#Cutegirlmayra update | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

beevean · 3 years ago

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Compilation: the Sonamy dynamic, explained in Seaside Hill Paradise (2022)

[translator’s note: the original article was written in Spanish by @latin-dr-robotnik]

Today we’re going to talk once again about the star of our show, this time to put in order some recent writing pieces and concepts.

In the last 5 years, the discussion around Sonamy made giant leaps. Old preconceptions about Sonic’s creators, the relationship between East and West, and even the importance of certain continuities over others have been made obsolete, even abandoned by the fandom in favor of more updated news.

In this period of time, we saw the death of Archie Sonic and Sonic Boom; the birth of IDW Sonic; the establishment of Sonic Studio, a studio in charge of every aspect about Sonic (except videogame development); and the retirement from the series of the writers Ken Pontac and Warren Graff (2010-2019), who have been replaced by famous Archie and IDW writer Ian Flynn to write Sonic Frontiers.

Even in the fandom itself, these five years have considerably affected the conversation. Personally, I’ve been involved in Twitter and Tumblr, and the kind of debates, investigations and conclusions drawn by all these interactions have completely turned upside down my understanding of the Sonamy dynamic in more than one occasion.

This is why today we’re going to make a compilation of the articles and information about Sonamy that we hosted on Seaside Hill Paradise since 2017. Depending on the case, we could add more recent and complete information that helps us understand certain concepts tied to the dynamic.

The format will be simple: we will put the articles in chronological order, from the oldest to the most recent, followed by a short summary and some notes that can include corrections or concepts to be aware of (because they weren’t explained well at the time or because the fandom gained a better perspective with time).

Are you ready? Let’s begin from the oldest article, the one who kickstarted this important era of the blog.

April 12th 2018: «Opinión: ¿SonAmy en IDW Sonic? [Updated: June 2019]»

[translator’s note: the article was never translated in English because deemed outdated]

Summary: this article was originally published just after IDW Sonic #2 had come out, and it reports the drastic change that the relationship between Sonic and Amy underwent compared to other media of the time (Forces, Boom, and the last issues of Archie). It was updated in 2019 during the Metal Virus arc, and it presents some questions about Sonic’s reactions in front of Amy, mainly the question “is he in love with her?”. The original conclusion also compares Sally Acorn expecting that Sonic changes for her in Archie Sonic, versus Amy assuring Sonic that “it’s all the reasons I love you”, signaling a change in the franchise as a whole.

Notes: this is an old article, it doesn’t fully cover IDW Sonic but there is another, more recent article that is more updated. This article is also rather cruel towards Sally Acorn in her worst moments in the Bollers era of Archie Sonic. Nowadays I’m not so keen on these low blows on Sonic and Sally’s dynamic.

September 26th 2018: «SEGA and the eternal issue of the Sonic-Amy dynamic»

Summary: the origin of this article comes from an official SEGA merchandise page that mentioned the celebration of the 25th birthday of “Sonic’s girlfriend”. This sparked a discussion on the differences between East and West when it comes to the dynamic, using as reference three publications of a renowned writer of fanfics and analyses on Amy: Cutegirlmayra. The conclusion offers a reflection on the new ways Sonic and Amy could be together, focusing on their love for adventures, and that they could work as an adventuring couple, one that doesn’t really need kisses or hugs or great love gestures to show how much they appreciate the company of one another.

Notes: in this article I didn’t give enough credit to the games from the Adventure era onwards. Despite some bad translation from Japanese to English, the games still kept some nods and special moments that make Amy shine above the popular conception of “desperate fangirl” that took hold in the fandom. The next article will be about Amy as a character.

This article was also once again cruel towards Sally Acorn and put emphasis on her worst moments in Archie, which I now regret. Sally is a complex character, with her good and bad parts in the various eras she went through (SatAM, Archie Sonic pre-#50, Archie Sonic pre-Flynn, Archie Sonic pre-reboot and Archie Sonic post-reboot); analyzing her would take much more effort than a simple mention of the kind of romantic relationship SEGA of America presented to the Western side of the Sonic fandom.

However, the conclusion of the article is still relevant nowadays, and until a certain point IDW Sonic did focus exactly on what I said worked between them. We’ll see what will happen with Sonic Frontiers.

March 27th 2019: «I love you – Forbidden words in Sonic»

Summary: this article is a reflection on that famous scene in IDW Sonic #2, and the impact that the words “I love you” have in this series: they had never been mentioned outside of Archie Sonic, and both Sonic X and Sonic Lost World omitted any potential “I love you”. The article continues with an explanation of “SEGA’s mandates”, a series of restrictions unknown to the general public that Sonic writers and sponsors have to follow; they were introduced after the mess that were the romantic stories in Archie Sonic, especially during the Penders-Bollers era. And lastly, the article comments on the flexibility of these mandates, and how they allowed to imply that there’s something between Sonic and Amy, in IDW Sonic, Sonic X, or games like Unleashed and Lost World. Nevertheless, it was stressed that the Sonamy dynamic has first and foremost a strong symbolic component, and that in cultures like the Japanese one they’re accepted as a couple and that’s it.

Notes: nowadays, the idea of SEGA’s mandates lost a bit of its strength. While it’s not a question that they used to exist at least, and writers like Ian Flynn talked about their restrictions more than once, the reality is that it doesn’t look like the mandates are as strict as we thought. The general vibe in the fandom is that the Japanese vision of the dynamic between Sonic and Amy is slowly permeating in Western material as well, and that anyway, thanks to Sonic Boom, we’ve seen how flexible these “mandates” are. The way Sonamy is understood and written has changed, and there’s not need for it to go against the limits SEGA puts, as they’re there for a reason.

April 28th 2019: «Sonic Unleashed: Chip, Sonic, Amy and emotional support»

[translator’s note: the original article was never translated in English, but the gist of it is covered in the Tumblr post above]

Summary: this is the second most important article on the blog, after SEGA and the eternal issue of the Sonic-Amy dynamic. A Sonic Unleashed analysis that was inspired by a comment made by Cutegirlmayra on Amy’s role as the source of emotional support for Sonic, and the latter inspiring Amy to be better every day. The article also analyzes Chip’s role and his relationship with Sonic, compared with an entire secret subplot that develops between Sonic and Amy and that can be easily ignored by the player; but if they do, they’ll lose a ton of essential information about their relationship, which is seen in the cutscenes and Amy asking Sonic on a date at the end. Lastly, the article puts the spotlight on Kiyoko Yoshimura, Sonic Unleashed’s writer, and her relationship with Shiro Maekawa, the main writer of the majority of the games from Sonic Adventure 2 (2001) to Sonic and the Black Knight (2009). Maekawa and Yoshimura wrote together many episodes of Sonic X (the series considered to be the closest to Sonic Team’s “true vision”, according to them), and Yoshimura wrote many important episodes for the development of Sonamy, including episode 5 and 9, on top of being the story editor of the Metarex saga. The article concludes with a reflection on the changes in the way Sonic Team and SEGA handles the characters and the stories of the games after Yoshimura and Maekawa left the series.

Notes: there’s an entire extra section about Maekawa’s role in the franchise that wasn’t included. We’ll explain more about it in the FAQ section of this article, but in an interview with Emi Jones I found out that Maekawa mentioned the existence of a team dedicated exclusively to check the representation of the characters according to a general guideline (no mention of the famous “mandates”). Maekawa was part of this team.

This article is one of the mandatory reads of this blog and almost entirely reshapes the way we understand Sonic Unleashed. However, it’s not complete, and months later I wrote another essay about the characters of the game, including a piece on how Amy trusts Sonic, and how bad she felt that the entire world gave up when it looked like the end was near. I’ll save this discussion for the article about Amy Rose.

Many parts of the English post have been used as reference for the “Sonic Unleashed Manifesto”, a thread created by the SonAmy Central account on Twitter. I recommend reading it, as it includes many extra nods that are not present in the article.

May 18th 2020: «SEGA and the eternal issue of Sonic’s girlfriend» [SHP #200]

Summary: the 200th article of the blog is about the idea of Sonic having a girlfriend, and analyzes three “girlfriends” in particular that existed in the history of the blue hedgehog: Madonna, Sally Acorn and Amy Rose. At the end, the article comments on which of the three “girlfriends” still exist and what kind of relationship has been established in the last years, concluding with a reflection on the control that SEGA of Japan has over the characters, and the current state of the relationship between Sonic and Amy.

Notes: this article is, in its own way, a compilation of Sonic’s main relationships throughout his existence. It’s less cruel towards Sally Acorn, but once again I must stress that nowadays there’s still a lack of a more in-depth looking of her character, with the good and the bad, and not just her love story with Sonic.

The information is still relevant to this day, and to me, the perspective that it offers about the changes in the discussion of these topics is important to understand what I said at the beginning: in the last 5 years, the discussion around Sonamy made giant leaps.

The article also includes a mention to the excellent thread made by Yvanix Rose on Sonic X Episode 52. [translator’s note: the thread is in Spanish]

August 12th 2020: «No soy inconveniente para mi novia»

[translator’s note: the article was never translated into English]

Summary: this article was inspired by a Japanese screenshot of Sonic Battle, where Sonic supposedly says “I’m not inconvenient for my girlfriend”. It was followed by an analysis of the reaction of the fandom, memes in favor or against it, and comments on the censorship of SEGA of America compared to the perspective of SEGA of Japan.

Notes: “I’m not inconvenient for my girlfriend” is not a correct translation. My friend and collaborator Beevean says that a more accurate translation would be “I’m sorry, but I don’t need a girlfriend [because I already have one]”. Beev pointed out that the structure of the sentence in Japanese is ambiguous, not spelling out in an explicit way that Sonic might already have a girlfriend (or might not even be interested in one), and that the English translation, “I have enough girls chasing me as it is”, is not as bad as we believed.

December 3rd 2020: «SEGA and its more recent Sonamy side – more canon than ever»

Summary: this article was an end-of-the-year checkpoint to sum up everything that happened during that time, including all the hugs that followed the latest update of Sonamy in IDW Sonic (up to #36), and an entire SEGA Shop merchandise line exclusively based on the love between the two. The article concludes with an explanation on what really happened, on SEGA opting for supporting Sonamy like this because the ship sells. However, there is also room for discussion, where SEGA seems to be considering the idea of establishing once and for all that Sonic and Amy have a strong bond, that whether they are friends or the mysterious “something else” they are willing to give the life for the other if necessary, and a possible approach to ideals closer to the Japanese vision of the characters.

Notes: the information in this article is still accurate. What we still don’t know is if SEGA really intends to get closer to the Japanese version of Sonamy, and if they’ll go deeper in the future in games like Sonic Frontiers and the Sonic Prime series. As of February 2022, Sonic and Amy are the only protagonists of Frontiers that have been confirmed by the Game Awards 2021 trailer; some rumors say that they’ll be one of the main focuses of the game. We just have to wait and see.

March 23rd 2021: «Opinion: how could Sonamy progress in IDW?»

Summary: this article was inspired by a question I got about the future of the dynamic in IDW Sonic. The main theme is to understand the opportunities and limitations of the dynamic, the point their interactions could reach until the mystery of whether they’ll eventually get together is completely solved. It also comments on the necessity of separating Archie from IDW, and it concludes with a reflection on the possible future of this particular continuity.

Notes: the article only refers to the IDW Sonic canon, but it still helps to expand our knowledge of the Sonamy dynamic in the main canon, assuming that the words used by people like Evan Stanley can be applied there. We’ll go back to these ideas in the next section.

May 13th 2021: «Sonamy Paradise – a reflection on recent and future events»

Summary: this article is a compilation of the opinions of friends and collaborators of this blog on the Sonamy dynamic and where they think it’s going. We included Beevean (translator and collaborator of SHP in many articles), Jessica (friend and the person behind a petition for a series based on IDW Sonic), Mort (SHP staff, co-host of the SHPodcast and the person behind the channel Sonic Caos), Yvanix Rose (translator, SHP staff, collaborator, part of Sonic Stage Argentina, wife) and Facu (SHP staff, co-host of the SHPodcast, part of Sonic Stage Argentina, the person behind the channel Geshinro).

Notes: the opinions of this article were influenced by two central events that happened at the time: the “leak” of “Sonic:Rose” (or Sonic Unlimited, which may or not be Sonic Frontiers), and the events of IDW Sonic. The article might be considered outdated depending on each case.

A Sonamy FAQ

After summarizing all the articles, I’ll answer a list of frequently asked questions about the Sonamy dynamic, to clear up some concepts that may not be totally clear.

Question: What is SEGA’s official position about Sonamy?

Answer: Amy always called herself Sonic’s girlfriend, as said in her Sonic Generations profile; but complementary material like magazines, manuals and passing comments like in Sonic Heroes (especially in the US manual) and Mario & Sonic in the Olympic Games always hinted at the fact that Sonic might be hiding his true feelings. In 2018, the official SEGA Shop described Amy as “Sonic’s girlfriend” in its 25th anniversary merchandising line, which was never fixed despite the fans immediately noticing it (today that page is gone because the merchandise is no longer sold).

Aside from that, SEGA is always ambiguous on the canonical state of the ship. SEGA of Japan usually shares on social media images where the two are together, like plushies in pretty places, while the Western branch make memes that can even end up rather aggressive, like the infamous image of Sonic rejecting Amy’s advances with the description “Friend Zone – Stage 5”. SEGA’s official position is to never confirm anything in canon, but at the same time alluding to something more, mainly because the ship still sells. Occasionally, Amy has been defined as “Sonic’s self-proclaimed girlfriend”; other times they say she’s just Sonic’s girlfriend, but mainly as a joke, especially to fluster Sonic like in the Twitter Takeovers.

In different occasions, certain fleeting comments alluded to a possible stance, but they are not real confirmations of anything. For example, in Sonic and the Secret Rings, a section about Sonic CD says that Amy is “Sonic’s always cheerful love interest” (note: this appears only in the English version, NOT in the Japanese version, so I was advised to take it with tweezers, lots of tweezers actually), or a 1994 sticker magazine that included mentions of Amy’s effect on Sonic, “capturing his heart with her beauty.” Details that have always circulated in the fandom, but it is worth clarifying that they should be taken with a grain of salt.

Yuji Naka, in an interview from 2004, explained that Sonic X was much more in line with Sonic Team’s vision at the time. Information that complements the interview with Maekawa on how SEGA supervised this kind of things and the vision of the Sonic Team writers about Sonic X and the game canon.

Question: Who are Shiro Maekawa and Kiyoko Yoshimura? Why are they so important?

Answer: they were two of the main Sonic Team writers in the 2000s. Maekawa worked between 2001 and 2009 and wrote games like Adventure 2, Heroes and Black Knight, helped to fix Sonic ‘06 as much as he could, he helped supervise Sonic X, and was part of a SEGA team dedicated exclusively to oversee the representation of the characters (confirmed in an interview with Emi Jones from a few years ago)

Yoshimura had a central role in Sonic X, writing different episodes: for example, episode 9, the beach one where Amy gives Sonic a special bracelet made by her. Being the editor of the story of the Metarex saga, she also wrote the famous episode 76, the one where Amy fully plunges herself in the aquatic planet to save Sonic without considering that she might not be able to get out of it alive, but in the end both of them are safe, together. She also helped Maekawa writing the dialogue of Sonic ‘06 while he fixed the story, and then she wrote the story of Sonic Unleashed.

Kiyoko Yoshimura wrote this episode and the story of Sonic Unleashed, among other things.

Both where essential in this particular era of Sonic, and they wrote many of the most iconic Sonamy moments. Considering that Maekawa rewrote ‘06’s plot and Yoshimura the dialogues, they were probably the ones behind the infamous Trial of Love, where the player has to choose between Elise or Amy: if they choose Amy, the oracle comments “I see. You’ve chosen your long-time love”. There’s also the possibility that their individual projects were connected, like for example Unleashed’s date (Yoshimura) with Black Knight’s date (Maekawa). Regardless of their contributions to Sonamy, after they left Sonic Team, the way the characters were written and interacted with each other clearly changed.

Maekawa and Yoshimura worked on this. It doesn’t matter whether ‘06 is canon or not: this reflects the stance of the Sonic Team writers in the Adventure era. It’s impossible to talk about those games without mentioning their contributions.

Question: What does Sonic think about Amy? Does he like her?

Answer: Sonic’s real feelings for Amy were always kept a secret. Recently, he looked much more relaxed about her in the different interpretations of the character (Boom, IDW, even the Sonic Channel story based on the two of them), unlike in the past where Sonic used to run away as soon as Amy mentioned his name. In Western portrayals, like the Twitter Takeovers and panels like the 25th anniversary celebration and Sonic Boom 2014 (actually a sneak peak of some of the episodes of the first season), there’s the tendency to put Sonic in uncomfortable situation where he’s forced to admit his feelings for Amy, and where Roger’s talent to make Sonic sound agitated shines.

Then there are exceptional cases like Sonic in Sonic X episode 52: the meaning of the white rose and Sonic’s censored words in the Japanese version [translator’s notes: it’s Yvanix Rose’s Spanish thread], which leaves fans wondering if Sonic really said he loved Amy… until in the French dub Sonic directly says that he has “loved her since forever”. The analysis of Sonic’s feelings is never quite simple, and indirect elements and different symbols are often used (two songs that talk about lovers: Hikaru Michi and Natsu No Hi, a rose, a particular gesture, his own body language) to try to allude that there is something more, without necessarily saying it and risking an essential modification to the status quo of the relationship, regardless of whether it’s the games, a series or the current comics.

(Edit: Yvanix Rose informed me that the current streaming version of Sonic X uses a third unknown song, and that more importantly they cut the line where Sonic openly declares his love for Amy. Of course, the original version was never intended to come out with Sonic saying “Of course I love you Amy, since forever!”, because even in the Japanese dub, the one the French dub is based on, censored it, probably for being too forward for someone like Sonic; and in other versions like English and Latin Spanish they changed Sonic’s words to be less… obvious, but they can’t hide this information from the new generation of fans. We all know what French Sonic said, loud and clear: “Bien sûr que je t’aime Amy, depuis toujours!”)

Let’s not forget that Sonic X is considered the show “most faithful to Sonic Team’s true vision”.

Question: what will happen with Sonamy in IDW Sonic?

Answer: Their relationship is in a very comfortable place right now. We’ve seen multiple times over the past four years that Sonic is much more willing to go on adventures with Amy (ex: IDW Sonic #14), and Amy has been able to express over and over again her excitement at seeing Sonic, including a good amount of hugs (and Sonic accepts them so calmly, something unimaginable decades ago). I doubt that things will go beyond these displays of affection, but the comic has all the potential to explore the in different aspects: adventures, combat, and even those quieter moments at the end of story arcs of high tension and action. IDW Sonic doesn’t have to, neither will follow in the footsteps of pre-reboot Archie Sonic, but the Sonic-Amy relationship can be expressed in a variety of ways that don’t require traditional romantic displays, like kisses or big declarations (except for that one time in IDW Sonic #2 when Amy said she loves him just the way he is, but she has always been more emotionally expressive than Sonic).

Evan Stanley (artist and comic writer) said not much long ago:

«They like each other, but Sonic just isn’t the kind of guy who is going to make goo-goo eyes at Amy or perform grand acts of romance. If you wanna see that, that’s what fan works are for.»

Question: is SEGA going to confirm Sonamy in an official way someday?

Answer: The possibility of it being “confirmed” in a traditional way is not in their dynamic: a declared engagement, with kisses and romantic dates and all kinds of typical romantic interactions… is not how Sonamy works.

Relying on this traditional definition to gauge the canonical status of the relationship is the quickest way to conclude “they’re never going to be together”, but the reality of the dynamic is different. Although the origins of Amy’s character can be traced to ideas that were left hanging after scrapping Madonna (Sonic’s first “girlfriend”, with elements such as the red dress or the fact that she was the one chasing after him), and to SEGA’s clear intention of creating a love interest who was “Mickey Mouse’s Minnie” (as Naoto Ohshima mentioned), from the beginning her character had the additional twist that Sonic is never going to completely reciprocate her feelings (translation: he’s not going to turn into Mickey Mouse singing about how much in love he is). The idea that the Sonic creators always defended is that he is not necessarily interested in such a relationship, who still has “the heart of a young boy” (that is, he’s immature for some things). In any case, Naoto Ohshima himself has expressed that, if one day Sonic grew up, he would probably choose Amy as his partner: the closest thing to an “official” confirmation from the man who created the character.

Although she doesn’t have the necessary authority to speak for the main canon, Evan Stanley explained the official position on the dynamic:

Sonic Team’s official stance is that while Sonic does like-like Amy, he’s simply not interested in a serious relationship at this point in his life. Amy knows this, and is content with being good friends. Not every story needs to have an intense romance, and not every character needs to be into that. There’s plenty of fan-made content to provide it if you really need that fix.

None of this is new information, but it’s important to keep in mind that SEGA’s stance hasn’t changed in three decades. What did change were how Sonic and Amy’s interactions have been adapted from Japan to the West, giving the impression that Sonic can’t stand Amy, when the original intention was that he doesn’t know how to react, and probably doesn’t even fully understand what he feels for her.

In short: it’s been confirmed that Amy was created to be Sonic’s love interest, what will never be confirmed is a traditional engagement in-universe. In any case, in Japan they’re still seen as a couple, and from time to time SEGA of America and SEGA of Europe take advantage of opportunities to remind us that both hedgehogs could be something more or not, a bond much deeper than one of best friends… Who knows! This is what SEGA wants.

The collaboration with Hot Topic in 2020 was completely focused on Sonamy. These things don’t happen for no reason, they’re personally checked and approved by SEGA. SEGA of America, in this case.

Question: B-but the creators said that Sonic is never going to get married! And anyway many of them no longer work for SEGA, so their current opinions don’t matter anymore!

Answer: Two things:

1. The fact that Sonic will never get married and “settle down” doesn’t mean that he’s never going to feel love, or affection that goes beyond mere friendship. While getting married and adopting a domestic life is clearly out of character for Sonic (outside Mobius 25 Years Later), there’s a whole world of possibilities to mix adventurous elements with an added touch of clues about a potential romance or something else (Sonic Boom, for example, used secret dates and confirmations from supporting characters, since officially Sonic couldn’t show any interest in Amy). Reducing the validity of an affective bond to how likely two characters are to get married is a very reductive and naive way of understanding the way in which such bonds can be established.

2. Although it’s been 15 years since Yuji Naka and Naoto Ohshima have worked at SEGA, they continue to give their opinions about Sonic to this day. Their comments don’t usually contradict official stances that have existed since the time they worked at the company, and that probably they themselves promoted in the first place. Ohshima did not start to believe in the last 5 years that Amy would be the ideal romantic interest for Sonic, she was always created with that intention and he, as Sonic’s creator, knows the limits of the character and his potential reactions to different situations. Neither Naka nor Ohshima can accurately predict the future that lies ahead with Frontiers and beyond, but they are not two nobodies, they know Sonic’s character more than we do.

Question: why is Sonic Unleashed such a frequent topic?

Answer: In recent years, Sonic Unleashed has become something of a “Sonamy temple” due to how the many layers of references and nods to the ship. As mentioned above, in this blog we published an article about a whole subplot between Sonic and Amy, that deals with the emotional support that she gives Sonic at a time when he has to travel around the world without stopping for a minute, and when he must deal with his own wildest form: the Werehog. There are also tons of nods from NPCs, ranging from comments on their relationship to a love story that almost entirely mirrors the dynamic that Sonic and Amy have (Ana and Musaid’s story). All of this material has been recently archived by SonAmy Central, including some of the material I used for my writing.

Kiyoko Yoshimura really shined in writing this world adventure, and only now fans have begun to investigate and discuss the extent of the references that she included in the dialogues and the different substories of Unleashed. And we explained earlier why she was so important to this era of Sonic.

Question: How does Sonamy work?

Answer: As we’ve said so far, their dynamic works for two reasons: the ambiguity of Sonic’s feelings, and Amy’s determination to stay by his side, either as his best friend or in her quest to eventually become something more. Over the years we’ve seen that their points of view can complement each other to some degree, and that there are ways in which Sonic inspires Amy to be better every day, and she gives him all her support and faith during the best and worst of times. In this regard, I want to share an excerpt that a friend of mine, Rachel, wrote a few days ago about the way their dynamic works and that, in my opinion, is a brilliant explanation:

(Context: a chat about how easily certain characters can be shipped with others, especially Amy).

«By contrast, Sonic in canon is probably the least shippable character. I think I made a SonAmy essay some time ago about it, but tl;dr since he isn’t tied to anyone and is pretty private when it comes to his most intense feelings (love, sadness, etc.) Despite being and extrovert through and through, his heart remains a mystery for all of us as well as for his friends. Yet Amy is still his canon love interest, and their interactions have changed a lot across the years and the medias. What are they? What does Sonic feel for her? How do two characters who appear so different and even incompatible at times manage to bring out sometimes the best, sometimes the less pleasant aspect of each other? And how do they surpass their flaws and manage to prove time and time again that they have, in fact, one of the strongest bonds in the entire series- platonic or otherwise? That’s why it’s all geometry shapes and maths, because they are the real deal in canon and they are such the anti-Mickey/Minnie that it shouldn’t make sense, yet somehow it DOES.»

There’s also the memorable time when Ian Flynn (writer of Archie, IDW Sonic, the Sonic Forces prequel comics, and now Sonic Frontiers) defined Sonamy’s strengths, though it’s worth noting that his comment is mostly referring to Archie Sonic which is more a decade old, and that Ian, like Evan, doesn’t have the full authority to talk about the dynamic in the main canon, at least not until Sonic Frontiers comes out and we see exactly how his writing (which does directly affect the relationship of the characters in IDW Sonic) is moved to an official context of a Sonic Team video game. Let’s take his words more as a guide on how to consider the dynamic:

This is how their dynamic works. Amy puts all her trust in Sonic because she knows that he’ll always do the right thing, no matter how much it causes the whole world to turn against him; and if he wouldn’t, she would be the first to fight him because she’s still her own character at the end of the day, with her own thoughts and ways of looking at life. Sonic often shares the most essential elements of Amy’s thinking, particularly her willingness to help others without expecting anything in return, but sometimes they clash, and it’s that clash that sparks the differences that can be more comical (Amy is very expressive with her feelings, Sonic is reserved and prefers to not openly show emotions) or more serious disagreements (Amy insists that Sonic must protect the little birdie from SA1 while he, most likely not understanding the seriousness of the matter yet, believes that it’s unnecessary and absurd).

When everything works well, all the situations in which Sonic has shown himself to be up to the challenge inspire Amy to improve, to work on that courage that has evolved a lot since her encounter with Metal Sonic on Little Planet. Sonic is not stupid either, because he knows very well that Amy is up to the task and that she has helped the main group on more than one occasion (such as SA2), and although sometimes it can lead to a setback, Sonic never rejects Amy’s support. Together they form this odd friendship that can occasionally suggest something else, regardless of whether Sonic feels more or less uncomfortable when it happens, but it doesn’t negatively affect his interactions.

It’s that tug-of-war that makes Sonamy work the way it has for almost three decades. Sometimes Amy pulls the rope to see how far she can go, but she lets go when things get serious and she brings out her true empathetic and heroic side. Sonic is usually more focused on pursuing the next adventure, but he doesn’t mind if Amy decides to join, and is willing to defend her first thing if she’s in danger, even though he knows very well that it can end in a hug that is uncomfortable for someone like him, who doesn’t know exactly how to feel or show his deepest emotions.

And the truth is that, when they’re given the chance, they make for an excellent team.

Conclusion and acknowledgements

This article was originally meant to be a simple compilation of the articles on this blog followed by some quick questions about Sonamy… and well, let’s say it’s been extended to unthinkable limits.

In the last 4 years, Seaside Hill Paradise embarked on the endless journey of studying and understanding the Sonamy dynamic from multiple perspectives. As you may have noticed, the articles have covered everything from general aspects to specific cases, such as Sonic Unleashed and IDW Sonic. The reality is that the topic is not easily exhausted, and there is much more to discuss in the future, so it seemed relevant to me to compile all the progress we’ve made so far: all our writing pieces and the references we have used to reach the conclusions in the FAQ section.

One of the reasons this article got so long, and to whom I owe the greatest thanks of all, is my dear Yvanix Rose. Thanks to the information, the translations, the different corrections and warnings that she gave me, the article has slightly more complete answers, with their respective links to the original sources. Obviously it’s not the first time that we have worked together in these four years (I usually link to her blog when Spanish translations are available, especially the Sonic Channel stories), but for this article in particular I wasn’t planning to consult so much extra material, and her help ended up being a lifesaver. This is not all the available Sonamy information, and I know that she’s working on a huge project to finish the whole puzzle, so all I will say for now is that I look forward to the moment when we can see the fruit of that hard work ❤

Me giving my thanks for contributing to this article ❤

I also would like to thank my friend Rachel, who without even meaning to she managed to write one of the best summaries I’ve read recently of the Sonamy dynamic. Despite my experience in the fandom reading a lot of cute things on these two characters, her message really took me by surprise. I hope that you don’t mind me sharing your piece!

And finally, I’d like to thank the entire Sonamy community in our official Discord server [translator’s note: the server is mainly Spanish speaking]. This group, made up of artists, writers and referents from different parts of the fandom like the Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr communities, has helped a lot in sharing and discussing the different aspects of the dynamic. In their honor we created the so-called “Sonamy Guard” on the server, and I can personally confirm that they’re some of the most active, nice and intelligent people we have in our side of the fandom. Any doubt, any question you might have, they’ll always have an answer to give or a discussion to spark, and if you’d like to participate, then I highly recommend you to join our server.

That’s all for now. As we have finally laid out some groundwork for the knowledge of this blog and where SEGA and Sonic Team stand on the dynamic, I think it’s finally time for us to get into the discussion of Amy’s character: who is she, what makes her strong, her relationship with Sonic and her independent side, and many aspects that sometimes seem to go unnoticed in the fandom in favor of the outdated and even problematic stereotype of the “unbearable fangirl.” See you next time!

#sonic the hedgehog #amy rose #sonamy #translation #long post #super duper long #you thought 6000 words of advance analysis was long?#these 7000 words make that look like a grocery list #man #also to me it feels like sonamy articles are a bit harder to translate lol #but it's worth it #read all of this please #a very well put together compilation :)

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sonicringbond · 4 years ago

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Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey - Scene 16

And here we go, the second update since the schedule change! It’s really so weird only posting twice a week, but survey results implied that would be best for everyone.

Onto the scene itself, I’m really enjoying writing with a dual narrator approach. I need to be really careful with it in the future though as it’s very easy to over use it. But that’s for me to worry about. For everyone else I just ask that you enjoy...

“OW! Is that really necessary!”

Rosy held nothing back as she yelped in tune to the jingling of lost Rings. The black robed priest looked at her confused that she would ask, but still answered her all the same.

“It is customary to strike free the Rings that we come into contact with on our travels.”

“But you could just ask me!” Rosy huffed while puffing up her cheeks. “I don’t see the point but if you just asked, I would turn them over.”

The priest sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as he shook his head. “You do not understand child. The nature of the Rings… If we do not strike you the energies binding them to this world will not be released.”

“Hrmm~!” Her cheeks growing redder and larger as she tried to keep in her anger, Rosy eventually let it all go with a sigh. “I still don’t see the point. Rings are helpful.”

“They are an accursed thing child. Were you not taught this already?”

“I’ve been taught plenty of times, but where I’m from Rings are just accepted as normal and used to keep everyone connected.”

“It’s hard to fathom such a distant land exists,” the priest scoffed and again Rosy’s cheeks puffed up in frustration. It was unlikely she would get anywhere with the priest and soon headed off, though not without pulling down on an eyelid and sticking her tongue out at him when he was not looking.

~I know making faces at the priest wasn’t going to help me, but he was such a jerk I had to do something. He also wasn’t why I had traveled to Jutting Rock Village either. Though it wasn’t like I could just walk around town and stumble onto the source of the rumors. Not that I didn’t want to walk around town. Tee-hee~♫

~No one knew where the ancient ruin had come from, or even what it was built for. The town itself had been built on it sometime in the past and even past Ring Shifts had not dislodged it. That afforded the town a sort of fun atmosphere as no one was scared of losing their homes. Windmills adorned various streets and stairwells that threaded through the ruin and high up to it’s upper reaches. The stone slab road seemed kind of silly compared to the colorful pebbly roads of the town. Trees growing out of the side of the ruin were amazing to see to. And it wasn’t just the ruin either, everything had plants of some kind or another covering it. The moss and flowers were my favorites, though some of the vines looked like they could lead me to interesting places. It was the type of town I could get happily lost in so easily. Fortunately for me I was kind of famous in a way, tee-hee~!~

“Excuse me miss.”

“Hm?” Rosy tilted her head back as someone called from among the busy market stall lined street. Turning fully around to see if she could figure out who called her, a young human man with pasty skin tumbled out of the crowd holding a cloth to his sweaty brow. He was well dressed as though he worked for someone important but seemed terribly flustered and worn out. “Did you call me?”

Walking to the man as he braced himself on his knees Rosy clasped her hands behind her back and began to sway absent mindedly.

“Y-yes!” The man exclaimed between gasping breathes. He was obviously not in good shape and Rosy felt sorry for him.

“I hope I didn’t upset you at all,” Rosy somewhat apologized as she looked him over curiously. He did not appear to be a threat, but alone as she was in a strange land Rosy could not afford to be too careful. She was sure though that it was more likely him that needed help rather than her and offered him such. “Maybe I could help you out?”

“P-p-please! If you would be so kind miss.”

Scratching her cheek Rosy laughed nervously. “Well, if it isn’t too much I guess.”

~I have a love of fortune telling and keep a deck of tarot cards with me, my oldest friends really, so I knew before I ever arrived that today would be fortunate. The silly man who called out to me was a servant of an old man who saw me from his bedroom window while I was wandering around town. His reason for wanting to see me was kind of sad though, even if it was fortunate for me.~

“AH~! It’s really everyone! I can’t believe it!” Rosy eyes shimmered with joy at the framed picture of her and her friends on a bedside table in a plush and cozy room of a well-off sapient owl. In material wealth at least. Looking from the table to the venerable owl who lay in his bed watching her with eyes that had almost lost all sight to an unsightly white film, Rosy’s tail stopped wagging and she calmed herself down. “If you don’t mind me asking, where did you get it?”

“It’s a funny story,” the owl breathed, smiling at Rosy. “My son came across it and thought you were perhaps performers. It has been some time since I’ve watched any and he thought it would cheer me up bound to bed as I am. Imagine my surprise when I saw you walking by garbed as you are. The way you carried yourself It was obvious that you were no performer, but rather a traveler. Such a curious outfit for that lifestyle.”

“Well, it’s kind of multipurpose,” Rosy laughed embarrassed. “I can run, and tumble, and swim in it, and it’s so pretty too. Though I don’t remember how I got it anymore, just that I wear it when I travel…”

A sad smile came to Rosy’s face and she kicked at the carpeted floor as she clasped her hands behind her back. She was not one to dwell on sorrows though and thought she would cheer up the old owl instead. “But, while I’m not a performer I tell fortunes as a hobby and could tell you yours if you’d like. Or maybe I could try to perform a little bit. I’m pretty acrobatic and good at tumbling and somersaults and twirling!”

“Why that would be delightful! Yes, I would like that very much!”

~And so, I did my best to entertain the kindly old owl. He was so much nicer than the pirate owl who was chasing me and my friends. And maybe it was his age or health, but it was his son’s fortune he wanted to know and not his. I’m glad it was a good one too as it made him so happy.

~I ended up staying in town for another day or so trying to figure out how I could ask him for the picture. It would help so much in finding everyone, but it made him so happy to imagine us being traveling performers that I couldn’t just take it from him. But I didn’t need to.

~His house servant found me again while I let myself get lost in town. He was really sad too as the old owl had passed away. His last request of his house servant was to let me have the picture so I could find my friends. It was just like my cards had foretold. I would be very fortunate in Jutting Rock Village. But why did the old owl have to die?

~No matter how many times I’ve watched the sun rise and set I know I haven’t aged a day. Is it because I interact with the Rings in this strange land? It doesn’t make sense. I don’t know. But I do know I don’t want to waste the old owl’s gifts. He wanted me to find my friends and so I will. With the help of the picture he gave me.~

“But I wonder who made it?” Rosy pondered aloud as she walked along the stone slab road that led from Jutting Rock Village. “I know we didn’t have time to make a picture after we took it, so how?”

Pulling the folded photograph from one of the puffy shoulders of her leotard, Rosy finally noticed writing on the back.

“This is–!”

-If you’re reading this Rosy-lass, consider it a gift from your friend, Mach Frog Gill. Though really, just me tossing fortunes to the wind and hoping it’ll indebt you to me instead. I could always use help gathering more Rings.-

“What do you even need Rings for Gill?” Rosy laughed and wiped away the tears welling in her eyes. “No one likes them to begin with that I’ve met. Ooh~! I guess I’ll just have to find you too so I can ask!”

Her mind made up, and a clue to finding someone she knew in hand, Rosy picked up her pace and soon was speeding along at a pace that would take her to distant lands in hours. Her next adventure had begun, and she would chase it to the ends of the world.

Scene 16 · CLEARED Rosy the Traveler, End

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And there we are, the first episode of Rosy the Traveler. I hope everyone enjoyed this tinier and more intimate style of adventure with the dual narrator approach. And perhaps it’s a bit of a sad story, but I really hope everyone enjoyed it all the same and will look forward to the next episode.

Thank you everyone!

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Story Format by @cutegirlmayra Story by @JoshTarwater/SonicFanJ Illustration by Nella @NellaSanchz on Twitter Inspiring Song - Granblue Fantasy — Lumacie Archipelago Mysterious Forest

Fair Use Disclaimer

Sonic the Hedgehog and all affiliated characters and logos are the express property and Copyright© of SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS used without permission under Title 17 U.S.C Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976 in which allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. “Fair use” is use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be considered copyright infringement. The Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey alternate universe (AU) consumer written work of fiction is a non-profit transformative work primarily for personal use and can and will be taken down without warning or prior notice at the request of the copyright holder(s) should it not be recognized under “fair use”.

*Sonic Ring Bond logo created by DEE Art – twitter.com/daryliscute.

Sonic Ring Bond AU and Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey are the creation of Joshua David Tarwater/ynymbus/sonicfanj/@Joshtarwater and is to be, including all contents herein considered for all legal purposes the property of the Sonic the Hedgehog intellectual property (IP) and copyright owners, SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS. All story contributors via prompt, suggestion, written scene, art, and all and every other contribution acknowledge that all contributed material is forfeit for legal purposes to SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS upon official request from SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS.

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic fan fiction #sonic au #sonic au series #sonic ring bond #the journey #classic amy #amy rose #rosy the rascal #au amy #amy redesign

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