#I know shadow and sonic are supposed to be “identical”

[bloomeng]

I liked to think in traditional 80’s mlp fashion Maria is just a human girl in this au

[ramblingguy54]

Nine’s Betrayal: A Predictable Route, But Important Execution.

     To no surprise, the idea of Nine becoming more antagonistic in Prime came to pass, but I’d like to breakdown why it just works so well in execution. Prime from the get go had set up Nine was a super vulnerable kid. Obviously, a kid with a high IQ in having great mechanical talent, although still a hurt and highly jaded child, nonetheless. Nine has easily been one of my favorite parts of Sonic Prime. Taking such a simple concept of reverse good guy doing something more interesting with it. He isn’t just a run of the mill polar opposite, rather one whom has been dealt a bad hand in turn lashing out at everyone and everything. Nine hasn’t ever taken chances in opening himself up after countless times being abused for his two tails. It wasn’t until Sonic arrived in his dimension, Nine began slightly letting his guard down.

     This moment between them in Prime’s very first episode is extremely crucial because it sets up the real solitude of Nine’s characterization. Immediately I felt sympathy for Tails’ polar opposite, given his unfortunate circumstances. Nine had to fend for himself with no real mentor figure to guide him, other than his own experiences. Nine buried away any sense of identity, or happiness, in favor of going full on coldly detached. Hiding those two tails in shame because it made Nine feel like a freak of nature. Suddenly, a happy go lucky guy, like Sonic, comes crashing into his reality. Boldly stating they’re close companions praising his natural gifts and calling those other mechanical tails seriously amazing.

     Nine has become desensitized to being seen as some disfigured individual, yet here someone is not mocking or assaulting him just because of his appearance. He didn’t know what to do in emotionally processing the fact someone is saying, “Embrace who you are! It doesn’t matter anyone else thinks!”, in a world where fears rules with an iron fist as their status quo. Perhaps, Nine reluctantly saw someone he could call a friend at long last, even if the kid didn’t want to fully admit to himself. As I had hoped, Sonic & Nine’s dynamic in Prime is a big aspect of the story getting explored. Honestly, with the way things have been handled thus far, I’d arguably say Sonic & Nine’s dysfunctional bond may pan out to be my favorite iterations Sonic & Tails iconic brotherly concept. There’s more going on underneath in their friendship.

     Shadow had warned Sonic from the start about being weary of Nine, to which he severely opposes him on said notion. Sonic’s optimism of seeing the best in others completely 180′d on him in the worst fashion. Nine’s highly self-conscious, jaded nature, and intelligence brought him to the same conclusion Shadow previously reached. If he returns all the Shatter pieces to normal, then there’s a likely chance he’ll disappear in exchange for restoring Sonic’s home world. He realized this after seeing the other Tails’ counterparts. Especially looking directly at the original Tails whom started it all scoffing at him. Any affection, or respect for that matter, Nine had toward Sonic began to fade away.

“You just assumed I’d go along with you, no matter what! Did you ever consider what I wanted!?”

     Nine was putting the pieces together in his mind realizing, “Sonic only likes me because he believes I’m just like his Tails. That I’ll agree to what he says and thinks.”, feeling very hurt by this revelation. He always had different intentions of what his “happy ending” was going to be. Seeing someone disregard his beliefs in favor of comparison to what is supposed to be an original counterpart did more to Nine than just sting. It felt like he been stabbed in the back after opening up his heart to someone. Something this poor kid hasn’t done in a very long time. Who’s to say Nine wasn’t questioning his place in all of this, as well?

    Throughout these new batch of episodes, Nine has been trying his best to give Sonic a helping hand. Putting his life on the line, so he can get a chance to return the favor of helping Sonic. Sonic had made Nine reconsider maybe there’s more to a life than simply a preference of being just another loner in a world where everyone fends for themselves. Only to have it thrown to the way side because Nine came to that same conclusion as Shadow did before. If Green Hill is to be restored, then himself, the Shatter-verse, and all other realities must apparently cease to exist. It not only terrifies him, but also makes Nine view himself as just another small cog in the system. A means to an end.

“Look’s like I can’t ever be happy.”

“Sonic doesn’t see me for who I truly am.”

“My very existence is irrelevant.”

“I don’t matter.”

     Wouldn’t surprise me if these thoughts were bubbling around in his mind before this heated confrontation happened. Nine doubles back down on his loner attitude because ultimately it has been what kept him getting hurt for so long. Getting dealt yet another hard dose of truth that Sonic stuck to his guns on Nine because he thought they would see eye to eye, like his own Tails. However, Shadow was completely right about Nine being different from who they know. Nine has been through a ton of emotional torment, even though there is still good in him. Any kindness is buried underneath a mountain of insecurities. Hence, the whole outcry of, “I AM REAL! Just not your real friend...”, is Nine hardly reaffirming his value as a person. That he isn’t defined by anything.  

    It’s what makes their dynamic so refreshing to watch between Sonic & Nine because he can’t just simply give an uplifting speech to make Tails feel better about himself. He’s gonna have to show some strong actions to Nine about his existence having significance. Breaking through those mental barriers of his isn’t gonna be easy after this falling out they’ve had. Nine has assumed Sonic didn’t genuinely ever care about him, despite standing up for him against Shadow earlier. To say I’m excited for Prime’s third season would be an understatement.

     Prime’s central conflict being centered around Sonic & Nine’s dynamic was a terrific idea, instead of simply going against different incarnations of Eggman. This makes matters a lot more dramatically complex. It isn’t simply about Sonic fixing his serious mistakes, but having to battle someone he never wanted to hurt. Sonic is gonna have to acknowledge his major oversight in not treating Nine for who he actually is. Nine isn’t Tails. He’ll never be Miles Tails Prower. Nine is a child molded by a world that was cruelly unfair to him and told he could never been proclaimed as an equal, ever. He had to do growing up on his own.

    This shot hurts to look at because you can see every ounce Nine’s remorse written all over his face thinking, “I should’ve known better than to ever put faith in someone other than myself. Why did I get my hopes up for thinking anything good would come of it?”. All the aspirations of wanting a clean slate with someone he deeply valued only to find out it was based on an empty comparison shattered Nine’s own hopes and dreams in the process.

“The only person I can ever trust is myself...”

     Sonic Prime Season 2 ends with our iconic protagonist hurting someone he never intended to, turning him into the next bigger hurdle to overcome. The writers took such a basic straight forward idea on paper making into an emotionally charged story testing Sonic’s resolve in facing down a friend.

     Taking well known tropes in stories should never be viewed as a bad thing. It’s what you go about doing with these ideas that truly matters. Sonic Prime is simply another reminder of that with Sonic & Nine’s contrasting personalities.

[major-wren]

I love the "ARK siblings" concept and I love cute lighthearted fanart of them being siblings but I feel like a lot of people forget that they literally canonically share a soul and that her death is, in my opinion, I think supposed to represent a part of one's self dying and that they're supposed to be, symbolically, a lot more than siblings.

I always saw Shadow's story as a symbolic way to express the way your inner child and innocence is sacrificed in order to survive complex childhood trauma. Maria's color scheme and the way she's written is, I think, clear to all of us how she's meant to represent innocence and youth. I mean, she doesn't really function very well as a stand-alone character or realistic depiction of a child, shes always been more of an.. idea.

I'm not sure if it was purposeful, but the moon's "Maria" are craters that formed from the moon repeatedly taking the hits of asteroids at it's points of gravity. These points of gravity attract asteroids and draws then away from the Earth. The craters are mostly on the side of the moon we see, so the dark side of the moon, or "shadowed" side is better protected because of that. I feel like this is an extension of Shadow and Maria's symbolism. She took the bullet for him, protecting him, the same way Maria takes the comets, and the same way your brain will sacrifice your inner child (or freeze/rush your mental development) in order to survive intense childhood abuse. I know it all sounds extreme lmao but at the end of the day characters and storytelling are used to explore and express hard emotions and I don't think this randomly tragic character sprung out of nowhere for the Sonic games, which, before that point, always had very lighthearted positive characters (except for the echidna extinction in the game right before Shadow's). Having a character that was easy to approach, yet could represent scarier concepts as a child-friendly stand-in, felt like a very important tool to me growing up. I just hope that that writing can be appreciated in his character, with an understanding of how messy production can be and how a character can get pulled between many different people and ideas. I do think this symbolism was intentional to some degree, especially when it gets to the blatant soul-sharing and how characters insist that Shadow can't be a weapon because Maria's soul (his inner child and true morals despite the damage done to him) makes him "good hearted."

There's other things that uphold this symbolism of Maria dying as representing his inner child being killed, like the rushed/suspended mental development in the face of trauma being illustrated by the fact that Shadow was forced into a dormant cyro slumber right after Maria's death, symbolizing the way he had to basically skip childhood or hit pause on development until he could escape the people controlling him. Much like how victims will have to pause everything and go on autopilot with only a goal of survival until they can escape their situation; only after they feel safe can they begin growing as a person and find their identity. In the Japanese language, there are different types of pronouns people can refer to themselves with instead of just "I" or "myself." In the Japanese dub of SA2, Shadow's creator said in an interview that he had been very insistent on Shadow using the pronouns reserved for young boys, despite Shadow's menacing villain role in the game, because he felt it was important to show Shadow's purity and his lack of experience in life so far. That "live and learn" theme.

And then in his self titled game, Shadow is searching for a way to reconnect with his past and to find the truth about this Maria person he keeps seeing in flashbacks, but in the end he throws away her picture and accepts himself as he is now, forever changed and stained by his past, but more than just a product of his situation. He is "all of him," including the negative impact he never asked for, and including the parts of himself he lost, but also the parts of himself he chose to become. Your environment and childhood shapes you even if you didn't want it to, but that doesnt mean you cant have control in your identity and recover your inherent nature once you've escaped the negative influence (nature vs nurture theme). He will never be the person he used to be, or could have been, (represented by Maria as a pure and untouched youth), but he still has a say in what that grows into.

I just feel like a lot of Shadow's identity issues and inner conflict stem from this whole soul sharing situation with Maria and that his character ends up inevitably being misunderstood if you water them down to just siblings. Especially considering that it was never answered if Shadow actually even ever met Maria or if they're just memories planted by Gerald or caused by the shared soul. In Sonic Battle, it's also said in Gerald's diary that not only do Maria and Shadow share identical souls, but that Gerald literally modeled Shadow after Maria out of his love for her. I'm not sure to what degree or in what ways, but Shadow is supposed to share purposeful similarities with Maria, likely through the content of her character and her morals. That's what makes them so much deeper than just psuedo siblings, he's not only made for her, but designed after her too. It can't really be compared to, for example, Sonic and Tails.

I also think its what makes Shadow's character so substantial and meaningful. His self titled game's entire theme was purity, morals, what is good and bad. This question of purity and morality spreads into his appearances in other stories too- This question that, if you were badly hurt in your youth and shaped by evil- does that leave you impure? Stained? Destined to continue that cycle of harm and cruelty? I think these insecurities feel very real and relatable, and that it's even more realistic that despite these insecurities, that hurt and damage is actually what fuels him to protect others. Just as he said in Sonic Battle, "There's no need to repeat past tragedies! Nobody else ever needs to go through the things that I have!"

Statistically (despite media portrayal) abuse victims RARELY become abusers, because they understand the pain on a deeper level and can't bring themselves to force someone else into experiencing that same pain, knowing the permanent damage it causes. However, childhood abuse leaves people socially stunted and conditioned to harshness, which causes them to accidentally hurt others without meaning to. Or they end up hurting people out of desperation if they feel endangered (like Shadow's "means to an end" approach where he'll prioritize violence if it means reducing the end-impact). Also, they are more susceptible to being abused again after escaping the first abuser, because they are so susceptible to manipulation- Just like how whenever Shadow does switch sides, its usually because someone manipulated him into it or literally brainwashed him. I think Shadow conveys all of this so well, and that Maria's true role is an integral part of it all that can't be ignored or misunderstood, or else Shadow ends up reading as unnecessarily violent or overly obsessed with her when you interpret her as just a sister-figure that he knew for... who knows how few years.

I think this symbolism runs deep with his writing. Just like Maria's meant to be that inherent purity and inner child, I think the black arms DNA is that stain that abuse or trauma can leave on you, that causes you to act out or feel like you're always holding back and trying to keep control over some darker part of yourself that was left behind in the damage done. Especially since they literally have a mind link with Shadow. In the Sonic Universe comic, they succeed in brainwashing Shadow and turn him against his friends. These mind-links, soul-sharing, and brain-washing from both Gerald and the black arms... To disregard the fact that he's deeply connected to these people on a metaphysical, identity altering level is to water down his character and leave it feeling as though his motives are too weak to justify his harsh actions. I've seen people poke fun at his amnesia or insecurity in his identity, as though his confusion isn't justified, and I think it's because people don't realize he has these... literal fragments of other people inside of him, that that's pretty much what he's made of, kind of franken-steined together between a little girl's hopes and morals, an alien race's hivemind greed, a weapon-hungry government and a revenge maddened scientist's painful grief, and even the chaos emeralds which we all know are spiritually whacky and potentially connected to another alien race's memories and energies (the ancients from sonic frontiers). With all of that going on, plus some amnesia mixed in and his memories having been altered by Gerald- I mean.. you'd be searching for the "truth" of your identity too, who you really are. And of course, prone to frustration and aggression, or even a "wish-washy inconsistency." I think there's always a constant tug of war inside of him and that his whole development was a game of tug of war between Gerald, G.U.N and the black arms too. "Am I a cure, am I a death-bringer, am I earth's protector, am I it's destroyer," etc etc

Idk I just think a lot of problems people have with Shadow's writing stems from not realizing how deep things go and what they symbolize. Not to say that something like his boom characterization is of good quality or anything, but I think it's unfair to call him inconsistent when a confusion in his own identity and purpose/goals is kind of the point. And I think people not realizing Maria's deeper, physiological connection to him and influence might be part of the problem.

[descendant-of-truth]

Okay I waited to get this out there because I didn't want to be a bummer the second it released, but. The story in Shadow Generations was... kind of nothing. Which sucks, because it had literally everything going for it.

Shadow gets plunged into a white space where people and places from different points in time are unceremoniously dropped in due to the power of the Time Eater, and that means Black Doom is here to try to manipulate Shadow again. Shadow starts developing alien mutations that mess with his sense of identity and only make Black Doom stronger, but he's determined to use them to take him out for good.

At the same time, Maria and Gerald Robotnik are here, and of course the first thought on Shadow's mind when he discovers them is how he can find a way to save them from their original fates. So he's got two goals: defeat Black Doom, and save his family.

This setup is really good. It's immediately engaging for all sorts of reasons, from the surface-level "whoa cool alien powers!!" to the heartbreaking implications of Shadow being forced to say goodbye to Maria and Gerald again. (Because naturally, we've seen where the games go from here and we know the timeline isn't changed that drastically.)

And it's clear to see that the people involved in working on this game were passionate about it, too. The animation and cinematography is quite good, and while I have my critiques (I still don't think the character models are that great), so much effort was put into making Shadow the coolest guy ever, and I think it paid off. He's both very cool and shows a wider range of emotions than we've seen from him in a while, which is always a plus for me.

I mean, goodness knows that Shadow needed his character to be revisited and given respect after, what, over ten years? The step up that this is can't be overstated.

And yet.

The story itself is so empty.

Let's go in order:

The game opens with a narrated recap of Shadow's basic history in order to catch people up. I can't say it doesn't technically serve its purpose, but given the fact that the premise of the game is exploring Shadow's past, it's a little weird to spell it out at the start like this. If you're a newcomer to the series and don't know much about Shadow, wouldn't it be cooler to find this stuff out by progressing in the game?

It also leaves out crucial details that, while they could arguably bloat the scene, provide a lot of relevant context that a first-time viewer isn't privy to.

"At the last moment, Shadow remembered Maria's final wish... to protect her beloved planet and all who lived there."

The last moment of... what, exactly? What made him remember, what made him forget in the first place?

In order, these are the answers the scene doesn't give you:

The last moments before the ARK crashed into the Earth, which would've caused catastrophic damage.

Amy was the one who pleaded with Shadow to give everyone a chance, which echoed what Maria told him, triggering the full memory.

It's actually unclear if Shadow forgot what Maria said as a natural trauma response or because Gerald messed with his memories on purpose, but this would have been a great opportunity to clarify.

It also leaves out the fact that Shadow teamed up with Sonic to save the world after he tried to destroy it, so that's two connections with other characters he has that are completely left out in the recap. I know we're finally getting back to showcasing Rouge and Omega as his best friends, but he does hold respect for Sonic and Amy, too. Plus, his interactions with them in SA2 were so iconic, why leave them out?

Then again, I suppose Rouge and Omega aren't in this recap either... which is really weird, the more I think about it.

But even as it's describing the moment he chooses to be a hero, they don't show him in his super form alongside Sonic, he's just... what, on fire?? I don't know what that's supposed to be depicting, it just looks cool.

"Shadow didn't understand why Black Doom expected him to be the vanguard for his invasion of Earth."

A fine start, but shouldn't we have gotten a passing mention of Shadow's amnesia somewhere in here? He spent two whole games trying to remember who he was, and Black Doom's whole tactic was to exploit his desire for answers. That's important characterization for both Shadow and Black Doom that we're missing out on, here.

"Shadow the Hedgehog. The lone, dark warrior who judges the world by his own code."

This is maybe best addressed in a separate post, but. does anyone else find this description of Shadow kinda odd? "Lone warrior" I get, even with his friends he's not big on groups, but it's everything else.

Yeah, he judges the world by his own code, I guess, but his actions are all in service of following Maria's code. It's Sonic that lives solely by what he wants without much influence from others, not Shadow.

And what exactly makes Shadow a "dark" warrior? He's been explicitly characterized as someone who doesn't kill as recently as the prologue animation to this very game, where he goes out of his way to save a pilot when he doesn't need to. His entire life's purpose is protecting the world, and this doesn't involve killing or torturing people, so... what exactly is the dark part of his morality. Nothing about this recap has given me reason to believe he's anything but a heroic person with a traumatic past, and the subsequent game will only reinforce that.

I guess he did kill all the Black Arms, but that's not something the game ever treated as an immoral action. Shadow blows up Black Doom and the comet his people live on and all of our heroes cheer as he does it. It happens in the True Ending and everything, where Shadow's supposed to be proving himself as a hero for real, so that can't be the example of him being a Dark Warrior.

Is it because of how he treated Infinite, a character that this game doesn't acknowledge despite featuring a level from Forces? We'll never know. They just want you to accept the idea that he's Darker and Edgier than Sonic based on his surface-level demeanor alone, which... given that the objective of this game is to showcase Shadow's nuance, this is really out of place. Overall, not a great scene.

That said, the first real cutscene is pretty good, and it immediately showcases how unnecessary that recap was by showing how excited Maria was to meet Shadow for the first time. From that scene, we learn that Shadow was artificially made, that he's "the Ultimate Lifeform," that Maria was likely close to him, that this happened on some place called "the ARK" which is in space, etc. Why did we have a narrator tell us all of this a minute ago when we were just about to see it for ourselves?

I do have one nitpick, though - Shadow claims that he arrived at the ARK "an hour ago," and Rouge on the other end of the comm is already at Sonic's birthday party. Rouge only agreed to help Shadow get to the ARK if he would go to Sonic's birthday party afterwards, but how was Shadow supposed to have time to do anything up there if Sonic's party was that soon? I was under the impression from watching the prologue that Sonic's birthday was at least a week away, because how else would Rouge expect him to conduct a full investigation and potentially fight some huge battle before then?

Oh and the Time Eater shows up in two places at once (at Sonic's party and on the ARK), I feel like it would've made more sense to have it grab Shadow after it was done with everyone else. Now I'm gonna be forced to ask "why doesn't the Time Eater multiply" for the rest of the game. Whatever

Moving on, our first real sign of things to come is the fact that Omega does not have a proper speaking role despite showing up in the first cutscene. He's right there, conveniently next to Shadow, but as soon as you think they're going to talk to each other... you're dropped into the hub world. Speaking to Omega results in text bubble dialogue, wherein Shadow is mysteriously hit with Silent Protagonist Disease and we don't get to hear anything he says. Effectively, Omega just. talks at Shadow three times, saying nothing of interest. and it's completely optional.

I repeat: all of the dialogue from one of Shadow's best friends is OPTIONAL, and Shadow himself says nothing to him. Yeah, we're off to a great start.

(Omega even says that he's going to assist Shadow, and I just. I have to laugh. I'm so sorry Omega but in terms of physical actions, you're genuinely going to do less here than in Forces)

Shadow: "No. She's gone. I'm seeing things."

Pardon?? Seeing things??? I'm sorry but there is no way that Shadow can see and recognize Maria from that distance but not from ten feet away with her back turned. He's also never been implied to have super-vision, so the whole scene just doesn't make sense, and frankly adds nothing to the story.

Even if he doesn't mean literal sight, then 1) why did he phrase it like that, and 2) I kinda don't care. He doesn't need to be able to sense Maria's presence or whatever's going on here, because he's just as shocked when he actually sees Maria properly later. It builds suspense I suppose, but I feel like it would've been more impactful to discover that Maria was really here the same way Shadow does; in the cutscene where he saves her.

But before they can reunite, we've got the first proper cutscene with Black Doom:

Black Doom: "You defeated us, but the Black Arms live on. And this temporal anomaly has accelerated my plans to revive my forces and consume the world."

I'm gonna be real with you guys. I have no idea what he's talking about here.

The game makes zero attempt to really explain how the Black Arms "live on" despite Shadow blowing up their entire comet along with Black Doom himself, and going into the game, I kinda thought it was just... time displacement. Maria and Gerald are brought in from a time they were alive, so I thought it would be the same with Black Doom, but no - he revived himself before the Time Eater even got involved.

Which I'd be willing to accept if they gave me an explanation for it, but they didn't, and the whole foundation of the plot suffers for it.

Plus, what the heck does he mean that the temporal anomaly has "accelerated his plans to revive his forces"?? The Time Eater's powers don't... accelerate anything. At all. They pluck things out of time and freeze them in a void. How does that help Black Doom's plans whatsoever?

If the idea is that he's going to pluck his own forces out of time and bring them back that way, why not just say that? Why are they withholding such basic information from us? It doesn't create intrigue, and the story doesn't even treat it like there's a gap in our knowledge to begin with. I think it's genuinely supposed to be the whole explanation, and that's a problem because it explains very little.

Then you've got the Black Moon, and this thing annoys me to no end because guess what?? Despite gradually opening more eyes and cracking open every time you complete a level, it's never once explained what it is or what it's for. All it does is turn the white void into a red void and open a portal to Even More Radical Highway. Maybe I'm forgetting something from an optional piece of dialogue, but that only creates a different problem, which is that you should never lock basic understanding of the story behind optional dialogue.

Why does it have eyes? Is it a living creature or some weird bioweapon? It's oddly mechanical for a creation of the Black Arms; even their weaponry is organic, as this very game tells us through Omega, so what's its deal??

You'd think it would have something to do with time, considering the framing of this scene:

Shadow says "perhaps I can change their fate" and then looks to the Black Moon as though it may hold some relevance to this new plot thread, but. nope. it just takes you back to Radical Highway.

And hey, look at that, I was so busy complaining about the moon that I seamlessly transitioned into one of my biggest issues with the game: Shadow says this. and never follows up on it. EVER.

I'm not kidding, there's literally NO point in the game where we're shown Shadow trying to do ANYTHING to change Maria and Gerald's fates. There's no scene where he attempts to understand the void better, he never investigates anything, he makes exactly zero attempts to accomplish one of his main goals. of BRINGING HIS FAMILY BACK TO LIFE.

What is the point of them being here, then.

No, I'm serious, literally why are they here if we don't get to see Shadow try to save them?? By the time the final cutscene rolls around, they start fading away back to their own time, and suddenly Shadow's like

(WHY ARE YOU SURPRISED, YOU DID NOTHING TO PREVENT THIS OUTCOME)

But I'll talk more about Maria and Gerald later - for now, since we're on the topic of Shadow having odd reactions to things, how about those stages and bosses, huh?

Well guys, I'm pleased to announce that despite there being dialogue in some of the stages, absolutely none of it provides context to the locations Shadow visits or his thoughts on them! If you didn't play Heroes and have no idea that Bullet Station is where Shadow found a destroyed Shadow Android, kickstarting a new layer to his identity crisis, then congratulations, this choice of level will mean nothing to you.

And before anyone tries to be like "the Sonic Generations levels don't get commentary from Sonic on their significance to him, either," it's a problem there, too. But it's an even bigger problem here, because they went out of their way to choose levels that have real emotional significance to Shadow and then proceeded to do nothing with it.

Isn't this the game where we revisit Shadow's story up until this point? Would it have been so hard to drop a line of dialogue indicating that Shadow's not thrilled about returning to Bullet Station? Maybe add a brief cutscene where he finds the same broken android from before, and says something like "hmph, I can't believe I let that thing make me doubt myself for so long," thus demonstrating his growth?

Here's a fun fact: Shadow has zero cutscenes that happen inside of levels. This is something Sonic beats him at, by having one cutscene that takes place in a level (Chemical Plant). This should not have been a high bar to clear, but they fell short somehow, anyway.

(Space Colony ARK doesn't even use the Final Chase music. The Shadow game starts out with a song exclusive to Sonic rather than him. He actually has more ARK-related music than Sonic does and they still didn't use any of them. How did they mess that up)

This problem only gets worse when they start pulling in levels from Forces and Frontiers - games that this Shadow hasn't experienced yet and wasn't there for, respectively. Once again, on principle, this is a cool idea! Shadow getting a peek into what his and Sonic's futures have in store? The confusion over when these events take place, if they're even connected to him like the others have been? Great stuff

And hey, if he's going to Chaos Island, and we saw from the trailers that the volcano is exploding in Act 1, then maybe we could even see Super Sonic fighting Knight in the background in Act 2! The debris from their fight could even act as platforming challenges, can you imagine how cool that would be? What will Shadow think of the advanced tech on the island, or of seeing Sonic fight something so massive? Surely this is a great opportunity to elevate Frontiers even further--yeah of course they don't do that.

No Knight fight in the background, which is... fair enough, I guess, but then why bother with the volcano exploding? It only does that moments away from when Sonic is about to fight Knight. Yeah, it looks cool, but we didn't need it. The more egregious problem is still the fact that Shadow has no observable thoughts or opinions on being sent to unfamiliar terrain in the future, though.

The bosses all have dialogue, though, which is a step up on a technicality and little else. Most of the dialogue from Shadow is just him being a self-aggrandizing badass who doesn't see any of the bosses as threats - even Neo Metal Sonic, who he should really not be so confident in beating all by himself, considering that he. didn't do that before. It actually took eleven other people to defeat Neo Metal, including Super Sonic, but I guess he just doesn't care at this point.

If they wanted to, it would've been easy to make him overconfident on purpose due to his new Doom powers, make an arc out of it, but no. Shadow's just Like This now, apparently.

There's a similar power scaling issue in Sonic Generations too, where Sonic can somehow defeat Perfect Chaos without his super form, but the game had dropped location-specific cutscenes so long ago that it was hard to feel like it was even canon at a certain point. The game never cared about making sense or really being anything, but Shadow Generations doesn't get that excuse. The bosses having the most mid-gameplay dialogue tells us that they're Definitely Happening, and so I care more about them as a result.

Which takes us to the moment that I truly realized that this game had no interest in doing anything with its material: the Mephiles boss fight.

Shadow: "What's this? A seal of some sort?"

Okay real quick before I get into my big issues with this fight: I know it's a magic glowing artifact, but what about it actually looks like a seal, specifically? Does Shadow just have a sense for this kind of thing? I don't recall him ever demonstrating that ability before.

I feel like this line is just here to clarify what it is for people who don't know, but since Shadow also doesn't know, it's just kind of weird. I'm not even sure why he's in the Scepter to begin with, considering that Shadow's sealing attempt in this room was a failure, but whatever.

Of the three bosses in Shadow Generations that precede the final boss, Mephiles is the only one that can both speak and had a relevant dynamic with Shadow that would be interesting to revisit. The Biolizard is cool but doesn't have a personality, and Neo Metal had no real opinion on Shadow. (In Rivals 2, Shadow and Metal Sonic have a developing friendship, but this has unfortunately never been brought up again. If they did so here, it would only have been on Shadow's end, since Metal hadn't gotten to that point yet.)

But Mephiles? So much of his character revolves around Shadow. It was Shadow who sealed him away originally, and it was Shadow's form that he took when he broke free. He's the main antagonist of Shadow's story in 06, and even though his primary goal is rejoining with Iblis, he takes a vested interest in trying to manipulate Shadow over to his side by showing him the worst of what humans will do to him - not unlike Black Doom, honestly, though he was focused on Shadow's past instead.

Plus, it's been so long! We thought we would never get to see Mephiles again! What have you got for us, game?

Mephiles: "I will defeat you, then restore myself to the timeline." Shadow: "I don't know what you're talking about, but I will crush you all the same." Mephiles: "What? Did you forget about me AGAIN?"

*deep sigh*

Contradictory dialogue back-to-back. I see. Cool.

Mephiles should not be surprised that Shadow doesn't remember who he is, because he literally JUST SAID that his goal is to restore himself to the timeline. He KNOWS that he never existed, and therefore SHOULD KNOW that nobody he encounters will remember him. I'm convinced that he only reacted this way because the writers thought it would be funny, and that's it.

Even if it made sense, though, Mephiles isn't supposed to be funny. He's supposed to be ominous and threatening. For as much care that went into recreating this environment and his powers/body language from 06 (and I gotta say, this whole section looks extremely nice), none of that same care really seemed to go into his personality. He's just as drab as Neo Metal, occasionally repeating lines from 06 so that you know they played it and not much else.

The end of the fight features some absolutely unhinged dialogue from Shadow for no reason, though.

Mephiles: "No... I want... to exist...! Shadow: "There is no future for you. Ever."

Look, I get it, they've done nothing but fight this whole time . But Shadow has no personal beef with this guy. Even if they're going with the idea that Shadow wouldn't care to learn what Mephiles is rambling on about (kind of boring, and why wouldn't he be curious about why someone like this has it out for him), there's no reason to go so far as to say he'll never have a future. Is this the "dark" part of that "dark warrior" thing they were talking about in the beginning?? Kind of a random place for it to jump out of him, if so.

The kind of intensity coming from Shadow here would be justified if he remembered who Mephiles was, but he doesn't. As it stands, it gives off the impression that he didn't actually process a single thing Mephiles said about wanting to exist and restore himself to the timeline, and just said the first cool, edgy retort that came to mind. Which makes the sentence both less cool and even more out of character.

After this boss finished playing out, all I could feel was disappointment and a creeping sense of emptiness. If this was how the game was handling Mephiles, of all characters, if this was the extent of what they were willing to do with an idea... the rest of the game suddenly seemed much less exciting. I got to this point, realized how comparatively little of the game was left, and thought oh no.

Now, uh... where was I in the story, again?

Oh right, Shadow was about to go save Maria. I actually have no notes on that scene, it's pretty good and I liked that Maria was immediately thrown off by his aggressive fighting style and whatnot. It implies a lot about what Shadow used to be like without really showing or telling us, and that's pretty neat.

The following cutscene where Gerald explains how Shadow's growing powers only make Black Doom stronger in the process is also fine, there's nothing super specific for me to gripe about it in isolation.

And this good streak it has going is immediately interrupted by the worst, most nonsensical scene in the entire game.

Sonic: "I found you, Shadow!" Shadow: "The blue hedgehog... of all places..." Sonic: "You have something I need." Shadow: "You can wait until my business is finished." Sonic: "Yea sorry, but that Chaos Emerald and I have a date with a monster!" Shadow: "Well then, it'll be a date to die for."

This is. a really stilted conversation, no matter what way you look at it. On one hand, it's repurposed dialogue from two different scenes haphazardly mashed together, neither of which should represent their current dynamic anymore since they were both antagonistic at the time. And on the other, it just... completely lacks character from both of them. They're so unbelievably dry despite their attempts to sound quirky, it's actually impressive.

I have to ask - have the script writers not heard the incessant complaints from fans about there being too many references in modern Sonic dialogue?? Because this scene plays out like an actual parody of that trend, the kind I would expect to see on twitter or something. I initially saw the animation for this cutscene without audio due to leaks, and I thought it looked pretty cool because the animation was nicely done.

Boy, when I tell you I was stunned to discover that THIS was the actual, official dialogue. What happened here?? Why is this what Sonic cutscenes are turning into?? In a game that costs $50-$60??And people are saying it's the best Sonic game???

Somehow, the god-awful dialogue isn't even the only thing that's wrong with this scene, but I'll compile the rest in bullet points to speed it up a little.

Shadow suddenly shows up in Sonic's section of White Space, despite it not being visible from a distance and therefore giving no reason for Shadow to venture out that far

Sonic says he "found" Shadow as if he was looking for him, even though the only people Sonic has seen here other than his and Tails' past selves are people who were at his birthday party

Classic Sonic is neither seen nor mentioned despite the extremely fun potential of having him interact with Shadow

A purple portal conveniently shows up in front of Sonic and Shadow while they're talking for no reason

The boss fight with Sonic is just a cutscene (lame), and Shadow gets taken out completely by one solid bonk from Sonic (even lamer)

The fake Chaos Emerald switcheroo, while clever, is presented as if it was done deliberately when it was clearly a coincidence that it got knocked out of Shadow instead of the real one

(I guess this technically happens before the Mephiles fight so my faith in this game was already plummeting, but I was willing to tolerate this scene being bad because I could understand them not wanting to add too much to Sonic's side of things. They had completely free reign with Mephiles and still delivered nothing, which is why it really cemented itself in my head)

The one thing I really liked here was seeing Shadow almost use his Doom powers to defeat Sonic, deciding against it, and his hesitation being what lost him the match. Shadow refusing to fight Sonic on unequal terms is some really good characterization that I was happy to see.

Black Doom: "The promised time is nigh upon us, Shadow. Soon, you will be mine."

So did we ever learn what the "promised time" was, exactly? I've played every route of Shadow the Hedgehog (some more than once) and still can't remember. If he's referring to the time when Shadow awakens his full power then I guess it makes sense, but otherwise it's kind of an oxymoron considering that time doesn't exist in White Space.

Gerald: "He has grown a new body, and used the nebulous nature of time in White Space to accelerate his plans for revenge."

Shadow, buddy, your animation is positively kickin' right now but Gerald, I'm gonna need you to do literally anything other than just repeat the same lackluster explanation we got earlier as if that's going to make it any less confusing. What ABOUT the nebulous nature of time? Is time not largely just frozen here?? We're somehow around 3/4s into this story and I still have NO idea how anything works

Maria calms Shadow down from his frankly justified anger by holding his hand and talking about how she doesn't want him to be driven by darkness. They find a way to throw in the fact that apparently Maria named him "Shadow" because the presence of a shadow can show you where to find the light, and it's... nice? Very wholesome, but it feels awkwardly placed and I'm not sure anyone was seriously asking why he was named that. Like, of all the questions to spend this game's limited screentime answering, "why is he named Shadow" was probably not at the top of most people's lists.

And before you have a chance to think about it, we're already at the endgame.

Shadow: "I'm letting go of that destructive anger."

Wow, and in the very next scene after it was brought to your attention, too! You sure do grow fast, Shadow!

Okay, all jokes aside, there's not much I can say about the pacing in this game other than It's Rushed and Bad, but I think it's finally time to talk about Gerald and Maria.

Gerald first: He's mostly just here to give out exposition. His relationship with Shadow is much less focused on than Maria's, which I find to be really frustrating because I always had a lot of questions about how those two interacted. In SA2, we only know him as a grieving, hate-filled man who was heavily implied to have scientifically messed with Shadow's mind - not long after they had both just lost Maria - in order to make him inclined towards Gerald's revenge plan.

In Shadow's first game, we see a side to him from before then, when he really seemed to care for Shadow and we got some clarity on the purpose of the Eclipse Cannon and whatnot. But what were their average interactions like? Who was in charge of Shadow's training? If it was Gerald, did that ever create a sense of distance between them? Shadow never has warm, nostalgic flashbacks of him, so I assumed their relationship either wasn't as close or he has too many conflicting feelings now for those memories to be very comforting.

This game decides to lean into Gerald being a kind, supportive man, but regardless, Shadow's feelings should be a lot more complicated, no?

I'd imagine that, in a way, it's a relief to have this Gerald around again. It would make it easier to pretend that the man who used him in an attempt to destroy the world and go against everything Maria stood for was just... a fluke, or something.

But still, Shadow knows that he would do bad things to him if Maria died. It's already happened.

Dark Beginnings also suggested that either Shadow was there when he shot down by the firing squad (unlikely given the context), or he watched the recording that played at the end of SA2 enough to be able to see it in his dreams. Neither of those are good for his psyche, and would only add to the number of emotions he has to suppress whenever they interact. There is, of course, none of this nuance within the game itself, despite it being right there and ready to be worked with.

Then you've got Maria, and. hoo boy.

I take no real issue with any of Maria's traits that are on display. Her being a nice girl with boundless energy and goodwill does not make her boring, and I've always been fascinated by her character. So, I need you guys to understand that it's with a heavy heart that I must say that Maria is... barely a character in this game.

And like, she doesn't exactly have a history of being deep or complex. But we've also only ever seen her in Shadow's memories up until this point, and that means this game was a unique opportunity to flesh her out more.

When a character is as idealized by another as Maria is by Shadow, and we only see them through that lens, it's natural to assume that the depiction isn't completely accurate. I was never in doubt that Maria was kind and gentle, or that she was always there to help Shadow when she knew he was struggling, but I always wanted to know what she was like outside of that. What makes her angry? What was she like on a bad day, when she inevitably got frustrated at her lot in life? How did Shadow comfort her? What was her sense of humor like?

While we technically learn more things about Maria in this game, there's never a point where she acts differently from Shadow's vision of her. She's not really shown to have flaws, and she's only really there to be saved and offer emotional support. It's like... a textbook example of what you shouldn't be doing when writing a female character, having her be defined entirely by her relationship with the male lead and never speaking up or complaining about her own problems or feelings. They don't even make a point out of it, that Maria tempers herself to be "perfect" for other people or anything like that.

Why don't we get to see how she and Shadow would handle an argument or something like that? Especially this Shadow, who's all shaken up by everything? Wouldn't it be beneficial for both of their characters for Maria to be seen as herself, the way she was in life, rather than just the nicest moments she and Shadow had together?

I'm gonna make a comparison here that people aren't gonna like, but... I think Elise is honestly shown to be a more nuanced character than Maria is. And this is coming from someone who thinks that she was also mishandled in her game.

Similar to Maria, Elise is genuinely a deeply caring person, and lives mostly isolated with a condition of sorts that makes her life difficult. Her most important relationship is also with the male lead of her respective game, but she doesn't exist solely for his benefit. (Amusingly, Sonic actually seems to be there primarily to further her arc, so it's a bit of a role swap there.)

But we see more from Elise than just Being Nice all the time. We see her being resolute and bold in the face of danger, or disappointed when she has to go back to the castle. We watch her try her hardest not to cry and retain her strong, regal exterior when faced with overwhelming emotion.

We get to see her open up and laugh and become more confident, we watch as someone who's been forced to put her feelings aside for the convenience (and safety) of others her whole life finally break down and shout something selfish for once. And then we watch her ultimately choose to do the right thing, anyway. Her strength of character is shown to us by putting her in situations that challenge her, and the narrative never once shames her for being imperfect; it's actually encouraging her to be her real, flawed self.

Why does Maria not get this same treatment? Why don't we get cutscenes of her being excited about the new environment she's in, or frustrated that her symptoms are making it difficult to do anything here? When does she get to be selfish? Why can't she get upset at people treating her like she's frail, even if it technically "makes sense" for them to do so?

We're told, in Gerald's journal, that some of the people aboard the ARK doubted that Maria was really sick due to her symptoms not being clearly visible. Because it's his journal, we only get to hear his feelings on the matter, but in the full game, we never once get to know how it makes Maria feel, the person this is all about to begin with. They absolutely could have incorporated this into a cutscene somewhere, but they didn't.

Once again, I have to ask: what is the point of Maria and Gerald being in this game if this was how they were going to be written? Not only does Shadow fail to even attempt to save their lives, he doesn't even walk away from the experience with renewed understanding of who they were as people.

So what even happens in this story, then?? Every single aspect of it is dragged down constantly by the game's refusal to do anything with what it has:

Shadow revisits places from his past, but has nothing to say about them

Shadow visits places from the future, but has nothing to say about them

He has nothing relevant or interesting to say about any of the bosses

Mephiles trying to restore himself to the timeline is a plot point that exists solely within his boss fight and nowhere else

He doesn't struggle with any of the bosses, emotionally or physically, turning them into a boring power trip

He barely struggles with his Doom powers, the things that are supposed to be giving him an identity crisis

Sonic is not a playable boss fight and he also says nothing relevant or interesting

Classic Sonic doesn't even get a passing mention

The Team Dark friendship is supposed to be a highlight but Shadow never speaks to Omega, who also never shows up in cutscenes, and Rouge is just kinda there

Maria and Gerald never meet Rouge and Omega, or anybody else on-screen, despite it being extremely easy for them to run into each other

Shadow's relationships with Maria and Gerald are barely explored past their surface

Most importantly, Shadow is never shown making any sort of effort to save Maria and Gerald from their fates, despite it being one of his primary goals

...Oh yeah, I forgot to complain about how Shadow barely struggles with his Doom powers. I was gonna go on a whole spiel about how it would've been super easy to make into an arc and how it was wildly underutilized despite being a major selling point of the game, and the only real consistent conflict whenever Black Doom isn't on screen.

Well. Anyway. Once the White Space becomes Red Space (something that once again makes me question how far away Sonic's area is, to not be able to see this happening), Shadow magically gets over his "destructive anger" and goes to Radical Highway one last time for the epic final boss.

And it certainly is epic, I can't deny that. A massive technical improvement over the first fight against Devil Doom, and I'm not about to sit here and act like the wings aren't cool. But I can't say it feels very rewarding, since I never really understood what was going on and Shadow didn't really struggle that much to get to this point. Not to mention, he's still acting all high and mighty during boss fights, which makes it feel stale really quickly. Black Doom isn't really that interesting by himself, so Shadow kinda needed to carry that fight, but no, it's just more of the same.

One last point before I wrap this up:

Where was Emerl???

Correct me if I'm wrong, but a promo animation for a game should, in theory, provide you some idea as to what kind of things to expect in the game itself. While a lot of them take their share of creative liberties, I don't think they're in the habit of putting spotlight on entire characters who never appear in the game at all.

This is THE GAME where we bring back the people from Shadow's past that he's lost, and Emerl most certainly qualifies. He's from the more recent past, yes, but Shadow still cared about him and absolutely would have been affected by his death. There's no way that, had he been in the story, Shadow wouldn't have been determined to save him as well. But no, he's just there to be a cool lore detail in Gerald's journal.

Which means this is yet another depiction of Emerl where we refuse to acknowledge his personality. Do they seriously think Emerl is more interesting as an emotionless killing machine that Gerald researched in his spare time? Where's the fun-loving kid who mimicked everyone around him, splicing things he heard them say together to communicate and creating funny tonal whiplash? Where's the robot with the soul that Gerald gave him, that was nurtured by Sonic and his friends?

Not in this game, apparently! They went out of their way to canonize Battle and still managed to treat it with zero respect. Kind of impressive, really, and just another footnote in the trend of this game not actually caring to do anything with Shadow's past.

There are definitely moments in this game that I like, but that's kind of all they are: moments. The game's total cutscene runtime is around 30 minutes, and that means there's not enough time in any of them to get anything done. A scene that's good in isolation is tainted by the fact that it's all there is.

And it's just... so baffling to me. There are so, so many points in this game where you could have fit additional cutscenes in. We could have had one after each act, or at least after each level. Give us more cutscenes after activating things in the hub world or something. I mean, a game that claims to be this story-driven doesn't usually need an excuse to throw cutscenes at you, and they certainly didn't need to force each scene to be so unbelievably short.

If they really needed to downsize on cutscene length for some reason, then maybe they should have just made a less ambitious story. The game wants to do so many things at once, but it doesn't have the time to do any of those things justice. We could have gotten a short, sweet, well-done little story, but instead we get a story that easily needed at least two hours to tell crunched into a measly 30 minutes.

I mean, Dark Beginnings in its entirety is half the length of the full game. Think about that for a second.

This game's story was supposed to be something, man. It's getting so much praise for what feels to me like the bare bones structure of a story, and it's frustrating because I know this series can do better. The writer of this game can do better, and I know that because I've read his other Sonic material and it feels much more complete than this does.

I was genuinely looking forward to this game, is the thing. I really didn't think it would be this lackluster, because like I said at the beginning of this post, it had everything in the world going for it. But no matter how nice it feels to have a Shadow who isn't wildly out of character for once, that alone can't carry an entire story.

Shadow Generations is a mess of good ideas executed in the least interesting, most nothing way possible. Its only real saving grace is its animation, and the fact that Shadow generally feels like himself.

Except for when he's talking to Sonic. What the heck happened when he was talking to Sonic

[catiecat1320]

Participating in Sonadowtober this year!! Really excited and probably gonna fail but we ball

Prompt 1: “I Found You, Faker!”

Read Below 🔽

Of course it had to rain.

It was as if some higher force had cursed him with terrible luck. It might as well suddenly start thunderstorming now.

The original plan had been simple enough, but things rarely ever turn out as expected. For once Sonic wished everything would go smoothly. But no, there was a faker using his face, running around and getting him accused of unspeakable acts.

Heh. Sounds familiar…

He absentmindedly played with the device on his wrist, hoping to trigger something that could help him. An umbrella, maybe. He was getting drenched.

Stupid imposter and their stupid tricks. Although he wasn’t exactly playing hero here, he wouldn’t ever go out of his way to hurt someone purely for the sake of an act. But the few that had spotted his face probably didn’t believe that, and so he’d rather keep anyone else ignorant of his true identity. 

Hard to do when his face is uncovered.

Sonic smacked the device and sighed. Standing up, he wiped the rain from his eyes and looked up at the whole procession of vehicles, hoping to find a relatively clear path. He needed to keep up. Man, it’d been so long since he’d been chased like this, he was getting out of practice. Let’s see…

“Found you.”

A sharp PING of metal on metal, and the next thing Sonic knows, he’s falling, the gear knocked out from right under him. Managing to snag his perpetrator’s board just barely, he sighs a short lived breath of relief as an all too familiar voice whispers, “...Sonic?”

Ruby eyes bore holes in him as he looks up. Protected by a hood, they seem to glow in the dark. A bit too menacing for his liking. “Hey, Shadow! Fancy seeing you here!” Sonic laughs, flashing the best smile he could muster while dangling what was likely thousands of feet above ground. “New fit?”

His rival scowled, tugging his brown cloak tighter. “I should be asking you that.”

“It’s… not what it looks like, I swear.”

“Then explain. Now.” 

“Could I at least get my gear back first?” Sonic eyes the board floating away in the wind, silently willing it to return. It didn’t work.

“I said now.”

“Alright, alright! Long story short, something fishy’s going on with Cleansweep. Tails and Amy are in the big shuttle right now, investigating it. I was supposed to create a distraction with this fancy getup, which worked pretty well until someone copied my whole schtick and made it worse. And now my thingy’s broken—” he shakes the malfunctioning device for emphasis “—and everyone who saw me thinks I’m the bad guy. Crazy, I know. But you gotta believe me—”

“I do.”

“I…! Uh… wait what?”

“I believe you.” Shadow grabs his wrist and pulls him onto the board. “You do many things, but you’d never hurt anyone without cause. That whole act was unlike you.”

“Gee, thanks I guess.” That saved a lot of talking. Sonic supposed he underestimated his rival’s understanding of him. He couldn’t help the grin that tugged at his mouth as Shadow flew him over to his drifting Eggstreme Gear. Of all people… Shadow might have been the best one to run into, ironically.

“Stop smiling like that. You look stupid.” Shadow undoes his cloak and tosses it at Sonic, who fumbles with it in surprise.

“What’s… this for?”

“You are stupid.”

“What—!” Then it clicks. “Ohhhh. Oh yeah, I knew that. Cloak. Disguise. Duh. But uh… don’t you need it?”

Shadow shakes his head. “I brought it along for the rain. It’d be of more use to you. I can handle getting wet.”

“...Thanks, dude.” Sonic smiles as he puts it on. Unfortunately, his rival immediately ruins their nice moment with a glare.

“Don’t ‘dude’ me.”

“Sorry, sorry.” He rolled his eyes. Typical Shadow. He can’t say he was surprised. “Didya have to ruin the moment?”

Shadow doesn’t answer his question, instead turning his board around to leave. He doesn’t get far before Sonic calls after him. “Wait… where are you going?”

“You’re handling this just fine on your own.”

“But… That doesn’t answer my question.”

“I have faith in you. You don’t need me to hold your hand any more than I want to. Do your part, and I’ll do mine.”

Shadow’s expression is the perfect blend of unreadable and untouchable. Crimson eyes lock onto emerald with a look that makes Sonic glad he’s no longer on the opposing side.

“If you’re really curious… I’ve got a faker to find.”

[c00kietin]

HELL YEAH THANK YOU - anyway-

may I present. metal sonic. specifically neo metal sonic. this involves a lot of interpretation of sonic heroes, the game where metal sonic gets his neo form and mainly a lot of background from comics (archie + IDwW) as well but shhh it is fine I do analysis for a living (<- lie but I do do it a lot)

so. metal sonic, if you didn’t know, is a robotic copy of sonic the hedgehog built by his nemesis dr eggman. he was made to kill sonic and get rid of him, and his entire identity is entirely dependant on sonic. he is a copy of sonic, but really he wants to be sonic. this is a major part of his character; metal sonic is forever beneath sonic, never the real true sonic, always being defeated by sonic, sonic is inescapable. it’s in metal sonic’s very name. he hates sonic.

i love this depth to his character and I enjoy his struggle. identity crisis reigns supreme. even if he kills sonic, who even is he anymore? metal sonic? metal who?

in sonic heroes, metal sonic is the main villain rather than eggman. i don’t remember everything, but the point is that metal sonic is independent now and leads all the badniks (eggman’s robots and machines) to take down everyone and the most important part is that metal sonic becomes neo metal sonic, which involves a chassis and outfit change. i can’t provide a picture but you should look her up. neo metal sonic.

look at them. i think they’re stunning, drop-dead gorgeous. their ‘quills’ are longer, they have a skirt-adjacent item of clothing, playing reminiscent of sleeves, and the white really brings out their eyes if I may say so. I headcanon neo metal sonic as transfem genderfluid. I’ll explain this in a second.

but gosh. they’re no longer working under direct orders from eggman. they get to be their own sentient being. it’s still priority one: hedgehog, but it’s on their terms now. they’re the main villain now and they get to pull all of the strings and experience power. I’m so happy for them. she’s awesome honestly.

back to their outfit now. in the sonic franchise, it’s mainly girls who wear a proper set of clothes/full outfits. sonic, shadow, silver, tails, knuckles, most male-presenting characters only wear gloves and shoes. meanwhile amy has a dress, blaze has a full oufit, honey has an awesome dress too. neo has a skirt, a chassis that looks as if she’s dressed and she’s rocking it honestly. all this time they’ve been forced into one-upping this guy they hate, this guy they simultaneously hate and want to be and now they’ve got individuality. sonic who? they’re neo metal. they’re awesome and they’re so much better than sonic.

I’ve always loved them honestly, and understanding their story and character now that I’m older makes it all the better. I think metal is great, neo metal is pretty hot and they’re my favourite sonic character.

I’m sos sorry for making this much, much longer than I expected but… um… heartfelt analysis for you to read I suppose?

anon this was so real of you i feel like i'd score 100% on a Neo Metal Sonic test after reading this/pos 😌

hope the doodle is accurate enough vhgsvs

Their story sounds so interesting!!! Searching them up too they also looked very cool :D

I love the skirt n long sleeve thingies hehe

you are correct she is ROCKING IT!!!

Might watch sonic someday I do admittedly like a few of the characters--

Overall:

☆☆☆☆

[tiny-smallest]

Sonic Movie Universe prediction: Robotnik is an orphan because of GUN

I think what was supposed to be, tonally, a silly throwaway line is actually winding up to punch us in the face later.

Bear with me.

I barely remember the first movie since it was so long since I watched it, but aside from one, maybe two, of the comic universes, this line is the first time we have ever gotten anything at all about Ivo Robotnik's personal backstory. And it's that he's an orphan. In a story series that explicitly sets him up with a human identity- none of that Eggman stuff as his identity, not even a whisper of the name until it's a silly insult Sonic throws out later- this movie bothers to give him a Normal Human Society Firstname Lastname and a job.

(Okay, so Robotnik isn't exactly a normal human surname. But it's established canon that is the family name so. Suspension of disbelief.)

A series that we know will later delve, at least a little, into the story of Professor Gerald Robotnik WHO IVO APPARENTLY, ACTUALLY, DEFINITELY KNEW IN THIS CONTINUITY, AS HE HAS A SPECIFIC GRANDPA NAME FOR HIM AND NEARLY CRIES.

The original line was a ridiculous rebuttal to Tom during the fight in the house during the first movie. "Rub that in my orphan face," he says in response to Tom sharing a detail of his childhood during Silly Action Scene Banter. While there is a sort of tension there since the movie universe makes no bones about Sonic being an actual child and he is confirmed to be an alien, thus making the danger present of government capture and experimentation very real and kind of horrific, the scene as it plays out isn't overly out of character for something you'd expect in a Sonic movie. And although Robotnik is the threat here, he plays a large part in also keeping the scene lighthearted because of how utterly he fails to respond like a normal human being to literally anything. The comment about being an orphan at least makes sense based on what Tom said, but it's still weirdly personal and, therefore, kind of inappropriate to say. Like dude back up you're trying to kill a child why are you sharing your trauma with me that's uncomfortable.

Which brings me to the obvious point of that line- it's not just to make the scene funny, it's to show us how set apart from other humans Robotnik is. This is a man who has no idea how to interact with anyone, like, absolutely nobody, and every single scene he's in reminds us of this, including this one.

Now that the third movie has explicitly drawn a line between Shadow's backstory and themes of pain and loss, and we see Gerald Robotnik weeping over what I think is Maria's body in the aftermath of the murder (jesus that's dark) I have to connect a few dots of my own.

The first movie had another piece of foreshadowing they threw at us, this one way more obvious: at the end of the first movie, a government agent is sent to speak with the Wachowski couple. He tells them that Ivo Robotnik has been thoroughly erased from existence. As far as any documentation of him ever existing on Planet Earth, there is none. He hasn't merely disappeared- it's like he never was.

If they did this to Ivo after this catastrophe it's not a stretch to think they did the same with Professor Gerald. Hell, I thought that after movie number one. "That has to come up later- we have a character the government explicitly turns on in this series. Like, as a major plot point. The defining moment in several characters' stories. No way does their ability to erase someone not come up later."

But now I think they went a step further.

They've already murdered a little girl and broken an old man in their efforts to contain the genius they were frightened of.

Personally, I don't think it's a stretch to think that Ivo Robotnik, very young himself at the time most likely, is an orphan because GUN decided to eradicate the entire family line in an effort to prevent anyone like Gerald Robotnik from ever existing again.

Except. The son survived. Well shit. Uh. Stick him in an orphanage and keep an eye on him, I guess.

And where does he end up as a adult? A branch of the government. Where they can keep an eye on him.

(More than that, if they did erase Gerald, Ivo clearly remembers him... so Ivo may have joined them specifically to look for traces of the grandfather he knows existed and who doesn't seem to have any records proving that whatsoever. But that's Ivo's motivations and we're talking about GUN's, so, moving on.)

It's likely based on his sheer intellect, assuming Ivo wasn't embellishing too heavily, that he didn't have to grow for very long before that brilliance was obvious. Though the government's decision to let him live was strategic, weighing the gamble of assassination with the gamble of him inheriting the genius and deciding that risking him having the same genius as his grandfather was better than trying to kill him at this point, the gambit ultimately failed. Even though he was more than likely still only a child, they'd let him live too long. In just a few short years he quickly became a very real threat to the government- as in, if given a reason, he could be a very real threat. And nothing Ivo does is ever subtle or quiet, so his genius was probably very loud, and there was likely lots of attention, making an assassination impossible, because if there would be too many questions before, there would be an insurmountable amount if he died or disappeared now.

So, since they couldn't kill him, they continued to keep an eye on him and took him on at the government when he was old enough with the intention of keeping their enemies closer. Except all of their caution still wasn't enough and he went rogue the first time he was presented with the opportunity to grab at power they didn't already have, power capable of things beyond their wildest imaginations- a monster of their own making.

Ivo, who never asked for what happened to him, very likely a victim of circumstances he had no hope of ever controlling, who responded to this trauma by making his choice that power mattered more than anything- more than morals, more than hurting people who are just like he was once. That shaping his own world after all the horrors he planned to do in pursuit of that may finally, finally "be enough."

(Be enough for what, exactly, Ivo. You never did explain that. "Who knows? Maybe that will be enough." Elaborate.)

Whether he knew the truth about why he had suffered or not, Robotnik made his choices. He stood at that crossroads that demanded he make a choice about what kind of person he was going to be in the face of all the pain and loss, and he made his choice. This movie is about Shadow making his.

If this movie really wants to beat us all to death it won't just draw comparisons between Sonic and Shadow, but Shadow and Ivo Robotnik.

(If this movie wants to exorcize our souls after we're dead, if it intends to be a trilogy and not make more movies in following the original vision for Sonic Adventure 2, it'll place Ivo at a new crossroads, and this time, he'll make a different choice.)

(Especially since Professor Gerald, in a much worse state of madness and malice than Ivo, who the movie is setting up specifically as someone Ivo loves, admires, and almost certainly misses, probably won't.)

[sonicjustbecause]

A though on skills (Sonic and the others)

One thing I don't like about Sonic is that all character seems to have about the same skills and downfalls, and this make them less unique. Maybe an approach in the right direction was made in Sonic adventure 2, but that was all.

Considering that I only like few characters from Sonic (In short a little more than all those appeared in Sonic Prime, who luckily were all characters I already like), I only will talk about them and not even all of them.

Sonic and Shadow

(the twins.... not literally, but they truly have twins vibe)

I think they should keep their iconic skills. High speed, spindash etc. With a slight difference though. Surely the spindash and all related rolling into a ball thing should be identical, no difference.

In particular circumstance and for short amount of time thy both can reach the speed of light.

About speed, I like to think Shadow is sligtly slower than Sonic without his shoes. Anyway those two are the fastest and the difference between them and all the rest should be noticeable.

Physical strenght and stamina favour Sonic. Shadow is tied to his inibitor rings. Without them he is way stronger than Sonic but his stamina decreases fast. Also Shadow can't hold the super transformation as long as Sonic.

Shadow, unlike Sonic, can swim, but I don't see him having a particular tecnique.

He also can perform chaos control better and easily and has full control of the chaos power. Sonic can do chaos control, but it looks diffcult when he does that.

Being left handed can also be one of his advantages. Most people are right handed so unless you aren't a trained warrior (see Knuckles), Shadow attacks may be more unpredictable.

Tails

I really like his flight abilities thanks to his two tails mutation (do you know that the two tails mutation is real?)

Although annoying in game, I appreciate the fact Tails can't fly forever. Foxed aren't supposed to fly after all. But he can fly long enough to make his level easier to finish. He also can swim but he lacks tecnique.

I like that in SA2 he uses mechanics. But I like more if he uses custom made weapons.

I don't like Tails being as fast as Sonic or using the spin dash. Foxes don't have a mantle and quills. They're like dogs who have a convergent evolution toward cats, so they tend to have typical cat skills rather than dogs skills. I like when he attacks his enemies with his two tails, that look strong.

Knuckles

I don't see Knuckles as particularly fast, but he is strong and a skilled warrior enough to nullyfy Shadow's left handed advantages and to force him to fight without inibitor rings. He can also free climb easily. I remember in Sonic OVA he just fly just like Goku or Superman, but I don't like that as I'm not fond on his gliding ability. He also can swim, and unlike Shadow and Tails he has a tecnique. Like overall a warrior but pretty much well trained in overall all sports. Of course he should not be able to roll up. But he has quills, he should be able to use them in some creative way.

Amy Rose

I like her skills actually. The Piko Piko Hammer is a nice touch. Plus she can summon it like magical girls can sum their sceptre, as seen in Sonic X. One thing she should do more is rolling up and the spin dash. She should not be able to do all the attack Sonic and Shadow can do, but she is still a hedgehog so she should be able to roll up.

She can swim, too. Not as good as Knuckles but better than Tails and Shadow.

The tarot card doesn't count. This is a think she likes to do for fun, but I don't see it as a part of her fighting skills.

Rouge

One thing is obvious, Rouge arms and legs look really thick, like Knuckles', and this does means she is muscular, so she is a good fighter. Plus she is a natural flyer, being a bat. This does means she is supposed to be able to fly as long as you want, unlike Tails and this gives her the ability to go everywhere, without limits. Plus she can swim as well as Knuckles.

Eggman

I think, since he is a human, our specie, it was somewhat easy to enhance the typical human skill, intelligence, but at the same time is harder to run with creativity in other skills. Suspension of belief is harder when we are familiar with something. All Eggman skills come from brain indeeed and his mechanics is very creative and dangerous. Eggman is able to swim (apparently only Sonic can't swim), but mostly he floats. He possess quite a good strenght and athletic abilities considering how out of shape he is.

[misstalwyn]

making a massive sonic movie 3 spoiler post to get all my insane thoughts out in a place with 1) no character limit and 2) functional tags + tools lol

don't look unless youve seen it! or if you're ready to lose a measurable amount of respect for me!!

if you had told tiny little 12 year old me that someday people would not only NOT flame Amy simply for existing in this cast, but that she would have people screaming and clapping for her in public?? she wouldve called you a cruel liar! but youre not! and its finally her time!!!

I'M SO HAPPY IT WAS HER I'M NOT EVEN MAD MY SILVER PREDICTION WAS WRONG LOL (tho i did think silver wouldve been waaaaaay too much too soon and i'm glad they agreed thank god)

i had her with me ofc bc she came with the set and its like they knew they had to complete it and now i want to CRY

i dont even know if i can expand on the fact that SHE saved SONIC???? will that flip the script?? is metal her rival rather than his at first??? and why on earth did they show half of that scene in the TRAILERS????

anyways, i'm so glad they let Shadow be SILLY! even SXSG shied away from the stuff they had him do here! that boy was towing Maria around the labs and having movie marathons and making snow angels and its like every little piece of domestic fanart I've seen of them came to life and it was perfect

its still sooo fucking funny to me that they really went all-in on "50 years ago is now the 70's" bc that aesthetic worked like a charm and i can't imagine anything else now. it is kinda jarring that theyre not on the ARK and Maria isn't sick but ofc the narrative still works without those facts. people are gonna be a bit upset about that one, but out of allll the plot holes this movie has (they NEVER explain how tf Gerald is still alive btw), that's one that's pretty easy to step over

there was one part with Gerald yelling "KIDS!" and both of them turn around and it just GOT me right thru the heart like yes!! he was a kid, too!! in between all the tests and labwork, he was learning how to live and they took it all away from him right when he was starting to figure it out :(((((

their first meeting here might be so good it deserves to be canon, i'm just saying. i think that'll make me cry on the rewatch for sure

i wonder if he's just gonna chill in that random field in oklahoma like when he landed the first time lol. he deserves some peace and quiet now especially since they went with the angle that he FELT all 50 years passing?? just lived the worst moment of his life over and over and over??? holy fuck

it did kinda fuck me up in the beginning bc they kinda-sorta imply that the accident was SHADOW'S fault, then they make you wait till then end for the full flashback, where not-commander-tower actually tried to save them but the solider fired anyway

they might have fucked around and accidentally made the most tragic/angry version of Shadow bc he not only got to stew on his anger for decades, but they literally gave him a Superman origin and Gerald was just the scientist assigned to figure out wtf he was actually lol. so you just KNOW they have a "press in case of BLACK ARMS INVASION" button ready to go for another movie so he can have another identity crisis when he finds out he's literally a herald of destruction!!!!!!!!

oh yeah this movie was supposed to be about sonic actually huh

i think i agree with the general reaction that his character is really great here! the first 20 minutes are basically every trailer we've seen in sequence, so his jokes & one-liners feel top-heavy and then they even out, esp as the later acts kick in and there's no more time for games lol. those trailers are doing him a bit of a disservice now bc compared to the eggmen, sonic is hardly that obnoxious in the full film, but the marketing doesnt care ofc

The Scene that mirrors Shadow's last moment with Maria is SO GOOD, i'm kinda shocked they didn't have him turn right there (but i'm glad that it was Sonic that made him turn, and that he got to throw some of his rage right back at him in process)

Kinda goddamn wild that for a moment it seemed like Shadow had fully killed a human, onscreen, in front of god and everybody. I actually wondered if he could still come back from that, for a minute.

it seems to be a common opinion that they went a bit too far with the jim carrey-isms, and i agree. i generally felt like it was an ok balance for awhile, then they cut into LIVE & LEARN with gerald spanking ivo and i actually sighed and cringed. you dont cut into live & learn for anything, but especially that!!!!

god, i need that orchestral remix like yesterday, its already bad enough we have to wait till christmas for SXSG soundtrack! GIVE IT UP ALREADY

best jim carrey scene was the doomed yaoi speech, oh my god

RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU HEARD "I AM THE EGGMAN" ON HIS PHONE AND SCREAMED, TOO

losing it at how they literally assigned shadow to hangout with stone and he was just like "ok" and they watched tv together lol

Stone was fucking awesome when he actually had scenes to himself holy fuck Lee get that bag!!

REVENGE GUAC!!!!!!!!!!!!

putting my tinfoil hat on and claiming the novela scenes and guac bit as an acknowledgment of Shadow's loyalty to the latinas, as a latina myself this is within my power

as a whole, bits like the novela and team knuckles are soooo much stronger and natural than the mandatory dance scenes and branding shoutouts, god i hope that sticks in whatever comes next!!

i understand no one liked the wedding scene in 2 but i LOVED it and was kinda sad that special agent derek morgan was just a disguise here but the way they used him was great, so i guess i'm just glad they kept him around

director rockwell just kinda? came outta nowhere and then disappeared to nowhere?? oh well her character was just kinda filler huh. and here i had a crackpot theory that she was rouge in disguise lmao

am i stupid or have we NEVER gotten a super sonic vs super shadow before?? i cant remember every detail of things like sonic x, but of mainline stuff??? they mightve given us a first?!

MAKING THE POSE™️ SUPER WAS A+++ THO GOOD FUCKIN JOB

Keanu was sooooo good god i cannot wait until modders just splice his lines from here into the dlc and then it'll be perfect

i am realizing now that i love how they leaned more into Shadow's POV esp in Sonic becoming angrier and driven and just like him (almost like goddamn SCOURGE of all things), but it works very well and makes this feel more like a different kind of SA2 rather than SA2: the Movie, if that makes sense lol

i can't wait until they get halfway thru the next movie, walk into one of Stone's bustling new chain of coffee shops, and Shadow is just there chillin

soundtrack as a whole was SO strong! lot more familiar melodies and in total everything felt suited to the tone. the eggmen dance scene had a good song choice, even if i didnt like the scene itself lol

Maria had her own little theme and thinking about now is just gonna make me cry oh god

feels weird to realize now but i think they only called shadow the ultimate lifeform ONCE, in total. ig it wasn't really important but it's more apparent compared to SXSG where they say it every 2 seconds

What are the fucking odds that the same day a new Superman is revealed, Shadow is given a Superman origin?? COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT

am i done? will probably throw more up after my second watch lol look out

VAYA CON DIOS, SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG

SHE'S READY FOR 2027

[skaruresonic]

I really don't like how the description of the promo image of the full Dark Beginnings has to specify that they're reaching for one another "like long lost siblings".

What is the difference between reaching for one another platonically and romantically? What makes that drawing different from the nearly identical scene of Sonic and Blaze in Rush, used as Sonaze fodder since the game came out? How is a blind person, the target audience, supposed to imagine the difference? And why does it matter?

It breaks the flow of the description and it feels... cowardly. Whoever wrote that description likely knows that a growing portion of the fanbase, especially on Twitter, thinks shipping Shadria is immoral, so they put their hands forward and shouted "THEY'RE SIBLINGS YOUR HONOR" to appease them.

Yes, I know the manuals have described their bond as sibling-like since the beginning, or at least ShTH. But was there any need to specify it here? Especially when Dark Beginnings itself just added more Shadria fuel (yeah it's very sibling-y to caress your brother's chest hair lol)?

I am not invested in Shadria but I don't understand the hate for it. It's cute. Shadow and Maria care for each other and are important to each other. There is no need to pigeon-hole their bond in a convenient label. There is no need to give an arm to the uptight fans who wrap their ship war (because let's face it, I'm sure many of those anti-Shadria people ship Sonadow lmao) in a morality question.

That piece has some real "Chihiro and Kohaku falling out the sky" energy going on tbh. Very kawaii and kakwáhyę. <3

Managed to find a few based tweets amidst the sea of Shadria antis popping champagne bottles, lol:

Based and Maekawa-pilled.

I do find it a tad sus how hard people cling to the ShTH manual as "proof" of pair's sibling relationship when the game proper never has Shadow or Maria describe it as such. The omission becomes even more salient when you recall that the Commander described Maria as being "like a sister" to him and "the only familly" he knew. Why does a Donut Steel nobody gives a shit about use those words, but not Shadow?

You mean to tell me in all 326 routes of Shadow The Hedgehog, Shadow does not take a single opportunity to say "I miss my sister Maria"? Wow, it's almost like ST left their dynamic open to interpretation for a reason. :v

Besides, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. If the ShTH manual is watertight proof that shipping Shadria is incest, then I reserve the right to say that Sonic was forced into a date with Amy under duress in Unleashed because Black Knight's manual describes him as awaiting a "stressful encounter."

---

(yeah it's very sibling-y to caress your brother's chest hair lol)?

...I don't think the antis realize that just makes it even hotter. what are you doing, step sis

Yeah, Maria has some... brow-raisingly romance anime-coded behaviors in these shorts. She's, uh... notably touchy-feely with Shadow.

Also, one last grenade to lob into the water, because fuck it, we're waking up and choosing violence today lmao:

[blazehedgehog]

You know how characters introduced as a rival to Sonic mirror him in some way? Which ones do you think do the best/worst job of it?

I feel biased because I really like Metal Sonic. He was kind of always this, but they've really leaned into making him this cold, ruthless machine, who, at least according to the comics, secretly questions his own identity.

He is the ultimate evil Sonic: extremely fast, endlessly acrobatic, but with absolutely no heart. All business, no pleasure. He exists to get a job done. And, like, guys like Shadow have their own business going on. Metal Sonic exists for one reason, and one reason alone: be the anti-Sonic.

The worst is hard to pin down because there's so many jobbers. I know people like Sonic 2 GG's Silver Sonic, but I've never been a huge fan of him (he's cute and weird sure, but I dunno). Then there's Pseudo Sonic, from the Adventures of Sonic cartoon.

I'm going to jump into hot water, though, and I want to preface this by saying: I have still not read Sonic the Comic. I am judging these based on very limited information.

(So, so many images incoming)

I really do not like "Sonic Badnik."

This design is such a strange looking mess. It feels like the sort of thing they didn't expect to draw more than once. Like there were no design meetings, it's just, this was it. This was the first draft, right here.

Skimming the rest of the issue, that rings true, given "Sonic Badnik" doesn't even look totally correct page to page.

Details change, colors change, it's like the artist is drawing his own character from memory and he can't remember what it looked like three pages earlier.

It can be forgiven. This was issue four. I don't think anyone was taking the job very seriously yet.

I'm also not a huge fan of Emperor Metallix.

I also don't know tons about Doctor Who, but I understand enough to know this is a Dalek thing. It makes it comparable to all those dumb Archie Sonic comics where they snuck in so many Star Trek and Star Wars references that the upper management supposedly had to lay down rules blocking that kind of material because it was starting to clog up the book.

Also the idea of a big Metal Sonic permanently fused to a big chair doesn't seem very scary, even if he is commanding an army of Metal Sonics. It's sort of like being scared of a refrigerator. Was he even mobile? I suppose if the chair could fly around and had weapons and stuff built into it, maybe that could be scary. I see some images where that's suggested, but I also see images where it looks like he's attached to the floor and walls.

Even if he can fly around, he seems like he basically only exists to pass orders down. That's pretty boring. This guy is a boss only in the sense his employees do all the work.

Also, let's turn the lens back towards Archie: I think Anti-Sonic himself is lame.

Again: it's Archie going back to the well of Star-Trek-isms. Star Trek has the mirror universe, where an evil version of the Enterprise exists, with evil versions of Kirk, Spock, etc. We see Mirror Kirk literally do the nazi salute!

Side note: Mirror Universe TNG is hilarious because everybody is sexy, edgy, and super ripped. It's REALLY dumb, but in the best way.

Anyway, that's literally all Anti Sonic is: he's mirror universe Sonic. He's evil, and we know he's evil because he dresses like a PUNK. That means knee-high boots, a leather jacket, and sunglasses. And that's it. That's his entire personality.

Oh and I guess he lusts after everyone, including Sally's computer, Nicole (notably when she was still just a computer and not yet her own character) and even himself, I guess.

Ian Flynn eventually turned this guy around by changing him into Scourge the Hedgehog, and fleshed out his identity a lot more. I am probably not the first one to note that the current IDW Sonic character Surge the Tenrec feels like a do-over in terms of Scourge the Hedgehog.

Which is basically: an attitude turned up past 11. Both are deeply broken individuals.

But I'm getting off topic: the original Anti-Sonic sucks. He's a one note gimmick, and a bad one.

[merlyybird]

ok here's my overall thoughts on the whole dark beginnings trilogy. spoilers below!

things i liked:

- the visuals. the action was especially vivid and really helped me understand how i'm supposed to imagine these characters in a fight. there were also a lot of wallpaper-worthy shot compositions. the use of 3D within a 2D art style was...a little noticeable, but not immersion-breaking.

- seeing all these characters together again. we haven't seen team dark in a context like this for a while! and it's especially nice to see fresh interactions between shadow and rouge/shadow and maria. fun GUN commander surprise, too.

- rouge's characterization. i like that they're leaning into a lot of my favorite Rouge Traits again---she's tech-savvy, smart, does what she wants, and she's kinda Shadow's best friend currently living. this still isn't my favorite voice for her, but, you know.

- the angst, for lack of a better word. i loved seeing shadow's canon insecurities about his identity and his place in the world. i also think it was so effective to show how isolated shadow felt on the ark, and how maria was the only person there for him. it puts his grief for her into even better perspective.

things i'm kinda iffy on:

- i wish omega had more dialogue. plus, why did they repeat him saying "i call dibs" across shorts 2 &3 ? that was really glaring. he's kinda just the less important robot third wheel to the two other more interesting characters in team dark.

- the series ended on a kind of lukewarm note. it was just a reminder that oh, yeah, this is mainly a piece of promotional material for a game that will tell the rest of the story. presumably.

- i didn't really like the sentiment that maria is the only person who could talk shadow down. listen, i love shadow's backstory and how it informs his character. like i said, i was happy to see more scenes of him interacting with maria! the thing is, though, i don't want to see him married to his tragic past when he already decided to move on from it way back in shadow the hedgehog's true ending. shadow doesn't do good because of maria's wish anymore---he does it for himself, because he chooses to. he doesn't have maria anymore, but he has new friends who understand him. why must maria continue to occupy this unattainable high standard that even rouge can never reach? even shadow recognizes that his old life was taken from him, and he can never return to it. so why does the narrative seem to push back against that?

i'm willing to give this short series a little grace since it's not the full picture. plus, i think the theme of finding new friends is still there, it's just...not carried as far as i'd like it to be, i guess. i'm not saying maria needs to be replaced, i'm not saying shadow can't remember her. i just think her memory should be used as more of a foundation for him to build new connections.

at the end of the day, though...i wanna see more stuff like this! i love that they're exploring the parts of sonic characters that make them beloved and interesting and cool-looking (same as the knuckles prologue short for frontiers)! i would take a full anime in this style any day of the week.

[rainbow18]

What “I Hate Chili Dogs” really means.

I know that a lot of fans may have laughed and said it’s just to spite Sonic but it is an important quote. In fact, it’s crazy that People heard it and still look at Nine and say “He’s Tails if He Hadn’t met Sonic and/or was more Independent”. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

Nine was literally made out of Tails’s Love for Sonic and he’s Taken Tails’s admiration and dependance to the extreme.

Nine has blue and yellow lines to represent Sonic + Tails. Nine was given the backstory of being bullied because that’s how Tails Met Sonic.

Unconsciously or not, Nine often copies Sonic. (Which is where the unintentional comparisons to Eggman came from. Sonic has some similarities to Eggman so when Nine copies Sonic, he came across as a copying Eggman.)

Nine’s battle/you ticked me off pose was meant to be reminiscent of Sonic’s own pose.

Both were disgusted by what the other wanted them to be like.

Both had a giant accident while trying to help, which led to characters vanishing. (Said characters even look identical and shut their eyes as they vanish.)

Both broke the prism despite being told to wait.

Both are cocky and don’t like listening to others.

Both wanted the other to move to their preferred place.

Both were the other’s morality pet.

Both considered their favorite place to be the best and they looked down on the other locations.

Both gave the other multiple chances to change their minds.

Both don’t like it when they get called a different species.

Both began collecting things that they don’t own and endangered others in an attempt to fix their accident.

Sonic projected the Prime Characters onto the shattered Characters whereas Nine decided to project Sonic and the other hypothetical friends onto the Grim Robots.

It wasn’t until the finale that either of them began verbally accepting responsibility for their actions that led to the destruction of everything.

I could provide more, but you get the idea. This is also why Nine is the only shattered character that has a somewhat similar flashback to one of Sonic’s.

From Tails, Nine unconsciously knew Sonic was supposed to be there. It’s why they have the same passcode, 1992. For Tails, that was an important year because he met Sonic while Nine symbolically kept it to try to remind Sonic they are supposed to be friends.

However friends can’t be “All take, no Give.” Throughout the entire time, Sonic kept trying to encourage Nine to not just be like Tails, but also like himself.

He talked about sharing Chili Dogs, even though, Nine prefers juice and Tails likes Juice + Mint Candy.

While he did say “Just like the real Tails”, Sonic first mentioned himself. He also mentioned Nine being like him again later.

He told Nine to ignore Shadow even though Nine was interested in Shadow because He wanted Nine to copy his habit of ignoring/dismissing Shadow.

In general, Sonic attempts to encourage Nine to copy his habits.

He always tried to nudge Nine to help others.

When pleading with Nine, Sonic often focuses on what he wants.

Back in Nine’s Lives, Sonic went along with the others plan. Then when Sonic tried making another deal, where Nine “Hands over the prism, joins them, save the Shatterverse and have Chili Dogs”.

The thing is, What does Nine get out of this stuff? This is all what SONIC likes.

Sonic is the one who would have the entire Paradox Prism unless the Chaos Council or Dread steals it.

The people in question don’t like Nine or The Grim. Nine doesn’t like being with others much in general.

A Chili Dog isn’t going to help The Grim or give Nine or the others an attitude adjustment.

So Nine screamed “I HATE CHILI DOGS” because in his eyes, Sonic was only vocally caring about himself and his wishes.

It’s the same story every other time that Sonic pleads.

The first time? Sonic first requested for Green Hill to be saved. Then he mentioned the shatterspaces. No mention of The Grim until around the end and even then, it was to criticize Nine.

The rest of the times, Sonic mentions the Shatterverse as a whole but not mentions of specifically helping The Grim or working on what Nine wants.

During their reconciliation, for the first time, Sonic was acknowledging what Nine wanted and apologizing for not caring about it. Fittingly, Nine’s hair began going outwards, like it did back when he was supposed to meet Sonic.

Also For the first time, Sonic was verbally acknowledging that Nine doesn’t have to be like him or Tails.

Sonic also protected Nine from the others and told them to leave Nine alone while he stayed with Nine. Which was the deal to save the Shatterverse. Fittingly, Nine’s hair went back to normal as that’s what Sonic was supposed to do back in Nine’s Lives.

[jakemorph]

I finished sonic adventure 2 for the first time a few days ago. i'm aware there are people who have been thinking about this game far longer than I have, and many of them believe that the answers to the game's mysteries can be found through closer analysis of its original Japanese text. but here are my thoughts on the version of the game that i played:

first, SA2 plays with the idea of "artificial versions" of key elements from the original Adventure. Tails now experiments with an "artificial Chaos Emerald", and G.U.N's use of Chaos Drives would seem to indicate that the same sort of experiments were performed on the ARK: a ship which is propelled by Chaos Emeralds in the manner of an artificial Angel Island, and which is populated by a menagerie of experiments into "artificial Chaos".

to this end, a seemingly undiscussed aspect of the Biolizard experiment is as an "artificial Perfect Chaos"; the logical culmination of Gerald's experiments into Chaos and chaos energy. we understand, as per the first Adventure, that Chaos is a custodian of the water, and as SA2's final story winds up to Shadow's confrontation with the Biolizard it's water that the game becomes increasingly preoccupied with: until, as Sonic approaches the lizard's lair, the ARK's innards ultimately become indistinguishable from the water-filled Mystic Ruins built in the god of Chaos' honour. and it's from the center of this vast artificial orange water system, in a Chaos Emerald altar, that the orange Biolizard rises. per interviews regarding Sonic Generations, we also know Perfect Chaos' design is supposed to include a scaly, armoured upper body, reflecting the Biolizard's appearance even more closely.

second, SA2 is highly concerned with the closely related ideas of mistaken identity and the perception of good and evil. on the surface, Shadow is easily mistaken for Sonic's evil shadow, but on a deeper level the player is also left to question the true identity of Gerald Robotnik; supervillain or misunderstood idealist? this, too, is an elaboration on one of the key themes of Adventure; we're introduced to Chaos as the "god of destruction", but by the end of the game it has become clear that this is far from the truth - while Chaos was involved in destruction, his true goal was always the protection of the Chao, and it was only when soldiers intruded upon their sanctum that he became a destroyer. (Frontiers deepens our understanding of this situation by making the implicit explicit, that the Chao are the last surviving children of Chaos' near-extinct race.)

Gerald's story mirrors this almost exactly; presumably, it was only when the military annexed the ARK and his daughter was killed in the crossfire that he became bent on destroying the Earth. so the point we're left to wonder on, at the end, was whether his experiments were truly created for warfare and destruction or for the advancement of life; and whether the "real Shadow" is the the "artificial hedgehog" or the Biolizard pictured in the Project Shadow files. it seems to me Shadow and the Biolizard represent the two identities of Project Shadow. the Biolizard, which does everything in its power until the very end of its life to try to crash the ARK, is Shadow as the "god of destruction", a weapon built only for revenge against those deemed responsible for a child's death. the artificial hedgehog, though, is Shadow as the protector; the Chaos at the end of Adventure, who learns that he still has something to live for because the vulnerable descendants of his charges are still out there. Gerald is neither solely supervillain or solely idealist because he is responsible for creating both of these Shadows.

obviously subsequent games chose not to explore this path, but with Shadow as an "artificial" ultimate life-form, there's also the lingering question of whether that makes Sonic a real ultimate life-form, and I wonder if the two-Shadows idea can be extrapolated into two-Sonics: if the black hedgehog Shadow is the black Biolizard's benevolent twin, then is there an unrealised connection between the blue hedgehog Sonic hold and the blue Chaos? Adventure's climax also introduced us to the not yet revisited idea that the Chaos Emeralds themselves have a dual nature, containing both a positive energy and a negative energy which can be utilised for both destruction and salvation simultaneously, to which end Sonic and Chaos have already been mirror images of each other once before.

[tenebraevesper]

Sonic Cyber Revolution, Entry 44: When The Shadow Calls

''A shadow of myself, just who am I? Scan horizons- A tragic mystery… You could have left me here, sealed inside the pod. No one would ever know – The chaos control. My true identity- The power that is me!''

– This Machine by Sonic Heroes (Team Dark Theme Song)

xXxXxXx

Sonic narrowed his eyes as he watched TV, turning the volume up. Midorikawa and Kero were at a cluster of warehouses at Souto, reporting the events that happened the previous night.

''…Hunters have been destroyed by an unknown Irregular. We're currently awaiting more information from their Commander, Loki the Wolf, to learn just how dangerous this Irregular might be…''

''As you can see, this was quite a battlefield…'' Kero added, pointing at the black scorch marks on the ground and walls, as well as crystals spread all over the place.

''That has to be Mephiles,'' Lucas said, sitting down next to Sonic, keeping his eyes on the TV. ''Out of all times… what is he up to?''

''Commander Loki, is it possible that this Irregular attack is somehow connected to the other Irregular attacks during the past few days?'' Midorikawa asked, lowering her microphone to the wolf ARNav's height.

''Unfortunately, we don't know yet whether there are any connections. The previous attacks have been targeted towards humans, but this one seemed to have been specifically focused on the Irregular Hunters. Not only that, but the Irregular that has caused this is much more powerful than the ones we usually encounter. It might be an anomaly,'' Commander Loki explained.

''An anomaly?'' Midorikawa blinked in surprise. Commander Loki opened his mouth to answer, only to suddenly close it.

''That is just a personal theory. As you know, Irregulars grow more powerful the more BioEnergy they absorb, but I suppose an anomaly might appear that doesn't need as much BioEnergy to cause so much chaos. Nevertheless, we are already working on tracking the Irregular down and eliminating them,'' Commander Loki explained in an assured tone.

''Loki did mention once that he encountered an Irregular who wasn't aggressive, so I guess that's the anomaly he's talking about. If he only knew…'' Sonic said, glancing at Lucas.

''I guess you're right, but why would Mephiles attack the Hunters? We know that he and Toshiro are after Shadow and Touka,'' Lucas said.

''Maybe he's also bored?'' Sonic suggested.

''Maybe, but I'm certain that he probably has more malicious reasons for this,'' Lucas replied. ''I don't believe that their original goal would change, but still, attacking the Hunters doesn't make any sense.''

''Hey, I'm sure we'll figure out the reason why they're doing this… Well, you will, since you're pretty good at piecing this kind of stuff together,'' Sonic said. Lucas nodded, only to pause for a moment.

''Say, do you think that Mephiles and Toshiro would know about ARMS?'' he asked.

''I wouldn't be surprised if they did,'' Sonic replied.

''Maybe they're antagonizing the Irregular Hunters to force ARMS to reveal themselves?'' Lucas suggested. ''I mean, if there aren't any Hunters, ARMS would have to intervene.''

''I think they should reveal themselves to the public,'' Sonic said in an uncharacteristically blunt tone. Lucas blinked in surprise, tilting his head as he looked at his partner. Sonic sounded quite bitter and uncaring, and frankly, he couldn't blame his partner for that. Their friends' life was a complete mess because of ARMS, and frankly, having them become public knowledge would be for the best.

''The question is, if Toshiro and Mephiles are trying to provoke ARMS into fighting them, should we let them do this?'' Lucas suddenly asked, with Sonic giving him a look of surprise. ''I know that we should probably go and tell Loki and the Hunters what we know-''

''We could confront Mephiles and Toshiro on our own,'' Sonic suggested, with Lucas giving him a curious look. ''I don't want the two to cause trouble and hurt more people, and I feel quite bored. So, the least I can do is to try to track these two down.''

''Should I call the rest of the team?'' Lucas asked. ''I don't think it's going to be easy to find the two.''

''Tell them to keep an eye out for them,'' Sonic said, getting up. ''I'll go for a run and see whether these two will show up when they see me.''

xXx

Shadow took a sip of coffee, or rather, diluted coffee bean water as he called it, with Omega agreeing with this assessment, and listened quietly to the chatter in the canteen. He took note that it was mostly the human agents having a conversation, while the Irregulars were quietly eating as ordered. He turned back to Touka, Rouge and Omega, with the former two trying to answer the robot's questions as honestly as possible.

''Unfortunately, we don't know the size of Eggman's forces, but I assume that he should've an army of Badniks,'' Touka said.

''That is fine. The more the merrier,'' Omega replied.

''What do you mean by that?'' Rouge asked.

''The more targets I have, the more opportunities I get to prove my superiority,'' Omega explained. Touka snorted in amusement, giving him a thumbs up.

''Well, that logic makes sense to me,'' she said, smiling. Rouge just exhaled in exasperation, placing her hand on her forehead, although a small smile did appear on her lips. Shadow just quietly kept drinking his coffee, noting that the mood had changed quite a bit since Omega's arrival.

Since she was on her own, Rouge had to constantly stay on guard and figure out a way out by herself. With the arrival of Touka and Shadow, she was given an opportunity to escape, as well as someone she could discuss her options with, but the situation was still bleak. After all, the Commander was adamant to keep a close eye on ARMS Pet Project and use Shadow and Touka as he saw fit, treating them like tools rather than people. Not to mention, the other agents weren't too keen on interacting with them and the other Irregulars were practically zombies, so making any allies was pointless. They were also weighted down by the fact that their teammates were also in danger of being pursued by ARMS, so they tried to be on their best behavior.

However, with Omega the situation was almost comical. The robot had ties to no one, having gone against his own creator and was willing to fight anyone who got in his way, whether it was foe or friend. He was also quite trigger-happy, something the Commander had personally witnessed, making it clear that it would be smarter to keep this powerful robot as an ally before he decided to just destroy everything he came across. Lastly, Omega was also very headstrong and direct, having little to no filter, so the conversations with him were always interesting. In fact, he was quite open about blowing up ARMS HQ if they didn't get to go on some kind of mission. While Rouge and Shadow managed to keep him restrained, pointing out how they had a plan and needed to wait, Touka was on Omega's side, being quite cynical about ARMS. If it were up to these two, they would've blown up the walls and just walked out, but Touka knew well that they had to make sure that ARMS wouldn't go after them ever again. That was the only reason why she didn't try to convince Omega to go through with that plan.

''…an Irregular had completely decimated at least two Irregular Hunter Units.''

''I thought they could handle that.''

''Clearly not.''

Rouge and Shadow's ears flicked towards the gossip from the table behind them, with Touka and Omega also starting to pay more attention. Unfortunately for them, the two female agents were done eating and just got up to leave. Touka then quickly got up, stepping before them.

''I overheard you talking about some Irregular taking down the Hunters. What do you mean by that?'' she asked.

''It's been in the morning news,'' one agent told her in a dismissive tone. ''Apparently, there is an Irregular who had only been attacking Hunters and no one else, and supposedly it is really powerful. The grapevine says that ARMS will have to intervene in this case.''

''Well, that would make sense,'' the other agent said. ''I'm surprised they don't just replace the Hunters with ARMS agents.''

''Could you keep it quiet? I don't think that's something you should talk about,'' her co-worker chided her. The former rolled her eyes.

''So what? Everyone here believes that,'' she pointed out. Her co-worker narrowed hr eyes, nodding with her head towards the table Team Dark sat at. Touka, Shadow and Rouge immediately adopted the same exasperated expression of 'Yeah, these guys don't trust us.', deciding to just ignore it. The agents then left, with Touka turning back to the rest of Team Dark.

''What do you think?'' she asked.

''If the Commander wasn't so allergic to keeping us isolated from the outside world, we would've learned about this much sooner,'' Rouge commented. Shadow just placed down his cup and got up. ''Don't you have anything to say?''

''Not where everyone can overhear us,'' Shadow replied. Touka and Rouge had to admit that he had a point, quickly following him outside along with Omega. The dark hedgehog led them away from the crowd of other agents, regular employees and Irregulars that were roaming the hallways, trying to find a more secluded spot for a proper conversation. ''What is the possibility that this was an Irregular like the ones the Hunters usually deal with?''

Touka, Rouge and even Omega were caught off guard a bit by this question, with Touka answering, ''I suppose that this one is quite powerful.''

''Not to mention, the Irregular only targeted the Hunters,'' Shadow added.

''Do you think that it's possible that the Irregular might be someone like us rather than a typical Irregular?'' Rouge asked. Shadow shrugged.

''That's a possibility,'' he responded, his eyes darting to the nearby window, gazing at the blue sky. ''Since it's in Neos City, what are the odds of us going back?''

xXx

''How's the data analysis going?'' Lucas asked, having just arrived at the Taylor Workshop to check up on Warren and Tails.

''Well, the files had been transferring the whole night. It seems like ARMS has quite a lot of stuff to hide,'' Warren said, stretching his arms and rubbing his eyes.

''It also doesn't help that Eggman had been annoying us the whole night,'' Tails added, yawning. ''He tried to get to the files, but we managed to block him… for now.''

''Have you two even slept the whole night?'' Lucas asked in a concerned tone

.''In shifts,'' Warren replied, giving Lucas a tired smile. Lucas sighed, feeling bad for the two. Unfortunately, they were the only ones who could sort out these files, aside from Dr. Eggman, and the Doctor himself wasn't exactly helpful. However, maybe he could do something.

''I'll handle Dr. Eggman. You guys try to get some rest,'' Lucas told the two, tapping on the AR Visor and letting the holographic screen open. Moments later, Dr. Eggman's ugly mug appeared on the screen while he was carrying a coffee mug.

''Kinomoto, I had figured that you would call me at some point,'' he said. Lucas' eyes narrowed.

''Dr. Eggman, why are you trying to interrupt Warren and Tails' work on the ARMS files? I thought we had a truce,'' Lucas asked.

''Oh, we did, but then your friends decided to block me from accessing those ARMS files,'' Eggman replied. ''You should've left them to me from the start and none of this would've happened.''

''Would you have given us access to them if we let you work on them?'' Lucas countered with another question. Eggman was silent for a moment, simply staring back, with Lucas sighing. ''Yeah, I figured so. Despite the truce we agreed on, we still cannot trust you.''

''That I agree with,'' Eggman replied, slightly amused, only to give Lucas a serious look. ''Nevertheless, I want that data, and I will take it. I have already allowed you to use the EggNet and I'm not going to let you mess with my system.''

Lucas glanced at Warren and Tails with a somewhat defeated look on his expression as he tried to figure out how to negotiate in this situation. On one hand, they didn't care about the ARMS files unless it was something that could help them free Team Dark. On the other hand, they were certain that allowing Eggman access to all of that data would be a really bad idea.

''Could you at least give us some more time to get through the data?'' Lucas finally asked. He did not like the grin Eggman gave him, feeling as if the Doctor considered this a win for himself.

''I suppose I could… Once you're done, I'll be taking over the files anyways,'' Eggman replied, chuckling darkly and ending the call. Lucas audibly sighed as he closed the holographic screen.

''That… didn't go well,'' he muttered.

''This is the EggNet, so no surprise there,'' Warren said.

''Even if we try to permanently delete the files, he still might be able to recover them,'' Tails added. ''On the bright side, you did buy us more time to get this sorted out.''

''Right, but unfortunately, Dr. Eggman isn't the worst of our worries,'' Lucas replied, rubbing his temple. ''Sonic and I watched the morning news and several Hunter Units have been attacked and destroyed. We suspect that the culprits were Toshiro and Mephiles.''

''Why would they do that?'' Warren asked, him and Tails being quite confused. Lucas shrugged.

''I don't know, but I have some assumptions. Sonic is currently searching for them,'' he said. ''I have planned to call the rest of the team to tell them to keep an eye out for the two.''

''What's your theory in regards to them attacking the Hunters?'' Tails asked.

''It is possible that they want to draw the attention of ARMS, especially since Touka and Shadow are ARMS Agents now, but I can't be completely sure that this would be their main motivation,'' Lucas replied, his expression grim as he folded his arms across his chest. ''I hate to say it, but these two have really thrown a curveball at us.''

xXx

Mephiles and Toshiro are active again… that's really bad.

Silver sighed, tending to the plants in the greenhouse. He had participated earlier that day in a group call where Lucas told them about his theory that Toshiro and Mephiles were the ones who had attacked the Hunters and asking them to keep an eye out for the two. He couldn't help but feel a chill flowing down his spine once he heard that, especially since he knew that Mephiles was responsible for his ruined future. He made it his goal to prevent this future from happening, but now he was wondering whether this event would lead into his fiery future. He sincerely hoped that this wasn't the case, but how could he know?

Take a deep breath. Makoto said to not let it get to your nerves. Silver tried to calm himself down as he carried the tools back to the shed using his psychokinesis. Once he was done with the work, he walked outside to the rose bushes, with the voice back in his head still telling him about all the possible scenarios of how his future had happened. While he wasn't as much of a nervous wreck as he used to be, his imagination wasn't helping him either. Suddenly, he felt a strong gust of wind, with Sonic appearing next to him.

''Oh, hey Sonic!'' Silver greeted him, happy to see the blue hedgehog. '' I guess you're on another run, right?''

''It's more of a patrol. I'm trying to find Mephiles, but that guy is almost impossible to find,'' Sonic replied.

''What do you mean by 'almost impossible'?'' Silver asked. Sonic gave him a grim look.

''Mephiles and Toshiro had actually managed to lure out ARMS to fight them, and the ARMS agents were defeated,'' he told the grey hedgehog. Silver's golden eyes widened in surprise.

''Really? Where?!'' he asked.

''I've just left Starlight Lake. The field next to it was filled with bodies covered in those weird fire crystals Mephiles uses, both human and Irregulars,'' Sonic explained, his eyes narrowing. ''I did check on them and they were still breathing, but… I had to leave.''

''Have you told anyone about it?'' Silver asked. Sonic shook his head.

''I wanted to find Mephiles first. I think the fight was very recent and I thought I'd be able to find him, but nothing so far,'' Sonic explained. He had to admit that, despite his usual laid-back personality and being able to just go with the flow, he was actually disturbed to see the ARMS agents lying before him. It was a group of five humans and Irregulars, and all of them were motionless, with burn marks all over their bodies and blood pooling beneath their limbs, and Sonic had no clue whether they were even alive until he checked on them. They were alive, but Sonic knew that this was only because Mephiles and Toshiro didn't care to kill them when they had the chance. It also made him realize something else, something far more sinister. ''So far, Mephiles has managed to destroy several Hunter Units and the ARMS agents without any issue. Shadow and I had fought him, and I know he's really powerful, but it is possible that he might be even more powerful than we thought.''

''Considering what he did to the future, I'm not surprised. Not to mention, he is absolutely merciless if he's willing to do that to the Hunters and ARMS agents,'' Silver said. He could feel his own heart racing, with a sense of uneasiness slowly creeping through his body. If they made the mistake and underestimated Mephiles, he would be able to destroy them the same way he did with the Hunters and ARMS agents. ''Still, we can fight him. We all know how to fight and we also have Chaos Surge.''

''Yeah,'' Sonic said, perking up. He wasn't someone to give up easily and he was more than ready to charge into battle. That's why he was searching for Mephiles in the first place, to confront him, but before he could add more, a voice suddenly echoed in his head. You're being too reckless! Sonic scratched his head, wondering why this voice sounded so much like Shadow's and noted that this was what the dark hedgehog would probably tell him if he knew what he was up to. Admittedly, he didn't feel like he had been really reckless in the past few days, making sure not to do anything that would make ARMS go after him or after his friends, even managing to temper his own lack of patience to some extent. But, there was only so much he could do. He also had to admit that he kinda missed Shadow scolding him.

Suddenly, the two hedgehogs' attention was drawn to the field close to the small lake, now tainted by what appeared to be a literal black hole in the ground. Both Sonic and Silver's bodies grew tense as they observed a figure rising from the black hole, revealing itself to be a familiar face.

''Mephiles!''

Mephiles the Dark was floating above ground, and Sonic and Silver could sense dark energy emanating from him. It was similar to the Chaos energy they felt when they held the Chaos Emeralds in their hands, but this was far more foreboding. Their quills bristled, and Silver even summoned his psychokinesis, the cyan energy crackling in his arms. Both were ready to fight, but it appeared that Mephiles had other plans.

''I will give you only one chance to stand down. Heed my warning,'' he told them.

''Forget it!'' Sonic exclaimed defiantly and, ignoring the voice in his head now shouting at him to actually listen to Mephiles, dashed towards the Dark, who suddenly summoned a wall of fire. Sonic realized his mistake and curled into a ball, flying through the fire and realizing a moment later that the only reason he wasn't burned was because of Silver using his psychokinesis to protect him from the flames.

Silver then sent a blast of psychokinesis towards Mephiles, but he summoned a spike made out of crystal to block it, followed by a row of crystal spikes that engulfed Silver and Sonic, trapping both of them. Mephiles turned his attention towards Sonic. ''Do you really wish to die in this life as well? Because I can grant you that wish and there are no Chaos Emeralds here to revive you.''

''What do you want from us?'' Silver asked furiously, trying to free himself from the crystals. His arms were trapped between two and his toes were brushing the grass as the crystals have lifted him just above the ground.

''I am here to make you an offer,'' Mephiles responded, his answer surprising both of the hedgehogs. ''We may be enemies, but we do have the same interests.''

''Really? Because I don't recall hurting innocent people being on my list of interests,'' Sonic replied in a snarky tone, trying to figure a way out of his prison. He placed his hands on the crystals, only for them to suddenly heat up, forcing him to retreat.

''That was a necessary sacrifice to draw the attention of ARMS. I assure you, I desire to see their fall as much as you do,'' Mephiles told him. Both Sonic and Silver narrowed their eyes, giving him a cold stare. ''Whatever you and your friends are up to, I doubt that it will be enough. ARMS needs to be shown that they cannot control the Irregulars. There is way more to our existence than what they know.''

''If you think that either of us is going to help you, you're wrong,'' Sonic told him stubbornly. Mephiles laughed at him, his tone cold and sadistic.

''You really don't understand, do you? You will be involved in this battle, whether you want it or not. There are many Irregulars in this world, many like you and I, and once the public becomes aware of this truth, chaos will ensue,'' Mephiles told him. Suddenly, crystal shards started flying around as Silver broke out of his trap with the help of his psychokinesis.

''Is that what your ultimate goal is? Just to cause chaos?'' Silver asked, floating above the ground and surrounded by cyan energy. Mephiles slowly turned towards him, and even though he had no mouth, Silver could imagine a dark smirk on his expression.

''I am a weapon after all, so I'm simply fulfilling my purpose,'' Mephiles told him, his eyes narrowing. ''Perhaps, I could help you fulfill your mission.''

Silver's eyes widened in rage and he suddenly charged up and sent a blast of psychokinesis energy towards Mephiles, but the latter had vanished. Silver gasped, only to feel a sudden chill and turned around, seeing Mephiles emerging from his own shadow and rising his hand, with a pillar of fire enveloping Silver.

''Silver! Agh-'' Sonic grabbed the crystals, only to get burned. Ignoring the pain, he managed to spin-dash out of the trap and hurried towards Silver, who fell on the ground, a smell of burnt fur filling the air. Mephiles was nowhere to be found. Sonic fell on his knees, trying to help Silver up. ''Hey, Silv, Silver! Com'n, wake up!''

''Ughh…'' Silver felt as if a truck ran over him. Fortunately, he could still feel all of his limbs, having been protected somewhat by his psychokinesis. ''That… Mephiles… He baited me.''

''We should get you to Makoto. You don't look too well,'' Sonic said, helping Silver to get up and throwing the grey hedgehog's arm over his shoulder.

''I… I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…'' Silver felt a wave of pain washing over him.

''As you had said, Silv, Mephiles baited you. Let's just be happy that he didn't turn us against each other,'' Sonic told him. Silver nodded. He really hated that Mephiles managed to get to him so easily, but being reminded of his mission by the very person who had caused that disaster really riled him up and he wanted to destroy Mephiles then and there, but he messed up and payed the price.

Nevertheless, he knew that this battle wasn't over yet.

xXx

''What?!'' Commander Williams was completely baffled by the report he had gotten.

After he was informed by the Irregular Hunters that they had been dealing with a particularly volatile Irregular, he had sent several of his agents to deal with the problem. To his shock, not only did the Irregular defeat all of them, but he was also taunting ARMS, treating all of this like some kind of game.

''If you really want to have a chance against me, send in Shadow the Hedgehog.''

Commander Williams pinched the bridge of his nose, having read the report gathered from the survivors. He had no idea how this Irregular even knew about Shadow and his mood was swinging from baffled to enranged, his gut feeling telling him that the dark hedgehog might know something important. In the end, he relented, calling for both Shadow and Touka to get some kind of answer to what was going on. The moment the two entered the office, a holographic screen with the report appeared before them, startling the two.

''I had earlier this day sent several of my best agents to deal with an Irregular in Neos City, only for all of them to come back barely alive, burnt and beaten, and the Irregular demanding that you face him in a battle,'' Commander Williams stated in a stern tone, glaring at Shadow. ''I want an explanation!''

Shadow and Touka remained silent, reading the report and description of the Irregular (any recorded footage had been damaged during the battle and was unusable), quickly realizing that this was Mephiles the Dark who had attacked the ARMS agents. However, neither of them wanted the Commander, or ARMS for that matter, to know that.

''I don't know…'' Touka lied with a straight face, giving the Commander a puzzled look. ''This doesn't sound like any Irregular I have met.''

''Really? Or do you want to tell me that you're covering for someone, Agent Sakamoto?'' Commander Williams glared at her. Touka met his gaze, trying to keep an even expression, despite feeling quite nervous. Fortunately for her, Shadow had saved her.

''We have spent weeks out in the open in Neos City. The odds of us being targeted by another Irregular are high,'' he pointed out in a matter-of-fact tone. Admittedly, he wasn't exactly someone who could lie with a straight face, like Touka, but he was quite good at circumventing a conversation without having to give an honest answer.

''Then explain to me how this Irregular knows about the Codex Research Facility?'' Commander Williams pressed further, with Shadow already having an answer at hand.

''There were many people working at the Codex Research Facility, including Irregulars who had been captured for the purpose of being experimented on,'' he said. ''Information could've been leaked no matter how good the cover-up was.''

''There was no Irregular with this description at Codex,'' the Commander hissed, growing more and more impatient.

''What about Prof. Sakamoto?'' Touka suddenly said, surprising both the Commander and Shadow. ''We don't know where he was nor what he had been doing over the past years. What if this was another of his experiments?''

Commander Williams leaned back in his seat, thinking about what Touka had told him. Shadow, on the other hand, rose an eyebrow, wondering whether it was smart to reveal this piece of information. However, he did understand why Touka mentioned that, using the late Professor as a bait so the Commander wouldn't be suspicious of either of them. All the evidence was there, after all, and even if they acted as if they had no clue who the Irregular was, ARMS would eventually be able to connect him back to Prof. Sakamoto and the Codex Research Facility. Since the old man was dead, he couldn't confirm anything and therefore they were still speculating on what had happened, so giving them something to hold on was their best move.

''That… That is actually a possibility, even though I don't know where Prof. Sakamoto would get his resources for this Irregular,'' Commander Williams said, seemingly satisfied with this answer. It made sense, after all, as Hiroshi Sakamoto was deeply connected with Project Shadow and Codex. ''Regardless of everything, we need to deal with this Irregular. You two and your teammates will be sent to the Codex Research Facility tomorrow to either capture or destroy the Irregular. We simply cannot let this thing roam free and cause more damage. However, you will only remain in Infinity Forest. I don't want either of you anywhere close to the borders of Neos City.''

''Yes, sir.''

Despite wanting to retort that Infinity Forest was well within the borders of Neos City, Touka and Shadow quickly left the office. They knew that Rouge and Omega, as well as Team Neos, would be quite interested in this turn of events.

xXx

''Hey, Shads.''

''I see that you had actually remembered to whisper during these calls,'' Shadow said, with Sonic rolling his eyes. It was in the middle of the night, and while Team Dark and Team Neos had already exchanged information in regards to the situation with Mephiles and Toshiro, Shadow decided to also call Sonic, feeling that this has already become a habit. He also knew that Sonic would be thrilled to finally have something he could talk about on his end, so he immediately added, ''You had said earlier that you and Silver had confronted Mephiles.''

''Yeah, and I wish that we had managed to deal with him at that point, but he got away,'' Sonic replied, sounding a bit frustrated, then snorted, trying to cover his frustration with some humor, ''So much for being The Fastest Thing Alive if I can't catch up to Mephiles or find him for that matter.''

''Finding Mephiles has nothing to do with your speed. He is someone who lives in the shadows, coming out only when nobody expects him,'' Shadow responded in a matter-of-fact tone. He was well aware that Sonic hated the fact that he couldn't stop Mephiles from hurting the Hunters or even the ARMS agents and Irregulars, so he simply made a logical statement. However, going by the smirk that had formed on his lips, Sonic understood the message a bit differently.

''Thanks for trying to cheer me up,'' Sonic told him, with Shadow giving him a puzzled look.

''I wasn't- That wasn't my-'' He tried to clear this up, only to realize that Sonic already knew that, giving him a wide smile. Shadow exhaled sharply. ''Fine, I suppose you can interpret it that way.''

''You know Shads, you can be as cruel in your honesty as you want, but sometimes the stuff you say feels quite comforting,'' Sonic told him, with Shadow just nodding in acknowledgement. ''So, do you have any idea what Mephiles wants from you? We all agreed earlier that he was antagonizing the Hunters and ARMS to get to you.''

''I believe that all he wants is another battle, just like last time,'' Shadow replied, a grim look appearing on his expression as he remembered their last encounter.

''He'll also probably try to manipulate you, just like he tried to do with me and Silver. Don't give in!'' Sonic said, pumping his fists and giving Shadow a resolute look. Shadow was a bit surprised to see Sonic suddenly turn into his personal cheerleader, but decided to play it cool.

''I'm not going to be swayed by anything Mephiles says. I have unfinished business with him and I'm going to focus on that,'' Shadow told him.

''I'm glad to hear that. Too bad I nor the rest of the team can join you in this battle,'' Sonic said, recalling the earlier conversation. Since Team Dark was going to be at the Codex Research Facility, the possibility of Team Neos helping them was brought up, only to get quickly dismissed when Lucas pointed out that if ARMS finds out that they know about Codex, Team Dark would get in trouble. Therefore, they would have to sit this one out, even though all of the team wanted to join in regardless of the danger.

''I know that I can trust the rest of Team Neos to not interfere, but I doubt that you would just stand at the sidelines,'' Shadow commented.

''Well, I'm trying my best not to do anything reckless lately. It also helps that I hear your voice scolding me whenever I make up my mind,'' Sonic said, sounding somewhat proud of his achievement. Shadow was a bit stunned for a moment, feeling a wierd mix of amusement and that familiar warmth he sensed whenever he talked to Sonic.

''So, you're telling me that whenever you think of me, it's me scolding you for doing something reckless? I don't know whether I should feel offended or flattered,'' Shadow replied in a deadpan tone. Sonic snorted.

''Maybe I should've put this in a different way…'' Sonic suddenly shook his head. ''You know what, forget it. I'd be happy to hear you yell at me whenever I do something stupid so long as I know that you're back at home safe and sound.''

Shadow fell silent, a faint tint of red spreading across his muzzle. His crimson eyes were wide, and he was stunned by Sonic's sudden confession. It was quite unexpected, but at the same time, he knew that Sonic said that because he genuinely cared about him. As much as he wanted to deny it, he was glad that this was the nature of their relationship. It still puzzled him that they were able to tell each other things the other needed to hear, or understand exactly each other's moods without needing to say anything, but he preferred it that way. He wasn't someone who engaged in pointless conversations, but somehow every conversation he had with Sonic ended up in some kind of revelation for Shadow. He felt as if he was learning more about himself this way, and one of the things he understood was that he was going to match Sonic in anything.

''I suppose it would get a bit boring without having you to annoy me, so I'd do the same for you,'' Shadow said, his tone being the usual business-like way he spoke, trying to ignore the strange fluttering feeling in his chest. Why did I even say that?!

''D'aaaww, that's so sweet coming from you, Shads! I appreciate the sentiment,'' Sonic replied, feeling quite happy that he had managed to get Shadow to admit how he felt about him. He couldn't help but chuckle lightly when Shadow shot him a glare.

''Don't think anything of it, Hedgehog. This is just a courtesy. I don't want to be in your debt,'' Shadow growled. Sonic waved his hand in a dismissive manner.

''Yeah, yeah… But you have to admit it, you do care about me,'' Sonic teased him. Shadow was silent, still glaring at his rival, but Sonic knew that this was less because he was offended and more because both knew that this was the truth. He then held up a finger. ''How about this? I admit that I care about you, and you admit that you care about me.''

Shadow folded his arms in defiance. ''That's not going to happen.''

''Maybe you won't say it, but you do care about me,'' Sonic pressed on, still having that dumb smile that irritated Shadow. Despite Shadow managing to keep an unreadable expression, aside from his trademark scowl, he knew that his rival was struggling with this conversation, clearly not wanting to admit the truth, either because of his pride or because he was just too embarrassed.

Shadow, on the other hand, had to wonder how in the world had he ended up in this conversation. Somehow, Sonic had the uncanny ability to rile him up with just a simple smile, and being the stubborn person he was, he wasn't going to back down from a challenge, even if it led him to confess stuff he never wanted anyone to know, not even Touka. ''I have already stated that if the reverse were to happen, I would go to save you. There is nothing else to discuss.''

''Yeah, yeah…'' Sonic was still grinning, while Shadow just frowned, both staring back at each other in silence. Even if some things were left unsaid, they knew exactly how they felt about each other.

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Sonadowtober Prompt 15: Sword

For one of my AUs, Disgrace! Additional context is in the endnotes of the AO3 chapter

This AU is inspired by the song Monster from EPIC the Musical

This prompt was supposed to be harmless fluff, but you can blame @your-compadre-infinity for carrying out an angst war

Read Below 🔽

Lancelot’s footsteps echoed as he walked down the empty hall. The castle seemed uncharacteristically empty these days, and he couldn’t help but wonder how long the hollow atmosphere would stay.

He missed the days when Arthur would rush through the halls like a whirlwind, his knights struggling to catch up. Missed the days when they would walk side by side, discussing the paintings that hung on the walls.

Those same paintings that had been torn down one by one, the remaining gathering dust as they faded into the shadows. Lancelot stops at one, a portrait of the young king in the days following his coronation, a time of light and joy. It was so different now.

The knight shakes the thoughts out of his head. He needed to focus on the task at hand.

He nods to the knights standing guard outside the throne room, lifting his visor for a  cursory check of identity. The door creaks as it opens, and he makes a mental note to find one of the remaining staff to fix it. 

Arthur sits alone, absorbed in his work. When he spots who’s approaching, however, he sets it aside and rises, cape shifting in his movements. “Lancelot.”

“Greetings, Arthur.” He stops before the step, kneeling as is customary. He catches a glimpse of Excalibur, hung by the king’s waist. He’s never been apart from that sword since he retrieved it from the depths of the Royal Vault, though Lancelot couldn’t blame him. Arondight was nearly always by his own side.

“For what did you seek my presence? I was not expecting you.” Arthur questions, gesturing for the knight to stand.

“I have come with a concern,” Lancelot replied, “at the behest of my fellow Knights of the Table.”

Arthur looks at him curiously. “Should they not assist you in this, then? Why send only you?”

The knight bit his lip, unsure of how to answer. Percival had implored him to take this to Arthur for a while now, seeing as he was the closest to the ever distant king. But he doesn’t have the time to ponder as curiosity turns to suspicion, so he decides on the truth. “They fear your wrath, sire. The concern is about you.”

The room suddenly feels colder, Arthur’s one good eye glowing purple as it bore into Lancelot. “...Continue.”

“You’ve changed,” the knight starts. “You… you’ve shut yourself off, Arthur. You used to complain when you had to sit in a room for longer than an hour, and now I rarely see you at all. You’re always in here.”

“Is there a problem? I simply have no time to fool around. There’s business to tend to.”

“What business?” Lancelot knows he’s approaching dangerous territory, but it’s like a fire has lit under him. He needs to keep going. Talk something into his king and closest friend. “Arthur. You are a king for the people, are you not? You took that to the greatest regard. You visited folks in need. You preached chivalry, compassion. You listened and you acted. Yet you seemed to have abandoned that.”

Arthur says nothing this entire time, his expression unreadable. So Lancelot continues. “They… say you’ve grown cold. Violent. People who once admired you are afraid of you. You… you don’t want that, do you?”

A beat of silence… or several. Arthur finally responds, “Some actions have to be taken for the greater good.”

“How do you know it’s not just hurting you and everyone else?”

Arthur tenses, cobalt quills raising in… anger? He turned away in indirect dismissal. “You’ve said enough.”

“Have I?” Lancelot inches closer to his king, gently laying an armored hand on his shoulder. “You used to be happy, Arthur. I miss that. I miss you.”

“ENOUGH!”

And it’s like an explosion. Lancelot doesn’t have the time to react, caught entirely with his guard down— for why would it be up? A streak of fire blooms across his face, leaving him gasping as he stumbles back, clutching it.

The cold metal of his gauntlet provides little reprieve to his pain. For as blood drips off of it onto the carpet, Arthur drops Excalibur with a clattering of metal, and Lancelot realizes what happened. It hurt so much worse.

His king. His once benevolent, compassionate, loving king, has indeed grown violent. Has proven himself devoid of the principles he once held so highly. Has just drawn his sword against his arguably most loyal knight. 

His frame shook, armor rattling faintly. It’s cold. So cold. Yet the wound on his face burns with the fury of the sun. 

“Lance…” 

There’s regret in his voice. But Lancelot doesn’t hear it. “I understand, Your Grace.” 

He’d grown accustomed to calling the king by his name, at his insistence. The royal address feels foreign on Lancelot’s tongue: far too formal, but proper was the only thing fit for the occasion. He cannot bring himself to call this man Arthur. Arthur… he’s the kindest soul to grace the land. Arthur would not hurt someone without cause. Arthur wouldn’t do this.

Was Arthur gone?

“May I be excused, sire?” Lancelot doesn’t bother waiting for a reply. He leaves as quickly as he could without seeming desperate, leaving the monster that sat on the throne alone once more.