Friday, February 9, 2024

Sonic Prime, Episode 3.06: The Devil is in the Tails



Sonic Prime, Episode 3.06: The Devil is in the Tails
Original Release Date: January 11th, 2024

As "Sonic Prime" heads into its final act, the story remains more-or-less in the same place. Sonic's friends and enemies-turned-temporary-allies continue to fight off Nine's army of Grim robots. The ShatterVerse continues to teeter on the edge of total annihilation. Nine remains single-minded in his goal of capturing Sonic and draining the last bit of Paradox Prism energy from him, even as his own resilience and supply of magical power begins to run out. Sonic continues to hold out hope he can reason with Nine. The episode ends in basically the same spot it begins, with Sonic and Nine dueling for the fate of the multi-verse. 

Nine's character arc had a lot of potential. The idea of an alternate universe version of Tails that isn't Sonic's friend but his enemy is loaded with possibilities. Nine progressing from teaming up with the hedgehog to standing against him, due to irreconcilable goals, could've been – and rarely was – compelling. Sadly, "Prime" has reduced Nine more and more to a shallow bad guy. All he cares about is protecting the Grim and making it his perfect world. His character development has essentially stagnated all throughout season three of "Prime." And as the show speed towards its end point, it's becoming increasingly clear that the writers really don't have anything else planned for Nine. A potentially promising character has been reduced to an ultimately quite boring adversary. 


This speaks to a flaw that's become abundantly apparent as the last third of "Prime" has gone on. There's really not much story left at this point, is there? The War of the Grim and the final battle for the ShatterVerse has gone on for the last three episodes. In that time, we've seen the good guys fall and get back up again, as they fight off and wreck endless waves of Grin robots. And this episode just keeps doing that! You know a show has gone astray when the villain's forces regroup and march forward again and your response isn't "Oh no!" But "Oh for fuck's sake, not this again!" "The Devil is in the Tails" tries to add some novelty to its increasingly repetitive action scenes. Sonic discovers he has a unique ability in the Grim, his shoes able to generate little platforms that can act as shields as well. Commander Knocks and Shadow both get big damn hero moments, leaping from the sky to provide powerful blows against the enemy. Yet it's all really just the same thing happening again and again, with minor variations. 

In fact, this entire episode is very repetitive. Nine says the word "energy" so often that I could mistake him for a new age pseudo-scientist on "Ancient Aliens." The fox absorbs more power from the Prism and blasts it into his robot minions, until the forces are exhausted and he has to do it again. Sonic tries to reach out to his former friend to no avail, before finally realizing he's beyond hope. The dome around Nine's Citadel shrinks but never seems to close in. Once again, I'll draw a comparison to a video game. This feels like playing the last level of a game, getting close to completing it, only to get killed and start back over at the checkpoint. And anybody who has done that knows this is usually the point where a video game goes from being fun to being monotonous and frustrating. You keep playing more because you just want to get this over with, not because you're enjoying the experience anymore. Not a great feeling for a TV show to invoke! 


In-between these repetitive sequences, the show attempts to wrap up character arcs. In the middle of the fight, Jack SepticEye's O.C. points out to Dread that they can swoop in and grab the Paradox Prism while everyone is fighting. Since his obsession with that rock is Dread's only real personality trait, he goes along with it. That's until he sees Black Rose struggling on the battle field and decides to help her instead. It seems Dread has learned the value of friendship, instead of being driven by his greed and lust for power alone. He even gives Rose his hat. In a show that actually spent some time showing Dread growing closer to his crew while fighting beside them, this would've been a powerful and earned moment. In "Prime," it just feels like the show deciding Dread should learn this lesson and going ahead with it, without really setting up any growth or change for him. You know, it's like the writers realized they couldn't devoted these last two episodes just with fight scenes, so they decided to throw this in to fill time. The conclusion to a character's arc feeling more like something the show throws in to pad out the run time, and less like an organic pay-off to everything we've seen with this guy up to now, is not a good thing. 

This episode does something similar with Rusty Rose, to slightly better results. She has a stand-off with the Grim robot version of Amy Rose, revealing before the struggle that she has a pink Flicky inside her like all of Eggman's other badniks. Rusty fighting off her fully robotic copy represents her self-actualizing as a fully independent being, not a machine that only takes orders. (Like the entity she fights off.) Unlike Dread, Rusty actually has shown gradual growth over the series. She's clearly a character that "Prime's" team was more invested in and that showed. Having her fight off a Grim Amy feels sort of random. The Grim Amy Roses are just drones, with no purpose or personality of their own. If Rusty had some sort of on-going rivalry with Grim Amy Alpha, this fight would've had more meaning. It does feel like the show randomly deciding to give this fight more importance than all the other times Rusty trashed a robotic copy of herself. But, because we care more about her, this moment is still the highlight of the episode.


It's clear that "Prime" is trying to generate moments that will make fans cheer here. Knocks punching Nine or Shadow decimating Grim Sonic Alpha are treated like pay-offs we've been waiting ages for, even though these characters barely have any sort of pre-existing animosity. Another such moment doesn't lack oomph but instead backfires fully. When the enormous Big the Cat tank-hover thing gets back up, it's eventually reveal that the machine is being piloted by... Drum roll, please! ...Mangey and Sails. Yes, the two other versions of Tails survived and have been bidding their time the last two episodes. I'm not shocked that this kids' show undid the apparent death of two characters. I've been waiting for that reveal, honestly. It still feels like "Prime" lacking any scruples, the same way pretty much any death cheat does. Considering I wasn't all that attached to those two, their death meant little to me and their survival means much the same. I'm sure there are Tails superfans out there who love these two, just because they are Tails. That were upset by their apparent demise and cheered at their survival. I guess that's "Prime's" target audience. 

With one more episode to go, this show continues to underwhelm me. This last set of "Prime" episodes have especially been a bummer, because it's clear now that things aren't going to get any better. There's simply no time for any potential the earlier episodes set up to be paid off now. Even worse, the last few installments have felt like a brief amount of narrative being stretched out to fill more episodes. Only that scene with Rusty keeps me from rating "The Devil is in the Tails" even lower and even that sequence could've been a lot better. [5/10]


Monday, February 5, 2024

Sonic Prime, Episode 3.05: Home Sick Home



Sonic Prime, Episode 3.05: Home Sick Home
Original Release Date: January 11th, 2024

As "Home Sick Home" begins, Sonic's ears are ringing from taken a direct hit from Nine's latest doom machine. The heroes and the Chaos Council do everything they can to turn the tide of the battle. Yet the enormous Grim version of Big, and his endless supply of Froggy-shaped bombs, makes it a desperate battle. Only Shadow emerging from his hole in the ground begins to change things in the good guy's favor. Nine still refuses to give up, forcing Sonic to take the fight directly to the megalomaniac fox. 

"Sonic Prime's" team of animators have, during this episode and the last few, really made an effort to emphasize that Nine is growing deranged the more desperate he becomes. Zapping more beams of light into his robot henchman and the dome around his Citadel is physically exhausting the little guy. Instead of making him reconsider what he's doing, this change in his physical state seems to be making him more unhinged. We see this in the way the animators depict him with sloping posture, twisted limbs, and bugged out eyes. All the key indicators, in the visual shorthand of cartooning, that your character is a sick and twisted little dude. It's a nice touch but it continues to make me ask questions. Namely, how did we get here? Nine's leap from antisocial, angsty kid with ultimately good intentions to straight-up supervillain still seems abrupt to me. But "Prime" is seemingly committed to this idea now and it's increasingly feeling too late to turn back. 


Once again, I feel the need to point out that "Prime's" focus on elaborate action scenes leaves little room for character development. This is very evident in "Home Sick Home," which is largely devoted to the fight scenes. It's an episode full of dramatic violence and big explosions. The enormous Big mech pelts the battle field with bombs, before getting blown up later in the episode. Both the Kraken and the Chaos Council's mothership crash to the earth in melodramatic, flaming fashion. The second half of the episode is peppered with slow-motion punches to the face, an attempt to make the audience understand how hard these blows are hitting. 

It all blurs together for me quickly and it's not difficult to figure out why. One of the many moments in this episode occurs when the Scavengers are carrying out there plan to get into Nine's Citadel. This is dashed when the fox spots them and has pillars of crystals rapidly emerge out of the ground, launching Prim, Gnarly, and Hangry Cat up into the air. The intended reaction to such an action beat should be "Oh no! The heroes' plan has been foiled! What shall they do now?" "Prime" has already shown itself seemingly willing to kill off characters, since Sails and Mangey still seem to be most sincerely dead at this moment. 


When the Chaos Council's ship gets shut down seems to suggest similarly fatal circumstances. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if more of these guys go out on the battlefield. I wouldn't be surprised and I wouldn't be upset either. Because who are Gnarly Knuckles and Hangry Cat, other than goofy variation on regular "Sonic" cast members? We are knee-deep into "Prime" at this point and I still don't really give a shit about most of these guys. This drains most everything that is happening at this point of any dramatic weight. As much importance is paid to the Scavengers being in peril as is to Squad Commander Red or Jack SepticEye's O.C., characters that barely have names and even less personality than the rest of the heroes. 

Of all the "Prime" cast members I don't care about, there's definitely some I don't care about more than others. Can I reiterate, once again, how much the Chaos Council fucking sucks? At this point, these guys' sole function in the story is to provide more chances to slice up evil robots and drop increasingly dire jokes in the middle of a dire battle. Dr. Deep makes a crack about how cats are evil. Mr. Dr. Eggman's toupee flips through the air. Multiple egg puns are delivered. When the mother ship goes kablooey, each member of the Council falls to their knees and bemoans the destruction of some trivial possession of theirs. It's so goddamn annoying, that the serious mood you'd expect from an event like the final battle for the fate of the multiverse is constantly undermined by dumb jokes. But mostly, these jokes are really bad, being delivered by characters that were one-note jokes to begin with and have only gotten more broad and obnoxious as this series goes on. 


The most depressing thing about this episode is it signals how unlikely "Prime" turning things around at this point is. We are on episode five of seven. (Or 21 of 23, depending on how you look at it.) This episode and the previous one have been entirely devoted to the war of The Grim. This one ends on Sonic and Nine dramatically rushing towards each other, suggesting that the next episode will also be focused on this on-going fight. In other words: This is it, guys. This is the climax of the entire series. And it's underwhelming, to say the least. 

Not the least of which because this is one extended action scene being stretched out for multiple episodes. To draw a comparison to Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" movies again... I'm reminded of the last movie in the bloated "Hobbit" trilogy. It was entitled "The Battle of the Five Armies" and almost all of its laborious runtime is devoted to that titular conflict. The long war scenes in the original "Lord of the Rings" trilogy make more of an impact because they are spaced out with other important plot points and character moments. "The Battle of the Five Armies" is an endless slog because it's made up almost entirely of moments that might've been cool on paper but feel tiresome when stacked one atop the other like that. Holding a straight-to-Netflix children's cartoon up to one of the grandest achievements in blockbuster cinema isn't going to do "Prime" any favors. (I don't even like the "Lord of the Rings" movies that much, not being one for wizards 'n' shit, though I do admire the craft that went into them.) But it says a lot about how twisted the priorities of both "Prime" and "The Hobbit" films are, that both seem to spend more time on on-going action scenes without making any of them all that distinctive or memorable. 


With all of this in-mind, it should not be surprising that the moments in "Home Sick Home" that stick out the most to me aren't yet more fight scenes or explosions. Instead, when the episode stops briefly to catch it breath and focus on the gang talking, I'm more intrigued. After the Kraken goes down, Black Rose and Rusty Rose hold each other's hands as they fall through the sky. The two don't die, as Rose Thorn swoops in on Birdie and saves them. Yet that moment where they are facing death and express simple gratitude for the chance to get to know one another means something. So does a scene afterwards, where Thorn and Black Rose tell Rusty that they consider her a sister, much to the cyborg's surprise. You know, a formally ruthless, almost emotionless machine girl learning to appreciate the meaning of life and sisterhood by fighting for the greater good alongside heroic versions of herself, which she eventually forms a familial bond with, something that previously would've seemed impossible... Gee whiz, that's compelling! I wish this cartoon had been about that instead! I guess the writers and show runners decided to focus on the egg puns, instead of the redemptive power of love. 

People yell at me for taking "Sonic" media, all of which is more-or-less designed for babies, too seriously. For expecting too much of a franchise about a fast blue rat that bops cutesy robots on the head. And I definitely do. But even a small, light-hearted bit like Shadow admitting that smashing robotic facsimiles of Sonic was kind of fun adds more life and meaning to this episode than any of the dumb jokes or explosive action beats do. It doesn't take a lot to invest something like this with a little more life, a little more meaning. But maybe that is too much to expect from the churning content mill that Netflix and all its shows are a part of... [5/10]

Monday, January 29, 2024

Sonic Prime, Episode 3.04: Nine's Lives



Sonic Prime, Episode 3.04: Nine's Lives
Original Release Date: January 11th, 2024

"Sonic Prime" is a show seemingly built around ending each episode on a cliffhanger, in order to keep people from moving their finger off Netflix's "Watch Next Episode" button. This has led to an occasionally odd structure though. Such as in "Nine's Lives." The previous episode suggested Sonic's friends might be turning on him, due to his attempt to reach out to Nine. Instead, this episode reveals they are here to rescue Sonic, refusing to accept his plan to sacrifice himself. Their presence enrages Nine. Soon, a massive battle begins between Sonic and the heroes of the ShatterVerse and Nine and his endless army of Grim robots. As the good guys fight to break into Nine's fortress, the battle grows more desperate than ever before. 

I have gave the last episode of "Prime" some faint praise, as it was the most character-focused installment of the show yet. Instead of building on the conversation that Sonic and Nine had last time, where Sonic told Nine that he's still his friend and that they can work it out, we immediately back track. Minutes after the cavalry arrives, Nine is determined to destroy the good guys if they stand in his way of making the Grim into his ideal world. This is so frustrating. "Prime" walked right up to giving its antagonist some complexity, of delving into the idea that there's hope for him and that Sonic could reach it, and walks it right back the next episode. Nine is a bad guy now, a fairly simple one with laser focused on his dastardly goal, and there doesn't seem to be any plan to subvert that. So much for depth...


"No Escape" made the point of emphasizing that Sonic's bonds with his friends is his primary, motivating characteristic. "Nine's Lives" shows that his devotion to the ShatterVerse gang convinced them to stand up for him too. Yet I guess that moral can only go so far. There's some brief – very brief – conflict on the battlefield here, where the various factions and the Chaos Council can't work together. I guess this is introduced to up the stakes a little, since the heroes don't seem to have much trouble defeating Nine's Grim robots. (A very typical action cartoon rule is in effect here: The villain's minions are more effective the fewer of them there are and tend to become disposable the minute they multiply.) In practice, it makes the script feel like it's stopping for a lesson about how team work makes the dream work. 

Truthfully, "Nine's Lives" feels like a largely shapeless episode, focused on extended battle scenes, until about half way through. That's when Sonic realizes that maybe some strategy is needed. Rebel Rouge is recruited to cook up a game plan. And moments like this is when I realize that, being a writer who understands some of the mechanical aspects of building a narrative, has actually made some movies and TV shows less entertaining for me. Rebel lays out how they are going to distract Nine's forces so a portion of their squad can make it into his citadel. The episode even shows us how this would play out. And if a script takes the time to explain exactly how a plan is going to go down, you can be certain that it won't work out that way. Why would a writer tell us what they were going to do and then just do that? Our expectations are being subverted. If you're a kid or someone who has never seen a heist movie before, this would probably be an exciting development. If you're a jaded old nerd like me, it's setting up a swerve that can be seen coming a mile away. 


Yet even this is not the main complaint I have about "Nine's Lives." Instead, I think the episode features some really weird tonal shifts. There's comic relief here, about Nine defying Sonic by saying he hates chili dogs. (A good joke, honestly.) Or the very final moment of the episode featuring, of all characters, Froggy. These moments coexist alongside probably the darkest moment in "Prime" so far. While fighting off more of Nine's Grim robots, Mangey Tails and Sails Tails fashion a bomb out of the machine's parts. They then activate the bomb... Without making any attempt to escape its blast radius. Yes, Mangey and Sails seemingly blew themselves up. That's, uh, pretty severe! I wouldn't be shocked if this kid show subsequently reveals that it didn't just kill off two of its cutest characters... Yet Sonic and the others react to this event with utmost sincerity. Sonic falls to his knees in shock and blames himself for the apparent death of his friends. 

I have some thoughts about this. First off, if this show was going to kill some one off for dramatic effect, Mangey and Sails were probably the easiest choices to make. We don't really know much about these characters, other than them being a primitive version and a pirate version of Tails. Mangey had one or two funny moments but Sails hasn't done much of anything in his prior appearances. Any chance we would have to get attached to them is entirely based on whatever fondness we already have for Tails, based on his appearances in every other corner of the "Sonic" franchise. Are we losing anything by killing these two? Are we expected to feel anything about them dying, when they aren't much more than vague concepts to us? 


Even if Mangey and Sails actually had some depth, the impact of their death is undermined by what the episode does next. Namely, it just keeps going, like two children didn't just blow themselves up in some sort of suicide attack. Sonic then turns towards making that plan with Rebel to get into Nine's base. It says a lot about how disposable this show considers its cast that it moves on so quickly from two of them being annihilated. I get this is a kids show. We can't really expect Sonic to break down on tears and cradle Mangey's charred remains. And I understand that our heroes are on a battlefield right now, when there's no time to mourn the dead. But, if you're going to throw around big, dramatic moments like this, you actually have to commit to them. You can't have silly jokes a few minutes later. You can't just move on like it's a meaningless event. Because then, uh, it does become meaningless. Get what I'm saying here? "Prime" is not doing a lot to make me care about whether Mangey or Sails are really dead or making me feel the loss, if they are. It's kind of like the writers themselves aren't that concerned about! 

Moving on from that, "Nine's Lives" makes another gross miscalculation. It greatly overestimates the importance of Big the Cat. Okay, I know me being a hater about Big makes me unusual for the "Sonic" fandom at this point. I think most fans have come around to genuinely liking Big by now. However, even if you are a Big fan, you probably don't think of the guy as a big action hero. He's a dimwitted fisherman, who only really wants to hang out with his amphibious buddy and catch fish. Even though the Boscage Maze, New Yoke City, and No Place versions of Big aren't technically the same characters as the Big we know, seeing the tubby cat body slam some evil robots is still weird. Moreover, the episode tries to mine some tension out of Catfish taking a Grim Sonic spin dash to the gut. (And immediately undermines it with another goofy joke.) The most dramatic moments of the episode – which, somehow, is not the two kid sidekicks exploding themselves – is based around the Grim robotic version of Big appearing. Ya know, even when Big showed up in the old Archie comics as a Freedom Fighter, there was this understanding that he was mostly comic relief. His appearance on the battle field is incongruous, to say the least. It seems the "Prime" writers thought Big the Cat was just another member of Sonic's evil-fighting gang. Which I guess he is but it's still an off-putting choice. 


It's clear that "Prime" is heading into its final stretch here. This episode takes great pains to draw attention to how this is a pivotal moment in the battle for the ShatterVerse. The heroes are outnumbered by Nine's seemingly endless supply of robotic minions. There's lots of those elaborate action scenes that "Prime" specializes in, swooping across the area as Sonic and the gang battle more and more of Nine's forces. Clearly, this is supposed to feel epic, the "Lord of the Rings" Helm's Deep sequence of this corner of the "Sonic" franchise. However, I've become increasingly numb to "Prime's" action theatrics. You can only watch the good guys wreck the same set of robotic mooks before you crave something else. 

My frustration with "Prime's" loose approach to its characters and need to always keep its story as action-packed and forward-moving as possible is reaching its peak. After "No Escape" suggested maybe this cartoon could be more, "Nine's Lives" rolls back into the familiar pattern in the bluntest way possible. I hate to say it but "Sonic Prime" is increasingly feeling like the first time with a "Sonic" cartoon where, if I just dropped the show and never went back to it, I don't think I'd feel like I was missing anything. [5/10]


Friday, January 26, 2024

Sonic Prime, Episode 3.03: No Escape



Sonic Prime, Episode 3.03: No Escape
Original Release Date: January 11th, 2024

The previous episode of "Prime" ended on the cliffhanger of the Angel's Voyage sinking into the ocean as No Place collapses. "No Escape" quickly picks this up, with Sonic determined to travel to this dimension and save his friends, even if it puts himself directly in Nine's sights. He's soon joined by most of the rest of the heroes, pulling off a perilous but successful rescue mission. Yet, upon returning to New Yolk City, it becomes clear to Sonic that this won't end until he gives himself up to Nine. Which he does but that brings with it a whole new set of complications...

Over the years, a few characteristics have emerged as the defining details of Sonic's personality. Namely, his fastness, his snark, and his devotion to his friends. That final aspect is really emphasized in this episode. Sonic knows heading into No Place puts him in danger. He knows it's a risky situation for everyone. Yet he simply can't allow his friends to be in danger. Now, one can debate whether the Angel's Voyage crew are really close enough to Sonic to classify as his "friends." Yet this is still a nice moment. Sonic's love for his pals is what makes him a hero and that inspires the people around him to be heroic too. That's sweet. 


When "Prime" was announced, it was mentioned that Sonic would be doing battle with his own guilt as well as supervillains on this show. This seems to be an idea this last batch of episodes really confronts. "No Escape" has Nine outright ask Sonic if he's so determined to put things right because he knows the universe shattering apart is actually his fault. Sonic's response is simply to grimace to himself, an unconscious acknowledgement that Nine is right. This is certainly an interesting theme to introduce – that heroics are motivated as much by guilt over past mistakes as ethics – and, honestly, it's an idea more "Sonic" media could play with. (Looking at you, IDW, with the way Sonic constantly lets the bad guys get away.) Do I think Nine straight up saying this is not the most subtle idea to include this idea? Yeah but at least it's a theme. "Prime" has been seriously lacking in depth up to this point, so I'll take what I can get right now. 

If the push-and-pull between Sonic's devotion to his friends and his guilt over causing a multiverse splintering crisis is where the meat of this episode lies, one has to look at Sonic and Nine's relationship. "No Escape" opens with a "Sonic Advance" inspired, 16-bit flashback to Sonic and Tails walloping Eggman. That seems to foreshadow Sonic throwing himself on Nine's mercy later in the episode. Yet that brings up an issue I've continued to have with this show: Nine isn't Tails. Or, at least, he's not the Tails Sonic remembers. This is something the character has repeatedly stated but Sonic continues to ignore it. The final act here suggests that maybe Sonic is right too. Maybe there's more of Tails Prime in Nine than the angst cyborg is willing to admit. Yet everything the show has presented up to this point, especially Nine's most recent turn towards supervillainy, suggests otherwise. 


So which is it? Is Nine simply an altered version of Tails or a totally new character, with completely different motivations? The implication, I guess, is that Sonic is so important to Tails' life that just the mere absence of him is enough to turn the little fox into a totally different person. And that could be a profound idea, an "It's a Wonderful Life" style revelation that one person has more of an impact on the world than they can ever know. This would be better presented by Nine himself realizing that Sonic being kind to him, just in these few episodes, has changed him in some way. Instead, "No Escape" has Sonic show in the Grim, tell Nine that he's his friend no matter what, and the fox immediately switch sides again. It's rushed and sloppy, going back to the idea that Sonic can't tell this variant apart from his actual buddy than the unique bond these two specific characters have. 

Considering how frustrating I've found "Prime's" writing up to this point, I'm willing to give the show credit for trying at all. Honestly, the show works the best when it draws very little attention to these attributes. There's two, small moments here that really add a lot of depth to this world. When the Angel's Voyage is sinking, Catfish is fearful to jump from the ship's mast into the safety of the flying Kraken. Nobody judges the big cat for being fearful. Everyone just keeps encouraging him to make that jump. This shows how understanding Sonic and the gang are and that Big the Cat, in every universe, is no typical action hero. Another moment has someone waving at Rusty Rose in appreciation. The cyborg, previously shown to be coldly emotionless, then cracks a tiny grin and slowly waves back. That's a good, subtle moment that shows Rusty has a softer side that is slowly coming to the surface, the more time she spends around these folks. "Prime" needs more of that kind of subtly. 


I still have issues with this episode. "No Escape" repeatedly features the good guys being in some perilous situation, only for someone to rush in from off-screen and save them. It happens at least three different times, by my estimation. Thorn and Birdie swoop in to save Sonic from a Grim Birdie. The same evil robot is blasted away while good guys dangle off a ledge. The Chaos Council show up to give the Kraken a lift as it starts to fall. This is the kind of dramatic writing you can pull off once, maybe twice, an episode. To have the show repeatedly return to it so many times in one half-hour makes it seem like the writers only have one trick up their sleeve. 

Despite that flaw, I would say this is maybe the best episode of "Prime" yet. There's some cool action beats, of Sonic skipping across the water or Baton Rouge swooping around a ship. That opening, video game style flashback is really cool. The episode ends on a very unpromising cliffhanger that seems to be setting up another one of those dramatic alliance shifts that this show keeps doing and I keep hating. That makes me doubtful that "Prime" is going to nail the landing as it goes into its final stretch. But we will see. At least "No Escape," taken on its own, is a solid installment. [7/10]


Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Sonic Prime, Episode 3.02: Dome Sweet Dome



Sonic Prime, Episode 3.02: Dome Sweet Dome
Original Release Date: January 11th, 2024

"Dome Sweet Dome" begins with Shadow launching Sonic into the void between realms, Nine's giant robotic birds quickly taking chase. The hedgehog soon ducks into the New Yolk City portal. There, he finds that every realm in the ShatterVerse is breaking apart... And that Nine's nearly complete Paradox Prism has given him God-like powers. Luckily, two unexpected parties appear to help Sonic. The alternate versions of his friends from across the ShatterVerse show up, each coming through the doorways the Chaos Council have opened. Secondly, the Council itself decides to help the heroes, realizing they can't conquer a multiverse that doesn't exist. A plan is quickly formulated to protect the worlds and drain the last remnant of Prism energy from Sonic, which has unforeseen consequences for the hedgehog. 

I suspect a redemption arc will come eventually but, at this moment, "Prime" is playing Nine as a full-on supervillain. Power corrupts but it seems to have corrupted the angsty fox very quickly. "Dome Sweet Dome" sees the alternate Tails appear as a floating, holographic head over the city that appears primarily to gloat at and taunt Sonic. Once he starts showing off his ability to change the nature of reality itself, it seems to me that None is ready to graduate to Evil God status. Once again, I feel the need to point out that, in-universe, all of these changes occurred over the course of a few hours. I guess Sonic didn't know Nine nearly as well as he thought – and still seems to be confusing him with the Prime version of Tails – but all of these changes still strike me as happening very suddenly. 


If nothing else, the show continues to sharply depict the difference in philosophies between Sonic and Nine. Nine's isolationist beliefs have him tearing the universe apart to create a perfect world. Sonic, meanwhile, has friends come to his aide when all hope seems lost. That Sonic's pals are all from different realities shows how far they are willing to go to help him out. This moment would mean a lot more if the alternate versions of the team, and their relationship with Sonic, were more fleshed-out... But it's the closest this episode of "Prime" comes to actually having a moment of meaning. 

This structure of a greater threat to everyone emerging does present what is always a solid narrative hook: The good guys and the bad guys putting aside their differences and forming a temporary truce. The Chaos Council appearing to back Sonic up is another solid moment, if only because it's fairly unexpected. From everything we know about the greedy and single-minded Eggmen, we certainly don't expect them to ever help out the hedgehog. Whether "Prime" will play up on the natural tension that emerges from such a temporary truce – will the Council betray the heroes when an opportunistic moment presents itself? – can't be said right now. Yet it is a good idea to introduce. 


Throwing so many different groups together allows for something else: Some fun bickering between these opposing parties. A repeated highlight of this episode is Renegade Knucks – who continues to give me extremely strong Raphael vibes – threatens to start fights with the Council. Later, Mangy Tails pokes at a computer console and ends up improving some readings somewhere, a cute joke about how all versions of Tails are apparently naturally technological whizzes. If there continues to be lots of interplay between the different parties as "Prime" heads towards its finale, that would certainly be a good thing. 

There's a moment in this episode that, perhaps, crystalizes why this show's approach to it's characters and world has constantly disappointed me. While Sonic is running through New Yolk City, Nine uses his near omnipotence to turn the entire city sideways. Now, Sonic has to run across the sides of the buildings and grab innocent bystanders as they fall from their homes. While watching this, my main thought was "This would be a cool moment in a video game." It would subvert expectations for a level and present new challenges for the player. But the disconnect here should be obvious. Yes, "Sonic Prime" is inspired by video games but it's not a video game. Is this why this show seems to constantly foreground action scenes over anything else? Is that what WildBrains and Man of Action and the rest of the production crew thought "Sonic" fans wanted? I don't know but it definitely presents a problem when you wish you could pick up a controller when watching a TV show. 


"Dome Sweet Dome" ends with a barrage of technobabble, all about energy and domes. Several minutes are devoted to figuring out how to protect the variants of Sonic's friends from the continuing effects of the ShatterVerse breaking up. As well as extracting the last bit of Prism energy from Sonic. And, I don't know about you guys, but I don't give a shit about any of this stuff. The rules guiding "Prime's" comic book-y science already seem to vary with the needs of the story, making me wonder why the writers felt the need to justify them. If you look at all of "Prime" as one big, long movie – which is how most modern, serialized TV shows are written, much to my annoyance – we are currently in the last half of the second act. The heroes' situation is getting to maximum hopelessness, in order to make their eventual triumph all the more meaningful. So that's all this, Sonic collapsing and the rest of the good guys being endangered by some bullshit, is. I can see the machinery and that's never a good thing. 

Still, I guess I would rate "Dome Sweet Dome" – they didn't put any effort into those titles, did they? – slightly higher than the first episode of "Prime's" third season. Mostly because I like Knuckles shit talking the Eggmen. More of that next time, please! [6/10]



Monday, January 22, 2024

Sonic Prime, Episode 3.01: Grim Tidings



Sonic Prime, Episode 3.01: Grim Tidings
Original Release Date: January 5th, 2024

2024 is still young and we are already awash in new "Sonic" content. There was a time when a monthly comic book, the occasional new game, and a rerun of an old cartoon show was all we hedgehog fans had to tide ourselves over with. This year alone, the series is getting a new game, a new movie, and a live action TV, a first for the franchise. This is in addition to comics still being regularly published and an even flow of cool new merch. Like friggin' Legos! In 2024, you can go to Target and buy "Sonic" Lego sets! Truly, what a time to be alive.

The first wave in this deluge of new "Sonic" stuff is the final batch of "Sonic Prime" episodes. Netflix is treating this as the "third season," even though I'm pretty sure all of "Prime" was produced at once and was broken up into releasable chunks. At least the streaming giant is actually bothering to promote the show, sticking the first episode of the final round up on YouTube for free. Considering Netflix dumps most of their shows and movies on the platform and barely tells anyone, it's nice to know they hold some value in the "Sonic" property. Or maybe "Sonic" is one of those names that generate their own hype, thanks to an obsessive fandom that never stops talking about it on social media. Neither way, I have a new chunk of "Prime" to bitch about now. Let's get to it. 


"Grim Tidings" begins with a lengthy recaps of "Prime's" events up to now. Which is useful, as I had forgotten a lot about it. After saying "screw you guys, I'm going home" and exiting Ghost Hill with the Paradox Prism, Nine arrives in the barren wasteland that is the Grim. He immediately uses the crystals to begin his plan of turning this world into his version of the ideal world. This has the unforeseen side effect of causing Ghost Hill to collapse in on itself. Sonic and Shadow narrowly escape to the spaces between, before heading to the Grim to confront Nine. The fox doesn't take this intrusion very kindly, sending his horde of newly created robotic henchmen on the hedgehogs. Nine soon realizes that the final piece of the Paradox Prism – needed to keep all the worlds, the Grim included, from tearing themselves apart – resides in Sonic himself. This makes our speedy hero, the guilt on his shoulders already being a heavy burden, the target of Nine's scheme. 

Over the course of "Prime's" first two seasons, Nine has emerged as one of the deeper characters. Much to my consternation, most of the cast members have been loosely defined variations on Sonic's established friends, with an easily grasped gimmick like "pirate" or "jungle primitive" latched onto them. Nine, at the very least, has an interesting angle to explore. He's an edgy, emo version of Tails that doesn't want to have friends but feels drawn to Sonic anyway. Yet that need to be a self-reliant loner, born out of years of being isolated and afraid, has put him at odds with his new buddy. Sonic never gives up hope. Nine already gave up hope years ago. Now his teenage angst has potentially doomed the whole universe, his insular focus on creating a more perfect world hastening the ShatterVerse's collapse. 


If "Prime" was a show that actually took the time to develop its characters and really delve into what drives them, all of this could be really interesting. Instead, this is a show with a pattern of people abruptly switching sides. Thorn went from nice to angry with little explanation. Dread and his crew became assholes the second Sonic didn't bring them the crystal they wanted. Nine's shift towards apparent villainy similarly feels like it lacks nuance. Within the show itself, these guys were working together, like, an hour ago. Now Nine has gone maniacal with power and is siccing his minions on Sonic. There's enough wiggle room here for Nine's motivations to be as complicated as they could be. Yet, given what this show has done already, I'm doubtful this will be the case. Nine will be acting like a one-note bad guy now, not because it makes sense for his character but because it's what is needed to push the overall narrative along. 

The truth is... How can I expect “prime” to have any depth to its characters or storytelling when it can even keep the rules of its own universe straight? When Nine starts terraforming the Grim, a new robot version of Sonic appears. After Sonic and Shadow thrash the so-called “Grim Sonic,” Nine then summons Grim versions of Knuckles, Amy, Rouge, and Birdie. One assumes that these are the corresponding versions of these characters for this world... But if that's the case, why is there a Grim version of Sonic? None of the other dimensions in the ShatterVerse have a version of Sonic. And why can Shadow entered the Grim and Ghost Hill but not the other realms? Was that explain at some point and I just forgot something? Or is this entire affair running on some loosely defined magic here? Normally, this kind of shit wouldn't matter because you'd be invested in the heroes and their conflicts. Yet I'm sure noticing it in this case. 


If “Grim Tidings” has any sort of emotional core at all, it's not between Sonic and Nine. Instead, Sonic and Shadow proved to be the power couple here. “Prime” has been inconsistent about Sonic and Shadow's relationship. It has really seemed like, in most of their interactions up to this point, Shadow has just wanted to beat Sonic's ass. Yet the so-called Ultimate Lifeform does care about his blue counterpart. In the final minutes of this episode, he tosses Sonic out of the Grim once it becomes apparent that Nine and his forces are after Sonic's Prism powers. I suppose you could debate why Shadow does this. Maybe he just wants to undo the mess Sonic created and realizes he needs Sonic to do that. Or maybe the two hedgehogs are secretly in love and their fighting and bickering is just how they express their sexual longing for one another. With shows like this, you have to speculate. 

Making these kind of complaint almost seems besides the point by now. “Sonic Prime” is about the actions. The fight scenes are the moments in this episode that the animators clearly lavished the most time on. There's lots of elaborate shots, with what would be fancy camera movements in a live action film. The sequence of Sonic and Shadow outrunning the tide of Ghost Hill turning all purple and shattered would make for a bitchin' video game level, especially when they are leaping across the debris as it floats up through the air. The fights with the Grim robots are similarly elaborate. Honestly, they are starting to be too elaborate. The way Grim Amy swings her hammer around reminds me of the lightsaber duels in the “Star Wars” prequels, where everyone is clearly just showing off with balletic movements. Instead of just performing focused strikes like they actually would in, ya know, a combat scenario. It looks cool but at what cost, know what I mean? 


Heading into the last swarth of “Prime” episodes, it seems my opinion on this show is mostly unchanged. There's so much potential to this multiverse premise but the show seems uninterested in exploring that outside some specific confines. Moreover, there's this stubborn refusal to allow the characters to grow any, making “Prime” constantly feel like it's being dumbed-down for the simplest of audience. And kids deserve better than that. “Sonic” fans too. As for “Grim Tidings,” it has some cool action and one or two interesting moment that I increasingly feel like will not be followed up on in any especially compelling way. [6/10]

Friday, January 19, 2024

Sonic the Hedgehog: Fang the Hunter: Issue 1



Sonic the Hedgehog: Fang the Hunter: Issue 1
Original Publication Date: January 17th, 2024

When released in 1994, "Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble" received a little bit of hype. The "Sonic" franchise was red hot at the time, perhaps at the peak of its nineties popularity. This meant any new game featuring the character was going to get a big push. And it didn't hurt that this was the second appearance of Knuckles, who was quickly becoming the second most popular character in the series at the time. However, "Triple Trouble" was still a handheld title, for the Game Gear, a console that was never as big as Sega hoped and always trailed way behind the Game Boy in popularity. This meant that "Triple Trouble" was destined to be consigned to the waste bin of pop culture. As the "Sonic" series began to explore new avenues, with a quickly expanding cast and universe, in the 2000s, "Triple Trouble" would be seemingly forgotten even by Sega. 

The game's obscure status would make the new character it introduced even more overlooked. Fang the Sniper, or Nack the Weasel to us U.S. assholes, would become a reoccurring character in the Archie comics. But the rest of the "Sonic" fandom didn't care about this guy for a long time. Aside from "Triple Trouble," Fang's only other appearance for years was "Sonic the Fighter," an even more obscure arcade exclusive. By the start of the 2010s, Fang was stuck in the same limbo as Mighty or Ray: Beloved by a tiny niche of the fandom but ignored by everyone else, even the video game company that created him. Who had time for a pink weasel/jerboa/wolf what's-it when we were being flooded with telekinetic time travelers and fiery felines? 














That slowly started to change with the 2017 release of "Sonic Mania," which brought Fang – along with the equally overlooked Bark and Bean – back to the forefront of the series. Since then, we've seen this trio of troublemakers referenced a lot more. Fang was even given a prominent role in last year's "Sonic Superstar," suggesting that the little scum bag was a going concern for Sega again. This Fang Renaissance continues into 2024, with IDW giving the guy – now dubbed a Hunter by Sega, since I guess "Sniper" was a little too aggressive – a starring role in his own four-part mini-series. This is a pretty big deal for a character deemed little more than an in-joke for quite a while. 

And what does the first issue of "Fang the Hunter" contain? It begins with Fang, Bean, and Bark spying on Sonic as he chills in a hammock. They quickly attack, hoping the hedgehog can give them some info on a mythical eighth Chaos Emerald. Sonic doesn't know anything about this, assuring them that such a thing doesn't exist. After such a humiliating defeat, Fang decides to shake down Knuckles for info next. The Guardian is waiting for them and prepares traps throughout Angel Island to throw them off. Meanwhile, Tails warns Sonic that a mysterious airship has ravaged the Marble Zone before vanishing. 














In the original Archie Comics continuity, "Nack the Weasel" was a fairly serious adversary. He successfully disarmed Sonic so Robotnik could roboticize him, kidnapped Princess Sally, and even killed some people. However, that is an atypical characterization for the guy across most of the series. From "Triple Trouble" onward, Fang has largely been portrayed as a joke, an incompetent buffoon that is easily defeated, usually by his own deeply misplaced overconfidence. As the comics have sought to more closely follow the games, this characterization has taken root here as well. In the handful of appearances in past IDW books, Fang has mostly been a joker, an un-serious threat that is always humiliated before any criminal plot he has can come to fruition. This might be because he's always hanging around now with Bark and Bean, essentially the Laurel and Hardy of the "Sonic" world. 

With that in mind, the first issue of "Fang's" mini-series is largely devoted to slapstick comedy. The opening sequence of the comic – where Fang attempts to crush Sonic with a big rock, only for the hedgehog to deflect them without breaking a sweat – even seems to recall the wacky antics of the "Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog" cartoon. Maybe that's just because there's a hammock in the scene though... Either way, there's definitely some "Tom and Jerry" vibes to this comic, as we watch the antagonists get comically defeated by a hero that way outclasses them. 


This, in fact, may be where Fang's appeal lies. As a stereotypical villain, he's never going to learn his lesson. No matter how many crushing defeats he suffers, he's going to keep pursuing Sonic. This makes the jerboa something of a lovable loser. He's always going to fail. We, as human beings, will also fail more often than we will succeed. So, even though Fang is a bad guy, we still relate to him. His need to keep pushing a metaphorical boulder up an allegorical hill, when it's always destined to flatten him, even makes the guy kind of admirable. Don't we all wish we had that kind of tenacity, in the face of life constantly making you eat shit? This allows "Fang the Hunter" to have its cake and eat it too, letting us derive amusement from Fang's exaggerated defeats while also seeing us root for him a little bit, in a perverse way. Haven't we all wanted to see the Coyote catch the Roadrunner at least once? 

While Fang hopelessly strives to be taken seriously someday, despite the clear unlikeliness of that ever happening, Bean and Bark have long since accepted their roles. IDW Bean isn't quite as unhinged as his Archie counterpart but he's still a wacky goofball, embracing the absurdity of every humiliation he suffers. While Bark is the strong, silent straight man, seemingly unflappable and inscrutable no matter what. I guess there is only so much to be mined from this dynamic, so issue #1 of "Fang" does introduce a conflict between Fang and his partners. Namely, they feel taken advantage of and plan on dumping his ass after this adventure. I don't take this threat seriously at all. If anything, I think this three might all learn to appreciate each other before this mini is over. But at least the set-up of "the mooks are planning to walk out on their boss" has some comedic value to explore. 


The clear farcical tone of this first issue makes me assume the MacGuffin quest that has been set-up will likely end up being a wild goose chase. There being seven Chaos Emeralds has been established as a fact of the "Sonic" series for so long, that it's easy to forget that the exact number has varied over the years. There were just six emeralds in the first "Sonic" game and most of the 8-bit ports. In "Sonic Spinball," there were as many as sixteen emeralds. Originally in the Archie continuity, there was just a surplus of many Emeralds of many different colors, until Ian Flynn fixed that. Fang believing there are eight Emeralds is likely a reference to "Sonic the Fighter," where there were indeed eight Emeralds to correspond to the eight characters. Considering that was his last in-game appearance for years, no wonder Fang seems to believe this is the case. 

I wouldn't be shocked at all if Ian Flynn used this mini-series to patch over a continuity era in the Classic Sonic canon. Yet it would be much funnier if Fang continues to hold onto an erroneous belief, in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary. But maybe the book is going somewhere else, what with that dangling plot point of Sonic and Tails chasing after a phantom ship in the Marble Zone. I guess, either way, the skeleton of a decent story has been set-up here. 













If this issue has heavy "Looney Tunes" overtones, what of Sonic as the Bugs Bunny to Fang's Yosemite Sam? On "Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog," Sonic filled an almost literal Bugs Bunny role, right down to the frequent crossdressing and random bursts of nuttiness. Since that would be pretty out of character for IDW Sonic, Flynn writes him here as a snarky asshole. He has nothing but smartass quibs for Fang and his gang. He gets sarcastic with Tails. He even has to remind himself to be "patient with the kid" after he interrupts his nap. While fans constantly debate how much 'tude Sonic should display, we shouldn't forget that this is technically Classic Sonic we are seeing here. The blue hedgehog being a bit of a prick, even to his best friend, recalls his demeanor in the OVA or Fleetway comics, works contemporary with the Classic setting. Plus it's funny. I'm fine with it. 

Sonic is not the only hero to frustrate our titular goons though. Also in keeping with his more Classic Era characterization, Knuckles mostly hides back in the shadows and upends the Hooligans – or whatever they are called here – with traps he's set-up throughout the isle. This includes a delightful instance of Knuckles using the air vent trap from the start of "Sonic & Knuckles." If this whole comic wasn't a light-hearted goof, these scenes would almost be sinister. Mushroom Hill is depicted as dark and shadowy, Fang's buddies picked off by an unseen threat. Considering Knuckles fools Bark with a decoy that unmistakably resembles the Blair Witch stick figure, I'm going to assume that this mild horror atmosphere is intentional. Not a reference I expected to see in a "Sonic" comic, so maybe Bean will put on a Ghostface mask in the next issue. 
















Mauro Fonseca is on pencil duties here and his work definitely matches the cartoony tone of the script. There is quite a lot of stretch and squash on display in these panels, especially when Fang tackles Bean to keep him from accidentally blowing up the Magnificent Queen. It turns out Fang's angular head really lends itself to this kind of over-the-top reactions. There are some really good faces in this issue, let me tell ya. Impressively, Fonseca manages to maintain the particular Classic Sonic look for everyone even when going for cartoony physics. Good stuff!

By the way, do you want to know how many times I wrote "Back" instead of "Fang" while assembling this review? Literally every single time! Old habits never die, I guess. Anyway, the first issue of the "Fang the Hunter" kicks the mini-series off in a goofily amusing, fleet-footed fashion. Let's see if Flynn and the gang can keep it up. [7/10]