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Description
Regardless of genre, demographic or medium, every narrative combines several elements to for a central focus to relay to the audience. It could be an idea, a concept, a moral, an experience or a combination of these elements for the audience to receive, a thesis. What bothers me about this comic is that it doesn’t seem to have a thesis. I gave massive sections to character and story structure because that is where most narratives tend to put their focus, either by following a character’s journey or setting up a specific conflict and following the events around it. However, like I said before, the character writing is non-existent for the mains and the story doesn’t focus on any particular conflict or event in the overall narrative. Yes, the comic is based around the fight between Sonic vs Eggman, but the story spends time in smaller story arcs that come off more like side stories as they don’t forward anything with the main conflict. So if it isn’t going for character narrative or a story driven conflict, what is it going for? Short version? I have no idea. Long version?

When it comes to theming, the 2 themes the series portrays itself for are family and freedom. “Hey, that’s its thesis right?” Maybe, except it fails to do either from lack of effort and content. The family theming seems to be trying for a “the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb” vibe, having the main characters have strong relationships with each other versus their relationships to their families. This mainly coming from the fact that many of the leads have strained relationships with their biological family and the friendship platitudes Sonic and Sally like to preach about how close the main cast are to each other. However, this theme fails because nothing in the comic supports it.

I could go into how each of the biological relationships are handled poorly and leave nothing to be explored, or that the main leads, Sonic and Tails, don’t have any family relationships which leaves them unable to be a part of said theme, but the biggest issue is that nothing comes from it. Yes, characters have family members, but nothing happens in story to question what a family is, the ups and downs of being in a family, or anything to help redefine what a family is. The closest we get is from Nicole and Dr. Ellidy, but not only do these 2 not interact for the most part, the conflict with these two is made into a Sally and Dr.Ellidy conflict, which weakens the family connection between the original pairing. And then it just turns into a character arc for Dr. Ellidy after Sally chastises him.

The freedom fighters are supposed to be this family like how other team casts tend to like in One Piece or Fairy Tail, but most of their interactions are dumping exposition or exchanging plan details, leaving no room for relationship building or exploring. The times they do talk to one another, it’s either about one person telling the other to get over their problems, Sonic to Rotor, Nicole to Sally, etc. Or it’s Bunnie and Antoine flirting with each other with empty “I wuv you” speeches as again, they never talk or relate to each other outside of their back story. And the saddest part is that family theme is the stronger of the 2 themes.

Freedom has always been an element of the franchise, from the games, to the TV shows, and even the comic originally. However, as the comic has progressed, the only reason freedom is a theme is because the characters say it, the story on the other does nothing to support it. The comic was originally about a small group of characters fighting against a mad scientist, who wanted to take over the world and could turn living beings into robots, setting up the freedom vs control dynamic. Now, nothing supports this dynamic as the elements that did are gone. Eggman, while still wants to control the world, no longer robotizises others, most of his lackeys work for him willingly and the characters are no longer a small group of rebels but now are essentially agents of a kingdom, within a collective of superpowers against Eggman. Even on a smaller level like episodic stories is it not supported as the conflicts have little to nothing to do with exploring or defining freedom. Chasing down a train to get 2 kidnapped people, an inexperienced priestess not giving up her job when someone tells her to stop, getting over being humiliated in a battle tournament, accepting that your father is working for the villain, have nothing to do with freedom. The werehog arc tries to be about freedom, but it ends with saying that you should give in to your curse and it will work for you.

The only way this series having a freedom theming now is because the characters mention it over and over again without going into what it means. Freedom is good and Control is bad. Even going so far to frame it that way when Sonic talks about wanting to get control of himself.

Sonic: “I don’t want to risk losing control and hurting my friends.”

Moss: “You are a free spirit child…You resist “Control” to your very core. What you must learn is acceptance.”

Mighty: “Besides all this talk of “Controlling” You? You know who would say that?”

(cut to Eggman)

The series could be going for either acceptance due to stories like this or exploring good vs evil like with the Shamar freedom fighters, however, neither of these work. Acceptance is constantly used in a way for the characters, and by extension the audience, to stop thinking about a problem and trying to solve it and just accept that it happened, regardless of how little sense it makes story wise. Did you become a robot for no reason and hurt tons of your friends and now feel guilty about it? Accept it and move on. Did you become a complete idiot during a fight and embarrass yourself on international television? Accept it and move on. Find out your Dad is a villain and looks down on you? Accept it and move on. It comes off more as a repetitive excuse rather than a theme.

The Shamar Freedom fighters trying to keep the peace and protect their citizens from fighting by working with an Eggman villain could work except their argument has no basis in the main narrative. One, the mains have been shown to protect civilians during fights and catastrophes so challenging the leads on their attitude to their hero work not keeping the peace has no basis. Two, and more problematically, they can’t challenge the leads on how to deal with Eggman because there isn’t anywhere to go. They either admit that the Shamar Freedom Fighters are right, they try to compromise with Eggman and work with him to have peace, which at best turns the series into a cold war with not much to do and breaks the premise. Or the comic proves the Shamar freedom fighters are wrong and nothing of value was obtained and the entire arc is pointless.

So, yeah, I find this series to be thematically and philosophically bankrupt, with it not saying anything or doing anything in its setup for the audience to think about in their own lives. But maybe it isn’t trying to be. Maybe the series is just meant to be action driven and only do spectacles. However, this series fails at that too.

Continued in Part 4

Description
Regardless of genre, demographic or medium, every narrative combines several elements to for a central focus to relay to the audience. It could be an idea, a concept, a moral, an experience or a combination of these elements for the audience to receive, a thesis. What bothers me about this comic is that it doesn’t seem to have a thesis. I gave massive sections to character and story structure because that is where most narratives tend to put their focus, either by following a character’s journey or setting up a specific conflict and following the events around it. However, like I said before, the character writing is non-existent for the mains and the story doesn’t focus on any particular conflict or event in the overall narrative. Yes, the comic is based around the fight between Sonic vs Eggman, but the story spends time in smaller story arcs that come off more like side stories as they don’t forward anything with the main conflict. So if it isn’t going for character narrative or a story driven conflict, what is it going for? Short version? I have no idea. Long version?

When it comes to theming, the 2 themes the series portrays itself for are family and freedom. “Hey, that’s its thesis right?” Maybe, except it fails to do either from lack of effort and content. The family theming seems to be trying for a “the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb” vibe, having the main characters have strong relationships with each other versus their relationships to their families. This mainly coming from the fact that many of the leads have strained relationships with their biological family and the friendship platitudes Sonic and Sally like to preach about how close the main cast are to each other. However, this theme fails because nothing in the comic supports it.

I could go into how each of the biological relationships are handled poorly and leave nothing to be explored, or that the main leads, Sonic and Tails, don’t have any family relationships which leaves them unable to be a part of said theme, but the biggest issue is that nothing comes from it. Yes, characters have family members, but nothing happens in story to question what a family is, the ups and downs of being in a family, or anything to help redefine what a family is. The closest we get is from Nicole and Dr. Ellidy, but not only do these 2 not interact for the most part, the conflict with these two is made into a Sally and Dr.Ellidy conflict, which weakens the family connection between the original pairing. And then it just turns into a character arc for Dr. Ellidy after Sally chastises him.

The freedom fighters are supposed to be this family like how other team casts tend to like in One Piece or Fairy Tail, but most of their interactions are dumping exposition or exchanging plan details, leaving no room for relationship building or exploring. The times they do talk to one another, it’s either about one person telling the other to get over their problems, Sonic to Rotor, Nicole to Sally, etc. Or it’s Bunnie and Antoine flirting with each other with empty “I wuv you” speeches as again, they never talk or relate to each other outside of their back story. And the saddest part is that family theme is the stronger of the 2 themes.

Freedom has always been an element of the franchise, from the games, to the TV shows, and even the comic originally. However, as the comic has progressed, the only reason freedom is a theme is because the characters say it, the story on the other does nothing to support it. The comic was originally about a small group of characters fighting against a mad scientist, who wanted to take over the world and could turn living beings into robots, setting up the freedom vs control dynamic. Now, nothing supports this dynamic as the elements that did are gone. Eggman, while still wants to control the world, no longer robotizises others, most of his lackeys work for him willingly and the characters are no longer a small group of rebels but now are essentially agents of a kingdom, within a collective of superpowers against Eggman. Even on a smaller level like episodic stories is it not supported as the conflicts have little to nothing to do with exploring or defining freedom. Chasing down a train to get 2 kidnapped people, an inexperienced priestess not giving up her job when someone tells her to stop, getting over being humiliated in a battle tournament, accepting that your father is working for the villain, have nothing to do with freedom. The werehog arc tries to be about freedom, but it ends with saying that you should give in to your curse and it will work for you.

The only way this series having a freedom theming now is because the characters mention it over and over again without going into what it means. Freedom is good and Control is bad. Even going so far to frame it that way when Sonic talks about wanting to get control of himself.

Sonic: “I don’t want to risk losing control and hurting my friends.”

Moss: “You are a free spirit child…You resist “Control” to your very core. What you must learn is acceptance.”

Mighty: “Besides all this talk of “Controlling” You? You know who would say that?”

(cut to Eggman)

The series could be going for either acceptance due to stories like this or exploring good vs evil like with the Shamar freedom fighters, however, neither of these work. Acceptance is constantly used in a way for the characters, and by extension the audience, to stop thinking about a problem and trying to solve it and just accept that it happened, regardless of how little sense it makes story wise. Did you become a robot for no reason and hurt tons of your friends and now feel guilty about it? Accept it and move on. Did you become a complete idiot during a fight and embarrass yourself on international television? Accept it and move on. Find out your Dad is a villain and looks down on you? Accept it and move on. It comes off more as a repetitive excuse rather than a theme.

The Shamar Freedom fighters trying to keep the peace and protect their citizens from fighting by working with an Eggman villain could work except their argument has no basis in the main narrative. One, the mains have been shown to protect civilians during fights and catastrophes so challenging the leads on their attitude to their hero work not keeping the peace has no basis. Two, and more problematically, they can’t challenge the leads on how to deal with Eggman because there isn’t anywhere to go. They either admit that the Shamar Freedom Fighters are right, they try to compromise with Eggman and work with him to have peace, which at best turns the series into a cold war with not much to do and breaks the premise. Or the comic proves the Shamar freedom fighters are wrong and nothing of value was obtained and the entire arc is pointless.

So, yeah, I find this series to be thematically and philosophically bankrupt, with it not saying anything or doing anything in its setup for the audience to think about in their own lives. But maybe it isn’t trying to be. Maybe the series is just meant to be action driven and only do spectacles. However, this series fails at that too.

Continued in Part 4