This image is inspired by the events that unfolded in Sonic #239. As part of Eggman's twisted plot, Mecha Sally was sent to assassinate her brother Elias in Feral Forest. Fortunately, Sonic, Tails and Amy arrived to save the village and allow Elias, Meg and baby Alexis to escape. Only in this image, Eggman had sent Mecha Sally a little early for a night op, and this time there are no Team Fighters to stop her.....

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To be frank, this painting is more of an expression of my frustration with the Mecha Sally story arc. Ever since Sally was roboticized, Sonic's efforts to rescue her have been a tiresome and repetitive affair. In the past year, not once did it seem like he was close to getting her back. Mostly it was because Team Fighters never even had a plan to deroboticize her, and as much was stated in issue #246. But you know what the worst part is? Sally's personal experience as Eggman's roboticized slave was never addressed!


(WARNING! Rant to follow! You can skip to the last paragraph if you like...)


Ever since I had a discussion with TCH2 on my "Goodbye, Sally" pic, I've been wondering if Eggman would ever force Sally to kill. He did send Sally after Elias, but the sibling tension was always cut short by Sonic's intervention, and we never got to see if any remaining spark of Sally's soul would manifest at the crucial moment. The lack of any insight into Sally's mental state is what makes the story so frustrating. The only time Archie have even bothered to mention it is in an editorial reply in issue #240:

"Sally's inner turmoil due to her robotization is sorta hinted at here and there, but we haven't yet gotten a clear picture of what kind of struggle the poor princess is actually experiencing - it at all!"

And that, dear readers, is as close as Archie has ever come to addressing the topic: a reply to a concerned fan mail. Unbelievable. To make matters worse, Sally is often gone for months at a time while Sonic and friends are off saving God knows what. The last arc "Endangered Species" is one of the most pointless things I have read in the comic since Ian Flynn came on board. It felt like something that should be reserved for the defunct Knuckles spin-off, not another hurdle to delay Sonic from his mission.

These constant obstacles are a cynical attempt to draw out the chase and puts Sally further out of reach. In fact, the comic has been maddeningly ignorant in dealing with a lot of key characters. We still have no definitive status on Bunnie or the alleged death of Hershey, we don't know what's happening with Naugus' possession of Geoffrey, we have no idea how Antoine's recuperating, we haven't seen whether Dimitri can be a valuable source on Dark Legion intel. Heck, we haven't even seen much of Team Freedom either, which would at least give the comic some fresh material to show on the home front instead of another repetitive outing with Sonic. Many fans believe that Archie are cutting back on the SatAM cast, and I'm starting to agree given the infuriatingly dismissive attitude they're taking with the core cast. And with the Mega Man crossover coming up, it looks like only Sega's characters will be featured.

But getting back on topic, I had to do something to express my main concern over the point Archie has ignored the longest: Sally's "inner turmoil". It's imagery like this that I believe shows more tension than the entire Mecha Sally arc to date, and I wish Archie would take notes. More importantly, I wonder how this experience will affect her. Other deroboticized Mobians have lived on peacefully, but they were merely workers and not soldiers. Sally has been forced to hurt her friends and may yet kill, but what will happen after she's deroboticized? If she's anything like Uncle Chuck, she's probably aware of what's happening.
If you have any thoughts or wishes on Sally's presence of mind, write them in the comments. What's going to happen to her?


YOU CAN WATCH A PLAYBACK OF THIS PAINTING HERE.