#also the black arms from shadow the hedgehog | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

littlefanficprincess · 4 months ago

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Wine Red

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Movie! Shadow x gn! Reader

Word count: 3,5K

Synopsis: You find Shadow after he crashed down to earth (again)

(A/n): ‼️Spoilers for Sonic 3 and the first after credits scene‼️

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"The Wheel Of Fortune...The High Priestess...and The Lovers!" A hand flips around three tarot cards, naming each one. "Follow your intuition and you will meet your fated one!".

A (animal) mobian lets out an amused sigh, leaning on their hand. "Rosy, you've been giving me readings since you discovered it and each time I get the same fortune".

Amy smiles, placing her hands on the table. "That means it is definitely true!" She exclaims, excitedly. She gathers her cards back into the pile and picks three from them. "Alright...The Chariot...The Sun and...The Lovers! Yes!".

"So you have to go out and find the one?" (Y/n) guesses, having a bit of knowledge of it because of their friend. They watch the pink Hedgehog do a victory dance.

"What do you think fits me the best" Amy strolls over to her closet. She places a green hairband on her head, turning to (Y/n). "It matches my eyes, but I'm not sure" She tosses it off when she sees her friend shaking their head.

"Black? Not my style. Pink? Blends too much with my quills. Orange? Clashes too much. Blue?" She places a blue hairband on her head, adjusting it to be comfortable.

(Y/n) gets up and walks up to the Hedgehog. They gently remove the hairband from her. "Baby blue is not your color, maybe a brighter blue. But I think red fits you the best" They suggest.

"You're saying that because you love red" Amy takes the band from their hands and placing it on their head. "I think it suits you more".

"Thanks Rosy" (Y/n) smiles, brushing their hands against the headband.

"No problem!" The girl replies, placing a red head on her own head. "Now let's go find them" She turns to the empty pinboard, tapping her bottom lip. "Now to pin down their location" she tapes a drawing of planets in the board and throws a dart at it. It lands on a round blue and green planet.

(Y/n) walks over and looks at the small text underneath the planet. "Eeth? Uth? Ert...Earth Earth, like dirt?" They read outloud. "It looks pretty big, it's possibly gonna take ages when you finally find him".

"I am also prepared for that" Amy removes the drawing and places a map of earth. She throws another dart, almost hitting (Y/n)'s head. It lands on a big piece of land on the left side, in bold letters it says "UNITED STATES".

Immediately, Amy speeds around the room. She stuffs clothes, toothbrush, hairbrush, her harmer into a suitcase. She stood on it, trying to make it fit.

"Amy, Amy, hold on" (Y/n) places their hand on her shoulder. "You can't just rush to a planet you don't even know to find the one and how are you supposed to know it's them. Remember last time you went off, I had to go get you and bandage you up"

Amy seemed to deflate at (Y/n)'s argument, her smiles turns to a pout. She turns to her friend, giving them puppy eyes. Her puppy eyes were quite effective, challenging Cream's ones.

Giving in, (Y/n) sighs. "How about this: I go to Earth and see if it is safe for you to travel there" They offer, just wanting the best for their friend.

"Thank you, thank you!" The pink mobian exclaims, hugging the (animal). She was extremely grateful they would do this for her.

˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

"Already traveling to other planets, They're growing up so fast" Vector wipes his tears with a hankerchief, blowing his nose with it.

"They aren't that much younger than you" Espio calls him out. He turns to (Y/n) "Be careful".

Amy, along with their other friends stand next to eachother. They bid the (animal) goodbye, the mobians know they will be gone for a while, so they want to give a well made goodbye.

"You beter bring me a souvenir back!" Charmy requests, pulling at (Y/n)'s arm. He was pulled off by Vector, who was still crying.

Vanilla approaches the (f/c) (animal), placing a container in their hands. "I made some cake for the journey, I hope you will enjoy it" The two hug, before letting go.

Out of nowhere, (Y/n) feels something clinging to their leg. Looking down, they were met with Cream. She looked like she was about to cry, making (Y/n)'s heart melt. "You're gonna come back, right?"

The teen mobian smiles, patting the small rabbit's head. "Ofcourse, I promise" They nod. They walk to the spaceship as Cream lets go. (Y/n) gives a final wave, before stepping inside.

˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

The ship flies down, crashing in the woods. The door was the ship creaks open. Come out crawling was (Y/n), letting out little grunts of pain. They push themself up, grabbing their bag and putting it onto their bag. "So this is earth, quite tall trees they have here".

They travel through the forrest, trying to find a good place to set up camp. Soon, find a small cave, big enough to sleep and leave her stuff. As they put down their back, they hear a tapping sound. They turn to the entrance, finding water fall from the sky. "Water?" Slowly, they walk over to the edge of the cave, holding out their hand. They feel the droplets fall onto their palm "Woah, so beautiful".

˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

After countless journeys, the cave resembled more like a home. In the back sat a bed with a pillow and two blankets. At the side stood a wobbly table with a flower pot on it, a framed picture next to it of them and Amy. And finally hanging around were fairy lights they found in a trashcan.

(Y/n) sat ontop, living their legs back and forth. Their (e/c) eyes latch onto something what they assume is a comet flying across the midnight sky. It crashes down not too far away from the (animal)'s hideout.

They jump down, before rushing over where it landed. Pushing aside leaves of the trees, they gaze as the mysterious object from the sky. Light flickers from a crater, before it dims completely. They peek over to see what it was and...

"A hedgehog?"

A hedgehog with black and red quills, a patch of white fur on his chest. He was wearing white black and red gloves and shoes. Laying next to him were two slightly burned golden bracelets and a big green emerald.

Carefully, (Y/n) wraps the gem from the ground. They tense up as their feel a weird ticklish and prickly feeling go through her veins. "Woah" They mutter. They turns back to look at the hedgehog, finding that he was wounded.

They stuff the emerald and rings in their bag. Putting an arm under his knees and his back, struggling to hold him up. "Is he the one Amy is looking for?" They think outloud, walking back to their cave with the hedgehog in their arms.

Once they arrived, they lay the stranger on their bed pulling first aid kit from under the unstable table. They sit down on the mattress next to the hedgehog, taking a roll of bandage. They lift his head with one hand and wrapping his head with their other one. They continue with his other wounds, being as careful as they could be.

Not having much else to do, they lay the pillow and one of the blankets on the floor next to the bed. They lay down, pulling the blanket over their body. With that, they close their eyes and let their consciousness fade away.

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Shadow's eye began to open, finding himself staring at rocks above him. He lets out a grunt of pain, feeling his head stinging. He tries to remember what happened, but his mind was left foggy.

"Oh, you're awake, that's good to see. I am surprised you're bot out longer, by the fact you literally crashed to earth"

A voice chirps, a sweet one. He turns his head, seeing a figure standing next to the bed he was one. They were slightly blurry as his red eyes still try to readjust to the bright light behind them. What he was able to make out was a a light blue headband resting on the person's head. "Maria..?" He groans.

"(Y/n), actually" The person corrects, with a soft smile. "(Y/n) the (animal). Nice to meet you. You got a name, stranger?" Their voice echoes through his mind, like a broken record.

"Maria, what happene–" He sits and gets up from the bed. He stumbles, almost falling over. Luckily, (Y/n) catched him before he could. He gazes down, finding part of arms bandaged up.

Carefully, (Y/n) pushes him back on the bed. "You shouldn't go walking off yet. Just because you're up early doesn't mean you get go dancing around like that. Please, just go rest" They suggest to the hedgehog. His behavior reminded them of Amy, how stubborn she always was after getting injured.

Shadow looks over to a barely stable table on the left. A picture frame, a flower pot and a big green emera– "Ah!" Shadow cries, gripping his head. Images flashes across his mind: Gerald Robotnik, a younger looking version of the doctor, blue, red, yellow and finally an explosion.

The (f/c) mobian frowns, pitying the Stranger. He has probably been through a lot, ofcourse be doesn't own them his story. "If you some quiet, I'll let you be" They propose, letting out a little sigh. They turn around, ready to leave the cave. They were stopped by the hedgehog grabbing their hand.

"I want you just stay, my head feels more at ease when you're near" He mumbles, avoiding their eyes. He feels them sitting down next to him, he had to stop himself from leaning into them. He wondered what the loose ties in his mind meant., trying to follow them made him want to scratch his own skin off.

"Can I finally know your name. I know I don't owe it, but I can't just call you 'hedgehog'" (Y/n) mentions, turning to the other.

"But you already know it, M–" Shadow shakes his head, responding with "My name is Shadow". He looks down at his gloves, finding something missing. "Where are my limiters?" He questions with urgency in his voice.(Y/n) reaches into her bag and takes the two golden rings from. "These one?" They ask, holding them for him to grab.

Snatching the slightly burned bracelets from their hands, Shadow snaps them around his wrists. He lets out a huff of relief as his finger trace the rim of it.

"It's nice to put a name to the face. I must say I quite like your eyes, they remind me of jaspers" (Y/n) compliments, glancing at the emerald and then back at the hedgehog's eyes.

Shadow pauses, before speaking up. "Your eyes are nice aswell, I suppose. They look like..." He trails off, realising he didn't know much gems. "They feel comforting" He mutters under his breath, just loud enough for (Y/n) to hear.

They didn't say anything, just kept staring. They noticed he was a bit cold and hesitant, but they didn't mind. It was the best to wait until he was ready to tell them what happened before he crashed into the woods.

˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

Sigh

Tap tap tap

The sound of footsteps makes (Y/n) stir awake. They sit up, looking over to see Shadow standing the entrance of the cave, holding onto rock for stability. They notice he was just staring up at the sky, muttering something to himself.

Getting up, they quietly walk over to him. They hear him let out a hum, acknowledging their presence. "The stars shine so brightly. Usually not a lot of people see them, by the time they appear, everyone is sound asleep" Shadow mummers, not taking his eyes off of a particular star. "You're not Maria, I see that now. My mind was so fragmented, it merged my old memories with my vision"

"So that is why you called me that" (Y/n) concludes, thinking back to all the times he called her that name. "Are you finally going to tell me what happened to you? now that you got your memories back" They ask.

"My name is Shadow, project shadow. I was found in a meteor and was brought by a company called GUN. The lead researcher was Gerald Robotnik, his granddaughter, Maria, resided there aswell. Robotnik tried finding a cure for her illness through me, I began bonding with her" A barely visible smile appeared on his face as he tells the story, but is quickly fell as he continued.

"GUN wanted to take me away, Robotnik couldn't handle it. He tried escaping with me and Maria, Maria got killed in the crossfire. The doctor was arrested and I was frozen for fifty years. After that he got me out of there, bringing his grandson along. They wanted to blow up the Earth, but a blue hedgehog made me realise that that wasn't what Maria would've wanted. With the power of the master emerald, we steered the weapon away from Earth. The hedgehog was saved by his friends, I wasn't so lucky. I crashed down at that was where you found me"

"That is quite the story, Shadow. I was surprised to see another mobian here, but you tell me there is another one or even more. So are you going to leave now that your wounds were healed and your memories are back?" The (animal) inquires, kicking a rock near them. They wonder what the other hedgehog and his friends are like.

Shadow thinks, giving a quick look at the cave and then back to the sky. "I am grateful for everything you've done for me. It is probably too much to ask for shelter. I have nowhere to stay, I am not expecting Sonic to welcome me with open arms".

"Ofcourse you can stay" (Y/n) answer with hesitation, shuffling a bit closer to the hedgehog. "We should get another bed, cause no way one of us is going to sleep on the ground. Feel free to bring your own stuff in here, I won't mind sharing my cozy cave" They turn around to look at their home, with their hand on their hips. They already imagine the cave being filled more stuff, perhaps they could even find a better place to live.

(Y/n) pulls out their Snappie, unlocking it. "Hey, how about we do a shot for our first official day as cavemates" They suggest, holding up their device.

"A shot? Like alcohol?" Shadow repeats with a raised eyebrow. He eyes the object, confusion in his gaze.

The other mobian shakes their head, answering "No, it is short for a snapshot. Me and my best friend always made by special moments or just when were having fun, to make memories. These things can only make photos and send text, but I'm only able send photos to her"

They pull Shadow close as they raise their Snappie into the air. "Smile!" They grin, closing their eyes. As if magic, Shadow does as they say, having a small smile on face. They might not be Maria, but he doesn't mind. (Y/n) snaps the picture, not realising they weren't very visible on it because of how dark it was.

˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

Hours...Days...weeks passed by.

The cave grew fuller and resembled more like a home. Shadow mostly stayed in the cave, hesitant to leave it. (Y/n) actually caught him sleeping in their bed, which he denies ever happened. (Y/n) once spotted the fast blue hedgehog when looking for for food, but he sped before they could reach him.

One day, Shadow and (Y/n) were walking in the forrest. (Y/n) held the other's hand tightly, Shadow couldn't help but glance at it from time to time. They stop when they hear laughing and talking, it seemed like it was coming not too far away. The (f/c) (animal) leads their friend along with them as they talk closer, making sure not to make a sound.

(Y/n)'s eyes widen as they see Sonic, along with two humans, two mobians and a weird creature that walks on four legs. A red echidna and a yellow fox with two tails, quite a unique pair. "We should go say hi" (Y/n) says, about to walk through a bush infront of them.

But they were stopped by Shadow pulling them back, shaking his head. "We can't just bardge in there, they dont even know you" He argues. He sees how happy the other hedgehog seemed, making him feel envy. He was just getting close to (Y/n), he didn't want to risk losing her aswell.

They went back and forth, (Y/n) trying to pull away and Shadow pulling them back. But (Y/n) accidentally pulls a little too hard and pulls Shadow with them. Their body hit the ground with a small 'oof', they look up to see Shadow's face. His hands on were each side of their head and his knees were caging their legs, trying to not to fall into them

"Um, am I interuppting something?" A voice chimes, making the two freeze. Looking down at them was none other than Sonic, who came to check out the noise. He should've been surprised about Shadow being alive. But his attention was more towards the mentioned hedgehog was hovering above a (animal) he didn't regonise, not to mention close to where he was camping with his family.

Shadow quickly gets up and turns his head, hiding the blush he gotten from embarasment. It was one thing be get so close to his friend, it's another thing to be caught in that position by Sonic.

"You're Sonic, right?" (Y/n) pushes themselves up, brushing the dirt off of them. "I've heared a lot about you, it's great to finally meet you. I hope you don't mind if I and shadow join you guys"

"Ofcourse I don't mind, always great to meet a fan" Sonic scratches the back of his neck, grinning. He turns to the black and red hedgehog "We have a lot to catch up on". He walks back, motioning for the two to follow after him.

(Y/n) was about to go after him, when they notice Shadow didn't move a muscle. They exhale, approaching their friend. Their hands grasps those belonging to Shadow, tracing the back of his hands with their thumbs. "I know you have trouble connecting, but I want to make more friends to connect with and rely on".

Taking in their words, Shadow hesitantly nods. He lets them drag him through the bush and to where the group was. "Hey there" (Y/n) greets, waving.

Their voice takes the attention of the two humans and mobians. The human and fox's Jaws dropped, the latter dropping his marshmallow into the fire. "I win!" The echidna cheers, raising his marsmellow on a stick in the air. He notices that the others were staring at something, so he follows their gaze. After like a month of thinking Shadow died, he stood there infront of them.

"How did you survive the explosion o-or even the earth atmosphere, me and Sonic only barely got to safety thanks to Knuckles" Tails stutters, remembering Knuckles using a ring last second to teleport them away.

Shadow crosses his arms. "I am the ultimate life form, I won't be killed that easily" He pauses. "After I crashed, (Y/n) took me in and cared for me" He adds, glancing at the mentioned creature next to him.

Feeling the attention drawn to them, (Y/n) perks. "Oh, right, I should probably introduce myself. I am (Y/n) the (animal), nice to meet you all" They mention, smiling. They reach into their bag and pulls out the big emerald. "I found this near Shadow, do you know wha–"

"THE MASTER EMERALD!"

The echidna stands up (after chomping his marshmallow) and walks up to (Y/n) with his hands out. (Y/n) places the green gem in his grasp, looking up at the tall mobian. He nods at them with gratitude, which (Y/n) does aswell.

"Snappie?" The (f/c) (animal) turns to Shadow. Before he could answer, a voice chimes.

"Snappie? Like snapshot?" Tails asks, tilting his head.

"Yeah!"

After some talking, with (Y/n) pushing Shadow to speak to the others. They gather around as (Y/n) raises her device into the air, taking a photo.

˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

DING

Amy snatches her Snappie from her bedside table, unlocking it. She taps on (Y/n)'s contact, finding they had send a photo. It was them with four other mobians, her eyes widen when she notices a blue hedgehog.

"It's him!"

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Watching Stonik tiktoks while wiping my tears.

#x reader #fanfic #starligt_galaxy #oneshot #shadow the hedgehog #sonic the hedgehog #sonic movie 3 #shadow the ultimate lifeform #sega #sonic series #sonic x reader #shadow x reader #maria robotnik

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torusonicpilled · 3 months ago

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can we know more about the future au👀👀❓️

Alright I've been waiting for this, get ready for a really long lore dump... (click on keep reading so I don't clutter up the tags)

Future AU takes place 200 years after when-ever the main events of the game are. This would make Shadow 215 years old and Sonic 216 years old. Sonic: Sonic was created by a cult of former ARK scientists who wanted to create a version of Shadow specifically to be a weapon and without the Black Arms DNA. They used the DNA of a god and were successful (obviously.) However, Sonic at one point lost control of his power and destroyed everything, this event made him lose his memory. The first thing he saw when he woke up was the nature around him, creating his free-spirited nature (contrast to how Shadow woke up seeing Maria for the first time.) All this lore is here to explain why Sonic is immortal. However because Sonic is immortal and the public is unaware of this, and basically the gods have their own secret cult that gave Sonic an ultimatum. Basically he could A) Die at around 40 but keep his freedom, however the earth he loves may one day be destroyed due to the lack of him protecting it. B) He lives long enough (around 110) for people to realize he is immortal like Shadow, and not wanting to waste their best protector against the planet, seals him away, freezing him and only take him out when they need him to save them, or C) fake his death and continuing living, but lose his humanity, never being able to be “Sonic the Hedgehog” again. Sonic also never made this choice, as Shadow was the one who decided. Shadow feels guilt over this even if Sonic has gotten over it at this point.

Sonic goes through a major depression in the years 110-150, as he basically loses his identity and is struggling with that. Sonic eventually finds some old outfit Shadow has in the closet, and uses it to become a masked figure called “S.” He now saves people under S, his speed being from “technology” and a voice modulator hiding his voice. Sonic is insanely powerful in the future, so people start equating him to a “legendary hero” who only appears when a threat too strong shows up. (like how Silver acted when talking about Whisper in IDW #8.)

Sonic still has a lot of his immature traits personality wise, however he is a lot smarter when it comes to combat, having experience in situations, as well as being extremely overpowered.

Shadow: Due to Shadow being the ultimate lifeform, he’s allowed to still be in public and shows his face. Shadow leaves G.U.N after Rouge retires, as Team Dark disbands. Once Rouge dies, Shadow spends a lot of time with Sonic, as Sonic is going through it being dead in all but name.

Around 130-140, Shadow created “Maria’s Solutions,” his own private organization for helping people. Shadow is someone people go to when people can’t go to police or other organizations for help. He accepts help from almost any client, however he is often avoided by the worst as his power is terrifying. Shadow is now a detective, negotiator, and bounty hunter all in one, as he is more knowledgeable and collected now.

After Eggman's death, Shadow adopted Sage at his request, not having it in him to bring her offline. Sage has a duplicate robot body but she prefers to spend time with him on Shadow's phone. She helps him out in missions, with hacking and tech related problems.

Shadow has other employees for Maria’s Solutions, however I’m still working on them. Main ideas include an innocent girl similar to Maria he’s taken a soft spot to, a robot like Omega who works as a maid around their house, etc.

Silver: Silver will occasionally come back to check in on Shadow. Due to the deal they made, Silver can’t know Sonic is alive. However, due to a mishap, Silver finds out and becomes friends with S. Sonic likes spending more time with Silver so he hides this fact from Shadow, sometimes going on missions with Silver.

Other info

Sonic and Shadow aren’t important to this world. Lots of organizations and people fight in this world, thus leaving Sonic to deal with world ending threats and Shadow his clients. Organizations include

Technology conglomerates

A church that worships Gaia

The restoration

Militaries

Sonic and Shadow are married with rings pierced in their ears, however they do not like to define relationships.

Anyone who Shadow trusts enough will meet Sonic by accident, but calls him “S” either way.

Knuckles can be spoken too by connecting with the master emerald, which is underneath Sonic and Shadow’s house in an underground facility.

Tails reincarnates when he dies with an extra tail, however he gets his memories from his last 100 years only if he meets Sonic. They don’t meet until 130ish, where Sonic agrees to wait until Tails is 20 every time before he hunts for him. (this part I’m still working on.)

Sonic is a jack of all trades who can use any weapon to fight as he likes to switch it up. Shadow uses a gun and sword combo along with his chaos abilities.

AU is more comedic despite the somber tone, as Sonic and Shadow are still Sonic and Shadow at the end of the day.

Well that was a lot but if you want more info send me another ask with more questions for me to answer

#sth #future au #text post #sonadow

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thankskenpenders · 5 months ago

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Thoughts on Sonic 3!

On December 10th, 2018, I was on the last day of a trip to Milwaukee. The night before, I'd attended the wedding of one of my best friends, Jake, who I've known since high school. Even though half of us were sick the whole trip, it was a great time. Derek had asked the wedding DJ to play "One Week" as the first request of the night, and proceeded to lip sync the entire song on the dance floor. On that cold winter morning in a hotel room hundreds of miles from home, Derek and I groggily checked Twitter on our phones and saw the shocking news: Paramount had teased the design for Sonic from their upcoming live action film. Even in silhouette, the shape of his face and the realistic curvature of his limbs made him look like a grotesque little homunculus. This movie was going to suck.

Six years later, I've now seen the third entry in what's become a hugely successful Sonic film franchise. It features Keanu Reeves as the voice of Shadow the Hedgehog in a fairly faithful adaptation of his story from Sonic Adventure 2. At the time of writing, it currently sits at a whopping 86% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, vying for the title of the best-reviewed theatrically released video game movie of all time. Critics are saying nice things about the emotional journey of Shadow the Hedgehog. Never in a million years did I think I'd see this day.

I, too, have now seen this movie, and... yeah, it's pretty good.

I'm gonna get deep into spoilers here, so I'll just say up front that I liked the movie. It feels like just about the best possible execution of this version of Sonic. But that's also damning it with faint praise, depending on who you ask.

If you're a fan of the games who didn't like the second movie, you probably won't get much out of this one, either, unless you just really love Shadow so much that nothing else in the movie matters to you. It doesn't reinvent the wheel for this film series. It's still got a heaping helping of broad comedy, cheap pop culture references, bad one-liners, and characterization that diverges greatly from the source material. This is not high art, nor is it a direct adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2. If you're the kind of person who hates this portrayal of Sonic and Eggman, or a lore nerd who'll hate that they let Shadow do Chaos Control without an Emerald, then just don't bother with this.

On the other hand, if you did enjoy the last movie, then you'll probably have a fun time here, too. Shadow is very cool. The action is the best it's ever been. There's a bit more focus on characters from the games, and less on human characters invented for the movies—with the exception of Agent Stone, who's in this a lot because everyone likes him. There's a lot of SA2 fanservice. They even play "Live and Learn." It's a fun time! Be sure to stick around through the end credits.

And now, to dig deeper, let's get into the spoilers! I'm gonna jump around a lot and talk about different aspects of the movie, spoiling everything along the way.

Shadow and his reams of lore

Here's the main thing you came for: Shadow is great in this! They really did him justice. Keanu Reeves is extremely solid in the role. He can be a bit flat as an actor sometimes, but I think he did well here. He can be tough and menacing, but he can also be earnest and emotionally vulnerable. Good casting call. Excited at the prospect of seeing more of him in the future.

Really, as a Sonic Lore Nerd I'm most interested in discussing the changes they made to Shadow's backstory. I'm sure there will be many fans upset with the changes, but for the sake of streamlining a complicated backstory that was subject to a bunch of retcons and multiple layers of amnesia and fitting it into a 110-minute movie, I think they generally made smart choices.

For one, Gerald didn't create Shadow using Black Arms DNA, because Gerald didn't create Shadow at all! Instead, Shadow arrived on Earth inside a meteor, and Gerald was merely the prominent GUN scientist who studied him after he was captured. (That meteor does have very strong Black Arms vibes, though, so I wouldn't rule out the possibility of them exploring that stuff in the future.) This simplifies things a lot and allows Shadow to be a direct foil for Sonic, kind of a version of our hero who was treated as a lab rat and lost the only human he considered family instead of finding happiness like Sonic has. Then later Shadow hurts Tom and Sonic wants revenge, and it mirrors Shadow's feelings about Maria, and after they fight they can empathize with each other over this, Shadow sees the error of his ways and helps save the world, yada yada yada. You get it. People predicted 95% of this movie's plot from the trailers, but it's effective.

Likewise, all of the stuff about creating Shadow as the ultimate life form who's immune to all disease to cure Maria's illness is completely cut out. Shadow's still called the ultimate life form, but he's treated as more of an energy source than a genetic research project here, playing off of the stuff about Eggman wanting to harness Sonic's natural Chaos Energy in the movies. The original intent behind the ultimate life form project was always hard to explain in the games and doesn't even come up that much, so I don't blame them for cutting it.

Because Gerald isn't doing genetic experiments and creating artificial life, the Biolizard also doesn't exist. It does, however, appear in an old monster movie Shadow and Maria watch in a montage, with Shadow later commenting that he worries he's a monster like the one he saw in the movie. That's a clever way to include it, I think.

The ARK sort of exists. There was no space colony back in the '70s, all of the events of Shadow's flashbacks just took place at a secret GUN base on Earth. Fair enough for a version of the story ostensibly set in the real world. The big space laser in the third act of the film is obviously supposed to evoke the ARK, but it's referred to as simply the Eclipse Cannon. It's still not a full-blown space colony, just a weapon of mass destruction Gerald designed for GUN in exchange for his release (while also secretly planning to use it to blow up the planet in an act of revenge). I am, however, pleased to report that the Eclipse Cannon still has a giant Eggman face on it.

And as for Maria: I like her in this! She's obviously not going to get a ton of screentime, and she's always going to be a very straightforward character, but she's more playful and lively here. She teases Shadow for being grumpy and plays with him a lot. She feels less like this perfect embodiment of everything good and pure in the world and more like an actual kid. She's still not a complex character, but it works.

And the most important question: do they show a child getting shot and killed by the military? The answer is almost. In the flashback, GUN soldiers chase Maria, Shadow, and Gerald and ready their guns, but the young Commander Walters (who's in his 20s rather than being a kid) grabs them and tries to stop them from firing on a child. In the chaos, a soldier fires, missing Maria but hitting a generator that then blows up and kills Maria. So, y'know, close enough I suppose.

So, yes, many of the details change here, but they captured the gist of Shadow's story from SA2. The emotional core is there. I will say, though, I almost feel like Shadow isn't in this movie as much as I thought he'd be? I think he's used effectively in all of his scenes, and they make room for his backstory, and BOY does he get to kick ass in his fights, but for much of the middle part of the movie he's overshadowed by Ivo and Gerald. Though this might be a compromise to leave more screentime for...

Tails and Knuckles

I'm relieved to report that Tails and Knuckles both get a good amount of cool stuff to do in this! They don't feel like an afterthought.

I was worried that Tails in particular would completely fall by the wayside, since even his debut movie didn't entirely know what to do with him. But he's good here. He pretty much just feels like the Tails from the games at this point, especially since they dropped that fawning admiration he had for Sonic with that running gag of him going "Only Sonic the Hedgehog could do that!" He often chimes in as the one who wants Team Sonic to stick together when Sonic and Knuckles bicker. He particularly gets to shine in the Mission Impossible-inspired heist sequence at the GUN headquarters in London that serves as the climax of the second act, which feels like it was tailor made to let him shine as the tech guy of the team. He also gets several opportunities to swoop in and catch someone for a save in an action scene. He's good in this!

Knuckles is... fine. He's definitely fallen into the role of the comic relief dumb bruiser since joining the good guys, but he's at least a little better than he was in his own streaming show. The jokes lean more into him just being really brash about his strength and skill, rather than him being this archaic warrior who doesn't understand anything about the modern world. He also gets a few more serious bits in the back third of the movie where he gets to shine a little more, so overall it evens out to him being fine. They could've done way worse.

As for the relevance of the Knuckles show: Knuckles is now said to be the guardian of the Master Emerald, like in the games, though with no Angel Island this amounts to him hiding it somewhere for safekeeping. It's eventually revealed that he just gave it to Wade, who gets exactly one scene (sorry, Wade-heads) for a joke about him using the Master Emerald as a hockey puck. So, the miniseries explained why Knuckles has a connection with Wade. That's it! Also I think Knuckles might use the Flames of Disaster a bit in fights, but they never called the technique out by name, so I never really thought about it. So, yeah, the six-episode streaming miniseries about Wade bowling has zero meaningful relevance to the Shadow movie. Who could have seen this coming?

Miscellaneous humans

For that matter, the human supporting cast is MASSIVELY downplayed in this one. Tom and Maddie are there for two key sequences (the beginning of the movie and the GUN HQ heist), but otherwise they disappear for long stretches of the movie. They don't go to Japan in act I, nor do they go to space in act III, and there's no subplot for them during those periods, either. There's nothing like the wedding subplot in Sonic 2 where they'd constantly cut back to Hawaii for comic relief with the humans and only reveal why this was relevant to the plot near the end. (There's also no random dance battle in Siberia.) If a human character is here, it's because they have something to contribute to the plot right away. Most people will probably consider this an improvement, and I'd certainly say it makes for a much tighter script, though I have to remind everyone that I thought the wedding being a GUN sting operation was such a funny twist that I'm a defender of the Hawaii subplot.

On the subject of Tom, something funny I've noticed is that they've just completely downplayed the fact that Tom and Wade are cops. Tom being a cop never comes up once. Wade being a cop only gets referenced via the fact that he's practicing hockey on the roof of the police station in his one scene, but he's not in uniform or anything. They clearly got the memo that we don't want Sonic to hang out with cops.

Here's something else funny: Rachel and Randall got character posters, but they're actually not in the movie! Not technically, anyway. During the heist sequence at GUN HQ, Tom and Maddie use some gadgets Tails invented to holographically disguise themselves as those other characters. But the real Rachel and Randall never show up in the flesh. It's a very odd way to shoehorn the actors into the movie. (Jojo is also absent. They did not give her Amy's role of being the girl who reminds Shadow of Maria. Instead they just let Sonic have the big heart to heart with Shadow that makes him switch sides.)

You know who IS in this movie? Krysten Ritter. Not as the voice of Rouge, as the fandom once hoped, but as a director for GUN. She gets like three scenes and she feels completely checked out the whole time. Can't say I blame her! She's not really a character, just a plot necessity. Commander Walters dies in Japan but gives Sonic one of two keycards needed to activate the Eclipse Cannon, and then Ritter's character assumes Sonic stole it and labels him a bad guy. So that's why they have to break into GUN HQ in the second act instead of just talking things out with them. Still, I am at least relieved that Sonic doesn't work with GUN for most of the movie.

I gotta be honest: when Walters pulled a credit card-shaped object out of his pocket, I thought he was about to give Sonic another Olive Garden gift card as his final act before dying. Part of me wishes that happened.

The supporting human character in this who really gets to shine is Agent Stone, which I'm sure most fans will agree was the correct choice. There's a LOT of Agent Stone in this. He's good. I don't have much to say about him, but he's fun as usual.

But, of course, the ones who steal the show are Jim Carrey, and his costar Jim Carrey.

The Robotniks

I've gone back and forth on whether or not I can actually see movie Robotnik as Robotnik. I think with this third and final entry in the Jim Carrey Robotnik Trilogy, I've landed on... yeah, that's just Jim Carrey playing a Jim Carrey character. He's absolutely having fun with the role, and I enjoyed watching him, but I think a lot of that comes down to the fact that I'm a millennial who grew up watching Jim Carrey movies. If you didn't like him before, this movie will probably be nails on a chalkboard to you, because now there are two of him.

Ivo's arc here leans very heavily into the fact that he grew up as an orphan and never knew his family, a thing offhandedly mentioned in the first movie that's never been a thing for any other version of the character. Here, he learns that he has a living grandfather who's also a mad scientist, and it feels like a hole in his heart has been filled. It certainly makes sense for a place to take this version of the character, and it fits with the movie's themes of finding and losing family, but the cartoonish, childlike affection Ivo feels towards Gerald and all the scenes of them frolicking and dancing together have basically nothing to do with the characters from the games. He's a fun villain for this movie, but he's overwhelmingly used as comic relief this time rather than as a serious threat. He doesn't particularly feel like Sega's Dr. Ivo Robotnik, the arch nemesis of Sonic the Hedgehog who'd take over the world with an army of robots and a fleet of airships in the span of a day if Sonic wasn't around to stop him. He's a guy who lives in a big crab robot and has some drones. He has more in common with Carrey's depictions of the Grinch or the Riddler or Count Olaf than Dr. Eggman. Though he does, at least, finally get his outfit from the games by the end of the movie. So that's something. And also he's in a fat suit now. They only make jokes at the expense of his weight a little. Hooray...?

Gerald, meanwhile, is... largely the same character as movie Eggman, but older, so they can make jokes about him having saggy flesh and smelling funny and needing dentures. (Also, his voice kind of sounds like Homer Simpson sometimes?) To his credit, Carrey absolutely nails the handful of more serious scenes Gerald gets, whether it's Maria's death or his sinister turn when he reveals that he actually wants to destroy the Earth. But then it's right back to goofs about there being two of the same guy. Even the final battle features a lot of slapstick shenanigans with the two Robotniks fighting each other. I was able to enjoy the absurdity of it all, but if the humor doesn't land for you the dual Jim Carrey schtick is a hell of a lot of the movie. I wouldn't be surprised if there was more Gerald than Shadow in the movie, when you go and tally up their screentime. I was able to enjoy the sheer absurdity of it, but your mileage will vary.

I will, however, say that the split screen stuff they do with the two Carreys is EXTREMELY impressive, from a filmmaking perspective. They were absolutely flexing with their ability to pull the effect off. They don't rely on cheap tricks like cutting a lot, or having shot/reverse shot scenes where you're looking at the back of a body double's head. Instead they have a lot of long takes where the two Robotniks are talking to each other, you can see both of their faces, and they'll even hug and touch each other a lot, and the whole time the conversation maintains a natural pace like it really is two actors playing off of each other. It's really well done. It's an incredibly silly idea, but boy did they commit to it.

Sonic

I've hardly said anything about Sonic himself in all of this. It's his movie, isn't it! Well... I don't know, he's fine.

I feel like movie Sonic is a known quantity at this point, and either you like this take on the character or you don't. There was some speculation early on that this was supposed to be a younger Sonic who would grow into being the character we know from the games and comics, the one who's still got lots of quips but is also kind of aloof and cool, a free spirit who goes where the wind takes him, a figure the other characters look up to. And... no, that didn't happen. Once again he gets more serious as the stakes are raised, and he's totally badass when he goes Super, but the rest of the time he's still a little goober with tons of generic one-liners who learns schmaltzy lessons about the importance of family. He's still constantly going to undercut the tension of most scenes by cracking a pop culture reference that will make the average American parent go "haha I've heard of that." I don't think they're ever gonna change that. I think this just what the writers think Sonic is like.

And, again, for what it is, it's fine. He's a little annoying. You already know how you feel about movie Sonic. This third entry won't change that. But they do, at least, have him say "Talk about low budget flights, no food or movies... I'm outta here!" before jumping out of a helicopter. As my thoughts on the climax will show, I am not immune to fanservice.

The climax

God, the climax is SOOOOO fucking good. It's fantastic. Easily the best action these movies have ever done.

Rather than saving Super Shadow for the team-up with Sonic at the end, they have both of them go Super to fight each other first, and they just go full DBZ with it, fighting across the entire planet. It absolutely rules. I think this is the new coolest fight the two of them have had in anything ever. And then they have to stop the Eclipse Cannon together, and sure, there's no Biolizard. But Gerald DOES release a swarm of GUN Hunter robots, and the ensuing space battle turns into some Gundam shit. It's good! It's so good!!! The movie's flaws kind of melt away for me here when I'm watching Super Shadow take out an army of robots with Chaos Spears on the big screen. What a timeline we're living in.

And yes, they play "Live and Learn." They had to. They knew the assignment. They actually play a slight remix, but it's still got the original vocals, so it's perfectly recognizable. Actually, the tune of the song is used as a leitmotif for Shadow throughout the movie, first introduced via an acoustic guitar version played by Maria, and I really love that. I've been begging these movies to use more music from the games the whole time, and I'm glad they finally did so here. (They also use the traditional level clear jingle early in the film, and Eggman's theme from SA2 is very briefly used as a ringtone.)

... Anyway, uh, meanwhile Eggman, Tails, and Knuckles straight up just kill Gerald to save the world? They unceremoniously knock him into an energy field at the end of their slapstick fight aboard the Eclipse Cannon and he disintegrates like he hit a bugzapper. It's over in an instant. It's not graphic or anything, but it's, like... I didn't expect them to show it, or for it to be such a casual murder! Eggman has one quip about it and then immediately moves on.

Shortly after this, Eggman and Shadow sacrifice themselves to stop the Eclipse Cannon. Shadow's sacrifice doesn't stick, obviously (he's revealed to be alive by the end of the second stinger—pretend to be shocked), but Eggman's probably dead dead. I seriously doubt Jim Carrey's gonna come out of retirement for these movies again. His final moments before the big explosion are also SO dragged out and belabored. He has a dramatic final line like ten times in a row. It really just feels like the series saying goodbye to Carrey. And, again, it feels like a fitting enough end for this Eggman's arc, but it's an odd adaptation of the character from the games.

And so, that's what we're left with. This is far from Sonic Adventure 2: The Movie. It's not that, though there are many, many references made to that game in particular. It's a sequel to the film Sonic the Hedgehog 2 that has a similar tone and style, but Shadow and Gerald are in it, and Shadow gets some really cool fights, and there's a liiiiiittle more focus on stuff from the games than last time, and the script's a little tighter. If that sounds fun to you, you will have fun with this. I know I did. If it doesn't, you're probably better off waiting for them to inevitably do an animated reboot whenever this live action series runs out of steam.

It hasn't quite run out of steam yet, though...

The post-credits scenes, and the future

One of the big questions going into this was: what's next? How do they top a Shadow movie with heavy Sonic Adventure 2 overtones, in terms of hype for the fans? How do you fill Eggman's shoes after Carrey retires, for real this time? There are still more fan favorite rival characters to get through, but how many movies in a row can they introduce a furry foe for Sonic who inevitably turns good and helps him stop a larger threat by the end? And when the hell are we gonna see the girls?

Well, we now have our answer, and it's one I'm cautiously excited for: a whole army of Metal Sonics, and Amy!

Yes, Amy! Finally!! It's an absolute crime that we've gone three whole movies and a streaming miniseries without including the female lead of the series. I've complained about this ad nauseum (and also the fact that they cut Rouge from the story). But at least now they're finally doing something about it.

But now the question is, how will they characterize Amy? Sega's struggled with her for years, and there's a million different directions you can take her. Her one scene here has her smashing a bunch of Metal Sonics and wearing a cloak for the sake of a dramatic reveal, which gives her the vibes of a mysterious, badass action girl. This is, of course, completely different from how Sonic and Amy met in the games. What will her personality be like? She doesn't speak here, so who will they get to play her? Where did she come from? Will she even have a crush on Sonic? All of these have yet to be determined. So, like, I'm hyped to finally see Amy, a character who should've been in the movies from the start, but they could so easily end up playing it safe with an incredibly boring girlboss version of Amy who's no fun at all. We'll have to wait and see.

(My prediction: they're going to try to cast either Zendaya or Ariana as Amy.)

Metal Sonic, likewise, is very exciting, and he looks perfect. He looks just like the design from the games. But the question is: what will they do with this army of Metals? Will they be lead by one main Metal Sonic, perhaps Neo Metal Sonic, who gets to be a proper bad guy? Will they take some cues from Sonic CD, Heroes, and the OVA, or do something completely original? Where did they come from? Were they activated as a failsafe after Eggman died? Did they and Amy come from some sort of bad future, riffing on Sonic CD's time travel? Will they explore the fact that Metal wants to be the one and only Sonic? Or will they just be an army of disposable robot grunts for Sonic and friends to mow down like it's a Dynasty Warriors game, while some other villain takes center stage?

It could go so many different ways, and some prospects are more exciting than others. I mean, the Knuckles show had endless possibilities for what it could do with him, and none of the options on my bingo card were "Pachacamac's ghost tells him to help Wade win a bowling tournament." And while I'm a sicko who thinks it's funny that the Knuckles show is what it is, forgive me for keeping my hype about Amy and Metal Sonic in check here until we learn more.

Regardless of what they do, it'll still be hard to top the hype of Shadow, and it'll be hard to fill Jim Carrey's shoes for general audiences. So despite this clear statement of intent, I have no idea what the future of this film franchise holds. But regardless of what they do, I can say one thing for certain: the kids in my theater were hyped as hell for it. They popped off over Metal Sonic, and they were screaming their heads off with excitement over Amy. I heard a teenage girl on the opposite end of my row of seats say "finally!" over Amy's reveal, verbalizing my exact thoughts. She also said that this movie was "peak," though it diverged from the games, and she hoped they'd do a movie with Silver and Blaze someday.

The kids are gonna be okay.

#tkp post #other media #sonic 3 spoilers

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