So I said I hoped to post reviews more often. That was on New Years Day…… whoops. Well, here’s a review of the Sally Mini-Series in its entirety. Hopefully it makes up a little for the delay! Mini-Series – Princess Sally Deadliest of the Species: Parts 1 - 3 We start pretty much where we left off in Issue 20. Er… you don’t remember? But it’s only been…. Over half a year…. Ahem… Okay, there is a short recap of Sally infiltrating Robotnik’s base Goldfinger style and meeting up with Geoffrey St. John for the first time. And then a Swat Bot taking careful aim at Sally. I want to repeat that. The Swat Bot is taking CAREFUL aim. Because in the next panel we see the Swat Bot and its squad open fire. And ALL of them miss. These guys would give Storm Troopers a run for their money in the Poor Aim Olympics. No, that was not meant to be a topical joke. Sally and Geoffrey snark at each other for a bit before making their escape. Sally mentions being with a unit, but not the rest of the Freedom Fighters as you might expect, but a new group of trainees. In the midst of the trainees discussing how Sally seems to be late and what to do, Geoffrey literally bursts in and wrestles with one of them, Hamlin. Sally arrives to call Geoffrey off, and wearing a slightly different coloured vest, but that probably won’t be important. Despite her assurances however, Hamlin remains suspicious of Geoffrey, though both are kind jerks about it. The next morning begins with Sally giving a briefing. Starting with ‘As you know’! Gah! How NOT to write exposition! Anyway, Rotor has come up with a plan that knocking out several power substations outside Robotropolis would disrupt its defence grid, allowing the Freedom Fighters to attack. The Freedom Fighters have split up to take out other substations, while Sally will lead her team to take out three, though Sally took out the first one solo in issue 20. After Hamlin and Geoffrey do some more Alpha male posturing, the team sets off. Unlike the first which looked like a factory, the second substation is either built inside, or built to look like, and old Aztec or Incan style temple. Aside from some fire throwing cannons quickly taken out by a grenade, as well as the Swat Bots next to them, the place seems surprisingly undefended. At least until AFTER Sally has planted a computer virus to trigger the self-destruct mechanism. At which point two massive Orb Bots; egg shaped bodies, eye stalks, lasers and two big stompy legs, burst in. I think Robotnik needs to work on his security. It’s kinda lacking for the big defenders to show up so late. Almost suspiciously so… A bit more snark between Geoffrey and Sally, then Sally removes a panel, yanks out some wires, and uses them to trip one of the bots. Those are some very strong wires. If Robotnik made his bots out of the same stuff they’d be indestructible! The bot almost squishes Hamlin as it falls, but Geoffrey swings in and yanks him out the way. With the self-destruct counting down the group legs it, followed by the second Orb Bot. Which, somehow, they manage to lure off a cliff because… it somehow didn’t see the cliff it was looking straight at the panel before. Given the Swat Bot’s aim at the start of the story, and how they failed to spot Sonic last issue, I think Robotnik’s bots have serious sight issues. Back to the workshop Doc! Despite the successful mission and having his life saved, Hamlin is still highly suspicious for Geoffrey, who responds pretty much in kind. Sally takes umbridge, saying that if Hamlin doesn’t trust Geoffrey, he shouldn’t trust her. But maybe Hamlin is right, as during the night Geoffrey sneaks off from camp and…. Uses a teleporter watch. Wait, what? Where did that come from? Okay, spoiler warning, but then you wouldn’t be reading these if you were worried about those, but he got it from Robotnik. So, Robotnik has teleporter tech able to be mounted in watches. Even if it is limited to one fixed destination, that is still a crazy advantage. Couple that with his indestructible wires, there is no way Robotnik should be losing against the Freedom Fighters. Anyway, Geoffrey teleports to a secluded building, heads inside, where we find another Sally held inside some kind of status pod, with Geoffrey giving an ominous ‘soon’. I think that call for a ‘Dun Dun Dun’! Onto issue 2. After the recap, we see Geoffrey and Hamlin at it again, taking a training exercise too far. This time its Geoffrey who gets the lecture from Sally after she quickly floors him. After that it’s onto the next briefing. This substation is much better defended, on a small island surrounded by cliffs. So how do they intend to reach it? Using hang gilders. Okay, not bad, aside from two things. First the awkward implication that Rotor has invented them and just happened to give them the same name. And second, doing so in broad daylight! And of course, the island has anti air defences. I would say it’s a miracle that only one of the group, Arlo, gets shot down. But given the aiming skills and bot eyesight I’d say it’s a miracle they managed to shoot any of them down. Everyone else manages to land safely, and soon find the injured Arlo. Penelope, another of the trainees, decides to remain with her while the rest of the group moves on with the mission. A quick comic panel shows some observation equipment tracking them, then the reach the substation, this one looking Incan mixed with European castle. Just one Swat Bot guards the door, swiftly changing tense to ‘guarded’, and the interior is looking somewhat run down. But this time the big security bot is already waiting. A multi-tentacled monstrosity called an Octo-pod. Which… given it’s got more than eight limbs is kinda a fail at naming. It doesn’t even look anything like an octopus before you bring that up, aside from having tentacles. It’s more like a shrimp! Anyway, like any horror movie it grabs the girl from the shadows first. Hamlin and Dylan, the last trainee, are swiftly grabbed as well, while Geoffrey sneaks underneath and plants one of the charges the team took to blow the substation. Then we get to an odd part. First off, Sally whips out a can of hair spray. Okay, maybe she’s still not back to her normal colours and is using aids, but why did she have the can with her on a mission? Then she sprays it in the robot’s compound eye, which, in the second oddity, cause it to scream in pain and rub its eyes, dropping Sally and the trainees. Seriously, what is up with the robots and their eyes? The group runs for it again as the Octo-pod blows up, shortly followed by the substation as well. However, on returning to where Arlo and Penelope were left, both have vanished. With not even tracks to follow, Sally orders the rest of the team to return to the camp, hoping Arlo and Penelope made their way back. But even after several hours there is no sign of them. That night Geoffrey again makes a trip via teleporter, this time with an unconscious Sally on his back. Back inside the building he places Sally inside another status pod, then contacts a mysterious controller. Even though we only see part of him and in shadow, it’s obvious it’s Doc Robotnik, aside from having a pet cat for…. some reason. Geoffrey informs Robotnik the exchange has been made, then opens the other status pod where the other Sally (in a blue waistcoat) was being held, telling her that ‘Everything is going to plan and no one suspects anything.’ Another time skip to the next morning and Sally is leading Hamlin and Dylan in the assault on Robotopolis. Alone. Even with the defensives down that seems foolhardy. Hamlin comments on the lack of a Geoffrey, but Sally isn’t concerned. Only then we see Geoffrey wheeling in the status pod with Sally inside to a waiting, and triumphant, Robotnick. After the recap issue 3 starts with the assault in progress. It seems the Freedom Fighters have learned just how vulnerable robot’s eyes are, using paint guns to blind them. Interesting just how gun like these paint guns are in design, given how later comics would be fanatically anti-gun. Hamlin once again ends up almost getting killed as a walkway is shot out from underneath him, and this time it falls to Sally to save him. Bursting into the control room the trainees are surprised to find Robotnik not only waiting but criticising their performance. Now now Robotnik, that’s MY job! Geoffrey is there as well, confirming Hamlin’s suspicious that he’s the traitor. Not wasting time he attacks the skunk, and seems to actually have the upper hand over the trained secret service agent. See Geoffrey, this is what happens when you get out of shape! But Hamlin is suddenly threatened by Sally, prompting Robotnik to make the big reveal. This Sally is not the real Princess Sally, but a robot duplicate called an Auto-Automation. The whole power substation mission was concocted by Robotnik to test the robot’s capabilities’…. Uh… I’ll come back to that point later. But now the Auto-Automation has been successful Robotnik plans in constructing more, and robotizing the real Princess, still in a status pod. But when the robotizer is switched on, Sally explodes! Rather gruesome, until it’s revealed the only way for that to occur was if the one robotized was already a robot. Yes, the auto-automation was actually in the status pod, and the real Sally was pretending to be the robotic impersonator with Geoffrey’s help. And now they have Robotnik at their mercy. For…what…? Like the fifth time now in the comic’s run? At least they plan to do something this time! Robotnik also has a plan, with hidden robots in the wall activating to attack. And credit where it’s due, these robots are actually visible in the previous panels, just appearing to be more decorative artwork, so kudos there. But he’s not the only one with reinforcements, as a burrowing tank bursts through the floor, with members of Geoffrey’s secret service, as well as Arlo and Penelope, revealing that they were rescued by the secret service when they disappeared before. Though, given Arlo has to use a crutch, maybe someone shouldn’t be on the battlefield. Wait a second, burrowing tank capable of entering Robotropolis? Again, like the teleporter watch, something that gives such a massive advantage it should have ended this war ages ago! Sensing defeat, Robotnik escapes through a hidden tunnel and triggers the self-destruct. Just for the factory, not the whole city! With the burrowing tank destroyed by one of the robots the Freedom Fighters and Secret Service flee into a hanger where they find…. flying craft that look suspiciously like the D.E.L. saucers that will feature later on. Hmm, wonder if Robotnik had uncovered something during his stay on Angel Island? But anyway, they use them to escape with ease, and after the mission the trainees are promoted to full Freedom Fighter members and given medals. On a final night of camping the explanation for what happened is given. Geoffrey had discovered the auto-automation plot and faked siding with Robotnik to try and disrupt it. After meeting Sally, the two had activated the robot early without Robotnik’s knowledge. This happened off screen, after the first base was destroyed, but before we were introduced to the trainees. The real Sally waited in a status pod, while Geoffrey observed the auto-automation and its capabilities ‘in the wild’. When the time came from the ‘proper’ switch, Geoffrey placed the robot in a pod and opened the real Sally’s pod, but the watching Robotnik though it was his robot being activated. This is why Sally swapped vest colours. Sally having a blue vest, the duplicate a purple one. There’s…. more to this, but I’ll get to that soon. Sally says something weird though. She says they tricked Robotnik into thinking that the auto-automation was recognized as an imposter, not that Geoffrey told them about the duplicate. And with this failure Robotnik will discontinue the line. But surely Robotnik’s first thought on finding where Geoffrey’s true allegiances lay would be to think he’d told them the truth. The next morning Sally and Geoffrey share their regret that duties mean they have to part, but before they do, they share a kiss. Which means….. Geoffrey feel for a robot, and Sally for a guy she knew for only a couple of hours. Not the most romantic couple it has to be said. The mini-series ends with Sally wondering where here heart should go, but seriously, if it’s that easily swayed, maaaaybe you’re not as keen on Sonic as you though Sally. I’m just saying! The Sally mini-series is probably the highlight of the second year. It’s a fun action-heavy tale with a more serious vibe than was found in the main comic up to this point. You may have noticed that the story summary tends to go very quickly. This is because the story could easily be compressed to two issues without anything being cut, but the extra issue allows a lot of extra panels, which rather than making it feel padded out, gives it a far less rushed and more measured pace than usual. And allows for more detailed and longer action scenes. This probably helps give it a more serious feel as I mentioned before. While Geoffrey is given a lot of character, you may have noticed that outside Hamlin I haven’t mentioned the trainees much. That’s because most are very lacking in character. Hamlin is the brash, angry outspoken one, and the one who decided Geoffrey is bad news, so he gets the most to do. For the others, Dylan is the cautious one, Penelope the middle of the road one, and Arlo is…. Just there. A shame they didn’t use the extra space to help develop the supporting cast a bit more. The use of the teleporter is also a strange element. It doesn’t need to exist for the story to work, and all it does is raise the question of ‘Why isn’t this used again’. The burrow tank is similar, but more forgivable. But the explanation at the end…. Oh boy. It actually makes things MORE confusing than they were before. I’ve given the sensible points above. But it gets more complicated. First in showing Sally the auto-automation, Geoffrey was able to win her trust. She’s lucky he wasn’t a traitor after all. “I trust you!” “Good, now get in this status pod as part of the plan.” “Okay!” And Sally gets into the pod and is delivered to Robotnik. Second, the fact the second and third power substations were Robotnik’s plot to test the robot. SO many questions from this. How did the robot or Robotnik know about the attack on the first substation and work it into the plot? Why would Sally describe the plan as ‘as you know’ if only SHE knew it? And most of all, if the second and third substations were only meant to be attacked as part of the robot’s plot, why wasn’t Robotnik suspicious when they were attacked BEFORE he thought the robot was activated??!!?! Seriously, there is no explanation for that. In summary, it is a fun story that falls apart when it makes the explanations at the end more complex than they needed to be. The glaring and confusing plot holes, and the rather forced romance at the end spoils what was otherwise a great early story.
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