#I wanna do something Sonic Au related with that ending some day

[cattyanon]

Well now that rewatching is done with it's time to get AU things sorted.

Also, by looking at my watch list, here's 2 more obscure (in that I don't see them talked about) but really good anime with a small hint of horror, one moreso than the other: Akame Ga Kill and Charlotte.

[midnightshard06]

STH Rarepair Week Day 1: First Kiss / First Encounter

You can check it out on ao3 here if you prefer.

Summary: Knuckles finally learns the odd truth behind Sonic's weird behaviors after all these years. He didn't expect it to be a whole other person, and neither of them expected they'd fall for each other. They've made it work though, even if it can be rough sometimes.

Pairing: Knuckles/Fleetway Super Sonic

Warnings: A tiiiiiny smidge of violence in one part? Not really much but warning just in case.

Word Count: ~2800 words

AN: Just so people who are familiar with my stuff are aware, this is unrelated to my Chaos Uncontrolled AU. It's actually related to a fic I never finished, got 8k words deep in it too, but I felt the urge to do something for it.

Knuckles had known Sonic for a long time. He’d been dragged into the hedgehog’s small circle of friends, consisting of just Tails at the time so he thought, pretty much immediately in the wake of everything that happened on Angel Island. Part of him thought that Sonic wouldn’t forgive him for being tricked by Eggman, but that hadn’t been the case. Once the Death Egg had been dealt with Sonic and Tails had come back to make sure he was ok, and also to ask if it would be ok if they visited every once in a while. It didn’t take long for him to say yes, not that he made it look like he was desperate for company or anything. Sonic and Tails were just… decent company is all. Plus he still felt bad for going against them.

As time passed the duo would visit him when they could, even drag him into adventures from time to time. Those adventures got more frequent the longer they knew each other. It was on those adventures that he started to realize there was something Sonic wasn’t telling him about.

It started off easy enough to ignore, especially when he was being distracted by whatever was going on. Though the more time he spent around Sonic the harder it was to ignore. The hedgehog would seemingly… talk to himself sometimes. Even odder was that when he did it with Tails nearby the fox didn’t seem to even care. Knuckles really wanted to ask what that was all about but any time he tried Sonic found some way to change the topic. Frankly it was getting frustrating.

It would be some time, and many failed attempts, before he managed to figure out what was going on. For all his attempted plans though, he would end up finding out completely by accident. Sonic and Tails were on Angel Island for the day, making sure Knuckles wasn't lonely even if he assured them he was fine. Sonic had gone off to run around for a bit and Tails had been tinkering with something nearby as Knuckles watched the Master Emerald. 

"I've been trying to work on some stuff that would help keep the Master Emerald safe while you were away." Tails paused in his work to glance over at Knuckles. "If you'd actually consider using it anyway…" The fox looked slightly nervous.

Knuckles hummed. It would be nice to have some more peace of mind when he couldn't watch it. "Would it be… easy to use?" He asked. Technology for the most part eluded him. Most of the time when Tails tried to explain something he was working on he couldn't keep up at all.

"Yeah!" Tails perked up. "I made it my top priority to make it easy to use. I've even had Sonic and Fleet test it out to make sure."

Knuckles blinked. "Fleet?" His brow furrowed in confusion. That wasn't a name he'd ever heard before.

Instead of possibly just explaining that it was some new friend they'd met, Tails froze. "Oh uh… I must have misspoke. Heh heh." He looked away and rubbed the back of his head.

Now this was odd behavior. Plus Tails was an awful liar. "What did you mean to say then?" Knuckles tilted his head. He'd give the fox the benefit of the doubt for now.

"I… uh…" Tails' eyes darted around. "Froggy..?" He winced.

Knuckles huffed. "Nice try. Wanna give me the truth?" He crossed his arms.

Tails' ears drooped. "I do…"

"But?" Knuckles pressed. This honestly didn't seem like too much of a deal to him. Why was Tails so hesitant to tell him?

"I'm not sure I should…" Tails sighed.

Before Knuckles could say anything else another voice cut it. "Don't worry about it kid. I can explain myself." There was suddenly a golden hedgehog there. One that looked remarkably like Sonic in his super form. As he walked over he ruffled the fur on Tails' head, an action that looked almost automatic. "Good to properly meet you Knux. I was wondering when this was gonna slip." Despite the hedgehog's casual demeanor Knuckles could tell he was nervous.

"... you're Fleet then?" Knuckles cautiously approached. It was hard to ignore the sheer amount of chaos energy he could feel coming off the hedgehog.

"The one and only." Fleet eyed him, shuffling his feet. "I assume you have questions."

"Several." Knuckles nodded. "First, who are you and why have I never seen you before?"

Fleet seemed to hesitate before sighing. "Well… if we're just gonna rip the bandaid off here. I'm a being made up of chaos energy who's been with Sonic his whole life. Like I came into existence when he was born. Something to do with the emeralds taking a shine to him." He waved a hand. "We're not too sure." He crossed his arms. "Reason you've never seen me before is cause typically only Sonic can, but I can 'pilot' for a bit I guess. That let's me interact with the world and be seen." He shrugged.

"So you're just… sentient chaos energy?" Knuckles didn't quite relax at the explanation, but at least Fleet seemed to be telling the truth. It would be a rather unbelievable lie if it was one. Plus it would explain the chaos energy he could feel.

"I guess?" Fleet hummed. "Kinda a simple way to put it though." He mumbled.

This had certainly not been what Knuckles had guessed was going on, but it did put some things into perspective for him. Especially Sonic seemingly talking to himself. He glanced at Tails. "How long have you known about him?" He gestured to Fleet.

Tails looked away. "Uuuuh since before we met you. I accidentally met him at the end of the first adventure me and Sonic had."

"I'd gotten all the emeralds." Fleet hoped in. "Turns out if I'm not careful that much chaos energy can cause me to go a bit… wild." He looked at the floor. "Didn't know that at the time though. Tails ended up seeing me before me and Sonic could figure it out." He cracked a small smile and looked over at Tails. "It worked out though." The fox smiled back. Knuckles opened his mouth to ask something else but Fleet rose a hand. "Sonic didn't want to say anything because people haven't exactly taken kindly to my existence in the past." He frowned deeply.

"If it makes you feel better." Tails jumped in. "Only me and Shadow know, and Shadow only knows because he could tell that Fleet was there. Sort of."

Knuckles hummed as he watched Fleet. It was clear the hedgehog was still nervous. “Alright. Fine.” He sighed and held out his hands. “At least I know now.”

Fleet blinked. Knuckles crossed his arms. “That’s it?” Fleet looked dumbfounded.

“Were you expecting something else?” Knuckles tilted his head.

“Well… I mean…” Fleet seemed to be struggling to get his words straight. “It was just a whole thing with Shadow and… I don’t know, it's almost always been a big deal…” Suddenly his head whipped to the right to glare at empty space. “Stop laughing! You’d be acting the same way in my position!” Based on his eyes narrowing further Knuckles was willing to bet the laughing had only gotten harder. Fleet turned back to Knuckles, his arms now crossed and ears flat against his head.

“Well so long as you don’t pose a threat to the Master Emerald I’m fine to trust you for now.” Knuckles nodded, and Fleet perked up a little bit.

“I see.” Fleet cleared his throat. “Well uh. Good I guess. Yeah…” He tapped his claws together nervously. ��Good… talk.” With that he was gone and Sonic was there on the ground, still laughing.

Fleet collapsed wordlessly against Knuckles. The echidna didn’t even flinch. “What happened?” Knuckles eventually asked once Fleet had settled himself. Fleet didn’t really have the emotional energy to even try and describe the day he’d just had. All he knew is he wanted to calm down and hang out with his partner. Not that he even knew how he’d managed that. Ever since he’d revealed himself to Knuckles the two had gotten closer, and things had just… evolved from there. It helped that him and Sonic were able to be separate finally. That had been a pain while they’d tested different things. He’d had far too many close calls than he was comfortable with… both for himself and others.

Knuckles hummed and put an arm around Fleet. It was nice, not needing to articulate his feelings just yet, but still getting the comfort he’d been seeking out. The two stayed there for a while, Fleet wasn’t really trying to keep track of the time. Which was still odd to him. Before sitting still this long would have been torture, but now he was content to just stay at Knuckles’ side.

“Something with the emeralds?” Knuckles spoke up again, keeping his gaze aimed forward. 

With a sigh Fleet extracted himself from the comfortable position and balanced his head on his hands. “Yeah.” He pinned his ears down. It was still fresh and he didn’t really want to talk about it, but keeping it to himself might only make things worse. “Tails was messing with one, I wasn’t really paying attention to what he was doing. Then out of nowhere… boom!” He waved a hand aggressively. “I couldn’t think straight. Made a mess of Tails’ lab and… and…” He sucked in a sharp breath. “And hurt people.”

There was a moment of silence and then a hand on his shoulder, he tried to shy away from the touch but it was firm. “I get why you came here then.” Knuckles didn’t look sympathetic, but Fleet much preferred that. He didn’t want to be pitied. “You know that if something goes wrong here, I could probably use the Master Emerald to help.”

“S’part of it I guess.” Fleet admitted. Of course that was a pretty natural conclusion to make. “I think just being around you helps too.” He added, much quieter. Knuckles just slowly pulled him closer, giving him plenty of time to pull away if he wanted. Fleet didn’t fight him. Hopefully some quiet time spent here would help clear his mind.

“Where is he!?” Knuckles shouted as he approached an injured looking Sonic.

The blue hedgehog grimaced as he pushed himself to his feet. “He’s up ahead. Shadow is keeping him busy for now.” He went to rub the back of his head but winced. “Not sure how long he’ll last though… Fleet was exposed to a lot of chaos energy…”

Knuckles grit his teeth. As much as he wanted to rush in there right now and help Fleet he needed more information. “What happened?”

“Was fighting Eggman, I used the emeralds. Fleet was there too but I thought it would be fine. He was trying to stay out of the fight.” There was clear regret on Sonic’s face. “Somehow he managed to pick up on it. He’s been extra sensitive to it lately.” He shook his head. “We have no idea why.”

Well that wasn’t a lot to work with, but Knuckles would have to make due. “I’ll see what I can do.” He grunted, just seeing the grateful look that Sonic gave him as he ran off. True to Sonic’s word Fleet was just ahead. The golden hedgehog had a hand gripped around Shadow’s throat and a crazed look in his eyes. Around them were the ruins of what must have been one of Eggman’s bases. Knuckles would be willing to bet destroying the structure had at least distracted Fleet long enough for him to get here. Thankfully he'd already been off of Angel Island when he’d been contacted. “Hey!” He shouted and one of Fleet’s ears swung towards him. “Put him down.” Knuckles growled.

Fleet turned to look at him. An excited smile crept across his face, one that was still disturbing. “Knuckles.” He sounded genuinely happy to see him, but yet he still held Shadow aloft. “So nice to see you here.” He closed his eyes briefly as he exposed his teeth with his smile.

It was definitely disturbing to see such pleasant expressions aimed at him while Fleet still gripped tightly at Shadow’s throat. Said black hedgehog was still struggling. “Put. Him. Down.” Knuckles narrowed his eyes, keeping his tone firm.

Fleet’s pleasant expression faded as he frowned, ears drooping. “Awe, but I was having fun. A few more minutes can’t hurt right?”

“Now, Fleet.” Knuckles took a step forward. He knew he didn’t stand much of a chance in a fight, but he also knew he was one of the people least likely to be attacked. Of course that list consisted of Sonic and Tails too, but he tried to ignore how injured Sonic had looked when he saw him.

The golden hedgehog pouted but did drop Shadow. The other hedgehog fell to the ground gasping for air. Knuckles cautiously approached as Fleet floated down to the ground. Fleet’s grin still looked feral, but at least he didn’t seem inclined to attack Knuckles. For now. Though of course Knuckles didn’t come unprepared. As much as it would be nice if his presence alone could calm Fleet down he knew that wouldn’t work. Tails had sounded rather frantic in his distress call after all.

Before Fleet could move away Knuckles threw his arms around him. Something in between a hug and a grapple. Thankfully Fleet went rigid as he no doubt tried to figure out what was going on. In those precious few moments Knuckles called upon the power of the Master Emerald to neutralize the excess chaos energy in Fleet’s body. He could feel when it started to work as the golden hedgehog collapsed more and more heavily against him. If there was another way Knuckles would much prefer to use it, Fleet always looked so tired and out of it after. Though he also knew that Fleet would much prefer that to hurting anyone else.

Finally Fleet slumped against Knuckles completely, his breathing evening out as he fell asleep. Knuckles mentally sighed in relief, though he did wish he was able to get here sooner. A glance over at where Shadow had been revealed the hedgehog had left at some point, probably to tend to whatever injuries he had. No doubt Sonic would check up on his rival later. Speaking of the blue hedgehog, Knuckles watched him carefully approach. He was limping slightly, but was doing his best to hide it. What he didn’t hide was the relief on his face when he spotted Fleet in Knuckles’ arms.

“I assume everything’s good now?” Sonic was still looking at Fleet, some sort of expression Knuckles couldn’t place on his face now.

“For now. You should go rest. I’ll take care of him.” Knuckles adjusted Fleet so he was holding him more comfortably.

Sonic opened his mouth to say something but closed it. Perhaps thinking better of whatever he was about to say. "I'll leave him to you." He shuffled his feet and winced. "Just let me know how he's doing once he wakes up ok?" Knuckles simply nodded before going off to collect the Master Emerald from where he'd left it.

Fleet woke with a start, but didn’t try to move. He was utterly exhausted, a feeling he knew well. Though he wished it wasn’t so familiar. Just as he suspected he spotted the Master Emerald after a moment of visually searching for it, so that also meant…”Good to see you up.” Knuckles was sitting down next to him, close but not touching. “How are you feeling?”

“About how you’d expect…” Fleet curled in on himself, not quite making a proper ball. “I feel like I could sleep for a whole year…”

“I’m sorry.” Knuckles, as he always did after something like this happened, sounded genuinely apologetic.

“I know.” Fleet reached his hand out blindly, Knuckles thankfully took it. “And I keep telling you it’s ok.”

“Doesn’t mean I won’t feel bad about it.” Knuckles huffed. “Even with your permission.”

Fleet felt like he could continue this conversation, but nothing new would be said. They’d had this same back and forth so many times. Honestly Fleet hated to think about how common of a conversation this was becoming. He hated that it was brought on because of his inability to control himself around chaos energy. "Fine." Was all Fleet could manage. He was tired anyway. The two stayed in silence for a while. It was comfortable, like it usually was between them. "Thank you." Fleet's voice was soft even to his own ears.

Knuckles pulled Fleet closer. "I just wish I could stop it from happening."

"You do your best." Fleet squeezed his hand.

There was more silence and Fleet figured it would be safe to slip back into sleep now. What he wasn't expecting though was for Knuckles to press his muzzle to Fleet's head, careful to avoid pricking himself. Fleet's exhaustion riddled mind barely registered it as a kiss. A sort of tentative one, but one all the same. As he drifted off the sleep he couldn't help but realize that was the first time that had ever happened.

[dogydayz]

HEHEHEHEHEEE I think imma make Gerald be still alive and slightly inspired by the fucked up Sonic Destruction Gerald who just makes weird fucked up genetic creatures and they have to put him in a nursing home because the ethics of it start to spiral downwards over time or some shit (Biolizard was Maria's pet bearded dragon at one point, now he's a fucked up dog-sized biomechanical beast with special needs that Shadow ALSO has to care for. Maria is not scared of him and loves him very much still. However, he was the last straw and both Shadow AND Ivo ("Eggy" as this Sonic calls him) decide that he proooobably shouldn't be taking care of himself alone anymore also to seperate a bit from ur version I may make Amy, Sonic, and Tails not be trans HOWEVER the Amy in this AU ends up going with the old Amy design style and she's also butch and sapphic (though she is bisexual). Also Knuckles is a trans dude, because I literally never see trans man Knuckles like, ever, and I wanna toy with that idea a bit. It's not even like it's a big deal to him he's just like "yeah lol", but it DOES have to do with why he and Amy became friends in the first place (as he'd gone through a bit of that self-discovery phase, originally assumed himself to just be a lesbian or something, before he learned that he's actually a guy. During that time he'd met Amy, who was one of the few folks he felt he could relate to back then.) (He's very comfortable with his masculinity, though he's not at all ashamed to tell folks that he's a trans guy, and truthfully really hopes that his openness might inspire or give comfort to other trans folks like himself. Like, he COULD very easily pass as a cis dude, he could just avoid all the conflict that comes from being open about it, and he doesn't have an issue with those who would rather not be as open and even sees that view as entirely valid, he just feels that there's importance to "taking blows" for others, to potentially help others, when he knows that he can handle it mentally and physically when others may struggle more with that.)

I kinda wanna go with Sonic being a bit of a jock, but not a douche jock, may go down the audhd route with him since I personally relate a lot to that and love writing him that way. He never pursued sports as a career however, though I'm not sure what his career SHOULD be... hmmm....

I'm really tempted to make Shadow be a poet who owns a floral arrangements shop that Rouge helps him with (she's still absolutely a thief though, but I like the idea of her working for a jeweler also alongside this, so she makes good money to help Shadow out) and donates extra money to the local animal shelter when able to. Also autistic Shadow because I love autistic Shadow lol. He still takes care of Maria in this AU, who does online schooling and is pursuing a career as an ecologist and environmental researcher.

Tails and Ivo both ended up going to college and are in a bunch of classes together so they're actually like, rivals here lmao. That could actually end up being how Sonic ends up meeting Shadow at some point?? But yeah both are going into robotics engineering and are in extremely advanced classes, and most other students there are wary of getting in the middle of their personal competitions.

ideas ideas ideas.... Oh yeah and Black Doom being the one who primarily supports Shadow and Maria after Gerald inevitably has to go into elderly care, where he gets the money no-one knows. people just know he works as a barista at a local coffee shop. Also extremely small plot that Gerald and Black Doom are absolutely a thing but Gerald going through mental deterioration makes big "bad" alien man genuinely upset and Shadow has a genuine father-son moment where Black Doom is like "I don't want you to have to go through this one day goddamn it" (which would be one of the very few proper angst parts of this whole AU lol)

@dogydayz HEY I ACCIDENTALLY DELETED YOUR ASK WHILE TRYING TO ANSWER IT but i drew this based on it

black doom isnt in the fic for obvious reasons but if he was it would make for the most awkward father-in-law talks in the universe

[deitiesofduat]

What are all the Deities AUs so far? And what are some of your personal headcannons?

Ah, well I’ve never made an official count or list of DEITIES AUs / crossovers before now, I kinda just… make them up as I think of them, or as others’ bring them up??? But of the ones I know that I’ve shared on the blog or elsewhere, or that I’ve mused about myself, I can present the following under the cut, with the ones in bold that have links to their own tags.

Keep in mind that most of these are AUs that I muse about on my own or with friends, and in my personal free time. There are a few that I may hopefully explore for fun (after I resume my main activity with, y'know, the main story >>) and others are small niche AUs that may not be explored in depth, but they’re all fun to think about regardless. Just fair warning to not expect me to spill ALLLLLLLLL the headcanons I have in a row if you ask, I don’t have the stamina for it right now, but I may consider doing an AU ask theme later whenever I do…

[1] DEITIES x Pokemon AU – This AU combines my two loves and can easily be divided into several sub-AUs all its own – Deities as pokemon trainers? Deities as pokemon / pokemon gijinka? Deities as gym leaders? DEITIES but everyone has sacred pokemon forms?? PMD!DEITIES?? THIS ONE IS TRUE AU GOLD THAT NEVER RUNS OUT–

[2] DEITIES x Harry Potter – More specifically, I think of the “Deities at hogwarts” scenario in this AU, so DEITIES cast as students in their respective houses, their best subjects, their sacred animal as their patronus – one time someone asked about their ideal quidditch positions, and well, I tried.

[3] DEITIES x Avatar the Last Airbender – Specifically like, the DEITIES as element-benders or non-benders within the ATLA world. It’s a tough one because certain DEITIES would do well in multiple elements (Set as a lightning(fire)-bender or sand(earth)-bender??), but I try to stick to the ATLA lore and keep to one. No idea who the avatar would be tho…

[4] DEITIES Business AU – Admittedly, this is one that I shared with a friend, I would need to check with her to see if she minded me sharing certain details. But think of the whole pantheon as part of a big company, with the Royal Family as the top “chief officer” positions (CEO, CCO, CFO, COO, etc.), and other staff/interns in said company (plus chairman!Ra).

[5] DEITIES Mafia AU – Or crime syndicate, whichever is the better term?? Just think The Contendings but as a modern struggle between 2 opposing crime families/gangs. And knives and firearms, ofc.

[6] DEITIES Merfolk AU – Self-explanatory. Also technically not far removed from canon; some deities could transform their hybrid features to resemble merfolk if they really wanted to. I just, need to actually draw it out–

[7] Genderbent!DEITIES – Also self-explanatory, and also technically not far removed from canon, since deities can change their gender expression however it suits them. I don’t explore this too deeply though, I just like to imagine what their designs might look like, and how the dynamics in The Contendings might shift with Set and Horus as dueling goddesses, etc.

[8] Modern!DEITIES – Really just any scenario where the DEITIES are living in modern time. I like the version where it’s basically canon DEITIES in the farrrrrrrrrrrrrr future where everyone is at least 5000+ years old, fully adapted to contemporary society and living it up in the 21st century.

[9] DEITIES School/Gakeun/College AUs – Self explanatory, and a riff from Modern!DEITIES. Either the DEITIES cast as students or as teachers/profs/staff, or some combination.

[10] DEITIES Musicians / Band AU – Related to Modern!DEITIES but with all the deities as musicians, specializing in different instruments or vocals! Or alternatively, deities in an INDIE ROCK BAND or something!! Haven’t revisited it in a while though, or settled on which instruments suit them best.

[11] DEITIES Cirque AU – Think “Cirque du Soleil” or any modern circus with the DEITIES as skilled performers with different acts. But I also shared this AU with a friend who I’ll have to double check with.

[12] DEITIES Olympics AU – EVERY OTHER YEAR I wanna draw the deities participating in Summer Games or Winter Games as Olympic athletes in their respective sports and events, and I never have the time. BUT IF I DID!!! YEAH….

[13] DEITIES Vacations – Modern!DEITIES going on destination vacations “because they can” and to bring the whole pantheon together once in a while. Disney/Themeparks was the one someone recently brought up that I had in the back of my mind, but other attractions at applicable as well. I also had Las Vegas, NYC, and Hawaii in mind as well, with plenty of room for other destinations and countries-outside-the-US as well.

[14] DEITIES… futurepunk?? cyberpunk?? – IDK THE CORRECT TERM BUT basically the DEITIES storyline for The Contendings, but instead of Ancient Egypt, it’s “Ancient Egypt” if it had survived several millennia in the future – with modern advancement and technology in place of magic. I have more ideas regard this AU, but in the event someone else is planning to do a similar epic, I’ll keep my details underwraps for a bit until I can explore it myself 

(Additional note: I’m not super invested in -punk AUs but I could acknowledge things like steampunk!DEITIES, dieselpunk!DEITIES, solarpunk!DEITIES, etc.)

[15] DEITIES In-game / Gaming AUs – Basically the DEITIES cast following the mechanics and designs of different game series I like, vicariously or otherwise – including Sonic (sanic!DEITIES and sanic teams), Splatoon (Inkling/Octoling DEITIES), Animal Crossing (DEITIES as animal neighbors), Super Smash Bros (The cast as SSB fighters), Overwatch (the cast maining different heroes) and, most recently, Dragalia Lost (Adventurer!DEITIES who tURN INTO DRAGONS…!).

[16] DEITIES Holiday Designs – Not really an AU, just the DEITIES cast in festive designs for certain holidays on the blog, purely for fun. So far we have Halloween DEITIES and their transformations; Set transformed as one of santa’s reindeer; and Set’s “B-day” for Valentines day (which, I really attribute to the kemetic community for that one, I just participated with Set drawings haha;;)

[17] DEITIES Crossovers – most of the AUs I mentioned are crossover, but here I mean when I or someone else crossover’s our stories or casts for non-canon fun. On my end, so far I’ve drawn Set as a demon from Koolaid’s Living When Dead, and the Set Spawn running into some other smol familiars. Also drawn a few other crossovers with those who drew me amazing giftart in years past.

[18] Other Personal AUs – Any of the other dozen AUs that I already indulge in with my group of friends and our personal OCs, but with the DEITIES cast as a cameo. You’d have to sift thru my personal artblog with my OCs to understand most of them (and some of them aren’t even publicly posted yet), but they  include, but are not limited to: Mythical!gijinka, Fantasy AU, vampire/lycan/witches AU, demons/angels (and the related deadly sins/heavenly virtues) AU… that’s about it that I haven’t mentioned before jskdfsdf

o)———

[fnaf-sxc]

Hey

Hello, sorry this is not a drawing or update for the arc or anything, this is more an announcement that I think I should say and clarify why the blog haven’t got an update in a few days

No im not tired of fnaf or leaving the fandom or the au or anything, shuush

My semester is ending, next week is literally my last week of class, then examns, then Summer break. I got the bad luck that 3 of the big examns happen to be the same day at the sAME HOUR.

Full printed comic + original drawings

Picture of myself that is half photo half drawing along with original merch

The name of my Institute written in Art Decó/structure inspired  made on Illustrator + original drawing

Thoses 3, same hour, same day, different floors

The other 3 examns left are on different dates so Im not so stressed about them,one is draw two naked models the same day and the other is a digital drawing with a lot of details [textures, lighting, hour of the day]... and the last one... ehhhhhhh I dont know what the fuck are we doing, the teacher haven’t see shit(?).

Besides all of that, my Instiute moved out, like, this is the last year Im gonna be studying in the center building... and I still don’t know if I have to sign in the new place or the old to be studying next year, and some of my grades are not something that got me happy, so I’ve feeling pretty mediocre and just want to pass, Im very, very tired I just want to sleep early-ish and wake up late, instead of sleep late and wake up early.

After im out my Institute, I finish my examns, I will be free, and the blog will return to his flow again~

BTW, im always active on my main and sometimes I got a little time to draw something little there. I have to finish the arc here before keep going, I need time and mind to do it dont get angry because i upload thereeee;3; in case you like my art or something and wanna see more of my stuff. Is sonic related atm but... if you dont mind you are welcomed (?)

Once Im free, I finish the arc and get started on the video, also asks

TL:DR: I’m in my examn’s period, im busy AF, I’m active on @silverxcristal in case you wanna see my other stuff, Once im on summer break the blog will be active again

[mobianstrip]

sonic forces me to analyze the game

this is by no means a full, in depth review of sonic forces. however, since im working on a Forces au i think its only fitting to talk about my personal gripes with the game. just to be clear, i dont hate sonic forces by any means! there are some really neat concepts about it that i enjoy, which ill include my thoughts on as well! though with that said, theres a lot about it that could have been dealt with better. this post is gonna be a bit long and messy, sorry!

now i cant speak for what the gameplay controls itself are like since i havent actually played it with my own hands, so my primary focus will be the story and general format of the game. everything under the cut!

ill start by saying that in hindsight, i think the general premise of the game is actually really neat (had the war framing of the plot not been so overly glorified and bland. more on that below). eggman taking over most of the world is very reminiscent to the initial circumstance of mobius in the early archie sonic publication. it seems especially reflective of the comic in the fact that sonic forces takes place on a planet setting more akin to that of Mobius than that of Sonic’s World/Earth, the difference being the lack of human beings aside from Eggman. while this does somewhat bother me for the fact that it paints an inconsistency with the setting, im also all for the planet being strictly Mobians + Eggman again tbh. the concept of sonic being on earth populated by humans, complete with a mock version of the united states, never really settled well with me. it always felt like just a means to make sonic more relatable, which is true, but not done because it made anything more interesting. a problem that then arises is that the origins of shadow and silver/blaze would be radically different or at least would need some retcon alterations to make sense...but thats a topic for another day

overall, looking past the inconsistency with the setting and its implications, i enjoy how the premise of the game feels like going back to the basics. but even the premise still has its problems...which is never a good sign, and this point practically sealed forces’s fate of inconsistency: the theme of war and how it frames the story is so, so poorly written

starting with whats presented at the beginning of the game, sonic is captured by eggman as a prisoner. if the writing had just left it at that, fine. however, the exposition goes on to say that sonic has been there for six months being tortured...and that tails has completely lost it. again id be fine with this - the theme of war is a darker one so these two events would make sense in this circumstance. however, that tension is just totally lost in a matter of a few episodes. you rescue sonic who is just as cheery and jokey as ever, somehow able to fight a boss despite being supposedly locked away and tortured for six months

of course i understand that its not like they could give sonic ptsd and make him look tortured and weak and so on - but why even mention the torture thing at all? the same problem is apparent with the first cutscene with tails. tails is hardly given enough time to seem like he has "lost it". i will say though that tails WAS given a bit more of an emotional response to work with than sonic overall. particularly when tails is about to be attacked by chaos, and he ducks his head in fear and calls for sonic to help him even though sonic isnt there - i actually enjoyed this small segment bc it does reflect some of what was said about how he reacted to sonics capture (aside from also being across the planet...for seemingly no reason except bc he "lost it" and to get him away from the main group so that classic sonic can appear)

frankly speaking from these two points alone, the games tone just feels kind of confused. its obvious the writers wanted some parts of the darker theme of war...and its also obvious that going all out wasnt gonna be an option bc of the nature of sonic as a character and franchise being about more lighthearted, easier to relate to stories about sonics heroism. which im fine with that being the case; sonic is a hero and more importantly a mascot that profits off of kids being able to relate and look up to. my issue is simply that the premise of this game makes consistent writing kind of doomed from the start if the writers are trying to appeal to both the kids AND older fans. they cant go to the lengths necessary to adequately build the narrative. cant go too dark, cant go too lighthearted, and not finding a balance between to two gives you a confused and bland story 

on that note,  i personally find the theme of war to be...uncomfortably glorified and unchecked (adding to the tone confusion and blandness). sonic forces is named so because...yknow. armed forces. armies. the whole point of the game is that theres a war going on and youre on the good guy side. i mean its not as if youre fighting against other living creatures, just infinite and eggmans robots, but still. i think what put me off the most is the first comic with the soldier cat. after they save the day, the last lines are "I'll do better. I'll be better. I'll become a real soldier and a real hero." now slap that as the tagline to a united states army corps commercial and suddenly its really...sour tasting

war is just one of those subjects that i think needs to be handled with a bit more care. i mean think about it: the primary gimmick of forces is that you get to make your own character, to be the sonic version of yourself in this world. the plot of the game is that theres a war, and your character joins the resistance to defeat eggman. this game is pretty blatantly glorifying the idea that joining in on a war can make you a REAL soldier, a REAL hero. to some kids, that might sound pretty cool. but theres no nuance to it whatsoever, nothing thought provoking on the subject. no one steps back to be like ‘its good to do good things but wars are tough and not fun, and being a hero isnt everything’. none-a that

now do i think a sonic game could get it into a childs head that they should join the army for real? no, not necessarily. i think its possible, but i think that would also be due to a larger issue of military glorification present in modern culture in general (especially in america). mostly i just find the implications at play with glorifying the theme of war in conjunction to the avatar gimmick to be in poor taste and also entirely avoidable because...

i dont think the war and army framing even had to be a thing. not only is it just so sloppily done in general, with that fact that the supposed soldier forces on the Resistance side are literally never seen on screen except for some dialogue boxes in one episode and the rest of the time only being mentioned through other characters, but i seriously think never saying the words “war” or “army” and not including literal soldiers would have worked just as well and even been the better route. they could have just been like yeah heres eggman taking over the world, heres the resistance fighters that have come together to stop him, they are opposing forces and you play as your avatar to stop eggman - and just leave it at that. it wouldve made the glorification of war less obvious and the handling of the topics at hand appear less confused, appealing to a more lighthearted tone rather than weighing it down with frankly out of place hints to a darker subject of war

finally i wanna talk about the story as it relates to how its told through the game. the plot itself is fairly standard - eggman starts war, captures sonic, takes over planet. you rescue sonic, and together you fight eggman and infinite and ultimately defeat them. thats all good and well even if its cheesy sometimes. the REAL problem is how its executed. a lot of the exposition is given not through cutscenes, but through spoken dialogue with text box subtitles over the episode select screen. and it just feels so...stiff. it doesnt feel like world building, it just feels like being forcefed information with no substance behind it

i get that fully rendered cutscenes throughout can be expensive and time consuming, but shoot id take in-game rendered cut scenes at least. (like in sa, sa2, shadow 2005...) anything that could have provided the world building with a bit more ground to stand on would have been great. sure, there are levels to traverse which look cool...but they dont provide any sense of scale, they dont tell us what the area is like, and more importantly, you never see the other characters who are supposedly on the battlefield "alongside" you in a couple episodes. the storyline from the exposition along sounds like it could be an epic journey - but the way its told with the given game mechanics (i.e.: stage-based gameplay with no open worlds to explore) leaves a lot to be desired

i feel like the stuff explained in the comics should have just been cutscenes or exposition or something to pad out the game a bit. the comics are so short anyways so why just put it in the game? maybe not the first comic about the rando soldier saving the day or w/e...but the comic with silver and knuckles fighting chaos? the comic about infinites origins? all of that could have easily been included. at LEAST the comic with shadow was part of the DLC...but even thats just so gimmicky. they provide important background to the main plot of this game so i really dont understand why it was sidelined to comics and not just included from the beginning

the tension that the exposition already fails to build up is brought down even worse when coupled with the confusing timing of the stage complete screens, where you get your completion rank and see what new character creation items you unlocked. listen, i know immediate gratification for completing the level is important and all...but i swear, having these screens between the end of a boss fight and the cutscene showing what happens to them after being defeated seriously impairs the flow of the game. maybe having it there allows for the cutscene to load up in the background to improve efficiency, but personally id prefer seeing a loading screen as the break between a boss fight and the following cutscene after it and THEN the stage complete screen to finish the sequence off. the boss fight end cutscenes arent that long anyways for the most part, so its just nonsensical to have the stage complete screen interrupt the action when theres only a two minute scene left to it

i cant stand how streamlined forces is to the point of the main plot. what happened to games that actually take the time to explain stuff, show us extra bits to the story and how they connect? and even when forces' does explain SOME stuff, its through audio/text only dialogue. nothing visually interesting, just...dialogue. and then its off to the next level. forces' feels very bare bones honestly. the story is supposed to feel big and epic but it just wasnt given enough to bring that feeling into fruition. this is probably the only thing that saves forces’ from the war glorification issue because the game simply fails so miserably at telling a compelling story due to poor writing and poor formatting that the war stuff gets lost in the mix - and thats just sad

all of this brings me to my conclusion. fuck i wish sonic forces was a better written and executed game, because i do think it could have been so cool. i really like infinite as a villain, in both his design and personality. yeah hes kind of a whiny, edgy bitch - but he had potential. and its really gonna suck if this game killed off all that potential in one fell swoop

(then again, thats why we have fan content and aus :3)