#Especially if that server had a channel for shipping and you still mention it everywhere else

[theultimateultimateweapon]

YOU-You get me. I am too AroAce for the majority of this shipping stuff. If I want characters to have relationships I want it platonic! More friendship & familial stuff! I'll make it myself if I have to. (Also same with That Kirby Ship I am also tired of that)

YEAH I'm always stuck between enjoying the diversity of ships and trying avoid finding intense romantic stuff in a character tag OTL

I won't lie I've got a couple of smaller ships I enjoy seeing but I don't like seeing only ship content of them, they're more enjoyable when they have personalities beyond the other. I love the "This is a unit: do not separate" dynamic but it doesn't mean they have to start shoving their lips together 😔

We gotta see more complex relationships, I want choatic friendships, rivals that would never team up unless the fate of the world depended on it, allies with ideologies that conflict, some of these have such wonderful potential for character development and story beyond what a romantic relationship would do. Sometimes romance feels like a cheap answer.

And please please for the love of all stop pairing together people who genuinely hate each other and hurt each other, it's not as interesting as you think, sometimes they just hate each other (I still think the Redd/Nook and Archie/Maxie past relationship divorce thing is funny though, I don't yet have the words to describe why but I think it has something to do with it not being completely romantic? If you agree and have the words to say it I'm interested in knowing what you think because for whatever reason I can't analyze it atm)

That being said, there's been a lot of creativity from ships. I think everyone should have the opportunity to enjoy themselves with it and have their fun as long as it's not harmful and all that, just keep tagging your ships, it's respectful for everyone involved and let's us decide what we do and don't want to see.

[beevean]

Opinion: How could Sonamy progress in IDW?

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

Today we’re going to discuss a recurring topic on my blog, with a more complete perspective.

Today’s article was inspired by an ask I got a few days ago about my possible perspective on the future of IDW Sonamy. I thought it would be interesting to revisit and expand this topic, because it’s still something of great interest for thousands of fans all around the world, and because SEGA has recently adopted a very peculiar position on the couple and their dynamic. As I detailed on my article SEGA and its most recent Sonamy side – more canon than ever, the dynamic has been going through a shift that can be distinguished into two main parts: 1) the commercial potential of Sonamy as a merchandising and marketing icon; 2) the stability of the interactions in the comics, in the short monthly stories on Sonic Channel, and so on.

That being said, there’s no need to mention that we’re going to focus entirely and nothing more than on this ship. I usually suggest other articles for those who prefer to read on other subjects, but today I will recommend our Discord server [translator’s note: the server is mainly Spanish-speaking], where discussions about ships are limited on their own canal that is separated from other themes: general discussions, music, fangames and mods, fanfics, fanart and even gaming in general. As you know, if you want to bring something else to our community, or just avoid talking about Sonamy, you’re more than welcome to join. Now, back on track.

What’s going on with Sonamy in IDW?

To recap what’s happened in these last months: Sonic and his friends finally got through the nightmare that was the Metal Virus, he and Amy hugged a few times, and since very recently they’ve been involved in a short arc about Chao races in Twinkle Park Zone, with a sinister background. In these last months after the eradication of the virus, there have been much closer and warmer interactions between our two hedgehogs, and I suspect that part of this is what inspired that question in the first place: what’s going on?

As I commented in the article where I proposed that Sonamy is “more canon than ever” (I know that it’s an exaggeration, that was the point), SEGA is treading carefully and the main canon seems to be willing to negotiate a more open representation of the relationship between the two in their different continuities, from best friends to something more. What I did not expect to happen was reading an answer from Evan Stanley (artist and writer that replaces Ian Flynn) about their dynamic, summing it up with “they like each other”.

The redrawing of Sonic’s expression when Amy hugs him in a recent drawing of hers made people wonder if this was yet another example of SEGA’s “censoring” (comparison below), to which Evan answered that it was modified to keep Sonic in character: he’s a guy that does not show much emotional vulnerability or too many negative emotions, and this is why sometimes the artists have to adjust WIPs to keep in line with this official point of view. Evan assured that this is not any kind of confirmation that Sonic does not like Amy, and doubles down by highlighting that in the official material, in the wikis and on Sonic Channel they show that, and I quote: “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.”

And Evan’s words are a great way to sum up what’s going on with IDW Sonic right now. When it comes to interactions, they’re working with two characters who deep down “like each other”, but both show it in their own way. Amy is much more proactive when it comes to express her feelings, while Sonic only sometimes shows a glimpse of his feelings, with a smile or a small gesture. But at the end of the day they’re still friends and, depending on the situation, the comic can focus more or less on these details.

Comparison between the first sketch showed by Evan and the final product. The modification of the expression was minimal: Sonic’s slight blush was changed into a smile, maybe being a little overwhelmed by the gesture of affection.

The “progression” of the dynamic in the future

A good part of the answer to this question is based on my idea that right now, when it comes to Sonamy, we reached some kind of comfortable plateau. What am I referring to? To the fact that there have been a lot of varied interactions in these last 3 years of the comic, and they’re everything I could have asked for and then some. When we talk about Sonamy in canon, as Evan said, we don’t tend to hope for great romantic gestures from Sonic, we barely even ask for a look that hints that they understand each other beyond what it seems at first glance, so the fact that the IDW continuity is betting so much on this ship is basically a dream come true. For this reason, I don’t think things will change much in the future.

If I have to make a prediction on Sonamy’s future in IDW, I believe that there are still a lot of possibilities that our known writers (and maybe new writers!) could explore more, to see what makes this dynamic work so well. Actually, about 10 years ago, Ian Flynn wrote that if they could take advantage of the abilities and similarities between the two characters as adventurous spirits and with a strong moral sense, they would be “like poetry in motion”. This largely happens in IDW Sonic if you look carefully, but there are always new stories to tell and opportunities for them to work together and explore a bit more their strong bond, stronger than other friendships that they share. When the next major arc comes (which seems to be getting closer), they could explore aspects of their dynamic that are slightly more experimental, like being separated for extended periods of time and under dangerous situations… as long as they don’t turn it into a painful experience like the Metal Virus arc.

What Ian Flynn wrote about Sonamy, what works and what doesn’t. This was written in 2011, when Archie Sonic was still the major comic continuity, and when, according to Ian, Sonic was still “tied” to Sally Acord, leaving little room to the writers’ opinions.

The reality is that I see a stable future for the dynamic in the IDW universe. Sonamy is not fit for a lot of drama (fights, breaking up, etc.) without feeling forced or completely out of place, and only fanfics and fanart could be capable of capitalizing on this kind of content. On the other hand, for reasons I detailed in past articles, SEGA would not dare to alter the established order of the dynamic, let alone new that they managed to recover and maintain control over the ways Sonamy is being portrayed everywhere. SEGA won’t pull a Dragon Prince, which ended up confirming the main ship and then they made them go through a crisis and break up in a heartwrenching way in the graphic novel that acts as a bridge between season 3 and 4.

In short

The future of IDW Sonamy is looking bright and stable. I don’t think there will be serious changes to what we’re experiencing right now, and this is why both Evan Stanley and Ian Flynn agree that the dynamic is practically in the perfect place, keeping in line to how SEGA wants them to be represented together. This means we won’t see more affectionate gestures than what we’re seeing now (I doubt we’ll ever see again Sonic offering Amy a rose like in Sonic X), but it also means that we have now a solid basis for our expectations. In the now old IDW Sonic #2, Sonic and Amy had the chance of seriously talking a bit about what they thought of each other, with Sonic being determined to keep living life his own way (although he wouldn’t mind Amy to accompany him… or even suggesting himself that she could come), and Amy being determined to respect his way of life, because that’s what she loves about him, and she doesn’t want him to change. Since then, all we have seen and we’ll keep seeing in the comic is a consequence of this key moment; the two philosophies that they have and they share, in a constant back-and-forth with some tense moments and some cute moments.

An interesting detail that wasn’t included in the ask and that makes me think is the possibility that all of this will feature in the games as well. This is a completely different matter for another day, but I like to think that there is the possibility that we’ll see SEGA being more interested in inserting more Sonamy in the games, even if in an indirect way like in Sonic Unleashed and its emotional support, especially if the rumors that we’re about to get a soft-reboot are true. Romance is not something Sonic games are famous for doing well… at all, but that doesn’t mean it would be a bad idea to add a little sprinkle of IDW Sonamy in the mix.

And finally, I think I’ve talked enough about this topic, As you know, we’re waiting for some news, and I hope we’ll see each other again here or on our Discord. We’ll see if on this 25th something interesting happens. In any case, see you next time!

The moment that shaped the present and future of their entire relationship, 3 years ago.

[the-bjd-community-confess]

This is gonna be a bit long.

Ok, so I'm betting the "can't believe 30yo's still play with dolls" person is a troll. But at the same time, I've heard, and seen minors say that exact shit about basically anything, and thinking that for some reason they're the driving force behind any fandom, or bigger franchise.

Arguments like: "Fandom is for minors" Fandom was created by adults for adults. Minors are basically a fringe demographic, especially before the internet. No one gave a shit about minors, because adults were the ones creating the content, and other adults would pay for said content and buy merch. 90% of fan content is made by adults, or hosted by sites owned by adults. Literally no aspect of fandom was created by minors, nor has any niche ever been made just by minors for minors.

"Minors are the focus demographic." That isn't even true for media made for children's TV. You think minors are the demographic for kid's cartoons? Nope, it's the parents, or the people who're the legal guardians, because they're the people with money, and are gonna buy merch, and let their child watch it. That's why content like Monster High was changed so drastically, because adults didn't like the look of the dolls, so it was changed, which tanked numbers for people buying the dolls.

"It's so weird when adults ship minor characters" Who do you think wrote said minor-characters? All of YA, and teen novels with romance was probably written by someone in their 30's, or older. Maybe some in their 20's, but that's a minority. Any minors writing books, or something, and having it published officially. Nah. "Dolls are for children." Most collector dolls, which includes BJD's, are literally so out of most minors price range, I really wanna see a minor get enough money, without asking their parents or family, and buy a doll for 200+ usd.

Hell, dolls have a huge subculture of adult collectors, and you can especially see that with old dolls, or traditional dolls. In some cultures dolls weren't even viewed as children's toys until much later, because the dolls were ritualistic pieces, or decorations.

Personal anecdote about how weird minors are in hobby/fandom spaces: I was in a hobby server where we had an NSFW channel, the admin only added the "you confirm you wanna see NSFW" label you can use on discord, even though several people (adults) asked specifically to have a role for age, and if any minors lied they'd be kicked for faking their age.

One minor, 15, was made mod bc he gave a boost to the server, he got mad at the demand for kicking if you lied about the age thing, and he literally admitted to being in the NSFW channel, and some adult interacted with him there. When several of us made a stink about it bc, "WHAT THE FUCK THAT'S A MINOR IN A CHANNEL WITH NSFW CONTENT" and said we wanted the channel locked, and the adult interacting him to AT LEAST be put in timeout, admin didn't react/refused. (The adult interacting with the minor in NSFW didn't show any NSFW content, but just made a dirty joke about bodypillows, but all of us adults, and even some other minors, agreed this still wasn't ok.)

Minor-mod then claimed he, and other minors had a right to be in NSFW bc "We see NSFW everywhere anyway" which obvs many thought was a shit excuse, and that he shouldn't be a mod, because that was fucking creepy. And then he even made the argument it's the adults fault for making having spaces for adults, and that it didn't matter anyway. Most adults even said that this wasn't OK, made many of us feel unsafe, minors included, because it's literally so fucking icky for a child to try and be in NSFW spaces, and many adults actually have a hard line of not interacting with minors online. Said it's our problem if we feel uncomfortable, and we had no right to ban minors for accessing adult spaces, even when people pointed out it literally says that the NSFW label discord has, mentions 18+ somewhere, so he was literally breaking the rules by accessing it after seeing the screen.

Anyway, this went on for a long while, and many adults, AND minors, and several of the mods expressed their disgust at having this kid as a mod, and especially with those opinions, and were legit asking if the kid could be de-modded, but no dice. Admin didn't want to hurt the kids feelings, so the kid stuck around, and several of us left. (I literally have the screenshots of most of this drama saved, not all of it, but like 85% of it, and I've showed it to so many people, and everyone was disgusted by this bullshit.)

~Anonymous

[tarushipping]

Hello to all my discord friends.

I'm sorry I'm no longer in the channel anymore, and I'm sure the mods will inform you as to why. For those of you that want a more thorough explanation, I think I've calmed down enough to write something out. While I can't speak for the others that were also kicked out, I can try to at least explain myself.

For the short of it, I was shipping with minors as an adult and under the new rule I was out. I...made very big mistakes and it's not something easy for me to think back on. My main regret is just not realizing what I was doing was wrong sooner.

That being said, I really enjoyed and came to love the community. Everyone is such creative, kind, generous, strong, loving, and passionate people and I can't express enough how thankful I was and still am for it. Thank you all so much for welcoming me and for giving me the support that's been really helping me these last few weeks.

I would still love to stay friends with any of you through here or private messages on discord! I understand if you're too uncomfortable to talk to me, and I don't want to make anyone feel that way. But otherwise, I would still love to support all you and your beautiful f/o’s. Please feel free to hit me up if you just wanna chat or anything or even if you'd like to let me know to leave you alone.

You guys are a great community and the mods do a good job keeping it safe. Thank you all again for everything.

For anyone wanting more in depth explanation, I'm placing it under the cut:

I'll try to...explain this as well as I can. I want to emphasize that this isn't an excuse for what I did.

I can't remember dates very well, but I stumbled upon the selfship discord channel almost a month ago I think. When I joined, I was notified very fast that mentioning selfshipping with a fictional minor while being an adult is against the code of conduct. I'd missed seeing the code of conduct because the discord app doesn't have a way to check pins that linked to it. Immediately I apologized and read it in full.

And I understood why it was against the rules. I just never thought about selfshipping with minors in a pedophilia context. And pedophilia is something I definitely don't agree with and the minors in the server didn't need to be exposed to that. Since that moment, I spent a while thinking it over.

I'd been into selfshipping for 10+ years at this point and most of that time was spent as a minor myself. I would occasionally find small pockets and corners of the internet where self insert fics existed and of course the OCxF/O fics. Otherwise, everywhere else shamed on it and I was always too embarrassed and afraid to really put much content out myself-much less have anyone to talk to about it. So I kept my fics and drawings to myself. I think the internet was a bit of a different place for selfshippers. It wasn't until last year that I saw any sort of selfship positivity (on tumblr) and slowly discovered others. I'd like to explain all that to help show how someone at my age, 23, hadn't even thought of this issue. I suppose I was just set on autopilot and kept doing the same thing as I did since I was in fifth grade.

I guess my mindset always saw these characters as first most fictional instead of minors. And there's plenty of series out there that draw/write minors as if they were adults. They always seemed to be just fictional characters in a separate world, but until I had read that rule, I started realizing they were fictional...but they were also children. And I felt gross about it.

Selfshipping is still something very close to me and has been a long time, so the shift of mindset didn't happen overnight. It took me a while of trying to figure out how I felt and what to do about it. I made no mention about all this on discord of course, and was too scared and nervous to really talk to anyone about it. On my personal tumblr blogs, I think a few minor shipping related posts were queued and posted during the first week of my time in the discord channel. I stopped minor shipping myself from that point on. At the very least, I didn't feel comfortable minor shipping while I felt gross about it. This last week I'd been debating if I should delete them off my blog entirely. Part of me figured it was all from a while ago and didn't reflect my current self anyway. I think I was scared to see those words I'd written before and acknowledge that I had said them.

While I was working, I'd missed some sort of chat about adults in the group shipping with minors. Myself included, of course. After work, I had gotten a message saying I was taken out of the channel because of my prior minor shipping. While I hadn't technically broken any rules, it was no longer in good conscious to let me and the others stay. And under the new rule, anyone known to ship with minors as an adult are out of the group.

It...hit me hard to say the least. I shakily attempted to explain myself better. I don't exactly blame the moderators for doing as they did. Trying to keep the channel safe for everyone, especially the minors is very important and I agree with the reasoning. Even now however, I don't think I was treated fairly either. I had been kicked out from the community without a discussion, warning, or even a chance to explain my now different view. I understand that what I had done before was wrong, but I thought I would have deserved...some sort of chance. During my time on the chat, I obeyed the rules and tried to pour the love I was receiving back into the community. I wanted to be involved with everything-having fun on voice chats, playing games outside of discord, writing prompts, fanart love, google docs. I loved everyone and their ships and wanted to support as much as I could.

But in the end, I don't think the mods knew me well enough to trust what I was saying as the truth. And they didn't want to risk exposing any minor shipping to any of the minors in the channel. While I think it might have been handled too severely (again, I'm only speaking for myself at least-I don't know the situations for anyone else), I don't disagree with the action itself.

I'm really sorry about what I've done in the past. I think I'm not the only one that's fallen into that sort of mindset, and I really would ask that you think critically about yourself. My biggest regret coming out of this is not having thought about this sooner. For not having the conviction and strength to delete those posts sooner. To realize sooner that what I was doing was wrong.

It's been a couple days, and it's been...really rough for me. But I know I'll be ok eventually, and at this moment I'm starting to try and feel hopeful again. It's been a great month hanging out with everyone on the channel, and I really can't say how thankful I am for the time. I've gotten so much support and I've been given much more confidence in my own selfshipping. Thank you all again.

While I will probably never be on the discord channel again, maybe I can still try and support the friends I did make during my time. I originally made my selfship blog to support other selfships/my selfships/selfshipping in general so I'll continue to try and do that. Selfshipping still makes me very happy and I want to try moving forward with the confidence that I was given and try and spread that feeling to others.

Thanks for reading all this though to the end, and if you’d still like to stay friends with me, I would love that. I understand if you'd rather not though and if we talked a lot before and would like to no longer do that, please feel free to let me know so I don't keep bothering you.

Thank you all again. I only wish the best for everyone.