#ages in sonic are fucked

[eemoo1o]

Shadow has never been stated to be 18 or 20 though, he has only ever been stated to be physically 15 /nm

(Long post ahead. Tags are also important in advance. I will admit this post spirals into a tangent on how this matter started as well as stuff about other characters, and despite all linking together under the same theme-gazebo, it kinda derails, so feel free to read at your own pace.)

I don’t know much about the games—and that may make you feel “oh then why are you..” yeah, I mean like I don’t check manuals or have played them but I watch analysis videos, avidly Google shit and revisit the wikis now and then.

Just putting that out there.

The Sonic News Network wiki page merely renders him as ageless, whereas the Sega Wiki wiki page (where I got my information from last post) stated three (kinda) ages for the character:

(Please note that the Wiki is themed in a darker grey to what the image is here. Same with the following. I turned the exposure up on each for visual clarity.)

Oh, look, they even included a canon birthdate!

Oh…

Well, I know Wikis aren’t always accurate, so to back up the apparent evidence I had, if I’m just to Google his age just to double check—

Hey! That’s the game, damnit.

Think this was my mistake in the previous reply, so I suppose I should apologise. And I do. I think my train of thought was: “He’s 18 years of age (y), with some range in other games (17-22y respectively)”, which isn’t right—but every source I could find on the character’s age came up with 18y and not 15y, so I stand by the claim that even though he’s “ageless” (immortal, basically) he’s physically 18.

It also doesn’t make much sense that he is “ageless”—perhaps due to his origins of being put into stasis like some sort of autobot, or something—when a physical age for him has been stated to be 18 (which makes sense, as Knuckles was, by technicality, the original Shadow, having been invented seven years before Shadow was, and as far as I remember is meant to be a year or two older (16 or 17) than Sonic (15)—it also makes sense because Rouge is also 18, apparently, and I’d have imagined them to be of very similar age). Technically that should just let him do an Edward Cullen and be 18 forever.

(I will note that I’ve never liked the prospect of Shadow being immortal. Or the duration it took for him to come out of stasis just to link to Dr. Robotnik somehow. Perhaps I’m just biased, but to me it feels heavily unjust—I wanted Shadow and Sonic carrying their rivalry all the way to the old folks’ home, damnit. And now that vision is ruined.)

Overall, being immortal really doesn’t suit Shadow’s character, in my opinion, and just feels like a plot point now simply discarded and forgotten. It really wasn’t necessary in the first place, and making him 18 (immortal or otherwise) would have been much easier, rather than the oh-so-enigmatic “ageless” genotype we all know and love today.

To remedy this, I like to think red-eyed Shadow is different to brown-eyed Shadow in the sense of age and therefore backstory. I made a post on it—in fact I think it’s probably the post right before this one on my blog—but currently my main focus is going to be on Prime, which is why I’m now so bitter about Shadow’s age, and Sonic character ages as a whole.

None of it really fits, and I think they all need to be updated (Sonic and Amy’s, especially). I mean, I know Amy’s was back in the day, but with how she’s depicted now as opposed to back then, even post-redesign (she went from an 8yo Sonic recolour to a 12yo what-we-know-now). I mean, I know her main, more “well regarded” character arc is learning how to mature, but with her literally being fucking 12 is just a pisstake.

Sonic’s age is less annoying as opposed to Shadow and Amy’s (respectively) because I don’t think too much into it until I notice it doesn’t suit him due to the situations he’s in. Yes, he’s young and he’s a teenager—a cocky one at that, which is one of the many good things Hardcore Sonic Fans (aka the “bronies” of this fandom, for lack of a more adequate word) praise Prime for depicting—so it’d make sense for him to be such (15yo), but to me it’s make much more sense for him to be like 16.

I’d be willing to say “maybe even 17”, but 16 just seems so perfect and on the nose. It’s such a nitpicky little detail but to me Sonic’s age wouldn’t seem so absurd if they just made him 16. It’d both make an immense difference and yet basically none at all that would force any impact on his characterisation.

Amy’s the most absurd—her age still hasn’t been updated from 12 and even though it’s an improvement from her being 8, it’s still ridiculous. If you’re (and by that, I mean the creators, not you, the anon) not going to change Sonic’s age, at least change hers. To me, she seems like she should be a year younger than Sonic at least.

Same could be said for Tails. To me he feels similar to Amy, or at least in the terms of arcs. He should be younger than Sonic, and either the same or younger than Amy, too. He’s still eight, and with how his character has evolved over the years, especially in the modern era, he needs to be just a mite older, like 12 or something.

I feel like Shadow’s age, I most have a problem with for literally being 50 (I don’t care if he’s “physically” 18 or whatever. He’s not Edward Cullen, although that too is also pretty creepy) and as for the coma thing, put it like this: if Timmy fell down the well at 8 years of age and woke up from his head-trauma-induced coma 50 years later, he isn’t automatically excused from picking fights or relationships with kids.

I added the “relationships” into it because this (the thing with the coma) seems to be the primary excuse for Sonadow shippers (I suppose with Rougeow it isn’t so bad because she’s canonically 18, probably to make her past sex appeal to humans somewhat legal, but still). I mean, I’ve seen the same being said for other ships, but not really. The primary ship seems to be for Sonadow, seeing as Amy’s age is always disregarded anyway, especially in the Sonamy side of the fandom.

Shadow was my favourite part in Prime, I’ll admit—I liked his banter with Sonic, and I liked his voice actor (oh, Ian Hanlin, how I love your vocal range so)—which is why my anger for Shadow’s age and backstory made a resurgence (it was either mid-last year or the one just before, where I went through a Sonic phase on my blog after revisiting Boom, and somewhere during that I’d said the same thing, although not to this much feedback from an anon/anons).

I also made the post about Shadow’s eyes because if noticed they were brown in Prime but didn’t really pick up on what exactly was off until I’d googled it. One could argue they’re red for TV as opposed to the games, but in Sonic X they’re red, like in the games, and in Sonic Boom they’re a more saturated colour, making them mostly dark red, borderline brown.

So, I assume as the modern era of Sonic-based media progresses/progressed, they’ve turned from brown to red. It’s subtle but I hope it says a lot. Mostly for his backstory, because god, do I hate Shadow’s backstory.

[nova-rpv]

"i have a sister now! thank you, granpa! we are going to do so much stuff together!"

(trans masc newborn shado btw. tag as ship and ill kill you)

[apradonite]

[metal voice] amy my best friend amy

[flareon-exe]

everybody should accessorize plushies more. just carry a little guy out and about with you. take pictures of them sitting with your mcdonalds meal in public. clip em to your belt or hold their hand or put them on your shoulders like theyre real and having fun with you. fucking act like a human and experience so much fun and joy and wonder in the world with a plushie of your favorite animal or maybe anime wifeguy or sonic character. lifes too short to not take simple pleasures in sharing your day with your favorite plushie or other object of choice

[sonknuxadow]

see i do think there have been actual instances of fandom people just deciding two characters are siblings with no real basis and acting like its canon and forcing that interpretation on others and getting mad at people who disagree . but a lot of the characters i see people list as examples of this happening with are just actually stated to or heavily implied to see eachother as siblings by the source material and at that point i think you just dont see adopted siblings as real siblings idk what else to tell you

[seldompathic]

Okay, so hear me out.

I've been thinking about comic ideas all day, and while there's DEFINITELY a few things I'd have to sort out (The whys & hows, all that fun stuff), I think I may have a candidate.

Would anyone be interested in a miniseries centered around Shadow and Classic Sonic?

I don't know how it'd happen quite yet, but the idea of Shadow having to work with Sonic when he's just a little guy opens SO many opportunities. Heartwarming moments, (though Shadow would never admit that they happen), learning about Sonic's past before Tails was around, and the absolute whiplash that comes with that information. I feel like it goes without saying, but just in case, this would NOT be sonadow LMFAO. Just Shadow being forced to work with the kid version of Sonic to get back home. UGH. Idk it's been rotting my brain today and I want OPINIONS 👀👀👀

[orionshounds]

I make alot of jokes about abraham towers but I actually really do appreciate him as a character....but he's one I don't see talked about much and it's such a shame

like, he's probably the one other character still alive who is almost as personally connected to maria's death as shadow is

how he now fills the role of the person who ordered the attack on the ark, and how heavily that legacy must weigh on him

how he still has to grapple with his own fear of shadow, despite what maria saw in him, despite how towers has seen him save the world

how he's had to look the demon from his childhood in the face, and realize his own pain was reflected in it's eyes

he is a man built on pride, but who has to put it aside for the greater good. a man who wants all this power to try and protect the earth, but who has to constantly realize it's not enough

he is a man who, above all else, is trying to not make the same mistake twice

[slymanner]

Thanks death battle for reminding me how much i fucking love metal sonic

[3-aem]

op moving in < 10 days kinda forgot it was happening scrambling rn to get things set up 😭

[retrospectii]

god fucking damnit tamers

[superscourge]

ok fuck i think i figured out a timeline regarding sonic's (and scourge's by extension) age in new game. i wanted to use game timeline logic but with my heacanon ages for sonic throughout the games. here's what i came up with for sonic as a reference

sa1: 13 sa2: 15 heroes: 15-16 06: 16 shadow: 17 unleashed: 17 forces: 17-18 frontiers: 18-19 new game: 21

scourge is 2 years older than sonic a..allegedly?? in the comics i believe he was like 17 for some reason???? idk i see him as 17 when sonic is 15 idk how that works but hey alt timelines i guess. so in new game he'd be 23! amy would be 20 (i pictured her as 12 in sa1, a year younger than sonic), tails would be 14, and knuckles would be 22! thats all the (main) characters who appear in the comic for reference

i hope this all makes sense!!! i pictured mostly everyone in new game to be young adults. to clarify once again theres no rom shipping in new game so the ages are literally just headcanon stuff. thank u <3

[rose-bunny-28]

I know people have said this, but I believe (almost) everyone's favorite group in TV shows/movies is

"You tried to kill me, now your my family."

[emilyklessysblog]

[sonknuxadow]

you know i do wonder how many sonic characters actually have living parents. like knuckles is the last of his kind so obviously his parents arent around anymore. both guys who could be considered shadows dads are 100 percent confirmed dead. sonic is canonically an orphan im pretty sure. and on the other side of the coin cream is like the only character in the game cast who has a living parent we actually see onscreen. but what about everyone else i dont think theres a straight answer for any other character. other than rouge's mom being mentioned a couple times i Guess but we dont even know anything about her or if shes still alive just that she existed at some point. are these kids constantly putting themselves in danger because they dont have parents around to stop them or because their parents just dont care

[brainworms-all-night-long]

Uzi would think that Nine is the second coolest mother fucker ever (the first one is N) until she learns that bro's name is a higher number than his age and she just, can't take him seriously after that. At all.

[weatheredcopper]

one of my favorite things about d20 never stop blowing up is that it utilizes the incredibly intricate and strange relationships between small town coworkers