Glad to see they finally got the colors right on Bunnie and Antione's kids.

Also like how this version of Shadow has gone down an almost completely different path from what we saw in his SU arc. Same goal, much more extreme approach.

Shadow, definitely an ends justifies the means kind of guy but his line of reasoning is completely warped. Am I the only one who saw the last panel as a reason to start humming the Teen Titans theme song?

OMG!

Bunnie and Antoine's twins aren't clones! What sort of Bizzaro world have we stepped into?

I've been trying to stay out of these summaries because I've said my piece and I don't want to be seen as bashing, but this is looking like yet another issue which might as well be rewritten to the entire cast just repeating over and over in every panel, "Don't worry, Mary-Su - you're TEH AW35OME5T EVAH!!!!111!!"

I'm sorry, but I got bored with that three story arcs ago, never mind the last three issues. I know that Echidnas: 25 Issues Later (now to be referred to as The Mary-Su Show in future incarnations, in honour of the only next-gen character to actually get any kind of fleshing out and the apparent pivot point of the whole universe) is alleged to be "popular" and Lara-Su is alleged to be a "fan favourite", but I'm still struggling to see the point of the whole arc in the grand scheme of things.

I suspect we know where this is going to go, because Lara-Su is so much better than her Daddy ever was at her age (as Knux must regularly remind us with each arc) and so much better than Sonic that she was the one who whupped King Shadow when Sonic was on his knees last time, and this whole story has felt like nothing but one big steaming pile of fanservice for the "fan favourite" from the get-go.

I know that fanservice is a good thing in moderation, but if we absolutely had to come back to this pointless alternate future, the horse of how much teh awesome Lara-Su is has already been flogged to the bone through being repackaged multiple times. Rather than simply milking it again, couldn't there have been more of an effort to make the other children, the futures of the existing FFs and the universe in general more developed, in order to convince those fans who aren't (and I'm sorry if I'm sounding harsh here) Lara-Su junkies or Sonic/Sally 'shippers with withdrawal symptoms that MXXYL is something that they might want to read too? Those feel to me like the only reader groups getting any attention right now.

I appreciate that we're seeing teasers of the new timeline that'll probably get picked up and ran with sooner or later (and if we're seeing Lara-Su leading the future FFs once, something tells me we'll most likely be seeing it again), but can't we have more foci and POVs than one freakin' echidna? There was enough of that from Penders.

the only thing i didn't like about the preview was the "elemental war and ixis resurgence and the whole tikhaos thing" that sounds like a really good plot! lol too bad it's spoiled now.

Shorthand: The Knuckles Arch starts next month. GLORIOUS!!!

The Longer Version ... I'd have to agree with Samanfur. I'm really not enjoying this.

Yeah ... I thought it was a given that Lara-Su would be the leader of the Future Freedom Fighters since she's the oldest / most experienced. Honestly I wanted it to be Silver since he got to do close to nill in the comics despite being around since 2006 (about a year or so on the Archie side) but he got knocked out with pathetic ease. He might be feeling better now but I bet it'll be over by time he and Sonic come back to help. Oi ...

Besides that I'm beginning to see traits of the original Freedom Fighters emerge from the kids:

Lara-Su = Sally (Beginning to become Team Leader)
Melody = Sonic (Hotheaded Runner)
Skye = Antoine (Early Cowardly Antoine)
Arygle = Rotor (Obligatory Basement Dwelling Nerd)

For Belle and Jacque it's too early too tell. I'm inclined to think that Belle has more of her mother's traits then her father's despite the accent and coloring.

I'm gonna say I don't see the Mary Sue-ness in Lara-Su but reading the various descriptions of Mary Sue, I guess I can see why the criticism is leveled at her. She almost seems like a combination of Sonic and Sally, which does seem a bit too much.

Whatever...but other than Lara Su, who else has the power/skill to take it down for good? And what happened to the Chaos Emeralds? They couldn't make a quick trip to Special Zone and get one?

They'd need all seven for them to be of any help.

oh god wat

oh god wat

I know. Isn't it just adora-- I mean isn't it awesome?!

He has trouble flying like his dad. Sue him. =p

But THAT'S NOT FLYING! XD

Didn't Tails do some sort of twister attack before? If I'm remembering right it was Sonic Advance 3 and being paired up with someone. Might be inspired from that.

I'm gonna say I don't see the Mary Sue-ness in Lara-Su but reading the various descriptions of Mary Sue, I guess I can see why the criticism is leveled at her.

In her defense you'll probably score high on a typical Mary-Sue Test with just about any character that's a regular. I scored somewhere in the mid 100s (on a scale of 0 - 200 being the highest) with Archie Sonic.

Whatever...but other than Lara Su, who else has the power/skill to take it down for good?

I don't think even Lara-Su can take it down " for good ". See what a super-special-awesome job she did keeping Shadow sealed away? Awesome.

Then again ... keeping a stockpile of lethal / sealed weapons in the basement of the Royal Family's home isn't a very good idea so the blame isn't entirely on her. It seemed like Shadow just had to scroll down the hallway to awaken Tikhaos. Though one could argue that Shadow was only able to get in because he was King before and knew the access codes (then why the heck didn't someone CHANGE THEM) he could have just as easily blasted the door down and got in that way. It may have been better to just destroy these kinds of things from the get-go so something like this couldn't have happened.

'Course that wouldn't make for an exciting story.

They couldn't make a quick trip to Special Zone and get one?

In addition to what Toby said I believe they can only try for one Chaos Emerald a day under Fiest's new rules.

Didn't Tails do some sort of twister attack before? If I'm remembering right it was Sonic Advance 3 and being paired up with someone. Might be inspired from that.

When paired with Cream, he'd fly like that - effectively sitting on his tails.

Didn't Tails do some sort of twister attack before? If I'm remembering
right it was Sonic Advance 3 and being paired up with someone. Might be
inspired
from that.

When paired with Cream, he'd fly like that - effectively sitting on his tails.

Actually, the way Tails flew with Cream was not in a twister formation but just with him sitting on his tails like you said but with the rest of the body stationary. However, with one character, his tail attack was indeed replaced with a tornado attack.

Think that was probably with Knux. Quick someone test it!

Best flying skill EVA=Skye!

Sorry for the mix-up - it's been a while since I played and I'm far too tired recently.

*checks*

Yeah, it's Knux.

About Mary-Sue type characters, I don't know if Lara-Su is or why she is popular but I guess those type of characters still have some level of popularity or they wouldn't be written. I don't clam to be an expert on this, maybe some people like characters they can admire, I don't know. This is coming from someone who can tolerate or even like Mary-Sue type characters.

As for this story arc, I am enjoying it. It could end up being one of my favorites depending on how it ends.