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tenebraevesper · 9 months ago

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Isekai'd As My Past Self (Sonic the Hedgehog AU Story)

Being a fan of Isekai Anime (currently watching Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss but I'm Not the Demon Lord), I think it was inevitable for me to come up with a story like this.

However, before I start with the actual premise of the story, I first want to explain the setting though. This story is based on the trope of the main character dying or getting executed in some way, only to reincarnate as their past self (think along the lines of 7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys A Carefree Life Married To Her Worst Enemy!), but with the caveat of having all of their future self's memories.

In this case, the story's starting point would be Archie Sonic's Mobius: 25 Year Later and Mobius: 30 Years Later storyline, with the main characters featured being King Sonic and King Shadow - or rather, their past selves before the events that led into 25YL/30YL took place. Silver would also be a major character in this due to his time-travelling shenanigans.

Before I dive into the plot properly, I will leave a warning here. If you read my previous analysis in regards to this storyline, King Shadow (The Altered Future & The Altered Character) & King Shadow (The Alternate Story), you would know that I don't like 25YL/30YL at all and therefore, I'm planning on not only deconstruct it, but completely destroy it in this AU story.

So, if you are a fan of the 25YL/30YL, the King Sonic storyline or the Sonally pairing, I'm recommending you to NOT read this AU story. If you do read it regardless of my warnings, don't come crying into the comments about how much you hate it. There is a reason I have warned you at the start and I'm not pulling any punches with this one.

With that said, let's dive into this story, and if you are curious about the additional text, it is the translated lyrics of the opening song of Villaines Level 99, titled LOVE or HATE?, which I was listening to while writing the story (the links lead to the TV Version and Full Version respectively). Honestly, if this were an anime, I'd probably use that song as it's theme song.

The Future

For example, if I let my hair sway a little

Will the voice I hear be LOVE or HATE?

Do whatever you like, no matter what they say

I won't stop walking

The story starts out sometime after the Sonic Universe Issue #5-#8. Take note, Mobius: X Years Later is, going by Pre-SGW canon, a possible ''What if'' future, not the canon future of Pre-SGW canon, which means that the events leading up to it were probably different than what we saw in later parts of Pre-SGW, but the timeline itself would probably similar enough.

The main focus would be on King Sonic, who is actually quite unhappy and bored with his life as the King of Light Mobius, thinking back to his past adventures and longing for the freedom he had, which is basically the core aspect of his character.

Before anyone starts arguing about why Sonic would be unhappy with his current life, take note that he actually expressed unhappiness in canon, specifically saying how he is not fit to be King, with Sally outright dismissing his feelings on the matter. Admittedly, this was also written by Ken Penders, who has no clue how Sonic works as a character and despite raising an interesting character point, quickly drops it like a hot potato.

Still, it is the one line I 100% agree with - Sonic is not fit to be a King.

This is why this AU story exists, as I want to dive in further into Sonic's thoughts on being a King. There would even be one event where another villain appears and King Sonic springs into action, only for Sally to literally stop him in his tracks, pointing out how he has other people that can handle this (this being a callback to a similar argument they had in Issue #134, where Sally basically told Sonic that he shouldn't throw himself in danger, especially since he's her consort and that they have other people fighting for them, meaning Sonic should stay by her side and rule with her - with Sonic refusing).

This is a similar case, with the addition of Sally telling him how he's the King and that he needs to think of his family and his people, how he can't go fighting like this since he's not anymore in his prime, and so on. All of which are valid points, but go against Sonic's core character.

King Sonic would obviously want to do the smart thing and keep Sally happy, but at the same time, wonders if it's really selfish that he also wants to be free from all of his duties as the King and go back to his adventuring lifestyle. Whether he wants to admit it or not, he has come to regret becoming King in the first place, but now that he made his choice, he cannot escape it.

As King Sonic thinks about this, he learns that King Shadow is back once again to cause chaos and, with other characters being conveniently absent, he goes to confront him despite Sally's wishes. King Sonic learns that King Shadow is on the search of some Mystical McGuffin Crystal (placeholder name, think of it like the Paradox Prism from Sonic Prime) that would help him once again to assert his rule over Light Mobius (as he tried to do with Tikhaos previously).

The two end up in a battle, with the Fake King Shadow sneering at King Sonic for not standing up to him and wondering where Sonic's fighting spirit had gone. This is the last straw for King Sonic and he tackles Fake King Shadow into the Paradox Crystal (not very imaginative, but hey, better than the actual placeholder name), causing it to shatter and the two getting engulfed in a bright light before everything around them turns dark.

The Past

Unstoppable news

They'll forget it tomorrow

Today is better than yesterday

Believing leads to a big victory

Sonic awakens suddenly, standing on a stage surrounded by the royal family and the people of the Acorn Kingdom. He is in a daze, wondering what had happened, with the first thing he notices is that he is much younger, being a teenager once again, and wonders if his battle with King Shadow and the whole Light Mobius future was just a dream.

He is then suddenly addressed by Sally, who asks him to finally make their engagement official to the public, but Sonic, still confused and baffled, and unable to comprehend what had just happened, just utters the following:

''No... I need... Shadow.''

He then leaps off the stage and quickly runs off to find the Faker and get the answer in regards to what had happened.

He eventually finds Shadow, who is equally baffled by what had just happened, although he managed to get an understanding of the situation faster than Sonic, and the two get into another fight, just to take out their frustrations on each other.

During the battle, they come to the conclusion that they somehow time-traveled back into the past, awakening as their younger selves right before the events that would set up the Light Mobius story had happened. In this past, they had just a major victory against Dr. Eggman and, as part of the celebration, Sonic and Sally, who had just made up and started dating again, wanted to make their engagement once again official - at least until Sonic ran off to find Shadow.

In other words, while one could argue that they pulled a Silver, this isn't a situation where they can just change the past and travel back to their own future. Instead, they got the opportunity to relive their past while also having the memories of their future selves. In other words, they are free to do whatever they want with the knowledge they have.

As they process this realization, Sonic accuses Shadow of becoming a tyrant again, and Shadow responds how the only reason he had done that was because even after Dr. Eggman was gone, other villains attempted to take over his place as the Big Bad and Shadow was the one who dealt with them to ensure peace. Had he gone too far in his mission? He did, but he felt that there was no other option for him left. There was power vacuum and he filled it by becoming a tyrant.

Sonic also realizes that, with him being back in the past as his younger self, he also got his own wish granted. He is not King Sonic anymore and he could easily go back to the adventuring he always wanted, enjoying the second chance, the freedom he had been granted. At the same time, he feels guilty because this would mean that the future he knows might not exist anymore, and it is through his own fault, even if he doesn't know the details.

Therefore, Sonic's main inner conflict here would be that he is torn between his desire for freedom and the duty he had towards the Acorn Kingdom as the future King, while Shadow's inner conflict would be his desire to protect the world through any means necessary and whether he should temper his more violent and cruel tendencies.

To make things more complicated, they are suddenly joined by Silver, who came from his own future to inform them about a looming danger that is threatening to tear up reality, with Sonic and Shadow realizing that they're responsible for this and have to work together now to fix their mistake.

This would be the main premise of the story.

The Present

Sync with the rhythm

I want to be swaying

But the outsiders are noisy

Noise canceling

As the story resumes, further details are revealed about Sonic and Shadow's current situation and the true nature of the shattered Paradox Crystal.

Through Silver's investigation, they learn that he Paradox Crystal was a powerful artifact that had the power of bending time and space by granting the user their innermost desires. This explains why Sonic and Shadow have returned back to the past as their younger selves, as Sonic's desire was to have his freedom back, while Shadow's desire was to have the power to protect the world in his own way. Not only that, but the shattering of the Crystal had also tampered with Sonic's own Chaos Energy, putting him in a similar state of agelessness as Shadow, which would allow Sonic to always remain in his prime so he could protect people and keep the world safe.

The three hedgehogs also learn that, before Sonic and Shadow, there was a different Entity that sought out the Paradox Crystal, but got trapped inside it and the Crystal getting shattered released it, which resulted in the Entity gaining the power to slowly fracture reality. To fix this mess, Sonic and Shadow would need to find the pieces of the Crystal that have scattered across the world like the Dragon Balls and bring them together. The reason why it is them who have to do this is, aside from personal responsibility, they're the ones among very few people who can actually detect and handle the Crystal's power and presence.

Sonic is excited to go on this adventure, only to get startled by a furious Sally calling for him and promptly hiding behind Shadow, as he doesn't want to confront Sally's wrath, yet. Shadow, in response, just rolls his eyes, while Silver is confused about what is going on. Basically, by Sonic saying ''No'' and running off earlier, Sally believed that she got shot down again and wants to give him a ''What the hell, dude?!'' speech about Sonic not caring about her feelings or even thinking about the situation for that matter.

Sonic attempts to explain himself, but is interrupted by Shadow, who tells Sally that reality is in danger and that's why Sonic ran off. This way, he also stops Sonic from accidentally revealing that he has memories of his future self, later explaining to Sonic that he doesn't really trust Sally with using any of that information. He points out that, while she can be proactive, when he started his tyrannical rule, she literally did nothing to undermine him, meaning that she still lacks some of decisiveness on her part.

Sally figures that, if things are that bad, then they should call the Freedom Fighters for help, although she would also have to discuss the matter with the Council of Acorn, as per the current rules, they cannot really act without getting the Council's approval.

Sonic, having enough of the Acorn Kingdom's politics and bureaucracy, decides to set out on his own, with only Shadow as his companion. He refuses to be anymore under the control of the government, be it the King or the Council, making the decision to work on his own.

He is here to protect them, not to be controlled by them, and if they don't like it, he can leave. He can do more good for the world if he doesn't have to wait to be told what he is supposed to do.

While there would be people protesting against this decision, Sonic and Shadow are already off on their adventure, traveling all over the world for the Crystal Shards Sonic Unleashed-style.

They would also face several opponents who would want the Crystal Shards for themselves, like Dr. Eggman, Ixis Naugus and Geoffrey St. John, and Scourge and the Destructix (perhaps even meeting Anti-Shadow and Anti-Silver if they have to travel to Moebius).

Oh, and one more thing - the engagement with Sally is off.

The Freedom Of Choice

For example, if I trace my finger a little

Will your choice be LOVE or HATE?

Do whatever you like, make your cheeks turn red

And spitting, boy

As I had mentioned before, the main inner conflict for Sonic would be the choice he would make in shaping his own future.

The expectations from people in-universe, as well as the reader, would obviously be that Sonic follows all the steps that leads up to the Light Mobius future (e.g. marrying Sally and becoming King), as that is the selfless thing to do, something that is expected from the main hero. Set right what was done wrong and follow the path to the anticipated happy ending.

But, is that really the ending that would make Sonic happy? This is a question Shadow would ask Sonic, wondering if he would really be happy to stay at one place, figuratively shackled to the duties of a King and abandoning who he is at his core.

In this story, Sonic would ultimately refuse to give up his freedom.

He will admit that, in the previous timeline, he did it to make Sally happy, but not himself. As a matter of fact, that was something everyone expected him to do, as they were the power couple and all that stuff, and he tried not to look back on the ''What If''. For him, there was no ''What if''.

However, now that he got a second chance, he decides to be selfish and do something for himself, especially when he experiences this sense of freedom once again by travelling all over the world, meeting new people and go on adventures.

The future itself is regarded as a huge ''What If''. Sonic has already experienced a future where he is the King and he wasn't happy about it. The question is, should he continue sacrificing his own happiness for the sake of others or actually be a bit selfish for his own sake? He doesn't even know how he ended up back as his younger self, so is he even allowed to change the present and the future? Would he be the villain because of that?

After all, it is not as if he would immediately return to the supposedly set Light Mobius future even if he fixed the Paradox Crystal. He was brought back to relive his past as he sees fit and he will be stuck in his teenage body with no way to jump into the future. So, either he can live through the whole experience again or just choose a different path.

Sonic would instead use the memories of his future self to help people, preventing any bad event flags from being triggered and protecting the world his own way. These changes in the present would obviously lead to the Light Mobius future not even being a possibility by default, allowing Sonic to live without regret.

Nevertheless, it won't be an easy choice to make and Sonic would keep doubting himself, which is why he would benefit from Shadow's presence.

Speaking of which...

The reason Shadow became a tyrant in the former timeline was to protect the world, ultimately losing himself in the process and feeding into his own delusions. When he returns to the past, he would still be in the mindset that he needs to protect the world by conquering it and eliminating any opposition. Sonic insists that he would be there to stop him, as he knows what Shadow is capable of.

Suddenly, Shadow gets furious, snapping at Sonic because the latter never saw just how bad it got before Shadow took over as a tyrant. As stated before, there was a power vacuum when Dr. Eggman died, leading to many other villains trying to take over, which basically made this whole situation a world-wide Game of Thrones. Shadow had to take over, because if he didn't, things could've ended up much worse.

Shadow also admits that he understands that everyone hated him, but he had to choose the ''ends justify the means'' option because he felt that there was nothing else left. Sonic, having gained a better understanding of Shadow's motives, would stop their fight and make an offer instead. He would tell Shadow that they could protect the world together as a team, especially since they have knowledge of the future and can use that to their advantage. Shadow would accept his offer.

The part that follows would focus on Sonic and Shadow's adventures across the world, where they would from time to time be aided by their friends, but ultimately, the story would be about them working together and developing a strong bond.

Now, that bond can be purely platonic... but if you are in any way familiar with my blog, you should already know that this would spiral into a Sonadow story.

If you don't like the ship or aren't a shipper yourself, you are free to skip the next part and resume at LOVE or HATE Story.

Sonic & Shadow - The Ultimate Duo

Differences in hobbies, differences in peace of mind

Even if I confuse you

My path is shaped by

Just LOVE or HATE

I'm certain that some don't like where this is going. Why should I write down such a story if one of its conclusions is a non-canonical ship? Well, if you still think the same, then you seriously should have skipped this part.

I had stated before that the story focuses on the concept of freedom and what it means to Sonic, and in this case, this choice would split off into three different paths. The first path would be following the set story, leading into the Light Mobius Future, aka the one this story will avoid. The second path follows a simple adventure plot, albeit going against the beliefs and expectations of the reader, with everyone gaining a happy, but platonic ending, which is where non-shippers should've stopped their read.

The natural conclusion would be that the third path follows the Sonadow Ending.

As stated above, in this path, Sonic would ultimately choose freedom over duty, which would make him ending up with Sally impossible. If he marries her, he becomes King and the Light Mobius future happens, which he wants to avoid in this life. So, distancing himself from any romantic relationships that would result in him being tied down, without him having any say in it, would be the next logical step.

If Sally questions Sonic about their engagement, he would tell her something along the lines of having thought about their future together, and he cannot see it happening anymore. He knows that a future with Sally means a future without freedom, and he knows that, the way he is now, they're incompatible.

Yeah, Sally (and the Sonally shippers) wouldn't be happy about that. After all, their relationship works on the idea of ''Opposites Attract'', which is probably one of reasons why people find it appealing. No offense to those who like the ship, but the issue that I personally see here is that ''Opposites Attract'' cannot work if the two sides are too opposing to attract each other.

In other words, Pre-SGW!Sally is too devoted to her kingdom and people and has stated time and time again that she prefers to settle down once this whole deal with Eggman is over.

Sonic does not work like that.

Sure, maybe Pre-SGW!Archie!Sonic would work, but I'm certain that by now, you have noticed that I'm writing Sonic's character with his Game!Self's characteristics in mind (and some helpful suggestions from Ian Flynn in regards to how he would approach Sonic being in a relationship).

First and foremost, Sonic is free as the wind. He would not settle in one place, even if he would visit it just to see his friends. He would keep travelling. He is not fit to be King (or even a father for that matter, even if he would try his best). His strengths lie in being an adventurer and he wants to fully embrace this side of him over the course of the story.

It has been a repeated statement in the shipping community that if you want to pair Sonic up with someone, this person should be a character who wouldn't warp who Sonic is at his core, but be able to keep up with him and accept his lifestyle. I have seen a debate about Sonamy, and while I find the ship cute and agree that Amy is someone who works hard to be recognized by Sonic, she too would be someone who'd prefer to settle down rather than always be on the move.

This brings me to the only person who not only recognizes Sonic's adventurous spirit and desire for freedom, but has immense respect for him, is capable of not only keeping up with Sonic, but even get ahead of him, and even if they argue, it is clear that both have the same goal in mind, even if their methods differ.

Look, I was never interested in shipping, so if you want me to like a certain pairing, you need to really convince me that it works and that the characters have chemistry and a charm to them.

Sonadow does have that chemistry and charm that makes me go ''Yeah, these two actually work together well.''

As for Sonic and Shadow, this adventure would definitely explore just how well they click together. To note, both Sonally and Sonadow are a case of ''opposites attract'', but with Sonally, they're just too different to work properly, especially when one is chained to duty and the other desires freedom.

Meanwhile, Sonic and Shadow are literally two different sides of the same coin, both never really settling anywhere and driven by their desire to protect their world, even if their methods differ. Both easily balance each other out and even them arguing, or just talking for that matter, sounds like them flirting more often than not. The only thing that needs to be added to their existing relationship is them becoming more vulnerable and open around each other, as it doesn't change what they already have or who they already are.

By spending so much time with each other, they would eventually realize that they have something going on and decide whether they'll fully embrace it or not, especially given their initial reservations about being in a relationship.

Sonic doesn't want to be tied down by anyone or anything and fears that he might lose his freedom again, while Shadow would be anxious about getting this close to someone again due to his own fear of losing someone important to him.

However, considering who the person is they're attracted to, they would realize that there really isn't anything to fear. Shadow would not take Sonic's freedom away from him, and Sonic basically has Main Character Syndrome, so there is no chance that he would die easily, at least not without a fight, something Shadow is well aware of by now.

Not too sure about how their friends would react to them being together, although I'm certain that they would be supportive.

Well, most of them.

LOVE or HATE Story

I did not intend to go this much into detail with this AU Story (which I came up with in a day, mind you), but once I started writing down the idea, I couldn't stop. Sure, there is probably more to write, but I would then have to start the story properly to add even more details of events and interactions.

While I'm somewhat interested in writing this out, I know well that this would end up in a very long story, and I already have other projects I'm working on, so this will remain as just as an idea.

I am open to discussing this story and what else can be explored and I'm eager to hear your opinion on it. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

I simply wanted to put this out in the public to hear other people's thoughts on it. If you love the story, than I'm glad to hear it. If you hate the story, well... *shrugs* I had warned you that I'm not pulling any punches.

I'm curious about your response!

#Sonic the Hedgehog Analyzer (Masterlist)

#Sonic the Hedgehog Analyzer #sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #king sonic #king shadow #silver the hedgehog #isekai #sonadow #mobius 30 years later #sonic universe #archie sonic #idw sonic #mobius 25 years later #anti sonally #sally acorn

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scruffyplayssonic · 8 months ago

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Are the ArchieSonic comics actually an 80's/90's syndicated cartoon? Episode 64 - 65: Two Multi-part Finale (part 7: Sonic X #40)

Welcome back to my investigation of how Archie Comics’ Sonic the Hedgehog series was actually a syndicated cartoon from the 80’s and 90’s!

Let me tell you - after six posts talking about the Endgame saga, the end of the Knuckles spinoff comics, and the death of the super special series, it’s a relief today to finally get to talk about something not written by Ken Penders. So you guys remember Sonic X, right? “Got ourselves a situation, stuck in a new location”?

It was a fun little anime based around the adventures of our favourite blue hedgehog, which suffered unspeakable atrocities at the hands of the localisation team at 4Kids Entertainment. The show was about the Sonic cast being sent to Earth in an accident and befriending poor little rich boy Chris Thorndyke. The show would feature them fighting Dr. Eggman in a robot of the week format, and in the second season ran arcs adapting Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2. They also sort of did an adaptation of Sonic Battle. At the end of the second season Sonic and his friends returned to their own planet, and the third season kicked off with an older Chris Thorndyke travelling to Sonic’s world, regressing back to childhood, and joining his friends on a series of adventures in outer space fighting the dreaded Metarex.

Debuting in September 2005 (around the same time the third season began airing in the US) was Sonic X the comic book, which was a companion book to the anime telling new stories with the same cast and setting. There were all sorts of wacky ideas they were able to do in the comic using the setting of the anime, such as Eggman selling Chao to everyone as pets that would turn vicious and attack, Sonic and friends being trapped in the Sonic 1 video game, Vector being briefly mutated into a kaiju, and Eggman becoming a mexican wrestler named El Gran Gordo!

The majority of this comic was set towards the end of season 2, before Sonic and friends returned to their own world. However the earlier issues played around earlier in the timeline, and we got to see things like Emerl being initially discovered and Eggman in jail following the Egg Moon incident.

Uniquely from the other finales I’m focusing on for this series, the end of the Sonic X comic was actually planned. The creative team wanted to end Sonic X before they risked jumping the shark, and launch a new spin-off - one not limited by the restrictions that the Sonic X setting and characters presented. They wanted this new spinoff to be set back in the main ArchieSonic canon, where they could have more space to explore other characters while Sonic’s adventures continued on in the main book. Essentially, it would be a return to the era of the comic when Sonic and Knuckles both had monthly comics coming out, only the new book, Sonic Universe, wouldn’t be limited to just Knuckles and his companion characters.

Arc #1 was focused on Shadow and the formation of Team Dark, then there was one about Mobius 30 Years Later, then one about Knuckles and the Chaotix, and so on. So when the time came for the Sonic X comic to end, Ian Flynn and the rest of the team did so by making it part of a crossover story that began in Sonic the Hedgehog #195 and 196, continued on into Sonic X #40, and was completed in the first issue of Sonic Universe.

The crossover began with Hedgehog Havoc, a meeting of hedgehogs that has never been matched before or since. Travelling to the Anti-verse, Sonic and Amy were on a mission to kick Scourge the Anti-Sonic out of Freedom HQ and send him back to his home dimension. While there, they’d also had an unfortunate encounter with Rosy the Rascal, the psychotic Anti-Amy. Next to show up was Shadow, who was now an Agent of GUN and had been helping Hope Kintobor test a device that was supposed to send him into the special zone to get a Chaos Emerald. Then Metal Sonic showed up. Having been rebuilt by Dr. Eggman, this newest model had been fitted with a special engine that allowed him to travel to alternate zones. Having not detected Sonic anywhere on Mobius, Metal Sonic travelled to Moebius to find him and join the fight. Finally Silver the Hedgehog made his first appearance, on a mission to kill the traitor that destroyed the Freedom Fighters. He was guided by Amy’s cousin, the archer Rob O’ the Hedge. And so…

Eventually Sonic had the bright idea of convincing everyone to turn on Scourge first, and then they could all sort out their other issues after taking care of the threat he presented. Unfortunately Scourge didn’t want to go quietly, and he used some hidden “Anarchy Beryl” to transform into Super Scourge.

Welp, that escalated quickly. Rationalising that he had no chance against Super Scourge, Metal Sonic returned to his initial directive of trying to murderise Sonic instead.

Shadow stepped in to help, using Metal Sonic’s interdimensional engine with his own Chaos Control to warp them both out of there. So that was one less threat for Sonic to have to deal with. And that’s where the beginning of Sonic X #40 comes in.

Now this next part is interesting to me. When Shadow and Metal Sonic crashed Cream’s tea party, there was a Sonic right there, ripe for the murdering. And that was Metal’s objective, right? To disembowel Sonic and leave a trail of squishy hedgehog organs scattered across the landscape? But no, apparently not:

I guess the implication here is that Metal Sonic changed directives because he was now in an unknown dimension, as opposed to when he landed in the Antiverse. It raises the question of just how much Eggman knows about Scourge’s home planet, but considering that prior to his initial takeover of Mobius he travelled to Anti-Mobius to recruit Evil Sonic to locate the Giant Borg pieces scattered across the multiverse, it’s reasonable to assume that Eggman has documented it. Certainly if not then, then he might have been motivated to further research the Antiverse after Scourge invaded Freedom HQ and warned Eggman he’d also be conquering Eggman’s territories in due time.

So after bonding over having arrived here from other planets (I love the look on Shadow’s face when Sonic told him he was dead xD), Sonic gave Shadow a tour of Station Square.

Yeah, that kind of thing happens in Sonic X. Just smile and nod. The next stop on their little tour was Chris Thorndyke’s school, as Sonic wanted to give Chris a treat. Unfortunately he didn’t really prepare Shadow for this moment.

I love that third panel. xD Chris: This is mine now. See you later, Sonic. Sonic: Bye, Chris! Shadow: Help… me…

Meanwhile, Metal Sonic managed to locate the local Eggman’s base and came knocking at his front door. Bokkun, Bocoe and Decoe were all terrified of their visitor, but Eggman was giddy to be presented with a robotic version of his greatest enemy that he could boss around.

Shadow got to meet Sam Speed next, and ask him the question that I think all of us had been asking since the first episode of Sonic X:

I dunno, it still seems like overkill to me. Let’s just hope that police forces here in the real world don't start doing this too.

While Sam and the hedgehogs were catching up, they were unaware that the shadowy organisation S.O.N.I.C.X. (the same one that had turned Vector into a kaiju) were spying on them.

Well that was a lucky break for the good guys.

Sonic and Shadow then went down to the beach and this is where Eggman caught up with them. He ordered Metal Sonic to attack, but it was a very brief battle.

In a panic Eggman raced back to his tower to check if he still had Shadow contained, puzzling over what he’d just seen when he found him right where he was supposed to be.

Sonic went back to Chris’ house and reconnected with all his friends, with Rouge and Chris both disappointed to find that Shadow had left.

And that’s where Sonic X, the comic, ended, with Sonic and friends anticipating their next adventure.

As for Shadow and Metal Sonic, their story continued in issue #1 of Sonic Universe. Shadow found himself teleported to the Sol Dimension via Chaos Control, and teamed up with Blaze and Marine to take down Metal Sonic once and for all*.

*..well, sort of.

But that’s another story. As for this one, it’s fine. Certainly not the greatest thing Ian Flynn has ever written, but it’s a hell of a lot more enjoyable than any of the Ken Penders stories I wrote about recently. It’s got a few funny moments, and the stuff with Chris is genuinely touching, which isn’t easy to pull off with a character that the majority of the fanbase loathes. I never really got into the Sonic X comics, unfortunately. I think I read the first 15 issues before I got bored and stopped buying them. Which is a shame, because I’ve gone back to look at the other issues more recently and there were some fun stories in there, especially the ones about El Gran Gordo.

But this one feels like a nice way to end the series (in comic form, at least - the anime has a whole season left chronologically after this issue) as well as being the springboard to the new Sonic Universe series. Man, I miss Sonic Universe. I really hope we can get an equivalent side series to the IDW Sonic comics one day.

Speaking of the next adventure, next time I’ll be returning to the main Sonic comics as I look at a much darker time in the history of the series - the death of pre-boot ArchieSonic. I’ll be covering Sonic the Hedgehog #247 and Sonic Universe #50, but at this stage I’m not sure whether that will be one post or two. I’ll see how I go. See you then!

#archiesonic syndicated

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borrelia · 26 days ago

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can u tell me more about what happened when robotnik got defeated in stc and sonic turned depressed aboyt it i saw u post panels from that a while ago and it reminded me of archie sonic

under the cut bc its fucking long. also i forgot what you said while i was getting all these scs so i went off on a completely different tangent. but this:

was sonic depressed about his friend dying, not robotnik being defeated. the most we got out of him after robotniks defeat was this:

and the immediate next panel, tails takes sonic on an adventure. but i thought you were asking about when robotnik was depressed so thats what the rest of the post is about.

so eggman loses his empire in issue 100 and sneaks off to flicky island for a while where he plots and schemes and such. he collaborates with the drakon empire to get to the chaos emeralds, absorbs their power, and temporarily becomes a god that just changes reality to torment sonic for like three issues starting in 127.

then knuckles neutralizes his power with the grey emerald and he shrinks down so small he ends up on an atom-sized planet. which is where we get what is essentially sonic storybook planet. they got secret rings and black knight in here. and he's kintobor again for a while :)

then he stops being kintobor. theyre all trapped on this tiny planet for AGESSSS its like 30 issues or somethign?? jesus. anyway robotnik figures out a way to get out in 164.

wanted to keep this bit in. badum tsss

enjoy nacks emaciated body. anyway it does this.

robotnik is defeated and pissed off about it. and wanders off to go lick his wounds. then in 171 we get this

which leads into this short little arc i always forget about where robotnik uses alternate dimension alien technology to drain the life energy of mobius and earth to make himself powerful enough to kill everyone. leading to this in 174

then the adventure 1 arc kicks off right after his defeat with him moping and depressed

which grimer tries to get him out of by releasing chaos

and gets us to the end of the comic, where robotnik gets chaos all the emeralds

becauuuse heee's sickavit!!

#mewtuals #fleetway sonic

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fortemelody · 7 months ago

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i was visiting chicago last weekend and i walked around and found a comic shop. i’ve been trying to find a place that sold archie sonic comics (becus i’m a collector even of subjectively bad and not cannon media) and i happen to find a handful so i was super excited! i picked up 3 of them.

it was issue 30, 41, and the knuckles spin-off 14.

what’s so special about this you may ask?

the first two are relatively normal. knuckles 14 however is the issue where charmy’s friend (mello) gets a laced chili dog from a carnival stand and proceeds to overdose on LSD -oh i’m sorry “lemon sundrop dandelion”- and dies (and then the chaotix eventually overdose too but live obviously)

i have watched way too many archie sonic youtube review videos and so when i realized that i had found that specific issue i almost lost my shit. i treated this like it was some rare collectors item that the world has never seen. i legit almost screamed. in reality this is just another horrible pender’s story that was worth a whopping 4 dollars. but listen y’all THIS SHIT SHOW OF A COMIC IS SPECIAL TO ME IN A COMEDIC WAY OKAY ☹️☹️☹️

i have yet to read it becus it’s been a hectic week but when i do i’m going to curl up by the fireplace, relax, and absolutely laugh my ass off.

OKAY NVM DID SOME RESEARCH AND APPARENTLY ITS A 3 PART COMIC AND THE SET UP (THE PLOT THAT I JUST DESCRIBED) WAS ACTUALLY IN 13 GODDAMIT there’s way too much lore to remember help me and why did this fuckass story have to go on for so long??? i’m sure some kid in the 90s was just dying to know the ending of the LSD caper their parents definitely wouldn’t approve of them reading 😭

#sonic the hedgehog #archie sonic #ken penders is an asshole but his comics are pure comedic gold #sonic fandom #knuckles the echidna #knuckles comics #sonic #sonic comics #sth #fuck u ken penders #i really hate ken penders #i’m sorry to my irl mutuals for being a nerd #i’m glad this series was put out of its misery

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digamma-f-wau · 1 year ago

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Who Did What for Sonic the Hedgehog's 900th Adventure

So the 900th Adventure was basically this years Annual in spirit, but instead of multiple shorter stories, it told one big story, but with the number of writers and art teams that you would get in a multi-story annual anyways. Sure you could easily read the credits, but it's more fun this way. Obviously spoilers ahead so everything past part 1 is is gonna be under a Read More

Part 1 (pages 1-6): Set-up with Tails

Writer: Ian Flynn (the original main writer on IDW Sonic and post-Metal Virus continues to be one of the main writers, including being the main writer of IDW's Classic Sonic specials. Been with the franchise since becoming a writer for the Archie comics back in '06 and served as the writer for Sonic Frontiers)

Artist: Adam Bryce Thomas (one of the main IDW Sonic artists. been around since the latter half of Archie's reboot)

Colors: Valentina Pinto (initially a secondary colorist whose biggest credit was doing the Imposter Syndrome miniseries, recently seems to have graduated to being one of the main colorists this year)

Part 2 (pages 7-12): Amy and the Orca

Writer/Artist: Evan Stanley (the other main writer of IDW Sonic post-Metal Virus as well as one of the main artists, been around since late in Archie's pre-reboot era)

Colors: Gigi Dutreix (regular cover artist and occasional inker and has even written a few stories; co-authoring Victory Garden from the 2019 Annual and its follow up Future Growth, which they also colored, and solo-writing The Catalyst from 2020's Annual)

Part 3 (pages 13-18): Knuckles and Metal Sonic

Writer: Nigel Kitching (one of the main writers of the old UK Sonic the Comic published by Fleetway Editions back in the 90s)

Artist: Mauro Fonseca (regular artist, major credits so far include Sonic Learns to Drive from the 30th Anniversary Special, co-designing Surge & Kit, doing the A-covers for the Imposter Syndrome miniseries, and doing a bunch of stuff in the concurrent and upcoming main book issues. Also relevantly used to be a regular contributor to the Sonic the Comic-Online fan continuation)

Inks: Rik Mack (recent regular inker, being the main inker on Mauro's more recent interior art for the comic as well as inking other artists, most notably on Tails' 30th Anniversary Special. Recently did some coloring on the back-half of issue 61 as well. Also another former StC-O regular)

Colors: Reggie Graham (one of the main colorists on IDW Sonic post-Metal Virus, after having been a regular on covers beforehand, as well as being another former StC-O regular)

Part 4 (pages 19-24): Eggman and his Mech

Writer: Daniel Barnes (writer of Weapons from the 2022 Annual and the Scrapnik Island miniseries)

Artist/Colors: Min Ho Kim (fairly recent addition of the IDW Sonic crew, being a regular cover artist since Scrapnik #1. Also the character artist on The Murder of Sonic)

Color Assistance: Evan Maly

Part 5 (pages 25-30): Blaze and Cream

Writer/Artist: Aaron Hammerstrom (regular artist, most prominently being the main artist for IDW's Classic Sonic stuff. Also previously wrote/drew the 2022 Annual story Rough Patch)

Inks: Matt Froese (regular inker, mainly works on Aaron's art. Most notable non-Aaron credits include the two Yardley-drawn issues of Zeti Hunt and the first and last parts of Trial by Fire)

Colors: Nathalie Fourdraine (The 1:10 Retailer Incentive variant cover artist for every issue the main book as well as semi-regularly doing covers for side books. Served as the colorist for the Classic Sonic stories Dr. Eggman's Brithday and Amy's New Hobby, as well as the colors and A covers for the Scrapnik Island miniseries)

Part 6 (pages 31-36): Babylon Rogues & Shadow/Rouge

Writer: Caleb Goellner (writer of the Team Sonic Racing one-shot, the 2019 Annual story Jet Set Tornado, and the 2020 Annual story Reflections)

Artist: Abby Bulmer (regular cover artist, as well as artist of the 2020 Annual story The Catalyst and the 2022 Annual story Hero Camp. Notably way back in the day was the artist of the very first StC-O story, and her time on 2000 AD often involved her serving as a colorist for Richard Elson, one of the main StC artists.)

Colors: Heather Breckel (IDW MLP's main colorist, who's been a recurring secondary colorist throughout IDW Sonic's run, often filling in for other colorists)

Part 7 (pages 37-40): The Warp Topaz Cave

Same team (Flynn/Thomas/Pinto) as part 1

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fernsnailz · 2 years ago

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Opinion on Sonic universe issue 5 to 8 ?

oh i despise most of mobius 25/30 years later. i truly consider it to be a terrible future for the entire cast and one of my least favorite aspects of archie sonic.

i think sonic universe issues 5-8 have some interesting concepts they introduce like silver's appearance and tikhaos, but most of these concepts are unexplored and/or underutilized (silver is asleep for like half of the arc and there's never much explanation as to how tikhaos even exists as far as i remember. also sonic's five-year-old children are the ones to defeat it lol)

i have a lot of thoughts as to why mobius 25/30 years later just doesn't work but i'm real tired rn so i might do a better analysis later. gist of it is the concept of sonic being a king is flawed to the core and the entire cast settling down to have their little nuclear families makes me violent and amy and rouge aren't even THERE. also they made knuckles a cop

and oh man don't even get me started on my king shadow opinions

#i'm so sorry there really isn't much of archie sonic i actively hate but like. mobius 25 years later drives me crazy #tbh my king shadow opinions are a bit less hate-fueled since he's actually kinda interesting. but i still don't like it #fernasks #also COMPLETELY unrelated. but i love ur icon :]

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fostersffff · 1 month ago

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There’s definitely some bias on account for the fact that I'm reading through the Archie Sonic comics with perfect hindsight, but man can you just feel when a story is being written by Ken Penders.

Worse is when he does the pencils for a story, because like... Patrick Spaziante started out good and got even better over time, but Penders is like... I can 100% see how this guy went on to make The Lara-Su Chronicles despite the fact that this art is from almost 30 years earlier. There's just a weird lifelessness to it that even the earliest off-model-y Sonic comics don't have, especially when juxtaposed with other artists like Spaziante or Art Mawhinney (from the same issue).

#Sonic the Hedgehog #Sonic comics #comics

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crusherthedoctor · 1 year ago

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1, 2, 7 and 12 for Sonic!

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

Used to not like him very much, in spite of his good qualities, because of how much he annoyed me with his usually not-that-funny snark, and how said snark would often cause fans to think that somehow translates to Eggman being a harmless joke. And how fans tend to let him get away with things that they'd crucify any other character for because main character bias. And because as long as his portrayal is considered top tier, then it's suddenly no big deal if the rest of the cast is treated like an afterthought at best that only exists to make him look good. I still stand by the opinion that Black Knight fell into that trap despite its otherwise solid portrayal of Sonic, and Frontiers has sadly followed suit... with a not quite as solid Sonic.

Nowadays... he's still not exactly one of my absolute favourites, because all of that still rings true to this day, and beside that, there are simply a ton of other characters in the series that I prefer. (Eggman, Tails, Rouge, Tikal, Blaze, Trip, Vector... Gamma... Omega... the Heavies... Luppy Luppy Man... Moneybags...). But after IDW turned him into Mr. Principles, and Prime turned him into Mr. Funny Penis Man, on top of how other adaptations like SatAM and Archie dropped the ball with him, AND combined with how often fans go one extreme or the other with him and choose to misinterpret him as either a stereotypical superhero or the Punisher... it's easier to appreciate the unique depth and perspective that Game Sonic has.

Note that I always knew the nuance was there. I was never blind to it, and I always gave credit where I felt it was due, like the ending to Secret Rings. It's just easier to do so when the amount of portrayals that catastrophically miss the point have gone into overdrive.

Getting used to writing for him in my fanfic material has also helped me gel with him a bit more (not in a Flynn/Stanley way: I've been very adament on keeping him in-character to the best of my ability, even with the addition of you-know-what involving you-know-which-horsie). I also softened up on him because of how much I now associate him with you. :>

One more thing: I realise that most of my aforementioned issues came down to the fandom rather than Sonic himself. These days, I try my best to separate annoying fan hijinks with the character unless I already hate them on their own merits (Surge and Kit), or said hijinks are unavoidably linked to the reason for my beef with them and thus it can't be put aside so easily. Like the Freedom Fighters being overrated as all hell when they weren't all that and spent a lot of time being dicks, or Sage receiving so much praise for """fleshing Eggman out""" and depth she arguably doesn't have, or my currently soured feelings on Amy due to bias and double standards surrounding her less flattering moments VS that of other characters.

2. Favourite canon thing about this character?

His compassion.

No, not that gaslighting and lecturing with 30 paragraphs bullshit. Game Sonic's compassion. Real compassion.

He might not always know what to say, or how to say it, but he always tries his best with someone as long as they're not an irredeemable villain (unless they've already been defeated and can be potentially reasoned with afterwards, like with Merlina). For all the praise given to him for this, I'd argue it's still one of his most underrated traits, since so many fans think that his somewhat selfish love for adventure and enjoying the thrills mean that he doesn't take saving lives or the wellbeing of others seriously, like it's all just a game to him and nothing more... Meanwhile, Eggman is the one portrayed as understanding and compassionate in fanworks. How the hell does that work.

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

In Sonic's case, I can't think of much specific other than... keeping him in-character, due to how it doesn't happen often, although you could say that about any of the cast under the average fandom pen. I appreciate it when fans truly understand him, and know what they're talking about with him. Now if only there was someone I knew who fit that description... some kind of Sonic Encyclopedia, if you will... ;P

I guess if it counts, I do like it when him and Tails are portrayed as the unbreakable bond that they are in canon, but ONLY if Tails is treated with equal respect and agency. Lot of fans like to overly infantilize him so that Sonic can take care of him, which implies they only see Tails as a useful tool and not a character in his own right.

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

Here's a few. I'll number them (in no particular order) since bullet points always group everything together with no spacing when I use them, which annoys me every time lol.

1. Since he's somewhat of a nomad, Tails' home is the closest thing he has to one.

2. Unless he absolutely has to sleep it off, Sonic tries not to let his hayfever disrupt his morning run. In Green Hill, this usually results in him sneezing every ten seconds.

3. After both Storybook incidents, Sonic would eagerly tell Tails about what he experienced in the Arabian Nights and the Grand Kingdom. Tails, of course, didn't question any of it.

4. Despite their differences, he's proud of Shadow for being able to move on from his past, and become a hero in his own right. He doesn't say it out loud because he knows Shadow would brush it off in his typical Shadow way, and because he knows he doesn't really need to hear it anyway.

5. One time, Sonic mocked Zavok by calling him Bowser. Zavok did not get the joke.

6. Nowadays, Sonic and Rouge get on surprisingly well, as they have more in common than one would expect. Like getting on Knuckles' nerves on occasion, for example.

7. Much like how Amy is her big sister in spirit, Cream considers Sonic a big brother figure.

8. Sonic finds it rather insulting when someone assumes running fast is all he cares about. After all, he has various established hobbies like anyone else, such as reading.

9. He vividly remembers every single place he's been to, no matter how long or how brief he was there. Ironically for someone who doesn't look back, he reminisces on where he's explored with fondness.

10. This is a concept I'm exploring with Stellar, so I'll try not to spoil too much, but as much as Sonic enjoys fighting Eggman despite not treating him lightly (and usually making no effort to save him from situations that should have killed him), he wonders with the escalation of the doctor's plans and ambitions just how long things will last before he has to take him down permanently. Let's just say that certain events in Stellar give Sonic a harsh reminder that at the end of the day, Eggman is not any better than Black Doom, Mephiles, Erazor, etc.

11. The Emerald Coast comic where he reacts poorly to IDW Sonic is canon.

#Crusher's Asks #Opinion #Headcanon #Sonic the Hedgehog

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thecoolertails · 1 year ago

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#presented without comment #my posts #archie sonic posting #knux issue 30

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egg-emperor · 1 year ago

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Proof of drLvorobotnik Twitter reposting my stuff since they wanted to stir drama and make it public after I tried to DM privately.

Colors Japanese translation screenshots - exact amount, frames, sub text size, etc

Repost FEB 27 2023: https://twitter.com/DrlvoRobotnik/status/1630147943217889281

Og JAN 27 2023: https://www.tumblr.com/egg-emperor/707566272731316224/based-japanese-colors-eggman-hes-like-you-are?source=share

See any differences? Exactly. Was even scheduled to post exactly a month after mine in this case. It's not a coincidence.

Cute style art upscale in which I erased the bg, lined up the art, and upscaled myself

Repost JUN 15 2023: https://twitter.com/DrlvoRobotnik/status/1630680372932407296

Og JAN 5 2023: https://www.tumblr.com/egg-emperor/705652378852032512/i-finally-found-the-sheet-of-the-clean-art-of-the?source=share

I cropped and lined up the art myself too before upscaling it. Want to see the original it comes from?

Now try to tell me they coincidentally edited and lined them up exactly the same way

Archie cover EDIT and upscale:

Repost JUNE 20 2023: https://twitter.com/DrlvoRobotnik/status/1670954778547855366

Og JAN 27 2023: https://www.tumblr.com/egg-emperor/707561354007019520/i-absolutely-adore-this-cover-its-one-of-my?source=share

This includes my art edit. Let me show you how

The actual cover had a glasses lense coloring error on the left, where the blue goes too far and isn't circled off. And there's a white border around the bg https://www.deviantart.com/sdowner/art/Sonic-Universe-39-Cover-282494516

Notice how the repost has my cropped and fixed circled left lense edit version? I drew that black line on and colored it myself.

Actual cover:

My edit:

The repost:

My recording of the actual game I then screenshot that's overly saturated because of the recorder having issues, exact frame in my post too:

Repost JUNE 22 2023: https://twitter.com/DrlvoRobotnik/status/1671702742698541056

Og MAY 7 2023: https://www.tumblr.com/egg-emperor/716691124721500160/im-planning-on-making-a-much-more-in-depth-post?source=share

Eggman slapping belly gif

Repost JUNE 28 2023: https://twitter.com/DrlvoRobotnik/status/1674137071349317633?s=20

Og DECEMBER 5 2020: https://www.tumblr.com/egg-emperor/636629231814705152/i-realized-that-ive-only-ever-made-a-gif-of-my?source=share

Origins floatie gif

Repost MAY 16 2023: https://twitter.com/DrlvoRobotnik/status/1658329878146560001

Og JUNE 21 2022: https://www.tumblr.com/egg-emperor/687689067876548608/sonic-origins-eggman-gifs-55-look-at-him-on-his?source=share:

Origins fist pump gif saturated with added contrast by me

Repost JULY 3 2023: https://twitter.com/DrlvoRobotnik/status/1675933625362030602:

Og JUNE 21 2022: https://www.tumblr.com/egg-emperor/687689104200269824/sonic-origins-eggman-gifs-25-mischievous-egg?source=share

They're the exact same starting frame, length, and added saturation and contrast by me. I have way more of these too

They started trying to screenshot my gifs thinking I wouldn't notice, like this sandwich gif. I turned up the lightness in this gif so you can barely see Eggman's glove on the right side. You can see this is in their repost screenshot too, it also matches the very first frame of the paused gif. It's from me.

Repost JULY 24 2023: https://twitter.com/DrlvoRobotnik/status/1683292101990129665

Og JUNE 7 2020: https://www.tumblr.com/egg-emperor/620225073127768064/eggman-sandwich-appreciation?source=share

I'll be adding more to this as I gather the rest as there's many many more, too many to cover but I have at least 30+ of them saved that I could compare. But just getting these out before they private, block me, or delete the tweets. If they do it's further proof they're guilty and trying to cover their tracks. Though these images clearly prove enough

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wonderinc-sonic · 28 days ago

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Just watched a multi hour long documentary about Ken Penders and bitch didn't even make Scourge.

Ken made Evil/Anti Sonic and gave him a generic/forgettable personality and purpose. Anti Sonic was just a villain of the week who'd appear, go 'Hey, I'm Sonic but EVIL~' mess with Sonic for a comic issue before getting his ass handed to him.

And then IAN came along, gave Anti Sonic a shake down to create a more coherent trajectory for him, created the dynamic between Scourge and Fiona, and turned him green.

Ken takes all the credit for Scourge, despite hardly being involved with Scourges character development and having nearly nothing to do with what made Scourge 'Scourge', because Scourge is Anti Sonic and Ken made Anti Sonic.

Hi, not the message I expected to recieve today - I don't talk much about Archie as I don't know it as well as some others do and don't want to be ignorant. But I actually do remember the very early comics with the anti-sonic, I believe it was in the first 30 or so issues that I reread a few years back, so he was a really early addition to the Archie cast, in that form!

To be honest, I don't think that much about Penders. He doesn't deserve my admiration, but he isn't still making waves on the Sonic scene like he used to, so he doesn't earn my ire either. He's probably best ignored by most of us now.

I don't see much sense in getting wound up about the Archie comic run since it was always its own canon, and now it is over one benefit is wr can pick and choose what we like! But, glad you enjoyed your deep dive - we're luck as Sonic fans, there's so much history to explore from such a short space of time!

#wonderincs #anon

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tenebraevesper · 2 years ago

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King Shadow (The Alternate Story)

A while ago, I did an analysis on King Shadow from the Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie) comics, King Shadow (The Altered Future & The Altered Character), which is my least favorite take on Shadow the Hedgehog in official media so far. By the end of it, I had said that I might write down my take on King Shadow if you guys want me to, and I got a positive response. So, here is my concept.

Please note that this are my thoughts and if you have your own ideas regarding how you’d write King Shadow, I’d love to hear them.

First, I want to start off with the setting. King Shadow appears in the alternate future called Light Mobius in Ian Flynn’s continuation of Ken Penders supposed “magnum opus”, called Mobius: 25 Years Later... which is probably the worst Sonic story I have ever read. Ian’s attempts at fixing the story and turning it into something good fall flat mainly because the base of the story is really weak and while it has some interesting concepts, it really falls apart in the grand scheme of things.

The gist of Penders!25YL is that absolutely nothing happens until King Sonic is sent back at time to prevent a disaster and the story ends there. Ian!25YL picks the story up where it ended, explaining how King Sonic fixed the future, but it has been altered in such way that Shadow went on conquering the world for basically no reason and crowned himself king.

From what I understood, the reason why Shadow was written as an evil king was because at the time, he was still seen as an antagonist.

Now, thinking about the setting... I feel like we don’t even need it. Honestly, when I started writing this concept, I took a look at 25YL/30YL and decided to just Ctrl+Alt+Delete the whole thing and start with a blank slate. As a matter of fact, this doesn’t even have to take place in Sonic (Archie). It only has to take place in the Sonic Universe.

Next, the biggest issue I had was with was Shadow’s motivation for conquering the world - that being that he apparently had none. Admittedly, this seemed to have been somewhat expanded in Mobius: 30 Years Later...

If I understood correctly, the world had been at a war and Shadow conquered it to bring peace, but he turned into a tyrant in the process, using brute force to keep everyone in line. I think that this isn’t a bad motive, but it still needs to be worked on.

So, with the two main issues I had with this story (there are many more, but let’s focus on just these two for now), here’s my idea how the story might go. Once again, this is just a concept idea and if you don’t like how I wrote King Shadow, you’re free to tell me how you would write him.

Trigger Warning - It is quite brutal.

Shadow’s descent into becoming a tyrannical King would have its origins in a tragedy (yeah, I like to make the characters I love suffer), with the story starting off with Sonic and his friends being involved in another battle against Eggman. This takes place at a point where Shadow has opened up more to his friends, like Rouge, Omega, Sonic, etc. He has moved on from his past, accepting his new life and managed to forge several close bonds.

This confrontation everyone participates in is on a grand scale, think something akin to the battle during the Metal Virus Saga from Sonic IDW, and is incredibly brutal, with the consequences of it that most of the characters have been either killed or died due to their wounds. Sonic has somehow vanished during the battle, leaving Shadow as one of the few survivors. Having witnessed the demise of his closest friends, Shadow would be deeply affected by this traumatic experience, the memories of his past overwhelming him.

He had lost Maria, and just when he had come to terms with moving on and living life with his new friends, he now lost everyone he cared about. This would lead to him shutting down, or at least becoming closed off once again as he tries to handle the grief and survivor's guilt, with the only hope being that there wouldn't be any conflict because Eggman is also gone. The world is at peace now, isn’t it?

Except, that's not the case. New villains would rise and Shadow would see it as his own responsibility to go to the front lines to fight these new villains, over and over again. He is The Ultimate Lifeform, the strongest being in the universe, and he feels that he needs to soldier on and protect the world as he had not only promised to Maria, but to himself. He also refuses to get close to anyone else, because he doesn’t want to deal with another loss.

Eventually, he is called to deal with another conflict, this one being rather petty. It doesn’t matter what it is, but the point is that this is what finally breaks Shadow. He realizes that no matter how hard he works to protect the world, there would always be new conflicts, even for the most ridiculous reasons and people would continue being ungrateful for the peace he’s trying to create.

So, he decides to take matters in his own hands.

After all, Shadow is the Ultimate Lifeform. He is nearly invulnerable, he is ageless, he is incredibly skilled with Chaos Energy and can use the Chaos Emeralds to turn into Super Shadow. No one can harm him and, more importantly, no one can stop him.

In order to preserve peace, he takes it upon himself to conquer everything, crowning himself as King Shadow, and makes sure that all wars/conflicts cease. If someone attempts to cause trouble, he'll deal with them swiftly and, if they resist, brutally. Peace is finally brought back to the world.

However, one issue remains. Even though Shadow has achieved his goal of peace, he enforces it with an iron fist. People are living in fear of him and have to walk on eggshells as they believe that even the smallest argument or protest might get them thrown into prison or worse. They see him as a tyrant king, and Shadow knows that.

He knows that people fear him, but because of his immense power, no one would dare to challenge him. He doesn't pay mind to them though, as being ageless, he'll outlive them. His reign is absolute and no one can do anything about it. He is angry though, noting how ungrateful everyone is - they finally are at peace, yet they complain about it. He would, however, acknowledge that they're partially right - he knows that he's a tyrant for enforcing peace with an iron fist, but he doesn't care. It was a necessity.

Shadow is also dealing with loneliness, heavy trauma, survivor's guilt and understands that he twisted his promise to protect the world beyond recognition. He notes that he isn't doing this for Maria, but for himself. He knows that his old friends would be horrified by what he had done, by what he had become, but he saw no other way out of this situation. He knows that he is the villain here, and he has embraced that role fully during the time that had passed.

Then, some time during King Shadow's rule and him dealing with a resistance of some sort, Sonic suddenly appears seemingly out of nowhere.

Now, I haven’t really thought about what would happen to Sonic, but the general idea is that he may have experienced some kind of time travel, which flung him from the past into the King Shadow!Future. He may have even had some help from Silver.

Regardless of what happened to Sonic, he has talked to the leader of this resistance movement and learns not only about the deaths of his friends, but also about Shadow's tyrannical rule and decides to confront him. The resistance members, not really knowing what kind of person Sonic truly is, figure that Sonic is going to remove Shadow by force, possibly even kill him, and support him.

Shadow also hears about Sonic's return, and while he's shocked at first that Sonic has somehow miraculously survived the battle, he decides to prepare for their eventual encounter. Interestingly, he actually welcomes Sonic with open arms, despite being aware that Sonic wants to fight him, and when Sonic attempts to talk things out, he punches his rival.

This escalates into a battle between the two, where Shadow reveals what he had gone through and admits that he knows that he has become a tyrant and that people hate him, but he feels that he was too far gone to change. He had been hoping for that eventually someone would come and put him out of his misery - and Sonic is the only one who can do that.

So, the two fight, going all out on each other, with the battle ending in Sonic’s victory. However, instead of destroying Shadow, who is laying on the ground, defeated, Sonic offers him his hand, much to everyone’s shock. Sonic explains that he’d rather stay with Shadow and help him deal with his trauma, and the only reason he fought the latter was because he knew they both needed to blow off some steam without putting anyone else in danger.

Sonic explains to Shadow that they both dealt with a heavy loss and he is still grieving the death of his friends, but he isn't going to lose another friend, that being Shadow himself. Sonic wants to help Shadow heal, pointing out that he and Shadow had the same goal in achieving peace, except Shadow went overboard in his grief, and he doesn't consider Shadow a lost case.

While still in shock, Shadow accepts the proposal, grabbing Sonic’s hand and getting up, but is basically arrested by the resistance. They still want him to be punished for what he had done, and Shadow agrees to it, even if Sonic protests, because he feels Shadow has suffered already enough.

As it turns out, Shadow gets banished from his own kingdom, as they have no means of imprisoning him, and when the court debates on whether they can even do that, since they would have to trust that Shadow wouldn’t return on his own to take back his kingdom, Sonic replies that he’ll keep an eye on his the ebony hedgehog.

Once left alone, both Sonic and Shadow are aware it will take a while to heal from what had happened to both of them, but Sonic is just glad to at least have one friend by his side, suggesting they travel together from one place to another and help those in need or go on adventures. Sonic notes how regardless of everything, he will continue to protect people, with Shadow agreeing - ending the whole thing on a bittersweet, but hopeful note.

Whatever happens afterwards, they will face it together.

EDIT:

#Isekai'd As My Past Self (Sonic the Hedgehog AU Story) - a spiritual successor to this story idea.

#Sonic the Hedgehog Analyzer (Masterlist)

#Sonic the Hedgehog Analyzer #sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #sonic archie #sonic idw #mobius 25 years later #mobius 30 years later #sonadow

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