#G-merl sonic

[less-undertale]

Gemination

[crusherthedoctor]

G-Merl: *dies*

Fans: it's canon approved 👍

[mobians-of-idw]

GEMERL

[shaddytheguyislazy]

New video! Tonight, we FINALLY escape the grasp of Sonic Battle, by murdering our treasured friend Emerl.

[skaruresonic]

Being a Cream fan is suffering. The writers aren't hiding that they don't like her. Hello Advanced 2 anyone???

I can imagine.

She's milked for both humor and angst. In most cases, the fact that it's Cream specifically who is suffering/the butt of the joke is the intended takeaway behind the humor or angst.

People try to rationalize such moments as "she's just a child," forgetting that Cream is also her own person and has a personality beyond the expected behavior of children her age. Shunting her into the box of Child(tm) and leaving it at that is like reducing Amy to Girl(tm). Or Shadow to his Black Arms blood. You're not wrong to say those elements factor in, per se, but you are being overreductive by focusing only on those isolated elements of their characters when they're not overall terribly important.

Apologies for the self-indulgence here, but before we proceed to talk about IDW 66 and 67's B-side story, I'd like to bring up Cream's chapter in my visual novel as a counterexample:

In a nutshell: OaS is a slice-of-life where Sonic goes about a normal Sunday, visiting his friends and helping them through their problems, alongside some funny shenanigans. He spends about half the game spending time with Knuckles, Amy, and Cream, respectively.

Chapter three sees his relationship with Cream evolve from friends to Big Bro-Lil Sis(tm) as he endeavors to look out for her the best he can and listen to her little kid problems. Math is hard. :<

You'll notice in the conversation Sonic and Cream have after they sit down to eat their carnival food - about halfway through the video - that "lol Cream's just a dumb kid" is the exact attitude I was trying to avoid.

On the contrary: I wanted to respect her agency while also emphasizing that her status as a child is something worth respect on its own. Just because her problems may seem trivial from an adult perspective don't mean they aren't real to her, and I hope I've portrayed it so that Sonic gives her the respect she deserves.

The gist behind the chapter's more humorous moments isn't to point and laugh at Cream, but rather make light of the awkwardness of Sonic navigating being a big brother figure.

That's why stuff like Cream spouting waterfalls really rubs me the wrong way. Folks will argue "she's a child" while neglecting the important nuance that it's not typical of Cream to wail like a toddler in the games... As well as the other important nuance that if it had been Games!Cream in IDW!Cream's place, Rough and Tumble would be ground into paste before the roast finished.

The only punchline here is "Isn't it funny how Cream tried so hard to do right by her mother and some bully destroyed her work in an instant? LOL and then Vanilla went mama bear on them." When you drill down to the core of the underlying idea, you'll find it's just... meanspirited. The book is making fun of the fact that Cream is suffering what is, in her eyes, a humiliating failure.

It's not humor generated by Cream's personality, or the mood whiplash incurred by beating up bad guys one moment and tending to the roast the next, or inviting the bad guys to dinner after giving them a thorough ass-whooping, or anything like that.

How much better would it have been if, instead, following the food fight, we cut to Vanilla returning home to find an immaculate dinner table and two very twitchy skunk boys playing maid in fear of the goddess of destruction's wrath? Cream cheerily greets her mother while Rough and Tumble trip over themselves putting Vanilla's groceries away. Meanwhile Cheese and Chocola give them the evil eye. Vanilla is confused as G-merl pulls out her chair for her, but in no position to protest.

Imagine how amusing that could have been! Nope. The book has to point and laugh at Cream in a "ha ha bitch you thought" kind of way. Can't join in on the laugh track if we have any love for Cream ourselves.

To borrow the stans' logic, it's actually pretty fucked-up that you're meant to laugh at a child for crying in such a situation. At best, you're made to feel sorry for her, but given how the scene is framed to be absurd, it's probably a safer bet to say you're intended to laugh.

That's before we remember Cream doesn't sob buckets in the games. It took being kidnapped, taken to Eggman's creepy robot depot and watching Emerl gleefully tear Phi robots apart for her to sniffle quietly.

Sniffle. Not wail like a toddler. Because the games have this thing called "a sense of decorum," you see. xP

People contend that Cream's a pacifist based on her refusal to engage in Battle until Emerl gets hurt (and then they conveniently ignore how she stepped up and kicked some ass; rip), which overlooks the context that she was probably sick of fighting after having been forced to spar against Emerl and Amy to the point of exhaustion.

---

P.S. IDW!Vanilla wishes she was half as scary as OaS!Vanilla. Yeah, I said it xP

[kyoswimm]

dunno where else to say it so. Kyo sonic au shit I’ve had rattling in my brain ;

- the eggman was created in a freak lab accident involving a chaos emerald; the radiation created a split personality in ivo robotnik, with the two struggling for control

- Metal sonic (prime) had a “good half” the ivo part installed- a conscience. Much like eggman, Metal sonic was plagued by contradicting directives… until, much like himself, eggman split metal in two

- sonic isn’t the Big Public Hero Number One. While he’s certainly heard of as the fastest thing alive (and Eggman’s archenemy), the freedom fighters get more recognition than him. Sonic doesn’t care but it drives eggman up the wall

- Angel island is still populated by echidnas, their Imperator being Ix. Knuckles fell from his home when he was young, and has been searching for a way back ever since

- the super special sonic search and smash squad is made up of Eggman’s three previous sonic robots; silver sonic, robo sonic, and led by mecha sonic. Though they have loyalties to eggman, they aren’t directly connected to the Eggnet like lesser badniks, only tuned into it like a radio station. It means they, most of the time, are off doing their own thing.

- sir Charles hedgehog takes in the good metal sonic after it flees from eggman, and helps repair him into shard. shard still has his combat functions, but would rather be part of rescue services like firefighters or extraction

- shadow is half-hedgehog, half-black arms. his power is unstable, and has to be held in check by his inhibitor belt. rouge is a former G.U.N. spy, and E-123 Omega is a violent cousin to robotnik’s E-Series robots. they answer to no authority, and help or harm whoever they want (though in the end, they’re ultimately a force of good)

- as I mentioned the e-series were built by robotnik (NOT eggman), and are instead learning robots meant to aid in research and sample gathering. Omega and Beta were both yoinked by eggman to create weapons, but only omega was able to escape his ultimate fate. Beta was robo-lobotomized. Gamma has learned to fight out of necessity, from Amy rose’ cousin Rob. He acts as a sniper instead of a front-liner.

- E-Merl is a lost echidna weapon that’s roamed the world for centuries. Despite being created with the capacity to destroy entire civilizations, E-Merl has a child-like personality and is easily roped into others’ schemes. The deception always ends in broken bones, however.

- G-Merl is an updated Gizoid designed by Shade. Like Gamma, he despises fighting- *unlike* gamma, he refuses to use any offensive weapons altogether. His most dangerous gadget is a taser.

- humans and anthro animals have been in contact for ages. The anthro animals (coined ‘mobians’) first called humans Overlanders, due to first contact being via crashing aircraft.

- the Black Arms are a roaming alien race, facing extinction. all they want is a home, but their way of life can be brutish and distressing. Shadow was created to be an envoy between the two worlds, but something happened to the Black Arms since then; they haven’t returned in 50 years. Shadow remains vigilant

- both shadow and Maria escaped the ark, but Maria’s disease caught up to her on earth. Shadow still holds his final promise to her. Due to being on earth for *much* longer than in canon, he’s come to understand both the good and evil in humanity. His greatest mission is to save the last living robotnik from his own alter ego.

- omega’s pissed all the time because eggman Fucked Up his reprogramming. Omega loves to make noise, be it from explosions or making actual music. He has more of a ‘bad boy’ persona than ‘DESTROY ALL EGGMAN ROBOTS’

- the chaotix are a much larger group, containing the duo of mighty and ray, alongside bomb and heavy. Knuckles is also an honorary member.

- if sonic could choose any adversary to keep personally, it’s the SSSSSS. mostly because they don’t really hate sonic, and their schemes and traps are always fun to evade.

- tails doesn’t know what pronouns are

[greenyvertekins]

Hi, it's been a while.

I have a question to ask, i remember seeing pages of Sonic Advance 3 Guidebook/Manual and there was artwork of bosses and i wonder if the texts has any story elements to like what caused G-merl to go haywire and all that.

Where are these pages? Can you link me to them?

[skaruresonic]

I'm glad you think so because I was iffy (still am) about the handling of that chapter. I was worried Vanilla would come across as negligent when my intention was more along the lines of the commonplace accident of just barely missing somebody. Sonic and Cream get lost looking for G-merl while he's looking for them.

It's also a relatively flimsy piece of subtext, admittedly, but Vanilla later tells Sonic "Seems Cream isn't the only one who loses track of the time," implying she has a perhaps less severe form of time-blindness than Cream. I kind of wanted to leave to the player some room to put two and two together, because I felt the situation was already fairly evident.

The implication I tried to leave for the player is that, because Cream really can't tell the amounts of things, including money and time, we can't exactly take her word how long she'd been wandering around for. Remember she laments that Sonic spent "so much money" on her but doesn't specify the amount. Plus, fifteen minutes to a six-year-old who doesn't have dyscalculia feels like hours anyway. So when G-merl left, it was for only fifteen minutes before the park closed, but to Cream it felt like "hours until the park closed," and that's why she immediately flew over to Sonic.

Holy SHIT! I thought Cream was done dirty throughout the Archie Reboot. But IDW flat out assassinated Cream's character with that last issue! How do you take a character who made her debut as a boss destroyer and have her be reduced to a sobbing wreck by the comic's very own Team Rocket? If this is how Flynn and Stanley view Cream's character, they frankly need to fuck off and never be allowed to write for her.

bUt ItS fInE cUz It GaVe VaNiLlA a MoMeNt To Be BaDaSs!!!

Not to be bias but On A Sunday did a much better job of this. Portraying Cream as a child who needs protection WITHOUT undermining her agency as an active playable character. AND giving Vanilla an absolutely bone chilling moment of calling out the player directly on the bad choice scene.

This fucking comic is like stick figures compared to the Sistine chapel, relatively speaking.

[maurofonseca]

sprites

[moddersayethstuff]

A collection of characters I grabbed off of the new Issue 50 cover, in no particular order:

Shadow, Team Chaotix, & the Babylon Rogues

Shadow still has that Chao from the Chao Race Arc, and him standing next to Espio makes me really want to see what a dynamic between just the two of them would be like. Also the Babylon Rogues are all squished together and I find that really funny.

Silver & Blaze

At first I though it was just Blaze making that 50 out of fire, but it’s actually both of them combining their powers. No matter what way you see their relationship, it’s so pecking adorable!

Cream, Vanilla, G-Merl & Marine (& Cheese & Chocola)

Why haven’t we gotten to see Cream & Marine since the Pirate Plunder Panic Arc in Sonic Universe? They really need to hang out more. Also Vanilla’s acting sweet (pun intended) as always, and I wonder what’s in that present she’s giving G-Merl. Maybe a hand-knit scarf?

Belle, Motobud, Tangle & Whisper (& Mr. Tinker)

Belle looks so sad here, but also happy because she surrounded by her awesome friends. I hope this is also a sign that Motobud will become a mainstay in the series, look how happy they are! Now that that’s out of the way, *inhales* OMG OMG WHISPANGLE CANON I’M GOING INSANEEEEE

Bonus: Low Quality Whispangle Moment

They

[ordinarykeys]

TEAMS PACK 2!!!

One pack left after this! Or at least planned for now, who knows we’ll see what happens.

Just like the first pack you can get them as stickers! MAKE YOUR DREAM TEAM! Or maybe even... make your own team? 👀

[[ ETSY STORE ]]

[[ PACK 1 | PACK 3 ]]

[beevean]

Sonic and Eggman have teamed up in SA2, Lost World and Frontiers. In all of these cases, the world was in danger - and Eggman himself was in danger. He has a selfish reason for collaborating. The threat of his own life, and not being able to conquer the world anymore, is the only thing that forces him to extend his hand to Sonic. This is also why you can't call these instances examples of him being good deep down: he doesn't care about a thing that isn't himself. It's pure convenience, and Sonic knows it.

Advance 3's case is the most minor threat, and admittedly I'm not sure why Eggman would help Sonic (aside from the team mechanic obv). I'm not sure how threatening Ultimate G-merl was. But it was still more of a threat than solving the mystery of a shady company.

The comics had them teaming up for the most minor of reasons, like they're vitriolic best buds:

Somehow I'm not convinced Surge is on the same level of threat as a space colony that is crashing down the earth.

Also I'm still not over this:

Really? Amy yells at the top of his lungs the name of the most dangerous terrorist in the Sonic world, the man who nearly killed everyone with his Metal Virus (and that's just what he did in the comic, not counting all the times he has destroyed shit in the games), and the most we get from the civilians is a mildly uncomfortable look? No panic, no fleeing, no nothing? sure jan. tell me more how intimidating eggman is when he pulls the shadowed gendo face

Just when I thought the comics couldn’t get any worse, the latest arc is going to have eggman team up with sonic, but here’s the kicker, sonic and eggman are working together to solve a mystery. Sonic is perfectly ok teaming up with the same guy that in the comics (ignoring the games) created a zombie virus, started a war, nearly kill all his friends constantly, and even ditched his puppet daughter. The matter of fact that people tout this comic understands the character are off their rockers.

big oof

I read Random's post, and you know what? Yeah. On one hand, it's absurd that Sonic teams up with Eggman at the drop of a hat - the last time was in #55, not too long ago! And it was for something as simple as exploring Starline's base! Say what you want about Sonic and Eggman teaming up in the games, but at least it was a matter of life and death every time! Where's the Sonic who has long learned that Eggman is full of shit and you can only count on his help when his skin is on the line? And ofc, way to undermine Eggman again, since he's clearly the "lesser evil" compared to Clutch and Mimic. Joy.

On the other, the fact that he'd rather accept Eggman's help than discuss things with Lanolin, who is in a position of authority (she's the referee from what I gathered) is extremely hilarious, and I don't blame him. If this was a well-written story, I'd almost think Lanolin being Mimic's perfect pawn because she's so unlikeable that she alienates everyone is a deliberate plot point, and it would be genius.

[crusherthedoctor]

I'm up for new villains, but not every one gotta led to "let's use this to dunk on Eggman's 'silly' villainy again" debates.

(Saying this as someone who witnessed this quite a lot of times with Bowser. I understand being fatigued with both being the final boss in most instances, but let's not entertain the idea that both series need new or "better" main villains.)

The problem is that this franchise has usurped Eggman with new villains so many times that you expect it every time a new one shows up, even when there's no hint of it until the end.

I don't think enough fans realise just how many times it's actually happened, and how it conditions you to expect it. Chaos in SA1. Gerald/Biolizard in SA2. Neo Metal Sonic in Heroes. Out of control Emerl in Battle. Out of control G-Merl in Advance 3. Black Doom in ShtH. Mephiles/Solaris in '06. Nega in Rivals 1. Nega again in Rivals 2. SCR-HD in Zero Gravity. Ix in Chronicles. Dark Gaia in Unleashed. Lyric in Rise of Lyric. The End in Frontiers. These are just the games, not even counting the times it's happened in the comics. They might not all work the same, and some may be more indirect or unintentional than others, but the final effect remains the same: leaving fans with the impression that Eggman is a chump by comparison.

Even during the Pontaff era, where this cliche was mostly and thankfully absent (that includes Lost World, since it was ultimately a subversion), I still felt dread when the Deadly Six and Infinite were first revealed. That's how much I've been conditioned to expect it. I know it sounds dramatic, but what do you expect when it's went on for this long, and has now returned with a vengeance thanks to the double whammy of IDW and Frontiers?

I lol at anyone who expresses fatigue at Eggman being the final boss, since it's in part thanks to them that he rarely gets to fucking be it. But muh Nega-Wisp Armor reskins? Yeah, what about them? You don't suppose the solution would be to simply branch out, instead of replacing him with less interesting characters (if they even have a character to speak of) that normally have shit boss fights anyway?

I'm not opposed to the mere idea of non-Eggman villains existing in the series. I'm not that unreasonable. But when I'm conditioned to expect the worst because both the series and the fans can't get enough of it, you shouldn't be surprised when I express caution whenever they show up.

[ribbonetteart]

What’s for dinner tonight?

Headcanon stuff below:

I have a headcanon that Sonic and co., when they manage to get together, cook dinner for each other! Usually this means Sonic, Tails, and Amy are the ones preparing food for each other since they don’t live on floating rocks or another dimension or such, but the more the merrier!

Tails is baby and can only manage really simple stuff. But he’s pretty good at making sandwiches.

Amy is easily the best cook in the group and whenever she's in charge of dinner it's a pleasant surprise what she'll make (and in the image she made chicken pot pie)

Sonic's strong suit is stews and of course his best dish is chili. If he's in charge of dinner his dishes tend to lean a little spicy.

Occasionally Knuckles will join in and he always makes salad because he thinks everyone is neglecting their health. (He also uses the opportunity to be with his friends, even if they're groaning about it the whole time.)

Between Marine and Blaze, Marine is waaaay better at cooking; Her specialty is seafood! Blaze tries to help but, at best, she may change the  entrée to a  flambé, and at worst the whole kitchen might go up in flames ^^;;

The Chaotix love having guests over but hardly have the budget to be hosting anyone, really. That won’t stop them though!! There’s nothing quite like instant ramen with good company :]

Vanilla loves having the kids over for dinner! She’s delighted to hear they love her cooking AND she can ensure wheneve they’re at her home that they’re having a warm and healthy meal, because if she doesn’t worry about them then who will?? However because she DOES worry whether they’re taking care of themselves outside of her home, she will make SURE they are fed. All of these kids will have seconds AND take-home boxes.

[segamarkiii]

Today's my 22nd Birthday, so I thought I'd share this here.

[skaruresonic]

Cream has dyscalculia (not named in the VN) which means she cannot accurately determine how much time has passed, in addition to other things like difficulty with counting change and adjusting recipes. Vanilla later implies she may also have dyscalculia when she admits "Seems she's not the only one who loses track of the time."

One subtle detail is when Cream claims she's been stuck at the water park for "hours" until the sun set, even though it's only been about 15 minutes and the sun has already set.

Because G-merl isn't there to corroborate her story, however, Sonic takes her word for it.

Within the diegetic context of the VN's world, I like to think Eggman gives both Vanilla and Cream dyscalculia in order to nerf them the same way he nixes Sonic's speed. He prevents them from becoming too adept at challenging him, since Vanilla teaches Cream how to bake "Ren Pie" (RenPy code) from "the cookbook" (programming documentation).