#based on their Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog outfits

[land-of-sinners]

I can only make peak at midnight apparently-

[themetallicnemesis]

Tmosth but if Amy's literal best friend and little sister figure had gotten invited to her frickin birthday

[pico-digital-studios]

Into, Across and Beyond!: Character Charts

Today, I'd like to introduce you all to most of the major cast line-up for Into, Across and Beyond!.

BLUR GANG

The Blur Gang is a bunch of multidimensional heroes from many universes all ganged together with the equal purpose of keeping things safe. The members of this team include:

OMT!Tails (the Tails of the Sonic.exe One More Time games by Mr. Pixel Productions)

CR!Sonic (an alternate version of the blue blur by @becdoesthings)

OMT!Mina (an alternate version of Mina from a parallel timeline to Tails)

Mini Sonic (from the Sonic the Hedgehog Parts 1 & 2 game)

Mr. Needlemouse (a cartoon-like Sonic made by @mcgamejolter)

EX!Alice (an alternate version of Xenophanes' right-hand girl by AetherAsterisk) and her robot mech, E4-R6:3

D-Sides Mighty (from the FNF D-Sides mod)

BK!Amy Rose (an alternate role swap version of Amy for Sonic and the Black Knight, conceptualised by @sstorminghearts)

CU!Sonic and CU!Sonia (a father and daughter from the ChaosIIUniverse by ToonsiteComics)

Nine (from Sonic Prime)

Nitro (my own original character)

Antho (from SFG1235's Mobiverse AU)

Ex-Prince Brian (from the Mobius' Freedom Fighters AU by jordangaming101 and @becdoesthings)

Hog the Tenrec (a bootleg Sonic character by Jack Gore on Twitter)

Wacky the Hedgehog (another bootleg Sonic character by danicorelove on Twitter)

Devy the Rabbit (character and sprite by NotSoDevy)

Trip the Sungazer Lizard

QUILL SOCIETY

The Quill Society are a group of multiversal characters responsible for protecting the very fabric of the Sonic and SEGA multiverse. Note in advance that only five of its members are on a bad side, and most of them are solely good. Their members include:

Lost Memory Sonic (from What if Sonic Lost his Memory? by The Sega Scourge)

Amy Rouge (from that Sonic Adventure 2 mod with everyone wearing Rouge's outfit)

Turbo the Alien Hedgehog (that one alien rival from the Fleetway comics)

Fiona Fox

Tekno the Canary (from the Fleetway comics)

Zonic the Zone Cop (from the Archie universe)

CD Alt Ending Sonic (from Sonic CD: Alternative Ending by Lucsan 2015)

Underground Sonic

Emperor Metallix

Errorverse Sonic (from the same AU Nitro originates from)

LEGO Sonic

Sunky and Tlels

Carol Tea (from Freedom Planet)

Sarah Henderson (from the Needlem0use series by ShutUpJojo)

Barry the Quokka (from The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog)

E-21 (a modified robot from the Movie universe)

Milly Prower (by SallyAc63038470 on Twitter; SFW in this AU)

Blitz!Tails (from the Sonic/Avalice Blitz AU by BobTheGUYYYYY on Twitter)

Sonic.RAW (a Sonic.exe character made by randidesu)

Superstars / Discovery Omega Amy

OVA Knuckles

Rob o' the Hedge

Water Sonic (from that one Sonamy fanart based on Elemental; designed by @xblueshin)

Fleetway Amy

Stella Hoshine the Cat

Pana Der Hejhog

Bunnie Rabbot

Nicky Parlouzer

Somari

Warrior Feline Honey

VILLAINS

These are the various villains present throughout the stories. These include, in the Spider-Verse set:

Eggman Nega

Shadow Emerl / Uma Arachnis

Zeera the Zeti

Surge the Tenrec

Johnny the Shark Robot

Snively

Crimtake (the EXE from NotSoDevy's SONIC Lost Drive trilogy)

Gemerl / Anti-Miles

Dr. Beeman (Mr. Needlemouse's arch-nemesis)

The More than One Universe set includes:

Shalian (an alternate version of Toxinfect)

Crossover Realm Corrupt

Talrareth

Animator vs. Animation Corrupt

Richard Ambersilve

Sonath

Curse (my version of the character)

The Into the Sonic-verse villains include, from this list:

Dr. Finitevus

The Super Special Sonic Search and Smash Squad (Scratch, Grounder and Coconuts)

Scourge the Hedgehog

Rosy the Rascal

Walter Naugus

And finally, we've some members of the AU's supporting cast, those being the OMT versions of Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, Sally, Cream and Robotnik, alongside three other OCs of mine, Lucia, Karilvatch and Amelia, and the Mobiverse version of Tails.

Other supporting characters include:

The Errorverse counterparts of Tails, Amy, Knuckles and Eggman

Exeller (from the Spirits of Hell duology)

Team Lilac

Extraterrestrial Encounter Sonic / XE!Sonic and Xenomorphic (this AU's version of Eddie Brock and Venom)

The FNF trio from the Errorverse (alongside Bentonly/Bently Forceloyed and Isabella Fondsmith from New Identity, New Life)

The Prower Kids (Melody and Skye Prower)

The Errorverse's version of Benjamin Fairest/Softie Benji

Fellow SEGA and Capcom characters include:

Alex Kidd

Ristar

NiGHTS

Opa-Opa

Arle Nadja

Billy Hatcher

Mega Man / Rock Light

Over the next days, I'll drop some bios to explain who all these people are and their role in this AU. Do note that NONE of this is canon to the pre-existing AUs or official universes unless their creators deem it as such.

I apologise in advance if your favourite AU or a favourite OC didn't get in, but do know that this is only the surface level of how massive the multiverse can be. And just remember the one golden rule of the multiverse:

In the multiverse, everything is canon!

Yeah, we don't talk about THAT stuff, though.

Sprite credits:

CartoonsAnimate22 (OMT!Tails, OMT!Sonic, OMT!Knux, OMT!Amy and OMT!Robotnik)

Nebula / Cylent Nite (CR!Sonic and Lost Memory Sonic)

Cylent Nite (OMT!Mina, Tekno and Warrior Feline Honey)

jrm10071322 (Mini Sonic)

Octluigi (Mr. Needlemouse base; edit by Pico231)

deltaConduit (EX!Alice and CD!Sonic; edits by Pico231)

Sergey E.S.N. (front-facing Big Arms sprite)

Dolphman (S2 Mighty sprite; edit by Pico231)

Mod.Gen (BK!Amy, Nitro (edit and design by KoolTimYT, BroadwayBash123 and Pico231), Wacky (edits by Pico231), Fiona, EV!Sonic/Tails/Amy/Eggman/Knuckles, Bunnie, Snively, Scourge, Rosy, Naugus and the Prower Kids)

paveldechev0604 (CU!Sonic; edits by Pico231)

SEGA (CU!Sonia, Crimtake and Shalian bases; edits by Pico231) (SS!Amy)

Deebs and Xeric (Alt Mod.Gen Tails sprite; edit by Pico231)

@mcgamejolter (Custom Nitro, Amelia and Bently sprites, alongside original sprites for AVA!Corrupt and Richard)

Antho and BECDoesDA/JordanGaming101 (sprites for Antho and Brian)

Jack Gore/darck12exe (Hog sprites)

Gavin’s Golden Entertainment (old Hog sprites; tweaks and edits by Pico231)

NotSoDevy (his character’s sprite)

miniluv73 (Trip sprite)

SuperGoku809 (Amy Rouge sprite)

RatherNoiceSprites (Turbo, Somari and XE!Sonic sprites)

khalifax10 and Xeric (Zonic sprite)

Deebs (UG!Sonic and OMT!Sally sprites)

DerZocker (Emperor Metallix sprite)

LegoLoco7 (LEGO Sonic sprite; recreation by Pico231)

Miles The Duck (Sunky and Tlels sprites)

GalaxyTrail (Carol and Lilac sprites)

SFG1235 (Antho, Barry and MV!Tails sprites)

KostyaGame the Fox (E-21 sprite)

JunkeyBot (Milly sprite; edits by Pico231)

Nebula (Super Tails sprite; edits by Pico231)

randidesu (RAW sprite)

Gardow and Overbound (OVA!Knux sprite)

Gabriel_aka_Frag (Rob o’ and OMT!Cheese sprites)

FlewayAmysprite (Fleetway Amy sprite)

TheCrushedJoycon (TTS sprite; edit by Pico231)

MarkeyJester (Pana sprite)

NickyFan7 (Nicky sprite)

Shinbaloonba (Eggman Nega sprite)

Xeric (Uma sprite)

Willosonic (Zeena sprite; disguised form in one mockup based on a sprite by Teh2Chao2)

ManiaMadness91 (Surge sprite)

Lone Devil (Johnny sprite)

mtallic (Sonic.OMT sprite)

Rosabelle (S1 Extended sprite; edits by BECDoesDA and PrimalKoopaPictures)

NotSoDevy and NightAkio (Talrareth sprites)

paveldechev0604 (Original Sonic 1-based sprite; edits by Pico231)

Louplayer (Ohshima Eggman sprite; edits by Pico231)

Tonberry2k (S.S.S.S.S. Squad sprites)

Smoke-the-Pyroling (OMT!Cream sprite)

KoolTimYT (Dr. Beeman and Exeller sprites)

LiefBnuy (SMA Milla sprite)

HyperTails12 and LillyDragon (Carrie sprite)

NICKtendo DS (Time Eater sprite; edit by Pico231)

RaulHedgeBomber (FNF trio sprites’ palettes)

Hyperknux6 (custom NiGHTS sprite)

[emkblair]

Autistic Study of Shadow the Hedgehog

I'm not a professional in any way. I am officially diagnosed with Autism and ADHD (along with others 🦝✨️). I just want to talk about the autistic traits that Shadow shows because he's my favorite, and I relate with him the most. Also, this is just based on my observations, and it is just my opinion. I'm open to talking about this! /gen 🙂

!Minor Spoiler Warning for Murder of Shadow the Hedgehog! In between pictures of him with the green outfit and Shadow with Werehog Sonic

So, let's get started!

First off, Shadow tends to come off as harsh, blunt, and cold. Though to him, he's usually just being honest or genuinely doesn't want to interact with someone. Some autistic people can have a cold or monotone voice when they talk. And some (like me) come off as harsh or blunt when just being honest about things. I've been told about how some things can come off as rude when being honest about them. Which I can kind of understand. Especially as my friends have helped me practice and understand better. Honesty still feels like the best option, personally.

He remembers little details (this is besides all of the amnesia folks). In Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog, Shadow remembers that Amy loves the band Hot Honey. I know there was another example of this in another game, but I can't remember what it was.

Also, the way Shadow struggles with the computer is so relatable. Learning new things is something I struggle with, too. Even if it's something simple. 😪

Also, in the Murder of Sonic, we get to see him interacting with other characters in a much "calmer" and "relaxed" setting. He doesn't seem to interact with anyone unless he has to.

Shadow, even when having amnesia, is very sure of himself. Nothing can deter him from being himself. Even in the face of evil like Black Doom. He's not easily swayed by others. (Except by Maria 🥲).

He also can get hyperfixated on something and won't stop until he sees it to the end. I also relate to it because I can get hyperfixated on things so much that I ignore anything going on around me, and I can neglect my own needs like eating and drinking.

Some of this could be due to him being created by Gerald Robotnik and because he didn't really have anyone to socialize with besides the professor and Maria. But in the anime that leads up to Sonic X Shadow generations, we can see he's always been like this, and this is likely just his personality and traits. Now, he does seem to get more angry and have some major PTSD issues after the incident on the ark. This could explain why some of his traits become more prominent.

Overall, I love Shadow as a whole. I can't wait to dive even deeper into his lore. I can't wait for the Sonic 3 movie! Not only because my boy Shadow is in it but also because we get to see all the characters interacting.

Feel free to leave comments on this topic because I'd love to hear what y'all think about Shadow and his autistic traits.

I know I've heard people refer to Sonic and Shadow as the ADHD & Autism duo. So maybe I'll make another post about Sonic with his ADHD traits.

Much love! 💜🦔

[etaleah]

My Sonic Predictions and Hopes for 2024

Admittedly some of these are things I want to see happen rather than things that are likely to happen, but what the heck, I’ll list ‘em out and see if any of them end up coming true. 🤷🏻‍♀️

A one-shot for the comics involving either springtime or Valentine’s Day. I think spring is more likely since (1) they’re avoiding romance and Valentine’s Day is a romantic holiday, and (2) having a springtime one-shot nicely follows the trend of having Endless Summer and Winter Special one-shots.

I’m pretty pessimistic about the third movie still happening in 2024 given how stubborn the studios are being about the strikes, so I’m guessing the release date will be pushed back to 2025. However, I do think 2024 will bring us a trailer/teaser with some news about casting and whether any new characters besides Shadow will feature.

Part 3 of Sonic Prime, which will likely involve something bad happening to Shadow for reasons explained here. PLEASE LET THIS ONE BE TRUE I NEED PART 3 NOW

A DLC, update, or some kind of “Plus” pack for Sonic Superstars since that seems to be the trend now.

I doubt we’ll see much more for Frontiers since it won’t really be a new game anymore and will have already had a big update. Maybe a few minor tweaks like a new outfit or pair of shoes.

A new Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games title since 2024 will have the Paris Olympics.

More Sonic Symphony tour dates, one of them probably being New York since that’s a really big city for them to leave out.

More merchandise, possibly featuring Shadow to tie in with the third movie.

The Knuckles TV show released on DVD (hopefully).

The comics will take a darker turn again. They seem to alternate between dark, serious arcs and fun, light-hearted arcs. Right now, they’re on Misadventures, which is fun and light-hearted, so I suspect that at some point in 2024, things will turn serious again.

I also suspect that Starline might be revealed to have survived after all, but that could just be wishful thinking on my part since I like his character and was sad to see such a cool villain go so quickly.

Another visual novel or some kind of storybook thing that builds on the success of Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog. No way is something that successful gonna be a one-time deal.

A remaster or re-release/port of an older game. The titles I think are most likely are Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, and Sonic and the Black Knight. Adventure 2 would tie nicely into the release of the third movie (especially if they’re adapting its storyline) and they clearly know how popular it is since they released a new figure for it and put City Escape in one of their other games. Heroes is possible since it’s 20+ years old, had some songs included in Frontiers, and the franchise as a whole seems to be leaning toward having more playable characters and team/partner-based play. Murder and Superstars lean into this hard, Origins added Amy, and Frontiers will soon have other playable characters too, so I think they’re testing the waters for a game with an ensemble cast. The launch of the Fast Friends comic series on their socials also shows a lean in this direction. Black Knight is possible since 2024 would be the game’s 15th anniversary, the storybook setup was well received in Murder, and they seem to be calling attention to it by putting its characters in their mobile games.

Again, these are just guesses and I could be wrong about all of them. We shall see… 👀

[kqltlc]

Terminology clarification for OC and FC because I keep seeing the terms being misused and it makes it very difficult to browse tags when a majority of the time the tags are applied wrong.

This is gonna be a long post, buckle ur seatbelts and take out your spiral straws bc ur brain gonna be as mush as mine when I'm done.

DISCLAIMER: This is my point of view and doesn't apply to EVERY scenario. Every scenario, or character, can have nuances that make them an anomaly. This is more of a generally-speaking post. I'm also really bad with words and my brain dies immediately at long posts so feel free to cut me some slack if there's mistakes or inconsistencies. LOL.

"OC" stands for "Original Character."

This is a character made entirely by you. No influence or strings attached.

You might take bits of inspiration from things such as objects, personality, outfits, or ideas - perhaps you were introduced to these through a fandom - but none of these things are inherently fandom as they exist outside of fandom as well.

Lets use dragons as an example. Dragons are a part of mythology that can't be traced back to any specific source and, for the most part, are simply a combination of existing animals like lizards and bats.

Imagine a dragon based on the long-nosed whipsnake but with a pumpkin vibe: A goofy noodle of a dragon with a slender orange body, green horns pointed backward, green vine-like wings, green belly scales that reach until the green tail that eventually ends off in vines.

This would be an OC as you created it with no strings attached to existing media. You took a few ideas you liked and created something new out of it, something original to you. If anything similar exists, it's purely coincidental and you most likely aren't aware of it.

Other examples in popular media include the sources of fandom, the Original worlds in which fandoms follow such as Sonic, Mario, Spiderman, Next Gen, Murder Drones, etc.

Sonic is a blue hedgehog that can run fast and has to save the world, Mario is a plumber out to save the princess, Spiderman is just a dude who got bit by a radioactive spider, Next gen is about a broken girl who befriends a broken robot and learns the meaning of friendship and moving on from the past, Murder Drones is about different kinds of robots initially pitted against each other but starting to realize there's something else afoot.

These were created based on ideas. There might be some idea-taking from existing media but these guys function entirely on their own, in their own world, with little to no relation to anything else.

extra notes:

an OC would be able to pass in a court of law if someone tried to claim copyright. It's why original media HAS to be original.

everything you do is canon lmao.

"FC" stands for "Fan Character."

This is a character made in relation to existing fandoms - or as I'm going to call them, the Original (OG) World, a world not made by you.

Whether it's taking a lot of visual ideas from the OG World, being related to any of the characters or plot in the OG World, or just being in the OG World, this character has strings attached to something already created by someone else. Perhaps what you create is unique on its own, but it still has relations to the OG World.

Bringing back the dragon example. You decide to make a dragon loosely based on that long-nosed whipsnake and pumpkin combo. The difference here is that you're making them a Hivewing from Wings of Fire, or a Skydancer from FlightRising.

This would make them an FC as they end up being connected to an OG World. You can have a Sonic FC who is a rainbow stag beetle that you use in any setting, a Murder Drones Worker Drone with no relation to the characters or story since they have their own but still follow the Murder Drones vibe, perhaps you have a Spiderverse character who got bit by a radioactive rabbit so their entire aesthetic is more rabbit-y.

If you're a participant of an open or closed species, then they'd fall under this as well, unless you're the creator of the species ofc.

You are a fan of an OG World, created a character inspired by it and, depending how strong the connection is to the OG World, may not be able to function outside of it (without it being obvious they stand out too much in other worlds, original or otherwise).

extra notes:

would not be able to pass in a court of law if copyright claimed as the character would share too many traits with the OG World.

anything you do is not canon in the OG World.

Can my character become an OC (or vise versa)?

Yes! It's absolutely possible for your character to start as one and evolve into the other!

You can have an FC that, over time, gets so much original ideas added to them and fandom ties severed that they can stand on their own. Perhaps you made that little snake-derg in a fandom first but eventually loved it so much you decided to make it more of its own thing!

I originally adopted a Wings of Fire design from a user a while ago and turned it into an OC by adjusting and stylizing it to a point where it's just a dragon in a world I setup for a dragon roleplay (I also know nothing on WoF so that kinda helps boost originality, lol).

You can also have an OC that you decided to drop into a fandom because you love the fandoms OG World so much! You end up giving them traits and ideas more relevant to the OG World so they fit in and function better~

(I don't have many examples of this as I'm not big on fandoms, lol)

Conclusion + Extra Notes

Please consider what's been said and tag accordingly. Although words are words and communication can be pretty loose, in the ways of tagging they're very crucial to get right.

It's really unfun to browse the OC tags and get bombarded by FCs because no one seems to remember what the terms mean, just as it's unfun to browse tags for fandoms and get unrelated posts.

Extra Notes: Although not specific to OC and FC, kinda related.

This is kinda why some creators are vehemently against being given ideas. It becomes less original, especially the more detailed an idea is.

This also plays a roll in companies trying to claim words and ideas, copywriting anything that's even remotely similar. "Monster" is a word/idea that cannot be claimed, and yet the Monster Energy Drink brand still tried to claim it. The idea of platformers or battle systems is not something inherently owned by Nintendo and yet they're getting aggressive with claiming it as their own.

DISCLAIMER: This is my point of view and doesn't apply to EVERY scenario. Every scenario, or character, can have nuances that make them an anomaly. This is more of a generally-speaking post. I'm also really bad with words and my brain dies immediately at long posts so feel free to cut me some slack if there's mistakes or inconsistencies. LOL.

Also at this point I haven't ate dinner yet and I'm really hungry so brain is 110% dead. Ya'll have fun, I'ma get some chimken nuggiez.

[i-don-t-believe]

Pep's media recommendations of the year!!

this list is based on media (video games, tv, web series) I've consumed this year and why I recommend them, spoiler free! Chances are you've seen me blog about them, so lets get into it!!

TWEWY: media type: Games | anime adaptation This video game is a story and battle game centered around one evolving mystery. Full of early 2000s slang, music, outfit choices, and much more, this game pushes the limits in its unique game mechanics and world lore. It's sequel NEO twewy came out just 2 years ago and follows its successor in its involvement of pop culture and new mechanics. This game deeply spoke to me and its story was one of the most interesting i've encountered this year. TWEWY shares the same origin on the ds and port to switch as Ghost Trick.

Trigun: media type: tv series | manga Trigun is a manga series that has now been adapted twice to tv, one an anime in the late 90s, and the other a 2023 anime that completely took over my life for months. Any fan of the series will tell you just how much this series digs into morals, complex characters, Christ allegories, transgenderism, and bodily autonomy. It is a tragic, funny, and deeply moving story about a far off world and future for humanity. You can experience the series in any order you like, but most hardcore fans will recommend the manga first.

The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog: media type: video game As most of you know, I am an avid fan of Sonic. This silly little april fools game is one of the best characterized pieces of modern sonic media we've had in the peast 2 years maybe aside from the idw comics and frontiers - those of course taking their own styles of storytelling. I can't recommend this game enough to anyone who either barely knows sonic or is just getting into it, because it shows off some energy from the series I love. It's also a mystery game!

Lego Monkie Kid: media type: tv show Lego Monkie Kid is an extremely well animated and well written small kids series that is a modern continuation of the legend of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King from Journey To The West. It follows a spunky monster-of-the-week scenario for the first 2 seasons, and then splits off into season-long plots that involve a lot of hardcore character development and high stakes. If you're a fan of amazing visuals and superhero shows, this series is fantastic.

Bungou Stray Dogs: media type: manga | anime | novels | stage play adaptation | movie I've been into this series for a long time, and this year we got a lot more anime content for me to consume. Obviously this series is long stretching in terms of spin-off content and adaptations, but it's worth getting into if you're a fan of superpower content, detectives and mafia, and just generally insane hijinks. Go check it out!!

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective: media type: video game I experienced Ghost Trick within the span of two days while staying at my friends house, and was practically speechless the entire time when not trying to get through trick parts. This game is the most interesting mystery games I've ever played. It has insanely interesting mechanics and great characters, as well as one of the most fun takes on a whodunnit ever. Anyone who has played this game knows that it reaches so deep into instant spoiler territory that it is impossible to talk about, so I just leave you with this: Go Play Ghost Trick.

Generation Loss: media type: web series - youtube and Twitch Genloss is streamer Ranboo's longtime project that he had been working on as long as I had been watching him. His passion for this comedy-horror series adapted to livestream is easily seen in how much work went into this series. Genloss takes inspiration from a sort of dystopian streaming-service view and old horror tropes, with references to the saw series apparent in the second episode. The many streamers that play characters in this series are fun to see put on the big screen outside of just playing games to their audiences. Ranboo has many more goals and installments for this series, and I can't wait to see what comes out of it.

Persona 5: media type: video game | anime adaptation | manga This game has been out for years but I finally just got into it!! You probably don't need me to tell you to play it, but I genuinely can't find anything in this series that would turn anyone away from playing it. It may be lengthy, but it keeps me engaged by constantly having something to do at all times. Of course, the music is BANGING.

Puss in Boots 2: media type: Movie One of my favorite movies of the year, Puss in boots is both well animated and well written. Continuing with the story of Puss from his own spin off from the Shrek series, this sequel takes a much darker note by having Puss fight for his life constantly, at the end of his 9 lives. It also features a bunch of different villains, antagonists, and other big bads. It's very worth the watch.

Spider-man into the Spiderverse: The Spiderverse series has had a knack for revitalizing the animation industry with new techniques and showing off new skills, and this movie is no outlier to that. Its full of great twists, amazing characters, music, animation, and writing. Full of a great mix of jokes and series moments, I was hooked and cannot wait for the next installment. Go check out this movie and its previous edition.

That's all for now! Obviously if anyone who follows me or is mutuals with me gets into one of my interests i explode on the spot, but feel free to reblog with your own top choices from this year!! as always, i'll still be here in 2024 and for many years to come. Tumblr can't get rid of me. :3

[wazafam]

In the video game movie subgenre, 2014's Street Fighter: Assassins' Fist is by far the best ever made. Video game movies are notoriously regarded with more disdain than appreciation among moviegoers and gamers alike, the latter in particular usually very reticent about getting their hopes up when one is on the way. Street Fighter itself has been right at the center of the poor reputation of video game movies with its first two cinematic outings, which makes Assassin's Fist that much more of a diamond in the rough.

Born out of the 2010 short film Street Fighter: Legacy, Assassin's Fist first debuted as a web series in May of 2014 before hitting home media as a complete movie. Written by Joey Ansah and Christian Howard and directed by Ansah, Assassin's Fist also saw Ansah portray the villainous Akuma, with Howard playing Ken Masters, and Mike Moh in the role of Ryu (replacing Jon Foo from Legacy). Assassin's Fist was subsequently followed up by the 2016 interquel Street Fighter: Resurrection, and despite grand plans for a Street Fighter: World Warrior series to fully bring the franchise to life, with Suicide Squad director David Ayer to helm the pilot and Ansah even having Scott Adkins as his first choice for Guile, a lack of studio movement led to the rights reverting to Capcom and World Warrior falling into limbo.

RELATED: Avatar: The Last Airbender's Street Fighter Cameo Explained

That's nothing short of a crying shame, given that Assassin's Fist set the stage for the planned story to grow and thrive in the complete opposite trajectory from where the reputation of video game movies currently sits. Ansah has also commented that a need to maintain creative control as showrunner on World Warrior is partly what led to a stall in movement in the series, and given how Assassin's Fist turned out in contrast to other video game movies, and past Street Fighter films in particular, he was anything but unjustified in standing his ground. Their poor reputation notwithstanding, video game movies aren't dying out, as last year's Sonic the Hedgehog, the reboot of Mortal Kombat, and the forthcoming Resident Evil reboot show. Yet despite the success of those films, Assassin's Fist stands apart for a number of reasons.

Street Fighter may be one of the longest-running and most popular video game franchises ever created, but as a cinematic property, it was damaged goods at best before 2010. As one of the first major films based on a video game, 1994's Jean-Claude Van Damme-led Street Fighter was an absurd, campy romp, though it admittedly has amassed a sizeable fan base for those very qualities. Raul Julia's ridiculously unhinged portrayal of M. Bison is as quotable today as it was when audiences first heard him proclaim Blanka to be "A beast born of my own genius!" and even that's just scratching the surface of how much scenery Julia chewed playing the dictator. Street Fighter may have been a trainwreck in adapting its namesake, but no action movie whose villain proclaims "You come here prepared to fight a madman, and instead you found a god?" will want for entertainment value.

Fifteen years later, the Street Fighter brand took another black eye with 2009's Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li, which had the opposite problem of being a dull, boring slog through chaotically edited fight scenes and a misguided attempt to use the dark-and-gritty approach on a property with such fantastical elements. No longer was M. Bison a Psycho Power-wielding, muscled up would-be dictator, but an Irish crime boss in a suit and tie played by Neal McDonough. Meanwhile, the titular Chun Li, played by Smallville's Kristin Kreuk, was a generic blank slate heroine who only donned her trademark ox horns and blue outfit from the games once in a fight scene that made poor use of the character's spinning bird-kick, in addition to a vast array of other problems. If nothing else, Street Fighter at least made a worldwide haul of just shy of $100 million, while The Legend of Chun Li only scraped together $12.8 million worldwide. With its first outing going down in history as The Room of video game movies and its second bombing on an epic scale, Street Fighter didn't seem to have strong prospects in movie form.

That perception changed overnight with the sudden arrival of the short film "Street Fighter: Legacy" in May 2010. In just three minutes, Legacy did what many believed to be impossible and delivered a genuinely great live-action take on Street Fighter, and the internet wasted no time in fervently asking when a feature-length expansion of the short was coming. Four years later, it finally arrived in the form of Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist, which had become more appreciated as an epic video game web series prior to the film's release. When it came to its cinematic track record, Street Fighter had nowhere to go but up, but Assassin's Fist was simply a great movie all-around, and the embrace it received boils down to several crucial elements it brought to the table.

Among the many problems that befell Street Fighter and The Legend of Chun Li was the effort both made to split the difference between bringing realism to their action scenes and still making use of the outlandish special moves from the games, with both failing in different ways. The special moves that made it into Street Fighter were more visual homages than the techniques themselves, with Ken's approximation of a Shoryuken and M. Bison's tech-based Psycho Crusher lacking the impact they had in the games. Legend of Chun Li brought more wire-fu into the mix while showing Chun Li developing her Kikoken under Gen's training, but the execution was consistently off, with Chun Li's Kikokens more resembling special effects thrown into a fight scene than a weapon of combat being unleashed.

When it came to Assassin's Fist, by the end of the movie, it'd be easy to believe that one could travel to Japan and actually train in Ansatsuken. Though Assassin's Fist had great action scenes, it was, first and foremost, a martial arts film, taking viewers in-depth into the fundamentals of Ansatsuken alongside Ken and Ryu and presenting the fictional martial art as matter-of-factly as actual kung fu or karate. More importantly, it made the superhuman side of their fighting skills seem realistic in a way that even many Street Fighter fans were stunned by.

Techniques like Shoryukens, Hadoukens, and Tatsumaki-sempukyakus were presented not as superpowers, but as legitimate fighting techniques based in chi (or qi). Though Street Fighter devotees were more familiar with this, it came across as more palpable since Assassin's Fist had presented the training in a fictional and highly ostentatious martial art with the same reverence as one would expect from, for example, the Kickboxer or Best of the Best movies. By the time of Ken and Ryu's climactic sparring match, in which they are permitted to wield the Hado-based techniques of Ansatsuken, viewers were invested in the time and effort the characters had poured into mastering the highest levels of their art. As impressive as it was for Assassin's Fist to portray a martial art like Ansatsuken as something that could be real, it also connected with viewers from another, equally deep angle.

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Being born out of a gaming franchise with a much more abstract story structure than Mortal Kombat or Tekken, Assassin's Fist was a martial arts epic to the core and one about the tragedy of aggression and excessive ambition leading practitioners astray. Not unlike the light and dark sides of the Force in Star Wars and Anakin Skywalker's fall to the latter, Assassin's Fist centered on the divergent methods of Ansatsuken training: Mu No Hado and the more aggressive Satsui No Hado. At first selling Ken and Ryu on the former as the "purer" method of developing skill in Hado techniques, Akira Koieyama's Gouken swiftly begs Ken to avoid Satsui No Hado and to keep it hidden from Ryu. Gouken has good reason to fear his young students being seduced by the power of Satsui No Hado and its quicker path to generating Hado, seeing firsthand what it did to his brother Goki thirty years earlier.

Played by Gaku Space in flashbacks, Goki's embrace of Satsui No Hado transformed an already unstable rising martial artist with a violent streak into a soulless killing machine. In contrast to Ken and Ryu's exciting and upbeat training montages, Goki's training in the wilderness after his exile from Gotetsu's dojo is more akin to a demonic kind of viral infection. Lumbering out of his cavern home (and now played by Joey Ansah), Satsui No Hado makes Goki into one of the most formidable fighters on Earth, but at the cost of his humanity, transforming him into the murderous Akuma, whose only goal is to slay all who could challenge him as the world's true master of Ansatsuken. Though Togo Igawa's Gotetsu is defeated when Akuma returns, he dies with some happiness, knowing that he trained a student who succeeded in fully mastering the power of Satsui No Hado.

As Ken and Ryu progress in the Street Fighter movie and Ryu shows signs of being overcome by Satsui No Hado, Gouken's knows his brother's inevitable challenge will come soon, leading him to send his young students on their warrior's pilgrimage and prepare to fight his brother to the death at last to spare Ryu Akuma's deadly pursuit. Alongside Ken's longstanding issues with his father and Ryu's troubled inner spirit, Assassin's Fist's story was one of what it really means to become a warrior. To Gouken, the greatest opponent one can ever face is themselves, and to Akuma, being able to defeat all challengers is the be-all and end-all of Ansatsuken. Though he imparts his vast wisdom to Ken and Ryu, Gouken could not pull his brother back from the darkness. Assassin's Fist ends as their final confrontation is about to commence with Gouken all the while hoping that Ryu can fight off the demons that his brother could not.

What finally sealed the deal on the success of Assassin's Fist was the fact that it was able to work on multiple levels for practically any demographic, and not just as one of the best fighting games. Gamers and Street Fighter fans had reason to cheer for a gaming franchise that had seemed all but impossible to do well in live-action hitting the bull's eye in Assassin's Fist. For general martial arts fans, Assassin's Fist also held worth in treating a fictional martial art with the same care as one would accord real-world fighting styles, emphasizing the training as the centerpiece of the story. Just as importantly, it connected with its audience on an emotional level, whether invested in it as a video game player, a martial arts practitioner, or simply a general viewer.

In two and a half hours, Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist rescued the Street Fighter movie franchise with an excellent story and characters that resonated with viewers regardless of their experience or lack thereof with the games, and outstanding training and action sequences that felt real in a way that would've seemed impossible for a martial art involving fireballs and thirty-foot uppercuts. One can only hope that the Street Fighter: World Warrior series gets pulled off the shelf and greenlit. As a follow-up to the greatness of Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist with the same creative team involved, one can only imagine how much it would bring to the world of video game adaptations by the end of season 1.

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