Welcome to the Fantasy Zone
This Zone is dedicated to the lesser known elements of anime hosted by the cast of Victory Script.
What weapon is the best?
Who will win in this Death Battle?
Is this costume practical?
You name it, it's all covered here in the Fantasy Zone!
Often overlooked in favour of it's more popular American counter part by Archie, Fleetway's Sonic the Comic had a few moments that need way more recognition.
1. Metallix is a bad ass name for Metal Sonic
Metallix was the name given to Metal Sonic and his other counterparts and they were just as dangerous as the Video Game equivalent, leading to the Brotherhood of Metallix arc where Metal Sonic served as the big bad.
2. Amy has her own Tails in Tekno the Canary
Amy Rose was designed with more heroic traits rather than the feminine traits she traditionally has in the games, this sadly makes her not only one dimensional but closer to a female Sonic as opposed to her own unique character but she's given her own Tails as a compromise in Tekno, a female canary with all the same traits as Tails but slightly older, this also means you can have Amy play as a substitute to Sonic in her stories and keep the same tropes as Sonic and Tails would.
3. Super Sonic is an evil entity
In order not to have Super Sonic be overpowered they made him a super evil chaotic entity that split from Sonic, it means they don't rely on it to solve major plot points.
4. The little animal friends are now characters
Like Archie, the animal friends that were nameless in the games have names in Fleetway, our heroes in this one are Rabbit Johnny Lightfoot, Pig Porker Lewis and Squirrel Robot Shortfuse to name a few, they bring their own unique spin to the story.
5. Bigger Rogues Gallery
There are way more than just Robotnik, a few highlights include, Megatox a sentient toxic ooze from chemical plant, Dr Zachary an Echidna made to be a foil for Knuckles and the Drakkon Empire, an ancient race not to similar to the old Echidna race in Sonic Adventure, even Robotnik's No.2 Grimer is a green skinned goblin like scientist that can be as sinister as his boss, but speaking of Robotnik.
6. The cleaned up Sonic and Robotnik back story
The backstory Fleetway went with is that Robotnik started as a kind scientist called Dr Ovi Kintobor, yes it's Robotnik backwards, and he got morphed into Robotnik through a combination of Chaos energy and a rotten egg, as for Sonic, he started as a regular coloured hedgehog until he tested super sneakers that turned his fur blue after shattering several speed milestones.
7. Mighty is a member of Chaotix
Mighty has always been the missing ingredient from Chaotix and having him there makes Chaotix complete.
8. Sonic is smarter at the cost of humour
This incarnation of Sonic is more heroic he's alot less 90s attitude than his other counterparts but he at least is alot smarter, he even has a disguise called Bobby Beaky.
9. DRAT does alot for world building
One thing that no series has shown is Robotnik having supporters, this is where DRAT comes in, Dr Robotnik Appreciation Tribe, what makes it funnier is that the boss is a rooster, giving an Adventures of Sonic the hedgehog feel. DRAT helps alot with giving Robotnik more weight as an evil entity.
10. Other Sega Franchises in comic form
Shinobi, Streets of Rage, Kid Chameleon, Eternal Champions, Golden Axe, Decap Attack, Marko's Magic Football, Ecco the Dolphin, Wonder Boy, Sparkster, Mutant League Football and Shining Force were all in comic form during Fleetway Sonic's run, it's a Sega fanboy's wet dream.
Smell that burning? It's hot take time!
"Anything shonen does well, magical girl anime do better"
No it really doesn't, Magical Girl anime follows a different set of rules, the main difference is as Megamind calls it presentation, for example Sailor Moon's most memorable battles are usually the last episodes of the current season, in comparison Dragonballz have big long battles but some of the most iconic moments such as Goku and Vegeta's first beam clash wasn't even the finishing blow, some exceptions do exist but skew the line of the genre.
"I despise hearing Hiroshi Kamiya's voice"
Let's see a selection of his work.
Some decent performances there, not seeing why you hate him.
Real talk, It's difficult to judge a foreign language from the point of view of a non native speaker, I have plenty to say about the dub casts but the original Japanese voices not so much.
"Death Note would've been better through L's perspective"
Fairly convinced they've already done this but to answer the take, L isn't strong enough to hold Death Note together as a lead, the whole appeal of Light is that his practically childlike take on morality is what makes Death Note such a compelling story from his point of view because at no point does he consider that what he's doing is wrong.
"Most mecha shows would be better if they just removed the mechs considering how little they actually mattered"
I wouldn't say most but there are a few examples of mecha being added as an after thought, Rayearth, Code Geass, Nadesico and Escaflowne all spring to mind in this regard but at the same time, said shows would barely get off the ground without some thing that could be marketed as merch, like it or not it still has to make money.
"Infinite from Sonic Forces was a good character"
No, he was awful! It's the absolute culmination of god awful edgy 2000s and the absolute worst of fan character culture, how can anyone look at this jackal thing and not cringe from how hard he's trying at being an edgelord only to be humbled by Shadow the Hedgehog.
I've just seen the Sonic Movie and there's alot of ground to cover with the adaptations because this film is an extra to an already packed history so here I'll break it down between the movie, the animated shows and the comics.
Sonic the Comic
Also known as the Fleetway Comics version which attempts to tell the origins of Sonic as if he were a normal brown Hedgehog turning blue after an experiment testing high powered shoes; equally bizarre is Robotnik who starts off as a kindly scientist who turns evil after an experiment goes wrong. The Fleetway series had interesting ideas on how certain lore worked within it's universe and was well presented with some great original characters who to this day deserve their own chance; there are a number of misses among the rogues gallery, some of which are pretty reliant on British sense of humour and references to understand while others are a poor substitute against Robotnik himself.
Archie Sonic and Sonic SatAM
A rich series that really promotes the freedom fighter movement giving Robitnik a threatening presence and a universe full of interesting characters and a lore so vast that it would take all day to explain. I'm sad to see the comics reboot and disappointed that SatAM left on a cliffhanger. Nevertheless this is one of the best Sonic adaptations on offer.
Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
A gag series more in line with Looney Tunes with less clever writing and heavy reliance on random humour. It's sugar humour, it's nice but hurts your teeth after a while.
Sonic Underground
A bizarre blend of SatAM mixed with a musical? It's difficult to take seriously the stakes when they are constantly singing 90s pop songs.
Sonic OVA
I'm a huge apologist for this OVA as it inadvertently helped me discover anime. Looking back it's ageing better than expected as this feels the closest to what Sonic should be, catgirl not withstanding.
Sonic X
A lot of my hate still comes from Chris Thorndyke and it really sets a new low for Sonic. Granted it's better designed than half the catalogue of Sonic's terrible games and I dare say it has it's moments but having to shoehorn in a child just to give Sonic his motive doesn't work.
Sonic Boom
The only way this train wreck could work is by being a self aware gag fest and they succeeded. I still regard this as Sonic's best cartoon ironically for writing.
Sonic Tyson Hesse Web Shorts
A selection of hilarious shorts done by ascended Sonic fan Tyson Hesse. I laughed more from these shorts with no dialogue than I did any other cartoon.
Sonic the Movie
Now for the proper verdict. The only question to ask is have you seen the movie "hop"? Congratulations you know 95% of this movie already. Overall it's a decent film that takes an already tried and tested formula and only slightly improves on it. It's best moments come from Jim Carrey's performance as Robotnik and Sonic's powers which makes better sense of why an organic lifeform can easily destroy robots; it's down side is that we know so little of Sonic's own world that the backstory just doesn't offer anything to grasp onto so were expected to just accept the characters of this owl who was raising Sonic moments before being killed by an arrow fired by what looks like an echidna, it gets more annoying when a certain character pops up in the credits creating more challenging questions which need a sequel to answer.
Sonic the Comic - 8.0/10
Archie Sonic and SatAm - 9.7/10
Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog - 7.0/10
Sonic Underground - 7.0/10
Sonic OVA - 8.5/10
Sonic X - 5.6/10
Sonic Boom - 8.8/10
Sonic Tyson Hesse Web Shorts - 10/10
Sonic the Movie - 6.0/10
End
