The Sonic the Hedgehog Continuity Thread of Love and Timelines

Not mentioned directly, only kinda hinted at through a brief trip by memory lane.

 

Nothing off the top of my head. That one just stood out to me because I was waiting for the eye freak out lol.

I think the NPC text boxes are off-set a bit too far to the left, but I can't be sure that my CRT's geometry isn't the cause. The story text boxes appear to be centered properly though.

https://tcrf.net/Sonic_Adventure_(Dreamcast)/Version_Differences

I haven't seen anything not covered here. They mention the camera difference in the cutscene after Sky Chase but don't mention it hiding the eye glitch.

Edit: I just checked a YouTube vid. The dialogue is definitely set a bit odd. It's aligned to the left and the margins are so tight that when there's a line break after a short sentence, the sentences barely make it to the halfway point of the screen. Maybe this was the case in other versions but it struck me immediately when playing this version for the first time last week.

 

4:21 - The newest Tailstube came out recently and I’m a bit worried, you don’t have to answer this if you can’t but is IDW a parallel universe to the games or is it still in the game canon world?

- Still in the game canon world.


28:04 - Soooo... On the recent TailsTube episode, the multiverse is officially a thing in the mainline canon now. That's good to know, and a great excuse to make the "Everything is canon" quote, well... canon. I've always loved everything that includes multiverse shenanigans no matter how the trope has been overused. So my question is, judging by the pics of the alternate Sonic's, especially the one with the sports tape and blue arms, is it safe to say now that the different medias of Sonic (Boom; Movie; etc.) are officially a part of the Sonic Multiverse?

- 'Officially' is such a strong word. I mean, Tails is speculating that such a multiverse could exist, which would very conveniently cover so many things that we thought we could reference and then ran into legal shenanigans at the last minute. So, while we have no direct confirmation of a multiverse beyond Blaze's Dimension, it does seem reasonable that Boom and movie and SatAM and everything else would be part of some grander multiverse - if Tails is accurate in his speculation.


29:23 - In the recent TailsTube there is a folder on Tails’ computer named “Lego Ideas” meaning Lego is canon to the world of Sonic. My question for you is what themes do Sonic and friends collect? Is Tails a fan of the theme and story of Bionicle? Is Sonic a Ninjago fan? It’s killing me to know!

[That was a weird #KnowingSmile sort of thing, listen to it]

 

Forgive me for drudging something up from over a month ago, but is there a way of verifying this? All I can find is a twitter quote implying that the IDW-verse is separate from the game canon (aside from the Team Sonic Racing special issue, which the quote directly mentions):

David Mariotte on Twitter: "@ultrasonic8000 Hi there Alexander! The TSR one-shot is canon to the upcoming game, not the rest of the IDW Sonic universe!" / Twitter

Maybe it was mentioned in a Bumblekast at some point, which is a bit more of a challenge to comb through. Certainly the events of the games are canon to the IDW comics, so the comics would take place after Forces, but maybe that doesn't apply the other way around. I do realize Frontiers mentioned Tangle, but at the time I took that as meaning some IDW characters might be canonized in the universe of the games, but not necessarily the entire events of the comics themselves.

EDIT: I need to learn to read the latest posts in the thread evidently, IDW is confirmed canon to the games via Bumblekast. Although I guess that means that at least in 2018, IDW wasn't considered canon to the games?

 

Flynn, the current writer, says Game canon. I very much hate this, but eh.

 

1. The David Mariotte quote is from 2018 and is out of date.
2. Ian Flynn just reconfirmed the IDW comics are canon in the most recent Bumblekast.

 

Eh, I'm not so sure. That sounded ambiguous enough to me. Ian was asked if IDW was still set in the game canon's world, not if it was part of the game canon.

Both IDW and Prime are set in that world, as they use it as their background. Whether or not they're in continuity with the games is a different matter.

 

He responded with "Still in the game canon", not "in the game canon world". Seems rather clear.

 

It's whatever you want it to be until something solidifies it.

 

God, I'm tired of the facetious hair-splitting surrounding this debate. You really think there'd be statements going around like this if there was any internal doubt or ambiguity whatsoever that the comics and games don't share their canon? I could forgive it if IDW Sonic was all we had, but Archie has set a clear and consistent precedent that has held for...god, around 17 years at this point, with the use of "another time, another place" to game tie-ins and the core Archie book, which are two different continuities. Likewise, for their part SEGA has been very clear on what is and isn't shared canon since at least the days of Boom. They've been explicit in categorising Boom and the movies as their own separate strands of continuity, why would they stay mum on the comics and let rumours swirl contrary to what their supposed intentions are? And sure, there are incosistencies between the games, IDW and Prime that are sometimes glaring and reflecting a shifting landscape that will hopefully settle soon, but that's not really grounds to get pernickity about statements on the matter coming from people much more knowledgeable about these things than you or me.

 

Here is a question and answer from last month

PizzaPerson: Will Sonic fans be required to read the comics going forward for new information on characters or lore? I’m curious since before IDW Sonic was non canon to the games, but now it seems there is going to be greater connection between the IDW comics and the games.

Ian Flynn: No that's not the intention at least. I always wrote them with the idea of them being part of the game canon just because that makes things easier. Whatever new game came along it would inform the world of the comic so why try to buck that system? Just work with the assumption that okay this is the game universe and it should fit somehow whether it's official or not and go from there. So you know you didn't need to read any of IDW to understand Sonic Frontiers and you don't have to play Frontiers to understand what's coming up in IDW. They exist within the same universe but they are not necessarily wholly reliant on each other.

22:06

 

Essentially the comics are canon until they aren’t. Sega seems to want cohesiveness between their products so that fans can feel like they’re in the same world, but ultimately the story is going to be up to Sonic Team and presumably the lore team, though I think the latter is mostly for organizing and, well, sometimes retconning the past games. (Feel free correct me if I’m wrong about that part though!)

With Sonic Prime it seems to be “canon” in the sense that it was made with that canon in mind. Clearly it doesn’t quite fit, so if you’re being strict about what’s canon to the games like we are it’s something you can probably disregard or maybe interpret as a dramatized retelling of an event that happened offscreen.

So the comics are made to fit with the game canon and adhere pretty closely to it. Sonic Team seems to be more involved with them as well, judging by the notes and suggestions Ian’s talked about. The games aren’t going to mention specific events or story arcs because they don’t want players to have to have read them to know what happens, especially since they aren’t available in every region that the games are. Does that mean they’re part of the official game canon? That’s ultimately for the players to decide until there’s any major contradictions. Tangle is mentioned so at the very least the characters are canon.

 

Actually he said "game canon world", I misquoted him. My bad.

 

I don't feel strongly whether IDW is canon or not. I'm just going by the fact that Ian and Iizuka implied multiple times that both IDW and Prime were their own continuities.

 

I don't mind IDW being canon as long as the games don't require them to present any plot.

 

I really want a casual mention of the Metal Virus in a TailsTube episode so we don't have to debate about it anymore.

 

They're listening to @BlackHole, Triple Trouble now happens before S3K.

 

And what of Sonic Origins?

 

Sonic Triple Trouble happens before Sonic Origins!