I wonder if we'll see a coloured version of this? I doubt it, as the hand would pretty much give away the identity of who dies. Not to mention this looks amazing in black and white.

Sally is the new Jean Grey if she dies.

Sally is the new Jean Grey if she dies again.

Fixed!

But if so, then who would be Scott?

Why, the SonxSal fans would be of course! 😛

Uh, Legion, I already made a topic about 225.

True. but I thought this cover deserved its own thread. lol.

5 digits! Let the speculation begin!

All right, now first of all it cannot be any of the main major
characters, the reason I say this is because the major character can
also be a character that doesn't always show up but has been around for a
long time. Now as much as some people would love for it to be Sally it
will not be. Nor will it be any other freedom fighters, the hand shown
could be anyone's hand that is a minor but major character. If Ian
does kill one of the freedom fighters he will definitely hear it not
just from the fans but from Sega themselves, so hopefully he will not go
in that direction.

According to some fans, two people have reported that Sonic will be
joined by Sally and others mainly the freedom fighters in the Genesis
story line throughout the summer after issue 225. So if this report is
true then we know the character that dies will be a recently double
turned traitor or may be a certain A.I. That bites the dust. But we
will just have to wait till either next month for the color version of
this cover or until May when issue 225 is officially released.

If the character that dies is St. John, then it will be Archie comics
way or at least one of them of distancing themselves from Ken Penders,
and by doing so show him who runs the show.

That is all I am going to say. Let me know what you all think, God bless!

I know! It's Sonic! Sonic dies!

But in all seriousness, I don't imagine it would be Sally either. Of course, even as I type that, the look on Sonic's face makes me have doubts.

5 digits! Let the speculation begin!

Having an ungloved hand is more telling than how many fingers they have.

It's probably Nicole, but I would hate that personally. She's one of just a few archie characters I like, she just got a great redesign, and it would be very sad considering her recent history.

I don't think it's Nicole, at least not on the cover, cuz her hands are black and the one on the cover isn't.

St. John would be black too, and he is the second candidate. They may just not be putting black there to hide who it is.

Another possibility is Elias, who would be a symbol of Naugus taking over and ending the Acorn Kingdom. That may not be dramatic enough to be a cover, but I didn't think St. John would be dramatic enough to be a cover traitor either.

I would not mind it being Sally, except as sympathy for her fan base. But personally, I'd welcome it as a way to give the rest more of a role.

Looks like their shield or wall or whatever is crumbling away, so I'll guess it's Nicole and they'll color it black later.

Who knows. There's also the possibility that it's a new character for the issue, or possibly someone completely unexpected, which would be a nice twist.

Answer: WOMBAT STU!

He'll make his GRAND RETURN... in Sonic #225...

King Max is pretty much overdue for a date with the reaper. Like 175 issues or whenever-he-took-over-Knothole overdue. Just about everyone has commented about how far he's deteriorated from his glory days so he'd make an easy target. Even though he isn't in power he's responsible for motivating and ultimately guiding his people through one of the darkest times in their Kingdom's history. With him gone the people will realize that the old days really are gone forever.

'Course they could do that by killing off any of the Acorn clan. Max just seems like the one who's run their course the furthest out of them all. Even Alicia serves as a source of motherly advice to both her children on occasion. Max just snarls and hisses when he doesn't get his way.

NICOLE ... well, she is said to have been " killed " in a confrontation with Eggman sometime in the future so this might be it for her. It'd be a shame, though, since I consider her to be as much of a Freedom Fighter as Sally or the others. Lighter Side Time: Maybe she won't die, but will be severely crippled. Eggman might decide to shut down the power source to her nanites permanently which essentially destroys her body. Her programming and conscience survives in the same computer shell that she survived x number of years before Mobotropolis in. Wouldn't be the first time a character got significantly nerfed (Charmy).

I also got a short list of characters who need to die. I send it to Santa every year.

Mr. and Mrs. Mongooses

The Fearsome Foursome/Destructix/Whatever Flying Frog's Horoscope Spits out Today

Thrash the Tasmanian Devil

Bernie Hedgehog

Dulcy (She's been more or less dead for 100+ issues now. Might as well make it official.)

The Brotherhood (another from the " let's make it official " book)

Saffron Bee

All of the 3rd Generation children except Lara-Su (Silver's also safe by mandate)

If Ian does kill one of the freedom fighters he will definitely hear it not just from the fans but from Sega themselves, so hopefully he will not go in that direction.

Why would SEGA object to something they approved of?

Would SEGA even care? The Freedom Fighters aren't their characters (well obviously excluding the game team) and it's not like they plan to ever use them in a game, Spinball cameo and that possible prototype game aside. The 'approval' thing is really just a means of making sure Archie doesn't change THEIR characters.

They cared the last time Sally "died".

Was that Sega or was that the fans?

Both, actually.

All right, many names have been brought up, yet one name is being debated, and that is Nicole, why you may ask well I will explain one. With everything that has happened in the past year or so, she would seem like the most likely candidate. From everything like the Iron dominion coming in and taking over as well as the Iron Queen temporarily taking control of her before Sally freed her from the Queen's control to recently being targeted by Mina at the recent concert, it would only make sense for Nicole to die if not in a sacrificial way.

Now many of you if not some of you have asked how can you kill a computer? Well the answer is simpler than you think. You see Nicole's physical holographic body would die if Eggman destroyed the heart of the city which would be where the main control center is. If that is or would be the case, then he would have killed Nicole's dream of living among her friends and the other mobians as a normal being as she has been trying to do since the final pages of issue 176. And by doing so would cause Nicole to be regulated back to being only Sally's handheld computer, basically sending her back to square one.

Some of you may not agree with this, but it seems to me at least to make the most if not some sense of that proposed cover for 225 with the dead hand on the cover. Now true, Nicole in past stories written by different writers has been depicted to die in the fight if not the final battle with Eggman. Now whether you agree or not with one of the possible future storylines that has been written in the past 16 to 18 years, there is no doubt that you must agree with one of them being part of the actual official canon storyline and timeline.

I hope this helped give an idea as to why the '' Major'' character could be and possibly is Nicole.

However I'm not saying it is her, for four other names have popped up from St. John to Mina to Sally's mother and finally to Sonic's uncle. So I guess we will have to to just wait till May to see who it is, for as I've said before despite what others may think and say because these are my opinions, there Is No Way, Ian will kill off the core and main freedom fighters that have been with the franchise and the comic from day and issue one or in the comics case issue zero.

Now I know you're thinking that since Marvel killed off the human torch in fantastic four recently, that Ian Flynn and Archie comics would do the same thing to one of the main and core freedom fighters. Well you have a point however Ian has gone on record I believe in saying that none of the core and main freedom fighters will die despite what some may say.

So for those of you that believe and hope that it's someone like Sally, I'm afraid you may be in for a disappointment, because two people that work closely with the comic from what I have heard has stated that this will not happen and that she has been seen in the issues of the Genesis story line.

However I do realize that this could be a swerve and as much as I hate to say it it may be her, that is if these two who work closely on the comic for what they have said is nothing more than to throw us off, but as a long time fan I don't believe it is her then again I could be wrong.

It could be ANYONE - that's the beauty of it!

Everyone remember to get out to your local comic shops and demand they stock up on Sonic and Sonic Universe this summer!

So while Bumbleking is updated, Mr. Editor stumbles upon other Sonic sites, eh? 

(A bit off topic, Paul, and maybe this won't be an issue after Bumbleking is back, but I haven't been able to log into the forum at all in the past three months. Always kicked me off if I stayed logged in for five seconds or clicked any link after logging in. I've tried clearing cookies and everything. I know it's Ian's thing and not yours, but would you happen to know what's up with that?)

I don't think it is Sally(it better not be), she is already is on the main cover. It could be one of her relatives. People have given pretty good reasons why it could be Nicole(the sheld breaking in the background). I do hope they get bumbleking back up soon, I haven't been able to get on for a week while they move/change things.

Sally appears in the previews for Genesis, so she's safe. I'm playing my bets on King Max. I hope that it's not Fiona though I doubt that she'll appear in issue #225.

You know, a lot of you or a lot of others have been saying and hoping
that characters like Sally, Mina, and many others will be the character
that dies in 225. Well let me explain something that you may find
interesting. I hope after reading this, that you will have a better
understanding on why characters like Sally, Mina, Bunnie, Rotor, Antoine
and many others that are not game characters will not be the ones to
die in issue 225. So let us begin.

Now when Ian and Archie comics hinted at the major character death in
225, many names like the ones I mentioned above were being considered
and talked about by many in the fan base. The reason for that, is
because some of the fans if not a majority are fans that grew up knowing
the game characters and storylines only. Now true, many longtime fans
of the franchise who have read the comic since it's inception, have the
same if not close to similar feelings that the game only fans have.
Those feelings are that the characters known as the major and main leads
in the comic, besides Sonic have not really done much and in their
thoughts would benefit better by being killed off.

I can respectfully understand this, but unfortunately for those fans
this may not occur in 225. The reason I say this is because Ian has
confirmed in some way along with artist Ben Bates that characters like
Sally, Bunnie and the other freedom fighters will appear in the Genesis
story line. Now I have mentioned in a previous post that this may all
be a swerve to throw us off and that in reality it could be one of the
main freedom fighters that bites the dust, however Flynn and Bates
according to XxMikoxX and some other fellow fans as I mentioned before
have confirmed that Sally along with the freedom fighters will continue
on in the Genesis Arc.

The reason this is being said, is because if Flynn tried to kill off one
if not all the freedom fighters, the very characters that have been in
the franchise since 1993, were a part of the Saturday morning show on
ABC as well as part of the comic since its inception, would be like if
the new writers and big shots in charge at Disney decided to kill off
characters like Donald, Daisy, Max, and even ClaraBelle, it would cause
trouble for all parties involved, but most importantly for those that
gave the okay to do it without the permission of the head person in
charge or in this case the organization and company that owns the rights
to these characters, despite what others may say.

It would be reminiscing of what Ken Penders tried to do in 1997 in which
he tried to kill off Sally during the '' Endgame'' saga, which ended up
backfiring on him even though he said he would have done it so that the
character would still have her fans and that her death would have been
handled with dignity to the point I guess as he put it in some way she
would not be forgotten by anyone. However as we found out years later,
that would not be the case because as we all saw in issue 50, her death
was changed to her being in a coma from the fall she took three issues
earlier. The reason this change was made, was as he said, Sega ordered
the change because they had plans for her.

Some of you may say that Sega doesn't care anymore about characters like
her, but you may be surprised. I mean if Sega didn't care, then why
haven't the writers past and present done anything to the characters to
prove fans like us as well as critics wrong. Well I'll tell you why,
it's because the writers know that Sega does care even if they don't
show it or acknowledge the characters firsthand. A prime example of the
fact that they do care can be seen in a multi-platform game Sonic
Mega-Collection plus on systems like the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and
the Xbox. For if you look at the extras they added in the games extras
section you will see at the time an updated cover by cover collection of
Archie's comics Sonic The Hedgehog comic book, but also covers for the
48 page super specials as well as the spinoffs for Knuckles, Tails and
Princess Sally.

If that doesn't show you that Sega does care about these characters,
then you better think again. For hopefully this would give you an idea
that it may not be any of them, but then again we could be wrong,
because if you look at the final page of the 25th anniversary issue of
Sonic Universe you will see characters that even include those mentioned
above as well as Sonic, Tails, Shadow and even Amy Rose that are among
the soulless bodies hanging on the wall behind the villain for this
four-part story arc.

So as I mentioned before in previous posts we will just have to wait until May of this year to see who it is that dies.

Whoever it is I'm going to wager that, like the other deaths since Flynn has been on, they'll be staying dead. That's one thing I enjoy about this comic, the dead characters actually stay dead.

Okay, now some of you probably would like to hear from one fan's opinion on why certain characters will not die in issue 225. Well I've given my thoughts and explanations as well as some others have, but it still seems that some of you still believe that these characters that have been mentioned in previous posts will perish in 225. Perhaps I can give you some idea as to when and if these characters were to perish in the comic book's continuity.

It's quite simple, now first of all I know that there are some haters out there that would love nothing more than to see a certain female character die in 225, so that another certain female character can take her spot and become the hero's love interest that many feel and believe she could be and deservedly should be. Unfortunately in the comic by Archie comics may never occur unless there is a reboot of the comic in the future.

Now getting back to what I was saying, the only way for these certain characters and this one female character that a little over 50% of the fan base dislikes, the only way they would die in the comic is if the comic was to be canceled by Archie comics and their partnership with Sega of America would end.

For you see, if that was to happen then the writers whoever they may be at the time which could be many years from now, only then would they be able to write not only a final battle between good and evil in this canon/continuity but they would be able to finally give the games only and Sonic X fans what they have been wanting for a long time. However I believe if this was to occur, that it will not occur until possibly the comic reaches its 500th issue or even knowing Archie comics it's 600th issue.

Only then would characters like Sally, Bunnie, Antoine, Rotor and even the game characters of Amy Rose and Tails would possibly die in the comics final issue and final story.

Now some of you may not want to hear that or believe it, but from my standpoint's and opinions I believe that that timeframe which is a few years if not a decade away that this will occur.

If you don't believe me, let me and the rest of the Sonic community fan base know what you think.

lol # nelstone

yea that's an Ian question - but he's busy writing - so ask dubs!

Okay, now some of you probably would like to hear from one fan's opinion

Hold on, let me get this straight.  So you think we WANT to hear you repeat yourself about how it's utterly impossible for Sally or whoever else to die?  I saw no such invitation, and I challenge you to back up your assumption with some good old-fashioned evidence, dear sir!

If you don't believe me, let me and the rest of the Sonic community fan base know what you think.

First, this board likely doesn't get read by the entire fandom.  Second, you're assuming that the majority of fans agree with you.

SPOILER: Shadow dies.  Naked, no less, evident enough by the lack of glove.  THE END!
...unless he's already dead, then he gets back to life, and THEN dies.

SPOILER: Shadow dies. Naked, no less, evident enough by the lack of glove. THE END!

...unless he's already dead, then he gets back to life, and THEN dies.

OMG!!! Shadow is Goku! Or Optimus Prime!

Okay, now some of you probably would like to hear from one fan's opinion

If you don't believe me, let me and the rest of the Sonic community fan base know what you think.

Hold on, let me get this straight.  So you think we WANT to hear you repeat yourself about how it's utterly impossible for Sally or whoever else to die?  I saw no such invitation, and I challenge you to back up your assumption with some good old-fashioned evidence, dear sir!

If you don't believe me, let me and the rest of the Sonic community fan base know what you think.

First, this board likely doesn't get read by the entire fandom.  Second, you're assuming that the majority of fans agree with you.

SPOILER: Shadow dies.  Naked, no less, evident enough by the lack of glove.  THE END!
...unless he's already dead, then he gets back to life, and THEN dies.

Wait, so he was repeating himself, man am I sure glad I didn't read his post afterall. Also, oh my gosh, at Paulie being here now the circle is complete all creatives on the book now has an account here on the MoFo, er, I think anyway.

Just because the hand is on the floor doesn't mean a character necessarily dies. Maybe said character is knocked unconscious.

However, here's my guesses on people dying:

1. Geoff St. John

2. Hershey aka The Missing Wife

3. Old Max

So let us begin.

I read the entire thing, but then I realized that you somehow believe that Mina is more significant to the comic then NICOLE. Now I just can't take that seriously. I'm sorry, but ... no.

It's not even about whether or not it'll be her. It's that you're devaluing NICOLE as a character but barking at anyone who even jests that they want another main character dead. I'm sure that I'm not the only one who feels that the core Freedom Fighters could afford to be trimmed by one. Goodness knows the Chaotix can afford to lose some dead weight. That doesn't mean it'll happen, though. Thanks to mandates it won't, but there's some fun in speculating who and where.

Rotor should've died when Freedom HQ fell on him. Knuckles died when a building fell on him but the walrus lives? Really? 

Just because the hand is on the floor doesn't mean a character necessarily dies. Maybe said character is knocked unconscious.

However, here's my guesses on people dying:

1. Geoff St. John

2. Hershey aka The Missing Wife

3. Old

Somehow I laughed at that thinking of a spin off series staring Julianna Margulies.

But yeah, it's Wombat Stu (I'm telling you)!

Now as we have seen, some still believe that this Genesis storyline along with this cover indicates a possible rebooting of the comic.

However that will not be the case, because as some fans here at Sega.com and here at the cartoon and comics section as well at Sonic Stadium and many others, have stated, they do not want the comic to just focus on the game only characters.

I must agree with this, because despite how others feel the addition of the Saturday morning characters and the Archie exclusive characters at times create more intrigued for the book and the characters associate with as well as it allows the game characters to have others to expand off of.

That is why I believe a reboot will not occur, however the closest we will get is probably the main characters and those minor major characters that continue on with them will go back to probably square one, in other words back to living in hiding just like in the earlier issues.

Well, take a look at the teaser art for Sonic Genesis that Archie has been teasing us with. I doubt Sally dies, considering she's in all the art for the Genesis story, which doesn't take place until after 225.

Where is that art?

I get it now.  Everyone's ignoring Rosas because he's providing rebuttals to arguments without even looking at the thread to see if said rebuttals even apply.  I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out he was posting the exact same thing at other boards.

Okay, I'm good.  Carry on.

Where is that art?

Archie publishes them inside the book as teaser images. Sonic, Sally, Antoine, and Rotor have all appeared in a Green Hill Zone like setting. They're all still in the penciling phase, but all of them are done by SPAZ!

Going by this, none of those characters are going to die -- and if they are they won't be gone for long. It's not Bunnie because you see a left hand, and her's is cybernetic. It's not Tails or Amy either, because lol why kill them off? IGN's article states that a "major character" is being killed. Honestly, whose left as a major character? NICOLE, the Chaotix, Robotnik, Snively, Lien-da, and ... the Acorn Council? lolno Geoffrey and Naugus have been missing pretty much since Ian's run began so they really aren't major characters at all.

It's pretty obvious at this point to figure out who it is. Due to what's happening right now, it's either Geoffrey, who comes to some sort of ramification of not liking his new alliance and sacrifices himself, or NICOLE's holographic form "dies," but she will probably just revert back to her handheld form. If it's the latter, it'll be a bit of a cop out as no one really "dies," if it's the former then that'll just be a bit lame as he still has some potential as a character, and getting rid of him won't do much good for that.

But that's just me rambling. 😛

Can it be called a "character" death if NICOLE loses her sense of self in a personality wipe?

:;Grabs Psx and slams him in a closet:: YOU HUSH NOW!

DONT LET THEM KNOW MY THEORY!

THIS IS EGGMAN WE'RE DEALING WITH! FORCES OF SINISTER YOU CAN'T EVEN IMAGINE! Complete with where I KNEW THE DEATH EGG TO BE!! ::Faints from over enthusiasm::

Terg said:

I get it now.  Everyone's ignoring Rosas because he's providing
rebuttals to arguments without even looking at the thread to see if said
rebuttals even apply.  I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out he was
posting the exact same thing at other boards.

I'd have thought that Rosas/BW saying:

However that will not be the case, because as some fans here at Sega.com
and here at the cartoon and comics section as well at Sonic Stadium and
many others, have stated, they do not want the comic to just focus on
the game only characters.

Was a major clue. I've heard of cut and paste arguments and even used them occasionally - but at least I'm honest about it.

So sell me on this, what's been happening in the last 15 issues i missed??

just kidding, you don't have to, but if someone would give me the rundown i'd be thankful. also it's good to see that people are finally just ignoring BW.

Well, after the whole Iron Dominion thing, it's mainly been Sonic and a random other member of the FF going to some part of the world to deal with different factions of the Dark Egg Legion.  There's been a lot of building for future stories based off of these. And now we're on this whole thing where someone betrayed the team and Ixis Naugus got his groove back. Or something.

In all honesty, I hope it's Mina. I know she now wears gloves and whatnot, but it'd still be nice. I'm overall satisfied with the direction of the comics, but her whole pop/punk rebel bit is insufferable. It's just never worked in comics, in my opinion.

Or Ash. I'd be fine with him. But he's not major lulz.

To explain in better detail to Hypershadow

The Iron Dominion deal ended after Robotnik returned to his senses and kicked Regina out. Him and Snively went into hiding but Sonic and the FFs kept having various encounters with new sectors of the Dark Egg Legion that have been cropping up. Run by people like Draco and Bunnie's uncle. Soon after Sonic and Geoffrey went on a mission to the Special Zone to retrieve an emerald when Geoffrey betrayed him and he has since sided with Ixis Nagus and they plan on taking over Mobotropolis.

much appreciated.