Meet Whisper the Wolf! | Sonic Speed Reading (IDW)

[Music] how do you convey trauma in a children's story how do you talk about the horrors of war with cartoon animals is it appropriate is it even possible to me and many others yes it is and sometimes it might even be necessary Sonic as weird as it might sound to the uninitiated manage to handle these tough themes at least in certain canons and not perfectly certainly not consistently regardless I would say that they were for the most part successful taking guidance from other stories and other properties that had managed this balancing act before and I could keep going and at another time probably many other times we will but all you need to know for today is yes even stories made for kids or all ages you can tell a compelling narrative that doesn't shy away from the pain of loss it's a fine line but it can be done in Sonic's routes as abundant as they may be are no stranger to these tougher themes and that's part of a reason why many fans feel that sonic forces drop the ball it's not a terrible game but it is one that carries an awkward and inconsistent tone that rushes through a confused theme or themes that doesn't fully commit to anything it's trying to talk about I'd even argue that it ends up not even knowing what it's trying to convey but as I keep saying whenever I talk about Sonic forces there's still a lot of potential that exists and where this game might have failed the comic picks up the pieces and nor better are these themes conveyed even personified then in whisper the wolf hello there I Nick and this is Sonic speed reading if you've been following along with this series we're gonna actually skip ahead a few issues because there are spoilers and well I couldn't really do an episode about tangle without following up with an episode about one particular precious pup no not him also for those concerned no spoilers for anything outside of issue 8 if I will be heavily alluding to other things so as we went over Eggman has been out of the picture since the end of Sonic forces but for some reason his robot army is back up and running at this point being issue 8 sonic knows who's behind it but he still doesn't know what the grand plan is he takes it upon himself to bust into one of Eggman's old facilities while it might not have up-to-date Intel about troop movements it might at the very least still hold strategies Eggman had hiding up his sleeve before the end of the war it's better than sitting around waiting for something to happen I also want to note real quick this facility has given me strong vibes of the old SatAM robotropolis I know it's not one for one and it's probably more in line with sonic forces designs but that's where my brain went anyway and yes sonic makes have very obvious reference to a smash hit TV series step it up I'm kidding obviously this is a direct reference to the smash hit franchise PlayStation all-stars anyway Sonic is a little in over his head right from the get-go he almost gets crushed by a door but is saved by a pink Bush phrasing oh god what does the Sonic fan based on the money then is saved once again but this time by silver the hedgehog if you don't know silver is a hedgehog from the future with telekinetic powers look if you're on board with the speedy and blue variety you can handle some psychic powers it's fine Ian Flynn is doing what he did with tangle using this issue as an opportunity to introduce a new character but also bring in one of the more obscure game characters at the same time silver is especially helpful here because he gives us a little more background on the elements of the war that well Sonic forces mostly skips as well as help provide some more insight on whisper who doesn't really speak a whole lot for herself but more on her when we get to her here in the comics he's portrayed a lot like Ian used to have him in the archie series the guy is an optimist but I'm also a realist forced to sit down god no but he's actually an optimist in this book he spent so much time alone he is so happy and so eager to be spending time with these people he considers his friends and like so many glossed over elements Ian does explain why silver is back yet again in Sonic's time but that is yet another element we'll have to talk about later Sonic assumes that silver is actually the one who burst opened that door for him turns out that wasn't the case but if it wasn't silver then who well no time to ponder on that because now both hogs need to have their spine saved seriously Sonic you've been here like five minutes and this is like the third save in a row pay attention man both Sonic and silver see something from about the blast that laid out the robot sonic has an inkling of what sort of energy felled the robot but silver has an idea of who shot it in the first place and this is where he goes over the legend of the guardian angel of the battle this mysterious figure who never joined the resistance during the eggman war but would still helped from afar sniping robots are infiltrating facilities such as this one without ever getting caught this angel was so good at it that they would actually turn the tides of battles and one could understandably assume that this angel didn't even exist but silver is not only a believer but also a huge fan as he was actually saved by the angel more than once even though he's got like a ton of amazing abilities like seriously how is everyone so useless without sonic around look at this panel come on silver that's just an egg it looks less like whisper was saving his life and more like she was interrupting a rather intimate night between these two lovebirds and jokes like that are the reason why Sega won't acknowledge my existence once Sonic is up to speed he notes that the shot that took out the badnik seemed to be a form of whisper energy but was far more focused than your standard whisper which are usually designed to clear crowds and not pull off precision shots they move further into the base and sees someone being bested by a door and this is also a cute little way to display this unique wisp and weapon as she cycles through different powers trying to open the door so is this the angel and what about that face is it a robot is this an enemy well one way or the other Sonic doesn't need to worry about being shot because he's friends with the ammunition don't worry guys this isn't Shadow the Hedgehog Sega's learned their lesson bullets don't belong in Sonic's world that is unless they have eyeballs you can kill old men and children but you better make it fun and flashy yeah so these are the wisps if you weren't a fan of their continuous appearances in the games sorry to tell you they're back and they play a big part in this comic like seriously Sonic's saved the day in issue 3 by literally explaining the premise of Sonic Colors if you weren't aware these weird little aliens were the gimmick in Sonic Colors where Sonic would absorb one of these dudes and temporarily have a superpower like laser beams rockets or drills they would be re incorporated in other games but specifically for Sonic forces instead of jumping into a character they would inhabit these funky little guns called wisp ins these came in different varieties depending on your way power of choice and reused by the custom character to clear out large groups of robots or grab a secondary wisp our to use as a means to traverse to higher areas to grab red rings or find different paths I know it feels like I'm getting a bit off track but you need to understand what the wisps are to understand who Whisperer is and I actually can't believe how long it took me to realize that Whisperer also was a play off the word wisp that's given the information that silver has laid out sonic has all his Blue's Clues he needs to deduce a few things but silver is all sorts of excited to finally meet his hero and calls out to her she freaks out and retreats to a hiding spot silver doesn't understand what he did wrong and Sonic points out that she didn't join the resistance or really interact with anybody for a reason and whatever that reason might be it's clear she doesn't do well in crowds or with people in general it seems Sanne calls out to her thanking her for the assist and apologizing for silver for coming on so strong suddenly a bunch of wisps was I really hate saying the plural of that word anyway these stupid things pop out and they greet the Hedgehog who had saved their world back in colors this is what finally pushes Whisperer to come out and introduce yourself even out in the open whisper still doesn't give much more than quietly saying her name and the rest of the issue is the three of these guys busting into the core of the base to take out this lovely Sonic Adventure reference once again cutting back on dialogue to show some more fun action and what whisper is not much of a talker she still expresses herself through action and the action of her wisps she gets caught under some debris during the fight and her ghost babies pop out of her gun to defend her but thankfully they don't really need to put their lives on the line as silver comes in to save the day once he clears the robots he offers his hand to whisper she might not see herself as much of a team player but she's obviously put together quite the team all the same and he would be honored to be a part of it which gets a quiet maybe out of the lone wolf after things calmed down whisper catches a glimpse of the Eggman logo which sets her off as you can see as she's finally opening her eyes whenever she raises her voice or opens those pretty peepers you can tell things are getting pretty serious her weapon forms into a hammer and she goes towards the computers and sonic has to stop her telling her that there is valuable information that they need to stop Eggman obviously Eggman has done something to this poor girl but to break that down now we'd have to get into spoilers so that's the story for another time we finish off with Sonic and silver discovering exactly what is going on with the resurrected robot army and yes again we're not talking about it here some quick thoughts about the issue itself before we dive deep into whisper I really like this interpretation of silver I feel like Ian is subtly hitting at a potential relationship which he has been known to do I'm just making assumptions here but I would have to imagine there are some stricter limitations on the sort of things you can get away with in Sonic stories or with these characters so he's left to allude to some feelings between the wolf and hedgehog and as we are all aware that is a natural occurrence in the wild nature is beautiful or maybe nothing is there and silver is just a gentleman whatever the case I enjoy these guys they're precious and I love them overall it's a solid issue and a great introduction to whisper now that we have her introduction out of the way let's break down this character a little bit more like I said at the top of the video whisper personifies a lot of the missed potential and cool ideas presented in Sonic Forces they do this with her personality backstory and design she was created by Anne Flynn once again but unlike tangle the design Duty this time fell on the capable shoulders of Evans Stanley and I'm not sure she pronounces it as Evan or Yvonne or some other thing I I don't actually know I've never actually heard it spoken out loud so feel free to course correct me in the comments and I'll be sure to do better in the future whispers design is based off the custom character from forces apparently this one specifically like in the game you can pick a wolf as one of the species and you do use a wisp in' so this makes sense this was a really cool idea from forces and obviously the comic can't use the actual custom character because well that's a custom character that changes for every player you can't canonize one specific design and spare me the chats about the digital comic or the promotional material you'd know what I mean there are a lot of cool ideas here and woulda been ashamed to let this go to waste so instead of trying to use the actual custom character from the main narrative of forces they instead just use it as a basis for something brand new and add some elements that make this specific character unique they use some of the actual gameplay clothing options for whisper but instead of putting her in a football helmet or sanic t-shirt they dress her like a sniper she looks like someone who has seen battled probably a lot of it she also sports two very unique bits of equipment first off her mask another visual represent of whispers reluctance to open herself up to others and it also has functions this acts as a sniper scope in tandem with her Wisman and as we would find out later in her miniseries co-starring tangle this can also act as a camera which can record and playback footage and it also acts as a communication device for the wisps which I believe marks the first time in any sonic related media that gives these skittle flavoured swimmers a voice and the mask is based off a kabuki mask specifically the one used in sonic forces but thankfully they designed it to actually make sense to wear and more and like I already mentioned this mask also works in conjunction with her other unique piece of equipment the variable whisper in the game you had one specific whisper for one specific power whisper doesn't have that limitation in fact they might have actually made a brand new wisp to give her an extra ability off to go back and check on that but I could be wrong there those abilities include sniping with the laser or making a buzz saw blade a hammer or explosions as well as either fly or hover with agreement she also gives around those little reflector diamonds from Sonic Colors that she can use in tandem with the laser wisp that actually looks pretty cool and she can not only use one power at a time and they visually indicate which one is in use through the color and both the weapon and the lens in her mask and also by the way she's killing robots which is actually a pretty handy visual indicator as well why tangle before her you can see where the inspirations from the games come from I'll select angle I really really want to play whisper in a sonic game hell I'd even take a sonic theme shooter starring her yes this comic did what shadow the edge Lord and sonic forces could not they made me want a sonic shooter they could make such a fun game with this character and I hope they do like any good sonic fan Flynn and Stanley have crafted a wonderful idea that is just begging to be used seriously Sega we are just handing new ideas just use them please now what is completely different from tangle is whispers personality he's very reserved and quiet they make this visually obvious with her closed eyes and ward bubbles made out of dash marks indicating a soft-spoken voice I mean she has all the bullet points of a super introverted character quiet shy keeps to herself and yeah tragic backstory I don't know if I saw any other commenters pointing this out it might have just been our homie rein pooper still a awesome name he pointed out I don't remember this word-for-word so I apologize if I'm misinterpreting anything but he made the point that you can't seem to make an introverted character without a tragic backstory and when I think on it I have to agree that is a little bit of an issue for me too again I can't go into great detail without spoiling future issues but yeah whisper has not always been like this and it does kind of suck that you just can't be a quiet person who enjoys their personal space without making you be that way like it's not natural like this is not a standard personality or way of being without an outside force coming in to mess you up these are still cartoon characters at the end of the day and I understand that you need to play emotional shorthand from time to time and as tropi as this is once we get into the miniseries and whispers past I for the most part feel like it's a solid story because while it is true that some people are just naturally inclined to play things a little bit closer to their chest trauma is a very real thing it can shape us define us transform us sometimes a lot of the time permanently and that is a story worth telling especially if you're going to do something crazy like have your entire setting and theming of your new sonic comic be in the aftermath of a worldwide war thanks to IDW the characters are a little more in line with their more established personalities but they are still affected they are still a little different because they have now all experienced war they all drop hints of how bad things got showing that these standard personalities of theirs helps prop them up helps them stay strong even when things like trauma and survivor's guilt is a real thing but that's really all you can do with the core game characters whisper on the other hand well you probably have a little more leeway with a brand new character made for the comic book and this poor girl has been put through the wringer we are going to learn why she is the way she is we will see her set on the path of healing only to get knocked down all over again but despite all the pain she endures despite her heart being broken over and over again despite turning away from the world and building an emotional wall only to have it double down on her the moment she lets her guard down she will still cling on to the core values of her very being even when struggling with a despair she can not escape again mild spoilers there is a moment later on where she has Eggman in her sniper scope as this alluding to tales almost JFK and Robotnik in the Fleetway comic oh oh you think I'm kidding no you just wait till we talk about that book holy cow but whisper doesn't take the shot and that's what makes her a hero she more than just about any other character in the series has endured so much despite house stand office she might seem the end of issue 8 shows who she really is through her little ghost buddies here hail Xena like silver said she does have a team because these connections like a lot of introverts while they might not be common are the most important thing in the world to her yes as we will discover she was a bit more bubbly in the past and there were certain things that happened that made her who she is today but also nobody's that OneNote you can be introverted and still love this sing dance laugh joke just maybe not in front of a crowd but you get the right people who understand you you can be who you truly are and they will get to see the most wonderful person you hide from the rest of the world whisper is probably not the type to let her guard down often and when she does it's for people who truly matter to her every smile every laugh every hug matters that much more from someone like her and having that ripped away from you is going to hurt that much more for someone like her yeah I made a bunch of gross jokes in this episode and I'm wrapping things up on a somber note I'm sorry but unfortunately this is where we need apart wings I can't keep alluding to things without flat-out spoiling story arcs so that's gonna be it for today went on a little bit longer than I expected but turns out there's a whole lot under the surface for this little wolf thank you all for watching if you want to get the show early be sure to be supporting me on patreon we got a private discord room for everyone who contributes to the cause here but even watching this is a massive help liking sharing retweeting all that stuff goes a long way for me as it does for everybody else so sorry you have to hear another call to action like here at the end of every YouTube thing but if you like anything anyone's producing a simple click of the button helps a whole lot for a whole lot of people so not just for me but anybody you appreciate that little bit helps especially in these more trying times and hey if you can't contribute to the patreon again I sand that youtubers aren't the only ones having a tough time out there right now this Court is now live for everybody got that link down there as well got my Twitter link talking like let me check on that all the time so be a part of the conversation until next time to to whisper warriors [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Game Apologist

Views: 89,152

Rating: 4.9695454 out of 5

Keywords: sonic the hedgehog, idw comics, idw sonic, whisper the wolf, sonic forces, comic books, video games, gaming, sega, silver the hedgehog, silver, sonic silver, sonic satam, idw sonic 8, game apologist, sonic speed reading, tangle the lemur, wisps, wispon, custom character, sonic 06, ian flynn, evan stanley, sonic colors, modern sonic, archie sonic, burst wisp, shadow, maria, sonic comic review, sonic oc, new sonic character, sniper wolf, tangle and whisper, whisper silver

Id: SQ9PeX8OSjk

Length: 18min 20sec (1100 seconds)

Published: Mon May 11 2020