#i literally only started using the sally face wiki this year

[thankskenpenders]

While we still have three issues left featuring stories written by Karl Bollers, we’ve pretty much come to the end of his run as lead writer on Archie Sonic. As I’ve said many times, his work certainly had flaws, and there were stories of his that bored me. (I definitely could’ve done with less stories where Sally’s parents prevent her from joining the action.) But there were also many I quite enjoyed, and on average I’d say his stories were usually pretty okay. He definitely went out on a high note with Return to Angel Island, though. That’s for sure

In this post, I’d like to look over the list of scrapped story ideas listed on Bollers’ wiki page, and give some thoughts. Had he continued writing Sonic, this is what he would have done

Sonic and Amy becoming a couple after being stranded at sea together and keeping it a secret from Princess Sally.

Ehh... I’d have to see how this really played out. Sega was pushing SonAmy super hard at the time with Sonic X, though, and the Archie comics had barely even acknowledged Amy’s crush on Sonic, so I guess something like this had to happen eventually. I’m also sure it wouldn’t have lasted long, since it was obvious Bollers would have Sonic and Sally reconcile eventually

Tails reuniting with his parents by traveling into space on a modified Tornado.

This would’ve been pretty neat, honestly! I’d just hope that Tails wouldn’t stay out in space for too long

Amy's origins being explored in a fuller adaptation of Sonic CD.

Very cool! Definitely would’ve liked to see this. But Ian ended up doing more with Amy and incorporating the stories of the Genesis era games into the comics later on, so I guess we didn’t really lose much by not getting this story from Bollers

Knuckles departing Angel Island after learning that his presence exposes the location of the Master Emerald, going on a global pilgrimage to learn martial arts, and battling a Dr. Eggman controlled-Monkey Khan while under the control of the Iron Queen before discovering the Master Geode.

Now THIS sounds cool. While I’m not exactly a fan of Monkey Khan, I think sending Knuckles off on a big adventure and having him learn more fighting skills would be a great use of his character. Way better than having him sit around on Angel Island all day, that’s for sure. And after how great Return to Angel Island was, I would’ve loved to see more Knuckles stories from Bollers

Mammoth Mogul beginning to age rapidly due to his original Chaos Emerald running out of energy, forcing him to seek out alternative sources through illicit archaeological expeditions and hiring mercenaries like Nack the Weasel. The Master Geode, a powerful gemstone that would fulfill Mogul's needs, would be contested by him, the Iron Queen, Robotnik, and Rouge the Bat.

Also pretty cool. I’m assuming this is all part of the same overarching story as Knuckles’ martial arts training. It’d be fun to see this combination of new and old game characters as well as old Archie characters vying for power. I also love that all these forces would be vying for control of this powerful gem, but then Rouge is also there because... she just wants it. All of these characters would have their time to shine in Ian’s run, though

Sally being a pawn in a villainous plot by the corrupted Source of All and Ixis Naugus to prevent the future first previewed in Sonic In Your Face.

Antoine gaining his scar due to an accident with a knife and becoming a villain after allowing himself to be possessed by a corrupted Source of All in hopes of winning Bunnie back.

The Source of All surviving Robotropolis' destruction and reconstituting itself in a remote mountain range, beginning to exert control over King Max, brainwashing the Arachne and another group of Spiders known as the Strand, and possessing Antoine while under the control of Ixis Naugus.

We’ve already talked about this canceled subplot before, but oh man, I would’ve loved this. I always hated the concept of the Source of All, and the idea that Max’s actions were all justified by some sort of omniscient future vision. The Acorn family rituals surrounding the Source were also already extremely creepy, so turning their bonding with the Source into a bad thing would’ve been an incredibly easy pill to swallow

Bunnie and Antoine breaking up due to a change in Antoine's personality, with Bunnie's origins later being explored and her true name being revealed as Scarlette O'Hare

I mean, Bunnie’s last name being Rabbot (pronounced Rab-OH) was always silly, but I don’t know if we really needed this. Y’all know I’m down for more Bunnie, though

Rotor retiring from field duty in order to pursue a role analogous to that played by "Q" of James Bond fame.

They’d already been leaving him out of missions for years. I guess this makes sense, and at least turning him into the guy who makes the gadgets for everyone would give him a more clearly defined role

Locke and Lara-Le putting aside their previous disputes to help raise Knecapeon "Kneecaps" Mace after his father Wynmacher ends up in the Egg Grape Chamber.

I’ve talked about all this a bit before. Really not sure what to think of it. My gut instinct is that I don’t like the idea of Locke reuniting with Lara-Le at all. He hasn’t earned her forgiveness. But I’d have to see how Bollers wrote it, I guess

Robotnik kidnapping Hope Kintobor under the pretense that he is the only correct choice to be her legal guardian, while genuinely using her as bait to lure in Shadow the Hedgehog.

Not sure how I feel about Hope getting kidnapped, but the mental image of literal tyrant Dr. Eggman going to child protective services and pretending he’d be a good guardian for Hope as part of a scheme to get Shadow is really funny to me

Ixis Naugus attempting to return by transforming Max's body into a duplicate of his own, only to be thwarted by the destruction of the Crown of Acorns

I would’ve liked to see Naugus explored more, but hey! Ian sure used him a lot. So this is another case where we aren’t missing out on much

Nate Morgan surviving the destruction of Robotropolis, being De-Roboticized by the Bem, and returning as Coconuts' amnesia-addled ally, who creates a new Metal Sonic, Metal Amy, Metal Knuckles, and Tails Doll that are mistaken for Robian versions of the heroes.

This would’ve been a REALLY interesting development. Bollers was very open about how he hated the direction Nate Morgan had gone in and had some interesting plans to bring him back. And, well, this is it. Kind of reminds me of a certain subplot with Eggman in the IDW comics, except in reverse

I also love how this would’ve brought in Metal Knuckles, Tails Doll, and a new Metal Amy. Bollers really seemed to be enjoy bringing in elements from the older games in his later years at Archie, with much of the action in Return to Angel Island taking place in actual zones from S3&K. Getting Coconuts involved is also wild. This would’ve been a really fun story

Snively taking up a fifteen foot-tall mechanical battlesuit and the alias "Skarkus" in pursuit of revenge against Robotnik for leaving him alone against the Xorda, leading to an alliance between him and Shadow.

Yeah, this one sure is. Something. Honestly I have no idea how it would turn out. It’d be all about the execution

A.D.A.M. and NICOLE becoming romantically involved, leading to A.D.A.M. seizing control of the Shadowbot army and leading them from New Megaopolis to Knothole.

Okay I hate this one lol. But to be fair, I mostly hate it because the other writers ended up taking Nicole in a completely different direction and giving her her lynx form (and eventually pairing her with Sally). Bollers had no way of knowing that Nicole would become such a central character, so I can’t really blame him for having an idea like this, I guess

A new Dingo Regime leader named Colonel Mange being introduced, with Croctobot, Jack Rabbit, and Gala-Na being reintroduced as Robotnik Sub-Bosses over Downunda, the Great Desert, and Albion. This would have led to the disappearance of the Downunda Freedom Fighters and a confrontation involving the Mercian Freedom Fighters.

Ah, the beginnings of Eggman having Mobian sub-bosses working for him. I guess Kage in Return to Angel Island was really the start of this, but still. Gala-Na becoming a subordinate of Eggman actually makes a lot of sense to me. She was already an antagonist in the Chaos Knuckles arc, and it’s painfully obvious that the Albion echidnas are selfish pricks who only look out for themselves. If she thought that siding with Eggman would protect Albion, I totally think she’d sell out

Anti-Sonic coming to enjoy impersonating Sonic and enjoying the love of his parents and adulation of his people, leading him to plan to eliminate Sonic and permanently take his place.

This one’s also kinda interesting I suppose, although we definitely got no shortage of Anti-Sonic impersonating Sonic in the last year of Penders stories. Can’t say I’m dying to see this story told

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So, all in all, definitely some interesting ideas! If there’s two major throughlines I see in this plans, it’s 1) bringing back forgotten elements from both the games and earlier comics and 2) reinventing Penders characters and concepts. Which makes a lot of sense, because that’s exactly what he was doing with Return to Angel Island

Part of me is sad that these stories were never told. The Source of All being evil and Knuckles’ martial arts training stand out to me in particular. But there are other ideas that are pretty similar to things Ian would do in his run, like Eggman having Mobian sub-bosses or Naugus coming back, so it’s hard to feel too sad. It’s also hard to know how good the execution would’ve been on these pitches

Of course, if there’s one thing I’m certain of, it’s that these stories probably would’ve been better than the ones we actually got from Penders and Chacon over the next year and a half

#StH 141 #tkp post