This section introduces the General Changes, Neo Metal Saga, Tangle & Whisper, and the Metal Virus.
Oh right the general changes
A pretty famous quote often used by the characters is “Long time no see.” It’s a way to establish a time of passage between the games, and that everyone has gone off to do their own thing, only teaming up together in large adventures such as the games. This is a pretty consistent thing I want to establish, and by creating this permanent hub where everyone can see eachother at all times, this trend is broken.
Furthermore, the idea of a Restoration is kind of boring to Haya. He’s a free soul that happens to fall into trouble he wants to solve. Doing missions and returning to the same location would not be in his spirit. You want him to have a paycheck too, give him a suit and tie and sell you the Haya Bible? No!
What is the contrast between the two, are the two destined to clash forever, can the two co-exist? Of course not every story here quite fits that apt description, but it’s felt throughout the world. This means that there'd be a lot of dialogue removed where people want Haya to kill Eggman. Oh no...
Also I can flippantly change the theming from “Sonic’s morality” to “Science vs. Nature” because Ian Flynn himself admitted that the comic isn’t trying to have a balanced moral debate about the former.
…because at the end of the day, when you’re having a discussion like [Sonic’s morality], or having a thematic discussion like that, what you end up on is the one that’s considered the correct position, especially if the one that you end on doesn’t get countered in any way. And, while I would argue the [Metal Virus arc] itself should be a counter, when we get to the end of, I believe, #44, Sonic reflects on everything and still just decides to say “I’m standing by my positions instead of getting into my fear.” Like, I get that they’re supposed to be counterarguments, but there are supposed to be two sides of that argument. But when one basically gets a page, and the other basically gets the entire half of the chapter and that half of the chapter is never given a direct counterargument, how is that not undercutting?
I can see where you’re coming from, but at the same time, this book is not meant to be a balanced moral debate.
[Sonic’s] point of view is very simple and idealized, but it’s also a children’s fantasy, you know. We’re not going to be able to answer these high-level moral questions that humanity has been grappling with since we had an understanding of morality to begin with, in a Sonic book. This is introductory level. And if you’re in your 20s or 30s or 40s and you don’t find this surface-level approach fully satisfying… go read adult material. Go read stuff that does delve into that and does try to tackle it, does something smarter. This is- this is not something smarter.
Unfortunately, the Sonic franchise has not really grown up with us older folk.
It’s okay to have entry- introductory-level ideas to larger concepts
Yeah
It is okay to introduce larger, broader approaches to these ideas without solutions so that, you know, the kids can teethen themselves on this and then move on to deeper, harder, hitting stuff.
I dunno, if you make certain morals and ethical questions the foundation of your narrative, there should be a level of care put into it. You can’t just make the discussion one-sided and allow everyone to accept it because it’s a children’s book. Kids are surprisingly smart, and there have been children’s media that treat moral topics with tact and respect.
All I want here is competent characterization.
It’s been a month since Eggman’s harrowing take-over of the world. While everyone is anticipating his next attack, Haya notices a town in trouble: Vista View.
Vista View is based on a giant cake. Long ago, a great legend told of invaders being sent away by a mighty warrior, and that’s why they now hold an annual cake feast. Although, this legend was likely made up to justify eating a lot of cake.
So yeah the locations will be somewhat redesigned. If you haven’t noticed, the locations in IDW Sonic are sorely lacking in the visual department. For gods sake, Vista View looks like an isekai starting town; some town surrounded by a circular stone wall.
I want each location to look like a good location to run around in a potential game, with striking colors giving the audience a memorable scene.
Nearly getting smashed by one of the robots, Tails swoops in to save Haya at the last moment. After destroying the invaders, Tails comments on the amount of attacks that have happened recently. While Eggman’s organic troops returned to dormancy, the robot squadron started acting up, coordinated even. Haya suspects Eggman, but Tails says Eggman would’ve announced his return in a pompous way. Tails stays in Vista View to help with the town’s repairs, while Haya continues his path.
The comics seem to have this belief that Tails doesn’t have this high belief in his idol, and that’s why he helps him, as if he doesn’t help him beyond that fact.
Could you not risk your life for five minutes?
They’re almost out! C’mon, Tails! Hurry up!
Oh ye of little faith...
If you want to point to Sonic Colors writing (why), the two exchanged blows equally without one having to resort to using bedroom eyes.
After smashing a Death Crab at the village of Riverside, Amy appears to land the finishing blow. After throwing banter with eachother due to not having seen eachother for awhile, they’re notified by a local resident, Lanolin, that more troops are arriving. While Haya smashes any incoming troops, Amy coordinates the residents to rally together to shoot any robots that manage to bypass Haya.
Riverside Zone, as indicated by its name, is a small village close to a river. The buildings are modeled after water waves, with its clock tower being powered by a streaming body of water from above. The biggest family there is a group of farmer sheep responsible for tending to a large majority of the village’s crops. As indicated by the visual there, the founder of Riverside is a sheep wearing a cowbell, a long-lasting heirloom in the family.
Trusting the residents to defend themselves without her assistance, Amy joins Haya on the front lines to hammer any troops with her Piko Piko Hammer. The two then bounce ideas off of eachother, naming suspects behind any of these invasions, somehow managing to think up a new villain along with their entire backstory in the end.
Do you know who's responsible for this?
Don't care, but we can speculate!
Well it's someone who knows how to command Eggman's robots!
Must be smart.
Probably a secret disciple under him...
And they're vengeful, now that he's gone.
Would they be wearing a fake moustache?
Obviously! They wouldn't be Eggman's disciple without it.
...
Bahaha!
Haya and Amy finish off the Blowfish Transporter with their Croquette Bomber duo move.
Fun fact: “Croquette Bomber” is very similar to Archie Sonic’s Issue 259 “Croquet Special”. Another Archie idea passed through…
After finishing off the troops, Haya continues on ahead to Barricade Town and joins in with Knuckles.
Barricade Town resembles a cereal bowl. At night, the lights, in combination with the shiny porcelain, create a beautiful but homely feeling. The cereals they use are made from the same grain in the neighboring Riverside.
Scaling over its namesake, they find out the town’s been overrun by the duo Rough and Tumble the Skunks. Although they’re tough for the residents, they’re no match for Haya and Knuckles. After effortlessly beating the two up, they’re locked up in jail. Somewhere else, a mysterious person has been monitoring Haya's every move. Noticing Knuckles isn’t guarding the Master Emerald, he sets his sights on procuring the gem.
Sonic in the comics mentions Rough and Tumble being worse than the Hooligans, a group in Archie Sonic consisting of Fang, Bean, and Bark. As you've seen with "Croquette Bomber", this repeated insistence of forcing Archie ideas into IDW/Game canon will continue with Flynn for the foreseeable future.
Haya continues on ahead. It’s been a pretty busy day and it’s already sunset.
Sonic’s doing a lot of thinking here, a LOT of thinking. A lot of it will be omitted because there’s no reason to have this amount of thinking.
Entering Spiral Hill Village, Haya notices a lot of fire spewing from the village center. He is met with the sight of a familiar friend fighting alongside an… unfamiliar friend. Using her stretchy tail, Tangle launches Blaze in the air to incinerate any robots both in the air and on the ground.
With Tangle, there aren't a ton of female roles within the Sonic franchise. Off the top of your head, I always think of Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, and Shadow first. Beyond that, you've got Amy, who's somewhat active yet is all over the place. Rouge is competent but has that odd sex appeal for a cartoon bat. Cream is like a six-year-old who isn't supposed to get involved, so the singular kick-butt female character is Blaze, and she's awesome! But she has the universe problem of being from an entirely different dimension and you have to use the MacGuffins to bring her over and why she's making the trip and so on. So, let's have a character that can easily go on Sonic adventures and be cool.
Tangle was invented to circumvent the issue of Blaze living in another dimension, and yet Tangle was introduced in the same issue where Blaze traveled on over to Sonic’s dimension. Also, way to go undermining the characters you’re writing for. Despite that comment of his, Amy is then written by Flynn as much more of a capable leader too (until Jewel arrives to take over that role).
Tangle doesn’t even go on many Sonic adventures, and the ones she does take part in either have her removed (Metal Virus), incapacitated (Zeti Hunt), or physically unable to do anything (Eggperial City).
I’m having Blaze and Tangle work with eachother before Haya arrives. You want that “kick-butt” action? Throw Haya deep in the middle of it. It also helps with her character development in Sonic Rush where Blaze learned to open herself up to people, so to see her make friends with someone not already part of Haya’s friend group is really encouraging of her.
Previously, Blaze couldn’t reach the giant robotic Buzz Bomber transporter hanging above the sky, even with Tangle’s slingshotting. With Haya now here, Blaze can throw him into the transporter, blowing it up from the inside. Blaze then redirects the burning Buzz Bomber to land outside of the village.
After the attack, everyone has time to talk, so Blaze introduces Tangle to Haya. Blaze tells Haya that she was sent here by the Sol Emeralds for a reason. Haya suspects more is coming, so Blaze promises to stay until that reason is made clear to her.
In the game "Haya Forces", Eggman took over more than just Haya's world. Blaze was involved, so she would already know.
Haya is notified by the Chaotix being tipped off about Eggman’s whereabouts. Arriving at Windmill Hill, Haya is met with Dr. Eggman! …Or rather, Mr. Tinker as he so calls himself. After the events of Haya Forces, the Phantom Ruby sent Eggman to Windmill Hill, scrambling his mind in the process. Haya doesn’t buy this at all.
Eggman staying well-behaved sounds about as possible as chili dogs raining from the sky
I should also help you recognize that I changed the name "Windmill Village" to "Windmill Hill". For one: it rhymes, and two: there's already a Windmill Village in Sonic Rush Adventure. Having the same name pop up would just be confusing, so Windmill Hill.
Espio himself also doesn’t believe it, but Vector and Charmy believe Eggman has turned good. Even the village elder corroborates their statement, noting Mr. Tinker’s help and being a force of good. Haya doesn’t give it much thought and simply asks Vector and Charmy to watch over Mr. Tinker in case he turns bad, since they believe he’s gone good. After wiping up some more invading robots, Mr. Tinker invites Haya to the eventual completion of Eggman Land. Haya turns back and sees Shadow about to attack Mr. Tinker.
If this were a full rewrite, following plot beats be damned, I’d have Mr. Tinker slowly revert back to his Eggman persona by himself. He can still tinker with machines, so his experiences haven’t been fully rewritten. At its core, Eggman is someone who believes he deserves to rule the world, and having that slowly unravel by having him experience microaggression (a robot would serve drinks faster) after microaggression (I can rule this village better than the elder) serves as a good introduction on the kind of person Eggman is. After taking over the village, Haya arrives, battles him, and his “first” battle with Haya would finally return all of Eggman’s memories.
New readers who have never seen the games are already acquainted with the hero types and why they want to save the world, but knowing why the villain does what he does is possibly even more important. The villain causes conflict, but why are they the cause of conflict?
Shadow’s joined with Rouge. Haya tries corroborating that Eggman’s completely lost his memory, but Shadow’s having none of that, continuing to proceed to Mr. Tinker. Haya then gets the plan to distract Shadow, smacking him before battling him away from the village. Rouge reveals she was the one to tip off the Chaotix.
Meanwhile, Haya argues against Shadow during the race. While he himself is pretty suspicious of his new persona, Eggman’s helping the villagers, and he’s staying in that village until he can fully prove himself reformed. Shadow’s impressed Haya is giving him mercy, even after the many attempts on his life, whereas Haya rebutts that Shadow has done the same thing to him. It’d be a bit unfair to make Shadow the exception.
Haya doesn’t like a lot of things. Being unfair is one of them.
I can’t have Haya provide examples of the ARK and Black Arms. The former is because the writing itself states that he’s contradicting himself, and Sonic is wrong when it comes to him aiding in the Black Arms invasion for genuine allyship intentions.
Okay–what about when the Black Arms invaded? Remember all that? Eggman fought the alien invasion with us! Without him, we may not have lasted long enough to save the day!
Eggman only helped stop the invasion because he believed the world was his to conquer.
Those idiots! They’re destroying everything! How can I take over the city and build the Eggman Empire if there is no city?!
Also, this actual quote from the comics.
Have you forgotten that [Eggman] made you suffer? That he’s tried to destroy you–multiple times? How can you even suggest leniency for him after all that?
Heh–you tried to destroy me in the past too, remember? You even tried to obliterate an entire planet. So–what? You want me to take you out with Eggman? After all, if he can’t be forgiven, can you?
This is such a messed up thing to say. Sonic would never leverage a friend’s trauma for the sake of winning an argument. Hell, this is inconsistent with how Sonic saw Shadow’s past in Sonic Battle.
So, are you trying to tell me that awakening Emerl is dangerous?
Dangerous? Ha! He’s a weapon. One created with enough power to destroy the world. Awakening him is sheer madness!
I don’t think he has it in him. The Emerl I know would never destroy the world. What about you?! You say he’s the ultimate weapon, but weren’t you supposed to be the military’s ultimate secret weapon?! Maybe you’ve forgotten, but I seem to recall you saving humanity at some point.
…That was for Maria.
Exactly! If you have a heart, you would never use your power for the forces of evil! There’s no way you could! Weapons aren’t supposed to have “hearts.” But, both you and Emerl do! You guys… You aren’t just weapons!
Hmph!
Sonic already knows Shadow can’t do evil because he’s got a heart by saving humanity, so to write him suddenly focusing on Shadow’s past misdeeds and not his heroism is just inconsistent.
Shadow is written well here. Could be more quiet though. He keeps his feelings to himself, he’s hands-on, and relies on body language to explain himself. It’s accurate in his portrayal in Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic 06, and even Heroes. He doesn’t outright explain, which is what Ian Flynn wanted him to do.
We had to, in the original Shadow and Sonic fight, back in the Mr. Tinker stuff, we had to cut 90% of Shadow’s dialogue because he, apparently, just doesn’t talk to Sonic. He’s not a conversationalist, he doesn’t debate, he doesn’t speak his mind, he doesn’t tell people his opinions, he just does… Can you hear the fatigue in my voice?
I believe people should understand Shadow more instead of loving the fake version of him.
After realizing Haya led him away from the village, Shadow heads back to the village.
Nerts.
What?? On another topic, Shadow used Chaos Control to teleport away from Sonic. That’s not possible without a Chaos Emerald, the full set we know currently is in the hands of Dr. Starline.
If [Shadow the Hedgehog] doesn’t have a Chaos Emerald, he can not use Chaos Control.
Shadow demands Mr. Tinker to reveal his “Eggman Land” which, as it turns out, seems to just be a kiddie amusement park inside a shed. Shadow leaves to report back to the Stars, and Mr. Tinker and Haya shake hands. Haya wordlessly looks back at Vector and Charmy to remind them to monitor Mr. Tinker in case Eggman returns.
Later, on top of the Tornado, Haya and Tails notice an active Egg Fleet in the air. Haya platforms in to investigate to find Dr. Eggman. Haya quite quickly comes to the conclusion that this is Metal Haya, or rather, Neo Metal Haya.
The story of Haya Forces featured the physical Metal Haya.
Upgraded, Neo Metal Haya will serve the Eggman Empire, while taking the form of Dr. Eggman. Haya immediately goes for the offense, Neo Metal returning the favor after copying his bio-data. Haya sees this as a failing battle and retreats. After falling on the Tornado, Haya and Tails discuss invading another base for info about Neo’s plans. The two decide to split up, with Haya taking on one of Eggman’s pyramid bases and Tails notifying the others.
I might be going far with the lack of military reconnaissance. No matter.
Haya enters one of the pyramid bases, taking out the robots inside. A robot tries to take him out from behind, but Silver telepathically throws him against the wall. After catching up, they suddenly see another robot being shot down. Silver takes his time, then believes this could be the work of the “Guardian”, an enigmatic figure who helped in the war if Mario couldn’t do it himself.
Whisper is the Super Guide of Haya Forces lol. Also, Haya Forces had Silver be captured and eventually saved, so he’d have seen Whisper around, but canonically Mario saved him. And, because the captured were too weak to fight on the field (as to not make Mario obsolete), there wouldn’t be any way for Whisper to come and “save his skin” so to speak.
Also that panel of Silver cowering infront of an Egg Pawn, but fought eye-to-eye with Infinite in the actual game. Classic.
Silver came to see Haya to tell him what the Stars had made him see in the future: absolutely nothing left, only water and metallic life. As they try and figure out what that means, they see Whisper trying to open a metallic door using all of her Wispon abilities. Whisper only introduces herself by name and refuses to speak any more than that. Silver opens the door to battle E-107 Theta and its many Spinas.
I’d cut down on the incessant amount of Silver babification dialogue, including his expressions… Official artwork of Silver always uses tsurime eyes instead of tareme eyes. That, with his mistakes in the games, should tell you Silver is determined but naive. Most writing here focuses on the naive.
This is the introduction of Whisper. She’s at her lowest possible moment here. Her only dialogue here is “Whisper” or the occasional “Mm.” This will be the start of a great character arc!
After defeating E-107 Theta, Silver activates the Eggnet terminal to find Neo Metal Haya is planning to use the Master Emerald to take over the world. Shot to the Master Emerald shrine, Mighty and Ray putting up their fists when noticing the egg fleet arriving, with Neo Metal Haya staring down on them…
In the Haya AU, this is the justification behind Knuckles leaving the Master Emerald shrine during certain adventures; his friends take over guarding duty. In Sonic, this has happened before, such as the official vtuber videos showing Amy guarding the emerald this time.
Angel Island has been taken over, and Mighty and Ray are in trouble. Tails had managed to get everyone together for a meeting. Blaze followed the Sol Emeralds to the meeting location, with Tangle trailing behind. Whisper followed Sonic and Silver. The Chaotix were also needed for extra firepower, with Vector leaving behind to watch over Mr. Tinker.
In order to maximize success in infiltrating, Amy splits the members into groups of three, each member contributing something useful. Math indicates those are 4 groups.
Imagine rehashing Sonic Heroes, but not using the team system from that same game. Everyone’s relatively the same as they were in Sonic Heroes, but with some characters placed in different categories because placing whos-who in Speed/Flight/Power is pretty arbitrary..
Amy has been put as a Power Type, replacing Vector. One of the Chaotix has to stay behind to watch over Mr. Tinker, and that member should get knocked out by Rough and Tumble. I can’t put in Espio as he never agreed to watch over Mr. Tinker; I can’t put Charmy as I feel it’s cruel for such a young kid to get knocked out by older folk, and his flying abilities are pretty important in the oncoming battle; so my only choice was Vector, who didn’t do anything important in the actual battle. Amy’s hammer is also a good fit for her being put into Power Type this time.
Whisper is the Omega substitute (I don’t know why Omega is not in this arc) due to her guns. Power. She'll be in the same team as Shadow because I'm cruel to 16-year-olds like that and she can't argue back due to her muteness.
Blaze is designed to parallel Sonic, so of course she takes the Speed spot. Silver can use his telekinesis to make everyone float, and he’s often duo’d with Blaze, so in Flight he goes. Tangle, from what issue 4 gave us, has a pretty tough tail. She’s the most physical in combat, so Power.
And then Whisper and Omega are reliable bang-bang shooty duos… Haha, noo… I should follow the basic plot beats.
Team Chaotix will disable ground troops, Team Blaze will erase fleets and any air troops, and Team Haya along with Team Dark will try and access the giant Eggman statue, with Team Haya confronting Neo Metal.
I don’t get the original team formation.
We’re going to split into three teams. Teams one and two will attack the shorelines and break the Egg Fleet’s control of the island. Team three will confront Neo Metal Sonic here. They’ll secure the Master Emerald and rob the fleet of its commander.
But–Neo shouldn’t be anywhere near the fleets. Blaze, I want you to be team one! Sonic and Knuckles will be team three, so everyone else–we’re team two!
Teams 1 and 2 have the exact same mission: attack the fleets. It’s only team 3 that does something on their own, which is battle Neo Metal. Why not just combine the two teams together? Therefore I gave each of the teams here their own role.
On the airship to Angel Island, the newbies, Whisper and Tangle, stay close to eachother and start slowly introducing themselves to eachother. Finally, they arrive at Angel Island. Big battle, it’s very cool. Team Chaotix and Team Blaze do exactly what they do, and they’re pretty cool at it too.
It’s a pretty big waste to use Burning Blaze on an idle fleet of airships. Genuinely save that for the fight against Master Overlord, it’d be much cooler.
Team Haya arrive at Neo Metal’s throne while Team Dark drags the unconscious Mighty and Ray away from the action. Team Haya fights, but unfortunately, the power of the Master Emerald proves too strong for the trio. Shadow, believing the fight to be going bad, enters the fight. This is bad because now Neo has Shadow’s bio-data.
It’s going pretty clear from Shadow’s breaking of the 3-man team that this whole 3-team thing is more of a tactical formality than anything solid.
Meanwhile, Mr. Tinker is happily playing the ukulele as kids are riding Eggman Land. Vector is enjoying the song, but is then knocked out from behind by Rough and Tumble. Mr. Tinker is then taken.
Out of all the Sega Sonic characters, who is in your top five? Bottom five?
In no particular order:... …Bottom Five: Marine, Dark Gaia, Metal Overlord, and the Babylon Rogues. Okay, that’s six, sue me.
The final boss of this arc is a Metal Overlord repeat: Master Overlord. Now that he won’t copy anyone’s bio-data, Blaze turns into Burning Blaze and starts incinerating Master Overlord’s face. Now blinded, everyone charges to attack parts of his body, distracting him long enough for Knuckles to remove the Master Emerald from his chest.
Resistance! Charge!
What did she mean by this? This was changed in the Japanese localization actually, where Amy said something like “Everyone, charge!” Let’s have that be the change.
Tails charges into Master Overlord with the airship, Knuckles places the Master Emerald back into the shrine, and Master Overlord deactivates, turning back into Metal Haya. Haya, and everyone else who saw him defeated, leaves the deactivated robot to the mercy of the environment.
Something different from the usual IDW will be Haya leaving Metal behind. Hey, if you want to ape Sonic Heroes, better follow it through with Haya leaving Metal at his own mercy. You wouldn’t deliberately reactivate him, and then expect him to live his own life. He’s programmed to beat Haya, always programmed to do so. He’s not Gemerl or Omega. Metal also told him what he plans to do when set free.
I have your bio-data. I have my original plan. I will sift through the world’s ashes to find [Eggman] if I have to.
Therefore, it wouldn’t make sense for Haya to reactivate Metal like that. Even during the actual comic’s activation of Metal Sonic, Sonic repeatedly deflected Tails’ doubts about reactivating him, which is very inconsistent with Sonic’s character.
Okay, I’ve confirmed the damage from our fight. Loss of the Master Emerald reverted Metal Sonic to his basic abilities. I’ve finished the last of the necessary repairs. Are you sure you want to do this?
I’m sure. Wake up Metal Sonic.
He’s not going to be happy about this.
Probably. But I think the odds are on our side.
Sorry about that, Tails. I’ll never doubt you again.
After some extensive and aggressive neuro-stimulants and hypnotherapy, there was only one ingredient left to return Mr. Tinker back to Eggman; a physical stimulator, something that is an extension of Eggman’s genius. After hearing that Haya and friends have defeated Master Overlord, a mysterious hand teleports to Angel Island to grab the deactivated Metal Haya. After letting it touch Mr. Tinker, memories of his pride return back to him. So now he’s back before Starline introduces himself as the one responsible.
How did Metal know exactly which base Eggman was at? Having Starline be the cause by bringing in Metal helps. Besides, the characters blaming Sonic for what he does aren’t ever rectified – he doesn’t change –, so I can always pass the blame on over to Starline.
Tangle’s planning on giving Whisper a tour of her village, Blaze will return to her world, Silver believes his foretold future has yet to be stopped and so will roam around, Amy will handle paying the Chaotix, Shadow will check on Tinker again, and who knows what Rouge will do; she’s mysterious.
Amy has several houses and cars, she can definitely afford to pay the Chaotix without stammering and going “Doesn’t being part of the Resistance count as anything?!”
In the original comic, Sonic lets Metal Sonic go and also just never tells Knuckles that before leaving. You know, Metal Sonic, the robot that took over Knuckles’ home. This leaves Sonic coming off as a lousy friend who doesn’t care about Knuckles. Also in the original comic, Knuckles suddenly disbanding the Resistance leaves him as an apathetic dunce. It’s a good thing Haya Forces has a completely different story, meaning this plot point doesn’t even exist.
Eggman is up to his tricks again and reveals his next greatest plan: The Metal Virus. Meanwhile, he looks at Starline and feels angry. Battered, bruised, electrocuted by this platypus. But he managed to get the Chaos Emeralds and return him back to his normal self, so he’ll let him play as his lackey.
Yes, the OCs have less oversight on their general characterization and have more latitude to move. So that was the same as back in the Archie days, and one of the reasons why there was such a robust extended cast is that you could do full character arcs and changes, whereas the licensed characters always had to remain recognizable.
The problem is that most of the [Archie] character’s I’d really like to see either need their unique setting or supporting characters to function. Or if they don’t, there’s already IDW characters who have been created to fill the void and explore storylines that scratch the same itch.
After swinging around Spiral Hill Village and accidentally smashing into a hotdog cart, Tangle reminisces about the past; she defended her town from robots, helped tear off the wing of a robot dragon, saved Jewel from being kidnapped by the Babylon Rogues alongside Whisper! But now she's back at Spiral Hill Village, being boring again. Tangle wants to go on another adventure, but she knows she'd be all alone if she did.
After venting this out to her best friend Jewel, commotion is heard from outside her museum. Haya’s running away from fire, the source of which being Whisper. After following the two for a while, Tangle catches up with Haya and asks what’s wrong. Haya panics, claiming Whisper’s being controlled by Eggman to shoot him. Tangle, always a saver, sneaks up on Whisper and takes her mask off as she’s aiming towards Haya. The momentary distraction causes Haya to leave Whisper’s sight, who sighs in frustration.
In the comic proper, Mimic-disguised-Sonic actually grabs onto Tangle’s shoulder when talking. This is after Tangle already knows Sonic is infected by the Metal Virus and doesn’t wanna touch her. So in Haya, this takes place somewhat before Metal Virus, before Tangle knows Haya's infected.
Immediately, Whisper pushes her mask in Tangle’s face to show a recording that happened a while ago. In it, Haya slowly approaches Whisper and brandishes a knife, gaining darker eyes and some puckered teal lips.
This is still the Haya AU; it’s Sonic with Mario elements. In this instance, Mimic is an Octoomba with the ability to shapeshift thanks to the bandana he wears. The small drawing on the top right shows Haya’s halfway-disguise.
In disguise, he’s just fully disguised; no “suckers for fingertips or hidden shoe pattern” when disguised because the narrative has never commented on that distinction. It only adds frustration to the audience when nobody in the story can notice it.
Tangle’s freaked out, but Whisper picks her mask back up and continues the hunt. In some choice words, she tells Tangle to leave, but that only causes Tangle to follow her; she wants to help her deal with whatever’s going on.
Yeah, unfortunately I’m not letting Whisper calm down to have a spot of tea after trying to hunt down Mimic. He’s out there, could be killing people, and she’s gonna find him as quick as possible as to not cause any casualties. That does cause her to lose any conversation with Jewel, but did their chemistry there even change in the original comic?
Vantage point after vantage point, Tangle continues following her, slowly coming more to the conclusion that Whisper is hunting down a shapeshifter who is evil and is doing evil deeds in Haya’s name. Now that Tangle’s deduced the villain, she now wants to help Whisper with whatever she’s doing.
Tangle takes this help too far. She goes around every person she knows in the village and asks if they’re an imposter. Whisper gets fed up with this and asks Tangle to cut it out. Just then, a hard “THCK!” is heard as a knife with a note is lodged on the door to Jewel’s museum.
The note holds the coordinates for Whisper to follow, but Tangle steps up to want to join her. After some tried convincing, Tangle joins along. Awhile later, Jewel opens the door and is saddened about the damage done to her door.
The coordinates lead to an Eggman base, long since abandoned. The entrance and eventual explosion of the base goes as it went in the original comics, there aren’t any real problems present.
Then the talk at the vault happens. Whisper shows Tangle footage of her previous team, the Diamond Cutters. After a roll call of their accomplishments, Tangle sees the footage of the team’s ultimate demise and betrayal from Mimic. Tangle removes Whisper’s mask and asks why she’s holding onto that footage. “Never forget. Never forgive,” she says, but Tangle actually stays on-topic and says how this isn’t her. She saw the footage: Whisper wasn’t like this with her group.
I know I asked for it, but... why would you hold onto that footage?
(Never forget. Never forgive.)
What? Uh, no!
(...?)
The picture of you with them, I heard how you sounded! Wide-eyed... happy... This footage is not helping you.
(...What are you talking about?)
I don't think you should hold onto that footage.
(What?) (I don't...) (I don't want to forget them.)
I wouldn't either--your friends are amazing! But, would you want to hold onto the memory of your friends at their most awesome, or at their worst?
(...)
I get it's a tough choice, and I'm not pressuring you to make a choice. I just wanna let you know that... I also wanna hang out with the real you.
Yeah. If you read the comics, Whisper’s whispery and closed personality is based on her trauma with the team. Just, look at her dialogue in these flashbacks.
Actually, looks like Eggman was expecting us. Tank inbound. Never mind–hee-hee!
We’ll just have to be extra careful. And i’ll scry really hard!
Ha ha ha!
Look at the “hee-hee”, that open-eyed smile in the group picture, the lack of dotted text bubble indicating whispering. That’s her original personality. It should be top priority to get her back on that track, and it will be thanks to Tangle’s help and support. Character development.
Whisper stares beyond, stares at her Wisps, then looks back at Tangle. She says she doesn’t want to lose her, but Tangle rebutts that she doesn’t wanna lose her too. "Stop acting stupid and let me help!" Pretty aggressive of Tangle, but it broke through to Whisper and she hugs her. Now it’s time to lead Mimic to them.
…And then the rest of the miniseries should be going how it was like in the original. It’s fairly solid from beginning to end. After trapping Mimic and sending him to Tails, both are outside to decide on what to do. Whisper deletes her footage of her old team’s murder, holds out her hand to Tangle, and the two run off for adventure.
Sure the Wisps are there for support, but they share the same pain. You’re gonna need an outside source to act as support to break this cycle of “never forgive, never forget” depression. So I didn’t really like the ending where the two separated because Tangle’s homesick? Earlier on she was talking about how she can’t stand this peace and quiet at home. Seems a bit contrived to then force Tangle to get infected by Zombot Jewel and use her to cause Whisper trauma.
The Metal Virus suffers greatly from pacing issues. There are a bunch of issues that can fit together in one issue, such as #21-#23 as all three issues happen at the same time. It’s also pretty shallow in its execution, and any character drama that happened during it went nowhere. I haven’t given such shallow edginess a pass in Shadow the Hedgehog, or Sonic 06, so why should I give this one a pass?
This Metal Virus thing was also a scrapped story idea from Archie Sonic. Some would say that’s a plus, but it only reinforces how IDW Sonic is superficially meant to be a continuation of Archie rather than the games.
Haya is taking a sleeping break on the shores of South Island. From what he’s heard of Tails, Mr. Tinker has gone missing, Vector got knocked out, and Shadow called GUN for a manhunt for the doctor. Haya didn’t join in as he doesn’t really care what Tinker is up to.
He’s then asked by Amy to join her at Echo Mine. Apparently, Haya was invited, but the letter was sent to Amy… Entering deep within the mines and activating the Eggnet computer, they’re suddenly blasted with a full screen of Eggman’s face. He announces his return to Haya with Starline popping in to take the credit for his recovery. When he’s done gloating, the computer breaks down as Rough and Tumble enter with Eggman’s drill vehicle.
When the drill plan doesn’t work, Rough and Tumble spring out of their seats and press the button on their backpacks “in case of Plan B”. Pressing it, they’re engulfed into a weird metal goop: the Metal Virus. Haya spindashes one of them, accidentally getting himself infected. With no way to fight these amorphous infected, Haya pushes them down a pit. Now infected, Haya will have to learn how to fix this…
In an impressive display of wanting to go fast, I managed to delete two issues from this retelling of events! Yeah Sonic trying to solve a mystery in one issue, then having it be revealed to him in another issue, before the Metal Virus actually starts in another… yeah that’s 3 months wasted. And it deletes some conflicting characterization.
Eggman retorts that the hedgehog is his to destroy. He could carpet bomb him whenever he felt like, but that’s not the point. (Actually, he did try that in Sonic 3 and that didn’t work out too well…) Anyway-
Also apparently the Metal Virus can infect through gloves… inorganic material. In my way, the only way for genuine infection would be to actually touch the organic stuff.
Oh and this is where the real divergence comes.
Tangle comes biking to Tails’ house. You should buy Tangle & Whisper to find out what she heck she did. Entering inside, she finds Haya running on a wheel, which Tails finds out is driving the virus into remission.
Tails, the little tinkerer he is, took some samples of the Metal Virus off of Haya. Sacrificing some sunflowers to tirelessly test out some cures against it. Finding out that fire will just erase parts of the infected’s body, Tails needs to find a safer way of dispelling the Metal Virus off of the entire body. As Tails already has the necessary amount of organic test subjects, he lets Haya go to find Eggman.
The Metal Virus is indeed weak against fire.
…One of the aspects was that, yes, [Blaze’s] fire could melt down the Zombots, but it looked like it would be potentially destroying them. The Zombots are already super hardy, but it looked like she might have the power to destroy them, but it would be killing the victims at the same time.
Strong fire though. Yoink, I’ll be using that for later
The Chaotix get word that Eggman is up and at it again, infecting the masses with this thing called the “Metal Virus”. As they’re detectives, they head outside only to see that their city, Seaside City, is next up on the chopping block as the Faceship just poured its batch.
The three are tasked up to rounding up the uninfected away from the city, and they see that the plantlife are also capable of being infected, so they decide the best way would be to lead them to the seas. Haya arrives to help round up the rest. Charmy, a bit impatient, accidentally pushed along someone slightly infected, causing him to get infected as well. Scared to infect anyone else, he flies away from the city, with the rest of the Chaotix not realizing what he’s doing until far later.
Ooh. how unfortunate. anyway
Charmy already knows the danger of what touching a Zombot does, so for him to go out of his way to try and save one is incredibly stupid for him, even for a kid. What is kid-like is being impatient, so I’m following his Sonic Channel description stating he moves before asking, causing him to get into trouble.
Floral Forest Village is next up, but Cream is doing a pretty bang job defending the village, especially with Gemerl there to assist her. After a while, the rate of infection starts spreading too fast, the grass is nearing to the Rabbit family, and Cheese and Chocola are infected too. Gemerl recommends Cream to fly away with Vanilla in tow as Gemerl bottles the two Chao, even drilling them into a hole to make their escape more difficult.
Cream is perfectly capable of saving things on her own. Play Sonic Advance 2 & 3. It’s only when Cheese gets infected is when she makes a retreat because that’s her most powerful weapo- friend. Friend.
Cream’s not a threat, Cream needs to be protected at all costs…
Mmyeah, I’m not repeatedly placing a young girl in multiple horrifying situations where she’s too young to fight back in. Too weaksauce (and weird) for a high-octane action franchise like Sonic the Hedgehog, hence the rewrite having her more proactive.
Sunset City. The infection here is strong. Thankfully, Team Dark is here to round up the uninfected. Rouge’s intuition about seeing anything sparkly allows her to notice who’s infected and who’s not, Omega is driving away any of the infected with heavy artillery, and Shadow is on his way to round up all of the uninfected inside a military truck.
Haya arrives, sees the situation, then suddenly the truck arrives. Shadow’s angry towards Haya for not giving him a chance against Eggman, but instead focuses on the mission, which is rounding up the refugees inside the truck. Unfortunately, some of the barricade starts to break apart thanks to the Zombots, so Haya drives them all away with assistance (or a way to show superiority) from Shadow.
As Haya explains that running sends the virus back into remission, Shadow has to make a choice between running away to fight back the infection but risk the uninfected's danger, or stay here and ensure everyone boards the truck safely. Shadow unleashes his full power against the horde, choosing to stay, but he then suffers the consequences by fully turning. Shadow’s sacrifice wasn’t in vain, however, as everyone managed to safely board the truck as Rouge drives everyone away from the city.
Shadow’s actions in the original comic were pretty weird. First he starts arguing with Sonic, wasting previous time. He then starts randomly punching whatever he sees in whatever direction, goes “cowards run, I win” before turning into a Zombot. In my version, Shadow still acts as a rival towards Haya, but sacrifices himself as a mix between superiority and saving the lives of others.
Some creep called Starline made [Eggman] evil again! Nobody could’ve seen that coming!
Feh. Excuses.
Yo! I’m dealing with it too! I’m infected! See?
It’s what you deserve.
The comic never actually acknowledges how horrible it is for Shadow to victim-blame Sonic here. Sonic only silently grips his hand like “Gah, ya got me!” before focusing on something else. Shadow definitely got punished, but not because of what he said, but because he didn’t listen to Sonic’s warning about having to run off the Metal Virus.
Okay darn, Haya’s surrounded, there are too many people, Omega’s body is destroyed, how will he survive? Finally, Tails along with Silver arrives to telepathically float all of the Zombots in the air. Haya blasts out of here to run off the virus.
While Haya’s been off and assisting with rounding up the refugees, Tails has been hard at working developing a counter-cure against the Metal Virus. By using the power of the Stars to warp away the metallic matter, Mushrooms to heal the body, and 1,000 degree fire, Tails managed to create a weapon capable of not only rejuvinating the Zombots back to normal, but eradicate any lingering Metal Virus nanobots. The only catch here is that this gun is powered by Star Power, so stuff like Power Stars or Rings need to be collected to refill the weapon. The weapon also has to be fired against a fully infected Zombot, as firing it on someone turning will burn away any of the uninfected parts, and that will leave a nasty scar.
Welcome to the consequence of the divergence. With Tails getting a sample much earlier, he’s had enough time to create both a cure and a weapon capable of administring it. I’m not having these characters be mopey and fear death throughout the entire run as the Haya AU is intended to follow a more hopeful path.
So Tails starts blasting in his Cyclone. When he notices Omega’s body is irreparably damaged, safe for his head, Tails gets a great idea. By grabbing his head, he installs and reroutes the Cyclone’s auto-pilot mode into Omega’s AI, allowing him to control the Cyclone as if it were his own body. While shooting dead things to make them come back to life goes against all of Omega’s prior expectations, he’ll accept it anyway.
Here, Omega, use my Cyclone to shoot the virus off of them!
TURNING TARGETS BACK TO LIFE WITH HEAVY ARTILLERY WEAPONRY. UNEXPECTED, BUT IT ELIMINATES EGGMAN ROBOT NUMBERS. I WILL FILE THIS UNDER: ACCEPTABLE.
Eggman notices what’s happening from underneath and is flabbergasted. Starline suggests simply dumping buckets of the Metal Virus right here and now, but Eggman now wants to prove his superiority against Tails. He decides to purposely mutate the virus further, which shocks Starline; he explains that mutating the virus would have disastrous consequences, but Eggman will have none of that: he will prove his creation is unstoppable!
Eggman is written like an idiot for not considering a contingency plan with the Metal Virus potentially mutating, something Dr. Starline has to comment on. This is not accurate to the games, but Ian Flynn believes his interpretation of the character is the correct one.
"Hi Ian! Some fans and I noticed that Eggman was acting different during the Metal Virus arc, being more careless than usual. Was this because he was still affected by his amnesia episode, a plot device to make Starline disappointed or just the direction that SEGA wanted with him?"
I... sigh, It's not that he was any different; I think it's what it was a different context in that Starline was there to point it out. Typically in any Sonic adventure, Eggman does his thing, Sonic interacts with him, tries to stop him and you're just thrown along for the ride. You don't ever really stop and think about just how little follow-through he has with any of his plans. You know, he blows up the Master Emerald to release Chaos, just to feed it more Chaos Emeralds, he doesn't know what that's going to do, aside from it going to give it more power that he assumes he'll be able to control. And we all see how that went.
Yeah.
He launched a missile into the heart of Station Square and went to detonate it because it didn't explode on impact. Didn't quite think how far ahead that was gonna go. He single-handedly tears his way through the G.U.N. facilities to grab Project Shadow, and he has no idea what it is, he just knows it's a thing that he wants. Sonic Heroes is all about the fact that he's already lost his own plan! Neo Metal took over before the game started! Sonic Unleashed, he blows up the planet and shoots Sonic and the Emeralds out the airlock except, whoops, he needed all those. Proto-Orbot has a point of saying "Yeah, you didn't think that through did you, genius?" So, no, Eggman never... NEVER has a solid plan! It's always a BIG execution, but he never settles on the details.
For someone who's supposedly a genius, he sure is dumb.
"He can't see the forest for the trees" sort of thing. Or rather, the trees for the forest.
Something like that... something like that.
"There has been some criticism of your portrayal of Eggman by having other villains upstage him, and for stating on a previous episode that 'Eggman never, ever has a solid plan. It's always a big execution, but he never settles on the details.' This seems to have been interpreted as you saying Eggman never plans for ANYTHING ever, despite him having made and executed many master plans successfully before. Could you clarify this and expand on your thoughts behind Eggman and his character?"
Alright, I don't know if that quote is exactly how I put it? And, yeah, that- if that is how I said it, that's an overgeneralization, that's... not accurate. My point is, Eggman goes big, but he doesn't really focus on the minutia. Like, look at Sonic Adventure. He goes through all the trouble of researching Chaos, freeing Chaos, pumping Chaos full of Chaos Emeralds, so that he can unleash this incredible power that he doesn't fully understand. Key word: doesn't fully understand. It's never factored in what if he can't control Chaos. It's never factored in what happens if Sonic and crew knock the Egg Carrier out of the sky. In Tails' story mode, you know, Eggman throws a temper tantrum and tries to nuke Station Square and, when the missile doesn't go off, he's gonna detonate it manually. Where are you gonna get to, buddy? Are you gonna put a time delay on that, or are you just mad and you're not thinking that far ahead? Like, in the Egg Mobile, escape the blast radius in time, hmmm? That's what I'm talking about.
Right
SA2. You know, he storms the GUN facility, looking for Project Shadow. He doesn't know what Project Shadow is, he doesn't know how big it is, he doesn't know what it runs on. All he knows is that his grandfather has it, and G.U.N. took it, so he's going to take it. And when Shadow pops out of the hushed casket, he's like "Oh, that's different! Sonic, what are you doing here? Oh wait, you're not Sonic. Oh wait, you destroyed that guard robot, well let's be friends! you know, he doesn't stop to think about "why is Shadow offering him three wishes like a genie? Why does Shadow want him to gather the Chaos Emeralds?" He just assumes Shadow is giving him the Eclipse Cannon on a silver platter? That- that's not planning, that's not thinking ahead. Sonic Heroes, y'know? "Now I'm going to make Metal Sonic this ultimate hodgepodge of incredible talents and powers." Great idea on paper, what if you can't control it? Oopsies! He's locked in the closet. Oop, trying to scramble, trying to fedex radio to the Chaotix and hope they can fix my mess for me. That's not- that's not plans, that's not contingencies, that's action and reaction.
Right
Um, there are- there are exceptions to the rule, of course, like Sonic Generations. He gets control of the Time Eater, realizes that controlling it is a bit out of his scope, so he recruits the only other person that could do it, which is himself. And, to their credit, the Eggmen control things to the very end. And then they get beat by the Super Sonics, but that's par for the course. But that time, the plan worked, up to a point until they lost, but, you know, he changed, he adapted to it, so...
Right
And I'm not saying that, every single time, Eggman has no plan. I'm just saying that he doesn't think things through. He has the big idea, big execution, but he doesn't account for all the contingencies and seems rather shocked and insulted when things don't go his way.
Yeah, I mean, he did manage to completely, almost practically, completely take over the world in, uh, Sonic Forces. So, he's certainly capable of doing that. But, you know, he's not perfect. He's, he's a villain. He's... deliberately imperfect. That's kind of... the idea. All right, well, I appreciate that answer, Ian. I might be the only one, but hey, you know, we'll find out and we'll see how it goes.
The examples provided by Flynn are very much cherry-picked and lack context. The Station Square nuke example was when Eggman was going through a mental breakdown and wasn’t thinking straight. Eggman built a second Egg Carrier as a contingency plan in case Chaos went out of control, it being destroyed because Perfect Chaos was too strong. Neo Metal Sonic modified himself, not Eggman. I’m not sure where he got the part where Eggman modified Metal Sonic.
Sonic… I was created for the sole purpose of destroying you. But I can never seem to defeat you! That is why, I transformed my own body with my own hands.
The plot of Sonic Forces has Eggman pull off contingency after contingency, which IDW intends to continue on after. Nearly all of the levels Sonic runs through, all of the enemies placed there, and all of the traps placed were planned beforehand by Eggman himself.
Eggman’s faults are often small-scale, issues he has no control over, or by Sonic himself. There’s no game where Eggman is apathetic about fixing an issue he can control, even if his methods of fixing things are good or bad.
First? I enjoy infecting… wherever we are. Orbot?
Spiral Hill Village, sir. The Metal Virus has already been deployed.
Excellent. After that… I don’t know. I’ll think of something.
This is eventually rectified in Issue 50, but this is repeatedly said to us after Issue 32, Eggman’s last truly significant appearance.
Listen to the video. That’s exactly what we addressed.
And yet still used faulty logic to back up the provably false assertion that Eggman can’t plan. Including falsehoods like him altering Metal Sonic and then being betrayed. No, Metal Sonic altered himself. This is outright stated in the Metal Overlord fight.
Okay. I hope whatever’s going on in your life gets better soon.
Professional!
So, in IDW Haya, Eggman is the one responsible for mutating the virus himself. His own hubris causes him to create a force that he won’t control for long.
Remember his theme song, E.G.G.M.A.N.? He’s got the master plan.
Just follow your dreams wherever you go! You’re perfect in every way! I love to construct and make things that go! There’s no obstacle that stands in my way! I am-!
I am the Eggman, that’s what I am. Hum-dee-dee-dum… I’ve got the master plan…
You’ve had him sing this ever since Archie, yet you don’t understand the meaning behind it?
Starline believes that Mr. Tinker hasn’t been fully erased from Eggman’s mind. That it’s messing with his ability to think. That his electrotherapy wasn’t sufficient enough. He’ll need to find a way to erase that last bit of him
Back on the ground. While the cure works, the amount of Zombots that are reverted turn right back into Zombots due to being surrounded. They’d have to isolate the infected before returning them back to normal. Shooting blindly will not only be wasting time, it’s wasting Star Energy. Shadow’s also pretty good at dodging these shots, so Haya’s worried the same will happen if he were to fully turn, so he stays infected, telling Tails to shoot him as last resort. Really messed up wording there, which Tails acknowledges.
The group retreats to discuss how to cure all of them individually. In the meantime, Tails prepares handheld versions of the cure gun. Haya’s iffy on using weapons, so the job is given to other characters like Whisper and Tangle.
Ooh, can I have one?
Are you... good with guns?
Wellll...
(She isn't.)
Oh come on! I wanna help out! Pleeeaase?
Uhm...
Tails, give her the gun. Whisper, can you make sure she doesn't hurt anyone with it?
(Okay.)
So you create Tangle, someone who’s supposed to go on adventures and be cool alongside Sonic, but you kill her off in the Metal Virus. Ha ha, let’s have her actually be “cool” here.
Eggman’s mutation of the virus goes well; he’s been overloading the Virus’ signal to make it spread faster. However, the overloading of signals is causing things to jam, causing newer Zombot recruits to not sync into the system and ignore Eggman’s orders. Starline notices the disobedience, but Eggman already knows this could happen–he’s simply not telling Starline as having him question his genius would be a problem in him remaining loyal.
Starline asks why the Zombots aren’t acting loyal, so Eggman suggests to Starline to take a look at the code if he’s so concerned. Starline heads into the Eggnet to study the code, while also figuring out a way to control the horde.
Eggman knows about the code mutating? Woooow, isn’t that just master planny of him?
While hope has now arrived, the same can’t be said at a refugee camp holding the likes of the remaining Chaotix along with the Rabbit family. Following a mission for refugees in Pine Grove Village, a villager who snuck onto camp while infected turned into a Zombot, sending mass panic throughout. Vanilla is infected, along with Vector after their captured Zombot Charmy breaks out of his Containment Bubble. While the survivors manage to escape via a Rescue Shuttle, they’re still devastated of the lives lost. That is, until everyone reconvenes and Tails unleashes his cure gun.
How do you do it, Cream?
It’s mother’s recipe, and she learned it from her mother. I’d be happy to teach it to you!
I mean stay this upbeat and… sunny.
I wrote Amy to be an optimist despite the darkest situation. She'd figure this out on her own.
And hey, perhaps this also applies to the real Amy!
Tails, you can not imagine how grateful I am of you for this...
*hugs Tails* We can save mom!
Vector, Charmy, everyone...
Ahah... thanks, everyone. But this cure is limited, so...
So we can't cure everyone?
And Eggman can always dump another load...
That's disgusting. But you're right. Eggman and this dumb goo all needs to go.
There needs to be an ultimate solution to eradicate every single piece of the virus. But for now, the gun could be used to restore anyone along the way, including the ones currently trapped inside the refugee camp.
Now killing time with the Rescue Shuttle afloat the refugee camp, Big is fishing out anyone caught on his hook, Tangle (bored) and Whisper (determined) curing the one that Big would hook in. Big’s currently here to fish out Froggy who he believes is in that camp, but finds that helping anyone out along the way is a win-win situation for him. It’ll take some time before critical characters like Vector, Charmy, or Vanilla are fished out, so the team are discussing any permanent solutions.
This is the perfect time for some Tangle/Whisper/Big interactions. For instance, Whisper teaches Tangle about proper gun control, Whisper relates to Big losing his partner (Froggy), and Tangle wonders if she can fish with her tail, with Big saying she's always welcome to hang out to try that out.
At this point in IDW Sonic proper, some stuff happens. Tangle is killed off and turned into a Zombot. Whisper cries out in agony and suffers a mental breakdown, but this never leads anywhere so I’m removing it. No need to pile onto her trauma without reason, I say…
There’s also Espio’s argument with Sonic.
We found Charmy. We thought we had him contained. I knew better. I shouldn’t have left Vector bring him back to Restoration HQ. it’s my fault…
No, man, you can’t…
Just like I shouldn’t have let you convince me to leave Eggman in Windmill Village.
That was Mr. Tinker. We had no way of knowing Starline would turn him back into Eggman.
And if we had dealt with him then. We wouldn’t have had to worry.
So–what? We have to assume the worst about everyone and everything? Show no mercy to anyone? No second chances?
There are people to save.
Right. See you at the shuttle.
Way to misrepresent the point and accuse Espio of being a no mercy cold-blooded killer, Sonic. Espio’s already lost 2 of his closest friends so he’s acting irrational, and give it up for fuckface to act defensive and make him sound even worse. Good thing this never happens in IDW Haya.
While he’s figured out the cause behind the Zombots’ disobedience, Starline finds out about the Zeti, who are capable of hypnotizing the weak-minded folk to do their bidding. Perhaps they’ll be able to control the horde…? That would be a drastic measure, so he’s found a better alternative: his Warp Topaz could enhance the signal, along with making the both of them immune to the virus fully.
In the Haya AU, the Zeti are capable of hypnotizing weak-minded creatures. Think of the Tiki Tak Tribe from Donkey Kong Country Returns. Also I have to include the Zeti. Check out my Rule 1 in About.
With enough people saved from the infection, they keep watch on the shuttle’s fuel. Tangle wanted to save her best friend Jewel but, unfortunately, the low fuel means they’ll have to land on safe ground, and Angel Island is the closest safe haven there is, so they land there.
I once read someone’s idea that Chaos would’ve arrived after hearing the cries of all the Chao in the world, then use his magic to clean Sonic of the Metal Virus. That is a pretty cool idea, and it goes even further by erasing the Deadly Six and enforcing Eggman’s power, but I unfortunately can’t as it’d deviate too much.
As a back-up plan, Starline contacts the Zeti and, sure, they’ll accept. But behind Starline’s back, they plan to betray him.
We will accept [Starline’s] hospitality and then punish him for it.
Unless, y’know, this is another trap. I’d rather not be Eggman’s slave again, ‘kay? Thanks.
You dare?
Note the defensive reflex Zeena gives to her face, Zazz (who likes violence) reeling back in horror, Zomom spitting out his food (when he’ll take any opportunity to eat something) in wide-eyed shock. Honestly, I wouldn’t imply Zavok as a wife beater in Haya IDW, but this is just my AU.
Starline excitedly returns to Eggman, telling him about the cause and solution to their problem: his Warp Topaz. Eggman is pleased and asks him to explain, and Starline goes off about how it could enhance the signals of the Zombots and make the two of them immune. Eggman laughs before snatching the Warp Topaz from his glove. He explains how he’s already coded himself out of the virus’ path and, with the Warp Topaz in his hands, he’ll have no further problems controlling the horde, and no further need for Starline.
He commands Metal Haya to grab Starline and throw him into one of the vats of Metal Virus. Starline screams, saying he can’t do this and that the Warp Topaz is highly unstable before falling into the vat below. Eggman pshaws, before the gem in his hands vibrates and opens up a portal to the last location it visited–Lost Hex.
Oh Eggman, you evil sunnova… Anyway, this is more than enough reason for Starline to betray Eggman now. Initially, Starline was frustrated by Eggman based on qualities he actually doesn’t have. So with me writing in his proper qualities… how would he want to betray Eggman? Well by having Eggman betray him first.
Oh and also including the Deadly Six was all Flynn’s choice here, not Sega’s.
Yep! When plotting out the story, I thought about how things could go from bad to worse in surprising ways. The Deadly Six was the answer!
The Zeti step out of the portal and meet up with Dr. Eggman again. On instinct, Eggman commands Metal to take them out, but Zavok quickly gains control over the robot. Eggman starts shaking the Warp Topaz himself, which then opens up a portal out of here just as Zavok commands Metal to charge at Eggman.
Not only do the Zeti have control over the faceship, but the Chaos Emeralds too. Zavok tears open some of the emeralds and gifts them to his fellow Zeti. Now that they’re on Earth, they can control the Zombots and bring terror and destruction everywhere they go.
Zomom is forcing the masses to give him food, but infects the ones that give him sugar (he’s having some problems with his stomach acid), Zor is seeing how resistant the Zombots are to pain, Zazz is forcing the Zombots to boogie all night long, Zeena is getting the Zombots to create a fancy cruise ship to spread the virus across other continents (it’ll never be finished; she’s very meticulous about the details), and Master Zik… he’s enjoying the younguns finally paying attention to him (even if he's forcing them to do so).
Surprisingly, as I’ve read from the original comic, you can squander one-note villains. Sure, Zazz and Zor are crazy and nihilistic respectively, but it’s not played in an entertaining way. Trashtalk Lost World all you want (justified), you would atleast understand they tried to write the Deadly Six as comedic. Their traits were never played straight in the game. In IDW, Zazz is just crazy now, no wacky. In IDW, Zor’s nihilism is portrayed as cool rather than pathetic.
In Lost World, Zazz’ “You’re going home in a box” quote, combined with him being portrayed comedically, leads to the possibility of him genuinely trying to find any box to put Sonic in if he’s defeated. In the comics though, if he said that it'd be a baseline threat.
So where did Eggman land? On Angel Island, conveniently enough. While they get enough of a beating by the heroes, they explain that the Zeti are now on Earth, and will somewhat destroy the world if left there long enough. After throwing away plan after plan, Eggman comes up with using the Warp Topaz to send all of the virus away. Haya questions where he got that from, but Eggman denies any wrongdoing.
Huh, Haya wouldn’t know anything about Starline’s teleporting abilities, if you think about it.
With the Warp Topaz in hand, the team starts tinkering a rudimentary portal machine together to where each of the Zeti are, them knowing thanks to Rouge’s intel (she snuck on the Faceship). While their goal is to retrieve all of the Chaos Emeralds, go Super, and use that heightened power to warp away all of the Metal Virus, they haven’t yet figured out their method for retrieving the Chaos Emeralds from the Zeti.
Sonic has this strange issue of repeatedly insisting on Eggman to return to his Mr. Tinker persona, a persona built off of brain damage by the Phantom Ruby.
Metal’s delusions of grandeur got knocked out of him, Eggman is a reformed handy man. The island’s safe and the world is saved. I’d say today is a good day!
For once, I’m going to skip the banter. You’re going to tell me right here, right now–why did you do it?
Haha-what? I’ve been trying to take over the world for years. You know that. You’ve been underfoot the entire time.
I mean, going back to the “mad scientist” schtick. Sure, Doctor Fashion Disaster over there gave you back your memories…but you chose to go back to your old ways. What was wrong with being like Mr. Tinker?
That’s not who I am.
Not be him–be like him.
Oh, by the way, Haya would not reduce the Metal Virus, an apocalyptic event that will give innocent people traumatic nightmares, to a “schtick”. That’d be Haya minimizing the trauma Eggman is giving people, which is messed up for him to say.
Yeah–you were living happily and peacefully as Mr. Tinker. You were bringing joy to others. What a waste, right?
When are you going to let that go?!
Not until you get a clue and come around, Doc.
Until next time, Doc. And the time after that. And the one after that. Maybe you’ll eventually come around…
Curse you, Sonic! This isn’t the end!
Yeah… not until you get a clue and give up the villain schtick.
This is pretty contradictive of Sonic, as he himself stated that Mr. Tinker is not Eggman.
The crimes have been committed and justice must be served. Eggman must be punished.
Right, but would you really say that’s Eggman?
…No.
I’ll admit, that “Eggman Land” thing is iffy– –but I’m sure it’s okay! This isn’t Dr. Eggman!
Sonic’s even wary of Tinker’s Eggman memories returning in the same issue.
How did you come up with [the name of Eggman Land]?
It just came to me. I thought it sounded like a bit of nonsense the kids would enjoy.
Ha! That’s cool. (Is it, though? Is it really harmless, or is it a sign his memories might come back?)
I do hope you’ll come back and see it when it’s finished!
Oh, I’ll definitely be stopping by from time to time!
So what’s with the change? Why does Sonic suddenly believe Mr. Tinker and Dr. Eggman are the same person all of a sudden? Haya wouldn’t force someone to change, so those bits of dialogue would be removed.
It’s messed up, creepy, and deprives them of their own free choice, which Haya’s not about at all. This comic seems to repeat Eggman’s lack of agency is somehow a more accurate indicator of Eggman’s true nature than the choices Eggman vocally prefers.
Boy... what's next? Oh, right, Sonic judging Metal Sonic for picking a choice.
Y’know, in a way, Eggman didn’t get a chance to stay reformed. Starline put him back on that path. But you... ...You just had to go back to him, didn’t you? You couldn’t be like Gemerl or Omega. You just had to be a one-note jerk.
Especially after honoring his decision previously.
We gave [Metal] the choice to live how he wants to. We’ve got to honor his decision.
With the not-infected, we have Haya, Espio, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Silver, Whisper, Tangle, Eggman, Metal Haya, Big, Cream, and Gemerl. With the cured, we have Vector, Charmy, and Vanilla. Vanilla sits this out as she’s not a fighter, Eggman’s the only one who understands the portal generator, Knuckles is not letting Eggman nor Metal Haya near the Master Emerald unattended, and Haya needs to run to keep the generator running.
If even one of the Zeti are attacked, the others will be notified, meaning everyone has to split into teams and grab all of them at the same time.
Zazz will be handled by the Chaotix. Vector’s strength, Espio’s quick thinking, and Charmy’s aerial combat will make quick work of his bruising nature.
Zomom can easily be handled by Tails and Amy. Tails’ smarts and Amy’s strong hammer will hopefully wipe the mops with this idiot glutton.
Zeena will be handled by Cream, Gemerl, and Big. Big is strong, and he’s able to hold down Gemerl in time while he tries to deactivate any wireless interference from the Zeti girl. Insert Vanilla telling Cream to be careful; it's a tough situation, but Vanilla trusts Cream to save the day.
That leaves Zor and Zik. Silver’s already tough on his own, but Tangle and Whisper, while a good duo, can’t handle a Zeti on their twosome. This is a pretty tough crossroad and there’s an argument until Lanolin steps up.
Pretty daring to have Lanolin show up as an actual character this early in the run. Eh, I believe this is a good learning experience for her. Plus, see this as a proto-Diamond Cutter II team-up before they actually become a team. Hindsight is a lovely beast…
While nervous, Lanolin will team up with Tangle and Whisper with an unsure plastic smile; she’s scared, but she just wants the world to return to normal. So anyway, Silver’s left to Zik.
I’m sure the person who fought Infinite alone and survived can handle one Zeti. Plus it’s Zik. I’m having proto-Diamond Cutters II fight Zor because his poetic sadness and obsession with death reflects the Tangle and Whisper miniseries.
Also, no Babylon Rogues. Give me one good reason why, with the survivors I now have, and the lack of plot beats they truly impact, they should appear.
Everyone jumps through the portal. With Zazz, Vector calls out his bad taste in music and gets wounded in battle. Charmy tries charging, but Zazz grabs his butt and throws him to the ground. Hard. Espio does manage to get close to him, but Zazz sniffs his invisible form and holds him in a chokehold. Zazz’ Moon Mech then gets badly damaged by Vector throwing a large piece of rubble on it, causing Zazz to tumble down, with the Chaos Emerald retrieved. Unfortunately, Charmy got thrown into the Zombot horde, turning him back. Vector, noticing the repeat, holds him tight yet again as he bids Espio another proper goodbye, this time both confident they'll see eachother again.
Zazz lacked his mix of comedic wacky and evil with his craziness in the comic, so having him host a giant concert for everyone to boogie all night long would balance him out. He’s not feral.
Zomom… read the original comic; Amy and Tails spike him under some gate spikes.
Zor’s battle against the IDW Trio is pretty interesting. Because he’s an expert poet, he can immediately deduce each of the trio’s faults to make them hesitate. He almost causes Whisper to break down by belittling her personality shift because of her trauma, before Tangle screams at him that she’s brave for continuing to live on despite the trauma. Tangle’s words return Whisper and she manages to land the shot toward Zor. While dazed, Lanolin uses her bell to clear a path toward Zor, causing the three to kick him from all three sides. Emerald retrieved.
The summary doesn't do it justice, but Zor is saying this at his most pathetic. Imagine Zor criticizing Whisper like “Why are you even MORE sad than me? You’re acting like all of your friends have died and it’s all your fault…” Like he’s spot-on in his assumption and that causes Whisper to break.
Then, when Tangle is defending Whisper, Zor is really confused as to why he's getting screamed at.
The fight against Zeena is similar to the comics, with Zeena even more disgusted at Big, having her be reminded of Zomom when he’s absolutely the last thing she wants on her mind. Then, Zombot Froggy just so happens to appear and jump Zeena while she’s insulting Big (perhaps something deep inside Froggy’s zombie state needed to defend Big), causing her to get infected and turn into a Zombot. Big is overjoyed to see him, despite Froggy’s Zombot state. He grabs Froggy, but that only infects him. Cream is saddened, but Big, with his strength, holds Zeena tight from attacking Cream, unplugs the Chaos Emerald, and hands it over to the duo as they leave back into the portal.
Silver commits testicular torsion on Master Zik. Just kidding! He rolls up a bunch of Zombots into a big ball and sends them right at Silver. He dodges left and right, closes the distance, and manages to get a grip on Zik. Then he bounces him around some buildings like a pinball. Emerald retrieved.
With 5 of the Chaos Emeralds in tow, things are starting to look up. However, the Faceship is nearing Angel Island. Zavok noticed on the Eggnet that the Master Emerald is able to neutralize the Chaos Emeralds, and wanted to arrive there to stop that possibility. Luckily for him, Haya and Eggman happen to be there as well.
As Zavok gloats about dunking Angel Island in the metal goop, Rouge steals the one Chaos Emerald that’s holding the ship afloat. The ship crashes down, but that only enrages Zavok, so he turns Super Big Style.
People are excusing Tails cowering just like how he did in Forces to be “uh zombie apocalypse is scary!!” as if he hadn’t braved deactivating the Station Square bomb, fought Eggman after believing Sonic had died, almost became Black Arms food while paralyzed. Where’s the flawed determination? Also, Tails can keep up with Sonic thanks to his tails, and speed runs off the virus. So go fly!!
Now that he’s Big Zavok, he throws a bunch of Zombots toward Angel Island. The final showdown. As everyone holds back the Zombots, Haya, Silver, and Metal Haya fly up to Zavok to try and remove that Chaos Emerald from his chest. After two attempts, the third attempt was successful as Haya nearly succumbed to the effects. Now as Super Haya and Silver, they make quick work of Big Zavok and use the Warp Topaz, along with Silver’s Super telekinesis, to warp away all lingering bits of the Metal Virus and into the Sun.
However, as Starline warned beforehand, the Warp Topaz goes unstable, shooting Silver and Haya back onto Angel Island. The Warp Topaz has gone… somewhere else. As people are recovering from the aftermath, Eggman flees. Gemerl tries chasing after him, but Metal Haya approaches behind him to claw him through his chest.
Haya is prepared to run after Eggman, but the strain of this adventure finally gives in and he falls over. Amy is horrified and runs after Haya and flips him over, but hears the loudest snore she could ever hear. She eeks as Tails laughs, then Knuckles picks him up to give him a better sleeping spot on the island. Knuckles asks if they’ll be able to handle things forward, to which Amy and Tails nod.
Since the original story also gave Sonic amnesia, my first idea was having his personality revert to before even the first game. Rowdy, not a care in the world, and no friends to think about checking. It would let the readers know how much Sonic has grown from his first game.
Then the amount of questions piled up.
Okay. First of all, no real reason why the Warp Topaz sends only Sonic to the Sol Dimension and not Silver as well. Second, why does the Warp Topaz give you amnesia? Like, you can say Eggman’s amnesia is a result of the Phantom Ruby giving his mind a different reality, but the Warp Topaz? Thirdly, why is Sonic’s amnesia having him act some half-lidded suave person? That’s not what amnesia does to you. Fourthly, how are the Sol Emeralds responsible for curing your amnesia? Coulda helped with a lot of amnesiac-ridden people like Shadow. And fifthly, Sonic’s venture into the Sol Dimension doesn’t do anything and treats Blaze like a plot device rather than her own person.
In conclusion, there’s no need for Sonic to go to the Sol Dimension. Have him go to sleep.
Over at a party in Spiral Hill Village, Eggman’s fighting all of Haya’s friends. Even though he’s defeated, he swears revenge once more. Just then, Haya arrives in a burning streak and slashes the side of Eggman’s Egg Mobile. Haya immediately encourages everyone to throw really hard objects at Eggman as payback. “For giving us a lotta metal!”
Sonic’s friends were pretty weak that they couldn’t defeat Eggman on their 11-some. So here, Haya only arrives for the finishing blow.
And so Eggman flies off again in a smoking Egg Mobile. Haya and friends try throwing a multitude of items towards the Egg Mobile, with Amy landing a perfect hit with her hammer. Treating the ensuing explosion as fireworks, the group continues their party. The end.
It’s pretty weird that Eggman is let off at the end of this world-ending apocalyptic arc. Although in IDW Haya the infection is treated a bit more lightly, he’s still not being let off the hook for this, hence why I'm having objects being thrown at him.
Using the magic of… comparing, I managed to condense the Metal Virus saga into 10 issues, removing 10 issues in the process. Issues 13, 14, 15, and 16 are combined into Haya being infected and the launch of the Faceship; issues 17-18 are combined to show how two sides of the Metal Virus are handled (Chaotix and the Rabbit family); issue 19 is stand-alone as it focuses on Team Dark; issues 20, 21, 22, and 23 are combined as there already is a cure ready; issues 24 and 25 are combined as Tangle isn’t killed off so there’s more time to establish the Zeti take over; issue 26 is stand-alone to give the characters time to plan out; issues 27 and 28 are combined to condense the fights (in exchange for more pack-how action); issue 29 is standalone as that’s the Big Zavok fight and eradication of the Metal Virus; issues 30 and 31 are combined as we know Haya's simply asleep; and issue 32 has the eventual defeat of the mech and Haya’s arrival.
10 issues, 10 months. Imagine having to read 20 issues of a scrapped plot idea intended for Archie Sonic…
