A special issue of Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog series where roboticized versions of Sonic and Knuckles battle it out proves that the blue hedgehog is much more compelling as a flawed hero who makes mistakes and faces consequences for them.
Fans of the Archie Comics Sonic series that ran from 1992 to 2016 sometimes take issue with the current Sonic series by IDW Publishing. They believe that Sonic's previous portrayal was more complex, as he made bad decisions and faced consequences for them, something they see as lacking in the current series. There have been moments where the IDW series has alluded to past mistakes by Sonic. It's hinted that, before the events of the comic, Sonic's defeated at the onset of an ongoing war in turn prolonged the conflict much longer than it had to be. A much more recent issue also briefly made readers think that Sonic's limitations caused a villain to die, though this turned out to not be the case.
Archie's Sonic has many shortcomings and likewise suffered as a result of them, like the time his rash actions got his knighthood revoked. Probably the most convoluted of them transpired before, during and after the Sonic & Knuckles: Mecha Madness special issue by writer Michael Gallagher, penciler Pat Spaziante, inker Harvey Mercadoocasio and letterer Jeff Powell. Before the special issue, Sonic came up with the idea of him purposefully getting roboticized by Dr. Robotnik to help the Freedom Fighters defeat the villain for good. But this idea was understandably deemed too risky. Incredibly, Sonic did as he was told, but ended up getting roboticized anyway. After Sonic & Knuckles: Mecha Madness, where the Freedom Fighters safely roboticize Knuckles to take on the mechanized Sonic, the Freedom Fighters imprison the hedgehog because they believe he didn't obey their orders and almost got them destroyed as a result of his foolishness.
Why Mecha Madness should be the ultimate point of reference in Sonic
Of course, it would have been a completely different story if Sonic actually did disobey orders and directly caused the eponymous madness that ensued in Mecha Madness. The irony is that he did follow them but failed - and it was this failure that almost led to him inadvertently destroying his friends and comrades. The Archie story did explore the exact reverse of this dynamic in the aforementioned story where Sonic lost his knighthood after purposelessly breaking the law. On top of this, the reason why the Freedom Fighters still imprisoned him after Mecha Madness was because it was easy for them to believe that he disobeyed orders, as that is something he would do. And they were so sure that they were right that they were willing to jeopardize winning the war against Robotnik by never releasing Sonic. In other words, Sonic's overall brashness and erratic behavior on the battlefield had already put him on shaky ground with his own team to the point where if he did go against their orders and his choice backfired, he could face some very serious consequences, including death.
IDW could potentially remedy this overall lack of history and lore in its series by actually exploring what occurred before the events of the comic.I DW has already briefly referenced this backstory but hasn't revisited it in years. As Sonic told Blaze the Cat in issue #4, a whole war started because Dr. Eggman captured him and took over the world. In other words, Sonic's failure allowed Eggman to gain ultimate control, though, he eventually lost it. Sonic, however, likely didn't receive any punishment for getting captured just based on the overall tone of the series. So although Sonic the Hedgehog works best as a flawed hero, as made evident by Archie Comics' mecha Knuckles story, IDW has yet to give him the means to get there.
