Tear Jerker / Archie Sonic Online

Sonic the Hedgehog Online

Issue 249

• Issue #249 has the final battle between Sonic and Mecha Sally. After Mecha Sally reactivates when Metal Sonic and Emerl arrive at New Mobotropolis, she immediately decides to go after Sonic. As the fight continues, Sonic assures that he'll save Sally — however, Mecha Sally gives her own rebuttal, calling out Sonic for the times he failed to save her. Mecha Sally is soon ordered to self destruct by Metal Sonic. Desperate, Sonic heads after her, and manages to cling onto her. Sonic again tries to reason with her, only to further call Sonic out on failing to save other allies as well as her. The Robian attempts to take Sonic down with a laser blast, but Sonic wrecks her head-laser and incapacitates the Robian. With mere seconds before Sally self-destructs, Sonic desperately heads to the lab where the deroboticizer is, placing her in there and activating it. Thankfully, the subsequent reunion between Sonic and Sally bring happy tears, though judging by Sally's reaction she's in a severe state of shock.
  • What makes this moment even more of a tearjerker is Sonic's personality throughout the fight. Instead of having his trademark confidence and wit, Sonic becomes reluctant (obviously) to fight Mecha Sally, and desperate to save her before it's too late. When Mecha Sally is on the verge of self-destructing, Sonic is seen crying as he defeats her and returns her to normal. O.O.C. Is Serious Business at its finest.
• Also from #249, Sonic has a brief flashback of Antoine's Heroic Sacrifice from #234 when he sees Metal Sonic again.

Issue 250

• Sally's back! Sadly, not everything is sunshine and rainbows as its revealed that she was aware of everything that she was doing while as Eggman's enforcer even if she had no control over her actions.
  • The first sign of her mental state is when she's with Sonic at his home. When she's worried about the state of things regarding the fractured Freedom Fighters, Sonic tries to reassure her that everything's going to be alright. She immediately snaps and jumps down his throat as she cries while pointing out all the harm she did as Mecha Sally. She even claims in horror how she wanted to do those things even, wracked with guilt despite the fact Sally was Brainwashed and Crazy and can be excused for her actions.
  • Despite the above mentioned brainwashing, there's still some people who are freaked out being around Sally after her stint as Eggman's enforcer. T-Pup is outright scared of her which Sonic realizes is from when Mecha Sally nearly destroyed him and Cream, still semi-fresh from getting pummeled by her Robotionized self, is polite in welcoming the princess back but still very nervous doing so.
• Sonic confronting Geoffrey (really Naugus) over his continued support and the Jerkass keeps up the facade of a loyal supporter to the former's disappointment. As he walks away, the Hedgehog has this to say:
  Sonic: Just for the record, Hershey would've wanted differently.
  Geoffrey: [Trapped in the void and hearing him] I know Sonic. I know.
• "Birds of a Feather" is a side story where Knuckles comes to see Sally immediately upon learning she's back. The two old friends start out joking and having a friendly chat when suddenly Sally just breaks down and cries; worst is that its because everyone has been completely supportive and understanding that Sally wasn't in control of her actions. Not only that, Sally's since learned how as Mecha Sally she would've killed the Freedom Fighters and downing the planet to the Bad Future Silver's came back to prevent.
  • Then comes a happy Tearjerker despite the context: Knuckles reveals that he hasn't forgiven himself for his time as Enerjak and the aftermath, namely the death of his father. However, when he wallowed in self-pity over his actions the Chaotix was there to snap him out of it and encourages Sally not to not forget she has people who love her and never gave up on saving her. Sally appreciates this and the two friends end up sharing a hug.

Issue 251

• Geoffrey (or rather, Ixis Naugus possessing Geoffrey) makes Sally run away crying by reminding her of all the terrible things she'd done as Mecha Sally. Meanwhile, the real Geoffrey is breaking down into tears as he can't stop Naugus from making him say those words.
• Hershey returns after being thought dead for years and immediately goes to find her husband, Geoffrey. Seeing her alive finally lets Geoffrey break free of Naugus' control, but he only has just enough time to warn her that Naugus is controlling him before Naugus retakes control and immediately threatens to force Geoffrey to kill her if he doesn't submit to his rule.
• Harvey Who reveals to the Secret Freedom Fighters that he has determined that now is the time to dethrone Naugus for good...via a political assassination that Geoffrey would be framed for as he's already associated by the public with treason. Poor Elias is the one that has to carry it out using the Sword of Light and the young man is understandably distraught not only at the thought of murdering someone, but framing a technically innocent man for the act.
  • All of the Secret Freedom Fighters, sans Elias, had met with Harvey beforehand and unanimously agreed to the course of action. Silver notes that he came from a Bad Future and was even introduced arriving in the past to kill the traitor deemed responsible for the chain of events causing it. Shard points out that he may have made be a "living being" now but was created as a pragmatic war machine^note And he still looks uncomfortable about the course of action while Larry feels that after Naugus tried to brainwash all of Mobotropolis, the risk to his friends' safety is too great. The twins simply state that if the price for peace is a single life, its a sacrifice one must make.
    • When Elias speaks to Uncle Chuck and NICOLE to get their opinions it clear their agreement comes from a sense of intense guilt. Chuck is clearly thinking about how sparing and helping the original Robotnik led to the Unwilling Roboticisation of his son, himself, and thousands of others over the years along with the decades long war against the Eggman Empire that his nephew has had to fight since he was a child.
    • NICOLE herself notes she'd prefer avoiding resorting to violence especially since she was given a second chance after her stint as Iron NICOLE. Ultimately she and Shard (who’s present) point out they were misguided or under the control of others while Naugus is evil and malicious and thus conclude that he doesn't deserve the option (which he wouldn't take anyway).
  • Elias, having resolved himself to this course of action, visits his father one last time before he, in his own words, becomes no different from Max. Elias doubts his father can hear him, yet he still gives a low-key The Reason You Suck speech noting he's about to throw everything he believes in away for a throne he never wanted. Max, in one of ever-diminishing moments of lucidly, tells Elias he's proud of the man he is, the brave and kindhearted man Max never was, and tells his son to protect their family from his "foolish father." Elias is brought to tears.
    • Whether you either believe that Max was always an asshole or the Source of All, in addition to years of trauma, turned him into one, it's clear that here in this moment Max has finally seen all the harm his actions have wrought. Somewhere in this broken body and mind is a father who must watch as his only son commits an unspeakable act to fix the all time cluster he's caused and there's nothing that can be done about it.

Issue 253

• Hershey's reaction after she thinks she killed Geoffrey

Knuckles: Endangered Species

Issue 1

• At one point in the issue, there's a heartwarming moment when Saffron consoles a young Echidna. However, when she states that she and the Chaotix would save Albion, she is suddenly reminded of her own failures from the past—specifically, the destruction of the Golden Hive Colony and the damage done to Charmy's mind.

Issue 3

• While Endangered Species ends on a positive note for Knuckles, the same cannot be said for Thrash. After leaving Albion, he witnesses his father die, leaving him to despair that he truly is the Last of His Kind.

Mobius Legends

Issue 3

• "Regrets" has Fiona beginning to have second thoughts about her betraying Sonic and the Freedom Fighters. A brief scuffle with Rouge over a Chaos Emerald ends up opening old wounds from their broken comradery as Rouge angrily points out to Fiona that she dropped a guy who treats women with respect for his Evil Counterpart. As the two fight, it becomes clear that Fiona more than likely has been swayed over Scourge’s toxic charms, proven when he does nothing to help her. After Rouge knocks out Fiona, Scourge quickly overwhelms her and departs with both Fiona and the Chaos Emerald. As she realizes that he'll go after the other Emeralds, she bitterly thinks to herself "those two idiots deserve each other", overcut with the shot of Scourge greedily overlooking the Emerald as Fiona sulks behind him.

Issue 4

• "Lying" is an alternate universe story where Sonic did die after his sacrifice in #125, and Evil Sonic took his place. Sally was in denial about it all, before finally confronting him just before they were to be wed. Then there's the second to last page where she tells Sonic's parents and Knuckles and Julie-Su the truth. All four of them are crushed by the fact that the Sonic with them is an alternate version that fooled them all.
  • The final page has one for Anti-Sonic of all people where, after leaving, he denounces how being a hero is overrated and opts to be the "Evil Sonic" pointing out that, unlike the actual Sonic, he’s still alive.. The crushed photo of him and Sally heavily implies that the reason he went with the ruse for so long is because Anti-Sonic had genuinely fallen in love with Sally.

Issue 5

• "Protegegg" shows the origins of Eggette. She was a Loony Fan of Dr. Eggman to the point that she betrayed her own clan just so she can prove her superiority to them and to show she's an equal to Eggman. And then there's her parents reaction: they can only cry as they are dragged off by SWAT-Bots.

---