Recap / Sonic The Hedgehog Archie Comics Countdown To Chaos

A New Beginning of the End

Mobotroplis is saved once again thanks to Sonic and Tails, but there is no time to rest just yet. They immediately fly off to reunite with the rest of the Freedom Fighters with Nicole in hand, while checking out what has changed.

While Dr. Eggman is making is way back to the Death Egg, he and his robots find that his entire empire has radically shifted as well, with new faces replacing some of the old ones from the previous universe.

As both parties continue investigating strange occurrences, they all learn of what their former lives were like, for better or for worse. Unfortunately, they are in no luxury to process this trip down Memory Lane, as they are about to face the consequences of Sonic and Eggman's last battle for their very reality, with a revelation that will shake their world to its very core.

Literally

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Tropes:

• Adaptational Context Change: The old universe had Bunnie rescued halfway through her forced roboticization, making her the cyborg powerhouse of the team. The new universe, however, had her undergo partial emergency roboticization by Chuck, in order to fix her injuries from Eggman's intial attack on Mobotropolis years ago.
• Airborne Aircraft Carrier: Tails and Rotor have been working together on a "Sky Patrol" project, creating a mobile flying base of operations not unlike the Death Egg, and allowing the Freedom Fighters to travel the world. Its weapons system and amenities are revealed later, but it is completed just in time to launch as the planet begins to break apart.
• Adaptational Relationship Overhaul:
  • Sir Charles Hedgehog (now Professor or Doctor Chuck) has always been established as Sonic's biological Uncle Chuck, ever since Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) (or, more accurately, the old comics universe with parents Jules and Bernadette Hedgehog). With this new universe, he is now an "Uncle to Many".
  • Likewise, Muttski (now Ben Muttski) was Sonic pet dog but, in this reality, he is Sonic's good anthropomorphic canine friend and Chuck's apprentice.
• Apocalypse How: What both Eggman and Nicole discover after accessing data regarding the Genesis Waves and what is now occurring before them: Eggman's first attempt at changing reality was focused entirely on Mobius, which was a risk in itself before Sonic undid it. When Eggman allied with another doctor, they tried to change the reality of everything with the Super Genesis Wave. Though Sonic and a "robot partner" reversed the effects there as well, Eggman's desperate attempt to stop Sonic's Chaos Control led to the birth of this new reality. Unfortunately, it also caused a chain reaction that destroyed their old universe, along with nearly the entire multiverse, and their new world is being fed the Wave's residual energies, soon causing it to break apart.
• Ascended Extra: Cream the Rabbit, Cheese the Chao, and Big the Cat served minor roles in the old universe, occasionally helping the Freedom Fighters whenever the need arises. Before the Cosmic Retcon, they were recruited as part of Team Freedom, when the original Freedom Fighters team broke off. Now, they are essentially part of Sally's Freedom Fighters going forward, with Cream and Cheese serving as the youngest 'junior members'.
• Bittersweet Ending: The Freedom Fighters have reunited after taking on Eggman's cohorts, but that's where the good news ends. After helping everyone gain memories from their old life, Nicole makes a horrific discovery (as does Eggman, after returning to the Death Egg): Thanks to Eggman's biggest attempt to change reality, the entire Multiverse has completely collasped in on itself, leaving only their universe and handful of dimensions intact. The energies from the doctor's Super Genesis Wave have culminated into their planet, leading to the rising earthquakes that are felt all over the world. What's worse, there is no stopping or undoing it as the planet is violently tearing itself apart as they speak. This could very well be the end of the world! Or is it?
• Call-Back: Like Sonic and Tails, the others get a memory surge while restoring Nicole. They all see flashbacks of themselves in the old universe.
• Exposition Beam: For Nicole to restore her systems, Sonic and Tails take her handheld to Rotor, Antoine, Bunnie, Amy, and Sally, who all briefly gain memories of the old universe via surge, simply by holding her. Like Tails, some are left disoriented at best while others traumatized at worst, including Sally.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Sonic and Eggman encounter random earthquakes and puffs of sinister-looking purple smoke from the cracks. While the end of the arc makes it seem like the end of the world, it would actually be the beginning of something else entirely.
  • Sonic accidentally takes in a face full of the purple smoke while he and his friends save Uncle Chuck and his device. Despite Chuck's insistence that Sonic gets himself checked out, he instead powers through it. It would take several issues before something "monstrous" is "unleashed" from within him.
  • After meeting with Bunnie in Metropolis Zone, they escape with a shield generator designed for Eggman's Death Egg. It would later be used for Tails and Rotor's Sky Patrol base.
    • In relation to this, the Foreman in charge of the generator project would face severe punishment for this failure by Eggman in the "Eggman's Dozen" arc in Sonic Universe.
• Idiosyncratic Cover Art: Similar to the older Knuckles the Echidna spin-off comics, this arc's default covers could be put together to make one masive portrait, as shown above.
• Internal Reveal: The new universe exists where the Roboticizer has been recently defunct, and implies that neither Chuck or Sally have ever been victims of it. Because they are still recovering from the Worlds Collide event, Sonic and Eggman discover that Sally is normal again.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": All of the Freedom Fighters express this upon seeing the planet below them breaking apart in the final pages.
• The Mole: Bunnie has been busy going undercover as an Egg Soldier in Metropolis Zone before Sonic and Tails meet up with her.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Sally gets the worst of the memory surge, as she remembers everything as Mecha Sally in the old universe. Needless to say, she is beyond horrified.
  Sally: ...Tried to start a war... things I said... things I did... almost murdered...
• Putting the Band Back Together: Back in the old universe, events around Mecha Sally led to her original Freedom Fighters team to dissolve and reform into two separate groups (Team Freedom, defending New Mobotropolis, and Team Fighters, fending off Eggman' forces throughout Mobius and try to bring Sally back). While what becomes of them all later is forever shrouded in mystery thanks to the Genesis Waves, here, they only separate while performing their own missions. The arc focuses on Sonic and Tails helping them before they all meet back at the Sky Patrol. In terms of the comic meta itself, it basically re-introduces the main cast to old and new readers.
• Stumbled Into the Plot: Like Sonic, just as Amy, Cream and Cheese, along with Bean and Bark have returned from Blaze's dimension (see Sonic Universe's "Pirate Plunder Panic"), they immediately find Sally escaping from Metal Sonic and proceed to help her, though Bean and Bark leave the scene despite Cream begging for their help.
• Wham Episode: Aside from the discovery about the planet's current state, the entire arc explores the many changes in this new universe.
  • Old Mobotropolis and Knothole are back in this new universe. Later stories reveal that the Sonic and the others successfully liberated them from Eggman's grip. Sonic and Tails finds this refreshing after remembering that they were destroyed back in the old universe.
  • Only humans exist with the animal species instead of being a distinction from the old universe's Overlander race.
  • Most of the surviving SatAM/Archie characters have undergone a bit of a visual overhaul to make it look like they belong in the Sonic video games (by anatomy, clothing, or both), though their personalities are the same, if not improved. The previously-reintroduced King Acorn, for example, resembles his younger self but is a lot more positive and spry, likely due to not being repeatedly injured, mind controlled, or imprisoned in another dimension for years.
  • Over half of Eggman's top enforcers, formerly titled 'Grandmasters of the Dark Egg Legion' to the now 'Egg Bosses of the Egg Army', are entirely new (i. e. Axel the Water Buffalo) while the rest survived the Cosmic Retcon (i. e. Lord Mordred Hood).
• Wham Line: Twofold at the end of the arc.
  • Nicole panics after finding out about the Genesis Wave incidents; specifically, the result of the Super version.
    Nicole: LAUNCH THE SKY PATROL! NOW! THE PLANET DIDN'T JUST GET REWRITTEN! [...] This is... far worse than I anticipated. Analyzing what I now know about the dual realities, I found it wasn't just the planet that was affected. Not just our reality. The entire multiverse has collapsed in upon itself!
  • Eggman comes to this conclusion with his robots, and adds that the Super Genesis Wave's leftover energy is being applied to their planet... and it's not a good thing.
    Orbot: That... sounds ominous, boss.
    Eggman: Ominous? I'm talking about the end of the world, you idiot! This planet is going to tear itself apart!
• The Worf Effect: Even with everyone's combined efforts in Mobotroplis, they are unable to completely defeat Metal Sonic, as he is designed to match the real Sonic's abilities. While Sonic comes to the rescue, he only serves as a distraction while Tails successfully disables the robot with the Tornado's missiles.
• You Are Too Late: How the arc ends; Eggman's actions are once more leading to the world he is trying to rule to come undone, and the Freedom Fighters expect to pull off some kind of miracle and save it like they always do. Unfortunately, in terms of the imminent cataclysm thanks to the Super Genesis Wave...
  (At the Sky Patrol)
  Sonic: Whoa—hold on, NICOLE. We save the world all the time!
  Tails: Right! What do we do to stop it?
  (Meanwhile, at the Death Egg)
  Orbot: Ha! Ha-ha! Good one, Sir. You had me going there, boss. You have a plan, yes?
  Cubot: You're a genius! You can fix this, right?
  Nicole: Stop it?
  Eggman: Fix it?
  Nicole and Eggman: IT'S TOO LATE!
• You Don't Look Like You: While most of the cast are redesigned but recognizable in the new universe, Muttski is among those played straight, much to Sonic and Tails' shock. What was once a four-legged friend of the blue hedgehog is now another anthropomorphic citizen.