#I never thought that as a Sonic fan I would write something like this.

[tyrasanege]

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!

Hi everyone.

I just got back from watching Sonic 3 and here's my review.

The movie itself wasn't as good as the previous ones, although it had a lot of funny scenes and references.There's almost nothing from the original games, which is a bit of a disappointed.

I thought most of the movie would take place in space on the Ark.It turned out they were on the Eart most of the time, so we didn't get our favorite scene of Maria and Shadow where she sacrifices herself.

I also didn't like that they revived Gerald, but killed Tower and replaced him with a woman who has no connection to any of them and is only there to take Tower's role as the one who stops the protagonists.They didn't even give her time to redeem herself like with Eggman.

Shadow's origin was completely changed which is why I'm even disappointed. (but we all know that in future movies it will be "revealed" that he is one of the Black Arms)

They also missed the scene from "I found you faker" which they could have included.

The movie itself is a classic movie about building family bonds and team work. (If you throw a stone at any movie with this theme, you will surely find two-thirds of the plot of this movie.)

Also, to be honest, the scene with Eggman's sacrifice didn't move me, and how they defeated Gerald was lame!

I did like the following things though:

- Eggman's canon costume

- Sonic and Shadow's pose from "Sonic adventure 2"

- Super Shadow

- Live and Learn rock remix

- Metal Sonic and Amy's appearance in the extra scene!

- the fight scenes

- The Robotniks' dance

- Shadow and Maria moments.

I rate the film 7-8/10. As a long fan of Sonic, I don't really like it but I don't hate it.

I also think they could have make it a little better.

Thanks for reading my review.

Okay, okay. Bye~

[thankskenpenders]

Amy's fortune cards

The Sonic fandom has long been the kind of fandom that takes minor details very seriously, for better or worse. On the one hand, this means fans will really dig for the diamonds in the rough, latching onto fun character interactions, animations, bits of background worldbuilding, and more in pieces of Sonic media that many would write off as "the bad ones." But it also feels like every week another needlessly hostile debate over Sonic minutia erupts on Twitter, whether it's over individual lines of dialogue, fanart that makes Tails' shoes blue, or the ideal length and volume for Sonic's quills.

So it was probably inevitable that a fandom-wide debate would erupt upon seeing Amy's new gameplay style in the DLC for Sonic Frontiers, which takes the once-obscure fact that she enjoys reading tarot and shines a spotlight on it like never before.

I mean:

The thing is, while I basically always try to tune out Sonic fandom bickering... for once, I kind of sympathize with the detractors? Don't get me wrong, I like Amy's tarot stuff, and people on all sides of the discussion are being overly nasty about their opinions, as usual. (Sonic Twitter remains my personal hell.) But when I set aside the hyperbole and zoom out, I do think I understand why some fans are put off by the sudden shift in focus for the character, even if I think it's cool.

It's complicated. Let me attempt to present the cases for and against Amy's fortune cards

For years, I was always one of those fans who thought it could be fun if they played with Amy's tarot reading, or even leaned into some kind of magic with her. Part of that is my own biases showing, but there's just something that makes sense there, especially when you look at Sonic, Tails, and Amy as a trio. (I would argue that's the real "Team Sonic" these days, especially in the comics where Knuckles is more likely to be stuck on Angel Island or otherwise doing his own thing.)

You could argue that Tails is all about logic, relying on science and technology and deductive reasoning to solve problems. But Amy is all about emotion. She wears her heart on her sleeve, is extremely empathetic, and is very prone to magical thinking - both figuratively and sometimes literally. Her origin story has always been that her tarot cards told her it was her destiny to meet Sonic on Little Planet. She's claimed to be able to "sense" peoples' presences - particularly Sonic's. She's the type to believe that The Power of Love is a literal magical force. So, on some level, it makes sense to mirror Tails's science by having Sonic's other best friend believe in magic. And then Sonic is somewhere in the middle, primarily following his own gut instincts but taking advice from both of them as needed. This isn't totally accurate to how their dynamics actually function in canon stories, but I think it's a mode that could work for them.

Going off of that, it's fun to lean all the way into Amy being a magical girl, or even a witch, using her fortune telling as a foundation. Take, for example, this version of Amy from Diana Skelly's old Sonic cast redesigns from before she freelanced for Archie and IDW. This is one of MANY such redesigns for Amy.

Fast forward to the 2020s, and Amy's tarot cards are, in fact, finally getting brought up again in canon. Which is fun! I like seeing that. I like all of the individual stories involving Amy's fortune cards. This is a fun character trait for Amy, a fun nod to old lore, AND a fun storytelling device, all in one. It's really cool that the Sonic universe has its own thematically appropriate arcana, and that the cards are getting made as physical merch. And sure enough, the official card backs and borders were designed by none other than Diana Skelly, in yet another cool example of an ascendant fan leaving their mark on the series.

BUT... when you step back and look at the big picture, I get why some fans find this shift in focus jarring. At the moment, it's starting to feel like every new story about Amy involves her fortune cards to some degree.

The most recent mainline comic arc to feature Amy as the lead character, 2021's Trial by Fire arc, prominently features a sequence where she reads fortunes while camping with the girls. The Origins version of Sonic CD now bookends the game with scenes of Amy and her tarot cards. Sonic randomly mentioned it in a scene in Frontiers. And now, just this week, we got the (very cute, gorgeously illustrated) Amy's 30th Anniversary comic with a story revolving around Amy's tarot cards, followed the very next day by the Frontiers DLC in which she gets a brand new tarot-based moveset. Even her base melee attack now has her throwing tarot cards instead of swinging her hammer. Again, I like all of these individual things, but after years of it almost never coming up at all, it's VERY noticeable that Amy's tarot cards are suddenly everywhere.

To be fair, I'm looking at this from the perspective of a superfan who's actively following ALL Sonic media. Casual fans - especially kids - aren't necessarily going to be reading the comics every month, buying the thousandth rerelease of the Genesis games, or playing the ultra-hard new alternate ending DLC for a game that came out last year. Each of these stories is going to be someone's introduction to the idea that Amy can read tarot, and that's probably part of the idea behind this unified push.

But to play devil's advocate, for my fellow superfans, I understand why it feels like a very minor footnote of Amy's character is suddenly becoming the entire focus of her personality. While Amy has always been said to enjoy fortune telling, that wasn't really a character trait in and of itself, but rather an example of her being a typical girl who hopes she'll be able to find true love one day. It's less that Amy can literally predict the future and more like her using a cootie catcher or going "he loves me, he loves me not" while picking the petals off of a flower. So I get not vibing with this stuff, or feeling like it's being pushed very hard out of nowhere.

What I don't agree with are comparisons like "it's like if they made Knuckles' moveset revolve around him liking grapes." Like, I get it. Ian Flynn loves shoehorning in his little winking references for us nerds, and mentions of Amy's tarot cards were previously on the same level as other random bullet points from old Japanese manuals. But a multifaceted hobby like fortune telling that opens up so many narrative and aesthetic possibilities is obviously very different from having a favorite food. It's ALWAYS been a part of her story, not just a random fact, and there's no reason why the fortune telling can't be elevated to something more.

And, hell, even if it wasn't an established character trait, there's nothing inherently wrong with injecting new ideas into a character. One of the best Amy stories in recent years, the Free Comic Book Day special "Amy's New Hobby" written by Gale Galligan, came up with the idea that Amy's secretly been drawing little comics about her and her friends. Is this based on Lore? No. But it's cute, and helps tell the story of a younger Amy who's still coming out of her shell as both a hero and a friend.

Certain fans are also looking at Amy's Frontiers moveset and using it as evidence that once again the Vile American Contributors like Ian are CORRUPTING Sonic Team's perfect vision of Sonic with their misinterpretations. And like. Come on. Ian does not control the gameplay. He's a freelance writer. The tarot stuff is clearly something that Sonic Team likes if they made it the basis of Amy's new moveset - and, you know, if they keep approving comics and animations about Amy's fortune telling. None of this gets made without their blessing, and lord knows how much they can micromanage shit and shoot down ideas over the most minor of details.

Like, yeah, Amy's fortune telling was probably conceived less as a sign that she Knows Magic and more as a pretty mundane hobby for a lovesick young Japanese girl to have. But you're gonna sit there and tell me that using Amy's tarot cards for more than that could only be the result of a cultural misunderstanding? That nobody in Japan uses tarot card theming and aesthetics (or the general idea of magical cards) for the cool factor? Stardust Crusaders? Persona? The Astrologian class in FFXIV? Cardcaptor Sakura?? Hello??? Do you think Capcom put Gambit in Marvel vs. Capcom ironically because they thought using magic to throw cards at people was stupid? There's tons of precedent for this! It's nothing like Knuckles throwing grapes at people, be for real.

Giving Amy a very magical girl-esque moveset also just makes a lot of sense. For decades her hammer attacks have literally made sparkly heart shapes appear around her. Leaning into both that and her tarot cards in her new moveset makes a lot of sense to me.

But, admittedly... I do think it's very odd that her hammer is treated as a secondary element here, rather than having her primarily use her hammer and adding the cards for extra flair. If hitting the attack button made her swing her hammer instead of throwing cards, I'm not sure we'd even be having this discussion right now.

But the tarot-cycle and Amy riding her hammer like a witch's broom are fucking SICK and I will not concede on this point

The thing is, this whole fortune card discourse is but a small piece of a bigger problem. Amy's been a character who needed some work for ages, but there's basically nothing you can do with her without pissing SOMEONE off.

Years of stories where Amy's crush was her primary motivator and Sonic went "Ew, cooties!" have lead many casual fans to believe that being Sonic's obsessive fangirl is Amy's entire personality. At best people might call her Sonic's Minnie Mouse. This isn't just a matter of Amy having haters within the fandom - venture outside of that bubble and you'll realize that this is how MOST video game playing people seem to see her to this day. I don't feel like this is a fair assessment of the character, but this idea didn't come from nowhere. No matter how much good deeply entrenched Sonic fans may see in their old dynamic where Amy perpetually chases Sonic, this is a very real problem that Sonic Team has to contend with for their leading girl. Of course all those games where the way-past-cool protagonist thought Amy was annoyingly clingy and tried to get away from her made people think less of her.

If new stories were to go back to emphasizing Amy's crush on Sonic a little more, they'd probably be taken as confirmation that Amy's just the girl with a crush on Sonic and that this is her entire personality. Conversely, when the crush is played down, you piss off the hardcore SonAmy fans who don't seem to understand that they're Charlie Brown and Sega is Lucy holding the football. You can't win.

And so here we are. In the absence of what was once her defining trait, now reduced to an occasional blush or wink in Sonic's direction, new stories are trying to mine Amy's past for additional material to work with. Having been a thing fans wanted to see for years, right now we're getting a lot of tarot, but we're also getting reminders of her compassionate nature and her desire to go out of her way to help the little guy. This is an ongoing process. I continue to hope that her bubbly, exuberant demeanor can shine more in future stories. Now, I also hope that the tarot stuff gets balanced out a little better with other traits of hers. But I don't want it to go away. I think it's fun.

This course correcting is far from exclusive to Amy. Knuckles is getting stories that remind us that he's a competent fighter, an experienced treasure hunter, and even a self-taught archaeologist after years of him being perceived as either the dumb one or just the guy who stands in front of the Master Emerald all day. And Tails has been getting some stories reminding folks that he's a capable hero in his own right and not just Sonic's timid kid sidekick.

But no supporting character will ever compete with the sheer number of new ideas Sega has tried with Sonic himself. Like Amy, his Frontiers moveset has also given him half a dozen new superpowers that he never had before, from the Cyloop to air-slicing projectile attacks to his own take on Shadow Clone Jutsu and beyond. He's also been a hoverboarder, a swordsman, a time traveler, an Olympic athlete, a racecar driver, cursed with a Flame of Judgment, imbued with alien power, a fucking Werehog with stretchy powers, and on and on and on.

If Sonic can do all that, Amy can try out using a tarot-cycle.

Anyway TL;DR the REAL problem with Amy's current characterization... is where the FUCK is Amy's bestie, Honey the Cat???????

[speedofsoundsketches]

I personally believe if Idw wrote Maria that way and they said "we're just expanding on the character " fans would throw a fit. Dont get me wrong, the Sonic Ova will always remain superior to whatever American Sonic story product comes out. But cant help there seems to be a lot of forced hype over a short manga that's just mostly okay with a lot of flaws.

I can only speak for myself but part of my major problem with IDW is that the attempts to “expand on the characters” are usually by making them speak out loud their thematic modus operandi instead of allowing things to be said on a subtextual level. It’s why Sonic expositioning on his “le principles” sounds insanely forced because he’s never done something like that in the games or at least, never required an essay worth of words to do that. In the games, this is done by letting characters speak through actions first and punctuating that with clear, concise statements during peak moments of clarity. Sonic simply saying “What you see is what you get! I’m just a guy who loves adventure!” after going through an entire game of him showing us this about him is more convincing than long prose on why he thinks everyone should live exactly like he does in a holier-than-thou manner. (Which is such an antithesis of Sonic’s character in the games, he is far more humble and intuitive than ppl might expect.)

The manga did imo a better job of not only writing Shadow than he is in IDW but it was all largely game compliant. Nothing in it really contradicted anything already done in the games in terms of characterization. It just feels like “more of the same” but now we get to see some of the sad, bittersweet and touching sincere friendship between Shadow and Maria, plus the foundation of all the tense internal conflict and insecurities Shadow will have to face and eventually make peace with. Plus my goodness, the RANGE of emotions he has and that he’s not some completely unreachable hardass but has complicated and deep emotions. Plus the action in it? Ooooo stunning. Him knocking out soldiers and stopping a bullet all while tying it with emotional internal declarations he was struggling with and determining that he does still have purpose even if curing Maria failed is so PALPABLE. STANDING OVATION.

His beautiful thoughts on Maria and what she means to him after she dashes away all his fears that she sees him as a tainted experimental animal like the other scientists did when facing their doom like bruh I’m in tears. It’s so well interwoven with the outward kinetic battle and leaves enough room for that which is left unsaid. Shadow speaks through his actions more than words but his thoughts and feelings just heighten the emotional peaks in this short story.

It’s not perfect but this is literally all I’d ever want. Contrary to popular belief, I’m not actually that difficult to please. Just write characters as they are in the games and I’m happy!

[badlydrawnmanic]

sonic movie 3 was pretty good BUT

i'm sorry, i can't help but feel disappointed by how gags seemed to take precedence over the plot more often than not, they removed the crucial detail of shadow being an artificial creature rather than naturally born, his unique link / relation to sonic despite never having met him, and the weight present in the ending of SA2 is just... ignored

after i saw the movie i went on at least an hour long monologue to my friend about how fascinating and tragic shadow's story is in SA2 alone much less when you consider the stuff that comes later, and hearing this she said that the movie felt like it was made by someone with about as much sonic knowledge as her (which isn't very much). i said that it felt like the people who made the movie may have played / looked into SA2 before making it, given very direct references and nods to the original title, but like... they stopped playing halfway through when it got serious / hard, like they got bored with it or something. i then had the same monologue with my mom the moment she woke up (sorry mom) because i couldn't sleep i was thinking about how much the ending felt half-baked and what i might've done with the movie series as a whole if i were the one writing

i understand that the target audience is general folks and especially kids, but as an adult super-fan who's been mega into this series since i was 7, it really sucks to see something you love so much not receive the love and care you would have given it after finally making it to a major hollywood production

i wanted to be able to cry going into this film, and i didn't feel... much of anything. some moments were really cool! but then it cuts to a scene of Human Characters Dicking Around For Way Too Long to the point where the other characters are complaining they're bored and it's like. y'all why

i'm not saying it isn't worth seeing, but if you're looking for a faithful adaptation of SA2, specifically with the weight, somber feeling, and finality of the game's end, you aren't gonna get it. probably better if you go into it expecting more comedy than proper action / satisfying story beats

all that and the second post-credits scene... fun fact, shadow wasn't supposed to come back after SA2. he was supposed to die and stay dead. he only came back in sonic heroes because everyone thought he was So Cool and sega delivered, so something about teasing that shadow is still alive feels... off? him coming back in heroes was a genuine surprise and delight for a lot of people and this also took the ending that's supposed to be sad and removed any sort of finality it may have had

metal sonic is cool though, and amy is very cute. wonder what they're gonna do with that for the next film

[writingtraumaforever]

Hey, I was wondering what your take on shadow and sonics sexuality is? I personally see Shadow as a gay aroacesep and sonic as bisexual but I was wondering what your take on them would be! I've seen other people headconnon sonic as Trans. I love your work and writing! Keep it up! I always get so excited when i see a new work or chapter! I'm sorry about what happened with the recent news on why you don't post art. People can be cruel without meaning, too. They should have asked for your age before doing that. Just so you know, we all support you and love you! Lots of love and kudos from one of your fans!

HELLO!! First of all, thank you so much for supporting my writing! <3 and thank you for the sentiment.. it feels like a lifetime ago, but I still get my anxiety. I’m trying to slowly integrate some art here and there to fight this anxiety, though! ^^ <3

I’m much better now and safe and feel very loved. <3

As for Sonic and Shadow’s sexuality ahhh—

Okay.

For Shadow, I find it to be more of a deeply rooted sort of attraction than physical. For this reason, I see him as a bit on the asexual side. He’s not a very sexual person to begin with, but is attracted to one’s mind and thoughts and abilities and what one chooses to do with them. Once connected in that sort of way, THEN he may be more open to physical interactions. Like with Sonic, they’re connected. They understand one another. He also sees him as this inevitable good which takes him back to Maria. Sonic pushes Shadow to be better as a person and as a fighter, and so Shadow respects him deeply even if he doesn’t always admit it. All this to say— I think he’s more on the demisexual realm of things. Because even when he and Sonic start talking more and go on dates, he doesn’t inherently become attracted to him in that sort of way until they’ve been dating for some time. And then it’s like BOOM. Oh, I like him, and he likes me. We should do something about that. Shadow doesn’t let people in, so when he does it’s pretty magical.

As for Sonic??? Dude is bi. I’d even say he’s pansexual to be fair. With how many different species he’s dated/flirted with, he’s just there to connect with whomever his heart is currently leading him to and that’s FINE. I’ve seen people headcanon him as trans and I always think that’s so cute to see!!! Representation is lovely, and people being able to express themselves through their favorite fictional character is a great form of comfort. As for me? He’s not trans in my writing. Not because I don’t like it, but because I, myself, am not trans, so to write the mindset of someone who has walked that path feels hypocritical and disingenuous to me. I feel like I’m a fraud when I try to put myself in the mindset of people (especially minorities) that I’ll never truly be able to understand or experience. I wouldn’t do that journey and all the complications and mental battles that come with it justice. So I simply stay away from that sort of thing out of respect. I feel someone who can relate to it more would do a far better job of writing Sonic being trans than I ever could. <3

[ominus-potato]

Genuine question, how do you make the dynamics for ships such as TrashCube, Chris x Swag, SMG34, Marware Etc

You mean like how do I see them? Ooo I love this question!!

Trashcube:

I haven’t entirely nailed down their dynamic yet. They’re old man Yaoi tho. I can see them balancing each other out. Bob helping SMG1 live on the edge a little and SMG1 encouraging Bob to do less illegal stuff.

When they started hanging out, Bob probably found SMG1 boring at first but then after living in the chaos that is his daily life, coming back to SMG1 at the end of the day to just relax and read or spend time together would be really nice.

I also love the idea that they just hang out bc they enjoy each other’s company and I could see something growing from that. We’re apparently gonna get a Medi fan episode about the two tho so we’ll see what their dynamic is really like in the show.

Chris x Swag:

Ohhhh boy I love this one!! I thought for a while about what their dynamic could be. I thought that maybe Chris is Swag’s side piece since he’s married to Sonic but after seeing Swag and Sonic’s relationship, I’ve come to accept that Swag would never leave nor cheat on Sonic. He loves him too much.

So, I’ve come to the conclusion that Chagmaster is one sided!

Chris has harboured feelings for his best friend for the past few years but since he doesn’t want to mess with Swag’s current relationship, he’s learnt to live with them and not let them show.

I think that’s why Chris is often threatening Sonic with a sniper when he’s on dates with Swag. Like a “you’d better treat him right” kinda thing. He just wants Swag to be happy, even if he’s not the one who’s able to do it.

SMG34:

I think their dynamic is pretty cut and dry. Enemies to lovers. Petty rivals with feelings. Enemies with benefits. Take your pick.

I love them as a ship and would love to see them be canon however due to the homophobic fan base I doubt we’ll get that anytime soon.

Their dynamic changes every time I write/draw them tbh. It can fit whatever narrative I need it to.

Hopelessly in love? Easy. Flirting? Alrighty. Shit talking each other and then proceeding to make out? Can do!

Depending on the story they can fit any dynamic which I do I like about them however it does make them feel very vanilla.

Marware:

They are my OTP. I love them. My faves.

Their dynamic is very much just YouTube Arc SMG34 atm but they have great potential to be a funny one sided rivalry type of thing.

Mario couldn’t really care less about how Puzzles feels about him. He just wants to watch tv, eat spaghetti and spend time with his friends.

Puzzles on the other hand is absolutely seething at the mere thought of Mario. He hates him so much. Almost a little… too much yk? 😏

I can see their dynamic shifting from what it is now to Mario just mildly annoying Puzzles and Puzzles just having to put up with it.

They’re a really funny ship to me and I love that bc that means I’m able to make jokes about them and come up with fun ideas for their relationship!

But yeah I love them.

Thise are all of my main ships. I also have others like Mar34, Mar4 and Mar3 and I’m always open to hearing new rarepairs like Bob x Shroomy (bad boy and good kid. COME ON HEAR ME OUT!)

But yeah! This is how I see the dynamics of the ships you’ve listed.

[farmergadda]

Hello, I have seen your Hamtaro TTRPG and I was wondering if you could write a Chao Garden ttrpg? Thanks!

I saw this message the millisecond it was sent and struggled for a week on how to reply. My tone on this account is leaning towards shitposty ambivalence for the sake of humor, while still expressing my genuine and earnest beliefs on game design. This is a problem because my Honest Reaction and first thought on what to say could VERY EASILY be read as me being an absolute asshole to this individual over a simple request.

I want to establish that this following statement is said with as much positive energy as I can muster, and as an actual response meant to be taken as genuine advice, from a game designer who loves the medium of ttrpgs and a fan of the sonic the hedgehog ip;

"Probably. But I don't want to. You do it."

Developing a game for yourself is a very different experience from making a game for a wider audience; and I don't have the energy to really dissect those differences here, but I feel that the desire for a game to exist is the best opportunity to try and make that game exist. The specific image of a game you have in your head, even if you lack the experience or technical knowledge to make it right now, will never come to fruition at the hands of anyone else, even from a game designer who's made something else you like. If I buckled down to fill this request, whatever I came up with would not be a perfect recreation of what this individual imagined when sending this ask. It'd still probably be good. I like to think I'm not terrible at this sort of thing. But it wouldn't be the ideal game that would fit everyone's expectations of A Chao Garden Game. It probably wouldn't even fit Galaxian-Hedgehog's expectations of A Chao Garden Game. All of this is to say that I think you (the royal you, as in anyone reading this post ever) should go make games. They don't have to be good. In fact, they probably should Be Bad. They should be cobbled together from whatever gaming knowledge you have, with loopholes and edge cases, and frustrating math that doesn't quite work the way you imagined it would. You should try to put your imagined game out into the world, no matter the end result, and if you're left with a system that disappoints you but hasn't stomped out that desire within you...

Congratulations, you're a game designer.

[phantom-hogs]

i don't usually do these ramble type of things, but I thought it would be fun especially since I just thought of something lol.

y'know how we have extensively explored Shadows and Sonic's trauma in multiple fan comics and what not? Going into the real nitty and gritty and what not. Y'know who- even the people that really like him -have never really talked about?

Silver.

Like, don't get me wrong, I love our little dork. But can you imagine how absolutely traumatizing living in the literal end of the world must be? And even more traumatizing to grow up in that world would be? Living in dead world, where you and your best friend and maybe one of two other people are alive. Having no hope for any kind of future. Fruitlessly searching for a way to fix, knowing that you'll probably either die alone or in some horrible way and there's really no point to try, but you still do because that hope is quite literally the only thing you got left.

And even adding on top of that, imagine once the future - I know in canon they all lose their memories and what not, but fanon and the IDW comics (and even canon at this point, let's be honest) always ignore that, so stay with me - everything is normal, a Peace future. I have high doubts Silver knows how to be a, essentially, normal person. He's been in survival mode his whole life. (Presumably at least) Silver doesn't know how to go out of survival. Hell, I don't think this man even knows what a 9 to 5 is. He thought saving his future would bring immediate happiness, every single one of his problems solved. But now? He probably would even more isolated because him and blaze are the only ones to remember.

And if we bring IDW into this, this man came back twice because his future was in danger two more times (as of the time writing this) can you imagine how anxiety inducing that must be?

Like idk, maybe it's just me. But I feel like this man has more baggage than shadow at this point.

[e-vay]

Evay QA Bulk Post 5

Here we go again! These do not include Domino or Phlox questions as I plan on addressing those in a separate post. I couldn't get through as many questions this time around but I did what I could. I'm sorry, I'm just a little mentally and emotionally overwhelmed right now so I can only respond to so many at a time.

Thank you all for reaching out ☺️ Despite my brain, I am always very appreciative to hear from you!

PERSONAL ASKS

sayain-princess-vegenta asked: What is some original artwork or stories you've been working on lately? I know you probably get a bunch of questions for established fandoms but spoil us with your own thoughts! 😇

A: Well that's very kind of you to ask! To be perfectly honest, I mostly stick to fan art or creating original characters that exist in an already established world. I only have one personal project that is completely original, but so far it's only character designs. I don't have a full story or world built yet. I'm not sure if I'll ever share it on here.

Anon asked: Who or what made you wanted to do art?

A: There wasn't anyone or any particular thing that made me want to draw. I've just been drawing since I was able to grasp a pencil (or crayon) in my hand and I've never stopped! 🥰

Anon asked: Have you ever caught someone stealing or drawing your art?

A: Ohohoho, allllll the time

-

MISC SONIC ASKS

Anon asked: Do you still like sonic boom or are you over it?

A: My love is everlasting!

Anon asked: Hello Evay_art I always wonder have you always thought doing Amy Rose game???

A: Hi! Do you mean for me to make an Amy Rose game? I don't have the talent to do that, but gosh do I want there to be an Amy game so badly! ☺️ She deserves it! I would love to play a game devoted to her. I thought The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog was especially great because she was a major character in it!

Anon asked: What is your opinion of Sally Acorn? Do you like the idea of her and Sonic have had a relationship? In fact, something I never got an answer for, is she considered canonical?

A: I'm not a fan. Plenty of people can argue for or against Archie characters, but Archie is not considered part of the game canon like IDW is.

Anon asked: I keep on hearing everyone talk about Hell Hath No Fury, so I finally got curious enough to read it! I have to say that it was coming out really good! Do you plan on working on it again any time soon?

A: Thank you for checking it out! I'm glad you were enjoying it. Yes I do plan on picking it back up eventually.

Anon asked: Does HHNF take place in Sonic Boom(Sorry if this is a stupid question)

A: It's not a stupid question at all. HHNF is a Modern Sonic story, not Sonic Boom. Also, it is not part of my AU. It's a completely separate story 🖤

fungus101 asked: Can you do more Werehog stuff

A: Oh I plan on it! I love drawing werehogs!

Anon asked: I have a question since sonic boom has been over for a while now. Do you still like the designs from it or have you moved on? Cause I know the sonic boom designs are somewhat of a future designs for some of your comics. I was just wondering if it would be Recon at this point

A: I still love the Sonic Boom designs and they're still part of my canon. I try to draw more than just Boom (I've been especially neglectful of the Modern designs and I need to do a better job of that), but the Boom designs are still my most favorite to draw.

sonicx1027 asked: Hey Evay, I’m curious if you are going to make another comic in the future, especially with the new Sonic Characters being added from the IDW series. If you are, have a story in mind?

A: I definitely plan on including IDW characters in future comics! I need to catch up on the IDW comics before I feel comfortable enough to write anything. I want to make sure I keep them as in-character as possible. But in the meantime I do have plans of having them make little appearances.

itsyourboysworld asked: on a scale of one - ten how made are you that we still don’t have a trailer for sonic the hedgehog 3 because for me it’s infinite

A: WHY ARE THEY TORTURING US?! GIVE US A TRAILER!!!! I am sure it will be worth the wait but it's killing me.

Anon asked: How do you feel about Mighty the armadillo?

A: It's funny because I think one of the Tailstube videos (or perhaps it was one of the Twitter takeovers) made the point that Mighty is basically just a more mellow version of Sonic and I do agree, I've always thought that. I actually think he's like a fusion of Sonic and Knuckles, but super chill.

-

MY OCs/AU ASKS

emceevoices asked: In Boom Baby, what was the movie Sonic, Amy, and Eggman were watching? In my dub, I had them watch the 93 Super Mario Bros movie, but did you have any specific movie in mind?

A: I believe you're talking about Chapter 5.1 of My Gal. They are watching my own make-believe Overwatch movie lol I just wanted an excuse to draw Mercy as a Mobian

toonfan91 asked: Oh my gosh I thought your tumblr was dead, as a fan of your work it is stellar seeing new Sonic art from you again, or art at all really. I do have one question, if you were to have the time and willingness to, would you draw designs for the Freedom Fighters (Sally, Bunnie, Antoine, Rotor and Nyx) that fit in your AU and try to work them subtly into it?

A: I'm still alive! Haha 😄 Thank you so much, I'm really glad you are enjoying my new work! I'm sorry to disappoint but I was never a fan of the Archie comics or characters, so no I do not include them in my AU. Sorry!

milangakokoros asked: Has pensado dibujar a whisper y tangle como si fueran parte del AU donde Aurora existe? Como serian sus vidas? Dime que estarian casadas jajsjj

A: I do plan on adding Tangle and Whisper 🥰 I need to get caught up on the IDW comics to make sure I'm writing them in-character, but they will make an appearance in the near future.

furrylovergril495 asked: Also how old is Aurora? Ps I think she one of the nicest fan kids I ever since

A: Thank you so much, I'm so glad you like her! 💗 I don't like to include exact ages because I don't think Mobians age the same way humans do. Especially since SEGA has redacted the Sonic characters' ages. But for majority of my drawings, Aurora is the human-equivalent of about 20-23 years old.

Anon asked: can you draw super Aurora and tell me what abilities she has

A: 😊 I've drawn Super Aurora (aka "Aurora Borealis") quite a few times! [x] [x] [x]. She has all the standard Super Hedgehog powers (Flight, strength, invincibility, etc.)

thechosenflow asked: How does Metal sonic interact with Aurora? Are they friends or does Metal act as a guardian?

A: I've only drawn the two crossing paths once. I like to think that Metal Sonic is secretly in love with Amy, and so when Amy and Sonic get married he is pretty devastated. Maybe he gets his own Metal Amy and has his own Metal family??? 👀

Anon asked: So we know that Sage is best friends with Aurora but how is she with Rouge and Knuckles son's? I forgot their names😭

A: That's okay, I have a lot of characters. You're asking about Ruff & Tumble! Honestly I don't see her having much of a relationship with them. They are quite a bit younger than Aurora so I don't think Sage would have much reason to be around them often. HOWEVER! I do write Sage to have a friendly-competitive relationship with CC, and since CC does not care much for the hyena boys, that means Sage automatically gets a kick out of them.

antooogamer asked: What happened to Sonic's scarf? Do you keep it or when you retire will you give it to one of your grandchildren?

A: With how much danger that hedgehog gets in to, that scarf would have been ripped to shreds! No way it survived long enough for his grandkids to have it 😆

Anon asked: Have Aurora ever met Blaze, Sliver, and Amy's parents?

A: Blaze and Silver are friends with Sonic and Amy so she definitely would have met them at some point. I originally wrote Amy's parents as having passed away before she and Sonic got married, but I recently decided to change that! The Rose 'rents will be alive in my canon! So yes she'd have met them, too!

cyberdiesel asked: What is Aurora's relationship with the Gogobas and Froglodytes (including Og) like?

A: Aurora does not have any relationship with them (I did not care for them so I don't plan on ever drawing them haha)

Anon asked: What did Sonic and Aurora do for Amy on Mother's Day?

A: They spoiled her rotten by making her the most delicious, sweet, unhealthy breakfast imaginable with pancakes and ice cream and all the flavor syrups! Sonic even cleaned up after!

Anon asked: Does Aurora loves Chillidogs like his father?

A: Nobody loves chilidogs as much as Sonic haha But she does enjoy them. She kinda has to, chili dogs are a staple in the Rose household!

medi0creartz asked: There’s something I’ve been thinking for a long time. I don’t know if someone asked you this but has Cream and her Mom Vanilla ever meet Aurora?

A: Of course! Cream is Amy's best friend. Aurora absolutely would have met her!

echidnapower asked: So, difficult philosophical lore math question for you. 👀 Aurora and Sage are besties. Aurora is the daughter of Sonic the Hedgehog. Sage is Dr. Eggman’s daughter. Dr. Eggman wants to destroy Sonic and take over the world. Sage never wants to hurt Aurora. Eggman hurting Sonic would hurt Aurora. Sage is "presumably" loyal to Eggman. Solve for X, if you know what I mean. >:)

A: echidnapower you always ask the tough questions! It might not be very exciting, but Eggman mellows out in my AU as he gets older and he even adores Aurora, so he has no intention of hurting her. Sage does want to rule the world and make the Eggman Empire reign supreme, but she wants to do it passively and by intelligent means, not through destruction ;) Sorry that's a boring answer for you!

km0901 asked: Hi again! A question that's been on my mind lately comes from your "Time travel" comic. In it, we know that Aroura goes back in time to save Shadow, but from what? I first thought it might be DR. Eggman, but he has seemingly moved on with his life along with everyone else. This leads to the big question, who or what is this new menace?

A: I know this is a disappointing answer, but I can't reveal what the threat behind that storyline is yet! You'll have to wait when I can finally write that story out as a fic. All I can confirm is that the threat is invented by me. It is not an antagonist from the game canon. I'm so sorry I can't share more!

Anon asked: will you ever draw your human AUs for sonic again sense you have a newer art style ( btw speaking of art style i Love it and absolutely adore everything you post)

A: You are such a sweetheart, thank you! I'm really happy to hear that. I'll draw human Sonic characters again, just not sure when :) Some people really hate the way I draw the gijinka Sonic characters so that's why I don't do it much. But whatever, it is what it is. It's not going to stop me forever lol I'm happy you like it!

Anon asked: I love the design for Movie Aurora!! Since Tom and Maddie are like Sonic's adopted parents (if Aurora lives on earth), would you see Tom and Maddie show her tons of affection like grandparents?

A: Thank you so much! Yes I'm sure Tom and Maddie would be over the moon to have a grandbaby! I have the cutest vision in my head of them having to buy doll clothes for her since she's so little.

*The next question is a Shadora Ask. Skip if you don’t like Shadora

Anon asked: Now that i thought, have the Shadora Offspring ever met Black Doom? If they did what's their relationship with him?

A: The Shadora Horde are aware of their lineage [x] [x], but no they don't have a relationship with Black Doom at all. If Black Doom were alive, Shadow definitely wouldn't let him anywhere near his kids.

-

SHIPPING ASKS

aeroranger100 asked: What inspired you to make My Gal? Or maybe I should ask, what got you on board the SonAmy ship in the first place? 💙🩷

A: My Gal came about simply because I thought, if Sonic were to ask Amy out, how would it go? Although I love sappy romance and angst, I actually prefer writing comedies so I put it in the Sonic Boom universe because I could go super silly with it! Though, I still think their date might go sort of like the events of My Gal no matter what universe it takes place in 😉 As far as why I first started shipping Sonamy, it was simply by learning who Amy was in the first place! The moment I saw her and got to know her character I thought, oh, this girl is the one. I wrote a very detailed post about it a long time ago if you'd like to read it! It wasn't meant to persuade anyone, it was just meant to illustrate why I'm so passionate about those two!

Anon asked: Your Sonamy art always gives me life and I love whenever you draw them smooching😘😘 Question: Do you have any art of Sonamy making out? Or if you know of another artists could you point me to them? I'm having cravings!!

A: Thank you so much! Honestly I feel like I draw them making out all the time 🤣 The entire ending and Epilogue of My Gal is just them kissing constantly haha! I'm working on some birthday drawings that should satisfy that craving of yours 👀

Anon asked: Hope I’m not annoying but what are Shadow’s, Sonic’s and Amy’s orientations(sexualities)? I know you answered What are shadora children sexualities but I really am curious about this. Also,love your art💜🙌

A: You're not annoying and thank you for the compliment! Honestly I can only answer for my own characters because they are 100% made by me. Unless SEGA officially confirms what Sonic, Shadow, and Amy's preferences are then I can't say for certain. We can all just imagine what we want.

Anon asked: Are Sonic and Amy still an active couple when their grandparents? And what do you mean by active e-vay? 😏Plz explain if you want😊…. I’m very curious 😂

A: Anon, you are too funny. You can't ask me a question and then follow it up by "what do you mean" when it was your question! 🤣 Yes they're still very active, however you mean it to mean! 😜

Anon asked: Do you think boom sonic has feelings for amy as well?

A: Absolutely I do! He was so sweet on her in that show!

Anon asked: What if sonamy was a same gender couple?

A: I've said it before but I'll say it again: As long as they're together and they're happy, I'm happy!

Anon asked: hi e-vay what's ur fav sonamy universe?? (boom, prime, etc.)

A: Hi! Wow, that's really difficult for me to pick. Boom was definitely the most fun for me. That show made me laugh so hard and Sonic and Amy were both so handsome and pretty, and they were so funny the way they interacted. I am still 100% of the belief that they were secretly dating during that show!!! But Modern has the most potential. It can be fun and it can be serious, so if they ever wanted to take Sonic down a romantic path I think it would be more meaningful in the Modern context.

Anon asked: desearía tener más contenido tails x cc realmente los amo!!

and makarov asked: More cc x tails comics pleeeaseeee🥺? And will you do an cc x tails animation?

A: I'm so happy you like the LoveBytes (TailsXCC) ship! I promise I'll draw more in the future 💛 I'm sorry for the wait. I don't know about an animation but definitely more drawings to come.

nightfurylover31 asked: I’ve been listening to Backstreet Boys again to relive my childhood, and the songs “Shape of My Heart” and “I Don’t Wanna Lose You Know” feel like perfect Sonamy songs! 🥰💙🥰🩷

A: Backstreet Boys! Talk about ROMANCE! I love those and of course now I will associate them with Sonamy 🥰 Thank you for sharing!

blueberryydraw asked: hey e-vay! I love your works and I'm a big fan of Sonic. Would it be possible for you to make a Sonamy movie? :)

A: Thank you so very much! Are you asking if I could make a sonamy animation some time? If so, I can't say much about it but there is a very special project I'm working on! It won't be ready for a very long time, but when I can talk about it, I will!

ultimate-guardian asked: What do you say about Knuckles x Mighty?

A: I don't personally ship the two of them together

*The next question is a Shadora Ask. Skip if you don’t like Shadora

Anon asked: Sonic does not want Shadow to date Aurora cause he thinks he might hurt her or is it because they don't like each other?

A: It wouldn't matter if it was Shadow or not, Sonic doesn't want Aurora dating anyone. He doesn't think anyone is 'good enough' for his daughter.

–

Thank you all for the questions!

Evay QA Bulk Post 1

Evay QA Bulk Post 2

Evay QA Bulk Post 3

Evay QA Bulk Post 4

Evay QA Bulk Post 6

[plaguelily-art]

Artwork completed for @ferarepairweek. This was for Day 4, and I went with "Clothes".

Okay, this one probably needs some explaining too. So, this is Sumeragi, Mikoto, and my design for Ikona, and I absolutely headcanon them as a all being in love with each other, and I have for years. This goes way back to when Fates was still popular, and I kept seeing a lot of headcanons portraying Ikona as jealous of Mikoto and/or with the two generally not getting along, and like, that's valid and all, but it really didn't work for me. And so one rainy morning walking to a college class I wondered, "What if Ikona and Mikoto were in love?" which was quickly followed by, "What if all three were in love?" Which then made all their deaths in Fates all the more tragic for me, and so I've stuck with it ever since. So while I know this is technically a canon ship, since my headcanons go against a lot of popular fanon, and these three as a canon thruple get entirely ignored by both fans and IntSys, I still feel justified in calling this ship a rarepair.

I, unsurprisingly given my love for wildly underdeveloped dead moms, have a ton of thoughts about Ikona, and I also spent a really long time trying to figure out her appearance based on how the Hoshido siblings look, which I might share later (I have an idea for an artwork for just Ikona, and that would be a better place to write out my headcanons for her). But to explain a little, I do have Ikona sharing her hair and eye color with Takumi--I think there's something rather bittersweet about Takumi being the only one to look a lot like his biological mother.

As fond of this ship as I am, I am never drawing Sumeragi and his Sonic Hedgehog hair again if I can avoid it.

—————————————————————————

2023, Fall Digital (Adobe Photoshop) Design for Ikona is my own. Sumeragi, Mikoto, and Ikona are characters from the Fire Emblem series, and belong to Intelligent Systems. Artwork belongs to me.

This image (published by the artist to deviantart.com/plaguelily, plaguelily-art.tumblr.com) may not be reproduced, copied, edited, republished, reuploaded, distributed, or redistributed in any way, and I do not give permission for the creation of any sort of derivatives of my work including the use of the work in datasets used for generation of AI art or any other sort of procedurally generated image program or software. Thank you.

[leikeliscomet]

We Failed the First Black Doctor (Part 1)

We failed the first Black doctor.

I know you’re thinking ‘What the hell, I didn't do anything to Ncuti!’. That right there is part of what I mean. When tabloids and fans say ‘the first Black doctor’, our minds go straight to Ncuti Gatwa and rightfully so. Some fans might say Lenny Henry. Some fans might even say Peter Davison. When I say ‘First Black Doctor’, I mean Jo Martin. I think about the Fugitive Doctor. I think about how in only one episode she appealed to so many fans. I think about how she carried a gun and ripped off a Judoon captain’s horn. I think about how a great character was fumbled so badly by the show. I think about how fans barely think about her now. I think about how the first Black doctor was done so dirty. Your next thought is probably ‘Well isn’t that Chibnall’s fault?’. In a way, yes. But also no. What exactly went wrong varies from writing processes to behind-the-scenes structure to fandom politics. To unpack why Fugitive was done dirty, we need to start from the beginning. 

Series 12 would be a complete 180 of series 11; returning monsters, a more energetic soundtrack and heavier reliance on Doctor Who lore (or whatever was left of it). Apart from a vague Timeless Child namedrop in The Ghost Monument, Thirteen’s run was smoother than her predecessors in terms of less overwhelming narrative arcs. No Hybrids or a Time Lord Victorious, just a girl and her fam. Until one day in Gloucester, a tour guide named Ruth would transform in a lighthouse and essentially change Thirteen’s life for the rest of her run. What seemed like an RTD-esque Judoon episode turned into the debut episode for a brand-new incarnation of the Doctor. And we never saw it coming. And neither did Chris Chibnall apparently. In an interview, he revealed that the script for Fugitive of the Judoon was already underway and the Fugitive was a last-minute addition. This was red flag no 1. A last-minute character wasn’t inherently a bad thing, as it was assumed Fugitive would return again in the second half of series 12 and likely in series 13. These appearances were lacklustre, but I’ll go into more detail later. Fugitive’s casting made a lot of noise; bad and good. Right-wing sides of the fandom were outraged at a Black woman playing a role they thought was exclusively for white men (no surprise there) and plenty of comments fuelled with misogynoir, antiblackness and colourism were thrown her way too (no surprises there either). What made this outrage worse was Fugitive’s ambiguous role in the timeline. Many were angry about Fugitive being before One and thought it disrespected William Hartnell’s legacy of being the first incarnation of the show. Contrary to popular fandom belief, Chibnall didn’t actually confirm if Fugitive is pre-Hartnell or not, he left her placement vague on purpose. We as fans have reason to believe so because she didn’t have a sonic and we saw One to Two’s regeneration on screen along with One’s companions, so we know she couldn’t be between those two. Pre-Hartnell is a ‘fanon’ theory, but this doesn’t take into account how Fugitive's TARDIS is a police box already. Another popular idea in the fandom is the season 6B theory. We know Two regenerates into Three, but the physical regeneration is never actually shown on screen, so a sneaky incarnation between them is possible. But again, the missing sonic does poke a small hole in that theory. Fugitive did however state she was smart enough not to need one rather than saying she didn’t know what it was, so maybe the 6B truthers were onto something. The Timeless Children promised to answer these burning questions and didn’t. So, we were back on square one, assuming we ever left it in the first place. With Chibnall also confirming Fugitive is not from a parallel universe, so she had to fit into the main lineup but not after Thirteen, figuring out the origin of the Fugitive became a painful and lengthy debate for answers we never got and probably never will.

Fortunately, details about the Fugitive would end up in her design process. Costume designer Ray Holman added elements of previous doctors in her design. The tweed in her jacket comes from Eleven, whilst her black trousers and boots reference Twelve. Her boots are also for combat purposes, drawing parallels to Three in terms of martial arts ability. Additionally, the colourful shirt she wears is Kente cloth, a colourful Ghanaian fabric, giving a small African cultural nod to our first Black doctor. Jo Martin has spoken about the importance of representation in interviews, stating she didn’t see a lot of Black characters growing up and how Fugitive allowed Black kids watching the show to have someone to look up to. She also noticed the Black and mixed race cosplayers and has shouted them out on her Instagram page. Many pictures and stories on her page showcased fans of colour in blue jackets and yellow glasses, giving the Fugitive her well-deserved flowers. For the first time, we had a doctor that looked like us and this was what made the Fugitive groundbreaking. A dark-skinned Black woman with locs playing the Doctor is something I didn’t see coming. A wish and a hope maybe, but seeing it come into reality definitely touched me. Not only was I seeing a Black woman of my complexion as a main character in Doctor Who, but she was the main character. Not only that, but her backstory was engaging. Why did she run away? Who is she running from? Where does she fit in the timeline? Within one episode, Jo Martin had already captured the ‘Doctor essence’ needed for the role, with some even saying it challenged Whittaker’s performance.

Enter Ruth. We see her get ready and head to work on her birthday. We don’t know a lot about her but she seems friendly. Her partner Lee on the other hand seems a bit sketchy. Fast forward, Judoon are on the hunt for the fugitive who they assume is Lee. Thirteen and the fam swoop in to help the two out. Thirteen knows something is wrong and she can’t place her finger on it. But as time goes on the situation spins out of her control. The alleged tour guide has ripped the horn off a Judoon’s head, an act of dishonour and humiliation. Thirteen’s doubts grow as the two reach the lighthouse because the holes in Ruth’s story are starting to show. Why live in a lighthouse? Why have a blank gravestone? Enter the Fugitive Doctor, previously Ruth. The lighthouse was her fob watch, hiding her memories and true identity. Lee was her companion playing a role similar to that of Martha Jones in Human Nature/Family of Blood and gave his life to save her. Taking that story, we now see how it plays out from the other side; from the POV of Martha Jones as protector to the POV of the Fugitive as the protected. In this 50-minute slot, we already have a backstory for this new doctor that still leaves room for the imagination. On board the Judoon ship, Gat is defeated by Fugitive with a gun she didn’t even have to fire. As she timed this according to the ship’s acceleration, Gat’s shooting takes place in interstellar space with no laws so Fugitive gets away with murder. Almost literally. She’s confident with a powerful presence and takes control of the room, contrasting Thirteen’s more chaotic and vulnerable approach. Thirteen and us as the audience are stunned as this complete stranger has saved the day and made it look so effortless. From there, the groundwork had been done for a new main character in the Chibnall era cast. But this wasn’t delivered.

Part 2 ->

[acuteobserv4tion]

I just watched Sonic 3 today.

Way too much punching, kicking, and squeeling on my part. I was in public and couldn't SCREAM.

I just have so much to say, but I'm gonna let it settle in my brain.

First and foremost, I LOVE how they handled Shadow.

Gonna be real, tho. I feel like that GUN director lady was a total waste of time. She didn't end up doing or being anything. Kinda like those two ex GUN agents in the Knuckles series. Utterly pointless.

They really gotta stop putting focus on characters in that agency when they don't matter. Looking at you, Randall.

I absolutely adored this movie. Didn't feel any wasting time beside that.

Gerald, Ivo, and Stone were extremely solid here on top of Shadow. A well-rounded opposition to our main trio.

I wanna know what Stone is gonna do now.

For some reason, I felt that Knuckles was lacking depth for a bit there, but then they pulled him right back in with the Tom stuff.

His saving grace is how he handles Sonic after what Shadow did. That was great. A great moment. Great characterization for all 3 of them in that scene. That was so real.

Tails was great throughout the entire thing. I could just feel how absolutely done he was with Eggman through the screen.

Our little buddy absolutely nailed his role.

Definitely can tell when character writing got focus. Both good and bad thing, but still, EXTREMELY happy with what we got.

I did get something spoiled for me, unfortunately, and I just kept thinking about it while in the theater, but I still had a fliptastic time.

Another thing I kept thinking about was comparisons to the story I already know, which, duh. Bound to happen, but it shouldn't impede anyone's enjoyment.

The way they handled Shadow's feelings was great. Like, actual cinema. No exaggerating that. Maria was an actual character, and this has gotta be the first time we Sonic fans were able to feel that.

That this little girl was taken. Shadow's only light.

A downside, though, is that we didn't actually get to see how Gerald was connected to either of them, which I found odd. We never even see him just pop in on the two having fun or reprimand them like the supposedly adoring grandpa he was.

There really should have been a couple of scenes of that to really drive in that they're both grieving family. Like, why did Gerald initially care about Shadow? Why was he and he alone comfortable enough with the powerful alien to the point where he lets Shadow and Maria become so close?

Literally, just have him watch in the background during that cute scene when Maria and Shadow first meet. Have him recognize Shadow as a person. Easy fix.

More spoilers:

I kinda wish they weren't afraid to allude to Maria getting shot. Or even maybe, Shadow in his burst of grief, creating a Chaos Blast that really killed other humans in the facility. They already gave us a half-baked story at the start that we would later be more informed on. Might as well hammer home that message of grief.

Speaking of which, Knuckles surprisingly didn't interact with Shadow at all. I thought they would at least reference the shared experience to help tighten the narrative.

Personally, I predicted that Knuckles and Shadow would have a short exchange, mostly via fists. But after the first fight, Knuckles wasn't used to that effect.

He kind of was just consistently used as the emergency muscle to bail us out. I think that's because the Chaos Emeralds didn't matter here. Like, at all. So, Knuckles wasn't given a specific thing to focus on, like Tails for technological aspects of the story.

A surprising change for the Emeralds after the setup of the last movie. But fair I guess, considering the wider general audience may not be ready for that.

They only have Gerald's empty weapon, but its power is fueled by a different chaotic source, which I found interesting, as well as Shadow's origin. With the way they framed Shadow's initial arrival to earth, I wonder...

Are they thinking of tackling Black Doom?

Anyway, I adored the direction they took this movie. It's a little questionable at times, but it's definitely worth the ride. Like any good movie.

Gotta say, that final Sonic and Shadow clash freaking HAD me. I'm still giddy about. Like, as I'm writing, it's been 4 hours later and I'm still jittering. I'm so happy that that part wasn't ruined for me.

The action is insane in this franchise it NEVER misses. They play into the abilities, and it is INCREDIBLE

And the inhibitor rings really came back into the fold. I wonder if the scientists made them for Shadow or if they came from his homeworld. It could be used to limit other characters' abilities. Wink.

I wonder what the next movie will be called.

I'm exploding on all this hype and narrative and turns out I'm only allowed 10 gifs per post. Stingy

So ends,

The Year of Shadow

[beevean]

One of my biggest problems with Sonamy is that despite its overwhelming popularity (or maybe because of it... yeah probably), portrayals of it have been so all over the place across the games, across adaptations, and across fanworks, that the definitive portrayal doesn't really exist, making it hard to buy into compared to Sonic's relationship with other characters. And no shade to Amy, but fans also tend to focus solely on how much Amy "deserves it", and disregard Sonic's needs completely.

I personally don't care about the fandom at large. I completely understand being annoyed by the general mentality and the popularity (I don't like Sonadow for similarly petty reasons :P), but it's simply not something I pay attention to.

It's not about Amy deserving her consolation prize. I personally have never seen that argument, I'm more familiar with "it's canon anyway!" which is dumb for multiple reasons lol. I, myself, even reject the popular vision of Sonic being overly romantic with Amy, with kisses under the moonlight and settling down to marry and whatnot.

I personally see some sort of relationship arc between the two. Unintentional? Who knows. But I see a gradual, tentative evolution from Amy being a lovestruck kid with Sonic wanting little to do with her (CD), to Amy still being stuck in her fantasies but showing Sonic she's worthy of being listened to (Adventure 1), to... admittedly a not-so-good period of time between Adventure 2 and Rush where Amy really was too much, to Amy actually protecting Sonic's life and him appreciating it ('06), to Sonic being despondent that Amy didn't recognize him in Werehog form and the two hanging out together as Amy offers her unconditional support until Sonic agrees to go on a "date" with her (Unleashed; note that I think Sonic saw the date as platonic, a chance to spend more time with Amy. Amy might have had higher hopes, though...), to what I call now a pretty stable point in their relationship where the two are just chill around one another. They're good, trusted friends :)

And that's really how I see them: good friends that can rely on one another. Amy has grown from being a childish fangirl to a true ally and equal, and Sonic now enjoys her presence without awkwardness. Long gone are the days when Sonic would leave her behind without a thought.

I still have my reservations on the current writing, as you might be aware, but I can define their relationship and it's one that I enjoy. It's not the usual "Sonic teaches a sad girl the joy of life" (I mean this with the utmost affection), but I do see a story of two unlikely friends growing closer and maturing together until they are each other's support.

[randomthefox]

https://www.tumblr.com/randomthefox/772672786318655488/httpsrandomthefoxtumblrcompost77266837951550

> But we figured that was a good way to know if something was important was like, ‘Is this something that we just remember all these decades later?’ Like the things that we remember, that’s the important part. It’s sort of like, Lynard Skynyrd never wrote down the lyrics of their songs when they were writing. If they couldn’t remember them, then they weren’t good enough

This part is so fucked up to me. They figured “Yeah so whatever we remembered is good enough” — and you see that mentality in all three movies now. None of these movies are anything more than nostalgia bait with the most patronizingly insulting references kept in either to “tame the “fans”” or cuz these auteur-minded dicks determined what details were worth having. No fucking wonder these movies forget their own continuity, and shit on the games they decide to adapt. It’s built on the memories of two dickwads that didn’t even read the wikipedia on Sonic /j

Somehow they’re worse than Pontac and Graff’s shallow research on the franchise. Yet they admit this without shame?

If I was a Sonic fan that felt like these movies were decent enough and seemed like they had some heart in it, hearing that the screenwriters couldn’t even bother installing Sonic games on their iPhone, or play SA2 before they wrote this third movie, would make me feel devastated. What Sonic fan wouldn’t find an excuse to play the games for research?

Other people who try to excuse these criticisms with “It’s not meant to be 1:1” or “they are trying to appeal to fans’ nostalgia” are not realizing that 99% of the time fans don’t know what they want. Especially true for Sonic “”fans””.

Hearing shit like “We had to put Live and Learn here or the fans would kill us” makes me despair. Cuz the shallow references are really just meant to be fondant decorating a shitty product. And it feels like majority of the fandom are eating it up.

They literally admitted "everything we don't remember wasn't important enough to put in the movie."

They literally. Admitted. Straight up. That they considered everything that they didn't remember well enough to include in the movie. Wasn't important. Even Ian Flynn would have the decency to lie, he wouldn't just ADMIT that he thought everything that he couldn't remember didn't matter.

SO I GUESS THAT MEANS MARIA'S ILLNESS WASN'T ACTUALLY IMPORTANT, IN THE OPINION OF THE WRITERS OF THE MOVIE

If this was any other fucking franchise, these writers would be rightfully crucified for this fucking interview. But it's Sonic, so instead they're being defended and praised. But tell me again how this fandumb is not inundated with people who hate this franchise, and how all of these adaptations aren't being made by people who hate the video games.

[descendant-of-truth]

Heads up, I'm gonna be discussing Sonic x Shadow Generations leaks below the cut, so if you don't want extra-early spoilers then just feel free to skip this one for now.

That being said: it's come to my attention that the Sonic Generations portion of the game is, in fact, being rewritten... but not reanimated. Meaning that it's just new dialogue on top of the pre-existing animations.

This is. quite possibly the worst route they could have taken. not to mention the weirdest??

I can see what the train of thought most likely was, to be fair. Shadow Generations is being written by Ian Flynn, while the original game was written by Ken Pontac and Warren Graff, and their versions of the characters are very different from Flynn's. Clearly, they wanted some sense of internal consistency between the writing of the re-release. That part is normal.

But then, I guess they just... didn't have the budget, or interest, or whatever it was they needed to reanimate everything from scratch. So they just added some lipsyncing when necessary and called it a day.

The problem is that doing it this way fundamentally kneecaps what you can actually do with a rewrite. The revised dialogue I saw in a video doesn't feel any less stilted or awkward, and the only thing it really changes is giving the characters slightly more reasonable priorities, or filling in gaps in their knowledge that were there before.

And those aren't bad things to do, but it's... kind of the ONLY thing they can do. It doesn't fix the game's story. It's barely putting a band-aid over it. All it does is read like an amateur fan project, especially with the addition of Modern Sonic responding to his friends after he saves them where he didn't before; I'm convinced I've seen videos of fans doing that exact thing in the past.

Yes, everyone knows that the few seconds of silence while he gestures felt unnatural, but so does trying to fit a relevant sentence over such a short animation. The official attempt isn't going much better, adding this really out-of-place and forced "alright!" when Sonic gives Knuckles a thumbs-up, and it doesn't flow naturally with the rest of what he was saying at all. It's there seemingly just to fill the space, so that there's no moment where Sonic is animating and not talking. It's bad.

Not to mention, I kind of assumed that the reason Modern Sonic was silent during those segments was because Classic Sonic was. You can play either Act of each stage in whatever order you want, so you could rescue the others as either Sonic. It would give people an unfair incentive to always play Act 2 second if it meant they would get more dialogue that way, and they would miss out on Classic's interactions as a result. Sure, neither of their interactions are anything to write home about, but... that's not really the point, here.

Trying to insert new personalities and character dynamics into animations that were meant for something different only works if you're doing a fanmade parody. Doing it in an official capacity feels... weirdly insulting to both the original writers and animators, honestly?

Like, no, that's not the script they spent hours animating for. That's not the tone they were trying to convey with those character movements. No, Sonic isn't face-palming in exasperation because Amy's too focused on "saving Sonic next time," he's doing that because she's joking about how scared she was that she'd never get to flirt with him again. Those are not comparable interactions.

I understand why they wanted to change the script, I really do, I don't even like the original version but for crying out loud, swapping out the dialogue does not make the game more interesting. There's a reason the story felt utterly bland and lifeless and an extremely large part of that was the animation and cinematography. The white space that most of the cutscenes took place in was literally just the side-scrolling hub world, they had maybe five square inches that each character could move around in and it was really, really boring.

A rewrite of Sonic Generations, especially with the goal of making it an equivalent experience to Shadow Generations, desperately needs more than this. Shadow's story is going all-out with the animations and camera angles and the severity of the situation and the deep-dive into Shadow's character and Sonic gets. this. a slap in the face to the original writers with no attempt to meaningfully improve upon their story.

It doesn't solve the problem of Sonic's story being jarringly lackluster in comparison to Shadow's. If anything, it's just going to stand out as being even weirder, because if this was all they were going to do, then... why did they even bother? What was the point? Does Tails recognizing the Chemical Plant from Sonic 2 mean anything when there's no new scenes that actually take place in it? Are we really making "Sonic References: the Game" into nothing more than a vehicle for Slightly More Accurate Sonic References and Nothing Else??

And what really gets me about this is that I would've gone nuts for an official Generations rewrite as a kid. My Sonic Generations Phase(TM) was both extremely long-lasting and filled to the brim with others' fan projects, because I couldn't get enough of this idea of Sonic and Tails meeting their past selves while trying to save the very fabric of reality. It's such an inherently cool and fun idea!

But what I was invested in as a kid was just that: an idea of a story. The reason I was obsessively reading and watching fanfic about it was because the actual game gave me nothing to work with. Now, it seems we're still getting nothing, just in a different flavor. Like, plain oats, but this time they're gluten free so that means they're totally what I wanted, right?

No. I didn't want a Sonic Generations fandub that happened to be paid for. I wanted a story. It should not be this difficult to give me one.

(To clarify, this is not a diss on Ian Flynn himself or his ability to write. I think he was given a task that was impossible to do well and I'm mad at whoever made this decision)

[theyandereonmyoji]

would you like to write for a yandere boom Sonic or a post frontiers Sonic? I feel like those versions are more likely to become obsessed and go out of their way if they do actually fall in love, even going as far as moving in with you without announcing it. Whichever you like more, both of them have voices I'd die for so.. I can't help myself but need one lol

Yandere Sonic the Hedgehog Post-Frontiers: Alone Together

ooh, a Roger simp I see~ to be honest I'm more of a Jason Griffith fan, but I totally get the appeal. I already wrote for Boom Sonic so I decided to do a scenario for Sonic after the event of Frontiers, hope you don't mind dear. ______________________________________________________________

It hasn’t been that long ago since Sonic and his friends came back from their travels to the Starfall Islands. You got to hear all about their crazy adventures there, from Sonic defeating various titans to save Tails, Amy and Knuckles, just to end up having to team up with Eggman and an AI he had created to defeat an entity called “The End”. However, after a long while of chatting about all that had transpired, the topic of what everyone would do next came up, and it seemed like everyone had their own plans that would keep them from seeing each other for a while. To no one’s surprise, Knuckles planned to go back to guarding the Master Emerald in Angel Island, though he also said he would take breaks every once in a while to go on adventures of his own. Amy went on an on about her plans to go out with Cream and Sticks, she seemed just as excited about that as she can be when talking about Sonic. Even Tails had plans to go on adventures on his own for a long while, to be more independent and not rely on Sonic as much as he can sometimes. Speaking of which, when it was Sonic’s turn to tell what were his plans for what to do next, he just said that he would go wherever the next adventure was. Normally, you wouldn’t have any issues with an answer like that, it was Sonic after all, he never was one to think much about where to go next, he would just run around were the wind took him, free to do as he pleased. Yet, there was something about how quiet he was, and how…uncharacteristically sad his eyes seemed the few times you caught him staring at you. But you’re probably exaggerating, right? Yet here you were, sitting in your couch wrapped up with a blanket and holding a cup of recently warmed up coffee, all lights in the house turned off because of a blackout in the area where you lived. The only thing that occupied your mind were how deafening the rain was, and your reminiscing of an event that had happened a week ago. Most of your things were all packed away in boxes of various sizes, and with them most things that you could use to pass time while waiting for the storm to pass, so even though you tried telling yourself to stop thinking too much about what had happened, it was the only thing keeping you from being totally bored, as your phone’s battery had ran out before you were able to charge it. Thankfully you were planning on moving out of this place soon, so you hoped that in the bigger cities blackouts won’t last as long as the ones here, you also hoped to be able to meet more people, as barely no one lived around here, and most friends you had were always on the move or far away where you lived anyways. Suddenly, your thought were suddenly interrupted by a sound different that water drops hitting your house repeatedly, it was a gentle knock on your door, too gentle perhaps, as you could barely hear it, and it probably wasn’t even a knock to begin with. Yet, after a few seconds, the knocking got progressively louder. Yup, your mind wasn’t playing tricks on you, there was someone knocking at your door.

You left your cup of coffee on the short table in front of you, and, still wrapped up in your blanket, you made your way to the door. You unlocked the two locks that it had, one a knob just below the door’s actual knob, that needed only to be slightly turned to the left, and the lock on the door that you needed your house’s keys to unlock, keys that you conveniently had left on the knob already. Once you were done unlocking the door, you  were surprised to see Sonic right outside your door, his blue quills soaking wet and water drops dripping out of them, he was shivering slightly and rubbing his hands on his arms in an attempt to warm himself up. However, once he noticed you we looking at him, he stopped whatever he was doing before, placing one hand on his hip, letting the other one hang around, his shivering was also gone too, and now he was smiling like he usually does. “Hey Y/N…do you mind if I crash at your place for a bit?” 

Your instincts reacted faster than whatever speed the hedgehog in front of you could run at. “Of course! Please, you’re going to catch a cold!” The calm pace at which he came in heavily contrasted how quickly you had opened the door for him. Once he was inside your house, you closed the door behind him, “Hold on, I’ll go grab a towel for you” he stood there by the door as you rushed off to your room, forgetting to check if you had locked the door or not, not like it mattered right now anyways, you were too worried about your friend possibly getting sick. 

You frantically searched in your almost empty room for an extra towel, you felt as if it was taking you an eternity to look through all the empty cabins and drawers, until you finally found a dry, white towel neatly folded inside on of said drawers. Almost as if out of pure instinct, you pulled the towel out and dashed to the door to where Sonic was. “Here! Use this to dry yourself!” You handed him the towel, he took it and proceeded to dry his body, face, and quills with it, it wasn’t perfect but at least he was a lot dryer now than he was a few seconds ago.

Sonic gave you back the towel, yet his gaze seemed like it was scanning your entire house, leaving only an awkward silence and a now wet towel between the two of you. “I’m sorry if my house is a little…empty, I’ll be moving out soon so I’ve already packed away most of my things” you hoped that explaining the situation would break the ice and give you two something to talk about, and it kinda did, you snapped him away from his trance and stared at you dead in the eyes, he still kept his usually calm demeanor, yet his eyes has this subtle trace of  that same mournful feeling you got from him that last time you two met. “You’re moving out? Why?”

“Well, it’s a long story, wanna sit down and talk” you gently grab his hand and pull him into the couch, it felt a bit cold, probably due to the still wet gloves…yet there was something about it that felt a bit odd, as if it had something inside of it that should be there. You decide to ignore that thought and let him sit on the couch, he looks at the cup of coffee lying in the table right in front, almost mesmerized by the movement of the steam coming out of the hot tea, but his focus went back immediately to you as you sit down next to him. “So…you said you’re moving out? How come? Seems a bit sudden don’t you think?” Sonic’s inquiry seemed absolutely normal on the surface, yet there was something about how he said it that just seemed off, though you couldn’t pinpoint exactly what. You took a deep breath before giving any answers, inhaling as much air as your lungs could possibly allow you to hold, “Yeah, I was just thinking that, everyone else is always going around and doing all of this amazing stuff, but here I am just wasting my days here without doing much. I just want to do something different with my life! Break the routine, I don’t know!” You were moving harshly all the time as you were explaining your situation, but once you were done, you allow them to fall down into your couch with a loud thud “…It may not seem like much but, I just think leaving this place might be a good start” You look at Sonic, to find a encouraging smile as you try to do something new with your life, to find him doing a thumbs up and tell you something overly cheesy yet somehow still motivating…yet there was none of that. Whatever mask Sonic had up until this point was gone, his face had an expression that showed no emotion at all, just an ice cold stare that sent shivers down your spine

Before you had any chance of asking him what was wrong, he decided to ask you a question of his own “So, does that mean you’re leaving me too?”

Huh? What was he talking about? He could always come visit you. However, you had no time to voice your thoughts and Sonic wasted no time on pinning you below him, almost effortlessly holding both of your arms above your head with a single hand. You desperately tried to get him off of you in any way you could, but that quickly proved to be a herculean task with just how strong he was. Panic quickly took over all of your body, and soon, that panic had led you exhaustion as all your attempts to free yourself were met with failure and soon enough, you had no energy to keep trying.

Once Sonic notice that you had tired yourself out, he looked down at you, no signs of compassion left in his eyes, just pure and utter apathy. “All of you keep leaving me…Tails, Amy, hell even the Knucklehead. You’ve all just decided to go on your own ways and leave me behind. Do you have any idea of how lonely I felt when I was in the Starfall Islands? How painful was it to deal with my entire body and mine getting slowly corrupted, seeing my friends sacrifice themselves to cure me? I thought I would never be able to see them again! And then after all of that, they all have the audacity to just go and ditch me, you got any idea of how any of that feels?!” Lighting struck nearby shortly after, putting you even more on edge as the blue hedgehog on top dumped all of his anger on you. 

He took some deep breaths, seemingly getting calmer, but the ire he manifested just a few seconds was still there, ready to gobble you up like a predator hunting for pray, “I thought that at the very least you would remain here, that everything would remain the same with you…but you’re just as selfish as the rest”. In the middle of his rambling, his grip on your arms had soften up just the tiniest bit, not much, but enough for you to slip out. You seized the opportunity to free your arms and with whatever strength you could muster, successfully getting him off of you, and making him crash against the table, spilling the coffee of his quills. 

You pushed back against any instincts to check and see if he was alright and made a mad dash towards the front door. You were hopeful that your mistake of forgetting to lock the door earlier would come back to save you from him. Yet, as you reached the doorknob, you were met with a horrifying realization 

Clank clank clank The doorknob would not budge, it was locked, and the keys were gone.

If insanity was defined by repeating the same action over and over again expecting a different result, then you truly had gone insane at this very moment. You prayed to the god you believed in that maybe it was just stuck, that it would work soon, you just had to keep at it. But it didn’t move, it wouldn’t. Sonic got up from the now broken table, coffee dripping out of the end of his quills, glaring you down with no empathy for your fear whatsoever. He opened a small gap between his glove and his hand, the same hand you had grabbed a few minutes ago to invite him to sit and chat. Something fell off of it, and he grabbed it before it fell to the floor, holding them on his open palm, letting you see what it was, it was your keys.

“You should consider yourself lucky Y/N…if I were anyone else, I could probably harm you right now…” he approached you slowly, almost like a zombie in an old horror movie. Your knees gave up on you and you slid off the door, sitting on the floor unable to move. Your brain kept yelling to you about how you should be running away right now, your heart tried to jump off your ribcage and make a run for it, yet your body was frozen in place against that locked door, unable to make a move. Sonic was now standing right in front of you, he kneeled at a painfully slow pace, and once he was at your level, he hugged you.

Unexpected was the understatement of the century. He locked you up inside your own house, pinned you against your couch and yelled at you about how lonely he felt, and now he was hugging you, gently rubbing your back with one hand while holding you close with the other, it felt like how a parent would comfort a child over a nightmare they had, yet his unnerving gaze quickly dispelled any illusions of comfort his body projected. “Thankfully, it was just me, I won’t hurt you, I even forgive you for trying to leave me. But we need to fix your little mistake”.

He grabbed your shoulders and pinned you against the door, forcing you to look at him “You won’t move away, right?” He didn’t wait for an answer, not like you could give it to him anyways, you felt a knot on your throat that barely even allowed you to breathe. “You will not sell this house, right?” “You can just return whatever property you were moving to, right?” “You can cancel off whatever deal you had to sell this place, right?”

“We can just live here together, right?”

______________________________________________________________

PD: Tumblr can be a bit annoying with text!