Zonik: A Sonic Robot but not really

Рет қаралды 71,481

Жыл бұрын

Remember to hit up squarespace.com/gameapologist for that discount!
We wrap up another Mecha March Madness with a very strange Sonic robot...who is not a robot.
I'll do my best to explain.
You can support the channel on Patreon and get access to my Discord!
/ gameapologist

Пікірлер: 307

@genericyoutuber8098 Жыл бұрын

One of the best choose your own adventure type books was one with the Riddler and Batman. If you read the book like your supposed to then you will always lose, but if you read the book like how most books are read and don’t skip any pages the you win. The point of the story is showing that the riddler wins the moment you start playing his game and obeying his rules.

@robertlupa8273 Жыл бұрын

Genius.

@genericyoutuber8098 Жыл бұрын

Here’s a really good video about the comic. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/htymktVisqicnJc.html

@yeeoof1995 Жыл бұрын

that's actually really smart

@jaredtherock5692 Жыл бұрын

Is that you, Channel Pup?

@forkalamari6093 Жыл бұрын

That’s… actually really smart

@mistersp3753 Жыл бұрын

I doubt even Zonic knows what he's supposed to be. A somehow organic robot? A Shadow Android that styled his quills like Sonic? A Pinocchio rip-off that was exposed to the Metal Virus after becoming a real boy? Who knows?

@Ranzord95 Жыл бұрын

thinking how shadow in sonic heroes was so concerned about his identity but at least he knew he was made of flesh

@Chillipeffer Жыл бұрын

nah, he's probably just goo, but with improper depictions in the art I will say this gives very interesting potential for a new Zonik design incorporating both elements but that's just me

@skepticpunk_ Жыл бұрын

He's a big drip.

@ironcloud3463 Жыл бұрын

@@Chillipeffer I had a (kinda crappy) concept that after a while of causing chaos, Zonic, either because the cloning process was not perfected or because of a natural shortcoming of the cloning material, needed a metallic shell to keep it stable. When the mechanic body gets destroyed at the end, the goo resumes its decaying process and as such Zonic melts into a blue puddle. This is by no means canon, the whole deal was almost definitely just a design error by the drawing team, but it's a nice head canon that would explain most things. (Edit: just saw someone commented this exact theory 10 days ago, damn)

@myleswelnetz6700 11 ай бұрын

He might be an android, but definitely not of Shadow.

@ShinigamiSamaH Жыл бұрын

The bot melting into goo is probably referencing Terminator, just like how it was supposed to have a fake skin to disguise as you pointed out. So my best guess is that it is either biomechanical or just straight up made of nanomachines.

@jjsix6943 Жыл бұрын

Nanomachines sonic they harden in response to physical spin dashes

@Chillipeffer Жыл бұрын

@@jjsix6943 You've wasted so much of my time.

@jjsix6943 Жыл бұрын

@@Chillipeffer ahh could you say you were just like me??

@myleswelnetz6700 11 ай бұрын

Terminator 2: Judgement Day.

@dprototype6431 Жыл бұрын

A glowing blue quill? A white room? These writers were psychic, I guess.

@syweb2 Жыл бұрын

What's so special about a white room?

@Chillipeffer Жыл бұрын

@@syweb2 sonic movie related maybe

@fridaykitty Жыл бұрын

@@syweb2 sonic generations i guess

@gregtom3272 Жыл бұрын

to think that even in 90s there was already a wild world of sonic clones , thank you for this video

@apollolux Жыл бұрын

Headin' for the 90s, livin' in the wild, wild west...

@mrme.484 Жыл бұрын

it actually even slowed down in the 2000's....

@skepticpunk_ Жыл бұрын

And so many people working on Sonic media then ended up hitting on the same idea of a Robot Sonic independently, too. I can see why, though. "Hey, what new and interesting twist can we add to the already existing characters? I know, let's make an evil Sonic! But what kind of enemy could an evil Sonic be? Well, Sonic himself is a forest animal fighting to free his furry friends from a mad scientist turning everything into an industrialized hellscape, so how about we make him a robot to contrast with Sonic being an animal? Man, coming up with totally original ideas like this is easy, I can't believe they're paying me for this."

@WolforNuva Жыл бұрын

My family and friends always called Mecha Sonic mk1 as Zonik because of this guy. He looked similar enough to the one in the game, and there was always some weird changes between the games and the artwork in western shows and comics, so we didn't think about things like the eyes being different. Zonik was the first name we got for the guy so that's the one that stuck, it's also a pretty nice name for a false Sonic imo.

@Magitek1112 Жыл бұрын

Really, I feel like this is why the artist depicted Zonik as a robot, they were looking at Mecha Sonic.

@kraikein Жыл бұрын

This was such a bizarre thing. Interesting note, if Zonik was a robot using a fake skin to make him more like Sonic, it’s another connection to Mechagodzilla; though most likely unintentional. As the Showa mech made his first appearance disguised as the real deal, busting shit up, and fighting the best friend of each respectively. Except unlike poor Anguirus, Tails thankfully didn’t get his jaw ripped open/broken.

@blackheartzerotheundergrou3225 Жыл бұрын

I'm guessing the blue goo had an adaptive absorption property, and Zonik was what happens when it's exposed to steel or something.

@dougneon9550 Жыл бұрын

Or maybe it's a mech suit meant to help stabilize his otherwise gooey form

@blackheartzerotheundergrou3225 Жыл бұрын

@@dougneon9550 I don't think there was anything that said Zonik left a metal shell behind though. I think it was 100% legit a T-1000.

@ironcloud3463 Жыл бұрын

@@blackheartzerotheundergrou3225 Battles with robotic Sonics tend to end in a weird lack of metallic remains and a shocking amount of small explosions, so who's to say But in all seriousness, when Zonic was defeated the goo might have amalgamated with the metal, dissolving it in a similar reaction to that between mercury and some metals.

@SuperAndyACS Жыл бұрын

As a 90's kid who grew up in the UK I owned many of these adventure gamebooks. As you mentioned in the video Nick, there were other books in the series that featured robot versions of the characters. I remember one book had a story where Robotnik was using some sort of laser device where anything he shot turned into metal and at one point Tails gets zapped by it and he turns into a robot. I can still remember the artwork for the page it happens on, as it freaked me out as a kid for some reason lol

@minicle426 Жыл бұрын

There was a non gamebook called 'Castle Robotnik' that featured robotic versions of Sonic's friends as horror movie villains. It's pretty mental. You have Porker Lewis as Pinhead for one thing.

@minimalbstolerance8113 Жыл бұрын

The Martin Adams novels were all pretty insane, in the best possible way. I still remember one of them had Robotnik transform Sonic into a toaster, and Tails used him as a rapid-fire waffle cannon.

@thephantomist7199 Жыл бұрын

@@minimalbstolerance8113 WHAT

@robertlupa8273 Жыл бұрын

@@minimalbstolerance8113 Sonic, the fastest and bravest toaster

@MenchisMenagerie 6 ай бұрын

@@minimalbstolerance8113 Now this dredged up an ancient memory, it was just so out there yet somehow it made sense at the time.

@HiperPivociarz Жыл бұрын

I'm curious, is Zonic still referred to as Zonic even if you don't run into the scenario where Tails has to pinch his nose?

@ixaldorran7867 Жыл бұрын

My childhood memory is too hazy to be trusted here but you find tails again in trouble and save him. I think there is a small story path where you can skip tails and no, people just start calling the imposter zonic.

@dvdplayer-2038 Жыл бұрын

I’ve seen so much sonic content that’s it’s refreshing to here about something bizarre and obscure like this for the first time

@edex59 Жыл бұрын

Game Apologists: “Welcome back to Mecha March Madness” My timezone: “le fools ov ze April.” Me: **confused confusing confusion**

@robertlupa8273 2 ай бұрын

I didn't even realise that. ._. That would explain why he covered this guy specificially.

@RealLarsUlrichISwear Жыл бұрын

I clicked faster than the time it takes to beat sonic forces

@fchef8370 Жыл бұрын

Quite an insane feat

@natnatnat3383 Жыл бұрын

come back when you click in the time it takes to build a website with squarespace

@RealLarsUlrichISwear Жыл бұрын

@@fchef8370 yes

@xiiiunmetal Жыл бұрын

It took you 2 hours to click it?

@poweroffriendship2.0 Жыл бұрын

Click faster than the speed of sound

@GBlastMan Жыл бұрын

I mean if Silver Sonic MK3 is literally a cameo of Mecha Godzilla, Zonik might be inspired on the T1000 from Terminator 2, i mean you said it yourself in the video "maybe he is some sort of hedgehog terminator", he looks like metal because he might had adopted the form of a badnik because that's what its around him the most.

@Dynafall Жыл бұрын

Old sonic media really has an... "indescribable" flavor to it. 10 minutes in and already hooked good video!

@Bepis64 Жыл бұрын

I'm gonna be honest, when I read the title, I thought it said "Zoink" not "Zonik".

@gooeydude574 Жыл бұрын

Like, Zoinks!

@CapnJigglypuff Жыл бұрын

Zonik would go on to return decades later as "The Cobalt Hedgehog" and frontline a story arc that had no right to go on for as long as it did.

@mistersp3753 Жыл бұрын

It's still March for 1 hour here. LET'S GOOOOOO!!!

@Harperlarp Жыл бұрын

I grew up reading and loving Sonic The Comic here in the UK. Haven't read them in decades by this point as I gave them away years ago, your videos are unlocking ancient memories in me I'd long since forgotten. I also had this choose your own adventure book (the only one I've ever read and had totally forgotten about) and I'm loving these blasts from the past. Keep up the great work!

@VerdantRange Жыл бұрын

The Sonic bottles in this remind me of those old Soaky toys. That jingle will never leave my head.

@Kappa4987 Жыл бұрын

Did anyone else notice that this was posted an hour before March ended? Despite that this is a Mecha March Madness video?

@SnowyFoxFox Жыл бұрын

I actually had this as a kid, and I'd completely forgotten about the part where you have to flip through the book to find the part where you're actually supposed to wind up! Thanks for bringing back that buried memory. A quality product, indeed. I also remember my brother and I being confused about whether Zonic was supposed to be the clunky metal robot as depicted, or the indistinguishable clone as described... such an odd book.

@dude5599 Жыл бұрын

The real metal sonic we all wanted

@eliandervalderen5849 Жыл бұрын

Considering that this book probably came out in the 90s is possible that zonnic was a nano Mech clone where that blue goo was actually nanomachines setup to replicate Sonic appearance and capabilities and impersonate him that way

@benogle4951 Жыл бұрын

Oh my God the blue Sonic Curry image when discussing how zonic melted into blue goo is hilarious

@SuperBolt7 Жыл бұрын

Clicked on the video thinking it was going to be about Zonic the Zone Cop from Archie. Did not know about this Zonic! I just learned something!

@DrDirtyLeggz Жыл бұрын

Alternate title just in time for the new hit game on Steam: The Murder of Zonik the Hedgehog

@ZonicMirage Жыл бұрын

I actually thought this was interesting. Kid me would've been all over those adventure books.

@mattwo7 Жыл бұрын

5:14 So, Captain Cold's Cold Gun. It shoots coldness by slowing down molecules (he's a Flash villain after all). It's basically just a freeze ray. At least Icicle Sr and Jr can manipulate ice themselves, even being able to turn into ice like Marvel's Iceman. Even Killer Frost can't turn into ice

@lololordjr Жыл бұрын

Zonik

@cofagrigusfan24 Жыл бұрын

when i think of Zonic all i can think of is eather the Zone Cop from Archie, or the fanmade Zeti version of Sonic

@user-fh7di8st6l Жыл бұрын

There are so many sonic robots that it can get confusing at times But the drama has its own design

@Hyper_Slade Жыл бұрын

Isn't Zonic also the Zone Cop version of Sonic in the Archie comics?

@serenitygarcia869 Жыл бұрын

Thanks zonic with a c the robot is zonik with a k....trust me I made the same mistake at first

@Basher.G Жыл бұрын

Thank you for putting up with this, Nick, much appreciated.

@KrazyGal Жыл бұрын

Never thought I'd see someone talk about the Sonic gamebook series! This one drew me in as a kid with its robot Sonic on the cover but the novelty wore off fast for all the reasons you covered in your video. It's a mess of an adventure. Great vid Nick, would love to see you cover the other books if you can get them. The first two are actually pretty good.

@deanlangdale7315 Жыл бұрын

Serious nostalgia blast for me here! I still have the first 4 books from this series somewhere. I think books 5 and 6 are pretty rare.

@Ospyro3em Жыл бұрын

I loved the Sonic Adventure Game books! I only own the first 3 though. Metal City Mayhem is my personal favourite. A new author took over from Sonic Vs Zonik onwards and it really shows. The humour was much better in the first 2.

@UndernetBroker Жыл бұрын

Thought we were going to talk about the Zone Cop.

@billyholland5156 Жыл бұрын

i have never been this early for one of Game Apologist's videos before. neat. also, its really cool to see a sonic choose-your-own-adventure book. its an odd bit of sonic history right here.

@realsalu634 Жыл бұрын

Damm, i remenber that in one of these choose your own adventure books, there is an ending where Sonic gets killed by being crushed by the last boss, and Sally suffocates to death lol

@Core_Of_The_Void Жыл бұрын

Zonik is actually made of NanoMachines that turn into blue goo upon being defeated!

@Chokun-Gaming Жыл бұрын

In my time zone this released on April 1st, so of course it's not actually a robot sonic

@richiescarf7993 Жыл бұрын

Yes I got here nice and early, I love these vids as something to have in the background

@BladeGenesisOFFICIAL Жыл бұрын

12:46 You talking about a theoretical scene of Sonic fighting one of these badniks on a lake of fire actually jogged my memory, so I did some searching and you're in luck. The exact thing pretty much happens in Issue #20 of the Fleetway comics but it's in a volcano. I won't spoil what happens in case anyone wants to go and read it themselves because the Fleetway series is DEFINITELY worth a read. But yeah, funny coincidence :]

@Girbekafecon 7 ай бұрын

Gun? Choose your adventure? This is the prologue to Shadow the hedgehog!

@moondropgrape Жыл бұрын

my guess is that the goop needed a solid body to even function so that's why it's in a robot body

@AlmandMulk Жыл бұрын

I remember seeing this book in my school library when i was 6, youre opening up parts of my mind i didnt even realise i had

@AlexSmith-tp7xu Жыл бұрын

Tornado wrecks my town and this guy uploads to give me something to do

@CD-Gaming Жыл бұрын

Aw, man, I not only remember this, but I HAD this Adventure Gamebook as a kid! Sonic on the Master System was the first game I ever played back in the early 90s and I knew there were references and nods in the live action film I was missing, almost can't believe I missed the blue quill, then again, it WAS a LONG time ago...

@jordanjackson6151 Жыл бұрын

I thought it would be about Zonic The Zone Cop. Eh well love the work you’ve covered from other Sonic stuff.

@bigthecat100 Жыл бұрын

If you want to stretch Mecha March Madness ever further (or more thinly...) I recall one of the Martin Adams novels (Robotnik's Laboratory I think? Or was it Silicon Warriors...) features a Frankenstein-esque robot Sonic for a few pages towards the end of the book, and I have a vague recollection of it turning out to be a giant mecha!

@minimalbstolerance8113 Жыл бұрын

It was "Sonic the hedgehog in Castle Robotnik" that had the Frankensonic. "Robotnik's Laboratory" was the one where Sonic got transformed into a toaster and Tails used him as a waffle cannon, and "Silicon Warriors" was the one which had Sonic fighting parodies of Street Fighter characters and Robotnik singing "My Way." I don't know what Martin Adams was on when he wrote those books, but I want some.

@silhouetteddoomsday9391 Жыл бұрын

This would have made a really good April fools video with the twist of no robot being the joke

@djyoshiman9448 Жыл бұрын

I thought this WAS an April Fools video.

@comicfan1324 3 ай бұрын

Here’s a thought, and if I ever do a redesign of Zonic this is probably what I would do, what if he is a clone, but has metallic armor to act as an exoskeleton, which keeps the blue goo form contained? (which also I would recontextualize the blue goo as those mysterious blue chemicals you can find in chemical plant zone

@EctoTron1 Жыл бұрын

I used to have this book. I bought it from the Schoolastic book fair when it came to my school. But due to my dyslexia I never read it that much.

@Cookee6630 Жыл бұрын

A day Game Apologist uploads is always a good day.

@DrSheldonCrane444 Жыл бұрын

You seriously need to make a video about the game that just released! Like, a few hours before you uploaded this video.

@Planag7 Жыл бұрын

And I shall say I was almost expecting this to be an April fool's joke c;

@johanstenfelt1206 Жыл бұрын

Huh, wow, this was a very interesting, i wonder what other obscure Sonic media is out there? I would really like you to cover more.

@andresmarrero8666 Жыл бұрын

So Zonik is a blue goo situation? There is potential in that with how it could possibly incorporate genetic information and artificial materials to replicate and create new forms of life. Take some Sonic, mix it with some Rouge, add in one of those teleporters found in the zone above angel island and boom people have their canonical female Sonic.

@dragonstarbark1471 Жыл бұрын

I have read the book myself, and outside of a cool gun that I wasn't aware existed, everything is like this, as someone who went through this legit I wound up in a bit in one maze too many, in fact I think the end of my book was defective as I got stuck in a loop until I had to go through the entire book to find the one section that actually progressed the plot without going backwards. but outside of that it was a fun capsule of time.

@StatixFH Жыл бұрын

mecha march madness is eternal

@PercyPanleo 10 ай бұрын

21:09 Sonic looks way too excited considering the situation he's in

@KiyloNendroid Жыл бұрын

wasent expecting to hear sonic the himbo, and when i did, i choked on my water

@MmeCShadow Жыл бұрын

Really thought this was going to be about Zonic the Zone Cop and I was *deeply* confused.

@TheAnon03 Жыл бұрын

I vaguely remember playing that book back in the day, I can't really remember it that well though.

@Jaytion1717 Жыл бұрын

Maybe zonic is just a clone of sonic but he used the metal to make him stronger like a shield sort of thing

@Wendy_O._Koopa Жыл бұрын

*Amanda Waller:* "Sonic's DNA was easy enough to obtain. He left it all over town." [Tails raises eyebrow] *Amanda Waller:* "Not _remotely_ what I meant."

@DanialProhozdenia Жыл бұрын

It's April Game Apologist: ITS MARCH

@beverlylewis2000 Жыл бұрын

for you it may be april now, but for me (wich is probably his time) its still 11, bout to midnight it 36 seconds

@SmokeTheHorsehog Жыл бұрын

A doppelganger made of goo, and it's both a consistent threat that can wield Chaos Emeralds and is pretty sadistic. This book did Mephiles before Mephiles was a thing.

@sandudelcea6707 Жыл бұрын

I still want a choice based sonic game.

@Solesteam Жыл бұрын

So... Sega released a new game and it has a lot of reading, your the best at reading Sonic fan I've seen so... May Sonic Speed Reading: The murder of Sonic the Hedgehog be a thing in the near or distant future?

@MeltingMan234 Жыл бұрын

Did you ever get around to posting the full scans of the book on Twitter? Been trying to find it since you mentioned it at the end of the vid

@chopper96 Жыл бұрын

I had this adventure book but never used a dice to play I would just pick randomly

@edgardeitz5746 Жыл бұрын

Would this book work better as a genesis game, based on a similar engine (choose your adventure) with rpg elements / battles included? I've seen experimental game engines (or at least one) that try to recreate the "choose your adventure" style of play.

@MrSkysenGames Жыл бұрын

Next up, a video where you make your own Sonic adventure book! That functions!

@syweb2 Жыл бұрын

20:00 Holy crap, even this book has softlocks.

@ZX_STH Жыл бұрын

12:45 If it's structured like a Frontiers boss that would be amazing!

@Dabajaws Жыл бұрын

That car with the spikes on it might be a reference to jojo with the stand wheel of fortune but that's a massive stretch

@-kenik9629 Жыл бұрын

Now I kinda want the book. I was already waffling about making a pen-and-paper sonic RPG, and most of what I came up with was a ridiculous magic system. So having an a different system set up that I can critically overhual instead of building it from scratch might be interesting. Most likely it'd just end up another abandoned project in the pile.

@metaforth1271 Ай бұрын

If I had to guess it's possible zonik being depicted as a robot was just for the audience, a visual way to tell the difference between Zonik and Sonic in black and white. It definitely made things confusing but I'd bet that's what happened

@jerryxpgaming4682 Жыл бұрын

Cinos is next

@imalltheragex2000 Жыл бұрын

19:22 maybe Zonik is like a failed clone that is lIke some sort of weird flesh metal... Jello... Thing?.... Idk *shrug* I'm trying to make some sense here

@Tazer_Silverscar Жыл бұрын

The Sonic shaped bottles actually remind me of a Sonic bubble bath bottle that I owned (it was a surprisingly hefty bottle for its size, which made it an interesting display piece). The lid was actually under Sonic's head, so the cap wasn't noticeable unless you straight-up decapitated Sonic, lol. The bubble bath liquid was obviously blue. So I wonder if the bottles were inspired by this book, or if the book was inspired by the bottles.

@minicle426 Жыл бұрын

I myself always viewed these books as part of the Fleetway continuity.

@ziggybartdust1298 Жыл бұрын

Woo, glad I came across this :)

@RadikAlice Жыл бұрын

Honestly, assuming he is a clone. It's a cool concept, and it has body horror potential

@markwhickman351 Жыл бұрын

Holy fuck I had that series of books as a kid. That was an unusually weird one amongst the set.

@markwhickman351 Жыл бұрын

Think I have books 1, 2, 3, 5 & 6...

@Mclucasrv Жыл бұрын

The art is quite nice.

@charleschamp9826 Жыл бұрын

I hope someone makes Zonik into a custom character in Sonic Robo Blast 2. Let me play with my friends with everyone playing as a Sonic impersonator.

@callumsparrow4379 Жыл бұрын

The weirdly long pause of nothing after the SquareSpace sponsor and before the MMM title card made me think there wasn’t actually going to be a video, just a silent screen of black for the next 25 minutes.

@TheMcDave Жыл бұрын

Oh wow, this is a real blast from the past! So I used to own this book. It was the only Sonic choose-your-own-adventure books I had and truth be told I never reached the end legitimately (I basically cheated), but I don't have it anymore which is a shame. As an avid collector of Sonic the Comic in my youth- I had every release from issue 16 until the last one- but I honestly thought that this Zonic book was part of the same continuity. I used to think of Zonic as a Fleetway character and hoped to see him pop up but it was not to be...

@cyphermetalofficial Жыл бұрын

that outro killed me

@erans0889 Жыл бұрын

YOOO A ZONIK VID YESSSSS

@JomaXZ Жыл бұрын

I guess the blue goo twist fits in with it being April 1st.

@Ocarinist_Drew Жыл бұрын

April Fools! It wasn't even a robot!

@BlueJack222 Жыл бұрын

Headcanon time what if the reason Zonik looks like that is because he's wearing a metal casing and once Sonic defeats him the casing breaks and then his physical form meltdown into a pile of goo

@tazien Жыл бұрын

All i can think of for why the art and writing for Zonik are different is, he's a shapeshifter similar to Metal. Just... on the more organic side, while disguising himself as a robot so Sonic doesn't find out he's been cloned

@gcullen576 Жыл бұрын

You were 5 minutes off from not getting this uploaded in time for March I'll allow it

@jasonjimerson7046 Жыл бұрын

This is also a D&D type review as well. Interesting! Btw, are there real copies of this book available or possibly PDFs?

@KrazyGal Жыл бұрын

The only way you'll be able to get a real copy of this book now is through eBay (cheapest I saw was £49.99). I still have my copy of this book from childhood and trust me, the prices eBay are demanding are so not worth it. As Apologist says; the author didn't do a good job mapping out where to go and you can get stuck in an endless loop very easily. The Zone Chip shenanigans also add another level of confusion. There are a few good adventures in this book series though and are worth a read through if you can find them for a price you don't have to sell a kidney for. Metal City Mayhem and Zone Rangers are the best.

@OrpheasVIPC Жыл бұрын

@@KrazyGalthat sounds cool but are there virtual copies? Like PDFs?