The Sonic the Hedgehog Continuity Thread of Love and Timelines

Chronicles is on the good list??? That- wh- HUH?????
The thought of something being banned that *isn't* Chronicles is bouncing around my head like it's trying to get a shield in SpringYard.

Guesses on who's name got changed are almost certainly pointing to the GameGear games staring Tails, from the specific mention of having Japanese names but not proper English ones.
It sounds like it's a more jarring change than "G-merl" (or "Gmel" in some files iirc) -> "Gemerl" (the blatantly correct choice used to this day, someone please go fix our wiki) had been.

 

So, when is Encyclopedia coming out, and how much does it cost? Ian got me curious.

 

The wiki reflects the media the article is about. In the Sonic Advance 3 strategy guide his name is spelled G-merl, so that is the spelling used in all Sonic Advance 3 related articles. In the comic books his name is spelled Gemerl, so that is the spelling used in all comic book related articles.

 

I think some of you are reading too far into this. Of course, I have been considering all possibilities for this, but everyone seems so quick to jump the gun and assume the characters/games in question are the huge, big, important ones. For all we know, the game they couldn't even give a footnote to was fucking Sonic Jam game.com :p

As for who could be getting a new official name, I honestly have no idea, but for whatever reason the Babylon Guardian keeps coming to mind. Iirc, Ian named him Angelus in the archie comics, right? And he also said that "fans will see his name", so I think we can rule out any female characters. It would make a bit of sense for Ian to want to use his own name in the book, but Sega steps in and says "no, he's had a different name all this time".

Of course, that's just a fleeting thought I had. Can't wait for Ken's latest lawsuit though.

 

This kind of just randomly came to me, but it's one of the robot Sonics, isn't it?

 

They are all called Mecha Sonic officially (except for Metal Sonic of course).

 

I have a kind of out-of-left field question, but what purpose in-universe do normal rings serve? We know the giant rings are gateways to the special stage dimension and apparently normal rings are used as currency, but what purpose is there to them beyond that? (Also wondering why the devs went with rings in the first place aside from trying to avoid coins, but this topic isn't for that.)

 

I guess they are pure energy that makes Sonic (or whoever) more powerful, because Sonic X.
Maybe they are just in-game gimmick and not something that actually exists (like the monitors, speed shoes, shields, etc.), but I don't think so. Modern and Classic Tails talk to each other about the rings at the end of Generations.

 

Well, that line was also only in English. In Japanese they talk about the Cyclone.

 

Oh I didn't know that

 

A (the most?) recent BumbleKast touches on it lightly as an aside. SEGA are reportedly resistent to media that depicts gameplay abstractions as in-universe objects to interact with; things like Wisp and Flicky Capsules get away with it because they contain living creatures and thereby have narriative potential, but monitors and rings were given as example of stuff that's advised as "don't touch without a good excuse". I would dig this up but I am coughing a lot and should probably get some rest; for those curious, it's the BumbleKast that discusses Ken Pender's ridiculous licensing terms that Ian was very gracious dealing with and still got an earful for his troubles.

 

Good, that line about rings in Generations felt really out of place. It always struck me as a prime "going against the lore for the sake of an attempt at a cheap self-referential gag" Pontac moment.

 

58 minutes in.

Ian only mentions the item boxes:

 

My take has been that the name of the character is "G-merl". IDW had been referring to him as "Gemerl" while all other material referred to him as "G-merl" as per how it is if romanized in Japanese iirc.

 

Was it really G-merl?
It must be Mandela effect because I remember always using Gemerl.

 

No no. It was listed as Gemerl in the manuals for a good long time now. You aren't misremembering. But recent material refers to him as G-merl since it is, to my understanding, more accurate.
His name in Japanese is "ジーメル" which romanizes as "Jīmeru".

 

The name that appears in IDW was approved by Sonic Team as a localisation. If there is any recent English language media that states G-Merl is accurate, I would very much like to see it.

 

Seems like both are valid, really. Gemerl and G-Merl pretty much say the same thing.

 

What manuals? What recent material?

In 2004's Sonic Advance 3 Saikyou Kouryaku Guide his name is spelled G-merl. That is the original spelling of his name.

 

Just a tidbit. As mentioned in the infamous Sonic Bible Whatever, only male hedgehogs become Super (in the modern continuity at least).

2:00:25