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July 4, 2019 |
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Commentary for July 4, 2019: So, I was originally planning on having Knuckles leave Angel Island via boat, but I didn’t have any boat sprites already made for the job. I decided, instead, to just modify an existing skiff sprite. I made it slightly shorter, added a tiller and some signs of wear. After all, this skiff is probably at least three hundred years old. I figured it made sense that the Guardians had one or two of these left over from the original echidna exodus, so they could always use them as needs be. Anyway, with Chapter 7 over, it’s time to do the comparison with the original version of this story, and it is a doozy. This chapter corresponds with the story arc from Eon's Comic #5 through #7. Apart from the Echidna Empire stealing the Master Emerald from Angel Island, the story is very different to the original. As is likely to be a common theme with some of these early chapters, most of the changes here were spurred by the presence of a third party OC in the original, this time an echidna cyborg called The Master Echidna, created by a fellow I once knew called Takinshoto. Now, unlike Eastwood or Lothar, whose creators asked me specifically to stop using them in Eon’s Comic, I never received any such request about The Master Echidna. But, since I’ve decided to remove all OC’s whom I’ve not received permission to use since restarting the series in Eon's World Vol. 2, that means T-M-E has to go, too. In the original story, Horatio created T-M-E in the first act. In the second act, Sora-Ya attacked Knuckles using T-M-E, while she stole the Master Emerald herself, and Knuckles failed to stop her in the third and final act. T-M-E, however, was thrown off of Angel Island and was presumed destroyed. (He was later salvaged by Doctor Eggman, who made him his slave for a while, before he eventually realised he didn’t have to work for anyone.) So, the first major difference to the story is the complete absence of T-M-E. Instead, it’s a fairly straightforward operation by the Echidna Empire to steal the Master Emerald. Similar to the original, Knuckles is distracted while the Imperials secure the Emerald, but the way they distract him is completely different. Since I retconned the story to make this chapter the first time Knuckles has ever met the Echidna Empire (or any other echidna, period), it was a fairly easy change to have Sora-Ya making a genuine attempt to persuade Knuckles to join them, but have Brabanzio’s team standing by to take the Master Emerald if he refused. Finally, the reasons why they wanted the Master Emerald have also changed. In the Eon's Comic, no real reason was given. The Master Emerald is one the Sonic franchise’s many MacGuffins, which people seem to steal for no clear reasons. It’s powerful, yes, but what do they want to use that power for specifically? Of course, the way they used it in the original story caused a chain of events that lasted quite a while, and the same will be true here, too. After all, I’m not completely re-writing the story here; I’m sticking to most of the same major plot developments, just doing it better this time. I will, of course, go into more detail as that plot unfolds, but for now, I’ve settled on the idea that the Master Emerald may have been used by the ancient echidnas to create warp rings (i.e. giant rings). Now, in the Sonic games, those are used almost exclusively to access the Special Zone; but in both the Fleetway and Archie Sonic comics, they were used to create portals between any two places; in Fleetway, they were typically used to travel between Mobius and Drakk, the homeworld of the Drakon Empire, whereas in Archie, they were used to travel fairly liberally between any two places on Mobius (for instance, between the Republic of Acorn in the western hemisphere and the Dragon Kingdom in the east). The latter is always how they were used in Eon’s Comic (just call the planet Earth, not Mobius), but with the potential to take you even greater distances with the right equipment and power boost (as was a major plot point in Season 1 of Eon's World Vol. 2). I think the advantages of such a technology to a terrorist organisation with limited resources (and personnel) speak for themselves. Anyway, tomorrow begins a new chapter, albeit another short one. |
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Eon's World is a fan comic created by Bethany Turner. All characters are copyright
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