I read stories, I review pretty much anything, and make opinionated videos on stuff that interests me for everyone's enjoyment. Thanks for checking my stuff out, I appreciate it!
This feels like a story from the earlier, gag-filled days of the comic (like the James Bond parody one). :/ Doesn't help that I know _nothing_ about Casablanca.
Welcome to Penders's Knuckles comics, where every issues refuses to give the mysteries a satisfying answer (whether by it being disappointing/underwhelming or just straight up not appearing) and makes even more promises it will rarely deliver on. All setup, no payoff. Also a lot of words. And poorly integrated real world issues.
The Director's Cut of this is pretty neat if still flawed, but the original cut... yeah, it was rushed to hell and back, and there's no denying that this is just... not a good finale, _especially_ if you're like Coombs and weren't a fan of the story so far anyway. 7:06 *_Damn_* straight. Loved this scene. F- you, Drago. 👊
Yeah, this is the lowpoint of Endgame _(besides maybe the original print of Issue 50)_ and this is coming from someone who didn't mind the arc too much. I simply cannot excuse the "Hershey in a Sonic costume with Snively-vision" plot point. 10:12 I actually kind of like this panel for how goofy it looks, but it doesn't quite fit in what's supposed to be the most serious story so far.
1:32 Hey, Rosie's hair is colored correctly here! They got it wrong in the Sonic Archives reprint _(which is the version I saw first),_ giving her Sally's reddish hair.
It's funny to go from Charriii5, who read Endgame blind and enjoyed the first half with the latter half being bad enough for him to call the arc in general crap, to Cyberpunk Jordan who defended the arc and called it "a misunderstood masterpiece" (while acknowledging the flaws), to finally you, Coombs, who just says Endgame sucks before you even began reviewing it (and it's not even like I disagree with your criticisms). It's interesting to see the many different perspectives. I personally enjoyed every part except Issue 49, though I don't think "Endgame" is great, just "flawed but enjoyable if you don't set your expectations too high". Still, I wouldn't have wanted it to be the actual finale of the series. Glad there's more of this messy comic.
I don't know if you do reply to comments to your videos from I can tell he but in case you do, I'd like to inform you that your Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer review you did for the Rankin Bass Marathon you did a while back has been taken down by NBC Universal International. Could you be able to fix that problem?
This is the embodiment of that Wayne's World quote about Star Trek: The Next Generation: "In many ways, it's superior but will never be as recognized as the original."
I can't believe this was 9 years ago.. I hope you do the dramatic reading when the other chapters comes out, I'm still holding up hope since Scribbler is still active at least. It won't be the same without you...
10:16 Cowardice? Pah! You lost Rotor because you were too stubborn and prideful to accept change, to accept new things. Losing your son was your own damn fault, Tundra! If your wife was still alive, she’d be disappointed in you.
Fun Fact: Tundra is actually Rotor’s dad. Rotor and Tundra never got along, with Rotor being the inventive dude we all know and love, while Tundra hated things that were new and/or different, including his son’s inventions. Eventually, Rotor ran away from home because of his father’s inability to accept change. While Tundra threw his luck in with Eggman.
Ayup, "generic" in a good way to describe this issue. Feels like something a fan would've cooked up for their fanfic comic. Not that it's a bad thing in this case, just nothing mindblowing. I guess it's better than a confusing mess?
Knuckles was basically Shadow before Shadow. The cool rival to Sonic with a mysterious past _(ok, maybe Shadow's past wasn't that mysterious as it was quite fleshed out in his debut game, but it was still intriguing)_ and a connection to Chaos Emeralds. _also uh I'm skipping a bit because I'm pretty sure these were released before Endgame but shh..._
It had a bit too many childish _"haha but I actually can do THIS!"_ moments, but overall, not bad. The two backup stories were a nice return to the early, more simple days of the comic. I'm starting to miss those...
This one was... kinda bad, not gonna lie. I was hoping I'd be proven wrong, but no, this story is somehow both a nothing burger and a convoluted mess of contrivences.
Not sure how much of the flashback writing was Ken himself and how much he took straight from the SatAM time travel two-parter, but even if it's mostly the latter, he still did a pretty great job utilizing it and writing other parts of this story. This was one of the better Penders stories so far... too bad it sits right next to one of the _worst_ Penders stories of all time. :/ Still, it was a very pleasant read with exposition that made sense to be said in-universe. *EDIT:* huh, so I guess it wasn't quite as good as I thought
0:46 And by "looks serious" I mean "has the same dead face he's had for the past 5 or so issues". Seriously, it's almost the exact same face as the one from Issue 38's cover. What's up with that? 1:20 Actually, Knuckles has _two_ Emeralds in his possession: one keeping the island afloat and one he found in the zone where he and Sonic fought in their super forms. Of course, Sonic probably doesn't know that, so it's still bad. EDIT: 7:10 Oh, nevermind. Sonic mentions it here.
2:00 Worth noting that parts of this issue, such as here (and at 4:06), had the wrong colors in the first printing (which you seem to be using), giving it a somewhat "bleak" color palette. 3:28 I just noticed that the Island is sort of shaped like a Chaos Emerald. It didn't really have that distinction in Sonic 3&K, so I wonder if this was an intentional decision in the comic. 5:49 SatAM had the heroes wear SWATbot disguises too in one episode and it didn't get an explaination for how they can control them either, though at least in that case it was shown that Rotor salvaged some robot parts to create the disguises, so it's plausible that he put some tech inside that allows them to control the bodies. This was definitely better than Issue 1, though still a bit too word-heavy. Some nice action here and there, even if the artwork and "combat banter" isn't the best. Plus, the narrator getting corrected on "Snivopolis" made me chuckle. :)
Exposition, exposition everywhere. Oh, and describing what you can clearly see - a trademark of Gallagher. _Just great._ 4:52 Surprised they didn't reference the issue where everyone got abducted by an alien with a similar tube.
So, right when you said that she saw a pony with the same coloration at Spike and then Twilight laughing when Rarity asked for the transformation later, I was like ‘I KNEW it!’ XD Still, I was smiling hugely by the end :) Great job! :D:D
The selective detail on the first few pages tricked me into thinking the art was gonna be "Pat Spaz at home", but it turned out to be worse. Much, much worse. The story isn't much better, though the fact that I experienced it through Charriii5's reading (where he was very critical of it) might've influenced my opinion.
If specials shouldn't contain crucial plot elements... then what _should_ they contain? Completely irrelevant things, like that dumb Super vs Hyper fight?
Wow, that has got to be one of the _worst_ big villain introductions I've ever seen. Mogul shows up, monologues about how almighty he is, then get his butt kicked in ONE PANEL before fleeing.
I just found today and I love it. I love the interaction between these two. Edit: I take it back. The origin for pit was way too dark and doesn’t fit the character in my opinion at all the writing fine it’s just way too dark and uncomfortable for my kind of taste yeah
Do not trust the Sonic Wiki Zone and Mobius Encyclopedia when they say that Blaze & Marine's Archie counterparts are separate characters because they are fansites, and they do not always rely on official information.
Both pre-SGW and post-SGW Blaze and Marine are the same characters for these four reasons.... 1. Blaze's recap in Sonic Universe # 55 and the editor's footnotes throughout the Pirate Plunder Panic arc reference the pre-SGW continuity a lot. 2. Ian Flynn, when he answered a fan's question on the now defunct Bumbleking Forums, stated that the Sol Zone was preserved via the Jeweled Scepter below the planet's surface and it did get a bit waved by the Super Genesis Wave. 3. Blaze the Cat remembered everything that happened prior to When Worlds Collide and recalled being kidnapped by an evil force from another world and being forced to do their bidding. 4. Captain Metal is the same Metal Sonic V 3.0 unit that chased Shadow through Moebius, the Sonic X zone, and the Sol Zone.
Let's see... Robotnik breaks the fourth wall, Crabmeat is back as his lackey... yep, this is a Gallagher story through and through. It even has Spaz as the penciller, just like in Issue 25 (another somewhat plot-driven Gallagher story starring a mechanical Sonic). That "south will rise again" quote from Bunnie, while unfortunate, at least made me relisten to "Civil War" by Guns n Roses, so that's a plus. 😅 6:49 Wait, he drew those too?! :o (consults the MMKB) Oh, he was a penciller only in issue 4, the last one. Still, that's a nice surprise.
