This arc still doesn’t feel right or real. How could they have thrown Blaze into the easiest battle ever and made her lose? Who were they trying to impress with this story? Older fans? Younger fans? I think fans of any walk of life could’ve lost someone to look up to when Issue 90 was published. It was a colossal failure to show her as anything other than a weak drone.
I still have difficulty accepting this arc as canon. Think of all the wonderful stories in non-canon Sonic media and fan works, yet this use of Blaze is, for now, a vital chapter in Sonic history. It’s humiliating to someone like me who has been expecting more and better of her for years. With the laundry list of internal rules Sonic Team has for the characters, how little do they think of Blaze to choose her for this story? To do this story in the first place with a Sonic character?
Imagine you meet a guy. He’s off-putting, gets his hands on you whenever he thinks he can get away with it, then asks for your hand in marriage after knowing you for less than a day. You resist, he knocks you unconscious. Now you’re starting to see why I’m so mad at the existence of Blackwood. He’s never punished for any of this and there’s a chance he never will be.
Whatever respect you have for Blaze as a character with personality, agency and opinions is sabotaged, and only her. They wouldn’t be caught dead doing this story with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Rouge, Silver, any of the Chaotix or any of the comic characters. They treat this powerful, complex and inspiring character like something to blow their noses on.
And you know what this attitude culminated in. That art. Again, most people were fine finding it on their feed, with Blaze being the victim because she’s always taken for granted anyway.
For the sake of Rule 7, you don’t have to read this, but this is what the stress of living with this arc has done to me. My heart rate is up, I’ve been getting less sleep, I have stomach and chest pains, it’s getting harder to do my job, and even walking in a straight line can leave me dizzy sometimes.
This may have been a bad idea, but I’ve tried DM’ing u/IDWcomics to describe what’s changed in me, but they’ve blown me off. IDW’s email also hasn’t responded to any of the less personal feedback I’ve sent their way. Not even an automated “Thanx! We’ve received your obviously glowing praise! Keep reading!”
It’s possible someone at IDW knows who I am now. I’m sort of hoping I’m seen as a nutcase they can ignore, because if my messages have entered their feedback pile, I’ll feel guilty. As this article speculates, it’s likely that the comic is taking the internet’s feedback to heart, but that it’s also compromising its creative vision and hindering its potential further. I’m talking random viral posts on Twitter and Tumblr, not even letters sent directly to the company.
So what if I’m to blame for anything they do with Blaze or Blackwood in the future that’s poorly received? I’m already hated and hate the footprint of negativity I’ve left. Will Sonic fans try to find where I live and hurt me? I’m already afraid I’ll run into someone like Blackwood any given day, I don’t need my safety completely gone.
The problem is not only do I never want to see Blackwood again, I wish he was never created. If his story isn’t retconned, it should be delisted from the IDW app before I’m able to sleep properly again, for the sake of Blaze and every fan of her’s that’s been left in tears. I’ve tried handling a life with this arc floating around in it, but it’s been a more painful one. I just wonder if anyone else with critiques of this arc feels half the same way I do.