Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 249

Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 249 is the two-hundred forty-ninth issue of the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series published by Archie Comics. It is the sixth part of the Sonic & Mega Man: Worlds Collide crossover event.

Official Solicitation

 * "When Worlds Collide" Part Six of Twelve: The crossover mega-event reaches its half-way point! On the eve of Sonic the Hedgehog's landmark 250th issue, Sonic, Tails, Mega Man and Proto Man are confronted by Drs. Eggman and Wily and the eight Roboticized Masters! Why do they look so familiar to Sonic? Do our heroes even stand a chance?! Featuring stunning new cover art from Patrick "SPAZ" Spaziante, and a special 16-Bit pixel art variant cover!

When Worlds Collide - Part Six: Friends or Foes
The issue opens with Sonic, Mega Man, Tails, Rush, and Proto Man squaring off against the Roboticized Masters while Eggman and Wily look on. After the Drs inform the heroes about how their little plan came together, the current status of the Chaos Emeralds, and their little wager from last issue (Complete with a slew of exchanged personal compliments that make Sonic want to gag), Proto Man decides to take matters into his own hands by heading off to search for Dr. Light alone and dividing the enemy's forces as a result. He asks if his brother will be okay, and Rock gives the affirmative, telling Blues to be careful. The Red Striker heads off by using his shield as a hover board and Eggman orders Shadow Man, Knuckles Man, Rose Woman, Silver Man, and Blaze Woman (Identified as EWN-001 through 005) to chase after him. Wily asks if sending five of their enforcers after Blues is really necessary, but Eggman says that they can't take any chances of him getting to Light. Eggman then orders EWN-006 through 008 (Vector Man, Espio Man, and Charmy Man) to continue their assault on the Blue duo and their sidekicks.

Sonic asks if Blues will really be okay on his own against five of those guys and Rock says that he's tough and clever enough to handle things if he gets in a jam. While under attack by Charmy Man's Rapid Stinger, Tails asks how they were able to get him back to normal when he was a Roboticized Master and Rock explains what happened with the charged shot, Sonic's spin and the weapon copy. (Deducing that the data-transfer causes a cascade failure in the Roboticization process.) The Blue Bomber then tries to get Sonic's attention so they can replicate the process, but the Robo-Chaotix get in the way and the heroes have to regroup. Once they're all together, Rock tells Sonic that they need to combine their attacks again, but the Blue Blur has a quicker solution in mind: he asks Tails to try and modify Rock's buster so he'll be able to fire the spin dash blast at will without needing to go through the entire process. Rock asks Tails if he can do it and the fox says that he'll do what he can. While Tails works his magic on Mega Man, Sonic holds off the Robo-Chaotix. Above the battle, Wily proposes that both Docs return to the Wily Egg. While Eggman questions his logic, the skull-savoring scientist says that Proto Man needs to be located fast before he can botch up their plans at the last minute. Eggman agrees and they return.

While the Robo-Chaotix's repeated attacks take their toll on Sonic (Him remaining consistently cheeky despite the pain by nicknaming Charmy Man and Espio Man after Blast Hornet and Sting Chameleon of Mega Man X fame and making reference to Sega's own Vector Man), Tails is able to complete the modifications on Rock's buster, which he then fires on Vector Man, restoring the croc to his organic form. Next to Vector's frazzled form is a green energy orb which Sonic then tosses to Rock, hoping he knows how to use it. He does, which results in him gaining Vector Man's weapon, Acoustic Blaster, which he then uses to temporarily disable Charmy Man. Mega Man figures that Acoustic Blaster must've been Charmy Man's weakness, which surprises Tails, as he thought they wouldn't have any weaknesses at all. "It's a long story, but Wily does it out of habit by now. Believe me, it comes in handy." Rock reverts Charmy using his spin dash blast and picks up the yellow orb that emerged from his robotic shell, acquiring the Rapid Stinger. Rock wonders where the third enemy is, to which Tails reveals Espio's camouflage ability. With that knowledge, Rock asks Rush to sniff him out, but is caught by surprise when he finds out that he's right behind them and ready to strike! However, Sonic is able to take Espio Man by surprise in time so Rock can fire the spin dash blast and restore the ninja. Mega Man apologizes to a fatigued Espio if he was too rough, but the chameleon says to think nothing of it and that he owes him a debt of honor. He hands over his purple weapon orb and Rock gains the Chroma Camo ability.

After Sonic comments about Rock's extreme selflessness when handed an arsenal being a bit corny, Tails teases with him that he is just jealous of Mega Man's noble nature while he has an ego the size of the moon, to which Sonic rebuked that he just knew how awesome he is. Having saved them, Vector offers Rock a free case from the Chaotix Detective Agency. The heroes decide to hire them to find Proto Man and help him find a way onto the Wily Egg while they track down the rest of the Roboticized Masters to keep them off their backs. The groups agree and go their separate ways. Meanwhile, aboard the Wily Egg, Eggman frets over the fact that they've not only lost track of Proto Man, but Sonic and crew aren't any worse for wear and the Chaotix are back to normal. Wily reassures him that even though some things haven't gone as planned, they still have the ability to time-clone any of his old robot masters thanks to the special properties of the Skull Egg Zone. "Still...I'm sending Shadow Man to intercept our main problem." "You mean...MY Shadow Man, or OUR Shadow Man?" *Both stare at each other in confusion for a bit and then get big smiles on their faces* "Both!" Eggman then suggests putting Silver Man and Blaze Woman on stand-by as well, but Wily tells him to relax and reminds them of the countless forces they have at their disposal and that the final stage of their plan is already charging up. Eggman decides that he has a point, but they should have a "ludicrously massive and over-powered vehicle of mayhem and destruction" on stand-by just in case. Wily agrees and they head off to construct it. "I must say, Al, you always struck me as the more cautious of the two of us. Why the sudden change?" "Because Mega Man has always had the help of one particular person in times of need...and we have that person locked up in our brig!" The issue ends on a shot of the captured Dr. Light trapped in one of Eggman's capsules next to a certain balding nephew.

Quotes
Vector: ...Sonic. Was Charmy a robot just now? Sonic: Yep. Vector And... another robot just blasted Robot-Charmy with a laser spin dash and made him regular-Charmy? Sonic: Yep, It's been like this all day.

*Sonic talking to a freshly de-roboticized Vector*

Espio: Ambushed, kidnapped, and rescued-via-pummeling. How mortifying

*Espio's dazed mumblings after being de-roboticized*

Off-Panel
Not even an exterminator could fix this pest problem before Gil cracks.

Trivia

 * The variant cover features 32-bit versions of Sonic fighting Bass, despite it being called a 16-bit variant. However, Tails is riding his bi-plane in his 16-bit vesion. Proto Man can be seen in the background standing on a platform.  Interestingly, his design is based off how he looked in Mega Man 7, Mega Man 8 and Mega Man and Bass instead of his original artwork.
 * Guts Man G, an upgraded version of Guts Man that is a boss in Mega Man 7, appears just below Tails' biplane.
 * The variant cover was revealed before the actual cover.
 * This issue marks the first appearance of Snively Robotnik-albeit as an incomplete glimpse-since Sonic Universe #40.
 * The Off Panel represents how Marine is not appearing in Worlds Collide, despite the fact that she's a game character. Stern and Krantz also do not appear in the comic crossover, as they are comics exclusive characters.
 * During his fight with the Roboticized Chaotix, Sonic makes a number of Mega Man references, almost calling Charmy "Blast Hornet" and Espio "Sting Chameleon", which are the names of two mavericks from the Mega Man X series. He also remarks that the name "Vector Man" makes him think of a trash collector, referencing the Vectorman video game series that was featured on the Sega Genesis.
 * Eggman and Wily are shown with different coffee mugs: Eggman's reads "World's #1 Despot" in parody of various coffee mug imprints, while Wily's is shaped like his skull logo.