Issue 23 Story 1: Ivo Robotnik, Freedom Fighter. Cool title, shame the story doesn’t turn out as you might expect from that. Also, something that just popped into my head, I wonder if the person who translated Eggman into Robotnik was a Ghostbuster’s fan, given the character of Ivo Shandor from that film. Back in the review of Issue 12 I said how children’s series almost all eventually do a story about time travel, as that story was, and a story about aliens, which is this one. Like time travel, the impact of aliens has to be very carefully handled to make sense in a wider context, and likewise, this is very rarely done. If the aliens are good, why don’t they help the heroes all the time? Usually this will be some form of ‘don’t interfere with primitive races’ rule, like the Star Trek Prime Directive. If they are evil or hostile, they you need to come up with more and more ridiculous excuses for why they don’t just bombard the planet from orbit. As such, most aliens tend to be neutral, just interested in observing and studying us, though the might seem evil if they view other races as just inferior or specimens. Which is the case we have here. We open with Sally once again being critical, this time thinking Sonic is messing around when in fact he’s got ants in his shoes. Ants wearing teeny tiny clothes, dress as stereotypical hillbillies. How they weren’t crushed by how fast Sonic was moving his feet I’ll never know. These ants are from Rotor’s ant farm. Remember that? So… these ants wear clothing, which shows they’re intelligent. Yet Rotor keeps them as pets in an ant farm. Please, let that rattle around in your head. A FREEDOM FIGHTER IS KEEPING INTELLIGENT CREATURES PRISONER! I know this is meant to be the point of the story, but still, the hypocrisy on display is horrible. Anyway, Rotor says they like living in his ant farm, but given they keep escaping, something Sonic comments on, I doubt Rotor asked them. Sally cuts the discussion short by telling the two to hurry up finding the medical berries they are harvesting close to Robotropolis. So… berries are growing very close to a polluting city….. okay. And it’s not like they are thriving in a corrupted landscape, the whole area looks green and vibrant. Also…. If they are out on a mission, how did the escaping ants get out here? If they were sensible enough to say, hitch a lift on one of the Freedom Fighters this far without being detected, how did they end up in Sonic’s shoe, blowing their escape plan? Or did Rotor take his ant farm with him? At this point Robotnik pops up with Snively, this time with a Roboticizer ray gun. He almost zaps Sally who gets saved by Sonic, then sets his sights on Rotor, who once again has somehow lost the ants that were just found. Sonic rushes in to do the hero thing again, when suddenly a giant hose sucks them into what appears to be a giant sofa cushion. The hose also sucks up all surrounding objects, bushes, even a tree or too, but when they land all that other stuff has vanished. Despite a tree half out of the hose in the frame just before they land. Robotnik and Sonic argue for a moment before they are greeted by their captor, a giant alien in a metal suit, who introduces himself as Car-Heem of Weeet, who has decided to study a group of Mobian’s just because. Robotnik tries to talk Car-Heem into letting him go in return for a guidebook. This just angers Car-Heem who plans to dispose of Robotnik calling him inferior, only for Sonic and Sally to speak up on his behalf, saying he is an important member of the Freedom Fighters. So… yet ANOTHER opportunity to end the war thrown away. Okay, this one is kinda understandable, but still…. Car-heem is intrigued at how Mobian’s are interdepend as his own is independent, but still, if you have studies any other species, surely this trait wouldn’t be ‘strange’. So he spares Robotnik and puts him, Snively and the Freedom Fighters (Sonic, Rotor, Sally and Tails) into a tank with a Mobian landscape inside. Robotnik complains her can’t live in it because it’s non-toxic. You know, if Robotnik need pollution to live, that does put an interesting spin on his conquering of the world. But given they are trapped in there for days it’s probably just a case of not liking green. A quick attempt to spin-dash through the wall fails, so of course everyone gives up and think they’re trapped. Some Freedom Fighters you guys are! A few days pass as the Freedom Fighters try to build a habitat, and so far have succeeded in digging a hole a few inches deep and cutting down a single tree. Which they are chopping up to make what I can only assume are drink coasters because there is nothing else that could be made of them. Robotnik meanwhile is goofing off, but Sonic points out that, if Car-heem thinks Robotnik is not part of the group, he could kill Robotnik. Panicking, Robotnik is forced into taking the ‘Freedom Fighter’s Oath’. Half of which is just insults towards Robotnik. And then amusing Snively congratulates Robotnik. Well, not amusing to Robotnik himself. Finally, they start talking about escaping, with Sonic, bringing up the ants again, saying that if they act boring Car-heem might open the top, giving them a chance to get out. But Rotor points out that getting out the tank wouldn’t get them home, so Robotnik speaks up, saying that he can build a vehicle to get everyone out the tank, and can then fly the spaceship home. And tries to use the fact he’s a Freedom Fighter to get the others to trust him. And they seem to….. Maybe they are indeed fools Robotnik. So Sonic plays dead, leading to Car-heem moving to get rid of him, and the others if they are also dead. But as the giant goes to grab the hedgehog Sonic springs up and runs inside Car-heem’s suit, irritating him like the ants did before in Sonic’s shoe. The rest of the Freedom Fighter board Robotnik’s wooden helicopter, Tails acting as the rear propeller, which manages to just take off, losing its wheels in the process. Not sure if they found metal wheels somewhere, or if the colourist goofed up. They land on the control panel, Sally not sure why they’re doing so. I getting the feeling this plan wasn’t discussed much beforehand as despite Robotnik saying he could control the ship earlier, Sally implies the plan is to hide. But Robotnik’s true plan becomes clear as he uses the controls to open the airlock….er… well it’s not an airlock, just a door, and sending Car-heem and Sonic into space. Okay, Car-heem’s suit keeps him safe in vacuum and he wears it all the time, but still, an airlock would be a lot safer than just a single door. Robotnik gloats, but then Sally and Tails grab him while Rotor sends the hose to Car-heem to grab. Well, what did you THINK would happen there Robotnik? Didn’t you have a follow-up plan? Or did you assume because the Freedom Fighters were giving up to easily before they would do the same with Sonic trapped in space. Anyway, Car-Heem is pulled back in, and somehow this has given him a change of heart. No idea why, it just happens. So he is going to send everyone home. Robotnik as well… ho hum, the war rages on. We end with Rotor setting his ants free. So… is the moral of the story ‘don’t keep intelligent creatures as pet’ which seems freaking obvious, or… ‘don’t keep pets’… which seems rather mean! Story 2 – The Vol-Ant-teer A story focused on Antoine for those confused by the title. Its night in the now established Knothole village, and Antoine is spooked by a large shadow on the wall. But it turns out it’s Tails, who’s glum because he lost a Power Ring and worries that it means he won’t be allowed on anymore missions. Antoine say’s he’ll fetch it for Tails, only to be told that it’s in Robotropolis. Antoine panics at first, but, despite being the group coward, goes anyway. Let me repeat that. Antoine decides of his free will to go into Robotropolis alone for no other reason than to help a friend out. He didn’t need to, heck he could have helped by just sticking up for Tails when he told Sonic and Sally about the lost ring, but no, he goes out. The talk has woken up Bunnie, and Tails explains what’s going on (Except for exactly what he lost) but then Bunnie disappears. The story moves into Robotropolis, Antoine already in the city, sticking out of a manhole cover as he tries to read a map Tails made for him. A robot car spots him and tries to run him over, only to be stopped by a falling girder out of seemingly nowhere. Antoine however is more annoyed by the noise so goes back into the sewers. Soon he finds the tall building where Tails backpack has been left, Power Ring inside, and starts climbing a ladder to reach the top. Three Swat Bots spit him and follow up the ladder, only for it to be torn from the building side causing all three to fall and smash. We see a mysterious shadow on the building side, only it’s clearly recognizable as Bunnie. I wonder how Antoine got down though now the ladder has gone. Also, those three Swat Bots have some weird speech patterns. There’s no humour to it, it’s just weird for no reason. Suddenly Antoine is outside the city, just a toxic river between him and safety, so he crawls through a pipe running one side from another. Robotnik has been awoken and has spotted the coyote, planning to ram the pipe with his hovercraft. Only the pipe suddenly moves and the hovercraft crashes into the ooze. Back home, Antoine returns the backpack to Tails, but does admit what he did was rather foolish and Tails should never take a risk like that. Oh don’t worry Antoine, I’m sure Tails would never go off on an adventure on his own! Tails agrees to keep it a secret and flies off, and then Antoine gives Bunnie a ‘thank you’ kiss on the cheek for their secret, showing that Antoine worked out Bunnie was helping him, and given Bunnie’s blushing face we have a confirmation of their forming relationship. “Courage isn’t just a matter of not being frightened you know. It’s being afraid and doing what you have to do anyway.” – The Third Doctor. This is potentially the first story that has true character development, changing Antoine from an almost useless coward, to a loyal friend who will push through his fear when needed. This I’d argue actually makes Antoine the bravest character. He’s scared, well, terrified of the situation, but will still fight for his friends. Overall When I did my overview of Year 1 I said the tone of the comics would fluctuate. This is clear here with the somewhat silly space alien collector story following the ‘Robotnik dies and returns’ plot from the last two issues. That’s not to say the first story is bad, it’s just more lighthearted than the past few issues, and nothing really stands out about it. Nor will it have an impact beyond a minor cameo later. The second story, while showing Antoine pushing past his fear, is still just a short lighthearted story. It’s character and implications are more worthwhile than the story itself.
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