Sounds like this issue was a lot of babbling.

So why didn't Fin just turn into another green echidna after failing to control the energy like Dimitri did? It's like there are two anti-Knux now, although now one exists in the Prime universe.

I would've posted a review, but I got half way through it on Tuesday and decided I didn't care that much.

It's interesting that Finitevus is actually an "ally" of Robotnik. Makes the next stage of his plan all the more interesting, I assume, now that Robotnik has captured the Doctor's prized egg.

Wait...does this mean that Finitevus was the echidna who used the Chaos Siphon on Knuckles after the weasel siblings captured him?

Possibly. Is that legit? I didn't read anything between 63 and 100.

thanks for the review, i thought that sounded cool that fini is an energy scientist. couldnt help but be reminded of dimitri though what with the chaos siphon. now is it cool or uh oh that history is repeating itself. dimi had an accident involving chaos energy it changed him to enerjak. fini has an accident involving chaor energy both with a chaos siphon to boot. and fini too becomes what he is today. dimi became enerjak and as we all know loses it. now knux has become enerjak. these echidna's certainly havent learned from some of their past LOL!. thankd for the review Tornadot, i was interested in hearing about fini's past and to be honest i have heard more tragic stories : p. Julie su's is more tragic. (my opinion. please dont scream at me for saying that)

now that would be interesting if it were, though if memory serves i recall that one being red. normal fini before his transformation

Yeah, I think that's Fini in #94's Knuckles solo (he's briefly seen in #93 too).

>>Im going to really freak. It cant be Yanar. Are you serious?

wow o.O i would be so freaked out too if it did turn out to be yanar. cant remember the last time i seen him. oh wait i can during the beguinning of green knux .

No, it's not Yanar. Fini is wearing the Chaos Syphon suit. He's behind Gala-Na in the top left panel of page three in the Knuckles solo. He is later seen being shocked by the Chaos energy, and briefly turns green, unless that's a coloring slip up.

I could be totally wrong about all of this, but I'm just supposing it's the character in #93 and #94, based on tornadot's description.

Albion's gone now too? if they don't stop it, there won't be any cities left on mobius

That's the plan, Stan. Dr. Fin's got himself a hankerin' for some wanton destruction.

Or perhaps he's trying to rebuild Mobius in his own image. You know how his type are.

It does sort of fill in a plot hole. I mean, you think he would have some of that Chaos energy when he wore that suit.

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Shadow, who refuses to work together with Sonic to take Enerjak down...

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...wow, Shadow sucks.

Am I the only one tired of the omnipotent bad guys letting their guard down in their arrogance just to be drained of their power? Seems to happen to all of them. I sure hope that that was an enerjak teleport as opposed to an egg grape teleport, and he's sitting off to the side listening to sally not wanting to rescue him and planning for a major thrashing of the egg fleet. Enerjak deserves better than to be taken by robotnik.

However, since doc fin was once in cahoots with dr. r, you can't help but wonder if this is part of the plan, and doc fin is gonna use the egg grapes to become enerjak himself. doubtful though.

Considering eggman is laying in a heap on the cover of the next issue, something tells me even if enerjak was egg graped its only gonna last about a panel.

PS: who else wants to drink enerjak sports drink?

Enerjak's still around for two more issues. I hardly think the Egg Grapes are an end of him.

The image for the cover of 183 is down but yea...I think Eggman is going to get his hide handed back to him big time. Anti tech Enerjak is going to be ticked off.

Even if Enerjak didn't let himself get captured by ROBOTNIK (I will never say Eggman except this one time:"> ), This serves as the perfect opportunity to eradicate or at least critically weaken the biggest source of his anti-technology ravings.

Also, it appears my second theory about Finitivus' origins that I gave back in August was right. BOOYAH! I just wonder if any Albion echidnas are still alive. If they were betrayed before RTAI then they were all lost to the Zone of Silence. This might explain how Finitevus escaped capture When Hunter attacked, but there's no way of knowing when he collaborated with Robotnik or for how long without more information.

Using evidence from past issue and references from this one, I believe I have a good idea just what Finitevus' real plan is. I'd like to say it, but fear that I might spoil it for others if I turn out right. If there are any who want to hear it though, then I'll gladly post it here.

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(I will never say Eggman except this one time>: )

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I don't recall anyone saying you had to.

Anyway, I really liked this issue, never did like the rideculous amount of echidnas.

hey fs ish 10, just post it!

Its really quite genius, but theres quite a bit of speculation though.

Finitevus starts out by putting the civilized world on a path to self-destruction. Granted the worlds messed up as it is, but hes helping it along in a few spots. First he destroys Albion by making it accessible to Robotnik. Afterwards, Robotnik-supplied dingoes are set upon the echidnas on Angel Island and the Dark Legion fights them off, only to split up in a civil war started by Finitevus sending back Remmington. Finally Robotnik destroys Knothole City, which causes Knuckles to become even more distracted from the troubles on his distant home.

Finitevus gains Lockes trust and offers to guard the Master Emerald for him while he looks for the Brotherhood, and uses the opportunity to load it with his dark enchantments. Knuckles returns and Finitevus uses the death toll racked up by his machinations to give Knuckles a huge guilt trip, tricking him into tapping into the Master Emaralds booby-trapped power and becoming a more benevolent Enerjak.

Significant oppressive forces are wiped out and those saved are then supposed to be grateful and bow down to the new Enerjak, and accept his offer of a life void of harmful technology without question. Any who refuse are cast out and enemies are dealt with severely. Once all the submissive followers have been relocated to a safe location like Albions ruins, Finitevus will then purge the world in a fire most likely via Enerjak enhanced missles with nuclear warheads from that stockpile in Dr. Kintobors bunker in GBU.

Afterwards, Enerjak reshapes the world with new life. The resulting societies formed by the chosen survivors will probably be agrarian in nature with only simple farm tools. Their god Enerjak will then watch over them in a benevolent dictatorship, all the while unaware that hes being easily controlled by a psychotic technomage who used him to successfully destroy any and all powers that might have stopped his plans of world destruction and domination.

Pretty good theory. Only problem is, Rouge sabotaged the missiles. =P Also, what about the data Finitevus stole from Isaac?

Ian on Isaac and Finitevus:

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Will Dr. Finitevus' reason for gathering info from the robot Issac ever be explained?

Issac was full of information, even if some of it was corrupt. Couple ages of information with what will be revealed in STH#183 and I think you can put it all together.

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www.bumbleking.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=481&start=30&sid=06853e2aa3d3040b84a3948596418585

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[Locke] then explains that not too long ago, the Brotherhood prepared a device that would take care of Enerjak, just in case he came back (What good villain wouldn't?) The sucky thing is that it's a WEAPON...yep, he wants them to destroy his son. Wow, he's really gone off the kooky end...

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Locke seems to entrust the care of the echidnas to Remmy...which obviously means he's ready to end his bloodline...well that's just great....

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I think you may be jumping to conclusions. Does Locke even know that Enerjak is Knuckles? It seems unlikely that he would, since (going off the spoilers) it sounds like he made the scene AFTER Knucklejak was teleported away by Eggman. And I kind of doubt Sonic and Julie-Su had the opportunity to get a word in with all the exposition Locke was spouting near the end there. (But then, I don't really know since I haven't gotten the issue yet, hence why I have to ask.) Call me an optimist, but I tend to think Locke's tune will change once he finds out Enerjak is his own son.

Hopefully, I'll have more to say once I actually get the issue. It should have shipped by now, since I took out a subscription five weeks ago, but then, I haven't gotten 181 yet either (in the mail, I finally just gave up and bought it at the mall, which JUST got it in). Yep, it's official, I live at the end of the earth.

Well Locke already explains that he knows Fini transformed Knux into Enerjak...I'll get a scan of the page but he does know.

Seriously? If this weapon will indeed kill Knuckles, I can't believe I'm the only one who finds it more than a little out of character for Locke to want to use it on him.

We're honestly supposed to believe this is the same Locke who spent all that time fretting over Knuckles, who was forever defending him to the Brotherhood, who saved his life countless times ... who has now, apparently, been warped into a filicidal maniac for no good reason? It's like he's not even Locke anymore; it's heartbreaking----But I'd better stop here; I don't have the issue yet, so I guess I'm not entitled to rant. Yet.

A scan would be much appreciated though; I'm probably not going to be getting the whole issue any time soon.

EDIT: Okay, having thought this over further, I can only conclude that Locke's apparent willingness to cold-bloodedly take Knuckles down must be some kind of deliberate misdirection/misunderstanding perpetuated for the sake of creating a cliffhanger (like Knux getting egg-graped isn't cliffhanger enough), which will hopefully be cleared up next issue.

Locke isn't that ruthless, especially when it comes to people he loves. Either that or, as I said, he's just not Locke anymore, which (given the direction I suspect Ian's inclined to take his character) is unfortunately just as likely a possibility as the cliffhanger theory.

Considering everything else I've lost in this arc so far, I'm loath to lose Locke, too. I honestly can't believe I ever looked forward to this. Now I'm just scared. If Ian could so casually eradicate 90% of the echidna population, what else might he do to the Knuckles cast? How much longer is the thinning of the herd going to last anyway?

Well, the Echidna race is at it's lowest point ever... They've been decimated, lost all their cities, lost all their tech, have lost all but one of their Guardians, and are basically a shell of their former glory...

...At least now they can still rebuild, I suppose.

I wonder if this is all a device to put the echidnas on even ground with the rest of mobius, and maybe even move them in to the nanite city at the end of the arc, depending on how many there are. If 90% of the echidna population was "thousands," then, if you take that literally, at most, there's only about 1000 of em left.

Also, fansinceissue10, dont toot your own horn too much; that theory is far from genius. In fact, we were told practically all of it by the comic.

Just now got and read the issue today; so now I can finally put in my thoughts.

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Also, it appears my second theory about Finitivus' origins that I gave back in August was right. BOOYAH!

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I thought that was Spectre who came up with the theory first. *shrug*

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The sucky thing is that it's a WEAPON...yep, he wants them to destroy his son. Wow, he's really gone off the kooky end...

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Gone off the kooky end?...

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We're honestly supposed to believe this is the same Locke who spent all that time fretting over Knuckles, who was forever defending him to the Brotherhood, who saved his life countless times ... who has now, apparently, been warped into a filicidal maniac for no good reason?

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No good reason?...

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I can only conclude that Locke's apparent willingness to cold-bloodedly take Knuckles down must be some kind of deliberate misdirection/misunderstanding perpetuated for the sake of creating a cliffhanger (like Knux getting egg-graped isn't cliffhanger enough), which will hopefully be cleared up next issue.

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Cold bloodedly?... May I remind you two here that Knuckles is setting out to do something that could potentially destroy Mobius; I do not consider Locke to be on the kooky end, believe he has a good reason, i.e., the potential destruction of Mobius, and that he is definitely not intent on killing his son in cold-blood. (Last I check to kill someone in cold blood means to kill them without any provocation or just to get their sick kicks out of doing the killing, i.e., Eggman's destruction of Knothole and trying to wipe out all it's inhabitants and enjoying it.) Look, I know it seems radical, but as much as it will break Locke's heart, and it will, he truly sees this as the only solution to actually end Knucklejak's reign of terror. Sure Locke has defended Knux, but those times Knuckles wasn't on the verge of purging his enemies; which this time, may I remind you, includes his friends, allies, and soul mate, an act which may end up destroying Mobius itself.

Locke had to make the difficult decision to mutate Knuckles to save Angel Island and all of Mobius to ensure that he, and all Mobians, and I'm not just talking about the furries, would have a safe future, and now he has to do the same thing and here you all are acting like he hasn't thought this through. I'm sure he strained, cried, shuddered at the thought of having to destroy his only son and last heir to the House of Edmund, but he sees this as the only way to save Mobius as he did when he mutated himself and Knuckles those 17-18 long years ago. I mean I know it still is radical, but if Hitler's parents knew what he was going to do, if they didn't agree with it, they may have tried to kill him too; so, I think we need to cut Locke a lot, and I mean a lot of slack here, before we accuse him of anything especially being a cold-blooded killer since this isn't just an extreme form of spanking but a plan to save an entire planet.

I agree with Ray. Maybe Locke thinks that killing Knuckles is the only way to save the planet.

Much of my review was in a joking/sarcastic tone...

I forget, what was Locke's reaction to the last time Knuckles went nuts on Chaos power?

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We're honestly supposed to believe this is the same Locke who spent all that time fretting over Knuckles, who was forever defending him to the Brotherhood, who saved his life countless times ... who has now, apparently, been warped into a filicidal maniac for no good reason?

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No good reason?...

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Is there an echo in here? All I'm saying is, this all seems rather sudden.

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I can only conclude that Locke's apparent willingness to cold-bloodedly take Knuckles down must be some kind of deliberate misdirection/misunderstanding perpetuated for the sake of creating a cliffhanger (like Knux getting egg-graped isn't cliffhanger enough), which will hopefully be cleared up next issue.

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Cold bloodedly?... May I remind you two here that Knuckles is setting out to do something that could potentially destroy Mobius; I do not consider Locke to be on the kooky end, believe he has a good reason, i.e., the potential destruction of Mobius, and that he is definitely not intent on killing his son in cold-blood. (Last I check to kill someone in cold blood means to kill them without any provocation or just to get their sick kicks out of doing the killing, i.e., Eggman's destruction of Knothole and trying to wipe out all it's inhabitants and enjoying it.)

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From dictionary.com (a.k.a. my second favorite site online, next to Uncyclopedia):

cold-blooded adjective
2. without emotion or feeling; dispassionate; cruel: a cold-blooded murder.

It might also be good to note here that this meaning of cold-blooded also carries connotations of premeditation, and it sounds as if Locke has thoroughly thought this through.

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Look, I know it seems radical, but as much as it will break Locke's heart, and it will, he truly sees this as the only solution to actually end Knucklejak's reign of terror ... I'm sure he strained, cried, shuddered at the thought of having to destroy his only son and last heir to the House of Edmund, but he sees this as the only way to save Mobius....

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Oh, I'm sure he did too ... except (from my understanding of it) we never actually SEE any of this. And without that remorse, without any visible signs of anguish, we're left with what appears to be yet one more instance of Locke as some kind of heartless bastard.

This is exactly the reason so many people insist on this characterization of Locke, appearances like this one, or that of a dry-eyed Locke on the horn to Knothole in S125, shortly after his son's death at Mogul's hands, or his affectless plunge into the wall of fire in SSvHK.

Nevermind how upset Locke was when Knuckles was captured by the DL in the Dark Alliance arc, or when Knux went missing in that god-awful King of Hill arc, etc. Nevermind all the fretting and defending and saving of Knuckles' life I've already mentioned. Every time discontinuities (like those in the previous paragraph) in Locke's portrayal as a loving, if terribly flawed, father crop up, they just become yet more evidence that people who hate him will use to try to prove that he's a bad father, and (by extension) a bad person.

Usually, I would chalk such discontinuities up to lack of space or proper planning, or writers who didn't know how to portray emotion generally. But this time, I suspect it's deliberate, and that's what really pisses me off.

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I mean I know it still is radical, but if Hitler's parents knew what he was going to do, if they didn't agree with it, they may have tried to kill him too....

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Maybe so, but is that justification for murder? How can you kill someone for something they might do, however probable said act may be? The fact remains that Knuckles hasn't done anything truly atrocious yet, and certainly nothing heinous enough to justify his death.

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so, I think we need to cut Locke a lot, and I mean a lot of slack here, before we accuse him of anything especially being a cold-blooded killer....

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I'm not ragging on Locke; I'm ragging on the writing. And just for future reference, if there is one person you will ever most definitely NOT have to ask to cut Locke some slack, it's me. He's my favorite character, and as far as I'm concerned, he gets shafted by the fans and Ian alike far too often.

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I forget, what was Locke's reaction to the last time Knuckles went nuts on Chaos power?

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I don't think Locke was around for much of the Green Knuckles saga; he was off in the Unnamed Zone Dimitri sent 99% of the Knuckles cast to, courtesy of the Quantum Beam. After Knux brought everyone back, I think he was just apprehensive about how much Knuckles' powers had advanced in his absence, though there wasn't much time for him to do anything about it, since Knuckles' temporary death put an end to the lightbulb-Knux phase shortly afterward, I believe.

"Lightbulb-Knux? Does that refer to him being green and glowing, or the way Steve Butler drew him?

Touch, ShadowSonic1! I was actually referring to him being green and glowly ... you know, just in case you weren't kidding.

Sorry, I should've put a smiley in that post, .

Wow, this issue sounds awesome! I haven't gotten it yet, but I'm really looking forward to reading it!

Personally, I didn't think that Dr. Finitevus would turn out to be that dude from Albion, but I guess that's what the writers decided on. I also don't think that Shadow could handle Enerjak even with his power inhibitors removed, or that Enerjak could be so easily captured by the Egg Fleet. Well, that's how it turned out, but I've already got theories on how Enerjak's going to get out. Either:

He'll prove too powerful for the Egg Grapes to hold even with their modifications

or

Finny, the Destructix, or both will come to his rescue

or

Sonic and Julie-Su will free him in a misguided attempt to bring him back, only to have it blow up in their faces.

Locke has always put his job ahead of his family. He's dedicated to it. Him killing his son for the greater good is hardly out of character for Locke.

>> Whoa. This issue generated some crazy responses.

Umm I'm down for Locke taking out Knuckles. And you know why that is, because Locke feels Knuckles is a traitor, like Athair. Locke didn't want his son to be the one that had to watch over the world, and not just AI.

But with the way the world works, and the pure evil that has ravaged his home, and his own flesh and blood not helping him out right now...after coming back (after they were decimated...that is ((when did this decimation occur? When Sonic was gone? Totally missed that.)) Locke could be so fed up with his dreams, and this whole Avatar buisness that when he saw his son as Enerjak..

he knew all had come down, and that by killing off the last scourge of his world...he could make amends...at any cost.

NOW-My thing is this. Can only a descendant of the Edmond/Dimitri lines become Enerjak?

No, it can be anyone who absorbs Chaos energy as survives. Since Knuckles is a living Chaos battery due to Locke's experiments and enhancements of him, it was just easier for him than anyone else.

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Locke has always put his job ahead of his family.

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You just had to go there, didn't you? And I was so looking forward to working on my Sims 2 this afternoon. Oh well, guess it's time to haul out the back issues:

KTE9: Locke is ready to "personally step into the fray" to help Knuckles against Enerjak and the Dark Legion, until Mogul shows up, posing an even greater threat. He settles instead for calling the Freedom Fighters to Knuckles' aid, despite his own father's protests about compromising security.
KTE13: "Blast protocols!!! Knuckles is in danger, and I need to act now if I'm to save him!"
KTE19: Locke flies out into a snowstorm to save Lara-Le when her craft goes down in the Forbidden Zone, despite the fact that King Acorn's Royal Guard are on the verge of uncovering a state secret the Brotherhood have kept for years (i.e. Queen Alicia's and Elias's continued existence) ... and gets little thanks for it too, I might add.
KTE24: Locke would rather rescue Knuckles from the Dark Legion than repel the DL from Haven, until Spectre convinces him Knux will be in even more danger "should Dimitri uncover that which we've hidden for so long" (i.e. the whole chaos battery thing).
KTE27: Locke insists that Sabre refrain from spying on Knuckles while Knux courts Julie-Su.
KTE30: We learn that Locke and the Brotherhood threw Knuckles' childhood bully off the island ... literally. Probably at Locke's instigation, I imagine, 'cause really, what do the rest of those guys care?
KTE31: "Some outside force may be trying to cripple [Haven]" ... and Locke insists on finding Knuckles.
STH82-4: Locke comes to the defense of Knuckles' friends in the Mysterious Cat Country, despite the fact that he and Knuckles had had a bitter argument earlier that day. Somehow, I don't think the Brotherhood was paying him overtime for that.
Lately: If you want to get technical, Locke has kind of been putting his family (even if they're not much of one) ahead of his job by looking for the Brotherhood at the expense of his Guardian duties ... although I suspect he's doing this just as much because he needs the help as because he simply wants them back. So I guess it's a toss-up.

Besides which, there happen to be many degrees of separation between putting one's job before one's family and killing one's family. I daresay that is why one is a crime and the other isn't.

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Umm I'm down for Locke taking out Knuckles. And you know why that is, because Locke feels Knuckles is a traitor, like Athair. Locke didn't want his son to be the one that had to watch over the world, and not just AI.

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Yeah, I can see how Locke would view Knuckles as a traitor. (I certainly do.) But I can't see how he suddenly makes the leap from "traitor" to "deserving of death," when it's his son we're talking about here. I'm sorry, but to me it just defies belief that Locke would be so willing to destroy the very life he's taken such pains to preserve, for so long....

That said, I can see how Locke might think this is the only alternative. I can see how he might be resolved to kill Knuckles, albeit with more anguish and despair than he's apparently exhibiting in this issue (which I STILL haven't gotten; much good a subscription does me) ... but I can't see him going through with it.

This has always been the big question for Locke: His son, or the world? And having had more time to think it over (I've been thinking about this a lot; can you tell?), I find I'm more interested to see this question addressed now than scared to see how it all goes down. Will Knuckles' fate ultimately be left in Locke's hands? Will he ever be able to forgive himself if he goes through with it? Will Knuckles ever be able to forgive him if he tries ... and fails (and lives to tell the tale)? Or will Locke come to that very point ... and at last decide to sacrifice the world for love of his son instead?

I don't know; this crisis could be the end of the Locke-Knuckles relationship (which would be sad, 'cause really, who else has Locke got?) ... or it could be exactly the trial of fire their troubled bond needs to forge it into something stronger. I guess we'll just see.

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Locke could be so fed up with his dreams, and this whole Avatar buisness that when he saw his son as Enerjak..

he knew all had come down, and that by killing off the last scourge of his world...he could make amends...at any cost.

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Make amends for what? I don't think Locke has ever indicated that he thought his enhancing Knuckles' genes/latent chaos energy was wrong. He's had his doubts, sure, but I don't think he thought or said that it was wrong.

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NOW-My thing is this. Can only a descendant of the Edmond/Dimitri lines become Enerjak?

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Huh. I'd never thought of that. One thing I've always kind of wondered though is: Where did the Enerjak legend come from? Didn't the name predate Dimitri? Archimedes seemed to recognize it when Dimitri introduced himself by that newly adopted moniker in the first Knuckles miniseries.

Well, I got the comic and read through it, and I must say that things aren't looking good. Personally, I think Locke must be a total idiot: he not only wants to get his hands on a weapon so he can kill his only son, but in order to get it he's recruited Knuckles' best friend and his girlfriend? Mobius to Locke: they're not going to cooperate! Even if they accept that destroying Enerjak would be for the greater good, they're not going to do it because Knuckles is their friend and the only reason he's acting the way he is is because Finitevus messed with his mind and unlocked the darker side of his nature.

As for why he'd be willing to kill his own son, I'd say from his perspective the line of Guardians is finished anyway: his son has been transformed into Enerjak, he can't tap into the Master Emerald to put him back to normal, and the fact that he was alone when he pulled Sonic and Julie-Su through that Warp Ring indicates that the Brotherhood is still missing, and he probably thinks they're dead by now. Add in the fact that Angel Island has now become little more than Enerjak's favorite spot to dump trash, with all the civilian Echidnas ready to begin a new life on Albion, and Locke really has only one motivation: ending Enerjak's threat and fulfilling his family's responsibility.

It's true that Locke cares about Knuckles, but ever since Rad Red came back from the dead (heh, that rhymes) their relationship has been strained. On top of that, the possibility of freeing Knuckles from Finitevus' spell appears to be nonexistent, and Locke knows that Knuckles in his right mind would rather die than be turned against his friends, family, and the planet he loves. Plus, the Brotherhood has apparently decided that stopping Enerjak permanently is the only way to end his threat, and Locke will of course go along with his forefathers' decision.

Just to wrap up: anyone else wondering if Dr. Finitevus is tough as Chaos Knuckles?

I'm hedgehogging (haha) a bet that Enerjak the 3rd is Spectre the Hewhatever.

Also, it's moments like this that kinda make me wish that the Sonic comic was an independent property - or at least that Knuckles was an original character. How Shakespearean would it be to have Locke sacrifice himself to kill Enerjakles? The entire Guardian line formed as a result of Enerjak; maintained to (effectively) protect their livelihood and home from him; and then ultimately ended as the final Guardian takes on the mantle of Enerjak himself?

Ooh, deep.

Here's a thought. Does anyone think that this whole thing could've been avoided had Knuckles went back to Angel Island when Locke told him things were getting out of control, what with the Dark Legion schism and the resulting war? If so, Knuckles is the one at fault, not Locke.

OH. YES. We had a lengthy debate about this in the S181 preview/discussion thread (starting around pg. 9) at Ian's Forum (I recommend you check it out; it was sweet), and several other people expressed the same sentiment. I think you can guess where I fall on this issue.

So I'm not alone in the thought that Knuckles was being really careless there. Cool!

The reason Knuckles fell into Finny's hands was because his love for his people allowed passion to override his common sense. Knux gets passionate about things, and that leads to him making mistakes-look what's happened every time he's been tricked into fighting Sonic. In reality, I don't think that Rad Red is exclusively to blame for the current situation: you could blame Dr. Finitevus for setting the trap, Locke for trusting Dr. Finitevus, Lien-Da and Remington for letting their fued get in the way of protecting their homeland, the Dingoes for siding with Robotnik-you can go all the way back to when the Knuckles Clan left Albion if you think hard enough, because the current predicament is tied deeply to the history of Angel Island, the Echidnas, and everyone else remotely involved with what's going on.

Now, I'm not trying to totally absolve Knuckles; trying to absorb the Master Emerald's power when it was being watched over by Dr. Fintievus was a stupid idea, as was thinking that he could change Mobius by himself even with that power. I'm just saying that his good-if misguided-intentions are not the only reason he became Enerjak and that Mobius has been landed in such a quagmire.

Oh, I'm not blaming him for becoming Enerjak ... I'm blaming him for cooling his heels in Knothole while his own people were being slaughtered in droves, and he knew it.

How could he not, after what he saw on A.I. during the RtAI arc, after his father's warning? He should have made it his business to know what was going on up there (regardless of any problems he was having with Locke), especially considering he'd left his family stranded in a war zone.

To me, Knuckles' epic fall is anything but epic. He hasn't felt a like a hero to me for some time now, so seeing him turn villain wasn't that much of a shock, really.