Oh boy!

Ivo's Corset! This looks bad.

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 18:57:19 -0500

Since you seem a bit light on Archie submissions, I thought I’d introduce you to minor Fleetway/STC villainess, Cam: Badnik repair specialist and nightmare shepherdess. I think her design problems relate to two minor, trifling points:

1) Her body:

2) her body + her face. HER FACE. HER FAAACE.

You’re welcome. (STC issue 32 and 33, if you’re a glutton for punishment).

(Guest Submission)

Spend enough time on the internet and you’ll find that even this is not enough to deter some.

guardian-of-legends: IT’S TOO MUCH CAN’T TAKE IT

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 18:54:32 -0500

guardian-of-legends:

IT’S TOO MUCH CAN’T TAKE IT

What's your opinion on the actual concepts Ken created for the book, regardless of their execution?

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 08:01:02 -0500

I try not to get into writing questions but I will this time-

Good concepts, poor execution. Poor execution then turns around and turns good concepts into “Who ever thought that this was a good idea!?” Etc.

Not just poor execution, but poor integration as well.

I’m not going to get into it deep with examples or anything- I find writing more subjective than art. If you fuck up drawing a hand, you fuck up drawing a hand. If you fuck up writing in a character’s extended family, well.

I’m probably going to have to do a bulk mail reply soon.

So uh, is BobR talking out of his ass or is he seriously implying Archie lost the rights?

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 02:33:09 -0500

Where would he be saying that?

I personally wouldn’t put stock in what he says anywhere because of my extremely poor opinions of him, but that’s a personal thing.

Hello /co. You’re running a marathon and you don’t send any of your discoveries to me?...

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 02:29:00 -0500

Hello /co.

You’re running a marathon and you don’t send any of your discoveries to me? Tsk tsk!

Glad to see that microwaving babies is still a popular past time.

Has Archie really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 15:39:00 -0500

What

Well, I’ve managed to remove AMoAS off my personal. It was stupidly simple and I feel dumb for...

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 15:24:00 -0500

Well, I’ve managed to remove AMoAS off my personal. It was stupidly simple and I feel dumb for not thinking of it sooner, but it is what it is. It’s still a secondary, nothing that can be done about that, but at least now it’s attached to another account. Yeehaw.

I can now respond to messages privately.

I swear, if they kill off Julie-su I'm going to be freakin pissed! Do you think that's the way things are going especially with this pansy-ass lawsuit?

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 09:39:07 -0500

Spoilers below or something-

Most recent issue doesn’t suggest she’s dead, just warped off to another, undisclosed location (along with Saffron). Warp rings seem to be the method of choice for ‘storing’ characters.

what are your thoughts on this whole current mess penders has rendered the current comic arc into? are the echidnas really gone, or, is archie just brushing them aside for now until things cool off? i'm finding mixed messages in my search for the facts, i was hoping you could straighten them out!

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 23:51:49 -0500

My thoughts? You’d have to take them with a pinch of salt because I honestly don’t know any more than anyone else and I probably can’t straighten out any ‘facts’. I’ve heard some mumblings that the timing of the comic’s writing period (comics are written months in advance) coincides with the time period of Archie firing their previous legal team in the copywrite case. So it may have to do with the new legal team telling them to ixnay on anything linked to Penders for safety’s sake. At the very least, the echidnas have been ‘disposed of’ in a non-permanent matter- depending on how things go with the settlement, they can be easily retrieved if needed. It seems to be fucking up Ian’s plans as of late and I do have to wonder how things were ‘supposed’ to be. Either way I find knowing the politics behind the comics is souring my enjoyment of the comics themselves.

Ben Bates doesn’t draw Minecraft style ENOUGH if you ask me! I don’t know what that...

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 17:51:43 -0500

Ben Bates doesn’t draw Minecraft style ENOUGH if you ask me! I don’t know what that person was talking about, there’s a curve on her tail. Hardly Minecraft! With his art you’d think the world had more shapes than squares and rectangles or something, gosh. This has been a problem since the day he was hired.

Here, I have fixed everything wrong with that picture.

(Guest Submission)

Truly an improvement. A++ please tell your mother/father/caregiver to put this on the fridge.

Ben Bates and Sally's tail

Sun, 16 Dec 2012 15:49:00 -0500

You want a cite? Here’s your cite. Issue #223, Ben Bates draws Sally’s tail like she belongs in Minecraft.

(Guest Submission)
Oh for the love of god. Really? I thought we were complaining about the long ‘fluffy’ tails like Geoffery’s being drawn angular or something, not complaining about Sally again. That tail looks fine with the SEGA style. Have you ever noticed Knuckles’ tail? Ever? It’s nothing but kinks and angles. This isn’t even all that angular, it’s got very defined curves and- this is my comeuppance for being so anal retentive about other things before, isn’t it? At least I admit I’m insane.

I'm gonna be honest: Why do you like Ben Bates when he draws characters with blocky tails, super-deformed proportions, and an unnecessary amount of cuteness?

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 23:50:28 -0500

I could answer every point of that line of questioning with ‘Because I like that stylistic choice’- and that’s pretty much what it is. But I’ll try to avoid doing that too much.

1. I went and had a look to see if I could find what you’re talking about it. If you could cite me an issue on that we’ll see. That could be an issue with one of the inkers- I’ve complained before about one of the inkers putting unnecessary edges on things before.

2. Perhaps I’m not grasping the jist of this argument- Sonic’s head is his largest feature with a tiny little torso, feet larger than his torso, and hands that fall somewhere between the size of his feet and torso.

The proportions aren’t exactly realistic in any sense. Unless you mean for female characters like Sally and Bunnie and how they’ve changed over the years from a cartoony set of proportions to a more ‘human’ set of proportions and then back again. I think the cartoon look fits better for the world’s aesthetics and makes everything more cohesive.

I really don’t see how Ben Bate’s art is anymore proportionally ‘incorrect’ than this is or the SEGA!Sonic I put above.

3. Failing to see the ‘unnecessary’ amounts of cuteness thing too. The pupils on the character’s eyes could possible stand to be a little less wide for a more slim, narrow look, but after that it’d be on par with the standards SEGA has more or less set themselves. That’s including things like giving female characters small mouths.

But to answer your overall question- I like Ben Bates because I do. If you don’t like his stuff, well fuck sorry to hear that.

Archie has a new Sonic comic out in the form of Sonic Super Digest, which contains excerpts from various comics. Its really jarring seeing the different art types. Out of all of them, do you have a personal favorite? Lets have some positiveness for once!

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 17:45:56 -0500

‘Some positiveness for once’? You say that as if I’ve never shamelessly gushed over Ben Bates’ art before.

So... you heard about the Penders case reaching a settlement?

Sun, 09 Dec 2012 23:32:53 -0500

Have now.

HMMMMMM. (Sonic Issue #243, Pencils: Steven Butler, Inks: Terry Austin) (Guest Submission)

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 11:30:41 -0500

HMMMMMM.

_{(Sonic Issue #243, Pencils: Steven Butler, Inks: Terry Austin)}

(Guest Submission)

My front page is almost all text posts and that’s nooo good. Various notes answered below the...

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 10:13:00 -0500

My front page is almost all text posts and that’s nooo good.

Various notes answered below the read more.

Anonymous asked:

So the lost ones is a remake of his old books but replace sonic characters with humans… this could be huge potential if we can spot out which character is knuckles or get a gif of the radiate my egg/baby scene.

No, not from what I know.It’s its own thing, from what I’m aware. It was just supposed to be ultimately tied into the Knuckles comics- the threat that Locke saw in his dream was supposedly Dr. Droid, the villain of the Lost Ones. So basically, his character is indirectly responsible for Knuckles’ very birth. Dr. Droid was also supposed to be the big bad at the end of ‘Mobius 25 Years Later’ story from what I heard too.

skankee-doodle asked:

Hi! What do you guys think of Tracey Yardley?

Love-Hate. This is probably going to get me a lot of flack, but whatever, that’s what opinions are for.

Love because

He brought up the level of quality to be expected from the book
is art is fluid and easy to ‘read’- you can tell what’s going on as opposed to stiff art with no sense of motion like, for instance, Butler
He is constantly improving. Compare the art from the middle of his run to the art at the beginning and current and you’ll see what I mean

Hate because

He can’t draw echidnas. Their snouts constantly flatten into their faces and their heads become extremely squared off and boxy. I know that Knuckles’ head has ‘corners’ on it when you look at him straight on and is flat at the top, but from the side it’s an egg shape. This is probably really nitpicky of me but it bothers me
Females tend to look like male characters + eyelashes. Note that I’m not complaining about their body shape- I prefer how Tracey does it compared to Butler’s supermodels. I mean the faces.Sally is actually a great case study about this, even though I dislike talking about Sally at the exclusion of other female characters. She’s just a really, really good example here. The huge eyebrows and enormous hands thing were something that evolved out of Tracey drawing to her. It makes her look really masculine and a lot like Elias IMHO. If you made her eyebrows scruffy (keeping the size) you’d basically have Elias with a new hairdo.
Expressions. A lot of people say Tracey’s art is really expressive. It is, yes. But he has a few expressions he uses over and over which drive me insane. One is the ‘forward scream’. Amy has worn it a few times and I’ve seen some more rabid Amy fans use it as justification of “SEE ARCHIE HATES AMY” because of how goddamn ugly it is.I think I’ve only seen one character wear it well and I really wish it’d stop popping up or he’d change the way he does it. Another is ‘the smug’. If a character is in a posistion of smugness, they will take this expression. No exceptions. It makes the characters feel cookie cutter because they lack small individual personalization of each expression- some displaying emotions more mutely, for instance. It makes it seem like they all have the same exact face with the same exact tool set of expressions. I can’t be the only one that sees this.

sethblizzard submitted:

What is up with General Stryker’s ribcage? Is it diagonal instead of straight?

Bad art!

droptablegames asked:

As a suggestion to deal with the dwindling material; I’d really enjoy if you turned this into a general-purpose “A Moment of Sonic” blog. Professionally made yet horrendous Sonic material of all media formats to critique/laugh at *is* a bottomless well.

Punchline: Sonic 2006. Though to be serious- maybe. This blog has served as a niche enjoyment. I don’t necessarily think filling a niche and completing it is bad. It may be disappointing for viewers, but this blog has done what it had set out to do. There’s always the potential for new things.

Anonymous asked:

Are you going to showcase any more unusual cover art? I’ve been looking through my Sonic Mega Collection’s cover gallery, and the Adventure/Adventure 2 arc has some pretty awkward artwork.

Send some in and we’ll see.

Anonymous asked:

Hey when it comes to spoiling people about Sally, I think saying “Hey, Sally will have a new look” will spoil people almost as much as posting the image itself.

Whoops.

thesoullessstalker asked:

I personally don’t like Sally. Not much at all, and could care less what her new design would be. For me she is a sue, someone that has been shoved down our throats by pairing her with Sonic. Other characters suffer underdevelopment thanks to all the plot and attention drawn to her. Granted,not most times happens. And I do like some of Archie’s plots. But most are bland,boring and predictable. Some plots could have been good but were twisted in favor for something bland and not care for.

thexuntitled asked:

I’m seeing a lot of ‘new’ designs (like the one of Sally you just posted) and am a bit confused. Is this after the supposed “reboot” in 2013 or what is going on? and what is going on with that as well?

I don’t believe it’s connected to the rumored reboot. I haven’t heard anymore on that either- may of just been a rumor designed to stir people up. Time will tell. As for the Sally redesign- she is being redesigned. A design was shown at a comic con by Archie. Some folks love it (I like it, though the boots need tweaking imho), some hate it with a raging roaring passion and have taken to the pen and paper to draw their own ‘fixes’. So that’d be why you’re seeing so many designs. Most are fan-designs.

Anonymous asked:

Would love to hear your thoughts on the encyclopedia

It’s interesting on several fronts. On one hand, I really enjoy seeing all the revised canon that Ian will probably never get to touch on in book because it’d likely never be relevant (a list of names of the guardian’s wives? Neat). On the other hand, it’s sloppy. Famous case is that Rotor’s entry cuts off mid-sentence. I’ve heard it was rushed out the door without proper editing, and maybe tha

Anonymous asked:

I was under the impression Nic was two years older than Nack, yet the new “The Complete Sonic the Hedgehog Comic Encyclopedia” says they are twins. A change in canon, or was I simply mistaken?

I have no idea. I never paid much attention to weasel chronology. If they were twins it would of at least explained why they looked like clones for so long.

smellestine asked:

What are your feelings on sally acorn’s concept through out the entirety of the archie sonic universe? Her redesigns, and choices the artists/writers made and all?

I could draw a line graph on how I’ve felt about Sally over the years. In-fact, I will.

Of course, that’s how I feel about how she was written. I try to avoid talking too much about writing because that’s an extremely subjective thing where with art you can much more objectively say “wow that looks like shit”. Writting you end up with people bickering over “But Franklin wouldn’t do THAT!”, which isn’t something I want to get into.

Don’t take this graph to mean I hate Sally either. If SatAM Sally was on there, she’d be a consistant six. Actually looking at the graph again, #180-#224 should be lower (4 or 3) but I’m too lazy to go back and edit it.

Art wise… Archie then and Archie now are very different beasts, so I’m just going to try and break things down (This is on a DESIGN FRONT ONLY)-

Classic, cheek-less Sally was adorable and charming and felt like she fit with Sonic.
The worst Sally has ever looked was when Spaz, J-Axer, and Butler drew her with a human body with a animal head stapled on top. And oh yes, I know many people will say that was her best. I don’t share that opinion
She looks terrible with giant eyebrows and a dog bone body.
Bates has consistently drawn her the best of the new era of comics
She looks better orange than she does brown
I welcome a new look after so many years. The current design is stale, not timeless

Those of course are my personal thoughts, and knowing how people feel about Sally, I don’t expect people to agree.

Anonymous asked:

Since you’re in the discussion of familial ties and characters not being referenced for legal or sega-related issues, What are your thoughts on Bow the Sparrow apparently replacing Rob o’ the Hedge (and Rob only being referred to in the story as “the King”) in SU 46? Also The Patman also noted on Penders’ forum that “Albion” and “haven” weren’t referred to by name in SSSM #5

I don’t know what to think. I do know that Archie has gotten a new team of laywers recently. It COULD be under the new lawyers’ advisal that Penders related material be avoided when possible, but that’s rampant speculation. I say when possible because the newest issue of STH does have undeniable references (Lien-Da) mixed in with some things that seem ‘obviously’ removed (Albion/Echidna homeland). Either way, I see a lot of people freaking out that Archie hasn’t given any explanation. I really don’t think it’s our right to ask either side of the case to put themselves in jeopardy by explaining things to us. Just sit tight and wait and see what happens.

As for Bow Sparrow and Thorn- they do seem like proxies. But we’ll see.

archiewhatthetails asked:

Holy chao, I should have known there were more bad Sonic comic blogs lol xD Would you like to affiliate? *smacked*

The closest thing I’ve ever done to an affiliate is promote a few blogs. And now that I’m answering this on the mail bag, people can free to click over to yours. Viola.

Anonymous asked:

Also there was a base in the fanart section. I don’t know whether or not you comment on those or not, but that’s pretty funny to me.

I don’t like bases. I try not to comment on fanart, though. But I’m sure Archie didn’t know it was a base piece.

Anonymous asked:

Not to beat a dead horse, but I think the real reason behind the Sonic fandom is just the format and the era. Videogames were still for “dorks” in the early 90’s, and all those kids are now dorky adults spreading their creep in communities of their own design. On top of that, Sega had a built frenzied fanbase and basically dropped Sonic off the map for a good four years, leaving fans to create fanart/fic/games to fill in the blanks for themselves, which is always fertile soil for creepin’

I know I said I wouldn’t respond or post anything in regard to this subject anymore, but this one is less about ‘people with problems are drawn to Sonic’.

ninetails2000 asked:

I think I sent you something about this a bit ago that you never answered, but what’s your opinion on Rotor being gay in the future and then them covering that up? I really liked Gay Rotor. Because they couldn’t have it out in the open, he avoided being flanderized into a “FAAABULOUS” gay guy, and since it showed up in the future, it’s implied that he’s been gay for a long time. Being gay sort-of added an extra awesome layer to his characterization IMO He was a techno-geek first and gay second..

It’d of been interesting if he were gay. I don’t see why he still can’t be if it’s ‘under cover gay’. There are plenty of homosexual folks who you wouldn’t know it just by looking at them- hell, parents can go years knowing their children very well and never knowing until they come out. Unless Rotor is hooked up with a female all of a sudden and screaming “NO HOMO” at the top of his lungs, I don’t see why he couldn’t still be gay.That said, I also don’t expect Archie to explicitly mention what his sexuality is.

Aaand that’s it. Looking back I see I wrote like I was brain dead with the amount of typos and shit. Going to say I’m tired and run with it.

I just wanted to let you know that the Sonic Comic Encyclopedia actually has a little panel with the Locke meme face (Locke and Lara with baby Knuckles). I doubt that's a coincidence. No scan, sadly, just a heads up.

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 19:00:35 -0500

I saw it! I don’t know if that was a conscious choice or the only panel they had with a shot of baby Knuckles and family worth using, but it gave me a chuckle.

On Sonic fandoms and personality disorders: I heard a theory at one point that autists have trouble with expressions and faces etc., and the Sonic characters have these huge eyes and mouths and ears that help make their emotions very obvious. It's easy to see how someone could latch onto that.

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 18:57:16 -0500

I think that’s part of the appeal of cartoon characters in general. Felix the cat, Mickey Mouse, etc. Well designed cartoons are often built around their ability to express strongly in all aspects, both in facial and body movement.

(Source)

Sonic is designed to be appealing to children, despite how large of an adult fanbase the franchise has. It’s bright and colourful, usually expressive, and it’s meant to be fun. However just because something is aimed at children doesn’t mean children will be the only fans of a franchise- especially when you consider how long Sonic has been around. A lot of people have grown up with Sonic, and the franchise has become part of the experience of their life.

Consider other franchises meant for a young audience that are well loved by those outside of it’s target demographic- Adventure Time and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, for instance. You could argue that both have elements in them designed to entertain adult audiences (jokes that children won’t get, for instance), but that’s often not the only thing that fans love. People simply find something to love about whatever it is they’re a fan of- it could be the art, a sense of innocence, etc. And that includes people who have mental illness, personality disorders, cognitive/developmental disorders, etc. Often times when someone enjoys something they’ll search for a way to express that enjoyment. That’s why you get so much fan art, stories, and songs. And sometimes that’s expressed in a way that’s not socially acceptable for whatever reason, either because the person is not mentally able to discern what -is- socially acceptable or even because they don’t care.

As I said, Sonic isn’t special. It’s just big and obvious. And now I’m going to add ‘been around for years’. Things accumulate baggage after years. What do you know of the current Rescue Ranger fandom, for instance?

Anyway, that’s all I’m going to say on the subject. Any further messages on it won’t be answered. This blog is Disqus enabled.

So what's with Sonic fans and personality disorders?

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 14:08:47 -0500

You find personality disorders everywhere. Sonic fandom isn’t special, it’s just massive and therefor the problem parts are larger and it’s easier to find clusters of.

How often do you hear people talking about the ‘good’ part of the fandom anyway? Not often. It’s not interesting. No one cares except those invested into making sure a clean house is presented. But the problem parts you can break out the popcorn and go “look at those freaks! God, what total morons!”

Much more entertaining. Pretty much built into human nature. Part of why I’ve only put up professionally published work. It’s too easy to do and too unfair otherwise.

Wait, what's this about a sega mandate regarding relatives of existing characters? I haven't heard of this before you mentioned it.

Sun, 18 Nov 2012 14:49:00 -0500

I don’t know details beyond hearsay and what can be currently seen in the book. There has been an observation that characters have stopped referring to relatives with any term linked to family relationships. I can’t remember if Uncle Chuck is exempt from that or not without pulling out the books themselves, but I know there was a scene not too long ago with Tails feeling upset and his father going to comfort him without any reference to familial ties.

It’s handled well enough where you don’t quite notice it but when you’re aware of it it becomes one of those ‘Huh. That’s weird’ moments.

Oh boy!

Ivo's Corset! This looks bad.

guardian-of-legends: IT’S TOO MUCH CAN’T TAKE IT

What's your opinion on the actual concepts Ken created for the book, regardless of their execution?

So uh, is BobR talking out of his ass or is he seriously implying Archie lost the rights?

Hello /co. You’re running a marathon and you don’t send any of your discoveries to me?...

Has Archie really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

Well, I’ve managed to remove AMoAS off my personal. It was stupidly simple and I feel dumb for...

I swear, if they kill off Julie-su I'm going to be freakin pissed! Do you think that's the way things are going especially with this pansy-ass lawsuit?

what are your thoughts on this whole current mess penders has rendered the current comic arc into? are the echidnas *really* gone, or, is archie just brushing them aside for now until things cool off? i'm finding mixed messages in my search for the facts, i was hoping you could straighten them out!

Ben Bates doesn’t draw Minecraft style ENOUGH if you ask me! I don’t know what that...

Ben Bates and Sally's tail

I'm gonna be honest: Why do you like Ben Bates when he draws characters with blocky tails, super-deformed proportions, and an unnecessary amount of cuteness?

Archie has a new Sonic comic out in the form of Sonic Super Digest, which contains excerpts from various comics. Its really jarring seeing the different art types. Out of all of them, do you have a personal favorite? Lets have some positiveness for once!

So... you heard about the Penders case reaching a settlement?

HMMMMMM. (Sonic Issue #243, Pencils: Steven Butler, Inks: Terry Austin) (Guest Submission)

My front page is almost all text posts and that’s nooo good. Various notes answered below the...

I just wanted to let you know that the Sonic Comic Encyclopedia actually has a little panel with the Locke meme face (Locke and Lara with baby Knuckles). I doubt that's a coincidence. No scan, sadly, just a heads up.

On Sonic fandoms and personality disorders: I heard a theory at one point that autists have trouble with expressions and faces etc., and the Sonic characters have these huge eyes and mouths and ears that help make their emotions very obvious. It's easy to see how someone could latch onto that.

So what's with Sonic fans and personality disorders?

Wait, what's this about a sega mandate regarding relatives of existing characters? I haven't heard of this before you mentioned it.

what are your thoughts on this whole current mess penders has rendered the current comic arc into? are the echidnas really gone, or, is archie just brushing them aside for now until things cool off? i'm finding mixed messages in my search for the facts, i was hoping you could straighten them out!