#also the way people try to make any and everything sonic and shadow do into proof that so/nadow is canon

[sonknuxadow]

going to start this post with the fact that im not trying to be a hater right now im just genuinely confused . anyway. the thing about sonic and shadow is that i dont think its a bad ship or that its entirely baseless or that their relationship is meaningless or anything like that. my feelings on so/nadow are complicated but i do like it to a degree . but i also feel like people are exaggerating how much is there in terms of canon backing for the ship (at least in the franchise overall if we're talking sonic prime specifically that makes more sense but prime is also like the spiders georg of so/nadow). like they have their moments but i dont think its as frequent a thing as people act like it is (again at least not in the games/comics) . like theyre just not as close or as obviously in love in the actual source material as some people seem to think they are ..??? some of the stuff i see being passed around as so/nadow moments is just them existing in the same frame .. ??? im not even saying its wrong to ship them or make them be in love in the headcanon sonic universe that exists in your head or whatever i just think that saying its basically canon is a huge stretch and idk what people are seeing between them that im not . sorry please dont get madat me. scampers away like a frightened little animal

[nagichi-boop]

SHADOW IS WRITTEN SO WELL IN THE MURDER OF SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!!

First of all, just him showing up to Amy’s party is a step up from his recent “I will do everything myself, I hate everyone, imma fight you” attitude that we have seen. Secondly, and idk if it was intentional, but him attending shows he cares about Amy. He’s always had a special place for her after the events of SA2, so it’s nice to see him showing up for something that maybe isn’t his style for her sake. (Parties aren’t really his thing, after all.)

SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT

It’s also really sweet of him to go through so many lengths to try and get Amy’s present. I definitely don’t think he forgot to get her a present, he genuinely just didn’t seem to know that it was a social norm to bring presents to a birthday. If he really didn’t care, he either wouldn’t have gotten her anything or he would’ve given her a rushed gift. But no, he went through a lot of effort, basically foregoing the game, just to stall Amy so he could get her a present she would enjoy.

And not just any present - he remembered her mentioning a specific band she liked and that she hadn’t seen them live. This not only suggests he listens to her and remembers what she tells him, but also implies that he has had multiple conversations with her. Clearly he must have also done some research too since he knew that the tickets were going live soon. He thought this through, even if it was a bit last minute, and did his best to get the tickets (even though he admits to not being the best with computers, which is also nice because usually Shadow just insists he’s the best at everything). I also think it was sweet that he didn’t heavily protest Amy’s suggestion to see the band together. He hesitated, but then yielded. This…for a character who recently has been written to be quite selfish.

He seemed upset that he couldn’t keep this a surprise, but he also didn’t become enraged or lash out at Tails and MC/Barry. In fact, he didn’t really lash out at anyone at any point which is refreshing, since in most Sonic media that’s his go-to emotion.

Most of his expressions throughout the game are fairly gentle in fact. Sure, he doesn’t smile, but he also isn’t actively angry. And the one expression where he does seem a bit negative just seems like his resting expression, or at absolute worse just a little annoyed. He’s very mellow throughout the game and it’s refreshing.

Even after he has finished talking to Amy, Tails and MC/Barry, he offers to stay with them and help them with the investigation. Normally in Sonic media, Shadow has no interest in helping others and only really cooperates if there’s a mutual goal/interest. And even then, he tends try to do things on his own. But in this game? He actually cooperates, and what’s more, he goes out of his way to offer his help.

So far I’ve mostly talked about his attitude towards Amy. But what’s his attitude towards Sonic? People debate back and forth on whether Shadow hates Sonic and the recent games and media have made it seem like he does hate Sonic. But in this game? I wouldn’t say so. I mean, he’s literally hanging out with him and his friends and instead of having beef with Sonic, he just focused on making Amy happy. And even when the situation gets more dire and Sonic is found to be knocked out, he doesn’t make any snarky comments or anything. In fact, he actually helps to tend to Sonic’s condition, even if it was just checking his pulse. If he rly didn’t care, he would’ve left it to everyone else.

Man, I could talk for hours about Shadow in this game. I can’t believe this April Fools prank game is actually the best characterisation for Shadow we’ve had recently. He’s not overly aggressive, he isn’t selfish, he isn’t super edgy. He is still sorta cold, but he’s not rude or mean. He’s actually really kind (in his own way), putting his needs and desires on hold to make Amy’s birthday fun and to help everyone out. I seriously hope that Shadow is written more like this in the future and not like he has been. Maybe Sega wasn’t joking about taking on board the complaints of the fandom.

[autisticshadowthehedgehog]

"Why Would You Bother With Me?" - An Analysis of Kitsunami, 09/07/2024

tw: major discussions of abuse, the cycle of abuse, re-traumatizing situations, toxic and abusive relationships (non-romantic)

so like when I first read this panel my reaction was just to joke with Cori that this is a "get out of my school" moment (iykyk) but I've been thinking about it a lot recently because I... couldn't remember any specific beef Kit had with Tails?

Last we saw of them interacting one-on-one, Tails was talking Kit down from fighting, and Kit's beef with the squad later was more with Sonic than him. Tails didn't take down Surge in #56 or even affect the fight in any way, and Sonic was the one who told Kit that Surge was dead beforehand. At least that I could remember, so I went back to those comics. Indeed, in #56 he shows no animosity towards Tails specifically, nor when he talks to Surge in #55.

Then I went back to #54.

See, he does seem to blame Sonic entirely for the Surge death fakeout, and he thinks that Sonic is literally trying to kill her when he walks in. But he does have one (1) reaction to Tails, right at the end of the interaction.

In the previous issue, after Sonic and Tails saved his life, Kit immediately switched on his subservient personality and was desperate for any kind of validation from the hedgehog. We only see it for a few panels before he is told about Surge and sinks into a depressive state, but it's made very obvious.

And when he leaves to help?

Kit's conditioning under Starline means that he is excessively codependent on Surge– and if Surge isn't around, on anyone who is nice to him. The hypnotic repetition shown to us was "You live to support Surge. You'll do anything for her." Kit's sole purpose in life is to be a Support party member.

Kit's conditioning was to be the new Tails.

Starline wanted Surge and Kit to replace Sonic and Tails– that much was obvious from the get-go. But what was also obvious was his fundamental misunderstanding of Sonic and Tails's dynamic and how that negatively impacts Surge and Kit's relationship.

Starline completely misses the strong sibling bond that Sonic and Tails have. To him, Tails is just there to support Sonic, to provide the brains and tech that Sonic lacks, and so Kit needs to be there to support Surge in the same way. He sees it only as a business partnership, and not a mutual relationship built on trust, love, and shared experiences. Starline only saw other people as tools, so obviously he projected that onto Surge and Kit, hoping that they would immediately take up the closeness that Sonic and Tails did because, well, they served the same purpose to each other, right?

Except Surge and Kit don't have that relationship. These two children were forced into the same proximity and made to work together. They're coworkers at best, being told to act like a family.

Obviously their dynamic is super toxic, with Surge clearly holding a lot of power over Kit, but it's also clear that this isn't because Surge wants to beat on the kid. She was made to be Sonic, and so she has his arrogance (and possibly Shadow's, considering IS1 showed his image when Starline was talking about stealing abilities), but, as Boom!Sonic says, "Without any of the awesomeness to back it up." Okay, wrong, she's plenty awesome, the correct phrase is "Without the experience" and, most importantly, "without the altruism that makes Sonic Sonic." Surge wasn't programmed to like the people she saves, because that would conflict with Starline's goal to take over the world. So she's only made to be competitive and to want to best Sonic, anyone inbetween them be damned. This clashes with Kit's programming to not only be liked, but to be liked by Surge. Surge was also programmed to believe fully in herself in order to enhance the arrogant trait, and Kit was made to give her the help that she doesn't want.

To Surge, Kit represents everything holding her back. And she's not built to view him as a person, because Starline doesn't view him or her as people. Obviously this doesn't absolve her of her treatment of him, and later issues showing her getting more and more aware as she becomes more social is definitely going to impact the way she views him– or, if it doesn't make her reconsider Kit's personhood, it'll serve to make her more antagonistic for the viewer.

But the point is, Sonic trusts Tails because he knows and respects him as a person. It isn't just because Tails can help him, but because he knows Tails will. Surge, at this point in the comic, not only doesn't view Kit as a friend, she doesn't even care what he thinks or feels.

And despite the brainwashing, I don't think Kit is oblivious to this. He knows how bad their situation is, but he is so conditioned to accept it that he can't escape it whatsoever. In both fights with Tails, Tails talks him down easily because Kit doesn't want to hurt anyone. Kit only reacts violently when Surge is brought up, because he's meant to do anything she wants.

Like he said to Belle, he was made for Surge. And what he says directly after– "Sonic can use me, too." Kit doesn't even view himself as a person, only a tool– that's how far Starline's brainwashing went. It's clearly even affecting Surge, who realized in the latest issue, #72, how fast she and Kit fell into their abusive patterns again once Clutch took over– they were conditioned to be tools. Clutch claimed to want to help them, but really he was just using them for his own ends, just like Starline. So they went back to the familiar.

And speaking of familiar– pain is familiar to Kit, specifically pain in service to others. In his breakdown in #50, he says that Starline made him happy he'd been hurt. And in Imposter Syndrome #3 and #4, we see that him and Surge hate Starline and want to usurp him... but also are still trapped in the patterns he implanted in them. Surge still wants to kill Sonic and outperform everyone else. Kit still can't do anything but what she wants, to the point he becomes near catatonic when he believes she's dead.

Another pattern Kit is still trapped in is the idea that he has to be okay with his own suffering.

The only sense of home or family Surge and Kit have is in each other, but they fundamentally can't work together, at least as they are currently. Kit is expected to take Surge's anger, and Surge isn't expected to treat him like his own person.

And this, I think, is Kit's problem with Tails.

He was made to be Tails, and he knows this, but he can never have what Tails has. He can never live up to Tails and do what Tails can do, despite that being his entire life's purpose.

He doesn't hate Tails because he was programmed to– as he says to Surge, he only wants to destroy Sonic because she wants to. When he first encounters Tails, he refers to him as his target- a simple, unemotional term. He doesn't have the deep ingrained hatred for him that Surge does for Sonic.

Instead, he hates Tails because of what he sees in him. He sees Sonic and Tails interact, he sees how much Sonic trusts and relies on Tails, and he sees how he also loves and respects him. He sees how Tails has his own motivations and opinions, and he's experienced Tails's genuine compassion that was in part fostered by the hedgehog that raised him. In turn, Tails is loyal to Sonic, but not because he has to be– because he, in turn, loves Sonic and wants to be with him.

Kit only wants to be with Surge because he was forced to. Starline wanted to use Surge and Kit to stop Sonic and Eggman's cycle, but he made a whole new one instead. Kit is trapped in a cycle of pain, knows he's trapped in it, and is helpless to escape it.

Tails isn't, and Kit sees that in Tails. Subconsciously, he sees Tails and only sees how he fails to live up to his life's mission, and how he'll never have what Tails has.

After all, why would anyone bother with him? They already have Tails.

Is he a target? I like it here now.

[vivyen-qwq]

Can we please talk about Knuckles history/ past?

I just saw a tick tock video, which topping was sad history and showed pictures of Movie Sonic, Tails, Knuckles (and that fanmade movie Shadow version).

That made me think.

When I was a kid, I always saw Knuckles as my favorite character because he was cool, red, and strong. But today, he is my favorite because of his sad story. And I personally think that he has the most sadest story of all Sonic characters. Allow me to explain:

1. He has no real family. His entire race died because they wanted to use the Chaos and the Master Emerald for evil stuff. They all died, and Tikal sacrificed herself to seal Chaos. So Knuckles had to grow up by himself, hunting/ finding food, without a mother or father or anyone, all by himself, alone for 16 years. I mean, yes, the little Chaos are there to keep him company, but they can't talk or take care of him much of him.

2. His feelings: He is naive and believed Eggman several times and teamed up with him, despite knowing that Eggman was evil, but still tried to see the good in him, which was all for nothing, because Eggman used him. Then we have Rouge, the flying bat thieve who is trying to get the Master Emerald. She would fight and flirt her way through to get what she wanted and now image. This boy never had someone to love him, so he doesn't really know what love is (I guess) and now imagine how it would feel to have a girl flirting with you, but not being sure if she is serious about this or just wants the Master Emerald. This makes Knuckles even more insecure than he already is because he is constantly alarmed when someone calls out Rouges' name like we saw in the Tails tube video.

3. Angel Island: Like I mentioned in the first point, Knuckles' ancestors wanted to use the power of chaos for evil stuff, so Knuckles wants to fix his ancestor's mistakes by guarding and protecting the island without any help from others. But the problem is, if he doesn't take the other's help, then he will never be free from that burden. Everyone can be on earth and go wherever they desire, but he can't. He is trapped on the island because he knows that no one except him will guard the Master Emerald without even a "thank you". A lot of people are not seeing how much Knuckles does to protect others by staying on Angel Island and protecting that Emerald.

Also, he is the only one who can communicate with the M.E. to neutralize the Chaos Emeralds' power. He will forever be bound to that big responsibility, whether he likes it or not. He is never going to be free, and he knows it. That's why he sees no real purpose in life except for having fun and doing your best (what he said in the Twitter takeover). I mean, yes, he leaves the island to watch "One Punch Man" at Cream's and Vanilas' place, but guess who will probably use that to his advantage: Eggman.

4. His friends: Sonic seems to be the only one who really cares about Knuckle's lonelynes. When they had that short, deep talk during Frontiers, Sonic said that his friends were there to support him. But in the last Twitter takeover, when it was mentioned that Knuckles had a fan, he talked very low of himself, seeing himself as a character who doesn't or shouldn't have fans. Sonic told him to be nicer to his fans, and Amy asked him about his personality, where he replied that everything sucks. It was quite obvious that Knuckles spoke very low of himself, but Tails tried to brush him off.

Why wouldn't his friends try to be more supporting, maybe saying that it wasn't really his fault? Or trying to make him see the good things in himself?

Like, Tails got into a big group hug when they were told that Tails didn't have a home back then. Or when they talk about Maria when Shadow is there, it is a sensitive topping, and they are making sure not to hurt Shadow's feelings. Or when Sonic had that dream about him saving the city and no one noticing, they gave him therapy.

But Knuckles doesn't get that treatment?

Yes, Sonic talked to him in Frontiers, but why not in the takeover? Why not get more support for him?

So yeah, that's what I've been thinking.

Knuckles sure had some character development, but it doesn't change his history or the fact that he will forever have to stay on the floating island.

I really would like it if someone stayed by his side and visited him sometimes so Knuckle could have some rest or simply would have someone to talk to for at least once in a while.

[watercolorsam-arts]

Why the Minecraft Movie looks so bad

Okay, let’s see if I can make this work

Hi, I’m Watercolor, currently a student learning animation and visual effects. I’ve got some more technical explanations for why exactly the trailer looks god awful

I’m gonna do my best to explain this in simple terms, but if I don’t explain something very good, let me know and I’ll explain more. Alright, this is gonna be a long post

Starting off with the obsession with backlighting. See how it doesn’t really match the environmental lighting? That’s one of the major things that makes it look so weird to a lot of people. It could have been done to better distinguish the actors from the background, but it does that a little too well and makes them look way too out of place. The environment has a very nice constant (most likely singular) light source, which is most likely an HDRI.

An HDRI (or high dynamic range image) informs the animation software on how the scene should be lit, and is often a weird panoramic image of whatever physical area you want to replicate.

In a reverse case, adding a CG character into a real set, you could take an HDRI of the physical set, and use it to apply similar lighting. Adjustment will most likely have to be hand adjusted by the lighting team (and tbh they add a lot of extra lights in anyway. It just needs to look right) but it’s a fantastic starting point for the compositing and lighting teams.

However, the McM’s live set has way different lights set up then what is seen in the environment.

Here, for example, the live set is most likely being lit by standard 3 point lighting, which are not only the wrong color (the lighting on the environment is much more yellow) but also washes out any shadows that would help define the actors. If this movie wasn’t obsessed with backlighting, you could fix that by lighting the actors and environment from the front, but because the sun is in the back, they have to make the front of the actors unnaturally brighter to see them more properly. I have a slight idea on why the kid in red looks especially “photoshopped” in, and it’s mostly because his hoodie doesn’t have a similar reflectiveness to everyone else’s outfit, and his hair is a more neutral color, causing the highlight to be even more washed out. Also, while we’re here, the cube is a physical prop, but it was not lit up during filming, and all the light output was tossed on after. And it’s really inconsistent and honestly, lazy. For the most part they just hit it with a blue blur effect in post, it doesn’t actually cast any light.

Another major issue is the color difference between the actors and the environment. The color balancing on the actors is particularly garbage, they’re somehow desaturated while also being too saturated, I don’t know how they managed that. But the technical issue on why it looks odd, is because the physical camera cannot physically pick up the same vibrancy as the “camera” in the CG world. You might have seen an example of this when trying to take a photo with your phone, especially of a very colorful event like the sunset. It’s also why “ugly sonic” looked particularly out of place, he was 10x more saturated than anything else around him.

Having the actors on a very low effort green screen stage also completely ruins any chance of getting the proper ambient light or ambient occlusion.

Ambient occlusion is basically the bounce light from other objects in your scene, gamers might know this as a form of ray tracing (ray tracing is live changes in ambient occlusion, games without ray tracing bake in ambient occlusion to get a similar result)

When everything is CG, (again art style aside) looks pretty darn good actually!

I attempted some edits to see if anything could make it look better (left is original, right is mine), and I don’t think proper lighting or anything could actually fix what this movie has wrong with it. They should have made the whole thing animated, I don’t think any amount of bullying would fix this, the studio basically has to scrap the actors, and make new CG characters from scratch in the same style as the rest of the world.

All of this is not the fault f the animators, or any of the vfx team, they did their absolute best with what they had, this is 100% the fault of the higher ups on this project. I have no idea how this good this far into production without ANYONE saying that it was a bad idea (Either that, or a lot of people got fired, which is unfortunately a likely possibility)

[noeggets]

Noeggets has a lot of deep thoughts about Shadow's characterization

it's so sad that Shadow was only a project to gerald, like we all joke /think that Shadow was "part of the family" but he was only a cure to Maria, that man was not as good a person as we think he was IM NOt SAYING HE WAS BAD but i usually see him depicted as super super kind to Shadow but i was reading the lore of SA2 and watching an analysis video and if the president never asked him to make whatever he asked him to make Shadow very well would not have been created.

It's so dark and so sad, like he manipulated Shadow when he went insane how do you think it feels to Shadow to know the person who made him didn't truly love him? like neither of the things that created/help create Shadow really truly loved him, he's only a cure, he's just a thing to reach immortality, he very well could be immortal himself, Shadow i don't think he can die cause he was created to not be able to catch any disease and be immortality it's self.

How do you think that feels? to just be a thing? Biolizard is just a failed attempt at making Shadow based on Chaos, those Chaos things in the ARK are failed attempts at Shadow also based on Chaos, i never knew this until i read the wiki 2 days ago SA2 has such a dark story i feel so bad for Shadow

re-thinking what i used to think about IDW Shadow lemme explain

And now that i know all this about Shadow the way he acts in IDW makes a little more sense to me, we all thought he was stupid when Sonic said "don't touch those zobot guys you'll turn into one" and Shadow was all "yeah, i dont care this wont effect me" HE WAS LIKE THIS FOR TWO REASONS

he was mad at Sonic cause his whole thing i want to achieve world peace i already talked about how IDW Shadow doesn't have as much compassion as the Shadow we all know from any other game but this is Eggman we're talking about, with everything Eggman's done up to this point do you think Shadow believes there is any good in him when he rarely does anything good Shadow has seen? Time eater, Sonic unleashed, Shadow is not ignorant to Eggman waking up a monster inside the planet everybody whether we seen them or not knows sonic unleashed happen, Sonic brings up sonic unleashed in IDW so it canonly happened. i remember reading that Knuckles and Shadow were gonna be in Sonic unleashed and if that's true SHADOW IS AWARE OF THIS

Eggman is a threat to the world to Shadow but he allowed the doctor to be cause Sonic keeps him check, Sonic is starting to be "unable" to keep him in check from Shadow's view, Shadow was there in forces, he witness what Eggman did to greenhill, he fought infinite who is a merc hired by Eggman mercs off people, Shadow is trying to save people that's his whole thing. After what happen to Shadow in Episode Shadow in forces do you think Shadow would hold any sympathy for Eggman the next time he physically see's him? After what he did to the world, after what he did to Omega? right in front of his eyes? Using Infinite to corrupt Omega and scare him Shadow cares about Omega that's his friend i had a point but i forgot it dang it anyway Shadow was in the war,

i remembered it a little bit i think i think i was gonna say something about when GUN sent Shadow to rescue Omega idk i haven't touched forces in sometime, and Shadow didn't come back as well as Omega. Eggman immobilized Shadow Shadow does not think the world is safe with Eggman around i think that was my point i don't remember...

ANYWAY that's why when Shadow came to see mr tinker he was pissed that Sonic allowed Eggman to be, this is dangerous to Shadow. when Shadow was getting mad at Sonic cause Sonic was preaching let Mr. Tinker live Shadow was thinking about the bigger picture: This man is terrorizing people and the only way to keep everyone safe is getting rid of him, this may be the only chance we get, but he let him live because Sonic explained that Shadow did bad things in the past as well so does that mean Shadow gets to go down with Eggman?

Shadow was mad at Sonic and the mess he made, Shadow was being compassionate i just didn't see it or understand it until now, it shocked him greatly when he was consumed by metal virus because he truly believed he could not catch a disease, this is a disease, so he wasn't being stupid i will admit he should have been more cautious not to put it to the test if it would work on him but Shadow was so sure he couldn't catch it, cause he believed he can't catch any KNOWN diseases this was a new disease his body wasn't created to understand therefore it works on him.

We thought SEGA didn't know what they were doing when they were writing IDW Shadow BUT THEY KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING people probably don't even care or remember about when that issue came out and everyone got so mad that Shadow was written "wrong" and being "stupid" but now that i have a understanding i think understand what he was doing and his thought process.

Shadow is moving up on my favorite list for this i feel so bad for Shadow F in the chat for Shadow his story is so sad like really. also heres an old thing i did that's really valid now

[alexissara]

Sonic Fighting Game Dream Roster!

Me and My Metamore messed around to make a sonic fighting game roster and I wanted to share kinda like the roster and the thought behind it and stuff for fun since this was a silly little fun thing. Our limitations where only including canon sonic characters in the main roster, the roster was going to be 24 characters because that was the base Dragon Ball Fighters Z roster size at launch, we were assuming the game would be an another Arcsystem Works Tag Fighter. I elected not to go for an even gender ratio like I normally would since we were aiming for a realistic roster but obviously when between viable options I favored a woman. 10/24 of the base roster are women so pretty close to half and like do Mecha Sonic, Chaos or Omega even really have genders? This game would also be one that focused on a more modern control style given Sonic is intended for children but also that modern controls are becoming simply the norm.

The team play is important for this game since sonic is not really a fights alone guy. Since Sonic 2 Sonic has been a serious about working together to overcome evil and it's been that way since with Sonic 3 adding another playable friend, Knuckles Chaotics having a whole squad, leading to the eventual adventure games and that eras bigger rosters. Like Skullgirls you could pick between having 1, 2 or 3 people in your team and have the characters enhanced on the smaller team number but lose access to the full sweet of abilities being teamed up gives you.

It's one thing to make a roster but another thing to try and think about how the characters would play. I have minor concepts on many of the playable characters, one requirement we had for putting someone on the not DLC part of the roster was having an idea of how they played.

Sonic obviously establishes the Foundational parts of the game being a rush down character to stay true to the archtype but one with a bit more resilience, he'd have just a tiny bit of everything to teach people while staying true to the speed focus. Blaze gets a mild zoning game with fire balls but is more aggressive being more of a combo focused character with the ability to further her combo potential with her blazing blade super similar to Juri in Street Fighter. Surge would be a character who was able to damage herself to increase damage to others, reckless in her desire to prove her strength and get out of people's shadows. Metal Sonic would play like sonic with a few different moves and a tankier set up but lower combo potential. Shadow would have the most advance moveset of the rushdown characters. having tricky moves that result in high pay offs but require solid execution.

The Balanced characters present most of the games features in the movesets. Honey the Cat being from Sonic Fighters makes her the perfect character to be the most basic fighting game character having basically just Ryu's moveset with no frills but some additional girly flare to give her some personality. Trip is a transformation character like Hellsing from Blaze blue with her dragon mode providing her a more aggressive style but a bigger hit box and body while still working off the more fundamental gameplay. Tails would have a bit of it all but with a bit of a stronger zoning game as a charge character. Emerald being from Sonic's second fighting game and copying movesets would be like Seth from Street Fighter 5 and other similar characters giving them a diverse moveset using moves from other characters.

Amy Rose would be a perfect midrange character wanting to not be too close or too far, her hammer being the distance away she wants to be. Tangle would have some command grabs she could preform further away and in general she wants to be fighting with just a bit more room than the average fighter. The deadly six are summon type character who work at any range but average out to about wanting the same distance as Amy and Tangle. Each of the six bring different abilities to the table similar to Captain Ginyu in DBFZ.

Chaos is a tricky grappler with a lot of strange movement tools. Big the Cat is our big time joke character where he is just trying to find froggy in battle and your just in his way accidently getting boddied by his long distance fishing hook grabs and friendly hugs as Froggy is set up on opponents allowing Big to hit with bigger damage. Omega is a more classic big body, get the fuck out my way or I'll kill you zoner with a weak projectile it can use to discourage running away from him.

Rouge is our iconic trap setter allowing her to steal wins from opponents who aren't ready to deal with the puzzle game she throws before them which includes inflicting some debuffs that remove options from your opponents for a particular amount of time like tagging out. Starline has his warp topaz for movement allowing him a more zoner focused gameplay style with a command grab that is styled after his hypnosis and otherwise his inventions being little traps on the field to control where the foe is and their approach. Nights and Cosmo would be characters more focused on the assist role creating items that their team mates can use with buffs. Nights would have a higher risk reward where the opponent could also use them where Cosmos would be locked to benefiting the player. Finally Eggman is tanky with all the traps and annoyances of a zoner. He can't do big damage but he is hard to take down and there is probably a boss version of him that is even more annoying.

Fang/Knack had the name sniper, their an archetypical zoner. Whisper's whispeon allows her to customize her shots by switching which whisp she has loaded into the gun, this allows her a diverse arrow of zoning options allowing her to always keep her opponent guessing on what is the best way to approach her. It's no use trying to beat Silver when he can yet you away to keep his ideal distance having a weak command grab that allows him to toss his foe full screen and keep up the aggressive physic assault.

Cream is our Puppet character with a special twist on being a puppet character with a puppet that evolves over time from Cream to Cream + Cheese to Gemerald building a meter to have a stronger puppet to use but stage 2 having some reasons to use it over stage 3. That can be paired with one last appearance in her ultimate attack allowing her mother Vanilla to get mad at the foe for attacking her daughter and finish off the opponent in a motherly rage. Knuckles would function like most boxing characters only having punches and being a bit of a bully in battle who is hard to handle but his special ability to glide would allow her far more air mobility then most other characters in the game. Espio would be a classic ninja character with all that entails having lots of moving and plenty of tricks to serve. Jet wouldn't be fighting alone coming in swinging with his crew able to dive in from the air like a hawk and take opponents into large air combos where on the ground he is pretty lacking.

While this is typically the type of thing reserved for Youtube videos but I felt like idk writing out this kind of thing and if you enjoyed it please let me know. I had a blast doing it and I would love to make more dream rosters with my lesbian edge where I am gonna favor women. I think these are just fun ways to nerd out about a series I enjoy and I'd love to go even more in depth I stopped myself from being extra indulgent on this one but I'd have loved to go into how I imagine a single player mode would work, talk more about universal mechanics and everything else.

All I want is some feedback if you enjoyed it but if you wanted to I am always happy to get support on making my own original queer art over on Patreon and Ko-fi which includes my current ambition to make an SRPG along with my for sure going to happen TTRPG projects.

[koreyeet]

i wanted to give my nextgens an update with designs and slight changes to lore

Howl (she/her)- Knuckles and Rouge's oldest daughter, acts like an only child and is pretty much Knuckles 2.0 where she refuses to leave the island for most things and is a huge nerd in echidna history and prides herself in her ancestors even though she technically isn't one of them, also she dies at 18 bc of some selfless sacrifice and becomes a ghost like Tikal.

Meg (any pronouns)- Shadow's adopted son that took him way too long to acknowledge the fact and technically Rouge's adoptive nephew-son, he was found at around age 3 as a trash child on a mission Shadow and Rouge was on, Shadow didn't want him but when Rouge yelled at him to suck it up (mostly bc she had a newborn at the time) so he kept him until he found Meg's parents, 13 years later that never happened. There was also an incident where Shadow was trying to make Meg a citizen or something, tried to name him like Mario or something, Rouge scolded him about how bad his names are, then Shadow scribbled it out in crayon and replaced it with Mega (after Omega), didn't want to be scolded again and scribbled it out again, never submitted the papers and now Meg thinks he's named after the shark but in reality Shadow's not messing with Rouge and he isn't allowed to name anything else and his son isn't a registered citizen.

He's a chill guy who gets along with the strangest people, mostly hangs out with Howl to train or look after the M.E, and thinks of her as a sister, he also hangs out with Rouge and takes after her a lot especially when he presents feminine, she is the one that promotes that confidence, but with his "sister", Seven he is a bit spiteful towards her for the favoritism she gets and has been slowly drifting from Shadow bc of that, but he still has his best friend who he can vent to her about it.

-was born without hands so he now has cool prosthetics

Seven (she/he)- Shadow and Zero/Infinite's unintentional tube child, the favorite one, she was the last creation done by Eggman before he died and her purpose was to be like a final weapon, but his plans where foiled, she emerged early/ was not fully cooked and the two edge lords where now dads. She was raised sheltered and is considered very well behaved considering her and her dads where created as weapons, she isn't all that strong only having the powers to project holograms and phase through walls, not really being told her origin and is really confused if she is a foster or their actual child, which eventually leads to a crisis about what she is.

-was the tax benefit motivator in the enemies to forced room mates because of house arrest to tolerating each other to allies to team mates to married for tax benefits to lovers arc

Ruth (she/her)- Second daughter of Knuckles and Rouge, she takes after both her parents with brains and brawn, probably has the closest relationship with them and loves to accompany them in treasure hunts, she takes after Rouge the most in her love of gems, but is more into the non-polished dirty ones, she's decently skilled in stealth and combat from her mom's training and thinks the other two (Seven and Ringer) are just dumb.

Ringer (he/they)- Sonic and Amy's oldest kid, imagine an adhd ridden child who has barely a filter and gets distracted so easily and that's him. He's a little menace who possesses Sonics speed, although not fully, and has the itch for seeing anything and everything. He's has a group with Seven and Ruth where they do whatever, girls nights, sleep overs, secret missions, sneaking out, etc. They get in trouble so much.

Drill (he/him) - only son of Knuckles and Rouge, he's basically Bark but a child, he never talks, only glares, he is a dear to babysit though because all he does is sit there drawing in the dirt and wants to be left alone unless your Ghost, then he loves being around her. Eventually when he's like 16-17 he becomes her body gaurd when she gets her time guardian job.

Ghost (she/her) - daughter of Silver and Blaze, she is mute and very anxious around anyone except her family, Marine, Drill, and Gardon, she was raised mainly by Silver bc he's a good malewife and inherited his psychokinesis, allowing her to float most places and create a wave lifting everything off the ground, her powers are very unstable, triggering every time she as a breakdown and since she was coddled so much she never really knew how to handle is so now she's just struggling.

Herb (she/they) - daughter of Lanolin and Trois, works very closely with her moms and has a huge intrest in hero work and helping others, generally really happy and makes a bunch of friends unless she fails then se gets sad for a while. Her hair can act like an extra set of punching gloves.

Hound (he/him) - oldest son of Lanolin and Trois, teenage angst because he got mugged as a 13 year old and is trying to find the perpetrator who took his sword, it turned into an investigation on finding an uncle everyone denies exists and he isn't vibing with this conclusion. Really uptight and snappy, he gets mad easily, especially at his sister, he's working close with Junebug and Cream on his case since everyone else tells him to give up or gaslights him.

MJ (they/she) - Metal Sonic's creation - was meant to be minion to their scheme but ended up being like a child to him, but they didn't want to be apart of the scheme so they ran away to the restoration, failed to blend in, got taken in by his aunt Belle, had to convince her parent to not kill anyone, and is now just vibing. They tend to keep to themself, only being around the mechanic area and assisting their aunt with whatever she needs, not really going out there in fear of retaliation.

Bug/ Junebug (any masc pronoun) - oldest twin of Espio, he's upbeat and hyper, kind of a combination of Charmy and Cream when they were younger, which is expected since they work for them as a junior detective and would rather take action now and solve the case rather then waiting for people to come to them, leading them to get into some dangerous situations, one that scarred both him and his brother, ever since then they've been mostly the same but even more stern about his work and goals.

Zeki (he/him)- the other one, taking after Espio in the ninja shit, recently got reckless trying to save his sibling and lost an arm and partial vision in one eye so now Espio is being really protective of him. He's really serious about everything and compared to the other twin, he hangs out with his dad more and is really serious and prefers to think things through so something doesn't happen again.

[fernsnailz]

Do you have thoughts about Shadow’s potential Pokémon team? 👉🏽👈🏽

ough my god ok. i'm so tired so excuse any grammar mistakes but i got mons on the brain so here we go

ok so. absol. this guy is literally called the disaster pokemon because it tends to show up right before shit goes down and so people tend to blame it for natural disasters - however it's actually WARNING people of disasters, not causing them. some dex entries:

idk how to fully put this into words but like. the rejection it faces from humanity despite genuinely trying to help them and consistently persisting despite it all is. that's shadow. that's it man. absol could also work well with silver so i declare that absol is the official sonic 06 pokemon

type null is. it's literally just shadow. it even has the inhibitor rings and everything like come on

i do think that type null would eventually evolve into silvally alongside shadow, but it takes some time since it's a friendship evolution

ummm clefairy is cute and funny and i like it. also it's connected to the moon which shadow is heavily connected to thematically after kinda esploding it. idk how to describe it but it makes sense in my mind that shadow would connect with the funny moon pokemon as like. not a way to make up for his mistakes, but more to come to terms with them? there's something there that i can't describe rn but it just makes so much sense to me i promise

ok galarian moltres is. shadow colored. and also cool. BUT i did give sonic galarian zapdos so i kinda wanted to continue that theme, and with that in mind i think i would give silver galarian articuno to sorta fill out that trio

not gonna lie i mostly put scolipede here as a placeholder because i love scolipede but i think it kinda works as a black arms connection? idk they all kinda look like bugs. bro im so tired LMAOO

hydreigon is here because i saw it on the list of pokemon and immediately went "BIOLIZARD!!!!!! BIOLIZARD!!!!!!!!" and i want shadow to have a very edgy and overpowered dragon type

ok yeah that's it. i purposefully did not include mewtwo

[shadowxamyweek]

Just wanted to mention how much I liked your Great write-up on the Amy rose eating disorder post. I haven’t even thought of her maybe having something like that. Though, it also makes me think of a scenario where shadow would learn about this. Him of all people should know the affect malnutrition has on the body, because of his time spent around Maria being sick on the ark. So just him reacting to Amy basically starving herself for beauty standards (and “sonic”) would be interesting to see.

(For context, in relation to this)

That is awesome to hear. I'm really glad it struck a cord with you.

I will say- it's fascinating to me the line of delineation between people who never thought of Amy in that light and people who have. I must add, most of what I have seen in the notes or my inbox about people who are like, 'I THOUGHT AMY HAD AN ED TOO!' also have had an eating disorder so like... interesting... interesting trend there. Got no stats for it, but like... yeah.

Is that confirmation bias? Is that just recognizing the signs? No idea. Haven't the faintest.

To your second point:

Shadow. Would. Be. Upset.

I'm not gonna say 'angry' because this wouldn't be just 'anger,' you know? This is that full body 'upset' where like, your bones hurt, your heart aches, your brain overheats trying to work out this puzzle of 'fucking why?' and it just can't. It might manifest at points in anger, but there's no place to realistically direct that anger at. Even if they're angry at how Sonic factors into this, it's not Sonic's fault. If Shadow was going to be angry about the lack of care and notice Amy's condition had raised, they'd be angry at everyone, because everyone either failed to notice or chose to do nothing.

That includes Shadow.

But also, that's still not the cause of what Amy is going through.

Everything about a situation like this just fucking sucks. Nobody wants to see someone they care for- in any capacity- hurt. Especially not like this.

But Shadow throws themselves into what they do. They like fixing things. They kinda need to, you know? Their identity is wrapped up in it (in a bad way- not gonna lie- want that critter to go to therapy but here we are.) What good are they as the ultimate life form if they can't wrangle the universe with their own two hands to produce a solution?

Frankly, I think most people are that way. That's why they ask, 'can I help?' even if there's nothing that can be physically done to help. I know I do that, too. It fucking sucks but sometimes, the best thing to just do is listen.

You can't take someone's sadness out of them and curb stomp it. You can't rip out someone's desire to hurt themself and snap it's neck. You can't take a person's body dysmorphia leave it bleeding in the streets. You wish you can, you'd give everything to be able to, but you can't.

And talking isn't much better. Lecturing would do nothing to help. Scolding and chiding is going to be bad. Browbeating would get the exact opposite effect desired. Threatening, bargaining, arguing, schooling- none of that will work. Furthermore, all of these come from a place of anger. We don't need anger in this moment. The person suffering through this is already angry enough- with themselves.

It just may be that Shadow listens and kneads dough at the same time, and when all the cooking is done, Shadow waits patiently for Amy to take the first bite before they, too, eat.

[kinopioa]

This is what I think regarding ShtH routes @beevean @crusherthedoctor

I see people get mad that Last Story can't be aligned with any route path, then say it's story is automatically bad cuz of that

But I think the bigger thing missed is the theme of the game: Choice

Last Story Shadow is doing his own thing mostly (guillibility really), regardless of player choice. Some events mirror what was seen in routes (Eggman gaslighting, Black Doom mem hack, Commander having hatred to Shadow), but I think rigidly defining it to be 1:1 to routes is wrong. Last Story is the TRUE canon story, not the other way around

Already in the routes you have places where you get each Emerald rapidly change in routes themselves. The only standard one is Westopolis for the green emerald in the beginning. Everything else varies

I think partially what fuels being unable to accept Last Story doing its own thing is gameplay forcing you to get 10 endings. The stress of that makes routes seem more canon than they are, despite the game being directly advertised as "mostly fun whatifs". Same with being unable to restart mid route, which forces further feelings that routes matter more than they do

I see people try to reconstruct the game so that routes matter more, and awkwardly it removes endings and levels. The whatif factor and being able to do a 180 in a route is ruined

Similarly you have people randomly think Rouge or others have all the answers when...no? The end of Heroes was literally her not knowing if Shadow was the OG or not, and no other char is aware of the Shadow Androids. Heck, this isn't confirmed in any route; it's a Last Story bonus if you wait

Personally if I were to remake the game;

-Have a disclaimer how Routes are mostly noncanonical, with some scenes mirroring what happens in canon with some differences in time and setting

-Have different interactions in scenes and missions depending on previous route. This seems to be planned if filename and event loading code is to be taken, though scrapped to neutral reactions in final, regardless of prior path

-Similarly, have missions vary counts to prove loyalty in later levels depending on prior path. If you did a lot of bad previous routes, you need to do more good to make up for it. Inversely, the mission is easier if you already are aligned with path. Lava Shelter interestingly checks this

-Have the ability to start a new route mid path of a finished one. Instead of replaying Westopolis 3 million times

-Have Last Story unlockable with simply 3 unique endings

-Have end of Last Story encourage playing more missions and whatif scenes. Heroes does this to encourage playing other teams. Shadow already does this for weapons

-Have the Devil Doom easter egg Eggman says easier to hear. So many fans missed it

-Correct some Localization duds. Surprisingly not many, despite cheesy dialogue, but the President thanking Gerald is wrong. Also explain how Tails' plane crashed randomly in the "you know what" scene

-Story wise I guess explain how the Chaotix got to space. It'd be interesting if Rouge is the reason, she surprisingly is barely in the game. Maybe tease how she was wrongly hostile in Heroes. To follow this...

-Note side char motivations better. Newcomers get a refresher for Shadow, but other characters are too sparse at times. Doesn't need to be detailed, or even voiced. The game uses static pics for SA2 flashbacks already. Heck, it can be unlockables for messing around in routes

-Have vehicles not play like shit. Gunplay funny enough is fine, though most physical weapons are too fragile

-Buff multiplayer. 3 stages ain't enough. A coop mode added also wouldn't be too bad (Sonic was scrapped after all...). Maybe configure weapon type and hitstun/invul time with settings

The game's very flawed, but I feel people missed the core point of it being a whatif fest

[sonknuxadow]

sorry mild hater moment incoming but . idk what it is with s/onadow fans (not all of them. just a very loud subsection) specifically and making every little thing shadow does about s/onadow even if its the biggest reach imaginable and immediately going "omg s/onadow" every time hes confirmed to be in some upcoming thing . or being so obsessed with the ship and letting it warp their perceptions of things so much to the point where they act like every little thing is a hint from sega that theyre in love for real. and they cant admit that its not canon or that just because they choose to interpret certain things romantically doesnt mean that thats actually what sega/the writers intended even if theres an obvious non so/nadow explanation for it

before people take this the wrong way i dont hate the ship i dont think that its completely baseless or that everyone who likes it is wrong and annoying or anything . but some of you look like this if im being honest

[catholic-character-tournament]

Round 3 - Catholic Character Tournament

Propaganda below ⬇️

Gabriel

Well he's an angel so I'm taking him being catholic as canon. There are a lot of themes in the game that point to catholisism specifically.

He's so fucking funny. he listens to nine inch nails and quotes one of the songs in a fight basically "fight me like an animal". he and v1 kind of have this yuri thing going on. he has an official bodypillow. hes a metaphor for being excommunicated and no one gets him like me and my friends do

The *true* Catholic experience is leaving the church and having a gay awakening, ask anyone

its debatable if Gabriel truly believes he's "the one true savior" or is mocking the idea of it

ok im actually gonna write some gabe propaganda bc despite what you may expect from a game called ULTRAKILL theres a lot to be said about his character and how catholicism is represented

Gabriel is a genuinely caring person who struggles to square his desire to help people with his duty as an archangel. He's the only one in Heaven trying to make things better for those in Hell, but his faith is used to manipulate him into committing atrocities against the people he used to protect (see the "TRAITOR" mural in 4-2)

he only realizes his mistakes after losing everything and being sentenced to death, but he still decides with only a little time remaining to try and make things right. for the sake of spoilers i will just say that the measures he takes are... extremely drastic and very enjoyable. i just really like the idea that even facing the end of all living things, no matter how steep your crimes, it is never too late to fix your mistakes. you are never unworthy forgiveness.

hes also SO FUCKING GAY for this dumb little robot. it mauled him so hard he tasted his own blood and he fell in love right there. theres no way this guy has a normal healthy relationship to pain he is soooooooooo fucked. i love him. please vote for Gabriel "patron saint of gay lapsed catholics" Ultrakill !!!!!!!!

Shadow

In sonic destruction (the AI generated fan thing snapcube made a while ago) shadow was catholic or something which I think is reallyyyyyyy funny

Ok listen. I know this is a stretch but hear me out. He says “oh my God” in the Twitter takeovers so we know this is a possibility. I see him as a Christ-like figure because I saw his whole confrontation with Mephiles and was like “this is a thing that happened in the Bible??” and the pose Mephiles shows him in is literally like a crucifixion and Mephiles is meant to be a demon / false prophet reference. And also he’s called a demon in Shadow The Hedgehog 2005 then the guy who calls him that is like “I was wrong I’m sorry” and that also reminds me of a thing with Jesus in The Bible. But the biggest reason is his whole thing with Maria cause I think he’d come to earth and hear Ave Maria once and convert to Catholicism idk he’s like we’re comforted by a female familial figure named Mary sometimes called Maria?? And her color is blue????? Heck yeah I’m in because I Will Cry. Also feel free to share this as propaganda obv even if he doesn’t get in the bracket just. It’s funny.

I feel like he’d battle a lot with being seen or portrayed as a demon and how the aliens he’s related to very much look and act like demons idk lmao- and also I feel like confession would just be good for him I think he needs it for his mental health

There is a debate on the lovely website tunblr that Shadow T. Hedgehog is an allegory for Jesus Christ.

He is Jesus, idk what to tell you. He lived, he was sealed away, he was awakened again and deemed the ultimate lifeforms, he’s angry but not evil, does what he believes is best for people and the world at any given time. Total loser.

[the-heart-of-a-monster]

Wh-

What the f-

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HELLO EXCUSE ME WHAT-

Yeah. This is fine. This is great, even! I'm just scrolling around on Tumblr, havin a good time, then I see some asks talking about the new page and I get excited. I riot in my head, even! I squeal with joy because I absolutely adore your art!

Then Sonic pushes Shadow away and my heart breaks in half.

wtf /pos and /lh

I wanna psychoanalyze this so fuccin bad so I'm gonna try my best but everything is so clear and easy to see so idk how obvious this will all be. I'll have a TLDR at the end that will hopefully be shorter idfk

Also before I do that I just wanna say that I absolutely love THOAM and I'm so glad I've been along on such a crazy journey for this long. Love seeing your art evolve throughout the 2 years I've been here!

ok let's get on with it already-

---

Okay so the first thing I noticed is Sonic's demeanor in this entire chapter so far. Sonic wasn't necessarily pissed at Shadow before coming here, (I still fail to remember the name of their location) but he was a bit... He seemed angered to some degree. This obviously has to do with the lack of sleep he's been getting due to his incredibly painful transformation, and uh side note here, transforming on its own would be enough to make someone feel out of sorts. I totally understand why Sonic is acting odd, in this case.

Anyway, the point I'm making is that Shadow has slowly been testing Sonic's patience throughout this and the last chapter. In the last one, Shadow said something incredibly rude and impulsive, which lead to Sonic staying behind in the dorm while Shadow and Chip were getting mawled. He only came back because he knew they were in deep trouble. The hug he got from Shadow didn't really help all that much, even if it was a kind gesture and something the Ultimate Lifeform wouldn't typically do. Because, y'know, it's just a hug. People hug others all the time, and it's not even close to a real apology.

Then Chip stayed behind with Tails. And... Suddenly, Sonic took a complete 180!

Without Chip around, without Sonic's emotional support buddy, the blue blur is left with all these pent up emotions that he's been refusing to let out for a long time. The last time he cried was days ago when he accidentally attacked Amy, and for us, that was probably like 3-4 years ago at this point. He's hardly had enough time or room to really feel anything, and that leaves him all constipated and icky. Sure, he had to kind of mellow his real feelings when Chip was around because he's just a kid in Sonic's eyes, and when Sonic lashes out it impacts Chip in a bad way. This doesn't mean Sonic feels any better without Chip, because without him, there's no hype man to make him feel better. There are no comforting words or small chit-chats for the road and no pit stops to get snacks... It's just him and Shadow now, and since they're on a pretty important mission to, you know, fix the entire fucking world, there's like no time for breaks.

Combine all this with the fact that Sonic is stuck as a Werehog for this entire chapter, and for the entirety of this specific mission... Yeah, you've got a pretty cranky hedgehog. And here's the sad part in all of this: Sonic doesn't like feeling this angry and this alone, but no one seems to really understand him anymore. Not even Shadow. They don't know what it's like living two whole lives at once, having to go through all this pain and agony for so long and not able to tell a soul. They couldn't possibly comprehend!

So how should he feel when his closest companion makes an effort to understand, even just by a little bit?

---

TL;DR

Sonic is confused and angry at the world. He doesn't understand what to do or how to act, and without Chip's support and unintentional therapy, he's just kinda... Left to his thoughts. Shadow suddenly trying to help after being not very helpful for a while made things even more confusing, and the fact Shadow never told Sonic about the constant nighttime thing... Yeeeeeaaahhh, Sonic's not doing too hot.

Hope this wasn't too long and I hope Tumblr doesn't eat this up due to its length. Thanks so much for reading to the end and thanks for just being you. Because if you didn't exist the world would explode-

<3

NEVER TOO LONG i think others also appreciate the theories ♥

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how the Jak and Daxter series was able to survive having a sequel that was drastically different from the first game. For most series, I think they wouldn’t be able to survive having a sequel that went against the prior installment, especially if the execution was bad. Yet Jak II didn’t sink the franchise. In fact, I’ve noticed that the 2nd Jak game has received better reception in the years since it was released.

As a kid, even though it took some getting used to since I loved the 1st game, I wasn’t put off by Jak II being this cyberpunk GTA title. But I never understood why.

After revisiting the game (I watched a playthrough on YouTube), I think I have a working theory:

1) Jak and Daxter only had 1 game out at the time.

So, the expectations for how the characters would be portrayed wasn’t that strict. Think of it like this; Nintendo wouldn’t get away with turning Link into an unhinged, smartass killer who openly flirts with Zelda. Neither would Sega with Sonic, that’s why Shadow exists. Link and Sonic are too well-known and established that people have expectations on how they should be portrayed, thus not a ton of room for experimentation/deviation. Naughty Dog had some leeway since Jak and Daxter weren’t really household names.

2) Turning Jak into an unhinged, bloodthirsty killer who openly flirts with Keira and has serious anger issues wasn’t that drastic.

This one’s pretty self-explanatory. You start off as innocent Jak, then he got pumped full of Dark Eco. Also, he was tortured for several years, so it’s not hard to see why his character turned out the way he did.

3) The game still feels like the 1st Jak and Daxter, even with the change in tone.

It controls the same. It looks the same (as in the artwork still feels like it was made by the same team). You’re still doing puzzles. And, aside from Jak, the other Jak 1 characters are pretty much the same. I think it’s Daxter and his obnoxiousness that really makes Jak II feel like it’s not a completely different franchise. Without Daxter, I think players would notice the dissonance from the 1st to the 2nd game a lot more.

4) Continuing from point 3, the new gameplay elements only build on from the 1st game rather than take away.

Sure, you get guns, a hoverboard, vehicles, and Dark Jak. However, everything else is still the same. If you remember the controls from the 1st game, you shouldn’t have any problem jumping into the 2nd game, which I feel helps in easing veteran players in with the new tone and setting.

5) Even with the change in tone and setting, the game doesn’t really deviate too far from how Jak was in Jak 1.

Even though Jak is unhinged, angry, and hellbent on revenge in Jak II, he’s still an overall good dude who goes around helping people. Jak still feels like Jak, albeit traumatized and angrier for valid reasons. It helps that Jak was sort of a blank slate in the first game. Because he was a blank slate, there was more room for Naughty Dog to develop his character in Jak II.

Jak is also a bit of a meathead dudebro in Jak II, which isn’t really how he was portrayed in Jak 1. But Jak being a dudebro isn’t that crazy when you consider his best friend is Daxter. And the open flirting isn’t that crazy since Jak already had a crush on Keira.

6) Jak II commits to its dark and edgy tone without going too dark or too cartoonish. It feels like a genuine attempt to take the first game and just “edge” it up.

What my point says. Jak II feels like a genuine continuation of the first game, but darker and edgier. But the game doesn’t go too edgy to the point that it takes you out of the story. It’s not like Jak is going around dropping f-bombs and chopping people’s heads off. It’s a solid balance, that’s what I’m trying to get at.

[skinnatblr]

Hello, I’m one of the contestants of the AU Sonic Smackdown, @delightrolls, the creator of the Sonic Thunderstorm AU. I was trying to decide who to vote for between you and @liminaltumbly, but the decision is proving to be difficult. Would you kindly tell me more about your Gaia Born AU? Anything and everything you feel comfortable sharing about your remarkable story! And if you want some more specific questions I would like to ask:

Is there a tag or some other way to find information on your story? I looked through your blog for a while and searched Gaia Born AU but I couldn’t find anything on it.

If Sonic was on the ARK does he remember Shadow, Maria, and Gerald?

If Sonic was born on the ARK how did he get sent to the planet?

Is Sonic’s Gaia Born Form permanent or a transformation that happens under certain circumstances?

Does Sonic still fight Eggman or someone else?

Does Sonic still have his trademark speed or is he slow like the Werehog?

Do any of Sonic’s friends outside of Tails appear? How do they feel about Sonic’s Gaia Born Form? How do the public at large feel about Sonic’s Gaia Born Form?

Where do Sonic and Tails move to after leaving Bygone Island?

If Sonic can sense people’s emotions does he also feel them or is he simply aware of them?

And one just out of curiosity, what would it be like if you Sonic met my Sonic, Duality? There’s a lot of hate from Empaths toward people with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, would your Sonic judge / fear / hate my Sonic for their condition or would he be aware of the fact the NPD is a disorder the person can’t help and that it doesn’t necessarily make someone a bad person? Would your Sonic be able to sense how emotional unstable Duality is?

Thank you for your time and regardless of whether you win or lose I think your story is remarkable :)

I’m currently doing my very best to write what I can about Gaia born so at the moment there no tag for him. Sonic was way too young to even open his eyes to remember shadow, Maria or the professor. But there is a strong connection that he can sense between him and shadow when they first meet. When the raid happened shadow placed Sonic in an escape pod to help Maria barricade the door but somehow his pod malfunctioned and shot him to the planet below without warning. His Werehog form is permanent (side eyes unleashed) and he does not have the super speed like his og counterpart. Yes, Sonic does still fight Eggman and even has a metal sonic counterpart. After moving from bygone island they met Vanilla the Rabbit after being homeless in the city and were practically adopted by her. All before cream was even in the picture. Knuckles was the first out of their friend group to meet Sonic and Tails and fully believed sonic was the monster eggman perceived him to be. Stubborn as he was it took until sonic met Chao for the first time to prove this fact was false. Up until his teens every friend he meets is a bit standoffish because of his appearance. Thanks to his golden retriever personality it doesn’t take long for people to warm up to him.

Honestly at first glance at your sonic, I think mine would love him and give him hugs and if he heard your characters story he would do everything to be a good friend to him. He sometimes struggles when emotions are mixed with someone so he asks if they’re ok or not.

Good luck to you too. Your au sounds pretty cool too :)

Don’t know if this counts as propaganda but I’ll tag @au-sonic-smackdown anyway :p