Sonic the Hedgehog Review

Hi, I'm Plazmazist, a programmer, wannabe game developer and amateur writer. I've been a fan of Sonic the Hedgehog almost all my life, except for when I wasn't during maybe in the late 2010's. After a resurgent interest in the series around 2020, I've never felt more love for it than ever since I was super young. I had a couple Archie Comics issues when I was younger, "Sonic Super Digest" #1 & #7. However, I always felt dissatisfaction with them, as they were an assortment of reprints of previous issues, so there wasn't really a coherent story. After beginning to read through IDW Publishing's Sonic a while ago, my interest in the various defunct Sonic media has peaked, especially Archie Comic's Sonic series. And now that I have a suggested reading order, I think I'm ready to slowly read through this grand continuity from start to finish, logging brief reviews for each issue as I read through them. This blog will chronicle my brief thoughts of each Sonic media I'm digesting at the time. My main goal is to have a log for each issue of Archie Sonic. Each entry is not planned to be extensive, purely consisting of brief thoughts for each story, episode, or issue. I'll be writing as much or as little as I feel like. There is no schedule for my entries. They will be written and posted shortly after I finish processing what I've watched. I aim to keep my writing sharp with this blog, and it'll mainly be focused on the defunct, "non-canon" sonic media. This blog is planned to be displayed on my website, The Plazma Portal. Everything written here is subject to change. Website is under construction. Thank you for reading. Last Updated: 26-05-17.

There's no way the sound effects that played when Robotnik was typing on his computer were not reused from The Super Mario Bros. Super Show series. Both series have the same producer, so it's gotta be. Hearing those sounds really got my attention. Surprised, but of course, glad to see Wes Weasley back. Especially interesting to have him working with Coconuts, who hasn't had much of a focus in any episodes recently. I liked how insistent Robotnik was about not working with Weasley again. Really proves that there are no second chances with this character. Except if you're Scratch and Grounder.

Robotnik having another nemesis that isn't Sonic is great. I like how Robotnik even comes up with a condescending nickname for him, just like how Sonic calls him Eggman. Intentional or not, that's a great parallel. I also really like Dr. Quark's right-hand robot, D.U.F.U.S. and how its programming gets messed up after being convinced by Scratch and Grounder to lie to Quark. Really proves that this iteration of Dr. Robotnik also implements some sort of free will into his Badniks. Near the end of the episode, the doctor even proclaims how he designs his robots to be "complete idiots." Dr. Quark randomly flying with the rest of the birds at the end was unexpected and definitely caught me off guard.

The Badniks near the start really remind me of the Badniks from the first episode. I'm really glad to see more returning characters in these latest episodes, like Momma Robotnik. Hope this trend continues. I love continuity. Scratch and Grounder begging to be fired instead of taking care of Momma Robotnik was hilarious. Overall, this episode had a unique plot that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Surprised to see Da Bears back. Maybe I'm forgetting something, but I think this was the first instance of Tails building some sort of technology, like his counterpart in the games. There's not much else I have to say about this particular episode. I liked the knight motif the S6 Squad had near the end.

Interesting to see Star Light Zone adapted here to take place among the literal stars. I think this is to be expected, but the Abandoned Space Station reminds me of the Space Colony ARK from Sonic Adventure 2. This location is even abandoned, just like it. If this series ever did an adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2, they could easily adapt this station to be the ARK without any problem. Funnily enough, the alien character could be adapted to be the Biolizard or even Black Doom. The latter would be hilarious. If fan-works for adaptations of the games to AoStH exist, definitely share them to me. I'd love to read those.

Can't believe Momma Robotnik is back. In such spectacular fashion, too. It's a great idea to have her take over Robotnik's operations. I liked that Sonic could immediately see past her disguise. The end of this episode was hilarious, with everything erupting into chaos once the social worker arrived. Overall, this was a really good episode. Momma Robotnik is truly a vile villain.

As I've said before, I like it when Sonic and Tails meet other heroes of Mobius, MacHopper being no different, of course. Seems like Robotnik truly considers Sonic an admirable adversary if he was willing to grant Sonic's final wish of getting one last chilli dog. Reminds me of Dr. Eggman's reaction when he presumably defeats Sonic near the end of the Dark Story in Sonic Adventure 2, as different as that is to what's happening here.

This whole episode felt like just one big 'Sonic Says' segment. Speaking of, I burst out laughing at this episode's one. For context, it's the one where Grounder and Tails smoke cigarettes. It seems like whenever Sonic and Tails are separated, Tails always indirectly causes trouble. Just a pattern I've noticed, as 'Too Tall Tails' was another episode where Tails gained some sort of power and caused chaos out of his control for the most part.

Dr. Robotnik having a kid is a very interesting idea. One, they pulled extremely well in Sonic Frontiers with Sage. I don't have too much to say about this episode, other than how much I like Eggman's kid in the games, Sage, as a character. I guess I can ask if Robotnik Jr.'s a Badnik or not. Seems like it since Robotnik was holding a wrench while creating Robotnik Jr. Another thing I wanted to mention was that I liked seeing the previous Robotniks on the wall.

It looks like it's implied throughout the series that Robotnik owns several subsidiaries. I'm pointing this out because of how presumably two are shown near the start, being the Laundromat and the Instant Food Factory. I assume the latter is Robotnik's because of the giant sign with his face next to it. I really like the idea of Robotnik being a mega-capitalist. Really cements him as being Sonic's opposite to me. I loved the fact that MeteorTech from Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity is a part of the Eggman Empire. In Issue 77 of the IDW series, a prominent corporation is also revealed to be a shell company for Eggman. Regarding the actual episode, I feel like every one of these series has some sort of the-characters-becoming-babies episode, whether they get turned into them or it's a flashback. I suppose it was amusing to see Baby Sonic and Tails' antics, though. Robotnik opening his outfit to display his evil awards was hilarious. And so was old Robotnik at the end.

I said before that I didn't really want to mention the 'memes' that came from this series too much, but I just can't ignore that this episode is where the infamous "Snooping as usual, I see?" clip is from. I remember being ecstatic back then when I found out that they referenced the infamous line in the Sonic Boom series. Glad to see Von Schlemmer back. Just like how I mentioned the 'Sonic Gets Scrapped' episode feeling like an adaptation of the Scrapnik Island mini-series to me, I feel the same way about this episode, as a very, very loose adaptation of Sonic Dream Team. Just reminds me how much I wish that game was on other platforms.

Like always, I love seeing this series' interpretations of elements from the game. And this is no different for this Labyrinth Zone from the first Sonic the Hedgehog game. I immediately think of the interpretation of the Zone from the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 movie. I also very much liked the characters of Surff and Bubbles.

The whole snow theme of this episode makes me think of the snow-themed Zones from the games, like Ice Cap and Robotnik Winter. It's very entertaining to see Scratch and Grounder serving Sonic. The fourth-wall break with Scratch saying they'll land sometime in the next episode was great.

This was an episode I remembered fondly. The episode where Tails has to take the lead with a stealthy approach when Sonic is indisposed. There's not too much I can say except that I really liked how Tails had to deal with Scratch and Grounder in his situation.

I like seeing hacker or programmer characters in media, since that subject is my industry field. Robotnik getting infuriated with Grounder suggesting to be his partner really reminds me of how Robotnik is in the games, and how he doesn't share and tends to backstab and sabotage any of his partnerships. I'm specifically thinking about his relationship with Dr. Starline from the IDW series when it comes to this. Overall, really interesting plot for an episode.

This was an episode I've been really awaiting. It's still hard to believe that this series has its own interpretation of Metal Sonic. The whole story with Pseudo Sonic framing Sonic immediately made me think of that "Man of the Year" short that was included in Sonic Jam, along with the plotline of Sonic Adventure 2. Tails piloting Pseudo Sonic was an interesting concept, also.