In my last post, I talked about how at age 6 or 7, I loved Sonic R so much I wanted it to have its own story, and so I wrote a whole picture book. But that wasn't much of a story. 3 or 4 years later, at age 10, I looked back at the picture book and thought I could do much better. So I wrote on the original "Book 1 for younGREADERS" and produced this book, "Sonic R BOOK 2: howitREALLY hAPPEnd". Yes, this is how it really happened. The original was just a fake watered down adaptation for little kids.
As you can see, the logo, though not great, is a lot closer to the source material, and I believe I exclusively used markers this time, with varying results. Why does Sonic have red skin on his chest? I don't know. Also... Sonic's face is blue instead of tan. That's something the original has over this one.
One day, Sonic was taking a vacation.
One improvement you can tell right away is that I used printed text. What I did was write a short Microsoft Word document, then printed it out and drew the illustrations.
Now the idea of Sonic taking a vacation was taken straight from the manual of the game! In between writing the original book and this one, I found out that the game actually did have a story, at least the beginning of one, in the game's manual. I read the English manual on Sonic Gems Collection. This book, though, only loosely adapts that manual.
It looks like Sonic has no arms, but I think his arms were supposed to be hidden behind his back.
Meanwhile, Tails came to the other side of where Sonic was, Resort Island.Then he saw a sign that said: "World Grand Prix".
Oh no, something's wrong with Tails’ head! And it took me until the time of writing this to notice that he's squatting.
And hey, there's the first collectible coin way over there!
He told Sonic that. But a spy came upon, Eggman wrote the sign! The sign also said "to get the Chaos Emeralds and collect some coins!" When it was time to race, a voice called: "READY, SET, GO!" Sonic came to a hill. He got a coin, and went down to get another coin. He got 20 coins rings to unlock a shortcut! Sonic rushed in to get the third coin.Whoa wait! There should've been an illustration for the first part and not just for the race! And uh... what on earth is the relevance of "a spy coming upon"? I think that was a clumsy reference to the English manual, where after the scene, we pan out to a spy camera from Dr. Eggman, and then see his part of the story. Also in the manual, Sonic isn't interested in racing, but once he sees Eggman's name, that's when he wants to join the race. That uh... isn't made clear here.
As you can see, I described how Sonic got each coin instead of simply saying "he got coins." And I love how I made the stylistic choice of the narrator having an X-ray machine to let you see inside the "shortcut" cave.
Then he came out of the cave, and he jumped on hills to get the fourth coin. He found a shortcut to get the Chaos Emerald! He rushed in the cave, came out, and got the fifth. And he won! Eggman got mad.
Look at Sonic's long snout. And that's supposed to be a smug victory smile.
Also, instead of getting the coins and Chaos Emeralds separately, he got them in one go!
Eggman invited Sonic and friends to get the Chaos Emeralds and the coins on his sign, and now he's mad that he's done it. Heh.
So he brought his invention, Metal Sonic. They raced all through again. Not much to say here except Metal Sonic looks more on-model than last time. But his spines just look like Sonic's spines.
But Sonic won. Furiously, Eggman went to a city called Radical City, Metal Sonic captured Amy. Tails dove onto Eggman's hovering machine, to follow him to Radical City! This is my explanation as to why when you unlock characters, those characters replace the main characters' AI in future races when you race as that unlockable character.
Isn't Radical City just the second part of the Grand Prix? Why do they need to follow Eggman as if it's his secret base or something? Well, this was my way of transitioning between courses.
Tails needs to see a doctor! His head is looking like an Ithorian from Star Wars!
Also, it took me until now to notice Metal Sonic's foot is huge.
Tails arrived at Radical City. Sonic, Knuckles, Eggman and Metal Sonic went there. They raced. Tails went to a shortcut, got a Chaos Emerald, got a coin, and flew above water. He caught a flash of another coin. He grabbed it, got 50 rings, got another Chaos Emerald, and flew over a spring. He got 20 rings, got the last coin, and won! You'll note that instead of just seeing Sonic's point of view, we see different characters!
Interesting how I capitalize Sonic, Knuckles and Eggman, but not Metal Sonic.
"He caught a flash"? What is this random bit of interesting prose? And I don't reiterate that getting a certain amount of rings unlocks alternate paths that lead to coins or Chaos Emeralds.
Tails is for whatever reason the most ridiculously off-model character. This is hilarious. And I love how I drew his tails-helicopter as one tail that leads to the helicopter. Also... Knuckles's dreadlocks look like a ponytail!
Eggman sent his electric-brained, and fluffy fox named Ragdoll Tails. They raced. Tails almost lapped him.Uh oh... Tails's head is swelling up! And we got a carryover from the last book, long limbs!
Look at that disappointment of the lack of challenge. I seem to remember being able to definitely overlap him, but I just tried it, and I can't! Maybe it has to do with the difficulty settings.
Knuckles glided over to Regal Ruins.I forgot to mention in the last one that once I called the course the correct name, Regal Ruin, and the other time it was mentioned, I called it Regal Ruins. This time, I only mention it once, and I call it the wrong name. Oops.
Man, Knuckles is gliding really high over Radical City!
He wanted to find the 2 Chaos Emeralds that he brought with him and give them to Sonic, but someone retired. He started to race. Then he got a Chaos Emerald. He bounced on a spring, got another Chaos Emerald, and ran in a loop-the-loop. He glided past the others, who were speeding on a "GO" thing. He had already won,"He wanted to find the 2 Chaos Emeralds he brought with him"? Huh? Did I mean he brought them from Angel Island to Regal Ruin? And what about someone retiring stops Knuckles from giving Chaos Emeralds to Sonic? I think I just used "but" incorrectly. Also, this completely omits the coins that he got.
I love how I don't have a proper name for the booster pads near the end of each course and just called them the "GO" thing. What a thing!
And uh... is that giant black thing supposed to be Knuckles' nose?! I never noticed that before!
The comma was not a mistake. I deliberately put that there to lead into the next page.
...when Eggman shouts out "PREPARE TO MEET MY INVENTION, EGG ROBO!!" Knuckles and Egg Robo raced together... Egg Robo really isn't that special of an Eggman invention. There are several of them, and though they are an elite force, they can die in one hit. He's only represented in this game because in Knuckles' story of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, one Egg Robo rises out of the ashes and takes Eggman's place when he's gone.
I used a rainbow colored pencil (oh, not just markers!) for the trail that the, uh, GO Thing produces.
And oh wow... Eggman's moustache is covering his face!
If you're wondering what that spiky circle thing is next to the finish line, that's an emblem that gives you items.
...until Knuckles won! Eggman got very, VERY, really, REALLY furios! So he returned to Egg Factory, locked in 2 Emeralds, and laughed evilly. Very, very, VEry, VERY, really, really, REally, REALLY FURIOUS!!!
Huhuhuhu, how very evilly he laughed.
Um, actually, it's Reactive Factory. And he locked away 2 Emeralds behind paywalls of 50 rings. Sonic and friends have gotten 50 rings on courses before. Did he think they wouldn't be able to get them this time?
Sonic went up a big loop-the-loop!
This is a reference to the first level of Sonic CD, where you find a very big loop-the-loop and launch yourself really high.
Oh, uh, and we're back to colored pencils! I think I just ran out of blue marker, because everything except Sonic at this point is colored with markers.
He shot up like fireworks!Another instance of random interesting prose!
And you'll notice that instead of Sonic's face being blue, I just didn't color his face.
...and he landed in the water near the Egg Factory. He jumped toward 1 of the cannons. It shot a Chaos Emerald out! Sonic speeded on the GO thing, went through a place, and won!
Wait, where's the other Chaos Emerald! And once again, no coins!
He "speeded" and not sped?
What a place he went through.
Just then, a shiny red robot glided across Egg Factory. They raced...Metal Knuckles looking like an owl really makes me laugh. And Sonic is having a bad hair day.
...when Sonic won, he dropped in the water. The Master Emerald appeared. The Chaos Emeralds spun around the Emerald, they charged up the big, green jewl...What's this? How did the Master Emerald get summoned out of nowhere?
...suddenly, Sonic was sucked in the Master Emerald! He was in warp. Sonic felt himself getting brighter...This more "wonderous" take on the Super Sonic transformation was inspired by, of all things, the Garfield's Pet Force series of novels, where Garfield and friends get transported through a portal to another dimension and in the process are transformed into superheroes.
When I showed this to my older brother, he said something like "that's not how the Super Sonic transformation works!"
...he had been warped to a strange and colorful planet with his metal foes... then he noticed that he was yellow! He was Super Sonic!In the last book I didn't explain what Radiant Emerald was. In this one, it's a different planet accessible by the Master Emerald's portal. No explanation why his metal foes are there. Eggman somehow transported his robots to this planet for the final race of the Grand Prix.
Also, Sonic is surprised at his transformation, as if he's never done it before. Huh.
Sonic raced! He speeded through a GO thing, and went through a shortcut! He went through a loop-the-loop, came around and around, and came to the finish line. On the second lap he opened a shortcut, speeded through a GO thing, came around and around and opened another short cut, on the third lap, he speeded on the GO thing, went around and around, came through a shortcut, and won!OK, so I made a mistake printing, and just went with it because it was already on the other side of the last page. I wrote the beginning myself, then dictated to someone else, and then went back to writing myself. I guess I really didn't care about capitalization.
The "going around and around" is a reference to the course design winding you through a circular path.
Epilogue: Sonic had won a whole race! He destroyed Eggman's hovering machine. "You're going to pay for this!!" declared Eggman furiously. That's, uh... a really short epilogue.
Tails is a lot more on-model but has no soul as a result of the marker, and Knuckles's face is really squished
Nothing about Eggman lamenting that he failed his plan, just Sonic giving him a final defeat. And he is directly quoting Sonic Advance 3, the line Eggman gives whenever you defeat him in a boss fight.
And that's Amy on the bottom, who, uh... has been rescued offscreen. Great.
Here's the back cover, based on the cover art of the source material.
Sonic R book was based on an old video game called Sonic R. I LOOOOVE that game!! Wow, Sonic looks really strange, Tails' limbs are out of whack with his eyes barely being visible, and Knuckles is unrecognizable!
Sonic R was 13 years old by the time of me writing this book. Sonic Generations came out a year later, and you know how old that game is? 14 years old!! That game does not feel nearly as old now as Sonic R did when I was 10!
I look closely at the text that comes after 2010, and I could be wrong, but I think it says "inc." "Copyright 2010 inc." The incorporated company, 2010. LOL.
And that's the second of my Sonic R picture books! Definitely an improvement on the original, but reading all the descriptions of the locations of the Chaos Emeralds and coins can be a bit boring. And nothing could top Amy's design backstory of the original.
Well, this was a fun lookback. Sometime in the future, I might share other books or art I made when I was a kid!
I believe this will be my last post for a little while. Well, see you next time!
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