Sonic Boom, Episode 2.23: Nominatus Rising

Sonic Boom, Episode 2.23: Nominatus Rising

Original Air Date: April 15th, 2017

When you think of great superheroes, one of the first related concepts that come to mind is the great supervillain. It's been observed before that a hero is only as good as his adversaries and the most popular superheroes in the world – Batman and Spider-Man – are generally recognized as having the best rogues galleries in comics too. And think about that phrase... A "gallery" suggests a wide ranging display of rogues, a collection of many different notable names that writers and artists can pull from whenever they want. If you think of Sonic the Hedgehog as a superhero, a problem presents itself quickly. He really only has one notable rogue, doesn't he? Lots of other enemies have challenged the blue hedgehog over the years. Yet, as far as official Sega canon goes, almost all of them are connected back to Eggman/Robotnik in some ways. If you were to ask the average dude on the street to name a "Sonic the Hedgehog" baddie, Eggman is the only one they're likely to mention. The other probable candidates, Shadow and Metal Sonic, are examples of a rival/antihero situation and a minion of Eggman. 

The point I'm making is... Sonic definitely has a Joker/Green Goblin but attempts to give him a Penguin/Doc Ock have never really caught on. Not that people haven't tried. Peripheral "Sonic" media, like the comics and cartoons, are absolutely packed with non-Eggman baddies that have remained obscure outside the niche fandoms for those branches of the franchise. Even "Sonic Boom," about as far away from the action/adventure roots of the series as you can get, threw in oddballs like Charlie and the Lightning Bolt Society. Natalys Raut-Sieuzac, the day-to-day showrunner of "Boom," did her part to add to Sonic's rogues gallery by introducing weirdo digital threat Nominatus in season one episode, "Let's Play Musical Friends." I don't think that episode or the character were all that well received but, when you are the director of every single episode of a show, you get the chance to bring back your personal pet character. Even if nobody gave a shit about them the first time. And so, Nominatus would return to vex Sonic and the crew again in season two ep, "Nominatus Rising."

 

We begin with Tails' introducing a fancy add-on to his Build-A-Box device. (Which seems to be a 3D printer type of thing. Everyone treats it like an established part of the show, even though this is its first appearance.) The machine can now bring digital characters into the real world. The gang immediately manifests into reality Ms. Tomatopotamus, the distaff counterpart to the previously introduced video game franchise within this video game franchise. Tails has a throttle cap on the machine, that keeps any characters it creates in real life pint-sized. Via Eggman's Spybot, sentient computer virus Nominatus becomes aware of the machine. While Sonic and the gang are playing with their new hippo pal, Nominatus and his henchmen hijack the Build-A-Box and force themselves into meatspace... At action figure scale. It's not long, however, before the digital demon removes the data cap and he can begin his conquest of reality once again. 

Many times, across the decade I've been reviewing "Sonic" comics and cartoons, I've found myself with a particular feeling. Namely, the sense of "What the fuck am I reading and/or watching?" I do believe that "Sonic" franchise's reputation for impenetrable weirdness can partially be linked back to various writers, artists, and animators using the profitable "Sonic" license to shoehorn in their own largely unrelated characters and stories. Ken Penders' vast catalogue of echidna OCs is surely the most notorious example of this but I don't think it's the oddest. Personally, I found the tone of "Sonic Underground" and "Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog's" most aggressively offbeat moments to be better examples of something that neither looks nor feels like "Sonic the Hedgehog" being packaged under that brand name. The "Boom" cartoon has largely avoided this. Even the episodes that revolve around Dave the Intern or the Gogobas or whatever have, in some way, linked back to the blue hedgehog and his pals. 

However, there is a sequence in "Nominatus Rising" that really made me pause. Nominatus and his henchmen, the large and simple-minded Beta and the small and sneaky Retro, recreate themselves IRL and realize they are 1:16 scale. What follows is a slapstick sequence of the tiny villains crossing the lab, fording around a spilled glass of water, and encountering some non-anthropomorphic animals. Watching this moment, I had that old "Underground"/"AoStH" feeling, that my quest to watch every bit of "Sonic"-related stuff had seen me encountering something that has nothing to do with Sonic. The sheer sense of investment this episode has in Nominatus – including treating his sidekicks as if they've always been there, when they are in fact making their first and last appearances here – gives me the impression that someone was determined to make this guy a fan favorite. This is also evident in how he proves to be a creditable threat to both Sonic and Eggman, forcing the two of them to work together. Ya know, it just feels like a kid writing a fanfic that introduced his amaaaaazing new villain that curb stomps all the good guys and bad guys in minutes. "Nominatus Rising" doesn't go that far, as the titular villain is still humiliated in a typically flippant "Boom" manner. Yet I can't escape this sense that an original creation that barely has any business being in this universe was forced into the spotlight here. 

If I'm correct and Nominatus is Natalys Raut-Sieuzac's Monkey Khan, then the question begs to be asked: Why did she think this guy was so cool, that she attempted to brute force him into being a fan favorite twice? Nominatus has a retro video game gimmick, his energy blasts taking the form of pixelated lightning bolts. His moves are accompanied by old school sound effects. His presence brings with it callbacks to classic video games like Ms. Pac-Man, Mario, and Centipede. But, beyond that, there really isn't anything interesting about the guy. He's a generic looking demon-like villain. He has a generic, Skeletor-like relationship with his bumbling goons. His goals, of escaping his digital prison and taking over the flesh-and-blood realm, are equally uninspired. I think that's why the scene focused on him give me such a feeling of disconnection. Nominatus feels like he could be the bad guy in any Saturday morning cartoon show. There's nothing representive of the "Sonic" universe about him. That's also clear in the scenes around him, such as him and his henches fighting Tails' cat... When the fuck has Tails ever had a cat!?!

All of that bullshit aside, what do I think of this episode overall? It's okay. There's a handful of sensible chuckles. The reveal that Knuckles has been hiding sea bass under Tails' floorboards, attracting all sorts of wild life, is a likably cartoony gag. Eggman being incensed that the heroes are having an adventure that doesn't involve him is a good line. In general, the established elements of these characters – Knuckles is a big strong dimwit, Eggman's villainy covers up obvious insecurities, Sticks is paranoid – is so ingrained now, that it's easy for the show to just riff on that and get a few laughs. Overall though, one gets the impression that Raut-Sieuzac finds verbal shout-outs to old, thoroughly run-into-the-ground video games and internet memes more amusing than I do. "Let's Play Musical Friends" gave me that feeling too, so it's fair to say that maybe this is just her style.

My main takeaway from this episode is that Ms. Tomatopotamus is cute. I wouldn't mind having a little pink hippo with a bow that can launch tomatoes with deadly accuracy as a pet for a wacky, lesson-inducing afternoon. Even if Tails building a machine that can transform digital images into living and breathing, flesh homunculi feels like some real mad scientist shit. Some total "Black Mirror"/"Brainscan"/"Lawnmower Man"/"How to Make a Monster" blatherskite. There's even a throwaway line from Knuckles about how Ms. Tomatopotamus is a crime against nature. That could've been the foundation for a stronger episode, of Tails following the "coulda, not shoulda" principal of invention and learning a valuable lesson about scientific responsibility. Instead, the showrunner decided to force her not-that-interesting original character on us again. At least the message that nobody cares about Nominatus must've been received, as this was his last appearance. If only Tommy Turtle or Locke could have gotten that response. If they were going to bring back a random season one baddie for another episode, why not Swifty the Shrew or Cowbot? Alas. [5/10]