#(hes better than sonic. he was made to be better period. so to try to be equal of another who is inherently inferior..

[halloweenorangesoda]

is the world ready for one sided sonadow where sonics default state is being nice + enjoying competition and regards shadow as he would any threat/ally/friend, but for shadow sonic has flipped his entire world upside down

[niyana-the-ambiguous-mobian]

Alright, alright, alright! New story drop time! After working on this for several months, it's finally time.

This little beauty is a part of the awesome Sonic the Hedgehog Big Bang 2024 event that was ran by the mods over on the discord. ( @sthbigbang ).

Another huge thanks goes to the absolutely wonderful artists for their collaboration art pieces for this fic.

@vanlikespaintingclouds (X), @kkomsed (X), and @mmollymercury (X). Links will be updated!

I See Your Monsters, I’ll Chase Them All Away.

Central Characters: Shadow the Hedgehog, Maria Robotnik, Gerald Robotnik.

Summary:

In the grand scheme of things, Shadow's existence in this world was so short, so inexperienced, yet for Shadow himself, it feels like he's been here as long as everyone else.

Even keeping his best friend, Maria, happy each time they see each other and hang out started to come so naturally that he didn't question how to improve on it, he just did it and the results were better each time.

He wanted to help her, he wanted to save her from this illness, to let her visit that planet that was filled with so much wonder and beauty, something they could experience together.

He wanted to keep her safe.

But just like a fire trying its hardest to burn its last spark of embers in the darkest night to share its glow and warmth, that hope doesn't always last forever.

It's a story about the values of trust, the strength of friendship and the power of love, a story of Shadow the Hedgehog and how he was able to be the last burning ember in the darkness that fell over the entire colony. He will be the light that chases the monsters away.

——————————————————————

Chapter 1. I see you…

✧⋄⋄✧⋄⋄✧

He doesn’t tend to look back on the past too often, mostly because of what is available for him to look back on, which wasn't much.

His memories are usually hazy, out of order and hard to comprehend at times, and that was before he was aware that his own memories were altered after he was woken up.

Whenever he tries to remember those days of his past, the early days of his creation, he could never clearly remember the time where he first opened his eyes or heard sounds for the first time, only things that happened soon afterwards.

His first memories upon his creation were always a blur of images, incomprehensible to his newly born mind.

The lukewarm feeling of the water surrounding his entire body as he floated in the capsule.

The tight yet secure feeling of the mask wrapped around his muzzle that allowed him to get air that never seemed to run out.

It was a whirlwind of emotions and sensations that was overwhelming to him even though he didn’t feel scared.

The various, tall, unrecognizable figures that passed by in his field of view, staring at him with either wonder or bewilderment. Sometimes standing close up to where they talked among themselves while looking at him as if he was a bomb that was getting ready to blow if they got too close.

Humans.

They are called Humans.

Somehow he already knew that; he didn’t know how he knew this answer, but it seemed to match with how he saw them and accepted the notion.

He would tend to imagine what they were actually talking about, since all he could hear was the muffled sounds of their voices. Some were higher in pitch than others, a lot of them were deeper, which made it harder to understand them other than hearing the noise.

The duration of time was unfamiliar, he didn’t know how long a day or a week was while he was in there, only knowing that once the lights had been turned off, it was quite a long time before anyone else came back into the room.

Eventually, he did see one person that caught his eye during one of the dark periods of the day. Somebody he'd never even seen before.

A smaller human?

A child. It is a child.

Again, he already knew despite him never meeting said child before.

He saw her walk into the room, stepping in slow, careful steps; her head glancing around at the endless equipment that towered over her. Eventually her line of sight finally landed on his incubation chamber. At first he thought he was imagining things, with how still she was standing in the near pitch black darkness of the lab until she finally moved closer.

She was smaller than he originally thought, much smaller than any of the humans. She was taking small slow steps towards the capsule, staring at him with wide eyes, tilting her head as he stared back.

Her eyes were a color that he didn't recognize, they were…bright and luminated against the dim, thick liquid of his capsule. The same color was seen on her attire, covering her entire torso to her feet from what he could see.

They were hidden behind some odd, rectangular shapes resting on her face, the light from the capsule reflected off of them each time her head moved.

The one color that stood out was the even brighter color that was seen on the top of her head and was trailing over her shoulders. He couldn’t explain it but as soon as he saw it, he felt… ease. Like the color of this oddly looking mane from this tiny human suddenly made him feel comfort and didn't know the answer why.

If there even was an answer.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice the human walking even closer to his capsule and started to knock lightly against the glass. His eyes locked directly onto her's, making her jump from the direct eye contact and take a step back, but not too much where he could still point out the distinct details on her face. Like the light dusting of tiny dots that was around her nose and cheeks or how the square objects on her face were constantly slipping down her nose so she kept having to push them back up towards her eyes.

She brought her balled up fists close to her chin and mouth, shrinking back and stepping backwards away from the capsule and into the shadows.

Why was she backing away? Was she apprehensive?

Or was she scared?

Or was she scared of him? He wouldn't be able to harm her from where he was, not with the thick glass separating them from each other.

Maybe she didn't know that, maybe the smaller human was scared due to how he appeared to her. He still didn’t know how his full appearance looked other than the brief times he was awake and was able to see his reflection and take note of how dark his own body looked, a stark comparison to the human’s light clothing and hair.

It was only when she started to back up more away from his capsule was when his hand began to reach out to her, he didn’t realize until his hand came in his line of focus.

The human paused, eyeing his outstretched hand and hesitating, finally stepping forward into the light once more. She stared curiously, giving a small, timid wave at him.

Raising his hand slowly, he copied her wave, earning him a smile from her and watched her cautiously when she came up close and placed both her hands against the glass.

She studied his face, tilting her head from side to side, making him unconsciously do the same. She then tilted her head to the other side, with Shadow following closely.

This brought an even wider smile from her, she continued to rock her head back and forth while he followed every move. He noticed as she was doing this, her shoulders were moving up and down, while her stomach moved in and out in a manner that looked like she was breathing rather rapidly, but she was still beaming at him in a way that didn't seem like she was in distress.

She even pressed her face up against the glass, crossing her eyes and puffing up her cheeks, creating a small fog with her mouth.

He didn't know much about humans, but they were already so confusing to understand.

The girl's head suddenly whips around, almost in alarm towards the door, making him see where she was looking right as the doors slid open to reveal another human, his silhouette was immediately recognized by the overtaking detail of the long and giant length of the hair follicles that protruded from under his nose.

It was the human that he had seen the most the moment he first opened his eyes. He still didn’t know why he always felt at ease whenever he was around; perhaps it was the way he didn't react to him in a manner the other humans did, more-so bringing a calmer, comforting aura to him whenever he approached the chamber during each visit.

The same aura this child was carrying as well.

The taller human walked over to where she was, taking a quick glance at him through the glass before kneeling down next to the smaller human, saying something to her that he wasn’t able to pick up due to how softly he was talking.

A few moments passed, where the girl nodded her head, her shoulders slumping down and looking at the floor. The man's face softened as he gave her a gentle head pat, got up to his full height and reached out his hand to her.

The girl took it and the two started towards the door. Shadow could feel a sudden wave wash over his body, growing more and more each second as they got farther away.

He didn't want them to leave, he didn't want to be alone. He wanted to follow them outside this tank, to move his legs and arms and not have them be bumped against the glass. To hear their voices clearly and remember the words that they say and hold onto each one in his memory.

The girl waved her hand at him again, her eyes locking once again with his and her mouth moving as if she was saying something to him.

Even though it was during the moment right as the doors closed behind them, he had been able to distinguish certain words that they would repeat around him.

“Bye.”

Though, he could only hope that this was less of a “bye”, but more of a “see you again”.

For the first time, he really hopes that he will be able to see her again.

All he can do now is wait.

———————————

Read the rest of the story here!

[sonicjustbecause]

After two years in the Sonic fandom (for the third time)

Actually, nothing in the past made me leave the sonic fandom, I gust got caught in other fandoms (the first time after Sonic I started to follow Sailor Moon, the second time it was WWE wrestling.

I guess right now this is my most serious time in Sonic fandom :D.

I learned a bit about fans and Sega itself. The worst disservice you do to yourself is being a purist. SoJ purist, SoA purist, Adventure Purist etc...

Yes, I may sound sometimes like a SA2 purist seeing the reaction of those that try to interact with me, I admit that, is my favourite period. But I like to explore and just choose what I like and ignore what I dislike. No close mind otherwise I might miss something that might be not so bad, especially I would not have fun.

(Sonic Boom is pretty stupid but I had a lot of fun by watching it, I found myself laughing).

It may be overall awkward, but I love the facial expressions. And the models look so smooth.

The issue with being a purist is that, I said it previously in other posts, you will end to not appreciate Sonic anymore. Not even what comes from your side. I saw on youtube how it ends. Fukurou Hoseki, Pariah695, they left the fandom because the Sonic they loved was since long gone, or perhaps he was never there. Anyway Sonic was becoming more and more a source of pain for them. I never followed Pariah695 properly but I used to follow Fukorou Hoseki and I was quite there when she left.

Now I hope it not will end the same with two artist that I like and that happen to be purists. One of them unfortunately is leaning on this direction, he complained more about the new Sonic stuffs and his latest works are rather uninspired. Is unfortunate because I love his works, they're so lovely (he is even a fan VA and his voice is great for Sonic).

Conspiracy theories.

A consipacy theory that run among purists see the evil SoA on one side that never respects what SoJ does.

If that was true, why then SoJ and SoA keep working togheter? It was SEGA who hired, as Sonic writer, Penters, Pontac, Graff and ultimately Flynn. And it was SoJ who followed the English VA, who told David Humphrey who Shadow was and how he was supposed to talk and Ryan Drummond's 'Teriaaaaa!' line (The line was also in Japanese).

The mandates were loosened (luckily) exactly because fans hated them.

Sonic is a SEGA mascot/character, is not a single person's character and it changes accordingly to what the majority of fandom likes/except and accordingly to the 'hystorical' period. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. SEGA, or at least Sonic Team tends to listen to fans more than other companies.

The voice of fans.

In the 2000's, fans called Shadow an emo. Official material often describled him as 'clever' 'silent' and 'distressed' but he was, overall a flexible character to work with. Fanarts and meme of Shadow doing self harm or saying openly he wished to die weren't so rare.

Shadow truly ended up to having suicidal though/ideation (although he was pretty much suicidal even before) and to do invisible self harm (having him doing physical self harm would be too much). Original Shadow had his moments, but he looked at life with a hint of hope.

Shadow's invisible self harm and suicidal ideation in official material, and it's consecuences.

Popularity.

The reason Sonic is not so popular in Japan is because of the design of the character. in Japan, cute/plushy characters are more popular. And also, in Japan human characters are more popular than humanized beasts. In the west and other places the thing is more balanced. I guess the Gijinka trend is a bit linked to this (Not all people that draw gijinkas are Japanese but they seems to have a more Japanese/like tastes. for myself I can say I always disliked the cartoon four fingers hand and prefer the 5 fingers hand even in cartoon characters, but I'm not a fan of gijinkas.

This is what Japaneses mean with 'Furry' or 'Anthro'.

This is what the West means, with characters having only four fingers in their hand.

Sonic borrows a lot from early Disney. Well, at least they have 5 fingers in their hand. The blobby fingerless feet come from Mickey Mouse (and I hate them, honestly).

Many purists think Sonic is hated in Japan. That's not true. Is just it doesn't meet average Japanese tastes but the fans are there too. And the fandom is active.

(This was in 2005 and so, but surely the artist is Japanese and did some nice arts. You can find more recent art by Japanese artists on Pinterest)

Chili dogs appeared first in Sonic SatAM (Italy/USA)

Maekawa brought them in Japan because he though it was a nice touch.

My issues with lines comparision

One thing I noticed from fans that compare the lines is that they take a single Japanese line and share. I see a lot of focus on the line alone and not on what is around or where it comes from.

They might be worded differently, but, at least to me, the overall message doesn't change. Perhaps I'm looking at the big picture. I always did when I watched anime, both in Italian and in Japanese.

My question is the likes of: 'What Shadow is trying to say? What he does means?' and not 'How does he say this?'.

Might be my cultural background. It matters.

Southern/Western Europe, (France, Italy, Spain ect...) Asia, Africa and latin America have a higher context culture. North and central Europe (example Switzerland, England, Scandinavia), North America are lower context to they might be more sensitive to changes.

If Ian Flynn is so verbose while Shiro Maekawa is way more subtle, is exactly because of their cultural background. Higher context culture put words in relation to space, what is happening and what happened before. Lover context culture focus especially on words on their own. Don't you think in the first picture you virtually only need what's written in the balloons while in the second picture you start to look more or at least ask for the rest to find clues about what's going on?

Pretty much i'm enjoying Sonic. I don't enjoy everything of course,there are things I like and things (such as the IDW comics) that I dislike. I would also suggest to look at what the fandom does, there are nice stuffs.

I honestly do not worry much about canon/non canon since is something that keeps changing.

[whisker-biscuit]

Sonic Big Bang 2024

Close Encounters of the Grim Kind: Chapter 2

---------------------------------

Tails stared at the device in his hands for a long time, just rereading the odd message over and over as if it could untangle the mysteries of the universe. It hadn’t been built to return on its own. There hadn’t even been a way for him to call it back to Green Hill once it had been set loose. He had made it for the sole purpose of collecting data beyond what he could access himself; a one-way trip reminiscent of the earliest satellites shot into space.

After nearly a full minute passed, he realized that checking the data logs would probably give at least some kind of answer to the first mystery. The fox opened the tiny outlet protector under its base and went hunting for the corresponding cord that would hook it up to his computer. Before he connected them, however, a more concerning thought occurred that made him pause.

How had his “hello world” message been changed? Who had changed it? Tails knew for a fact that the only person smart enough to make sense of his tech without tearing it apart was Eggman, and Eggman would have torn it apart anyway just on principle. If the mad doctor had somehow gotten ahold of this device, realized who it belonged to and what it was for, then its return could be indicative of a trap. There was no telling what kind of virus or spyware or any other kind of nasty cyberattack might be uploaded to the fox’s servers if he carelessly connected it.

Subtlety was not Eggman’s strongest suit by a long shot, but Tails wasn’t about to give him an easy chance at infiltration if he was trying a different tactic for once. Instead, he pulled out his Miles Electric to begin scanning the device. The “device.” He really needed to come up with a proper name for it since it seemed to be a more permanent part of his workshop than he’d first expected.

It came away clean, which only eased his worries a little bit – if Eggman had tampered with it, then at least the fox would have gotten some answers. Now he was just back at square one. With pursed lips and apprehension in his stomach, he attached the probe to his computer and watched the pop-up appear asking to sync its contents.

Now or never. Tails clicked ‘yes’.

At first, nothing came up out of the ordinary as data flashed across his screen beyond what he’d originally been aiming to achieve. The device had traveled at a rate slightly faster than the speed of light, helped by the power from the Paradox Prism. It had also made periodic “blips” – for lack of a better word – where it had seemingly jolted farther forward in its intended path than should have been possible even with its incredible speed, and often into a new, completely random set of coordinates. Tails suspected it was a kind of teleportation similar to how Sonic had described his own travels between the mini dimensions when he’d picked up enough speed.

None of the coordinates the probe recorded made sense on a three-dimensional plane, which Tails greatly hoped was evidence of the Shatterverse still existing instead of his tech being faulty. The device had to have gone somewhere for the week and a half it had been traveling so fast, right?

Just as the fox was about to stand up from his computer chair to take a quick snack break, the data fluctuated dramatically. The probe had done another “blip” through space into a new set of coordinates, and then suddenly its speed had come to a grinding halt. No movement, no more blips, no change in position or anything. It had still been active; it just...wasn’t moving.

Almost as if something had caught it.

Intrigued and mildly concerned, he studied the screen for any deviance from this strange new turn of events. The device had remained trapped in limbo for a lengthy period of time – almost as long as the entire section of travel it had recorded beforehand. Tails cursed himself for not adding some kind of time-keeper to its data log. He’d thought it would send him information in real time, not delayed like this, and now he had no way of telling when exactly the probe had been halted nor for how long it stayed that way.

Then, just as suddenly as it had stopped, the device had gone right back to traveling again. It gave up a string of coordinates that looked vaguely familiar and, when Tails checked, it became obvious that the probe had come back – or been sent back – on the exact path it had used to get as far as it had. That meant that whoever had encountered it had either the tech or the intelligence to handle its speed and keep it immobilized, and then figured out how to return it to its original sender.

An alternate Eggman, or an alternate Tails. Those were the only two possible explanations unless Sonic had neglected to mention a sudden technological genius cropping up within the other versions of their friend group. Without unplugging the cable connecting the probe to his computer, the fox picked it up again to stare at what was now very obviously an attempt at contact. It by itself wasn’t enough of a clue to determine the identity of the mystery sender, but he began to break down the possibilities anyway.

If an Eggman had been the one to grab the device, normally their response should have been to toss it, break it, or use it for their own purposes. But he remembered his brother talking about the teenaged-Eggman who was obsessed with gaming; if that version had picked it up, he might have returned it as some kind of twisted parry at a potential opponent. That, or just someone else to conquer once he had their location nailed down.

But there hadn’t been any malware in the probe. The interdimensional coordinates to Green Hill would have been easy to find for anyone smart enough to send it back, but without the Paradox Prism, the probe was likely the only thing they could send at all. If this was an Eggman’s doing, the fox still had the upper hand on that basis alone.

If it were another Tails, though…the long gap of nothingness in the device’s log made sense. They’d probably immobilized it to make sure it wasn’t dangerous, which is what he would have done. Returning it also made sense if they recognized their own technical prowess; they might even have been researching the exact same thing the Tails of Green Hill was, and found this to be a fortuitous shortcut for it.

Whichever way the pendulum swung, getting into contact with this mystery person was more beneficial than anything else. He just had to be cautious about how he went about it.

The fox ran his fingers along the seams in the metal of the device and gently removed the cover hiding the miniature keyboard. He deleted the message, then typed up a few new ones after a few moments of deliberation.

– Hello! –

– I’m researching the existence of alternate dimensions –

– Will you help me? –

While recharging the probe’s battery and running one quick diagnostic check for damage, Tails adjusted its programming by a brief margin. Instead of wandering aimlessly until it died or was destroyed, the device now had a set destination – the coordinates it had reached the moment it had been physically stopped. He paused, thumb hovering over the switch to get it going, then shook his head and flipped it before he could psyche himself out.

The probe hummed to life and hovered in the air before disappearing, just like before. Tails blinked the afterimage out of his head and leaned back in his seat. Sonic always said the best things in life were worth the risk. Whether this ended up being one of them remained to be seen, but he was going to be optimistic about it. There was nothing else he really could do, after all.

Well, that wasn’t quite true. He still had one other source for info, but he doubted Shadow was going to give up anything else. The deal they’d made was as sparse as it was for a reason, even if the hedgehog refused to say what that reason was.

And technically, he wasn’t the only one Tails could turn to. It was just a matter of getting his brother to tell the truth…or admit anything at all.

As if on cue, the sound of his workshop door opening was the only warning the fox had before a burst of wind ruffled his fur. He swiveled in his chair just in time to catch the tail end of a blue steak zipping up the stairs to the second floor.

It was pretty common for Sonic to take afternoon naps on the roof. Whether he chose to get there from the inside or the outside was a coin toss; lately, though, he’d almost always taken the route through the workshop itself, and Tails suspected it was related to his recent clinginess. Confirming the fox was around without bothering him was likely the cause of this oddly predictable behavior.

Tails stepped outside and flew upwards, unsurprised to find the hedgehog sprawled across the roof with his hands behind his head and one foot perched across the other knee. His half-lidded eyes had been lazily tracking the clouds in the sky, but they moved towards Tails at the sound of his aerial approach.

“Hey, Sonic,” he began, landing gently next to his brother so they could watch the sky together. “Can I ask you something about the Shatterverse?”

Sonic pulled one hand free of his quills to scratch the fur on his chest. “Sure. Shoot.”

“What were the other ‘Me’s like?”

“Honestly? They were pretty different from each other. The only thing they really had in common was being super smart, but it came out in different ways. Sails – the, uh, Pirate-You – was probably the closest to how you act. ‘Cept for the accent and the obsession with treasure.”

“Huh…”

The hedgehog gave him a sideways glance and a smile. “Of course, I would never compare them to the real deal. My best friend is perfect the way he is, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“That’s not why I –” Tails stopped himself with a grimace.

If Sonic thought he was asking because he was insecure, he might be willing to share more about those counterparts to ease his little brother’s mind than for any other reason. It wasn’t deception to let him think that way for a bit longer, right?

“…I’d still like to know about them,” he mumbled, averting his eyes to avoid seeing the growing crease in the hedgehog’s brow. “What did you mean about their intelligence? How was it different from each other’s?”

“Hm, well, I’m probably going to get a lot of concepts wrong, so bear with me. Basically…”

So, they laid together on the roof as Sonic described each of Tails’ counterparts and what they were capable of when it came to technology. He learned about Sails, who did maintenance on the pirate ship and had made a bomb in record time in the middle of a war zone. He learned about Mangey, who had helped Sails commandeer a giant robot and had increased the Chaos Council’s power output with just a few curious button presses. He learned about Nine, who had created multiple augmented tails to match his name and had single handedly figured out how to reform the shards of the Paradox Prism despite its incredibly unstable energy.

The fox listened with rapt attention. Every detail he turned over in his head, trying to determine whether it matched to the message he had received. His careful, vague questions eventually moved onto the alternate Eggmen, and his mental analysis was repeated all over again while his brother chatted away. It had been some time since they’d last done this, he eventually realized – Sonic reminiscing about an adventure as Tails worked through a dilemma that only he could solve. At least, it had been some time since it had been just the two of them.

Sonic seemed to realize it, too, because he trailed off after complaining about Dr. Deep’s “stupid katanas” and closed his eyes with a giant, contented sigh.

“Man, nothing beats this kinda life,” he said after a solid minute of comfortable silence. “Thwarting megalomaniacs and giving my legs a good workout are great, but having the downtime just to soak up some sun and hang out with my best bud is a luxury I’ll never take for granted.”

“Me, neither.” Tails paused, then turned onto his side so he was facing his brother. He chose his next words very carefully. “I’ve been meaning to ask…are you doing alright? Ever since we stopped Eggman from taking the Paradox Prism, you’ve been acting a little different.”

Sonic shifted in place. It would have been a perfectly nonchalant thing for him to do if not for the way he suddenly opened his eyes or how they darted towards Tails for a brief second before returning to the sky.

“I know you dealt with a lot in the Shatterverse, and you didn’t have us to back you up like you usually would,” the fox continued quickly before any shut-downs could be made. “And I know how happy you are about everything being back to normal. But just because we’re okay doesn’t mean you have to pretend to be.”

“…Heh. Thought I was being careful. Should’ve known nothing gets past you.”

“Never.”

The hedgehog sighed – this one a little more weighted than the last. He drummed his fingers on his chest, seemingly deep in thought, and Tails waited for him to reach a conclusion to his inner conflict.

“I’m mostly just worried about those other dimensions and how they’re all doing. We repaired the damage, and they all seemed to stay existing when the Paradox Prism got put back together, but there’s no way to really know. I was so relieved to get back home, that I didn’t really stop and think about how I left things until it sunk in that I was really in Green Hill with all of you again.”

“Not really sure about that last part, considering how clingy you’ve been the last few weeks.”

It hadn’t meant to be said loud enough for Sonic to hear, but he only huffed out a laugh. “That bad, huh? I’m shocked you waited this long to confront me about it.”

Now it was Tails’ turn to shift uncomfortably. “I was a little preoccupied myself. But I’m here now, and I want to make sure you know I’ll help you with anything.”

“Appreciate it, buddy, but unless you can somehow convince Shadow to lend me the Paradox Prism to check how they’re all doing out there, then we’re both outta luck. I’ll just have to assume the best and trust that the folks who helped me come back are okay.”

The fox opened his mouth, ready to tell his brother about his probe and the connection he’d made…and then closed it without saying a word. Shadow’s warning not to involve Sonic flashed across his mind. There was no way he wouldn’t learn about it somehow if Tails went back on his word, and then he’d take back the tenuous access to the other dimensions he’d given the young scientist.

Lying by omission was still a lie; he felt sick to his stomach at the sight of the hedgehog’s face clouded with worry, knowing he could potentially relieve it but choosing not to. He resolved immediately that no matter who this mystery person was – a Tails or an Eggman or even a Chao – that he would give them the benefit of the doubt for Sonic’s sake. The sooner he confirmed the dimensions were safe and their alternate selves thriving, the sooner he could declare his research finished, end the terms he’d set with Shadow, and tell Sonic exactly what he’d been doing and what he had found.

Even the possibility of working with Eggman would be worth the reassurance he could give to his brother.

When Sonic finally began to doze off, Tails crept off the roof and back into his workshop. He found a blank notepad and began creating a list of names.

• Sails • Nine • Mangey • Dr. Don’t • Mr. Dr. Eggman (?)

Next, he created columns alongside each in order to write down the notes he’d compiled in his head. Behavior that made sense for someone who might tamper with an interdimensional probe specifically to return it to its sender. Mangey, he crossed out within five minutes. From what Sonic had described, the jungle fox couldn’t or didn’t communicate with his companions in a way that would make sense to Tails. It didn’t mean that he wasn’t intelligent; it was just considerably less likely that he would recognize the written form of the language Tails had used for his keyboard. In some ways, linguistics could be more of a headache to decipher than complex calculus.

Unfortunately, almost everyone else still had logical potential for being his mystery pen-pal. He’d even added Mr. Dr. Eggman after hearing Sonic grumble about how much of a schemer he was compared to the rest of the Chaos Council. The one solace the fox had was that his own identity was most likely just as obscured. Unless someone somehow had Green Hill’s interdimensional coordinates memorized – virtually impossible, based on the short time frame that the Shatterverse had supposedly existed for – then he had nothing to fear. He just had to play it safe, stick to studying the dimensions, and keep Sonic out of it until he was done.

---------------------------------

The next day, Tails woke up to the probe sitting on his desk where it hadn’t been the night before. He practically sprinted to check on it, excited to see what the response would be, and felt a mix of enthusiasm and frustration over what he saw.

[ i will help on one condition ]

[ dont ask who i am and i wont ask who you are ]

[ this is purely a research venture, nothing else ]

Drat. That was half of his questions immediately nixed. The paranoia made him want to lean towards this being an Eggman, but the lack of interest in who he was threw a wrench in things, again. He sighed, tamping down the disappointment as much as he could, and focused instead on his excitement. Here was someone who was either proof that the Shatterverse was still intact, or at the very least was willing to help him examine the current state of things.

This endeavor was a resounding success! …So far.

Just as Tails began to draft an eager response, the device suddenly let out a series of beeps before the screen went completely dark. He panicked for all of two seconds until realizing that the probe wasn’t dead, simply out of power – it seemed the tiny smidge of Paradox Prism energy had finally been burned through after nearly two weeks. It was an impressive battery life; he could certainly see why Eggman and all his other versions had been so dead-set on getting their hands on it.

Luckily, Shadow had given him a number to call before they’d parted ways, and he picked up fairly promptly when the fox called.

“Yes?”

“My probe came back, but it’s out of energy. Do you think you could bring the Paradox Prism to my workshop so I can get it running?”

Instead of a normal response like a solid yes-or-no answer, Shadow hung up. Tails stared at his cellphone, dumbfounded, until the open center space of the room warped in a single blink. Shadow stood there, holding the neutralizing container the fox had given him to keep the prism undetectable from prying eyes.

“Um, thanks.”

“This is simply part of our agreement,” the hedgehog stated, flat as could be, while he unpacked the giant crystal. He raised an expectant eyebrow at Tails, who handed him the probe without hesitation.

The Paradox Prism glowed a little brighter the moment the device made contact with it. They both watched it recharge quietly for a while.

“Have you learned anything?” Shadow eventually asked.

“Well, it definitely worked. The probe gave me coordinates for its travel path that could only be mathematically possible through quantum physics. I don’t know if it actually visited any other dimensions, though, or if it just remained whatever void space exists between them.”

“Hm.”

The hedgehog pulled the probe away from the crystal when it made an affirmative ‘ding’ to signal it was at full power again. He rolled it almost idly between his hands as he stared at the prism, seemingly lost in thought.

“Shadow? Is everything okay?”

“Yes. I was just thinking back to being trapped in that void while Sonic was gallivanting through the different dimensions as he pleased.” He looked and sounded like he’d just tasted something incredibly sour. “I don’t plan on experiencing that again any time soon, so I expect you to remain careful when dealing with this energy.”

“Of course. I’d never abuse power like that.”

“Good.” Shadow offered the device, and Tails held out his own hands. Before they made the exchange, though, the hedgehog paused. “Was there anything else you learned? Anything about the state of the other dimensions or its inhabitants?”

Tails didn’t know why he didn’t immediately say yes. There wasn’t any reason to lie; he’d even promised Shadow that he’d keep him updated. If ever there was a time to talk about the mysterious messages, it was now.

And yet…

He thought back to Sonic’s troubled expression and the confession he’d made. He thought back to Shadow, two weeks ago, making it very clear he wouldn’t offer support for anything other than a basic survey job.

“No.” Tails looked him dead in the eye, feeling something cold prickle at the base of his neck. “There was nothing else.”

[unholyverse]

waterparks // rock sound awards 2021

(full text under the cut)

WATERPARKS

CLASS OF 2021 ARTIST OF THE YEAR

WORDS: JAMES WILSON-TAYLOR PHOTOS: JAWN ROCHA

Another album, another lap around the world…another year that very much felt like it belonged to Waterparks. Their exponential growth continued this year with a new label deal and their latest and absolutely greatest record.

They began 2021 in isolation putting the finishing touches to 'Greatest Hits', and end it off the back of a triumphant, huge North American tour, by way of big, big festival slots and the realisation of more ideas than even they might have thought possible.

Here, Awsten Knight looks back on the journey he and his bandmates Geoff Wigington and Otto Wood have been on over the past 12 months, and faces towards the future.

How has your 2021 been, Awsten? It seems like a lot of bands have understandably found this year to be way more productive than last…

"It's better, but it's been equally productive. In 2020 I still made over 100 songs. Still recorded all of 'Greatest Hits'—it was pretty much done by January—made the DVD, 'FANDOM: LIVE IN THE UK'… that took like, five or six months. Yeah, 2020 was still super productive and then obviously this year…album release, making a million more videos, playing shows. That's why I say it's equal."

Was there any transitional period for you, or were you just straight into work mode?

"It never stopped. And I'm not saying this is necessarily a good thing, but I just can't stop working. It's very hard for me to stop. Sometimes I actively try to just because, but I feel like I just operate better if I'm working on things. The thing is, at least if we are out doing shows, I'm not writing songs because of it. But last year I didn't have an excuse."

'Greatest Hits' was of course released this year. You've talked before about wanting to better yourself with each album, but what's interesting is it feels like the leaps between each record are now getting bigger too…

"I'm very about smooth transitions between stylistic stages. It feels very inorganic if somebody has screamo, alternative rock and then they try and go full pop. It's like you didn't do it naturally, so it feels disingenuous. I also think that I was more impatient being stuck at home. And on top of that, since I had more time to create and just make weird sounds and demo things out, I got to learn a lot and hit a lot of things that I wouldn't have necessarily found so soon. So I think it's a combination of those things. This gave a lot of time for me to find the most weird, left of centre, out of pocket stuff. I can't tell you how many Halloween sounds I went through making 'See You In The Future'. Sorry, 'See You In In The Future."

It's funny hearing you talk about acts earning that change in sound. It's like you are world-building but it's about the musical sounds rather than characters or stories…

"Yeah, and wanting to make as many different styles as you can. Because when it stops being fun or fresh or exciting, I don't wanna do it. Touring itself is very fun and rewarding, but it can also get monotonous. So if you are not pushing the boundaries everywhere you can, whether its sonically or show production or whatever… I mean, you see how easily I get distracted. I won't want to do it if it's not fun. You know who has got the best transition between that I think I've ever seen? Like, as far as musical styles go as a band? Bring Me The Horizon. I know where they started and watching them go to 'That's The Spirit' and even the stuff they are putting out right now… it changes style-wise so much. Not only is it consistent, but it changes and I think thats awesome. Not a lot of bands are willing to do that in case it feels like they are putting on somebody else's clothes. But they've done it in a very smooth way."

"WHEN IT STOPS BEING FUN OR FRESH OR EXCITING, I DON'T WANNA DO IT"

"I THINK BEING ALONE ALL THE TIME MADE ME WANT TO COLLABORATE MORE…"

Was there anything specific on 'FANDOM' that you wanted to improve on or push further this time around?

"I don't wanna compare songs especially because if you compare old things to new things, just because of how nostalgia works, it'll never compare until more time has gone by. But if I can sit down and look at 'Numb' vs 'Watch What Happens Next… They're both cool, they both have interesting pre-choruses in very different ways. One of them is more drawly, very minimal and then the other is a little hip-hoppy but more in a Beastie Boys kind of way. Then that outro is from hell, just crazy. I love the vocal patterns in it, in the b-section. And then I'll look at 'Watch What Happens Next' and compare those patterns. I look at things like that. What stuff got added in that's special? What are the special elements that aren't just guitar, bass, drums? I compare stuff like that a lot. Some songs are written where it's like, 'This one will have a pit'. Some songs it's like, 'This is for people who don't even fuck with us, but it has such a groove'. Or, 'This one is a dark 'Life Of Pablo'-type production that's dark and evil but expensive-sounding'. There's just certain things I wanted to accomplish and especially at that time, during recording, being stuck at home, I needed to do what's going to make me feel fulfilled right now."

You seem to be in a very collaborative mood too with the guests on the album and then things outside the album like the track you did with DE'WAYNE. Is that collaborative spirit something you are becoming more open to?

"Yes, definitely. I think being alone all the time made me want to collaborate more. And then also I feel like, and I hope this comes off okay… as good as I feel like I am at writing and production and finding creative ways to do things, I know that other people are so much better than me at other things. I don't wanna be the fucking best in the room at everything, because then why am I in this room? When I gave 'Crying Over It All' to Zeph, I didn't give very much instruction. I was like, 'Just add harmonies, do your thing, pretty freeform, just go for it'. Because when I listen to her stuff, she'd always send me demos or even on her Instagram stories she'll post the acapellas of stuff she is working on. There's like twenty layers of vocals and they are doing these random swells and all this cool shit and I'm just like, 'Woah, that's insane'. So when she sent back all of the vocals for that, it was the same kind of thing. And that's not something I would have thought of. It's no longer me sitting at this desk right here working on 'Double Dare' or 'Entertainment. I think you can only go so far alone and if you happen to have friends and people you like around you who are incredible at other things, I don't see why you wouldn't collab with them. At the end of the day, all I want is the best album in the world."

It felt like that spirit of collaboration had disappeared in the scene for a while but is now coming back around again, which is great because, like you say, everyone benefits from that…

"Yeah that's totally true. And at least for me, I felt like I had something to prove, especially early on. Because we did… we had a lot to prove. But I think, maybe in an ego sense, or I don't know what it was, but I took a lot of pride in it. We'd meet people in other bands who were bigger than us and they'd go, 'Is it true that you had no co-writes or people working on this or anything?' But in the grand scheme of things, we're not shit. In the world of music, most people don't even know we exist. But I feel like that thing - that weird alternative music mindset. Some, 'Us against the world, got to prove yourself' type of shit - I don't really have that anymore. And I'm glad, because it's not productive, it's not helpful, it's not gonna make you have a better album. I feel like alternative music, as stubborn as everybody is, I think they are probably seeing how good collabs are in hip-hop, or how Spotify works and are like, 'Oh shit, we should do that"." You've always talked about personal stuff within your lyrics but it feels like on 'Greatest Hits', you were a lot more open and direct.

What do you think has changed in your approach to lyrics?

"I think there's multiple reasons for it. I think most people just don't look that deep into stuff and I want them to know what I'm talking about. 'Entertainment… that whole fucking album is metaphors. The whole thing. And I think with stuff like 'Turbulent', that was in a way more cathartic. This isn't an objective truth or anything, this is just for me, but I think it's more cathartic to be blunt. And thats not to say metaphors or keeping things poetic isn't good. I want to still use metaphors, part of me wants to lean a little more on that. There's just something very cathartic about just saying it. 'LIKE IT'… just getting to talk shit for verses and I had even more verses written but I just wanted it to be like a punk song. A very grungy, punk kind of thing. It was just more of a release. People that are very into the band will look more deep into things but sometimes I just want someone who hears ten seconds on Tik Tok to know what the fuck I'm talking about. Lyrically, I didn't want to waste any time, I just wanted to get to it."

'Double Dare' celebrated its fifth anniversary this year. Is there anything about the creative process back then that still applies to how you work now?

"Honestly, it's the same. Sit down, laptop, guitar, keyboard, bass, mic. Shut everything out, start making shit. What is made has changed, but the process is the same."

Is there anything you wish you knew back then that you know now?

"All I would do if I could go back is just give them a mixing budget. Because I wouldn't change anything. I like some of the songs more than others but I still think they should all exist. We made the whole album for like, $10,000. Some people might hear that and think it's a lot, but it's not. For making an album, especially on a label, thats nothing. If we could get a Zakk Cervini mix, like a remix…"

When it came to the live show, this tour seems to match this new era in feel. How did you approach bringing 'Greatest Hits' to the stage?

"We went through a lot of different stages with the production. This was the first idea - I want it to make it look like thunder if we want to, make it really dark and moody, no lights around us just silhouettes and bits of lightning, because it's just a full cloud wall, so we can be in a storm like we are going to die or it can glow gold like we are in heaven, or like a sunset. Somebody actually asked me at a Q&A the other day about the symbolism of the doors onstage and I think being in my apartment so much for that long, I was always just looking at them. It felt right to bring the three doors hovering in the clouds. We had the red, yellow and blue bikes because that was my only escape during it. I could come up with crazy production all day, but you also have to take into consideration the rooms you are doing. Is it indoor, outdoor, 500 people, 2,000 people…You base these things on that. What can work in different ways. I think it's the most fitting and conceptually it's probably the best pairing we could have had visually with this album. But some day I think it would be so cool, when we get to do those fucking arena shows, to collab with someone who has done it a million times. The first time or two around, you don't understand the capabilities of what can and can't be done. You don't know what your limits are, so you just kind of be safe. So I'm excited to eventually start collabing with someone on that."

As things get bigger, it feels like the rooms are starting to match your ambition. Is there a pressure to scale things up?

"There's not really a pressure. I just don't think about it like that. The other night, and this hasn't happened in forever, but right before going on I had this weird moment where I felt like I'd re-entered my body. They were already playing 'Greatest Hits' and the first song is about to start and I felt like I'd re-entered. I glanced at the audience and thought, 'Oh god'. Fucking freaked out. Like, 'What the fuck am I doing?' I say that because the best thing you can do is not think. If you just show up and do it, cool shit gets done. If you think about it, if you analyse it, you psych yourself out."

"I NEEDED TO DO WHAT'S GOING TO MAKE ME FEEL FULFILLED RIGHT NOW"

"SOMETIMES I JUST WANT SOMEONE WHO HEARS TEN SECONDS ON TIKTOK TO KNOW WHAT THE FUCK I'M TALKING ABOUT"

It was also great to see you be joined again by Mikey Way during this tour…

"I know man, that was so cool. We're always talking about when we can do stuff because he loves playing shows and he fucks with Waterparks and stuff which is so crazy. I was in Nashville a month before the tour and we hung out and got dinner, and he's like, 'Dude, I wanna play one of these shows'. And he's gonna be in Nashville so I'm like, 'How about Nashville? And anything else you wanna do'. And he's like, 'Definitely Nashville and I'd love to do more'. I was like, 'You let me know what you wanna play and we'll switch up the set after'. That was so fun. He is one of the nicest fucking people in this world. He's in the biggest rock band in the world and does not act like it. He's so humble and so nice. He's just a good dude."

Looking forward, what do you think are the biggest things you learned in the process of making 'Greatest Hits"?

"I definitely don't wanna talk too much, especially as I don't know way too much, but I think that the one drawback that I've had with 'Greatest Hits'… it's not even a drawback with 'Greatest Hits', it's just the way in which it was consumed. I think that because it's so long, and not even long runtime wise… It's just that 17 tracks is intimidating to some, especially if you are not a diehard listener. I think some songs got overlooked, or under-appreciated. There are certain ones where I wonder how long it's gonna stay underrated. The production on 'See You In The Future' is fucking insane but its not even in the top seven of the most listened to. Or 'Magnetic'. Or 'Crying Over It All' is I think one of the best songs Waterparks has ever put out. They just get overlooked. 'American Graffiti', I kind of made that song as I was frustrated one night at how dogshit a lot of alt rock stuff that was coming out at the time was. I was just like, 'This is so uninspired, I'm just gonna make the way fucking cooler version of what these people are trying to do. I'm gonna do the perfect mix of Jimmy Eat World and Death Cab and all these people. And then just throw in some real wild production'. That outro is so fucking pretty. I feel like a lot of those get overlooked because theres so much. And there's a lot we can't put in the set because it's literally 17 songs. We're already playing for an hour and a half every night, which is a lot. We're not playing six of the songs because theres not even time. What I'm getting at is, the next album will probably be more…I don't wanna say concise, because it's not like 'Greatest Hits' isn't. It definitely goes on more tangents because that was the point. But it'll probably be shorter."

It certainly feels like alt.rock is the place where the album is king. In hip-hop you can release singles all the time, EPs, whatever you want. Is that something you've thought about in terms of release structure?

"I'm cool with singles. I don't really wanna do EPs anymore. Mainly because I'd rather just do four singles or release them as a pair. Because then if somebody hates one, they'll probably like the other. But I think that I would probably just do singles or pairings then drop another album."

What is on the to-do list for 2022?

"We are coming to Europe. We've got some more shows that we are gonna announce soon. Some places we've never been before. We've locked in support, haven't announced it yet but its gonna be very cool. We're playing that London show—insane. I wish I could say more. It's gonna be a good year."

Waterparks' latest album 'Greatest Hits' is out now via 300 Entertainment. They're due to tour the UK next summer.

[spiderman616]

Indulging in ur request to discuss Archie: I thought Ian Flynn mostly just smoothed out bumps in the writing of the comic until he started being forced to make it closer to the games— he seemed like a huge Archie fan bc he would constantly slip in obscure shit from old issues or use old plot points, but he did like the games too so there was some shit used there which is fair. Although to be honest the show Archie was based on, SATAM, was more similar to the games than even the comics ended up being after it got past that initial period of newspaper strip continuity. Not trying to suck up to him bc there were plenty of past writers I really enjoyed as well, and I think Ian had some greenness to his writing at first that he’s kind of grown out of that went in directions that weren’t so great in Archie. I think back when I read Archie I liked it when Ian’s era came in mainly bc it started getting consistently better artists like Jon Gray and Tracy Yardley (ik you don’t like them but I liked the clean lines it was very easy to understand where the characters were placed and what the pose was… sometimes. There were absolutely weird ass expressions and fumbles lmao)

in regards to flynn's run its hard to say what elements were because of sega/sonic team's growing involvement in the story, the requests of the editor at the time (who wanted to reboot the continuity at issue 160 but was talked down by flynn) and flynn's own personal biases and choices. there's no doubt ian flynn was a big fan of archie, having sent several of his own scripts for stories to the comic before being hired, but he was also the first lead writer for archie sonic who was actually a fan of the sonic video games, and i don't think that didn't affect how he wrote the comic. little things like characterization tended towards the characters' game counterparts, and plot details like the seven chaos emeralds in the special zone may have utilized concepts from previous issues but were also tinted by flynn's enjoyment and knowledge of the game. any prior writer, if tasked with the same jobs flynn had, would have handled things differently. saying something is "similar to the games" when the only games you had to work off of were sonic 1 and 2 is also a little bit disingenuous, seeing as there really wasn't much readily available story material to work with. to archie's credit they did sneak in influences from the genesis games when they could, but the plot was still majorly based on satam. flynn isnt a bad writer by any means but i dontttt think he was all that. previous issues also had really good writing, its just that the last few issues before 160 had a lot of behind the scenes turmoil that made flynn's direction look better. you can't pin everything you like or dislike about the comic's story on one specific person, something people are quite fond of doing with both flynn and penders. saying the art only got good after 160 is also... not true lol. post-160 art was more on model to the mobian style maybe, but saying that is better just betrays your personal opinion rather than any objective quality difference

[insertsomthinawesome]

25, 26, 29, 30

25. Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by

I actually don't think that's ever happened to me! I had somebody on deviant art once say my artstyle was like theirs. i think that's about it tho? There was somebody here on Tumblr who said my first WOlfwood drawing was like a combo of 98 and Stamp and I was like???? I did not do that on purpose. xD (am honored tho. 98 Wolfwood is a good lad from what I know.) 26. What's a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended OOH. THis is another one I feel like I should know but am drawing a blank.

OH I KNOW I KNOW I REMEMBER: THIS PIECE ON DEVIANT ART People kept thinking me giving Reigen black wings meant I thought he was evil when more I was trying to say he was tainted by his own questionable deeds! I totally get why people were thinking that tho xD A very understandable reaction and the title of the piece also used to be "Not What he Seems" So it came off WAAAAY more antagonistic towards Reigen. 29. Media you love, but doesn't inspire you artistically Somebody beat you to 29 so I'll copy that answer here: "OOOH. OOH I FEEL LIKE I SHOULD KNOW THIS BUT MY BRAIN IS DRAWING A BLANK. oooh I feel like, I'd have to say Probably Jak & Daxter and Monster Hunter. I LOVE both. But like hmm. I've had very brief periods of times of trying to draw for them or thinking about doing so. But I've never really done so. And with J&D it was SO LONG AGO. They're both very beautiful and inspiring in their own ways. But I don't think either has really ever made me sit down and be inspired artistically??? I think it could totally happen tho." 30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated

OOF oh no xD

THIS piece of Albedo From genshin Impact. I was always pretty proud of this!! And I thought it'd do WAY better. SOmtimes it just be like that tho! :D The other one would be THIS This was my first post to tumblr tho, so Honestly I understand why nobody saw it xD Also its in this middling phase I had with art where I was still kinda figuring out a LOT of techniques and stuff (and I've learned a thing or two about fashion design i hope 8/) But honestly I'm still really proud of it? It took a lot of effort and it was a very self indulgent piece that connected with who i was then (loving Undertale) And who I'd been in the past (Loving Blinx, Sonic, and Ratchet and Clank) So there's a lot of like, nostalgic and warm emotions attached to it that make me wish it'd done better. (also cause I HATED doing backgrounds and I put a lot of effort into that one) BUT at least its still special to me!! :D And again these things just happen sometimes. I prefer they be obscure than I force people to like them. And who knows? Maybe somebody will dig them up someday and love them :)

[seeminglyseph]

I’ve been sick today and yesterday and I don’t know where the days met, everything’s a little fuzzy, but somehow I’m watching a video about Ken Penders’ Sonic the Hedgehog and I really do feel like. I wish someone would cover it from the POV of someone who read the comics like…. Before the lawsuits and the memes. Like everything feels like “so I heard about these crazy comics and looked them up, this is crazy!” But like.

I know I wasn’t the only kid reading these fucking comics. There were other people who read these books and liked these characters, and cared about the plot lines maybe because they were 10 and didn’t know how storytelling was supposed to work. It’s one thing to be 35 and go “wow that’s fucking stupid” and another thing to be a literal small child, the target audience for Sonic the Hedgehog and be like “oh, shit, this series is cool!” Like yeah of course I didn’t know what Lemon SunDrop poisoning was as a literal 9 year old, but I remember reading a comic about the Chaotix solving a Noir style murder mystery so many times the pages fell apart.

That’s almost part of the Penders betrayal, like… yeah as a child I really enjoyed some of this stuff, and now it’s gone and trashed because he literally pulled the Sonic OC “my original character do not steal” on everything he ever contributed to a medium that is by its nature collaborative.

I grew up with a hyphenated name, this may seem like a nothingburger concept to have a problem with, but it’s also a situation where a lot of people decide either that they know better than you what your name is and will correct you, or they will simply ignore any information you give them about your name and just kinda call you whatever part of the hyphenate they like best. Julie-Su was a character whose name was not at all like mine, but also had the hyphenate that made my name so complicated. It feels stupid, but she was like my favourite character as a little kid, this obscure comic character no one knew about. But it’s all messed up now.

Maybe I should try and write an essay one day…

Edit: it should be noted like… I don’t like Penders, I don’t know a lot about his politics but it’s mostly iffy or bad what I do know. And a lot of the comics did go off the rails hard. I enjoyed the comics as a child, in part because as a child I could buy Sonic comics at the 7-11, and that meant I could actually buy Sonic comics. The world was different in the 90s man. I didn’t have information about creators, I read a comic book and then ran around creating an imaginary adventure about being a freedom fighter animal person. Like. I didn’t have the internet at all period at the time. I didn’t have a computer.

[cruorcrave]

24 December 2024

(TL;DR at the end.)

Okay, I'm writing this in an undisclosed location because my little cousin is trying to get me to play with him because I'm closest to him in age. I don't have much time before he starts telling me more about Sonic.

Anyway, silly introduction aside, today has been okay. I'm super overstimulated (partially because of said young cousin and partially because there are lots of people in my house) but it's not necessarily bad. We're having dinner soon and it's roast beef so I'm pretty stoked for that.

I made a little offering to Danu, Dagda and Brigid the other day down at the oak tree near my house. I left them some shortbread and dried apple slices and had a little chat with them, prayed for a moment and thanked them for helping me. I'm still struggling but my faith in them helps me a lot. Even if it seems like it doesn't from an outside perspective, I know I could be a lot worse. They give me a lot of strength and belief in myself.

What is bad though is the tactile hallucinations, and the urges somewhat.

tw discussing hallucinations/bugs/insects, s/h, autovampirism

The hallucinations are getting worse and worse. Multiple times today I have had to leave the room to rip off my jacket/shoes/scratch under my clothes because it feels like there are bugs. every. where. In my clothes, in my hair, in my ears, on my feet, on my face. Every. Where. It's getting to the point where it's starting to be somewhat debilitating. Like, it's actually impeding on my life beyond just slight annoyance now. Even now whilst I'm writing this in a single sitting, I've had to pause every sentence or so to scratch at myself. I've had these tactile hallucinations since I was a kid, and sometimes they were so bad I couldn't sleep, and were a big reason I didn't like being outside (being outside I can more easily assume it's actually bugs rather than my imagination) but they only ever got bad when I was already pretty distressed. I guess you could say I have been distressed for an extended period though.

I think I should see someone about it if it keeps up much longer. It's been manageable before, but the past three days or so it has been so bad I can't function as I usually would. The problem is, I'm going overseas with family early next year, and I really don't want to put a spanner in the works by trying to get this fixed before we go and starting that whole process - but, I also don't want to go overseas with this problem, especially if it continues to be this bad, or even worsen. I really don't know what to do.

Gods, I just wanna tear at my skin right now, it's so unbearable. I'm constantly scratching at myself, not to the point of bleeding yet, but definitely to the point of irritation. First the autovampirism, and now this? I can't fucking deal with all of this right now 😭ffs

Speaking of the autovampirism, it's still there. Obviously. The hallucinations have taken a bit of a front seat but fuck I really wanna relapse. I mean I don't obviously, but I do. You know what I mean hopefully. The taste of the blood and the feeling of it on my lips just calms me down so much and I really need something to calm me down right about now. I haven't got the chance to do anything though, so I'm 3 days clean still.

I'm happy that I'm still clean even though it's hard, and I'm thankful for my family for understanding when I say I need a break from people and go to hide in my room. I'm also happy that my sister is feeling better today as she was doing really badly last night.

Song of the Day: Crawling - Linkin Park

TL;DR

Today has been pretty okay even if I'm been pretty overstimulated! Having fun with my family :) Gave some offerings to some gods/goddesses that are important to me, I'm really thankful for them. Hallucinations are getting way worse though. Feels like there's bugs all over me 24/7. Scratching at myself a lot. Starting to impede my life a lot more, hoping it gets better on its own. Autovampiric urges are still there. 3 days clean though!

Clean since 20 December 2024

[theclo4ked1]

abnormally large paintbrush aura, too (scroll down for the art) Happy New Year, everybody. 2024 is off to a pretty great start so far for me, especially today since we finally got snow on my part of ZA WARUDO. We, mostly me, made these really cool snow-people in the last 24 hours, look.

These are my friends (in order from left to right), Monkeypaw, Hemorrhoid, and Kankersore. Hemorrhoid is Kankersore's girlfriend. Monkeypaw was found to have fallen over earlier this afternoon, so he's dead, RIP. What I liked about creating them was treating the snow like clay, that's why the men hats made from snow, and even though you can hardly see it, Hemorrhoid has a hair bun. She and Monkeypaw both got dat necklace drip, but only he and Kankersore have brown eyes (the darkness is made from dirt and leaves).

Snow sorry for the sort of cold opening (and the puns), I was just really happy to share that. Anyways, a short time after the last series of paintings, I had started a new project in which I experimented in larger paintings. I made three that time, so lemme tell ya 'bout 'em. Again, like last time, the paintings are ordered by creation.

I wanna say something, but I wanna see if you notice a change in subject (hint, hint), especially when you get into the next post. So, the one on the left is a Lunar Valley-type grassland with the mountains that line some of the valley's perimeter. It's a very (hmm how do I say...) "airy" kind of painting. It just looks like the texture is cloudy/foggy, especially in the mountains (not pyramids, as a peer had thought). The paint is thin because I diluted the paint with more oil, in addition to pre-coating the canvas in Linseed Oil, which was over a dried layer of extremely thinned brown Acrylic Paint. This series was when I began to incorporate Acrylic Paint into my works. The other painting is an aqueduct whose water flows into a forest, all against an orange sky with the sun standing by. The water is the best thing about the painting, and I was given constructive criticism to improve on the piece, but I've yet to act on it. The best thing suggested was to add bricks to the aqueduct to make it more like an aqueduct.

In the last post, I mentioned "another dreamscape painting I’ve wanted to make for a little over a year now," and how that's "a story for another time." That time is now, BEHOLD, my floating masterpiece: the EGG CarRrRiARrr! AHEM sorry, I had played Sonic Adventure some days ago after about a year or so since I last touched it. My "waifu for laifu" PlayStation3 would know better than I would, but anyways, let me tell you, now the story of the next painting-- wait no, a bit of backstory: I was at friend's birthday party back in October 2022, when I actually had the dream. It was a fun time, and that chocolate cake she shared with us was awesome. I can't remember what kind of chocolate cake, but it was mmmmm… Later that night, I returned home to my bed and slept. The dream began. Please BARE WITH ME as I try to remember exactly what I experienced. I told the same story to my peers, and I think I explained it better since it was at an earlier time relative to now, when I'm more likely to forget more of a finer details of that dream because it was so long ago. It's a weird one, too; Activation-synthesis theory and all:

I was captured and tied up aboard the evil pirate Risky Boots' ship, just about to walk the plank and thrown into the drink. I was cornered, with the sea to my back, and Risky and her sword across my throat. I don't know what I did, but it was likely I wouldn't make it out of this alive. Next thing I knew, I found myself in the ocean of my own blood, and the last thing I saw was that pirate's face (and her rack). I most likely died by drowning first... It was dark for a period, followed by a gradual brightness and materialization of my environment. A massive and ever-shifting sea of yellow dandelions forming a floor and a ceiling in front of an azure sky that looked like it had a navy-blue rip in the space-time continuum. I was floating over the sea. I wasn't in the air, but I wasn't swimming either. And speaking of swimming, a Blue whale was maneuvering through the environment as if it were swimming in water, it even went into the flowers. For some reason I can't remember, I began calling out to Nina, as if I was brought to this heaven for the sole purpose to find my "daughter" (spoiler: I couldn't find her). I continued floating to a point where the flowers started to end, and a dirt path of green grass began. I had landed. Finally, I was able to walk. I walked, still hoping to find Nina. The path lead to a new environment. It widened; tall trees began to appear and grow taller with every step I took. Zoo animals were present along the road, yet the only one I remember clearly was an elephant. I continued walking until I approached a familiar looking set of fences, which I recognized as part of the zoo that used to be part of a childhood park. Behind me and the fences, was the playground by where my Grama used to live. In this playground was a crowd of people; kids and adults. Among all the noise and children and water spraying from the newly installed play-area was my father, just watching. None of my siblings were there nor my mother. Just him. I walked up to him. I opened my mouth to ask "Hey Dad, have ever you seen 2001: A Space Odyssey?"

Put that on Wattpad, why don't I? After that last line, I woke up, and that same morning, I talked to my father about the dream and asked him the same question, to which he responded "yes". He also recommends I give the movie a watch, which I've also yet to do, but it's on my list. In fact, it was the first thing on my "Movies To Watch" list. V For Vendetta was recommended to me also by one of peers to which I told my dream. I think that same peer also commented how the dreamscape painting looks like a flag. By the way, this is only painting with a name in the series. I call it "i died and went to heaven". There were also multiple versions before this one. Sorry, I'm forgetting what I want to say. OH, yeah yeah, so that dream left me pondering. First off, I'm a weirdo who's Agnostic and Christian. What do I mean by this incredibly ridiculous and confusing proclamation? Welp, I'm on the fence about truly believing in God; that He created all, and the stuff about Jesus and whatnot, and I occasionally pray (though I don't think prayer is an exclusively religious concept), yet I'm not really Christian; however, I'm not opposed to the belief of the existence of a heaven and hell. What am I, can you tell me? Back to the dream, after I died, I was taken to the dandelion oceans. I'll chalk this up to the Activation-synthesis theory, but if that was supposed to be my heaven (cuz there ain't no fire and brimstones and all that junk), is everyone's heaven different based on their own perceptions? D-do you understand what I'm trying to ask? I asked my dad about it too, and his answer is one I also cannot remember, but I think he was just as unsure as me. I had always thought Heaven was this magical afterlife, with clouds and sunshine, and the gate outside of Heaven where Madea can stay so she don't have to go to Hell-- what? Well, I suppose that's what TV told me. Ever since that night, my view of what Heaven could, at the very least, look like has been the dandelion oceans, the blue sky with the rip in the space-time continuum, and the whale. It just has to be Activation-synthesis theory, it could only be! Yet, how I do remember almost everything about the arbitrary events. It was illogical, nonsensical, I was travelling backwards through time in the dream for crying out loud. It took parts from all over my unconscious, and not a single GOT damn part of the dream was related to Sonic the Hedgehog OR Dora the Explorer, two of the biggest influences in my childhood. No, it'd have to be subconscious, wouldn't it? I don't know but like, how do you take my favorite flower, NiGHTS Into Dreams, Shantae, the children's playground, the old park with the abandoned zoo, and my dad and make a dream like this? Where did the space odyssey come from?! Aargh! I'm going to bed. As usual, thanks for reading.

[skelezomperman]

Revising A Tale of Star-Crossed Knights - Chapters 18 and 19

Link to Chapter 18: https://archiveofourown.org/works/39015690/chapters/105269472

Link to Chapter 19: https://archiveofourown.org/works/39015690/chapters/105690093

These chapters are grouped together because they both cover the time period from Erinys' death up until the beginning of Thracia 776. And not so coincidentially, these are the most filler chapters of Part 3. The rest of Part 3 is nonstop because it covers basically the entirety of the second half of Genealogy in the span of 7 chapters. There wasn't really much I changed with these chapters, though I considered cutting the scene where Asbel gets Grafcalibur at the beginning of Chapter 19. I believe I did cut a scene in Chapter 18 with Finn and Nanna because I thought it served no real purpose other than to just give Finn an appearance...it flows better to have that chapter focus only on the Silessean kids.

Honestly I do find that I don't really like that C19 tries to have the three main characters (Finn/Ced/Fee) all have their plots develop at the same time, but I didn't feel like trying to rewrite the chapters so that they would all be segregated. It's a bit messy that they get split up between each other, but at least it doesn't last too long until Ced and Finn reunite.

Original A/N for Chapter 18:

Welcome to the beginning of Part III! The long night of Jugdral is beginning to end as the seeds of rebellion are sowed across the continent.

I decided that this chapter would mostly focus on Ced. Ced has the journey to go to Northern Thracia for the first time in search of his father. Fee tries to dissuade him but Arthur (!) convinces her to let Ced go. I like the Arthur-Fee friendship and it's something I really want to develop over the rest of Part III.

The rest of the journey is just...a journey. Ced rediscovers his ancestral homeland and that's great, but the big point here is Lewyn's encounter with Ced. It's the big reveal to the audience that Lewyn is still alive. Lewyn points out to Ced how foolish the plan is and he redirects him to go join the Magi. Ced is so awed that he follows Lewyn's requests even though he had previously been stubbornly locked onto finding Finn and he *should* have a lot of questions for Lewyn.

The last part is mostly about tying up some ends as to integrating with the broader plot of Jugdral - re-introducing Asbel and introducing Karin especially. And giving Finn a little scene too because I don't think he needed to be completely excluded from this chapter.

Chapter 19 will correspond to the beginning of FE5 and FE4, so see you then.

Miscellaneous notes: Paola's death is a scene I had conceived of before starting this chapter. There's no deeper meaning other than the pegasus being broken-hearted now that her owner is dead. "Lady Regent" - just made up stuff, although if you recall in an earlier chapter Lewyn did not become "King" until his coronation. Needed to explain away Ced being allowed to leave Silesse. Project Naga calls the C-rank light tome just "Light" like in the Tellius games. I personally dislike that so I stuck to the "Lightning" name used in every other FE game. For a moment I thought about having an encounter between Lene and Ced in Dahna but I didn't wish to bloat the chapter. I was having difficulties getting started on this chapter anyway. I don't plan on Julia and Ced becoming close friends, though she'll probably be friends with Fee. The "because you just told me" line is ripped off from Sonic Adventure 2. That's kind of cringe but that's alright. Lewyn not sleeping is actually inspired by a comic by Jadesnapart which you can find here: https://jadesnapart.tumblr.com/post/157387711668/boy-do-i-love-julia-and-her-weird-dad-is-he-ok

Original A/N for Chapter 19:

Originally I was going to condense the entirety of the first half of Thracia 776 into one chapter. But I realized that there's just so much content that I can't really do that.

There's three different plotlines here, all of which have are tangentially linked in some way. The first, the one that is front and center, is Ced's journey with the Magi. Ced still has the goal of wanting to find his father in the back of his head but working with the Magi has become his top goal. We see a bit of his new friendship with Asbel, then we have the conversation with Asbel when he sends off Asbel to find Leif, and we also see some insight into his thinking. He deliberately puts off trying to meet Finn.

Then there's Finn's journey. Finn covers the first events of Thracia 776 that we see in the game. He's worried about Leif taking charge and being insistent on fighting the Empire head-on, but he has to acquiesce to Leif since Leif is the lord and Finn is the servant. Finn faces feelings of regret to leave Leif (and Nanna/Mareeta) in Munster but he comes to terms with the fact that he couldn't have done more.

Finally we have Fee. Fee, worried for Ced, decides to go set out to look for him. She's initially hesitant to do that when a full year hasn't passed but then the news of Seliph's rebellion reaches her. In the original game Fee goes by herself with Arthur, but in this story I have Hermina, Hawke, and Karin accompany her. Originally in the planning stages for the story I envisioned Hawke going with Ced but I realized that the story would flow better if Ced was on his own. For this chapter I also initially wanted Karin to travel and meet Ced like she does in Thracia 776 but I decided mid-chapter to not do that - it wouldn't make much sense for a squire to travel all the way to Leonster on her own and I honestly forgot to integrate her into the scene that corresponds to FE5 Chapter 4.

About the length of the chapter, I wanted the chapter to actually end with Finn reuniting with Leif and Nanna (i.e., FE5 Chapter 7) and Seliph meeting Fee and friends (i.e., FE4 Chapter 6). But I target chapters being in the 3k-5k words ballpark and this one was well over that length so that's going to get pushed to Chapter 20. Instead, I indulged myself by making a scene introducing Altena. That interaction (as well as a couple in the next chapter) is borrowed from a previous story I wrote, Divine Wind, Earth Lance - but the plotlines in that one will have to get changed since that is based on Ced being Lewyn's son.

Miscellaneous notes: Clonfert - I literally just pulled up Ireland in Google Maps and picked a name that I thought was nice. I was lazy. The villa to the south of Munster that Finn wants to visit is Dryas'. Am I foreshadowing a relationship between Arthur and Fee? Find out later... I initially wrote the name of the fort as Fort Kelves like in an earlier translation of FE5. I honestly do not care for calling it Fort Kerberos but I generally try to stick to what the newest fanslations say, so I stuck with Project Exile's name. Tina mention...I might try to sneak her into a later chapter, not sure. "His Thracian Majesty" is Travant's style to emphasize that Travant claims the entirety of Thracia, not just the South.

Feel free to kudos/comment as always and see you next week :)

[unboundtravels]

𝑶𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒍 | @spokewar

There was a heavy layer of fog over a mixed concrete-metallic platform. There was a heavy layer of metallic debris scattered for seemingly several miles, but most of it was obscured by the fog. The platform in question seemed to be an intersecting point for several bridges. In the distance, a faint rumbling was growing louder and louder... but for now, it remained distant. The rumbling was temporarily suppressed by groaning and wheezing that echoed out across the platform, pushing some of the fog away as a BLUE POLICE BOX materialized on the platform, its lantern flashing a bright blue for every second it flickered between transparency and full solidification. Eventually, the police box settled on wanting to be real, its groaning halting with a simple thud. It remained still for a few moments before the doors reading pulled to open, showing contradiction by opening inward.

A pale man with silver hair and bright blue eyes exited the Police Box. He wore strange clothes, like a brown cotton coat trailing down to the knees, a baggy pair of tan cargo pants, and dusted white sneakers. A vanilla waistcoat and orange cravat weren't the final additions to make up his outfit, however, a long flowing patterned scarf and a brown fedora adorned his features. He looked up at the sky after locking the police box. The fog made it hard to see fully, but the device in his hands beeped rhythmically. His features were determined, and fixed, and he was uncharacteristically absent of commentary as he tuned the device. He was a man on a mission.

Images flickered across his eyes for a moment, briefly distracting him while he tuned the device. Features of a friend of his... taken by less than hospitable enemies of his. They had taken his friend whilst he was trying to help her find her home, return her to where she'd been taken from... So right now, he was a man on a mission. His eyes read of a man with an intent to do anything he'd have to do to get his companion back. Right now, though, he was just focused on trying to find her. It was a snatch and grab, a quick abduction in the hasty retreat following a botched scheme. They were making periodic stops to rest their engine while they tried to figure out how to link up with their primary fleet. This traveler, The Doctor, had to find them and his friend before they linked back up with their fleet. The thought of failure was an impossibility to him. He had a promise to keep, after all. 

"Looks like they've just touched down... so wherever they are, I'm not too far." The Doctor mumbled as he used his Sonic Screwdriver to finish adjusting the tunings on his tracking device, which beeped rhythmically to indicate he was walking towards whatever he was pursuing. "But this fog... It's odd." He mumbled quietly, whiffing at it as he paused. "Doesn't really smell like fog at all... smells like..." He stopped in his tracks to look around for a moment as he looked down toward the ground. Realizing he seemed to be standing in the middle of some kind of large road, or intersection point... he began to notice that... very... very faint rumbling.

As the wind rolled in, the brief fog cleared like a curtain on a stage play. The Doctor's eyes widen as a metallic foot moves through the fog and stamps upon the ground. Rocks shatter and the ground cracks as a blaster cannon fires over his head across the road— striking what looks to be a Republic tank at the opposite end of where he is. "Oh! Of course!" The Doctor curses, "Can't have picked a better place to try and shake me off at then— The Clone Wars!!!" The Time Traveler cursed out loud, noticing that he was closer to Separatist forces than the Republic. Avoiding a few shots of blaster fire.  

Moving to try and wheeze through the wreckage and debris, The Doctor tried sticking his head up from time to time to see if someone from the right side would notice him— well, he says the right side, but knowing their future and history— a stray blaster bolt catches the debris he's near. "Right! I'll think about proper causality and effect when I'm not multi-tasking!" He curses, not really in a position where he can make a direct dash for the republic lines. It looks like the two sides are in a standoff, the Republic pinned down and Separatists holding, but slowly attempting to advance. 

~~

On republic lines, a clone officer near the command lines lowered a pair of binoculars. He was a member of the 212th Battalion. Inching past some of his brothers, the clone trooper hands the binoculars to Commander Cody, who's stationed next to the general. "Commander! General!" he stood to attention, the trooper pointing out toward the sides of the street, "Civilian!! Out in the street!!" The Trooper called out the civilian, who has currently nestled in between some pieces of debris that were affixed directly in the middle of the republic and separatist crossfire. 

The Mad fool looked like he was ready to make a dash for it.

[kcyars520]

30 Years Ago, The Most Important '90s Band Released Their Most Underrated Album

Feb. 22, 2023

Arguing about ‘90s music is fun. Especially if you remember the ‘90s. And, for those of a certain age, one band was often at the center of many “best of” late-night debates. Was Radiohead the greatest band of the 1990s? Are they one of the greatest bands of all time? No matter your opinion on these questions, one thing remains clear, Radiohead was a deeply important 1990s band, if not the mostimportant ‘90s band. Even if you don’t like Radiohead, search your feelings. You know that they were huge, and more importantly, that they were artistically revolutionary. 

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But Radiohead was not an overnight success. On February 22, 1993, Radiohead dropped their first full-length studio album Pablo Honey to mixed reviews. Three years prior, Radiohead had released a four-track EP called Drill, which, beyond Radiohead diehards, is mostly forgotten. 

If you look at various rankings of Radiohead albums online, Pablo Honey rarely breaks the top five. In 2017, Audioxide actually ranked the album last. In 2022, Louder Than Sound also ranked Pablo Honey last. So, calling Pablo Honey an “underrated” Radiohead album may be inaccurate. Instead, the general consensus seems to be that Pablo Honey is like Season 1 of a beloved TV show that only got good in Season 3. 

But is this true? Is Pablo Honey a bad album? Or, more specifically, is it really the worst Radiohead album? If you listen to the album now — and somehow manage to convince yourself that the rest of Radiohead’s discography doesn’t exist — you may think this is the greatest ‘90s alt-rock record you’ve ever heard. From “Stop Whispering,” to “Anyone Can Play Guitar,” to “Ripcord,” to the really, really great “The Thing About You,” this album is fantastic, and has emotionally charged moments that are both quiet and brilliant. Bob Berg/Archive Photos/Getty Imagesnone

Because Radiohead was pretty inexperienced with the technical studio process at this point, there’s a looseness to the production quality that feels closer to early Oasis albums or even My Bloody Valentine. In other words, the specific and meticulous Radiohead sound — which defines everything from OK Computer (1997) through KidA (2000) — just doesn’t exist on Pablo Honey. Thom Yorke wasn’t the lead singer of the epic band Radiohead in 1993. He was the singer of an English guitar band that was much, much better than most other guitar bands of that time. After Ok Computer in 1997, there’s no way to think of Radiohead as a UK guitar band. They entered another dimension and began creating music that defies various genres. But, between 1992 and 1996, Radiohead sounds like a different band than what most think of as their sonic legacy. 

Had Radiohead remained the kind of band they sound like they’re trying to be on Pablo Honey, this would be their second-best album ever. In this bizzaro universe, The Bends would be their best album ever, and Radiohead would go down in rock history as a band more like The Stone Roses or Television, rather than the experimental prog-rock icons they became.

So, the only reason why Pablo Honey ranks so low on everybody's Radiohead lists is that they’re just a great band, and most of their albums are fantastic. If Steven Spielberg had only ever made Jaws (1975) and Duel (1971), we’d say that Duel is one of his best movies, which it is. And that’s what Pablo Honey is for Radiohead. With one wrinkle: We have to talk about the album’s lead single, “Creep.”

Released in September of 1992, “Creep” eventually became a huge hit for Radiohead, after not doing much with radio play at first. But, this song is easily one of the best Radiohead songs ever, period. Thom Yorke’s vocals define a beautiful melancholic detached angst that is literally pitch-perfect. Sorry. I said what I said! Meanwhile, Jonny Greenwood’s guitar has rarely sounded as cool, or dangerous. 

The band infamously recorded a radio-friendly version of “Creep,” which replaced the lyrics “you’re so f*cking” special with “you’re so very special.” The debate still rages about whether or not this proves that Radiohead was a sell-out band before they even got big enough to sell out. The album version, of course, contains the f-bomb and is the superior version of the track. But it’s a great song either way. It all started here, and three decades later, this track and all the other songs on Pablo Honey are still very special, so f*cking special.

Amazon

Radiohead Collection: Pablo Honey & Kid A Set

New vinyl versions of Pablo Honey and KidA

$79.99

Sent from my iPhone

[embarasseddragon234]

!!!!! ^-^

Sonic actually managing to tug Rung along on the child leash despite the ridiculous size difference is a hilarious image!

The ONLY way to get kid Sonic to chill out is to pick him up for cuddles

Someone hurts Rung and Team Sonic is like "Ah, so you have chosen. . .death!"

Some random Decepticon: AAAAAH!! WHY ARE THESE TINY CREATURES SO STRONG!!!

Rung:Well, I uh, tried to warn you.

(putting the rest under a read more cause this post is getting a smidge long)

I can't stop thinking of dumb responses Rung could use when confronted by Optimus about missing meetings(in Personaverse)

Optimus: Are you alright?

Rung, holding the most concentrated Energon he can get without it being high grade, looks like he hasn't recharged in a month: My sparkling decided to fight oppression with magic powers.

Optimus: I . . . see?

Those little trucks are PERFECT for Rung!

I can just imagine Ren falling asleep during long drives

I also can't stop thinking about how that would have started. Like, Rung finds this tiny human and is like "I guess I'm a dad now???" And has to figure out how to convincingly 'play' human so this tiny, quiet kid can have a good life

And he worries that maybe he didn't do a good enough job because Ren never really made friends or connected easily with his peers

The sheer relief he feels when, after the worst period so far in their lives, Ren goes silent while telling him what happened that day and quietly says ". . .I made a friend."

On a completely unrelated(sarcasm) note, Rung ADORES Ryuji, he thinks he's great and is totally absolutely completely unbiased in that opinion why would u say this he has no idea what ur talking about

He also basically adopts the rest of the phantom thieves too

Rung: *tearing up* I have so many beautiful children

Ann: Um. . .you know I have a dad right?

Ren, typing on his phone: Just accept it

Futaba,upside down in her chair: Yeah, I think having a mech dad is pretty cool

Yusuke, doing a pose(as usual): Hmm. . .coffee dad and mech dad. . .

Yusuke: It has a certain ring to it, doesn't it?

Sojiro: Wait what was that first one?

Rung adopts the Phantom Thieves as his kids, the Phantom Thieves adopt Sojiro as dad 2 (Rung is dad 2 for Futaba, obviously)

It just occurred to me that both Rung and Sojiro have older dad/grandpa energy

Sojiro's the grumpy grandpa who makes amazing food, always makes sure you've eaten before u go anywhere, and isn't afraid to call u an idiot if that's what you need/you're doing something dangerous

Rung is the grandpa who always has candy and a kind word on hand, is affectionate and always supportive, but IS a bit of a pushover sometimes, he's more likely to go "well, I don't think that's...quite the best idea" than outright tell u not to do something

I've been trying to think of scenarios for Jak, I figure he would NOT take kindly to being dadded if he notices(does he need it? Yeah probably. But he's not happy about it. Especially if it's after Jak 3)

Rung is nice to Jak in an extremely straightforward way, that Jak only recognizes coming from Daxter(and maybe his uncle when he was a kid) and Jak is like *squints* "Suspicious."

Daxter figures out what's going on before Jak does and is like

Daxter: Jak I think he just likes you.

Jak: *scoffs* Dax, you're the only one who actually likes me

Daxter, squinting: *thinks about how every adult over a certain age basically subtly adopted him once they got to know him* Yeah u keep tellin yourself that babe.

Jak is not subtle, has never been subtle, and does not NOTICE subtlety, he wears his heart on his sleeve and expects everyone else to be the same (he's learned better now, mostly, but it still crops up in situations like this)

Also once Jak does accept that he sees Rung as a father figure (and it takes awhile, because BOTH of the people he's had for fathers[his 'uncle' in Sandover and Damas] died and he's starting to think he's cursed) it goes the same way as team Sonic. This tiny little creature beating the crap outta some random Decepticon (or any other hostile Cybertronian) for threatening his dad

Technically the Phantom Thieves would ALSO throw hands for their dad, but unless they're in the Metaverse they are just normal humans with normal human strength, though guns are a funny alternative (especially since they're illegal in Japan)

Rung: What do you have?

Futaba: A GUN! •̀▽•́ *Runs toward Decepticon*

Rung: NO!

Ren: WHY DOES SHE HAVE A GUN???

Also something something Rung building little ship models with his kid(s) is another cute idea

Today I discovered IDW Transformers Rung, a psychiatrist whose much more than he seems. He's too dad shaped to not drop into sudden parenthood. Look at him! You can't tell me this man wouldn't make such a delightful dorky father figure.

I already got a few characters in mind to drop him on. First is definitely going to be Jak from the Jak and Daxter series. Whether it be pre Jak 2/3 or Post 3 is in the air. I'm leaning to Jak, Daxter and the Kid being displaced with Rung in Transformers Prime. That or Earthspark. Most likely Prime because of comparisons between Eco and Energon.

Plus Jak seriously needs therapy alongside a hug. He's got a case of 'chosen hero' syndrome and self worth issues that needs to be handled.

Next is Sonic the Hedgehog specifically the Movie variant. Both will be displaced in either G1, Cybertron or Animated. I would say Prime just for Super Sonic vs Unicron but nah. Earthspark will be used in a different project with this iteration.

Rung ends up being a dad to a 3-5 year old Sonic, as i can't resist the image of him trying to raise a child that can fit in human sized pockets. Freshly traumatized hedgehog gets hugs alongside therapy. Also the hilarity that between the giant robot and his super fast child, it's Sonic someone has worry about as he will throw hands.

Last one for now is Ren Amamiya/Joker from Persona 5. Universe wise, Prime, canon divergent Bayverse or Knightverse be perfect for the two. Mainly cause Persona is an M rated series that are spurred from the design of particular Personas such as Mara to murder being a more uncommon occurrence. *Persona 4 was literally a murder mystery.*

Rung met and raised Ren when he was five years old. The bot would be unable to stop the unfair trial but definitely won't leave his kid alone in a different city. Plus Rung getting dragged into the Phantom Thieves' shenanigans by Ren. Kid already has a codename made for his pops: Guide.

What do you guys think? Should Rung be hit with the dad hammer?

[thankskenpenders]

IDW Sonic: Imposter Syndrome and #50

It’s finally here! IDW Sonic #50! I waited to talk about the Imposter Syndrome miniseries until after #50 dropped, and it turns out #50 has, uh... well, it’s made a big splash. I’m not sure I’ve seen this many people talking about (and/or arguing over) a single issue of Sonic in a long time.

As expected, in this post I’ll be talking about Surge, Kit, and Starline, but #50 has also given us a ton to chew on regarding Sonic and Eggman, Belle, and the overarching themes of the entire IDW series.

Let’s start out with the miniseries!

IMPOSTER SYNDROME

Surge rules

Can I just say that up front? That’s my main takeaway. Surge fucking rules

She was popular from the very second the first images of her dropped because Evan and Mauro came up with an extremely sick design, and the actual story does not disappoint. She borrows liberally from delinquent rival anime tropes (except, you know, she’s a girl, so it’s instantly even better), but that’s such a natural and fun addition to the Sonic cast that she instantly grabs you

And boy, if the writing and the strength of the design weren’t already enough, Thomas Rothlisberger’s art throughout the arc sure does. I’ve seen a lot of comparisons to Rise of the TMNT, which I can see. But Surge just makes so many good faces, constantly, and everything she does is cool. She’s angry teenage rebellion personified and she’s instantly become one of my favorite characters in the entire franchise, period. (Tangle and Whisper are also up there, so it’s safe to say the IDW comics have an extremely good track record when it comes to comic-original characters.)

Like seriously just look at her faces and tell me she isn’t the best

Kit, AKA “Aw Little Guy!!! Oh He's A Little Bit Fucked Up Actually”

There were always hints that Kit had a sinister side to him - he is a villain, after all - but Surge stole the show at the start of the miniseries. This left Kit mostly as her meager sidekick struggling to please both her and Starline. In this way, he’s a dark reflection of Tails. Where Tails has become more independent over time, becoming more of an equal to Sonic, Kit exists entirely to support Surge. Starline made him this way, because this is how Starline perceives Sonic and Tails’ relationship. Starline doesn’t really understand people despite thinking he does, and this is what ultimately damns all of them

Naturally, this has left Kit kind of fucked up. Over the course of the arc, it becomes clear that he’s probably the scarier of the two. Surge might be stronger, but like Sonic, she wears her emotions and her intentions on her sleeve. But Kit? Kit suppresses his violent urges, until they build to a point where he can’t anymore

(these panels from #50 but still)

Holy shit, Starline???

I touched on Starline’s very meta plan earlier. I would have honestly been happy if Ian and co. had just added these cool new rivals for Sonic and Tails and let them duke it out, because they are, in fact, cool as hell. But the actual plot of the arc is more intriguing than that

Starline has always been a very meta character, with his main trait as a character basically being that he can zoom out and notice patterns in the franchise that other characters either can’t or won’t. He’s the guy who watches a movie and says how he would make smarter decisions than the characters the whole time. Early on, he did this with Eggman. He tried to “fix” Eggman’s methods so that he could finally succeed in beating Sonic and taking over the world, but this didn’t work out, and Eggman kicked him to the curb. He then decided that he would simply go solo and take over the world for Eggman. He finally reveals his true plan for doing so here: create his own “heroes” who can replace Sonic and Tails, the main heroes who always stand in the way of “progress” (Eggman taking over the world). In theory, this will allow Starline to control the hero/villain dynamic from both sides, ending the cycle of Eggman trying to “change the world” and Sonic stopping him

And of course, Starline calls this cycle he intends to break...

“The Sonic Cycle.”

I love you Ian

It quickly becomes apparently, though, that Starline’s plan here is, uh. Extremely fucked up! Wow! Early on it’s revealed that Starline has repeatedly been “rebooting” Surge and Kit. Any time the cracks start to show in their conditioning and they question their life stories, Starline’s orders, or their innate desires to defeat Sonic and Tails, Starline edits their memories. They do start to put two and two together, though, and eventually they learn the truth: they’re just two random kids Starline kidnapped and experimented on. They don’t remember their actual pasts, and Starline didn’t bother to keep track of who they originally were because he doesn’t care. They’ve been modified with cyborg endoskeletons and even have some of the Metal Virus in them, making them nigh-unkillable. Which Starline tested by... well, killing them repeatedly to make sure they always bounced back.

This is... so much darker than I would have ever expected? But in a fantastic way. It makes Starline SO absolutely despicable, and it gives Surge and Kit this pathos that makes you want to root for them, even as they set out to go rogue and burn the whole world down. Surge is very much set up as her own antihero in the buildup to her showdown with Sonic, which is a choice that I think leads to some fascinating character juxtaposition when it finally happens in issue #50.

Really, my only complaint about the miniseries was that the marketing made it seem like Sonic and Tails would be dealing with these two sooner, when in reality this is all the setup. The extremely hype wrestling promos for the climactic Wrestlemania that is Sonic #50. (My other complaint, I suppose, is that IDW is still having multiple artists trade off in a single story, which can be a bit jarring. But that’s a publisher-wide issue.)

But MAN. When we finally do get that big showdown? It does not disappoint.

SONIC #50

As with Imposter Syndrome, I went in expecting Sonic and Tails to fight Surge and Kit. And we absolutely got that with this extra-long issue penciled by Adam Bryce Thomas. Adam’s always been an A-lister on the IDW series, especially when it comes to bombastic shounen manga-inspired battles, but this issue might just be his best Sonic work yet

But like I said at the start, the issue is more than just some cool fights.

Sonic vs. Surge

Surge’s entire life, or at least what little of her life she can remember thanks to Starline, has been building up to this moment. Whoever she was before is gone, replaced with one purpose. She’s been impatiently awaiting the day she's finally allowed to fight Sonic to the death. We’ve followed her through Starline’s inhumane training, the audience being equally antsy after months of buildup. At long last, she confronts him. She delivers an impassioned speech about what she stands for, how she curses the world that discarded her, how she’s going to tear Sonic and anyone else who stands in her way a new one...

And Sonic... doesn’t really give that much of a shit.

They do fight, of course. Boy, do they ever. But Sonic has never met this girl before and has no animosity towards her. He’s also done this too many times and would like to skip to the part where they’re friends, or at least frenemies. And this is just... tragic for Surge. For her, this is the most important day in her life. But for Sonic, it’s Tuesday. For Surge, this is a duel to the death. But Sonic, ever the unflappably positive shounen protagonist, is just having fun fighting someone who keeps him on his toes. He refuses to validate her on her terms.

(There are also a lot of interesting parallels with Tails’ simultaneous fight with Kit, where the kindhearted Tails is trying to be extremely nice and defuse the situation when he realizes that Kit is just some poor, fucked up kid. But instead of going on my own tangent I’ll link this very good TikTok analyzing Sonic’s social skills and the interesting ways his blunt, brash attitude can clash with the fact that he does genuinely care a lot.)

I even feel like Adam’s art is playing up the idea that Sonic’s attitude continues to make him the villain for Surge. His speech about his ideals places him above Surge, with a smug expression on his face and sunbeams shining down over him. Adam’s own (extremely sick) variant cover is framed very similarly, showing us the smug and above-it-all Sonic from Surge’s perspective.

Why does Surge think Sonic is so holier-than-thou? And why does she still care about fighting him if she just wants to defy Starline’s brainwashing? Well, she directly calls out his belief in the power of second chances, blaming Sonic for her very existence. Which ties back into what’s become one of the main recurring themes of the IDW series.

Sonic’s Characterization

As Ian’s explained, Sonic’s characterization in the IDW series has been informed by a number of factors. For one, more compassionate heroes are just landing better with audiences these days, including in shounen manga. Your Dekus, your Tanjiros, etc. But beyond that, Sega explicitly forbids Sonic and friends from proactively seeking out Eggman. Sonic is never looking for a fight. Eggman simply causes trouble, Sonic shows up to stop him, and he returns to being a free-spirited roamer.

Really, Sonic’s attitude in the current comics isn’t much different from how he acts in the games. Ian just decided to draw more attention to this behavior, and turn it into an explicit character trait that impacts the story.

I don’t really know what games people have been playing where Sonic DOESN’T act like this? Sure, there are a few games where a villain dies. There are always going to be counterexamples in a series as inconsistent as this. But look at how many characters Sonic has given second chances, and how lightly Sonic often takes threats to the world. Shadow was trying to blow up the damn planet and Sonic was still just having fun racing him on the ARK. Chaos destroyed a whole major metropolitan city and Sonic is like “hold on, Chaos is just hurt, we need to break this cycle of violence.” He’s ended up working with Eggman plenty of times to stop a greater threat. Even when this doesn’t happen, Eggman tends to just fly away at the end. Sonic never hunts him down. Again, Sega forbids him from doing this. It’s not in his character. The IDW comics just explore why.

At the same time, bad faith criticisms of Sonic’s willingness to give villains second chances tend to ignore the very important second part of this mantra, which this issue has Sonic spell out explicitly. Yes, he believes in giving people personal freedom. But the second they use that freedom to hurt people, Sonic is going to beat their asses again. He doesn’t have qualms about using violence in that way. He is, by no definition of the word, a pacifist. Sonic understands that Surge is traumatized, and tries to give her the chance to back down. She refuses, so he kicks her ass, because she’s a threat. Sonic sort of took mercy on the Zeti, in that he didn’t fucking execute them or whatever... but they also got banished back to the Lost Hex where they can’t hurt anyone. Tails disarmed Metal Sonic before they let him go. Sonic let Eggman go only because he had amnesia and Mr. Tinker was, by all accounts, a literal different person. The second he came back? Sonic gladly went right back to blowing his shit up. He is not out here handwringing about Eggman Empire property damage, he’s destroying his bases and smashing his mechs again.

Sonic also isn’t just any regular guy, and can’t always be judged as such. He’s a larger-than-life hero. He’s the embodiment of freedom, of endless adventure, of the power of friendship, of other idealized... well, ideals. This is the very core of his character. He’s the unshakably positive hero who never blinks in the face of danger, who the other, more realistically fallible characters can lean on. He’s a force of nature. He’s not perfect, and he doesn’t always handle things the right way, and other characters will bring up valid counterpoints to his way of life. Like other shounen heroes like Goku or Luffy, he might be a hero due to his actions, but he’s not concerned about being the world’s savior or its god. He doesn’t want to dictate how people live their lives. He leaves decisions about how to run society to other, smarter people, like the Restoration. He just wants to be free to go on adventures and to help his friends when they’re in need. His theme song spells out his whole deal, clear as day: It doesn’t matter who’s wrong and who’s right. He’s just living by his own feelings, and he won’t give in, won’t compromise. He only has a steadfast heart of gold.

Surge can’t stand this, though. The two just can’t see eye to eye. And so she zaps Sonic when he takes a time out in their fight to help her out of a chasm, getting the last laugh and seemingly falling to her doom. “That’s the real problem with giving people a choice,” Sonic solemnly says. “You can’t stop them from making the wrong ones.”

The Bigger Problem

Beyond any fandom bickering over how Sonic should or shouldn’t be characterized, though, this is part of a larger problem that I’ve seen way too frequently in recent years. Adults are engaging with genre fiction for children, and then getting upset when the child protagonists fail to model what they perceive as proper behavior for adults. Particularly, adults are seeing child protagonists learn to solve conflicts nonviolently, or even merely refusing to kill a villain, and interpreting this media as a political playbook for adults telling them that punching Nazis is bad.

That’s not to say that children’s media is never political, of course, or that you can never judge it through a political lens. (Back in the Archie days the direct political allegories were NOT subtle.) But just because some cartoon villains are obvious stand-ins for fascists doesn’t mean that every cartoon with a world-conquering villain is trying to tell you, an adult, how you should deal with fascists, or murderers, or whatever bad faith comparison critics on YouTube and Twitter want to make this time.

This will hopefully be insultingly obvious to most people reading this, but fiction isn’t always literally about the thing it’s depicting, or the closest real world equivalent. In genre fiction, and especially genre fiction for kids, reality is heightened. A fight for the fate of the city or the world or the universe isn’t necessarily about world-scale threats in real life like fascism, or even about real world violent conflicts in general. It’s often more about the emotions than what’s literally happening on screen. In a musical, when the emotions get too strong for words, they break out into song. In an action cartoon, when the emotions get too strong between conflicting characters, they fight. The fantastical violence is just the medium through which the story is conveyed. They trade blows and express their feelings.

Similarly, when the child hero in a series for children saves the day by hugging the right person, or when a villain is redeemed, or when Naruto espouses the power of friendship and uses Talk no Jutsu for the hundredth time, that isn’t telling you, a 30-year-old, that you can go out right now and save America by giving Mitch McConnell a hug. The morals of these stories aren’t necessarily supposed to apply to world-scale conflicts because children are not responsible for saving the world in real life. Instead, the lessons apply more to conflicts that children do deal with. Disputes with friends, or family members, or teachers. Things like that. It’s telling kids that hey, maybe you’ve been mean to people, maybe you’ve acted wrong, but you can learn from your mistakes and do better. That is what lessons about trying to resolve conflicts peacefully, talking about your feelings, empathizing with others, and giving people second chances are supposed to be about. They (usually) aren’t intended as political playbooks for adults telling you not to punch a Nazi, because the people telling these stories are probably hoping that adults aren’t modeling their political behavior after Cartoon Network and Shonen Jump.

But while I generally enjoy this compassionate take on the Sonic series, there is one part of the issue that felt weaker when it comes to the heroes showing compassion towards the villains.

Belle and Metal

If there’s one character from the games that I think Ian has always struggled with more than others, it’s probably Metal Sonic. Of course, not every writer is going to gel with every character, especially on a licensed series where you’re working with someone else’s cast. (Lord knows if I was to write a Sonic series I would play favorites lmao.) And Ian’s definitely put out some great Metal Sonic stories. But he’s also prone to boiling the character down to a simple killer robot for Sonic and co. to repeatedly defeat without any interiority.

Belle has also been a contentious character throughout this season. I’ll reiterate that I think Belle is great, and the big emotional beats with her have been strong. I would say the mixed response to Belle is primarily a matter of pacing, more than anything else. As Evan explained over on her blog, Belle's backstory was originally just going to be a short one-off. When the 2021 Annual was replaced with the Classic Sonic special, Belle’s story got turned into the main overarching subplot connecting the stories of the third season. I do like a lot of the storytelling this allowed for. The buildup to the reveals in the Test Run arc, and her ensuing tearful breakdown; her questioning of her very nature as a Badnik; her heroic moments in Trial by Fire where she’s finally able to prove herself. It’s good stuff! Character arcs like this are why original characters are added to the comics in the first place. But I can also see how the slow and somewhat repetitive rollout of information and emotional beats is a bit much over a year and a half of comics, and it was a little odd to have her stick around as the only consistent main character for every single arc of the season as soon as we met her. But I still enjoyed her arc this season as a whole.

No, where I start to be more mixed on the direction of Belle as a character is this issue. Previously, Belle had made it her mission to try and save as many Badniks as she could. I understand her motivation, and I do think this has potential to be a fun premise. Badniks are EXTREMELY underutilized in the tie-in fiction, and anyone in this corner of the fandom who’s following artists like Hydro knows how fun it is to have Badnik characters around.

But the problem is, of course... if we start to recognize the Badniks that Sonic destroys casually as people, doesn’t that make it wrong for him to destroy them?

I guess it depends on the context, and how it’s executed in the future. Like, Motobud was fine because that’s not just A Motobug, but one that was specifically reprogrammed by Mr. Tinker to be friendly. But what’s Belle’s endgame here? Where is the line drawn between robots that need to be saved and simple obstacles for Sonic to pop in action sequences?

To me, we start to see the cracks in issue #50 with Belle’s attempts to save Metal Sonic. Metal is certainly no stranger to redemption arcs and characters trying to see the good in him - the OVA basically defined him as a character. But still. It’s admirable for Belle to see a robot who’s hurt and want to help, but the sympathy shown for Metal is laying it on a bit thick for me given Ian’s usual characterization of him as a missile with legs. Sonic already let him go once early in the series, but that was specifically because he thought Eggman was gonna remain Mr. Tinker forever at the time, and he and Tails also made sure not to restore his full fighting abilities. (”We’re compassionate, not stupid.”) But in this very different context, with a very different character, it’s just... eh, it didn’t sell me on this as a wise use of Belle’s compassion. If she wants to help the “abandoned” Eggman bots, Metal is very much not one of those. He just happened to have been hurt by Surge when they found him.

Not the end of the world, but it’s the weak part of what’s otherwise an amazing issue, and I worry that Belle showing complete and total sympathy towards every Eggman robot may get old fast. But, like I said, it will depend entirely on the execution. Maybe she’ll only single out the oddballs like herself and Motobud. It may not even be a huge element of the story moving forward, since I know Evan’s outright said Belle would be taking more of a backseat now that her initial arc is completed. (It also seems like Eggman wants to take advantage of the fact that she interfaced with Metal, so her kindness here may backfire...)

If anything, though, I do like the little awkward family reunion where Belle is telling Eggman that she’s done hoping he’ll go back to being Mr. Tinker and is gonna go live her own life and Metal is just kind of standing there because he won’t attack another Eggman creation.

Anyway! I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned the giant robot fight

Starline’s Final Comeuppance

Sonic’s ideals, as explained in his fight with Surge, are also directly contrasted with Starline as he fights Eggman. Sonic stands for personal freedom, for better or worse, but Starline stands for total control, even more so than Eggman. He tries to manipulate people and the very story he exists in to steer everyone in the totalitarian direction he thinks is best. Anything outside of his narrative doesn’t matter. Even as Eggman is fighting him in a giant mech, he’s still under the impression that his actions are justified, that Eggman will be okay with being a pawn in his scheme so long as they get their happy ending ruling the world.

Instead, he loses a sick-ass mech fight, he’s humiliated worse than ever before, and then he dies!

I actually didn’t read it as a death at first because being crushed by rubble is such an easy “death” to write around, and it’s, you know, a comic book. Nobody stays dead in comic books. (We already know Surge survives this issue, regardless of how it looked.) But Ian did, indeed, intend for this to be Starline’s death. He also admits that that’s not entirely up to him since he’s not the only person making story decisions, so I won’t be surprised if he comes back in a year or two. Regardless, as much as I like the character, this is probably the most fitting death Starline possibly could have had. He thought he could outsmart Eggman, and the very nature of the series he’s in. Some readers, too, have accused Ian of writing Eggman as too much of a bumbling oaf in the IDW comics, especially with Starline always pointing out his mistakes. Even the marketing for this arc seems to have played into this, asking if Eggman would “bumble his way to a victory”

All this for the ultimate slam dunk in this issue where Ian definitively reminds us that, even if he can never beat Sonic... no one else can definitively beat Eggman, either.

Because Eggman fucking rules

I said at the top that Starline is damned because he doesn’t understand people as well as he thinks he does. He creates Surge and Kit as dark and deeply broken reflections of Sonic and Tails because he so fundamentally misunderstands how their dynamic works. He thinks he understands Eggman, too, but he doesn’t. He may consider himself Eggman’s #1 fan, but he’s a toxic fanboy with faulty criticisms. He’s CinemaSins. He focuses on the details and the logic, he nitpicks, and he thinks he could do everything better if given the opportunity. He thinks he understands the nature of the series he’s in, but he fails to see the big pictures, the heart. He doesn’t understand why Sonic is really the hero beyond his strength and bravado. He doesn’t understand why Tails is a hero beyond his ability to support Sonic. And he doesn’t understand why, despite his many mistakes, Eggman will always endure as the true big bad of this world. And this leads to his downfall at the hands of his idol

I could say more about this issue and the ones that lead to it! I have obviously already said way too much. I’m gonna cut it off here!

Even with all the hype to live up to, this was an extremely satisfying issue of Sonic. One of the best in a long, long time. This one’s gonna stick with people. I have my quibbles, but it really has it all. Action, humor, drama, heart, stunning artwork, and a whole lot of character work to think about. Can’t really ask for more, can I?

[bluebunnyears-08]

The Bittersweetness of Sonic Prime

You know when I go back and rewatch the episodes of this show because of how it ended, and because of its interesting story, I realize how horribly bittersweet it is.

Usually, Sonic stories have epic adventure stories or happy positive feelings but Prime is just...bittersweet. It gets even worse when you remember the ending of the first batch, which leaves SOO many interpretations.

Sure, there's some action here and there, but the main focus is the characters and their feelings. It's not about the fights or good vs evil, it's just about getting home, and trying to find light in a pitch-black room.

Hope.

Which makes the ending of the first batch worse. Home doesn't exist anymore, Sonic broke it. The way they handle Sonic's character is actually well done in my opinion. He's bubbly, positive, and cocky, but ultimately well-meaning, and unconditionally kind. There are some things he says that are annoying, but nothing too bad. Nothing too unwatchable.

I absolutely enjoy it when they put flaws instead of making Sonic a perfect hero like they usually do. He's more real, and easier to get attached to. He's immature, but he is still a teen, still growing and learning about the world.

The other characters are really good too. And one thing Prime does is show deep empathy for its characters. Each character has more depth to them, and when they express distressed feelings, you can understand and feel it. At times, you can even relate to their pain.

(The way he poses XD, he knows he's a bad bitch)

And I couldn't use this pic without this one.

(Period. End of discussion)

Shadow is another really well-done character, not an overly edgy asshole, but a cold person with a hidden heart of gold. He's standoffish to Sonic, and most likely his friends, but his and Sonic's fighting probably is nothing but competitive sport. Not to mention their fighting ACTUALLY MADE SENSE. Shadow saw Sonic was going to do some stupid shit again, except this time he would break the WORLD, so naturally, he tried to stop it.

Of course, he was going to fight Sonic, the blue bitch doesn't even listen to his friends. Of course, he's going to literally knock some sense into him the first chance he sees him, he broke THEIR HOME.

I agree Shadow could've tried to talk to Sonic, but again would Sonic have listened? Not to mention, Shadow is...a complicated person when it comes to communication.

The variants of the main characters are really good as well. Each of them has goals, ideals, and sides. Of course, there's one that stands out to me, and if you've seen my posts you know who it is.

I can't NOT talk about Nine! He's just so interesting and well-written. The show emphasizes a LOT of mystery around him. Like we KNOW this is another version of Tails, but what happened after he took the shard? How did he see Sonic? What did he discover about Prism's power and how to harness that power? What is going on in his head?!

We'll have to wait for these questions to be answered in the second batch, but he's still very fun to watch. In my opinion, he's not only the best character in Prime, but he's also the most bittersweet in the Sonic Franchise. when Sega tries to write a bittersweet character, it's either too sad or too happy, too edgy or too go-lucky, but Nine is a perfect in-between.

Nine is edgy done right, I am so sorry Shadow SEGA ruined you, and has moments where he's happy too. He's just a very complex and interesting character.

It's hilarious that "emo Tails" written by Netflix is better than any other edgy character SEGA made up. When he blows up or becomes cold, it's understandable.

Attacking Sonic the first moment he meets him? Sonic called him something he was abused for YEARS for, so naturally, he thought Sonic was another "bully". Taking the shard over helping the rebels? He watched the only person he ever bonded with get sucked into this shard, he never bonded with any of the rebels anyway. Doing it again when there was a battle? It wasn't his problem, it was the rebels' he was only working with them because he was helping Sonic anyway.

However, back to the topic, all of the variants Sonic bonds with reminds him of his friends back home, so yeah, he helped and bonded with them, but he doesn't belong in that world. Except his world is destroyed, his home where his REAL friends are, his friends that he mentioned are what make his home, home.

If he does manage to get all of the Paradox Prism together, those worlds and those variants will likely disappear. The variants would go through the equivalent of dying. They'll become one again, but they'll cease to be nothing more than mere traits, they won't be alive anymore, and they won't be their own person anymore. They'll cease to be, nothing more than the shards they are.

No matter what, how happy they are, or how satisfying the conclusion is, they will still have to "die", all just to become a shard of someone who will never know they existed. No matter how optimistic you look at it, it will have a pang of heartbreak.

And I think the chance of them remembering is highly unlikely because it would take away from the main theme of Prime. This isn't about them learning something, it's SONIC, and probably Shadow. If they remember it would kinda ruin the main tone of this show.

If anything, they'll just think it was a simple dream and think nothing of it. Because that's all it was to them, not a deep journey, not a meaningful bonding, just a weird dream that they don't need to think about ever again.

What will the varients think of that? What will NINE think of his worth? Nine and every other variant are just copies, things that aren't as important as the real thing. They aren't worth much, they're just variants, just "shards". With how Nine suffered, with how much Nine WANTS, I don't think he's just going to overlook it and help.

I also think that with his villain arc will come another solution. Another way the world can be restored is without simply converting him, mashing him up with the other meaningless shards, and becoming the real Tails. Another way where he won't be just some shard.

And to be honest, if there's another way that involves Nine going crazy but getting his way, getting to be HAPPY, while restoring the world and bringing everyone back without having to "die", I'm DOWN.

Some people hope there will be a redemption arc, and so do I, I'm hoping that the thing I mentioned just now will be it. Redemption is not always happy, it can be sad or bittersweet. When he does get that, it'll most likely be the harshest bittersweet ending of all.

I keep reading posts that Nine is a good boi or going to be a villain, but I want to say something that needs to be clarified, Nine isn't a good person, but he's not a bad one either, he's simply a kid, and we CANNOT forget that.

He's just a kid with NOTHING to lose, and when he finally finds something to be worth living for, he's never going to have it (unless he does things his own way).

There are some quotes from other Sonic games that I think fit well with what I'm trying to say that sum up ALL these characters, especially Sonic and Nine. All of these were said by Sonic btw.

"Don't be afraid to accomplish your dreams."

"When you want to do something, do it right away. Do it when you can. It's the only way to live life without regrets."

“Every world has its end. I know that’s kinda sad, but that’s why we gotta live life to the fullest in the time we have.”

“If the world chooses to become my enemy, I will fight like I always have!” -(Actually stated by Shadow, my b)

“I’ll never look back, I’ve got no regrets. Cause time doesn’t wait for me. I choose to go my own way.”