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Woke up like I was possessed just so I could do the Macarena ask

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I think one of the most tragic elements of Shadow's story is that everybody who deserved to be held accountable and face justice is either dead, or has lived a full life and is in a nursing home. Like no wonder he has such a hard time moving on, they destroyed his life and mostly got away with it.

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So yall remember that time in Archie comics when Antoine worked as a prosecutor?

I'm sad that we're never gonna get a comic of Shadow teaming up with Antoine to sue G.U.N for financial compensation for past emotional and property damages...

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The symbolism of it is so good. Her death shattered him.

I still can't get over this shot from Dark Beginnings. It's such a good way to artistically portray Maria's death without actually, you know, showing it. Honestly, I kind of prefer it to actually showing her death just because of the incredibly imagery of it all.

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I absolutely adore the ending of Sonic x Shadow Dark Beginnings. Aside from it just being the best depiction of Shadow, the way is depicts aged grief is really good. Maybe it's just the way I process emotions, but the way his grief is depicted is how it feels sometimes. You'll be fine for months, and then you'll have this sudden, eye opening, moment when you're hyper aware of what, and who you've lost. It's the sudden remind "oh, right...they're gone." It's not that you've forgotten them, it's that you remember their gone.

and then you breath out, and the gut punch fades, and you realize you've got to continue on with your day.

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Ficlet idea; Shadow and Sonic getting drunk and decorating each others quills with berries.

(for context, medieval scholars used to think Hedgehogs used their quills to impale fruit to store it for later consumption.)

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You know the thing I love about Sonic Underground? His siblings and mom suggest he just has like...the Incredibles "random super power" gene.

and all I'm saying...is that I think this concept can be used for some fan children OC's, and some funny dad-Sonic humor.

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this is my sonadow fankid

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I cannot wait for all the Hayloft II music videos of Shadow that are gonna follow the movies release to dvd.

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himb

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mostly baby emmie stuff hehe

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i am not above a little red riding hood au

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I've been churning through so many Sonic character redesigns, here are some of the sketches. I post these and more on my Discord server as I make them, these are just the ones I probably won't bother turning into full drawings. Here's the thoughts on each:

The Freedom Fighters, but I specifically imagined these being their outfits during Sonic Forces since Forces' story could be so similar to SatAM's. Sally and Bunnie have stories and trios before this (Sally with Mighty and Ray, being smol woodland creatures, and Bunnie being with Fang and Trip, being western outlaws hired by Eggman)

Nicole the Holo-lynx. Now looks more holo and more like a lynx. May or may not make an even fleshier version on top of these

Sage, also made to look more digital, but honestly I don't care enough about her character to really consider including her anywhere. Who knows tho

Jewel, made to look like an actual insect. I got the insect Mobian idea first with Charmy of course but I'll probably draw the Chaotix in full later

Jet, honestly one of my favorite redesigns so far. It just ended so perfect, even making his shoes more like bird claws.

Big, basically the same just made more frazzled and wild-looking

Lanolin, made to look like that other kind of sheep and also made chubbier cuz sheep have a chubby aura

Bokkun, now is himself the exploding message. I wanted him to look like Eggman just randomly strapped a rocket to his back, instead of being a normal jetpack. He loves exploding and being rebuilt.

One of the Ancients, now given clothes that match the vibe of some of their creations. I also thought it would be cooler if the Koco were their actual brains/bodies, and the gel exterior is another part of their technology to make them stronger and more versatile.

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Year 8 of missing the Freedom Fighters

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I love that it's cannon that Shadow enjoys working on his motorcycle, cause it's kind of like him taking back another thing he lost. Most, if not all the Robotniks have a love of building and engineering. (hence their last name) And Shadow IS apart of the Robotnik, he was like Maria's brother, Gerald called him his son. He IS a Robotnik.

And as a Robotnik, he likes working with machines.

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Absolutely massive lore drops from Shadow Generations

Gerald Robotnik had 2 sons (which we have a picture of!!) whom he loved very much. One of them had Gerald's love of archaeology, the other his love of robotics.

The archaeology son is the one who initially discovered Emerl.

Gerald had found Angel Island and the altar of the Master Emerald but left things alone because he wanted to be respectful to the land.

^This explains why the Eclipse Cannon's core has a structure shaped like the shrine in SA2.

SPEAKING OF SA2... you know those cameos of Big the Cat in (the Dreamcast version of) SA2? Yeah, those are canon. Apparently he loses Froggy a lot which causes him to go on a ton of adventures. He even tells Shadow that he saw him running past a few times on the ARK.

Gerald was absolutely adamant about his research being used to help people, not develop weapons. He seems to have been constantly clashing heads with GUN who would not fund his research (which was to try and cure Maria) unless he was making weapons.

^Because of this, any weapons he developed (or in Emerl's case, studied) had some sort of counterbalance that Gerald would add in order to make the weapon suck less (see following couple of points).

He hoped that the technology that he developed to make Artificial Chaos (AI that can be added to any body of water to shape it as needed) would be used to help save flood victims by scooping them up out of the debris.

While studying Emerl he established a link and noted that since Emerl wouldn't listen to anybody else that at least he wouldn't be used for evil. He also attempted to change Emerl's AI to become "free-willed and emotions-based."

He didn't want to develop the Eclipse Cannon so it was purposely made to be too destructive to be useful. He figured he'd also use it to deal with Black Doom.

Project Shadow was named as such because Gerald thought the goverment were idiots for trying to make him pursue something as impossible as immortality. He saw it "as intangible as a shadow" and described the project as impossible as "chasing a shadow."

But when Maria saw Shadow she said "shadows let you know which way the light is" and Gerald remarked that she turned his bitter naming convention into something hopeful and pure.

Speaking of Project Shadow... we have a picture of Maria holding the little baby Biolizard!

Gerald developed the Chaos Drives (those things that come out of GUN robots that you feed your Chao in SA2) to try and apply Chaos Emerald energy to living tissue without damaging it. He used them on the Biolizard.

Gerald reluctantly provided GUN Chaos Drives so that he could continue researching a cure for Maria.

Maria loved the Biolizard.

The Biolizard grew large because of the experiments... which its body couldn't support. Thus the life-support apparatus on its back, though it seemed to be in great physical pain. It was hidden away in the area you fight it in SA2.

^These failures are why Gerald struck up a deal with Black Doom. Without Doom's DNA Shadow would have gone the same way as the Biolizard.

Maria has a little sister!!!

Maria was born on Earth and sent to the ARK because the low-gravity environment makes her condition more manageable. Gerald's journal makes it sound like Maria's sister was born after she got up there but in-game Maria mentions how she misses her sister so maybe not?

@nagichi-boop (I hope it's okay to tag you) has a nice post talking about the excellent "invisible disability" representation. Both Gerald's journal and Maria discuss aspects of her disability, including Gerald's anger the over ARK researchers who talk about Maria behind her back.

Maria helped develop Shadow's air shoes and inhibitor rings, her insight valuable as these are framed as disability aids.

If Shadow takes off the inhibitor rings, he'd probably explode.

Maria and Shadow were taught by a lady teacher aboard the ARK. Shadow never turned in his homework.

The only thing Maria ever saw Shadow consume was coffee.

Maria met Big in the white space and instantly loved him. Big asked Maria and Gerald if they wanted to go fishing.

Omega is not powered by Animals, Chaos Drives, or any Emerald-based mechanism. He mentions something about absorbing environmental energy or something? The takeaway is that he's probably not destined to end up like most robots in the series (dead) because he doesn't have a power source that's going to screw him over.

E-123 "I don't have emotions" Omega was worried about Rogue and values Shadow and Rogue's friendship. Just don't call it friendship.

Maria being up on the ARK for so long was causing strain and division between Gerald and his sons. Gerald was desperate to cure Maria and get his family back.

Big has met Elise.

Commander Tower was the only other kid aboard the ARK.

Gerald gave Shadow some pre-set memories so that his awakening would go smoothly. Maria and him became friends instantly.

According to Maria, Shadow is more confident now than when she knew him.

Gerald called Shadow son. I'm not crying you are.

Both in the journal and in-game Gerald mentions how he is sorry for the trouble and weight that he has placed on Shadow (because of needing to strike a deal with Black Doom).

Emerl was handed over to GUN to try and buy more time for Maria's research. GUN reestablished a link by showing him an increasingly dangerous amount of weapons until Emerl started to freak out and destroy stuff. One of his rampages caused an automatic SOS ping to be sent out...

...It was that ping that summoned the soldiers who killed Maria.