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Creator / Ian Flynn

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#KnowingSmile

Ian "Bumbleking" Flynn (born May 31, 1982), also known by his Internet pen name Ian Potto, is an American freelance comic book writer. He is mostly known for his work on Archie Comics' version of Sonic the Hedgehog, where he took over as head writer from Issue #160 until the comic's cancellation. His writing on the comics being generally well-liked, he returned to the position for the next incarnation of the comic after it performed a Channel Hop to IDW Publishing. Aside from this, he has also wrote the official tie-in comics for some of the Sonic video games. Besides Sonic comics, he is also known for his work on the comic versions of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mega Man, as well quite a few of Archie Comics' other series.

A Promoted Fanboy, Flynn's early work was in Fanfiction, most notably the Sonic Fan Webcomic, Other-M. Being a fan of most of the properties he writes for also means that his works tends to often feature Mythology Gags (at times really obscure ones) and Ascended Memes. Similar to Geoff Johns, Flynn also will drudge up obscure characters (e.g. Nack the Weasel/Fang the Hunter, Bean the Dynamite, Bark the Polar Bear, Honey the Cat, and Breezie the Hedgehog) and revamp them for the modern audience, giving them distinct and impactful personality traits to ensure they stick to the readers. His works are big on characterization.

For the longest time, he had a desire to work on a Sonic game officially outside the comics, having volunteered to write the localization script for Sonic Forces, which instead was written by Ken Pontac and Warren Graff (Happy Tree Friends), as the previous four installments. In 2022, he got the chance write for both the tie-in material and the English script of Sonic Frontiers, along with the cutscenes added to Compilation Re-release Sonic Origins. He continues writing various tie-in or prologue material for the game, or is consulted about the series in different forms.

His Twitter account can be found here, and his personal webpage can be found here. He also hosts a podcast covering all forms of geekdom called the BumbleKast, though it focuses heavily on Sonic, alongside his friend Kyle Crouse. Episodes of the podcast can be found here.

Works:

Tropes featured in his work:

  • Armed with Canon: While Flynn has been open with most games in the series, and has tried to work with everything, he does admit that there are some elements that he doesn't consider to be canon. Of course, as he admits himself, most of these are just his theories and headcanons, as Sonic Team is the one who decides what is and isn't canon, not him.
    • Flynn didn't personally see Sonic Labyrinth in continuity with the rest of the series, even joking about it. However, the higher ups told him it was, and he had to accept it.
    • More seriously, Flynn refuses to accept the idea Eggman Nega is probably alive, and for him, the character died while trapped in the Ifrit's dimension at the end of Rivals 2. And despite accepting the Sonic Comic by Eitaro Toyoda, his boss, he prefers to think the Eggman Nega strip is a what-if.note 
  • Ascended Meme: During Ian Flynn's run on Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics), he decided to take a couple of fan ideas and play with them.
    • In Issue 205, an insane Dr. Eggman catches Snively sneaking around and declares that he is "Snoo-ping as usual!", a call back to the infamous PINGAS meme from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. The same issue depicts Eggman saying "It's from the show!", a Shout-Out to a YouTube Poop Music video.
    • The Tails Doll, a playable doppelganger of Sonic's best friend Tails was introduced in Sonic R, but other than that he was a rather unremarkable Living Prop. Due to the creepy nature of the design, he became rather popular to imagine as an otherworldly monster in Creepypasta, with the parodic Sonic Shorts taking a hand in popularizing the concept. When Flynn introduced him, he ran with this concept for Tails Doll, who was a demonic looking Mechanical Abomination inside the innocent-looking doll. The IDW 30th anniversary special also includes a nod to Tails Doll's creepiness by having it act as Eggman's surveillance drone, though he also cuddles with it when nobody's looking. Interestingly enough, a Fandom Nod to the Tails Doll already existed in Sonic X issue 21, but it was written by Mike Bullock.
  • Creator Backlash: While Ian Flynn has nothing against Shadow the Hedgehog, he hated the notoriously strict mandates for the character imposed by SEGA in the IDW comics, since it severely limited him what he could do with the character and he wasn't fond of Sega's insistence of him being depicted as a Vegeta clone. It got to the point he and his co-writers decided to drop Shadow altogether for over two years of the comic's run until Sega loosened the mandates somewhat, just to avoid dealing with them.
  • Creator's Favorite:
    • According to his website, Flynn's favorite characters from the Sonic games are Knuckles the Echidna, Dr. Eggman, and Bean the Dynamite.
    • The same website lists Relic, Eclipse and Shard the Metal Sonic from Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics). In Segabit's Ask Ian #6 Podcast, he claims Finitevus is one of his favorites to write.
    • The website claims his favorite character to write in the IDW title is Tangle the Lemur.
    • In a live Q&A, he comments that Sonic the Hedgehog/Mega Man: Worlds Collide is one of the biggest highlights of his career.
  • Creator's Pest: From the video games, Ian Flynn has expressed dislike towards Dr. Eggman Nega from Sonic Rush and Sonic Rivals, finding his name and design uninspired. Nega is one of the few characters Sega never allowed him to write, meaning he also has very little experience with him.
  • Creator's Favorite Episode:
    • According to an interview with Sonic Fan Games HQ, one of his favorite interactions with Eggman comes from issue 220 of Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics).
    • Issue 3 of Sonic Universe is shared as one of his favorite experiences with the title. In it, he wrote Gamma's fight with Omega before his eventual sacrifice, and it was also the first story where the wrote E-123 Omega.
  • Fan-Work Ban: Ian doesn't watch fan works based on the comics he works with, but this is self-imposed on his part. Neither Sega nor IDW have prohibited him from viewing the material, that's just something he does to avoid ripping off someone else's content. He's also mentioned doing the same for Mega Man out of an abundance of caution.
  • Favorite Trope: Discussed in BumbleKast, where Flynn admits he loves the "eloquent monster" trope, and it's how he writes Zavok in the IDW Sonic series.
  • God Does Not Own This World: While Ian Flynn has been a very prominent writer for the franchise and has written material for the official games, his word is not the be-all and end-all of what’s canon in the Sonic franchise, and is only one person who has limited power over the franchise as a whole. Anything that he might believe as canon to the comics or games can be overwritten by Sonic Team or SEGA at any point.
  • Irony: Flynn has made it clear multiple times that he hates Sonic Heroes. Despite this, most of his work in Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) involves using concepts and ideas from Heroes, with Neo Metal Sonic as the first Arc Villain. The irony wasn't lost on him:
    Sonic Heroes is one of my least favorite games. Why the hell am I pulling so much from it?
  • Signature Style: Ian is known to quote song lyrics and use numerous characters in his stories.
  • Teasing Creator: Usually responds to fan theories or questions with #Knowingsmile when he wants to tease fans about things that he can't reveal yet. So much so that merchandise based off of this catchphrase can be bought in the Bumble Store.
  • What Could Have Been: He once pitched a Super Mario Bros. comic to Nintendo, and while the American division enjoyed the pitch the Japanese rejected it. Flynn later stated that if he made the pitch today, he would have made it Lighter and Softer as while drama worked for the action-based “Sonic” and “Mega Man”, not so much for a whimsical series like Mario.

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