indeed have the bane a of limiting origin ("It's this world but Evil") but that is why we are here. Which leads me to a specific question: "How would you all rewrite Scourge from scratch?"

[WarTraveller]

Let's give this one a jolt, shall we?

How would you handle the Egg Bosses? Like, would they be loyal, would Eggman FORCE them to serve him? How expendable would they truly be to him?

[Wulfsbane]

On 7/14/2017 at 4:38 PM, WarTraveller said:

Let's give this one a jolt, shall we?

How would you handle the Egg Bosses? Like, would they be loyal, would Eggman FORCE them to serve him? How expendable would they truly be to him?

It's been awhile since I have read them. I kinda like the idea behind Cassia & Clove where they shortsightedly went to Eggman in order to save Cassia from a fatal illness. It shows that Clove would go to great lengths for her sister because of the love she has for Cassia.

I feel like the best way to go about the Egg Bosses is to have two or three of them attempt to undermine Eggman from behind the scenes as to not incur suspicions upon themselves. They could try to help the Freedom Fighters, usurp control of the Empire for themselves, a bit of both, or maybe doing it for some other reason. A fair few of them, the ones who would definitely be on the Evil side of the spectrum, would probably have some sort of unwavering loyalty to Eggman and always have his back: almost to a degree of being "Yes Men" to him. The rest would probably have been forced to be there, whether it's Cassia & Clove's situation or something else, they are there and are in a position where they have to serve him. It could be to protect family/friends/loved ones or coping a deal to save their homes. It could be a multitude of reasons. I feel like at least half would be unwilling to be there. As for the expendability aspect of it, depends on the individual performance of the Bosses in addition to what is happening in their sectors as well as the loyalty to Eggman in addition to other factors. Maybe Axel gets replaced because of the losses suffered to the Freedom Fighters or due to wavering support and allegiance for example?

There has to be some sort of simplicity to this while having complex notions behind it. Maybe Cassia resents Clove for obtaining power despite her life being saved in the process and wants to become a Mobian again? Maybe Tundra is secretly undermining Eggman in other areas to help the Freedom Fighters while keeping the appearance of control of his sector? Maybe Thunderbolt & Nepthys despise Akhult & Abyss due to some inner-politicking or due to some superiority/inferiority complex?

There's a lot you can do with the Egg Bosses if you play the cards right. But remember: Everything has to have a reason to it and it needs to be a good one. You cant introduce or have some element and not give a reason for it. Actions, characterizations, ideals, etc. they all need to have some sort of explanation and reasoning behind it.

[Wulfsbane]

How would you do Fiona's character: Would you keep her evil? Turn her good?

[Akessel92]

19 hours ago, Wulfsbane said:

How would you do Fiona's character: Would you keep her evil? Turn her good?

I would keep her evil but I'd make her associated with the criminal underworld of mobius as she was tied with Nic the weasel but was hardly elaborated but had worked with bean and bark who had a greater kinship. It would be a way for her to flush as her own character who sees the flaws of the freedom fighters more than they would like. 

[Wulfsbane]

8 hours ago, Akessel92 said:

I would keep her evil but I'd make her associated with the criminal underworld of mobius as she was tied with Nic the weasel but was hardly elaborated but had worked with bean and bark who had a greater kinship. It would be a way for her to flush as her own character who sees the flaws of the freedom fighters more than they would like. 

Go more in depth. Give us a scenario or something.

43 minutes ago, TheRedAuthar said:

Depends where I come in.  

Personally I would have left her good with a dark past, as that, at least to me, felt like a evolving and growing character.  Like she used to do bad things but is trying to change.  

*cough* Like I did in WFM *cough-shamelessplug-cough*

Alternatively you could leave her evil if she was ALWAYS evil.  Like the Robot Fiona was the real one so she was evil from the start.  My only real reason against this is I don't feel until they had her defect to Scourge's side, she did anything really worth being called evil, so the defection always felt weak to me.  

Of course if you include Robot Fiona (metal Fiona?) more options open up.  But I'll save that for a secondary or alternate question for now.  

Shameless plug is shameless

Okay, how would you rework the defection if you had the reigns. Same as the trying to change aspect. (paging stranger)

[Akessel92]

Well sort of go on where penders put her with nicollette and go on from there. 

[Wulfsbane]

3 hours ago, Akessel92 said:

Well sort of go on where penders put her with nicollette and go on from there. 

That's not depth...

[Akessel92]

Depth. That's just it there was little depth for Fiona in the first place. Mostly because of how disjointed her story was. She resents sonic for awhile but then after the xorda she's not and then she just resents the freedom fighters or just misses being bad. Her character was all over the place and her motivations were not metal. Motivations can be malleable but events and reasoning for the characters choices have to be tempered to their values. What did Fiona value? Did she value being a team player? No. Did she value the freedom fighters? Not seeable. Did she value sonic? Hard to say because she was just there with the cast and resented him for sometime for being left behind and then suddenly not because of an alien invasion which is rather not worldview altering because you live in a world of anthropomorphic animals, Eldritch beings some revere as gods, and etc. on a daily basis. What does change her worldview is the actions of people around her.  

[Akessel92]

In that case she was pointless character and I no longer could make anything from her. 

[Mike Arcade]

On 10/1/2017 at 7:16 PM, Wulfsbane said:

How would you do Fiona's character: Would you keep her evil? Turn her good?

That's a good question, to be honest though I think no one had any idea on what to do with Fiona in the first place. I mean I do get that whole grudge angle they were trying to play with her regarding Sonic (and yet not a mention of Mighty) but the problem was that it was already established in a Mighty Story that it wasn't necessarily about just Sonic. But the biggest problem was when she became a Freedom Fighter and apparently let go of her grudge, the fact she was so easily swayed by an Evil Duplicate of Sonic (who has the subtly of Dynamite) just shows how weak her character really was. Good or Evil what depth there could have been was woefully mishandled, heck she didn't even really have a character until Flynn came aboard. Really she went from Nic's bounty/treasure hunter sidekick to a meek medic before she became a "villain".

So how would I handle her? I'd say somewhere in the middle, not all that good but not really evil either. I mean it doesn't make much sense with her being either or, she should have just stayed a bounty hunter really. I mean you could do something with her background somewhat but I'd have that altered considerably as that too doesn't make a lot of sense. I mean she could join the Freedom Fighters for a time only to walk out when things get rough for the team or something. I do think it's interesting if she had some sort of Grudge against Sonic and/or Mighty but not how it was done in the Archie Comic, because there is potential for someone who was let down by the so-called "Hero of Mobius". I mean really that could not only just kick start Fiona's own arc but give Sonic some depth as well, not being the hero he thinks himself to be.

She could be working with the Freedom Fighters at one point, or working against them the next time they meet. Honestly I think people tend to forget that there are a sizable amount of Bounty Hunters and Mercenaries such as the Destructix and Team Hooligan they aren't just antagonists for the heroes but villains due to circumstance.

That's how I'd handle Fiona in the Archie Comic anyway, truth be told there wasn't much to work with in the first place but there's a place for her in Sonic as a series. What that might be depends on who you ask, but how she was in Archie Sonic should not be the basis for her to be in any canon.

[F07E]

On 6/8/2017 at 12:47 PM, TheRedStranger said:

 How would you handle the villains beyond Robotnik/Eggman? What would you teak about their backstories and the conflicts they get into with the main characters? 

 

On 7/14/2017 at 2:38 PM, WarTraveller said:

Let's give this one a jolt, shall we?

How would you handle the Egg Bosses? Like, would they be loyal, would Eggman FORCE them to serve him? How expendable would they truly be to him?

 

was replying elswhere when it came to me that this is what I would have done for two of the egg bosses I liked least

first up witchcart should not have been naugus's sister and eggmans lackey, but rather should have been a complete wildcard with no ties to anyone who could play all sides, so long as everyones fighting each other, her and her minions are getting ready to reach her goal of turning the land into her crystaline empire unopposed meaning that their only stake is to prolong the conflictions between each group

meanwhile the Battle Kukku Empire should have been somwhere between the level of the eggman empire and G.U.N. as a faction with all of them having no love for each other and having their own agenda's, but willing to work WITH those who's agendas are directly next to theirs like so: 

freedom fighters-g.u.n.-battle kukku empire-eggman empire.

- ff will work with gun, but not bke or eggman

- gun will work with bke or ff, but not eggman

- bke will work with gun or eggman, but not ff

- eggman will work with bke, but not gun or ff

if one faction allies with a group counter to another, the group counter to the other faction will be more hostile towards the faction they would normally work with (like if ff works with gun, bke will be hostile to gun until gun stops working with ff and vice versa, same goes for bke with regards to gun and eggman). no faction should work FOR anyone however and may stab one another in the back at any given point if its beneficial to their agenda, and extreme cases can occur where a third party event (such as an even bigger world ending threat) may cause factions who would be hostile to one another to become allied and vice-versa (one example would be when the world was shattered by eggman, the bke may be nuetral towards the ff as their goal of restoring the planet is beneficial to themselves as well). obviously this wouldnt be the ironclad status quo, as amny characters within each faction would keep their unique traits (characters can change factions organically if the plot and character motivations/growth can allow for it such as if the eggbosses were like how @Wulfsbane described how he would have done them)

[TheRedStranger]

8 hours ago, F07E said:

first up witchcart should not have been naugus's sister and eggmans lackey, but rather should have been a complete wildcard with no ties to anyone who could play all sides, so long as everyones fighting each other, her and her minions are getting ready to reach her goal of turning the land into her crystaline empire unopposed meaning that their only stake is to prolong the conflictions between each group

 We go with the wildcard idea because everyone working for Eggman (or secretly is Eggman) is just trashy and facile writing meant to synchronize with SoJ’s arbitrary marketing-over-narrative mandates. F073 makes a good point: not every bad guy has connections or alliances with your main villian. Third parties add unpredictability to large scale conflicts and thus heighten dramatic tension. Rendering characters down to basically an add for the big bad (or other Japanese-gaming cases “It’s just Ganondorf all along”) squanders narrative potential and the verisimilitude of your lore and world-building. In real life third parties like Central America, Cuba, Vietnam, China, Korea, and Turkey caused wildcards upheavals during the Cold War, their small choices affecting millions of lives and thereby all of human history. The reason the American civil-war never involved a vengeful Britain taking advantage of the chaos was the Union’s alliance with Russia through Cassius Clay. A world that does not have depth beyond two parties merely fighting is a diminutive, static boring, and even bleak world; there is not much there to challenge and enrich our protagonists and even antagonists and not much to fight for beyond the trenches of their current conflict.  I think it’s a no-brainer to add third parties, especially since it makes you sculpt out a fuller, more organic world than mere scribbling of the same selling-points over again on a flat limited plane (and hey, Sega, in the end it actually helps you actually sell even more merchandise, spin-offs, and sequels.)

 

To sum things up: Just remember Sega, America’s Disney’s Star Wars and Cinematic Universe makes more money than you on. Single product than you probably make in a year - perhaps it’s time to truly embrace the power continuity and worldbuilding. 

—

Taking from history, we can actually shape a powerful villain out of “Witchcart.” First off her name is horrible as an actual name. My mother did not name me Mantrack because she forsaw my love of running or DudeCanvas for my love of art. To make sense it has to be a title she earned from her abused workforce. Simply make her like the coal company bosses from American history, consolidating power by perhaps colliding with government rather than fair free-market forces on the mainland... She basically has this mining colony all by herself. Sonic and the gang disrupt a drama already happening in the island with their own conflicts yet get wrapped up in an underground fight for unionization with the workers that climaxes with a Battle for Blare Mountain-like event.

“Witchcart” perhaps mines one rare material necessary for spells or even extend her youth and life, maybe even she somehow feeds off the suffering of workers in some dark ritualistic manner. There is some golden X for her in all the coal and gemstones. The other minerals are just small pickings to her personal wealth as she sells them to highest bidder and their war efforts. Robotnik wants the mineral wealth outright and wants to connect to his supply lines. The native secret-union is the big threat from inside  and she keeps people divided. The Freedom Fighters perhaps has a potential ally that demands Witchcart is guarded for their own mineral wealth, yet become conflicted and even argue amongst themselves about what to do when they realize [Normal name] is basically a corrupt power-seeking overlord called “The Witch in The Cart” (Witchcart for short) living off the backs of indentured slaves (and even for added horror worked the original natives on the island to near extinction). All of this drama between three parties is set on an island paradise with perhaps volcano that could pop if one wrong stone is unturned at the right time... Robotnik: “If I can’t have this - no one can.”

 

 

 

 

[Mike Arcade]

With Archie Sonic over and the dust has settled how about we bring this back and see what sort of flaws we could have corrected with this series. It's been awhile but hey let's start things a bit easy here. Now considering she's from a whole other dimension and that her debut in the comic was rather sloppy regarding her appearances let's explore this.

How would you debut and incorporate Blaze the Cat in Archie Sonic?  

Yes this is regarding mainly before the Reboot, but I'll accept answers for both continuities but prefer the former answered first regarding context and flexibility.

[SonicSatamX93]

Here's a question I'd like some feedback on. 

1: How would you write the old guard of the Freedom Fighter's last stand against Robotnik before either being killed, captured/roboticized or even forced to flee and hide after he takes over? And when I say old guard, I mean characters like Sonic's parents, Tails' parents, The Wolf Pack, etc?

[Akessel92]

On 6/11/2018 at 3:28 AM, SonicSatamX93 said:

Here's a question I'd like some feedback on. 

1: How would you write the old guard of the Freedom Fighter's last stand against Robotnik before either being killed, captured/roboticized or even forced to flee and hide after he takes over? And when I say old guard, I mean characters like Sonic's parents, Tails' parents, The Wolf Pack, etc?

Well I did like the original idea of sonic and tails’ parents/family of being roboticized as it gave a more emotional to those who were roboticized. The wolf pack in not opinion would I think a good number would go down fighting so the rest could flee and hide after Robotnik took over. 

 

Im trying to remember how other original freedom fighters were like and how they would fit. As my memory of the Archie comics is beginning to fade and I’d have to dig the old encyclopedia out under hundreds of other books. 

[Mike Arcade]

@Akessel92 Asked this question so all credit for it goes to him

How would you do the sonic/megaman crossovers differently? 

That's a good question, especially regarding the 2nd Crossover Worlds Unite which I feel was VERY botched, especially at the end. Regarding Worlds Collide for one both worlds would overall still be the same as they were in their previous issues, so no cosmic reset button but rather the Genesis Wave is connecting and bleeding the worlds together (much like what Worlds Collide did). You'd still have Sonic and friends with Mecha Sally while Mega Man dealt with Break Man (Proto Man). However since the Genesis Wave kinda messes up and around with space/time you'd still have Wily's Robot Masters from Future stories and such (had that comic continued). So our heroes finally have Mecha Sally, however as Tails and Amy would be looking over her and with Sonic somewhere else (for whatever reason, like visiting Uncle Chuck), I'd have Robot Masters break in and take all of them since they'd be off guard in dealing with these Robots of unknown design. Yeah I'd have the Roboticized Masters happen, with Mecha Sally upgraded with Robot Master Tech as well. Taking Knuckles (due to his recent lost) would be a cinch, Chaotix probably as well except maybe Mighty and Ray. With Shadow I dunno, that'd be a hard sell unless they use all the Roboticized Masters to make a jump on them. Sonic and Mega Man would get tricked as in the story and it'd continue similar to how it did, only with the complications of having Roboticized Masters in Mobius and 20XX with 4 in each World. Not sure if the Chaos Devil would appear, although with the space/time shenanigans maybe it'd still be a thing. Break Man would be working with the Doctors and dealing with Bass being very arrogant (also calling him Proto Man due to his memories being from the future.) So, you'd have things play out similarly to the comic EXCEPT that Team Freedom, alongside a surprise appearance maybe by Bunnie (without the Legionization she was suppose to go through) would help out as reinforcements with other Freedom Fighter groups and good Robot Masters. Sonic and Mega Man would fight the Chaos Devil as such, but with Bass and Metal Sonic I'd say they should do that Super Adapter thing they were meant to do, only for our heroes to get Break Man's help, having a change of heart. He'd distract the Bass/Metal Sonic fusion while they then go on to fight Mecha Sally, now upgraded for the 3rd time with Wily Tech. Maybe you could call her Acorn Woman.

Anyway they would defeat her only with Mecha Sally before passing out briefly gaining a moment of her real self to Sonic. Then they'd go on as in the story to fight Eggman and Wily. After that well they'd change they're worlds and time back to normal, though I'd prefer there for Sonic's not to completely reboot but yeah that's it for me and the first crossover.

Worlds Unite (aside from a few different game character choices and preferences) I'd change one simple thing, that awful ending. For one I'd have X join the fight against Sigma and even have say his own Super Form with his Ultimate Armor (I mean he CAN get a Golden Armor in X3 so hey why not) and for our main characters to NOT forget this event let alone it not being erased via a time paradox like how it was done originally. I mean I'd also perfer the Pre-SGW Continuity and not let the reboot ever happen as well but still, not sure if I'd even have the Zeti they don't seem to be all that big of a threat really, I forget how they couldn't over power Reploids, let alone Sigma due to their Electromagnetic powers but whatever. Personally I'd have Sigma go after Iblis and team up with Mephiles, I mean really THAT would be an interesting partnership. Just have Worlds Collide overwrite Sonic 06 only with Sigma invading Mobius and finding out about Soleanna's Solaris Project. Then much like the original kidnap both doctors and try to merge both worlds together. Just have it that Worlds Collide take place in Soleanna and there you go, I mean really a Solaris Sigma sounds pretty terrifying to deal with. XP

In any case I suppose that's how I'd do both crossovers for Archie Sonic. First one was good overall for what it was and the ending of the second one completely ruined it for me.

[WarTraveller]

Okay, so after a bit of a chat with @Wulfsbane elsewhere, I came up with another question we could look into. It's safe to say that Scourge is an example of Good Idea, Bad Execution. An anti-Sonic with all of his drive and snark (but pointed in the other direction) sounds like a good foil for Sonic, but Scourge never really felt like he was linked to Sonic. Personally I hated him for being a womanising scumbag buried in bit of Plot Armour, but that's neither here or there. So I'm gonna ask;

How would you write Scourge, or really any attempt at a supposed Anti-Sonic?

[Ishapar]

On 11/11/2018 at 8:37 PM, WarTraveller said:

Okay, so after a bit of a chat with @Wulfsbane elsewhere, I came up with another question we could look into. It's safe to say that Scourge is an example of Good Idea, Bad Execution. An anti-Sonic with all of his drive and snark (but pointed in the other direction) sounds like a good foil for Sonic, but Scourge never really felt like he was linked to Sonic. Personally I hated him for being a womanising scumbag buried in bit of Plot Armour, but that's neither here or there. So I'm gonna ask;

How would you write Scourge, or really any attempt at a supposed Anti-Sonic?

First you should figure out if an Anti- or Evil Twin Sonic is even needed for the main story.  As I recall, Evil Sonic made his debut in an early issue (back before they created a stable canon timeline), where Sonic accidentally runs too fast that he ends up in an opposite manifestation of Mobius.  Messing with alternate realities can be a quagmire for a writer to wade through, so I would recommend most fan writers to not even consider messing with an alternate universe or other worlds unless they have already answered many necessary questions pertaining to the structure of the alternate reality and the impact it has on the main canon story.  Evil Sonic is only appropiate if the alternate Mobius exists; otherwise, it's just an awkward evil twin story that's probably going to weigh the story down. 

You should then figure out if Evil Sonic should be similar to the Archie counterpart and become "Scourge"with his enhanced powers, or if Evil Sonic should have a more direct persona that counters Sonic's.  Remember that Scourge did start off as basically an evil twin of Sonic that lives in an altered version of Mobius (a type where Robotnik is seen to be a vetinarian).  Also realize that the writer should address why Anti-Sonic is an evil version of Sonic.  Is it because the alternate reality affects him that he must be the contrast to regular Sonic, or does he actually choose to behave wickedly for his own pleasure?  If Anti-Sonic isn't bound by the negative affects of the alternate reality, then I believe the main plot dealing with Anti-Sonic should be his moral conflict with the regular Sonic.  Anti-Sonic would have the same persona and attributes as regular Sonic but he chooses to use them for his own selfish means.  Basically, Anti-Sonic could bring tension to regular Sonic because he is what Sonic could choose to be and could always end up making choices that would mirror Anti-Sonic's and cause collateral damage to his friends and loved ones.

[SonicSatamX93]

Here's a question I'd like to get people's opinion about.

How would you portray the cast and their life story involved in the Great War such as Armand D'Coolette, Jules and Sir Charles hedgehog, Amadeus Prower, King Max, Colin Robotnik, his daughter Hope along with some of the others as well?

[Mike Arcade]

On 2/25/2019 at 8:57 PM, SonicSatamX93 said:

Here's a question I'd like to get people's opinion about.

How would you portray the cast and their life story involved in the Great War such as Armand D'Coolette, Jules and Sir Charles hedgehog, Amadeus Prower, King Max, Colin Robotnik, his daughter Hope along with some of the others as well?

So basically a prequel then? I mean a prequel would be interesting, though the comic did have an arc like that once which was...okay with quite a few oddities. Such as why Mobians apparently don't use guns in the Acorn Kingdom.