I agree with mostly everything, but!! I think the redraw of Blast's reaction is super different and says a lot!

In the first one, I think we're only seeing how he looks to Flash--standoffish, closed off, a bit dismissive, almost disdainful. You still have some of the shame coming through, but it isn't as apparent, and the fact that we're looking up at him makes him seem larger than life--like he's too big to fail.

In the new one, not only are we seeing what Blast looks like, we're seeing Flash too, and I think that's a super important detail. Flash is a flesh-and-blood embodiment of Blast's failures--to save people, to prevent harm, to stop evil. And not only that, Flash is calling him out directly on every single one of those failures. Blast is reckoning with his bad decisions and their repercussions here. He's in a facility attempting to undo the monsterization he couldn't prevent, in an organization he all but abandoned in a failed attempt to prevent evil from spreading, staffed with victims of the systems he couldn't save, all the while being hunted by the partner he let get corrupted and THEN roam free because he couldn't bring himself to deal the final blow.

Blast is being forced to confront his past face-to-face here, and we literally see the face and mouthpiece of those failures in this scene (Flash) superimposed onto his own. THAT'S SO COOL. That we're level with him too, and he looks like he's bowing his head while being unable to make direct eye contact even though Flash is daring him to, makes it seem like he feels much more guilt and shame over it, to the point where it's weighing him down. It's a really good change.

((I am a little worried that we're hopping right into the Void fight and we might not get Sonic and Flash's backstory....but that seemed like some pretty major story beats there, so I'm just gonna have faith and wait for the coming weeks ;;;))