Sonic X, Episode 2.11: Robotnik’s Revenge

Sonic X, Episode 2.11: Robotnik’s Revenge

Japanese Title: Battle on the Space Colony ARK

Japanese Air Date: December 14th, 2003

U.S. Air Date: November 27th, 2004

The majority of "Sonic X's" on-going plots converge on the ARK for a final showdown. Tails plans to install a fake Chaos Emerald into Eggman's Eclipse Cannon, disrupting the entire scheme. Yet Eggman discovers this. He then captures Sonic, who is holding the fake, and launches him into space before exploding the pod. Tails, driven into a rage by his best friend's apparent death, attacks Eggman. Meanwhile, Knuckles retrieves the Master Emerald from Rouge, who was in the process of downloading some secret files on Shadow. After he learns Sonic survives the blast, Shadow races off to destroy his rival. Eggman activates the Eclipse Cannon anyway... Which activities a secret video where Gerald Robotnik reveals the ARK's final purpose: To crash into the Earth and destroy all life. 

If the above plot synopsis didn't make it clear, "Sonic Adventure 2's" plot gets increasingly convoluted in the final stretch. This episode has about four or five dramatic twists. The secret documents Rouge downloads reveals that two escape pods were launched from the ARK that fateful day fifty years. That multiple prototypes for Shadow exist, which leads to the suggestion that Shadow might not even be the real Shadow. Is any of that going to be relevant? The mix-up between the real Chaos Emerald and the fake Tails makes is needlessly contrived. Once you introduce the phony MacGuffin, that is only half as powerful as the real MacGuffin, you officially have too many MacGuffins. 

All of this is before Gerald Robotnik's secret video plays, a plot point that raises a lot of question. So Gerald correctly assumed someone would attempt to fire the Eclipse Cannon in the future? And decided causing the space colony to crash into Earth would be a preferable fate over whatever this future person had planned? And he somehow recorded this message from the comfort of his hyper-secure jail cell, as the video clearly shows the wall of crazy formulas behind him that appeared in an earlier episode. How did he get the video file from Prison Island back to the ARK? It's a mess of events designed to make sure the last third of the arc is hyper-dramatic and not so concerned with any of it making sense. 

And yet even this is not "Robotnik's Revenge" biggest bullshit move. The scene where Sonic seemingly dies is pretty dark. Eggman tortures Amy by squeezing her inside a giant claw. Sonic jokes that he doesn't care if Amy dies, which is really fucked-up. This is right before Eggman captures Sonic, launches him into space, and blows him the fuck up. Obviously, Sonic isn't really dead. His name is in the title of the show! But it is a decently unexpected moment, Tails and Chris both being moved to tears by their best friend apparently being exploded. 

It's such a good death trap that there was really no way for Sonic to escape it. The solution the "Sonic Adventure 2" writers cooked up — that the "Sonic X" team felt the need to replicate, even though they could've rewritten it to make more sense — is that Sonic somehow uses the fake Chaos Emerald Tails designed to Chaos Control himself out of the pod. Yes, our hero who has previously never displayed the ability to teleport somehow gains and masters that superpower within the span of thirty seconds. And he does it by using a fake Chaos Emerald. Will Sonic's newfound ability to teleport ever be brought up again? What do you think? This is such an egregious ass-pull that I've been mad about it since 2001. The writers just gave Sonic a new superpower to get him out of a bad jam! You can't do that, man. It's against the rules of writing or some shit. He didn't get out of the cockadoodie escape pod! (Equally insulting is the implication that Sonic and Shadow have some sort of connection, even though Sonic was born forty-five years after Shadow was ejected into space.)

"Sonic Adventure 2's" story, and the "Sonic X" adaptation of it, shambling apart near the end is almost besides the point. The game had to find some excuse to get Team Hero and Team Dark on the ARK at the same time, so they could fight it. Each hero's story needed to end with a big battle with their dark side counterpart. Knuckles battles Rouge, Tails fights Eggman, and Sonic and Shadow duke it out. This is a requirement that couldn't be denied. So even if it makes no sense that Rouge stops in the middle of downloading the Project Shadow files to fight Knuckles, it had to happen. Even if it seems slightly out of character for Tails to start blasting machine guns at Eggman while grieving Sonic, it had to happen. Even if Sonic escaping death to have a final dramatic race with Shadow is completely nonsensical, it had to motherfucking goddamn shit-eating happen!!!

Anyway, I want to talk about that Rouge/Knuckles fight some more. Apparently Rouge really did steal the Master Emerald, an event this show previously did not feel the need to clarify. It's been on the ARK the whole time. I guess Angel Island has been slowly sinking into the sea these last few episodes, something this cartoon did not deem important enough to depict. As I said, there's really no reason for this fight scene to happen. Rouge has practically abandoned the façade of being an Eggman collaborator and Knuckles should probably recognize her as a good guy at this point. 

The fight is actually there to insert more belligerent sexual tension between Knux and Rouge. This is especially true of the moment where Knuckles rescues Rouge after he knocked her off a scaffolding. Obviously, Rouge can fly and in the game, it's implied that she just let him save her so she could tease him about it later. (Either that or the video game was just badly written. But, no, that's impossible.) That doesn't really work in this show, since Rouge and Knuckles haven't flirted as much here. Also, Knuckles bloodies Rouge's face the minute before knocking her towards the edge, which has to be one of the few instances of blood appearing in official "Sonic" media. She's pretty pissed with him afterwards and it seems sincere. Granted, any attempt to ship-tease Knuckles and Route was always going to fail, since Topaz and Rouge are obviously already dating, but the whole scene is ill-conceived. 

About the only subplot that pays off in a satisfying way is Mr. Stewart and Scarlett Garcia's on-going investigation into Project: Shadow. They hunt down the guy they've been looking for at a nursing home. It turns out he was one of the G.U.N. soldiers that was on the ARK fifty years ago. In fact, he was the guy who shot Maria. He's still traumatized by it five decades later. I guess murdering an unarmed child in cold blood will do that to you. It's a scene that serves the plot, as it reveals Shadow's recollection of this event is false. But moreover, it's just effectively written. Even if it's surrounded by bullshit like Scarlett revealing her dad was a G.U.N. agent, a worthless revelation, or a karate fight with some secret agents in black suits. (Though that scene at least clarifies that the MIBs appearing in the last episode wasn't just this show's random-access humor at work.)

About the only other thing I really liked about this episode is the brief scene where Knuckles nearly crashes the space shuttle into the ARK, because he detects the Master Emerald and jerks the controls out of Sonic's hands. That scene had big "JOO TAKE MAH EMMERROWDS" energy and it made me laugh. Overall, this is another episode that proves "Sonic X" is at its messiest when following the video games closely. The "Sonic Adventure 2" adaptation was stronger when it strayed more from the video game, possibly because the game's plot wasn't that good to begin with. But at least it's almost over... [5/10]

Sonic X, Episode 2.10: Shadow World

Sonic X, Episode 2.10: Shadow World

Japanese Title: The Threat from Outer Space

Japanese Air Date: December 7th, 2003

U.S. Air Date: November 20th, 2004

After seeing on the news that there were no casualties from the Prison Island explosion, Sonic and the gang are relieved that Chris is alive... Before realizing he must have been captured by Eggman and Shadow. Currently, the youngest Thorndyke is aboard the ARK, Gerald Robotnik's space fortress and Shadow's birth place. Eggman announces to the world how dangerous the Eclipse Cannon is by blowing up half of the fucking moon and demands Earth surrenders to him. Sonic and the gang team up with Knuckles, who stumbled upon Eggman's desert base in his previous journeys. They venture there and head into space shortly afterwards, though not without some complications also the way.

After hinting at it for the last few episodes, "Sonic X" finally reveals Shadow's tragic backstory in full. We see most of the details, of how G.U.N. invaded the ARK and how Maria died before Shadow's eyes, just as she launched him to safety. (The cartoon stops just shy of showing an actual child being shot and dying.) Even though it's a brief scene, it is enough to sell Shadow and Maria's special relationship. How her death still haunts and motivates him. A traumatic past may be an overused cliche, when it comes to Bad Boys with a Heart of Gold characters, but it does add more depth to Shadow. 

This episode also recreates an infamous moment in "Sonic" history that I've always had some questions about. Yes, I'm talking about Eggman blowing up part of the moon with the Eclipse Cannon. Thanks to the internet, I am now completely incapable of taking this moment seriously. Even before that, I wondered why blowing up half the moon didn't have graver consequences for the Earth. The moon suddenly being half as heavy would, presumably, have serious effects on our planet's tidal activity. Beyond that, the explosion throws a lot of moon shrapnel into the upper atmosphere. Wouldn't huge chunks of free-falling space rock being above our world be, ya know, bad? Alas, the show doesn't address these questions because it's a cartoon for small children and I am, as always, overthinking things. 

In the last review, I pointed out that this story arc hasn't featured much of Knuckles so far, even though he had a big presence in the Dreamcast version of these events. I guess the show runners were also wondering "Oh yeah, isn't Knuckles supposed to be here?" around this time too, because the echidna shows up this episode. All this really does is draw attention to how superfluous Knuckles' "Adventure 2" storyline really is. "Sonic X" doesn't have him hunting shards of the Master Emerald again. Instead, he just randomly finds Eggman's pyramid base and arrives in time to inform Sonic and the gang, just when they need a way to get into space. But I guess it's nice to have the big dorky red guy around again. 

Unfortunately, Knuckles' arrival in this episode also signals the point when it goes completely fucking bananas. The subplot of Mr. Stewart and Scarlett Garcia teaming up still has yet to go anywhere. Here, they wander into Jerome Wise's hobo shanty, search for some other homeless guy, and are spied on by Agent J and Agent K from the "Men in Black" movies. The police then chase Sonic into a near-by alleyway, prompting a "Scooby-Doo" style chase sequence and a fourth wall break. Knuckles just happens to be fighting some G.U.N. drones in the same location, for reasons that are never explained. Mr. Tanaka then rides in on a motorcycle, while dressed as Bruce Lee from "Game of Death" and making matching martial arts noises. Everyone then escapes via the sewer. Bokkun is also in there somewhere. None of that was exaggerated for comedic effect. All of those events literally happen in this cartoon. 

The episode never really recovers after that solid dose of insanity. "Sonic X" struggles to find a reason to include an Egyptian style pyramid in its story, an element that was always kind of out-of-place in "Sonic Adventure 2's" plot. A video game can get away with that "who cares, it looks cool" logic but a serialized story needs an actual reason to include such things. So we just have to go with Eggman having a pyramid base in the desert, that's guarded by a giant ancient Egyptian-style stone robot and features a NASA space shuttle. "Sonic X" further complicates these events by also introducing Topaz back into the story at this point, for reasons that are not yet clear. Also, Bokkun is also in this scene too, controlling the Egg Golem, and he's annoying and dumb.

The Egg Golem sequence is made more awkward because it looks like shit. The sense of scale is all fucked-up here. The Egg Golem is obviously meant to be huge, as its feet dwarf Bokkun and Sonic. Yet, when seen in full, the stone robot seems much smaller, about half of its actual size. This is not the only example of perspective being a mess in this episode. When Tails enters the base in the X-Tornado, the tip of the pyramid seems barely bigger than the airplane. That's obviously not right, which is clear when the space shuttle — which, I don't know if you realize this, are a lot bigger than airplanes — exits via the same entrance. Add in some other moments where Sonic and Knuckles' heads seem hilariously oversized, and where Tails in general is off-model, and you have an episode that was clearly rushed through the animation stage. 

I've always thought "Sonic Adventure 2's" plot was a bit messy and this episode really draws attention to that. While "Sonic X" has done a good job of adapting the game's event up to now, it hits a snag here. Still, this episode is definitely worth seeing for that solid two-minute long chunk of madness in the middle. Oh, and for further insight into Shadow's past too, I guess. [6/10]

Sonic X, Episode 2.09: Sonic’s Big Break

Sonic X, Episode 2.09: Sonic’s Big Break

Japanese Title: Escape from Prison Island

Japanese Air Date: November 30th, 2003

U.S. Air Date: November 13th, 2004

Damn, this episode's Japanese title is way better than the English one. "Sonic's Big Break" is a dumb pun that barely relates to this episode's plot. "Escape from Prison Island" is cool and evocative and actually descriptive of the plot. Which is: Sonic is stuck on Prison Island. Two separate rescue attempts — one from Chris and Mr. Tanaka and another from Tails and Amy — are on their way. Coincidentally, Eggman, Shadow, and Rouge attack the island at the same time. Three Chaos Emeralds are stored there and Eggman needs a complete set to power a new super weapon: The Eclipse Cannon. Shenanigans ensue. 

I guess "Sonic X" is just going to run with the idea that Sonic and Shadow look identical, even though they actually don't. Over the course of this episode, two more people assume the broody hedgehog is the blue-y hedgehog. It takes Chris several minutes to realize Shadow isn't Sonic, which he presumably notices because of his steadfast belief Sonic would never turn to a life of crime. Earlier, Amy leaps out of the X-Tornado and gives Shadow a hug, before realizing this is not her crush. You'd think Amy, who presumably has several shrines to Sonic in her home, would notice the obvious physical differences between him and Shadow. I'm sorry, I'm going to keep making fun of this stupid plot point until the show drops it. 

At least the dumb mistaken identity plot furthers emphasizes the contrast between Sonic and Shadow. During the raid of Prison Island, Shadow installs a time bomb Eggman has built. When Sonic realizes the entire island is about to explode, he flees from his fight with Shadow, focusing on rescuing anyone who still hasn't evacuated. Around the same time, Shadow gets a phone call from Rouge, who has accidentally locked herself in the prison vault. Shadow initially doesn't give a shit about this, only agreeing to rescue Route after she points out she has the three emeralds. The two hedgehogs may mirror each other — they even copy each others' moves during a fight — but Sonic is motivated by empathy. Shadow is motivated only by vengeance. 

But there is a way to touch his thorny, prickish heart. When Chris realizes Shadow isn't Sonic, he hugs the hedgehog right before he Chaos Controls to Rouge's location. At first, Shadow doesn't give a shit about this whining humanoid, ready to let him die. Yet something in Chris Thorndyke's effeminate face reminds him of Maria. This event is obviously a way to force Chris Thorndyke into the established "Sonic Adventure 2" plot but, if Chris gives Shadow a reason to explore his motivation and gooey secret feelings, it might be worth it. 

That is not the only hint towards Shadow's murder-filled backstory. While kept on Prison Island — which Sonic insists was all part of a plan to lure out Shadow, though I'm not sure how — Sonic is kept inside a high-tech cell. It's pretty cool, being inside a impenetrable glass bubble in the water under the island. This is a clever way to imprison Sonic since see the title of this blog. Yet Sonic is clearly not the first resident of this cell. The walls are covered with insanity scrawl, formulas and equations of some sort. The word "Shadow" is clearly visible among the writing. By sheer coincidence, Sonic is imprisoned inside the same cell that clearly held Gerald Robotnik, some fifty years before. (I guess we are to assume that Prison Island hasn't updated its high-tech maximum security sector in half a century. But don't think about it too hard.)

All of this is the stuff I liked about this episode. Which is good, since a lot of this installment is devoted to underwhelming action sequences. The episode begins with the clearly unhinged warden of the prison talking about how impregnable the fortress is. This obviously sets up both our heroes and villains breaking in and decimating the place with ease. What follows is lots of mediocre animation, as Eggman blows up G.U.N. units and gets into a dogfight with Tails. Every explosion in this episode, for some reason, is animated via shitty CGI. Which looks about as good as you'd expect. The other action is equally middling. Sonic and Shadow stiffly trade kicks, punches, and parries. Rouge clips a Flying Dog — which is a very silly name for G.U.N.'s airborne death-ship — with a few kicks. Seriously, are all earthly armors completely useless against furries? Does Sonic's home world have super-strong gravity or something? 

Yet even with the unimpressive fight scenes, I still kind of liked this episode. "Sonic X" is doing a much better job of making "Sonic Adventure 2" its own thing than it did with the first game. (Most notably in the complete exclusion of Knuckles from the story so far.) Part of that process includes inserting some of this show's trademark absurd humor. While still dressed as the Green Hornet and Kato, for no particular reason, Mr. Tanaka and Chris venture towards Prison Island. In order to avoid detection, they do so in a swan-shaped paddle boat. When the prison guards see this very unusual sight, they don't worry about it. And that's after noting people use such boats on romantic dates and seeing that an adult man and a pre-teen boy are sitting inside. Nothing to report here, just a pedophile on a nice date! Also, Decoe and Bocoe tell Eggman Rouge is a liar, Tails attempts to poke the villain with the X-Tornado's nose, and Sonic callously dismisses Amy's attempt at flirting. Funny stuff!

This episode ends with the weirdly guitar-shaped island detonating into a massive mushroom cloud. This means two things: Tanaka, and everyone else I guess, assume Chris is dead, as they don't know Shadow Chaos Controlled him to safety at the last minute. And that whoever owns the prison sure is going to be pissed. They have a high-profile break-in/escape two nights ago and then the entire island explodes! That's going to look bad on the monthly summary. Anyway, I'm continuing to enjoy this show's riff on the video game, even if the animation department is continuing to cut some corners. [7/10]

Sonic X, Episode 2.08: Shadow Knows

Sonic X, Episode 2.08: Shadow Knows

Japanese Title: Sonic the Fugitive

Japanese Air Date: November 23rd, 2003

U.S. Air Date: November 6th, 2004

This episode begins much the same way as the Hero Story did in "Sonic Adventure 2:" With Sonic detained on G.U.N., which he quickly escapes from. It turns out G.U.N. and seemingly everyone else is convinced Sonic has gone bad. This is following incidents where another hedgehog went on a rampage at Prison Island and then stole a Chaos Emerald from a museum. Sonic goes on the run and is ambushed by G.U.N. in another city. That's when this other hedgehog, a superpowered entity named Shadow, makes himself known. After loosing a fight to Shadow, Sonic willingly gives himself up to G.U.N. Chris, Mr. Tanaka, Tails and Amy plot a way to rescue Sonic. Meanwhile, Rouge successfully infiltrates Eggman's operation, which includes Shadow, of course.

"Sonic the Fugitive" is kind of an unusual episode of "Sonic X" because it begins in medias res. Instead of picking up from the last episode's cliffhanger, the show begins with Sonic on that helicopter, with no explanation for how he got there. After Sonic's big escape, we cut to Chris in a city that obviously isn't Station Square — because it's not completely wrecked — talking to a friend we've never met before. The episode soon clarifies what is going on, via flashbacks and security cam footage, but it is a little disorienting at first. Most media that drops us into the action like this includes some narration or something, to give us some footing for what exactly is happening. "Sonic X" just skips from Point A to Point C in the story, which is a little awkward. I thought maybe my playlist had skipped an episode or something. 

But anyway... Let me tell you what this episode is actually about, kids: Racism! This episode's entire plot is based around the presumption that nobody on Earth can tell hedgehogs apart. The reason G.U.N. is after Sonic is because they think he looks the same as Shadow. When a news program shows footage of Shadow stealing the Emerald, they say that it's Sonic doing it. After watching that clip, Chuck Thorndyke agrees that it looks like Sonic. In the flashback to Eggman's first meeting with Shadow, even he mistakes the black hedgehog for Sonic at first. This is despite the fact that Sonic and Shadow don't actually look that much alike. They're different colors, they have different shaped spines, their shoes and gloves are different, and Shadow has a prominent plum of manly chest hair that Sonic lacks. 

In the game, we could chalk this case of mistaken identity up to bad writing. "Sonic X" changes the context a little bit. There's a scene where the President's new advisor — who I think is suppose to be Latina despite her name being "Christina Cooper" — refers to Sonic as a "beast" who must be captured. Later, we see Jerome Wise hanging out in the sewer with some homeless people, who get into an argument about whether Sonic is good or bad. The cops and G.U.N. uncritically chase Sonic, nobody ever once wondering if this crimes he's accused of match his previous actions. It's like they see someone who is different from them, a different color from them even, and their ability to process the situation logically goes out the window. Almost like they've all been waiting for this strange foreigner to start acting out, so they can start attacking him. If that's not an example of American society's build-in prejudice, I don't know what is.

But the kids watching this cartoon in 2004 probably didn't care about that. Instead, they were probably more hyped for Shadow's proper first appearance on this cartoon show. It's something the episode milks for as long as it can, giving us fleeting glimpses of Shadow or leaving his face in the, uh, shadows. He doesn't actually reveal himself until half-way through the episode. Shadow immediately establishes what he's all about. He uses his Chaos powers to teleport all over the damn place and draw some glowy golden arrows out of the sky. He belittles Sonic, which seems to suggest he's a conceited asshole. The "Sonic" equivalent of the Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy. 

Yet the episode makes sure to give us hints at Shadow's secret backstory, with two brief shout-outs to Maria. It's all very calculated, Shadow clearly being characterized as a Bad Boy with a Sensitive Side. You can so easily imagine a teenager girl saying "he's not really an asshole. You don't know him like I do!" The soft but deep voice the Japanese audio gives him just seems to emphasize this. These cliched elements of Shadow's personality, all a very clear attempt to make him appealing to younger fans, is why I had a problem with the character for a while. "Sonic X" doesn't really defy any of that in this first episode but I'll guess we'll see if the show can bring any depth to this here broody goth teenager.

What makes Shadow more interesting is the interaction he has with Sonic. It just takes a few punches and kicks to the face and body from Sonic's dark-furred doppelgänger to render him helpless. Shadow makes sure to rub it in by saying that he could've killed Sonic if he had taken his S&M handcuffs off. As I've mentioned roughly thirty-three times before, the "X" version of Sonic can usually steam-roll any threat with minimal effort. To be beaten so soundly by someone — especially a guy who's him but stronger — is not just a physical loss to Sonic. It's a mental one too. That's why the episode ends with him brooding in a jail cell. Sonic is used to being the toughest guy on the planet. Shadow besting him in seconds is a serious blow to his ego. 

By this point, I've complained endlessly about "Sonic X's" lifeless adaptation of the first "Sonic Adventure." The "Adventure 2" adaptation has already been more pragmatic than that. I guess the nature of the story, of Sonic being pursued by G.U.N., forces the cartoon to bring the government side of things more into focus. This includes a subplot about Mr. Stewart and Scarlett Garcia investigating Project: Shadow. I'm still not sure where that's going. This show is so determined to bring "Sonic Adventure 2's" plot into its world that this episode actually focuses more on Chris than Tails or Amy. Whether you enjoy watching Chris Thorndyke angst about missing his furry blue friend is a matter of opinion. But it's preferable to the show just limply re-enacting the events of the video game.

Maybe this is a budgetary decision. This episode doesn't have too much action. There's a brief scene of Sonic being chased by some G.U.N. drones. (Who, hilariously, do way more damage to the surrounding city than they do Sonic.) Later, Sonic briefly fights a Big Foot and Big Shot mech, blasting through them stiffly. Shadow's powers are animated very cheaply, with some slow-mo shots of him banging on Sonic or exploding some robots with a hand motion. The real indicator that maybe money was tight during this episode's production is now hilariously awkward it looks when Shadow is running alongside Sonic. In the games, Shadow's rocket shoes letting him glide along the ground was satisfying to play. In a cartoon show, especially when he's catching up to a super fast character by leisurely skating next to him, it looks goofy as shit. 

Despite its flaws, I did enjoy this episode. The show already seems to be incorporating the second game's events into its world more organically than the first one. Rouge seducing her way into Eggman's inner circle is fun to watch too, even if I'm not sure it makes any sense. Once again, "Sonic X" is at its best when exploring how the residents of Earth react to the blue hedgehog's presence on this planet. [7/10]

Sonic X, Episode 2.07: Project: Shadow

Sonic X, Episode 2.07: Project: Shadow

Japanese Title: The Mystery of Project Shadow

Japanese Air Date: November 16th, 2003

U.S. Air Date: October 30th, 2004

After wrapping up the "Sonic Adventure" adaptation, "Sonic X" immediately launches into an adaptation of "Sonic Adventure 2." And I imagine most "Sonic" dorks in 2004 were fine with this, because they were all ravenously hungry for Shadow the Hedgehog-related content. The series has teased Shadow being in the show from the very beginning, as Sonic's edgier counterpart has appeared in every opening sequence without showing up in an actual episode thus far. Well, Shadow lovers in 2004, fear no longer. The so-called ultimate lifeform finally makes his first appearance, his debut announced in the title(s). 

"Project: Shadow" begins with Station Square still recovering from Perfect Chaos' attack, leading to shake-ups in Chris' home life and school life. Meanwhile, Eggman learns that G.U.N. is continuing to reverse-engineer more powerful robots from his technology. While hacking into their computers, he uncovers a secret, fifty-year old project that was build by his grandfather, Gerald Robotnik. This leads him to Project Shadow, a secret weapon the government has kept under wraps for five decades. Hoping to prevent another calamity, the U.S. government wants Rouge to infiltrate Eggman's operations. So she decides to steal a Chaos Emerald as a bargaining chip. 

Actually, I lied. Shadow doesn't really appear in this episode, save for a misty cameo at the end. Shadow fetishist had to wait a little longer. Instead, "Project: Shadow" is a more laidback episode than what we've been getting lately. It acknowledges that Station Square is still recovering from a major disaster. Sonic is seen running through the ruined city, looking for survivors buried in rubble. Even Chris' schoolmates are getting involved in the rebuilding efforts, as they help carry boxes of food delivered by Chris' dad into the school. (Which seems to be functioning as a shelter.) 

But how does this city-wide devastation effect Chris Thorndyke, rich child? Apparently, the flooding reached all the way out to the Thorndyke mansion. While it's being rebuilt, Chris will be living with his grandfather in an RV. This is yet more evidence that Chris' parents actually hate him. If you had just survived a city-leveling catastrophe, wouldn't you want to be as close to your kids as possible? But not the Thorndykes. They consider the restoration of their mansion much more important and pawn the boy off on his grandfather. Naturally, since Chris is totally used to his parents abandoning him, he's far more upset about being separated from Sonic and the other furries. Once again, I have the deepest sympathies for Chris' future therapist. 

It's been a while since this cartoon portrayed the U.S. government as completely incompetent, so I'm happy to see them getting back to that here. There's a bit about the president mindlessly signing disaster relief bills, while daydreaming about Sonic, with a massive new budget plan for G.U.N. snuck in there too. I kind of doubt this was intentional satire but the military using a horrible natural disaster as an excuse for a budget increase is a pretty accurate observation about America. Also, Mr. Stewart has been reassigned to Scarlet Garcia's news office. He leaks information about Project: Shadow for presumably nefarious reasons. I guess the CIA realized Mr. Stewart was kind of a shitty spy and figured he was better used elsewhere. 

Oh yeah, this episode also reveals that Eggman was born on Earth. Yeah, he uncovers this nugget when digging through Gerald Robotnik's secret folders. The doctor quickly concludes that Earth and "Sonic's home world" must be parallel dimensions of some sort. I already know, thanks to TV Tropes, that this plot point is never developed. It's pretty clear why this happened: "Sonic X" has already established G.U.N. as existing on Earth, so in order for "Sonic Adventure 2's" plot to make sense, Gerald has to be from Earth. Meanwhile, the show has also already established that Eggman is from Sonic's world. I guess the show runners figured it was easier to acknowledge this inconsistency, and then just continue adapting the game, then try and turn this into a plot point.... Even though Eggman being a visitor from Earth would explain why he was the only human Sonic encountered for years and would supply a compelling origin for the villain... Which would also fly in the face of Sega demanding its characters not have definitive origins. I guess that answers the question of why this plot point wasn't further developed.

Eggman, in fact, has more to do in this episode than Sonic does. Aside from rescuing a missing child and a random comedic encounter with Bokkun, Sonic doesn't do much here. Eggman, meanwhile, gets all the big action sequences. He blasts his way into the prison where Shadow is being stored. This leads to an extended scene of Eggman smashing all of G.U.N.'s new robots. This could just be an excuse to showcase the new mechanical designs but, in execution, it's amusing. The government spends all this money to make new robots from Eggman tech and he crushes them — literally in one case — in minutes. 

The Eggman issue isn't the only inconsistency between the established game lore and the established show lore "Sonic X" will have to grapple with while adapting "Adventure 2." When Rouge was introduced in the games, it was as a morally ambiguous figure aligned with Eggman. In this cartoon show, she's already been fighting against Eggman for a while now. It looks like "Sonic X" is going to resolve this just by having Rouge go undercover. She still tries to steal the Master Emerald, further setting up her rivalry/belligerent sexual tension with Knuckles. (Knuckles continues to be an adorable dumb-ass, as he apparently doesn't realize Rouge is female while she's in her ninja disguise. Even though her cleavage, somehow, is visible through the fabric.)

I have no idea yet if, like the "Sonic Adventure" story arc, "Sonic X's" "Adventure 2" will quickly devolve into routine recreations of the game's events. However, this adaptation is certainly off to a livelier start than the last one. As I've said many times before, this show is at its best when showing how Sonic and his pals arriving on Earth effects human society. This episode has a lot of that, which is why it's fairly enjoyable. Hopefully there will be more of that as we head towards the inevitable final boss battle aboard the ARK. [7/10]

Sonic X, Episode 2.06: Flood Fight

Sonic X, Episode 2.06: Flood Fight

Japanese Title: The Scream of Perfect Chaos

Japanese Air Date: November 9th, 2003

U.S. Air Date: October 23rd, 2004

Here we are at the conclusion of "Sonic X's" adaptation of "Sonic Adventure." Telling the game's story over the course of six episodes probably should've been more than doable. Yet the show's pacing has been all fucked-up and weird throughout this whole thing. Think about it this way: Once you remove the theme song, ending credits, and commercial breaks, the average episode of "Sonic X" runs about 22 minutes. Six episodes equals 132 minutes, a bit over two hours. "Sonic Adventure" contains roughly nine hours of gameplay. Granted, most of that time is not story relevant. Like I said, a satisfying "Sonic Adventure" adaptation over the course of six episodes should've been possible. But this does, perhaps, explain why the arc turned out so uneven.

Anyway, "Flood Fight" — "The Scream of Perfect Chaos" is a way cooler title — begins with Sonic and the crew uncovering Eggman's unconscious body. He explains that Chaos betrayed him, which is followed by Tikal giving our heroes another vision. Knuckles says they should be okay as long as the seven Emeralds are kept separate... Which is right about when Chris comes running up to them, the white Emerald in his hand. Chaos immediately appears, grabs all the MacGuffins, and begins his final metamorphosis. The kaiju sized Perfect Chaos floods Station Square, wreaks further havoc, and is impervious to all weapons. Tikal appears again and drawls the de-powered emeralds from Chaos. With a little help from his friends, Sonic transforms into Super Sonic and attempts to stop the giant monster. But will it be enough?

Here's the main thought this episode gave me: Chris Thorndyke is responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. Consider this. Station Square is obviously modeled on bustling American metropolises like New York City, Los Angeles, or San Francisco. 8.4 million people live in NYC. 3 million live in L.A. Even San Fran, on the lower end of things, contains a population of roughly 874,961 people. Perfect Chaos causes flood waters to rise several stories, as people are being plucked out of the waters through the windows of skyscrapers. This flooding happens within minutes and seems to effect nearly the entire city. There's no way the majority of people had time to get to higher ground. We're talking a staggering number of fatalities here, likely comparable to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which had a body count of 230,000 people. Not to mention property damage well within the billion dollar range. Such a flood would be a truly apocalyptic event. And it's all because Chris had to run and show his echidna friend the shiny rock he found. 

Unsurprisingly, this children's cartoon does not focus on the unimaginable level of death and destruction such a disaster would reap. (Nor does it blame a ten-year-old rich kid for it, even if it should.) But the cartoon does at least acknowledge that this is a very grave situation, isolating most of the wacky comic relief to the episode's early parts. While there's no acknowledgment of the sheer level of catastrophe on display here, the show does kind of attempt to sell the gravity of things. It focuses on the average people during this disaster. Mr. Stewart is shown abandoning his secret agent duties and rushing the kids in his class to safety. Sam Speed is shown writing a speeding ticket in the minutes before disaster strikes. He's later fished out of the flood waters by a still homeless Jerome Wise. This is as close as the show comes to depicting how the average citizen would respond to a cataclysm of this magnitude. 

As in the game, Eggman's contingency plan for Chaos' inevitable betrayal is a second Egg Carrier. Also as in the game, this proves totally ineffective and Perfect Chaos destroys the airship easily. In the aftermath of this failure, Eggman puts his differences with Sonic aside and helps give the hedgehog the Chaos Emerald. Now, obviously, Eggman only does this because Chaos humiliated him. Because the big watery titan poses an equal threat to him as it does anyone else. But heroes and villains teaming up during such a calamity is a nice character beat. I'm glad that got included in the episode. 

Eggman, ultimately, is lucky. The first flashback Tikal gives everyone fully depicts the events that led to Chaos' initial rampage, hundreds of years ago. Pachacamac and the Knuckles clan stormed Chaos' temple, trampled over Tikal and the Chao, all because they wanted that sweet Chaos Emerald power. That's why Chaos wiped them off the map, creating a similar apocalypse that removed the echidnas from history and presumably made Knuckles' bloodline the last of his kind. A thirst for power, and the hubris that comes from thinking you can master natural forces, is what doomed the echidnas. "Sonic X" isn't smart enough to draw a parallel between Pachacamac and Eggman's mutual power-hungry nature but it also doesn't take a lot of mental energy to see it. 

Yet there's one part of Chaos' backstory that never made much sense to me. Tikal wastes a lot of ghostly breath talking about how "the Seven Chaos are controlled by the heart." The assumption seems to be that Chaos has been locked in the fury and grief of that moment all this time. Which is why he's still being such a huge asshole. At the same time, apparently positive emotions like compassion and love can similarly charge up the Chaos Emeralds. Which is how Sonic is able to turn into Super Sonic, as his friends send him their good vibes spirit bomb style. In no other "Sonic" media, or even at any other point in the games' history, has the Chaos Emeralds responded to emotions. This random ass-pull of a plot point is done seemingly to forge a sappy moral about opening your heart. When combined with the vague, faux-philosophical dialogue Tikal is often given, it ends the story on a wish-washy, confusing note. 

How does Super Sonic intend on removing the hate from Perfect Chaos' heart and making him a peaceful puddle once again? By beating the ever-loving shit out of him, of course. Rather than try and examine the logistics of that, let's take a look at the big fight between Super Sonic and Perfect Chaos. It is the boss battle all of this plot's previous boss battles have been building towards, the culmination of this entire story arc. And it's... Pretty short. Yep, like seemingly every single fight scene during this adaptation, the epic duel between Super Sonic and Perfect Chaos is over almost as soon as it starts. Super Sonic flies through the enormous water demon several times which causes him to blow up real good. Once again, I guess this tracks with the show's characterization of Sonic as being utterly unstoppable, making his super form truly omnipotent. But it sure does make for an underwhelming climax to a six episode long story arc. 

At least TMS sprung for a minute of slightly better animation during the big boss, as there's a cool shot of Super Sonic slipping in and around Perfect Chaos' tentacles. Anyway, I know I've complained about “Sonic X” botching the “Sonic Adventure” adaptation from the minute it started. I'm sure, among certain fans, this run of episodes is very well regarded. Yet the entire thing felt pretty off-balanced and awkward to me. Its ending is similarly messy, leaving me dissatisfied and slightly annoyed. I mean, damn, they could've have squeezed in a single weird joke? I must, once again, conclude that “Sonic X” is superior when following its own weird muse than when copying what Sega has done in the past. [6/10]

Sonic X, Episode 2.05: Revenge of the Robot

Sonic X, Episode 2.05: Revenge of the Robot

Japanese Title: Gamma the Wanderer

Japanese Air Date: November 2nd, 2003

U.S. Air Date: October 16th, 2004

The previous episode of "Sonic X" ended with Chris stumbling upon the white Chaos Emerald and this one begins with him running to find Knuckles. Sonic explores the Mystic Ruins and then discovers Final Egg, Eggman's secret jungle base. Meanwhile, Gamma — freed from his servitude to Eggman by Amy's kindness — embarks on a quest to find his "brothers" in the E-100 suite and free them as well. Amy heads to the sunken Egg Carrier to reunite her little blue bird friend with her family, where our story threads converge. 

When I was looking at the guide for season two of "Sonic X," I was surprised to see an episode between the obvious final battle upon the Egg Carrier and the episode devoted to the Super Sonic/Perfect Chaos battle, the not-so-secret final boss of "Sonic Adventure." This is because, in the decade or so it's been since I last played this video game, I forgot there was quite a bit of story in-between these two points. "Gamma the Wanderer" is an episode devoted to that area, essentially wrapping up any lingering plot points from the first four episodes of the season. This basically means rushing through Sonic's final boss bottle and the rest of Gamma and Amy's stories. 

And when I say "rushing through," I mean it. Sonic's confrontation with Eggman and his Egg Viper, one of the hardest boss battles in the game, is reduced to a brief scuffle here. Basically, Eggman pins Sonic with the machine's tail for a minute before the hedgehog breaks free and wrecks the device. I guess this follows "Sonic X" logic, considering the ease with which this version of Sonic destroys any of Eggman's other machines. The climax of Amy Rose's story, a fight with Zero, gets even less attention. Literally, the entire boss battle is reduced to the robot lunging at Amy and her smacking it aside with her hammer. That's it. This show has got to find a compromise between listlessly recapping the game's event and just breezing through them. 

After Sonic's underwhelming confrontation in Final Egg, the rest of this episode is mostly devoted to Gamma's solo story. "Sonic X" actually takes a pretty interesting approach to that. Instead of hunting his "brothers" down and blowing them the fuck up, Gamma peacefully releases the animal inside each robot without a fight. Obviously, this was done in order to condense Gamma's entire story into one episode. (Really, more like half of one episode.) In execution, it makes the robot look like a merciful savior freeing his kind from enslavement at the hands of their master. Which actually works pretty well. That Eggman has the other E-100s chained up in random places — or, in the case of the previously unmentioned E-105 Zeta, transformed into some sort of engine inside the Egg Carrier — certainly emphasizes the villain's senseless cruelty. 

Of course, there is some robot-on-robot violence in this episode. As in the game, E-101 Beta has been given a heavily-armed upgrade, which Gamma has to tango with. The episode tries to play up the tragedy of the situation, Gamma being forced to fight his brother and being destroyed himself after freeing him. Since these events played out in nonlinear order in the game, another irony becomes apparent here: Gamma and Beta contain the birds that Amy's blue bird has been searching for. So it's still a happy ending of sorts, the feathery family reunited. But I think Gamma's story works better in isolation, where it seems like the robot gives his life to ensure his final brother is free of enslavement. 

This episode also does its due diligence setting up the game's final-final boss. Sonic dives into the Mystic Ruins, gets a vision from Tikal, and sees an ancient placard depicting Perfect Chaos. The very last image of the episode is Chaos attacking Eggman and the sky growing dark. Perfect Chaos' appearance has been so heavily foreshadowed by this point that it would've removed any surprise from the story. (If I didn't know where this story was going anyway.) Kind of makes you wonder why this show — and the game it's adapting too, I guess — went to the trouble of stopping Eggman from feeding Chaos all the emeralds anyway. 

Even when this deep into adapting a plot-heavy video game, "Sonic X" still can't resist adding some bizarre comic relief for seasoning. Eggman dismisses his robot minions. Decoe and Bocoe were left on the Egg-Carrier and Eggman is too tired and fed-up to give Bokkun a cutesy task after delivering a message. Which made me chuckle. The strangest gag is one that only makes sense in "Sonic X." After saving the city, Tails has become something of a celebrity. In order to sneak out of the Thorndyke mansion without being harassed by the press, Ella seemingly disguises Tails as a bundled-up infant in a baby carriage... Before revealing that Mr. Tanaka is dressed up as the baby. Ella then, for no reason, spins a yarn about how she was impregnated in Japan and awaits the chance to see her lover again. (Tails is hiding up Ella's dress, which is actually the least freaky thing about this series of events.) I don't know why that detail was necessary, nor why Tanaka stays in the baby disguise for the entirety of the following scene. But I'm glad the show threw that in. "AoStH"-style surreal humor is even more delightful when surrounded by boring Sega shit. 

I found myself getting some enjoyment out of Gamma's particular storyline, so this episode hardly bored me. But I do feel the "Sonic Adventure" adaptation continues to be rather routine and lifeless. If I wanted to play the game, ya know, I would've just played the game. The times "Sonic X" departs from the "Adventure" script, whether that be through weirdo humor or reinterpretations of the game's events, have been the best moments here of late. [6/10]

Sonic the Hedgehog: Imposter Syndrome: Issue 2

Sonic the Hedgehog: Imposter Syndrome: Issue 2

Publication Date: January 12th, 2022 

IDW is trying a new strategy with their "Sonic" comics, at least going into the new year. Instead of having the main "Sonic" book and the "Imposter Syndrome" mini-series run concurrently, the books are alternating months. This month, issue 2 of "Imposter Syndrome" came out, next month we'll see issue 48 of "Sonic." So on and so forth. I don't know if this is an attempt to not spread the comic's creative team short or just a money issue or whatever. But it's interesting and I wonder if this will affect the way the intersecting story is meant to flow. 

"Stress Test" has Starline and his clones moving on to the next step of his plan. After taking Eggman Sigma Base last month, he's not set his sights on Alpha Base. While the doctor infiltrates the main computer room, Surge and Kit journey towards a control tower. The temperamental Surge goes against her plan and gets smacked by a giant robot for her troubles. She's strangely unharmed and the two are successful in their mission after all. As Starline celebrates the win, the clones hatch a scheme of their own to dig into their past. 

 

The second issue of "Imposter Syndrome" follows a similar structure to the first one. This is an action focused comic book. There are multiple pages devoted to Surge wrecking little ant-like Badniks or tussling with a bulky and heavily-armed robot. Amid the non-stop action, Flynn does sneak in some character-building dialogue and events. I guess this is a pretty good way to write an action/adventure comic for children, having the fight scenes and the interpersonal drama and growth occurring at the same time. That way the book has depth alongside the required amount of smashing and thrashing. 

And the titular imposters are growing. Last time, I found Surge's unending bragging and Kit's timidity a little annoying. I feel like Surge, in theory, was supposed to be an unrepentant asshole that you still kind of like. But, in execution, she was just obnoxious. Here, she gets the chip on her shoulder knocked off. The Smashy-Smashy robot seemingly K.O.s her, showing her that perhaps she doesn't have it all figured out. The same event causes Kit to realize he's stronger than he knows. Seeing Surge harmed caused the little fennec to go into a rage and use his water manipulation powers to gravely injure the machine. These two are stronger together and maybe they are realizing that. 

What's becoming this duo's most endearing quality, to me anyway, is how neurotic they are. As is usually the case, Surge's ego covers up deeper insecurities. While fighting the larger Badnik, inwardly she chides herself for not defeating it faster. That Sonic would have won already. Kit's utter subservience results in him constantly stuttering. He gets very nervous when Surge goes against Starline's plan. His weird relationship with Surge gets even weirder when she gives him a reassuring poke in the chest. He smiles to himself before happily barking "Yes, ma'am!" I don't know if Flynn is writing these two as siblings or an unrequited crush but that interaction veers towards a "Senpai/simp" dynamic. 

Sadly, there are downsides to this issue. After sharing art duties with Aaron Hammerstrom last issue, Thomas Rothlisberger goes solo on this one. And his lines are a little off. His work has always had a loose quality to it, that usually adds energy to the panels. Here, it just comes off as rushed and a bit sloppy. This is especially an issue during the action scenes. Truth be told, they're just hard to follow. The battle between Surge and the spike-ball wielding veers towards incoherent. When he fires his mace as a weapon, it took me a minute to figure out what exactly was going on.

Another problem is I don't think I find Starline as compelling as Ian Flynn does. He was at his best during the "Bad Guys" mini-series, when him and Zavok were secretly scheming against each other. When he thinks he has everything under control, as he does in this issue, his schtick becomes tiresome. A small scene established, once again, that his master plan is to usurp Eggman's empire as the ultimate act of twisted fanboy admiration. It seems to me that Starline works best when playing off other characters. When left on his own, he just doesn't show much depth.  

I was uncertain how I felt about this issue until the last few pages. I liked Surge and Kit's character development but felt the rest of it was sort of lacking. On the last page, the duo have thoroughly decided something doesn't add up and are going to investigate their own past. (Or lack there of.) This is what I've been waiting for the whole time, the moment Starline's Frankenstein Monsters turn against him. I'm really curious to see how Surge and Kit, with their incredibly fragile personalities, will respond to the horrible truth that they were born in a test tube. So, if nothing else, Ian Flynn knows how to keep the reader on the hook until the next month. (Or two months, as it were.)

"Imposter Syndrome" is still a flawed story but it's improving the more it digs into the psychology of its villain protagonists. I hope the inevitable confrontation between Starline and this dysfunctional duo is really juicy. And I am curious to see what will happen to these two after this mini-series is wrapped up. This issue is marred by some sloppy art but my overall opinion of "Imposter Syndrome" – positive but it really depends on how well Flynn sticks the landing – remains about the same. [7/10]

I BOUGHT THE SONIC LEGO SET AND SO SHOULD YOU

It's been mentioned in this blog from time to time but, for those that don't know, I am something of a toy collector. I've slow downed a little bit, because of space and money and adult responsibilities. Yet I still buy a couple of figures every year. I've got a room in my basement full of NECA stuff and other things like that, as well as a bookshelf in my office packed with Marvel Legends and DC Universe Classics. 

About ten years ago, my little nephew got into Lego. I enjoyed the globally beloved building brick toy as a child but hadn't looked at them much since then. Yet the joy they brought my five-year-old nephew intrigued me and I had a lot of fun assembling sets with him. Around that time, Lego announced a new theme based on classic monster movie archetypes. Being a huge classic horror buff, I had to grab all of these. After that, I became Zack the Lego Maniac for a couple of years and these fucking brick toys took over my home for a while. I even got my mom into them and now her house is also filled with Lego. She might be more into them than I ever was.

 

As I have with toy-buying in general, I've slowed down a little bit with Lego... But just a little, because they still send me catalogs and I still pick up the sets and mini-figs that interest me. I still have the monster and various superhero sets together on a table in my basement. I call it the “Monster Village” and like to add to it from time to time. Because at a certain point a grown man collecting children's toys becomes indistinguishable between those old ladies who hoard those miniature Christmas villages. 

What does this have to do with Sonic? A while ago, there was a craze for video games you had to buy corresponding toys for, that would introduce new content into the game. They were essentially games you had to keep buying, which the companies must have loved. It turned out to be a pretty short-lived fad but, during that time, WB Interactive teamed up with Lego to launch the toy line/video game called Lego Dimensions. Among the properties roped into that massive crossover was Sonic. Being both a Lego freak and a Sonic nerd, I had to pick up the "Sonic" pack, even though I've never actually played the corresponding video game. How could I resist having a little Sonic mini-fig of my own?

I knew it was unlikely but had hoped Lego would do more Sonic-related sets after this. The Lego Dimensions levels featured Lego-ified versions of Sonic's friends and enemies, so the potential was there. But the toys-to-life fad dried up shortly after that and Lego Dimensions was discontinued, dashing all hope.

But I guess I'm not the only person at the center of the Sonic fan/Lego fan vin diagram. Not too long ago, an enterprising fan created a Sonic Mania Lego set and submitted it to Lego Ideals. That's the program through which fan submitted ideas can be produced as actual purchasable sets, if they acquired enough attention. And if Lego deems it worth the time and effort to work out a deal with the owners of the I.P. The "Sonic Mania" design went viral, earned the proper amount of signatures, and was soon approved. We were getting a proper Lego set to go with the little Dimensions pack.

Well, it's out now. I bought it, as a late Christmas present to myself, and put it together over the last two days. Probably to tie in with Sega's 30th anniversary plans, the set was completely redesigned to replicate the first level of the original "Sonic the Hedgehog" game. And I imagine this was also done to make the set cheaper to produce, to sell at a more reasonable cost, as the "Mania" design featured a giant Death Egg robot. I would've loved to put that together but I'm not sure how many other people would be willing to spend 200 dollars or whatever on that toy. 

Like all Ideas set, even the packaging for this is beautiful. It comes in a sturdy, suitcase style box with lots of lovely photographs of the set on it. The instruction manual is also really cute and detailed. The front of the booklet replicates the start screen for "Sonic 1," while the back features the end screen. There's an extremely condensed timeline of the "Sonic" franchise. As you progress through the instruction, a tiny Sonic mini figure is shown running along the bottom of the book. He even jumps back and loses rings when you put the two Badniks — a Crabmeat and MotoBug — included with the set together. It's really adorable and well done.

The set is separated into seven bags and this comes with a cute feature too. Each bag includes a little Chaos Emerald, that you can plug into Sonic's base as you assemble the rest of the package. Touches like that prove that a lot of love was built into this adult collectible, that real fans had a hand in making this a reality. 

As for the set proper, obviously it's ridiculously cool. A lot of features from the Green Hill Zone are rendered in building bricks in novel ways. That includes a massive loop to run through, a palm tree, the sun flowers, a checkpoint post, and a wooden bridge over a stream. Rings can be attached to clear plastic rods, which you attach to the back of the set, to give the illusion of rings floating throughout the "level." A similar trick is done with a floating platform, which can attach to two clear "window" pieces above the hoop. My favorite detail is a big red spring, which actually works thanks to a little lever you build into the foundation.

Seeing the Green Hill Zone recreated so faithfully in Lego bricks is a lot of fun. Turning old video games into Lego sets is a logical choice, since the bricks can easily replicate blocky pixels. The checkered pattern of the game zone is nicely represented here. Even if it means you're going to be spending a lot of time meticulously snapping small, light brown pieces to equally small but slightly darker brown pieces. They even include Sonic's life meter in the corner of the set, via a sticker. There's also a sticker containing a small bit of code that you adhere to the back. Nice touch.

The Sonic mini figure appears to be the same one from the Lego Dimensions set. Which isn't really a complaint because he's adorable. Similarity, the little Crabmeat and MotoBug you put together also look really good and cute. The MotoBug comes with two different stickers, showing a placid face and an angry face, that you can trade out. (There's also two monitors you put together, which has five power-up stickers you can swap.) I do wish the Badnik's trademark single wheel was a little better represented but I understand that the route they went instead — rounded pieces that easily connect to the set — was probably more practical. The Crabmeat also looks good, though he doesn't attach as easily to the rest of the build. 

If I've seen any criticism towards this set, it's been for the Eggman/Robotnik portion. While Sonic is a standard mini-fig, just with a unique head, Robotnik you actually assemble. This was probably the better choice, as Lego doesn't really make "fat" minifigs and Eggman should be bigger than Sonic anyway. There's a lot of neat tricks used to assemble the doctor, regular Lego pieces being repurposed to make the shape of his body. But he does look a little goofy, made out of blocky bricks like this. The Egg-Mobile looks beautiful as a Lego set though. Honestly, I would've purchased that as a stand-alone release, I like it so much. 

Another minor bit of criticism I'd offer was also, perhaps, unavoidable. The set is so determined to replicate the experience of playing the Genesis game that everything stretches out vertically. You essentially put together the different components and snap them next to each other. It does flatten the dynamism of Lego bricks as a medium a little bit, putting them together left-to-right like that. I'm not sure what other way there'd be to set this up though, so just ignore this paragraph.

As far as construction difficulty and time investment goes, I don't think the "Sonic" set is too bad. It's sturdier and less complicated than some other Ideas sets I've put together. I guess making it one long horizontal platform was beneficial in that regard. It took me maybe four or so hours to put the whole thing together, which isn't bad for a Lego set of this size. Keep in mind, dropping some of the pieces used to make Eggman's ass and crouching around on the floors looking for them, contributed to that chunk of time. That kind of shit always happens to me.

I hope this well enough to justify doing more Sonic-themed Lego sets. There's certainly a ton more they could do. I might have to see if I can customize mine a little by adding a wrecking ball to Robotnik's craft. And I still want to put that Death Egg robot together. Obviously, I'd love to have some other "Sonic" cast members in mini-figure form. Even my girlfriend pointed out that this set doesn't come with Tails or Knuckles. (I resisted the temptation to explain to her that, of course it doesn't. This is based off the first game, Tails and Knuckles hadn't been introduced yet. And that's why we're still together.) You can buy bootleg figures of other "Sonic" characters, some of which I might pick up, so the demand is obviously there. Lego and Sega just have to go for it. 

Any criticisms I have are truly just nitpicks. This is a great set, full of lovable tidbits for fans that is fairly easy to assemble and holds together nicely. If you're a fan of both "Sonic" and Lego... We'll, you definitely already own this. But if you're a "Sonic" dork who hasn't put a Lego set together in years, I'd still suggest you pick this thing up. It's fun to put together and fun to play with after that's all done. Ideas sets sometimes have short runs, depending on how well they sell, so you might want to be fast —  like someone else I could name — if you're looking to get it.