Or “Ellie Doesn’t Quite Dip Back in the Fandom Pool, But She Gets Her Toes Damp”
Part of the challenge of not having a job outside the house is that you have to keep yourself occupied, or you’ll end up wandering off to clean something or staring into the void and pondering every life decision you’ve ever made. I thought finally going through my ever-expanding YouTube watchlist would solve that. And it has… to a point.
Because now I’ve just introduced more research rabbit holes. Some of them may not appear on Sporeshelf (which I have not forgotten; I’m just trying to figure out a layout for the future digital garden that I won’t loathe in the coming months), but they’re still entertaining and, more importantly, they actually do the job of keeping me in one place while I write or draw.
One of these rabbit holes is the Sonic franchise. I’ve been reacquainted with an old childhood obsession without feeling like I have to dedicate myself to it wholesale again. I finally understand the whole Ken Penders controversy (far more than I would like), and I’ve realized I’ve been missing out on some serious fun in the other two Sonic movies, which seem more like love letters to the franchise and its fandom. Seriously, I do love Nintendo, but how many times has the company acknowledged memes or fan creations without immediately releasing its legal team?
Not that it’s important, but if they announce that Nack the Weasel/Fang the Sniper* is appearing in a future movie or TV adaptation, you bet I’m plunking down some coin right away. He’s my ride-or-die Sonic critter.
Here are three little gems (or emeralds, nyuk nyuk) I came across recently.
I actually have some original Sonic comics. I bought them when they were rereleased back in the 90s from a Toys “R” Us in either Puerto Rico or Washington State (the height of my Sonic obsession). Yes, you could buy comic books from Toys “R” Us for a time. As if you don’t need another reason to miss it.
Lord, I spent so many hours reading those comics. I first got started on them while living in Puerto Rico. Like many Coastie families, we had a shopping arrangement that made total sense to us, but would be weird to non-military folk.
We lived in the Aguadilla area, in Coast Guard housing. That right there should tell you that we were lacking in many amenities. The Coast Guard is kind of like the redheaded stepchild in the military: overlooked, mocked, disregarded, but feisty and brutal (especially its bootcamp).
We had a mini-mart, but not a full-on commissary (grocery store). The Navy’s Roosevelt Roads—or Roosey Roads, as we called it—way on the other side of the island certainly had one. Once a month or so, we’d load up the Isuzu Trooper with snacks, games, and reading material, drive two hours across the island, spend a whole day shopping, then make the trek back.
One time, I didn’t go along with the family. I think I was old enough to man the fort by myself, and I was probably being defiant or had gotten into an argument with one of my parents. Whatever the reason, I spent the day by myself, watching MST3K, playing with the cat and dog, marathoning my beloved Sonic games, and sneaking snacks. I’m sure I was in heaven.
By nightfall, the family had returned with the usual bounty, and my brother proudly presented me with the Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble special from Archie Comics. It was the best surprised I’d ever received in my young life up to that point. I had never heard of the comic series until that day, and I had a lot of catching up to do.
And so started many years of overjoyed reading, followed by growing confusion and, finally, disenchantment as the soap opera reached incredible heights (or depths) of ludicrousness that even the most ardent fanfic writers couldn’t tolerate.
This was a pleasant trip down memory lane. Those old Sonic comics of mine aren’t going to fetch a goldmine because of all the rereading they’ve endured, but I’m glad I didn’t give them away, as I’d been planning to do years ago.
And, no, I will not be reading any of Penders’s new works. There are others doing that for me, anyway.
No, there was never a Sonic CD-i game, but this short homage to early-2000s YouTube might almost convince you.
If you were a Sonic fan like me back in the day, you’ll have much of the music lodged into your memory, taking up space that should have been dedicated to school test answers and acceptable social cues.
The Special Stage music from Sonic 2 is one of those tracks that will pop into my head when I least expect it. When I heard this version, I immediately sensed something was wrong. It’s like watching the original Star Fox in 60fps instead of its original choppiness; it’s unholy and unnatural, and it should not be.
* Yeah, I know he was originally a wolf-jerboa hybrid, then they decided he was a weasel for Western audiences, and now he’s a plain jerboa. In some part of my mind, he’ll always be Nack to me.