There's Something About Tails tells the story of Jake Pryde, a Mech Warrior from another dimension who after being killed in his mech, wakes up in the body of Tails in an underground base of the Freedom Fighters. Those of you who had Mechwarrior/Doom/Sonic Isekai on their fancomic bingo cards feel free to cross it out now! Things aren't looking good for the people of Knothole, but can this newcomer turn the tide before it's too late?
Written/sprited (and later drawn) by ProjectDarkFox (now ProjectShadowcat), TSAT is completely unique in all sprite comics in that each scene is actually composed and rendered in 3D using the zdoom engine. And that's not all, they also made the comic into a(n incomplete) doom mod, which an anon in our threads helpfully cleaned up a while back (I'll have to hunt down the link).
Links: https://web.archive.org/web/https://www.prdarkfox.com/tsattoa/archive.htm (site is down at the moment) http://web.archive.org/web/20130504122020/http://themysticalforestzone.com/PDF/TSAT/TSAT.htm (site is gone) https://web.archive.org/web/20230305180131/http://www.themfz.net/PDF/TSAT/TSAT.htm (relaunch of previous, currently down) https://inkbunny.net/ProjectShadowcat https://twitter.com/prshadowcat
>>456792 >>456737 >Gamefans amirite? But he call Angel Island "floating Island", so I Guess Izuka and Penders ended up forming some sort of dark alliance to achieve their goal.
>>456741 Jake was more powerful than all his classmates in the Human MechWarrior Academy. He served in the Human military fighting Terrorists and in the great wars against terrorists, they were fighting and terrorists blew open his cockpit and it killed him. Which is why he is Tails now.
>>456998 Excellent! I was able to get it to work, and it's a lot of fun. If it has custom levels I wasn't able to get them to work. IDK, it's been literal decades since I've messed with doom mods I've also archived it on the website for posterity: https://the-ride.neocities.org/archive/mobian-combat-tc-0.4d3Rfix0.1.pk3
>>456782 It's been a few days so let's get back into the action! >>456791 Genuinely love the artstyle >>456792 >>456793 Clearly Floating Island's Penders and Iizuka's front company for eliminating the Archie menace! >>456796 lmao, that sounds like Coldsteel the Hedgeheg's backstory
>>456731 >>456998 >>457004 So it looks like this is the site with the fixed version of TSAT/Mobian Combat https://rentry.org/ys6xc I've also uploaded the original and the fixed version to the website: https://the-ride.neocities.org/archive/mobian-combat-tc-0.4d3Rfix0.2.pk3 (fixed) https://the-ride.neocities.org/archive/tsat.7z (original)
>>457788 Okay, so I looked it up and here's the difference:
Gauss guns aka coil guns have a series of coils of wire wrapped around the barrel. You apply current to them to make them electromagnets which can accelerate a magnetic projectile down the barrel.
Railguns have two rails with a conductive projectile in the middle. You pass current between the two rails and through the projectile, turning them all into electromagnets, accelerating the projectile down the rails. Railguns have more kickback and can fire things faster, but can electrocute you.
Decided to add all the artist's comments for the pages. I'm not obsessive, you are!
>>456731 And already we begin with our first plothole. First page, first problem, hoo-ey! Jake Pryde never at all mentions later in the comics that he had ever dreamed of being Tails; he'll later describe that the transition between death and the second life was nigh-instantaneous, in fact. >>456734 Oh Jake and Sally, why you so over-reactive? My early writing was clearly a joke. >>456735 After this and the next page, I stopped recoloring sprites for darkness, because editing Damien's/AttoSama's sprites at the time was a right pain the ass. A previous subversion of this page had him saying he was 25. Which was right -- if he knew he was in the right year, which he didn't. >>456737 Oh, the humanity! This spritework is terrible! Everything is terrible! >>456738 Alright, panel 2 of this page. Completely custom. One of the few things I can look back on and still feel a little pride for because people kept confusing it for official video game art. But the final panel's confusing word bubbles can go straight to hell. >>456740 The static torches have since been upgraded with tech lights. Also, first showing of fan-characters Erickz and Valley. Valley's sprite is going to degrade past issue 13. >>456741 Panel 2 is more custom work. Took awhile to finish the Mad Cat by hand. ... It hasn't aged well. D: The third panel is actually the cover artwork for BattleTech: Master Rules Revised, credited to Mark Zug. Panel 4 is also custom work but the laser-to-the-cockpit effect didn't come across as well as I hoped. >>456742 Useless filler. >>456743 Jake shows how unnecessarily abrasive he can be. In his defense, Sonic shouldn't have been hanging around when answered. The text in panel 1 is a little unusual, given it references BattleTech ("Ares Conventions" are the rules of warfare in the Inner Sphere.), much like every bit of Jake's past. Possible correlation? >>456744 Antoine's retort is awkward as hell, but the whole exchange is rather amusing... But ugh to awful laser effects on panel 4. >>456745 Oh, shit! Sprite regression! Yeah, for a little while, I was upgrading a lot of the sprites and their scenes as best as I could, but this is where I stopped. Also notice the longer credits and the DoomFox sprite by the comic page number. >>456746 Less useless filler. But it does set up that Jake/Tails is slack-wristed. Also, worst ideas for targets ever. And why is the map so friggin' dark?! >>456747 This was one of the comics that were WHY the redo was being done. Shitty, over-sized Tsuk sprite (which was since replaced almost EIGHTY PAGES LATER, bad first person graphics, and .... Why is everything so horrible?! T_T >>456748 This is... like, some briefing page or something or other. You may have noticed a much sexier blue fox sprite on page 6. This is that guy, who was supposed to be -- at first -- a sprite extra until he became much more useful, and at the worst time. I also do not read these earliest comics anymore, so that I can spare myself some of the embarrassment. >>456749 Unnecessary swear is unecessary. >>456750 I am bad at filler conversation. Oh, quick note? First seen on page 16, these badass dudes use the same sprite as the Doom Player. I needed a marine soldier type that fit the scale of the mobians, and coincidentally, Doom has the best scale. I had no idea, either! >>456751 Players, meet Peksujeffi. I never figured out how to say his name aloud for months. "Hey! Why can't Jake fly over the gate?" Jake has not learned how to do that. Tails had to learn how to do that and it took him a few years to do so. >>456752 I expected better awareness from Jake. >>456753 I never answered what sort of trauma Sally ever did have with a bomb. Mostly because this was meant to be slightly silly, and that Sally probably has plenty of experience with explosives in the first place. Also, shitty Alex sprite spotting. >>456755 I'm VERY bad at filler conversations. >>456756 This page is how TSAT suddenly became a big hit on the MFZ forums. I want to say Panel 9 was how.
Pages 25 to 50: >>456758 I could've at LEAST done up a reaction panel instead of moving the titlebar in its place. I can't comic good. >>456759 How unnecessarily depressing, Sonic! AKA Useless filler! >>456760 Was Ash the Mongoose an asshole in the Archie Comics? I don't know, I never got that far into the real books. >>456761 This is the beginning of probably the most useless arc in the comic. >>456762 "I'm a pop-tart." To get screenshots of an outpost blasted to kingdom come, I sprayed rockets everywhere in the map. >>456763 I am REALLY bad at filler conversations. >>456764 So I told myself that using an Advance Amy sprite amongst Genesis sprites was a good idea. Hey, let's recolor her dress, too! That won't be pointless at all! >>456766 I can think of a thousand better things to say to Erickz that would be far more entertaining. >>456767 Because Tsukuru got a sprite replacement later in the comic, it about rendered this filler page totally useless. >>456768 I learned Paint.NET's Blur tool. >>456769 Killing is my business, and business is good! Meet Mecha Kharana (later shortened to Khran) and Darth Mechanis. These two wind up having big roles, but this seemed like the most ideal location to introduce them. >>456770 ..... *SHIVER* >>456772 We're starting to get to a point where I can maybe tolerate my own script-writing. However, this isn't without its problems, including Mina's head missing on Panel 2 (it's there on panel 3). Again, everyone looks over-emotional. >>456773 This joke held up a lot better than I expected, though the delivery is a little stiff. Also, behold, newish Alex sprite! Oh crap, I just noticed a LONG-standing grammatical error in panel 1. Wow. >>456774 No one is safe in this comic. Plot armor? What's that? "Or so they call it." It's a goddamn supply closet. With supplies. >>456775 One of my biggest regrets for this comic is having not finished the Alex sprite sooner. Unlike my continually haphazard Tails edits, it has aged well. >>456776 Sprite placement is very wonky on the last panel. This was one of few times where I totally blew my sense of perspective. >>456777 While I'm proud of keeping the running gag going from page 42 at all, the timing of it is like an emotional whiplash. It's bad, clumsy writing, and it is a lesson I learned for the future. >>456779 I like Austin Powers. >>456780 Another poorly delivered gag for the bad guys. The minor plot element is clever, though. >>456781 So uh.... so that's why I picked the Advance Amy sprite. Heh heh. ... Heh heh. Fatass. >>456782 Every 50 pages (except 200) I had attempted to do something special for the comic. On top of it being two physical pages, I wanted to use the Sharpie markers I had. This was a horrible decision because I needed a lot of desaturated colors, grays, and overall, more colors (see: Sally's overall darkened look)! Everything is too dark and really ugly looking. Also, more bad writing and almost borderline unreadable handwriting because of the low resolution! A good thing: Very solid panel layout. I don't get lost cycling through the panels.
Pages 51 to 75: >>457008 This page wasn't quite as melodramatic as I was expecting it to be. And there's another effort to lighten up the mood at the end of the page. I do not endorse the use of needles or drugs without a prescription. Jake is a professional, do not try this at home. >>457011 It's actually oxygen deprivation, but who's counting? >>457012 "... Anything that happened over there [in the Inner Sphere] never happened here." (Panel 3) While one would immediately argue that this is another plothole when you read on, Tails is lying to him to try to inspire him. He doesn't exactly want to die so quickly. >>457013 I failed to mention that this is fan-character KillerHell. He never makes another significant appearance later in the comic. Cheesy name aside, his design was quite promising and I had many plans for the guy as a general for the human faction. >>457014 The love for Sonic here is so, so high right now. Meet fancharacters White Beldrem (Panel 4, far end), C.J. the Cat (Panels 3 and 4 close end), and ... some extra. Fun fact: C.J. is my first Sonic the Hedgehog fancharacter ever, created in 1995 before Sonic Adventure was a thing. I was in 5th grade. Unfortunately, I cannot claim credit for the base sprite. >>457015 I must've just watched the Demented Cartoon Show when I made this comic. I would never let Sally (.... maybe Candace Sinclair) say something like that in panel 1. Huh, and Lord of the Rings, for that matter. How many references a panel was I going for?! >>457016 So mysterious. I really should've just put Rachel's head in place of the red female symbol, considering she's from friendly territory and she probably has a webcam from her residence. The mysteriousness was quite unecessary and could've also made Alex look more important in the process. >>457017 Excuse me a moment while I scale up the scope of the comic's plot and universe. >>457018 Correction: Jake did have three children (at the same time, might I add -- foxes, see), but two of them had died at birth. Not to lessen the impact of his little story. >>457019 Shittiest truck ever. I meant the map build. It's terrible. Unsurprisingly, I don't have a truck built like this in my little game adaptation of the same name. >>457020 Bloody mercenaries. >>457021 Pitch black sky. I had reused the same screenshots and painstakingly edited the shots to remove the vanilla Doom II sky. This wasn't terribly easy, given the sky uses about as many tans and browns as the craggy rocks I had to edit around, and the watchtower in panel 5. >>457022 The writing is getting better. So's the sprite edits. Gabo, who did the pixel art for Panel 2 of Page 45, is also responsible for the Sally art here. >>457023 The last line was unnecessary but that was a pretty sweet kick sequence. That is also one brain dead red head. >>457024 The Red Retard of Angel Island, everyone! I'd hyperlink the relevent InSONICnia comic, but the archive is hyper-screwy right now. >>457025 Meet Kithrixx. I about shot a flare the size of Texas indicating his intentions for the comic, and I'm not talking about the borrowed arm. Peksujeffi sighting! >>457026 The locks have been changed from yellow card to green card for the game. >>457027 So on Page 63 I had failed to mention that Jake called Bunnie's Railgun a Gauss Rifle, and said that they were the same thing. Given they both leave sick blue spiralled ion trails, it's easy to make the confusion when you haven't constructed the weapons. .... Actually, I'm not sure why I brought it up here. He'll learn there's a difference later. >>457028 This isn't Jake's first experience with flash-forwards: Page 37 Too bad the future-sight is a little off, but it's damn close! >>457029 I had to think for awhile to remember why Jake is as stunned as he is. Then I remembered that Pryde has never had his last name mentioned to him. Because of his own paranoia, he never told anyone his last name on Mobius. >>457030 Fuck, he says it right in the next comic anyway. >>457031 Rouge sprite upgrade! My, isn't she kinky. >>457032 Eugh, the novella-writing in panels 6 and 7... the pan on panel 8 was also unnecessary, even though the poster was actually a fourth-wall-breaking Shade's. >>457033 Page 45, for your convenience.
Pages 76 to 100: >>457034 Given the 10 panel whopper that #75 was, this was no doubt done as filler. Slightly amusing, though. >>457035 Oh, how embarrassing, I've forgotten one of the fancharacters! The red-headed human was created by Peksujeffi, but the blond, Cal, is by someone else entirely. I do not think they ever make another appearance later in the comic. A shame, too, Cal's a hilarious guy. To coincide with comic #77, we also celebrate Calamus on July 7th. FDI thing. Don't ask. >>457036 You're a real person, Harry Jake! >>457037 The first drawn interlude the comic sees, and not the last. These were actually pretty fun to do during the comic's run. This one was named "There's Something About Tails." >>457038 I think everyone understands just a little more how much Jake is hurting inside now. >>457039 Jake fucking loses his shit pretty hard core, huh? Hey, haven't we been here before? >>457040 BattleTech 3235: Revelation was supposed to be a graphic novel detailing his lone son's adventures. I am not sure if I will ever get to it. >>457042 Either Sally's extremely stressed out or I pre-emptively confused her for Candace again. I am extremely proud of the editing work I did in Panel three. That's some awesome laser-cutting-the-ground effects there. >>457043 Just follow the fleeing marines. >>457044 They are getting to be the bestest of friends! >>457045 When I am given control of official characters, why do I make them say really silly shit? What is he, a Clanner? >>457046 I'm not sure about "blind-siding" but there sure was a lot of power packed in that punch that she just didn't expect. Adrenaline is a hell of a drug! >>457048 Uhm.... I mean, I'm no virgin, but ... I wouldn't know. >>457049 Tsukuru sprite upgrade! >>457050 I know he's been an asshole this whole time, but I just realised this was the first time he was going to engage in some truly hurtful friendly fire. Given this is normally against his ways, Sally must've really cheesed him off... >>457051 This is a huge, huge plot point that sticks around for the rewrite. Hope you've been following along thus far! >>457052 The sprite editing for growing him up was actually rather hard. But I had his grown-up design hinted as far back as Page 37. Sometimes I don't plan very far at all, and times, I plan a LONG way out. My writing is weird. >>457053 Blaze sprite upgrade! >>457054 "Bask in my new, naked glory!" >>457055 Ivo Robotnik upgrade! The last time we saw him was Page 28, using the old Sonic (3) sprites. More copious DoomGuy abuse on panels 2 and 3, too. >>457056 How does the fucking extra hear and not the other assholes in this block? >>457057 Shit's about to get real, yo. >>457058 Aother drawn interlude, and right before a drawn page. This one wasn't titled. BattleMechs from left to right: Sunder, Atlas, Annihilator, and a custom model loosely based on the Mad Cat. And they are definitely hunting Jake's Red Fox II, below. >>457059 Page 100, fuckers! Unlike #50, this one was done with far more competence. My first right decision, using coloring pencils. I had the 50-pack!
Pages 101 to 125 >>457749 There was a ridiculous amount of sprite-work done for this page. On top of making sure my 45 degree tilted railgun arm didn't look like shit in panel 3, there was the splashing in panel 4, the bubbling in panel 5, and the new expression I made Sally wear where she's ready to puke in panel 6. Jake holding on to Amy in Panel 6 was also a right bitch to do. Not a whole lot of action, but a whole lot of sprite editing went into this page, and it took longer than usual as a result. I hope you're all happy. >>457751 Amy Rose sprite upgrade! And another annoying sprite edit in Panel 4, Jake having to carry someone else at a different angle. I love my job. >>457752 My best e-friends on the Internet would never stop saying "Run and fade, a pirate's life for me!" the moment this comic came out. Usually when the context allowed it. I can see why, though. It's so fucking stupid it's funny. >>457753 I think EHAT stood for Elite Human Assault Team? I'm going to switch the H and E and make it the HEAT team. Ooh, that has a brilliant ring to it, mwahahaha! Plothole alert: There was at least one survivor from the attack. He'll make his appearance later. >>457754 Jake is a dick. >>457755 Plothole alert: Now, I'm not sure why I had Bunnie ask Sally to go on ahead in Panel 1 when Sally and Amy running off was a huge, huge plot point not much later on in the comic. But there was no excusing Sally being a bitch in-story, so there's that. Another thing that needed constant clarification on the forums, very few people actually noticed that I used the Super Tails colors to make Jake's tails glow, indicating he was just granted the skill to fly. >>457756 And there's the survivor. >>457757 This is one of very, very few cases where I feel the mood whiplash would be acceptable. We were warned about this happening. >>457758 "Dance! Dance in that shit!" --Kithrixx I got a little lazier with the splashing on this one. >>457759 So much careful sprite editing done in panel 2... I wasn't sure whose sprite I liked working on more: my Jake sprite or Damien's Bunnie. >>457760 How quickly the tables turn. "Oh, fuck you, Jake!" "Jake, help me!" I guess when your life is on the line, you don't care who your savior is. So, so much more sprite editing here. I was tinkering hard-core with sprites by this time. Also, another new sprite, another quick death. My timing to roll out new sprites (this Amy was by Deebs, by the way) was just ..... terrible. >>457762 I think 12 pages of sewers is plenty long enough for any war comic. >>457763 And that is how you use the sixth panel effectively. >>457764 New White sprite, but it was discontinued rather quickly. This is called self-depreciation humor. I think I had let the comic go stale for awhile at the time and I was getting the Duke Nukem Forever joke thrown around. >>457765 Meet King Necro. I did the sprite myself, but he's someone else's fancharacter. I think he's like some envoy from Hell or something. "Sent" got awkward after awhile. I've not decided what the replacement would be yet. >>457766 They don't meet again. Another character who had a lot of potential and he never got used. I'm the goon responsible for the custom pixel art this time. For both characters. The fire and explosion graphics from this page and the last are straight from DOOM. They felt appropriate. >>457767 It was in Page 79 that he just absolutely lost his shit. Yesterday. Also, this comic page is incredibly wordy. Even this little walking away thing and Bunnie turning to face him just outlines why you absolutely need that third dimension in comics. I was beginning to notice a ton of limits to sprite comics, and this was after the ones I already broke for using the ZDoom engine. >>457768 No one likes Sonic in this cell block. Every time I cut to the prison, I had a new joke. It was sweet, sweet relief from the main arc. >>457769 Meet the meanest, most insane ball of hate this side of Mobius, Rachel Gates. And there's some very, very fascinating secrets behind that furry lavender shell. >>457770 I just bust up laughing reading this page and I don't know why. Probably because certain parts of this comic have transformed into parody. >>457771 Meet Freelance mercenaries Dusk and Merku. They're starting to get a little bored. "Sonar" is Rachel's nickname. Alex's nickname was "Radar". The names are not often used but they're still a thing. Did I mention they're twins, Sonar and Radar? >>457772 Hey Vegeta, what's the scouter say about his burn level? I'm sorry. >>457773 He has a point but I'm not sure on its delivery. I can't words good. >>457774 Fun fact: 25, 75, and 125 all are 10 panels.
Pages 126 to 150: >>457775 Meet Nesterov. I've forgotten her first name but the way I introduced her was clumsy as fuck. I regret it heavily because this was another fan-character by Bruno (Bruno himself hasn't made an appearance yet) who could've done a lot and I screwed it up big. >>457776 This was the first comic page I had to rewrite almost immediately after its initial release, and it's still not very good. The bad writing began to seep in again. Actually, now that I think about it, this was around when pages started coming out monthly or once every two weeks thereabouts. From page 50 to 120 I was on one hell of a groove, and somewhere along the line, I had just lost it. >>457777 Akuma sighting! As of this commentary's writing, Akuma is still doing sprite comics today! He's at The MiddleGround. https://www.mgcomics.com/ >>457778 Absolutely no one noticed the subtle effect I gave the bleeding wall: each panel, the blood dribbled down another pixel. >>457779 Grammar alert on panel 6! >>457780 I should release a map of my reimagined Knothole. Tiara Boobowski's directions are correct. >>457781 Panel 1: Left to right: Tiara Boobowski (Sonic X-treme), Velocity the Cat (fan-character), Bean the Dynamite and Honey the Cat (Sonic the Fighters, both of them), Qesun Vendak (fan-character), Knuckles, Bunnie. Panel 2: Left to right: Jake Pryde, Blaze the Cat, Dusk, Rachel, Merku. Panels 3, 4, 6: I do not forget little details like face-plants so quickly. And the fact that the blood is drying. Panels 5 and 8: She'll introduce herself soon. She's mine. And this is where I fucked up Nesterov's character hardcore. >>457782 SQ and.... shit, these two were brothers IRL, but I forgot the kitsune's name. :( I did the pixel art of both Jake and Spice for panels 5 and 6. The latter has aged gracefully. >>457783 Spice, you idiot. >>457784 I should've zoomed this in. This was poor camera work on my part. >>457785 Writing's getting smoother again. >>457786 She what, Spice? >>457787 It took you 32 pages for you to learn that you gained the ability to fly. And you didn't even know you did it until now. Brilliant, Jake. >>457788 Their history is very long and could span a few comic books of their own. But this is all why it's just such a big shock to Jake that she just about turned non-hostile to him. >>457789 For your convenience: Page 63 Here's a little lowdown now that I don't have a little black bar to type in: The Gauss Rifle, also known as a coilgun, uses a coil of charged magnets to propel projectiles forward. They are more energy efficient and far easier to build in smaller scale than the railgun, which uses two rails of electromagnets to propel projectiles forward. Considering the ammunition for both weapons is usually made of nothing but solid nickel-iron, it's no surprise why the ion trails of both weapons are so similar, and why Jake was misled this whole time in his life. Fun Fact: Gauss was a German scientist who studied electromagnets, hence why his name somehow got stuck on the coilgun. Science fiction weapons are so cool. (I take that back. These weapons actually exist. Just not in mass production yet.) >>457790 This guy is just walking by like he gives no fucks about what they talk about anymore. Also, notice the card-lock change I mentioned in an earlier comic. The doors are now accessed by a green keycard. >>457791 She's tripping balls, man! Actually, sleep deprivation (and choking on raw sewage in the recent past) will probably do that. >>457792 I think she's on to something, people! Meet Bruno the Rhino. >>457793 The cheeky fuck doesn't even have to say a word to manipulate Jake. He is one smooth criminal. >>457794 Fun fact: I stopped censoring the word "fuck" here. Actually, the page before this one. But there's no censoring anymore. Obligatory "Fuck the fucking fuckers" here. >>457795 Old art alert! And that's her Annihilator up front. The same Annihilator that Jake dreamed about in Page 99 before the big exodus. >>457796 Old art alert! Shade was probably laughing all the way to her grave. >>457797 For your convenience: Page 60 is where Jake first mentioned Theresa, his mate in the first life. Shade doesn't look terribly comfortable spilling her own guts here. Maybe because she's kind of guilty for successfully ruining almost every major facet of Jake's life. Jake should at least slap her again, or put nails in her pillow. >>457798 .... Or letting Shade get even works, too. >>457799 This issue was supposed to be something much nicer. I think digital coloring was slated but I barely had the time just to ink these two pages. A blast to the past; I figured this was the best way to hint who "Sent" #3 was to complete the trio of heroes. Panel 7: The smoking hulk is a Clan Black Lanner, a faster 55 ton scout and probably the lightest machine Lightfox would even touch. It was offed by a Clan Daishi ("Great Death" in Japanese) and an upgraded Centurion. ... At least... according to the artwork...
