Since #110, Knuckles has "died", come back to life, a year has passed "off-screen", and Eggman was in control of Angel Island (which the island has been renamed to). It's been recently liberated although it's a bit unsteady. If you're looking to jump back in, try starting with #160 as it marks the debut of a new head writer and a new direction for the comic.

Matt did a excellent job summing things up. I'll toss in a current state of affairs on Angel Island:

- Gen. Kage von Stryker, son of the previous Gen. von Stryker, is still the Eggman Empire-supported ruler of Angel Island.

- The Dingo Regime was dealt a heavy blow in "Return to Angel Island," but is hasn't been overthrown.

- The Dark Legion has split into civil war, weakening the over-all resistance to the dingoes.

- The Flame Legion is lead by Lien-Da while the Frost Legion is lead by an unknown Grandmaster.

- Locke is active Guardian but is spending most of his time looking from the Brotherhood, which has been missing since Dr. Eggman's invasion a year ago.

- The echidna people, and the shanty town that is Echidnaopolis, are under constant attack and in the cross-fire of all the warring factions.

Whew!

When it's all summarised like that, Knuckles comes off as a complete git for not going back to Angel Island.

Thanks, all of you for bringing me up to speed. It all seems kind of iffy to me though. Let me get this straight; how long has KP been in charge of the story? Did it actually get this messy on his watch?

Oh, and Ian - congratulations; i'd just like to sneak it in here that i'm quite a fan of the Other-M concept. Also, your board is really intimidating

Charles - could you just tell me if Knuckles' reasons for doing so were ever mentioned/implied? I don't really care if it's spoily.

Deleated

Quote:

---

Thanks, all of you for bringing me up to speed. It all seems kind of iffy to me though. Let me get this straight; how long has KP been in charge of the story? Did it actually get this messy on his watch?

Oh, and Ian - congratulations; i'd just like to sneak it in here that i'm quite a fan of the Other-M concept. Also, your board is really intimidating

---

Thanks for the congrats!

Ken's active contributions to the comic ended with StH#159. My work has been (or tried to be) true to the groundwork laid by both Ken and Karl (and the other writers) while doing my own thing. So in that sense, Ken is somewhat still contributing. In way. Sort of. Kinda.

And....intimidating? But...but we have cookies! And fluffy pillows! And witty banter!

Seriously though, I don't want it to be an unapproachable place. What keeps you away? Email me at: (ianpotto@bumbleking.com) and let me know, please.

Quote:

---

I don't have faith he will patch things up between Sonic and Sally in the present. Plus he hasn't fixed Sonic and Tails friendship.

---

1) They're on-going plot points. Rome wasn't built in a day, and relationships aren't patched up in a panel.

2) The Son/Sal pairing is not a foregone conclusion in my mind. Yes, they're a fun couple but we've been there/done that. Let them have some time apart. I don't want Sally to be known as "Sonic's girlfriend" but rather a character on her own right.

3) ...or is #2 just a massive smoke-screen to throw everyone off my big plans on reuniting them? You'll never know! DUN DUN DUN!!!

...well, you will know, one way or the other. Eventually.

Pundit:

Quote:

---

Charles - could you just tell me if Knuckles' reasons for doing so were ever mentioned/implied? I don't really care if it's spoily.

---

Knuckles said he's staying in Knothole to focus on taking down Robotnik, which is Priority One.

Which sucks if you're living on Angel Island and caught between a three-side civil war involving villains, villains and more villains, with the only hero around being Locke.

DC:

Quote:

---

I was hoping the comic would go back to like it was in Sonic Sat a.m.

---

How realistic is it to expect the comic to back to being like a cartoon cancelled eleven years ago, which the comic was never really similar to & heavily diverged from?

Ian:

Quote:

---

2) The Son/Sal pairing is not a foregone conclusion in my mind. Yes, they're a fun couple but we've been there/done that. Let them have some time apart. I don't want Sally to be known as "Sonic's girlfriend" but rather a character on her own right.

---

I want your babies after reading that.

Reminder of the relationship embargo. Just throwing that out there.

But in any case, I'd like to remind everyone that Sonic and Sally have only been broken up for... I'm guessing... a MONTH, at most.

Quote:

---

Reminder of the relationship embargo. Just throwing that out there.

---

Eh what? Relationship embargo as in you're not allowed to talk about romantic pairings in this forum? I remember when that was all we *would* talk about... the threads would stretch for miles and some would even be civil

Dirk> RE your post about spoilers on Ian's forum, I think what's needed is spoiler tags for this forum (and really strict rules about the posting of potential spoilers). Just a thought

Ian> I'll be in touch by email.

Charles> You say "the only hero around being Locke", but Ian says "Locke is active Guardian but is spending most of his time looking from the Brotherhood". Does Locke have an active or passive role in all this? (Or perhaps i've misunderstood either/both quotes.)

Not to sound like I'm being pushy or sarcastic, but if you'd read the rules it mentions how to do spoiler tags, and if you'd reas the topic which says "read before posting," you'd know about the relationship embargo. But you're an oldbie, and these things are newer than you, so I suppose you can be forgiven.

On the other hand, maybe I am just being paranoid and impatient. I deleated my first post. Sorry, I didn't mean to turn this into a relationship thread.

Quote:

---

Does Locke have an active or passive role in all this?

---

Passive like Ian said - technically though, he's still the local hero by default even though he's bunking off looking for the Brotherhood most of the time.

The inhabitants of Angel Island must cry themselves to sleep knowing he's their only protection from supervillain civil wars...

Quote:

---

Eh what? Relationship embargo as in you're not allowed to talk about romantic pairings in this forum? I remember when that was all we *would* talk about... the threads would stretch for miles and some would even be civil

---

Unfortunately, a few bad apples spoiled the bunch. Red and the others got tired of the bickering as it continually spilled into threads where it didn't belong, taking them off-track, and the decision was brought down like a judge's gavel.

I stand by it too. We don't need more Mikoisms in here.

~Rico

Quote:

---

Knuckles said he's staying in Knothole to focus on taking down Robotnik, which is Priority One.

Which sucks if you're living on Angel Island and caught between a three-side civil war involving villains, villains and more villains, with the only hero around being Locke.

---

Just to make it even more clearer, Knux has made Buttnik priority one because he sees Eggy as the main threat, the root of all trouble on Mobius, and Angel Island. Knux believes, and IMO, correctly, that once Eggman is finished, peace will come to AI and Mobius itself, and then, only then, shall he return to Angel Island.

Quote:

---

I don't want Sally to be known as "Sonic's girlfriend" but rather a character on her own right.

---

One of the better things to be attempted, IMO.

I can better answer the general "state of the universe" question when my copies of Sonic #164-67 (the comments about Knux in the #167 topic got that issued added to my order) arrive. Just saying that I found #162-63 better than the storylines that caused me to let my subscription expire in the first place isn't saying much.

Quote:

---

Knux believes, and IMO, correctly, that once Eggman is finished, peace will come to AI and Mobius itself, and then, only then, shall he return to Angel Island.

---

Boy, will he sure be surprised when he finally returns to Angel Island to find almost everyone dead because nobody stopped the fighting of factions that (at least the DL) weren't tied to Robotnik...

I mean, seriously, he's coming off as the worst Guardian ever.

Quote:

---

Boy, will he sure be surprised when he finally returns to Angel Island to find almost everyone dead because nobody stopped the fighting of factions that (at least the DL) weren't tied to Robotnik...

---

I'm inclined to agree. I was rather shocked when I read that Knuckles refused to return to Angel Island. Seems a little callous to me. You'd think he'd care a little bit more, considering his family is up there.

At least Ian's giving him a REASON to be off the Island, which is more than can be said of the games.

Because I seriously doubt that each game happens right after the other.

Considering the Dingoes get their support from Robotnik, focusing on 'Buttnik first makes a lot more sense, since it would cut off Kage's biggest supporter, tipping the balance in favor of the Angel Island resistance..

Quote:

---

Considering the Dingoes get their support from Robotnik, focusing on 'Buttnik first makes a lot more sense, since it would cut off Kage's biggest supporter, tipping the balance in favor of the Angel Island resistance..

---

Except the resistance are the Dark Legion. Who are extremely nasty people, and currently having a really big civil war.

It's going to be a lot easier to take down the dingoes now then waiting for Robotnik to be beaten anyway; Return To Angel Island showed the Chaotix & Sonic quite easily thrashing Kage's troops and invading his base, whereas Robotnik shows no signs of going down any time soon.

disclaimer: I'm just spinning my wheels here and theorizing.

But the dingos are the kind of social problem that doesn't go away because you bring out the guns and jackboots. Consider the difference between violently suppressing them, or cutting off the support of their major patron and watching them crumble.

The first approach nets you a community of bloodthirsty dingos who will never - never! - forget their humiliation, and spawn another generation of warmongers.

The second approach quietly undercuts the dingos, and is much more likely to result in a peaceful result where both the dingos and echidnas come to some sort of understanding. I mean, you don't really heal a cut by threatening to stab it if it doesn't stop bleeding.

Just a thought.

Personally, I'm with the "go after the source" crowd, so I support Knux' decision in #141 that he just re-emphasized in #165. Considering the fire-power Robotnik just displayed in #164, if Knux & company don't help Sonic & company, they're all going to end up losing to the guy pulling everyone's strings. If they stay divided as they were in the early days of the comic, they have no shot of keeping what they have now much less gaining "world peace." Besides, despite the DL having a civil war, they weren't being evil to their own kind and they aren't going to be. The only problem the civil war causes is an inability to create a force to consistently fight the dingoes.

Locke lost any chance of getting Knux to agree with him once he made that veiled threat concerning the safety of Lara-Le, Wyn, and Kneecaps though. If you want to convince someone that they're "wrong," you don't go for an emotional response--especially when only an idiot doesn't know that Knux loses his temper.

And yeah, I got my back-order Saturday, and I am totally in love with the way Knux and his crew is being handled by Ian. ^_^

Quote:

---

Considering the fire-power Robotnik just displayed in #164, if Knux & company don't help Sonic & company, they're all going to end up losing to the guy pulling everyone's strings.

---

It's just considering how long it's taking to get rid of Robotnik, by the time he gets around to saving Angel Island it might be too late. And if the gang take out Robotnik's proxies on Angel Island, that's one large chunk of territory he no longer controls and that they do (in regards to raw materials, manpower, Master Emerald power etc).

Quote:

---

Besides, despite the DL having a civil war, they weren't being evil to their own kind

---

They've been evil to their own kind before - would you want to take the chance, esp. with the head of the Frost Legion being an unknown bod? When it comes to civil war, they don't even need to actively be evil to their own kind, they just have to be a bit careless about where their shots go.

Quote:

---

Locke lost any chance of getting Knux to agree with him once he made that veiled threat concerning the safety of Lara-Le, Wyn, and Kneecaps though.

---

That was dumb of him, but he's kinda right - he can't ensure their safety during a three-way war when he's got to guard the Master Emerald and everything else related to that. All Lara-Le has to do is to be in the wrong place at the wrong time...

Not that anyone needs to ensure Kneecap's safety, the vicious little git could probably take down Kage's force all by himself.

Yeah, it could be too late. I definitely don't disagree there and the way the story is going, Knux is going to pay for his choice somewhere down the line. There's also the possibility that it could be over for everyone on the planet. It's a matter of which is the preferable situation: everyone gets screwed over or some due to the general idea of "united we stand, divided we fall." Then, there's also the fact that the Brotherhood is missing, which means that they aren't around to do their duty of helping the Island by "helping" the mainland--though what they ever did in that regard would be news to me as Knux is supposedly the first Guardian to actually take the mainland seriously as being just as important as Angel Island itself. Since Locke has no plans of doing that job, but can (and is sorta) maintaining the Island, both jobs are now covered to a degree.

As for the DL, they were evil to their own when they had nothing other than themselves as their main threat (re: the forced removal of technology by their own). They have something much bigger to worry about before messing with their own right now (who also wouldn't be able to bother them if they wanted to do so anyway), whether its their own civil war or the dingoes supported by Robotnik. That's why when Angel Island was "lost" during Sonic's absense it made a lot of sense to me that the DL took up the cause of being the heroes of the Island (especially with the Brotherhood missing save Locke).

Oh, I agree with Locke on not being able to guarantee their safety, but the how and when he said it, it is was almost as if he purposely wouldn't do anything if they were in trouble. Knux could be on the Island and if they were in the wrong place at the wrong time they'd still get harmed/killed--that almost happened in #141.

Charles, forgive my ignorance but... who on earth is Kneecap?

Quote:

---

Locke on not being able to guarantee their safety, but the how and when he said it, it is was almost as if he purposely wouldn't do anything if they were in trouble

---

I think he's just always been an astonishingly blunt character. Some people just can't help themselves

Quote:

---

they were evil to their own when they had nothing other than themselves as their main threat

---

I'm not sure what you're saying. Is it the echidnas who were evil to their own or the DL? It confuses me because you said:

Quote:

---

(re: the forced removal of technology by their own)

---

ps. psst Lianne check your fanfic email account ;p

Quote:

---

Charles, forgive my ignorance but... who on earth is Kneecap?

---

Knuckles' baby brother.

*cough* *splutter*

does anyone else think that's a singularly unfortunate name for a little kid? Unless he has bone spurs growing out of his knees or something

You obviously haven't read the RTAI arc have you? Because you really sound a lot like Knuckles right now.

As the first post in this topic states, he's been out of the loop since #110.

When Ken wrote that Lara-Le was pregnant by Wyn, he intended to have the kid named Mace. Karl wanted it to be Kneecaps. Ken wrote "Mace" into "Mobius: 25 Years Later," and in "Return to Angel Island," Karl wrote his name as "Kneecaps", short for "Knecapeon Mace."

So, his canon name is "Knecapeon Mace." People call him Kneecaps. Knuckles hates the name, and Kneecaps himself hates the name.

Pundit, I was referring to the DL in terms of being "evil" because I was responding to Charles' comments about the DL. I mentioned the removal of technology because that was the catalyst for the DL and any "evilness" that they've done since. I do realize that removing technology from others is actually a different form of evilness though. Also, I saw your email, just haven't gotten around to updating the site--technically, I'm being bad by visiting here right now. **has job & school work to do** x_x

The clueless one's back with another question!

So I was looking through Sonic #161 and it looks like Locke has a totally new look with the ...skirt ... and everything. Some people were talking about it, but i'm still wondering - did he ever state his reasons for doing so? When exactly did the change happen?

Thanks

ps. Condolences, Lianne. Still at Columbia?

Now even the solicitation text for #171 is disagreeing with Knuckles' decision!

Quote:

---

Without his son's help, Knuckle's father Locke is losing control of Angel Island.

---

I don't generally hold with bumping, but i'm desperate for an answer. Could someone please help me out with the question I asked above RE Locke's appearance?

Much appreciated!

Er, well... I'm missing some issues so I can't really verify, but the few times Locke and Knuckles are in the same panel speaking to each other, the subject never comes up.

However, it's no surprise that the ensemble bears a striking resemblance to the style of wear that was popular with the ancient Knuckles tribe that inhabited the Mystic Ruins, and it's quite obviously another bit of game-related nolstagia creeping back into the comic, along with the Hidden Palace and its famous mural.

Right. No explicit explanation was given in the comic.

Answering the question of when Locke doned his new attire, that happened during the "Return to Angel Island" arc in Sonic #138-141 (going by memory, I think it debuted in #139 in a Lien-Da flashback; if not, it debuted in #140 during the rescue). No reason was given in the comic, but considering what was going on during the unseen year that transpired on Mobius (no Haven, no more Brotherhood, being on the run from the dingoes, etc.) his outfit was changed--many characters had their outfits changed after Sonic #125. For #126-129 only Sonic for the most part was in the comic (though Tails' parents appeared in #129 as we found out about them) as he was traveling through space. When Sonic reached Mobius in #130, he found out that he had missed a year and we all found out that the status quo had been changed dramatically. The non-comic reason for the change was to make him look a lot different from Knuckles--and I think some of the designers had fun making up new looks for the characters, not all of which were used.

P.S. Graduated from Columbia in 2003; going for my Masters in Education at Molloy as I'm going to become a math teacher in NY in time for the 2007-2008 school year (if all goes according to plan).