Why I think Jon Gray's idea of having Sally slap Sonic in Archie Sonic comic #134 was awful and why I think Amy isn't really a good girlfriend for Sonic; also, let's make Sonic great again

Alright, everyone, I'm Neil, and in my previous post, I pretty much talked about how Sally got a lot of hate as a character due to slapping Sonic in issue #134 of the Archie Sonic comics all because Jon Gray wanted Sonic and Amy to be a couple!  Now, I don't necessarily think that Jon Gray wanting to have Sonic and Amy date because of Sonic breaking up with Sally was necessarily bad in and of itself, but the way he went about that process was horrible!  That's because he had Sally slap Sonic and that was horribly out of character for Sally!  OK, sure, Sally could be mean in the Archie Sonic comics, but she hardly ever acted violently towards Sonic or even any of her other friends if you're not counting the times when she was a robot in issues 230 and onward.  And I'm willing to forgive Sally for how she acted in issue #134 because she did apologize to Sonic for the bad behavior of issue #134 in issue #187.  

Besides, Sally did something way worse than the slap of issue #134 at least 90 issues before issue #134 in issue #40 when she decided to have Sonic locked up in prison and court-martialled!  That was because what Sally did was not only stupid, but also mean-spirited because Sonic was her best Freedom Fighter, and she never apologized for putting Sonic in prison and court-martialling him, and I felt bad for Sonic in that issue!  At least Sally did apologize to Sonic in issue #187 for the awful behavior of issue #134, plus she even expressed regret for her behavior of issue #134 to Monkey Khan in issue #207, so I won't stay mad at Sally for her iconic slap that people want to get up in arms about!  If people want to hate Sally for something she did, hate Sally for what she did in issue #40 or how she acted towards Fiona in issue #160 because Sally's behavior towards Sonic in issue #40 and her behavior towards Fiona in issue #160 were both completely unacceptable.  Also, I felt bad for Fiona when she got yelled at by Sally, especially when considering the fact that Fiona left the Freedom Fighters to be with Scourge in issue #172.

Fiona didn't really do anything wrong in issue #160 of the Archie Sonic comics because all she was trying to do was save the Freedom Fighters and protect Freedom HQ, and you would have expected Sally to praise Fiona or give her a hug or something.  But no, Fiona gets yelled at by Sally!  I wouldn't blame Scourge for thinking that Sally was a jerk if Fiona talked about that incident to him.  You can also check out my friend Emily's (otherwise known as "CrystalMaiden 77's) blog post on why Fiona dating Scourge made sense here at the link https://crystalmaiden77.wordpress.com/2020/01/21/why-fiona-dating-scourge-made-sense/.  Sure, Sally can have moments where she's mean, stupid, or both, but the amount of times where I can really hate her in the Archie Sonic comics and "Sonic SatAm" season 3 are pretty low compared to moments where I can really love her.

I'd really say that how good or bad a character is depends on how good or bad they're portrayed in the media and whether or not the good portrayals outweigh the bad ones.  For example, I hate Sally in "Sonic SatAm" seasons 1 and 2 because I think she's a horrible jerk to Sonic who just doesn't want to seem to help him in a constructive way, she's slow to thank him, and she's just very mean to him.  But in "Sonic SatAm" season 3 and the Archie Sonic comics, sure, Sally can be mean, but she's not always like that because she does care about her friends like Sonic, Bunnie, and Nicole, and she has nice moments to share with such characters, plus it helps that she has flaws that make her feel real.  Sure, I do find Sally lacking confidence in Sonic's abilities to fight well, her acting high and mighty, and her not using weapons often to be annoying, but there are some flaws of Sally that we might have like being a bad cook or being overly cautious.  Fortunately, I've seen more good portrayals of Sally than I've seen bad portrayals of her, and I can't really say that I hate Sally because in reality, I'd like to see her as a character again and as deep and likable of a character as she was in the Archie Sonic comics and in "Sonic SatAm" season 3.

Now, I'm not trying to say that I absolutely hate all of Amy Rose's characterizations because in reality, there are some times when I really love Amy Rose.  For instance, I loved how she saved an innocent bird in "Sonic Adventure," reasoned with Gamma, reunited a bird with it's family, stood up to Zero, and hardly chased down Sonic!  I even think her portrayal in "Sonic Adventure 2," while it wasn't as good as her portrayal in "Sonic Adventure 1," was still fine because she rescued Sonic, wanted to help out, and she helped reason with Shadow to save the world.  Sadly, after "Sonic Adventure 2," Amy's characterization pretty much fell apart in the games and in TV because of one TV show named "Sonic X!"

Now, I don't think that Amy wanting to date Sonic with Sonic wanting to avoid dating her on it's own is necessarily a bad thing.  What is a bad thing is a lack of explanation of why Sonic isn't dating Amy.  If it's because Amy's not mature enough, too violent, too bossy, too emotional, or a combination of any of those four things, then I can understand why Sonic would want to avoid Amy at all costs and it would make Sonic's reasoning for wanting to avoid dating Amy totally justified.  Sadly, he's not wrong to not date Amy because I've seen Amy be too immature, too violent, too bossy, and/or too emotional in some Sonic games like "Sonic Rush" and "Sonic Heroes" along with the TV shows called "Sonic X" and "Sonic Boom."  

Jon Gray should have realized that Amy would also make a horrible girlfriend for Sonic (or at least, I think so, and some other people agree).  That's because before Sonic Archie comic #134 was released, "Sonic Heroes" was pretty much released all around the world, and that game had Amy wanting to beat Sonic up so that she could marry him.  Also, one episode of "Sonic X" that had Amy be mean to Sonic also came out before issue #134 did, plus "Sonic Generations" made it clear that Sonic doesn't want to marry Amy, and as far as I'm concerned, I do not like couples where there is an abusive partner, let alone 2 of them in the same relationship!  I think that Amy is a bad girlfriend for Sonic because I've seen her be bossy, mean, and/or abusive to her friends, including Sonic, and I've seen this stuff happen in "Sonic X," some games like "Sonic Rush" and "Sonic Heroes," and even the TV show "Sonic Boom!"  

I wouldn't want Sonic to marry a girl who would stomp on someone's foot like Amy did to Sam Speed in the "Sonic X" episode called "A Date To Forget," and I don't find it funny for Amy to be implied to beat up Cream or Sonic in "Sonic Rush!"  And if people think Amy's better in "Sonic Boom," well, she is a little bit better in the sense that she's not constantly focused on dating Sonic, but she's so bossy and mean to her friends in that show!  For example, I hate it when Amy's so critical of Sonic in the episode called "Just A Guy" when Sonic practically did nothing wrong!  I'm not saying that Sally didn't have mean moments in the Archie Sonic comics because I did hate how she acted in some Sonic Archie comics like issues 40 and 138, but she could show a sweet side to people like Sonic, Bunnie, and Nicole in issues 53, 69, 174, 176, and 221.  Fortunately, IDW Sonic comics and even some of the Archie Sonic comics had Amy's portrayal handled way better because she was nicer than in "Sonic X" and even some of the Sonic games and she was nice to people besides just Sonic like Tails, Knuckles, Blaze, Silver, and Cream in the comics, but sadly, Ian Flynn didn't evaluate on how Amy matured in IDW.  

When I think of Sonic, I think of a guy who loves adventures and wants to fight villains since "Sonic Adventure 2" and "Sonic Heroes" has him loving adventure, but if any of you think differently, that's absolutely fine and I'm not this guy who hates differing opinions as long as you can see where I'm coming from:)  I think that Mina, and even Fiona, if Fiona didn't date Scourge, would have made much better girlfriends for Sonic than Amy or Sally ever could.  That's because Mina and even Fiona weren't abusive to Sonic like Amy could be in "Sonic X" or any of the Sonic games, they weren't bossy like Sally could be or Amy could be in "Sonic Boom" or "Sonic X", and they weren't mean like Sally in Archie Sonic comics or like Amy was in "Sonic Boom" or "Sonic X!"  But I still love Princess Sally Acorn in the Archie Sonic comics and "Sonic SatAm" season 3, and I think it's unfair that people just want to throw her under the bus all because of one slap she did to Sonic in one certain issue, and I hate it when characters like her get unfairly hated even after they apologize for one bad mistake they made.  I don't even think it's fair for Chris Thorndyke from "Sonic X" to receive hatred because he sincerely apologized to Sonic for keeping Sonic on Earth longer than he wanted, plus I don't think it's fair to hate Mina because she apologized to Nicole for the awful concert of Sonic Archie comic #221.

Sure, I think practically everyone and their brother can agree with me that "Sonic '06" is a terrible game.  But the people who were making that game weren't trying to make that game terrible, and it's really Sega's fault that it turned out so awful, not Sonic Team's fault, and not the fault of Sonic fans.  Like "J's Reviews" said in his review of "Sonic '06" on YouTube, which you should see if you didn't already, we need to take the ambition of that game and make something great out of it.  I don't really care if we get a "Sonic Adventure 3" or not.  What I do want from Sonic are great comic stories, great games, and great TV shows that can make me happy when I play them, read them, or watch them!

Personally, I don't think Sonic needed to be a prince in the show called "Sonic Underground," but I did like him having a mother and two charming siblings named Sonia and Manic, and I think that show is probably about as good as "Sonic SatAm."  I know some people may think romance was awful in the Archie Sonic comics, but I think how those comics handled romance was fine and it didn't overshadow action and tension, plus I think Sonic would love to be a ladies' man since "Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog" showed him to love flirting with some girls.  Sure, "Sonic '06" was a terrible game, but I loved how committed Sonic's friends like Amy, Knuckles, and Tails were to help save Sonic's life in that game even if they had terrible game-play styles.  Besides, 5 years before "Sonic '06" was made, "Sonic Adventure 2" had a great story, and it had some fine characters to play as, so I don't need people saying, "oh, you can't have a great game with a great story, because that's just a load of nonsense!  I really don't see why people think Sonic should be the only playable character in a Sonic video game because I think "Sonic Adventure" and "Sonic Adventure 2" handled multiple playable characters just fine.

I'm sick of tired of Ian Flynn trying to make comics like the games or trying to do the things that he wants!  Besides, I think that some of the Sonic comic stories that Ian Flynn made make issue #134 of the Archie Sonic comics look like a masterpiece compared to them like issues 172, 197, 224, and 235, and YouTube reviews from "CrystalMaiden 77" will express why I think so!  Sure, maybe Knuckles didn't need parents, but I did like the sweet moments shared between Locke and Knuckles and between Knuckles and his mom in Archie Sonic comics before Ian Flynn showed up as a writer.  Sure, Karl Bollers didn't do everything right as a Sonic comic writer, and neither did Ken Penders, but at least they didn't try to make things exactly like the games in the comics, and while I don't think "Sonic SatAm" is perfect, it at least had Robotnik be a threatening villain.  Those are things that I want in a Sonic cartoon and Sonic comic!

I think that we have far more to gain than lose if we take inspiration from things like "Sonic Underground," "Sonic SatAm," Archie Sonic comics that were not made by Ian Flynn, and "Sonic '06."  Anyway, let me know what you all think and I'll see you all next time:)