Sonic Universe 22 Review

KIVAENERGYARMS PRESENTS: A REVIEW
ARCHIE COMICS SONIC UNIVERSE 22

Hello everyone, Kiva here and if it’s cheesy I love it. Well, today I am continuing my review of the individual issues of the Treasure Team Tango arc. The first issue was basic aside from one bad hiccup, let’s see how they continue the story, in issue 2 of 4.

We cut to a brief scene in the Sol Zone of Marine assuring a koala everything will be all right that doesn’t have any use and cut be could out altogether. Moving on. We continue where we left off, where Amy, Cream and Blaze as the new Team Rose…okay, why are we naming the team after the crazy stalker girl? Screw it, I’m calling it team Blaze. Because this arc is supposed to be about her. So Team Blaze (that’s better) confronts Team Dark.

And Blaze immediately brings up how Shadow repays her generosity with the Chaos Emerald and says Shadow knows how badly her world needs the Sol Emerald. Shadow looks guilty but says that was then, and this is now.

Er…can I talk to you guys for a second? Again? Shadow obviously knows about how Blaze’s world is about to fall apart without them. And Shadow may be seen as the anti-hero type but in fact at this point he is more seen as a full-fledged hero. And Shadow has a strong sense of honor and justice, brought on by Maria’s memory so…NO! Just no! If you really want to create a conflict between Blaze and Shadow, this is not the way to do so without making Shadow like an ass.

Team Blaze doesn’t take any of that crap so Rouge orders Omega to go all-out. Omega may be the only one of Team Dark worth routing for. Because of his funny one liners.

Omega: Yippie-ki-yay, Pastel-colored resistance!

Omega may have Gamma’s soul but I find him more believable then Rouge and Shadow because he’s a machine with destruction on his mind so he may not have fully grasped the full Mobian mind completely yet.

But Blaze responds by trumping Omega’s barrage with her flames. Also, Amy drops Nicole and just leaves her lying there. Stupid bitch! Omega notices Blaze’s power and brings us this iconic line:

Omega: Such destructive power…I like you! Let us burn things together!

I don’t know whether he’s crushing or just admires her destructive capabilities, but that line is so Archie Omega. Omega, never change! I mean it, you’re hilarious!

So, the two teams are being watched by a third team, which turns out to be Team Hooligan, composed of Nack the Weasel, Bark the Polar Bear and the real star of this arc, Bean the Dynamite. And his first quote includes wanting to see more explosions. Bean is so great, I’m going to write down all his quotes in my review.

So meanwhile Team Rose are playing keep away with the Emerald…In which it ends with the chao, Cheese taking the Emerald and running off. When Blaze taunts Rouge about how they’ll never track that emerald now (which shouldn’t be true since it gives off a signature), Rouge settles for a consolation price. She takes the Emerald Blaze has on her now, by…grabbing her wrist?

So what, Blaze can expel those when you push a pressure point on her arm? Those things are stored mystically, so I’m pretty sure you just can’t force Blaze to summon those against her will by grabbing her arm. And Blaze does jack shit as Rouge does so and hands Shadow the Emerald.

Blaze is being turned into a damsel/punching bag counter: 1

Yeah, you can expect that with how the comics can turn Blaze into a punching bag like this. So Shadow tries warping using Chaos Control, but that doesn’t work because it’s a SOL Emerald and instead it blasts Team Dark back. Blaze explains only she can control their power. Team Blaze run off with the Emerald again…Cream worries Team Dark may be hurt, and Amy says they’ll be fine, and Omega may have enjoyed it in fact. Knowing Omega, that statement may be true.

So Cream gos out to recover Cheese and the Emerald, but see Cheese held hostage by team Hooligan.

Bean: Shiiiiiny!

Cream tries to get Cheese back, only to be grabbed and held down by Bark. That’s why you don’t take a kid to the battlefield, people! And then she starts ranting and spazzing out to Team Hooligan about how mean they are and how they should return the Emerald.

Bean: D’awww! Isn’t she the cutest little floppy-eared, loud-mouthed, tiny-wittle-bitty fluffy you’ve ever seen?! Please, can we keep her, boss?! She can be our mascot! I’ll feed her and take her for walks and name her Jorge!

Must…write down…all Bean quotes! Meanwhile, Amy and Blaze have climbed out of the ravine and now confront Team Hooligan.

Bean: Oh no, not her. Not the hammer.

Bean: Hey, it’s shouty-hammer McPain. You wanna be co-mascots with Jorge?!

So Nack is afraid of Amy? True she is frightening. But Nack has managed to capture Sonic the Hedgehog more than once and suffered his wrath, as well as being kicked in the nuts by Sally and he’s not afraid of them. Nack, grow a freakin’ spine! You had dignity once! Apparently he hasn’t because he immediately rushes off with the others on his motorcycle.

But Blaze uses her fire boost to catch up and knock her down; Also Bean quote!

Bean: Um, Boss? Little miss flaming Lilac is about to…(bike gets knocked down)…never mind.

And that was a badass Blaze moment we were all waiting for. But Team Hooligan still has the Emerald.

Bean: “Like candy from a baby,” you said. What nursery did you come from, pal?!

Nack: I didn’t think she had a freakin’ Freedom Fighter with her, okay?!

Bean: You were spying on them! You didn’t see the Piko Piko Valkyrie with them?!

You know, it’s not a good sign if the nutjob is the most sensible in the entire arc, right?

Team Blaze is ready to take the Emerald from Team Hooligan, but they are stopped when Team Dark has gotten up and retaliate.

So, now they know the Emerald is useless to them, they should stop trying to get it, right? No, even if the Emerald wouldn’t work for them, and probably not for GUN who use Chaos Drives, they can’t just let it go! Besides, I’m sure GUN doesn’t want the Emerald if they know another world is at risk, GUN is a protection agency. I think you can explain to Commander Tower just fine!

And Shadow kicks Amy in the stomach. I normally would cheer that but Amy wanted to reason for once. This gives Team Hooligan the opportunity to sneak away.

Bean: Yes, sneaky time is a good time.

Omega; Please surrender, think of the poor trees!

I also am going to note the good Omega quotes. Oh, and Blaze get dropped kicked by Rouge, then elbow slammed in her head.

Blaze is being turned into a punching bag counter: 2

And then an admittingly humorous scene occurs where Shadow hits Amy with her own hammer. You Amy fanboys can complain all you want, but if that part was animated, I’d kill the replay button.

So Blaze and Amy get defeated, and Amy is grabbed by Omega when she tries to attack with a stick…I feel so much like facepalming right now.

Omega: What do you plan to do, little squishy thing?

Cream: Waaah! It’s no fair and you’re all so man! We don’t even have the one emerald anymore!

Omega: Please do not cry, tiny girl creature. I do not think I can handle that!

Is it wrong Omega shows the most regret of Team Dark in this issue? Soon after Team Dark learns that Team Blaze no longer has the Emerald, and Team Hooligan has them. Blaze starts to wake up and attempts of Shadow to calm down Blaze but she literally explodes into a fiery fury and resumes her attack.

Meanwhile, the Hooligans are visited by a mysterious blimp.

So this is part two of Treasure Team Tango and…It sure has a fair share of enjoyable moments, especially from Bean and Omega and some unexpected bits. But damn is Team Dark horrible in this one.

Shadow and Rouge would never let a world die because of orders or greed, it is not that hard to understand. Ian, you should have known better! And it’s not like its easily fixed, you could have written it so Team Dark wouldn’t know the Sol Emeralds held a world together until a specific moment so they’d realize they were assholes; Here they know and seemingly don’t care or at least not enough.

I still do like it because of the concept of several people trying to get their hands on the same thing which results into something you’d see in a cartoon. Which is pretty fun and they really went with that due to the comedic bits.

But seriously, WTF Team Dark? If only that bit has been improved upon then I wouldn’t have any real complaint about it. That and Blaze being a punching bag for a few moments.

Is the next issue going to improve? Well, we’ll find out next time I guess. Join me next time as we dig into part three of Treasure Team Tango.