Part 1 of Thoughts on Sonic writing and how it can be improved; thoughts on Amy Rose; thoughts on Sally, and MUCH, MUCH MORE!!!

Alright, time to talk more about stories of Sonic the Hedgehog!  I think that pretty much all the Sonic fans are getting a clue that Pontac and Graff's writing for stories of Sonic the Hedgehog is just not good!  Take a look at stories like those of "Sonic Colors" and "Sonic Lost World" and you'll see what I mean.  That's not me saying that I need a story like that of William Shakespeare or F. Scott Fitzgerald in every single story that involve Sonic, but I DO want likable characters and story writing that's at least SOMEWHAT decent, and I feel like ever since "Sonic Heroes," the story quality has kind of taken a significant drop in quality.  For example, in "Sonic Heroes," Amy Rose (a pink hedgehog who's usually in love with Sonic) was kind of flanderized into a Sonic-obsessed fangirl, though I'm KIND of willing to give how Amy was characterized A BIT of a pass.  

That's because in "Sonic Heroes," Amy wasn't just a Sonic-obsessed fan-girl because she was willing to help out Big the Cat and Cream the Rabbit find Froggy and Chocola the Chao, plus I would have preferred if Amy didn't say, "Eggman's robots are so disgusting" since she DID meet up with E-102 Gamma in "Sonic Adventure!"  But "Sonic Heroes," in terms of a game story, STILL might leave a bad impression of Amy as a character because in that game, she was willing to beat up Sonic and his friends just to get Sonic to marry her!  Of course, to say that Amy as a character was flanderized before "Sonic X" wouldn't be true at all because she REALLY suffered serious flanderization in "Sonic X!"  THAT was the show where Amy suffered hard in terms of being a good character because while that show DID have some positive traits that I love about her like loving swimming, loving to try on dresses, loving to cook and loving shopping, she WAS also quite a bit of a jerk!  That's because in "Sonic X," Amy pretty much WANTED for Sonic to ALWAYS be around her because she was CONSTANTLY in love with a certain blue hedgehog, plus she can be kind of abusive and/or mean to her friends and in addition, she was at least a bit bossy!

In "Sonic Adventure," however, which came out BEFORE "Sonic X," Amy Rose was practically a sweet and innocent girl by comparison because sure, Amy WANTED to be around Sonic, but she didn't really make that the whole focus of what she wanted to do because she wanted to save a little bird that fell on her and reunite the bird with it's family!  Plus it helped that Amy reasoned with E-102 Gamma, and along with that, Amy wanted to be more independent because she didn't like being a damsel in distress that Sonic would have to rescue, and in addition, Amy stood up to the robot Zero (no, I'm NOT talking about the robot Zero from the Mega Man X series, just so you know🤣🤣) like a tough warrior!  And sure, MAYBE Amy did suffer a LITTLE flanderization in "Sonic Adventure 2," but at least she helped save Sonic from Prison Island in that game and WHEN she freed Sonic, she took the situation seriously, and at least SOME people think that Amy was going to keep Sonic in prison unless Sonic married her, but that is ABSOLUTELY not true!  Amy STILL freed Sonic even IF he said no to Amy wanting Sonic to marry her, plus it ALSO helped that 1.  Amy said to Sonic to keep his voice down so that he wouldn't alert people on Prison Island who could arrest HER and Sonic and 2.  Sonic wasn't some "Gary Stu" character like he was in "AoStH" or later Sonic games past later Sonic games!

Plus Amy did help reason with Shadow (who I will LATER talk about for sure) even if how she worded her talk to Shadow COULD have been worded way better!  Amy was lucky that her talk didn't blow up in her face because people these days might wish for power or war or anything else that could be awful!  Fortunately, Shadow WAS able to realize that Maria wanted people to be happy, and so, Shadow helped Sonic in his efforts to save the world because of Amy talking to him:)  Anyway, not only was Amy's characterization HORRIBLY butchered in "Sonic X," but also in "Sonic X" like I said before, and only did "Sonic X" give Amy's characterization the short end of the stick, that happened too in other games like "Sonic Advance 3," "Sonic Rush," "Sonic Riders," and "Sonic and the Black Knight."  Fortunately, the Archie Sonic pre-boot comics had a MUCH better grasp of how to make Amy's characterization more than "oh, just fall in love with Sonic" because that wasn't really her focus on what she did in the Archie Sonic comics!

YES, issue #197 IS one of the WORST Archie Sonic comics, in my opinion, but to say that it is the ONLY Archie Sonic comic that I hate would just be stupid to say!  That's because there are 6 other issues that I hate along with issue #197 like Archie Sonic comic issues 39, 40, 224, 225, and 230 along with the "Mecha Madness" special!  I can live with anyone who thinks that Archie Sonic comic #134 is one of the worst issues since Sally DID slap Sonic in that issue, but 1.  I don't hate people who think that way and 2.  I don't think that it's NEARLY as bad as issues 39, 40, 197, 224, 225, and 230 along with the "Mecha Madness" special!  I don't mind if people disagree with me as long as they refrain from trying to be jerks to me because of the fact that I have different opinions from them!  Yes, Sonic comic #134's story that had Sally slap Sonic wasn't very good, but the only real problems with that issue were 1.  the slap (but even THEN, Sally apologized to Sonic #187) and the slap could have been cut out, and 2.  the artwork was atrocious!

I'll talk more about a certain character named Sally for now, but I'll focus more on a certain pink hedgehog who's usually know for falling in love with Sonic!  Yes, issue #197 was horrible, but even THEN, issue #40 is probably just as BAD if NOT worse because guess what happens?!?  Sonic the Hedgehog is put IN PRISON by the other Freedom Fighters, which is HORRIBLY stupid and just plain mean because OK, sure, Sonic WAS trying to do a VERY risky plan, but he was TRYING to HELP his friends out in issue #39 and not try to inconvenience them, and fortunately, AMY wasn't one of those jerks who thought that Sonic NEEDED to be put in jail!  That's because 1.  Amy doesn't become a member of the Freedom Fighters until issue #142 and 2.  unlike Sally and Antoine, Amy thought that Sonic should be freed in issue #40, which helps make her a likable character in that issue!  OK, yes, Amy WAS in love with Sonic in that issue along with issue #25 where she was crazy in love with Sonic, but I'll forgive how she acted in issues 25 and 40 for two reasons!

One of the first reasons that I'll forgive Amy's characterization in issues 25 and 40 was because in issue #25, I LOVED Amy jabbing Robotnik with her sharp spines, which makes Amy better that Princess Peach in that comic issue because Amy was sassy and spunky compared to Peach who would usually stay quiet when she's captive, which would be logical to do.  And I ACTUALLY love how Amy is portrayed in issue #40 because she logically thinks that Sonic shouldn't be in prison unlike SALLY and ANTOINE, and I loved how Sonic appreciated Amy wanting him freed, which makes sense for a guy like Sonic who as an ego!  Of course, Sally thinks that Sonic should be in prison even if she HATED the idea of doing so, but if Sally was so SAD about it, why didn't she CHANGE the law that would CAUSE Sonic to be imprisoned?!?  When even AMY and Sonic are more reasonable than Sally, something's seriously wrong!!!  Now, that does NOT mean that I hate Sonic, Sally, or Amy if all of them are written well, and I don't think that Sonic is necessarily an idiot because he CERTAINLY can have at least SOME instances of intelligence, but Sonic's more of a street-smart kind of guy!

Plus, I think that ANOTHER instance of good writing for Amy was in Archie Sonic comic #65 was that she was a positive person who loved reading books because she wanted adventure and that she was willing to protect a children's library of books!  She also had some chemistry with Dulcy, and NO, I'M NOT talking about ROMANTIC CHEMISTRY, I mean the FRIEND kind of chemistry!  Anyway, I LOVE how Amy joked around with Dulcy, how the two teasingly argued, loved how they joked around, and Dulcy was the cautious one of those two!  Sure, Amy had a bad moment of wanting to become a Freedom Fighter in issues 79 and 80 by wanting to use the Ring of Acorns to become older when Sally's mom when was very sick (Amy was maybe 8 up to issue #79 and 16 in issue #80), but if that's really the worst thing Amy did, I'm willing to give it at least a LITTLE bit of a pass!  

Besides, SONIC could have taken a trip around the world to get a Chaos Emerald or a Super Emerald in issue #69 because in a side story of Archie Sonic issue #5, you'll see that Sonic can run around the world in 3 to 4 SECONDS!  So, if anyone's to really blame for Queen Alicia not feeling better until issue #89, blame Sonic, not Amy!  It angers me that at least SOME Sonic comic writers (and even some FANS) don't even TRY to evaluate writing AT ALL!  I feel like, to quote Scar from the Lion King," that "I'm surrounded by idiots" OR I should call people who love Ian Flynn's work and and hate people like me and "CrystalMaiden 77" for HATING a lot of Ian Flynn's work "jerkozos (that's a combination of the words "jerk" and "bozo!"

If you want to love Ian Flynn's work, that's fine, but don't be a jerk (to quote SpongeBob's line from the "SpongeBob Christmas Special") about it to fans like me and "CrystalMaiden 77" for HATING Ian Flynn's work, GET A LIFE AND STOP ATTACKING PEOPLE!  Besides, I'm pretty sure that all life won't cease to exist if there are at least SOME Sonic fans who HATE at least SOME of Ian Flynn's work!  I don't see any meteors falling from the sky because of people like me and "CrystalMaiden 77" hating at least some of Ian Flynn's works while others DON'T!  Anyway, I need to discuss more about Amy and not about whether or not some "jerkozos" praise Ian Flynn like he's perfect and can do no wrong or not...   NEXT!!!  Also, I loved that Amy and Sonic, in a story of Sonic Super Special #8, just talked with each other like they were good friends without Sonic even catching the "I want to be away from Amy" bug!

All that really happened in that story was that Sonic told a story of how he thought that he killed his friends after Sonic got Amy's jacket for her when she wanted it, which is sweet:)  Anyone who says that Sonic's just a heartless jerk in the Archie Sonic comics can THINK SO if they WANT, but that's really not the case at all; Sonic CAN have a heart; it's really about issue #160 and onwards where he caught the "be smug and be heartless" bug, but I'll talk about that later...   MUCH, MUCH, MUCH later.  The only real time that Amy KISSED a certain blue hedgehog before issue #160 was in issue #151, and Sonic was even nice enough to take Amy to her house!  In fact, in issue #151, Sonic thinks about Amy kissed him and took her home, "what's up with Amy Rose?  I don't remember coming on to me like that way before!"

That should point out how much better Amy was as a character in Archie Sonic comics BEFORE issue #160 compared to how she acts in "Sonic X" and most of the games AFTER the Sonic Adventure games, and I don't even think that Amy was written THAT well after issue #160 OR in "Sonic Boom!"  Personally, I just find Amy to be a jerk in "Sonic Boom" because she belittles her friends, ESPECIALLY Sonic, Tails and Knuckles for some unknown reason and she considers herself the leader of the group!  But that's not to say that Amy can NEVER be nice at all because there ARE some episodes where Amy can actually BE NICE like "Buster" and "Into the Wilderness," and "Fortress of Squalitude!"  I'll talk more about Amy, Sally, and more in my next post, so, until next time, ciao:)