#It's kind of like how Tails is the only person I can ever see Sonic ''settling down'' so to speak in his own special way (or at least the

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

Sorry if you've already talked about this but with Maria being deceased, who do you pair Shadow with in the present? (I've mostly been focused on your sontails content so I don't know if you have any other favourite pairings.)

It's no problem!

As for Shadow, it really just depends on the question. For ships with him in general (aside from Shadow/Maria of course), I really like Shadow/Mephiles, Shadow/Tails, Shadow/Sonic, Shadow/Knuckles, Shadow/Silver, Shadow/Omega, Shadow/Commander, Shadow/Infinite, etc. I...ship him with a lot of people😂

But in terms of Shadow's future (like, the kind of person I could see him staying with given the present state of canon) the pool really dwindles for me. If we're going as close to canon as possible, I really think that Team Dark is a great place for Shadow to be. While Shadow/Omega is the only angle that I explicitly ship, I really love this trio's general relationship. They're enablers for each other, but they're also good for each other too. They trust each other. They care for each other.

If we step a bit farther away from canon, I can see him having something casual with Tails. Maybe not a commited "we're settling down" relationship, but definitely the kind of thing where Shadow can confide in him when he needs, and Tails does damage control/provides him funding without Shadow knowing. There's also something interesting about the idea/potential headcanon that Tails' home/lab is always open whenever Shadow needs it too, just like Sonic, just that Sonic isn't aware of this. I also happen to be into aus where Tails is essentially if Maria was (1) trans and (2) "her" personality/consiousness was essentially uploaded into/copied into a mobian body as a failsafe (in the event that she's dying and Gerald can't save Maria as he'd planned). Something like that kind of reveal would add another layer to Shadow and Tails' relationship (particularly increased softness and protectiveness from Shadow's end), while also providing some delicious angst. Under that kind of outcome (depending on the circumstances and how it turns out), I can definitely see Sonic and Shadow ending up having to share Tails (a scenario called "this is how sonadails can still win"😂)

And my final leaning, is probably Shadow/Commander (Abraham Tower). I only got into this one recently, but there's just something to me about the idea of Shadow (who'd never really reached out before) ending up finally taking that step to hang out with Abe (since they are the last living people who knew Maria). Like the Tails one, this answer is more self indulgent, but I like the idea of these two bonding over Maria and eventually coming to find comfort in each other through this. I haven't decided whether it's a funnier situation for Abe to cheat on his wife with an anthropomorphic hedgehog as his lover, or for Shadow and Abe to start reconciling and building bridges of the heart while Abe is going through a quiet divorce. I couldn't see them settling down together and building a life together or anything, but I could see Shadow having something committed yet casual with Abe, where he pops into Abe's life kind of whenever he feels like. And Abraham, who is living and organizing life largely normally, leaves his home open for Shadow (and is probably secretly not so secretly jealous of the idea that Shadow might have something going on with other people lol)

So yeah. Tl;dr: I ship Shadow with a lot of people. Realistically, I think no matter his romantic prospects it's good for him to remain part of Team Dark for the forseeable future and for them to continue getting closer with each other. If we step into self indulgence area I can't see him settling down with anyone per se (or not easily), but I personally can see him having a casual relationship (more of a friends who happen to have benefits) with Tails or Abrabam Tower

ㅤ

Thank you for the ask btw, anon! If you do end up having any other questions re: my ships or any explanation you'd like to hear out of me, or anything else, feel free to shoot me another ask🥰💖

[thankskenpenders]

The Knuckles show

The announcement of a live action Knuckles streaming miniseries was surprising, to say the least. I mean, what would such a show even be about in a version of the Sonic universe with no Angel Island and barely any characters from the games around? Is he gonna go treasure hunting with the gang from Montana or something? Would a streaming miniseries have the CGI budget to squeeze in any new game characters, even briefly? Rouge? Amy? At least one member of Team Chaotix? Anyone?

Now the show is finally out, and it turns out what they actually made was a comedy show about bumbling deputy sheriff Wade Whipple, the minor comic relief character played by Adam Pally who you might not even remember all that well from the first two movies, with Knuckles as his sidekick. While, yes, Knuckles does get a decent amount of screentime and opportunities to punch bad guys and do cool moves from the games, large stretches of this show focus on Wade's personal life, to the point that a couple times I almost forgot I was watching a Sonic-related show. If you're judging it purely by the metric of how well it adapts and engages with its source material, this surely must be one of the worst adaptations the Sonic franchise has ever seen.

So then, despite some huge complaints... why do I kinda like it?

(This will contain full spoilers for the Knuckles show.)

A brief summary of what the show is actually about because I know half of you aren't going to watch it

The show picks up not too long after the end of the second movie. Knuckles is now living in Montana with Sonic, Tails, and the Wachowskis out of a sense of debt to them, though he doesn't really see it as his home. He doesn't feel like he belongs on Earth, and his life currently lacks direction. After communing with the ghost of Pachacamac, though, Knuckles is instructed to keep his culture alive by teaching "the ways of the echidna warrior" to a new apprentice: deputy sheriff Wade Whipple, who's currently more concerned about winning a bowling tournament in Reno than anything else.

Things are complicated by the interference of two rogue GUN agents - Agent Willoughby, played by Ellie Taylor in a bad wig, and Agent Mason, played by Kid Cudi. (Yes, the artist behind the second movie's credits song is one of the bad guys in this.) They want to steal Knuckles' power and sell it to a former associate of Robotnik's played by Rory McCann (The Hound from Game of Thrones), who now works as a black market arms dealer. Yes, they're still doing the thing where Sonic and friends' quills radiate some kind of super-energy that the bad guys all want. No, I don't particularly love this element of the Paramount Sonic continuity. Anyway, they go after Knuckles and Wade, complicating their straightforward road trip to Reno. Antics ensue.

The Wade show

So here's the thing. While the first episode focuses largely on Knuckles, the entire rest of the show is very much the story of Wade, and by extension the other original human characters invented for this miniseries.

Episode 2 is about Wade having to rescue Knuckles from captivity after the GUN agents get him. Knuckles spends most of the episode in a cage.

Episode 3 is about introducing Wade's Jewish family, including his slightly overbearing mother and weird sister, so that Knuckles can learn about their family traditions and have Shabbat dinner with them (and then save them from bounty hunters that the GUN agents hired).

Episode 4 only features Knuckles at the very beginning and very end of the episode, probably for less than a minute total. Wade is captured by a bounty hunter he personally knows, and Knuckles decides to let that be a trial for Wade to overcome on his own.

The last two episodes feature the climactic showdowns with the GUN agents and their arms-dealing ally, who comes in with a mech for the obligatory final boss fight. You'd think this would be Knuckles' time to shine, but really, these episodes are mostly about the bowling tournament in Reno where Wade encounters his estranged father, wrapping up his own personal arc. While Knuckles does get some fights, a lot of the finale is spent on lengthy bowling scenes where Knuckles isn't in the room or even mentioned. It frequently feels more like a spiritual successor to '00s sports comedy movies like Dodgeball, Talladega Nights, or Blades of Glory than it does a part of the Sonic franchise, and the presence of ESPN 8: The Ocho commentary in the finale only drives those Dodgeball comparisons home. They get so immersed in the bowling stuff that it's genuinely hilarious when the show suddenly pivots and remembers "oh shit we still need to do the final boss fight"

Throughout all this, Wade is the protagonist. He's the character we spend more time with, he's the character who drives most of the major events, he's the character who gets more of an arc. The emotional core is Wade's journey. Knuckles is still present - sometimes, at least - but he's there as Wade's wingman, and also just as the excuse for there to be some fight scenes.

How much Sonic stuff is actually in this show?

Honestly? Not much.

Sonic and Tails are only in the first episode. Sonic gets some good scenes, but Tails gets a grand total of five lines. I counted. Unsurprisingly, Jim Carrey is absent as Robotnik, though he does get mentioned a fair bit. (For that matter, basically the entire established human cast beyond Wade is absent, even including Tom, though Maddie is there in episode one.)

GUN is involved in the story, which helps it feel slightly more connected to Sonic, but it kind of feels like it's GUN in name only. They don't use any recognizable GUN tech, and they don't call in the military. It's just two agents in suits. They might as well be the Men in Black.

The Master Emerald is mentioned as something Knuckles has to guard, but it's never seen. Angel Island is pictured as a drawing during the show's intro, appearing exactly how it does in Sonic 3, but it's never referenced at all beyond that.

I guess the climax taking place in and around a Reno casino is a reference to Sonic's many casino-themed levels. That's something. I'll give them that.

Oh, and if you're wondering if this is the point where we finally start to get actual music from the games: no, it's not. The soundtrack consists of a lot of '80s needle drops, many of which are generic Hollywood picks like "Holding Out for a Hero" for the billionth time, thought it at least has some slightly less obvious picks than the Mario movie. The theme song is '80s rock song "The Warrior" by Scandal. You'll hear it many times. You'll hear the Adventure era Knuckles raps zero times in this. You'll briefly hear classic A Tribe Called Quest song "Can I Kick It?" before Knuckles takes the question too literally and breaks the radio in Wade's car.

Beyond a handful of surface level references for nerds (one of which is admittedly wild - we'll get to that), this is probably the least an officially licensed adaptation of Sonic the Hedgehog has ever tried to actually engage with its source material. I struggle to think of another Sonic adaptation that has less to do with Sonic. For as much shit as I and countless others have given Penders for seemingly ignoring the content of the games in favor of building his own convoluted mythos, his Knuckles comics honestly included way more elements from the games than this show does.

Somehow, the one new(-ish) Sonic character introduced in this is the ghost of Pachacamac of all characters. Not even Tikal! Pachacamac! A very minor character nobody has particularly strong feelings about! You can't even use the excuse that they already had the character model, because they completely redesigned him compared to his cameo in the first movie to better match his Sonic Adventure design. And he's voiced by Christopher Lloyd! Honestly, so many of his lines are strained that it sounds like he's on death's door here, but then he'll surprise you with a more casual line like "just do it, man" and it catches me so off guard that I can't help but laugh.

Pachacamac here has basically nothing to do with the game character he takes his name and appearance from. Where the game character was a cruel warlord who kicked off a 3000 year cycle of violence, Paramount Pachacamac is now just this chill old man who gives Knuckles (and later Wade) advice in two episodes of the show. Hell, he also feels completely disconnected from his established role in the movies, where he's literally the guy who shot Longclaw. The show will not grapple with this contradiction at all. He's just here to be a thing fans like me will recognize from the games. Again, if that's all they wanted, it's kind of baffling that they didn't just use Tikal.

I don't love Knuckles in this

But what about Knuckles himself? Well, he doesn't feel all that much like Knuckles to me. Ironically, he sometimes feels like one of the weaker elements in his own show.

Back when the second movie came out, I noted that Knuckles' characterization seemed to be pulling heavily from MCU Thor as a gallant warrior from an archaic alien culture who doesn't really understand modern day Earth stuff. That worked for me in that movie. It was just there for spice. Just a little extra flavor for the character in what was otherwise a very faithful adaptation of Knuckles' storyline in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Without those familiar elements grounding him and with a much higher reliance on comedy, Idris Elba's Knuckles becomes a pretty one-note character in this.

In damn near every scene with Knuckles, he's going to say something about being a proud, honorable echidna warrior, or brag about his glorious feats of strength, or be confused about some Earth thing and call it sorcery, or act like every other character is also a member of some noble warrior clan. He still has his moments for sure, but this schtick kinda gets old fast, and it just doesn't feel like Knuckles to me. His entire character feels derived from the scene in the diner where Thor smashes the cup on the ground and goes "Another!" Sure, I can picture game Knuckles smashing a radio to turn it off and being a little too gung-ho about busting holes through walls. That's Knuckles behavior. But building a barbarian combat pit in the living room so the Wachowski family dog can fight the mailman? Nope. That's some other guy now. It really does just feel like them taking a broad character archetype from something popular that kinda sorta fits Knuckles and just running with that, rather than trying to actually adapt the character.

Oh, but don't worry, he wears the OVA hat for like two minutes! AND he loves grapes! See, Sonic nerds? We read the wiki! That's his favorite food! Grapes! This is gonna come up like five times!

Knuckles kind of gets an arc here, but not as much as Wade does. I think the stuff about him starting to feel at home on Earth thanks to Wade's mom and the way he connects with their Jewish family traditions is oddly sweet. This arc is kind of let down, though, by the fact that Knuckles' heritage is treated as a complete joke. He's a cartoonish pastiche of various historical warrior cultures stuck together in a blender and used mostly for comedic effect. When Pachacamac's ghost appears, he's reading a newspaper and bemoaning the fact that the Mets lost again. This is not the place for a serious examination of Knuckles' feelings on being the last of his kind.

This is far from the only time the show undercuts itself with its jokes and attempts at self-parody. In the first episode, for instance, Knuckles clashes with GUN Agent Mason and his tech-enhanced punches, leading to an extremely on-the-nose inversion of the "Do I look like I need your power?" scene showcased in the trailer for the second movie. Except this time, Agent Willoughby butts in and points out how stupid that line is in this new context, since they're literally trying to steal Knuckles' power. The fight can't just be cool, they have to get cute with it. A lot of stuff like that happens in this show.

Given all these complaints, the first two episodes left me thinking I'd be fairly negative on this show overall. This seemed like the version of the show from the fandom's collective nightmares, one that undoes all of the progress the movie series seemed to have been making towards faithfulness to the games. Like, just look at these cast posters. Is this what you want out of Sonic? Do these excite you?

But then, something strange happened. Over time, I just kind of let the jokes and shenanigans wash over me and basked in how fucking weird this show is.

And I started to actually enjoy it.

Look. The Wade & Knuckles Show was never going to be peak Sonic. But that sure as hell doesn't mean it can't be entertaining.

This show is so fucking goofy

Here's the thing.

The show is funny.

Unlike a lot of other people, I didn't hate all the wedding stuff in Hawaii in Sonic 2, because I thought a lot of it was funny, both in its actual jokes and in the ways in which they tied everything back to Sonic. Tom looking wistfully at some bodybuilders doing Top Gun shit and spraying each other with beer and being like "I wish Sonic had that" is weirdly funny. The twist that those muscle bros are all agents of the newly formed GUN, who orchestrated the wedding as an elaborate scheme to catch Sonic, is funny. Mr. Olive Garden becoming the fucking GUN Commander is VERY funny. Are any of these elements of my dream Sonic movie? No, of course not. But my dream Sonic movie was never gonna happen in live action.

The Knuckles show follows up on the comedy of the previous films by being probably the funniest live action Sonic release yet. Did every joke land for me? God no. There are some stinkers in there that made me roll my eyes. But enough of them landed that it worked out for me overall. A big part of this is the fact that they've got a good cast of actors and/or comedians here.

Adam Pally is funny as Wade, and I found myself liking him more and more as a character as the show went on. He becomes an oddly endearing loser, with some sweet moments in his personal arc that made me feel for the guy. I like Wade more than Tom now, thanks to this show. I will now be happier to see Wade in Sonic 3 than I would have been previously.

The supporting cast is frequently great, too, many of whom are playing completely cartoonish, over-the-top characters. They took a cue from how exaggerated Carrey's performance was as Robotnik and decided to just abandon all pretense that this is the real world. Stockard Channing as Wade's mom is funny, and carries some of the more sincere parts of the show. Cary Elwes as Wade's very British dad who abandoned him as a child to run off and be the world's most egotistical professional bowler is funny. Edi Patterson as Wade's sister Wanda is... well, she's kinda trying too hard, but she has her moments. The Mighty Boosh co-creator Julian Barratt(!!) as a scenery-chewing bounty hunter, who was also somehow Wade's former best friend and bowling partner, is VERY funny. I love this guy.

(Honestly, they should let more people who were on Garth Marenghi's Darkplace be in Sonic stuff. Where's Matt Berry)

This is kind of a stacked cast for a bunch of stupid side characters in a live action Knuckles show! And honestly, that just makes it funnier to me. Even when they're not funny, the fact that this exists makes it funny. They somehow convinced Paramount to give them a bunch of money to make a spiritual successor to Dodgeball about a schlubby guy who wants to beat his dad at a bowling tournament... except also Knuckles the fucking Echidna is there as his personal life coach. My life is richer for the fact that I can say that sentence. I think about all the little kids who are probably watching this show this weekend, going in expecting a show about Knuckles the Echidna and having to sit through extensive bowling scenes and lore about Wade's family, and sorry kids, but I just have to laugh. Wade isn't even on the poster! The poster is just a picture of Knuckles!! They punked those kids!!!

In a franchise where every single aspect is so carefully micromanaged these days, it feels truly special to get an adaptation this bonkers. It frequently appeals to the same part of me that enjoys the fact that there's an officially licensed Knuckles comic in which Charmy Bee's best friend (also a bee) dies of an accidental LSD overdose from a drug-laced chili dog. Or like, everything about the original 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie. Or the fact that they made seven direct-to-DVD sequels to Alpha and Omega, one of which is half a retread of the adventure from the first movie (with more annoying supporting characters in tow this time) and half a literal clip show of the first movie. The sheer absurdity of the fact that these things exist is charming to me. Except, with the Knuckles show, it has the added benefit of frequently being funny on purpose! This is why I'm not sure I'd call it "so bad it's good." Like, it's not amazing, but there were a lot of parts that I enjoyed in the exact way I was supposed to enjoy them.

Look. Here's a list of real lines of dialogue from the Sega-approved Knuckles the Echidna streaming show that they're billing as a pillar of the Paramount+ lineup, to drive this point home. Let these marinate for a minute:

"I only eat grapes, and Cool Ranch Doritos™."

"Annihilate this little girl, Wade. Crush her spirit. Humiliate her so badly her parents won't even look at her again." "Doesn't that seem like we're going a bit far?" "Not far enough."

"So is he Jewish?" "Half, I think."

"I had a friend who when he listened to Alien Ant Farm he could lift a Toyota Corolla over his head."

"I'm in dire financial straits. Due to my lawsuit against an unnamed rainforest-themed restaurant franchise, I don't have two pennies to my name."

"We're here in sunny Reno, Nevada, which is so close to Hell you can smell the sparks."

"You can't threaten me with your Jewish karate chops because I am a federal agent."

"I will say, regardless of how you feel about child abandonment - and I'm against it! - the deals at TJ Maxx can't be beat."

This is a Sonic show in which they got Paul Scheer and Rob Huebel to appear as ESPN 8: The Ocho commentators.

This is a show where Wade's mom insists upon pronouncing "Knuckles" with the throaty Hebrew "ch" sound, and declares that Knuckles is basically Jewish. Later, they watch Pretty Woman together while enjoying a nice slice of key lime pie. Knuckles comments: "I don't understand. This young streetwalker with a heart made of gold, why do the others treat her with such disdain? Is it so wrong to walk the streets?"

This is a show where the fourth episode is directed by one of the guys from The Lonely Island and features a hallucinatory low budget rock opera stage musical put on by the ghost of Pachacamac. It recounts Knuckles' life story, with Wade playing Knuckles and the "evil" Longclaw played by the bounty hunter guy who's played by the Mighty Boosh guy.

Look at this.

And also, Knuckles' singing voice is provided by Michael Bolton, which they proudly announce in the middle of the musical.

And also...

Also...???

IBLIS IS IN IT????????????

Yes, Iblis!

From Sonic '06!!

Knuckles is said to have looked for a mythical power called the "Flames of Disaster" to avenge his clan, which ended up being the power that was within him all along that lets him do fire punches yadda yadda yadda. As part of this, he apparently fought Iblis off-screen at some point, as conveyed with the giant singing papier-mâché Iblis in the musical.

...Then Iblis sings about hitting up Facebook Marketplace

How? How does any of this exist? Why reference '06 of all games? How did Iblis get into the live action Sonic movie universe before Amy and Metal Sonic? Why are they using Iblis and the term "Flames of Disaster" in such a goofy way that completely disregards their original context?

I don't know. I don't know how any of this happened. But I love it. We got a Knuckles miniseries in which Michael Bolton sings the phrase "the Flames of Disaster." The world is a beautiful place sometimes.

Some people will tell you to skip episode four. "Knuckles is barely even in it," they say. "It's dumb and pointless," they say. "They clearly just ran out of special effects budget," they say. These are people whose opinions you should disregard. The episode with the least Knuckles in it is somehow the most entertaining episode of the show. I would, in fact, go as far as to say that if you only decide to watch one episode of the Knuckles show to see what goofy bullshit they get up to, it should be this one.

I cannot be mad at this show. It's so dumb, but it completely owns the fact that it's a dumb and unnecessary spinoff. Inferiority is baked into its very DNA. It's very self-consciously redoing the premise of the first movie, but stupider. It's about The Other Cop from the movies, instead of the competent one. Instead of being into a "cooler" sport, his life revolves around professional bowling. Instead of going to Vegas, he goes to Reno. Even his tragic backstory that shaped his entire life sucks. He was abandoned by his pro bowler dad in a TJ Maxx. Not even a nicer department store. A fucking TJ Maxx. This whole show is a Dril tweet.

They put a ton of effort into making it dumb in an occasionally spectacular way. So much effort was put into that joke rock opera that fans will just write off as stupid filler. They put their whole pussies into it. This is not a poorly made show. This has better production values than half the shit made for Disney+. This was made with love. Maybe not as much love for the Sonic the Hedgehog series of video games as we'd like, but it's love nonetheless.

Maybe this show broke me and these are the ramblings of a madwoman. Maybe I'm just really nostalgic for the '90s and '00s comedy movies all the Wade stuff is modeled after. Maybe the Alan Wake fan in me just really loves it when a story pivots to a silly rock opera for no real reason. I won't discount any of these possibilities. This isn't high art. This isn't something I would recommend to anyone with zero interest in Sonic, and it also isn't going to sway Sonic fans who hate the Paramount universe. I really can't blame them for being bewildered by this show. But for a specific type of person, this is the absurd three-star Sonic-adjacent comedy miniseries of your dreams. It's a mid masterpiece.

Again, I just have to step back, realize the fact that this shouldn't exist, and smile. Sega's too afraid to do stupid bullshit with the franchise like this these days. And I can't blame them, after years of Sonic being a treated as a laughingstock. But part of me misses some of the goofy shit. No matter how much I tore some of the Archie comics apart as I was reading them for this blog, I just look back on stuff like Cal and Al or the Many Hands issues and laugh. And that same part of me looks at this show about Knuckles being the sidekick to this fucking guy, and just goes...

"We're so back."

In conclusion, I genuinely think this was a more enjoyable TV show than Sonic Prime.

I wouldn't go back and rewatch Sonic Prime anytime soon, aside from maybe, like, a couple of the Shadow-heavy episodes. Huge stretches of that show bored me to tears. The writers squandered all of that show's potential. But I would rewatch the Knuckles show, which takes a terrible premise and has a lot of fun with it, in a heartbeat. Even the bowling parts. The bowling scenes in the Knuckles show are more engaging than 70% of the fights in Sonic Prime. I am not trolling. I mean that sincerely, with all my heart. Don't @ me.

Stray observations

There is effectively zero meaningful setup for the third movie in this, unless Wade's family or the two GUN agents come back or something. Project Shadow is not mentioned in this. There is no secret post-credits scene with Gerald

The CGI in this is pretty good. Not quite on par with the movies, but pretty good. Sonic's weird forehead wrinkles are distracting in his scenes though. Please fix that

I wouldn't say I liked this as much as the second movie, which obviously gets a ton of points for, you know. The Cool Sonic Shit. But I had more fun with it than the first movie, which I still feel is a painfully generic family movie that was only saved by Tyson's redesign

"Grapes are an interesting choice for someone who doesn't use his individual fingers."

Agent Willoughby was apparently the one at GUN who had to buy the Olive Garden gift cards and set up the fake wedding. Her origin story is that she hated doing shit like that and wanted to go fight aliens

This miniseries contains another Keanu namedrop because Wade's childhood bedroom has a Speed poster on the wall. I swear, if Sonic doesn't say Shadow sounds just like Keanu...

Knuckles is familiar with Paul Blart Mall Cop

Near the end the ESPN 8: The Ocho commentators say that the 1974 Reno bowling championship was also interrupted by an extraterrestrial, and given that was exactly 50 years ago I can't write off the possibility that that was Shadow. Please for the love of god give us a sequel series after the third movie where Wade takes Shadow the Hedgehog bowling. I need this more than I need air

[tacoma-narrows]

Between the Sea and the Sky!

Hi everybody! Meet the TWO new guys I made between last night and today! Their names are Tarmac (an Aeromorph dog) and Soda (a pooltoy fox), and they've filled a desire for these two specific kinds of OCs I've had in mind for MONTHS lol. They were super fun to design and draw and I'm super excited to do more with them soon!! This piece is relatively simple but more so serves as their introduction hehe

See more about them, including refs and some additional pieces/information below the cut :] (it kind of turns into a huge braindump lmao)

Tarmac is an aeromorph, although a bit more towards the furry side of things rather than the plane side lol. His design is influenced primarily by the Concorde and the Space Shuttle! I couldn't decide for the life of me which of those two things I wanted to use so I thought "why not use both?" and here we are lol. I'm super happy with his design, with the black/dark gray markings mean to emulate the look of the Space Shuttle's thermal insulation tiles and then I really like how the red and blue stand out against the gray. I really like his icon too! I wanted to make it look like a stylized depiction of a plane (mainly a Concorde hehe) breaking through the sound barrier with a sonic boon! In terms of personality, I don't have a whole lot in mind yet. Mostly that he'd be the brave, adventurous type and since he can fly both in the air and through space, he's gonna be friends with Astro too :3

Soda is a pooltoy fox! I have wanted to make a pooltoy OC FOREVER (blame my mutuals for always posting/reblogging so many cool pooltoy OCs hehe). I finally got brave enough to actually give it a shot, and I love how he came out! I was mainly just thinking about summery themes and as I was just trying out different colors and stuff, I thought about orange soda, and that's the direction I ended up going! He's got a big stupid tail [affectionate] and can have either rounded bappy hands or have actual fingers, you're free to stylize that either way! I've only ever drawn a pooltoy character once ever before, so this was something way out of my realm of familiarity, but I'm so happy with how he came out! He's so shaped I love him so much already <33

So those are my two new guys! Making two new OCs at the same time is already a rarity for me lol. The only time it's happened before was when I made Rye and Pumpernickel back in August of 2021. And then making these guys when I had only gotten Astro about two and a half weeks ago means this is an exceedingly rare event for me lmao. My friends know how infrequently I make/get new OCs, so this just goes to show how much these guys have been bouncing around in my brain lately lol.

They are definitely gonna have some sort of connection to each other, but I'm not sure how I wanna go about that yet. Since I made them back to back, they are already connected in my brain, but I'm not sure how I wanna express that in a meaningful way. I don't wanna make them siblings bc, well, they're obv very different from each other lol, but they're kinda parallels (with one being in the sky and the other being in the water yknow), so as of right now they're definitely good friends with each other. I might upgrade that to bfs at some point in the future, but we'll see how things go hehe.

Anyways huge braindump of a post lmao, thank u for reading if u did! I'd love to hear your thoughts on these guys since they're so different from all my other characters! Also if anyone may wanna do an art trade of either of these guys (or Astro as well! I'd like to get more art of him too!) let me know hehe

[mama-qwerty]

Not sure how deep a dive you can go for this one but one scene I haven't really seen discussed much is Ivo literally getting dropped by Gerald and then the epic save by Tails & Knuckles. And everything that follows on during that brief time where we get redeemed Robotnik + Tails and Knuckles. It was kind of adorable watching them team up. Goes from the lowest low to a new high with Robotnik.

It's the old "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" thing.

All Ivo ever wanted was to be accepted. He wanted a family, to be loved. The more he denied it, the more he tried to declare himself better than everyone, the stronger that desire burned.

He surrounded himself with robots because he could program them to obey him, to stay with him and not abandon him, no matter what he did. He could tell himself he was fine, this was fine, he was happy because he could control the bots and feel like he was important.

Stone was just another bot to him, someone to order around and converse with if he was feeling particularly chatty. But I don't think Ivo really saw Stone as anything more than a sycophant for the longest time. The toady he kept on to do the menial tasks that Ivo himself was 'too important' to do.

Ivo isn't someone who's what you would call 'in touch' with his emotions. He's spent his entire life keeping others at arm's length, because he'd always been picked on and hurt because of his intelligence. He's got this wall built around him, and he always told himself that was good, that was fine, he didn't need love, didn't need to form attachments to any other person. The bots were all he needed, because he could 'love' them, and they would 'obey' him, and they wouldn't hurt him by walking away from him.

Enter Gerald.

Suddenly here's this blood relative, a grandfather who was also a genius, also someone with a good dose of animosity toward the human race, also with aspirations to teach the world a lesson.

And suddenly Ivo's walls came down.

He threw all his hopes and desires to be loved, to be accepted, onto Gerald, and for a while it seemed like Gerald actually did love and accept him. They worked together to break into GUN hq, had a nice little dance number, and reveled in their upcoming victory.

Until Gerald revealed his true intentions.

And even Ivo thought it was insane.

He never wanted to destroy the planet, he never wanted to kill every living person, he just wanted them to love and respect him, obey him, like his bots did. But Gerald didn't want to hear it, didn't want to listen.

Because Ivo was no Maria.

And that crushed Ivo's heart.

You could see that it did. He thought he'd found someone who was like him, who loved and accepted him. But it was all a trick, and he couldn't even measure up to his dead cousin in his grandfather's eyes.

And maybe he realized in that moment how Stone felt when he'd kicked him to the curb. Maybe he remembered how Stone had tried to warn him, but Ivo had been so excited to be with his grandfather, he didn't listen.

So he turned on Gerald, and even in that last moment, right before Gerald sent him to his certain doom, he wanted so badly for Gerald to love him.

And maybe he saw Tails and Knux on their way up. Tried to buy some time so they could reach the ARK. And when Gerald sent him falling, he likely had a moment when he wondered if they'd catch him, or if they'd let him fall, because of how he'd treated them.

But they caught him. They helped him. His enemies had been kinder to him than his own flesh and blood.

So he helped them.

And he made amends with Stone, in a way only Ivo Robotnik could, before he (seemingly) sacrificed himself to keep the world safe.

Ivo Robotnik, at his core, is a little boy who just wanted to be loved. Gerald saw that, and used it against him. And it wasn't until the end that Ivo saw Stone had cared for him all along.

Ivo saved the Earth not because he cared about all the people on it, but because he cared about just one.

~~~

Check out my other Sonic 3 analysis posts

[ficsinhistory]

Ok, I'll ask! Since team Sonic all have their traumas, what might be Amy's? Anything to do with some other characters, like Cream or Vanilla, or some new ones per the movies? Thanks, and glad you liked the movie too, IT WAS FREAKING AMAZING!!!! 🖤❤️🖤

Hello @selemercy !! I’m so happy you asked because I’m really excited to dive into what could be the possible horrors and traumas of our little sweet pink hedgehog (and speculate in general about her in the fourth movie) !!!

THIS WILL HAVE SPOILERS TO SONIC 3, PLEASE AVOID IF YOU DON’T SEE IT YET!!! (GO SEE THE MOVIE IS PEAK!)

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LET’S GO!!!!

First, I will delimit some info. For what we’re seeing in the SCU, the games are the base but not followed step by step, so some modifications can be done. Also, it seems that it’s a game per movie, so Cream and Vanilla wouldn’t be in the movie or barely mentioned. Also using what was seen in the post credit scene.

Ok? Ok.

In the movies, Sonic, Knuckles, Tails and Shadow all have their traumas and heavy backstory that molded them as characters that impact them in all the story. Seeing how this universe is building them so well, I can’t see Amy not receiving a similar development. Because, even loving Amy, I have to admit: she doesn’t have a strong or big backstory for herself. Her own origin was err…kinda cliche, borderlining problematic (for today standards ofc). Sure, she evolved a lot but when we talk about movies, backstory is a huge point. So, a change comes. Let’s see some points.

Sonic 4 will follow probrally loosely the events of Sonic CD. That's my most safe bet. With Metal Sonic involved, I only can see this game as the base. But keep in mind the key-word here: base. The movies give me some strong reasons that Amy’s and backstory will be wildly different, while her personality could have some changes yet, keeping the core of Amy Rose. So, some changes:

Amy will be from the Little Planet. Amy Rose doesn’t have a home, so taking into account Sonic CD, this is what could be a good change, Little Planet can and is inhabited in the games, so can be in the movies too! Is a pretty big one too, because my next bet is…

Amy will find Sonic because she’s the guardian AND holder AND user of the Time Stones! See, remember the whole “find you because fate told me”? Can work with some changes that I will explain later!

Amy will PROTECT Sonic! You hear me right, Amy Rose in the movie universe will be a protector of this boy this time! 

With that explained, here my humble takes!

Amy will be a girly girl from the Little Planet, that still with her core traits: optimist, full of unconditional love, kind, hot-tempered, bold, fearless, proactive, energetic and with a huge amount of empathy. She is the girl we already know with an eagerness of adventure and unstoppable drive, great! 

To her life before chaos I have two lines:

She has been alone since…always. Sonic had Longclaw, Knuckles his tribe, Tails his village. Amy…had nobody. No origin or family. She grows up as an orphan and with no parental figure. We would see her living in some orphanage or an institution for kids like her. The point is that Amy would not have nobody and this makes a number on her. She wants help and to be there for people so much… because no one ever has been there for her. Would be a great contrast with everyone and Sonic, in particular. She loves the universe so much, yet… with no family or friends. (bonus point if she sees the Wachowski at some point with a found look wishing that she had a family too *cries*)

A bunch of messed up things happened that left her with anyone. Big tragedy here. Amy would have a good family but a disaster out of her control ripped them of her. In this case, the Metal Sonic army (more elaboration later). In this case, she also would lead with grif, but she would feel more the impotence in front of fate and tragedy, and this would mess her up. 

Or even can be none of this! 

So, Amy Rose is a kind, feisty and lovely girl that lives in her home: Little Planet. She would have some attachment issues, if for the reasons above or other, she would have them (some good material about this here and here). Amy would feel really bad about being alone, left behind and virtually, without anyone in the world, thinking that even longing for bonds, she is always left behind, leading to some issues and a sense of inferiority. Yet, Amy would love everyone and everything, seeing the best in all people and trusting that life can be good. She would be resilient and lovable.

Not only that, maybe because she would be an apprentice of the guardian (like Sonic and Longclaw) or by chance, but Amy also would know where lays the Time Stones. The central piece of her culture and the reason she believes times and fate is the answer to all. You can’t fight destiny, isn’t it?

Well, is all sun and rainbows in her life…

Until the plot happens :D 

The Metals Sonic would appear and dominate Little Planet, wanting the Time Stones to reign supreme, destroying all she ever knew. But Amy then got them first to discover a way to fix things and they show how: Metal Sonic can be defeated. What leads to the bad end is Sonic being defeated, so now she has to make sure he's alive. This blue boy became her hope and the girl now has a mission: find and protect Sonic.

Then Amy runs away to Earth at the current timeline with the help of  the Stones, at the same age and time as Sonic.

Now, she was truly alone, having to hide from the Metal Army that now made her a target, trying to always do good things to people but never staying for so long. Is dangerous. She is running from a powerful enemy and can’t stay with anyone.

She doesn't know how to find the blue hedgehog either.

The Time Stones would give only some flashes of Sonic and Amy has no courage to use them again, afraid of messing up the only change she has. As she grows up, they'd only give some glimpses of how Sonic is in the moment, and how he spent the most part of his life hiding, would make it pretty hard to find him.

Also would make her basically grow up along him and her only constant in life. In the flashes, Amy would always observe as if he was sad or happy, catch his little mannerisms and the people he sees. She finds him funny, a little lonely, and ultimately a good person. She sees his power and why he is the one who stops those machines. Amy really wants to talk to him.

He's on Earth like her. Is everything she knows.

Meanwhile she trained a lot. Being chased for your whole life teaches some tricks and Amy became very good at being under the radar. She learned how to elude the metal sonics even with the power of the Times Stones buzzing beneath her skin. She learned to fight with the hammer, the only thing she brought with her from home. How to use her chaos energy in her favor. 

A warrior made after years.

Is when the things with Shadow and the almost destruction of the Earth gave her the sign she needed and using the Time Stone, finally finds where Sonic would be.

So basically it would be this. Also, imo, Amy's conflict would be that she wants to save everyone from Metal Sonic. But she is also attached to Sonic and after basically growing up with him and seeing him with his family…let's say she doesn't feel exactly comfortable sending him to battle. Maybe also with some visions with him dying in the mix, and a Future that all is okay, but she dies instead and she prefers this than sending her lover one to danger thanks to some sacrificial tendences plus unconditional love PLUS nobody would care because everyone leaves her behind anyway and Sonic had so much to lose.

What would drive him crazy because he may or may not have fallen in love with her (if some media can do Sonamy right is the SCU and they are kinda confirmed to be a point of the movie so…yeah. My take on Sonamy is the old that fate brings us and we're doomed by the narrative. A classic. I could write a post about Sonamy in the SCU context and that could really work!)

Thanks for asking! 

[stormdash2]

Some Archie Character Reboot Ideas.

I've been thinking more about the return of Sally and The Freedom Fighters. Be it another reboot, a revival, a new show, IDW or even the games.

These are some ideas that have come to mind for me on any possibility.

First there's Nicole.

If Nicole got rebooted in any shape or form, I can see her as a hacker who assists Sally against Eggman in many ways. I also see her as a bit of a shut-in, due to her past prior to being adopted by Sally's family.

She strikes me as someone who could be socially awkward, and I imagine that in this timeline, she'd be an adopted sister for Sally, and fully Mobian rather than a computer.

I can imagine Sally being the only person she's comfortable talking to, but anyone else would be met with hesitation. As an homage to her shut in nature, I could see her using holograms or radios to speak with others, akin to how she first appeared.

If anyone could get Nicole to open up, it would be Sonic himself. He's very good at talking to others, when he wants to be. He's not the best for conversation himself, but his kind nature would be alluring for someone like Nicole who could just use some comforting words.

Nicole's backstory of being a shut-in hacker is partially inspired by a Persona 5 character by the name of Futaba Sakura.

A good friend could go a long way. I wouldn't mind if Sonic played the role that Ren Amamiya/Joker played in getting the shy girl to open up. Soon Nicole could have friends like Tails and Amy, just like Futaba eventually had friends in The Phantom Thieves.

I do feel like Bunnie's cybernetics would be Wispons this time around rather than actual cybernetics. It would fit the current direction that Sega is going. Just keep her southern charm, and you have potential for something good.

I can't see Antoine ever using a laser sword, even in a reboot he will stick with a classic sword. He believed his sword to be superior to the Z-Saber that Zero uses, and Zero is an iconic Mega Man character who's strong enough in his own right. That speaks volumes of Antoine's confidence in a sword.

I also believe that Monkey Khan should return somehow. Given that Chun-Nan exists, he could easily come back as a resident of that country, or even the Ruler of Land here. He has a lot of potential as a character.

Give him his own Freedom Fighters too, like the ones from the Archie Reboot.

If anything, they could borrow much more from Sun Wukong, the very character he's based off of. Imagine him going against Gaia the way Sun Wukong would against any deity that defied him.

Of course the Freedom Fighter story would just be an origin of them wanting to keep their town safe during the Phantom Ruby Incident. I imagine Sally has seen Infinite on multiple occasions.

Sonic Forces was just made for the Freedom Fighters' potential return. The fact that Sally and Bunnie cameoed in one of the comics is proof of that. Pictures only, but still worth mentioning.

And of course The Freedom Fighters would be allies with The Diamond Cutters should they appear in IDW. I can even imagine Sally as a mentor figure to Lanolin. Though I imagine it would be predated by a lot of bickering. Lanolin is stubborn and doesn't always listen to others, but may come to respect Sally while Tangle just admires her and Whisper respects her.

Then there's Mina Mongoose and Fiona Fox. I imagine their stories would cross paths with one another. Mina's good nature could balance out Fiona's cynicism, while Fiona is tough enough to watch out for Mina should she be too naive.

Mina's personality would be her cheerful and loving nature, while Fiona would be a nihilist due to old traumas, but not too anti-social. She just keeps a distance from everyone, except her best friend Mina.

I can't see any romance between either of them or Sonic, and that's fine. Last time there was, both girls ended up getting screwed over somehow and mistreated.

Mina would not be a pop idol per say, but it's a dream she's working toward while Fiona is still a medic.

I can see Mina at least admiring Sonic for his free will, while Fiona may find him a bit irritating.

Out of the Diamond Cutters, I can see Mina being best friends with Tangle and the two would interact a lot. All the while, Fiona may mess with Whisper a bit, but the two may find time to bond later.

They would also befriend The Freedom Fighters and be official members. Fiona's medical skills would come in handy more but Mina has plenty to offer.

Surge and Kit would be a fun interaction. Fiona might find the duo unsettling, and a look into what life she could have had if she had not befriended Mina.

Surge's personality around Fiona could mirror Scourge. Difference is that it's less likely to be romantic, and more that Surge wants to befriend Fiona, but their friendship is very toxic.

Surge could end up jealous of the bond that Fiona and Mina have with the other Freedom Fighters, The Restoration, and Sonic's friends.

When it comes to Tails, I can see Mina really admiring his intelligence, and wanting to be his friend. She may also find him really small and cute and dote over him.

Fiona may like Tails too, but that may take time. I can see her being annoyed by him at first, likely to call him childish insults (i.e. Twerp), and just mildly bullying him. She still has a soft spot for Tails though.

Lastly when it comes to Sally herself, she is the leader of her Freedom Fighter friends in their village of Knothole. They protected their town from Infinite and Eggman to the best of their abilities.

As mentioned prior, Sally could form a bond with Lanolin and in time be one of her dearest friends.

As also mentioned before, she'd have her big sister/little sister bond with Nicole. and always be ready to protect her.

She'd be a brave girl that goes after badniks, be it with Whispons or just on her own. She might even have an intensity that rivals Princess Peach in the old comics.

Like seriously, it's easy to forget how intense Princess Peach was in the old Mario comics (Or Toadstool as she was called at the time). Imagine Sally having this type of drive. Or maybe it might be too much.

I can also imagine Sally being in the movies as a girl who met Sonic once upon a time. Maybe they were childhood friends, maybe they knew each other in passing, but should Sally ever appear in the movies, there's plenty of story to be told.

I can imagine a situation similar to the anime Zatch Bell, where Sally is the one telling Tom and the others what Sonic was like back home, as she would be the only one from Mobius to know anything about him, even if it's something minuscule, like Tia having to explain Zatch's home life to Kiyo. She didn't know everything, but she knew enough.

I don't know what will happen regarding romance. In a perfect world, Sally is with Sonic. They are, for me at least, the definitive Sonic pairing in Sonic media. Like Superman and Lois Lane. Like Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson. Granted I prefer someone like Kitty Pride for Peter Parker, but you get my point.

Sonic and Sally are just it for me. But I know that Sega may believe differently. Be it the games, the comics, or the movies, Sonally just may never happen. That doesn't mean fans can't have some sliver of hope. Optimism is good, but be ready to accept reality.

I can see three potential replacements for Sonic if romance doesn't work out between them. Note, this is not mandatory for Sally, she doesn't need to be romantically paired off. But if they feel the need to, there are options.

First option, Monkey Khan. Back in Archie, I did not like the pairing between Sally and Ken. It was typical love triangle drama that did not need to be there.

This time around, there is no worry of that. Ken is there with his own story, and the romance thing could just be on the side or merely hinted at. If they want to go all in, they can do so without Sonic being pulled into that drama.

Option two is Mighty the Armadillo. The relationship between Sally and Mighty could mirror SatAM Sonally, without it being a complete copy. Maybe Sally's more chill, or Mighty is just a less hyper version of SatAM Sonic. Point is, there's potential.

Option three, one of my favorites, is Sally with Ray the Flying Squirrel. I feel like he'd know how to be that perfect mix of Adventurer and Freedom Fighter. He loves thrills, but shows some caution in doing so. I think Sally and Ray have potential for a good bond.

We could just skip the romance, or have Sally with a one-sided crush on Sonic. Sonic may never end up with her, but I can see something similar to Final Fantasy 7 with Cloud, Aerith and Tifa.

There was no major love triangle drama with them. Tifa and Aerith were good friends, and Cloud just have to make a choice eventually. It can be a nice running gag in the games and the comics.

None of this is fool proof, but it's better than nothing. Sometimes you just gotta take a chance, just be wise about it.

This is just more of my head canons on how to use the Freedom Fighters in the games, comics or movies. Or any other media. Perhaps one day, they truly can return.

[yanderes-galore]

Could you make Yandere Platonic Nine with a reader who is helping Sonic recover the fragments of the paradox prism and at the same time becomes friends with Nine?

Now that he's become a villain, I'd like to see what a Platonic Yandere would be like.

Sure! Recently finished Sonic Prime so I am excited to write Nine in his "Villain Arc" lol. I have two Nine concepts to do but I'll have to figure out how as the general one may be similar to this 😅

SPOILERS FOR SONIC PRIME SEASONS 1-3

Yandere! Platonic! Tails Nine Concept

Pairing: Platonic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Clingy behavior, Sadism, Violence, Fear of abandonment/loss, Jealousy, Isolation, Kidnapping, Threats, Delusional behavior, Forced companionship.

Nine is not used to company or friends.

Even when Sonic befriends him, he still struggles with personal connections.

When Nine first meets you, he's cautious.

You're helping Sonic... and while you both show him kindness, he isn't sure what to think.

Kindness is such a foreign trait to him.

Yet... as the events of the show continue, Nine warms up to you and Sonic.

Until his trust is betrayed, of course.

Nine would be a selfish yandere at times.

He's volatile, manipulative, and cynical.

Later on when given power, he's even sadistic.

Nine hasn't had much experience with friendship.

So when he finds such a thing in you and Sonic, he wants to keep it.

Nine has trouble trusting... but when he does, he's loyal.

He used to be so aggressive around you... yet now he's calm and even looks forward to seeing you again.

Even when held hostage, he trusts you and Sonic will save him eventually.

Nine struggles with physical contact.

It takes a long time before he can reciprocate physical affection.

Everything seems like a threat to him.

Being a loner tinkering with machines is all je really knew...

Then you came into his life with a smile and a heart full of hope.

Your positivity is irritating at first... yet now he adores it.

He's happy to consider you and Sonic his friends.

Right up until Sonic ignores his wants with the Prism.

Yandere! Nine would definitely occur around Season 3 of the show.

Recall how determined he was to take Sonic back to The Grim? Yeah....

Nine wants nothing more than to create a new world where you, Sonic, and Nine can be happy.

Yet Sonic only ever talks about Green Hill and you look at Nine with stupid sympathy.

Why don't you both get it!?

He just wants you all to be happy!

Long story short, while Sonic tries to gather aid... I imagine Nine would keep you in The Grim with him.

Nine's trust with Sonic has been shattered... but Nine doesn't want to believe you'd betray him too.

Who cares if Sonic doesn't want a new world?

Maybe you'll understand where Nine is coming from....

Nine still makes the Alpha Grim Bots to scout Sonic, but he keeps you in the Citadel with him.

Nine may be delusional when it comes to you.

He refuses to believe you'd leave him too... you may even play into that until Sonic finds a way to resolve this.

Reciprocating his delusions may calm Nine a bit.

Deep down he is scared of losing you.

He knows he'd be better off alone... yet he doesn't want to let you go.

You both can make The Grim your home.

The Prism can shape it in any way you both wish.

Nine may even try to make creations to impress you.

Who needs Sonic anyways? He can make you a robotic one.

Actually... you don't even need that... Nine is your best friend now.

He can just use Sonic as a battery and keep you.

Nine is sadistic when he has the Prism, he doesn't care who he has to hurt if it means he keeps you with him.

He claims he's a loner, but ever since he met you, he hasn't wanted to leave you.

Even to the point where he hugs you willingly now.

Nine is jealous when you admit you still miss Sonic...

You don't need that traitor.

If he has to... he'll kill him and whatever allies you made to keep you.

You should learn that you don't need to rely on anyone else.

Anyone but Nine will disappoint you.

Nine wants to be a good friend for you.

Not entirely having a healthy grasp on what friendship is, it comes off twisted and possessive.

He's upset you won't just reciprocate fully anymore.

Why aren't you positive anymore?

Even when Nine hugs you and makes you creations with the prism... you don't smile.

... Nine can fix that... he'll find a way.

Soon... Nine will use Sonic's energy to make you both happy in The Grim...

Then you and him will be happy... he knows it... he just has to wait... then you'll smile at him again, your dear best friend...!

[playertwotails]

Per the poll I put out I'm gonna ramble about how Tails displays his genius vs how Eggman does.

It's long so under the cut it goes

We'll start with Eggman. Now Eggman clearly has a complex. He's talked about being compared to Maria his whole life which has made him want a lot of attention. Which a valid feeling but then Eggman being Eggman takes it to the ^nth degree.

See he has to make sure EVERYONE knows how smart he is. He plasters his face over everything he makes, names everything after himself to some degree, and is loud bragging all the time about his latest greatest creation and everyone being inferior to him and his genius.

He's gonna make sure that people recognize him and what he's done no matter what.

With this mindset, all of his creations are only for the benefit of he, himself and no one else. Every invention he creates falls under 3 categories.

Expanding the Eggman Empire

Kill Sonic

Or both

Even when he has "allies" he very rarely gives them any of his inventions unless they directly benefit himself (hello start of the Zombot arc). His selfishness and self importance has him only making things that fuel his own desires and wants.

On the flip side of this though we have Tails.

Now Tails also has houses that look like him and has his own logo (and I'll get into that a little later). But in contrast to Eggman Tails doesn't brag much about his creations. He'll be proud of them and talk about them but never in a condescending manner.

(Side note: off the top of my head I think the only times we may have seen a slightly more condescending tone is a few times when he's talking to Sonic but it always came off as more of a "little sibling being a little shit" kinda tone)

Tails showing his friends his inventions is never in a "Look how much better than you I am cause I made this" kinda way. It's always felt more like a kid showing people their macaroni art cause they're proud they were able to make it. (which he is 8 so def fits lol)

And half the time his inventions are for the benefit of not only himself but all their friends, allies and just other people in general. He makes things to share and help improve what people already have to make their lives easier/safer. I mean look what he did to Sonic's plane. and their communication devices.

Now onto my next point: Quality over Quantity

So switching back to Eggman, he gets so focused on making these massive armies and sprawling cities/bases with his face plastered and designed into everywhere he's not gonna be able to do that by himself. So most of his creations are made in production lines not by his own hands.

Most of the time when we see Eggman he's not making something he's at a control panel directing things to be made. He's very hands off with the majority of his own creations with the exception of his more one of a kind creations like Metal Sonic.

Meanwhile we see Tails is always fiddling with things, taking them apart, and improving them, sometimes it's Eggman's own creations Tails messes with. Tails is typically shown to be very hands on. And yeah his house and inventions have his logo or face on them but their all one of a kind, hand crafted creations not massive bases that go on for miles (lol). So it feels more like a signature than an announcement like Eggman's does.

Now bringing this all together it comes down to the one person Tails is boastful to and constantly saying their not as smart as him --- Eggman.

Now, Eggman on multiple occasions has recognized how smart Tails is but we rarely if ever (off the top of my head) see Tails saying the same about Eggman.

Most of the time Tails is roasting him about shoddy craftsmanship and how Eggman's plans are dumb. One thing I've noticed too is we always see Tails hacking and messing with Eggmans tech but we've never really seen the reverse as far as I can recall.

Heck we've seen multiple time Tails taking apart Eggman's machines and talking about how weird and unorganized all his bots insides. We've seen Tails casually hack into Eggman's networks in the middle of fights.

Which brings us back to the quality over quantity thing. Because Eggman's armies and bases are mass produced mostly at this point so the craftsmanship quality goes down. Eggman is a genius for sure but even if his designs are great since he's not behind every robot creating them, his own genius suffers. He's too busy trying to make it big and loud that what's actually produced it of a lesser quality.

And then we have Tails who is one on one with all his creations and that makes them harder for Eggman to destroy cause Tails can personally check everything is up to snuff for all his inventions. (meanwhile too Tails rips Eggman's robots apart for extra screws probably)

I just think that it's very funny that while Eggman goes to great lengths to show the whole world he's smarter than everyone else, Tails just needs Eggman to know he's smarter then him.

[randomthefox]

okay im split on the whole thing with idw stuff

"sonic paincking that much furing the metal virus arc is ooc" kinda? i mean yeah he would have his concerns and he not immune to doubt but he wouldn't take him THAT long to get back on his feet

"Sonic is this flase god" whlie that's clearly bs and that whole "write sonic like a superhero" nonsense its mostly coming from characters who don't understand him

surge has spent most her life (at least the life she can remember) with everyone saying sonic is either the best there ever was or low as dirt and when surge see's a problem she thinks with rage and only uses logic when she's asked to justify her anger

starline is can only see sonic as stain on Eggman's career and not a person

most characters who say that dont see sonic as person

Okay look, I can't speak for anyone else, but my problem with this panel is that it's too much fucking words. Like, bro, shut the fuck up and go DO STUFF. ("But he's not even talking it's thought bubbles" don't be such a disingenuous shithead you know what I mean).

Sonic is not this deep thinker who is wracked with internal conflict over his moral choices. Sonic is not a thinker, he is a do-er. He operates on close to pure instinct. He is prone to leaping before he looks, and sometimes it comes back to bite him in the ass. But even when he doesn't know what's going on, he knows what he's going to do.

Seriously fucking look at this shit: "which is 'right'"??? SONIC DOESN'T CARE ABOUT WHAT IS WRONG AND WHAT IS RIGHT! THAT'S LITERALLY THE WORDS OF HIS FUCKING THEME SONG. SONIC DOES WHATEVER HE FEELS LIKE DOING BECAUSE IT'S WHAT HE WANTS TO DO, IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO IS WRONG AND WHO IS RIGHT!

Personally I just do not view Sonic as being the kind of person who has a multilayered and nuanced inner monologue. Frankly I imagine that if we zoomed into Sonic's mind palace, it would just be a kaleidoscope of tropical beach imagery with the Wii Sports title theme playing on an endless loop.

Tails could have this thought bubble of "what should I do? Should I do this? What would happen if I did that? Maybe it's not the right thing to do? Should I do this instead? What if that doesn't work either? What should I do?" and it'd be reasonable for him. It is not reasonable for Sonic. Sonic is a man of action.

And the argument that Surge is "supposed" to be wrong about the inhabitants of Sonic's world argument doesn't really hold up when the Zeti said the same thing, and were not challenged. Zik said the exact same thing as an explanation for why they were not facing any opposition in their attack, and the comic presents this explanation as correct and it is never refuted or disproven.

You can't really convincingly argue that Surge is being written as a flawed character with a warped and incorrect view of the world, when the comic writes OTHER CHARACTERS unrelated to Surge as sharing that same view and the comic NEVER DEMONSTRATES THAT THAT VIEW IS INCORRECT. This isn't Surge voicing the lie she believes to be the truth. This is Ian Flynn making commentary on how he believes the world of Sonic functions using Surge's mouth.

This is what Ian Flynn believes to be true about the world of Sonic. And you are simply interpreting it as Surge being written as a flawed character with a warped world view because it is so provably demonstrably false that the sane and rational mind rejects the argument. But you as the audience are not SUPPOSED to think Surge is wrong when she says this. YOU are supposed to agree with her about it. Because Ian Flynn genuinely and sincerely thinks this is how the world of Sonic functions.

He thinks he's making biting meta commentary on the status quo of "the Sonic cycle" with nobody in the comic ever saying "uhh, no? That's wrong and stupid?"

[i-dream-of-twilight-sparkle]

Formal Announcement of ending I Dream of Twilight Sparkle

Hello everyone, I am announcing that today. I am closing I Dream of Twilight Sparkle after 12 years. And unfortunately canceling that final story I alluded to before. Because each time I tried to start it, I just couldn't find the motivation or got too distracted by something else.

I think after 12 years my creative juices when it comes to ponies has come to an end. I think it's fair to say I've done enough. As just about every character I wanted to get a form of closure got it. Both Secrets of the Dragon's Tear and Earnest Empathetic Change I think alone already kinda serve as good finale stories in the closing years.

The story I had in mind to close things off would have simply been a timeskip of more than 1000 years where Twilight and Starlight have kept the peace. And IDOTS' versions of the G5 Mane 6 just being part of one of many, many, generations that got to flourish under Twilight and Starlight's rule. The G5 Mane 6 were going to be invited to Canterlot's castle. And got to personally speak with Twilight, Starlight, and the spirits of the rest of the G4 Mane 6, Sunset Shimmer, and Queen Chrysalis.

Sunny Starscout and the rest would then be sent on her way to Saddle Arabia where she'd get the opportunity to be asked if she'd like to have the honor of being the next Equestrian Genie after Twilight. The story would end on it being open ended on whether Sunny would accept or not. Cause regardless of how it went, I have no intention of moving on to a I Dream of Sunny Starscout blog or anything like that. So it'd be up to someone else if they wanted to pick up the mantle to start their own Genie Sunny story.

Kinda sucks that I'm canceling a G5 related thing as well when Hasbro itself is canceling G5 plans what with Tell Your Tale ending very soon. As while I will not lie, G5 never grabbed me the way G4 did. But I think the characters had potential. And if nothing else, Misty Brightdawn was perhaps the best thing to come out of G5 overall.

But back to I Dream of Twilight Sparkle. I've had a lot of fun with this blog and met many friends thanks to keeping this up for so long. Some I haven't seen or spoke to in years and may never see again but still appreciate the time I had with them, and ones I still maintain friendships with to this day.

I'm not sure I could ever say enough words for everything that's happened in the 12 years I was running the blog. But I think it's the right time to have it all come to an end. I have nothing more in mind for the universe of Genie Twilight that I really want to cover. I also formally canceled Geniequestria not too long ago. It almost feels like I'm leaving the fandom entirely. But I still plan on hanging around. There's just nothing I have in mind that's pony related from a creative sense.

So thank you to every follower, asker, and friend I've ever made through this blog. I will keep the ask button open on IDOTS for a good while in case there's people who feel obligated to say their goodbyes or any other kind of message. I may even answer them here, if they have a form of question or feature them anyway if it's a touching sort of message.

As for what I'm moving on to, my creative efforts are focused entirely on Cosmic Heart Zone. Which is a Sonic-themed blog about my favorite Sonic character Tails and Cosmo the Seedrian (A character that was Sonic X only in official continuities, but in this case an AU where she was involved in many of the main games). So if you're a Sonic fan, there's at least something you can still follow me for, as I have some exciting things in mind for this.

Otherwise I'll still have my mod blog if you want to talk with me about any subject that doesn't relate to I Dream of Twilight Sparkle or any of my other blogs.

It's been a long 12 years, feels so much longer than that almost. Once again thanks for every follower, ask, and interaction I've ever had from going on this long.

It becomes hard to let go of something you've ran even as just a hobby for over a decade. But I think now's a good time to do so now. Thank you all for the memories.

[cromakas]

tails is so cute Mmmmy sweet sweet dear darling daughter. ,,,,i am sick. no one will ever understand tails the way i do. the world may see past her neglected-by-adults-former-homeless-orphan-bullied-and-beaten-for-deformity-forced-to-grow-up-too-fast-only-sees-herself-as-a-burden bpd autistic charm but i Do not. i see it. I was her once .😢 aBut forreal eeeeu tails is so well written and makes me so sad i love him more than anything she’s so important to me . augh………. i’m always 4ever thinking about every single line from tails in sonic frontiers. about feeling useless and a burden who only drags down sonics good name. how he is so scared all the time of everything and can’t handle it well. how he feels so useless when he shuts down whenever bad things happen and can’t help. and how he hates needing help from sonic all the time. and when sonic reassures him that he’s done and helped with so much her response is that she’s “wildly inconsistent!” baby you are 8 Years old!! ☹️☹️ sonic fans always shit on tails for being scared and not doing anything in more recent games especially in forces….. And how frontiers quote on quote fixed his character…. but i think Uuuuu people forget that tails is a CHILD!! who is gonna have child like aspects. SHE DESERVES to have Child like aspects. he knows literally everything there is to know about the world EXCEPT being a child. and forces Was SCARY, there was a war going on. sonic was universally presumed dead. tails was all alone and defenseless again. sonic was the one who showed him that he Can be strong, but sonic being gone is going to be insanely traumatic Man idk what to tell you…. that’s his big brother and literal care taker and like his reason for being alive ! i’m glad that they wrote tails like that in forces even if it Was ‘inconsistent’ to his character,,, tails is inconsistent! he is messy! because he is a KID! the fact he willingly wants to go off on his own in frontiers is so so big for his character and it makes me so emotional. he’s CHOOSSSSINNGGGG to branch out from sonic, hes doing it for himself. which is something she never/rarely does. she puts everyone first, tails does not care about himself in the slightest. every time he says something worrying n Almost opens up in frontiers he IMMEDIATELY shuts himself down. because Sonic is in danger and needs help. he’s being a burden. stop It. and sonic is So worried about his baby brother. and even says so and Again and again tails says it doesn’t matter right now😢 that they’ll talk later 😢 andhow can he be useful right now!! but she’s hurting So bad and more than anything just wants to be someone reliable enough to not be abandoned by sonic, The first person who has ever been kind to him 😭him wanting to leave n work on himself , BY himself Is so. important. to me. bc for the first time he sees himself as SOMEONE. instead of just sonics partner… and sonics Response. oh Im getting nauseous typing this out thinking about it. GODDDD. “you’re free to go your own way. i guess you just grew up on me a little faster than i expected.” AANYONE else hear that ominous bell tolling???😂😂😂 boats & birds by gregory and the hawk js sonic and tails’ song God i am seriously going to HUR.TMYSELF Bad auaueueggGGEGRBRBRB AND . and you are my baby by kimya dawson. heh iWas😅 really into both of those songs when frontiers came out and the damage it did to my psyche has Never left me! hwoooo boy let Me tell you… i am Also always thinking about the fact tails was literally homeless all by herself living outside before sonic found her☹️that’s the reason she is so afraid of thunder and lightning,,, bcuz she was always outside 😢 and now she is extra jumpy and sensitive 😢😢😢 tails is my absolute favorite (and most personal) character of All Time. i don’t think there’ll ever come a time when that changes. i don’t even see him as a Character he is really like family to me…. or a little extension of my soul that i’ve grown up alongside with

STORY TIME this is kind of funny to think about in retrospect Something was wrong with me. but before i got my tails plushie as a kid at Likeee… i couldnt have been older than or 3 or 4? i was already very obsessed with tails! i wasn’t old enough to play or Understand how to play sonic games(i watched my dad for hours while he’d play the games for me & i also was really into the 90s cartoons) but i was IMMEDIATELY so So incredibly attached to tails. he was my little buddy! i was him for halloween once , i had this pair of white shoes that i Never took off because they made me feel like tails and i remember when my mother had to throw them out bc they were Raggedy and falling apartBC I NEVER TOOK THEM OFF ohhh. Man i cried. mom was really controlling about my clothes and outfits and would pick out everything i wore and forced me to wear make up and do my hair all crazy it was An overstimulating nightmare for a toddler anyway she coordinated all my clothes and would get reallllly mad CUZ ALL I WANTED TO WEAR WAS THOSE GROSS SHOES 😭 then when i was at the age when kids had “imaginary friends” my undiagnosed UNCREATIVE little autistic ass was like Hmmm.. I think i’m going to make myself hallucinate tails to fit in with other Children of society! and so she was my… imaginary friend for a little while 😊 AND THEN! One fateful day i got my little tails plushie.. and she’s never been more than a room away from me ever since. i carry him absolutely everywhere he is probably Soaked in almost my whole life’s worth of tears and drool,,, i’ve had him through All of it. everything that happened 2 me he went through it all by my side. he took care of me when my parents wouldn’t and i know how Silly and delusional that may sound.. but i’ve truly personified him my whole entire life and he is my family and my best friend!!!! i was a very lonely Only child and i wanted a sibling or just Normal parents ssoooo bad😢 he’s always been that role to me. ive also always related to tails’ character so much too and he was the exact role model + just. the Representation of how i was feeling that i needed so So bad as a kid. little basil watching the episode from taosth that was about tails never having parents and Wanting them so bad, n sonic kept searching and searching to find him a home (even tho it made him So sad.) to no avail til Eventually tails gets tricked by eggman into finally thinking he had found his REAL home with his BIOLOGICAL PARENTS who Loved him and Wanted him. but they were evil frrrreeaakinf ants AND JESUS CHRIST THAT TRAUMATIZED ME AS A KID the Ants Did. and after sonic saves him the Cutest interaction i think tails and sonic have EVER had in the Entire franchise. was from the 1993 cartoon. sonic apologizing saying hes sorry for all the trouble he caused , that he just wanted to find tails a ‘real’ family N tails just goes “i’ve already GOT a real family! i’ve got the best! a family is just people who care about each other more than anyone else, right? you’re it!! you’re my mom, you’re my dad, and you’re my picket fence” 😊😊 and sonic goes “woah, You’re not gonna use the L word are ya? then i will!! cuz it’s a great word! i love you little bro!” then he noogies him and the episode ends with tails sayinf its Great to be home. guys. guys. Can anyone hear me i’m SEIZING IM SSIITNG HERE BAWLINF MY EYES OUT CYZ I JUST HAD TO REWATCH THAT CLIP TO QUOTE IT Oh my gooddddddddddddd

sorry vince if U read all of this.sitting here on a nice friday night cry typing about sonic the hedgehog autism is Truly a super power 🌈♾️

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

Reading the fleetway Sonic comic now and

I'm convinced that Tails is his special little guy??

I mean, he's an asshole, no doubt, but he passes up a party (mind you, he loves being celebrated as a hero so much) to go looking for Tails

He goes looking at his "favorite place" and literally dons shades and a worse attitude at learning Tails was taken

He genuinely cares about him as his buddy? Sure he complains about him or insults hin fairly often, but he clearly likes having Tails around enough to want him back??

Are we gonna talk about how Tails breaks free from Robotnik's control because he can't bear to keep hurting Sonic, because he cares?

This scene too reminds me so much of that scene from Fang the Hunter issue 1 where Tails called for Sonic and Sonic bid himself to be patient and not lash out because Tails is his friend. Like again, Fleetway!Sonic is an asshole, but he's holding back when it comes to Tails even a little bit

There's just constant proof whenever Tails is put in danger or captured that Sonic cares about his well-being. In fact he cares so much he just kind of is just indifferent about those he puts in danger by zeroing in on saving Tails (and those he saves he doesn't necessarily save with intent to). In this issue specifically, Sonic, the animal companions with him, and an unconscious Tails get washed away in a current of water, and rather than worry about his own well-being or those of his companions, he yells at them to keep ahold of Tails in the water so he can take care of the badnik.

Personally I feel like this sequence speaks for itself? Although Sonic is fairly confident, he risks his life on the chance that he can steer the Death Egg off course (and we're not even factoring in whether he can escape in time), and sends Tails away in the only escape pod. He literally gambles his life on this act of saving Emerald Hill and worries first about securing Tails', even if only Tails may end up escaping.

There's also the setting? Tails crying for Sonic and calling him the bravest hedgehog he ever met, Sonic reacting like he didn't just narrowly avoid death and that Tails is just stating the obvious, the two of them floating down in the escape pod during the sunset

I don't have the picture space to show it, but there's also another part of this issue where Sonic continuously nags Tails to stay out of danger and to let him handle everything alone, and then (after falling into a trap), starts talking to himself about how glad he is that Tails wasn't around to see him make such a rookie mistake. It's easy to read as Sonic always leaving Tails behind because he doesn't think much of him or thinks he'll be in the way, but I don't think that's completely true! I get the idea that Fleetway Sonic likes having his buddy around just as much as he wants his buddy to be safe. So he brings him around everywhere he can, but he forces him to hang back during the dangerous bits. And that's not to mention how this issue showed just how much Sonic values Tails' opinion of him.

And BOY does this scene get me

It's like

This is the first time Super Sonic ever appears in StC. Are we going to ignore that Fleetway!Super Sonic stops attacking and reverts back into regular Sonic because of Tails?

This is like Mecha Sonic in Archie's Mecha Madness special all over again, except Fleetway!Super Sonic is under no one's control. He stopped attacking because Tails bids him to remember them.

There's just so many little things about them in my reading so far that I almost can't believe it (and would hit the tumblr photo limit a number of times if I were to show it off)

If I had to label their relationship in StC, I'd say that, to Tails, Sonic is someone he admires greatly. He doesn't seem to be fond of Sonic's attitude (largely when it's aimed at those other than himself), and he expresses criticism as to how vain Sonic is and his eating choices, but ultimately he cares about Sonic enough to stick around with him and go on adventures from time to time. For Sonic, I think Tails is someone he secretly likes having around. He often criticizes him, and depending on his mood he'll do it whenever he gets an opening, but he's also just...bad at feelings. When Tails is in danger, he'll zero in on saving him, almost above all else, and then when he saves Tails he's going off about how he can't trust Tails to be alone, angry and annoyed. He's a jerk, but a jerk who cares more than he lets on about Tails. Tails isn't just some admirer, he's important to him, and at the same time, Tails' is someone whose opinion of him he values. Ahsjsjs and....he's also the kind of guy who would say something like "Hey, that's enough! Only I get to bully Tails!"

Is their relationship healthy? No😂 But also in StC it also comes off like...they're both choosing this. Despite everything they choose to be buddies

Idk I'm fascinated so far😂

The Sonic the asshole and his special little fox

[talonsandtails]

Just watched the sonic prime season 3 trailer and I am so angry at this show.

They had the FIRST GOOD SONIC CHARACTER IN FOREVER in the form of Nine and they’ve WASTED HIM!

I’ve got a lot to get out about this.

So Nine is a character I absolutely adore. I think he’s one of the rare few examples of an edgelord character done right. He also acts as a nice counterpart to Sonic. His character is perfectly set up for some engaging conflict with the situation at hand with some nice character development with some wholesome moments sprinkled in there.

SO WHY ON EARTH DID THE WRITERS CHOOSE TO TURN HIM INTO YOUR GENERIC CARTOON BUTTHOLE?!?

I honestly actually really liked the conflict that was set up at the end of season 2 but was also nervous for the shows plans for nine in season 3. And of course, based on the trailer, it seems nine has been turned into a generic “I wanna rule the world” villain with no chance at redemption given that the show is pulling together all the characters, including the past antagonists, to face off against him.

Just… why???

Sure I get it, people love twist villains. I love twist villains. It’s great when you can make us attached to a character and then have them stab us in the back.

But the thing is that Nine had so much more potential as an ally than a villain!

What makes Nine so compelling is that he’s the angst we always wanted to see in Tails but never got. I was hoping this would be expanded upon, with the writers finally giving Nine something good in his miserable life through Sonic, but it NEVER happened. All we got were pathetic moments of Sonic showing him basic human decency.

The missed opportunity that bothers me the most is the conflict that we saw come to a head in the finale of season 2. This will take me a minute to explain my interpretation of what’s going on between them.

From Nines point of view, Sonic, the only person he thought ever cared about him, is more than willing to throw him away for a better, less broken version of himself. For the duration of the show, Sonic has been treating Nine as a stand in for Tails and not his own person. He isn’t bothered in the least about the fact that reviving Green Hill would erase Nine. Now that’s not to say I think this is intentional on Sonics end. He’s just a complete moron in this show and more than likely the thoughts just never occurred to him. I think it’s pretty likely that Nine realizes this too, but that doesn’t make it any better for him. It probably hurts him even more to know that Sonic’s actions would have led to his death had he not intervened, and Sonic never even realized what could’ve happened. This here is a good example of how Sonic doesn’t see Nine as his own person, by the way. Ie. “you expected me to just go along whatever you said, didn’t you?” I love this quote in particular because of the implications behind it. This is, in fact, exactly what Tails does, so Sonic expects Nine to be the same way.

Imagine a clone of you suddenly showed up one day, but it lacked the trauma or disabilities or whatever you have, and the person you love most instantly abandons you for this better version of yourself. Like you were just a broken toy that was being replaced. This is essentially what’s happening to Nine.

Nine isn’t entirely in the wrong with what he did in season 2. I also don’t actually blame Nine for not understanding Sonic’s point of view here, desperately missing Green Hill and his old friends. Because he HASN’T acted like he’s missed Green Hill. He’s acted like Nine was just another Tails. Had Sonic separated Tails from Nine in his mind, I doubt Nine would’ve turned on him like that. Because Nine does care about Sonic. It’s easy for people to think that Nines just a selfish brat, but he’s not. He’s risked his life several times for Sonic, someone he just met, because Sonic showed him just a tiny bit of kindness. Realizing just how little Sonic really values him hurts, and it’s easy not to see the other persons reasoning when you’ve been hurt the way Nine has.

And yes, Sonic values Nine very little. I 100% believe this. I don’t believe that this is intentional on Sonic’s part. However, as I’ve said, Nine isn’t his own person in Sonic’s mind. Nine is just an angrier Tails, and so Sonic sees the restoration of Green Hill as the restoration of Tails, and not what it really is; the death of Nine.

Had this ever been explained to Sonic at any point I’m sure this would change. But thanks to the writers apparently frying their braincells and serving them up for dinner, now this will never happen.

THIS is why I hate the choice to make Nine a villain so much. Had Nine stayed a protag, we could’ve instead had an interesting and heartwarming conflict that would’ve resulted in great character development on both ends. The writers could’ve had Sonic realize just how much he’s hurt Nine, and as a side note acknowledge how much suffering Nine went through. This is a small nitpick but I wish Sonic would’ve had a convo telling Nine that what he went through wasn’t fair and comforting him. It would’ve been really heartwarming. But anyways, after he understands how he’s been treating Nine he apologizes and Nine finally gets to feel as though he’s truly valued for who he is. And as a result of this, Nine could’ve had character development where he realizes just how much Sonic’s friends in Green Hill really meant to him, and that he couldn’t simply give up and start over with Nine in The Grim. And because he cares about Sonic more than anything, he willingly gives himself up to bring back Green Hill.

Can you see why I’m so angry about having this taken from the fandom? Instead now Nine is just like any other cartoon supervillain wanting to take over the world. And sure his motivations of wanting to create a perfect world because of all the suffering he himself went through is still interesting, but it doesn’t compare to what we could’ve had. Plus, I’m certain this motivation and Nine as a character are going to be completely butchered, because according to the trailer Nine has somehow gone from just wanting to be left the frick alone to work on the The Grim to somehow destroying the entire freaking Shatterverse. 0-100 real fast and it makes absolutely zero sense.

[skull001]

Amy hot takes.

Amy's Sonic Advance gameplay is still THE superior 2-D gameplay for Amy, and the only reason it hasn't been revisited in newer games is because Sega are cowards still stuck with the "one-button" approach that only works for Sonic and Tails.

Even when games like Origins Plus and Sonic Superstars nerfed down Amy to just two moves, she is still more fun to play as than Sonic.

Amy's gameplay in Sonic Advance >> E-122 Psi Amy hacks >> Amy Mania by Troop Sushi/Codename Gamma >> Sonic Supertars >> Origins Plus.

Sonic X's Amy is the full package of how Amy should be like. Even with her flaws, she was one of the most fun characters to watch, and surprisingly got plenty of moments that humanized her and even explore a bit of how she saw her relation with Sonic, proving she isn't deluded about it like her detractors claim.

Giving Amy a toy hammer is one of the best things Sega did, and wish the full potential of what she can do with it was more explored in gameplay terms.

The tarot cards should be only a back-up weapon, never the main one. Story-wise, the can guide her in her quests, providing the player with hints that they have to interpretate.

IDW's characterization of Amy is alright. The issue if anything, is that she, like the game characters, are hardly the focus of the stories, nor are they allowed to be shown in a more personal manner. Don't care if it's because Sega is too strict, or if the writers only use them to get to the characters that THEY really want to write for. Either way, the situation sucks for the game cast.

I think Amy is better suited to be the franchise's co-protagonist alongside Sonic. She is very versatile as she isn't restricted to be by his side 24/7, and as long as she sees Sonic as her prince in shining armor, there really isn't any reason to keep her from growing into a stronger and more beautiful heroine.

I'd like to see a story where Amy tries to help a character find redemption, but is ultimately unable to, betrayed by them even. I think this would be an interesting change of pace because, even if let down by those Amy tries to help, that she still remain kind of heart would be proof of just how strong her heart is.

Superform. Of all characters not named Sonic, Amy's noble and compassionate heart should be more than worthy of awakening that miracle.

Morio Kishimoto really should go all out with exploring more of Sonic and Amy's relation. I think he is one of the few people capable of doing so and pushing the status quo to ot' limit whole keeping things fresh. After the let down of that last Tailstube where Amy's feelings were again the object of mockery from american writers ( especially HIM), I'd more than welcome the more respectful approach from Japanese writers towards the dynamic of these two characters.

Amy IS part of the main cast, and should be treated accordingly to her status as lead female character. That means, not giving away Amy's roles to less important ones. Wether it's things like her compassion (which Tyson Hesse mentions to be unique) or being the most adventure loving of the girls.

Don't make Amy be "mature" by becoming a party pooper who dislikes fun. This is a very outdated stereotype of women that honestly, doesn't apply to the real Amy. She would join the boys in doing dumb things, while still doing girly things with other girls too.

Enough of sad face Amy. Why the hell is Sega afraid to show an Amy that, no matter what, can be a beacon of hope for those who have lost their faith. Further more, why is she not expressing faith anymore on Sonic? I swear ever since Sonic Boom, only Tails is allowed to do this as an artificial means to push the bff thing, in contrast to previous games and even shows, where Amy did this. It saddens me how in Prime, she complains about Sonic not sticking to the plan, while Tails is the one who reminds that he has never let them down. Like, helloooooo? Amy also knows this, so why treat her like she doesn't?

Sonic, Tails, Amy & Knuckles >> Sonic, Tails and Amy >>>>>> Sonic, Tails & Knuckles.

Writers shouldn't be afraid to show/play out Amy's flaws. I like seeing characters make fools of themselves once in a while, as long as they are also allowed to get out of their mess by also playing out their strengths and positive traits.

[cattyanon]

Sonic but Undertale Souls: Forces Version 3 Sonic

If you aren't aware, this is one of many Sonic AUs about if the Sonic world has Undertale Souls in it. I explained how all that worked in a separate post and it's recommended you read that to understand some of what I say- and don't worry! It's not a long read!

Anyways this is specifically about Sonic Forces and version 3 of of the other two possible outcomes, all having something to do with Sonic's soul getting fucked up. Anyways, there's more about him and how I came up with the idea below the drawing!

He's finally here, and now I get to rant about what I came up with for him! >:)

You can probably skip this part but if you're curious how I managed to come up with this here's the story behind that: It came from me rewatching Jacksepticeye playing Undertale- specifically from the True Lab section and onwards. During his fight with Asriel I was thinking about how I wanted to do some cool design stuff like Asriel's God of Hyperdeath, but how? If the death rate for absorbing a soul is super high then how on earth could literally any of the characters absorb enough souls (not to mention why and how they'd absorb that many) to gain a form at least somewhat as cool looking as Asriel's? Then version 3 of my Sonic Forces AU came to mind and... well... I'll explain the rest below.

So idk the specifics but during Sonics imprisonment on the Death Egg not only was he tortured but Eggman did all kinds of unethical experiments on Sonic's soul, eventually causing it to turn a color nobody has ever seen before: Black.

With such a corrupted soul and many months of torture he eventually breaks and instinctively kills Infinite (the reason he's got that tail) and eats his soul. Not absorb. Eat. And in this way he gains soul power without absorbing another soul. (Note: He only has this ability due to the corrupted nature of his soul. If a regular person were to try and eat a soul one of two things would happen depending on how fast it breaks: 1 is that nothing would happen, 2 is that the souls attempt to combine and inevitably kill that person's own soul) He ends up repeating this process with Eggman and, deciding he's a monster, stays up on the Death Egg. But eventually he gets hungry. He tries eating the food on the Death Egg but it just doesn't fill him. There's still this cold, empty, and hungry feeling inside of him. And he has a bad feeling the only thing that'd satisfy him is a soul.

So he goes awhile without food, probably about a week, and eventually he's so damn hungry that ends up going down to earth to look for some animal souls to sustain him. He sucks the soul out of the animal's body and basically just secludes himself in the forest. He feeds on the souls of animals, getting ever so slightly stronger with each one, even if he has a feeling that human and mobian souls would be much more fulfilling.

But eventually a nearby village starts finding these untouched corpses left behind when scavenging for food in the forest since the war only very recently ended and get concerned that there's a monster in the forest. So they send a few hunters out and... well... they found what they were looking for, but died in the process.

As for Sonic he's having major issues after consuming a bunch of souls (also causing him to look like the drawing) that had murder on their minds. He tries his best to resist but he ends up wandering close to the edge of the forest near the village, just barely keeping himself from going on a murderous rampage. But then the village sends out a rescue party and he snaps. He ends up consuming every person he finds which is like almost the entire village cause he can see souls that are close by to him.

Although thankfully for literally everyone he ends up staying in that area and basically claims it as his own. The few survivors tell their horror stories and very few people (basically idiots thinking they can kill him with simple weapons) ever go there. But once the world kinda gets back together enough to establish communication again the Resistance Restoration hears about this monster and, of course, want to help. They've got super powers and Sonic has taken on plenty of monsters. All they gotta do is find the Chaos Emeralds and kick this thing's ass!

Thankfully the monster can't absorb their souls in their super forms, but it doesn't take them long to realize who said monster is. And given time the 'monster' might just find these people to be strangely familiar...

Anyways that's it for now! Feel free to ask questions while y'all wait on me to design the form they find him in. Might be hard since I don't wanna make it look like Asriel as much as possible but hey, we'll see.

[beevean]

One interesting thing that crossed my mind yesterday: for all adaptations' talk about how Sonic is Actually A Jerkass who needs to learn to appreciate his friends, I feel like you could argue he's already become much nicer to them over the course of the games already. In SA2 he jokes that letting Knuckles pilot the space shuttle was more dangerous than Eggman would ever be, and he also has a quip about how he "has to think about" trading the Emerald for Amy's life in a recap (even if afterwards he says there's no time for jokes, but still, he said it). And in Riders, he just rammed right into Eggman with no regard Amy was there being held hostage. I truly cannot see Forces!Sonic or Frontiers!Sonic do or say any of those things to such an extremity anymore: he already feels much kinder, with his jokes still being there but being less "being able to be seen as mean" towards his friends, so to say. It was a kindness I would argue was always there, it's just become expressed more as opposed to being, well... rude aimed at others' personalities/behaviours, is the statement I am thinking of right now. What are your thoughts? ^-^

You're right :) I don't know how intentional it was, but Sonic has become gradually friendlier through the games. I think it's most apparent with Amy: he goes from that terrible line in SA2 (which, to be fair, only exists in the English translation) and generally running from her as if she was little more than a nuisance, to being openly kinder to her. (not that Sonic never respected her, I love the Gamma scene in SA1 as you know lol, but their dynamic has absolutely shifted)

And with Knuckles, I like to think that Sonic Heroes made the difference, since at the end of Team Sonic's story Sonic accepts to thank Knuckles which surprises him. See? Sonic has already learned the value of the Superpower of Teamwork™!

Unpopular opinion but I think Colors did right when it came to friends teasing each other. Sonic and Tails jokingly give themselves all the credit for saving the Wisps, but that's the thing: it's reciprocal. Sonic can be like "I didn't see do any work, Tails" because he knows that Tails can answer back with "oh yeah, good thing you were the one who found a way to understand Wisps". Sonic would never do this to a younger, less confident Tails! They're both in on the joke now! When Tails expresses once again insecurity in Lost World, Sonic is quick to reassure him that he still trusts him! Unlike a certain comic which shows Sonic picking on people who can't defend themselves or him ignoring Tails' advice only to pin the blame on him later on 🙃

It's not canon, but I like the OVA's intepretation of Classic Sonic as being kind of prickly ("SHUT UP TAILS!"). I like to imagine that Sonic did start as goodhearted but sort of aloof, and then gradually warmed up, setting aside the more pointed jabs for a more balanced teasing.