Issue # 125;
I didnt expect this issue to be so depressing! It was very near-apocolyptic,but I loved it!
Comic starts with Sally using all her logic to figure out that Mobuis and Earth are the same planet with Nicole. Rotor seemed to have quickly whipped up a helmet that would allow King Acorn to communicate with the Xorda through his thoughs. Of course, just before he puts it on, Sally says that she should do it because she has a plan. She puts the helmet on, and is immediately talking with them.After trying to covince the Xorda to spare them, she fails. They continue their attack. Robotnik suddenly reports in, still pleading to King Acorn for his "help". Max agrees, as long as Robotnik gives him half control over the planet. Robotnik hesitates, but agrees. His plan is a giant robot that needs Sonic for the battery. Sonic and Sally head off to Robotnik's base alone after Sally says "If he goes down in battle, so will she." When they arrive, Sonic makes no hesitance getting into the robot and starts pedaling to give it energy. Ironically enough, they keep the Xorda at bay with one blow from the bot. Robotnik then traps Sonic inside the robot (surprise, surpirse) and trys to use him to destroy.Knuckles's afterlife story starts with him coming back from the Chaos Force and finding out he does get a second chance, much to Aurora's dismay. He goes back to Mobuis to help his friends at the time of need, just as the Xorda are about to fire their weapon "The Quantum Dial". Everyone in Mobuis teamed up to stop the Xorda by then. Sonic and Sally think that "this is it" until Knuckles destroys the Xorda Lazer cannons. Julie-Su is thrilled to see him, but as they are about to leave, Knuckles falls to the ground and says "his powers are gone..." while Rouge asks him if he is ok he says "goodbye".Just when it seems to not get any worse, Sonic finds that the only way to save everyone else will be his own sacrifice with the Quantum Dial. Robotnik's robot shatters into peices but there is no reasonable explanation. Him and Sally share a kiss before he speeds off and shatters the Dial...and himself. Everyone is shocked that his is really gone and have a funeral for him, ready for a lifetime of pain and grieving. Robotnik seems pleased.Turn the page, however, and Sonic is knocked-out on a random planet. Then it says to be continued...
The whole issue was very angsty and slightly confusing so I hope I did a good job on my first review. I couldnt quite figure out if Knux died or not, but it seems as if he did. Shadow was there a lot, but didnt say a word the whole comic.
The very end is Yuji Naka's lil' letter that includes a few of his thoughs about Sonic.
Story: Kinda cliche and predictable, but it was a good issue all in all and there is nothin like a little tearjerker here and there. (Gives it 8/10)
Art: Great! especially the front cover. Very nice details. Sally's hair seems to look funny in the first couple pages though, but thats just me i guess. |
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I was right. A day before Sonic #125 rolled into my mail box, I said I would recieve in that day. Needless to say, I was a lot more then giddy when my sister shouted, "10th anniversary Sonic #125!" I pratically wrestled it outta of her hand while she was looking at the cover (No, she doesn't read the comic, she isn't interested). After reading it through several times, and being lazy, I'm now ready for the review. Keep in mine, we got spoilers ahead...now lets see how Sonic's 125th issue lived up to...
COVER: Holy crowded characters, we gots ourself a mountain of characters! Spaz, I alwasy praised him for good character pics like these, though some are squeezed in, I know there's a reason why. Needless to say, I wish that one of these days, probably in the last issue, that Archie put in a poster of all the Archie characters as a treat. It should be drawn by Spaz or even Axer. I would proudly place that on my wall, right next to my Yu-Gi-Oh posters and Asian calendar, because right now, this is how I feel about this cover. I don't about you guys, but I have a fetish for pics with multiple characters since I draw these kinda things almost all the time. My most recent being Crash Bandicoot and his slew of characters. So, you can see that I love this.
Some notables are Mighty looking either drunk/beaten, Elias and Meg's child, Remington yelling at his people (OH, how I LOVE irony), and Flying Frog with Froggy like their good buddies.
Personally, I also think the black background is much better then the white one I saw in the previews. I swear, even if the story was bad, I would still subscible or buy it just for this cover alone. I simply love it.
10/10
STORY:
This is gonna be a long one. No frontipiece like the issue before, we just get right to the story.
Sally's news of Mobius being Earth left the others in utter shock. It seems the Gene-bombs were the Days of Fury that Mobians always believed in, making Earth and Mobius 99% compatible. Locke (who's wearing white again) also agrees as his computer picks up the same thing from the TV the FFs are viewing as.
Rotor whips out a helmet which is similiar to Cerebro (I think it was called that) from X-Men. It's suppose to communicate with the aliens and before it's placed on Max's head, Sally eagerly volunteers instead. So, when she does, she's either teleported there or a holographic image of her is, the later which I'm holding onto.
She tries to tell them that her species, the Mobosapiens, are the dominant race, not humans. They came to be that way because of the gene-bombs which mutated lower life forms to what they are. Well, at least it settles the whole evolution problem down. Of course, since Sally's species have enough dosage of human DNA, the Xorda are still planning to destroy the Earth. Bummer.
Locke's reception is interrupted by Eggman, his "number one pal". He built the Giga-Bot Prime which stands a good 100 ft tall. Looks like the brother of that other robot from #120. Seems like it needs Sonic's speed to run it. Sonic agrees, though relunctantly, but it doesn't come without a price. Max's responds can be summed up in this, "You want Sonic, give me half of the 99.9% of the land you control or die." Why he never asked for the whole Earth is beyond me...maybe Eggman would be "Over my dead body! I wouldn't give up that much, even if our world is doomed." Well, being desperate, Eggman agrees and cuts off.
Meanwhile, in the cosmos or something, Knuckles senses the aliens and gets out of the Chaos Force. Aurora ain't all that happy with his moves and Knuckles ask the question if he and his species are all allowed one life.
Cut to Sally making an annoucement to the others that Sonic is off to the Giga-Bot and that the FFs should be second to fight if it should fail. King Max and Locke have a hearty talk about Eggman's desperate moves, Locke then points out the people in Angel Island are also making their own moves as unlikely allies join up to stop this desperate cause. Locke also wants to hear Sonic's progress. Well, sure ain't hypocritcal there, people are sure desperate.
Sally decides to join Sonic to the Giga-Bot and would rather die with him at his side, it's pretty sweet. So, off they go to Robotropolis where Eggy (I love the way Art drew his boots here) has the giant robot waiting. Somehow, Eggman built in two seats, like he was expecting Sally or something. Anywho, sonic must pedal to get the robot working, which naturally, works. Off they go to the Xorda and with ONE hit, the Xorda retreat. I was like, "That's it?" Well, I will say if that was it, I would be sorely disppointed and my score would be low, real low.
Thank goodness it ain't. After the Xorda moves away, Sonic's legs are strapped. Eggman plains to use the robot to rule Mobius, er Earth. Of course, it ain't over yet as the Xorda leaves them a good-bye present. It looks like a scaly violet triangle. It's the Quantum Dial, one of the Xorda's greatest weapon and you can see why, the Dial spreads in a circlar motion, like a clock and as it does, leaves open a black hole which would then suck up Earth and all it's star system. I honestly wouldn't want that present. And of course, the Xorda leaves Earth AGAIN as they did 3,000 years ago. Sheesh, didn't they learn from 3,000 years ago to send in someone to check once their all gone? Guess not. Eggman gets the machine to auto-pedal so it can destroy it. The Dial is in the Southern Tundra (Mobius' equilvalent of the South Pole), so everyone marches on over there.
Back in the afterlife, Knuckles senses that he needs to help. Aurora protests, but both Knuckles and Althair (who isn't on his white robe no more), sees Knuckles worthy of a second chance, but if he goes back, there will be conseqeunces, one Knuckles will risk. Aurora is sorely disppointed, Althair's responds, "Weren't you ever 16?" Funny.
Missiles from Station Square aim for the Dial, but everytime a weapon is within 50ft of the dial, it gets destroyed. They would have to do it by themselves. So, people from all over the world, that includes Commander Brass and Rouge from the Station Square, the FFs with Big(Yay, Big!)and Froggy in the back and Monkey Chan way back there, Rob and his crazy critters, the Polar Freedom Fighters, Max's army lead by Antoine's father along with Hershey and Geofreey (Geez, they must love each so much that they wear matching outfits), the Chaotix with Remington (my eternal obsession), and Althair...who for some reason, is there. Whether it's by mistake or he really decided to join, I don't know, not to mention the villians from #117 (Yea, they survived, poor Tommy didn't), and Lien-Da with the D.Ls. Then, we see a full page of characters with what looks like Shadow leading, well, since Sonic is currently absent, Shadow stands as the fastest.
Suddenly, laser guns pop out from the ground (how did THOSE get there!?) as the gangs dodge and attack it. The Giga-Bot dude breaks apart after getting near the Dial. The snow manage to save Sonic and Sally from doom of falling...somehow. Whipping out Nicole, she gets the Dial scanned and shipped off to Rotor back in Knothole who explains a complete counterclock wise turn will stop it. And since Sonic is fast enough to do it, he volunteers. Of course, bad problem is that it will implode and anything and anyone near it, including Sonic. Sonic doesn't care as long as everyone else is safe.
Nicole's sensors are indicating something inside the dial. A Quantum wave that wil rid of any organic being within a 100 mile radius. It will occur in 3.5 seconds...too late. Things seem grim for Sonic and Sally, but the wave is destroyed along with the laser cannons thanks to Knuckles who makes a grand entrance and also looks like he used pretty much all his energy he had left to stop it. Knuckles is back and Julie is quite happy. Well, enough chit-chat, they gotta save the world. And Knuckles (which I assume) tries to glide, he falls, saying his powers are gone...his consequences, it's all up to Sonic now.
The Dial is still active, so Sonic must still stop. Sally doesn't like this idea at all, but he must do it. They hug and kiss for the last time, so they think, anyways, (since when does Sonic say "darling") in what I believe to be a truly heartwrenching moment. Sonic doesn't look back as he races towards the dial and we get to see this tremendous explosions.
"Sonic?" asked Tails, wondering if his "big brother" is still alive. There is a giant hole where the Dial used to be...
We fast forward to Sally and the FFs next to a Sonic statue as a momentun with the words, "He Saved the world (a Lot)", obviously from a Buffy espiode, which is arguably my fave espiode. I refuse to believe there was two more seasons after this! That was the true ending!!! Ahem...getting back, we see Sally looking at the moon from her home with King Max peeking in her daughter (you can tell it's him from his mustache, though it took me a while to figure it out).
We cut back to Sally saying Sonic is gone back in the Southern Tundra. The people are at a lost (Amy REALLY lets it out) and we see a big funeral for Sonic. Now, this confuses me. Either the people made a BIG mistake by having these two pages flip or they did the whole fast forward to the next day or something, then back again...it's confusing to tell, but either way, I don't think I really care. Eggman is the only one who's happy.
Meanwhile, 849,000 light years away, we see Sonic get transported (I think)to what looks like a moon.They had the guts to put in a "To Be continued."
The next page is the "Congrats" note from Naka-san, complete with a picture of him next to a Sonic doll. Gosh darn it, why did he cut his hair?! He was so much cuter before...ahem...ok, I'll stop.
SCORE:
Seriously, though, I'm glad that the Xorda didn't immediately retreat, otherwise, I'd be sorely disspointed. Like #124 before it, things were kinda squeezed in there, there were too many things going in at once, but hey, they had to fit in 28 pages. See, this is a reason why my comics usually are over 40 pages or so.
And there are STILL many things left unanswered, like who derobotized the Mobians? What about the Bems? What part did they play other then rescuing Shadow, couldn't they kill to drop in and help or something? It also raises the question of what is Shadow's purpose. Sure, people have been bugging for him for ages, but all he does is fight...the only thing he did was try to stop the Xorda back in #124.There's probably more, but I can't think of anything else, but like I said, 28 pages, not a whole lot to tell these kinda things. A least the story was straight to the point and that matters a great deal to me. Not to mention Sonic and Sally's heartwarming good-bye almost had me crying, too, though it weirded me out when Sonic said, "Darling". That is NOT Sonic at all. Seriously, it's a good story, though with some questions still left, and bits of flaws. I hope they get to solve them soon...especially on Knuckles' missing powers! And the whole Robos turned into Mobos.
8/10
ART:
I gotta score these artists indivdually, starting from order of appearances. Heh, an artist-in-training(well, that's what I consider myself despite drawing for 15 plus years of my life), reviewing artists in the comic...my life is ironic.
Dave Manak does the first three pages. He tries to have that Butler look to it and in some ways, he succeeds. His Hope looks like what Butler would do. He also does a good Locke, too, though I don't like the way he drew his mouth. Some of you guys don't like it, but for some odd reason, I enjoy how Manak draws his Sonic, though his stomach looks too thin in the second to last panel in page 3. His Xorda also looks Butler-ish. Frankly, I personally enjoyed his art.
Next up, we have Art whom's art I personally enjoy as he does wonder for pages 5 and 6.
Page 7 is all Dawn's as she does Knuckles and Aurora like nobody's business. As good as her art is, I'm still not use to it. Guess I'm not into anatomy and muscles on characters like Knuckles, but I love the way she draws Aurora, especially around the way she draws her eyelashes.
Cut back to Art again who manages to work on pages 8 to 12. He finally manages to make Amy into her current SA look. He makes General Stryker look like he has a rat face with those whiskers, but his details on the robot and Xorda's ship is dead on good.
Pages 13 to 17 is done by Ron Lim who does a pretty good job here. He draws Sally pretty good in here and I'm surprised. Sonic, well, still needs a few things to work out, as well as the others (in page 15, you see Mammoth Mogul is alive...sigh...he never dies), but I'm surprised on how well he drew Shadow...well, his head anyways.
Page 18 is done by Dawn as we get back to Knuckles. Still not liking the anatomy and I think she wasn't aware of Althair's white robe back in #124.
Pages 18 to 23 is done by Steven Butler and again, he does good. He is really good with drawing many characters in one panel, something I do often. I'm so in love with page 19 where the groups of characters are in each panel. I simply love it, not to mention the huge one page spread of the characters. Whew, that must've taken a while.
Pages 24 and 25 by Dawn. I don't like the way she draws Sonic, but I like the way she draws Sally's eyes. she draws female eyes real good and seeing as I have seen her gallery in Deviantart, it's any wonder.
The last few pages are done with Axer, heh...it's like a surprise present for us. The whole scene with Sonic and Sally are handled beautifully with Axer and it was one of the reasons I almost choked up. He gets it all dramatic which is a good thing in my book without being too overdramatic and the whole Sally looking at the moon with Max secretly eyeing his daughter, perfect. And even the funeral scene where he got those characters in, marvelous. It's just beautiful.
Overall, this is WAY less messier then #50 which arts felt so random.
Some complains I have is what happen to the red stripes on Shadow's arms and legs as he was missing them in a few pages here (Jenson also colored his fur wrong AGAIN) and there and why does Butler always make Amy's mallet all gray and metal? Is he just lazy or forgot the design? Rouge's arms and chest are also colored wrong during Butler's art, too. Among a few other little nitpicks here and there, I enjoyed the art...a lot.
9/10
-Neo |
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Sonic The Hedgehog#125
Bravo! Someone get Dic on the phone and do an animated verson of this because this is great! This issue was well worth the wait and man what story, I did not see this coming but the ending is sad. Let us place time capsules in out yards to comfert Sally and the others(since they might survive the Xodra attack.) in their time of greef with messages that tell them that we care.
:Pauses for a moment of slience:
10/10 in my book!
:Listens to Melodies of Life from Final Fantasy IX since this is Sally and the others are feeling in their hearts right now:
"The World" is not a game but something more...... |
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Here my review for 125.
Cover: By Spaz and Ribeiro. The cover features most charecters from the comic with "125" printed on it. At first you see nothing grand,if you look close you see all the charecters,smashed together(it takes talent to do that), with great coloring, and great drawing. Could have been better, but great.
8/10
"Sonic Adventure 2.5: Omega" Story By Karl Bollers,Pencils by Dave Manak, Art Mawhinney, Dawn Best, Ron Lim, Steven Butler, and J. Axer, Inks by Andrew Pepoy, Pam Eklund, The Rays,Nelson Ribeiro, Jim Amash, and Conor Tomas, Lettering by Jeff Powell, with J.F. Gabrie as editor, Victor Gorelick as managing editor, and Richard Goldwater as the Editor In Cheif
Sally tries to tell the Xorda that humans are no longer their enimes, but they won't listen. So, I guess it has to end the hard way. Suddenly Eggman appers on screen, asking King Max for help beating the Xorda with his new robot, Giga-Bot Prime. But, he needs speed to make it run. So he asks Sonic to help him,and sonic agrees, but King Max says the robotnik must pay a price to use sonic. The price is that he must give have of the planet that he owns to The Kingdom Of Acorn. So, robotnik says ok. Meanwhile in the afterlife, Knux to asks Aurora if it's true that he could only have one life. and she backs away. Back to sonic, Sally had brought everyone with her to make an annoucement, and Sonic and her go to help robotnik work his robot. When they get on, and sonic starts to work it. Then the Xorda attack. Giga Bot prime Punches them, sending them flying. Put, the pedals stop moving with sonic strapped in. IT WAS A TRICK! Sally tries to get him out. When suddenly, the Xorda realese the The Quantum Dial, the greatest of all Xorda weapons that will bobble the Earth and the star system. Then, the pedals start moving again so the Quantum Dial can be destroyed. Meanwhile, Knux gets another life. Missiles are luanched to destroy the Quantum Dial, but miss, and all of mobius teams up to destroy it together. Sonic gets to the Quantum Dial, but the Giga Bot Prime falls apart! Then, the quantum wave is fired, but fails. Why? becuase SOMEONE destroyed the laser-cannons! And kniux appers, atemping to help, but suddenly loses his powers and leavs it to sonic. Meanwhile, the dial is still active, and it's all up to sonic! So, he runs as fast as he can! the world depends on him! Suddenly, soni got cuaght in an explosion.....and dies. Good story, and I liked the ending.
9/10 |
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My take on Sonic Issue #125
Cover:10/10
Very nice, lots of characters and colors. Very appropiate for the issue.
Story: 7/10
The plot and story was okay. I would say that it was great, but I had extremely high hopes from all the hype they were giving this issue and my expectations were not entirely met. Yes, it did leave me hungry for the next issue, but the plot was very predictable. How many times are aliens going to be the answer for a quick ending? However, I did like how they made Sonic use his trademark headfirst in personality along with his remarkable speed. Sometimes it seems that Sonic has forgotten his speedy roots, but #125 remembered that and it helped the story out too. Plus, there were many, many characters in this issue. Old ones, new ones, all sorts of critters thrown into the issue. So, yes, the story was good, but didn't live up to all the hype it was getting in my opinion, few things ever live up to people's expectations. Yuji Naka's interview was a nice addition too, but it was very short, which was also good, so I have no probem with it.
Overall: 8/10 |
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