The Blue Ink Reviews Sonic Universe #51 – Worlds Collide Part 2: If the Scarf Don’t Fit…

“It’s like magic. He’s got you watching his right hand…”
“And his left hand keeps pulling rabbits!” –Lieutenants Oster and Monday, Sergeant Bilko

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The City of Mega City, a quiet metropolis where the people go about their daily lives peacefully…

Until a bank robbery! This was where we left off in the last issue, after much explanation of what happened following the cross-dimensional Genesis Wave. Proto Man, the “Heroic brother of Mega Man” (according to the info boxes), went to investigate, and found himself in a brawl with four powerful Robot Masters. And while he was off doing that, Rock is back at Light Labs helping out his pops with “Bond Man“, a robot who for the moment is nothing more than a leg.

Roll shows up and raises the alarm, showing them the latest newsfeed. Seeing Blues badly outnumbered, Rock wastes no time in doing an armor recall and turning back into Mega Man, Super Fighting Robot and defender of kitties stuck up in trees everywhere!

He arrives in downtown Mega City just in time to save Blues from being squashed by Rose Woman’s Piko Hammers, and the two teleport to a nearby rooftop. Blues gives Mega Man the lowdown on the odds stacked against them, and then Mega Man tags himself into the match.

Aha! A clue! This seems like clear evidence that the post-Genesis Wave reality we’re dealing with has dropped everyone into a point in the timeline after the Stardroids Incident, or at least, after the Eighth Robot Rebellion. Yes, Mega Man, you have fought alien robots before.

Mega drops into combat with gun blazing and the “Roboticized Masters” go right for him. Time for a scene change.

We go over to the world of Mobius, where Sonic is blazing through the Green Hill Zone and having himself quite a puzzler. Yeah, Sonic, what did just happen there? Well, we know that Tails is missing. So are Amy and Knuckles. Strange happenings, and Sonic hates strange happenings. So much so he’s even called in Knuckles’ old pals, the Chaotix, to have a look-see in a crowded Mobian metropolis. At night. In the rain. And if you’re thinking to yourself, “it was a dark and stormy night”, well, you’re not far off– something’s happening.

One by one, Vector the Crocodile’s pals go and disappear on him, synchronized with a strange “Bwoo-Zap” sound effect. All alone, he finds himself cornered by a robot in blue armor… with a purple scarf. And the purple scarf is the giveaway.

See, we all know that Mega Man wouldn’t be caught dead wearing a purple scarf. Sure, Proto Man wears a yellow scarf, but he can pull it off. When you see Mega Man in a purple scarf, you know you’re not facing the real deal. You’re facing his evil double! It’s like those stupid beards in the Star Trek “Mirror, Darkly” episodes. No beard, not evil. And more importantly, no scarf…

(Uh, Erico? About that… –Ed.)

We bounce back over to Mega City, where Mega Man discovers his super shots have a curious effect on the Roboticized Masters; they paralyze them for short periods of time. A rather handy gimmick, and one which will surely come into play in later issues. He doesn’t have long to consider it, because a speedy blue blur smacks him upside the head and keeps on going. We all know it’s Metal Sonic, but he doesn’t. The Roboticized Masters beat a hasty retreat through a Warp Ring to bounce back to Mobius with their Chaos Emerald, and naturally, Mega Man follows. Before he arrives, however, the evil doctors have their plan in motion…

Once again, the “Bwoo-Zap.” Somehow, the evil double of Mega Man can make his shots transport the targets he hits somewhere else. Is this another part of Robotnik and Wily’s evil scheme? Do they plan on roboticizing every single one of Sonic’s allies to use against him? I wouldn’t bet money against it. Naturally, the loss of Silver after his just-arrived status pushes Sonic off the edge, and he gives chase. Once again, the purple scarf…

Metal Sonic and Copy Robot manage to elude their enemies while leading Mega Man and Sonic right into each other. And you can guess what happens then.

In Part 1 of the crossover, we were wondering how and why Mega Man and Sonic were fighting each other, and now we know. Like birds following a trail of bread crumbs, they were led into a trap of their enemies’ making. Let’s just hope they figure out that they’re both working for Team Blue before Mega Man does something that he can’t take back. Like breaking Sonic’s legs.

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For a change, I find that there is very little in this issue for me to discuss beyond the recap. There’s no thematic elements to highlight here, and I already discussed the cosmic joke. I could throw in a Spaceballs reference, I suppose, but that just seems forced now that we’re winding down Part 2 of the “Worlds Collide” crossover and prepping ourselves for Part 3.

Did I enjoy this issue? Well, I like my explanations. It was good to see how Mega Man crossed over into Mobius, and better yet, to see how all the planning of Wily and Robotnik finally paid off, and even better still to see that Mega Man has an ace up his sleeve that Wily didn’t account for. You can bet the paralyzing aftereffect of his supershot will be a game-changer in this warped reality, and something that they might use to disable the Roboticized Masters long enough for Sonic and whatever Freedom Fighting pals he has left to de-roboticize them. You gotta have hope, after all, and in the midst of all this doomsaying, there’s that tiny ray of sunlight.

This issue wasn’t filler, but it continued on what Part 1 started in Mega Man: It provided an explanation for how we got to this point. Now, however, from Part 3 on, there’s little left that needs explaining. The bad guys have fired ze missiles. They’ve thrown the first punch. It’s up to Mega Man and Sonic to dust themselves off, help each other back to their feet, and then get back to the business of saving the day.

In other words, while I won’t rank this issue very highly among the twelve parts as “the best”, it is necessary. All stories require background and explanation, or else we stumble through them, lost, before putting it back on the shelf in disgust. Think of it in child-raising terms: This was the vegetable you don’t like to eat, but have to so you can grow up big and strong.

Now we get our cheeseburgers.

For the Blue Ink.

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When he isn’t writing “The Blue Ink” reviews for The Mega Man Network, Erico (The Super Bard) spends his days keeping track of the “Legacy of Metal” fanon, dabbling in cooking and tea-brewing, and exploring the human condition from his Iowa stomping grounds.

The views expressed here reflect the views of the authors alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Mega Man Network.