thankskenpenders:FINALLYLocke is dead as hell. The rest of the Brotherhood has been locked away in a

thankskenpenders:FINALLYLocke is dead as hell. The rest of the Brotherhood has been locked away in another dimension. Nearly twelve years and just over 150 main series issues after Locke’s introduction all the way back in 1996, Knuckles is finally the sole guardian of Angel Island and the Master Emerald. And with his dad having just paid the ultimate price, he’s sure to take this job VERY seriouslyIn a way, I guess this makes Enerjak Reborn another one of those early Ian Flynn stories that removes game pieces from the board and makes Archie Sonic look more like Sega Sonic. But boy, what a dramatic, satisfying way to do that. We really got to dig into some juicy drama with the echidnas, taking Knuckles’ sinister messiah complex way further than I thought would ever be possible, and the batshit crazy way Locke raised Knuckles has finally had dire consequences. What a fucking arcAnd boy, what a note for Knuckles and his dad to part ways on, huh? The last time they spoke was when they had their big fight. And now that’s the last time Knuckles will ever speak to his dad. That is ROUGH. That’s a WAY more grounded level of tragedy than I would normally expect out of Sonic. This also makes Locke not reaching out to Knuckles directly during this arc feel like a very deliberate choice. Remembering all this additional context really twists that knife. I might be glad Locke’s dead, but I still feel bad for Knuckles hereI also want to touch on a great line I didn’t comment on in the last post. Locke’s final words are “Release my boy! Give him his own life to lead!” This is referring to Finitevus’s control over Knuckles on the surface, but the obvious subtext there is that Knuckles is being freed from Locke’s control as well. What a great final line to give him, really driving home that in his final moments Locke understands how badly he’s fucked up and just wants to make things right for once. And like he said, Knuckles now has his own life to lead. He’s no longer being jerked around by his elders in the Brotherhood. It’s finally back to basics for Knuckles at long last, and I cannot wait to get into this new era for the characterOf course, even if Knuckles is back to his old self and his time as Enerjak has partially been written off as mind control, the series isn’t going to immediately sweep everything that he did under the rug. We’re gonna touch on his heel turn a bit more. But we’ll have to save that for another dayMan, rereading this arc reminded me of why I not only loved the pre-reboot, but also consider this one of the best arcs of that continuity. It’s crazy how Ian went from one of the worst arcs in the comic in House of Cards to one of the best.It has a great mix of action, drama, suspense, and just enough levity to keep things from getting too dour. And the best part is, like OP mentioned, everything that happened here is going to have serious ramifications going forward, and I can’t wait to get into those (ESPECIALLY Finitevus and Scourge because holy shit) -- source link

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